New Baby Quilt Top & QuiltCon!

Fussy Fairytales Pattern + Everyday Party + Bella Solids Porcelain (love this white!) + assorted blenders. I was really hoping to have this quilt done by now, but a cold slowed me down. Hopefully little Shylah won't notice that it is a few weeks late! ;) I made the quilt top smaller than the pattern size and I accidentally made the blocks the wrong size, so I was shocked when the floating square border ended up working out correctly. This is the first quilt top that I have pieced with my Juki and I am still loving it!

I really want to use the red stripe fabric for the binding, but it makes my eyes go crazy. I had to look to the side when ironing so that my vision would stop vibrating! I might have to find a wider stripe.

On Wednesday, I am heading to Austin for QuiltCon. I have never taken any sewing or quilting classes before, so this will be a totally new experience for me. I am excited to learn some new skills and techniques!

I am almost done packing, but I am having a difficult time deciding which fabrics to bring to my classes. At this point, I am tempted to drag around a giant suitcase full of fabric options!

Linking up to WIP Wednesday @ Freshly Pieced!

My 2015 Finish-Along Q1 Goals

My main goal this quarter is to get comfortable with my new quilting frame, so all my finish-along projects relate to that goal.

1) Jelly Roll Jam (Pattern) - Quilted, ready for binding. I am counting these two as one project. These were great practice quilts. They were really quick to make and small in size (36" square). The gray thread blended into the fabric so well that it easy not to obsess over the mistakes!

You've all seen these three quilts on many of my previous finish-along lists. As you can see, they haven't really progressed much! :D I am starting to enjoy the quilting part of quilting more, so I think I can finish these this time around!

2) Charley Harper Equilateral Triangle Quilt - Quilt top finished. Need to make backing. I am going to try woodgrain quilting on this one.

3) Quilty Fun - Quilt top finished. Need to make backing. Practicing stippling.

4) FQS Designer Block of the Month 2012 - Quilt top finished. Need to make backing. Will be stippling this one and maybe something in the borders if I feel comfortable. This quilt will be going to our Aunt Mary, so I really want to do a good job on it!

I am linking up with the 2015 Finish Along hosted by Adrianne @ On the Windy Side. Good luck to everyone who linked up!

WIP Wednesday

Hello everyone! Quick post today! Works-actually-in-progress this past week:

1) Pictures of this one make my eyes feel a little funny! This baby quilt was made using the Lickety-Split pattern by Lella Boutique. It still needs borders, but I just didn't have it in me after all that seam matching!

2) My blocks for Quilt for Aneela. See Pins and Bobbins for more details on this project.

My to-do list for the day:
1) Texas Road Trip Quilt Along - I am a little late starting this one. It is in the cutting process now!
2) Cutting for blue and green snowball quilt
3) QuiltCon planning!

Linking to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

Finish Along 2014 Quarter 1 - To Finish List

I want to complete 5 projects for the first quarter of the 2014 Finish Along. Three of those projects are baby quilts, so I think this goal may be attainable! The 2014 Finish Along is being hosted by the fabulous Katy at The Littlest Thistle.  As of this posting, there are still a few more hours to link up (it is closed now).

1.  Charley Harper/Botanics Baby Quilt- This quilt top has been taking up valuable floor space for a month and a half. :) This should be a quick finish. The back will have some simple piecing and I'll be quilting straight lines around the seams. Status: Quilt top is done

Two birds, one stone:
2. Baby Equilateral Triangle Quilt- This quilt for a friend has been on my list for a long time. So long, that the baby is already a year old! Status: The pieces are cut.
3. Baby Plus Quilt - This quilt for my husband's coworker has only been on my list since early last year and the baby is due any day now. I am using the same fabric, so I have been cutting the pieces at the same time. Status: The pieces are cut.

4. Zig Zag Love - There is really no urgency with this one, but I stopped halfway through piecing and I have a mess of 1.5" berry squares all over the place! I want to finish this before I lose all the pieces! Status: Half of the piecing is done.

5. Patchwork Prism - An oldie, but a goodie! I finished this top in October 2012 and it has been tucked away in a drawer ever since! I love this quilt and I really want to use it! My idea for the back has been holding me up. Status: Quilt top is finished.

