Yay for Productive Mondays!

I spent all weekend paring down my Netflix Instant Queue and beating my husband at Trivial Pursuit*, so I didn't get a whole lot done on my WIP list. After the weekend hiatus, it was good to get back to the sewing machine! I put together two blocks this morning. The first block is the Diamond HST block for the Sew. Happy. Quilt. QAL. I am not really consistent with my HSTs yet, but I love them! They are so versatile and I love the look. The second block is for Week 2 of the Foundation Piecing for the Terrified Series. I really enjoy paper piecing! I had a bit more trouble on this block than the last one, but only because I shouldn't sew in hunger! Since I am so excited over paper piecing right now, I bought a few paper piecing patterns to suit my interests (GNOMES!) and I can't wait to sit down and put those together.

In happy happy joy joy news, I was so excited to receive my 13 half-yard bundle of Little Apples giveaway prize from Quilt Story and Fabric Shoppe! I want to do a "going to the library" set with it. I'm trying to make myself wait for a few more project finishes first!



*He wins at every other game, so I have to brag! He is currently on a 113 game winning streak with Monopoly. I am convinced he is cheating somehow! :)

Linking to Linky Party Tuesdays at Quilting by the River

Copyright © From Pixels to Patchwork 2012. All rights reserved.

WIP Wednesday - Sewing Dangerously

For about one week every month, I become super productive. I spend the rest of the month recovering from that week. On this month's productive week I decided that I did not have enough projects on my WIP list, so I entered "MUST MAKE ALL THE QUILTS!!!" mode. The following projects are a result of this past week.
 

***Linking with Freshly Pieced's WIP Wednesday! & This Week @ Love Affair With My Brother ***

A. The Charlotte Quilt from Three Times the Charm! by Me and My Sister Designs (using Malka Dubrawsky's Stitch in Color) - I am absolutely in love with this quilt top! I think the bold fabric worked really well with the quilt pattern. Since this one is small, I am thinking about attempting hand quilting.

B. Charming Flowers Quilt Pattern from Layer Cake, Jelly Roll and Charm Quilts by Pam Lintott (Using Etchings By 3 Sisters) - I'm in the cutting phase on this one.

C. Hootenanny Quilt from Dare to Be Square Quilting by Boo Davis (Using Kona Cotton by Kaufman) - My husband loved his robot quilt so much, that he wanted me to make the owl quilt for his aunt. What am I, a machine??? I tried to ignore him, but he won't stop mentioning it. I started piecing that one today. One row out of four done.

D. Diamond Lace Shawl from Learn New Stitches on Circle Looms by Ann Bipes (Using Nora Kogarashi #9) - I love this (expensive) yarn! I tried to buy it while my husband was out of earshot, but it was a small shop. I am about three feet in, two more feet to go!

E. X's and O's Quilt Pattern from Olive Tree Designs (Using Bonnie & Camille's Ruby) - I am so excited to break into my Ruby charm square that I bought ages ago. All of the HSTs are sewn, but I have a billion blocks left to sew. Lesson learned on this one: the sudden thought of how awesome I am for sewing a gajillion squares so fast is a good indicaton that the bobbin ran out half-gajillion squares ago.

No progress: Crimson Cross, Home Ec Course, Jewelry Roll, Tote and Pillow
Finished: Robot Quilt

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In preparation for the New York Beauty QAL, I completed The Littlest Thistles' first foundation piecing tutorial in the Foundation Piecing for the Terrified series. It is an awesome tutorial for beginners and I am pretty sure I am in love with paper piecing now! I felt like I had so much more control!

With all the productivity, my work zone is on the verge of OSHA shutdown. Today will be spent cleaning and trying to find all those pins that have found themselves nestled into the carpet.

© From Pixels to Patchwork 2012. All rights reserved.

Playing Catch-up

I have been focusing so much on this robot quilt that I feel completely behind on life! It is finished now and it feels good to have another project on the complete list. Of course every time I complete one project,  I join five more quilt-alongs! Since last time I blogged, I have joined the New York Beauty QAL, the Fat Quarterly Paper Piecing QAL & the Fat Quarter Shop Designer Mystery Block of the Month! Luckily, some of my other commitments will be done by the time these new ones start. I am a chronic over-joiner!

About the robot quilt finish: I finished binding the robot quilt about one second before my husband got home on Valentine's Day. He loved it! This twin sized quilt is the biggest finished quilt I've done so far. I got a little frustrated during quilting, because no matter what I did or what setting I changed it had the "already washed" look. Who has more trouble quilting regular cotton than Minky? That would be me! Anyway, I should have looked at the picture in the book, because it had the exact same effect! I guess it was just a side effect of quilting on the bias.  It's hard to tell from the picture, but it is quilted diagonally, in one direction. I read some suggestions of using starch, so I might try if I ever quilt this way again.

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Today I played catch-up! This is the Peek-A-Boo Block & the Churn Dash Block from the Sew. Happy. Quilt. QAL. I liked the whole star thing going on in the QAL mock-up, so the only thing I did different than the tutorial was flip the flying geese upside down.

This is the My Chevron Heart Block from the Sew Red for Women Blog Hop presented by Leah at Burgundy Buttons. I joined this because A) I love the Burgundy Buttons shop & B) heart disease runs in my family. One thing I struggle with is eating healthy and keeping my cholesterol and triglycerides in check. I look small, but I eat way too much fatty food. I am hoping this quilt will be a good reminder for me about why it is so important to take care of myself!

This block I am considering a work-in-progress! I wound up a full couple of inches too small, so I have already started a new one to see if I can get it closer to the right size. Things usually work out better the second time around!

