Ta Da!

I'm so glad to have a fully functional computer again! Expect about a million pictures between now and,well... FOREVER.

These quilt pictures are the pieced front and back. The borders and binding are not on in these pictures, and the quilt is currently in my quilting hoop for the actual quilting. I'll be posting final pictures when the quilting is done. You'll be able to see the quilting detail, the borders (which are the same blue-green that are around the center square) and the binding in those pictures.

I had a pattern in mind when I original cut strips down and when  I laid everything out for the pattern it just wasn't working. So I sat with the pieces awhile, obsessively rearranged things, sewed a little and ripped some out until it came together. I settled on keeping like colors together in each triangle then putting the different triangles together to make dark or light squares. I was trying to find just the right way to use Gardenbug's fabric, and this was the perfect display.

FRONT



INDIVIDUAL BLOCKS ON THE FRONT





THE CENTER SQUARE



The back was a different story- putting everyone's muslin blocks together made for an interesting jigsaw puzzle. You may notice that at the top of this panel the edge is not even- I promise it is now! Some blocks were sent in a slightly bigger or smaller size than others, so piecing this was interesting.

BACK PANEL



A FEW CLOSE UP SHOTS





And this is where I currently spend my evenings- quilting on the hoop.

Individual Muslin Blocks

I spent my fee sewing time this weekend finishing the muslin blocks for the quilt. Most of the participants signed a piece of muslin and sent it in addition to their patterned fabric. I used strips of their own fabric to frame the signed piece on two sides.

The pics below are just a small representation of the work done this weekend. This piecing was simple but time consuming. The next step is finishing piecing the remainder strips and the cutting pieces from those strips. That is this week's project!







Since taking these pics any pieces that weren't even have been trimmed down, and all the silly threads hanging out everywhere were trimmed down too. All the pieces have been pressed too. Ironing pieces is my least favorite part of sewing, but it makes the actual sewing about a million times easier, so that's worth it.

Fabric Stacks

We've been down with a nasty virus- Little Bit on Saturday night and Sunday, Big Kid on Sunday and Monday, Me on Tuesday and Wednesday and finally Superman yesterday and today. I'm praying for just 1 week of health for our family! Someone has been sick just about every day since mid-August, and we are all tired of this. Needless to say, the promised sewing of last Sunday didn't happen! I have precisely 1 lonely row of muslin and strips sewn. So, I'm stacking pieces today so that I can just sew right through as many stacks as possible during Little Bit's nap tomorrow.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="640" caption="Fabric stacks"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="640" caption="Fabric Strips"][/caption]

Finally, long awaited pictures! I've been sitting in between stacks of strips today, re-sorting to the new pattern. The pics are showing off some of our gorgeous fabrics, but not giving away quilt design. The new plan (well, the new, new, new plan) is to finish the back panel by the end of naps tomorrow. Fingers crossed, begging that no one else pukes.

No Pictures?!?

I know, I know- I promised pictures on Monday, and they're not here! I'm having some, ahem, "technical difficulties." The first little problem would be my my son-  you know the little one that thinks he's Super-Toddler? Yeah that one. He's been working overtime on climbing, destroying and generally being a boy. Time I'd planned for teaching and sewing on Tuesday was diverted into an unexpected doctor's visit after he tried to fly off the dining table. He's bruised, but okay otherwise- he hasn't slowed down, that's for sure! Yesterday involved falling off the couch, smashing his hand in a door, and making 50 gazillion trips up and down the stairs- him scrambling up as fast as he could about half way and me getting him back down. Who needs regular exercise when you have a fifteen-month-old?

The other difficulty actually is a technical one: my camera card won't speak to my computer for some reason. Superman has promised to take a look at it this evening so I can get pictures put up- or else I'll borrow my sister's camera and computer this weekend.

