Quilt top #2 – Check

Thank you all for your sweet comments on these quilts. I’m glad you like them.

Here is the finished top for the second quilt. Pretty simple.

Had a hard time photographing this on a windy day. Its pretty simple and you can get the jist of it.

I love, love this one. I love the how simple and pretty it is. Each coin stack is 2.75 inches by 18. All 4 together make a 15.5 x 18 inch block surrounded by  lots of grey.

I chose some soft pink thread for the quilting that I think will be perfect in little loopies for this quilt.

P.S.

Thank you for your well wishes. I am feeling oh so much better today. Almost normal in fact. Almost.

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A peek at quilt top number #2

All it needs is a large border.

I want to thank everyone for stopping by and making this month so wonderful already. It has been so fun to receive messages from friends old and new. Ones that I’ve met and ones that I have not. I can not be happier about my decision to do this give away again.

I’m feeling a little under pressure since my plans are big and my time is limited this month. And this silly cold has gotten in the way as well.

So, I’m just going to relax a bit and let the pieces fall as they may.

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Quilt Top #1

I hope you like it. In my opinion the greys added just the right balance for this quilt. I wanted pink but not PINK. You know what I mean?

The top is 63 x 60 with 9 inch pieced blocks.

I stayed up way to late last night finishing this quilt top. Something you should not do if your sick by the way. I am glad that I have it done however. I did all the math and I am loosing 1/3 of my month to a trip to Hawaii. I know, I know, why would anyone complain about that. Well, I’m not, I’m just glad to get the top done because my crafty time this month is more limited than usual.

I’m hoping to get the next quilt top done very soon. I’m doing something much less complicated and so it should (in theory) only take a few hours. Then I think I’ll set these aside and let inspiration work on me a little because I have no plan for the backs yet. Anyway, I have other projects to attend to.

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Oy, Too Much Pink

I’m having kind of a pink overload right now. I’ve finished up my quilt blocks for one of my quilts and am hoping that when I add the grey the pink will not seem so overwhelming.

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A Couple Squares

Here are a couple of blocks I sewed up. Sadly these  are all I’ve had time for so far. I haven’t decided if these will be used in one of the quilts I plan to make or not but you can see the color scheme I’ve chosen for one of them at least. Pink and solid grays.

 

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Double Coin Quilt

Here is the finished quilt. I did a stacked coin on the front using coin measurements from this book and then did a mini one for the back. I love, love the mini one. I am going to have to try it again in a different color scheme. Maybe I’ll save it till April. Start watching your mail box Jordee, it will be there soon. Thanks for helping me remember how much I love making quilts.

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Just a peek

I tried to help this pic with iphoto but it didn’t really work.

Just a little peek at the quilt I’m working on. It’s all quilted up and just need to have that adorable binding sewn on. Well there is a longer list of things that need to happen like cutting the endless number of strings and washing and drying it among other things. Hopefully I will have some more decent pics to show you tomorrow.

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A Little Interruption

Late Thursday night ( I blame my hubby for not getting my e-mail out to his coworkers earlier. Apparently he procrastinated this duty of his) I learned of a baby shower for a new mother to be to be held on Saturday. I had already decided to make her a blanket but since I hadn’t heard of any showers in the making, I was going to wait until her baby’s arrival in January. So I went back and forth about whether to go get her a store bought gift for the shower or to do a simpler (meaning quicker) design. Since I’m blogging about it you know what I chose.

So Dave and I went fabric shopping Friday morning and since there was a time crunch I went with the stacked coin pattern. I used the coin sizes found in this book and just winged it for the rest. The blanket was suppose to be longer but I did some miscalculating and ended up with a smaller blanket of 36 x 38 inches. Not too small but a little different from what I had envisioned. I had a friend over parallel sewing and together we decided on using the snow Kona Cotton on the binding but when all was said and done I wish I had chosen a different color. Oh well. It’s still pretty cute. The new to be mama loves it and I guess that is all that matters.

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A Fun Stack

I am so excited about this stack. It’s a mix of what was already in my stash, a package I received in the mail, and few I picked up while out shopping with a friend today. The reason for my glee is that because of this stack I get to make a quilt. My sis-in-law sent me some fabric to make a quilt for her niece. I’m not usually fond of making quilts upon request because of the whole pressure to please thing, but she picked out the fabric and quilt design and gave me creative freedom for the back. Yay! This is going to be my project for next week. This week I have some final sewing to do for an arts and craft show I get to have a table at next weekend. I’ll let you in on what I’m making as it happens.

