WIP Wednesday: A little of this and a little of that....

I'm just loving these Lily's Square blocks.

Loving them.

They are really quite quick to whip out and I've been trying to find a little time here and a little time there to plug along with them.  They are so colorful and bright that I have just left them hanging on my little art work clothes line in the loft.

This weekend over four sessions of General Conference for my church, I listened while I sewed up 5 blocks which added four more rows of hexies to my little quilt.  I do blocks that are 4 hexies by 5 hexies and then sew them in a panel five blocks long.

She's about the size of a bathmat now.

Quilts that took the backburner this week:

SINGLE GIRL:

I'm still four blocks away from finishing my Single Girl top.  I'm shooting for that to happen Friday. 

POSTCARDS FROM GRANNY:

I picked up four quarter yard fabric pieces to finish a few more blocks and then I think it will be ready to sew together for a completed top.  Depending on how big that ends up being I'm not sure if I'll wait to quilt it this summer when I have access to a long arm or if Bernie can handle it.

Today I'm linking up with:

Spring Table Runner

Almost a year ago my sweet sister-in-law sent me a jelly roll of Moda's Chez Mois.  I was super pregnant and most definitely nesting and she said she thought I might need a little something pretty to play with while the boys were napping (once little baby got here).  I was so excited about it and went out and ordered a charm pack to match and put together a little quilt.

I had a bunch of leftover ends of strips and have been hemming and hawing over what to do with them since.

 The other day I was thinking how I need some spring decor around this house and thought maybe a table runner would be the perfect use for my leftover strips.

It sewed together in like a minute and then I picked up some complimenting yellow fabric at JoAnns the other day to back and bind it.

I quilted it in straight lines across and I really like the effect.  It gives it some weight and structure as well rather than being a soft quilt.

I got enough backing to make some coordinating placemats should the time present itself...

I really like how it turned out and added a nice pastel-ish/springish tone to the living/dining room.  It makes me want to get that coordinating quilt finished and quilted up so that it would really pull the room together.

Ahh too many projects, so little time....

Today I'm linking up with:

A long awaited arrival

This little lady showed up on my doorstep yesterday.

I know I'm not the only one that's been counting down the days till the shops got themselves stocked up with some Pips.

I can hardly wait to get started chopping this up and turning it into something!

Today is day two of General Conference around here where we stay home, tuned to the computer listening to the inspiration and guidance of our Prophet and the apostles.  I love, love, LOVE conference weekend and am looking forward to another day of sitting with my family listening to these great people share these talks with us.  I've been listening with my hexies on my lap and its sort of amazing the progress you can make when you've got two 2 hour blocks to just sit and listen.

Happy Sunday all!

the mini design wall

The other day when I was putting together the first of these blocks I realized I needed a design wall to make laying them out easier.  Space comes at a premium around here and my particular side of our office area really has very little wall space.  So I conjured up this idea for a mini design wall that I could store easily on my shelf  and I think it turned out great.

My sewing desk is an old computer desk with a roll out table, originally for the computer keyboard, that I usually place my cutting mat on.  My new little design wall fits perfectly on that little roll out table so I can lay things out and then bring it right to my sewing machine to start piecing it together.

At some point I still might make a larger one to put against the back of the other bookshelf but we'll see...

So now there are two!  I'm really loving these blocks especially with all the bright scraps.  Its sort of tempting to want to make this into a large quilt.  I just love all these bright colors together.

In other happy news, I knocked out two more single girl blocks last night which means I'm four blocks from finishing the quilt top.  I had lost some steam but now we're nearly to push through and finish it up.

Today I'm linking up with:

    

WIP Wednesday and other things that are distracting me from finishing my Single Girl

The other day I was looking at Lily's Quilts  and she showed off a new block she'd made.

I LOVED the block and thought it was a great block that could utilize scraps and was fairly quick and easy to sew up.  So I decided I wanted to put one together myself.

It was so easy since it utilizes 3 inch squares made into half square triangles and since I keep an old baby formula container full of them on my sewing desk, they were there just waiting for me to use them.

I adore this block and now I think I'm going to make a pile more for a wall hanging to go on one of my bedroom walls.  So pretty and thanks for the inspiration Lily's Quilts!

So it appears we've added yet another WIP to my already untamed piles.  What can you do?

This weekend while my husband was still in Singapore my dad came to stay and helped me procure and then paint some big old shelves for our playroom/office/sewing studio room.  We had used this old Walmart-y shelf Josh had from his college days and a toy box to sort of section off the different corners of the room.  It looked okay but sometimes I walked upstairs and wondered if I'd wandered into a garage sale things were sort of piled and arranged in odd patched together ways.  So dad and I painted the shelves and put the room together and now it looks like this.....

I love how things are now divided a little better and all the toys (mostly) are off the floor.  It keeps a cluttered, full space looking not quite as cluttered.

And that yellow?  Well originally I had planned on red but at the last minute my son declared that yellow is his favorite color and I thought," red is my go to color.  Why not branch out a little?"  I was pretty nervous about the yellow but now that its here and I've had a few days to get used to it, I like it.  It keeps things light and sunny.  Now I just need some curtains, a nice frame for my wall art I just bought and I think we'll be done!

And now for a collage of the current WIPS. After getting these shelves in I got myself all organized and have things set neatly, all ready to be worked on. 

(from L to R, clockwise- Current quilt tops still being pieced, quilt tops ready to be quilted, 3" square bucket ready for more Lily's Blocks, the ever ongoing hexagon quilt)

Today I'm linking up with:

                    

The Hexie Holder

Next month I'll be heading to Finland.  Its sort of the realization of a lifelong dream to head home to the motherland and visit family.  I'm so excited I can hardly sleep at night.

I've been planning and daydreaming all the things I can sit and do during my long flight to Helsinki and on the top of the list is some time with my hexies.

So I made this little hexie holder to tote them along for my Scandinavian adventure.

I found the fabric at Hart's here in Santa Cruz.  I am sort of over the moon in love with this fabric and kind of want to wallpaper my life in it.  I. love. it.   

Turns out zippers are tricky and that took me the longest.  I sort of made it up as I went along but I think it turned out pretty well and it is going to work great for toting hexie supplies on the airplane and anywhere else I'd need to bring them.

Its got one pocket for completed hexies, one pocket for templates

and then one fuller pocket for fabric pieces and a large pocket on the side to place completed blocks and little spots for travel scissors, thread, needles, thimble and even a threader should I decide to use one.

I love how it turned out and I think its going to be perfect for my trip.

Two more weeks till go time!

A home for the hexies...

I picked these little pretties up for a project I'm hoping to have ready for Fabric Tuesday tomorrow, the linky over at Quilt Story. 

I'm off to Finland in two weeks (yay!) to visit family and I wanted to have a pretty little holder for my hexies so I can work on it during my flight.

I've got an idea in my head and we'll see if I can find some time today during nap time to get it done.  

Stay tuned...