September finish! Bonus gifts

As I Spy quilts are my current quilting obsession and have been for over two years, I occasionally host I Spy swaps. I'm just wrapping up my 5^th. During the 4^th, there was a shipping mishap. Two of the ladies affected by the mishap chose to stay in my current swap, even though the problem was completely my fault. I decided to make them each something extra to ship with their swap #5 goodies. I am pleased to say that in both cases, their lost packages did eventually arrive, but I am going to send them the extras anyway, mostly to show my appreciate in their sticking with me.

 I have had more communication with one lady (Colorado) than the other (Nebraska). Colorado is also very active on Flickr and does a lot of swaps, so I've seen several of her inspiration boards and have a bit of an idea of what she likes. Since I know she likes seasonal stuff and has a sense of whimsy, I made her this mini. It's from a pattern by Juliet of The Tartan Kiwi. I love it, and I plan to make one very similar for myself. The fabric is a little too directional for someone fairly new to paper piecing like me, but I'm pleased with it just the same.

I have very little information about Nebraska. Her flickr posts are only what she is submitting for I Spy swaps, and we've only communicated a little. So I made her a pouch. I figured pouches were fairly safe and liked by most people. This one is a boxy pouch from a youtube tutorial by The Crafty Gemini.

Finishing these bonus gifts was my mystery goal for September's A Lovely Year of Finishes. (I was number 78.)

Finished! I Spy Strip Quilt

While most of my I Spy obsession has gone into 5” squares, I cut a 2 ½ inch strip when I have just a little bit of leftover.  I’ve done a few Jelly Roll Race quilts with these leftover bits, but I’ve been looking for other options.  I saw a jelly roll quilt on display at one of my local quilt shops, and I sketched out a variation that I thought would work out for I Spy strips.

This is what I ended up with.  The solids are Kona Pond and Kona Pool. (That they are both water-related words was just a fun coincidence!)  This is an instance where I liked what was in my head better than what I produced, but I’m hoping it will make some kid happy. 

As a side note, I took this project with me in the piecing stages to a recent Project Linus meeting. There was a new participant there that night who had her 2 daughters with her—about to enter 1^st and 5^th grades (I think).  The girls, Samantha and Summer, came over to watch what I was doing and I had them tell me which strip to add next, so much of the order was decided by them. 

This was on my Q3 list for the Finish Along hosted by Adrianne.  Original project name was “2 ½ inch strip I Spy Quilt.”  Original goal list here.  

September Goal--It's a Mystery!

I am currently hosting an I Spy Strip swap, and several of my participants have done previous swaps with me.  In the last swap, I had a bit of a snafu.  I want to send something extra to the 2 ladies affected by the snafu. 

One of them I know a little better, so I'm making her a mini quilt.  I don't know the preferences of the other lady as well, so I'm thinking pouches, as they seem safe.  My September goal is to finish these extras.  I should be mailing about the end of September, so I should be able to post photos of the finished projects.

Linking up with Shanna and Melissa for A Lovely Year of Finishes.

Finished! Dogwood Weekend

This one has been untouched for about 2 years, so I'm really glad to mark it off my list!

The pattern is Happy Weekender from the Moda Bake Shop and the fabric is Dogwood Trail by Sentimental Studios.

I'm really pleased with it.  I'm not sure what to do with it.  I originally planned to keep it, but I'm not sure I really need another lap quilt.  Though it is dogwoods, and I totally have a thing for dogwoods.

This was my August goal for A Lovely Year of Finishes hosted by Melissa and Shauna (goal post #48) and was on my Q3 list for the Finish Along hosted by Adrianne (listed as white/pastel dogwood quilt).

Finished! Pepper Tote

I don't do well with 3-dimensional projects.  But somehow, I occasionally convince myself that this time, it will be different.  It never is.

But I was feeling confident after my project bags.  And my friend Snow did a bag with a Clover & Violet pattern, and their whole thing is that they design bags for quilters.  And they had a free downloadable pattern for their Pepper Tote that they claimed was a good place to start.

So I bought a solid, went through my stash for everything else, and got started. That was in March.  I finished last Friday.

I do not like 3-dimensional projects. I had to force myself to finish this one.  Granted, I'm glad I did, but still.  I should stop starting projects that I have to force myself to finish because I don't really enjoy them.

