Easy Street Step #6

...was a breeze.  Already complete by Saturday night were 128 double bricks and the sliced and diced greens.

As I'm not in labor yet, I'm looking forward to New Year's Day, when I hope to squeeze in step #7.

My black-on-whites, something I had only one piece of in my stash, are getting low, so I took advantage of the LQS's end-of-year sale and picked up a few more fat quarters.

While I'm enjoying the process of a mystery quilt, part of me is already thinking I won't do one like this again.  I would rather have the directions closer together... I don't like to leave projects hanging.  That's how things become UFOs.  But then I did order this fabulous fabric for Judy L's Back to Square One Mystery.  I suppose if I don't like it, I can always quit!

The mystery from the beginning:

Easy Street on Bonnie Hunter's blog

Fabric Selection

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Step 5

from the room of Zana's Ninis,
Katie Z.

Merry Christmas

and happy birthday, Jesus!

Short List Shortening...

What I really wanted to do Friday was complete step #5 of my mystery quilt, but instead... I let the Assistant dig out her sewing machine (which we must replace, as it is a piece of junk and not at all conducive to enjoying sewing), searched out a tutorial for peasant dresses, and spent a significant portion of the next 36 hours trying to keep my temper as the Assistant and Spunky did everything within their power to foil what should have been an easy project.  So it goes when you teach a 6yo and 4yo to sew, create patterns, and pin.

At least the dresses are done!  I used the pattern found here.

They don't stand still often, so I had to get an on-the-go picture!

The fabric had been selected by the Assistant and me after a sew-in at Material Girls Quilt Shoppe while waiting for Zdh to have some truck repairs completed.  I wish we had had a few inches left to make some belts, but I didn't know what we would do with the fabric when we purchased it.  Ah, well.

And Bear Cub Q in his train PJs... erm... all-the-time wear!

Since the girls had new fun sewing goodies, I pulled out a quick project for Bear Cub Q.  A lovely friend send me a gift certificate to a Hancock's of Paducah, so as part of my goodies, I picked out some Thomas the Train fabric.  Bear Cub ran around with the remaining train fabric draped around his shoulders like a shawl, announcing, "I Jesus, Mommy.  I Jesus."  Meanwhile, I whipped up a pillowcase.  He's so easy to please, it's beautiful.  He's also obsessed with trains right now, so he has exactly three shirts and two pairs of pants that are acceptable to wear!

That's two quickies from the short list!

from the room of Zana's Ninis,
katie z.

Easy Street Step #5

My ironing board and iron are in the barn, so I still have some pressing to which to attend (long story... LONG story).

I've had a sleepless night or two with some serious contractions all night, only to let up around dawn. My due date is 17 days away, so I'd enjoy the contractions leading to real labor any day.

All the distractions aside, I've finished the latest step.  Some of my favorite fabrics are included in this step (I love turquoise and metallics and was able to use both in this step!), and cutting squares was much easier than lots of triangles, no matter how much fancy rulers simplified the steps.  Let's just realize that I am not the most accurate cutter!

Anticipation is beginning to build as I wonder how all my random bits and pieces will join up in the end.  Fortunately, I've kept up so far, so even if I can't finish the remaining steps for some time, I will know I have some significant piecing already complete!

The mystery from the beginning:

Easy Street on Bonnie Hunter's blog

Fabric Selection

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

from the room of Zana's Ninis,
katie z.

Short List Updates

Since I've completed over half of my short list, I'm going to remove the completed items and add some new ones that need to be complete (eventually... no promises now that the baby due date is 21 days away!)

Finished:
1. Quiet Time Quilt
2. Scrappy Strings
3. Teacher Quilt: the Blues
5. Twirly Skirts for Alzbe
8. Top Secret Twirly Skirts

On the updated short list:
Easy Street for Fun!
1. T-shirt quilt
2. Sampler Quilt
3. DWR quilt for Alzbe
4. train pillow case
5. twirly skirts for my girls
6. A's baby quilt
7. girls' dresses
8. Easter clothes

from the room of Zana's Ninis,
katie z.

