BluePip Designs

A big thank you to Cheryl at Elm Street Quilts for hosting a fun year of monthly goals!  I didn't win any prizes, but I did complete 11 of the 12 goals I set for myself and I'm pretty proud of that! December is a pretty busy month for me so I didn't want anything too stressful.  I had a post a few weeks ago about some random sewing that I finished up (including showing off where the block from my December goal post showed up).  I also worked a lot on a secret sewing project that I should be able to share next week.  But when it comes to my December goal of "sewing something I love" I ended up with a tie!  The first thing I love is my finished temperature quilt top, which is done only because the last five blocks are going on the back as part of the quilt label. The second thing I love is this little Christmas tree ornament I made for my son.  I coach his First Lego League team and he asked me if I could make him an ornament to match this year's shi

The year is almost over, which means everyone (including me!) is publishing their "best of" 2018 lists.  Today I'm going to share my five favorite finishes from 2018 and hope that that motivates me to finish up my lingering 2018 WIPs! 1. There's no question as to what number one is - my huge, mostly paper-pieced Release the Kraken quilt !  This was a block of the month quilt I made mostly in 2017.  Some months I used the provided alternate patterns and one month I made up my own!  I did a lot of work on the quilting, matching thread colors and using a variety of motifs. 2. My first finish from 2018 is also a favorite - Dwight B. Plaid ! I even made him a matching pillow (it only took 10 months to finish that!).  This was  a mash-up of two different quilt patterns, a common theme in my quilting. 3. I'm not going real far back for this one - my Text Flags quilt ! I love the movement in the gray fabric and the colorful low-volume fabrics. I've e

Welcome to my 2019 planning party!  I am a big fan of finishing stuff and crossing it off the old to-do list, but right now my to-do list is out of control. I went a little crazy starting stuff in 2018, so it looks like 2019 is going to be all about picking up the pieces.  On the plus side, that means most of the projects on this list are very close to completion.  On the minus side, I want to start new stuff!  My work-in-progress list isn't that long compared to many of the ones I see online (14 quilting projects, two of which I should have done by the end of 2018), but looking at it makes me not want to quilt, which isn't really my goal here! My 2018 list started at 12 items and then bloomed to 16 after I launched  Quilt Block Summer .  Unfortunately, I didn't do all that well - only five of the sixteen items were finished.  Don't get me wrong, I'm happy with what I did finish, but this year I am hoping for a much better showing!  So, without further ado, here

As the year winds down I am jumping around with my sewing, fitting time in around the many other obligations I have this time of year.  Here are some of my recent accomplishments. Sudoku Quilt It's embarrassing to think about how long ago I started making block six of this quilt, but it was time to rally. All those tiny strips almost did me in, but I finally got serious and finished these up. Harry Potter Quilt In my December goal post, I showed the Quirrell's turban block that I made.  From there, I assembled the complete shelf that it belongs on - only one more left to go!  There was even a rare sunbeam on the day I finished it. Perfect Pocket Pillows I posted a plug for my Perfect Pocket Pillow pattern on Instagram, and a good friend of mine requested that I make some of these for her kids.  You know you're a boy mom when "pink" sounds harder than "Minecraft" - but they both turned out cute! And that makes it done way more tha

Today I'm sharing the newest shortcut quilt by The Fat Quarter Shop: Jolly Bar Meringue !  I started off with a jolly bar from a line I love, Modern Background Colorbox by Zen Chic .  I then auditioned several fabrics for the background, but ultimately decided on the very cool Prime Cipher fabric from the Metropolis collection by BasicGrey . The Cipher fabric gives a nice pop to the quilt since the Colorbox fabrics are low-volume.  The subtle text gives it a hint of movement without being overwhelming. This is the perfect short-cut quilt: each block only has four fabric pieces and once you get used to sewing half-rectangle rectangles they come together very quickly!  Then it's just a matter of sewing the blocks together and you get magic like this: A perfectly timed gust of wind on a beautiful fall morning!  (Can you tell this quilt has been finished for a while?) My last attempt at grid quilting was not very successful - too many pintucks.  This time I

Hello!  Welcome to post number 100 on my blog!  My last couple of goals have resulted in last-minute finishes and after careful consideration, I've decided that my December goal is just to make something that I love.  I've been struggling with quilter's block lately and I don't want a hard and fast goal to tie me down.  December is also going to be a crazy month with Lego League tournaments, school parties, visiting family, my son's first band concert, and a dozen other things I'm sure I'm forgetting.  As a prelude to this goal, I did sit down and sew the final block for the fifth shelf of my Harry Potter bookcase quilt: Next on the list is to sew the entire thing together.  I'm looking forward to squeezing in something else just as enjoyable before the month is out.  I've got a few ideas, but it's really going to boil down to what I feel like sewing when I actually get time to sew.  Thanks for reading - I'm linking up my vague goal wit