Q1 and W.I.P.s -- that time I stopped finishing and got started

Remember I said I am a finisher? Yeah, well, just kidding. I currently have seven quilt projects going. SEVEN.

How did that happen?

Well, I did manage a few finishes from my Q1 list:
1. A baby quilt for Jen. You'll just have to take my word for it because I have NO PHOTOS. As soon as it's gifted I'll snap some.
2. A mini star quilt for Jean, a dear colleague. I'm so pleased with this. And unbeknownst to me, Jean collects textiles! WINNING.

But about those new projects... Right now my home is in chaos--a flurry of packing and repairs, in anticipation of moving at some point in the future. At the exact time we should be making order, my heart is bursting with inspiration and the desire to create. (I've also finished four pillows, two pouches and a wall hanging.) So I start and start and start. Without complaint. The finishes will come. (Update: I finished #6. See? I can do it.)

WIPs that will no doubt make it to my Q2 list:

1. A rainbow mini quilt for Mid-Atlantic Mod. You can see a peak on Instagram. In spite of my early start, I have a feeling I'll be finishing this under pressure before the April deadline.

2. Christmas sparkle punch: I lost steam as soon as I cut the billionty squares. I'm hoping to finish it by Christmas 2016. That gives me almost nine months. Totally doable.

3. Scrap vortex. I got this one to a decent baby quilt size and packed it up. I could finish it, but I figure there will be more scraps to add so why not just take a break and come back to it later? 

4. Scrappy nine patch. I started this a month or so ago on a whim. I love to play with scraps! I'm hoping to come back to this one soon.

Scrappy improv. I have 47 nine patches that aren't big enough for a quilt on their own. Liking this scrappy log cabin effect... #scrapbusting #scrapquilt

A photo posted by Cassandra McKee (@pilarandolivia) on Mar 12, 2016 at 9:46am PST

5. Starry night BOM. Another whim. At least this one is monthly so I can pace myself!

#dcmqgsnowalong #starrynightquilt

A photo posted by Cassandra McKee (@pilarandolivia) on Feb 15, 2016 at 10:26am PST

6-7. More baby boy quilts. Why cut one when I can cut and piece two at the same time? These are simple patchwork quilts with 7.5" squares. One is for a colleague expecting this spring. The other is for a home tbd. So far I've got one ready for quilting finished (hooray!) and one ready for piecing.

Quick sew, exactly what I needed. #birchorganics #serengetifabric

A photo posted by Cassandra McKee (@pilarandolivia) on Mar 3, 2016 at 6:00pm PST

Linking up with Debbie at A Quilter's Table for the 2016 FAL Q1 finishes!

2016 Finish Along -- Quarter 1

So I kept going. #wonkystars

A photo posted by Cassandra McKee (@pilarandolivia) on Jan 9, 2016 at 5:22pm PST

My sister surprised me with a Go! Fabric Cutter by Accuquilt for Christmas. This thing is incredible! My boys love to crank it and together we have cut hundreds of squares. The Go! came with a die for two different sized squares and one half-square triangle, but I ordered the 3.5" square die with my Christmas sparkle punch quilt in mind. Truthfully, it's a little inefficient (I cut my strips an extra 1/4" to make sure I fully cover the die), but I can see how it will save me a lot of time -- especially cutting scraps. Plus, it's so fun.

I started sewing the wonky stars for the Christmas quilt last week, but that quilt was put on hold today while I started a new project: a wonky star mini for Jean (shown above). A colleague of mine loves the color teal, which happens to be one of my favorite colors, too. She's planning a job change, so I'm going to surprise her with a little wall hanging. It's looking great so far, and I'm excited to gift it to her. Oh, I love the lazy days of winter. It was so good to spend the day sewing.

Once again I'm participating in the Finish Along to help keep me on track with my goal to finish all of my projects.

Here's my list of finishes for the First Quarter of the 2016 Finish Along. I am keeping it real and not including the stacks of fabric I have for imaginary projects.

1. Wonky star mini for Jean. This mini is inspired by our mutual love of the color teal. I'm loving how it is coming along. I pulled fabric from my AMH stash, hit my pile of 3.5" scrap squares, and added a few 5" charms. I cut into some yardage, but not a lot. It will be so nice to have a finish this week! Yes, this week. I can do it.

2. Baby boy quilt for Jen. No idea what it'll look like, but I love the fabric pull so that's a good start.

3. Christmas sparkle punch quilt (pattern by Elizabeth Hartman/Oh Fransson!). Most of the squares are cut! Realistically, this won't get done until the second quarter at the earliest. I'm thinking I'll take it to the Mid-Atlantic Mod retreat in April.

