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: