Metro Rings and November Lucky Star BOM

Once upon a time I really wanted to do a fresh,new, complicated,but achievable quilt pattern. Oh and it had to be jelly roll friendly guys:)   I came across Metro Rings and I was sold!   Bought the ruler and some Kona white for the background and got to work cutting.  There was no shortage of cutting.  Once that was all said and done, the sewing curves part was actually the easiest part of the whole process!  Then came the squaring up and it was not pretty.  I even went so far as to email another quilter/blogger (she has a tutorial up now as to how she did her squaring up for Metro Rings) and the designer herself, Jenny Pedigo.  I received a response from Jenny's assistant/friend about 3 hrs after I sent the email off.  Great service!!  After reading her email, it all made sense and I went right to work trying it out.  I squared each of the many,many pieces to 9 1/2".  Sewed some more and then squared up again using my wanna be fabric ruler.  The blocks were supposed to measure up to 10".  Error wrong!!!  They were coming out smaller at 9 3/4" and even some at 9 5/8".

I thought the whole quilt top was a gonner,but I kept moving onward.  Somehow it all worked out with only one real minor set back that I can certainly live with to include a few of the setting triangles being cut off a bit.

Scrappy must be in my blood because this is yet another one of my quilts that has come out scrappy.  I did use a jelly roll for the first time and a charm pack from the same line.  There are dominant colors of teal, green, red,tan and dark blue,but to me it has a scrappy vibe.  This covers some of my mistakes---shhhh don't tell;)

The teal and red are my favorites in this whole top:):):):)

I ordered some backing fabric yesterday called Aspen Frost by Basic Grey and it should be here in a week at best I hope.  Ready to get to pinning and quilting on this one!  It is going to be our Christmas quilt after all!

Look at ALL these tiny pieces!  The biggest being 2" I believe.

These are ALL of 16 papers ready to go for my next Lucky Stars BOM.

OK see the center piece in grey tones and the 4 corners in pink?  The first time I did the center, the colors were not doing it for me so I threw it out and started over.  Then the next set of rectangle pieces didn't match up right.  Maybe  I needed a small break as the hubby was hinting.  I wasn't going to take no for an answer as the center was the only area I had left to tackle.  Back to the drawing board!  I finally got it,but for some reason I had to use 2 "f" sections to make it work right.

She is done and I am finally happy with the colors!  See a couple turtles peeking out?  Love them!

These scrumptious Snuggle prints were on sale at Joann's and are next in line for Ayden's Christmas PJ's present.  Shhhhh it will be our secret.....k?

If that doesn't keep me busy for too long then I will be starting on Jade's diaper bag with a tutorial from Sew Much Ado.  Before I go though, I need your help guys!!

Which of these prints goes with/ do you like best with Sarah Jane's Out to Sea mermaid print in your humble opinion????

~

#1?

#2?

#3?

#4?

Please write your number in the comments:)

Time for me to get Ayden from school in a minute here!  One more day of school for him and then he is on Thanksgiving break.  

Tomorrow is going to be extra special for me! It is not only my Birthday, but I also go for another Ultrasound to see Jade!!  Oh and how could I forget---Ayden is having a Thanksgiving celebration in his classroom.  I am bringing the pies;)  Yippeeeeeeeeeee.....!!!

Everyone I want to wish ya'll a Happy,Happy Blessed Thanksgiving!!!!!!!

~Sara

Crazy Mom Quilts

Quilting will always pull me through.

The weather around here has been tagging right along with how I feel these days, health wise.  We have had 70's temps all the way down to 50's through the last couple of weeks.  Up and down here we go!  I have had a cold for the last (almost) 2 weeks and before that I was fine for a couple weeks.  BUT there was a cold present before that! 

I visited the doctor the other day finally as I was fed up with it all.  Diagnosis: cold and sore throat.  Well that is good as far as not having strep throat or a sinus infection.  I have never had a sinus infection I can proudly say, but strep once or twice in my life so far.  Not complaining.  Mucinex and Sudafed at night for me and LOTS of water, hot tea and rest,rest,rest!  Not much else for this pregnant mama. 

In between this horrible raspy cough I got going,I try to block it out with some TLC of sewing!!  I finished all of the receiving blankets for now.  Maybe I will do a couple more later.  We'll see.  They are all folded up ready for our little one:):):):)

With the burp cloths, I almost bought some more flannel to back these babies.  Then I got wise and remembered that I had some leftover fleece in a bin packed away. 

Nothing makes for a more fun time sewing then being able to use some of those prints in my stash that have been sitting around 3-4 years waiting for the perfect project.  I got all matchy, matchy here and rolled with it.

