Loving Moda Bake Shop!

I have found SO many quilts that I want to make.....WOW!

Okay...some background.....

I was bored and futzing around in the Moda Bake Shop. And I started finding quilts that are adorable. I should have been doing the dishes...or quilting what I have basted. But instead....I found these adorable, free patterns.

Too many quilts going at once? Is that possible? LOL. I want to make the book quilt for my eldest daughter who LOVES to read. I really need to think about what I am going to do for all the bears. I haven't made a larger quilt for Banana Bear. And Sweetie Bear hasn't gotten a quilt at all.

And...my mind goes into a rant about not letting people hijack my quilting. I need to let the quilt guilt go! I am allowed to sew what I want to sew! LOL. How do I say no to people? That is a serious part of my issue.

I am going to share here.

http://www.modabakeshop.com/2012/06/jungle-path-baby-quilt.html#more-1224

http://www.modabakeshop.com/2012/06/childs-nap-mat.html#more-1221

http://www.modabakeshop.com/2012/02/four-squared-quilt.html

I really want to make this one for Vanilla Bear!

http://www.modabakeshop.com/2013/03/read-with-me-quilt.html#more-1076

Hope that you are having a wonderful day!
Katie

I just got this from FatQuarterShop.com and I am not sure that I like it. The colors feel really muddy to me. I guess that is the downside to doing a club. 

Avoidance...

Once again, I have a few moments to sew.

And I am avoiding my quilting. I an no longer filled with fear that I will mess everything up. I am just sitting here with an extreme lack of confidence.

So...what am I doing instead?

Baking cookies....
Laundry - bleh.
Bossing around my 4 bears...
changing diapers....
pulling weeds....
making sun tea....

AND....

Picking out 121 seams that I messed up.

Here is the story of my excessive mistake.

I made 132 pinwheels for a pinwheel quilt of Maddie. I started them 5 years ago...and finished the pinwheels 3 years ago. I decided that I wanted the pinwheels to float, so I needed to add a white border to the edges. Well... I just hopped to it and didn't measure or think, apparently. Next thing that I knew, I was looking at 132 pinwheels with two one inch strips sewn onto the sides. Two strips. So...if I were to connect them...they would have too big a border for what I was hoping. SO....I now have to rip 121 seams to get me the correct border size for my rows.

So, instead of quilting and facing my low self-esteem, I am ripping stitches. Lots of stitches.

Weekend? What Weekend?

I swear this weekend flew by and no quilting got done.

Have you ever had a weekend were the chores took over, and all of the fun things were set aside?

That was this weekend. *Sigh*

Good news - I have the caterpillar quilt basted now too.

All I need is time. And to overcome my fear of dropping my feed-dogs.

I mean - what is the worst thing that can happen? I have to pick stitches? I have done that before. Why I am filled with this fear that my quilting is going to ruin the quilt? It is irrational, but it has a stranglehold on my productivity.

Hope that you had a wonderful and productive weekend!
Katie

Ready to Quilt

I am now getting ready to quilt the Brown Bento and the Caterpillar quilt for my neice. I have basted the Bento, and it is ready to go. I have decided that I am going to drop my feed-dogs and give meandering a try. This seems like the quilt to practice on.

I decided that since I was basting, it was time to take out the Caterpillar and get basting on that. I have stalled about 1/3 of the way through, though, as my Sweetie Bear woke up and started grabbing for my basting pins. I will have it ready to go this weekend. It would be nice to get these two finished.

I have to say that my heart hasn't been in it regarding the quilting. Mostly - I just want to piece. I want to sew pieces together and see how they look.

Seriously considering a scrap quilt where I can do that. LOL. Here I am considering new and different things, and my UFO list hasn't quite gotten smaller yet.

Hope that you are having a wonderful Friday!.

Basting the day away...

Well...I am pushing through the Bento Brown quilt.

I ran into some snags with this quilt. I had backing fabric in my stash, but I didn't have enough. I don't know if anyone else has this issue, but I bought a yard and a half of this fabric like 2 years ago...so of course I am unable to find it anywhere. So, I need about 5 more inches to fit the back of my quilt.

The backing fabric is a soft flannel...so I want to make sure that the rest of my backing is flannel too. I found a light yellow that I had a long scrap of - and that was that.

I took a 20 minute break from work today and put my basting safety pins into my quilt after I spent the morning stitching my batting together and piecing the yellow to the owl backing fabric. Once again...work 20 minutes...sew for 5.

Here is what it looks like waiting for me to quilt it. Unfortunately, quilting takes up a lot of space, so I can't work and actually quilt it. But it is prepped and ready to go.

Ugly Quilt....or Bento Brown?

Well - I am overwhelmed at work with a million things to do, so of course I pushed through to finish this quilt top. Work hard for 20 minutes...sew for two minutes. LOL. And repeat. 

I finished the Ugly Quilt...which ShariK likes....So I will rename it. How about the "Bento Brown"?

I happened upon a piece of batting that is ALMOST a perfect size for this quilt. I will be adding a few inches onto the batting, and I found a large piece of green owl fabric to put on the back. It is a soft flannel, and I think the kids will enjoy the softness when the snuggle down. Now...it doesn't match the front of the quilt at all. You can KIND of see it in the picture on the side of the first picture.

I think I will be attempting to free motion quilt on this piece. I will be going for the large meander. Gulp. 

It is my first time dropping the feed-dogs. 

Okay...back to work! 

An overall shot of the finished Ugly top and apparently kiddo socks. :) If you look at the side, you will see the little owls that will be the backing fabric for this quilt. Doesn't match...but I really don't care. It is soft flannel. And I already own it. LOL

A close-up of the Ugly Quilt

Building the Blocks - Ugly Quilt

Here are what I have been working on this week. I am okay with the way that they are coming out. 

I have someone I love who is coming over and looking at the tiny differences in the seams and the sizes of the blocks, and making small comments about my problems. 

So, I have learned something about myself. I have found that people telling me the tiny things that are wrong with my quilts REALLY makes me crazy. 

Like...snappy, cranky, bust-out-the Midol crazy. 

I try to stay positive and kind, but I am swallowing down some SERIOUS mean comments. Does anyone have someone like that?

One block of the Ugly Quilt

Orange Block of the Ugly Quilt

Just a bit of a stack left to do

 I am working on getting this finished. I want to get it together, so that I can quilt it and put it in the back of the van. The kids like to watch movies on long drives, and to snuggle. While this fabric is all clearance, it will be soft once I have washed it. Now....trying to be positive...so here is a little picture of my Bears at the park.