A Finish is a Finish, No Matter How Small

Howdy y'all and happy Friday! I hope you're doing well! I've got a little finish to share this week. You may remember my mini Supernova that I made while playing around a while back. Well today it was finished!

I couldn't help but show how tall it is compared to the First Born machine. :)

I had plans for some dense quilting with this little guy, but absolutely hated it once I got started. After ripping it out, I did two lines of quilting, outlining the main shape. One line was in blue and one was in yellow, which is hard to see in my pics (still no replacement camera *sad face*). This binding kicks some serious butt and is my best to date I believe! As you can see, Baby 'Nova is a little less than 3.5 inches tall and wide! I've been in a bit of a rut this week, so I'm glad to break out and have some fun with this mini mini! Hope you have a good weekend y'all, happy sewing!

Getting tiny!

Linking up with Finish it Up Friday and TGIFF!

Finish It Up Friday: Mini Mini #2

Howdy y'all! Friday is here! Today, I was supposed to be sharing the primitive quilt and its new binding since my sewing machine is all better. But plans change. When I sat down to sew, for some reason, the last thing I wanted to do was work on a binding. The pull of a finished quilt wasn't strong enough to overcome this random dread. So I did what seemed best: I played!

I've had several mini mini ideas bouncing in my head since I heard about them. I immediately imagined the Supernova pattern from Quilting Modern in the miniature! I knew I couldn't make blocks small enough to make an entire Supernova in a mini mini, but I wanted to give it a whirl! This isn't quite what I wanted, but it's a start and I had so much fun with it. I didn't touch my ruler once; I just cut and stitched without abandon and it was relaxing. I was sad to see the clock ticking down to the last few minutes of my sewing time when I started putting the little 'blocks' together.

It's so tiny and wonderful, I can't wait to put it on my wall once it's finished. :) Hope you've had a productive week, sewing or otherwise!

Linking up with Finish It Up Friday and TGIFF!

Finish It Up Friday: FINALLY!

OMG MOM, A NEW QUILT JUST FOR ME!?

Howdy y'all! As you can see, LBC is super excited for this one! ;) I was off on Thursday and, by some twist of fate, I essentially had a stay-cation at home. I stayed in my pajamas all day and sewed, taking breaks every once and a while to eat, stretch, and peruse the internet. It was amazing, but my back did not enjoy sitting in the sewing chair for so long!

I am really happy with my Supernova quilt. I feel like I could have done more with that outer ring of quilting, but overall I feel like it's a winner. :) That binding gave me fits like something awful, at one point I was growling at it and having what felt like a wrestling match (I work with animals all day long, growling should be expected I feel like. Lol). At the end of the day though, I love me a scrappy binding!

I ended up going with a simple backing, no piecing this time. I found a cute white on gray polka dot print and bought enough so that I just had to sew together two pieces, which was helpful. It's pretty forgiving of mistakes, which are abundant with this bit of loveliness. ;)

I was hoping to have a prettier photo shoot for this quilt, but after the binding was sewn on, the sun was long gone. So a quick photo shoot in the kitchen has to suffice for now! Hopefully I'll be able head out somewhere pretty and get a few more pics to share later!

As you can see, this quilt has already been LBC approved! In fact, he already claimed the Supernova as his nap and bath quilt long before it was done! I've lint rolled so much hair off of it; I could have made batting out of all the hair I feel like! Lol.

Linking up with Needle and Thread Thursday and Finish It Up Friday! Thanks for stopping by, have a good one y'all! :D

WIP Wednesday: The Home Stretch

Hump Day once again, y'all! I'm sure you guys are tired of seeing/reading about my Supernova quilt. That's one of the curses of working on the same quilt until it's done before starting a new one. :P I'm loving working on it though! I've had a blast every step of the way (except basting, of course. YUCK!). I really like improv piecing and I'm looking forward to a lot more of it in my quilting future. So quilting this beast has actually been fun! I was worried about wrestling it all over the place and what not, but it has been surprisingly cooperative (knock on wood, I'm still not done! Lol).

