Morning Joe in low volume

I should have had more of my morning joe before trying to finish this quilt!

You see, there's still a little left to do.

Today, at the last minute, I decided to change the border and make it scrappy.

Seeing how much longer this was going to take me, I decided to post my pictures now so I could be sure to get it into the Schnibbles parade.

I didn't want to rush and try to get it done, or be tempted to cut corners to get it finished on time.

Especially because I love this quilt!

I was going for low volume this time.

I'm not sure if this exactly qualifies.  Is it just a scrappy background?  I'm not sure.

I was continuing on my quest to try different kinds of backgrounds for my quilts, not just plain white or cream, my usual choices.

I've made a few attempts at using a low volume background like this in the past and they didn't go well.......at all.

 This time I was a little more determined.

Instead of just pulling from my stash, I went to the quilt shop with a low volume background in mind and I think it went much better.

These are not the kind of prints that I would normally buy, but boy do I love them now!

This won't be my last scrappy quilt using low volume fabrics.

The cutting certainly took some extra time and planning, since I was using so many fabrics for the background, but it was worth it and I love the result!

The variety of fabrics I used for the background really highlights the large number of pieces that are in this version of the quilt.

Originally, I was going to use a single fabric for each side of the border of the quilt, but this morning when I had it on the floor like that, it just wasn't working for me.

Scrappy was definitely the way to go.

  The single fabric for the border just stuck out with the rest of the background being so scrappy.

So, I'll keep on sewing and show you the final result later, but it looks nice with out the borders too! 

A mix of Kate Spain's Terrain and Good Fortune lines are used in the blocks.

I think I there are a few scraps from some of her other lines too. 

I can't choose a favorite fabric from the background!

 At first it was the fish, now I like the pins and the orange birds the best, or maybe the forks and spoons?

It was just starting to get dark when I took these pictures.

Maybe that's why some of the white fabrics look much more cream in the pictures than they do in real life. 

They are a little creamier, but not as much as it looks here.

When I get the borders on, I'm planing on taking more pictures and hopefully I'll have better light.

This is now one of my favorite quilts!

I'll be sure to give you and update once the borders are on.

The Parade of Schnibbles will be coming up in the next few days!

Visit Sherri and Sinta too, to see different beautiful versions of Carrie's pattern Morning Joe.

I love the seeing what everyone comes up with each month.

Working on some things Wednesday

Happy Thanksgiving Eve!

Along with working on whipping up a some good things to eat for Thanksgiving Dinner tomorrow, I'm doing a little some sewing. 

It's almost time for the Schnibbles parade and I'm getting close to finished.

I love, love, love the fabrics I'm using, especially this super cute fish print.

Here's a sneak peak!

Maybe I'll get some more for the backing.

Right now it's on to the borders!  I made a few slight changes to the pattern, so it's taking me a bit longer than I expected.

Tomorrow we are going to bring a few dishes and celebrate Thanksgiving with friends.

There is so much to be thankful for!

Trimmings on Tuesday

This weekend

This weekend I'm........

checking plenty of homework,

catching up on laundry, 

working on lots of these,

taking bike rides,

eating nachos for dinner,

thinking about updating my wreath with these,

doing a bit of cleaning,

thinking about Thanksgiving dinner,

and getting ready for a big week of school soccer games.

I hope you're doing getting lots done too!

Quilting and a question

Last night I finished up some quilting.

My goal was to have this Christmas Schnibble ready in time to put out for the holidays and I'm happy to say it's much closer to being a finish!  

I quilted in the ditch down each row, then I echo quilted the stars. 

I also quilted the same star shape in each strip block, using a template and a vanishing marker.

I'm still waiting for the marker to completely vanish, but I feel sure that it will.

My original plan was to trace a star to make a template to use on the strip blocks.

I'm not sure how that would have worked out.  Thankfully, my junior high son wanted to try his hand at making the template himself using just a ruler and a compass.

Geometry is his favorite class this year. 

He measured the length of the star and off he went.

He returned with an amazing star template, no tracing necessary!

I see lots of possibilities here......

Now that you've seen my well used template, edges covered with plenty of vanishing marker, I've got more to do on that quilt.

I need to bury the rest of the threads and I'm hoping to have that all done this afternoon, before it gets dark, which leads me to the question.

Do you have an Ott Light or some other kind of light that you use for sewing?

If so, what kind do you have and how do you like it?

I try to finish any hand sewing before it gets dark, because it gets difficult for me to hand sew in regular lamp light.

Not a big deal for me until the time change.

I'd appreciate your help.

Now I'm off to quickly finish burying these threads and there are lots of them!

What's happening here on another WIP Wednesday

I'm back from a Target trip, the laundry is done, the house is what I would consider clean and I'm ready to get sewing!

Hand sewing the binding on my Gentle Art quilt is on my list this afternoon.

I enjoy hand sewing, so I'll work on it on and off throughout the week.

This is the quilt I was struggling with a few weeks ago.

After setting it aside for awhile, I think I'm over it not being exactly square and I was able to fix it a little bit too.

I'll be doing the quilting on my Holiday Lincoln later today.

I'm hoping to finish this one today or tomorrow and then I'll show you more.

And I'm in the process of picking out fabrics for the next Schnibble project, Morning Joe.

I can't wait to get started on this one!

I think I'm going with the version on the back like the one that Thelma made.

I love all those little stars!

There's lots to work on today, so I'm linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced and I'm getting started!