So many unfinished projects

How many of you live with unfinished quilts haunting you? Mine pop out of the most random places to haunt and torment me.  Like the other nite, I was inspired suddenly to begin a wonky log cabin quilt with some bright and fun prints and I had a few fun pinks I thought would do nicely in this quilt.  So, I head to the stash in my fabric closet and 2 quilts just waiting to be quilted fall from the top shelf onto my head.  Seriously.  And then, as I'm grabbing the pink I see another quilt that was just waiting for binding (ummm... from months ago) staring at me with a wistful expression.  Yes, quilts can have wistful expressions.  They can also have angry expressions and crazy eyes.  Much like the one dangling from a coat hanger next to me.  Kinda scary.  Needless to say, I grabbed that pink and practically ran from my sewing stash, closing the door firmly behind me.  I don't think I'll be going back in there again until I decide to finish one of those poor little souls.

Anyone else have a regretful amount of UFO's lying about? How do you deal with them? I know I should finish them up before I start another new one but it's just so much fun to start new projects!  Maybe I'll make myself a goal not to start another new quilt until I finish at least 5 of these UFO's hanging around.  Well, after I finish the fun bright log cabin quilt I just started yesterday.  Actually, that's a UFO now.  After all, I did start it already...

Blogging Break

Yes, I took a bit of a blogging break.  I also took a quilting break.  Not intentional.  A lot of things happened in the last few weeks.

My brother-in-law and his girlfriend moved into their new house and we spent the better part of three weeks helping them pack, unpack, move, clean, paint and whatever else needed doing.  During that same time my dad went in to the hospital for a routine day surgery.  Things looked to be going well and then were not, quite suddenly.  Without going in to much detail he has been in the hospital for a few weeks now.  Should be going home this week hopefully.  It was an exhausting and scary time.  I've also been dealing with some of my own personal health issues.  So... I've been spending my days helping family move, running to and from the hospital and sleeping their some nights, visiting with dr.'s, trying to spend some time with my children and husband (the latter of which came home from weeks away at work right in the middle of all this) and generally just trying my hardest to stay above water.  I'm tired, exhausted really.  Both physically and emotionally.  I've had no time to sew or quilt or even think about my fabric for awhile.

Hopefully that will change.  Jake's brother in moved in to his new place and they are set (for now at least) and my dad is on the mend.  This weekend will be filled with helping my best friend Becky and her family move into their new place.  After that, I will definitely be taking some time for myself to sew, quilt, knit, whatever I feel like doing.  Just some time to be alone with my quilting and fabric will be so wonderful.

Hope you are all having a wonderful and productive week.  I will be back to the normal swing of things soon!

Shop Sale

Just a quick note to say I'm having a shop-wide sale starting now through the 15th.  Everything in the shop is 15% off.  Please stop by and take a peek.  It's a great time to stock up on Spring table runners and some quilts for the kids.

I'll be back later to post about some new projects getting finished, and another in the works.

Another Project Finished

So, do you remember me talking about how I finished this hat for Odin awhile back? 

And how I was going to make a sweater for him with the same yarn? Well... I did. 

 I just finished it up late last week and am so proud of it! It's the first sweater I've ever knit before and I think it turned out really nicely.  Odin loves it.  He ran around with it on telling everyone, "Look at my newly made sweater!" And yes, he does have a black eye.  I just know someone is going to ask.  He had a bit of a run-in (literally) with a toy.  

Since I had so much fun knitting this sweater for him and since Aiden respectfully declined a sweater for himself (at least until his sweater from Christmas doesn't fit anymore) I decided to start knitting myself a sweater.  I found the most beautiful and soft purple yarn ever.  I'm loving knitting it.  It's just so soft to touch.

I've made it a long way in the last few days.  If I have enough free time in the evenings I'll hopefully finish it before Jake gets home in a few weeks.  That's my goal anyway.  I do have a lot of quilts and mug rugs to finish up and list in the shop too though, and that's Priority #1 for now.

I finished this quilt up almost 2 weeks ago now and have yet to list it.  

Don't you love how bright it is?

Back with extra blocks and strips pieced in.

This quilt is seriously gorgeous.  The fabric is  It's a Hoot by Momo.  It's still one of my favorite fabrics.  So bright and colorful and the different prints and designs are wonderful.  I need to try to find more of it before it's impossible to get.

I used my little flower bud design for the quilting again.  I love that design. 

I really wanted to finish Odin's sweater before I listed this and then I just had to start this sweater for myself.  I mean the yarn was so beautiful! Walking by it over and over again all day long for several days and my willpower to wait until I caught up on my WIP's caved.  So, even though I'm still working on this new sweater for myself, I have vowed I will get at least 5 things listed by April 5.  Big vow, but I think I can do it. 

Well, I'm off to knit my sweater... uhhh, finish a quilt I mean... no, knit.  Maybe if I just knit for a few hours or 8 I'll get it out of my system for a few days.  Maybe...