May not look like much, but that's over 600 squares!

4. scrap vortex quilt, (following the tutorial by Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts). I've got hundreds of quads sewn. That's something, right? As with the Christmas quilt, this one is unlikely to be finished this month. But never say never...

Linking up with Debbie at A Quilter's Table for the 2016 Finish Along!

2016 Sewing Goals

Doll quilt for P. Sleeping lizard!

What will 2016 have in store? I'm expecting to do a little less sewing this year, to make room for travel and other adventures. With the time I do sew, I'd like to be intentional about these things:

1. Continue finishing. I have been very good about finishing what I start, and I hope to keep up that trend.

2. Embrace improv and sew less from other people's patterns. I whipped up the doll sleeping bag/quilt in a morning. No pattern, just free sewing. It was glorious.

 3. Try triangles. I've been admiring equilateral triangle quilts for years and think I'm finally ready to give one a try!

4. Sew my stash. I'm not going to commit to buying no new fabric, but I'd like to limit my fabric buying as much as possible. I've got more than enough novelty prints to last me a lifetime, and my scrap bins are overflowing. But I'll probably need a solid or low volume print here and there to finish up projects. Birthday gifts don't count, right? April is around the corner...

5. Be brave. I'm borrowing this from Melanie Tuazon who has a great post about her rules for 2016 and includes "dare to be awesome". I'm going to focus my bravery on swaps which routinely give me anxiety (is my work good enough, will the recipient like it, etc.). I signed up to participate in the swaps when I attend the Mid Atlantic Mod Retreat this spring, as a way to challenge myself.

That's it! What are you planning for 2016?

Doll quilt -- flip side

2015 Wrap Up -- Determination

WHEW! Happy New Year, friends! What a difference a year makes. Last January I was reeling from my breast cancer diagnosis ("Cruella") in December, learned that I carry the BRCA2 mutation, and was preparing for the first of four (!) surgeries. That time feels both far away and not so long ago.

I've been writing and re-writing my thoughts about 2015, and I haven't quite found the words to express what I'm feeling. I thought I'd be rushing to the new year, but as happy as I am to be closing the cancer chapter of my life, my feelings about the year are overall pretty positive. Seems strange, but it's true. I'm grateful to have learned so much about myself, and to have experienced the support and friendship of so many. SO many. I feel grateful and lucky.

Last year I chose "determination" as my word and I was certainly determined. I planned to make six quilts and finished 14. All while working a full-time job, parenting two small kids, and undergoing cancer treatment. (I made 12 in 2014 and didn't expect to beat that, but turns out sewing is excellent therapy.)

I planned to recap my 2015 goals and sewing to do list, but that seems boring so instead I'll tell you about some of my favorite finishes.

1. Greatest Hits: an improv scrap quilt of Anna Maria Horner prints, with a few Tula Pink prints thrown in. I struggled with this quilt -- couldn't figure out how to make it work. Usually I would force it to get to the finish, but this time I let it sit until I could see how it was meant to be. Finished in December 2015 and gifted to Caroline. One of three projects for the Q4 Finish Along.

2. Husband of the Year: a quilt for the Husband. My best work to date. Blogged. Also one of my goals for Q4 of the Finish Along.

3. Plus Quilt 4: a baby quilt for Maude. I loved the ease of pulling fabrics in the same color. This was no-pressure sewing at its best! See also my Cotton + Steel plus quilt and a quilt for T.

4. Unicorn Quilt for Jane: This was my first finish of the year, and it's one of my favorites. I'm so proud of how it came together. Blogged.

How about you? What was your word for 2015? Did it ring true? Here's to your health and happiness in a new year!


Linking up with the 2015 Finish Along hosted by Adrienne at On the Windy Side.

Finished: a quilt for the Husband of the Year!

Oh, yeah: I finished this back in October. My first finish in Q4 of the 2015 Finish Along!

No big news here, this was a rough year. Through it all I had a true champion and partner at my side.

He's the love of my life. He makes me laugh and sing. He makes coffee in the morning, and dinner at night. He loves our boys and is the center of their world. He encourages me in all things. He takes "in sickness and in health" seriously.

This quilt is my interpretation of the Framed Coins pattern in the book Skip the Borders by Julie Herman of Jaybird Quilts. I love how it turned out. In fact, I think this is the best quilt I've ever made, so it's fitting that it now belongs to the person representing the best decision of my life. 

