I'm pleased to report that there's been  a decent amount of progress around here.  Betsy 2.0 and I are definitely trying to become friends.  I still get a little intimidated every time I turn her on - she sounds like a dot matrix printer starting up when you turn her on - but I'm starting to make some progress and I'm definitely learning a lot as I go.

Finished projects:
Hug-bot pillow
AMH scrappy confetti pillow
Dresden Love pillow
January bee block for Cherie

Still in progress:
Birdie Stitches block (still working on the embroidery, but the block itself is finished) - I have managed to trace on my embroidery pattern at this point, which I did in front of the munchkin.  He is now desperate for me to finish this (and the other 11 blocks that will go with it) because he has claimed this quilt for himself.  Why?  Because there's a snowman on it.  That kid is obsessed with snow!


Twin robot quilts - I managed to get all of the fabric together for these quilts and hope to actually make some progress on them this week.

Sewing ninja - I traced the embroidery onto the block that I plan to use for this.  My husband spotted it last night after a 15 hour work day and asked me what the heck it was.  He thought it was Eeyore.  I'm hoping that was just his serious lack of sleep talking.  Just to be safe...I guess I better make sure not to use gray floss on this one so there's no further confusion...


Little to no progress:
Single Girl quilt - I suppose I can say I made slight progress - I officially have all the fabric I need for the quilt now, and I even have some super awesome templates to help me with this one.  As soon as I get those two pairs of twin quilts done, this project is going to be first in line!



Mom's placemats - I did talk to her this weekend about fabric selection, which was kind of hilarious.  She informed me that she wasn't into "fashion colors," as she calls them.  I asked her what she meant, and she said something about lime green.  So no lime green here.  I think I'm going to use some scraps from my French Provence quilt, I suspect those classic colors would be right up her alley.  I'm going to do a charm-bracelet-style layout for these two placemats.

String Me Along January block - Linda got these out in the mail yesterday, so I look forward to working on this little block when it gets here.  She's chosen a String X block, which has been on my To Try list for a while now, so I'm excited about this!



New projects:


Sliced coin twin quilts for my quilt along - Working on getting things started so that I can write them up for all of you guys.  The quilt along will start up toward the end of this month, and on Friday, I'll be posting a list of supplies.  If you're interested in joining the quilt along, come join the Flickr group.  Share your fabric auditions and any other thoughts you might have!





Sew Fresh Scrap Bee - I've joined yet another bee.  Really.  Before you go thinking that I've lost my mind, I have to say I really enjoyed working my butt off in a quilty kind of way over the holidays, and I learned so much by staying so busy, that I'm kind of trying to keep that momentum going.  That, and my husband is working some seriously crazy hours at the moment.  So, this is going to a charity bee, using scraps from Sew Fresh Fabrics.  I think this is an awesome way for a fabric shop to give back and I look forward to working with them on this.

Soft book for Matthew - My nephew's first birthday is at the end of this month, and I've decided to make him a little soft book.  I strongly suspect my ambition is getting the better of me on this project; I've already done some pretty elaborate sketches.

3x6 Bee - I'm in the first quarter of the 3x6 bee, which I think will be a lot of fun.  I'm still waiting to hear from one more group member before I start doing sketching to figure out what kind of block I'd like to do for everyone.

WiP #8 Recap
Last week's projects: 10
Finished: 4
New projects: 4
This week's total projects: 10
As a side note...how is it possible, with all of the trips to Jo-Ann's that I make for solids and for sewing machine questions (my dealer is inside my local Jo-Ann's), that I was unaware that I could order Kona by the bolt?  Seriously!  I was trying to pick up some serious yardage for my Single Girl quilt, and the girl at the cutting counter suggested I get an 8 yd bolt.  Naturally, I said yes, used my 40% off coupon, and was a very happy girl indeed.  It brought the price down to $3.75 a yard.  Wow.  I will definitely remember that in the future!  It's a special order, so it will take a week or so to get here, but that's okay by me.  It's not like I have any shortage of other projects to work on!

