New Swag and Goals

I forgot to put pictures up of the fabric I bought yesterday. And then I went and bought more fabric (and three new sweaters!!!!!!) today.

I got these fabrics from the quilt store; the red is Hoffman Winter Magic and the snowflake is Hoffman Wrap It Up (this is the only time I ever look at or care about what the fabric is or where it came from.)

Today at Joann, we found some fun remnants:

The middle fabric is the same fabric that I used for the back of my Stairsteps to Paradise quilt, that I am going to try to use to back the placemats.

I also found these brights on clearance:

...as well as these pretty silver blues:

Someday, I am going to make a wine and silver blue arrow quilt. I have been trying my hardest to design a simple arrow block, but I am having a heck of a time with it. Suggestions and directions would be helpful!

I also got my fabric wrapped canvas up on the wall.

So I'm also going to start posting one goal a week on my Sunday/Monday post to hold me accountable. So send me angry comments if it's Saturday and I haven't updated my goal progress.

THE LITTLE BUNNY'S GOAL OF THE WEEK
This week I would like to cut the backs for the placemats as well as battings, get them layered and attempt some simple line machine quilting. My uber goal of the week would be to get all that done as well as to sew on the binding and finish the binding by hand. My uber uber goal of the week would be to do all that as well as to start on the second set of placemats.

What are your goals for the week?? Did you get anything exciting done this weekend???

Playing catch-up

I have been reunited with my camera charger, so I finally have pictures to post about what I am working on currently. Most of that being today.

Also. My parents are here visiting. Winning!

I've been working on making some placemats from the scraps left over from myStairsteps to Paradise jelly roll quilt. I'm planning on putting together a tutorial once they are finished, so that's exciting fo' sure! Check things out so far:

The sashings for the snowflakes are pinned for the first side. They need to be sewn and pressed and then the second side added. And then I have to figure out how to lay them all out so that similar colors aren't too close to one another. But these have been pinned for almost a week and I haven't touched them. Fail.

I haven't touched my scrappy X's and O's quilt in ages. There are only X's and no O's at this point. I'm still searching for the perfect sashing fabric for this one. Ok. So that's kind of a lie. I haven't thought about it in ages so I didn't even think about it the last time I went to the store. Or the time before that.

But I am itching to start cutting on something new.

In other news, I made a tiny dinosaur for my boss's son for Halloween from this pattern except its not really 3D. I just cut two of the dinosaur shapes and sewed and stuffed the little guy. I ended up making two and I'm going to keep one.

We also managed to get a few jelly rolls and a two yard pack on s-a-l-e!

Over the summer, I had bought a yard of fabric and a canvas to staple it to for art for my living room. I just got staples for my borrowed staple gun. My dad helped me to staple the fabric and ribbon to the canvas and here is the finished project!

Now I just need to attach some hardware so I can hang it on the wall! Such a good feeling of accomplishment...and such an easy thing to put together! (Also, the ribbon is woven, which is also pretty easy.)

So, have a wonderful rest of your Halloween weekend! Happy stitching!

Friday Five #10: Back in the day...

Halloween wasn't ever the most important holiday in my family, but we had a routine. And it yielded massive candy dividends. Thanks, Mom! This has zero to do with quilting. Sorry.

1. Get ready.

Get your likely-homemade costume on. My mom made some sweet costumes for us along the lines. I made my own costume one year--I was a present! I cut holes out of the box and wrapped it. Go me! 

2. Get pictures at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

My grandparents live two doors down from my parents. So we would traipse across the lawn and get pictures (and lots of candy.) And sometimes we would stop at the neighbors in between my parents and my grandparents and get more pictures. And candy.

3. Drive and hit up the subdivision with all the streets named after girls nearby.

This was your typically middle middle class-upper middle class subdivision. But houses were relatively close together, lots of sidewalks, and I would say that 95% of the houses gave out candy. There was a couple houses that went all out with lights and sound and fog machines. And there was one house that gave out giant things of oreos. That was possibly my favorite. The other thing that was my favorite was getting those tiny bags of chips. Especially if they were Fritos.

