More progress

I spent many hours in the sewing studio over the weekend and a couple evenings last week, along with a good part of the day yesterday, and I'm making great progress on my Storm-At-Sea. I've got 4 columns joined together and a 5th column pieced.  Yesterday, I finished piecing all the little square-in-a-square blocks, as well.  I'm absolutely loving how it is coming together, and it's been made easier thanks to a $5 purchase at my new-to-me closest local quilt shop last Friday night - grippy adhesive rings that I applied to my Fast2Cut templates! I had been having a horrible time trimming my diamond units because the template kept slipping, but no more! The pics aren't great - quick snaps of the pieces laying over the side of the guest bed, but it's better than the design wall mess pictures, right?! I'm being pretty careful, and it seems to be paying off - my points are matching better than I would have expected!  It's taken a ridiculously long time, so I might not tackle it right away, but I will make one of these for myself some day.  It really is one of my very favorite designs - I love that wave on the diagonals!

I also thought I'd show some of my side projects using the scraps - these are a few of my tiny chevrons...

And a few of the pieces to make more chevrons as I get more HSTs put together into flying geese units. I also have had fun with my triangle off-cuts making little kites, then seeing them together! I'm either going to appliqué these to make little mug rugs or potentially use them as a focal point on a bigger quilt.  They end up being seven-sided, so they are a bit strange, but waste not, want not, right?  (And yes, Santa-Elle is buying herself a new ironing board for Christmas!  I might also finish up with my sewing room reorganization - that would be pretty exciting!)

I'd thought about putting some of the off-cut pieces on the back of my storm-at-sea, but I've decided that this back will be simpler than my norm...a solid with just a few stripes. The calm in the storm, so to speak - especially since I don't know yet whether it will end up as a wall hanging or being used as a sofa quilt!  

I haven't looked at enough storm-at-seas to know, but I'm thinking about just binding it when I get to the edge and not including any borders...I'm worried that they'll break up the pattern too much.  I guess I'll see when I get there...it's definitely close.  I need to piece 4 more diamond units, since I decided to go bigger than originally planned.  I've got about 9 more big SIS units to add the final triangles to, and then I just need to trim and make the columns, connect, etc.  I think one or two more good days of sewing, and I might have a complete top!  Hooray!  I have no idea how I should quilt it, either...suggestions are welcome!

My big project got pushed to the side briefly this weekend for a bit of charity sewing. Becky had blogged about making some quilts for a family that had nothing - their 18-month-old had been sleeping on a board on the floor until recently! She'd just gotten a mattress, but had no bedding, so I'd volunteered to make a fitted crib sheet out of this cute fabric I'd gotten at an online store's going-out-of-business sale.  I had a bit of fabric left over, so I made a really cute top sheet to match!  I wish you could really see the detail in this sheet...I went a bit over the top, perhaps, but it turned out so great ("adorable" was Becky's word!)!  I sewed it such that I had a fold of white sheet at the top, which I folded over again and top-stitched so it has a nice thick edge...easier for little hands to grab to pull up or down. Of course, the band of print just makes it so pretty!  I thought about doing a blind hem, but decided instead to turn over two layers of fabric and top stitch around the entire perimeter in hopes that it will be sturdier.  I know it's silly to get excited about making bedding, but it is something I really enjoy doing, and I love the idea that I've been able to help someone while doing something I enjoy!  The crib sheet has French seams and elastic across the corners in a diagonal so it hooks under the bed - I'm hoping that will work better than the typical way elastic is applied to keep the fitted sheet secure. 

Becky is finishing quilts for both kids and delivering them on Christmas Eve, so I'm glad that these arrived in New York in time for delivery (and so that Becky could incorporate the remaining pieces of the print onto the back)...hope it makes someone's Christmas a little brighter!

I'm also making progress on the hand-quilting on Anne's mini quilt...though it's a little slower than I'd like, since usually as soon as I sit down, I have a cat in my lap, and she can be a little hard to quilt around!  I'll probably take it home to Georgia after Christmas if there is room in my bag, since I suspect I'll do a fair amount of "visiting" with my family.  I'm only there for 5 days, and I have one friend who wants help making a t-shirt quilt, along with a trip to visit my brother and nephew in Athens, so I'm sure it will be a whirlwind, but I love having some hand-work with me - that ensures that the trip won't be dull (indeed, if I have sewing, we'll never sit down)!  I'm really looking forward to the trip...I've missed my parents a lot, despite frequent phone calls.  Of course, I'll miss Bryan and Pilgrim when I'm there...I guess it is a good problem to have to love and be loved by people in multiple states!

Happy holidays!