Trying to stitch a few blocks

Hi all,
It has been a while since I posted a quilting related post except for the regular Monday Makers! posts.  Before I move onto updating you on what I have been trying to accomplish for a while, I want to let you know that Monday Makers! is taking a little break until after my baby is born. My subscription to Inlinkz has expired last week too-good timing. I have to say that I will miss seeing your projects. I thank you for your participation and support to Monday Makers! You guys are awesome!!

I am in my last weeks of pregnancy; only four weeks to go now unless my baby decides to stay in there until 42 weeks like my son. I am praying for this not to happen! Daily chores are getting harder and harder to do, sleep is almost impossible; therefore, I am always cranky, feeling tired constantly...you know how it is; but all for a good reason lol.

You will remember the quilt I have been making for my son.

I made some progress on quilting it last week. I went to my quilty friend Monica's place (she is super talented, go check her IG!) to use her Sweet Sixteen to finish it. Well, I couldn't finish it because we kept on chatting, but I made some really good progress.

I just did freehand straight stitching on the stripy area with the same variegated thread, Superior King Tut, and I really like the texture and effect it has created. 

I had already finished quilting the grey negative space on my machine.

I have only this small area left to be quilted, then I will move to the binding business-God knows how long the binding will take!

I also managed to finish my July and August do.Good Stitches bee blocks-I know I am very late- and even started making the September one!

The theme was a super soft tulip for July and a super bright tulip for August with a low volume background.

 August tulip

July tulip

For September, our host wanted flying geese with a grey and orange combination. For this one, I decided to do something different than a normal, big flying geese block and did curved paper pieced geese for the first time. 

This block is 6.5"x6.5''. I am making another one to make it to 12.5"x6.5". So far, I really like it and enjoy making it.

I need some technical help. My photos look fuzzy once I upload them to the post. This has been the case for a while. If anyone has an idea about the reason and has a solution for it, can you please share it with me? I really appreciate it. Thank you!

So my friends, here is a quick update from me. I am going very slow here, with everything. I hope to be able to post again soon but can't promise anything to myself at the moment!

Stay well,

Nurdan

Monday Makers!#38

Almost forgot today's Monday Makers! Not that I had a very busy day; just had a mental blank I think...
Today, I finally caught up with my do. Good Stitches Cherish Bee April blocks; 11 days delay, not good.

Even though my HSTs turned out quite neat, I realised one more time that I don't really enjoy making them. Cutting small squares, drawing lines, etc not my kind of thing.
I have also started quilting my placemats. God, I am so fast!

So, what are you up to today? Have you started a new project? What about the last week? Do you have any finishes to share? Here is the right place for that!

1.Your project can be anything you start on that Monday as long as it makes you move and be active and creative: a new quilt, a knitting project, scrap booking, cross-stitching, baking-we don't mind yummy recipes!, a gardening project, painting your house!, tidying up the pantry!...This is your Monday and you are the maker of the day!

2. Grab the button from the side bar or put a link back to me in your Monday post.

3. Click on "add your link" and just fill in the required areas. 
4. Please link to your specific post, not to your homepage: We would like to find your post easily.

5. To link an Instagram photo, click the Instagram icon at the bottom of the link-up screen and use the URL of your IG feed as the link (for example, my URL is http://instagram.com/hugabitquilts) Please hashtag #MondayMakers!
6. Please take time to visit other links and leave a sweet comment: We love comments!

7. Share the photos of your finished Monday projects in your next link up- I am hoping you will come back again!: Who doesn't love a sweet, finished project or a "before-after" photo?

An InLinkz Link-up

Monday Makers!#33

Happy Easter everyone!
Hope you have had a nice and peaceful Easter.
It was so calming and relaxing for me and my family. We haven't gone anywhere; we took the advantage of the cool weather and did lots of gardening, enjoyed lazy breakfasts and movie nights at home.
The bunny in the photo was made by my son at his childcare centre. He painted it, glued the cotton nose and paws and put the black dots into its eyes. How gorgeous is it! He is so proud of his bunny. When we picked him up on Thursday, he ran to us with the bunny in his little hand and said "look mummy, look daddy! I made a pink bunny!" I am so proud of him. It is amazing to see how much he achieves in every ways of his life even though he has only one hand with five fingers. I love him to pieces...