Fiber Finishes

'Twas the week before Christmas,

and all through the house

were strewn bits of yarn

in grey, white, and red.

I've been kept busy with a wholesale order for Zana's Ninis, so my sewing fell by the wayside this week.  In the last two weeks, I've managed to churn out four knight's helmets, five Santa hats, and a chunky wool blanket.

Today, Thursday, due to a ice-bound day (it was slicker than snot this morning, apparently, so the kiddos and I are at home instead of running errands), I made some new pouches for my diaper bag.  When we have newborns, it's too much work to carry a diaper bag and a purse, so I've made a mini purse for my wallet, keys, etc., and a bag for all those nursing mommy necessities.  I think I may still try to make a project bag to carry sewing or crocheting in (although, let's be honest... I won't sew or crochet for a while), but there are lots of other projects to complete, so who knows?!

from the room of Zana's Ninis,
katie z.

p.s. (Tomorrow, I intend to link up to CrazyMomQuilts)

Easy Street Step #4

Done, done, and done!

I was more particular about lining up my strips for cutting with the Easy Angle ruler this time, and I could see a vast improvement in my sewing accuracy.

I still need to work on being gentler with my pressing as some of my geese are a bit warped.  Given the number of geese so far, maybe we'll make 32 more, and that time I'll focus on being less enthusiastic in my pressing!

With only 23 days until my due date, I'm grateful the steps and my schedule have been so accommodating.  School ends Thursday.  I certainly hope the kids won't mind if Mommy is a little preoccupied Friday morning.  Maybe I should bake another batch of sugar cookies and let them decorate unsupervised!  (I'm not sure anyone but a sugar-fiend could eat some of their creations.)

Many people have begun playing with layouts, but at this point I am content with simply finishing each step.  There are so many other things for me to piece together right now, that for this quilt I am enjoying just cutting and piecing.

There is still time to begin the mystery if you care to join.  Click on the links below for more!

The mystery from the beginning:

Easy Street on Bonnie Hunter's blog

Fabric Selection

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

from the room of Zana's Ninis,
katie z.

25 Days and Counting

Where did the time go?  I only recently realized I'd hit the "less than a month" mark in the pregnancy.  Of course, if JoJo is overdue like his siblings, we may be at the 32 day mark.  Either way, the days are slipping away.

It's a good thing too, in some selfish ways... I can't get socks and shoes on very well.  I see myself in the mirror and am ever surprised at just how far my belly sticks out.  I've had contractions on and off since 18 weeks.  I'm running out of clothes that fit!  Still, I have no interest in struggling to be the parent of a preemie, so I'll waddle along for a few more weeks with gratitude.

Today, with our pleasantly warm weather, DH and I kept busy.  First, Bear Cub Q had a long-overdue haircut.  The hair on the back of his head was tangling where it rubbed on the pillow at night, and no matter how often I brushed it, it became a hairstyle from an anime film within minutes. He was far from happy with the procedure, but submitted under duress and coaxing.

I ran three loads of laundry, hanging up two to help with humidity in the house.

DH went to Lowe's to price insulation, etc., for the loft of our "barn."  Meanwhile, the chilluns and I braved Toys'r'Us.  What was I thinking?  Anyway, we had a few toys to return, and I had hoped to snag a new, not-so-feminine diaper bag.  However, the average cost was $50.  No, thank you.  I don't need it that badly.  Instead, Percy the train, a movie, and construction paper followed us home.  The kids were very obedient, which made the insanity of the store so much easier to bear!

On returning home, I baked four loaves of bread and a double batch of chocolate chocolate chip muffins.  I had intended to make some toaster pastries too, but frozen butter and a tired back stopped me.

