WIP Wednesday - the one in which I get good and mad

Remember the flying goslings? Still working on those.

They're now part of a comedy of errors otherwise known as a table runner.

And in that first shot, you probably noticed the first thing wrong. After weeks of micro-work, I trimmed the dang thing wrong.

Luckily, the only thing affected is 2 setting triangles, which shouldn't be too hard to replace. After I forgive it for everything it's done to me. Still working on that.

Before I lamblast it any further, I would like to take a minute just adoring the fabric:

It's Angel Cakes by Alexander Henry. I bought it last year not having a clue what I'd do with it, and it was already out of print by the time I found it, so no coordinating fabrics were available. When I saw this table runner pattern, with it's large 6 1/2" squares, I figured it would showcase the fabrics beautifully, which it does.

The most minor problem is my choice of brown. The swatch looked good with all the gingerbread men, but now that I have it all together, I'm really wishing I'd used light, cheerful colors instead. The red doesn't bother me as much, but I really wish I'd pulled the pink & blue out instead. I have more fabric, so it's not outside the realm of possibility that I'll do the whole thing over.

The second issue is that while I cut on the diagonal for the inside squares, my setting triangles did not end up on the diagonal.

It's not a huge problem due to the overall 'tossed' feel of the fabric, but I would have preferred them going in the same direction as the inner squares.

While I'm super proud of most of my flying goslings (remember, they are only 1" tall):

most of the corner ones are cut off a bit:

This bugs me perhaps more than it should.

And finally, the entire thing is spattered with what I assume is apple juice.

Are you kidding me! I think that was the straw right there. The thing that made me just fold it up & set it aside until I can work through my forgiveness issues with it. I should be glad I didn't serve grape juice that day, but I'm just too unhappy right now to really get into that. At some point, I'll replace the setting triangles, see if I can re-do the seams a bit so that the points are not cut off in those few places, own my brown color choice, and wash it, obviously. Someday, it will be a very pretty table runner. I hope that day occurs in 2012.

In the meantime, I still have Aster Manor - I'm up to 10 blocks with only 3 more to go.

The blocks are kinda running together at this point, but I think this is the one I did last night:

Linking up to Freshly Pieced for her WIP Wednesday. I love clicking through all those links and seeing what everyone is working on.

My first ETSY sale!

I had my first ETSY sale today!! 

I really liked this quilt, and to be honest, I was scratching my head a little as to why it was taking so long to sell. Designer cottons, a simple design that showcases the prints, a great size for a twin bed or a large throw - I just wasn't getting it. 

But it's sold now and that's all that matters. I'll take it to the post office later this afternoon and it will be at it's new forever home later this week. 

And lookey what I bought to celebrate!

(This photo was borrowed from PSIquilt)

WIP Wednesday

What I've worked on most this week is Aster Manor. I now have 7 blocks completed out of the 13 I need. (They will be set on point if that number confuses you.)

I got off on a slow start with this one, primarily because each block takes about 2 hours, and that's with all the pieces already cut out.

Do you often have 2 hours of uninterrupted sewing time?

Me neither. So this week I decided to sew on it when I can & however much I can without feeling like I have to finish one block in one setting. I did 3 blocks in 2 days with that mentality.

I wondered when I started this how I would like this "scrappy". Some parts are fine and others bother me. None of the red stars bother me. I guess that's a large enough piece of fabric that it can handle any design. Plus the white around it gives it plenty of contrast.

The only brown that bothers me is this busy leaf.

Just because all the leaves serve to reduce the contrast. And I'm not crazy about the tan at all. It isn't enough contrast from the pink background. It just gets lost. The only block that works in is the one with a plainer, tonal tan.

My first making of this pattern was also my first work with flying geese, and that didn't go so well. I followed the pattern and used the "no waste" method and for me, that resulted in way too much variance from piece to piece. That might have been fine if I'd then used a flying geese ruler to trim them, but I didn't and therefore had some wonk on those blocks. Some cut off points, some smaller than standard seams. This time I used the Fons and Porter flying geese ruler:

Waaay more cutting time, but no trimming time, and really consistent results. I'd say the overall time involved is about the same, and this works much better for me. Personal choice to be sure.

I'm linking this up to Freshly Pieced for her WIP Wednesday. Lots of great projects represented there already!

First day of real school

Today is my daughter's first day of real school. (She's had some pre-school). She wants to know where all the toys are, and that makes me a bit nervous. I know when I figured out just how little play time I had in kindergarten, I was pretty miffed. I felt like they pulled a bait and switch on me - showing me all the fun stuff and then making me sit in a chair and learn.

We were off to a resistant start:

But had a better attitude by the time to go:

She's a very social person, which is a bit sad for an only child, so I think being around other kids will make it all worthwhile for her.

So, did you notice the backpack peeking out from behind her? Would you like to see more? Of course you would.

I bought the pattern (from Fig Tree & Co.) at the beginning of the summer and spent the next few months wondering what fabric to use.

At some point I remembered having 3 half-yard pieces of Happy Flowers in yellow, and remembering how well it coordinated with bright pink.

I used a pretty heavy interfacing, but it's still a very lightweight and soft backpack. It's perfect for the 40 pound girl who is using it to haul a spare change of clothes and a water bottle, but it certainly wouldn't work for a teenager with a heavy load of textbooks.

I had wanted to find one of those plastic draw string push things, but couldn't find one large enough. Not sure whether I'll keep looking, or just replace the current tie with a cord small enough to go through the fastener I can find.

She likes it, and that's all that matters.

This little handful

This little handful of patchwork represents 6 hours of work. Approximately.

I saw this book a couple of months ago

And bought it specifically for this table runner

Despite not having enough scraps to do anything with yet. But I loved the table runner & figured it didn't have to be scrappy. I did not, prior to making my purchase, read the directions well enough to notice the size or the number of flying geese.

Each unit will finish at 1" x 2".

I call them flying goslings.

And there are 122 of them just in the table runner.

There will not be matching placemats.

Linking up to Freshly Pieced for her WIP Wednesday.

Sweet pillow

As promised, I made my daughter a throw pillow for her room. I picked these fabrics off e-bay pretty cheaply and knew they'd be perfect for her.

The front:

The back:

Aren't those little flowers the sweetest!

It looks pretty good on my couch too...

And then something happened with this project that I didn't think would EVER happen. I just assumed it would be an ongoing problem pretty much the rest of my life - I ran out of batting scraps. Isn't that crazy? Who does that?

Just because I don't have enough to do

I started a baby quilt a couple of weeks ago and got it to a flimsy yesterday.

I saw this adorable fabric at Joann's, with the coordinating leaf print, and just had to have it.

If I had it to do over again, I would have fussy cut the owls so that each little green square had one in it. It's so cute when that happens in the quilt:

I think it's unfortunate that it doesn't happen with every square. But overall, I love the design and colors. It's going to be a great quilt nonetheless.

And yes, I did have plenty to do before starting this.

Linking up to Freshly Pieced for her WIP wednesday.