Our son Benjamin was born on 11/01/11 weighing in at a healthy 8 lbs 7 oz. He’s two weeks old today and we are so in love with him!

I am feeling great and ready to get back to sewing and blogging after a long hiatus (September 15 was my last blog post!). Look for some baby boy quilts to appear here soon.

This quilt is the result of my first online bee. I asked for square in square blocks, thinking that I might cut them up for a bento box style quilt or leave as is. When I got all of the blocks back in the mail, I decided to do a bit of both. Half of the blocks were quartered and re-pieced with teal strips in the center to make up for the loss of seam allowances – and to add a jolt of color, too. I played with the idea of using something contrasting like yellow or lime green, and kind of wish I had now.

Dimensions: 54″ x 54″

Fabrics: Tufted Tweets by Laurie Wisbrun, Flea Market Fancy by Denyse Schmidt, Ta Dots from Michael Miller, Darcy by Anna Griffin, Woodland Delight by Paula Prass, and many others

Started:November 2010

Completed: August 2011

The back is a mix of prints used on the front plus two blocks that didn’t make it in time to go on the front.

It’s nice to have this one crossed of my WIP list, and I am pretty happy with the results. It’s definitely a departure from my normal color palette and aesthetic, but it was fun to try something new.

I set aside the red and aqua string quilt I showed last time. That quilting method is taking me a long time. I can’t get into a fluid movement and I struggle with the scale. I should probably have attempted it on a much smaller quilt than that one to start with. We’re going on a long road trip and I wanted to take it to bind in the car, but until we get back it will just have to be a glorified dog bed:

And we’ve got another hot week coming up. I am thankful that almost 28 weeks into my pregnancy I still don’t have any swelling or major aches and pains because this would be a tough summer to be feeling unwell. Thank you, baby, for letting me feel almost normal [the growing belly is undeniably a bit awkward, but having a temporary beer belly is kind of fun. I definitely notice people giving me those sidelong "is she pregnant or fat" glances. Like tonight at dinner when my husband ordered a Cobb salad and I had a bleu cheese bacon burger with fries.:)]

Even though it is not quilting weather, I’m desperately trying to get some of my WIPs done in the 12 or so weeks I have until my life is no longer my own. While prettifying this new blog layout, I decided to rebuild my WIP list in the side bar and whoa, Nelly, it’s a big one. This is probably the first real WIP list I’ve ever made because it was not done from memory, but by actually pulling things out of boxes and drawers. There are 29 items on the list (not counting my embarrassingly overdue bee blocks). How did I get to this point? And knowing just how many things I have unfinished, I can still think of a half  a dozen more quilts that I would like to start. Never mind de-stashing and purging to make room for baby -  I’m going to need my own quilting house before the year is out at this rate.

For those of you who only work on one or two projects at a time, how do you do it? Is it self-control? Lack of hiding space? Other hobbies that keep you busy? Do I need to take up tennis or bridge so that I have less time to think about quilting? I know I’ll never be a one-project-at-a-time girl, but 29 WIPs is about 20 too many. It probably doesn’t help that my method for getting things done is to list all of my to-dos, prioritize them, and then never look at that list again.

I was at a retreat last weekend and that helped me jump start the process. I am making some progress. I have two bee blocks ready to mail, I basted two tops, quilted one last weekend, and I have another big one on my machine right this minute. I’m even trying a new technique:

It’s not as fast as stippling but I think I’ll speed up as I get more comfortable with the motion. At least that is what I keep telling myself.

So after dealing with that mess for 5 days, I was awakened at 5:00 am Friday morning by the police knocking on our door. Apparently someone hit our car and abandoned their car a few houses up the block. One of our neighbors called the police when they saw the abandoned car and the police were conscientious enough to check all cars parked on the street for damage. Police often get a bad rap but I have to say that my experience with them (though minimal) has always been positive. They had an accident investigator at our house making a report before they even woke us up. Sadly, my car is not drivable and had to be towed to the dealer for repairs. I am driving a rental for a couple of weeks, and my wonderful husband is dealing with all of the insurance and car repair issues. He literally spent all day Friday on the phone. The people that hit our car did end up coming by the house and giving us their info. They were a couple of college kids who were driving down to the lake near our house and got lost. They were genuinely shaken up by the accident, but thankfully not hurt. Everything will be fine in the end and I am not a superstitious person that believes bad things happen in threes so I am expecting only good things for a while.