Hopefully I won't get distracted by any shiny new projects or QALs in the next 3 months. ;) Good luck to all who linked up with the FAL this quarter!

WIP Wednesday

Hi, friends! I can't believe how much time has passed since my last post! I have been working on a king-sized gift project for the past couple of months and took a mini internet hiatus to avoid distraction (except for Instagram, I can't give up Instagram). It took way longer than I anticipated! The quilt went to the longarmer last week and is already on its way back to Houston. Naturally, I will be spending the next five days repeatedly reloading the USPS tracking page. I hope to be able to share it with you all before the end of the year.

This was my sanity project while working on the gift project. I needed something quick, easy and with a little bit of color. For this quilt top, I used Prairie Paisley II (Minick & Simpson), Blueberry Crumb Cake (Blackbird Designs) and half of Papillon (3 Sisters). I received all these fabrics as part of the Moda Fat Quarter Club at FQS. I never quite knew what to do with these fabrics, but they were all so pretty and soft that I couldn't make myself get rid of them. When they were stacked together, I realized that most of the fat quarters would combine nicely into one quilt!

I looked for a pattern that was a total fat quarter hog and wouldn't require any background fabric purchases. The St. Louis 16 Patch (tutorial by skburton designs) fit the bill! I love how all the fabrics work together and the red just makes this quilt for me. I am going to try to work as many of the scraps as possible into the quilt backing and I will by tying this quilt

Since it is almost 2014 and I figured I ought to get a move on it, I finished the last two blocks for the 2012 Designer Mystery Block of the Month. The block on the left is April Showers designed by Sweetwater and the block on the right is Sunday Drive designed by Polly Minick & Laurie Simpson. How cool is that pinwheel block? I used to dread making pinwheels, but they are now my favorite! Even though the blocks are finished, I have lot of piecing left to do for the sashing and borders.

Besides all that, my cat blocks are quickly multiplying, I started appliquéing leaves down for the Looking Back quilt and within an hour of rejoining the internet I joined the Quilty Fun Sew-Along! How was I supposed to resist that apple block?

Linking up for WIP Wednesday @ Freshly Pieced!

WIP Wednesday

These projects are all completely different than the ones I shared in my last WIP Wednesday post, because that's how I roll! Too much temptation out there! :D



1) Baby Jane Quilt - I have been working non-stop on my first commission for the past couple of weeks. I actually finished this one right before Labor Day weekend, but I can't share it because it hasn't been gifted yet. Chances are incredibly slim that it would be seen, but you know how that goes! I am itching to post about it, so this mention is just to tide me over until I can hit "Publish." How cute is that Baby Jane Stripe as binding?

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Looking through my past projects, I've realized that my favorite quilts are the ones that use multiple lines of fabric and the ones that have very little white in them. Because of this I am trying to thin out my precut collection (some have been sitting around for almost two years!), while trying to break out of my background fabric comfort zone! The next two quilt tops are part of this mission.

2) Patchwork Heart // I chose a heart-related pattern because there were a couple charms with heart prints, plus many other prints that reminded me of the circulatory system. There were many paths of inspiration leading to the heart design I chose, but a majority of those led back to the Pixelated Heart design by Blue Elephant Stitches. My heart quilt is made with two 6" Kaffe Fassett Fire charm packs and Michael Miller Ta Dot Teal.

3) Strawberry Jam Quilt // This quilt is made with a Strawberry Fields Jelly Roll and Robert Kaufman Quilter's Linen in Cocoa. The brown adds a bit of a early Autumn feel to this very Spring fabric line. I went back and forth on whether or not I made the right choice in background fabric. My #2 Option was Quilter's Linen in Parchment, but I felt that it may have been too close in value to many of the Strawberry Fields prints.

The Cocoa is really hard to photograph. The picture below represents it better, though the look changes so much depending on the lighting situation. I will be channel quilting this one. I think I will be skipping the last border and bind it using the Green and White Stripe from Marmalade.

I am a little tired of piecing for the moment, so I will be quilting a few older quilt tops over the next few weeks. I hope everyone is having a wonderful and productive week!