Next up came the installation of blinds.  When we moved in, the previous owners took half the window treatments and left wretchedly installed curtains in a few rooms.  No blinds.  We opted for blackout blinds in the bedrooms, and our bathroom, whose window looked out onto the deck, had nothing.  It was time for the tacked up curtain to go.  Half of our blinds arrived yesterday, so DH and I worked out a system for hanging (preferably not backwards and upsidedown... Oops).  They are all up and splendiferously dark.  Now we wait for the blinds for the kids' rooms and dining room.

I think I might be nesting.  What say you?

Good night, baby-no-longer!

from the room of Zana's Ninis,
katie z.

Twirly Skirts

And now, I think I have them out of my system for a little bit.  Maybe.  Until someone else needs them.

These are for two sisters, a little bigger than my last two.  I used Vicki Welsh's hand dyed fabrics (surprise, surprise) again, and these are secret gifts for family and friends...

from the room of Zana's Ninis,
katie z.

Sampler Quilt

...otherwise known, at least in my brain, as bane of my existence.

I purchased the mulitcolored fabric after someone's wedding with the intention of making them a bed quilt and having that fabric be the borders.  Over time, I collected the blue and light blue from my stash, ordered some Kona muslin to ensure a constant dye lot, and finally found the red somewhere.

Then the fabric sat in a box.

And sat.

I'd occasionally pull it out, develop a plan, and prepare to sew it.  I ended up with always a reason that interfered.

There was the plan to make the whole quilt a strippy quilt and practice my free motion quilting.  Nah, my machine has tension issue.

At the beginning of this year, I intended to make the blocks to make 350 blocks with Prairie Moon Quilts, so I thought the Just Takes 2 quilt would stretch my quilting horizons and provide me with a splendiferous quilt.  Well, there were printing and direction corrections with the Just Takes 2.  I had several times where I printed promptly, only to find corrections posted later.  I don't like corrections after the fact, so I gave up on the Just Takes 2.

Then, morning sickness kicked in.

Back in a box the project went, deeper and deeper in the the boxes of packing, and onto the shelves when we finally moved.

Now, I've decided it's time to at least make progress.  I tacked a flannel-backed table cloth to the wall, stripped down the "border" fabric to be the in between trips.  Then, I decided I'll do two strips of red-and-muslin blocks, two of the blues, and one of blue and red blocks.  Maybe I'll blend the colors later, but for now, I want them separate.  To make a queen-sized quilt, the strips will go horizontally across the bed rather than vertically.

Progress is being made, slowly but surely.

from the room of Zana's Ninis,

katie z.

Easy Street Step #3

Step 3 was much nicer to sew than step 2.  I think I understood more about the rulers, some of the pieces were a little bigger, and there weren't as many to sew!

As with the last step, I will trim the dog ears, just not yet.  Last step's are trimmed, and when I have more blocks to cut for my sampler, I'll get back to trimming these up!  For now, I have two twirly skirts to sew.

The mystery from the beginning:

Easy Street on Bonnie Hunter's blog

Fabric Selection

Step 1

Step 2

from the room of Zana's Ninis,

katie z.

TWO Finishes!

These skirts were requested by my sister... a long time ago.  Let's just say that if you say you're not in a hurry, and you're family, your request goes at the bottom of the list... and goes back to the bottom of the list when there are more pressing business orders.

I love my sister.  She does all the awesome photography for me (I do the bad photography all by myself, thankyouverymuch).  She even runs her own business!

She has a little girl 5 1/2 weeks younger than Bear Cub Q, and her second little girl is due 6 weeks after  baby JoJo, so when she requested twirly skirts, I said, "Of course."  Then I added, "Eventually."

So eventually has come.

I used, once again, the fabulous hand dyed fabric I purchased from Vicki Welsh on Etsy.  If you haven't purchased her fabric yet, WHY NOT?  Red Dawn is the gradient I used for the two skirts.  The bitty skirt is only pink and purple, as babies are tiny!  Nuggette will get the other, and I sure hope it's long enough as that girl has LONG legs!

