Works In Progress Archives -

A Long Time Coming Hexies

September 17, 2014 by Tsoniki 8 Comments

After a quick scroll on instagram, I discovered that I started sewing these hexagons waaaaay back when we lived in San Diego. By my calculations (and thanks to instagram saying how many weeks ago something was posted), I first started sewing them two years ago. Two years! Ah well, at least now they have a purpose.

I pulled out all the hexagons – made with Lucy’s Crab Shack and coordinating solids – and made larger panels. These have evolved in their plans – I started the hexies with no pattern in mind, then I thought placemats would look nice when we were living in San Diego and again farther north in Monterey (the fabric does have a beachy/live by the water feeling). After a bit, and nothing coming of the hexagons, I thought mug rugs would look good, I could give them as gifts! But they stayed sewn together and just waited for what they were to become.

And the other day I stumbled upon this extra large box bag post! Inspiration! I turned what would have been six placemats (or mug rugs) (or anything else really) and turned them into the beginnings of three box bags.

These are large panels so they could also be oversized tote bags. I decided to make them for Christmas gifts for JW’s teachers. I don’t want to scramble in December because I forgot, and I like to take advantage of inspiration hitting at the right time. I have three panels, two of the same size and one just a little smaller, and I will probably have to add a little border. I don’t have big enough zippers right now, so I’ll have to also figure the final size after I buy zippers.

Linking up with WIP Wednesday.

Toes In The Sand

September 3, 2014 by Tsoniki 6 Comments

Whew, a block of the month is both fun and can cause impatience. I work hard to be patient so that second part wasn’t so bad, until I got to the “oh I’m almost done!” part. Then I felt like time slowed to a crawl. And I didn’t want to make the template for the half triangles (seen in the bottom and left side of the picture below) and I luckily have a triangle ruler that helped me get the job done.

When I first started this project, I did the blocks not too long after I received them in the mail. I saved the scraps and extra pieces along with each block, planning on using them in the backing. I clipped the block numbers to the blocks using the ever so useful clover wonder clips.

I had a moment of panic when I was sorting the blocks. I found fabric that had the block number attached to it, rather than the number attached to a block.

Considering I am ready (meaning all the stuff is sewn or cut) to lay the blocks out and get to sewing, you can imagine the sigh of relief I breathed once I found the blocks that were missing a number! The next step is to decide on a layout. Well, not really a layout, but just the order of sewing these. My kit came with a suggested layout – the blocks are all numbered and they have a paper that shows where to put which number. But I’m not sure how I feel about that, I like to change up patterns so I’ll probably do the same to this one.Â I’m excited to finish this, and even more excited to try new free motion quilting designs.

Linking up with WIP Wednesday.

WIP Wednesday – Quilt a Baby Quilt

January 2, 2013 by Tsoniki 1 Comment

I am forcing myself to not start any new projects. No working on the Dancing Stars practice block or first month block, no starting a charm pack quilt, no new anything. Because I have three quilts to quilt. The most important – and only one I started – is a baby quilt. I’m not positive on the due date, but I think it is tomorrow. Or maybe today. At any rate, we are right around the corner and I’m not done yet!

First I tried marking straight lines with painters tape. I think I saw someone else do this? I can’t imagine any other reason why I would try. Long story short – don’t do it.

The tape got jumbled up and stuck to itself. It sort of worked on the first one, I didn’t realize that the end got stuck on my walking foot and that was part of the reason that it was wrinkling. I did two more lines this way and then pulled it off.

BabyQuilt

You can see the markings and lines here. Can you see that I didn’t sew through the alphabet blocks? Yeah, I don’t know why I did that. I thought it would be easy, or even fun. But starting and stopping that much, not fun, and really not easy either! But I’m about half finished and hoping to finish today!

W.I.P. Wednesday Two

November 2, 2011 by Tsoniki 5 Comments

A whole week already! What a sad state my sewing room looks like. Not much has changed actually. I left last Thursday for a conference and didn’t get home until late Sunday night, which really was early Monday morning because it was 1AM. Monday was spent cleaning up and getting ready for Halloween, and vegging – because I was just so tired from the amazing three days I had in Portland, OR, attending the first NIKE N7 Sport Summit. It was a fantastic experience and I am so excited to share what I learned! I’ll do a post here soon, I need to edit my pictures!

And so all that I managed to finish were my kids Halloween costumes.

But I can’t take credit for the hats! I bought them on etsy. I LOVE the blue one, it fits JW perfectly. I have to admit a slight disappointment with the black bird and green pig hats though. They are WAY bigger then my kids heads, bigger then I think they should be anyway, and the yarn that the green one is made of stretches very easily, so it’s totally stretched out already. Despite my slight disappointment, the kids loved them and wore them from the day they arrived and still do. I’m going to throw the pig in the wash and see if the agitation makes the yarn shrink.

Sure the sewing was super easy for the costumes, but I’m glad I got to work on a little something! I’m back now and am going to continue on my postage stamp project this weekend.

First W.I.P. Wednesday

October 25, 2011 by Tsoniki 9 Comments

I am thrilled to join in my first W.I.P. Wednesday. I always have W.I.P.s (works in progress) and love looking at what others are working on. The majority of my W.I.P.s are quilts or table runners that I need to finish. Once I make a quilt top, I usually fold it and put it away. Since moving into this house (almost two months ago) I decided to have my completed tops in a separate space. For right now, that means a small pile on a short bookcase. This is a huge reminder to me that I need to get these quilted!

Two of these quilts are at the top of my priority list. They are for Operation Kid Comfort. I have the batting already and I am sure I have backing, I am striving to get them both done by next weekend.

Another W.I.P. I’d like to share is a postage stamp quilt. This is a quilt along that was published earlier this year over at P.S. I Quilt and I cut the fabric the same week that the quilt along started. And that’s where the similarities end. It was a lot of sewing strips, and then a lot of cutting, and I am still sewing my block together. I divided them into the two groups and just finished one group yesterday. I have a short stack of strips left to sew together, than I can move on to the construction of the quilt. I’ve enjoyed this and really love the fabrics I am using.

And of course since Halloween is right around the corner, here are two projects I’m working on.

I meant here is the fabric for two projects I need to make. Oops. The top fabrics are for a reversible wall hanging and the bottom is for a table runner. I am going to quilt them in glow in the dark thread. I also have fabric for a Halloween quilt, and I am making it a goal to have it done by next year.

I have the best intentions but just wasn’t able to get my Halloween projects done this year! I am going to work on them anyway, over the next couple of weeks and then quit. I don’t have too much sewing I need to do for the holidays so I won’t be behind like I am here.

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