I found the pattern to be okay as a beginner, non-bag maker pattern.  There were some parts that were not as clear as I would have liked, and the end was not clear at all.  (There are 2 finishing options, but not all the steps are included in each of the options, so there is more detective work and guessing than I felt there should have been.)  I also did something not quite right with the zipper, as my lining is showing.

Snow thinks it looks like piping, but it's definitely not the look I was going for.  It's a functional zipper, though, so I'm not worrying about it.

I'm glad it's done, though I hope I remember for a while that making bags isn't my thing!

This was a Q3 goal for the finish along with Adrianne.  My original goal list is here.

I Spy Swap: Strips!

I've been seeing so many Jelly Roll patterns lately that I really want an I Spy jelly roll to make them with. So I thought, “let's swap strips and make an I Spy Jelly Roll!”

The Rules:
1) We are swapping 2 ½ inch strips of fabric.  Each "spot" in the swap will contribute 10 strips each of 4 different fabrics.  Each spot will get back a 40-strip jelly roll! You should get at least 10 strips from ¾ of a yard of fabric. Each spot is a total of 3 yards of fabric.

2) I'm going to do 2 jelly rolls, so if you have 2 spots, you will get back 2 completely different jelly rolls! If you are doing 2 spots, each of your 8 fabrics must be different.

3) Quilt shop quality fabric, please.  No licensed characters or teams. I Spy quilts are for everyone, so no adult-themed fabric.  Anything identifiable by your average child is a-okay. Creative and unusual fabrics encouraged!

4) Please pay attention to the scale of your fabric. Since we are swapping strips, fabrics should be of small scale. You want objects to be easily recognizable.

5) Packages must be mailed to me no later than September 24^th if you are in the United States and September 18^th if you are international. This is a mail-by date. Earlier mailing is encouraged. If you do not think you can meet this deadline, do not sign up. I will send an email with my address once the swap is full.

6) Sign up at the form on the bottom of the page.  Then check out our Flickr Group. https://www.flickr.com/groups/ispywithmylittleeye  I will use Flickr to track who has signed up and when I receive fabrics.  If you don't have an account, it is free to create one.  You can also post pictures of your fabrics on the group if you choose, but that is not required.

7)   Place your strips in a ziplock bag with an index card/piece of paper/sticker in the bag or on the outside containing your name, address, and Flickr ID.  Please place all 4 fabrics for a “spot” in one bag together, alternating fabrics strips. (ABCD, ABCD, ABCD....)  Please don't forget to put your name on or in your bag--that's how I sort, so it helps me a lot.

8)  Include a prepaid self addressed envelope.  If you do not, I will not be able to return your squares to you!

9) Have fun!  Leave me a comment with questions! 

Finished! Trees!

Paper Piecing.  For years, I was sure I would hate it.  I went to a demonstration at one of my earlier quilt shows.  I was crazy intimidated by it, plus it seemed like a lot of work.  For a while, my husband and I would watch Fons and Porter together and he would laugh every time there was a episode that featured paper piecing, because I would say how I have no interest in paper piecing.

Except that this year, I've decided that I should learn more quilting techniques, even if all I do is a small project and decide that technique is not for me.  At least I've tried it, and know for sure, plus learned something new.  So I added paper piecing to my quilting bucket list.

My friend Snow LOVES paper piecing, so I asked her to help me.  She suggested doing a square-in-a-square block because she knows I've done those via traditional methods, but I knew that I should do something that I couldn't do via traditional piecing methods, otherwise I'd have no motivation to learn the new technique.

So I went looking for free paper piecing patterns online and found this one--Sasha's Tree from sewhooked.com.  This was my first block, made with Snow.  My thought was that I needed to do it at least once on my own to be sure I understood the technique.  So I decided that I would make 4 blocks, all using the same pattern, to become confident in the technique and to make enough to have a mini quilt.

And here's my finished mini!  It's about 12 1/2 inches square, and is entirely made from non-new fabric, using scraps for all the trees and with the binding coming out of stash.

The verdict is that I don't hate paper piecing!  I'm not sure I'd go so far as to say that I like it, but I have seen some really neat patterns out there, so I am absolutely open to more paper piecing in my future. 

This was a Q3 goal for the Finish Along hosted by Adrianne at On the Windy Side (listed as "paper piecing project").  My list of goals for Q3 can be found here.