The flannel on flannel ones are quite nice too.  I matched thread color too for the heck of it.  Once again because it was fun and that is why I sew!! 

All of the burp cloths are soooo soft and it feels really good to have made them all for pretty much free!

Metro Rings there you are!  These were calling me and I was happy to oblige.  I am hoping wholeheartedly to get this quilt top moving,moving,moving.  The curves are very easy to ease into the white pieces cut out.  Guess what?  No pins required either!  Yeah.  That part is pretty darn cool.  It's like magic!  Then that other stack of Kona white I sew on next with OUT pins.

Part 2:  not so easy does it...

I had to square them up with the Quick Curve Ruler and it wasn't working AT ALL.  So I decided to go ahead and trim off 1/4" on each side to bring them down to the required 9 1/2" squared.  Then  you sew two of the halves together to make a square.

You come out with this in the pic-- minus the dotty triangles.  Add in the dotty triangles and square that up which is supposed to be achieved with a 10" square ruler.  No go....so I improvised with a cut out fabric 10" square with a diagonal line running through it.  I lined that up on the center seam of the "football" looking block, put a pin through to the seam on the block to make sure I was hitting the seam and the diagonal line right on.  Lastly, I  trimmed away to make the whole thing 10" square.  Seemed to have worked.  I got the test block out of the way and now onto the rest!

On a side note:  I emailed Jenny Pedigo which is the designer of the Metro Rings pattern, to see if she could maybe shed some light on squaring these guys up with her ruler she also designed.  There was also another fellow quilter/blogger I found that did this pattern earlier this year.  I emailed her as well and we have been conversing back and forth about it.  She had issues with it too and plans on making another Metro Rings quilt in the beginning of next year.   I'm looking forward to seeing her process.

For the time being I am going to continue to sew the white fabric on each of the pieced curves.  That will keep me busy for awhile I presume;)

I have some Honey Lemon hot tea calling my name! 

Hope everyone is staying healthy and taking care of themselves:)

Hugs!

Sara

Keeping it Small

The weekend has gone by like a nice breeze on a hot day.  Ah well-- it was great while it was here and we did get to celebrate Veteran's Day which is definitely a MAJOR part of my family.  My hubby will be serving in the Army for 11 years in Jan.  There are numerous other family members on both my hubby and my side as well that have served or are still currently serving.  Happy Veteran's Day to all!!

There was much sewing to be had as well.  Once the hubby and I rearranged rooms in our house to welcome Jade in Feb. there was a new sense of order to our home and my inner being.  Jade has her own room freshened up.  Empty, but soon there will be new paint on the walls and her gifted crib to use by a very sweet friend will be assembled.  Pictures of embroidery work done by me will be added in and quite possibly a banner displaying her name.  Feels really good.

I tackled a new baby quilt for someone.  I had the fabric all cut into 5" squares for awhile and up on my design wall.  I pieced it all one morning during this past week.  The extremely- sweet as candy embroidered bunny,kitty and teddy bear are courtesy of Nana Company.  If you have not seen her blog, please do take the time to venture over and stay for awhile.  Her pics are Godiva chocolate to the soul without the calories;)  I managed to stitch the animals all day yesterday off and on in a carefree manner. 

Ric rack was in my stash and I have been itching to use some.  All of the fabric is also from my stash and includes Sarah Jane, Les Amis, Tasha Noel, Kona and Joann prints.  I am going to purchase a very soft backing for this quilt top very soon. 

I went through many fabric choices one night after watching Parenthood on Hulu and came out with this fun, cutie print from Joann's.  I had a lot of pink flannel left over from the chenille blanket I made for my niece.  Today I got to work on 2 of 3 receiving blankets for Jade.  I added little heart stitch on two sides and then a straight stitch on the two sides.  It was a tricky feat as I haven't used any fancy stitching on my Janome before.  There were a few boo boos here and there,but I figured it will be fine;)

Here is the 2nd blankie with Pop Garden by Heather Bailey.  Fresh and delicate.  This time I worked in a popular squiggly stitch.  One more blankie to go!

How could I forget about my frenzy sewing last weekend!!  First up, was another pair of PJ's for Ayden, using the same tutorial in some Star Wars fabric purchased from a gal on Etsy.  A bit longer and here's to hoping they hang on for the ride with my bean stalk boy!  Christmas PJ's are on the agenda.

Diary of a Quilter Amy Smart had a simple tutorial for a nursing cover.  Need one of those!  I had a black and white funky buttons print I bought from Joann's on a whim about 3 years ago.  Perfect for this item.

