Ending the year 2011

This post might be a couple days late but better late than never!  2011 was a great year at work and in life for me.  It's amazing to me to think of all the things that happened in 2011.  

I started off my year on a trip with my mom to Hawaii.  We spent ten days on the Big Island, drank Kona coffee, ate lots of fish, bought Hawaiian fabric, watched the Packers win the Superbowl and explored the land and the sea.

Hawaiian Quilt

Our view

A wall of Kona Coffee Bags

My next adventure was down to Florida to visit Walt Disney World.  I took my parents and boyfriend there with my Disney Discounts(!).  We had a great time seeing parks we had never been to before.  Sean and I are planning another visit soon.

Ms. Bunny

Lotso

Space Ranger?

Ariel and Eric

Rapunzel and Flynn

On a trip to KC my mom and I decided to venture into Missouri to visit Walt's home town of Marceline.  One check off my Disney bucket list.

Walt's original barn

Another check off my Disney bucket list happened at D23, the Disney fan expo.  I got a chance to see Dick Van Dyke live!  He was amazing.  Disney also brought out some great items from the past and gave us some looks into the future films and park projects.

Another trip to KC included a wedding!  My brother finally got married to Sara.  I love both of them so much and was pleased to be a part of their special day. 

And finally the year ended with more time at Disneyland.  I'm there so often, it's like I work there!

Next year looks good.  Not only good, but great.  To a great 2012!

- Bryn

1/8 of the project done, if that

Making progress right?  Slowly but surely the quilt is coming along.  

It starts in stack, goes to rows, rows to sections, sections to a whole quilt.  So many more rows to sew

 This is week is the busiest week at work and I'm sick to boot.  I won't get a chance to do much more today but hopefully in the next couple of days the quilt will come along.

- Bryn

Fall is coming - in about 9 months

Winter is officially here about a week ago, time to continue work on a fall project.  

Lots of colors and many hours later I came up with all my blocks completed.  Its always good to know how many of each color you have so I label mine

 Next step way laying them all out!  I didn't want to turn my computer back on to see what size to make so I used the quilt from my bed as a template.

And a couple of hours later this is what you get!  Looks pretty good.  It looks random but it is not.  It takes a lot of planning.   

I put everything together and decided there were a couple colors that didn't quite match everything else.  I left one or two of each colors in the quilt.  I plan on re-purposing the grey to use on the second quilt.

Now that the major work is out of the way I should really finish my brother and wife's wedding quilt.  It was in September which may be considered fall so it is only apt that it be finished now, or by their first anniversary!

- Bryn

Fall quilt continued

After my initial buying and cutting spree I found out that 8 different fabrics were not enough.  As I wrote in my last post I ended up with about 25 colors.  More shopping was the key!  I went to JoAnns with a gift card from my aunt and bought a couple more colors.  

I spent an afternoon cutting all my fabrics apart to sew them back together.  Each block ended up being a little smaller than 4 1/2 inches square.  

My goal is to make a throw quilt that could also be used as a quilt for a twin size bed.  After adding more colors from M&L I probably made too many blocks.  My back pain for another person gain.  Someone might be getting a cool fall quilt in probably 2-3 years at the rate I finish things!

Do these colors say fall?   I think so.  Maybe not the teal but I can't make a quilt without using at least a little bit of teal.

-Bryn

It's been too long!

Wow, it's been over a month since my last post.  Needless to say, the holidays have been crazy!  My mom visited from KC, my aunt and uncle visited from Idaho and Colorado and it is the busiest time at work of the entire year.  And now I'm sick!
My projects got a little mixed up for the holiday season.  The quilt I wanted to make in the fall is my project now and my Christmas presents I did in the fall.  But I suppose, better late than never!  A while ago I found a picture online of a quilt made of solids and triangles.

I thought it was beautiful so I decided to give it a try.  I bought a whole bunch of solid colors from this crazy store in Anaheim.  I have never seen so many fabrics in one place in my entire life!  But I digress.

Opposite all colored pieces I bought a charcoal solid.  I really wanted to challenge myself to make something different than I usually do.  Most of my projects lately have had a light muslin or white as the background color but for fall charcoal seemed to suit the season better.  

I made five inch squares and cut them diagonally.  I used four yards  I found a little trick earlier this year of not separating the pieces until I had sewn thirty to fifty together and then cutting them apart.  Seems to work well and saves me a lot of thread.

I ended up with about 25 different colors.  Some of the colors ended up a bit too bright so I didn't use them.      More cutting, ironing, and sewing to come.  Feels good to start another project.  More to come soon!
- Bryn