The {Big} City Girl Quilt Along

I'm honoured to have been invited to participate in Aylin's {Big} City Girl Quilt Along ("QAL"). Thirteen bloggers are designing blocks inspired by cities and places from all over the globe: Tokyo, Paris, Boston, Sydney, London. And you're invited to create along with us, beginning with the kick-off on September 1st!

All the details are shared over at Aylin's blog, ayliN-Nilya, including the list of participants. (Talk about Impostor Syndrome - check out the other participants. One of these things is not like the others, folks.) But! I am determined to do Vancouver - and as the only Canadian participant, Canada! - proud with my block design.

There are sponsors and prizes! Will you join us and be inspired to create? I hope so! Join the {Big| City Girl Flickr group and keep an eye on the happenings.

Friday Felicities

Hello! Happy Friday!

There's a couple of things that are making me happy today. First, these two quilties are heading to Austin in a short while:

Sea Glass on Sand (L) and Bohemian Confetti (R)

They'll be featured in the quilt show happening at QuiltCon! I'm completely thrilled and it's making me even more excited to be going.

My second felicity is that Debbie A Quilter's Table is hosting a Triple-Zip Along starting January 28th and the timing couldn't be better! I want to turn one into a purse for my niece. Have you been meaning to try her wonderful tutorial? Why don't you join in?

I hope you have a great weekend!

Wonder Wheel

This quilt was a long time in the making! I joined the Big Fat Dresden Quilt Along over at Lily's Quilts back in March (gah!), got the top done in relatively good time. Then I got distracted by other things (ooh, shiny!), basted it, and then it stalled again.

I began to feel like I was drowning in WIPs, yet I was (happily) starting yet more projects, and it was stressing me out.  Plus I didn't know how I wanted to quilt it. More stress. This hobby isn't supposed to be a source of stress!

So I just went ahead and finished it. Of course, it took like two evenings to quilt. Isn't that always the way? We think a project or task is going to be yooooooge and it isn't.

Three cheers for Wonder Wheel!

Hip, hip, hooray!

Hip, hip, hooray!

Hip, hip hooray!

The Child "helping" with the photo shoot.

Details:

Size: about 35" square
Pattern: Dresden Quilt Along, Lily's Quilts
Quilting: straight line with walking foot using 28 wt dark brown Aurifil thread.
Fabric: mostly Wonderland by MoMo for Moda, with a couple of extra prints thrown in to round it out. The solids are Robert Kaufman Quilters Linen in (I think) Chocolate for the centre circle and around the Dresden Wheel, and Kona Coffee for the borders and binding.

I still adore Wonderland, and I've got some more to play with (but maybe not til the new year, says the woman with a massive To Do list). In any case, this one's staying with us!

Linking up everywhere I can again - {Sew} Modern Mondays (on the 17th), Manic Mondays, Fabric Tuesday (links all over there on my sidebar), and a new linky party over at pieceful life for little quilts on Mondays, the works!

WiP Wednesday!

Hooray for WIP Wednesdays! Especially WIP Wednesdays where I've got something to report!

MADE MAJOR PROGRESS ON...

Some bee blocks. This cute squished 9-patch is for Shayla in Sew Buzzy. The last block of the Bee! Shayla said we could leave the block untrimmed so I did.

I'm also working on Sabah's June block for Sew & Bee Happy. She is making a red and white quilt and we got to choose what block to make - fun, huh? I chose Lynne Bob Square Pants. It's all HSTs - I'm trying to get over my aversion to trimming these things. I think I've found a solution: Thangles! I'm not affiliated with Thangles in any way other than as a happy user.

Thangles let you piece HSTs in strips, and because you're using paper to stabilize that bias seam, the HSTs hold their shape very nicely and no trimming is required. You do have to remove the papers but that is okay by me. This block is scrappy, so I cut the papers into 1- and 2- HST sets, matched them up with scraps and went to town. Here's where I am in the block construction process (with a little help from my friend, and a couple of my own bee blocks in the background):

Not sure what that face is about: trimming HSTs maybe? :)

MADE SOME PROGRESS ON...

Finally, I'm busy doing my cutting for the Kaleidoscope Quilt Along. I finally zeroed in on a fabric choice, inspired by the towels in our master bathroom, of all things. Surely I'm not the only one for whom everything is a potential quilt? Didn't think so.

You know what else I'm doing? I feel particularly brilliant to have thought of this: while I cut strips for the Kaleidoscope, I'm cutting some extra strips to make a charity quilt! It'll be a simple strip quilt using WOF strips but it will be so nice to have them (mostly) all cut and ready to go! Yay me!

WISHED I'D WORKED ON...

