W.i.P. Wednesday

So it's W.i.P. Wednesday, and I've got two thoughts about today's post. One, that if you're a regular follower, you've seen most of this before, and two, seriously, how slow can one person piece three quilt tops? Pretty slow, as I've proven. That's just how life's been in the sewing room lately - slow and steady, with mostly little finishes. But these W.i.P. Wednesday posts seem to be my sewing journal of sorts, so I'll post it as it as. OK?

Finished projects
Hurricane Sandy Help! blocks - I managed to get 4 more blocks + 2 bindings done and shipped off to Jennifer, who already has a couple of quilt tops pieced!!

 

UR Priceless Blog Hop - It was fun making these little(3"!) frame purses with a variety of fabrics and techniques.

Ruby Star's Chinese Takeout Box - This little box was the first project in the Ruby Star Wrap-Along - an easy, quick, and practical project that I can see me repeating for a variety of occasions.

Cute Bot Skirt - This little toddler skirt was a birthday gift for grandgirl and was an easy foray back into the realm of making kid clothes. Very fun.

 

Lined Drawstring Bag - My go-to bag pattern by In Color Order came out again this week, which always makes a lovely finish. This one's "The Project Bag", made from Kate Spain's Good Fortune. The lining, which you can't really see, is a perfectly coordinating Free Spirit Designer Solids in Ice.

Ongoing projects

Mod Pop Quilt-along - So I'm piecing these two columns row by row, and then will add the edges. I'm in the home stretch, but taking my time.

Christmas lap quilt - This has been the view of the strips for the remaining blocks for the last week. I hope to get to them soon.

Modern Crosses quilt - Lots of strip piecing going on with this one. Once these strips are trimmed and pieced, I should have another dozen blocks done at least.

Upcoming projects
* October & November bee blocks
* scrappy Metrolink
* more frame purses
* Polaroid block projects
* placemats
* Binary quilt using blocks from Modern Blocks Bee
* Christmas!
* Dresden project - back on the 'sometime' list, and probably no time soon

Linking up with W.i.P. Wednesday.

Ruby Star Wrapping :: Ruby Star's Chinese Takeout Box

After receiving a copy of Melody Miller and Allison Tannery's new book, Ruby Star Wrapping, at Sewing Summit, you can imagine how pleased I was to see Amy start up her Ruby Star Wrap-Along! There are lots of clever and useful project ideas in the book, and while I don't plan on doing every one like I did with the Zakka Sew Along, I do hope to do the ones that especially capture my fancy.

And this first one, shared by Anna of Noodlehead, looked fun. Plus there's someone in my family who really gets a kick out of Chinese takeout boxes, so I figured I might as well try my hand at one.

If you have the book, there's a link mentioned in the techniques section that let's you print the template at 100%. That really helped.

I had just enough Pellon #808 Craft Fuse on hand to use as the directions suggested, but still found my box a tad unwieldy as I tried to glue the bottom, so I put my handy-dandy Wonder Clips into play, and they helped stabilize things just enough to get the job done.

Even though I'm not one to rush the holidays, I did enjoy digging into my stash for some of Robert Kaufman's O Tinsel Tree. And the project, start to end, took under an hour. So there's one little gift box ready for Christmas wrapping.

Linking up with the Ruby Star Wrap-Along.