Work In Progress Wednesday: Crunch-Time Style

I've read on a few blogs that people are feeling over-committed.  I'm feeling the same way, but the end is in sight, and making progress is so great at reducing stress!  I've been spending a lot of time on a large client project, involving high-speed quilting through uneven layers, some of them thick.  I've  broken four needles in the last two hours, so I am taking a break for a while.  Because of the nature of the project it is difficult to see where the thick spots are before my needle hits them.  I hadn't broken any needles until yesterday.  Maybe it's just this piece that has knots or something.  I hope the next pieces will be better.

I guess while I'm cooling off from that would be a great time to work more on my Dresden Challenge project.  I am SO EXCITED about how it is coming along.  I haven't ever seen anyone else do anything like what I'm doing with this.  It should be fun!  Here's a sneak peek.

Be sure to come back next Tuesday, June 12th, for the full reveal and complete tutorial! 
I'm linking up to WiP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.  Go check out some other great projects!

EZ Quilting Dresden Challenge Hop Starts Today!

Today is the first day of the EZ Quilting Dresden Challenge blog hop!  The Salt Lake Modern Quilt Guild has organized the challenge, and several members are participating in the hop, as well as some other really talented bloggers from other places.  The Challenge will wrap up in September with a linky party starting September 1st.  There are three different categories you can enter depending on the kind of quilt you make.  Basically anything goes as long as you use the EZ Dresden ruler (or another 18 degree ruler) in some way.  For instance, I'll be sharing something completely non-circular that I'm really excited about on June 12th.  The good news for now?  At each stop on the hop you can enter to win one of these rulers!   The really good news for later?  There are HUGE prizes for challenge winners and participants!  (A Singer sewing machine, 100 spools of Gutterman thread, and Oliso iron, a picture of the winning quilt in a magazine...)  This is going to be a whole lot of fun.  I hope you all follow the hop every day and see what these ladies have come up with!

Here's my fabric for my tutorial on the 12th--even my three-year-old likes it.  I know I do. =)

Here's the schedule for the hop:

June 1
Salt Lake MQG: Kick Off www.slmqg.com/  Check out the tab at the top for details on categories and prizes.

June 2
Lee: freshlypieced.blogspot.com/

June 3
Kati www.fromthebluechair.com/

June 4
Victoria: bumblebeansinc.blogspot.com/
Tanya: www.squaresandtriangles.com

June 5
Val: howaboutpinkplease.blogspot.com/
Leigh: leedledeedlequilts.blogspot.com/

June 6
Amy: amyscreativeside.com/
Elisa www.stitchoutsidetheditch.com/

June 7
Katie: www.swimbikequilt.com/
Emily: emsscrapbag.blogspot.com/

June 8
Melissa: happyquiltingmelissa.blogspot.com/
Brooke: pitterputterstitch.blogspot.com/

June 9
Nicole:  mamalovequilts.blogspot.com/
Amy sukie.mt-wudan.com/

June 10
Elizabeth: www.dontcallmebetsy.com/
Colleen: www.thebusybean.com/

June 11
Faith: www.freshlemonsquilts.com/
Deonn: quiltscapesquilting.blogspot.com/

June 12
Angela: angelaflicker.com/
Barbie: thequiltingmill.blogspot.com Right here!

June 13
Amy: www.diaryofaquilter.com/

June 14
Jessica: sewcraftyjess.blogspot.com/

June 15
Salt Lake MQG: Wrap-up www.slmqg.com/

Check out these great sponsors!

Pillow Finish!

I found a few spare minutes to finish my Make it Sew Modern-Inspired pillow!

Funny thing about this.  Several months ago we were at my in-laws' house, and I was looking through a quilting magazine belonging to my mother-in-law.  I saw a picture of a pillow and thought, "That has to be on my couch."  I didn't even notice what the page was advertising.  I took a picture of it with my phone and started planning dimensions. 

Weeks later I was looking at Diary of a Quilter at this post about the new book coming out, and it had the same exact picture of the same pillow!  I hadn't even known it was in a book, but now that I think of it, anything pictured in a magazine is going to have the pattern available somewhere, or else it wouldn't be in the magazine.  If you want to make a pillow like this, you can buy the book here.  I made mine with satin-backed shantung and I LOVE it.  Mine is 16", I don't know how big the one in the book is.  I'm glad I've finally finished it.

I think it does look great on my couch. =)

Work In Progress Wednesday, Superhero Style

I've been really busy on a client project this week but managed to make a little progress on the superhero baby quilt.  Okay, my husband made progress on it while I was working on my client project, but I was in the same room and offered suggestions.  He cut out the freezer paper for pressing under the edges of the appliques, and cut out some windows for the daytime buildings.  Now maybe I can teach him how to use monofilament to actually do the applique...

Here's the daytime half, with appliques pinned roughly in place.  The Daily Planet is finally in this edition as well, although it looks more like a blob right now.