My Wonder Wheel. It's been basted for ages, but I just haven't gotten to quilt it yet. Soon, I hope. I also hope this washes out (imagine me making a frowny face):

I'm linking up over at Lee's. I love seeing what everyone's working on, don't you?

I'm IN!

Because I'm *still* kicking myself for not joining in her last quilt-along, I have said YES! to Elizabeth's newest QAL over at Don't Call Me Betsy.



Truthfully, kaleidoscope quilts have intimidated me because they seem complicated, what with all those dang seams meeting up in the centre and bias seams and strangely-angled triangles and what not and oh man as I write that out I realize those excuses are just plain silly. SILLY, I say! I need to get over my Quilter's Impostor Syndrome, stat!

This QAL is billed as being beginner-friendly, and looking at the block Elizabeth posted here, I totally agree (and again ask myself what the L my PROBLEM is with DOUBTING my Quilty Awesomeness), so if you've been waffling about joining, stop it! Come and join in the fun!

I think I'm going to go scrappy but with a controlled colour palette for this quilt. I think. Ask me tomorrow; I'll probably have changed my mind. Choosing fabric is by far my most favourite part of planning a quilt so I tend to stretch out the experience as long as possible. Whatever I choose, it will be from ye olde stash. Because said stash is quite significant, and I've concluded that - for me - fabrics are best enjoyed sewn up into something, even if that something is given away, which this quilt will be.

Oceanic Supernova

So many thanks go to Lee at Freshly Pieced for sharing her wonderful pattern Supernova via a quilt along. I had a blast watching this quilt come together, and I am absolutely thrilled with the result.

And so, without further ado, I present to you Oceanic Supernova:

I elected to follow one of Lee's many helpful suggested quilting strategies (which she generously mocked up for us), and quilted ¼" outside the main pieced lines in the pattern. This quilt is staying with us (yay!) and my husband prefers less quilting to more. Fine with (lazy) me!! I used a 30wt thread by Aurifil in a light blue, and it worked beautifully, in my opinion. Just enough contrast against the white background, as well as the various colours of the quilt.

Here, you can see the colour of the thread a little better:

And here is the back:

It's pieced together fairly randomly using the larger scraps from the quilt top - which started as a Fat Quarter bundle of Kona Solids called Poseidon - together with some yardage of Kona Caribbean (the big blocks of blue/green) and some strips of the Giant Octopi print I used for the centre square of the centre block on the front. I loosely followed Kati's Slash and Sew method, and I've got a process post about that in the works. I quite like the final product!

For now, though, I am delighted that I kept up with this quilt along and finished in time to be eligible to win a FQ bundle of Castle Peeps! Next up on the list is my Kona Charm Challenge for which I have both a plan AND (now) an opening in my schedule. Hooray!

This is a big finish for me, so those of you who join up to {Sew} Modern Mondays, Fabric Tuesday and WIP Wednesday are gonna be seeing a lot of Oceanic Supernova!

WIP Wednesday

I had some time off work last week and it was glorious! Time with the family, time to sew (thank you, preschool!), time to go to a quilt show, etc.

MADE PROGRESS ON....

Still working furiously on the Supernova quilt. There's a bundle of Castle Peeps on the line as an incentive to get the quilt-along finished. I adore that line, so I'm definitely on track. I've assemble a backing,

basted,

and quilted Supernova!

Here is what the quilting looks like closer up:

The quilt is trimmed, and the binding is made. Just have to attach it, make a label and wash it. I realized I have to have this done by the weekend because I'll be away at a conference for work during the early part of next week.

I posted about my bee blocks already, so that's the week. 

No progress on anything else, but I am really excited to see Supernova almost done.

Lee at Freshly Pieced hosts the WIP Wednesday link-up - it's well worth checking out!

WIP Wednesday Under The Wire

It's still Wednesday here in the Pacific Time zone!

Went away for a few days over Easter, so no sewing time. Lots of wine-drinking time, though so I'll call it a wash. A delicious winey wash.

MADE SOME PROGRESS ON...



Wonder Wheel! I ran out of the Quilter's Linen and I discovered that Kona Coffee looks pretty much the same so I used that for the outer border. I didn't measure the top very well when I was cutting my outer borders and managed to cut the last two pieces about 3/4" short. Yes, that's the primal scream you heard the other night.

But here's how I fixed it - the little pieced rectangles of scraps! Someone else far more creative than I did it in their quilt-along blocks (I can't seem to find the photo right now) so I copied. That's an example of how to make a cutting error work in your favour!

There's still some floofy jazz going on around the circle but I plan to quilt it out then ignore it if it doesn't disappear.