I will have to come back and add photos of the girls (when they are both out and about, you know, since Lil Bit is still in utero) as these skirts are much more precious on girls than on the floor.

Now for some more twirly skirts for gifties for other lovely girls (ssh!).  I'll be using the Strawberry Red  gradient.  I don't see it on Vicki's site right now, but it will probably be there soon.

from the room of Zana's Ninis,
katie z.

Easy Street Step #2

128 flying geese complete.

Pictured are 90, as I was losing daylight and wanted a "decent" photo.

All 128 still need the last dog ears trimmed.

I must confess my sewing of this round is not the most impressive.  I had a lot of slipping during my cutting of the black-on-white triangles.  The end result?  My triangles didn't match up as nicely as they could (and should).  In the future, I will starch my strips before I slice and dice on the bias.

I also cut my 2"x 3 1/2" rectangles of black and white, but they are tucked away where my preggo brain can remember them!

I also finished a few more spools.

The mystery from the beginning:

Easy Street on Bonnie Hunter's blog

Fabric Selection

Step 1

from the room of Zana's Ninis,

katie z.

Easy Street Step 1

192 tidy 4-patches sewn and pressed!

Friday will bring the revelation of step 2.  I hope to keep up as easily.

I even managed a few spools through the process (now I have 20!)

The mystery from the beginning:

Easy Street on Bonnie Hunter's blog

Fabric Selection

from the room of Zana's Ninis,

katie z.

the Blues

Yay for a finished quilt!  I finished the binding Friday morning at the beginning of  my really boring bed rest.

This quilt was born of a splurge purchase of a variety of Kona blues and some Ash.  The backing is a fun ABC print, apropo for a first grade teacher.

This is the third year I've made the Assistant's teacher a quilt.  Sometimes they're for Christmas, sometimes they're for the end of the year.  This year, it might be a pre-Advent gift, just to make sure it doesn't get lost in the post-Christmas, post-baby chaos that will be January.

Why am I calling it the Blues?  The Assistant won't be at the Catholic school she's attended for three years since we moved this summer and it's a 40-minute drive as opposed to a closer Catholic school (only 15 minutes straight down the road).  Next year, Spunky and the Assistant will have a new school and new set of teachers.

Besides, it's a blue quilt!

The pattern was inspired by Cherry House's book City Quilts, particularly by City Green.  No, it looks nothing like it.  It was inspired.  I'm not good at following directions.

I agonized for several weeks over the quilting of this top.  I like hand quilting, but didn't know what I'd do.  A meander, I though, would break up the lines of color too much, as well as perhaps show more of the unevenness of some of my sashing strips.  Finally, I settled on a wave across the quilt, keeping with the emphasis of the color strips and providing some lovely texture.

I love it!

from the room of Zana's Ninis,
katie z.

(and come Friday, this will be linked to AmandaJean's blog!)

In Between Quilts

Bonnie Hunter calls them leaders and enders.  Whatever you may call them, these bitty spools are my in-between bits for a future quilt.  Usually I do my own thing, but I've been looking for a group-type project in which to participate.  As next year progresses, we'll see who else joins in.

I only have 17 so far, but the past few weeks have been more flimsy-assembling and quilting rather than block piecing.  Now, with Easy Street in progress and a few other smaller projects to tackle, I should make better progress.

And now to go put my feet up!

from the room of Zana's Ninis,
katie z.

Easy Street

Since I can't sew right now, I thought I'd update on my progress on Bonnie Hunter's annual mystery.  This year, my first to participate, is called Easy Street.

I think taking pictures is safe while on the couch, so I took pictures of my fabrics.  I traded for some of my black-on-whites and apple greens.  Fortunately, turquoise is my favorite color, so I was set there, and purple turned out not too low either, although I did add a few pieces.

Shopping rounded out my black-on-whites and apple greens, and brought me a grey, as the only grrey in my stash was too light.

