Wednesday, April 20, 2011

{WIP} Wednesday

WIP Wednesday at Fresly Pieced

I'm in the middle of WAY WAY WAY too many things. Ugh. I want to be at the END of some of these! And yet, somehow, I still keep adding more...I'm not too bright. :o)

Well, okay. I do have one finish. See that new little button on the right? Yup. We now have a button for our local Front Range Modern Quilt Guild! Yay!

And on that note, we are going to do something in the fall that I'm just a little too excited about. I don't know what we're going to call it, but something like "UFO"...as in "Un Finished October" where anyone who wants to participate agrees to not start any new projects for the entire month.

Did you swallow that? No. New. Projects. For an entire month. And it's a big month, too! Not a little month like February or April. A month with 31 days! We do get one mulligan, though, if we need to start something new. :o) The idea is that we spend our creative time finishing projects. Especially leading up to the holidays, this should be a good thing. I'll let you know how it goes. Heck, maybe I'll even make a button for it since I'm all skilled up in that department now. :o)

Where was I? Oh, right. Works In Progress = Too Many.

I've got my Japan Quilt. I took a class at a LQS on their long arm machine, and I was able to do one row of meander stitching before I had to hustle home to my babies. Unfortunately, the tension was off for about 1/4 of it, so I spent a little time last night doing some "reverse sewing" with my reverse sewing machine (a.k.a. seam ripper). (sigh)  I am going to spend a couple more hours on the long arm on Friday, and I absolutely positively MUST finish the quilting on it. I found a pretty rainbow polka dot (on a black background) for the binding, and I'm going to try my hand at machine binding the behemoth. Otherwise I'll never finish it in time!


I used Lady Harvatine's Hexagonia tutorial for machine piecing hexagons, and I'm totally smitten. Here's a sneak peak at a block I did. I'll tell you the story about it later. The important thing is that I am now The Hexagon Master east of the Rocky Mountains.



I am in the middle of making my bee blocks for Yolanda. She asked us to make pineapple blocks that do not require paper piecing! Did you swallow that? No paper piecing! And the pictures that the other worker bees have done look really great. She's going to have an incredible quilt when we're all done!




I still need to embroider my Birdie Stitches for March and create my block for April. (Heck, I might as well just create my May block while I'm at it.) You can see the orange border here for March. April's block will have a yellow border, and May's will have a green border. I am surrounded by rainbows right now! (Which I love...)


And then there's a mug rug for my guild-mate, Audrey (I'm only showing you the carnage).  I'll show you the finished mug rug after I give it to her. We were supposed to give them to our partners at the April MQG meeting, but she wasn't able to attend. She asked me to give it to her in person, so we'll all just have to wait till after May 9th. I'm kind of excited about it, though. :o)


And, of course, my Robert Kaufman Kona Solids Challenge. See the dust collecting on my charm pack? Hah. I have a million ideas -- some easier than others, of course. And I had a fabulous idea the other morning, but I need to do a test run to see how easy it is.  If I wait much longer, I'm going to have to default to my easiest design and just whip it out!

And with that, I'm off. I know there are other projects I'm in the middle of, but I just can't think of them.

OH...how could I forget!!  It's not really a true "finish", but it is something creative that happened this week. Last Saturday night, Dave and I went to a place in Denver called Canvas and Cocktails. They give you all the supplies to paint a picture, AND they put an instructor at the front of the room to tell you everything you need to know! It was a lot of fun. Saturday was their first "Guys' Night", so half the room was men, which really changed the chemistry of the night. Normally it's a bunch of women and a lot of wine, and there's a whole lotta chatting going on. We all know men are different, and are less likely to chat while they're doing...well, heck. Let's be real. They're just less likely to chat. Period. No matter what they're doing. :o)  Can't use up their 500 words for the day, right? Haha. :o)

Here's what Dave and I made. You can see the inspiration painting in the background. He didn't do too bad, did he? :o)

Canvas and Cocktails ~ at the scene

I hope you have a great week.

11 comments:

  1. Thanks for posting the link to machine sewing hexagons! You're look so great! Hexagons are going to be my next challenge. Great job!

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  2. WOW you do have a lot going on, but I'm in the same boat too! What is wrong with me? Don't know, but I need to work on finishing up stuff too! I love your paintings! :)

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  3. what nice projects.I love the hexagons.

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  4. so very interesting to check out all the blogs on WIP Wednesdays. I am glad I came to your blog, I am going to check out the link on the hexies. I thought I had seen somewhere about doing them on the machine but then thought maybe I was dreaming. I like the looks of yours even it is was one block or so from the back. Thanks

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  5. Reverse Sewing!!!! Hahaha That's so funny!!

    Being a mom always gets in the way of my sewing too. Hehe!!! :)

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  6. Thank you thank you thank you for visiting my blog and leaving such a sweet comment. By coming on over and reading about your hexies I found the video and WOW a whole new world opened up....I refuse to EPP so this is great!!!

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  7. I love that you & your husband went to a painting class together! And your finished work is great! Where are you going to hang them?

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  8. Your list of WIP makes me feel a little bit less guilty about my list. I'm really looking forward to our UFO... although I'm probably going to need more than one month!

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  9. So excited for the machine tutorial on hexi's! But wow, when do you have the time!?! Crazy!

    ps. having a little giveaway on my blog to support a friend, stop by!

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  10. My WIP is way too long too, and I want to start new projects so desperately! I can't wait to see my mug rug! The picture you posted was such a tantalizing tease. I should start counting down the days until our next meeting.:)Love the tutorial on machine piecing hexagons, too.

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  11. Ooooh, those hexies are so beautiful! And your Birdie Stitches block is too cute. Thanks for linking up to WIP Wednesday. : )

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What are you sewing?