Stash Bee + Mario Update!

Before all the stuff happened with my doggie (who's recovering very nicely BTW) I managed to get some sewing done for the Super Mario Brothers QAL.  I was three blocks behind so I got my booty in gear and got to making them.

Without further ado:

Question Mark Box Block

Goomba Block

Cloud Block

Finished Blocks!

One of the other participants of the QAL had a pictiure of a piranha plant block she had made and I just loved it.  Angela (the QAL organizer) has a pipe block planned and I decided to be a little creative and make myself a piranha plant block in place of the scheduled pipe block.  I was doing this block quickly and late at night so there are quite a few little mistakes. So many that I'm going to have to re-do a few seams, but looking past the mistakes I love the way it turned out.

Piranha Plant Block

I also have my August blocks from Stash Bee to show off.  This month our Queen Bee Rachel wanted 4- 6 1/2"  blocks that she could play around with and arrange in way she thought best.  Our only restriction was that she wanted the diagonal piece in each block to be the same fabric.

Layout Option #1

These are two of the possible layouts she could choose for her blocks.

Layout Option #2

I had a difficult go deciding which fabrics to use, but once Rachel told me to use fabrics that showed off who I was I decided to use purple solids and a text print.  I love the way these particular solids compliment each other, and purple is my all time FAVORITE color.

The fabrics I used are Kona Raisin, Thistle, Plum, & Lupine, as well as a text print from Timeless Treasures.

AND if you want to see a picture of what a dachshund with a zipper down his back (or really 59 staples) here you go:

Franken-weenie!

Super Mario Bros QAL progress

I finally got started cutting my squares for the Super Mario Bros QAL on Tuesday and yesterday I managed to whip up the first two blocks: Mario and Luigi.

Each square starts at 1 1/2" square so when it's all sewn together the block is made up of 324 1" squares-- crazy!  I decided that to make the future blocks easier on myself I'd cut all the fabric at once and put it into zip-lock baggies.  It didn't take me that long to get all the cutting done.  I did it while watching the first two Harry Potter movies.

Cut squares ready to go!

The method we used for piecing all the squares together fantastic. The process was new to me but I've seen it before on Oh! Fransson and Angela does a great job explaining it in the post about block construction for the QAL. 

Instead of the stabilizer she recommends (which is hard to find and pricy) I used Pellon 541 Wash and Gone along with basting spray to get the squares to stick.  After reading that another QAL member had problems drawing her grid on the stabilizer I was super careful and opted to use a washable felt tip marker rather than a pencil and had no issues with it.

Mario squares on the stabilizer

My only tips for using the basting spray it to shake your can well to get an even spray and to spray only a line or two at a time. If I tried to spray and then lay down three lines of squares I found that the stabilizer was only tacky instead of sticky, so I'd have to re-spray to get the square to stick.

When it came time to sew I also discovered that it's best not to wait. I laid down all the squares for Mario and sewed immediately and had no problems. I laid out the squares for Luigi and then waited a few minutes to sew and by the time I was finishing up I was noticing that some of the squares were starting to lift off the stabilizer.

Mario drying after having the stabilizer washed off

Luigi drying after having the stabilizer washed off

Making these blocks was a lot of fun and very rewarding since they look pretty awesome.  They're also HUGE--they measure 18.5" square finished.  I can't wait until Angela gets more block layouts posted so I can get started on them.  This quilt is a gift for my husband and he's absolutely loving it so far.

You can check out everyone else's progress in the Flickr group.

Super Mario Bros QAL

I am SO looking forward to this one:

Sew Happy Quilt QAL

I decided to join in with the fun over at Sew.Happy.Geek's Sew Happy Quilt QAL.

Since I joined in a little late I had some catching up to do, so after making my fabric selections I set to work yesterday and made the first four blocks.

Block 1: Woven

Block 2: Snowball

Block 3: Friendship Star

Block 4: QST Pinwheel

Now that I'm all caught up I can do the rest at the leisurely pace of one a week until I have all 12 blocks made.

