Do you remember Elizabeth Hartman's Tokyo Subway Map Quilt-Along? I love the quilt, but I think I was daunted by all the little pieces to cut out. I started cutting with her when the QAL started, but then I took a break. I didn't feel like I had enough of any of the colors to make a varied quilt. Plus, I'm sure I was just working on other things. Anyway, the last few weeks I have been cutting like crazy to finish up the amounts I needed. I still need a few dark blue squares, but there weren't any in this first block. So there, the first block is done.

I increased the size of my squares from 2" cut to 2 1/2" cut. It will be 80" square when finished instead of 60". And I opted not to cut all my white squares individually. I am amazed at how quickly this went together, though. The cutting was daunting, but the piecing is not. I look forward to whipping out a few more of these very soon. Elizabeth's instructions and designs are always so well-thought-out and clear. I love working from her patterns.

Thinking about . . .

I saw a lovely bright version of this King David's Crown quilt, so I thought I'd do my own. Of course, it's in the pattern-drafting stage, which means the actual fabric version is a long way away. But it's on my mind.

Scrap reduction

I threw these together this week. There's actually a second one of this first one with the rows completed. I'm down to scraps of the Nicey Jane and the Wheels collections -- just trying to find creative ways to use them up.

Of course, the scraps aren't completely gone, so I'll have to be creative again. :)

I'm joining . . .

I have wanted to make one of these for quite some time. So I'm going to join. Don't judge. Yes, I'll add it to the sidebar. I've been pretty good this year about not starting QALs. And this has been in my brain for a while. I'm so excited!

Lest we forget . . .

Remember this? (Scroll down.) I nearly finished it in February. It just needed binding. In fact, I got the binding on it about a week into March. And then I kept forgetting to blog about it. So here it finally is. Elizabeth Hartman's Paintbox QAL.

My helpers were being silly.

Loopy meander again. Not enough gray to finish the binding. I chose gray because there are SO MANY colors in this already, and I couldn't choose one over another. Black was going to be too heavy. I like how the gray turned out.

The lovely back.

Silly helpers again.

My oldest has adopted this as her favorite quilt. For now. I've got a crazy circle quilt top that she has her eye on. Unfortunately, it's not on my list of UFOs to finish this year. :/

I already took this one off of my number, so it will not be going down at all. The previous two quilts didn't even make the list, so my number didn't go down with those either. And I have other baby quilts that I need to start (and, of course, FINISH) that will not reduce my number either. But I am happy to see it in the 60s. Hoping it will at least stay there or creep into the 50s. I want to be able to start new projects guilt-free. Ha ha. :)

Jack's Quilt

Does this look familiar? It's the leftovers of this quilt. Of course, there are still more leftovers. I do love all these colors together. This one was for my son's first-grade teacher who was also my second daughter's first grade teacher. Her husband was my oldest daughter's 7th grade history teacher and my oldest son's football coach. So, you see, we have connections. It's their first baby, and they needed something special. I don't always give quilts to my kids' teachers.

A lot of Riley Blake's Wheels in there, plus some It's a Hoot by Momo, some Riley Blake Rainy Days and Mondays, Love Birds, plus some orange that I dyed myself. The back is a Michael Miller robot print.

Loopy meander -- my go-to pattern.

Bound in brown Quilter's Only.

Already in its new home.

MY Easy as Pie

I have been out for quite a while. Two weeks of my MIA status can be accounted for by the flu, during which no sewing and very little standing or sitting took place. After that it has been catch-up as well as making samples for some classes I will be teaching here. They aren't scheduled yet, and we just have beginner classes added for now. But keep checking back, because I'm ramping up.

Anyway, so I finished my Easy as Pie quilt from Amanda Jean's tutorial. I never put it on my list, and I was hoping to finish MUCH sooner than I did. Again, I'm going to blame it on the flu. But it is done now and getting ready to be wrapped and given to its intended owner.

All from my stash -- including backing and binding. The backing wasn't quite enough, so I added a single row of coins to widen it -- just leftovers from what I cut for the front.

The girl's favorite colors are blue and purple, so I'm hoping she loves it. I quilted a loopy meander in grey.