A Month in Review

So it appears it's been awhile since I've logged on to my blog and shared anything with you.  Whoops! We've all been a bit busy lately and frankly, I think I just needed some down time.  But, I'm happy to report I'm recharged and freshly inspired and ready to share!

I've finished/started quite a few things in the past several weeks so this post may be a bit long with all the sharing.  If you don't really care about how I made everything and whatnot, feel free to just scroll through and look at all the pretty pictures and 'ooooh' and 'aaahhh' at something every now and then and maybe leave me a comment.  I love comments!

Believe me, I won't be offended if you don't read everything.  After all, my husband only hears about 1/3 of what I actually say and we're happy enough!

First I finished this hat for little guy a while back and don't think I blogged about it.  It was one of my first hats and he loves it.  I love the colors so much I went back to Michaels and bought about 7-8 skeins of it so I can make him a sweater with it.  That's enough to make about 3 or 4 sweaters for his little body but oh well.  I was afraid I wouldn't be able to get anymore later. He loves the colors too.  Win/win.

Then I finished 2 of these little hats.  Super quick knitting pattern! I can easily make about 1 hat an hour.  They are warm and soft so the boys love them too.  Aiden took his out for a stroll through the snow first thing.  I even let him go out before he'd brushed his teeth or gotten dressed 'cause he was so excited.  

Here's a better pic of the pattern design.  I used a wider ribbing on the cuff of the hats and really like the way they turned out.  I've now made so many of these hats that I pretty much have the pattern memorized.  Jake has pled with me to please not make any more hats for the boys.  I suppose he's right.  I can't find anywhere else to stuff them anyway.

Then Jake got a neck warmer.  He loves it.  Came in handy while we were tromping around on the land.  He says he also likes to wear it while he's motorcycle riding.

And I knit myself an Infinity Scarf.  Sorry, lighting was kinda bad for this one but I was trying to take the pic myself since no one else was around.  That is one warm scarf! I've worn it quite a bit lately with the weather we've been having.

Then I worked on this quilt.  It was a custom order I got from one of my dads nurses.  She has a friend who's having a little girl soon and wanted a nice quilt for her.  I really love it.  It turned out so soft and sweet.

Then I made this cute little doll quilt for my best friends little girl.  She had a birthday recently and needed a snuggly blankie for her favorite puppy.  I had so much fun making this.  It was the first time I'd ever made a doll size quilt and I'm definitely making more soon! I used nothing but scraps of fabric I already had in my stash.  It was so rewarding to use up some of my scraps and not buy anything new.

This beauty is for sale now in my shop.  I so love the soft, spring colors in this table runner.  I actually planned this one out instead of winging it and was able to get 2 runners from one charm pack.  I have been toying with the idea of creating my own pattern for it, but we'll see.  There's a lot going on right now.

Here's another one from the same pattern.  This is an old collection of fabric I've been hanging onto to make just the perfect table runner.  Let's just say it's been sitting around since before the little guy joined our family.  I finally decided to stop waiting for the perfect pattern and just make something with it.  And you know what? It's kinda perfect.  :)  Funny how that happens sometimes.  It's also for sale here.

And lastly, there's this one.  It's a really fun collection of fabrics called Botany.  It's now out of print I believe but you can still find some of it a few places online.  And guess what? It's for sale too.  here.

Maybe I'll make one to keep for myself one day, but for now, I'd rather be selling them to someone who loves them and doing my part to save up for our new house.

Aiden's Monster Chunk 

Odin's Jelly Bean Monster

Now, one last thing to share that isn't mine but a friends.  A few weeks ago my best bud's kiddos had a week break from school so they all came over one day and we got to sew all day (yay!) while the kids all played.  I managed to complete several small projects but Becky painstakingly worked on a few little blocks all day long.  

Are these not gorgeous?!? Serious amount of work right here people! She's recycling old jeans (some of them are mine!) and little 2.5" squares of fabric in the center to make these Cathedral Window blocks.  She has like, I don't know, probably a zillion blocks to go before she makes it to a lap size quilt, but it's going to be so pretty!  

I just had to get her permission to share these since I loved them so much and I'm never ever going to have the patience to make them myself.  Now hurry up and finish Becky so I can snuggle under it!

I hope you've all enjoyed show and tell! I plan to be back to more regular blogging again.  I've got lots of projects just waiting for me to create them.

Have a great day! I'm off to sew while the boys are still napping.

Mug Rug & Boy Quilts

So, really quickly, here's a few pics of the newest Mug Rug to be born into the Quilting Whimsy family.  I bonded quite a bit with this one and had several internal (and one external) battles over whether or not to give this one up for adoption, but eventually the desire to sell more and help Jake save for our new house won out and selfishness lost.  Oh well.  Here's the link to the shop's listing.

Do me a favor please? If you buy her, send me a pic of how happy she is in your home.  It would help me know I've made the right decision in letting her go.

Pink Bicycle Mug Rug

Sigh... Love her.