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I was so happy to be tagged for the Liebster Blog award from Celtic Thistle! For those of you who don't know, the Liebster Blog Award is given to bloggers who have under 200 followers. The recipient, then gives it to five other bloggers who have under 200 followers. This was really hard, because there are so many great blogs out there that deserve some love! Without further ado, here are my choices:

• Steph at Hope Sewing is Genetic • Kelsey at Kelsey Sews • JanuaryT at Sew Sew Go

• Shanna at Sweet & Sassy • Karen at Usually Quilting

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Last week, I googled one of the search terms in my stats to see what popped up. Too my surprise, I saw a picture of my layer cake throw that had been slightly edited. I felt one part awesome, but another part weirded out that a picture of my backyard was on another site without my knowledge! So that's why I've gone a little crazy with labeling pictures!

Copyright © From Pixels to Patchwork 2012. All rights reserved.

WIP Wednesday - Robot

Does Not Compute Quilt Top

"Does Not Compute"  quilt top done! This pattern is featured in Dare to Be Square Quilting by Boo Davis. This was such a fun quilt top to make! I changed up the colors, since this is a present for my husband and he prefers more traditional colors. I didn't think he would go for a predominately orange quilt, even though I loved it! I can't wait to finish this and give it to him. He is a big kid at heart, so I know he'll love it!

The pattern looked really overwhelming at first, but once I got all the strip piecing done it went very quickly. It was so gratifying to finally see the robot pop in. I had to work around it at first because medium gray was way too dark for the robot body, so I had to make a last minute order to get a lighter gray.

My plan now is quilt Wednesday/Thursday & bind Friday/Monday and hopefully be done by Valentine's Day! I am hoping this non-Minky quilting experience will be a little easier on me and my temperamental sewing machine

Image Attribution at the end.

Lessons Learned:

1. The difference between Kona Medium Gray & Kona Ash is the difference between killer cylon and a loveable robot.
2. Always make that you are no longer on the zig-zag stitch when changing to the 1/4" foot. There goes another needle!
3. If you want to spend more time sewing than resewing, make sure you actually thread the bobbin.
4. It does not matter how many seam rippers you own, they are never there for you when you need them. 

I love WIP Wednesday! Somehow writing things down makes ongoing projects and planned projects  (all completely self-imposed!) seem not so overwhelming.

Project Inventory:

Finished	In Progress	No Progress	To Do
Apron	Robot Quilt	Crimson Cross	Peek A Boo Block
Snuggly Throw		Jewelry Roll	My Chevron Heart Block
HST BOMs		Home Ec Course	Tote & Pillow

Cylon image: This image was originally posted to Flickr by ckroberts61 at http://flickr.com/photos/55789958@N00/426953492. It was reviewed on 31 March 2007 by the FlickreviewR robot and confirmed to be licensed under the terms of the cc-by-2.0. Headphone Robot image: I bought this robot on Etsy a few years back and I found out that they have a whole online storefront now! You can buy your own here.

Edit: Also linking up with:

Frilly Girly Spring-y Apron

I took a break from my quilt this weekend and made a quick apron. What I lack in domestic skill, I make up for in looking the part! I love aprons, even though I never want wear them out of fear of messing them up. I know that makes absolutely no sense, but they are so pretty!

Apron in Action.

I used the Frilly Apron pattern from Spotlight. I swear all the ruffles are straight. I just had a hard time photographing it flat on the door-- tape no match for the force of gravity. I thought the instructions were hard to follow in parts, mostly because it is all verbal. I also prefer way some other apron patterns attach the bibs and ties. I will be making this again with Echino (sale!) and I will make some minor adjustments on that one. Overall, I like it! It is very girly.

It has failed to make me clean more, as I opted to Photoshop out the mess in the action shot rather than actually pick it up! I have just been wearing it around the house to keep up appearances.

The fabric I used was from Kate Spain's Good Fortune Line: Tranquility Lantern Flower, Tea Raked Sand, Waterfall Yoshino, Tranquility Dragonfly, Spirit Sakura

Linking to Fabric Tuesday @ Quilt Story, Sew Happy Geek's Manic Monday Linky Party, Make Something Mondays at Sarahndipities. This is my February Make for 2012.

Flying Geese & Flying Geese Pinwheel

Eee! Block #1 is the Flying Geese Pinwheel block from the Sew.Happy.Quilt. QAL & Block #2 is February's Half-Square Triangle block of the month from In Color Order. I was excited about the Flying Geese block yesterday, but I just finished the Flying Geese Pinwheel Block and I have decided I am more excited by that one! Starch made all the difference on the pinwheel block. I bought some starch, but I actually prefer the one I made myself. I used Chelsea's recipe at Pins & Bobbins. I initially only made it out of laziness. I did not want to go all the way to Wal-Mart, which I live two minutes away from. Yes, I am that lazy! The homemade starch does work really well though.  I might just prefer it because of the lack of smell.  After years of making fun of my mom because of her dramatic reaction to strong perfumes, it turns out I inherited her aversion to strong smells! The starch I got at the store is very ****LAVENDER!!!***

Now I am just waiting for my gray fabric to get here from Fat Quarter Shop. I needed a lighter gray than I had actually bought for my robot quilt. It looked fine until I put it next to the blue! I have been working around the robot area, but now I am stuck. Speaking of that quilt, my nosy, nosy husband came home early yesterday and almost saw everything! I managed to get him out of the sewing room, but I am pretty sure he knows I am making him a quilt. I am not very good at keeping things secret!

Update: I forgot to move my Small Blog Meet button up to this post now that I finished with it! The Small Blog Meet is to help newer bloggers meet others out in blogland. I love meeting new people and seeing everyone's projects, so this seemed like a good opportunity. You can check it out by clicking on the button to the left!