4. Hit up Waltz.

Waltz = tiny village where my home church is. There's a few friends that we would always go visit at the end of the night. Some of these houses would give whole candy bars. Winning!

5. Go home and build candy forts.

We would end up with massive amounts of candy. I would always separate my candy by kind and then build little forts and houses and walls out of them. I would then put them all into a gigantic Tupperware bowl, good candy at the bottom to save it. It would get eaten anyways, but I would always try.

My parents are coming in this weekend so I won't be out spooking the children or haunting any house parties. Plus Halloween is Monday. What fun is there in THAT? If I was dressing up this year, I would dress up as a bumblebee, just because I think it would be fun. And easy. I'm planning to go to Walmart on Monday night or Tuesday to get all the candy on sale. Ultimate win.

Happy hauntings!

Tiny's quilt and the Little Bunny's thoughts

So I did finally get that baby quilt to its home. And here is the proof! That way Tiny won't freeze in Southern Californian winters.

Now people. Don't go off producing babies because "I'm friends with Alison, so she'll make MY Tiny a quilt too!" because I am still in graduate school. But sure. Your Tiny may end up with an Alison Original (or a Little Bunny Quilt, as it were). But I won't make any guarantees to anyone. Other than to my NYC BFF that I will make her some Melly and Me Clucky chickens someday.

So what I'm saying is: organize with your married friends and stagger your babies so I am not overwhelmed.

That is all.

Also. If you're ever itching to look at a cute baby, this one takes the cake.

Teacup Quilt

So I located my camera charger. 

IN MARYLAND. Plugged into the wall exactly where I left it when I went down a few weeks ago for the Navy-Air Force game.

So until I get it back (hopefully Monday) no new sewing pictures. Sigh.

But I figured I would take the chance and show off my second quilt (the first one that was ever finished!), my teacup quilt (pattern from either Say It With Quilts or Quilts! Quilts! Quilts!, can't remember which)

The fabric for all of the teacups and saucers (well, 95% of them) came out of my mom's scrap bin. A number of them are fussy-cut to show off the fabric (like the cream and brown duck cup in the second to bottom row). There is one of Easter egg fabric, ones with snowmen, 1930s style florals, batiks, plaids, polka dots, and each one is of a different fabric.

This was my first foray into applique -- the handles are all hand appliqued on. The border fabric was also fussy cut to show off the full pattern on all of the sides. I love this fabric so much, I had matching sorority letters made for myself and my younger sister out of this fabric.

Aren't we ten kinds of adorable? She's on the left and I'm on the right. She's my favorite. (Also. Why am I not doing the "skinny girl arm pose" like she is? Alison, get it together!)

 Maybe the next time I am home I will take pictures of some of my favorite teacups and post a few of them. It is a SUPER easy block to make and a great scrap project that's a little on the classy side.

So have a happy Saturday night. I have to finish eating dinner (mmmm stir fry) and go to Walmart (while the PSU-Northwestern game is on -- because the stores are DEAD during games, even when the game is out of town). Pictures soon, hopefully.

That is, provided I actually turn the sewing machine on.
.

Friday Five #9: My disfunctional (but not unfunctional) organizational system

....it basically needs help too.

1. I am overly particular.
So maybe its just me being ridiculous, but I keep my nice quilting shop fabrics separate from my other fabrics. Now, other than two schnitzels, I have all cottons. Anyone else do this? Anyone think I'm nuts?

2. The Box of Destiny
This is the box that my birthday present came in, and I just kept all the fabric that came in it (and the batting) in the box together because all that fabric coordinates. And then I decided to add the other three stacks of fabric that are "set aside" for future projects to keep them separate from the rest of the piles. Crazy or effective?

3. The Box of "Nice" Fabric
Originally, this box was able to hold all of my fabric. Now it holds the majority of my "nicer" fabrics. Fat quarters, half-yards, and yards mainly on one side and larger cuts on the other. There is a lot of fabric that I got for a STEAL on vacation this summer in the fat quarter/half-yard/yardish pile. The larger cuts are mainly things that I have 3ish yards of that I got on clearance somehwere or another that I couldn't live without.

