Craftsy BOM: April

April was English paper piecing of hexagons. Keep in mind it is late June as I am writing. That is how much I enjoyed the tedious hexagon hand sewing. Enough to put it off for two months and work on other things. I don't mind the way the blocks look but would not willingly make either of them again.

Craftsy BOM: June

Here's June, the modern nine patch. Cute, simple, fast, and blocks I feel I could make an entire quilt from (just have to figure out sashing). My favorite is still the string blocks though. I am literally working on the last April block today. I really am not liking all the hand work. I just don't think it is my thing and am kind of dreading the dresden plate blocks next month.

Craftsy BOM: May

This month was "Wonky Log Cabin," super easy quick blocks. It was a nice change from all the hand sewing hexi's I have been working on. I have one April block done. Hopefully I will be able to post them soon. Here's the May blocks.

I like the second one much better, but a lot of people I've shown like the first. I feel like I need to add a few fabrics becuase the blocks are getting redundant.

Craftsy Block of the Month: March

I know I say this every month, but these are my absolute favorite so far. The blocks look very complicated but are so easy to do and they use scraps! This month focused on the technique of foundation piecing. You are basically sewing scrap strips to a larger piece and then trimming it. I loved the first one the best, but then I made the second one and I think I like that one better. The colors aren't super accurate in these pictures. My color scheme is grellow (greeny-yellow), plum, aqua, navy, pink. These blocks really pull it all together nicely.

string block

broken spiderweb

Craftsy Block of the Month: February

The February blocks are now complete and I am back on track. See January here. It's a good thing it took me the whole month to get caught up because I would have had a hard time waiting for the March blocks. February was working with half square triangles using two different methods to make them and March is foundation piecing.  I am not sure how I feel about some of the color/pattern choices on the chevron block. I wish I would have used all the same print. Oh well, it's a learning process. Here they are:

chunky chevron block

balkan puzzle aka windblown star block

Craftsy Block of the Month: January

Thanks to my mother, who finds awesome things online, I am participating in the Craftsy free block of the month class. My mom is doing it too and so is a lady at work after I told her about it. Any kind of creative class is limited up here. Craftsy offers lots of different online classes too, not just sewing. The block of the month happens to be free and some others cost money. I looked at a quick quilting class which I think was around 30 bucks, way cheaper than a quilt class at my local shop.

The awesome part about this class is that you can watch an online video each month that teaches you step by step and also gives you printable directions for each block. I am a month behind but oh well. What I am loving so far is that the blocks use fat quarters so it isn't that expensive for supplies, and each month you learn a different technique. It has been awesome for my beginner skill level. It's also possible that if I wanted to make a whole quilt out of any of the blocks I can save the printed materials and use them later.

January was slashed blocks. They look way harder than they actually were. I loved the first one I made until I made the second one which I love more. I can't wait to do the Febuary blocks!

asterisk block

wonky pound sign block

Chenille Baby Blanket

Yay! I can finally post about this sewing project since it has arrived at it's destination. Some of Eric's high school friends had their first son. This project had been on my list of things to make and it was the perfect opportunity. My mom has made one of these blankets in the past, and I also used the help of this tutorial.

This was my first time actually quilting and making and attaching a binding. The project is not hard, but is time consuming. I think that it is my most favorite thing I've made so far (I haven't made many things.) I love the color choices I put together which usually isn't the case. I think it feels so much better giving a hand made gift that means more than going out and buying something. Here's a closer shot of the chenille detail you get by cutting the flannel on the bias and washing it.

Burgoyne Surrounded Quilt

Holy H-E-double hockey sticks! It's done! I finally finished the mystery quilt. I think I started this class in late October or early November. The deadline was to have the quilts turned in by Halloween. Obviously I am a little late, but when Eric was up at the quilt store picking up his hunting pants that needed repaired, the owner told him nobody had turned in their quilt yet. Maybe I will be the first one to turn it in.

The mystery quilt class was to make a queen size quilt for the Minot flood victims, many of whom lost their homes and belongings. We were given a discount on material, and the class and quilting for free. The catch was we had to sew the top. What a catch it was. The quilt was supposed to be a beginner quilt. It probably is a beginner quilt, but it sure doesn't look like it and REALLY didn't feel like it. Not only was it very time consuming for do all the sewing, but it had to be really precise since the tiny squares ended up being only one inch.

For a starting quilter like me it was a good learning experience and I feel like  even finishing it is an accomplishment. There are mistakes of course. Some of my pressing is iffy, my seams are sewed in the wrong direction in a few places, I have one or two gathers, and my 1/4 seams aren't perfect making some of the squares not line up totally perfect. BUT....I finished it and it really looks pretty amazing (although I wish I would have picked different colors). I feel a lot more confident about my sewing and have never been more excited to start something new. I now understand why some quilters and sewers have 4-5 projects or more at a time. I really got tired of this quilt and wanted to work on something else sooo many times. I really hated having a missed deadline for finishing hanging over my head even more though. I knew if I stopped the work it would be a while before I went back to it. So, here it is:

Turning Twenty (I wish I was turning twenty again!)

It only took two years for me to find a beginning quilting class in my town (any class for that matter). It's a good thing I obsessively check the Dickinson online classifieds and found the advertisement about a week before the class. As luck would have it, they are having a knitting class soon too. Is it ironic that these events happen the same month I find out Dickinson is rumored to get a Pita Pit? Yahoo for some more "culture" up north (if you count easy access to a gyro culture.)

Anyhow, here is the finished quilt top. I wasn't thrilled with my color choices once the quilt was done, but absolutely loved the process. This particular quilt , the turning twenty, was super easy, relatively cheap for materials, and can be completed in a day. It uses twenty fat quarters and basic strait stitching and piecing. It was a nice refresher. I have only sewed pillow case covers in the last two years and I got this quilt done in a day.

My love for quilting and sewing has always been present, but I think it was dormant and for some reason has recently been lit into a blazing bonfire (as noted by the new sewing machine purchase..stay tuned). Who knows why this is...but I feel like it is something I really want to develop. I tend to get a whole group of hobbies that I am mediocre at: scrap booking, knitting, jewelry making, blogging etc. Sewing has been around the longest but has taken the longest to want to fully commit too. I guess I truly am becoming my mother in many ways. As a now fourth generation (beginner) quilter/sewer, expect more to come (I have two quilts coming soon). This post is for you mom. I promise to update more often and stop pinning (pinteresting?) so much.

Also, as a note, Eric and I have been very busy. Duck season started a few weeks ago, we have begun another house overhaul on the garage, we had a vacation and some visitors, have been processing veggies like mad, and have been prepping the house, yard and garden for the snow that we hope is a long way off (say a prayer please).

Since I am somewhat type A, for those of you who would like to know, our first snowfall last year was on Sept. 22. We had 80 degree weather this past weekend, but you never know when the snow will hit. Our crazy winter last year accumulated 99 inches of snow and major ND flooding in the news. I have heard rumors of anywhere from 109-200 inches predicted this winter, so our hopes for a mild season have been crushed (were they really realistic hopes anyway?) I guess that means we will be up north sewing and eating a lot of pitas.