Finish It Up Friday: City Blocks Top Complete!

Happy Friday, friends! Another week is coming to a close and I can't wait for a weekend off. I managed to get this little booger finished up this week! I'll be honest, I'm glad to see this one done. Though these blocks were fun, they were time consuming and started feeling finicky. When a project stops being fun, I know it's time to wrap things up because I quilt for fun, not because I have to.

I ended up picking a seam on one of the columns to change the layout from 4 squares high to 3 squares high. Rather than make a 3x4 quilt and have to make quite a few more of those blocks, I decided on a nine-patch layout that wouldn't need anymore blocks. And you know, I'm super glad I did. It's not as big as I wanted, but the square layout has its charms. I like the few odd bits of white in the sashing as well, that was a good idea on SewKatieDid's part!

I'm not sure when I'll have a backing for this one, so for now it's on the 'to-quilt' pile which will hopefully be joined by another top soon! Thanks for stoppin' by y'all, have an awesome weekend! Linking up with NTT and Finish it Up Friday!

Driving the Struggle Bus This Week

Hey y'all. As dramatic as it sounds, I'm surprised I made it to Friday. Work has been absolute madness with being understaffed and completely booked up and life in general has been crazy. But enough about life, let's talk about quilting. On Thursday, I was able to run to Jo Ann's and get fabric for my next project, which meant I had to actually decide what I was making. I really liked the Snowball quilt that I showed in my last post, but I had to be realistic; I needed more time and more money to be able to gather all the fabrics it called for. Maybe in the future I'll get to do it, but not this time. My second favorite was the Fresh Cut quilt, the last in my post that didn't make it into Quilting Modern.

Check out Sew Katie Did for a look at all her awesome quilts!

Rather than go with the original colors, I swapped out for a more vibrant blue (Kona turquoise, I think?) and a bold red (Kona, but I can't remember what sadly.) I stuck with Kona white for the neutral. My Jo Ann's is a little sparse with stocking Kona's, but I'm happy with the colors I got. I also snagged some red and blue thread for quilting, a first for me! Before now, I've always quilted in white or gray. It's time to branch out and try new things though.

I've already started cutting some, but progress will be slow for a day or so. I woke up sick this morning, so I'm wrapped up in the Supernova and praying for the ickies to get the heck out of my body. Speaking of slow progress, I got some more work done on my Scrap Vortex block. I put them up on my design wall in hopes that they would brighten things up (and my orange peels kept falling off, so I retired them to my fabric bookcase for now).

 So my only finish this week was deciding on my next project and buying supplies. Not much, but beggars can't be choosers, right? I hope everybody has a fun, healthy weekend, thanks for stoppin' by y'all.

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts.

Finish It Up Friday: A Little Bit of This, A Little Bit of That...

Happy Friday y'all! I'm glad to see the end of this week, it's been a bit crazy around these parts! I've got several things to share today, so buckle up for the ride!

A little wee basket

First off, I made a little QAYG basket earlier this week before I got the supplies to continue with my Supernova quilt. I just dug through the scraps from making the top and just cut and pieced some squares. I used this tutorial as a guide, but of course I didn't follow it close so it ended up a little wonky. Lessons learned, I assure you. :) I've decided to toss my basting pins in it as I'm quilting since I didn't have a real container for them before.

Next up, a picture I thought was kind of funny. My little fold out table is being completely swallowed by the Supernova!! I've got my first 'round' of quilting done, starting in the center and radiating outward. I'm not sure what to do for the next layer, but I've got a full shift at work tomorrow and a high school graduation to sit through, so I'll hopefully have some time to ruminate over some ideas.

And last is sort of a finish. When I pull in to my apartment complex, I have to pass by the mailboxes and the dumpster area. I glanced over and, lo and behold, I saw this shelf sitting by the dumpster. A perfectly good bookshelf just being tossed out, it's madness! I parked and tossed my stuff on the kitchen table before running off to get my latest find. A quick wipe down with some pledge and this shelf was as good as new! I've stacked all of my fabric on it, amongst other things. As you can see by the chaos, I've essentially tossed all the Supernova fabric and backing leftovers, as well as my most recent fabric purchases, on top.  I'm not sure how I'll organize it, but it gets most everything out of the floor, which I'm thankful for. :)

That gawky Christmas box is holding all my Supernova scraps until I'm ready to sort them into the proper baskets!

If you stuck around this long, thanks for reading, I really appreciate it! Hopefully I'll get some major quilting done on Supernova by this time next week! Linking up with Needle and Thread Thursday and Finish It Up Friday!

Finish It Up Friday: Scrappy Pouch!

TGIF y'all! For the first time in forever (any Frozen fans out there?), I get the ENTIRE weekend off! I plan to use that lovely time off for sewing and reading since the weather is supposed to be less than superb in my neck of the woods. Despite that, I stayed up late Thursday night to finish this pouch for today! I used this tutorial to use the slab I showed you guys from Wednesday.
 I ended up adding some more to it to make it taller because I was a bit of a dum-dum and bought too big of a zipper. Derp!

I found another little bird in my scrap bin!

I was also a bit lazy and didn't pin or baste my zipper in place before sewing because my pins were downstairs and I was tired of tromping up and down the stairs getting this-n-that. And, surprisingly, I don't think it looks too bad. I could have gotten a bit closer to the zipper teeth, but I was worried about hitting the teeth and destroying my only zipper. I also trimmed a little off the ends of my zipper thinking it would reduce bulk, but it actually made it sit kind of funny afterwards. Lesson for the books when I make another one!

Aren't those polka dots darling?!

I knew exactly what I wanted to use for the lining of this colorful bag! I wanted it to look like a rainbow puked on it, inside and out, so these cute dots were the perfect choice for me. It was a fat quarter I picked up at...well...Walmart. Do quilt bloggers buy fabric from Walmart? Most of the bloggers I follow seem to be online shoppers or buy from their LQS. My budget isn't quite up to that standard yet. When I saw this little fat quarter, I couldn't pass it up, it was just too darn happy!

One last shot with a little pitcher I made in a college ceramics class. It helped the pouch catch the kitchen light juuuuuuust right I feel like. It made that blue zipper pop too! So what about you, any fun plans for this weekend?

Linking up with Needle and Thread Thursday , TGIFF, and Finish it Up Friday