4. My batik scrap bags bag
Thank you VS, for making such nice bags. The local quilt shop here has scrap packs 5 for $20 and I have bought them twice, I think. They are mostly batiks (with some Fairy Frost thrown in as well) which is something new for me (my sister is the batik queen, not me--I'm a mainly "modern classic" fabric kind of girl). I really haven't touched them, but they are BIG pieces that you can actually do something with. YES.

5. My shelves
Most of this stuff (when it's not exploded all over my apartment) has a home on or near the shelves, along with my scrapbooking stuff (which I haven't done in over a year now---gasp!) Lots of little bags of scraps as well as pieces of fabric that don't fit or don't belong in any of the other places is tucked on the shelves as well.

Happy Friday! Sorry I'm such a Blogtoberfest slacker. And quilting slacker. My sewing machine would be crying (if it could cry that is) because of how many times I walk past it and don't sit down at it. It makes me sad too. Also, I can't find my camera charger. Hence, no pictures. Frown.

My new love: Magnolia

I spent Saturday morning in the COLD and the WIND at the tailgate. Boo! I spent this morning (and probably some more later today) working on my NSF Graduate Fellowship application. Double Boo!

I spent the afternoon yesterday warming up by setting up my NEW sewing machine. This thing is nifty beyond belief. I'm going to have to undertake projects to use all of its features.

I actually took a whole bunch of pictures of close up of the machine and my quarter inch foot (with fabric guide--what what!) but then I realized how dorky that was. I will save them on my computer, but I will spare you the time of looking at them.

So I am now working on finishing the top of my snowflake quilt. Next up: sashing the blocks together. Here are all my blocks laid out:

Oooooooooooh. Aaaaaaaaaaah. Cue my happy dance. Here are the sashing pieces that were the first thing I sewed on my new machine!

I just took some feta-stuffed chicken out of the oven for dinners this week and I am (hopefully) going to get to talk to my NYC BFF today too. Winning!

Also! I reached 1000 views on Little Bunny Quilts! You guys are so cool. It does WONDERS for my self-esteem (especially when my research is complete crap).

So have a happy Sunday. Rest, recharge, and of course, refill your bobbins.

PS. Go to Quilting Gallery and vote for my mom's half-square diamond scrap quilt!

Friday Five #8: Online Block of the Month Links

So many quilt blog quilt-alongs, so little time.

1. Bloggers Quilt Block of the Month
This is for the next year! Each block is designed by a different blogger -- some of which I am familiar with, some not. My mom started hers and she made two blocks of the first month and they are super cute. It will be neat to see how it ends up!

2. Desperate Housewife Quilt
This one has a ton of blocks -- a new one every week! It's designed to let you pick and choose which blocks you want to make for the quilt. OPTIONS GALORE!

3. Civil War Quilt
I have talked about this one A LOT. The Civil War is a common topic in my life because The BF is a Civil War historian working at Antietam National Battlefield. So someday I will make him a Civil War quilt and I think something along these lines would definitely be it.

4. Block Central's archive
It hasn't been updated since the end of 2009, but there are a whole bunch of completed block of the month quilt patterns and they are pretty sweet. Check them out!

5. State Fair Quilt
Oh. This is so pretty. I don't know if I would do blue and white, but purple and white might be pretty neat.

Does anyone out there want to pay me to quilt, so I can quilt all day?  Please? Thanks.

Depending on how things go tonight, there may or may not be another post. No promises.

ALSO. VOTE FOR MY MOM'S QUILT! Hers is the "Half Square Diamond" about a third of the way down the page.

Happy Friday!

My Winnings!

Here are pictures of all of the fabrics in the charm pack that I won from Lavender Quilts. The packaging made me smile (and so did the chocolate.)

Gorgeous, huh? This makes me want to start on a Civil War quilt for The Historian. Barbara Brackman's Civil War Quilt Block of the Week Blog might be what I end up doing, but I have also been learning about and looking into the Dear Jane quilt as well. We shall see.

