Madwoman in da house!

Yep, that's me. I'm a madwoman and I'm in da house. Ya  got somethin' to say about that?
I thought not.

I put the Swoon blocks on hold for the moment and I'm working madly to finish a wall hanging for Valentine's Day.

You may wonder why but the simple truth is, I now have a wall to hang seasonal quilts on (think medium size, 50"x50") and I promised myself when we finally settled on a home, I would do this.  Well, I started with the Christmas season and that is definately over.  The hanging I currently have on the wall is seasonal, as in winter, but since we haven't had much of a winter, it's making it feel like a Christmas quilt instead.  Do you remember this one?

I decided I should have a Valentine's Day quilt. After all, I had a jellyroll of the L'Amour line by Sandy Gervaise and I certainly should use it.

I had seen a strip quilt done that made me think I could make a super fast quilt with minimal cutting and measuring so I set off on the internet to find a pattern.

I love the internet.

I did find what I was looking for. This tutorial from Katie's Quilting Corner is great and yes, it was super easy and quick to do. The top came together in a matter of an hour of sewing + another 30 min. trimming & ironing. Total.

Strips being sewn.

I did leave out 10 strips of the roll and because of that, I think there were some closer repeats in the strips than there would have been. Also, I added the two large side borders to get the top to the width I wanted. I am really glad I did this. I like the look.

Last order of business before batting and quilting, to applique hearts onto the top. What do you think, the pink or the red w/white hearts? Or mayber a solid red?  Hmm... 

What are you working on?

Cheers!
Beck

Do your mistakes dictate your quilting design?

One of the Made in Cherry QAL top I'm working on is complete. The original plan was to work 2 of these tops simultaneously and donate them to Quilts of Valor. I cut the colored squares both at the same time but started sewing only one first and I am GLAD I did.

The squares and triangle points went together quickly and easily. 

Then I cut the background fabric for both but only sewed one. I followed the instructions but I still had problems. I don't know if it's my cutting (likely), sewing, or the background size (I am doing the 60x60 versions).  More than likely, I did something wrong. So I had to get creative.

When I lined up the pieces, I had excess in the middle where the triangle was supposed to meet at a nice point.  Instead, you see where there is a big gap.

 I decided to let the points get sewn off on the white triangle and then iron the excess white fabric down. Here's what I mean.

 I unstitched a little on the points.

 Then I refolded where they all meet to lay them flat & sewed it down.

 This is the fold sewn without pressing.

 Another view, prior to pressing. It's a big looking bubble of fabric so I have to ask do you think I was lazy to leave this in? I think yes but then again, I also think it doesn't matter for this design wtih the exception of that point being removed.  The good thing, that point is removed all the way around so I'm pretending it is supposed to be that way. :)

 Press the folds right over the colored fabrics.

Here's what it looks like once pressed and why you can see if I quilt it so that edge stays down, it will be just fine. So once again, it looks like my quilting is to be deteremined by my screw up on the piecing. One day, I won't need to do this.

Lastly, since I want to donate this as a QOV, I needed to make it slightly longer so I added a strip of extra squares and some more background fabric.  It's definately large enough now and come quilting time, I will quilt that white background down tight. 

As for the second top, I'm not sure if I'll work another star with all the cuts, re-checking the measurements of my background fabrics or if I'll choose another scrappy pattern and just go from there.  Maybe stripes of background and pieced squares or maybe a disappearing nine-patch.

More swoon blocks

Swoon blocks 5, 6 and 7 for your viewing pleasure.  Block 7 gave me royal fits. I pieced, ripped, pieced, ripped and pieced ripped!  Here's hoping 8 & 9 are more pleasant to get through.

Do you see the mistake in this block #6? I messed up the center and since I did not want to rip it and re-sew, I've decided that this will be my center block for the 9 block pattern. 1 different center. (Shh, it will look like I did it on purpose.)

On a side note, there is wasted triangles when creating the flying geese pieces so I'm turning them into pinwheel blocks and I plan to use them as a border. This will help make it a large quilt for drapping a queen bed or a king bed.

Cheers!
Beck

Sew & Tell Friday

AmyLouWho hosts the Sew & Tell Friday where you can link up your finishes for the week. A primary point of me working on the Swoon blocks so diligently this week is b/c I realized I've been doing a lot of organizing but not a lot of finishing and I wanted to post, dang it!

So this week, I'm sharing block finishes.  Four Swoon blocks for the Swoon QAL. I have 5 more to go but they are not difficult and I am loving the block.

These calicos have been given a new life, don't you think?

Check out the link to the Sew & Tell with the button in my sidebar and see what others in blogland have finished this week. It's great for inspiration and motivation!

Cheers!
Beck

Favorite Things Friday - Ice Cream

Yep, I said it. In the middle  of winter, in the midst of my healthier lifestyle committment, ice cream is my favorite thing.

I was asked the other day what my favorite food was and ice cream made the top. Probably because I haven't had it in so long and also because it is and always has been my "cure all" food. Not chocolate, ice cream.

When hubs and I went on our second date, we passed an ice cream truck and I mentioned this. Then later in the day (we were walking around DC) I was feeling peckish. He saw another truck, suggested the ice cream and low and behold, I was a happy girl again. He learned then how easy to please I'd be. Just give me food or ice cream and my moods would be readily handled (or so he thought).

I'm a simple gal when it comes to ice cream. Just the basics here, the stuff that was cheap when I was a kid are what I hold true to now. I don't want a bunch of crazy flavors unless I'm mixing it up myself and that's not that often. 

Give me neapolitan, chocolate chip, mint chop, or fudge swirl if I'm purchasing from the store. Maybe french vanilla for a treat but I have to eat that with some mini chocolate chips, chocolate syrup and a cherry. 

I'm a wicked sucker for those soft serve carts. Always the same, chocolate/vanilla swirl with rainbow sprinkles.  Oh, I could live off that. My hips can tell you I've tried!

If I'm in bind and I just need some ice cream while I'm out and about but fast food is my only choice, hands down, Wendy's chocolate frosty with the chopped up M&Ms.  Oh lord!

I will add, a new favorite, the Oreo Ice Cream at Cold Stone Creamery.  I dedicated a small portion of a post to it here.

I'm craving ice cream these last couple of days. I'm going to try to drink some milk and see if that curbs the craving but if not, and you don't hear from me this weekend, send help. I've over-indulged and gone into an ice cream induced coma.

Oh, I love ice cream... (disclaimer, these pictures were pulled from Google search for pictures)

Check out other favorites by linking on the FTF button on my side bar. Join in yourself. :)

Cheers!
Beck