I've been sewing during nap time/quiet time and after the boys go to bed. It has been so nice to quilt again. The last quilt I made was for Big Kid before he was born. Since then my crafting efforts have gone other places, and making this quilt has reminded me of how much I like quilting. I think I might plan another project to take me through winter.

Today I'm working today until 7:30 then Superman and I have a date planned, so I probably won't sew today, but I'll get back to it tomorrow afternoon during naps. I've finished most of the muslin blocks, but I still have a few more to do tomorrow, then on to the strip piecing. I''ve readjusted my plan and I hope to get all the strips pieced and cut down. I really hope to get to the block piecing, because I know that once I start that part I won't want to stop and the quilt will suddenly be done. :)

Reed's Quilt: Cutting

I have most of the cutting done! This afternoon during nap time I'll finish the cutting, then start working on sewing the muslin pieces. I'm trying to get through all the muslin pieces today and tomorrow. The goal for Wednesday is to have all the strips for blocks sewn. I'm hoping to get those strip cut and set out for blocks on Thursday, then have Friday, Saturday and Sunday to put the blocks together and finish the top.  I'll post pictures of some of the muslin pieces tonight when the boys are in bed.

Reed's Quilt: Last of the Fabric

I believe this is the last of the fabrics for Reed's quilt. I'm planning to start cutting on Friday, with plans to have everything cut, muslin blocks pieced, and strips for the quilt top sewn by the end of Sunday. I'll spend next week piecing blocks. The *goal* is to have the quilt completed by Saturday October 18, bound on October 19 and to the machine quilter on October 20. I am trying to have the entire project ready to send by the end of the month.

Please note that *goal* means it is my desire to finish by that date! This should be totally doable, barring illness or poorly behaved children. :) I've tried to plan in a bit of wiggle room since my kids are known to be, well . . . kids, so that I can still send the project to Reed's mother by October 31.

And more fabric...

Reed's Quilt Fabric

More fabric from the last 2 days:

Reed's Quilt: More Fabric

I've received more fabric this week from all over the place! Here are the pictures:

 







And the most gorgeous fabric came from Gardenbug, Reed's Grandmother:



I'm going to try to highlight the lion and the dragonfly:





The pictures of this fabric cannot do it justice. It is some of the most gorgeous fabric I've seen in quite some time.

I've received almost all of the pieces, and I'm hoping to get started on sorting out a pattern next week once I have all the pieces.

Reed's Quilt: Fabric

Here are the fabric pieces I've received in the last few days for Reed's Quilt- 20 envelopes in the last 3 days!







 







The blue/green larger piece of fabric is for the backing of the quilt, everything else is a quarter yard of colored fabric and a 4"x6" piece of muslin signed with the user IDs of the board members. This is going to be interesting to piece together!

Reed's Quilt

I wrote last week about the loss of a friends little one. Our board is putting together a quilt in his memory and each member is sending fabric that reminds them of little Reed. I just received the first bit of fabric in the mail yesterday and I will be getting pieces in over the next week from the United States, Canada, the UK-- all to honor a little boy we grew to love and adore even though we never met him face to face.

I will be posting progress here as I receive pieces and as I work on the quilt. My mother is helping with design and piecing and a friend of hers who is a fabulous machine quilter has graciously agreed to make room in her quilting schedule to quilt the project as soon as it is complete so that we can send the quilt out as soon as possible.

This is just a small bit of what we are able to do in rememberance of our board's little lion, Reed.

Loss

I have several dear friends online through different communities- knitting, scrapbooking, reading, and pregnancy boards. A friend from my youngest son's birth board has a son just 2 weeks older than Little Bit and it has been such a blessing to have her companionship while our little boys have grown together.

This morning she shared the most terrible news. Her son died yesterday just shy of 15 months old, an accidental drowning. I cannot even begin to imagine what she and her husband are suffering. They have an older son and they just found out a few days ago that they are expecting again . The entire pregnancy board is grieving with their family.

I hold my son close and I pray for their boy and their peace and recovery from this tragic accident.