So here's a sneak peek of a little bit of the FMQ I've done. I've never done swirl-thingy-majigs, but after a quick Pinterest search, I was zooming through them! You can tell when my hands got shaky, especially on the blue parts, but overall, I'm happy with the results. :)

I did sort of start a new quilt this week though! I've jumped on the bandwagon for the Scrap Vortex along over at Crazy Mom Quilts. I wasn't feeling the best the other day, but I reallllllllly wanted to sew some. I didn't feel like I had the energy or the focus to quilt on the Supernova, so I just started grabbing scraps out of my bins and sewing them together. I made a nice little pile in no time at all! I don't have enough scraps to make a whole quilt (at least I don't think I do), but I can make it a work in progress and keep adding as I make more scraps. :)

Linking up with WIP Wednesday!

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!

WIP Wedneday: Supah-Nova

LBC wasn't too thrilled that I woke him up while snapping this pic on my lunch today

Howdy y'all, hope your week is going well. Mine is being particularly tiring, but I'm hanging on for Friday! I managed to get a backing and batting on Monday, so basting is in process. I think I like just about every aspect of making a quilt...but I absolutely LOATHE basting. My husband was watching me as I was basically rolling around the living room floor, muttering at my quilt over how much I hated basting it. And to make that hatred even stronger, I got around halfway done and checked the back. Guess what I found?? A big, dumb crease. Right. Smack. In. The. MIDDLE! *deep breath* I had to undo a huge section of pins and re-pin it again. I'm about 2/3rds of the way done, so hopefully my back and neck can hang on long enough for me to finish it up tonight so I can get back to the sewing machine!

Btw, has anybody dropped by Crazy Mom Quilts and seen that she's hosting a Scrap Vortex-along?! I don't have enough scraps to make a whole quilt, but I think I'm going to go along for the ride and see what I can do. What about you guys??

Linking up with WIP Wednesday!

Finish It Up Friday: Sleepy Supernova Top

As I type this, it's nearly midnight on Thursday night. I had a CE dinner (continuing education) after work today, so I wasn't home until around 9pm. After catching up with the hubs and chasing the cat off the couch because he kept trying to eat the blinds, I snuck upstairs, already tired before my work even began. Despite being tired, I settled in fairly quickly and was enjoying myself as I sang along to my music (rather badly, I might add. Lol). The clock struck 11:30 as I pressed my last seam and got to appreciate my Supernova top in all its glory. :)

I don't know about y'all, but KY is pretty dark at 11:30pm. Also, I don't have many places I can lay a quilt top this size out flat in my apartment and get a picture of it. This meant my pictures are kind of craptastic not quite as good as I'd like. But I managed to clear off the bedroom floor and lay things flat and snap a few pictures. At one point, I just held the camera above my head in an effort to get a picture of the entire top. I even kicked a pile of unfolded laundry into a pile so I could stand on it. Hahahaha!

I'm stoked with how things turned out with this top! I was nervous from the start with my fabric choices, but this turned out just perfect in my eyes, which is what matters most, right? :) I need backing fabric and batting, so I'm not sure when this lovely will get quilted. If I can find a good coupon, I might drop by Jo Ann's soon since I've got a gift card burnin' a hole in my pocket. ;)

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

WIP Wednesday: Supernova Progress!

 Hump Day once again, y'all! I'm so happy to announce that all the Supernova blocks have been pieced! I don't know how it happened, but I was finding little snippets everyday where I could sneak off to my sewing space for a while and piece...and piece...and piece some more! By the time this gets posted, the top should already be partially done and will hopefully be finished by the end of the week.*ETA: I actually got a few columns sewn together before I took progress pictures, so you get a teeny-tiny sneak peek if you can overlook my filthy floor. :P

I had all the squares stacked up so nice and pretty, everything organized just right...then I started piecing the top and it looks like a hurricane blew through and knocked them everywhere! I barely tidied them up before snapping this picture, but I wish I had vacuumed all those stray threads and scraps out of the floor! Lol.Even my seat cushion ended up in the floor, though I'm not entirely sure how...

