I swear I'm not all that productive

Yes, I have another quilt finished this week...but I solemnly swear that I'm a slow sewist.

This Habitat Triangles top was finished awhile ago, and then I finished Ben's quilt top. I basted them both within a week. I did most of the quilting on this quilt, then did all of Ben's quilt and then came back to Habitat Triangles for the last touches. And then I bound both of them in the same week. Ben's birthday was my deadline for his quilt (June 1st, but I was late, of course.) and we get to visit my niece this weekend out near Seattle, so I had to finish hers before the trip. So, I was just working two quilts in tandem the whole time.

The quilt uses the fat eighths from Jay McCarroll's Habitat line from the MQG challenge from fall of 2011.  I got my challenge fabrics and I got stuck, stuck, stuck.  The only idea I could come up with was for a modern, dark city scape with a few lights in the windows and graffiti everywhere.  The idea in my head was pretty cool, but I just couldn't figure out how to execute it.  So I put it down for a l-o-n-g time.  And then I found the little stack a couple of months ago.  I had some Kona cerise out on my sewing table and when I saw the two together it finally clicked for me.  I dug through my solids bin for dark and bright colors and just stuck with simple HST's. 

The border fabric is Kaffe Fassett shot cotton in mushroom. 

The backing and binding fabric is Moda Bella Solid in prune.  That sounds like an unappealing color name, so I'm assuming it is an old color by them.  If anyone is up on the current shades of Moda Bella solids, you can feel free to correct me.  Anyway, it is very hard to photograph well.  Just know that the back is deep, deep purple and the stitching on front and back are the same cerise color as the fabric you see on the front of the quilt.

So, two large twin quilts finished in one week, but I'm not not trying to be obnoxious. Big quilts take a lot of time and effort--sometimes months, sometimes years.  I get such big ideas when I read blogs and then I get a complex when I can't finish things as fast as it seems that other people do.

And even though I finished two this week, I was kind of grumpy about it.  I do not have the skills to do machine binding in anyway that isn't ugly.  So I felt stuck to my couch tacking the binding down by hand.  And I really, really wanted to start some other things.  So, now that the deadlines are over, I get to give a pretty quilt to my niece.  And then I get to move on to other projects and other ideas.  I hope to show some cool things here soon. 


But I can't leave this post tempting new ideas and grumping about sewing binding, so instead I'll leave with pictures from Henry's birthday.  I haven't posted pics of him in some time.  We took him to a gluten free cafe in Baltimore so he could pick out his own birthday cupcake.  

I think he liked it.  Now he keeps saying, "We could do birthday for Baltimore!!"

Fancy Block a day late

Remember that workshop I went to in April (that I might have gushed a bit about?).  Well, I've been in contact with the members of that retreat ever since and we've decided to start a new sewing challenge.  The goal is to use our block design / improv piecing / paper piecing skills on a regular basis.  You have to use the skills to keep them fresh in your mind because it is a totally different way of thinking about piecing.  Our goal is one block per week.  That's a steep order to add to some very busy sewing tables.  But, I typed it out loud now, and there is no going back.  

For my first week, I made an improv house block for Jenny in the  Sew Buzzy Bee.  She asked for blocks to represent each of our houses.  My actual house has two bay windows in front, so I started with the windows and built up from there.  My house has dark green siding on three sides and brick on the front.  All of my brick colored fabrics were just too dark, so I went with berry herringbone Joel Dewberry instead.  The print certainly has texture, even if it isn't really brick shaped.

In retrospect I should have done more drawing with graph paper to come up with a window size and door size to fit on a 12.5" square.  If I had a 15 or 16" square, I could have the windows on either side of the door, and I could have fit the two dormers with windows on the second floor and maybe the chimney.  I've done a few house blocks lately, but they've been tiny and lacking detail, so this was definitely a challenge for me.  Next time I improv piece for this challenge, I hope to play with more crazy angles or some curves.  I also pledge to do a sketch. 

Amanda at crazy mom quilts posted her block here.  I hope that Tara, Carmen and Audrey will join in soon, too.  The plan is to post on Fridays.  So, today is a Fancy Block Friday, just a day late.

Now I have to ask, how are you challenging yourself in your craft?