I’ve been mired down in purging and organizing my sewing room because in a few short months it will be a sewing + baby room. I’ve gotta make some room for our little guy so a bit of de-stash is in order. Hopefully I can get some things listed in my Etsy shop this week. Meanwhile, I’ve started a new just-for-fun project because I needed some cheering up.

I am taking some of my Moda mini charm packs (charmlets?) and pairing them with a vivid pink to make 9-patch blocks. Then I’m going to quarter them and sew it all back together for a super scrappy quilt. (this one was my inspiration) I’ve got a combination of It’s a Hoot, Hullabaloo, Summer in the City, Central Park, and Buttercup. All of the colors are so happy together and it’s definitely cheering me up.

The Courthouse Steps block is a variation of a log cabin block. It traditionally has red center squares and a variety of light and dark fabrics that give you a chessboard effect on your finished quilt top (example here). This is the block I’ve chosen for my turn in the Twice Around the Block Bee. This tutorial is mainly a how-to for my bee members but will be useful for anyone else who wants to try this block. I’ve chosen fabrics in four colors (red, green, blue, and white) for a Christmas-y quilt.

To make one block like my sample block, you will need:
5 green strips, measuring 1 1/2″ wide by varying lengths (the longest strip you will need is 12.5″)
5 white strips, measuring 1 1/2″ wide by varying lengths
5 red strips, measuring 1 1/2″ wide by varying lengths
5 blue strips, measuring 1 1/2″ wide by varying lengths
1 pink center square, measuring 2 1/2″ square

*A note about cutting*
This block is very scrap friendly. Scraps will need to be at least 1 1/2″ wide. I used fat quarters for my fabrics and was able to get 12 strips from each. I highly recommend using a Shape Cutter from June Tailor to cut your strips. It is fast and makes the cuts more accurate. (fabric needs for an entire quilt are given at the end of this post)

Piecing the Block

Take your center square and choose two strips in different colors. One strip gets sewn to the top of the block; the other strip gets sewn on the opposite side. I’ve chosen red and white strips in the example below.

Press your seams to one side (I pressed all of mine away from the center square) and trim the excess fabric. You can be a lazy quilter like me and trip the edges carefully scissors at your machine:

or you can trim them with your rotary cutter:

I used both methods for my blocks and they all came out to 12.5″ in the end. Do whichever method works for you. Add your next two color strips on the opposite sides of the block. After a few rows you will have something that looks like this:

Continue to add strips to each side until you have a total of 5 strips in each color. This is what your finished block will look like:

When you put two blocks together, you can see the secondary pattern start to emerge:

Pretty, huh? The cutting part is tedious, but the piecing is fast and easy and the finished look is definitely worth the time. I hope you all try it! And I hope my bee members enjoy making these.

*For a 96″ x 96″ quilt, you will need to make 64 blocks. Fabric requirements are 22 dark fat quarters, 19 light fat quarters, and 3/8 yard of your center square fabric.

[fabric is Alexander Henry Monkey's Bizness - Little Farm in Blue]

This little hippo is a super easy project. I am definitely going to make at least one more of these for the baby – maybe in some fun polka dots. I would recommend enlarging the pattern at least 25%, if you make one of your own. The neck hole seam is really tight and mine is not entirely pucker-free. Pattern purchased here. It really is a simple pattern and sews together in less than an hour.

Moose thought this hippo was for him. He kept staring at it while I was taking photos, and he really wanted to play with – in fact, he couldn’t stay away:

His attitude is that pictures aren’t worth taking unless he’s in them. He’s pretty photogenic so I can’t say that he’s wrong.

That little hippo is pretty much the only sewing I’ve done in the past few weeks. I had aspirations of signing up for the Finish It Up challenge on Meg’s blog. But the fact that they’re two weeks into it and I haven’t even made my WIP list yet doesn’t bode well for my success. I need to make my own “Baby is Coming, Get It Done Quick” challenge. I did pick the focus fabric for my Baltimore Album Quilt. I stared at those photos for two weeks and even went back to my fabric stash to see if I could come up with the absolute perfect fabric. And then I decided that I was overthinking it and I ordered 10 yards of my background fabric. So I think I’m committed. I will be working on block #1 this week. I don’t want to be the only one in class on Saturday who didn’t do her homework.