Last week, I put all my energy together and decided to start a new project; something simple and can be finished in a short time.

I have had all these gorgeous colours left over from my Layers of Charm quilt and some Kona charcoal which I bought a while ago. I thought these bright colours looked beautiful on charcoal; so I decided to make a scrappy table runner with improvisation technique.
I cut my strips and some squares and rectangles for the coloured inserts the other night and started putting them together. I will share some photos and more details in the following days. So far, I like the way it looks and am very happy that I am slowly back to quilting. I have forgotten how therapeutic it is for me...

Now to Monday Makers!
This is the do.Good stitches Cherish bee block I made last week. I made two with the same colours.

It is also the first star pattern I have ever made. I am not a fan of stars-don't know why-thought I wouldn't enjoy making it but it was quite fun to make.

Again, I want to thank all the linkers to last week's MM. I love seeing new bloggers and all the beautiful things they make.
So, what have you done during the Easter period? Come and link up your beauties!

1.Your project can be anything you start on that Monday as long as it makes you move and be active and creative: a new quilt, a knitting project, scrap booking, cross-stitching, baking-we don't mind yummy recipes!, a gardening project, painting your house!, tidying up the pantry!...This is your Monday and you are the maker of the day!

2. Grab the button from the side bar or put a link back to me in your Monday post.

3. Click on "add your link" and just fill in the required areas. 
4. Please link to your specific post, not to your homepage: We would like to find your post easily.

5. To link an Instagram photo, click the Instagram icon at the bottom of the link-up screen and use the URL of your IG feed as the link (for example, my URL is http://instagram.com/hugabitquilts) Please hashtag #MondayMakers!
6. Please take time to visit other links and leave a sweet comment: We love comments!

7. Share the photos of your finished Monday projects in your next link up- I am hoping you will come back again!: Who doesn't love a sweet, finished project or a "before-after" photo?

An InLinkz Link-up

Monday Makers! #15

I am slowly getting back on track. Last week, I finally caught up with my do. Good Stitches Cherish Bee blocks- I was a few months behind. Today, I have sent the November blocks too and am ready for 2015. Here are a few photos:

September

October

November

The last thing to do for my quilt bee to finish 2014 is to finish this quilt. 

I am very happy with how all the blocks look so nice and in harmony together. I will be able to finish putting this top together today and quilt it this week.

Now to Monday Makers!

What did you achieve last week? Are you starting a new project today? Come join me and show us your projects!

1. Your project can be anything you start on that Monday as long as it makes you move and be active and creative: a new quilt, a knitting project, scrap booking, cross-stitching, baking-we don't mind yummy recipes!, a gardening project, painting your house!, tidying up the pantry!...This is your Monday and you are the maker of the day!
2. Grab the button from the side bar- DONE!!- or put a link back to me in your Monday post.
3. Click on "add your link" and just fill in the required areas. 
4. Please link to your specific post, not to your homepage: We would like to find your post easily.
5. Please take time to visit other links and leave a sweet comment: We love comments!
6. Share the photos of your finished Monday projects in your next link up- I am hoping you will come back again!: Who doesn't love a sweet, finished project or a "before-after" photo?

An InLinkz Link-up

Monday Makers! #9 and Cherish Bee blocks

Hi everyone! Hope you had a fantastic week and a good start to your Monday.

I had a quite busy week at work and at home.
We have been trying to finish preparing our backyard for the summer. Most of the job was done by my husband. My only part is giving him moral support. Last weekend, we had a bobcat digging up all the dirt, flattening the surface, fill it with top soil, etc. Hopefully, we will be able to build the veggie patches we have been looking for and lay the turf next weekend.