Now, on to things I actually get to keep (even if they're not for me).  Remember last week I posted about the quilts I'm making for my boys beds? Well, I got a few opportunities to work on one of these and it is coming along nicely.  I love the fabrics I picked and so do the boys, so it's a win/win.

I showed Aiden the fabrics and the partially completed quilt so far and he -who is trained so well- says, "Ohhhhh.  It's really great.  I love your quilt making mommy.  It's so nice!"  So, after deflating my head, I told him I was making it for his bed.  He got really excited and then stops and, looking quite serious, says to me, "That's really nice mom, but I'll feel bad if Odin doesn't have one.  I can just share mine with him though!"  Seriously, his kid just melts my whole stinkin' heart! I told him he was super nice for offering to share but I was making them each their own quilt.  He says, "Oh that's so nice of you! I really didn't want to share anyway."  Totally love him.  :)

Without further ado, here is a pic of the quilt I'm working on for the boys beds.  I used this Patchwork Chevron free pattern from the Moda Bakeshop website.  First of all, I just love the pattern and (literally) squealed at the chance to use it. Second, it's free.  Enough said right there.  (Now if only the fabric could be free.  That'd really make me squeal!).

Here's a pic of the fabrics I used.  The pattern calls for 4 charm packs (5" square fabric bundles of 42 fabrics) but I had a layer cake (10" bundle of same fabrics) on hand already and just cut that into fourths to make my 4 charm packs.  I'm going to need more of the fabric since I'm enlarging the pattern some to fit my boys twin beds.  The fabric by the way, is 10 Little Things by Jen Ski, since I know you'll all be curious.  I don't remember where I purchased it from but it can be found in many shops on etsy right now.  I love how the fabric has such bright fun prints mixed in with the construction and owl fabric.  It's so fun!

Here's the completed Nine Patch Block.  (Please excuse my horribly old ironing board cover.  I'm too cheap to buy another one).  This was the easiest part of the pattern.  I managed to get through about half a season of In Plain Sight and a 16 oz. white chocolate mocha frappe while sewing these little babies up.  It also helped that the boys were with Jake's parents all day. I love their Thursdays with Baba and Grampa!

I pressed my seams open on the Nine Patch block.  This is something I really never do but it was worth the extra time since it eliminated so much bulk from the seams being pressed all the same direction.  It looks super pretty super cool too.

Here's the block getting pieced together into rows.  Sorry, it was dark out so the lighting is horrible.   This was done while the boys sat on the couch for some hot cocoa, corn dogs and a movie.  Hey, don't judge! I needed the kitchen table!

And a close-up of some of the fabric prints.  Aren't they so stinkin' adorable? Of course they are! And I have to say, I am so in love with the solid green print I used as the background fabric for this.  It matches these fabrics so perfectly! It's called Leaf Green and is one of the newest solids in Moda's Bella Solids line.  The color really does make me think of spring leaves.

I got this fabric from an etsy seller, Pink Castle Fabrics.  Her shop is great! If you're looking for fresh, fun fabric at affordable prices, you should really check her out!  The shop owner, Brenda, is also really nice and helpful and spent some extra time answering my questions and helping me make sure I got a fabric that would really compliment all these wonderful fabrics.  The shipping was super fast and everything was labeled and packaged so nicely.  I had a wonderful experience shopping there and will be going back for much more of this fabric soon!  (Well, as soon as I can... budgets really put a cramp in my fabric-buying style).  I still need at least 3 yds of it to make boy #2's quilt.

I should note I suppose, that Brenda at Pink Castle Fabrics and I don't know each other and she has no idea whatsoever I'm blogging about this and I am not/have not received anything by writing this review.  I simply like to point out the good great things in life and share the wealth with all my other crafty friends.  I also just really love etsy and supporting small businesses, so there you go.  My two cents.  Check her out.  'Cause I said so.  She didn't.

Herringbone Tutorial Link

Just a quick drop-in note to say I am still alive, still sewing and very busy right now!

I have been working on a few custom baby quilt orders and planning out the design for 2 matching twin quilts that will have the honor of keeping my little guys snuggly warm at night.  I'll post some pics of the quilts as they come along.  I'm starting them today.

In the meantime, here's two links to some great tutorials that I happened upon this morning for a Herringbone Block.  I am definitely going to have to try making one of these quilts.




The link to this block can be found here.  I have never been to this blog before but the tutorial is very nicely written and lots of pictures to follow along with.  This will end up making a 12.5" square when finished and is a great way to use up scraps or a jelly roll.


Here is a link to the second blog, Stitched in Color.  This block finishes to 11.5"x 22.5".  A great blog to check out by the way.  She has so many beautiful quilts and tutorials to check out.

Please let me know if you end up making one of these quilts and which tutorial you used.  I'm hoping to have the time soon to make one myself.  First, I have to finish my customer orders and the boys twin bed quilts.  I'll be back next week to post some pics of the progress on those quilts.

Have a great weekend!