12 Days of Christmas Sampler Quilt, blocks 5-12

As I've said before I was a little ambitious at Christmastime.  A little over-ambitious.  With my "to-do" list getting larger I ended up abandoning my 12 Days of Christmas quilt blocks after block 8, but I'm happy to say that I picked the project up again this week and finished the last 4 blocks!  I had so much fun making these blocks that I've actually joined two more quilt-alongs.  I have all the fabric picked out and purchased for the Sew.Happy.Quilt mixed sampler quilt along hosted by Sew.Happy.Geek, but have yet to make decisions about fabric for the Solstice Stars quilt along-- I'm thinking solids.

But anyways, back to the 12 Days of Christmas Sampler! Looking at my previous blog posts though I realize that I never posted blocks 5-8, so I'll just go ahead and show you the last 8 all in one post.

For blocks 1-4 please refer back to this post.

Block 5: It's All About the Presents Block (designed by Elizabeth @ Don't Call Me Betsy)

Block 6: Modern Selvage Snowflake (designed by Riel @ The Q and the U)

 

Block 7: Christmas Tree (designed by Jennifer @ Ellison Lane Quilts)

Block 8: Paper Pieced Noel (designed by Lindsay @ Lindsay Sews)

Block 9: Hanging Ornaments (designed by Jessica @ SewCraftyJess)
 I actually ended up not doing this block.  Since I improvised a little on the Noel block and added hanging ornaments, I decided not to do this block because it would look too similar.  (Sorry Jessica! If I had known you were planning hanging ornaments I wouldn't have done it, I promise!)

Block 10: Christmas Stockings (designed by Sarah @ Fairy Face Designs)

Block 11: Wreath (designed by Heather & Megan @ Quilt Story)

Block 12: Peppermint Candy (designed by Kim @ My Go Go Life)

*Block 13: Home For Christmas (designed by me!)*

This was the block I came up with to replace block 9 that I didn't do.  I wanted something that kept with the feel of the other blocks, but I wanted to paper piece it, and it needed to be on a white background (I had already decided on block placement and knew that a white background would be best).  After designing the house and preparing all the pattern pieces (which took a few hours) I did the piecing in 20 minutes.  I absolutely love this block!

So far I haven't been able to take ANY photos where the colors end up right.  What you see above is my best effort to tweak balances to get the right colors, but they're still far from right.  I'm hoping once it's all together I'll be able to get some beautiful photos of it.

12 Days of Christmas Quilt Sampler progress

One of the things I decided to do for myself this Christmas was to make myself a Christmas quilt.  I joined in on the 12 Days of Christmas Sampler Quilt-Along hosted by Sara of Sew Sweetness and I've really been enjoying the process.

The idea behind it is that every Tuesday and Thursday a different blogger will post a block they designed on their blog along with a tutorial on how to make it and after 6 weeks we'll have a our 12 blocks ready to make into a quilt.

I did a good job staying on track in week one, and I was able to make my blocks on time.
My week two blocks I made yesterday.... still on time, but definitely slower.
And I'm looking forward to block 5 being posted tomorrow.

So on to the pictures!

Here are the fabrics I selected from Joann's:

Block 1: Christmas Truck (designed by by Julianna @Projektownia Jednoiglec)

Block 2: Santa Claus (designed by Sara @ Sew Sweetness)

Block 3: Christmas Hearth (designed by Kaelin @ The Plaid Scottie)

Block 4: Scrappy Star (designed by Jennie @ Clover and Violet)

And the first four blocks all together!

And here's the rest of the schedule for the quilt-along:
Nov 8 - Elizabeth @ Don't Call Me Betsy
Nov 10 - Riel @ The Q and the U
Nov 15 - Jennifer @ Ellison Lane Quilts
Nov 17 - Lindsay @ Lindsay Sews
Nov 22 - Jessica @ SewCraftyJess
Nov 23 - Sarah @ Fairy Face Designs
Nov 29 - Heather & Megan @ Quilt Story
Dec 1 - Kim @ My Go Go Life

I've also joined in on Anna of Noodlehead's Simplicity Skirt 2226 Sew-A-long and am using Through the Branches from Kitty Yoshida's Prospect Park collection in the espresso colorway:

(The background looks more like ivory in person)

And I've joined in on the holiday ornament swap over at Lindsay Sews