WIP Wednesday: 2017 Wrap-up

2017 is almost over, and this is the last Wednesday of the year for me to share my work in progress pics with you. I’ve got four main projects in the works right now.

Helix Nebula is coming along nicely, but has been put on a hiatus while I finish my Mom’s Christmas present.

This is my Mom’s Christmas present. As you can see, I have not yet finished it, despite it being after Christmas. She knows that it is on the way, though, so posting a picture won’t spoil it.

And I’m also knitting up some mittens for my sister-in-law’s Christmas present. These are also not a surprise, I spent most of Christmas day with her working on them. The pattern is York Fingerless Mittens, free on Ravelry.

And finally, I’m in the home stretch for piecing the Colorwash quilt top. My goal was the finish the top before Christmas, because I got the kit last Christmas. I just need to sew together all the rows and add the borders. All the rows are pinned and piled on my sewing table.

That does it for WIP Wednesday for 2017. See you in the new year!

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WIP Wednesday: Helix Nebula #4 & Colorwash Quilt

When this post publishes, I’m going to be sitting in the Portland airport on my way to Toronto, Ontario, to celebrate my birthday with my mom. But before I left, I wanted to post an update on the Helix Nebula cross stitch.

I’m working on page 3 of 12, and you can see how close I’m coming to the far right edge! It’s actually starting to look like something now. I am going to clean up the pattern and plan to release it on Etsy and Craftsy soon.

And here’s what my quilting and sewing space looks like this morning. I finished piecing the top of the cat quilt. I’m waiting for a chance to borrow my mother-in-law’s nice big kitchen floor for an afternoon to baste it together for quilting. In the meantime I started on this Colorwash quilt kit from Craftsy.

The cutting instructions leave a lot to be desired, so thank goodness there was enough extra fabric in the kit to recut pieces (and by the way, pattern designers, would it kill you to take ten seconds to put a scale on your printable pattern pieces so I can check that the printer actually printed your templates correctly?) So that setback was kind of incredibly frustrating, but I’ll live.

What are you working on today?

WIP Wednesday: Helix Nebula #3 & Cat Quilt

It’s been two months since the last Helix Nebula stitch update. I haven’t finished the second page of the pattern yet, but not for lack of trying.

I’ve also been trying to finish the quilt top for my cat-block quilt. I have to finish it so that I can put the big ironing board away and we can get our living room back.

I have three (of six) rows sewn with sashing. Today I don’t have classes or any pressing homework, so my goal is to finish the rows and (maybe?) start sewing them together.

(Cat-block pattern is from here.)

Couchside sewing caddy

I put a lot of pins and needles in our couch’s armrest, and it doesn’t seem fair to the poor thing. We do celebrate its birthday, after all, and it is just rude to be poking it all the time. So I made a little pincushion and sewing caddy to keep all my sewing and cross stitching supplies in one place, and out of the cushions.

I roughly followed this tutorial that I found on a blog called During Quiet Time, with some extra inspiration from Poppyprint’s rendition of this armrest pincushion.

The thing I like most about this is the big pocket for holding bags of embroidery floss while I cross stitch. No more will they be strewn all over the table next to the couch!

Pictures of the work in progress, and notes on what I changed from the original tutorial, are under the cut.

Finished Project: Chanukah mini-quilt

Last year when my dad visited us for Chanukah, we used a piece of cardboard under the menorah to protect the table from wax drips. This year, I thought maybe we could be a little classier and use something nicer than diverted recycling, so I made this star of David mini quilt to put under the menorah.

This was my first attempt at paper piecing, which I had read a lot about and still only vaguely understood. The pattern is from Leisure Arts’ 1,000 Any-Size Quilt Blocks, which gives a brief tutorial on how to paper piece, but I think it’s really a technique that needs to be done to be understood. The 60 degree angles were a little hard to wrap my head around at first, but once you figure it out, paper piecing is great. I love the tidy seams and matching points on the triangles.

I made the mini quilt with Modern Background Paper & Ink Collections from Fresh Modern Fabrics on Etsy for the star, and Robert Kaufman Blueprint Basics #14539 in Indigo for the background & backing.

And here it is in action, with fancy beeswax candles from Big Dipper Waxworks (I’m really excited about these).

Chag sameach (happy holiday), everyone!

Finished Project: Pineapple Mini-Quilt

I finished my first “quilt” yesterday, from piecing to quilting to binding. I put “quilt” in quotes because it is only a tiny thing — about the size of a piece of paper. But I wanted to start small before embarking on a bigger project. Here it is!

I was thinking of using it for a mug rug or trivet, but I added little pockets in the top back corners so it could also be hung on a wall. I’m fairly pleased with the final results, though I can see places where my stitching went wonky and where my 45 degree angles are not 45 degrees.

Here are some work in progress pictures.

The half-square triangles after ironing

 

Laying out the patchwork squares

 

Folding over the binding

 

Binder clips make excellent alternatives to pins for securing the binding! Much cheaper than Clover’s Wonder clips, too.

Tutorials/Further Reading

I got the instructions for the pineapple patchwork block from Sassafras Lane and followed Patchwork Pottery’s excellent tutorial for adding the hanging pockets.

The yellow and green fabrics are assorted fat quarters from The Stitchin’ Post in Sisters, OR, and the pindot background fabric is from Fresh Modern Fabric on Etsy (I bought a fat quarter pack, but this particular fabric is called Pindot in Graphite, from the Modern Background Ink Collection by Brigitte Heitland for Zen Chic for Moda Fabrics. You can buy it from Fresh Modern Fabrics here).