Here's Thor, ready to fight some bad guys.  Too bad the fabric doesn't look more like Chris Hemsworth... =)

My bargello is still on the back burner, but I've finally decided on fabric for my EZ Dresden post June 12th.  I ordered some Joel Dewberry Heirloom in Sapphire from an etsy shop, and I hope it gets here really soon!  It's a good thing I've got one of the later dates in the hop so I can be ready.  The blog hop starts FRIDAY at http://slmqg.com and there will be PRIZES!  Be sure to check it out.  I'll be sharing more details on Friday too.

Head over to Freshly Pieced for Work in Progress Wednesday!

Quilter's Block

I'm going to be doing a special tutorial for a blog hop on June 12th as part of a kick-off for the SEW EZ Dresden Challenge!  I was there when it happened, but I'm still pretty stunned that I have been given the opportunity to participate in this. The blog hop will be June 1st-15th, and I'll post more information about it soon.  Many new people will be visiting the blog and seeing my tutorial, and I want it to be just right.  I have an idea up my sleeve that looks pretty fabulous in my head, but my biggest problem is FABRIC!!!  I can't decide what to use!  Too bad the idea in my head doesn't have a specific color scheme.  I want something really fresh and modern looking, but also that I personally love.  I spent almost two hours today at a local quilt shop and couldn't make up my mind.  My sweet husband kept making suggestions, and was shot down every time.  Poor guy.  I did a smaller version of it with the leftovers from my bargello, but without the purple.  I loved it, but it needs more color. 

I'm really leaning toward Joel Dewberry's Heirloom line in the Sapphire colorway.  See it here.  I LOVE these colors, and his designs are fabulous.  If the shop I had been at today carried that line it would have been an easy decision.  I also just found out that the mother of one of my best friends teaches piano to his kids.  Small world, huh?

I really need to make up my mind QUICK so I can get started on this project and have it done by June 12th. 

(Too many) Works in Progress

I have a lot going right now.  Four projects going, three of which need to be done by June 1st if not sooner,  another which is HUGE and needs to be done by about June 20th, and another that I haven't started yet but I have until June 12th.  Stress much?  Yes, sometimes.  My huge project is for a client who has asked me not to blog about it in detail, so I'll just say it's going to keep me very busy. 

So here's what I've currently got going.
My Bargello top is done!  It ended up skinnier than I wanted it, so I added another row to each side, then some borders.  The binding will be the purple.  I LOVE it.  My problem is that I have next to no idea how I want to quilt it.  Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!  My husband thinks I should do something that looks like a sine wave.  I really want to have this done by June 1st for the Blogger's Quilt Festival. 
*Edit:  I just looked again at Amy's Creative Side and realized that entries for the festival ended last night at midnight.  So I guess 1) I won't be entering this quilt and 2) I don't have to finish it by June 1st.  I guess it's going back on the back burner.  I was excited to get it done.  I'm not sure why I thought I had that long.  Too bad.  I guess I'll have to plan ahead for next time.

The Superhero Quilt has been sitting for a while, and we just found out that this baby is coming sooner than expected, maybe even this week.  We found several fabrics with superheroes on them and cut them out.  This week I traced around each one onto freezer paper to help me turn the edges for applique.  I don't have a light box, but I have sliding glass doors in my kitchen, and it worked great.  My husband is going to cut out the freezer paper for me, so I'll get to actually sewing these on sometime after he does that, but he'd better hurry!

 My last WiP this week is a new project, but needs to be done my June 1st as well.  I'm making a pillow inspired by one in Make it Sew Modern.  I'm using poly satin-backed shantung (say that five times fast).  I've been using so much cotton lately that I forgot how SLIPPERY this stuff is!  It is going to look great on my couch.  More on this later.

I really hope I can get all this done and maintain my sanity.

I'm linking to Work in Progress Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

Airplane Baby Quilt

Nicole and her mom made this quilt.  Nicole's brother is a pilot, and he and his wife are expecting a boy, so they chose this pattern, available here.  They decided to provide their own batting.  I'm not sure what kind of batting it was, but it was a low loft.  They wanted it to still be puffy so we put three layers of batting in this quilt.  It was definitely puffy!  I had to be careful not to quilt it too close together to avoid making it stiff.

 I machine quilted little swags on the wings of the planes.

 I also did little freehand airplanes.  I put two of these in each of the patchwork blocks.

 I put stars and and loops in the border.

 I did meandering loops in the rest of the quilt, around all of the appliqued airplanes and between the quilted airplanes.  I also did the binding for them.

 Here's my three-year old trying to hold up the quilt for a picture.  Her arms are stretched as high as they go!  It didn't work out so well, but I'm glad she was willing to try!  My husband did a much better job.

  They came to pick it up on Saturday and they loved it.  I think it turned out really well!  It was fun to quilt this.  I had seen a picture of the pattern a few weeks ago, so when she showed me the quilt, I was excited to get to quilt this particular pattern.  This is also the first quilt that Nicole and her mom ever made, and they did a very good job!