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Quilting along

The last few weeks I've been knee deep in Christmas sewing. Not just mine, but helping a sweet friend of mine make her very first quilt to give to her parents for Christmas. It has been so much fun! You should have seen her face when she held up her finished quilt. It was so great!  

 

My APQ quilt along quilt has been on the back burner since it doesn't really have a deadline (unlike Christmas gifts!), but Monday night, after I sent off the last Christmas package, I decided it was time to pull it out again and get sewing.

And then I couldn't stop!

This quilt is SO addictive.  It has lots of strip piecing, and it's so easy to make multiple blocks at the same time. 

I find that keeping things in neat little stacks really helps me when I'm chain piecing multiple blocks.  In general, I tend to work on about 4 at a time. That is, after the first block or two when I'm still figuring it out.  

 Am I the only one who goes crazy over neat little stacks of fabric? 

(Each time I post about the quilt along I have a few questions about where to find this pattern.  It is in the February issue of American Patchwork and Quilting, which is available on newsstands now.  It was designed by Lissa Alexander and you are welcome to join us! If you are on Instagram use the hashtag#APQquiltalong, or join the Flickr group here.)

So here's where I'm at with mine. 7 blocks down, and 13 to go. I've got 4 more in the works right now, so hopefully when everybody goes to bed tonight I can turn on a Christmas movie and keep sewing away. I'll keep you posted.  

Happy Holidays!

APQ quilt along post 1

APQ quilt along post 2

An update

Just thought I'd drop in with an update.  I haven't been great at keeping the blog current with all my projects, but as of today, I have a few finishes and some other projects in progress I thought I'd share.  And before I share them on Instagram,  this is a first!  ;-)

First of all, I finished my Round & Round quilt from the Round and Round Along I posted about a few weeks ago.  

 

I quilted it in a Denyse Schmidt style scroll on a Bernina 710 I have been playing with over here. 

Some of you noticed it in the last post, and I have another post coming up all about it and some fun stuff I'll be working on with Bernina. I'm so excited!  More on that soon!

What was I saying?  Oh yeah, I backed it in my favorite Flea Market Fancy print and machine bound it in a teal print from Domestic Bliss from Moda.  I love the way it turned out, and I'm pretty sure it will be one of my very favorites.  

 

I have too many favorites.  :-)

I also finished up the Summersville quilt I started last summer. FINALLY! It was about halfway quilted in a dogwood pattern, I just had to finish it up and bind it. 

 

 

Why did it take me so long?  Aiden (my oldest) has already claimed this one.  

 

It felt so great to get those two finished up this weekend, and while I was on a roll, I decided to use all my pins to baste something else. Which reminds me, I need to take some photos of that!

And last but not least, an APQ update!  

 

I haven't made any real progress on that one since my last post, aside from getting my pieces about half way cut out and making the first block.

But I did get my APQ magazine in the mail a few days ago, and read all the blog posts, which were fantastic! This one from Carrie explains the whole thing so much better than I did, and this update from Sherri makes me want to stay up all night and work on mine!  

(Lissa's finished quilt.  Amazing, right?)

See, I've been planning on getting moving on it this week (since the big kids are back in school), but then today this tiny boy went and turned 3 years old. Can you believe it?  

 

Neither can I.  

I can always sew tomorrow.  :-)

So to sum up, two quilts quilted and bound, one more basted, one half cut out and trying to keep me from getting any sleep, and a brand new three year old. Now you know whats going on over here, hows your sewing coming along?