WIP Wednesday

In the sewing blogging community there is what they call Work In Progress Wednesday. A day that many crafters link up their blogs and do a show and tell of what they are working on. I thought I would join the ranks and add my little bit of sewing craftiness to the mix. I'm not going to link up to the other blogs yet because I would feel a bit out of my league there (there are some AMAZING sewers/quilters out there). And of course I am not at a point where I could do each and every WIP Wednesday.. that would get a mite boring for everyone because it would be the same thing over and over, week after week with just a few extra stitches here and there. I'm a slow crafter these days. So here we go!

Go Dog, Go! This is my first try at embroidery. I traced a page out of Isaac's favorite book and am practicing my split stich, back stitch and satin stitch. Eventually I hope to have it framed and hung on his wall amidst a few other pages from some of his other favorite books.

Another embroidery piece I've begun. This one I drew free hand on to the fabric. I was bad and just used some regular markers to draw on the fabric with.. not actual fabric markers. Oh wells. I'm pretty excited with the turn out and actually have a bit more done on it then this picture shows.

This is the fabric that I need to eventually cut into binding for Isaac's quilt. Not something I'm looking forward to, a bit nervous about that process.

And of course, Isaac's quilt. Still in the quilting progress but SOOOOO close to being done. I'm doing a large grid-like quilting pattern, so it's just a lot of long straight lines (lol, I called my lines straight....). The quilting runs horizontal, which I'm done with, and vertical which I am ALMOST done with. The vertical is taking awhile because of the length and because not all my seams matched up so it is a bit of trial and error.. more error actually.

And there you have it. My works in progress. I hope to be at a point someday that each Wednesday will hold a bit more variety. I'm excited to eventually show you the finished products too!

I might be insane..

I just decided to start another quilt. I won't really start it until I finish this current one. And I won't be able to disclose details about it on here other then that I'm working on one in the case that the recipient reads my blog which would in turn spoil the surprise for them. But the clues are as follows.. it'll be  small, it will spin in the wind (figuratively, not literally.. though I'm guessing if you threw it up in the air on a very windy day it might spin.. ok... I'm getting off track here...), and it will have a bit of whimsy to it. This one actually will have a deadline to it.. well Isaac's was given a deadline by yours truely yesterday too (by his birthday). So now I have two deadlines and a few others in my head that may also have deadlines... So, hmm.. I have work to do.

Walking walking walking...

Walking Foot. This little bugger gave me so much trouble to get.. but is making things so much easier now.

Wrestling with the machine.

Some quilting done, not the straightest.. but it's a start!

Finally!

I'm back to the quilt. My Walking Foot magically appeared in the mail a couple days ago (long drawn out Amazon transaction.. Oy!), so I've been doing some practicing on mini quilt sandwiches and finally made the switch to Isaac's tonight. It's going so much better then the hand quilting was! I was beginning to dread quilting when I was thinking of doing it all by hand. Not any more, my quilting excitement is back! I already have a good bit quilted and that was just in an hour! It still is not perfect, never will be. My machine is small so it takes some work to shove this twin size quilt through. But all in all I'm very happy with it.

What fun is it to do a project like this and dread it? NOT FUN. I still adore quilts and now I see myself stitching up more eventually! If hand quilting were all there was... I'd be one and done.

As I have said before though.. My next first quilt will be a smaller one!!!! ;-)

Stand still.

That's where I'm at right now with the quilt. I started hand quilting it a couple weeks ago. Oy! I'm NOT that skilled in the hand stitching department. I know, I know.. it takes practice. BUT.. I don't know if I'm willing to "practice" on this quilt. I just wasn't feeling very good about the quality of my stitches and how they would hold up over time. This IS a kids quilt. Kids are rough on things, Isaac is ROUGH on things. I don't think my hand quilting would withstand his destructive tendencies. So, I sighed, I groaned, I looked at my stitches and said to myself "Self, why don't we figure something else out before you go completely crazy...". So my fingers began typing away and soon discovered that my machine does in fact have an attachment to buy to help in the quilting department. A Walking Foot.  Now, I know Walking feet are not at all new, but I assumed that my cheapo machine wouldn't be able to work with a quilt. I still don't know if it will.. but the part is on it's way. I'll soon find out. And hopefully along with the Walking Foot's arrival my sighs and groans will fade away into oblivion.

My handy little friend that will soon land on my doorstep.

Isaac's reaction to his quilt is really great. I laid it out on the floor yesterday for him to see and he got excited and said "Wow!" over and over and danced on top of it. He's had similar reactions whenever he has gotten to peek at the fabric. I think he's into the bright colors! So am I! I should be onto the next stage of the quilt (the border) tomorrow. USPS tracking shows that the fabric is "out for delivery" at this very moment. I just have to work my way over to JoAnn's in the near future to purchase the batting! I don't think I'll be posting any more pictures until the quilt is actually DONE. But who knows, maybe I will.

 So today I whipped up a pair of shorts for Isaac out of an old t-shirt while I await the fabric. A little on the wonky side, but they'll work for playing outside. I'm not that good with knit fabric, it always gets a little bunched up and odd looking. Oh well!

All pieced... now back to cutting...

 More cutting you ask? Well.. yes. Welcome to the surprise twist! All my nine patch blocks that I have been piecing together are now cut in quarters. Now I am ready for the last stage of piecing before deciding on the colors for the border, binding and backing. I'm liking the new layout with all the blocks cut down!

Nine patch blocks pieced and ready to be sliced.

Sliced.

My blocks needed a bit of trimming to even up the sides.

Pretty pile cut and ready to be pieced again!

Working on the layout.