MADE A TEENSY BIT OF PROGRES ON...


Supernova - backing in progress

NO PROGRESS ON...

Everything else. I have some bee blocks requiring my attention. Good thing I have three days off work!

Did you check out what everyone else was doing over at Lee's?

Giveaway Winner and Supernova Full Frontal

First things first: the giveaway winner! Thank you for your lovely comments, everyone, and for all your support. It means a LOT.

The winner of the 3 half-metres of Mendocino fabric is:

And who is commenter 51? Kristie!!

Kristie is a fellow Canadian and wouldn't you agree that her proposition is kind of awesome (she had me at "wine")? I do believe there is still snow where she is so I think I'm just going to take a chance on Canada Post. Congratulations, Kristie!!

And the title of the post promised a Supernova Full Frontal (^TM Krista who was also the photographer).

Isn't Lee's pattern wonderful?? I did find out that I inadvertently rotated one of the blocks' subunits, but it still looks nice. That, and the fact that it looks fabulous no matter what fabric people have used, is the mark of a great design in my humble opinion. Thanks, Lee!

And thanks again to you all for reading, following, commenting, and participating. You make this fun.

xoxo

WIP Wednesday

Getting this post in under the wire for Lee's linky party:

MADE MAJOR PROGRESS ON...

Sew Fresh Fabrics Scrap Bee block (finished).

Supernova! The top is all pieced!

I am getting a full frontal of it tomorrow (Thursday) when I bring the quilt top to the VMQG meeting. Tonight, I am getting a head start on the back, I think. Or maybe I will work on...

Wonder Wheel!

This is where it sat this morning. I'm thinking of two rows of the skinny border. In any case, I need some more brown for the outer border - I don't have enough of the Quilters Linen to make it and no other brown in my stash works. My lovely Kona Colour Card tells me that Coffee is the shade I need to purchase at Spool of Thread. The sewing lounge hosts the VMQG meetings AND has all 200+ colours of Kona available. And they also got a shipment of Ruby Star Rising. *bliss*

MADE NO PROGRESS ON...
Everything else.

OTHER PROJECTS/TO-DOs ON THE GO

Sew Buzzy block for Vicky - a bookshelf block that looks really fun.
Sew & Bee Happy block for Hannah - scrappy blues and greys. Scraps have been pulled, just need to be cut and pieced.
Maple Leaf Bee block for Valerie - orange and Kona Coal in a fab stacked strips formation.

Lots to do, but it keeps me out of trouble. More or less.

Fancy Schmancy

I decided to take a break from sewing last night because I've been going at it pretty hard these last few nights trying to get cuaght up on my Supernova quilt. It's coming together really nicely, though - four blocks pieced and 4 others laid out.

And now the fancy part - I've been farting around with the blog design and I got it in my head that maybe I could make myself a blog button. And I did! (This tutorial worked best for me). What do you think? Yes? No? If you like it, grab it!

<a href=" http://felicityquilts.blogspot.com/"><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_XQHYHpWE56A/TaiLtvRurYI/AAAAAAAAAeg/z-bZ04zEjt0/s800/button.jpg " height="150" width="150" border="0" alt=" Felicity Quilts" /></a>

As a little incentive to grab the button, I will tell you that I have plans to make it worth your while to do so. If you know what I mean. And I think you do.



Just Quilting Along...

I have an ambivalent relationship with Quilt Alongs. I love, love, love the camaraderie and - in one notable case (you know who you are, Lynne) - the naughty rude silly hilarious discussions in the Flickr groups. I also like a deadline because it keeps me on track. The flip side of that same deadline coin is the pressure. Oh lordy the pressure. I can't always keep up! And it bugs me!

Having said that, I appear to be on track for one QAL, and behind (so far) in another. Batting .500 - not too terrible, right?

ON TRACK:

The Dresden Quilt Along! I'm pleased to report that I fixed this mess - those puckers just would not press out:

And it now looks much more respectable - the circle is actually round now (insert eyeroll).



BEHIND:

I'm puttering along with the Supernova Quilt Along. I love love love how the blocks are shaping up and I am so so happy with my fabric choices! It took me a loooong time to plan and cut the blocks, but I'm there, and I've pieced two (of nine) blocks' worth of sub-units. I should be able to be closer to done by the time next week's instructions are posted.




It's not much, but it's something - I'm linking to Quilt Story's Fabric Tuesday.

Got Some Sewing Done

I didn't participate in the Friday Night Sew In because I was too dang tired. I usually sew for an hour or more each night after I put my daughter to bed in any case, but I've learned to listen to my body. If I try to sew when I'm too tired, I make lots of silly errors and it ends up at best a waste of time, and at worst, a disaster.