It came to life at the summer retreat I attended with my guild, DC Modern Quilt Guild. The Doe fabric line by Carolyn Friedlander confounded me for some time, but once I paired it with a few solids I saw its potential. I edited out a few prints, including the orange print which I added back at the last minute. It really pops against the marine solid, doesn't it? 

I managed to cut the entire quilt and piece all of the sections during the retreat. When I returned home I finished the top and matched it with Tula Pink's Free Fall in gray. I LOVE this line of wide quilt backs; it is a super soft sateen. 



It felt risky at the time, but I started on very dense quilting and am so glad I did. The texture is incredible. That said, the dense quilting is no joke: hours and hours and hours. It took a lot of perseverance to finish this baby.

Here's to the Husband of the Year!

Quilt! Landscaping! 

Gettin' Quilty: Works in Progress

It's been a while since I posted about my quilty progress. I still get hung up on my poor photography and I haven't been able to get outside to take decent photographs. You'll just have to bear with me, because there's a lot to document!

Right now I have five different projects in the works. That's a lot for me. I'm a finisher: I don't have a closet full of unquilted tops and I have only one orphaned block. I sew a lot--most weekends and some during the week--and have averaged one quilt per month for the last two years. I like to get things done, and having too many ongoing projects can get me down.

Two things I've learned about my sewing personality are that I do like to have a few projects going (ideally in different stages) to keep me motivated and inspired, and I like to work in stages (i.e. get all of the piecing done before starting the quilting on any one thing).

When I started my marathon sewing session last weekend, I had one top ready for basting, two tops in the piecing stage, four placemats in the quilting/binding stage, and one stack of scraps needing to be pressed. I made progress on everything except the scrap project--a scrap vortex quilt that will likely take me months to finish. I finished ALL of the piecing (scrap project not included) before attaching my walking foot and starting on the quilting. 

1. Greatest Hits Quilt -- I re-pieced the backing and basted it.

 

I had a little help with the basting.

 

 

2. A quilt for Elise -- A dear friend is a family photographer and generously agreed to a trade. I pieced the whole top and pieced the backing (minus a border requiring more fabric)! Pattern is Welded by Art Gallery Fabrics. I mixed Kona white and steel with prints by Anna Maria Horner, Carolyn Friedlander and Tula Pink. 

 

 

 

3. A quilt for a baby girl -- I pieced the strips together and pieced a backing. Now it waits for basting!

 

 

4. Placemats --  I finished the quilting on two, and starting binding this set of four. 

 

Whew. I'm hoping to make a little more progress this weekend, and to get all four of these projects done before Christmas (although technically only one is a holiday gift). I think I can do it if I resist the temptation to start new projects!

Happy weekend, all!

100 Quilts for Kids

Do you know about 100 Quilts for Kids?

Each year the DC Modern Quilt Guild hosts this charity sewing event, and donates quilts to kids in need. This year our quilts were donated to DC General. 119 quilts were linked up this year (some donated to the charity of the maker's choosing)!

Last year was my first year contributing. I made a baby quilt on my own and contributed blocks to a group quilt. This year I've done the same.

Photo by DCMQG President Melinda, Quirky Granola Girl.

I found these orphaned, scrappy log cabin blocks while cleaning up my supply bins. I made them at least a year ago. They didn't speak to me then, but when I found them I thought they'd be perfect for a baby quilt--and I had just enough!

This taupe-ish-gray border is the same solid I originally used to sash my scrappy Anna Maria Horner coin quilt strips. I still don't love it, but I wanted to use what I have. Besides, white sashing really isn't practical for a baby quilt... right?

A few people asked me about the quilting: it is the squiggle stitch programmed on my machine. It's nice to switch it up sometimes. :)

You can see some of the fabulous quilts on Instagram, #100quilts4kids.

Q4 Finish Along

It's the last quarter of 2015! Hallelujah. I cannot wait to kick this year to the curb.

Last year I finished 12 quilts and I'm on track to at least match that this year.

Here's my Finish Along list for Q4:

1. AMH Greatest Hits: I am finally going to get this done! After lots of heartburn I finished a top and just need to get it quilted and bound. Woot!

2. Husband of the Year (Doe): this one is quilted and ready to be bound!

3. Wanderer Placemats: first and possibly only holiday gift I'll make this year.

That's it. I got so much done in Q3 that I have only these projects in the works right now. In fact, not only did I get three finishes from my official list done, I managed to whip up two additional baby quilts. Go me!

