Work in Progress Wednesday Refresh: August 15th, 2012

It’s been quite a while since my last WiP Wednesday (March 21st was the last one!). At that point, I was nearly done with the Central Park HST quilt, and over the course of the past 5ish months, I finished binding it and have spent several heartwrenching hours attempting to bleach out the yellow lines left from an allegedly-washable marking pencil that refuse to wash out! The bleach stains just prove that it’s homemade, right?

Central Park half-square triangle baby quilt.

Other than the Central Park quilt, I haven’t done much in the way of actual quilting, but I have made lots of small projects like iPad cases and zipper pouches, and I’ve just recently re-motivated myself to work on the wonky stars quilt which is a gift for my almost-12-year-old niece. I am up to 13 stars now, and I still can’t decide how many I’m going to make. At least 15 (for a 3 x 5 layout), possibly 16 (for a 4 x 4 layout), and maybe as many as 20 (for a 4 x 5 layout). I think I am just not ready to be done with this quilt!

I am really trying to focus on current projects before starting any new quilts, but I did recently use my Go Baby fabric cutter to cut out a ton of drunkard’s path blocks out of my Denyse Schmidt Hope Valley stash! I haven’t started sewing anything, just cutting and sorting little stacks of cut pieces by color and thinking about how to lay it all out.

Here’s the in-progress inventory:

Quilt tops in progress:

Livy’s wonky stars quilt
Hope Valley drunkard’s path quilt
Secret solids quilt
Kieran’s robot quilt
Colorful log cabin quilt
Wonky nine-patch quilt

Completed quilt tops, waiting for quilting:

Delia’s Central Park log cabin quilt
Tattooed Ladies mini quilt

Completed quilt tops, waiting for binding:

none

Small projects in progress:

Starburst Leftovers mug rug
Christmas mug rug
Ruby Star Rising zip pocket pouch
Poppy print makeup roll

This week’s stats:

Current works in progress – 12

Check out everyone else’s links by clicking the button below.

Central Park Baby Quilt

I finally finished the Central Park HST baby quilt that I started almost a year ago! It’s been quite a journey, and this quilt bears the imperfections that I prefer to consider “proof” that it’s handmade, not churned out by some factory in China for Pottery Barn!

Kate Spain’s Central Park line was one of the very first quilting fabrics I purchased, and I loved the color scheme and how it could be used for a boy or a girl. When I found out that some good friends of mine were expecting their third child and that they didn’t plan to find out whether it was a girl or a boy, I thought this was a good opportunity to use my Central Park charm squares to make a gender-neutral baby quilt! I put together the HST patchwork very quickly (using my Go Baby! cutter to cut out all the HSTs) but then got busy with other things, and before I knew it, the baby was born, and it’s a girl! So I added a big purple border to make it girly (and bigger, because the patchwork part ended up being smaller than I realized it would be).

One of my favorite things about this quilt is the “I Spy” back with fussy-cut animals.

Unfortunately, the “washable” marking pencil that I used did not wash out, and left very visible yellow lines throughout. I tried rubbing it off by hand and running it through the washing machine several more times, to no avail. Finally I resorted to using a bleach pen, which worked fairly well but soaked through to the back of the quilt several times and the bleach marks are VERY visible on the solid purple backing! (Mental note: always use a patterned fabric on the back of the quilt.)

It’s not perfect, and I definitely need to work on my accurate HST piecing (and invest in a different method of marking quilting lines!) but I think it’s such a happy quilt for a very happy baby! Now I just need to finish little gifts for the baby’s big brother and sister and I can finally give them this quilt!

 

I’m linking up to Skip to My Lou’s Made by You Monday.

Work in Progress Wednesday #10

I finished the Central Park half square triangle quilt! Well…except for binding. I kept the quilting very simple and I love the effect of the few lines intersecting. Sorry for the crummy lighting…I didn’t have a chance for any daylight photos. And my dining room lamp casts weird circular shadows.

I love the back. I fussy cut some of the animals from the Central Park to create a sort of I Spy thing. I think the baby and her big brother and sister will enjoy that!

Here’s the in-progress inventory:

Quilt tops in progress:

Secret solids quilt
Livy’s wonky stars quilt
Kieran’s robot quilt
Colorful log cabin quilt
Wonky nine-patch quilt

Completed quilt tops, waiting for quilting:

Delia’s Central Park log cabin quilt
Tattooed Ladies mini quilt

Completed quilt tops, waiting for binding:

Central Park HST baby quilt

Small projects in progress:

Starburst Leftovers mug rug
Christmas mug rug
Ruby Star Rising zip pocket pouch
Poppy print makeup roll

This week’s stats:

Last week’s works in progress – 12
New projects – 0
Completed projects – 0
Current works in progress – 12

Check out everyone else’s links by clicking the button below.

Work in Progress Wednesday #9

Think I missed another week.

 

I finished the patchwork for my Central Park HST baby quilt, but still need to finish adding the border because it’s TOO small without a border! I love it even though I’m realizing that I need to be more accurate when piecing these small 3″ HSTs because it’s kinda stretchy and lumpy in parts. The back is going to be fun too – I’m going to do a little I Spy thing with some of the animal prints. I love Central Park by Kate Spain so much!

Here’s the in-progress inventory:

Quilt tops in progress:

Central Park HST baby quilt
Secret solids quilt
Livy’s wonky stars quilt
Kieran’s robot quilt
Colorful log cabin quilt
Wonky nine-patch quilt

Completed quilt tops, waiting for quilting:

Delia’s Central Park log cabin quilt
Tattooed Ladies mini quilt

Small projects in progress:

Starburst Leftovers mug rug
Christmas mug rug
Ruby Star Rising zip pocket pouch
Poppy print makeup roll

This week’s stats:

Last week’s works in progress – 12
New projects – 0
Completed projects –  0
Current works in progress – 12

Check out everyone else’s links by clicking the button below.

Work in Progress Wednesday #8

I finished my 241 Tote bag! The pattern was very easy to follow. I am feeling a little emotional about how much of my Loulouthi stash I used on this (the lining is Loulouthi also), but I guess I have to remember that I buy fabric to make stuff with it, not to keep folded in a box! It was hard to get a good picture of it. My favorite part is how I added a few scraps to the strap (which you can just barely see in the 2nd photo).

 

I’m still plugging away on my Central Park HST baby quilt – the baby this quilt is intended for was born on Monday night!

It’s in serious need of some pressing. I love Central Park! This bit of patchwork is turning out a little smaller than I thought it would so I think I am going to add a big border in light purple. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with quilting – maybe just straight white lines through the white stripes?

Here’s the in-progress inventory:

Quilt tops in progress:

Secret solids quilt
Livy’s wonky stars quilt
Kieran’s robot quilt
Central Park HST baby quilt
Colorful log cabin quilt
Wonky nine-patch quilt

Completed quilt tops, waiting for quilting:

Delia’s Central Park log cabin quilt
Tattooed Ladies mini quilt

Small projects in progress:

Starburst Leftovers mug rug
Christmas mug rug
Ruby Star Rising zip pocket pouch
Poppy print makeup roll

This week’s stats:

Last week’s works in progress – 13
New projects – 0
Completed projects –  1
Current works in progress – 12

Check out everyone else’s links by clicking the button below.