Stash Shopping in Maine and Chirp Quilt

Well I went on my little weekend getaway to Maine. I had a great time on the bus tour and was able to do a bit of shopping. I did however catch a sinus cold while in Maine. So I've been feeling quite under the weather since Sunday evening. I'm finally starting to feel on the mend tonight. Here are some of the great finds I found in Maine. I'm already planning another trip....better save up :)

These are my purchases from Marden's. I only had 45 mins here since the bus stopped here so I didn't get to pick up as much as I would have liked. But I did find some great deals! I just love the purple circles on the white background.

Next up was the Hobby Lobby. I absolutely loved this store! The staff there were just incredible. And the deals were amazing. I picked up some quilting books on clearance for less than $10 which were originally over $25! I highly recommend going into the Hobby Lobby if you're ever in Bangor, Maine.

Just love the giraffe print! And the butterflies! I was so into a green, grey and black mood :) And the owls print is gorgeous!

My next shop was Jo-Ann's. Great deals on fabric. The staff that was working that night didn't seem happy to have customers. And seemed even less happy when I took all my bolts to be cut. Even though the mood was unhappy due to the staff, finding great deals on the fabric still made me incredibly happy :)

Such pretty fabric. I bought two of the purple Owl panel because they were only $2. Can you believe it?! And for all the fabric which is around 1 yard each or a bit more came up to $43.18. My total savings on the receipt was $42.31. There were lots of other things that I wanted to purchase but I only had my suitcase to fill with my purchases.

Also wanted to share a finish quilt top. The Chirp quilt top is complete. I'm really liking the quilt top. It was a fun experience since nothing was really thought about. I know the rows with birds were all measured to be 4.5" in width and the pink rows were 2.5" in width. And then everything else was just sewed together and then cut straight. Add a few long pieces to the top and bottom and then a border. Now it's complete.

So now I just need to pick out a backing and start quilting it. Since this quilt is for a 2 year old, I think I'm just going to do some straight line quilting since this quilt will probably see a few washes. Hopefully I'll feel better this weekend and possibly finish this quilt.

Hope your week has been a healthy, productive one unlike mine but I'm hoping for a good weekend :)

Progress, Progress, Progress

I feel like I'm at a standstill for my progress in getting projects done. I just seem to be unable to focus on one project. Normally I do focus on one project and when that one is complete, I'll move to the next one. Right now, I have a few WIPs that I am going between. The tweet quilt is progressing where I have laid out the rows with fussy cut bird prints.

I have sewed some of these rows together now....slow progress...but it's getting there. I will be cutting out sashing strips to go between the rows of fussy cut bird prints.

Next on the list has been working on the Maple Leaf blocks. Here's my second block.

These blocks come together quickly since I have a lot of the squares cut for the background. I cut the Fat Quarters as I go which ironically leaves me with a Fat Eight. So I've started a bin for Fat Eights and pieces less than a Fat Quarter to further my organization of my stash.

I ordered up a cute bundle from Westwood Acres Fabric at the beginning of the month. It took a little while for it to get here but I absolutely love it. I will be using this gorgeous bundle for one of my projects :)

I just love this fabric together. It is just so sweet! So for now, it will sit on my shelf to be admired until I figure out what to do with it :)

I also received my block Five from Fat Quarter Shop so I should be tackling that block next week or weekend. I'm heading down to Maine this weekend and I've already located some fabric shops to visit :) So excited!

More stash purchases to come!

The October Library Project Edition

Well it has been an interesting month. The weather has been gorgeous for October. So thrilled about that! Now to the library project list....well I have not completed anything off the list this month but I have done some projects. First off, I started and finished my Vroom, Vroom quilt.

I also decided to start doing some Maple Leaf blocks every once in a while. My hope is to make one at least every month and then in the next year, I will hopefully have blocks to whip up a Maple Leaf quilt. Here's my first Maple Leaf :)

I also just finished up this gorgeous Tahoe Tote bag. I absolutely love it! You can see more pictures of this bag here.

Don't you just love that butterfly print! Here's a peek inside.

I love the gray print for the lining. It's a text print called Rosie's Love Letters. I just put my rotary cutter in there to show the pockets and how sturdy this bag is. Absolutely love it! It'll be coming with me on my trip to Maine next week :) Oh the fabric stores!

So as the year is winding down for The Library Project, I am beginning to realize that it is ok to change what you want to make. I will most likely not complete all the projects on my list but I know I definitely did a lot more projects this year than I ever thought possible. I went out of my comfort zone and tried....sometimes kicking and screaming but I did it!

Maybe November will motivate me to knock something else off my TLP list. I'm linking up over at Adrienne's blog Chezzetcook Modern Quilts for the October TLP wrap-up. Have a visit and see what the other members of The Library Project are up to :)

Freestyle Quilt and my First Tahoe Tote

Lots of overtime at work has kept me from sewing in the evenings so I didn't have a chance to do much during the week. I did however do a little bit of planning for a quilt for a little girl for Christmas. I had some Flannel Bird print which I wasn't sure what to do with. So I thought why not try to use it for her quilt. So I started off by fussy cutting all the bird prints that I could get. They are all various lengths but the height of the square is all 4.5".

Next I cut out these directional prints into 3", 4", and 5" sections X 4.5". Then I started laying them out with the bird prints.

Then I just decided to sew a directional print with a bird print. I figured I would sew all those together and then lay out the rows. I picked out a pink flower print flannel to go between each bird row.