My favorite greens are from this stash pack by Vicki Welsh.  Aren't her fabrics amazing?

Hand dyed fabric from Vicki Welsh on the left!

My strip sets are sewn and pressed.  If I can sneak in a few upright minutes today (shhh!), I will subcut a few, but I won't have my four-patches done for awhile, I would guess.

What are you going to do with your quilt, if you are participating?  I'd love to say it's going on my bed, but I doubt it.  The colors aren't really my DH's favorite.  It may just stay in the basement, where I share a room with the kid's toys.  We can always use a few more quilts down here!

Check out everyone else's progress at Bonnie's linkup.

from the room of Zana's Ninis,
katie z.

Life's Little Happenings...

Three weeks ago, I STUPIDLY met up with some poison ivy.  I knew it was there, thought I was careful enough, and never again will I believe in "careful enough."

A week ago, I saw my OB for my 32 week checkup, and he prescribed Prednisone to help with the inflammation.  It caused some sleepless nights, but what's new about that?  I can always tell when a medical person has poison ivy: either they are immediately deeply sympathetic (they've had it), or they tell you to put more cortisone cream on it (they haven't.  Maybe they should roll in it and treat it only with cortisone cream.).

I thought I was on the upswing until my entire calf muscle began taking on an angry red color and my leg from the knee down began swelling like a camel's hump as soon as I had been up for an hour.  Only an entire night in bed would bring down the swelling.  My mom, a nurse, had been keeping an eye (both eyes, really) on my lack of progress, and on Thanksgiving told me I needed to go back to one of my doctors, as she suspected a brewing case of cellulitis.

Being the no-medicine-if-possible, path of least resistance person that I am, I scoffed until I began to read up on cellulitis. If it entered my bloodstream, I could end up in the hospital with an IV.  And remember, I'm pregnant, so this could also bring on early labor.  My younger sister had her last child at 33 weeks, and even with minimal complications, it was a long time before Nuggette came home.  Dang.

Any holiday weekend is a terrible time to find a doctor.  Needless to say, the nurse on call for my OB had never had poison ivy and blew me off.  Fortunately, our family doctor's practice had an urgent care clinic.  I'm now on my second round of steroids plus a round of antibiotics.  In order to manage the swelling, my mom has insisted I go on temporary bed rest.

Boring.  Boring.  Boring.  Not to mention hard to do with three kids running around, a busy husband, and in-laws in town.

Now to survive until Monday, when I'll see my OB and hopefully be told the lack of swelling means I can get up and around more.

And it's all my own STUPID fault.  Lesson learned.

from the room of Zana's Ninis,
katie z.

Scrappy Strings

 This quilt top, approximately 50" x 68", was a long time in the making!

Every year, I try to make one charity quilt.  Sometimes I have an intended recipient, sometimes I don't.  This year, I had no plan when I started this quilt.

I cut 8.5" squares of remnant batting, sorted out the very light and dark green, blue, and purple scraps from my scrap bags, and began piecing.  I won't do it this way again… the batting stretched and distorted too much!  The pattern is from one of Bonnie Hunter's books, and I used it as my leader/ender project.

I don't think I like piecing with strings/ strips like this.  It just wasn't my cup of tea to have to press, sort, trim, over and over, then sort the trimmings to see what could be used in another block.  I'd rather do the cutting in one big batch and know what will be left.  Still, the quilt turned out better than expected, even with my wonky quilting (I was trying to have a more open quilting pattern, but that means it's a little… wonky!).

Now I need to decide its future home.  If you have any suggestions, please let me know.  I'd prefer a local-ish charity/person in need, as shipping is costly!

My next leader/ender project, possibly also destined to be a charity quilt, is spools, a la Bonnie Hunter as well.  I already have a vision of the next one after that too!  But one quilt at a time, especially since there are only seven weeks left until Baby 4's due date!

