wip wednesday: getting ready for quiltcon

I'm so excited for QuiltCon! I've never been to Austin and I hear it's a great city, plus the chance to get away is always fun! My hubby has been so supportive and encouraging when it comes to this trip... I couldn't do it without him! Thanks, honey. :)

In the spirit of travelling handmade, I've got a couple of projects I want to make and take with me: a QAYG tote/handbag, and a duffle bag. I'm finishing the quilt-as-you-go panels for my tote at the moment.

 

 

And the duffle bag fabric has been picked out, (this is from MoMo's Oh Deer line) but I'm having second thoughts...

In fact, I just now went back to my sewing room and decided to use this next fabric, instead!

I'll use the same fabric for the handles. Not sure about the lining yet, but I'm much happier with my new choice. The first print seemed a little young for me to be carrying around... I still think it's adorable, though and I'll always love MoMo!

When I reflect on it, I think my original fabric choice has been the hold up on making this bag. I've had the pattern and the fabric since September, but I never jumped in. Now that I'm feeling better about this new print, I feel ready to tackle the bag! Does that happen to anyone else? Does a fabric choice hold you back because it doesn't feel quite right?

Besides my QuiltCon projects, I'm working on several bee blocks. Another round of the 4x5 Modern Quilt Bee has started and I'm working with HSTs...

Plus I joined the Sugar Block Club. This is my first time working with only solids and I'm excited to see how this quilt turns out! Here's January's block...

Are you going to QuiltCon? What are you working on?

Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced!

christmas recap

Happy New Year, friends! I hope you and your family had a lovely holiday and a peaceful beginning to 2013.

It's no fun to constantly say "I'm working on stuff for Christmas but I can't show you because I don't want to ruin the surprise." So that's my excuse for not posting the whole month of December. I can't believe I skipped a whole month!

But now that the presents have been revealed to their intended recipients, I can show them here on the blog!

Before I do, though, I wanted to share one thing I started last year that really helped me keep track of everything was a list I called "Project 2012". It's just a Word document that included all my WIPS, all my "want to make" projects, and my crafty commitments as well.

 I crossed things off as I finished them and things that did not get finished have been moved to my new "Project 2013" list.  All in all, it really helps me see what I accomplished last year!

Okay, here we go... Handmade Christmas!

My brother-in-law recieved this Super Mario pillow. The funniest thing was he opened it upside down and could not figure out what it was. I finally had to turn it around and pull it back from him a little bit so he could see the whole thing. He liked it, though! And he was gracious enough to leave it with me so I could show it at our quilt guild's show this month... now I just have to send it to him!

I used a tutorial from Cut to Pieces... I pieced the pillow with the individual squares but if I ever did it again I'd do it Angela's way!

I used Stitched in Color's Makeup Roll pattern to make this for my quilt guild's Secret Santa partner... I also made her a drawstring bag using In Color Order's tutorial. Both items were quick to make and I liked them so much I need to make both for myself!

Both my mom and mother-in-law recieved baked potato bags. There are tutorials all over the internet, but I based mine off this one.

I need to make one of those for me, too! Part of Emma's gift was supposed to be a doll and doll quilt... The quilt was finished a couple days after Christmas but the doll is still in pieces in my sewing room. Oh well... she loves the quilt!

I really love the back, such a cute fabric!

Honestly, though, my favorite part of the doll quilt is the binding... not the fabric itself, but the way it's attached!

I used Stitched in Color's zigzag binding tutorial and it looks so much neater than any other way of machine binding I've tried. Of course, nothing beats good old fashioned hand binding but by the time I've pieced and quilted and machined one side of the binding I'm ready to be DONE.

And last but not least, I made stockings for my mother- father-, and brother-in-law, because they were visiting us for Christmas and stockings are part of our family tradition.