I mentioned in the Bibs post, that a friend of mine is (still) expecting her first daughter any day now. When she didn’t arrive on time, I told the momma to be that I was sure that baby girl was just waiting for her quilt to arrive. Well, apparently not because the quilt arrived safe and sound yesterday, and still no baby… at least not that I know of.

Anyway, because it’s reached it’s destination, I can now show you the finished product.

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Some of you on flickr will remember that I was stuck on which backing to use. When I first saw this Denise Schmidt Sugar Creek plaid I thought it would be a perfect backing for this baby quilt. I loved how the criss-crossed lines of the plaid sort of echoed the squares on the front. But when I got it home, I just wasn’t so sure.

The green fabric is something I had at home (no idea what it is, I picked it up for a buck a yard about a year ago) and it is a very near match to the greens in the quilt front. But it wasn’t really speaking to me either. I got equal votes on both fabrics, so I decided to go with my gut and use the plaid after all. I’m really glad I did.

Help! Which backing?

I bound the quilt in yet another DS fabric from JoAnn unknown fabric that I thought was a DS. The colors in this little polka dot match the back fabric beautifully. But again, I wasn’t sure how it would look for binding. As it turns out, I had nothing to worry about. I really like the dots… (surprise surprise. me? like dots on binding? never!)

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The quilting is just 1/4 inch straight lines on the edges of each block. I probably should have done more quilting in the center of each block, but this seems to be sufficient and I was in a hurry to finish before baby arrived. I guess I needn’t have rushed.

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So yippee! Another item off the list!

I told you I was taking a curves class with Rachel of Stitched in Color. Well, here are this weeks “basic curves” spoils. Each week there are 3 projects to choose from to practice the lessons. This was the second project, and since I have tons of flannel, and know of a little baby girl who is due (today!) soon, this was obviously the project for me.

I love the print on this first bib. I have no idea what it is, only that it was “especially for JoAnn fabrics”. The selvedge was cut off at just the “right” place. Boo. Anyway, I have been saving this one for I-don’t-know-what for I-don’t-know-how-long, and since it’s a food print, I think this was just the right application. Now, what to do with the rest of the yard….

On the second bib I decided to add the optional bias tape trim, but decided to lay it out differently than demonstrated in the class’s tutorial. Mostly because I was being a wimp and not wanting to deal with crossing the strips.

Once again, this is an almost instant gratification project. I seem to be doing an awful lot of that type of project lately. I spent a total of about 30 minutes working on these 2 bibs. I suppose it does help that I’ve been sewing garments for ages, so I have sewn this kind of curve before. But it was a good warm up and besides, I don’t think I’ve sewn curves of any sort on my new machine yet, and it does take some amount of muscle memory to keep a curved seam even.

So great and interesting first week of class. If you want to see some of the other participant’s work, check out the Stitched in Color photo pool on Flickr. I’m really looking forward to next week. I’ve already chosen the project from the 3 we will be looking at.

And Baby W, these bibs and your new quilt should be on their way this afternoon!

What else is new right? Somehow, once again I’ve managed to completely over-commit. I suppose it’s good that it’s been nearly a year since this has happened, but for now, it doesn’t seem like I’ll be able to come up for air any time soon.

I’m obviously not blogging much, so what am I doing? Mostly a whole lot of nothing. Well, that’s not true. I’m procrastinating. A lot. Avoiding my long list of to dos. Last week, I managed to do no sewing at all in the evenings. I just sat on my butt and watched, House, Alcatraz, Fringe, Merlin and several other nerdy shows that I love so much, but sewing… or even thinking about sewing? No.

I did make these cute little bags for my sweet Hazie’s little odds and ends. I do love Jeni’s bag pattern as a quick gratification project. And I love that it’s using up fabric from my stash. I’m trying to pare down my fabric some because now that I’ve not got a whole room to myself, three huge boxes of yardage + a large bin of scraps and another bin of fat quarters is a bit much for the tiny loft/tv room. Ok, not really, I just want to use it up so I won’t feel so guilty when I buy more fabric.

What should I be doing? Well, the long list consists of things like:

1) Finish the Firebird Quilt – This one is due at the beginning of April for a fundraising auction for Alexis’ school. I actually started it last spring, but then got sidetracked — by oh a thousand other things — and it sat in the corner until recently when I picked it up again and realized that the quilting I’d started on it had caused the applique to pucker horribly. So what did I do? Yeah. You guessed it. Picked all of the (hand) stitching out. Boo. Then, I decided to stich in the ditch on the the applique (as if applique even really has ditches…) and we know how good I am at that… not good at all, but apparently getting better, because if you squint your eyes and turn your head 90 degrees you can’t see the stitching that climbs out of the ditch at all… mostly because you’ll be looking somewhere else entirely.

2) Finish this quilt for a dear friend – Another quilt that’s been in the works for a while. Admittedly, I’ve made progress since these photos were taken (I actually quilted the whole thing last night), but I need to get this one bound and photoed and sent off to it’s new home soon!

3) For the Love of Solids swap — I decided this year I was going to try swapping again. My last few attempts haven’t turned out so good. I either got zero feedback on the items I sent (which I thought were really awesome!) or have not received my items. I have high hopes for this swap though. It’s very active. So active that I’m having trouble keeping up! I hope my partner loves her items, though, I’ve only finished one so far and have only an inkling on the second item. Here is the sneak preview I posted ont he flickr group, it seems to be well received so far!

Sneak Peek

4) do. Good Stitches — This bee is not a chore at all. Two blocks per month is pretty simple to whip out. However, I am up to be the quilter/leader in March, and I still have no idea what quilt block I will choose for our group! I still need to make my February blocks as well.

5) Curves Class with Rachel @ Stitched in Color! – I think I might be some sort of Rachel Hauser groupy. do. Good Stitches is her brainchild, and now she’s come up with this (what looks to be awesome!) class for a bunch of us to improve our curvy piecing. I’m really looking forward to it (today is the first “real” day of class!) for the camaraderie, but also to hopefully get past my fear of drunkard’s path blocks (and other wonderfully curvy quilty blocks). I just hope I can make myself find the time to get some of the projects done.

6) Pattern Writing — I’m working on a pattern for one of my past projects. And that’s about all I can say right now. But it’s a big one, and taking a lot more time than I anticipated. I hope it’s worth it!

And those are just the items highest on my list. My goals for February as it were. I also want to actually blog about this stuff as it happens. I hope I don’t get too overwhelmed and just shut down completely. Last week was a good break, but I still worry that I’ll not be able to keep up, and instead of only leaving a couple of things out, I will just give up on everything… So, wish me luck!