I do have quite a few fabric piles by my machine, but I haven't landed on a design for any of them yet.

A. Lizzy House Natural History -- to be a quilt for M! He wants to add in robots. I can't decide if I'll stick to the blues and greens or use all of the colors in this line. Hmm...

B. Christmas quilt! I've got some of Tinsel by Cotton + Steel, as well as a few Anna Maria Horner prints that are destined to be a holiday quilt.

C. The Anna Maria Horner king quilt. I'll probably end up going with big squares for this one. I've been hoarding prints from a variety of her lines to make a giant quilt for our bed.

I'm looking for patterns appropriate for large-scale designs/big blocks.  Any ideas?

Linking up to the 2015 Finish Along hosted by On the Windy Side.

A quilt for T.

"They lived and laughed and loved and left." --James Joyce

My friend's 16-year-old son died last month in a tragic accident. He loved his family, friends, and basketball, and he was a kind, sweet kid. It is still hard to believe that he is gone, and my heart aches for my dear friend T.

What do you do when the unthinkable happens? What do you say?

I couldn't be there with her, so I sewed. And sewed. And sewed.

Snuggle-testers at work.

I cut the fabric 1-2 years ago with plans to make a plus quilt using the same Jeni Baker pattern I used for this one. I laid the squares out on top of the original plus quilt, which made the layout go quick and easy. For the backing I used the new 108" Free Fall quilt backing by Tula Pink. It is soft with a satin-like finish. I bought it on sale from my favorite local online shop, Del Ray Fabrics. (Spoiler: I bought it in gray, too, for the Husband of the Year/Doe quilt.) I love it, and it made this quilt come together very quickly.

H. Quilt burrito.

I am wrapping my friend in a quilt hug. And I am holding her in my heart until I can hold her in my arms.

Pilar, helping me bind.

Summer Recap -- and Finishes!

Cotton + Steel Plus Quilt

I finally have some finishes, including three on my Finish Along list!

A couple weekends ago I attended my first ever retreat, hosted by the DC Modern Quilt Guild. It was spectacular. A beautiful location near Harpers Ferry, WV. Fun and inspiring women. Lots of sewing time.

Pieced backing for C+S Plus Quilt

I quilted and bound the baby-sized Cotton + Steel plus quilt. I pieced a back for the throw-sized Cotton + Steel plus quilt -- and then basted it. I finally basted my Priory Square "Boxed In" quilt (pattern by Jaybird Quilts).

I also cut and started piecing a quilt using the Doe line by Carolyn Friedlander. This one is another pattern by Jaybird Quilts from the book, Skip the Borders: Easy Patterns for Modern Quilts. The quilt in the book is made up in black, white and greens. I have to admit, I didn't love Doe when I first saw it, and I didn't love this quilt pattern, either. But I had a hunch that they were meant for each other. What do you think?

Doe quilt

Originally I took out the orange print but I'm really glad I added it back in. It really pops, doesn't it? I've been won over by both Doe and this pattern. In fact, I love this quilt so much I'm giving it to my husband. I'm calling this one the "husband of the year" quilt. He earned it.

Since the retreat I have managed to finish both the Cotton + Steel and the Priory Square quilts! I've also finished the Doe top. So yeah, I've been doing a fair amount of sewing!

Priory Square "Boxed In" Quilt

Earlier this summer I visited a dear friend in beautiful Minneapolis, and then spent a week with my family at Lake Ontario in upstate New York. We go every summer but this year was especially fun. The good weather probably had something to do with it, and the boys are at "easier" ages... But I also went into vacation determined to have a good time and I swear it helped. Usually I get so stressed out that my husband doesn't want to do the things I want to do, or that the way we live is different from how my parents live. I'm a people pleaser and I live by "when in Rome," you know? This summer I just let everyone be. If we used up the paper towels? Who cares! If I wanted to swim and no one else did? I swam alone. And it was glorious. There was no sewing time on either trip, but there were trips to fabric stores. If you're ever in Minneapolis, I highly recommend Crafty Planet!

Lake Ontario

And that, friends, is a wrap. Happy summer, lovelies!

Linking to Finish it up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts and TGIFF at My Quilt Infatuation.

Back to Square One

Uuuuuuuuugh. I have been making a lot of mistakes lately.

