I fought the Vinyl . . . and I'm not sure who's winning?!

Hooking up with Lee's Wednesday's WIPs again! Pop on over this week and say hello to Felicity who's guest blogging!

This week I decided to BGP up (Big Girl Panty up) and brave the wild world of vinyl for the inside of my zippy pouch, because I wanted to replace my old, worn cosmetic bag. I had these scraps left over from my Spare Change quilt and I'm still crushing on the fabric, so onto the bag they went! I scored some great heavier weight green fabric at a yard sale across the street (the one where I found the fab antique cabinets for my sewing room), so I used that for the inside lining, and then I used the vinyl for the inside on top of the green. Of course I decided to be all difficult (for a change!) and used the cheap, really heavyweight vinyl I got for nothing in the remnant rack at Joann's. The good news? It was cheap and it is so cool and heavyweight in this bag!! The bad news? It was a real bad boy trying to wrestle inside out into this bag!! Ooh boy was it a real pain in the tush! It remains a WIP as I still have to finish the inside by sewing the inside lining back up. Sigh. But it does look lovely on the outside!

Here's where the rest of the WIP list stands:

1. Mom's Lilly quilt: top done, backing chosen; "just" need to baste and quilt it!
2. Granny squares: my squares all finished and the swap done; "just" need to figure out how I'm going to put them together in a quilt and then do it!
3. Sewing bag: I have a rolling wheelie bag for my sewing machine, but it's really bulky and takes up too much room when I'm traveling on longer trips, so I've decided to make a padded tote bag (with a zippered top) for my sewing machine. That way it will be a little more stream-lined and take up less room. The idea is great, nothing done on this project yet!
4. Pajamas: Yes, there are still some wayward, unfinished pajamas from a holiday I dare not name!!
5. Tote bags: I have about 4 tote bags I need to make or finish (various stages)!

Grannies for Lunch!

Grannies in da house y'all! 

Aren't these all fabulous?! These are from our Granny Square exchange! I have 24 in all, some of which are duplicates, so I'm just showing the different ones. 

I survived my very first block exchange and am no worse for wear--nor, more importantly, are my co-block exchangers!! As you know, I am so not a precision blocker, so when presented with the Granny Square block exchange, as much as I wanted to be a joiner, I didn't want to jump in feet first and then mess it up by losing my mind and not following the pattern or having mine end up a royal nightmare! But I bravely put my toe in the water and then dove right in and there I am (second row, second from the right) and it seems to fit in with the others?!). Phew! It's official! I've done a block! And aren't these other lovelies just amazing?! I just love the vintage yummy fabric everyone used in their blocks:

And there are still more I didn't add, but also have adorable animal prints, like April's cute puppies!! I just love the vintage people and animal prints. They remind me of the books I read when I was little, like Lois Lowry's books and the Boxcar Children!

Pamela hosted us for brunch and for our granny square swap. Thanks for the scrumptious yummies and a lovely day! It was so wonderful to get together with everyone (April, Ella, Kristin, Marion, Pamela, and Sue)! 

Now I just have to get busy with all my lovely squares! I got a little granny-mad when I was making mine, so I have about 10 extra of my pattern, so I was thinking of perhaps using them as an outer ring and then the other ones shown above in an inner ring . . . but I'm still just mulling it over! Suggestions welcome!

On the Lilly Pulitzer quilt update, the top is finished and I have found the wildest Lilly Pulitzer backing:

I know, I know, it's pretty wild! But it totally goes with the color scheme of the front blocks--and that's saying' something! and it has peacocks on it! Just to give you and idea of scale, this bad boy is about 10 inches tall. No joke! 

Thanks to Karen and Marion for their encouragement to go big and bold on the back--something strong enough to match the front, yet still coordinated with the very distinctive Lilly Pulitzer fabric. I picked the backing fabric not only for the color, but also for the peacock pattern. I found it about 10 months ago on Etsy from a vendor in Hong Kong. And here's why peacocks: when I was little, I was terrified of the peacocks in the zoo; whenever they would open up their beautiful fan-like tail-feathers I would start to cry because I would be so startled by the dramatic movement. What can I say? I was a sensitive child! Ever since, whenever my mother has found an appropriate peacock card, it has been sent my way. It seems fitting, therefore, to back her quilt in peacocks!

