Tackling Those WIPs!

Despite being back to work after my maternity leave, I have been tackling WIPs at a fast rate. I credit my husband being home all the time now (he is taking four months of paternity leave) to being as productive as I have been. I wish he could be home all the time!

Some binding finished on Monkey Business. Love this print but I don't remember what it is called.

I got the binding on Monkey Business and I felt fantastic about it because I used up some binding from another quilt and had the perfect amount. Total win not having to make binding and shopping in my "scraps."

I finally got the layout finalized on my red and white quilt. This has been a WIP for a very long time but I was unsure about the mix of reds, and I had a crisis of whites and off-whites not looking right. Some TLC and replacing all the whites with more true whites and I'm loving the result!

For the red and white quilt I decided to go outside of my norm. When I first started quilting I used white-on-white in quilts because I was shopping at more traditional stores and only knew traditional quilters. Some time on the internet and becoming addicted to blogs and I learned the way of the modern quilter. I now use a boat load of Kona White (I buy it by the bolt, people). 

This quilt, however, is out of my comfort zone already because it has all these reds that I got in a Blogger Bundle from Fat Quarter Shop with my monthly Blogger Bundle subscription. I decided I would use the reds together to make a quilt for my husband's stepmother's mother (Nana). Using a crisp, modern, plain white with the reds didn't look right. So I fished out any white-on-whites I had in my stash and bought some more to have enough true whites to get the look I wanted. And I love it! Here are some close ups to see the white-on-white prints that I chose:

Flowers. Poppies maybe? I love this look, actually.

I think this is meant to be tree bark? Wood grain?

I found this white-on-white at Greenwood Quiltery. It was the last of the true whites that I needed to finish the quilt.

There is a lot of movement in this white-on-white. I think it is quite pretty!

I did all the pressing of the rows with the white to one side onto the red (obviously the red can't be pressed to the white or it will show through). I then pressed open the seams between the rows to maintain a crisp white front on those blocks and to reduce the bulk of the seams.

The pressed seams look pretty from the back, don't you think?

And one very productive Sunday afternoon later, I got a quilt top done! Next to tackle the backing!

The reds all play together nicely now!

I also got on making lots and lots of crayon roll ups. Well, marker roll ups because they are going to be party favours (in lieu of goody bags) for my daughter's sixth birthday party. Each kid will get a marker roll up and a Playmobil figure. Way better than random dollar store junk, right? I'm hoping they think so!

This was a stack waiting to be turned right-side-out. I got ten finished and have five to go!

So my WIPs are coming along and I feel great! I have a long list of projects to get done soon, however, so I better not slow down!

Lynn

Linking up with Freshly Pieced's WIP Wednesday!