Leap Year

At this rate I will post the least amount of times this year than any year I have had my blog.
I have been a bit uninspired lately and even after returning from Quilt Market last month, I still have not felt very inclined to get going on a project or finishing anything.

I did get SOMETHING finished in May. It was a Schnibble my sister from the Pumpkin Patch asked me to make for her as a sample for a few kits she was cutting.

After a few false starts and re-evaluating the sashing print, I finally got the project off the ground. Schnibbles (designs by Miss Rosie's Quilt Co) are patterns that lead to some nice immediate gratification.

I had the blocks done in no time at all.

A bit of sashing...

And a thin border, you can call this complete.

I pulled out a stencil I ordered last year from Urban Elementz (LOVE their quilting stencils/pantos), and started marking the top for quilting.

These stencils are so nice, and easy to follow.

I was done in no time and ready to attach the binding.

I love how it turned out but after the finish, I was still feeling a bit uninspired. I think I need to finish something more substantial and the last few things I have done have all been small wallhangings or table toppers. I have sooo many projects to chose from but can't decide what to bite into. Maybe next weekend will be better.

I'll post this week about my trip to Market. Talk about inspiration!

A Speck that is not much of a speck?

Learning point # 573: Read all instructions before doing anything... I think I have a male gene somewhere in my composition.

Have you seen the new Bites that Miss Rosie's Quilt Company has put out? They are sooo cute and perfect for a day of sewing. I have never been too fond of small quilts but they have proven to be outstanding for my need of immediate gratification! Annnnddddd they are WONDERFUL to get rid of scraps!

September's Schnibble for Sinta and Sherri's Another Year of Schnibbles was Speck.
I was excited to participate and super excited that I had so many scraps from when I made Beth that this little quilt was going to be "free", since I didn't have to buy a "speck" of fabric for it!! LOL!

I created my 2.5" squares and started piecing immediately.

When I had my little pile of blocks ready to put together, I noticed things were a bit off..
I was so into the piecing that I didn't realize that I failed to read all instructions before proceeding. I was suppose to trim my initial squares by 1/4" so my units were a bit bigger than the pattern called for... I shrugged and moved forward. What the heck!

Mary over at Quilt Hollow mentioned that she would have liked to interchange her blocks and use both the X design and the O design. She eventually made one Speck of each. I decided to borrow her idea and make mine a mix of both versions.

I just made sure I changed the measurements of the sashing to match my larger blocks.

Easy peasy.

What I loved about this small quilt was that I got the chance to practice my quilting.

I typically make large quilts and because I have no sense of balance to eyeball it,
I must mark my quilts if I were to actually quilt them.

Since marking a large quilt is such a pain and getting the quilt under the sewing machine arm is always a struggle, I focus on the part of quiltmaking I really enjoy, which is the piecing.

But, it's always nice to have the knowledge so that when a small quilt like this comes along you can do the quilting yourself and practice the skills.
This one wrapped up a bit bigger than expected but just as lovely. Thelma said it was more of a DOT, than a Speck, so that is what I called her!

BTW: Hate the new Blogger.
 

Bound and ready to go...

It's been so hot here in Texas it was a chore to get a picture of my latest quilts.
Decoy still has not been photographed because it's so bright it has washed out the little color it has.

But this Bibelot (or T for Thelma) quilt has been bound and photographed!

Ready for a Schnibbles parade!

I've named it Puppy Dog Tails...

I think it appropriate. LOL!

Playing Catchup..

It's been awhile since I clued you all in on what I have been up to but rest assured all is well and I have been a busy beaver quilting away.

Over Mother's Day I went to the Dallas Modern Quilt Guild's Spring retreat and convinced my daughter to fly in from New England to share the weekend with me. I loved every minute!

I'm very laid back and sometimes it's difficult for people to understand that I am so happy to take a week off of vacation and just stay home quilting. Spending the weekend with like minded people is the great allure of retreats. You pack up your bags and head out for a weekend of sewing and sewing and sewing. It's a beautiful thing.

While I was there, I tackled my Bibelot quilt.

I had started it weeks before...

(back when it was the Schnibble of the month)

but I had not put the borders on.

