Jane Stickle Quilt: M-4 & RS-13

Block number/name: M-4 “Stepping Stones”

Date completed: June 21, 2010

Number of pieces: 49

Notes on block: It wasn’t until after I started stitching this one that I realized how many pieces are in this little block. In any case, it took a long time for me to put together. This is also one of the only blocks I’ve done so far that required a partial seam (around the center square). And it seemed so sweet and innocent when I was cutting!

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Block number/name: RS-13 “Marlene’s Pirouette”

Date completed: June 22, 2010

Number of pieces: 21

Notes on block: Last night was a really productive stitching evening for me. While we watched television, the baby slept on papa’s lap and I got to sew (our new favorite show is Arrested Development… so funny!!!). I finished M-4, nearly completed this one (I appliquéd the tiny triangles this morning), and got a good start on the next one (TR-6). So now I’m nearly caught up again. Yay!

This is block number 199 for me! It seems like a good time to share a progress report:

Greenpiece catch-up

The monthly meeting for the Moda Greenpiece BOM at my local quilt shop was on Thursday. It gave me some extra motivation to try and get caught up again. I'm happy to say that I'm up-to-date on my blocks. Woo hoo! It seems I am having difficulty managing to sit down and blog lately. In order to create a higher probability of me actually being able to write and publish this post, I'll share the pieced blocks today and the applique blocks in another post.

Pieced block 8:


Pieced block 9:



Only one more pair of pieced blocks to go!

Jane Stickle Quilt: BR-9

Block number/name: BR-9 “Sue’s Garden”

Date completed: June 6, 2010

Number of pieces: 18

Notes on block: This block was pretty intimidating, but Anina’s approach worked like a charm. I just extended the tops of all of the “curved” section pieces by 1” to make sure I had enough room to appliqué the arches. And because they were all extended by exactly the same amount, I had no problems with matching while hand stitching the seams.

We seem to be falling into a routine of sorts in the evening lately. About three nights a week, Keith takes charge of the baby, holding him and giving him cuddles so I can stitch (or go to bunko, or quilt guild, or other). Then on the other evenings, I focus on the baby and Keith plays Monster Hunter (his video game of choice lately). Some evenings, we share the baby duties and watch some television together (like Glee!!! I so need to see the season finale again!). It feels like we’re balancing things pretty nicely right now.

Gratuitous picture of my baby boy:


Looking at him just makes me smile. :)

Happy pants dance!

My older son (age 3) needed some new pants. He wears cloth diapers. Apparently, after age 2, most clothing companies seem to assume that either all boys are potty trained or that they all wear super-thin disposable diapers, because finding pants that will fit over the cloth diaper bulb has become increasingly challenging. Then add this to the fact that it is nigh impossible to buy pants at this time of year (it seems that one can only purchase pants from about July through January... then it's all shorts, all the time).

So I decided to try and make him a pair of pants (keep in mind, my last attempt at pants did not work out so well). During the baby's naptime the other day, I managed to sneak into the sewing room for a couple hours and put a pair together.


So quick and easy! I used Kwik Sew pattern 3211 in a size T4. I actually started by making a muslin to make sure they would fit over the diaper bulb. The muslin (which I did indeed make out of muslin) seemed to fit well, if a little loose. I figured since I was using denim for the real thing, that the thickness of the denim would compensate for the looseness. As it turns out, these are a little on the big side (oddly enough, they fit looser than the muslin did), but not so large that he can't wear them.

I also made a couple modifications to the pattern. The pattern includes some funky knee pleat inserts. I left those out. And then I added the pockets (I took them from another pattern, Simplicity 2907). I also shortened the pants by about 1". Then I also decided to break out my machine embroidery attachment and add some airplane flair using a design from Designs by Juju (it is in the "Things That Go" applique set).


That was pretty exciting as I do not make use of that attachment nearly as much as I should (considering how much it cost). Doing this little bit of embroidery really makes me want to make use of it more often. So I count that as a good thing.

Here's a back view:



And here is a very happy boy, wearing his new pants:


And, best of all, he LOVES them!

Jane Stickle Quilt: LS-1

Block number/name: LS-1 “Nancee’s Fantasy”

Date completed: June 2, 2010

Number of pieces: 26

Notes on block: Thank goodness for Anina’s fabulous instructions! I handpiece instead of foundation piecing by machine, but doing it in the sections she suggested and then appliquéing the center was a great approach. Though I’m happy with the results, I was really hoping that this block would end up looking a little more dramatic than it does. I chose a really gorgeous ombré fabric. Unfortunately, the ombré was really gradual and maybe too subtle to show up in a block this size. It is darker at the bottom and lighter at the top, so it’s not a complete fail. The contrast is just not as exciting as I had hoped.

Jane Stickle Quilt: L-11

Block number/name: L-11 “Caitlin’s Rose”

Date completed: May 29, 2010

Number of pieces: 21

Notes on block: It was nice to have an evening of cutting and stitching. Yay for a sleepy baby boy! I got three blocks prepped and managed to get this block completed. And now we’re all caught up on our recorded television, too!

Snip. Sew. Send. May

I was excited to find some time last week to go into the quilty room and actually use my machine! It gave me a chance to make my May Snip.Sew.Send. blocks for Rebecca. She asked for pinwheels inside a non-wonky log cabin. She sent an array of fabulous greens for me to work with.


I enjoyed making it so much, I had to make a second...


It was hard to send these off, as I really love the look of them. But I did keep one of the scraps of leftover fabric to use in my Jane Stickle quilt. That definitely made it a little easier to give them up. :)

I'm really excited to see how Rebecca puts these together as all of the blocks I've seen so far look so cool!