The wall you see in this picture, a 22 metre long wall, was built by my hubby. (Correction: The wall in the photo runs down the side of the house and is 22 metres in length. So, the bit you see here is of course not 22 metres LOL)  He is my hero. Love him..
And here are the after shots.

One of the apple trees is growing lots of apples!
Now the Monday Makers!
Here is what I managed to sew last week; do. Good stitches September blocks. We were asked to make two log cabin blocks for young children quilts; one in pink tones and one in blue tones. I have used my friend's scraps and made these. 

Now it is your turn to show me your finishes from last week and new projects you are starting today.

1. Your project can be anything you start on that Monday as long as it makes you move and be active and creative: a new quilt, a knitting project, scrap booking, cross-stitching, baking-we don't mind yummy recipes!, a gardening project, painting your house!, tidying up the pantry!...This is your Monday and you are the maker of the day!
2. Grab the button from the side bar- DONE!!- or put a link back to me in your Monday post.
3. Click on "add your link" and just fill in the required areas. 
4. Please link to your specific post, not to your homepage: We would like to find your post easily.
5. Please take time to visit other links and leave a sweet comment: We love comments!
6. Share the photos of your finished Monday projects in your next link up- I am hoping you will come back again!: Who doesn't love a sweet, finished project or a "before-after" photo?
You don't have to be a follower of my blog, however; I wouldn't say no if you wanted to become one :-)

An InLinkz Link-up

Monday Makers! #8 and a lovely finish!!!

Hi there!
How was your week? I hope you are having a good Monday with full of inspiration; I am! But as always, all this inspiration is getting me confused and overwhelmed all at the same time. I have lots of pattern ideas; some sketched and some still lingering in my head, some quilt ideas which are already alive in my inkscape folders and waiting to be purchased fabric for...I think I need to start keeping a creative journal to calm my mind. Even though I can't spend much time on making quilts, it would still make me happy to see my designs on a piece of paper or on a computer screen.

Today is the eighth week of Monday Makers! How fast the time is going by. Talking about the time, my boy is almost 2.5 years old now and growing too fast for my liking. I want to keep cuddling him forever. Wish he could just stay at this age. (I take no responsibility for how terrible my hair looks; I am trying to return to my natural hair colour and it is so difficult to fight the urge to go blond again! LOL)

I have a finish to show you today before moving to Monday Makers; how amazing is this!!
Here is the Triangles quilt.

It rained all night last night; currently it is overcast and windy. I took the risk of getting caught in a possible rain and hung my quilt outside on the fence in our front yard. Actually, overcast days are perfect for photo shoots.

It is already a busy quilt with lots of colours so I kept the quilting pretty simple and did straight line quilting.

I can also call the binding of this quilt as "best machine-stitched binding" in my quilting history.

Remember me saying I wanted to do something fancy in the big purple triangle? This is the fanciest I could get :-)
Quilty facts:
Size: 41"x55"

Fabrics: Solids-Robert Kauffman Kona Cottons, Prints-Power Pop from Jenean Morrison for Westminster Fabrics, Backing: Ikea numbers, Binding: Don't know the exact name of the orange but it is Kona

Thread: Aurifil white

So, overall, not to bad ey?
Over to Monday Makers now.
I will use my energy today to catch up with my do. Good Stitches Cherish bee blocks. I am two months behind!! I might even try to put together this quilt top, which consists of the Cherish blocks of my month. I laid them on my design wall randomly to show you.

Now it is your turn to show me your finishes from last week and new projects you are starting today.

1. Your project can be anything you start on that Monday as long as it makes you move and be active and creative: a new quilt, a knitting project, scrap booking, cross-stitching, baking-we don't mind yummy recipes!, a gardening project, painting your house!, tidying up the pantry!...This is your Monday and you are the maker of the day!
2. Grab the button from the side bar- this is still a WIP- or put a link back to me in your Monday post.
3. Click on "add your link" and just fill in the required areas. 
4. Please link to your specific post, not to your homepage: We would like to find your post easily.
5. Please take time to visit other links and leave a sweet comment: We love comments!
6. Share the photos of your finished Monday projects in your next link up- I am hoping you will come back again!: Who doesn't love a sweet, finished project or a "before-after" photo?
You don't have to be a follower of my blog, however; I wouldn't say no if you wanted to become one      :-) Join and share as often as you want.

