BluePip Designs

There's something about January that just makes me want to clean up lingering odds and ends.  This scrap quilt has been done for several weeks except for patching a small hole I tore I on the back during quilting and taking photographs to share with everyone.  I'm happy to say that with the new year, I've buckled down and done both, meaning there's one less item on my WIP list (or at least there was until I started a new quilt this week!). This quilt is made up of 40 of the blocks from the 100 Days 100 Blocks 2018 quilt along .  I upsized the blocks to 10" each with the intent of making two baby quilts.  But when I finished I realized I didn't really need two baby quilts, so I just sewed the two of them together to make one epic couch quilt.  Or maybe it'll end up on someone's bed; it's long enough that it takes all three of my boys to hold it up for a picture!  Either way, it was a "free quilt", made entirely from my scraps and just...

It's been a crazy month - I'm working more than I'm sewing and we've had a lot of family time with the holiday.  I also had a sewing block, which I worked through by cleaning up the piles of fabric left behind by several projects and getting myself a special early Christmas present.  This was an ambitious goal month for me - I had three things I wanted to accomplish . My first goal was to finish my Modern Fans top, and I'm happy to say that I did!  I made it in time to be eligible for the grand prize of the sew along, and while I didn't win it felt good to finish on track.  It was a little windy when we were trying to take the picture and my helper wasn't feeling very helpful - I'll get a better one when it's all finished. My second goal was to finish my Dwight the Deer pillow, and I was also able to do this as well - I put the last stitch into the binding on Thanksgiving Eve.  He got a full blog post to himself, but here's his picture a...

It's a big day today: the 100th day of the 100 Days 100 Blocks 2018 Quilt-Along !!  It wasn't all smooth sailing, but I successfully posted all 100 blocks on the correct days, ending with this sweet little panda block.  The panda butts are my favorites of all the pandas! My initial reason for joining this quilt-along was a vision in my head of two patchwork quilts, one in all blue and one in all green.  These tops have actually been sewn together and are ready for basting and quilting. The panda fabric was an impulse buy.  I wasn't sure how I would like the blocks, but I needed something to do with the other sixty blocks in the book.  And then I ended up liking them more than I liked my original vision.  Happy accidents are the best kinds!  I'm not 100% sure how these are going to get sewn together yet, but it will probably involve some sort of sashing so for now they are just going to hang out in my sewing room. I am so happy to hav...

My quilt block summer is over!  I was a little too ambitious with the number of projects started, but I made good progress on all of them so that's just a lesson learned.  I have 143 posts on my #quiltblocksummer hashtag and my actual block total is 301! Temperature Quilt 2018 There were 127 days in Quilt Block Summer, and I made a temperature block for each of them!  Sometimes a day or two late, but they always got done.  This added just over seven rows to my quilt. And the stragglers who aren't attached yet: Harry Potter Bookcase I added 12 blocks to my bookcase, doubling it in size.  I also got everything joined together! Here's the row I'm currently working on: 2018 Summer Sampler Another success and the backbone of the Quilt Block Summer timeline.  The last block is called Fish Rack and was the easiest and fastest block in the whole quilt.  I made the legs of my fish rack two-tone just so I didn't have to match the p...

Welcome to this week's Quilt Block Summer Summary!  It's just about a week into the school year, and I am flying through my projects!  I am surprised at how quickly all my days are filling up though.  Not nearly as much free time as I thought I'd have, but that's okay - I'm definitely not bored. Temperature Quilt 2018 The nights feel like fall and we are sleeping with the windows open again, no matter how warm it gets during the day. Harry Potter Bookcase This is a double block - Crookshanks and the Sorting Hat!  The Sorting Hat's face is there but hard to see, exactly how I imagined it in my head when I first read the series.  Like trying to find a picture in the clouds. 2018 Summer Sampler Block 17 is the Chrysler Building in New York City.  Only one more block to go - this whole quilt-along has been so much fun!  I was using scraps for the center of my block so the diamonds don't match up in both halves, but just like last week, it...

