Finishing Projects

I finished the pinwheel 60 BoS quilt top this week. Now she's in the ever growing pile of quilt tops to be quilted. :) I'd purchased a new sewing machine last month. Now I have one set up with my quilt frame and another that I'm piecing blocks with. This arrangement makes it easy for me to work two projects at the same time. I'm not sure if I'm twice as productive, but I do seem to be completing projects a little quicker.

I also finished quilting the Mod Sampler that's been waiting to be quilted for a year. Now I'm hand sewing the binding on to the back. I love finishing quilts this way. I know it takes longer than machine finishing but I like the results. I also like having something to do with my hands while watching the television at night. :)

UFOs

I've taken a little break over the last week or so from my 60 BoS to complete some waiting UFOs. This afternoon I'll probably sew some more blocks together, but in the meantime I'm working on finishing up some other projects.

I finally got my Mod Sampler Quilt Along quilt on the frame and started quilting it. The top's only been finished since at least April 30th, 2009. It's about time I completed this quilt! :)

The other outstanding project I'm working on is the Mod Bento Box swap I participated in. About a week and a half ago my swap blocks showed up in the mail. My original idea was to sash between each block to make a larger finished quilt. But, both a good friend and my husband suggested that I go ahead and put the blocks together without sashing. So that's what I did. Isn't this top scraptacular? When I've completed quilting the Mod Sampler I'll get this baby up on the frame and quilt her up.

I had, however, already purchased some grey Kona cotton for the sashing. So, now I've got enough fabric to sash some other, not yet planned, quilt. :)

Update! I finished 9 more blocks for my 60 BoS this afternoon. Here are blocks 43 - 51.

Finished Quilt and More 60 BoS

Remember 60 BoS squares 10 - 34 I blogged about last week? Well, here are the final results. :) I quilted it last week and bound it over the 4th of July weekend. This quilt is all ready for donation, giveaway, or keeping for myself. lol. I haven't decided yet. :)

I am still working on my 60 BoS as well. Here are blocks 35 - 42. Eventually this will be another baby quilt.

More 60 Blocks of Summer

Last week and over the weekend I completed blocks 10 - 34 for my 60 BoS. I used more of my scraps from Heather. This quilt is 50"x50". Which, I guess, is a pretty odd size. But I figure it can be a lap quilt, a toddler quilt, or a picnic quilt. Wouldn't it make an adorable picnic quilt? I may have a give away for the finished quilt. That's still paying it forward, isn't it? :)

Next thing is to get these quilt tops on my frame and get them quilted up.

Yesterday I also tackled Oh, Fransson's pocket potholder tutorial. My friend Jim had gifted me with the groovy vintage fabric that was used as the block's centers. I've been waiting for the perfect project for that fabric. Don't they make cute potholders? I haven't finished the project though. Last night I went to bind them and discovered they're too thick for my sewing machine. lol. I'm going to try using one of my vintage machines later, but last night I was so frustrated that I just stopped. If I had followed her instructions exactly it might not have been a problem, but I used insulbrite instead of canvas, and I think it made the potholders way too thick. I could just leave the "pocket" off and make them into regular potholders. What do you think?

60 Blocks of Summer and Paying it Forward

I decided that with all my "free time" I'd play along with some other insane Flickr-ites and challenge myself to "60 Blocks of Summer". That is - to make 60 quilt blocks, basically one a day, between June 16th and September 3rd.

Yesterday I was afraid that I was already falling behind because it was June 18th (day 3) and I still had nothing. So, I broke out a box of scraps that Heather of A la Mode Fabric had gifted me with. I had promised Heather to make some things to be donated with those scraps, and since I'd already raided a couple of the scraps for my own projects, I thought it was time to use the scraps as I had originally intended. But, hey, with gorgeous scraps like these; who could blame me for wanting to keep some for myself? :)

I'm feeling pretty good about yesterday's accomplishments. I completed quilt blocks 1-9 for the 60 BoS and got most of a quilt top finished to be donated to Project Linus.

I was going to use the 60 BoS to push me to finish the Halloween spiderweb quilt I've started, but I think I'll focus instead on quilt blocks for donation.

With all that yesterday I also pulled the pressure cooker out of my pantry. I bought the thing years ago and never used it. As exciting as a new toy is, I was also afraid of it. Partially because of the 15 psi, even though it's a modern pressure cooker with a release valve and everything, but mainly because I'd never used one. Fear of not really understanding it stopped me. So, I checked out a cook book from the library and tackled the unknown. The recipe I chose was Dilly Mustard Chicken. The chicken meat came out wonderfully, moist and falling off the bone. But the recipe was a little bland. Now that I conquered the unknown I'm ready to dive back in!

One More Square

OK, I was going to get my Mod Bento Box squares in the mail on Friday, but then I decided to make just one more square. lol. What a great excuse for fabric shopping! A couple of the girls at work told me about a quilting shop in the area that I was unaware of, so I found my way over there on Friday afternoon. It carried pretty traditional fabrics. Though I did find a couple of things I liked. :)

Here is the extra block I made:

And, here are the four quarters I'm keeping for myself:

I Joined a Swap

I joined a swap and I'm very excited about it!

Jessica of Give it a Go is hosting a Mod Bento Box Swap using Film in the Fridge's Modified Bento Box block tutorial.

I've made 12 large blocks using her tutorial which will be cut down into 4 smaller blocks each. At this point though I'm hating having to chop my blocks up.

I'm loving these blocks and I hope that my fellow swappies love them as well. :)