So when I found myself starting to brush my kid's teeth with a toothbrush covered in diaper cream (seriously) (I've got the Mother of the Year trophy allll sewn up, don't it?) I decided it would be prudent not to come anywhere near machinery of any kind. I read my fantastic book instead.

I did get some sewing done at other points over the weekend, and here are the fruits of my labour:



That is a test block for Lynne's quilt along over at Lily's Quilts (interested? see the button on my sidebar). I love love love how quickly this comes together, and how big the block ends up. I'll use this on the back of the New Wave Quilt. I haven't given up on it, it's just gone onto the back burner. I refuse to admit that it's a UFO. Even though I keep putting projects ahead of it on the to-do list.

One of the reasons I'm behind on everything (other than the forementioned re-prioritizing of shiny new projects over old ones...) is that I'm now in three bees! Note to self: Self, that's too many. One of the many pluses of being in a bee is that you get to fondle work with other people's fabric. I was sorely tempted to "forget" send back the extra fabric that I got sent to make this string block. I've never seen most of them before and I love ALL of them!



And I basted my DQS10 quilt. Trying not to freak out about how to quilt it. Or rather, trying to stop fretting that attempting to do some interesting free motion quilting in each block is going to wreck it.



Slowly, slowly, I'm getting there. Goal for this week: quilt the doll quilt. Full stop.

Lining up to Amy's One Thing One Week challenge!

Quilt Alongs

Despite the fact that I still haven't even finished half of this quilt along, I've gone and joined two more.

What can I say? I'm very susceptible to peer pressure. (Thank goodness that high school foray into smoking didn't quite catch on!)

Come play with me?

WIP Wednesday

Oh my goodness do I have a lot of WIPs on the go!

MADE MAJOR PROGRESS ON...

My doll quilt for DQS10. Here's where I've gotten so far:

Only two more blocks to go! The violet one for the bottom left-hand corner - I'm having some trouble finding just the right fabric for this block. My purple stash is sorely lacking. The middle block is a surprise that I'm saving til the quilt's done and I post the final photo.


MADE SOME PROGRESS ON...

My That Girl...That Quilt along. Got another row and a bit done.

(repeat photo from my last post - sorry!)

MADE ABSOLUTELY NO PROGRESS ON....

The New Wave Quilt and the Confetti quilt (formerly machine cover).

ON DECK (aka Works In My Mind/WIMMs)...

Memory quilt for BFF's daughter (fabrics pulled, pattern chosen), Quilt Hope In quilt, etc.

Sorry for the rather boring post; I just wanted to get that organized for myself.

Linking up to Lee's for WIP Wednesday.

Retreat Report

Imagine you're planning to go on an all-day quilt retreat. It goes from 9 am to 10 pm, meals, snacks, coffee/tea/juice are provided. You'll have your own banquet table workspace, plus access to a big table for basting and raised tables for comfortable cutting. Now. Here's the question: how much sewing/quilting do you think you will accomplish in those 13 hours?

Here's my list of projects that I brought along (vaguely thinking I would get most of them mostly (if not completely) done). I've indicated the project's status so you can get an idea of where I sat with them as I packed them up:

1. Drunk Love in a Log Cabin-style Bee Blocks (2) for Nicole in the Maple Leaf Bee (fabric still in mailing envelope);
2. Christmas Tree Skirt ties to be finished off (raw edges needed to be folded in and ties finished with a topstitch);
3. DQS10 quilt (fabric pulled, blocks chosen, one (of 9) blocks pieced);
4. That Girl That Quilt Along quilt (all cut out with 1 row (of 8) of blocks already pieced);
5. New Wave Quilt (all cut out);
6. Memory quilt for my BFF's daughter (fabric pulled (but not cut), and pattern chosen).

Here's what I actually accomplished:

1. The Bee Blocks.

Bee Blocks

2. The Tree Skirt ties (took literally 5 minutes - I couldn't find time to do that before Christmas??? Ugh.)

3. Four DQS10 blocks.

4 more (6½") DQS10 blocks

4. 1 full and 1 partial row of Quilt Along blocks (sorry for the terrible photo). 

More QAL blocks - bottom row is missing some frames

As usual, my eyes were bigger than my stomach, quilting-wise. Thirteen hours seems like such a long time!! I felt like I should have walked out with ALL of my stuff done! 

Oh well. The best part of it all wasn't what I got sewn, it was who I got to spend the day with:

Flickr Friends on Retreat

While I wasn't as productive as I (admittedly delusionally) hoped, I had tons of fun and got a little sewing done, too. I'd call that a success.