Welcome to this week's Quilt Block Summer Summary!  The kids are back at school, the air feels like fall, and I'm declaring the next two weeks my "mom vacation" to do whatever I want!  After that it'll be time for my annual fall decluttering and cleaning (less fun, but satisfying when it's over). Temperature Quilt 2018 I was hoping to use my red pencil fabric for the first day of school, but temperatures are falling here so I had to settle for some pink scissors. Harry Potter Bookcase A big week for Harry Potter!  I only had to piece a potion bottle and a book, but those two pieces finished off the fourth bookshelf! 2018 Summer Sampler Block 16 is called Maois and fits in perfectly with the stripey blocks I'm making for #100Days100Blocks2018 this week.  I realized that I assembled it wrong right as I finished trimming the last side.  Grr.  I still think it looks good so I'm leaving it for now.  If it bugs me when I do the final assemb...

Welcome to this week's Quilt Block Summer Summary!  It is the last week of official summer vacation for my kids, but I'm going to keep these posts going until I finish up the 2018 Summer Sampler (aka the official end of summer at the Fall Equinox). Temperature Quilt 2018 Still plugging away! Harry Potter Bookcase Very little progress this week.  I was going to make a bottle to end this row, but my printer won't print my (black and white) paper-pieced pattern because it's out of blue ink.  So all I did was add two book blocks to the slug block and then sew them to the row.  You can see them in the background of my ricochet picture below. 2018 Summer Sampler Block 15, Petra, is a block I've been looking forward to making since I first saw the mock-up of this quilt.  I think this would look great as a full quilt by itself! Ricochet Quilt I've got half of the rows sewn together (that just sounds more impressive than saying two!) and I'm admi...

Welcome to this week's Quilt Block Summer Summary!  It was another travel week for us - my sister got married in my hometown and then we visited a nearby water park.  It was a great week even though not a lot of sewing got done. Temperature Quilt 2018 First, a close-up of my vacation blocks.  They are a little more subtle than the Boston blocks I made earlier this summer, but they represent the trip well.  I especially adore the little waves on the pink block for our water park day. And then today I finished row number 13!  My little quilt holders distorted the top a little, but you can still get the general idea.  I'm so tired of picking out red fabrics! 2018 Summer Sampler I had two of these blocks to make and I got to it as soon as I finished the temperature blocks.  I didn't follow the directions very well for either of them!  Block 13 is Pisa.  I rotated my quadrants so that the big part is the center and the stripes are...

Welcome to this week's Quilt Block Summer Summary!  I'm still riding high on the excitement of finishing all the blocks I need for one of the quilts last week, but that didn't stop me from creating. Temperature Quilt 2018 You're not counting wrong, there are a few carryover blocks from last week that weren't part of the big blob picture. Harry Potter Bookcase "Eat slugs!"  Poor Ron.  To me, this is one of the most memorable moments in book one.  It's also one of the newest blocks to be added to the Project of Doom and I couldn't resist adding it to my bookcase. 2018 Summer Sampler Block 13 is called Pisa and it's paper-pieced.  I spent a lot of time this week working on my  August goal  (I just have to finish hand-stitching the binding!) and only got as far as printing the pattern out and assigning colors to each area. Ricochet Quilt This week I chose the final layout for this quilt using the extra hourglass units from makin...

Welcome to lucky week 13 of quilt block summer!  Less than a month and summer vacation will be over.  I've got two kids who are ready for school already and one who wants summer to last forever. Temperature Quilt 2018 On Sunday, I was able to add my latest row to the main quilt.  The top is getting heavy - this is going to be a nice warm quilt to snuggle under! Harry Potter Bookcase Another fun block this week.  I didn't have any fabric I liked for the scarf so I had to order some.  Within an hour of the box arriving I was hard at work putting this together - it looks exactly like I hoped it would! 2018 Summer Sampler Block 12 is called Milan.  It was a little fiddly getting all the seams to line up properly, but I'm happy with my color placement in this block. Ricochet Quilt The blocks are done!  One cut of background fabric is enough to make two blocks, so once the first block was done, I couldn't help myself and just had to f...