Happy Holidays!!!

Phew! We made it through our first Christmas with little Maura and she did so well! Much better than I anticipated considering the hustle and bustle and excitement the last few days.

Sorry it's blurry, it's off my phone, but she had the most adorable Christmas jammies that she didn't actually wear on Christmas because we had a heat wave and it was just too hot for fleece! That's definitely not the norm here in Ohio, yesterday we hit a record high of 68* and today it's supposed to snow later. It's weird.

Anywho, as far as quilting goes I am taking this week to do some selfish sewing of this guy:

I finished this top almost two years ago and it's just begging to be quilted. I had a plan, it was all drawn out - but somehow in the last couple weeks of Christmas chaos it disappeared and I'm starting over. Hopefully I can figure out the plan this morning and get to quilting tonight after everyone else is asleep... Cross your fingers. I have coffee, a pencil, a printout (or three) and a napping baby at the moment, I think I can, I think I can! 

I'm hoping to get this one quilted up and enter it into the Lake Farmpark show this year, which means I have to quilt fast! The quilts need to be entered in just a few weeks. I think I can! I think I can!

After this little pause it will be back to quilting and cooking and playing with the baby (whose not such a baby anymore I guess). I'm taking in quilts and planning ahead for this year, if I play my cards just right I may even be able to post my schedule here soon. Granted the computer and I don't get as much one-on-one time as we used to, but that's okay with me! 

I'll be posting more soon. From my little family to yours - I hope you had an amazing Christmas and I hope 2017 has all the best in store for you! I have a feeling it's going to be wonderful! -Rebecca

Snow Day-ish & #APQquiltalong progress

So I had these grandios plans to go and quilt today after my PT this morning. Little did I know I would have the pain & torture version of PT and not the nice physical therapy type. 

Why PT? I kinda may have gone gangbusters working out this year and aggravated an old hip injury and made it worse... So I was supposed to be "evaluated" today or so I thought. I did and then to loosen the internal tendons and ligaments of my hip, there was this twisting and lots of pressure massage-y type thing with the warning I'm going to be sore later. It's not much later and guess what, sore already!

So, I don't do as nice of quilting when I fee ick and the roads got horrible so I'm staying home today. When I got home the sun came out and I spotted this guy in my backyard:

Yeah, we were supposed to get 1"-2" of snow today. That's about 4" out there and it's the light slippery stuff. 

So I'm going to spend part of my day admiring my #APQquoltalong. I wanted to show you all the one thing I changed:

Here is where it is currently living on the back of my couch until I figure out how to quilt it. I have ideas but I'm letting this one take its time and tell me what will be best. No rushing. 

Now if you have been following the blog, if you've seen my book, or if you know me, you know I love scrappy. I loved this quilt from the start, but in the cutting instructions the sashing pieces and I had a disagreement. Why put one huge piece of fabric in when you can break it up? The more the merrier! So if you look at my sashing I substituted several squares instead of one long piece. It makes me super happy. 

Now if Paco will let my quilt and I share the couch with him and his nest there might be some sort of sanity in this winter wonderland we're living in today. I think to speed up my recovery a chick flick is in order. I'm thinking I finally need to watch Save the Last Dance since hubby's not home and can't complain about it!

It's done!

I was planning to return to long arming yesterday, but Mother Nature had other plans...

This was a hip deep snow drift outside my back door. There wasn't anything that had to be done that couldn't wait til today, so I finished up my Tone It Down quilt!

Now the debate is to try and quilt it to enter it in a local show in a few weeks or relax and move onto other projects and quilt it when I'm good and ready (and not rushed). 

I also got some shelves and new bins for my stash and reorganized this space. It's better but still needs improvement. I realize I still need more bins and space for all of this:

These are my cut scraps organized by size... And the other small pieces I unearthed yesterday that need a home. So even though it wasn't what I planned, it was a pretty successful day!

Happy New Year!!!

So far today has been spent in my Jammie's working on my Tone It Down quilt for the #APQquiltalong! My blocks are done, I just finished the cornerstones and I'm ready to start putting the top together! Happy day for me!

I'll show the top as soon as it's done!

