Please Make it end Already!

You know when you start a project and you have so much enthusiasm and energy for it and it all seems so great and fun? But then it just drags on and on and becomes like a weight around your neck and you wish that it was finished so you can move onto something else? That's where I am right now. And I'm sad to say, it's because of Super Mario.
I had to speed up my pace on this QAL to try and finish the quilt by 9/28 as that is the recipient's birthday. Because of that, I've been working on nothing but this quilt for the last 2 weeks or so and am becoming thoroughly sick of it. I thought I was very near the end on Thursday, as I had finished piecing the backing and was putting the sashing on the front.

That's the backing above. I knew I would need to add a bit of a border to the back to make it large enough for the front. As it turns out, it is quite a bit shorter than the front. I'm not sure if you can tell by looking at them separately, but here's the front.

So, instead of getting ready to sandwich on Friday, it was back to the machine for more blocks. Blocks made of tiny squares. Urgh! I decided to make 3 coin blocks to go across the top of the backing.

2 are done, 1 to go, and then I shall make it all fit. And hopefully still get this quilt finished by Friday! I really like how the quilt is turning out, I'm just tired of working on it. Now, grumble time is over, back to my machine....

Time to Reveal the Back of the Super Mario Quilt

And here it is, sans borders. This image is of Super Mario from Super Mario Kart. I used a crosstitch pattern I found on here and just used fabric instead of thread.

And here was my last block for the front.

I've started sashing the blocks and things are looking good for my 9/28 deadline!

Sunday Stash #35

This week I took advantage of some sales at Pink Castle Fabrics on Kokka and at a shop that is new to me called The Little Fabric Shop where they actually still have some Alexander Henry Farmdale prints in stock. Prints I hadn't even known about!
First my little bundle of Kokka. After seeing the whole cloth quilt by Bijou Lovely Designs made from Nursery Versery I decided I may want to try that some day, too. Soo....

The ballerina prints and the Nursery Versery patchwork are my pieces to try that. Little Red and some mice made their way into my cart too.
My next little bundle is the one from The Little Fabric Shop. In here I've got the Timeless Treasures Scribble Butterflies in all 4 colorways. They had been sitting in the back of my mind for awhile, and since they were finally all in one shop I went for it. Next are two tiny houndstooth prints from the Sophie Collection by Moda. Then Farmdale Curio and some Chocolate Pearl Bracelets.

After I finish the Super Mario quilt, which is for one of my daughter's friends, I shall make a different friend a super hero quilt. So I've started stocking up on prints for that. The other pile of Star Wars fabrics will be another quilt for the daughter. She seems to get a lot of my quilts...:)

And, because they are on clearance now and I cannot resist! A bit more of DS Quilts from Joann's. There were bolts and bolts of prints marked down to $6/yd, but I only got a bit of the ones I liked best. For now. When they go to $3/yd I might not be able to say no.

Schnibbles times two has made it's way into my stash. I've got some layer cakes that I don't have specific plans for and this might help.

Linking up with Sunday Stash at Finding Fifth Come show your stash!

Oh Would You Like to Swing on a Star...

A Super Mario invincibility star that is. Mine is now finished...

...as well as my 1-up Mushroom.

And now back to my Koopa shell, which is 3/8th of the way done!

Shy Guy and a 'Shroom

I'm on a roll now with my Super Mario blocks and have these two guys to prove it. Funny thing, I never knew this character's name until this QAL. It's Shy Guy and I don't know why I never heard it mentioned before.

And then we have the red mushroom.

Today I'll begin sewing the star and that will leave the green mushroom and the koopa shell block for the front. Linking up with

Sunday Stash #34

I've only this one little bundle to add to my stash this week. I actually mentioned it last Sunday but did not have it in hand yet, so there wasn't a picture. Here it is, Poseidon by Robert Kaufman.

Always with my fabric buying I am drawn to all of the pretty prints and not thinking much about solids. So now I am trying to build up my stash of solids and these little bundles are a fun way to do it. Mine came from the Craftsy.com deals section. At a significant savings from what I've seen in online quilt shops.
Now I just need one in yellows/oranges and some bluesy blues, not greenish blues.
Linking up with Sunday Stash @Finding Fifth. Come show off your stash additions!

