WIP Wednesday

It's been a busy week getting things back in order after Easter weekend. The kids were so good for us when we traveled up to the cabin. They were even fairly good kids during the record breaking 45-minute Easter church service in White Lake, Wis. The girls have taken very well to traveling in the car. Finally, an accomplishment!

I haven't done a lot of sewing the last two weeks, but I've had a lot of little things to work on that really needed the time. Last week I did finish three bucket hats for Gretchen, Charlotte & Ava. They turned out awesome and can't wait to make a few more. I used the pattern from the Oliver + S book. I used two prints from Kate Spain's new line Good Fortune.

I finished Gretchen's pillow sham to match her diamond quilt (which still needs to be basted).

diamond quilt sham

I've cut and packaged all the fabric for my Quilt Bee but my month isn't until November. We will be doing the Summer Sampler Series with some Flea Market Fancy. I c-a-n-n-o-t wait!!

I've also started to re-wallpaper Charlotte's new dollhouse. After reading a few things and talking with Dana, I decided to give scrapbook paper a try. There doesn't seem to be a lot of modern wallpaper out there that's suitable (or accessible) for tiny dollhouses. Paper = cheap

dollhouse re-wallpapered

Lastly, I finally bought some artwork for the downstairs bathroom. After hanging one of the flower prints I realized how much I really dislike the color of that bathroom. What's with blue? This whole dang house was painted the color of a germ-free hospital. Hate it! So, impulsive project #39 has started. I'm painting it the same color of the family room (paint already on hand) and will later add some horizontal stripes in a few shades lighter. It will look great, I promise you!

Linking up will Lee of Freshly Pieced today.

WIP Wednesday

It was a fairly productive week. I've finished the pinwheels quilt top and need to just start on the back. I have some HST left over from the original blocks and will be using those on the back. Next I'll need to measure, add some border and extra fabric and I'll be ready to start quilting! My question for you, how should I quilt it and what color thread should I use? I'm stuck on this one.

HST quilt back

Thanks to the wonderful Pinterest, ideas are coming out of my head. I'm currently making a book sling for Charlotte's room. Now I'm stuck at the point where I rely on hubby to find the studs in the wall and hang the book sling. It's a cute idea! She's also getting another shelf but I am working on priming/painting the bracket and then it's up to hubby again!

Linking up to Lee again this week...

Wednesday WIP: two quilt tops

I'm linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced again this week. I've been a busy bee in the basement this month!

Once I started working on my purple diamond quilt I couldn't stop. I made some more errors along the way while visually trying to figure this thing out. But after more seam ripping and diamond making I have the top almost finished. My plans are to add more border to it. I'm thinking a strip of Kona Natural and then some lavender. I had a hard time getting a straight line to cut the edges out but I'm impressed with myself and how well the diamonds actually line up. This was a tough quilt and I absolutely LOVE it! This will be a twin size for my daughter Gretchen's bed.

diamond quilt top

Then I also started working on the second quilt I will have made for myself. Last year I purchased the entire Innocent Crush line in Fat Quarters. I hunted and hunted until I found a design that I loved. I found a pinwheels quilt top here at This Domestic Bliss.  However, after putting this top together, I am so NOT in love. It's grown on me a little, but I'm very disappointed. I got all the points to match up but I had a lot of warping in the triangles and that got me frustrated. I'm also going to add a white border on this one in Kona Bone. I'm going to have to add a little more Innocent Crush on the border too. Finished size is a lap quilt.

What do you think? Hate it? Love it? Suggestions?

pinwheels quilt top

Lastly I whipped up an adorable flower belt for my sister. She fell in love with a flower belt from White House Black Market and I had to duplicate it in pink for her. At $38 in the store, it was a no brainer that this one cost like $7 to make. It was made from pink organza, silk and tulle. It turned out really good and was super easy to make. I singed the edges with a lighter to prevent fraying. Then also used the sewing machine and hot glue to hold it all together. 

flower belt

organza & tulle flower belt

Simple short instruction: Starting with a felt circle, I sewed the 2" strips in a circular pattern around the felt, going from outside edge to inside. Be sure to smoosh the layers together to get a nice flower pattern. I added the different fabrics for texture. When I got to the middle, I rolled some layers together (think middle of a rose) then sewed the bottom together and hot glued it into the middle of the circular layers.

Wednesday WIP

Another post to go along with Lee's (Freshly Pieced) Wednesday Work In-Progress projects.

I've had the diamonds cut for Gretchen's twin-sized quilt for a little while now. Slowly, I've been adding the ivory sashing to each diamond. This week I decided to really start finishing the quilt top and started piecing the diamond together. This, of course, meant that I had to take over the basement floor. (Sorry Kevin!)

In true Erika style, I realized that you can sew the sashing on the wrong side of the diamond. I sewed a really good portion with the sashing on the wrong angle...bummer. The seam ripper and I had a nice evening together. Now I'm laying the diamonds out and putting the top together. Visually, this was a challenge for me. Sewing the diamonds on point has been hard but this is going to look great when finished. I was inspired by this quilt from The Blue Chair and found helpful tutorials here and here.

 

WIP Wednesday: more stippling

For the first time I'm finally linking up to Lee over at Freshly Pieced for her WIP Wednesday projects. I always have a WIP but never seem to take the time to link up and share what I'm doing.

curly q stippling

I had dinner with Lee last night and the Milwaukee Modern Quilt Guild ladies and we talked about projects and how many things we work on at the same time. It was then I realized I hardly have any WIP's at one time because I'm a finisher!! Yes, I usually have one quilt I'm working on at a time before I start another one. This quilt is a commissioned quilt! A co-worker will be giving it as a gift. It will be a generous lap sized quilt and uses Moda Origins by Basic Grey. I've made a similar Grasslands quilt here.

my quilting station

And....here's my set up! Not very glamarous but it sure gets the job done. We also talked about sewing machines. This is my old Janome that seems to still quilt just fine.