Linking up with WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced this week.

Starburst Quilt Top Finish

Starburst QAL Quilt | 76"x76"

I fought the wind...and the wind won!  It has been far too windy to get a proper picture of the Starburst quilt top (and I tried!), but I was an able to get a post-basting aerial shot. :D

I backed it in flannel and it feels so soft and cozy. I really like the size of this quilt too. It is the perfect size to curl up under!

The top is 50% quilted right now. If I am able to decide on a binding fabric by the 4th, I'll definitely finish it in time for the Starburst QAL Parade! At the moment, I'm trying to decide between Running Stitch in Lime and Clown Stipe in Aqua. They each give the quilt a completely different personality. Maybe I'll head down to the quilt shop today and see if anything else wins my heart over!

WIP Wednesday and Scrappy TAL Quilt Top Finish

It has been so long since I have had WIPs to report on! Here are my WIPs for the week:

1) Scrappy Trip Along

72x60" Lap Quilt, 30 Blocks

I finished sewing the Scrappy Trip Along (using Quiltville Tutorial) quilt top yesterday evening. To be completely honest, there aren't many scraps in this quilt. I did use a ton of fat quarters that have been sitting in my stash forever.

My first four blocks went together very slowly. I was doing them one at a time! Once I understood how the piecing method worked, I started chain piecing. I sewed all the six strip panels together and then four-at-a time I started working on the blocks. Four is about as many as I could work on at a time without mixing everything up! Four was also the perfect number for when I had a spare hour to work on it. Doing 4 to 8 blocks a day, the quilt top came together really quickly.

After spending a long time scrounging around the sales sections of various online websites, I chose Weekend Hopscotch in Lime (Erin McMorris for Free Spirit) for the backing. I liked how it was a tinier, softer version of the quilt top. It was in the $4 section at Fabric.com and luckily there was enough! I've had issues with Fabric.com before(slow shipping, consistently having to cancel parts of my order, etc.), but my last few orders have actually gone through without a hitch. I am quilting it using the 31 Days of Walking Foot Quilting:Orange Peel tutorial at Petit Design Co. 

2) Fat Quarter Shop Block of the Month

I am mostly caught up with my Fat Quarter Shop Block of the Month blocks. I received Block 8 last week, but I messed up so badly that even the very generous cuts the FQS provides couldn't save me :D. Block 6 (Town Square designed by Kate Spain) & Block 7 (Moonlight Serenade designed by Sandy Gervais) are pictured above.  I am tempted to join the 2013 Block of the Month Club. I love the monthly mail. It is better than a magazine! And " a spectacular row quilt filled with basket blocks, star blocks, house blocks and flower blocks"? *SQUEE* It sounds adorable!

My other Work-In Progresses for the Quarter:
3) Looking Back - All pieces cut. I am picking this project back up in February
4) Swoon - All pieces cut. I am picking this project back up in February
5) Starburst QAL - I need to finish cutting this one! I got a head start on this one too!. This is on the schedule for the day.
6) Flower Girl Quilt - All pieces cut. I am picking this project back up in March.


Linking up with:

Hustlin' Through My WIPs

This is a big post, because I've been HUSTLIN'!

Finished Projects: 

Salt Air Lattice  (Designed by Mommy by Day Crafter by Night) - I finished this one last month, but I don't have pictures yet. It was a twin-sized quilt with a Minky backing, so the quilting involved a lot of tears and general grumpiness. It was worth it though, because my mom loved it!
 
Patchwork Prism - Not exactly a completed quilt, but it is completed quilt top! Yes, after much foot dragging I finally finished sewing the top together. I want to get all fancy pants with the back, so it will probably be another 6 months before I quilt it :D.

Washi Dress - Using Duet Dot in Green from Chicopee by Denyse Schmidt. This one is getting it is own post once my assistant blog photographer/husband is back in town, but I have to say I LOVE THIS PATTERN! I'm making a tunic in another Chicopee print as we speak! [few more dress shots on Flickr]
Sunglasses Case - (Outside- Joel Dewberry Acorn Chain in Lake Inside- Dear Stella Tiny Diamonds in Navy) Everything went well until the gluing part...I am still scraping off glue. Still...I love it so much more than the generic case my sunglasses came with!

