Basting Bastard

First off, let me update my February Finish Challenge for Week #2.

I finished the Michael Miller Funky Christmas top (otherwise known as the Old Red Barn Co Quilt-Along quilt).  Don't you love my quilt names?  Do you stand in awe at the creativity?  Gah!

I selected this quilt for my Week #2 finish because it is one of the oldest WIPs in my stack.  Once I finished the top, however, I realized I didn't have enough backing fabric.  For some reason I only purchased 2 yards when I needed 4.  So I'm off to the fabric store today to figure something out.  Am thinking about backing it with flannel.  Mmmmm...

Meanwhile, in an effort not to lose momentum, I basted another quilt top.  This one is my Glace' quilt.  It is kind of small but I love it.  These fabrics feel incredible.  I love, love love Moda's 3 Sisters fabrics.

The top was already finished and the backing was already pieced together (wahoo!) so I just needed to do the super-fun part of spending time on my hands and knees on a wooden floor poking myself with the pins.  Luckily I had my usual ever-helpful basting assistant:

You would think that quilt fabric had cat nip in it!  There is something about a basting-in-progress that gets Jax very excited.  He wants to stretch out on it.  Roll around on the fuzzy batting.  Eat the pins!  Or at least pick them out of the box and toy with them.  So I spend as much time managing him as I do actually pinning the quilt sandwich together.  High-maintenance but very sweet.

So the Glace quilt is now basted and ready to be quilted.  The Michael Miller top is done and ready to be backed and basted.

And my Joann coupons are next to my car keys and ready to be used.  You know you're in trouble when you have to make an actual shopping list for Joann's!  Green ric rac, cream and white zippers, hot pink embroidery thread, 4 yds backing fabric, Dresden Plate template if cheap enough, skinny pins to replace bent ones, etc etc.  Living out in the boonies means I have to save up my list until it's worth the 40 minute drive.

Happy Friday everyone!
Chris

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February Finish - Week #1 DONE!

I finished this about 5 minutes before midnight last night.  Just made it under the wire!

I am going to wash and dry this today before taking some better pictures.  I will post them as soon as I get them snapped and uploaded.

I stitched the last of the binding during the Super Bowl.  Of course, I had to look up when the commercials were on ;-)

This quilt was made with two layers of batting so it is very substantial and heavy.  I love it so far and can't wait to see how it comes out of the dryer!

I am working on a big Moda Bake Shop project that is going to take a bit of my time in the next couple of weeks so my next February Finish week is going to be challenging!  I think I'm going to tackle the Michael Miller Christmas Quilt next.  It needs sashing, basting, quilting, binding.  So there is quite a bit of work left in it!  Right now it looks like this:



This quilt is part of the original Old Red Barn Co Quilt Along.  Why, yes, I do mean the one that started in 2009!  It's one of the most simple patterns too (Rail Fence) but when you make anything in holiday fabric, it becomes very difficult to work on when that holiday is nowhere near.  I need to get this WIP monkey off my back asap.  So that's what's coming up this week.  Stay tuned for updates!

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My First GIVEAWAY!!

Welcome to Frecklemama!  Thanks for stopping by.  This week is Sew, Mama, Sew's Giveaway week.  In celebration of Giveaway week and an exciting announcement coming to my blog on Thursday,  I am giving away a set of four Michael Miller Christmas placemats with two matching pot holders.

Here is a photo of one of the placemats.  My camera is broken so I will update the post when I get some better pictures!

To enter the giveaway, please leave a comment about what you look for in a sewing or quilting blog.  What makes you follow one blog over another and what kinds of content do you like to find when you visit your favorite blogs?  I will select a winner using the Random Number Generator.  One entry per person please, and make sure there is a way for me to contact you if you're the winner!

Please be sure to visit Sew, Mama, Sew to find many more bloggers offering fantastic giveaways this week!  The comments will be open until the end of the day Friday.  Once I select a winner, I will try to ship the package out as quickly as I can.  This giveaway is open to both domestic and international participants.

Subscribe to feeds or follow me on Twitter for new blog post updates.  Thanks for visiting Frecklemama! 

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O Tannenbaum

I've finished my first set of rows for the Old Red Barn Co Quilt-Along.

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Old Red Barn Co Quilt-Along Update

Ok, I got my fabric all cut and now I'm wondering if it's going to be too GREEN! This is Michael Miller's Funky Christmas line. I love the patterns and color combos in this.

I also spent some time sewing Oh Fransson Mod Sampler blocks from my Flag Day Farm fabric. Too many projects and not enough time!

I am hosting a Girls' Night bag-making party next Thursday to help spread the bag-making love. Now that I've finished putting the handles on my Meadow bag, I'm in LOVE. I will post finished pics of that tomorrow.

A friend of mine asked how I have time for all of this along with my three children being home from school for summer break. I told her the truth: I don't clean, do laundry, cook, etc. I let my children run wild while I hide in my sewing room and chant "la-la-la-la-I-can't-hear-you-la-la-la-la". And sew. And then beloved bedtime comes when I get to put the kids to bed and I return to my sewing room and continue.

Just kidding. Kind of.

Edited to add: for some reason Blogger doesn't want to include my paragraph breaks. Excuse the bad formatting. As an English Lit snob, I can't stand for you to think it was just me writing in a completely unorganized manner!

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