I wanted to add a few more borders to enlarge it since it will be a present so I found this little puppy paw print fabric that complimented the Max & Whiskers line used in the blocks.

I just got it back from the quilter's.

I just need to put on the binding and it's ready for it's forever home.

My daughter also worked on her own version of Bibelot..

She is quilting it herself! 

It's the first quilt she has quilted herself. 

I'm thinking she is doing pretty darn good!

I have a few more quilts ready to share but I'll leave those for the next time.

A Short Story emerges...

I have been on a forced creative hiatus. Ugh.

Last year the economy had really slowed work down quite a bit but this year it has been non-stop, go go go since mid May and there is no end in sight. I work in a position where I have to do the work, it's not something that I an just walk away or check out over the weekend and come back to it on Monday. I have a deadline and the project needs to be done by that date. It's a bit nerve wrecking if you are running behind and with more projects that you have time to complete, you are always behind. So, weekends have been pulled into the work week and whenever I take a breather, I don't feel I can actually sit down to get anything done.

I wanted to work on so many projects but, until recently I have not been able to pull myself into actually cutting anything or sewing anything.

I was going through a bit of withdrawal and finally broke down and cut up the Fat Eighth bundle I won over at Kelly's during a Charming Club giveaway. I had been scoping out the fabric and when I actually won I was VERY excited.

 I decided to use the fabric to make a quilt from Miss Rosie's Quilt Co. new book Schnibbles Times Two. I decided to make the larger version of Short Story. The fabric was just enough so I was very happy. I cut out all the fabric and separated the strips into the 49 blocks.

This fabric collection is just gorgeous!

The more I cut, the more I fell in love with each piece.

I have made 8 blocks. Not alot but I'm happy to see SOMETHING coming out of the sewing room that doesn't come from the creative juices of my daughter.

The blocks come together very easy, which is nice since I can easily sit down and sew a few seams here and there when I can.

I won't be able to finish this one to make it for the Schnibbles contest but I'm VERY happy that I'm actually getting something done.

Garden Inspired Schnibble

Completed this one just under the wire so to say but the little bugger turned out so darn cute!

My Garden Inspired Schnibble.

Used Garden Inspiration charms by Kansas Trouble. Still have quite a bit of this fabric and really ned to think of how I'm going to use it because I like how they go together.

I originally was not sure about the dark tones but in the end... I like.

A Schnibble is Born!!!

I might be a tad bit late for the parade but I had not taken a pic of the Schnibble until this morning. Went to bed in the wee hours of the night but I got the top done!

 

I had a great time sewing at the Charming Girls & Guys Sewing Party and the extra pressure of all the great projects everyone was working on kept me going.

This Schnibble was HUGE compared with the rest of them but well worth it. 

I really love this one.

Anyway, That's it for me and now onto what I'll be working on for March.

A Schnibble for January

I mentioned earlier this week that I finished my Schnibble during my retreat. I actually started it the week before the retreat and took the pieces to put together over there.

I chose to do my Schnibble with Moda's Astor Manor line by 3 Sister's. These are so not my colors but for some reason I kept staring at the darn line every time I went to my local shop.

I separated the colors and made placement decisions before I set out to cut.

I pause to interject that I can't say enough how I love, love, love my Fit to Be Geese ruler! I no longer fear making flying geese blocks.

To use the ruler I had to modify Carrie's cutting instructions a bit since I needed to cut my pieces a bit larger than the method used in the Madeline pattern. After I cut the pieces I grouped them together and started sewing

After I sew the geeses together comes the trimming.

and trim

and trim

Never my favorite part but since I would have to trim regardless of the method I used...

I'm happy to do this because I always end up with perfection!

I finished these puppies at the retreat where I finially put the top together.

I liked the way it turned out but I found that some of the star points got lost in the fabric.

I found that I would need to do a more focused quilting design on it to bring out those points. I decided to quilt in some heart in an effort to make it more "Valentine'ish"

I also decided to play with feathers. So the quilt ended up being a bit of an experimental piece.

I think it ended up looking pretty darn nice and if you look at it from afar,
you will think the quilting turned out pretty darn good too!

 

LOL!! Hey! At least those geese turned out FABULOUS!