Longer than needed,but hey at least I will be covered right?!  hehehehe 

Little projects are becoming my new niche.

You didn't think I was done for the day?  Infinity scarves are huge I tell ya huge these days.  If I could knit one I would.

Some 1/2 off sale price jersey knit....so very soft and off I went creating my new scarf.

I wanted you to see the subtle design in this fabric.  I was looking for a sophisticated print and this is what caught my eye @  Joann's.  I have been to that store way too much lately.    Since then I have worn my new scarf two times and I want to make more.  Added to the growing list;)



Well now it is time to go and I will see ya'll soon!

Sara

finish it up Friday Crazy Mom Quilts

Ode to October

A LOT has been going on this last month.....

First off, we found out that we are indeed having a GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!  So there is that;)  Many ideas have been brewing in my head for her lately.  Her name has been picked out for some time now. 5 years to be exact...before Ayden even entered the world.  Our baby girl will be Jade.  With the thought of little Jade in all of our heads to include Ayden's especially, he, specifically, has been hugging and kissing my belly regularly and is very anxious to meet his sister!  It is really sweet.

While we wait for our little one to arrive,the world has been moving steadily along.  We have had some festivities at Ayden's school to include a trip to the pumpkin farm with his class.

Kindergarteners live the good life!!  They take it ALL in and then some!

The next day we went to the school's Fall Festival.  Our kindergarten class had a Pumpkin Bean Bag toss game there  that two of us manned for a few hrs.  Then Ayden and I wet around and played quite a few games and Ayden had his face painted like a puppy.

 Happy day!

 These are the bean bags I sewed up for our game.


Halloween has been here and gone.....

My hubby made both these costumes...siths from Star Wars.  See the red arm bands.  I contributed those and did some hemming to the sleeves and bottom of each of the cloaks they wore proudly.  It was a riot walking around with my two guys in the neighborhood.  Everyone smiled and LOVED them!

Here is the Halloween trick or treat bag I made for Ayden, THAT used to be filled with candy;)  I used Ellison Lane Quilts tutorial for this.  It was really straightforward and quick.  I give it 4 stars!!


We also had a small celebration with Ayden's class that a couple of other room mom's myself included put together.  There was eyeball and worm punch,ghost rice krispie treats, cupcakes and Halloween cookies.  Each child also received a goody bag and some stickers.  Very special!  Also, they watch Charlie Brown's Great Pumpkin and were read Halloween stories.  I had a blast with them!!

I was also able to bring these pillows in for Ayden's teacher per her request for her students to be comfy on when they were silent reading throughout the week.  She needed pillows?  I can do that with the trusty Ginger Monkey's, Katy pillow tutorial!  I already had the fabric on hand from a previous quilt I made for Ayden as a Christmas present last year.

There was a day last week that I decided to make Ayden some new PJ's.  Well usually when the mood strikes, the fabric I really could use for the project is nowhere to be found lol......nonetheless I had to fulfill the urge:)  I had some bright, very busy fish fabric that has been lying around since I started quilting almost 6 yrs ago.  Ah what the heck!  I went for it and this is what came of it using this tutorial.

Crazy pants for my fun,energetic Ayden!  Hey they are PJ's right?!  Not leaving the house anytime soon with them on.  Promise. 

He can beat me up when he gets older for it!  Ha!


All the while,  I had the next block for my Lucky Stars BOM on my computer just waiting to be devoured.  I did it!  Lookie...

 Could very well be my favorite of all the blocks for the year!  The solids really speak to me and are saying, "YES thank you,thank you for choosing me!  I will cooperate with the prints!"    Elizabeth created a fabulous block here!  I have fallen for it hard:):):)

Two more blocks to go and the year's BOM will be CONQUERED!  Ha!

Did I ever show ya'll the finished commission quilt for a good friend of mine?!

Here it is....

 the back...

My friend's quilt label is in the center which came out gorgeous:)  This quilt is safe and sound in its new home and I am very pleased it was a success.


THERE YOU HAVE IT!  My whole month of October!  Lots of sewing and boogieing around in my neck of the woods!!   I have been enjoying every minute and now that we are in full swing for the fall season---I am one happy girl.  Fall is my peace and joy!!


OH my, well I hope I didn't leave anything out.  This pregnant lady can be very forgetful from one moment to the next!

Hugs to all and here's to hoping your month of November is full of joy,love and a chance to enjoy every minute of it!

P.S. I am enjoying Jade kicking me as I type away right now;)


Sara