Seeing Double Rainbows!

Happy Wednesday all! Linking up again with Lee's WIPs at Freshly Pieced.

No, I'm not showing old photos--I've decided to make another Rainbow Sprout quilt, this time for our friends' baby. I had started (and finished the top of) a quilt ages ago (last summer!), but I was really unhappy with it. I so so loved this rainbow quilt pattern that I decided to make another. And it's such a quick project! I pieced the top together yesterday and I'm ready to quilt it today. Last time I used a wonky-style geometric quilting, but this time I think I'm just going to to FMQ all the way. I used many of the same charm squares I used for the last quilt, although I did change it up a little, using the fabulous sailboats from Emily Herrick's new line that I got from Sue (thanks Sue!). Goes perfectly with the bits from Going Coastal that I had already put in!

As for other projects, I'm still working away on my sock: one foot done, one more to go! Actually, truth be told, I have about 3 feet to go, as I tend to start new socks without finishing old sets that I had previously started! It's just that new projects are so much more exciting!!

I'm making headway with the granny squares: 17 down, 7 to go! The only hang-up in my progress is that I ran out of white, and while I'm 99.9% sure that the white I have in my stash is Kona White and not Kona Snow, I don't want to be wrong. Anyone out there know how different they are -- would I be able to tell if I put them up against each other? They look pretty much identical to me!

And on the non-crafty front, wish me luck: I'm embarking on 30 days without sugar, dairy, grains or processed foods! Okay, so I'm not giving up my diet coke, but other than that I'm eating clean!

Square dancin'

Happy 45th post! Yes, I know others celebrate so-called big milestones like their 200th or 1,000th post, but who decided that those were important numbers?! I tend to think the number 45 is sadly overlooked (as it's just a few years away in terms of birthdays I guess I better start liking it!). I frankly never thought I'd have a blog, so having 45 entries so far seems kinda noteworthy to me!

I'm linking up with Lily's Quilts' Small Blog Meet, so check out all those great blogs out there!!

For those who know me, I'm not exactly the typical quilt block kind of gal . . . it requires a sort of pattern following and precision that seems to challenge my sensibilities! I think that's why I've always been drawn to all things wonky! Now why I started with paper piecing, I can't begin to imagine, since the precision that calls for is extreme, but it feels creative and forgiving in a way that working with quilt blocks just doesn't! I know, I never said I make any sense! Anyway, a month or so ago one of my dear sewing friends suggested a granny square exchange and my desire to be a joiner overcame my block phobia and so I gave in. Having recently conquered my Rainbow Sprout baby quilt, I thought it was another BGP (Big Girl Panty) moment!

Here's block #1!

1 down, 23 to go! I meant to fussy cut the center block, so I may end up redoing that one so that I can highlight the ultra cute vintage '30s circus animals in the yellow fabric. So cute! And, I must confess, this block thing isn't nearly as painful as I might have thought! Here is one thought for the quilting community, though, whoever is marketing Granny Squares might think about upcycling the name to something that sounds a bit more hip and appealing! This is more fun than it sounds! We're using the great tutorial from I'm a Ginger Monkey.

On other fronts, I've been meaning to finish my update from my fabulous retreat experience a few weekends ago, but I had to upload other photos. In addition to finishing my Rainbow Sprout quilt, I also completed my pin cushion and scrap basket -- thanks to the amazing (constant) guidance of Sue!

I'm not sure you can tell from my photo, but it requires a lot of gathers, which I had not fully mastered. I had done a few in the class that accompanied my machine a while ago, but it's a whole different thing when you're trying to make them under pressure!

This looks far more simple than it really is--at least to me! It has a great, weighted pin cushion that is attached to the scrap bag that hangs over the edge of the table. Sue and April have brought theirs to the past few retreats and we have all envied them theirs, so they finally gave in and gave a tutorial on how to make them! I clearly needed a little more hands on help, so Sue was amazing and pretty much walked me through mine!

I made mine to match the sewing machine cover I made at the previous retreat:

Look how well those go together! My next project is to make a traveling ironing pad with a paper pieced iron on one side, also with those same fabrics. 

Happy weekend everyone! It should be up in the 90s here, which should be quite a change from my snowy travels last week! Not sure I'm ready for the weather!