Edited: Linking up with another Monday Makers at ayliN-Nilya :)

An InLinkz Link-up

Sewing keeps me sane

I have been sewing late at nights for the last few days. I noticed it has helped me a lot with coping with the loss of my brother-in-law.
I finished two small projects a couple of days ago. I waited for a sunny day to take photos and today is the perfect day.
This is the July block for do.Good stitches Cherish circle. It is my turn this month so I chose this block made with an improv technique. You can find the tutorial here. The only thing I didn't follow in this tutorial is that I didn't use a foundation square. I have to say that I am in love with this block and am looking forward to receiving the blocks that other bee members make.
I realised that with each project I make with this technique, I am drawn to it more and more and my love for modern quilts grows. I also feel like I am now more certain about what I like and what I want to make.

I also finished the tote bag. It is fully lined. You can have a look how I quilted the panels here. It can stand by itself since I used utility fabric as the backing fabric when quilting. I made it quite big; I always carry lots of crap in my hand bag and this tote has lots of space to put more crap in. I quite like the green band I added and I adore the button! Looking forward to using it!

Bag stats:
Fabric: Michale Miller- Tweet birdie tweet
Width:12" bottom and 17" top
Hight: 14"
Depth: 4 "

Handles: 27"

Also...please check out these blogs in the New Quilt Blogger Blog Hop and see what quilty tips they have for you!

                                                                             Serena @ Sew Giving

Deborah @ Sunshine Through The Rain

Jane @ Where Jane Creates

Jennifer @ A Quarter Inch From The Edge

Carla @ Granny Maud's Girl

Jenny @ Jack's Room

Sharon @ Color Girl Quilts

Carmit @ Quilting Rainbows

Jehn @ Jehnny And The Boys

Elli @ Lovelli Quilts

Sharon @ Motherdragon's Musings

Cynthia @ Cynthia's Creating Ark

Sally @ Wonky Patchwork

Bee @ Pink Almond Quilt

Debbie @ Quilting Makes My Heart Sing

Leanne @ Devoted Quilter

Karen @  Capitola Quilter

Marcie @ Marcie's Quilt Therapy

Jane @ Jersey Jane Quilts

What projects did you manage to finish last week? Big or small, a quilt or a pin cushion?

Till next time,

Keep sewing!

Nurdan

Bits and pieces

My last post was about the naughty triangles quilts. The points weren't matching and I was so put off finishing it. I was given a few good suggestions to overcome the not matching points. What have I done? Nothing! I sewed a few lines, did my best to tackle the problem. The bloody thing is still up on my design wall and looks like it will be a permanent display item there. I hate this side of me but I just can't help it. When I get disheartened, especially when something doesn't go as I planned it, I tend to leave it alone for a while. I think and think and when I am ready to deal with it again, I go for it. I think I still need some more time to go back to this quilt. I am a one-thing-at-a-time person; should learn how to have a few projects going on at the same time LOL.
Well, at least I caught up with my do.Good Stitches Cherish Bee blocks.

Made a very cute pincushion for a friend with some scraps.

Since I was desperate to make something else-other than the damn T quilt-I cut up some fabric last night to make a tote bag for myself. I have had some lovely Michael Miller fabric which I bought just for this purpose. The big, lovely prints have given me a chance to practice my free motion quilting.

I quilted some of the prints more densely. 

 And kept some of them quite simple.

I had four hours-four free hours!-to quilt today. I started quilting the second panel for the tote bag. I am not sure what has changed over the night but my sewing machine didn't cooperate with me. There was something wrong with the top thread tension which I couldn't fix even after spending four precious hours. I ended up wasting lots of thread- I mean lots!

Is there a "forever going" project that you can't seem to finish for some reason? What makes it "forever"?
Till next time,
Happy quilting!

Linking up with WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.