First there's the non-progress on my Anna Maria Horner Greatest Hits scrap quilt. Back in February I picked up some gray-ish/taupe-ish fabric for sashing. I cut it up and sashed the quilt. And then it sat. For months. (It is still sitting.) I never got around to adding the top and bottom sashing and finally realized why: because it is UGLY. Not only is the gray/taupe solid a bad color choice, the width of the sashing is all wrong -- way too wide. So now I need to rip it out and start over. This time I'm tempted to just sew the scrap columns together without sashing... Or, sash it with Kona Snow, 2 1/2 inches wide? Another color? I'm open to ideas; what do you think?

Before I ruined it with ugly sashing. 

OK, so then I managed to finish the Priory Square quilt top using the Boxed In pattern from the book Beyond Borders by Julie Herman of Jaybird Quilts. It looks fantastic. However... there were a lot of piecing errors, and most of them due to my laziness with regards to a 1/4 inch seam. Amateur hour, I know. Fortunately, I was able to square the quilt up and the solid sashing throughout hides my mistakes.

All the pretty boxes!

I wish I could say I learned my lesson with that quilt. Nope. I moved on to expand the Cotton + Steel plus quilt I started many moons ago. I took the perfect square and added columns. And when I tried sewing the new columns to the old square, the seams didn't line up. Not even close. Yep. Now, I do use a guide and while my seams may not always be perfect scant 1/4 inches, usually things DO line up. However, in this case, I used my new machine (Kim Gordon) to piece the new columns... and I had used my old machine (Kitty) to piece the original square. Different machines, different guides. I just wasn't thinking.

The original baby-sized square with pretty seams.

I got verrrrrry familiar with my seam ripper this past week. I wanted to forge ahead with the project and disregard the mistakes. I tried to get comfortable with that path. But--and I think this is a sign of growth--I couldn't do it. So I ripped out the entire new section, but I kept the original square and will finish it off into a baby quilt. Which is what it was originally going to be anyway. And, because I can't get this color story out of my head and I don't want all of those squares to go to waste, I not only retrimmed the new section, I cut out the squares to remake the old section. Once I get it all stitched up I'll still only be halfway done with the new, larger quilt, but I think it'll be worth it in the end.

Whew. I wish I could say those were the only mistakes I've made, but there have been others. "Learning opportunities." Uh huh. I'm learning a lot. Hey, I'm happy to report that in between making errors learning opportunities I finally took the time to figure out the needle positions for a perfect 1/4 seam on Kim Gordon. (Side bar: isn't it annoying that a 1/4 inch foot doesn't make a 1/4 seam without some adjusting?!) SUCCESS!

On that note, here's my Quarter 3 Finish List. I've got the DCMQG sewing retreat in August and hope to get some quality stitching, so here's hoping there are a few finishes!

Priory Square quilt (above) -- piecing done; needs to be basted and quilted
Cotton + Steel (baby) plus quilt -- time to baste and quilt that baby!
Cotton + Steel plus quilt (the re-do) -- piecing in progress
AMH greatest hits scrap quilt -- let's not talk about it.

Project Piles:
Natural History twin quilt for M -- pattern picked
AMH mixed up king quilt
Doe strip quilt

Linking up to On the Windy Side for the 2015 Finish Along Q3!

For the love of quilters and unicorns

This.

This quilt is a gift to me from the DC Modern Quilt Guild. It is like a big, quilted hug from new friends. Guild members contributed blocks and Carissa, Vice President of the Guild, coordinated, pieced and quilted it. Every time I look at this quilt, I see something new. I am so thankful to have found this quilty home in the DCMQG.

Isn't this bag amazing? Do you see the tiny square of green? LOVE.

Before my diagnosis (breast cancer -- read more from here) I had participated only sparingly in the Guild. I didn't know more than a few of our members. One of the unexpected gifts of my treatment is that by standing out (hello, bald head), I was able to connect with people. I let down my guard, told my story, and let people in. I made friends! It has been so fun getting to know other people who love quilting. The DCMQG has been a not insignificant part of my recovery -- connecting offline, having the meetings to look forward, and finally attending a meeting before my final treatment, and again after it.

My first mom -- a quilter and a beautiful life lost to breast cancer -- loved unicorns. One of my last memories of her is that she had a stuffed unicorn beside her bed. I don't know what meaning unicorns had for her, but they will always remind me of her and our connection. Seeing the unicorn in this quilt was, well, pretty awesome.