This is the other part of my life that is a major win right now:

MY NEW SEWING MACHINE!

My mom surprised me with it when she came this weekend and I am going to work on setting it up tonight/tomorrow. The box is lighter than my old machine with its case attached so its a good sign.

But that's all new on the sewing front. Once the new machine gets set up I will get to setting and sashing the snowflake blocks. Then I'll have to see how big it is and all that to see what kind of borders will be happening with this thing. Although, I'm very tempted to find a little bit more dark blue fabric and make some more blocks. I'll just have to lay it all out on the floor and stare at it for a while. Maybe a quilt with snowflakes is better as a wall hanging or throw just because its so seasonal. Or I could do some fancy schmancy borders on it. How exciting would that be? Yeah. Let's go with that as "the plan" for the next 6 hours.

Also. I have decided that the next quilt project will be the Quiltmaker Mystery Quilt from this past summer/fall. So what if it's not a mystery to me... And as a reminder these are the fabrics I am planning to use:

Super pumped. What are your new sewing/decorating/life projects you are undertaking??

PS. The baby quilt still is on my kitchen table. It will be sent tomorrow, I promise.

Weekend (thus far) update!

My mom and I have been SO PRODUCTIVE. I have made decisions on all of my projects I talked about on Friday. 

The Stairstep Quilt has a backing and this is it:

This picture shows the seam in it. So what. There isn't going to be a border on it either. So there.

I also got a backing for and cut the batting for the Cheery quilt. I decided to keep the roses border because the other fabric just wasn't bright enough. Here is the backing for this one:

But most importantly. I completely FINISHED the baby quilt.

The backing is red super-soft flannel and the binding is the yellow stripe that is the same as the binding and backing of this one. I stitched my initials and the year on the back in the corner. So very, very soon this will be sent off to and be enjoyed by a new little one. I am very happy with the way that this one turned out and the idea of making baby quilts for people as they start popping out babies. I'm 23, so its pretty much guaranteed that I'll know lots of people having babies for the next 15 years. Quilt win.

Mom has been cutting like a madwoman to prepare for her upcoming quilt retreat. She is working on this black and red one from Quiltmaker. Here are some of her cut stacks and fabrics:

I can't wait to see how it ends up.

So for the rest of the day, I am going to work on my snowflakes and perhaps start cutting on a new project. Perhaps. But which? We'll see how the day goes. There's always this voice in the back of my mind saying "peeeeriiiooooodiiiiiic taaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaable". I'm such a chemist.

But what a feeling of accomplishment to have the baby quilt completely ready to go to its new home, and two others ready to be sent to the machine quilter! Yay! I also learned how to use the walking foot. Win.

Hope your weekends are also full of win!

Friday Five #7: Basically, I need help.

I have a pile of almost finished projects. And a lot of it is because I haven't decided how to finish them.

So. I want lots of comments about your opinions. These are the projects that are getting close to being done, but need help to decide what the final product is going to be.

1. Cheery quilt
So I haven't talked about this one yet so I will now. The side sashing fabrics were all from a scrap bag I got from a quilt store near home that has now relocated to Indiana or something. So I cut one inch strips, and sewed 19 of them together and cut 5 inch sashing strips that I later cut to 2.5 inches. The little squares are from my stash and the big tan squares was clearance fabric at Joann.

Here's my dilemma. The border. It matches. But I'm kind of wondering if it is too loud. I have this other fabric and I am wondering if I should switch the borders out. Thoughts??

2. Stairsteps to Paradise
This one ya'll know all about. Does it need a border, and if so, suggestions? And backing options?? Without a border it is big enough to be a twin sized quilt already. Just sayin'.

3. Baby quilt
Backing color? Binding? I am thinking yellow or red for the backing and using the tan and white stripe for the binding. Or yellow? Too many options!

4. Snowflakes
I have basically decided to scrap the original wall-hanging design and just do a menagerie of stars.

Now. Do I just put all the blocks together as is, or do I do some fancy sashing or something between?