I should also note: this quilt is #2 on my Short List.  Now on to quilting #3!

from the room of Zana's Ninis,

katie z.

Quiet Time Quilt

I just realized there's a dust mote on the camera lens, as there's really no spot
on the sashing. Oops!

Baby 4 has a quilt!

Quilted in a meander, backed in lovely chocolate-colored Kona, bound in the same brown, all I need to do is wash it and add it to the hospital bag!

This was a quick quilt partly out of necessity and partly because I'm finishing a string quilt that has taken far too long to finish and has SO many errors!  I like it.  There are two blues for the bigger squares and one, cerulean, for the cornerstones.  I love the colors and hope DH will approve of the appropriately masculine quilt.

One done from my short list.  Now on to the next!

from the room of Zana's Ninis,
katie z.

P.S. I'm linking up to AmandaJean's Finish It Up Friday.  Let's see how many more weeks I can squeak out a finish!

The Short List

Vicki, the LA Quilter, has posted a short list to complete by the end of January.  Since Baby 4 is due January 9, the deadline for mine will be January 9!

1.  Baby 4's quilt.  In record time, I cut, pieced, and quilted it.  It's in need of binding!

2. Scrappy string quilt, ala Bonnie Hunter, just finished being quilted today, so it too needs binding.

3.  The Assistant will be giving her teacher a quilt for Christmas... Or the end of the year.  Preferably Christmas, as I think I'm avoiding quilting it out of nervous fear.  I WILL quilt and bind it!

4.  A t-shirt quilt was commissioned by my DH's cousin, and she assured me she was in no hurry, but, seriously, I need to at least cut up the shirts and piece a top before the baby comes.

The only new project I intend to start is Bonnie Hunter's post-Thanksgiving mystery, Easy Street.

If I finish the above, next up will be...

5. Twirly skirts for my sister.

6. Work on a sampler quilt for my brother and SiL.

7.  The DWR quilt I owe my photo-savvy sister (who is patiently waiting for #5 too).

That's enough, don't you think?

From the room of Zana's Ninis,
Katie Z.

Week in Review

Saturday, I was able to meet up with several other members of the Wichita Modern Quilt Guild for a sew-in.  Rather than bring my machine, I opted for a cutting mat, rotary cutter, and my overflowing bag of scraps.   I made excellent progress, as Sunday morning I sorted the remaining scraps and haven almost empty bag!  I will get to the remaining bits and pieces soon, but my little basket of spool pieces was overflowing, so I'm don't until I make a few spools.

Another member and I have decided to tackle Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt together.  She has a newborn right ow, and I probably will in the middle of making the quilt, so neither of us will be critical if the going is slow.  In checking out my stash, I found 0 black-on-white prints and few apple greens.  I have a lovely piece of gray, but there isn't enough of it.  A little shopping has taken care of all but the grey!

Baby Four is due in nine weeks and still has no quilt, so I pulled fabrics, cut, and began sewing.  As I type, I have the blocks pinned and ready for sewing.  Once his top is done and basted, I will have  THREE quilts awaiting quilting, so that will be my next project!

I had great plans for quilting and binding this week, but... Man makes plans and God laughs... Although I don't really believe God was laughing at what happened.  Monday night, the Assistant, while preparing her lunch, stepped on a piece of glass that ended up requiring two surgeries, two different emergency rooms, and an overnight stay in the hospital to remove.  What a nightmare! My DH earned some time off of purgatory as he navigated her care at the hospitals, even thinking to contact our family doctor to have some help in making decisions.

Now, Thursday night, I have a whole new appreciation for keeping an energetic six year old off her feet so her incision can heal.  My assistant is quite a trooper.  She didn't complain in the hospital, or even about missing her first art class, and slogged through the piles of homework so it would be done (even though her teacher is VERY accommodating).  It's just a matter of time till her bandage is off and life can proceed.