In my twenties I sang in a band (don't get too excited -- we weren't very good; but thank you Sister and Sister's Friends for actually paying to hear us!). My favorite song of ours--our best song, if I dare say so--was "Unicorn Cat." I wrote it after a vivid dream in which my cat, yep, had a unicorn horn. It inspired a song about dreams, memories, and connecting with lost loved ones through the subconscious.

It began, "I had a dream that I had a unicorn cat..."

But the best verse was this one:
"Elusive memories I trap inside when I close my eyes,
You appear to me in signs.
These glimpses of past and future fading into one,
No consciousness of time."

No, you can't download the song on iTunes. Ha! That's a funny thought. But the guitarist and I are plotting to record it. So we'll see. Crazier things have happened.

Thank you, Carissa and DCMQG, for creating this beautiful quilt for me! It is magical. XOXO

Linking up to Quilty Thankful Thursday with so. much. gratitude.

Sewing and other things

It's been a while! Time for an update. I've managed to sew a fair amount over the past month, but I've not taken any good photos. Do bad photos hold you back? I have serious angst about my poor photography, but I'm too lazy to do anything about it. I know, right now I can cut myself some slack (hello, chemotherapy, people!), but eventually I have got to do something about the bad photos. But I digress.

BABIES are coming!

Storytime Squares Baby Quilt

I've sewn three quilt tops for babies in less than a month. I finally finished quilting the first one (above), and I am really proud of it. I densely quilted straight-ish (cough, cough) lines and while it took FOREVER, it gave the quilt such an amazing texture. And it got even better after I washed it. I paired some adorable animal prints by Creative Thursday (Za Za Zoo line) with some Anna Maria Horner florals (a few from Pretty Potent and one Honor Roll print). I love them together! The recipient has done some work in Africa and I noticed both elephants and giraffes on her registry, so I think this will be a hit.

This was my first time sewing the Storytime Squares quilt by Made by Rae and I liked it well enough to make it again. It was more time consuming than my standbys, but when I'm not in a rush to meet a deadline that's okay. Would I do the dense quilting again? As much as I love the result, the time commitment is really daunting. So probably not any time soon.

Aren't these zebras adorable?

Do you have go-to baby quilt patterns? I love the charms baby quilt pattern by Elizabeth Hartman who blogs at Oh, Fransson! Her blog is currently under construction but you can see other quilts using the pattern here. I have made close to a dozen baby quilts using this pattern. It's quick, easy, and looks great. For the next baby quilt I pulled out the Za Za Zoo prints in blues and yellows and added in my favorite Michael Miller dot and a Lizzy House pearl bracelet. This quilt is for my cousin who is expecting her first baby, a boy.

Eek, this top needs a pressing!

I used some of the leftovers to make two bibs and backed them with flannel from my first son's receiving blankets. (A friend recently told me the bibs I made are "the best bibs" they have. I'm not sure what makes them great, but if you're looking for a simple pattern try this one by Rachel Measham-Pywell for Sew Mama Sew.)

Wouldn't this zebra print make some awesome baby pants?

Did I mention that I won the Creative Thursday fabric I used for those two quilts? A little over a year ago Marisa hosted a giveaway on her blog and my number came up on the random generator! Hooray! In addition to this adorable fat quarter bundle, she sent me an original painting, two books and a few other cute things. What an awesome prize. It took me a long time to figure out how to use the fabric, but once I divided the prints by color I was able to formulate a plan.

The third baby quilt is a simple strip quilt for a friend who loves yellow and doesn't know the gender of her baby. I don't have a lot of yellow, so I bought a Cotton + Steel basic to pair with the cute moon bunnies print in the Mochi line by Rashida Coleman Hale. I added in some white and another Cotton + Steel print. It's not a "wow" quilt, but I think she'll like the simplicity -- and the yellow. Plus, I put together a Divided Basket by Anna @Noodlehead with more yellow and more bunnies and some Essex linen in denim. I love the result! Have you sewn this pattern yet? Because it is one of the best patterns out there. Don't take my word for it; give it a try!

Bunny Divided Basket (you can see the strip quilt in the background)

All of the baby gifts are due in April, so I've really got to get quilting. The finished Storytime Squares quilt will be gifted tomorrow at a surprise baby shower for my coworker. I won't be there (chemo #3 -- see this post) but I'm really excited to hear how it is received. Making a quilt for a coworker I don't know well feels a little presumptuous and perhaps too generous? But I love making baby quilts and I know she'll appreciate the gesture.

And I'm just realizing that I am missing all three of the showers because chemo. Oh well. There will be many other opportunities to celebrate these babies!

