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Okay so it’s not actually a finished object. It’s getting there. But I am moving (AGAIN) soon, so I’m not going to get to finish it. However — I’ll have a whole room for crafting when we move! SO excited.

There was kind of a bit of shrinkage. I was going for 50″x50″ but the width is quite a bit less. I figured it would be but didn’t realize it was going to be THAT much less. I’m planning to add white fabric to either side and do a light gray back and the binding with one of the vintage fabrics. I have enough of one of them to do the binding.

This is before — when I pinned all the white to either side of the strips. I sewed the white on then sewed three strips together at a time, then sewed those together.

This is the (mostly) finished product.  You can’t see the shrinkage as much in this photo as I would have liked to show. It’s about 2/3 the original size.

Closeup of some of the lovely fabrics … I love the blue with white swirls and the red with polka dot circles.

I’ll probably be doing a plethora of finished quilt posts come winter.  I have a bag full of about 6 tops with backs and binding ready to go. Just need somebody to quilt them! I would, but I would rather not kill my machine.

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I’m going to be doing Craft Saturday this month on April 30th, so I’ve been working on some crafts.

I made a rule for this show — I can’t buy any new supplies — only use what’s in my stash and scraps. That way I can reduce the clutter and save some cash.

I had half a mind to get rid of ALL of my crafting supplies when I moved last month, but I decided to keep some of it. I might have gone insane without it, but I was getting kind of burnt out. I needed to find something new and interesting and fun. No more crafting for OTHER people. It’s okay to craft for yourself. Sometimes. And the stuff you make doesn’t have to be useful (these are actually useful things I learned from Amy Sedaris’s book).

I present to you — little zippy pouches.

These cute little pouches are perfect for makeup bags, emergency kits for your purse, travel crafting supplies and many more uses. I’ve had one that I made a LONG time ago that I used for my makeup in my gym bag.  They were also a great project for scrapbusting. I’m a big fan of wonky asymmetrical patchwork and I made myself use ONLY what was in my scrap bag for these — so no cutting any new pieces.  There are 3 here, but I’ve got 5 made and will be making a few more. They’re kind of time consuming, but I enjoy making them, so I’m going to have a few for the show at the end of the month.

And yes, I’ve also decided my label is going on everything. It will go on the inside of most of my stuff, but I thought it made these pouches look a bit more finished and since they’re scrappy to begin with, I thought it was a nice touch.

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I’m still working through Denyse Schmidt Quilts and I’ve decided to make one of the actual QUILTS instead of one of the mini projects.

As you’ve probably noticed, I’m kind of in love with square blocks created from strips (mendocino, wonky log cabin and repro fabrics). They’re easy. They’re fun. They’re practically effortless. Just cut the strips and go.

There’s a quilt in the book called What a bunch of squares which isn’t quite as effortless, but it’s a very clean and modern quilt. It caught my attention because it isn’t too far of a venture from what I’ve been doing, but it’s different enough that I won’t end up with yet another set of wonky log cabin blocks.

I’m also stepping out of my comfort zone by using colors I don’t normally use (blue, beige and brown) and by using mainly solids. I’m big into patterns, and I haven’t really delved into solids just yet.

I began this project last Friday night — the night I had set aside to finish a bunch of other WIPs (the boy was at a bachelor party canoe trip all weekend and I like to be a hermit from time to time). Of course, as per usual, I managed to start YET ANOTHER project instead of finishing all the ones I had intended to finish.

I think I got a bee in my bonnet when a co-worker mentioned that she might ask me to make a baby blanket but she didn’t know if her friend was having a boy or a girl. I realized that I haven’t really made anything that looks “boy-ish” and I thought I’d try my hand at it.

I’m making 25 blocks — then I’m going to put a 3-or-more-inch border of white around them and sew them together. Not sure what size the final blocks are going to be, but the idea is that each of the inside squares are a bit different so that they look more like they’re floating when the quilt is put together.

These aren’t too exciting yet, but I wanted to post what I’ve got going just to show colors. Seriously guys. No pink.

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Adria lent me her Denyse Schmidt Quilts book a while back and I’ve been slowly working on a few projects in it.

A while back I made a quilted heating pad cover and I’ve been meaning to work on some of the scrappy projects to get through my stash and to build up some fun inventory for Market Day. I came across a project for some greeting cards with fabric sewn to the front. Denyse Schmidt calls them “Dis-Cards”. As a graphic designer, I’ve got a TON of paper samples stocked away. The particular paper I used for these cards was something I’d ordered when I was thinking of re-tooling my portfolio a couple years ago. Obviously (as you can tell by my main website) I haven’t gotten around to doing that. So, instead, I used this lovely Classic Columns duplex 120# cover weight sheet to make cards. Funny thing — it’s like the paper was waiting for this project. The sample sheets I have cut down to EXACTLY the size of 4 A6 greeting cards.

Anywho, here’s a sneak peek at the cards that I’ve made with some of my scraps. I’m planning to have about 100 of these by Market Day (which, by the way, is May 29th this month from 9 AM–2 PM). I’m putting them in coordinating packs of 5 with envelopes.

This one is my favorite one that I’ve made so far. I love the combination of fabrics.

These cards are a LOT of fun to make. It’s a great scrapbuster for those super small scraps that don’t have enough edge to sew together. Of course, most of these cards use Wonderland. I’ve got a few scraps left from the Puzzle Quilt I’ve been working on. I’m digging the frayed edges on these. As well as the faux quilting. I’m having fun playing with a few different stitches. I don’t have a super high-tech sewing machine, so I’m really stuck with zig-zags as my creative stitch, but mixing the different stitches gives a really cool look.

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