It’s all needle-turn applique and each block has a lot of symbolism for the woman who made the quilt. I think traditional Baltimore Album quilts are lovely, but I was really inspired to make one after seeing the wide variety of traditional and contemporary ones on display at Quilt Festival in Houston last November. I really like the idea of personalizing the traditional blocks to tell the history of my family.

Our homework from week one was to choose our background fabric and our focus fabric, and to create a papercut block.  I’m still stuck on the fabric choosing part. Background fabric is traditionally white or cream on BAQs, but for a truly modern quilt, a colored background would be gorgeous and unexpected. The focus fabric sets the color palette for the whole quilt so it’s important to choose a fabric that you truly love. Here are the options I’m considering:

Option 1 is a Jo Morton 1850s reproduction print that is very traditional, with that rich poison green color I love so, so much. My background options are Kona Ice Frappe and Sage. I think the Sage is probably the one I’d choose. I can imagine myself always loving this fabric and the colors really are timeless so this option is very tempting.

Option 2 is an Anna Griffin print from her Darcey collection paired with Kona’s Nightfall solid. The colors in that floral print are pretty timeless as well and not that different from the Jo Morton print above. The print is a whole different story, though. It’s not a traditional floral, but it reminds me of a 1950s dress. The dark blue background fabric would make for a pretty dramatic quilt.

Option 3 is one of the wallpaper prints from Amy Butler’s Belle collection paired with Kona Bone. I’m already working on a quilt featuring Belle, and this fabric is impossible to find so that’s a vote against it. The colors in this fabric are just divine, though. Kona Bone looks really good with the rusty orange color in the Belle fabric. The whole palette is just spot on. On the other hand, the fabric is a large scale so most of the pattern would be lost on a 12″ to 14″ block.

It’s going to be hard to choose!

The baby boy’s first quilt is well under way. I’m adding a linen border and then it will be ready to quilt this weekend. (I used this stack of fabric from Monaluna’s organic collection, Circa 60.)

My pieced curves are absolutely perfect, and though I’d like to take ALL of the credit, I can’t. Those perfect seams are courtesy of the amazing Curve Master foot. I heard about it from my friend Michelle and saw my friend Melanie use it to piece her king sized Single Girl quilt in a weekend at our last retreat. Every quilter must own this foot. No pinning, no squaring up. The only special tool you might require are some long tweezers to hold the ends of your fabric as you reach the end of the seam. I spent an couple of hours chain piecing the curves in this quilt and every single one came out perfect and I didn’t have to trim a thing. (Also recommended, the June Tailor Perfect Circles rotary templates. I bought mine at my LQS Quilt Asylum.)

Love, love, love the Curve Master! (the name sounds like an aerobics class, don’t you think?)

Even well into my second trimester, the fatigue is not going away like I thought it would. It’s definitely not as extreme as the first trimester when I felt as if I were constantly under the influence of Benadryl, but it still makes me pretty much a couch potato. So the fact that I spent several hours sewing today is a victory. I made some good headway on a custom quilt and a throw quilt for our sofa. I’m making it my goal to sew for at least half an hour every day. I really have missed it so much.

Last week was the Earth Day challenge reveal for the Dallas MQG. My original plan of making quilt blocks from old cotton men’s shirts didn’t pan out. My mitered corners were a mess so I didn’t get past the first block. (Anyone know of a good tutorial for mitered corners?) I was saved by the fact that I’d ordered a vintage sheet kit from Jeni at In Color Order last week and it fit the reuse/recycle theme perfectly. I made a sweet little wreath that will probably hang in my sewing room, and will definitely come out at Easter.

I won’t call this wreath project a total success, though, since making it involved a near disaster. I made it Thursday afternoon. Today I came into my sewing room and discovered that I’d left my glue gun plugged in (and ON) since Thursday. There was still power to it and it was warm but thankfully its cheap electrical insides burned out at some point and it was not hot enough to burn down our house. That is definitely a crafting fail.