So then I sewed them all together and I am just waiting for the motivation to strike me to lay all the sections out. It's sort of like a freestyle quilt since I'm not sure how this is going to pan out....hopefully it'll all work out in the end :)

So I started up another project since I wasn't receiving inspiration for the Chirp quilt. I had borrowed this pattern from my mom back in July. The pattern is called the Tahoe Tote. It intrigued me because the description on the pattern said that there was six pockets in this tote. I always wanted to make a tote that would be more organized than the one I carry around right now. Anyhow so I started picking through my stash for fabric that would inspire me. My gray with pink butterflies definitely called out to me. I absolutely love this fabric. I picked out a few other fabrics that I thought would go well with the butterfly fabric. Then I had the pieces all cut out and sewed together.

Don't you love those butterflies! I had to run out to my LQS to purchase more of this beautiful fabric. I actually bought the rest which was less than 2 meters. I just love it! So this is the bag front.

Here's some pictures of the progress:

Picture of the front and bag pieces sewed together.

Outside of bag complete.

Very sturdy bottom. I used Peltex 72 which is extremely sturdy. I didn't know how to feel about using it but so happy that I did!

I forgot to take pictures of the process for the lining and pockets. I was just too excited to finish this up!

 Sitting pretty :)

 Inside view. Lots of pockets and space :)

Extremely happy with project....I will definitely be making another one....maybe one in every colour :)

Vroom, Vroom and a Leaf :)

I woke up this morning determined to finish the Vroom, Vroom quilt and I got it done! So tremendously happy to have this one off my list! So here are a few pictures of the finished quilt.

Just love this one. I think the simple black binding just finishes it off nicely. Hopefully the client who ordered this will love it too.

So last night, I was looking through some quilt patterns and came across this modern maple leaf block quilt called Modern Maples by Amanda Woodward-Jennings. I thought it may be fun to make a maple leaf block every once in a while to break up the time I spend while making a quilt. And then eventually I would have all the blocks ready to go. I love Fat Quarter Shop's Mystery BOM quilt so I figured why not make my own block every once in a while. The only issue that I found with this pattern is that the 5 inch squares that are made into HSTs need to be trimmed to 4.5" before putting the block together. The instructions do not mention to trim to 4.5" square, instead the instructions make it sound as if they should be trimmed to 4". They are suppose to be 4" square when the whole maple leaf block is complete. Just a heads up because if you trim those squares to 4", every other square will need to be trimmed to 4" to complete the block. And you will have a smaller maple leaf block.

Here is my first block of many :)

I'm using a cream colour as the background fabric because I have a lot of cream in my stash. I'm really trying to bust my stash so doing these blocks is a great way to do that. I'm also going to be using some Fat Quarters that I received from Sew Sisters Bargain Lover Club that I really don't like all that much. I have a difficult time with oranges, browns, and deep yellow colours. So this quilt should use up a lot of those fabrics that I typically wouldn't pick out on my own.

So are you working on any blocks that eventually will turn into a quilt?

So Close To The Finish Line!

Well the quilting is finished on the Vroom, Vroom quilt. I am quite pleased at how well the quilting went on this project. A few puckers here and there but the overall quilting is good. This quilt really took me longer than it should have to quilt it but my motivation just wasn't there. Wanting to have it complete is what kept me going!

I did a lot of straight line quilting on this one. I followed the lines on the border fabric since I couldn't really figure out another way to quilt this part without taking away from all the mechanic/garage items. Since this quilt is so busy, I decided to go with Kona Black solid fabric for the binding. I'm hoping to have that on by tomorrow which would make it finished!

I also whipped up a flannel pillowcase according to a pattern found on a blog by Dana called MADE. The pattern was quick and easy. It was a little more difficult for me to cut the piece of fabric since I didn't have 60" width Flannel. So comfy!

My first pillowcase! I know it's something easy, I've just never made one before. I may have to make a few more before winter comes.

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving weekend :)

Busy, Busy, Busy....

Well so far October has been a somewhat productive and busy month for me. Hubby was away at a conference in Toronto so I made a couple of trips to Halifax to drop him off at the airport and pick him back up. So of course, I had to make a quick trip into a couple of fabric shops. I needed some backing for the Vroom, Vroom quilt.

I picked up this green chevron fabric for the backing. It was a really good price and I figured it would be pretty neat on this little guy's quilt. So far I've been doing some straight line quilting on the quilt. These fabrics are quite busy so straight line quilting won't take away from that. I'm quite happy with the way it is turning out. I'm hoping to have this quilt complete sometime this weekend :)

I also purchased some new fabrics to add to my stash.

I also picked up some embroidery threads. These were my "dropping hubby at the airport" purchases. They were $2 and $3 a meter! Not sure what I'll do with them but I couldn't leave the fabric there for that price.

And these were my "picking hubby up at the airport" purchases.

I don't really have a plan for these but I figured the bright colours would be great for a baby quilt.

So all in all, I don't feel like I've been as productive as what I can be. I am getting that Vroom, Vroom quilt done but I feel like I would just rather be doing something else. I have been going through some of my scraps and have put blocks together for another Whispering Lake quilt that I will be donating as a fundraiser for the Relay for Life in my hometown. I'm one third of the way finished for those blocks. I'm hoping to have that one finished before or shortly after Christmas.

So any of you having trouble completing a project because you just want to be working on something else? How do you get through those times?