Happy, wonderful WiP Wednesday! Whew, I’m sure glad we’re halfway through the work week. This past weekend was B-E-A-utiful in NC and I’m hearing whispers of another nice weekend ahead!
In my mind, the whole weekend was nice. In truth, Easter Sunday was rainy and dreary. But I didn’t mind because I was sitting inside QUILTING! Also, Easter is extra special in our household because we have two bunnies who live inside with us. Jack just turned 7 years old but still acts as youthful as ever. Jill just turned 5 years old and is, well how should we put it – special? Jill is a pure-bred dwarf Hotot (likely heavily inbred) while Jack is a hearty pet store buddy. She’s the beauty and Jack’s the brains. But we love them both just the same. Their cages are in the dining room / office / quilting room so they got lots of extra outside-of-cage playtime while I quilted Sunday.
Jack
Jill
Oh did I forget to mention, Oliver (our German Shorthaired Pointer – a strong hunter) was outside enjoying a bit of sunshine when the bunnies were out. He ignores them so long as they stay in their cages (and actually goes to visit them and gives them kisses). But if they are out and hop, whew, all hands on deck. We don’t think he’d try to hurt them, it’s just his monster paws alone outweigh them 2-to-1 and it that, my friends, could be a tough pill to swallow. So the bunnies get free time to scamper around the house while puppy is not inside. So what all got worked on this weekend?
Virtual Quilting Bee
Last week I showed you the first Origami Star block I completed. This week I’ve got another one to show you. I’m much happier with the way this one turned out! I accounted for the yellow wood grain to line up in the same direction for each of the four mini-blocks that make up the star, but forgot that each mini-block is quarter-turned. Mistake? Nah! Just another lesson learned. I still like how each mini-block has the wood-grain in the same direction. I’m learning a lot about forward thinking when it comes to quilt block design…
2nd Origami Star block for the Virtual Quilting Bee
And here are all four blocks completed so far!
4 Completed blocks so far
Ace of Cakes Quilt
I last left you with a stack of 100 flying geese with about 5/6 of them waiting to have seams pressed open. UGH! The small tabletop ironing board that my Mom sent me away to college with came in handy. May have been the first time it actually had been used in 8 years (sorry Mom!). As mentioned, I have confiscated the dining room / office as my makeshift quilting area and having a small ironing board to put on the dining table is a huge time save so I don’t have to walk back and forth from my machine to the main ironing board that is set up in the guest bedroom. Plus I get to chat with Mr QQ and listen to the NCAA basketball games – bonus!
So now I have a pile of 100 flying geese finished that will be sewn together for the sashing of the quilt:
100 Flying Geese done and pressed! Whew!
I also started on the large blocks of the quilt. Not sure what you call this type of block, but I essentially made large HST with 8.75″ sides and then sewed two HST together into a block.
HST ready to cut
16 HST complete (2 of each)
Easy peasy right? Yeah I thought so too until I CUT THROUGH ONE. There I was cutting apart my HSTs. So happy with my fabric choices for pairings. La la la life was good. Mr QQ was in the kitchen cooking and knew I was at the cutting mat with the uber sharp rotary cutter when all the sudden he heard all kinds of words yelled that should not be yelled on a Sunday, much less Easter Sunday. Luckily I didn’t cut myself, just the fabric – but oh my!
Ooops! Rotary cutter got away from me/ruler and cut right through the seam!
Yeah that’s not going to work…Lesson learned
My heart dropped because this fabric is a few years old and very hard to find now. I had no extra pieces of fabric for the large blocks but I did have a little extra of the backing and binding fabric so I stole a HST from there. As of Tuesday night I have 8 of the 16 blocks complete! My goal is to finish the rest by Friday before we head to Raleigh for a weekend with my wonderful in-laws!
8 Completed Blocks for Ace of Cakes quilt with stack of others to complete
The little birds on this print just kill me – too cute!
No progress this week on Baby Quilt #1 except for the beautiful Marmalade flannel arrived and I realized that I needed double…whoops! Bought some more today though 🙂 Need to pick a design too – anyone have any favorite HST baby quilt designs? I’m loving this website I found on Pinterest with some great layout ideas. Tough choice!
Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out some of the other lovely quilts at WiP Wednesday!
Till next week,
Mrs QQ
Quasi-Quilter 
It always happens to most precious fabric, doesn’t it? TrueCut makes a ruler with a lip and a cutter that rests on that lip so that it can’t stray like that, but the cutter is shaped differently and I’m having a hard time getting used to it. I don’t seem to have as much leverage with it.
Lisa – I’ll have to look into that TrueCut system. Thanks for stopping by!
Those bunnies are darling.
Sorry about you Ace of Cakes mishap,but I was glad to hear that you cut your losses and moved on.
I am in NC too and wish this weather would figure out what it wants!
Those bunnies have a posh lifestyle and love to snuggle – it’s the best! This NC weather is whacko. I’m in the Triad and it was sleeting on my drive to work today. The wild weather swings happen every spring but I never get used to it.
absolutely hate rotary mistakes! I seriously am obsessed with your bunnies and I wish I could have one (no pets allowed, sigh!) I can’t wait to see both of these quilts and I am loving your new block additions. Great job!
Hey Ashley! Rotary cutters and pressing seem to be the necessary evils. You’re welcome to come visit the bunnies anytime you’re back in NC. 🙂
I like the directional woodgrain – as long as each quater is consistent I think it looks like a deliberate design choice. When I was at university studying fine art we called those ‘happy accidents’ 😉
Hahaha- “happy accidents” – love it! Thanks for stopping by Leigh 🙂