And that's it. That's the sum total of my sewing lately. This first quarter of 2015 I completed just two out of five projects on my Finish-A-Long list. I missed the deadline to link them up, but I'll go ahead and claim them here anyway!

Q1 Finishes:

1. Scrappy, wonky star pillow

2. The Unicorn Quilt

Q1 Unfinishes: 

1. Anna Maria Horner Greatest Hits scrappy coin quilt.

2. Priory Square Quilt for someone dear.

3. Echino bird mini quilt. 

I got a little off track at the beginning of the quarter and started a Cotton + Steel plus quilt, but I'm glad I followed my inspiration because it is a project I really love. And while I really should have anticipated the baby quilts (I'd have had a third finish!), I've now gotten a jump on two entries for Quarter Two. Go me!

Q2 Finish-A-Long List:

1. ZaZa Zoo charm square baby quilt for baby boy.

2. Cotton + Steel strip quilt for a friend's baby.
3. Anna Maria Horner greatest hits scrappy coin quilt -- I need to square it up and add the top and bottom borders, and then quilt this baby.
4. Cotton + Steel plus quilt -- Finishing this is a stretch, as I've got only one quarter done, and most likely I'll only get another quarter done by the end of June.
5. Priory Square quilt -- the fabric is collecting dust while I waffle over what design to use. So this is a BIG stretch.
6. Echino bird mini quilt. I made some progress in Q1 and just need to decide on how to finish it. So maybe?

Slow Down, a Finish, and the Bleach Out Story

Well, friends, I have to slow back down. Doctor's orders. All of my maniacal cleaning, sewing and LIVING is keeping my second and final drain in overdrive. And we want it OUT.

So since I am not doing much of anything this weekend except perhaps a movie/tv marathon, here's a look at a January finish (on my Finish A-Long list, hooray!) and the dreaded Bleach Out Story.

First, the finished pillow sham:

Isn't it cute? (Forgive the cell phone photography; remember, I'm not supposed to be doing all the things!) It took some convincing by the Husband that this block was worth saving, but as soon as I put my favorite Loulouthi print on the back it was love. And, I learned a new skill while making this. I succeeded at my first French seams. This sham is as pretty on the inside as it is on the outside. You'' have to trust me on that. Also, this pillow measures 18 inches which I have decided is the magic size for pillows. Goodbye, 16 inch pillow forms.

I made this block shortly after the Bleach Out episode. It all started with three wonky star blocks with fussy-cut raccoons from Tula Pink's Acacia line. The three blocks quickly turned into a bigger effort -- a Pure Joy project. A quilt I worked on for months, here and there, mixing my favorite fabrics and adding borders, making it up as I went along, just for fun. I had a charm pack of Pretty Potent by Anna Maria Horner and one of Acacia by Tula Pink. I loved them together. Oh, the color! Looking at it on my wall inspired me to finish up my other projects. This is the only photo I have of it showing all nine star blocks in their full color glory:

And then one day the quilt was finished. Here is a look at some of the quilting in process:

 The backing was a clearance super find at JoAnn's: a navy floral with mint and gold and orange and yellow and purple! I bound it off with bright pink. And I threw it in the wash. 

You know what happens next, right? I couldn't find my trusty terry cloth color catcher so I threw in the Rit color REMOVER without reading the package. And when the wash was done, I had this:

All of the color gone. The ivory turned mint. The pink turned taupe. A nice color scheme for a baby quilt, but this was MY quilt. Besides, the color splotches in a few places made in unsuitable for a gift.

There is a happy ending. Pilar, my number one girly, loves this quilt. It is now her special quilt, and she curls up on it while I work. Aww. Photo of that forthcoming.

And now, back to the boob tube. (Get it? Ha!)

Sparking Joy in Recovery with a little sewing

Recovery is hard, but not for the reasons I expected. I have been feeling SO GOOD and I want to do All the Things. So I do a lot of the things, and then I feel crummy. So I am working on finding balance. I'm getting there.

It has been nice spending quiet time at home. I haven't watched nearly as much television as I thought I would, and while I have been reading, it hasn't been the book festival I expected, either. Right now I am reading The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo. It is smug, hilarious, and hard to put down. I think some of the smugness (and hilarity) may be the translation from Japanese. I didn't know my socks needed a holiday, but now they are peacefully at rest. I'm only halfway through but the book has already prompted a massive re-organizing effort and purge of clothes and objects that do not "spark joy." I know, I'm doing too much. I seriously need to stop.

