A new project....

Is it too close to the holidays to start a new project? Not when you have a deadline to get it finished! I had cut these five sets of three shades  last week, so have been itching to sew them together and see how they will work for my new project, Honeycomb, Too, from the book ABC 3-D Tumbling Blocks and More. Since I spent a good share of the weekend cleaning, I figured that I could sew without feeling guilty.

Easy strip sets, mindless sewing. I had to cut one set before I quit for the night so I could see how it looked. I hope to get some more cutting done soon and get all of the colors on the design wall.

My sister, Nancy, and her husband arrive tomorrow night for a short visit before they go to stay at our parent's house...she'll be here for about 3 weeks so we will have many family gatherings and a sewing day while she is here. One of these years, she is going to actually finish her quilt! You can see the post of last year's sewing day here. 

The Asian Trio and the 3D Cubes, continued....

 I finished quilting the asian trio and the cubes quilt yesterday. This is a better picture of how I joined them to quilt them at the same time. I had the face panels, but purchased the other fabrics on a trip to visit my daughter in Seattle. I wanted to make something to hang on a wall together, but not in one piece.

I planned on hand quilting it and adding beading, but that hasn't happened in the 5 years since I started it, so I decided to finish it with all over quilting. I might still add some beads.

 The little 3D cube quilt was a model (in strips) for a class I taught.

 Here is the back. I like using up pieces of fabric and batting for backs when I can. The plaid is on the back of the cubes and the batik is on the back of the asian trio.

It was pretty easy to cut these apart, though I was checking twice to make sure they were straight. It would be very noticable if they were off and sometimes there is a little distortion from the quilting.

 These pieces are ready to bind. I need to find some black around here...I know I have some somewhere...

 If I would've had more of the fabric I used around the edges, I would've bound with that. But I used it all on of it on this, so I decided on a yellow binding to bring out the brighter colors. I added a sleeve on the back while I bound it and it is ready to hang!

I spent the rest of yesterday sewing string blocks and have them sewn into rows, so I will have a quilt soon! I have to do some pattern writing this morning, so maybe I'll sew after that.

A little cube quilt and a trio.....

I made this little trio of asian quilts about 5 years ago. I made three separate pieces, the idea being that I would hang them together, but they wouldn't be joined. I planned on hand quilting them and embellishing them with beads. As you can see, that hasn't happened, so they were next on the 'finish it or dump it' pile. I sewed them together with strips in between so that it would be easier to load on the quilt machine. They really aren't very big. Then I sewed the little 3D Tumbling Blocks quilt that I finished the other day to it with a strip in between. I didn't have a backing fabric big enough for both that I liked, so I pieced two backs together too.

By now you're thinking, what is she doing again? I forgot to take a picture of the 2 quilts sewn together...the trio was smaller so I had to add a piece on the end so they were the same length. I figured if I connected them I could quilt both at the same time. (Of course, doing all that piecing together might've taken some time too....)

Here they are as I'm loading them, you can see the asian trio is to the left, the tumbling blocks to the right.

I was trying to use up smaller pieces of batting that were left over too, so ended up using 2 different pieces, the one on the left is cotton, the one on the right is poly.

It's almost finished, the dark green with leaves is the dummy fabric I put on the end. This is working well as far as quilting it goes, I just feel sad that I am quilting right over those faces. I still might try to do some hand work on them, but finished is better than it sitting around gathering dust, right?

Another little project ...

I worked on finishing this class model on Saturday. I had sewn some leftover 3D Tumbling Blocks together into rows so that I could demonstrate how to sew the rows together during the classes I taught last year from the ABC 3D Tumbling Blocks and More book.  It was one of the projects I decided to finish putting together in my quest to have a few less bags of "stuff", class model props, etc.... If I teach the class again, I can always make some new models.

After I finished sewing the rows together, I added a navy border to complete the dark border around the blocks. (I had cut it originally to aid in showing the rows in class.) It was all put away in a tub so it would be together. I knew I would finish it at some point. I auditioned several different fabrics that I had on hand for a final border, and none of them really added to the quilt. I'm considering finishing it as is. It's about 26" x 35" right now, which would fit perfectly in the quilt rack my dad made that I have on the wall.

Here is the Tumbling Blocks quilt...it still needs to be quilted. (did you hear that big sigh?) I taught the quilt class several times, but hung the quilt top so people could see what it looked like. I don't always have time to quilt everything before I teach the class.

I finished quilting the new quilt yesterday and I love how it turned out. I'm using a new batting, and so far I like how it quilts up. I am going to quilt the little hexie ufo next. I loaded it today. I want to try out a new thread (new for me) so I will practice on it just in case there are problems.

I'm looking forward to sewing with friends today. Hopefully I will have some pictures to share tomorrow.