Thanks for stopping by y'all, have a great week! Linking up with WIP Wednesday.

Snapshot Sunday

 

Little Black Cat has been cheering me on as I work on Supernova blocks lately. :)

 Happy Sunday y'all!

Not a Finish Friday, But There's Eye Candy!

Howdy y'all! No finish here today, but I have some progress and some eye candy! First off, I finished some of the improv squares for my Supernova quilt. After working on this for a couple of days, I'm more confident with my fabric. It's looking better now that it's coming together I feel like! I think I might be a quarter to a third of the way done now, but I'm not sure. The instructions are upstairs and I'm too tired to trek up there to double check. *hides under lazy quilt*

I'm having fun with this stitch and flip technique! It's so fun to just put fabric together and sew, not worrying about precision or rules. I just make sure I have the right colors in the right corners and let 'er rip! Once I got into a groove, I had a little assembly line going for my squares. :)

And onto the eye candy! A squishy bag of happiness arrived in the mail today and I literally squealed for joy when my husband threw it at me. I don't buy much fabric online, usually because of prices and because I'm still not too confident in matching colors on a screen. But Connecting Threads has a nice sale section and I might have fallen in love with the mermaid fabric. I immediately knew it needed to be made into a quilt for a little girl ASAP. Granted, I don't have a little girl to make a quilt for, but I knew it would find a home if I made it. :) So into my cart went the mermaids, narwhals, and seahorses, joined by that yellow print that reminds me of sand dollars.

How could I say no to the cutest little duo ever?

Then I found the Cotton and Steel. I've never actually bought Cotton and Steel fabric before, but I've been crushing on it so hard, I couldn't resist. The third fabric over (the navy with multi-colored fronds) isn't C+S, but I tossed it in there anyway. I like the print and it was dirt cheap on a really good sale. I'm behind the party with the arrow fabric, but better late than never, right? Hahaha. I also tossed some of the little critters in there too, aren't they darling?

I just want to squeeze their little cheeks!

I've never been one to save selvages, but Jenn over at A Quarter Inch From the Edge is a selvage saver and has made some cool stuff with them! So I snapped a quick pic of the ones that were actually cool. I love the C+S one about leaping. :)

Have an awesome weekend y'all, thanks for stopping by!

Linking up with Needle and Thread Thursday

WIP Wednesday: Not A Lot of Work...Not A Lot of Progress

Happy Hump Day y'all, hope your week is as nice as you are pretty! So on Friday, I was so stoked to have time off to be able to sew and do what I want over the weekend...guess how that turned out? Life got in the way, of course, and suddenly everybody needed me to go here or there, run errands, and do everything besides what I had planned. So is life, right? I did manage to cut ten billion (okay, not really but it felt like that many) squares for my newest quilt.

I saw the Supernova quilt in the book, Quilting Modern. The book has some awesome techniques in it and some really cool quilt designs. I've actually rented this book 3 times from the library in anticipation of getting to start this quilt!

I'm still not 100% sold on my fabric choices if I'm honest. Some people can pick fabric out almost effortlessly and have great taste. I am NOT one of those people. I struggle with fabric matching and coordinating like no other. My pictures aren't showing the true colors (the lightest yellow really washed out and some of the blues are showing up super dark), but I wish Jo Ann's had a wider selection of blue fabrics. On the plus side, I finally purchased some Kona solids! :) I can't remember what the gray background is, but the blue is Riviera I believe, and the yellow is Corn. Thank goodness for sales and coupons!

So here's to hoping I actually get some sewing done now! Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

Linking up with Work In Progress Wednesday