Hope you had a great night and I'm looking forward to an amazing 2014 :)

Quilt Along Progress

I'm not nearly as far as I wanted to be right now, but I'm not doing too shabby either.

 Now, for this as well as any quilt I plan to make using my stash (or not using the fabric requirements given) I grab my pad of paper and figure out exactly how many pieces I need.

 Then as I'm cutting I mark them off (it takes a bit more time, but it helps to keep it organized and keeps from having too few pieces when I'm nearing the end of the quilt. That is not when you want to cut more).

 Since i had so many of these and they're so small, all of the 1-1/2" squares went into these bins...

And the rest of the fabrics got stacked onto my handy dandy cork board. Seriously. Got get yourself one. Like yesterday. We got this for who knows what reason and instead of throwing it away, I took the hardware off the back and started using it to take my pieces from the machine to the ironing board. They don't slip, it's a nice size (probably 12" x 18") and if I ever need to mark anything, it's big enough that I can sit in the chair and watch TV while marking and the pieces stay right where they need to be.

I've gotten some of the four patches made, the nine patches are next and soon I should have pieces to make a block or 20! I'm loving the colors and had a blast going through my stash to add character to this quilt. I'll keep you updated as I get more done!

Fabrics Chosen!

I have to say, honestly, I am suffering right now from burn out. It does seem to happen this time of year because:

1. It's cold and dark out and I don't want to leave me bed, let alone my house, and my pjs are so comfy.
2. I've been quilting like a maniac and my back and chest need a rest.
3. I've quilted so many Christmas gifts for my customers, I don't have time or energy to make my own.
4. My brain just needs a reset.

But I think I've found the cure! I was cleaning my house last week and decided to treat myself to a few "me" minutes and sit down and read the new APQ magazine...

That's when I saw it! Have you seen it? If not, check it out here!

I cannot tell you the last time I made a quilt just to make it. (Now I know this is my job and all, but lately it's been turning into work and less fun, so I'm sorry if I sound like I'm complaining) When I saw Moda Lissa's quilt I immediately had to jump into my stash and make this quilt, like YESTERDAY.

Well, reality hit and there were still Christmas quilts to finish, so I kinda put this project on the back burner and moved on.

A couple days later, much quilting progress was made and I happened to have to go to the quilt shop while running errands. (I swear I did, I had things to drop off and pick up for customers, pinky promise) I was chatting and decided I had a few minutes to spare and then I got in trouble... I came home with these and a plan:

 Sorry for the slightly over exposed pictures... You see Ben gets up at 5, which means I'm usually up at 5 and I couldn't wait long enough for the sun to come out before I could get better photos. I was a woman on a mission! Plus it's NE Ohio in winter, we really don't get sun this time of year, more gray than anything.

 I will definitely add to this with some of my stash (like the two upper left pieces) but this is what I picked for the chains... I'm planning to mix them all up and have the chains super scrappy.

 These will be the accent fabrics for the surrounds...

 And this is the start of the backgrounds. With another small pile from my stash started (not pictured).

I think it looks very Ruby Blue and bright and refreshing. Just what I need. I really only went to get more backgrounds (You never seem to have enough in your stash) but then the new Jinny Beyer batiks were there and then wouldn't this look good too and I was done for. I was planning to start cutting yesterday but I had to organize my stash and sewing room a bit before I felt I could add to the mess.

I'm all in that clear out the bad and deal with what needs dealt with before starting something new phase. I just feel cluttered and out of sorts and I did pretty good so I think if I still feel perky after quilting today I might start cutting. Or if not a hand quilting project is still calling my name.

I've been hand quilting for an hour or so each day, but when it's dark it gets hard to see on some of the fabrics and I have to try again. It's been nice to have that as something to do and look forward to as well.

I'm so excited to start this quilt and hopefully by next week I will have a block or two done. I'm debating on doing one block at a time, or all the pieces first, or I dunno. I'll see what happens when I get there!

So do you like my colors? Have any suggestions on how to proceed? Any relaxing tips to share? I'm all ears!

If you're interested in making this quilt, be sure to check out the Feb. 2014 Issue of American Patchwork & Quilting (on newsstands now) and all of the information is in there! Otherwise, you can check it all out here on Moda Lissa's blog!