Blocks Blocks Blocks

Just a bit of block progress for some of my QALs. I may not be making great strides in the quilt making department, I'm doing more of the "slow and steady" wins the race type of making. To that end, here are a few of the blocks I finished this week.
For the How Far Will You Go? QAL I made the second of my Jack in the Box blocks. Again, with Terrain and Good Fortune.

Next I needed 3 of the Windblown Square blocks for the same QAL. At this point I reluctantly decided that I would not be able to get away with using just my purples and teals from the Terrain and Good Fortune lines. I would have to branch out to other colors since I don't want to purchase more fabric for this project. With that being said, here are my 3 Windblown Squares using the Oranges/Pinks/Greens of Terrain.

I'm trying to get ahead of the game in the Super Mario QAL as I really would like to get this sent off to the recipient soon. I've done the pipe block(please excuse the lumpiness of it, it needs a bit more pressing) and am halfway through Shy Guy. Then it will only be 2 mushrooms, a star and a shell, plus my backing.

I'm sorry to say I've been neglecting my Vintage Holiday QAL blocks and have not started on my Totally Groovy QAL quilt. :(

What I did Yesterday and a Winner!

I'll post the winner info first so that no one has to be in suspense. It is Mom C who loves Log Cabin blocks! Congrats to you and thanks to all who entered and shared their favorites with me. Now I have many suggestions to check out!

Since I've mostly been working on QALs and things like that, I haven't had many finishes lately. Yesterday I wanted some instant gratification and decided to try my hand at a purse. I've done a market bag, tote bag, wallet and zipper pouch, but this was my first purse.
I chose bag A (top right) from Butterick B5109.

It looked to be a simple enough introduction as there wasn't any special hardware, pleating, ruching or whatnot. There was a gusset, but it wasn't too bad. I used a print that I had purchased from Joann Fabrics specifically to make a purse someday. I didn't get a picture of the inside, but it's a combo of solid teal and more of the outside print.

All in all it turned out okay. I probably wouldn't make this bag again using this pattern. I thought some parts, like the strap, were unnecessarily complicated. But I did use the bag when I went out shopping earlier!

Sunday Stash #33

The Craftsy Deals struck again! I have now unsubscribed myself from their mailing list to keep myself from more temptation. I've actually unsubscribed from a lot of fabric lists. What I don't know about I can't buy, right??
Anyway, my final splurge at Craftsy included 5 bundles, only 4 of which have arrived so far. 3 are solids and one has dots and circle elements. The one I'm waiting for is Robert Kaufmann Poseidon. The set below is Robert Kaufmann Purple People Eaters and Greener Pastures, Free Spirit Essentials Solids in Soft and Free Spirit Essentials Spot.

I also gave in to the Riley Blake small chevrons bundle. This one is from Pink Castle fabrics using their 20% off coupon. I'm so glad they finally added a purple shade to the line; I couldn't figure out why they wouldn't have had one in the first place.

And, JAQS fabrics have/had their Mystery FQ bundles back in stock. Last time I tried a cool tones bundle and was very happy. This time I went with a warm tones bundle. Out of the 12 prints, I only really care for 3 of them. Not to mention the price went up $3 from the last time. :( So the first picture is of the ones I like, one of which I already have...

The next couple of pictures are the ones I don't really desire. I'm willing to trade these for quality, 100% cotton solids in yellows, oranges, pinks and probably many prints that I'm unaware of. If anyone is interested, send me an email and we'll talk.

And that's all I've got for this week. Linking up with Finding Fifth Sunday Stash

Thrift Store Finds Saturday and a Sale!

I haven't actually been to the thrift store much lately. The only way to stop myself from stashing more sheets than I can handle is to simply not go.

I did pop in the other day and came out without any sheets, but I did pick up a couple of odds and ends.
Vintage Dish (tea?) Towel with tag still attached.

A set of 4 napkins, designer unknown, but quite pretty. Each one is a bit different from the others.

A Vera Neumann Scarf.

And that is all my finds of late.
In honor of this being Labor Day weekend here in the USA, I'm having a sale in my Etsy shop for 20% savings on all currently stocked items. The code for the sale is LABOR20. I've been adding quite a few items from my personal stash of pillowcases that I'm just not going to get around to using, plus I'll be adding more destash items as I find time. The sale will run through September 7th.