ETA:  Now, Friday afternoon, I have a finished top, albeit with a rather unattractive picture.  The wind is blowing, the sun is setting, and my kids are restless!  It is flat!

from the room of Zana's Ninis,

katie z.

Prayers, Please

My daughter, the Assistant, stepped on glass.  After three attempts to remove it, including two surgeries and an overnight stay in the hospital, she's glass free.

Please pray we get her home safely and comfortably!

Scrap Taming

Recently, I realized I had not trimmed down scraps and organized them since before our move in July.  In reality, it had probably been April since I last sorted out my scraps, and the drawer containing them all was overflowing.

Add to that my desire to join in Bonnie Hunter's spools as my leader and ender project since my string flimsy is waiting to be quilted.  Besides that, the string flimsy resulted in a gallon-size bag of 1", 1.5", 2", and 2.5" strips needing to be returned to their proper bags.

Ay-ay-ay.  I have a mess.

This bag was overflowing with scraps in various stages of needing trimming.  I can recognize the projects most of them came from, and I'm enjoying selecting which scraps are long enough to cut the materials for a spool.

My spools will all have white, cream, or light gray backgrounds.  I was much more lenient in my string flimsy, but I would like to use some medium value fabrics, and I can't do that if I allow too much variety in my background.

I love keeping scraps... I love the lack of waste...  but I have a hard time remembering to trim AND remembering to use them.  Then there's the problem of not having a cutting table (I sit on the floor and use the coffee table in the play room), which is compounded by my bulging belly, and the mess has grown!

Often times, I find that patterns that purport to be scrappy require too much of any given fabric for my scraps to work.  Most of my scraps are really scraps... short strips, not long enough to count for much.  I'm even having a little trouble cutting spools, as many of my 1.5" strips aren't long enough.  Oh, well.  I'll progress as far as I can, and they'll be find for leaders and enders in between other projects.

What do you make with your scraps?  Do you bother to keep scraps?

from the room of Zana's Ninis,
katie z.

Friday Wrap-Up

This week, all my sewing/quilting was wrapped up in preparing for All Hallow's Eve/Halloween.  This year, I let the girls choose their own costumes for me to make.  Little did I know that Spunky would love the pattern envelopes so much that they would vanish... until a scant week before Halloween.  Then, they both requested to be Mary, Mother of God, but with different patterns.  All righty, I like saintly girls.  The eldest, my Assistant, posed nicely.

Spunky and Bear Cub Q (a train engineer) were less cooperative in regards to pictures.  Here they are riding in the wagon for the 1-mile circuit of our neighborhood.  We turned back after only three houses as nobody was home.  Instead, we visited immediate neighbors and drove into town to hit a few blocks there.

I also finished a big order of two Wild Turkey hats for my business.

Thursday night I basted my string quilt, so I'm hoping to have a more quilty finish by next week.  I also cut the fabric for my baby's quilt, as his due date is 10 weeks away and I need to get busy!

I'll be linking up to Finish It Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts!

from the room of Zana's Ninis,

katie z.

String Flimsy

I always think it's funny how I rarely have one quilt top finished at a time.  Usually, there's a rush, and I finish two or more all at once, or close to one another.

This flimsy is my third in a week.  It's been my leader and ender for a long time.  Finally, I grew tired of sorting through the strings and trying to keep them tidy, so I decided I had enough to at least lay out and see where I was.  When I laid out the block quarters, I discovered I only needed 3 more to make a 3x4 layout, so I made 3 more and... here we are!

This design is adapted from Bonnie Hunter and her Scraps and Shirttails book.  My blocks are slightly larger, partly because I don't read directions well, and I'll be skipping the border.  It's going to be a donation quilt (to where, I don't know yet.  Any suggestions?).  The planned backing is a rather boring brown because I didn't have anything else that wouldn't look odd with the very scrappy front.  Besides, it's more masculine than most of my quilts, and brown diamonds will follow well.

