Starburst and Triple Zip Pouch

I got two major goals for the month accomplished tonight!

So when I decided to make the middle size (32" blocks) I really didn't have a clear idea in my head of JUST HOW BIG that was. Just to give you an idea, my Nook is in the first picture as a size reference. Freaking ridiculous. That said, I'm very pleased with how they have turned out thus far, except that I wish I'd used something other than white for the background. White was just the only thing i had 4 yards of and I am trying to avoid buying additional fabric. Kona Ash would have looked better but was not available locally. :(

The other two blocks will have the same colors of burst points--red for the umbrella centers, green for the polka dot center. The FQ bundles I'm using only came with 5 prints total, so I'm making it work despite the fact that the tutorial calls for 12. 

I'd also like to thank Melissa and the Fat Quarter Shop--I won last week's giveaway! I won a charm pack of Honey Honey, which I'm super excited to use. 

So pretty!

I also was able to complete a Triple Zip Pouch tonight.

The main pouch is Anna Maria Horner's First Impressions from the Innocent Crush collection (LOVE this fabric, found almost a yard of it I didn't know I had!). The accent fabrics are Bella Solid in light blue and one of the prints from Lucy's Crab Shack.

The lining is one of the Riley Blake chevrons. 

This was quick, but not easy. I had some difficulties, exacerbated by my missing seam ripper. I kept getting the lining caught in my stitching, and I'm really not super-good at sewing zippers in the first place. I also have one little area near the top zipper where I wasn't able to stitch close enough to the zipper while sewing up the sides, and so the fusible fleece shows a bit. Once I find a hand-sewing needle, I'll fix that. In the meantime, not too bad a job for my first effort, and I plan to make several more of these at some point. I just need to figure out what I'm going to use this for--it's a little small for most of my pouchy needs.

Linking up to:

January Blocks and February Goals

I had a somewhat productive January. Here are the blocks I made:

 

These are for We Bee Learning. We were asked to make two Rocky Road to Kansas blocks in shades of blue and green with a gray background. When I saw that this was the block for January, I was a little bit nervous… I hadn't done any paper piecing before this! But these blocks looked a lot easier than the Lucky Stars practice block, so I jumped right in. Unfortunately, my first attempt looked something like this:

Actually, this is more like my 9th or 10th attempt. After I sewed the background in the wrong place, I ripped it out, tried again, set it aside, and made 7 more quarter-blocks successfully. When I came back to this piece I realized that there were no pieces of my background fabric remaining that were big enough. Oops. To the fabric store I  went, and successfully finished both blocks. They are on their way to their owner!

Here's my practice block for Lucky Stars BOM.. I did this AFTER I successfully completed a Rocky Road to Kansas. Unfortunately, I did not note the seam allowance on the paper piecing templates, and thus this happened:

Fortunately, it is a practice block, which means it doesn't have to be part of the final quilt if I don't want it to be. (I really don't feel like remaking it.)

January's block turned out pretty well, except I think that when I piece the blocks together, the tips of the stars will be cut off. Oh well--it's a learning experience.

Here are my flying goose blocks for the Starburst Quilt-Along. I've made the goose in the corner blocks too, and started the HSTs, but do you know how long it takes to make 64 half-square triangles? Freaking FOREVER. 

I also have made 4 or 5 blocks for the Scrappy Trip Along (not pictured), about 7 scrappy string blocks, and a bunch more bow ties (I think I'm up to 71 for the next round of the swap, and about 60 for me to keep, the goal is around 224 total). 

So, goals for February, so I can link up with A Lovely Year of Finishes:

1. Bind Giant Granny Square quilt--I quilted it right at the beginning of January.

2. Bind my friend's rail fence quilt--in exchange, she's knitting the second sock of a pair of Jaywalkers I started several years ago.

3. February bee blocks--two wonky house blocks and a wonky log cabin block.

4. Modern Scrappy Bits Swap--I should get my partner assignment next week!

5. Triple-Zip Pouch-Along

Linking up to:

Planned Quilts

Though I'm participating in the finish-along and making progress, I also have a LOT of quilts and quilt-alongs that I'm planning and starting this month, and I wanted to document those here. 

I've already mentioned that I'm participating in Elizabeth's Lucky Stars BOM club. I'm making these blocks with a variety of prints from several collections, including some by Heather Bailey, Sugar Pop, and a couple of others that coordinated. The background is Kona Peony.

So far I've made the practice block and January's block, and paper-piecing is much less scary than I thought. I doubt it'll ever take the place of regular piecing for me, but it's definitely an option now!

I like this quilt because of the oversized blocks--it reminds me a bit of Swoon, though they're not quite the same. I'm making the middle size out of a FQ bundle of Rainy Days and Mondays from Riley Blake. I got these fabrics for Christmas, but my mom found the bundles at Tuesday Morning! That's one of her favorite stores and on several occasions when I've stopped in there, I've found older collections of quilt shop quality fabric at very low prices. 

I've cut most of the fabric for the blocks but not the background. I'm a little bit unsure of what I'm going to use for the background--I think white, because that's all I really have a lot of...

This pattern is so cool! I'm only going to make 12 blocks, which will perfectly use up a 20-strip jelly roll I have in my stash (another Tuesday Morning find, a Tanya Whelan collection of pastels) and will be a perfect baby-sized quilt.

Taking Turns quilt

I made this block as part of We Bee Learning this past year, and I really like it. So I'm going to make a quilt using this pattern and my stash of Tula Pink Prince Charming. My local yarn shop changed ownership this year, and the old owner was liquidating the yarn and fabric stocks in preparation for closing, so I was able to get about 7 yards of Prince Charming for half price! Since it's such a large scale print, I think it'll look really good in these oversized blocks (18.5 inches unfinished).

We Bee Learning 2012 quilt

My month in We Bee Learning was December. I requested that my bee-mates make this block. In the pattern it looks boring and retro. But in bright solids...

So much better!

I'm missing two blocks that are en route from Saskatchewan, Canada. I'm also planning to make probably 8 more blocks in order to size this up to 4 by 5 instead of 3 by 4. 

Finally, I'm hopping on the Scrappy Trip Along bandwagon, and I'm participating in a strip swap in order to make my blocks even scrappier. I'm also swapping 6.5" string blocks, which is a fantastic way to stash bust--my stash bins are (VERY SLOWLY) being emptied! 

So that's, what, 4 completely new quilts, plus the bee quilt? I think I TOTALLY deserve to link up to