In Progress:

Swoon Quilt - When I recieved Verna Mosquera's Veranda in a Craftsy Mystery Box of Fabric, I had no clue what I would do with it. It's very pretty and pastel, but pretty and pastel isn't very 'me.' Fast forward a few months later, my husband decides that he really wants me to make a quilt for one of his aunts that I don't know very well. DING DING! Perfect opportunity to use it! I added some purple, because I felt like it needed a bold color. 9 blocks cut, 3 to go. I learned to sort my blocks in plastic baggies via Fabric Mutt. I feel so organized!

3 Christmas Stockings - Sewing all the patchwork panels together

Honeycomb Hat - I finished the hat, but I am not really feeling it. I am going to add a pompom and see if that helps.

Owl Pillow - I had a great opportunity to test out one of Kristy from Quiet Play's paper piecing patterns. If you haven't checked out her blog yet, you should! Her love of paper piecing is contagious! I need to make borders for this block so I can make it into a beautiful decorative pillow.

"Two Left Feet" Quilt (Echo) for Brother - (not pictured) Began Cutting

No Progress

• Quilt Baby Quilt (Children at Play) for Husband's Co-worker  (waiting on baby name) •  Love Letters Quilt (Etchings) • Christmas Table Runner  • Quilt Xs and Os • Quilt Sew.Happy.Quilt • Finish Super Mario Quilt Top • Finish Medallion Quilt Top

Haven't Started

• Start & Finish Baby Quilt (Wee Folks) for Friend • Polaroid Quilt for Other Brother  • Quilt for Sister (No clue) 

Linking up with:

Caffeine Overload

I was going to wait until I quilted this to post about it, or at very least iron it, but I am excited to have this quilt top done! Yesterday, I got motivated (my motivation stems completely from espresso) and hunkered down in the back room to finish this top.  I'm renaming it Charming Stars because a) that is what I keep calling it by mistake  and b) florals are no longer the focal point.

Charming Stars: 66inx84in. Based off Charming Flowers Pattern in Layer Cake, Jelly Roll and Charm Quilts by Pam Lintott. This is a beautiful example of the original pattern.  Using 3 Sisters Etchings for Moda.

A few changes I made.
1) I moved a couple of the stars, because the way they touched the border made me anxious. In hindsight, I think I might have added another column to each side to keep the stars from lining up the way they do now.
2) I made the stars all white, because I love stars and I wanted them to stand out. I tried Bella Solids Stone originally, but it made the whole top look dull.
3) I wanted to keep the size but not the chunky border, so I divided it into 3 sections: 2.75 inch white border, .5 inch border out of leftover charms and then another 2.75 inch white border.

It is a very romantic top! It makes me want to curl up on the couch and read some Jane Austen! I'm going to make my husband help me baste it tonight.

Last time I posted, I was very proud that I was sticking to my moratorium on new projects until I finished Charming Stars and X's and O's. Well...since then I have started The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt. Don't judge me. I had been wanting to work on it and then Sunni's Farmer's Wife in Your Life Series made the anticipation too much to bear! So, here are my first four blocks.  I usually have a hard time taking the pretty ribbon off Fat Quarter bundles, but the Hello Luscious bundle was just begging to be cut! No matter where I went in my sewing room, I could feel it staring at me. I have completed Attic Window, Basket Weave, Autumn Tint and Bat Wings. Basket Weave is my fave and Bat Wings is my least favorite so far.

Another exciting thing (to me anyway), is I got my Hawthorne Threads Scrap Pack! They had them 50% off for $6.99(approx 2 yards of fabric), so I bought double the amount I was going to buy. I am a retailer's dream. The exciting part is that I was hoping there was going to be some hedgehogs and mushroom houses in the batch and...THERE WERE HEDGEHOGS AND MUSHROOM HOUSES IN THE BATCH! I felt like I had one the scrap pack lottery!

Now I am off to Walmart to get envelopes to mail off my charm squares for Kelsey Sews Aqua and Red Charm Swap! I'm hoping this caffeine high will last through my shopping trip!


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: