Nuclear Knits: Where knitting is the bomb!

Well... I have good news and bad news on this front. The good news is that Septembers block was finished and looks great. Octobers though- well I messed it up twice and ended up not being able to send anything finished. Just pieces of fabric that were cut up. Very sad. Turns out my major mistake was at step two and there was no recovering.

Another block done. This one was nice and easy - although I really had to work hard to figure out the "block" pattern. Now I might be ready for a log cabin!

Another UFO done! I hate having stuff around that isn't finished. This quilt is an eye stimulator for Zooey and half the blocks came from a quilt bee swap.

I decided to change up the backing and add a boarder around it to make it bigger. Next step - quilting!

I like getting these calendars each year. Tea towels I believe is what you call them. I want to work on my machine quilting and decided to try swirls for this one. I first penciled out the swirls and then went to town. I like how it came out!

A number of these blocks came from Quilt Bee members and the rest I finished. I plan to quilt it this weekend!!

I finished up the May Quilt Bee block. It was really fun and I learned some cool ways to use strips (like in a jelly roll). I think I'll try and finish piecing the red/black/white quilt tomorrow!

I got the fabric for the April quilt bee exchange. All I had to do was make a star. Here is what I came up with. May's kit just showed up today as well!! Quilt bees are amazing!

I have a buddy who is having a little boy in a month. This fleece raggy quilt is for him! Baby shower next week so finished in plenty of time!

I would call this I blame Carolyn table runner. I needed a Valentine's Day table runner and decided to go with the latest pattern that was sent to me through the Quilt Bee. Here is what the scraps looked like Here is what the blocks looked like before they were trimmed up. Here is the finished table runner. I still need to work on my binding - but otherwise I'm pretty happy with it!

We have been setting up the babies room and I noticed I would really like an organizer off the side of the changing table. As you can see it is pretty bare. I measured the width (17") and the length I wanted (12"). With those two things I set out to make something that hangs off the side. Here was my selection of fabric with pockets and main fabric. DH picked out the fabric he liked the most (and that was what I went with). To figure out pocket sizes I put down everything and measured them. I came up with a two pocket approach. After attaching the pockets and ties (and finishing up the lining I had my little organizer). Here is what it came out like. I now think I'm going to make a laundry bag that is lined with PLU for the other side (maybe the same fabrics). Sometimes small projects are really rewarding. They seem to nearly finish them selves!

Guess what I finished - yep - the top of the Leafy Quilt. It took me most of the weekend to assemble but I'm in love with how it finished. I started it in 2002 and finished it in 2011 (how crazy is that?) I could have finished it much faster if I only made an effort to do it. It came out Queen size and will be just the perfect gift once it is finished. This will go to the quilters in a few weeks and then I'll just have to do the binding!

So I finished the actually quilting of the king quilt this weekend. Methow approves of the quilt (and spent more of her time sleeping on it). Now to find binding that goes, cut the binding, trim the outer quilt and assemble. Sounds fast and easy huh?

In my attempt to finish up UFOs this year I have finished up the top of this quilt. Since it is larger than a king I can't quilt it - so I'll be taking it to someone to quilt up. You can see in the photos what the backing fabric will look like and also the size (since I had Mike get in one of the photos). I think this might be our fall quilt. Once it is finished that is.

A co-worker of Mike's just had a baby and I decided to whip up a raggy quilt for the little guy. The fabric just showed up and it is now in the washer ragging. I love fast projects! Project Details: Use fleece, cotton or flannel fabric. I cut out 8x8 squares. Sew them together right side out with at least a 1/4" seam. There is no batting - just the back. Sew the back to the front with at least a 1/4" seam. Using scissors cut the fabric ever 1/12" just down near the seam (but not right up against it). Wash. Let the raggy quilt be alive!

Sorry the photos are so dark. That is what I get for working at night. Here is a UFO that I've been wanting to finish up. I was playing with jelly rolls and just started connecting them for the center panel. I was going to make a foot cover or a small quilt. But, then with the retro colors I thought I'd like to use all the fabric that I bought when our local quilt store closed down. This is 2/3 of the quilt. There is another panel I have to finish for the other side. But, I love fat squares that just show off the fabric for no good reason. And I was really working hard on corners in this quilt. Making sure that things were cut and line up perfect. Fingers crossed this weekend I finish the other 1/3 (which is already cut out) and then off to the quilters (I can't quilt this big mother ... larger than the last Montana King).

I'm not sure if I showed you this, but I got this 2011 tea towel a while ago. It came from a company that does print on demand (which I think is so amazing). I've been torn as to what to do with it (but hanging it on a wooden dowel and putting it in the kitchen like my Grandma used to do was not one of them). I loved the yellow feather look of this complimentary fabric so I cut it for the baking and binding. Here is how they look next to each other. I quilted around each of the bird houses and made it into a little center piece for my dinning room table. I'm in love with it and Mike give me one of the greatest compliments he ever has with respect to quilting. He told me that this is some of my precisest work. I think I might make one every year.

I decided to jump in and start a sweater. I've been on a bit of a sweater break. I did a gauge swatch and had all the supplies for Wendy's Somewhat Cowl. I cast on for it and love how simple the construction is so far. Great TV knitting. Remember my UFO push and these blocks. Well I created my first full scrappy block from the pre-cut out ones I already had. I decided to create a whole red block just for it. I'm going to slowly progress making whole color blocks. More photos to come.

I took a class on paper-piecing a while ago (okay in truth it was 5 years ago). I've just been moving these pieces from bag to box to tupperwares. I love them. I like the structure of them and have wanted to use them, so while working on the star quilt I pulled out all of my pre-cut blocks and decided to create a scrappy quilt with them. I think I'm going to start this weekend. Updates to come!

I'm not sure if you remember the post where I told you about this quilt that I found after the fire. I started it nearly 8 year ago and made it half way through. I decided to take this past weekend and focus on it. I worked the second half and was super excited to put it together with the first .... when I noticed that I used 1/8" seams on the first half and 1/4" seams this past weekend. Want to know what that means? Yep - the two halves don't fit together. I thought about it ... should I rip it out? Which side to rip out? I called Susan who told me, "You can pitch the whole thing or make lemonade out of lemons and do something with each half." I thought about it but was still depressed. I showed Mike and he said, "Why not keep the left side and make it the top of a kids quilt." I thought about it. I thought about pitching the half that I just finished this weekend. But, then it came to me. Why not use the right side as the top and t...