I've also managed to do some sewing which, thankfully, is relaxing and not hard on my body. I finished up a baby-sized quilt top (36" square) with some of my favorite Cotton + Steel prints, and it is so cute and so sweet that I'm not sure I can bear to part with it. The minty colors match my kitchen perfectly, so it may just have to be a wall-hanging. Or, I might just have to keep going and make it bigger. It definitely sparks my joy. I used the Arithmetic Quilt Pattern tutorial by Jeni Baker @In Color Order as my guide.

See that Melody Miller floral print? That there may be my most favorite print ever. It's a border print and, while the border is super pretty, I sure wish it was an all-over floral...

Since I'm getting my sewing mojo back, I decided to take on a couple of DCMQG opportunities. First, I signed up for my very first swap ever! I'm a little nervous to make something for someone else. What if they don't like it? What if my sewing isn't up to snuff? It's one thing to make gifts for family and friends who don't sew. My swap partner SEWS.

And then, I signed up to make a quilt block for a quilt that the DC Modern Quilt Guild (DCMQG) will gift to one of our members who is going through her own challenging time. This is big, people. This is only the second time I've contributed to a group quilt. I'm working on getting over my fear of "not good enough" (not everyone appreciates approximate). This seemed fun and easy enough so I dove right in; here it is!

This was my first "improv slab" block and I really enjoyed the process. We were asked to make blocks in one of four colors. I had to be a little generous with my definition of cobalt, but I think it came out well. I had a blast sorting through my scraps to find enough different prints to throw together. The robot head cracks me up. Robots and giraffes in the same quilt? Err...

So that's it for now. I'm taking it easy -- well, easy enough -- and finding my joy in recovery. Quilting definitely sparks my joy.

A sweet zipper pouch

Last week a new friend from book group celebrated her birthday. Annie is smart, sassy, and wickedly funny. There is nothing like a new friend crush to motivate me to do a little sewing, so I sewed this sweet little zipper pouch up and gifted it at book group (the night before surgery!).

Annie's favorite color is yellow. I don't have a ton of yellow in my stash, but the yellow Lizzy House pearl bracelet print is one of my favorites so I stuck it inside where it would be sure to bring happiness whenever Annie opens up her pouch! For the exterior I grabbed my scraps and pulled out these sweet squares for the front, and a favorite unicorn for the back. I went for whimsical and fun, knowing Annie's daughter would put this to use if it was too girly for the Birthday Girl herself. 

A year ago I started sorting my scraps into squares and strips, so I had these 2.5in squares handy after making the far, far away unicorn quilt a few weeks ago.

In the last year my pouch-making skills have improved dramatically. Not only is my stitching better, my zipper ends look cleaner. And, design-wise, I have really fallen in love with Essex linen and how it can class up the simplest of projects. Yep, I'm proud of myself. My sewing is getting better. Less approximate!

Annie loved the pouch. Yay!

First Finish of 2015, Secret Blogs

My first finish of the year! I am SO in love with this quilt. I picked up a few prints from the new run of Far, Far Away by Heather Ross and jumped in. As I got started, I added a few Anna Maria Horner prints. I made blocks a bit at random, and the layout confounded me for weeks. But with help from the Artist, we got it just right.

The back is another Heather Ross print (Nanny Bees) with some Kona. I really don't love the Kona color (is it bubblegum?), but I made do with what I had. This is for a purple loving gal who just turned 6 so I'm not too worried. 

When I started this blog I intended to chronicle my sewing adventures. I called it Exactly Approximate to embrace the imperfect. To give myself space to accept that where I am in my sewing journey--aka not an expert--is okay. Things don't have to be perfect to be pretty. I wanted to create space for myself to learn and enjoy the process, including the mistakes, the puckers, the thread tension issues! (I hadn't imagined that I'd also end up chronicling a cancer diagnosis and treatment. But I wanted to record it somewhere, so here it is.)

Of course, this is a relatively Secret Blog. I'm slowing working up the confidence in my writing.

Another thing that has held me back is my lack of photography skills. You can't really have a sewing blog if you don't post photos, and my photography skills are so poor I've been reluctant to take many pictures of my work. I should embrace my photos as "exactly approximate," right?

Lucky me, the Artist was more than enthusiastic about taking some good photos today. He set up his tripod, tacked up the quilt to our garage (see the binder clips holding it?), and took photos until we had something we liked. 

In about an hour this beauty will be out of the wash and I'll run it down the block to the birthday girl.