A (very) Little Bit of Sewing

I've been working a lot of extra hours lately, and preparing for a work trip to Denver, so, unfortunately I haven't had a lot of opportunities to sew. 

I signed up a month or so ago for a Scrappy Trip Along block exchange. I was assigned five partners and I'm almost finished with all of the blocks. Thankfully we have until sometime in October to mail them, and I only have one left to make. 

I also decided the day before I left to Denver that I needed to make myself a new bag to take along. Makes sense, right? No pressure, or adding to what I needed to get done. 

I used fabric from the Simply Style line by V & Co., which I really love! I made the Simple Six Pocket Bag found on Better Homes and Gardens' website. It really was simple - it took me less than two hours! It ended up being a lot smaller than I thought it would be, but to be honest, I read the size of the finished bag, I just didn't pay attention. 

Overall, I really like it, and it has served me well on my trip! I'll be making another at some point. 

This picture isn't the greatest, but I'm sitting in the Denver airport, so I'll try to get a better one at a later time. 

Now I can't wait to get home and see David and these little cuddlers!

Scrappy Trip to Ethiopia

I finished up a quilt top this morning - one which I've been working one for a month or so. It feels good to turn a couple of blocks that I started as an experiment into a finished quilt top.

And this one feels even better, because it serves a really fun purpose!

It's for a raffle, the proceeds from which will help the Snyder family take a mission trip to Ethiopia! Shannon asked on Facebook if anyone had a homemade item they'd be willing to donate - and the Lord laid it on my heart that I didn't need this quilt. I started to make this quilt with no purpose, just to try it out - so this is the perfect use for it!

So, the last week or so I've been working to finish the blocks and arrange them. Many of the fabrics are ones that have some sentimental meaning to them, or are favorites of mine - the purple hydrangea fabric and two floral pieces are ones that I bought at the quilt store I worked at in high school. This morning I got all of the blocks pieced together, and now it's ready to be quilted and then bound.

It's been a great conversation piece with Micah - we've gotten a few opportunities to talk about Africa, and why we are giving this quilt away. Helping prepare him for more conversations about kids in Africa who don't have families?

I'm not sure when I'll be ready to quilt it though. I'm kind of loving it hanging in my dining room!

I'll share more details about the raffle when they have it all set up!

Popsicle and Progress

In early May, I took on a challenge, to try paper-piecing for the first time. I planned to make a summer-y mini quilt, following along with Jennifer's patterns. I made the first block - a popsicle - and realized that I really need to work on perfecting my 1/4 inch seam. The block's size was a little off. 

But I hung it up on my wall and didn't do any of the other blocks. Oops.

Last week, I decided I wanted to make a gift for a friend, and rather than starting something new I thought I'd work with this little block. My friend loves summer, but she's been injured and hasn't gotten to enjoy it like she should. So, I wanted to give her something to bring a little piece of summer inside.

It's a little quilted mug rug (coaster) for her morning coffee. This was a fun little project to finish up! The fabric that I used for the binding is one that my mother-in-law found at a garage sale - it's getting used in many different projects lately! 

I've been making slow progress on a few other projects lately too - like the quilt I started a year and a half ago for Micah's big-boy bed:

And I also started a scrappy trip around the world. 

This has been a really fun project to work on! I love how the scraps come together, and I never know exactly how a block will look until it's all put together. That can be a bad thing too, I guess, because I had to take a block apart and re-do it when the fabrics I grabbed didn't look very good together.

Because I don't have enough projects going at a time, I also started a baby quilt yesterday for a friend's baby - I'm in the very beginning stages, but it's always fun to put fabrics together and envision the final result. 

I'm planning to use Jeni Baker's tutorial for the Scrappy Star Quilt for this baby quilt. The blocks will be a little smaller, though, only 10 inches instead of the 18 that she used, which will make it a better size for a baby.

I can't wait to share more progress on the different projects I have going!