Halloween costumes and a few orders for my shop come first, then I'll be basting and quilting!

from the room of Zana's Ninis,
katie z.

Little Bits

Meet my newest finished quilt, Little Bits!

This is for my newest niece (due in February), who is currently known as Li'l Bit.

It was a race to the finish to complete this Wednesday as Thursday and Friday were/are devoted to Halloween preparation (which is a story all in itself.  Ah, "missing" patterns).

Spunky and the Assistant collaborated with me, although I had to restrict their selections to turquoise, pink, and purple.  Spunky would have added everything and that might have been a little too chaotic.  I enjoyed working with the girls, as sometimes I am too busy "doing my own thing" to allow them to take part.  This quilt is certainly a team effort!

Into my solid blue strip I added a lovely butterfly applique.  Doesn't it look nice?  I think the quilting helps soften up the "solidness" of that piece too.

I quilted free motion hearts and loops.  The hearts could use some improvement, but Li'l Bit won't care, and if her mommy does (she won't) she can use it for a floor quilt.

I wish I had yards of the stripe I used for binding but, alas, I purchased only a yard a long time ago, and the Assistant cut off the selvages in one of her cutting sprees.  It has just enough metallic to it to have a lovely sheen, and it worked well to bind this quilt.  The quilt really is bound, despite this picture.  I thought I had another of it finished, but it's too late and dark tonight to take another.

The backing was chosen by the Assistant just for this quilt.  I think she did a good job!

from the room of Zana's Ninis,

katie z.

Baby Quilt!

On my design floor, I have a scrappy quilt for my new niece, Lil Bit, who is due to make an appearance in February.

Spunky and the Assistant have been collaborating, choosing turquoise, pink, and purple fabric from their fabric bin to include in the project.  Their fabric has outgrown the bin, even with my periodic culling of tiny pieces, so I opted to use their fabric as a gift to their new cousin.  Spunky has been especially thrilled to sort and select fabrics for ironing, and following along with my piecing closely.

Ordinarily, I would attempt to make the scraps fit into a nice pattern... stars, square in a square, or some other recognizable pattern, but that's not how Spunky works.  Spunky, if you remember, selected the layout for her own quilt in a manner that defied every organizational nerve in my body, but it's her quilt, right?

I'm hoping to finish the top this week so that I can pin baste two quilts (this top is ready to go too).  Then, when I set up my machine to quilt, I will be more productive.  I'm always reluctant to take the time to change needles and feet, so try to wait for two quilts rather than just one.

Before any quilting can take place, however, I have to finish a special order twirly skirt!

Would you put anything on the blue spacer strips?  They stand out more than I expected, but I thought the quilt needed a... um... quiet space for the eyes to rest!

from the room of Zana's Ninis,

katie z.

Flimsy Finish

Whew!  At one point, I had high (intoxicated) hopes that I would have a finished quilt come Friday, but... pregnancy is really good at taking "free" days and turning them into "lay on the couch" days.  Ergo, a finished flimsy.

Yes, it needs pressing, but two minutes after I finished the quilt, I stepped on a hat pin my Bear Cub Q dropped on the floor while I was sewing earlier.  My toe still burns.  No pressing, then.

This quilt is LOOSELY based (would inspired be a better word?) by City Green in Cherry House's quilt book.  I love it.

My daughter hates it.  It's supposed to be for her teacher, but it might just become a quilt for baby 4 (as yet un-nicknamed), who is a boy.

What do you think of it?  How should I quilt it?

from the room of Zana's Ninis,
katie z.

Time for a Breather

Craft shows are over for the year after netting me a tidy profit.

Now what? Rest.

Who knew this view could add so much joy to a day?
Bear Cub Q grins from ear to ear when we stop for the train.

 Home sewing.  My baby still doesn't have a quilt.

Winter wheat is greening up the landscape

A few orders for friends and family. 

Enjoying life for a while.

from the room of Zana's Ninis,

katie z.