STACKED COINS LAP QUILT

This past weekend, I finally started the stacked coins lap quilt for my youngest sister.  She and her husband, who is back in the country for her graduation, leave for Sydney, Australia, on August 23.  Needless to say, I haven't much time to finish.

However, I did decide to attempt speed piecing, a technique I've seen frequently, but was always scared to try -- I just didn't think I could pull it off.  I pulled it off!

Isn't that a lovely string of coin pairs?  I was so very proud of myself!  I finished all five columns of coins in about three hours.  If I hadn't breaked here and there to talk to my mom or have something to eat, I probably could have done it even faster.

Here's how the columns progressed:

ConnectingThreads.com collections usually only have 20 fabrics in them, so there are repeats in each strip set.  My very orderly brain has a real problem with being random when it comes to design.  Speech, notsomuch, but that's a different blog altogether.  Anyway, I just can't be random, so I decided to make it very rainbow-ish.  And kinda bargello.

Can you tell what my design wall was on Sunday?  Oh yes, it is a closet door.  I have yet to find the perfect wall for my large piece of flannel.  I think it might be on the wall next to this door.  Permanently.

A pattern is emerging!  Of course, it'll be broken up nicely by the sashing, which is also already cut.  That was a pain!  And I brain farted and started cutting the sashing up for the backing instead.  Oops!  Thankfully, I figured out my mistake before it was too late.  Whew!

I love it!  I think it's looks great.  I can't wait to get the sashing done.  I have to square up the strip sets first, but before I do all that, I have to bake a cake for work, cook some ground beef before it goes bad, and go all the way to Pocatello, ID, which is four hours away, for my sister's graduation!  Sheesh!

At least all the coin sets are put together!  And the sashing is cut!  Hooray!

MORE DETAILS ON THE LAP QUILT

I'm still using my cellphone to take pictures, but I set up the fabrics in a nice bright spot and I've edited them to look a little more lovely and bright than they usually come out.

Here are the charms that will become the coins.  A ConnectingThreads.com charm pack only has 20-ish charms, so I bought four.  They're only about two dollars a piece, so it's not bad.

My sister LOVES pink, and this collection, called Antoinette, is very pink.  It's darling, in fact.  I picked pink fabrics for the sashing and binding because Mary will love that.  Here's a shot of the sashing fabric.  It's a pale pink on white design.

So lovely!  I do my bindings on the bias, and I love using stripes for the binding fabric.  It just comes out fun and funky.  So here's the binding fabric.  It's a medium pink background with darker pink printing.  Very cute.

That will make some fun binding strips, won't it?!  And for the back, I decided to use the focal fabric from the collection.  It's background is white, which is kind of a bummer.  It'll probably get dirty fast if Mary uses it for a lap quilt on the plane.  But the pattern is so pretty, I couldn't not use it!

I'd say these came out pretty good for cellphone pictures!  As for the pattern, it's a Stacked Coins Baby Quilt from Moda Bake Shop.  Mary's only about five-foot-four, so I'm not worried.  And then she can either hang it up or use for when she has kids!

THE FABRIC IS HERE!

My fabrics for the coin lap quilt are here!  Yay!

It's not the greatest of pictures, but it works.  Those cute little pinwheels will now be put aside for this little lap quilt.  I only have a month to complete it -- I seriously doubt I'll need the entire month, but when you're working with a machine that only had one speed, it's really hard to piece something quickly and accurately.  It has to be slowly and accurately.  I think it's time for a new machine.  Maybe in January!

MY PREROGATIVE, RIGHT?

So, I'm exercising my prerogative to change my mind, and I'm going to do a different pattern for my biggest Christmas presents. It's an adorable little tablerunner. I think it would look really cute on an entry table, but just a nice on the dining table. It is, of course, my receivers' prerogatives to place it where they please.

TREE SKIRTS

I am so sorry that I haven't posted for two months! I was distracted by NaNoWriMo for November, and then I've been sewing, sewing, sewing, but without the time to post. So here are four pictures of the tree skirts I made for my sisters for Christmas. Enjoy!

The above two pictures are of Mary's tree skirt. She owns a very retro-decorated house, and she really loves Christmas. She's quite sentimental, like I am.

And these two are of Ginna's tree skirt. She has an old house, but it's pretty modernly-painted and decorated, and she's not as sentimental as Mary and I, so I picked something not so Christmasy. She loves it!

GIFT EXCHANGE

Want to do something cool for someone totally random this year for Christmas? I do. I'm joining a gift exchange for bloggers (and lots of other people, too). It's hosted by LaBoudoir. Follow the link below to sign up. Should be interesting!

http://laboudoirblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/sign-up-for-gift-exchange.html