I must stop making pillows.   I feel like I'm running out of surfaces to put pillows on!  Last month, I made three gorgeous holiday pillows, and this holiday weekend, I made another three.  I've still got one more in my head that I haven't made yet, but I've decided to focus my attention on more quilty adventures at the moment, since my to-make quilt list keeps growing exponentially.
I finished Betsy 2.0's very first project, a simple HST Modern Meadow pillow, which I really love.  One of these days I want to make a whole HST quilt.  I love how simple the piecing is and how many options you have when you start putting them together.  I outline quilted this little beauty, which was super easy.  My biggest problem was getting used to the insane amount of speed this new machine has.  Learning this new pedal is going to take some practice!


I really love the confetti or improv style of blocks I've been seeing on Flickr lately, so I decided to build on that and make a pillow from some of my favorite Anna Maria Horner scraps.  Oh, how I heart some of her older fabric collections.   Don't get me wrong, I like Innocent Crush a lot too, but I really love the saturated colors she used in Good Folks and Garden Party!  This pillow was a lot of fun to put together.  It was really cool to put this pillow together in an improv kind of way.  I saw a quote on Amanda Jean's blog on Saturday, when I was feeling a little stuck on this pillow, that really just made me want to keep going, and let myself just create for the fun of it.

"Make what you want to make, and make it the way you want to make it." Gwen Marston

That was just the inspiration I needed to finish off this pillow.  I think it might be my favorite pillow I've made thus far.  I quilted it with a simple stipple, which felt good.  I used my new spring-loaded free motion foot, and found it very easy to use, which was a pleasant surprise.


I also finished up the embroidered robot pillow for my munchkin, which I'm happy to say he loves.  He's so fickle these days about his things - favorite toys get discarded on a dime around here, but so far Hug-Bot is his new friend, and there are serious tears shed when he can't find him.  I really love this fabric I used to sash the robot with, it's from David Walker's Robots collection.  I just adore those bright, wonky stripes!  The embroidery pattern, by the way, is from Sublime Stitching, which is an awesome treasure trove of all things embroidery.


I'm also linking up this week with Sew & Tell this week!  Amy's been off for the holidays, and I'm excited to get back to linking up with her this week.


Did you see that I'm starting a quilt-along?


It's aptly named the Sliced Coins Quilt Along - I'm attempting to work up a button you can add to your blog and hope to have that up by the end of the week along with a list of materials so you can start gathering everything you need for the quilt top.  This quilt would also be a great scrapbuster!  We'll be getting started with the sewing toward the end of this month.  I hope you'll join me, the more, the merrier!

Thank you again to Sew Fresh Fabrics for sponsoring such an awesome giveaway!  I'm sure you're all dying to know who the winner of my awesome half-yard bundle giveaway is...



Drumroll please..

And the winner is: Jenny of Cut.Sew.Iron.Repeat!  She said:

yes, these fabrics are amazingly gorgeous, thanks for a chance...im planning lots of quilts this year...next up is some charity quilts...hope to do a boy quilt and girl quilt! would love to use these fabrics!

Congratulations, Jenny!  I'd love to see the finished products, and I know Peg & Becca at Sew Fresh Fabrics would love that as well.  Thanks you all for entering, this has been a great way to kick off the new year!

In other news, I've had quilts on the brain.  Lots of them.  So much so that I'm dreaming about them.  I feel like it's been a while since I've done a quilt, but in reality it's only been a few weeks - I guess it just feels like longer with the holidays and all.  I've been thinking about a quilt-along...

Let me back up here.  I've got two sets of twins to make quilts for.  One set was just born a few weeks ago, and the other is due next month.  The just-born twins are up first to receive quilts from me.  Needless to say, I've got to get moving here.  I've been sketching for a month now, and I think I'm finally ready to stop sketching and start cutting into these gorgeous stacks of fabric...


Now that I've finally decided on a quilt design, I was thinking that since I need to make two of these, I could turn it into a quilt-along, if anyone is interested in joining me. It sure would be a lot more fun to stitch with all of you!  Let me know what you think!  This quilt will finish out at approximately 54" x 58" and will require 10-12 printed (and/or solid, you choose) fat quarters or a layer cake and a so-far-undetermined-yardage of a solid for sashing.  Any takers?  :)   Here's a sneak peek at the super easy, sliced coin quilt layout.