Again. I have too many options.

5. Which one to start next?
Once I make decisions on #1-#3 I am allowed to start on a new project. I am thinking either the Tula Pink Argyle Honey Honey quilt or the Quiltmaker mystery quilt, as those I really know what I am doing, I just need to start cutting and go, go, GO! Again. Thoughts, words of wisdom, please.

In other news, my mom is here! We're going to sew a lot this weekend (sorry, neighbors!) and probably not do much else. Finishing some of those projects is going to be priority for me. Mom is getting ready to go on a quilt retreat soon so she has lots of cutting to do. Hopefully I'll have progress updates throughout the weekend.

Have a fun weekend!

Wednesday is for...being a busy little bee.

Wednesdays are typically busy days. Last Wednesday was my seminar presentation and another member of our group had hers today. My research project (three students including myself) had group meeting with our boss today about what we've been up to and such. And I was told not to kill myself via the high voltage power supply. Good advice.

And the rest of the lab day was busy with cleaning nanoparticles and reorganizing my instruments for the 5th time this summer. And I picked up (and am currently using) my new computer from Best Buy. I'm still learning it.

And I got a haircut. Actually I got all of them cut.

And now I'm learning how to use things like Skype and Google Chrome because I was afraid to install them on the old brick of a computer.

Anywhoozles, my mom is coming this weekend and we are going to sew all weekend (forget tailgates!) So hopefully I can show off both of our projects.

No new sewing for me tonight, as my standing Criminal Minds date with my mom -- via text message -- is in 20 minutes! And I'm going to keep playing on my new computer. Yay!

Blogtoberfest! (and snowflake blocks)

So I decided to participate in this "Blogtoberfest" thing. It's a blogfest. And its in October. Thus, Blogtoberfest.

To celebrate Blogtoberfest, one is supposed to post EVERY DAY. Now, I think its a stellar blogging week when I get out more than two posts, so posting every day might be a stretch, but we're gonna go for it anyways. And the fact that today is the 4th. Not the 1st.

So welcome to my little blogging bunny den AKA Little Bunny Quilts.

Yesterday I was able to put together four more Snowflake blocks while watching the new Prohibition documentary on PBS and the new season of House.  Here they are:

I think that the one in the upper left corner with the stripes is my favorite.

I am also (surprisingly) whittling down some of those blue scraps! I'm not sure how many more snowflakes will be made at this point because I've used up almost all of the dark blue fabric from the original stash. Decisions, decisions.

In other news, tomorrow I will be picking up my NEW COMPUTER! After 5 and a half years, this one is getting retired. Semi-retired. Many thanks to the high school kid who helped me at Best Buy.

Also. I am in love with New Girl on Fox. Anyone else?

If you're coming over from the Blogtoberfest, leave a comment or follow or don't do either. Your prerogative, but according to my readers (aka my sister and my boyfriend and my best friend) I am a pretty good and pretty funny writer. And maybe if lots of people show love on the little ol' blag (blog), I might do a Blogtoberfest giveaway. Incentive? Bribery? I think yes.

Exciting news!

I won! I won! I won!

I never win anything and I won one of the charm packs from Lavender Quilts!

From: fatquartershop.com

I am thinking that I am going to get a little more of the fabric and then use it for a Civil War type quilt, perhaps using some/all of the patterns from civilwarquilts.blogspot.com.

In other news, I had a super fun weekend in Maryland. We went to the Navy-Air Force game at the Naval Academy. Here is the BF and myself with a Blue Angel:

It was a very cold and windy day, but we had a lot of fun. Now I'm back at home, watching Alias and drinking hot chocolate. Om nom nom!

This week, I am planning to get to finishing a few more snowflakes, getting the backing for my finished tops (ESPECIALLY THE BABY QUILT THAT HAS TO GET DONE THIS WEEK), and doing some hand quilting. And possibly attempting some machine quilting because I have this idea for periodic table placemats.

Yep. I am in fact a huge dork.