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Incirlik Friendship Block Swap

While in Turkey I had the best community of friends. I miss them all so much and am glad the one of them pushed (well she didn’t have to push hard) to get this project started. Here’s the basics.

Four out of the five of us took a trip to Old Adana to visit the five story fabric store. In the bottom corner of this store there was a small selection of what seem to be 100 % cotton fabric. We originally thought we would decide on a few fabrics that went well together and then each of us would make some quilt squares from them to send to the others. The problem was the our selection was pretty limited and we couldn’t decide on anything that we all liked. We were even struggling finding more than a couple the we liked at all. So in the end we chose one print. It was a floral that had a variety of colors in it and called it good. The plan shifted slightly but we all agreed.

Each of us would take this print back to the states ( except Rachel who will remain in Turkey one more year) and choose fabrics that go with the print in colors of our own choosing.  This will change the feel of the quilt drastically since we may end up with a wide variety of colors and prints but they should compliment each other if we stick to the colors within the Old Adana print.  Each of us have agreed to make 12 quilt squares, sending 3 to each of the other 4 ladies. I have chosen to make 4 extra for a total of 16 so that I can increase the size of my quilt and have some blocks that I made as well in the quilt.

I am so excited to start receiving blocks from some of my friends. Now that it has been a couple of months since I’ve seen these ladies, I realize that this project means so much to me and I cant wait to have a bit of each of them to snuggle up with in a quilt.

So here are my first 11 blocks.

On a side note, we received notice that our stuff is in Texas being held up in customs. We don’t have an exact date but are thinking we will get our stuff by mid September. At least it isn’t lost at sea.

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Finding a place to sit

Each move affects me in a different way. This one had me pacing. Literally. I would wonder the empty house all day. Room to room, upstairs, down, again and again and again. Sure I stopped to make a meal or look at the computer or something like that but most of day I would just pace. It actually took me a week or so to realize it was happening. I mentioned this to a friend and  she laughingly told me that I was pacing because I didn’t have any furniture to sit in. Made perfect sence and I accepted that as the problem but then I realized it was more than that.

I had lost my routine and our situation here was different and so a whole new routine would have to be made. So I paced and paced some more but this time I was trying to think about what I should be doing. What would I do when I woke up? What time will I wake up? When the kids leave for school what would Bron and I do? How am I going to connect with the kids if they are gone for most of it? Pace, pace, pace.

I am still pacing… but not as much. Yesterday Bron and I left the house. It was a leaky air mattress that made this trip out a necessity. While out I decided to head over to a new found fabric store and see if I can get started on the quilt I mentioned last time. Bron brought the markers so I had all the time I wanted to wander the little shop and  think about something other than my routine. I think it is just what I needed. When finished , we walked around the cute little downtown area of Ocean Springs. Just what I needed. I came home and sewed.

Oh, it felt so good to do something familiar. Maybe that is what I need. More things familiar.

I think furniture and stuff will help. But my little outing has provided me somethings to keep my hands busy. My machine is here and I do have a few folding chairs and a shaky folding table. I think I will sit at the table and do some sewing today. After I clean up the breakfast on it.

First of 16 blocks for my quilting project with some friends from Turkey. (I’ll post more on this later.)

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Tissue Pouches and Coasters

I love these tissue pouches. I have two that I always keep handy. I found myself glad to whip one out of purse just today and work my way through a few tissues. Ew, I know, but aren’t they cute, and oh so practical. I’ll be adding these and the following coaster sets to my give away.

Hope you like them.

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More quilt photos and another gift

It has been quiet here for a few days. I have been struggling getting any decent pictures and battling a cold. I think I am on the winning side of it all now.

I just wasn’t happy with the photos taken of the quilt on monday. You can see the whole quilt, which is good, but no detail, which is bad. So here are few pictures of the quilt on the rocker.  I am much happier with these. If you haven’t already, make sure you comment on my last post to be in the drawing for the quilt.

Next up are these cute button magnets. These were made this summer but I had quite a few for my give away last year. They are made with super strong 3/4 inch magnets hot glued to the back of a 1 1/4 inch fabric covered button.

I hope you like them.

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Birthday Give Away Quilt – Comment Here

The sun came out. Here it is!

I wish I was better at taking pictures. I am not happy with how these came out but I don’t want to take my children through that ordeal again. Apparently it is very heavy.

The measurements are approx. 62 x 72 inches, a bit smaller than it was supposed to be. Oh well.

So, if you would like this quilt for your very own comment on this post and you will be entered into the drawing for it.  Comments on all other post in April will go towards my general birthday give away.

Also, if you can guess the actual number of quilting lines it took to quilt this baby I will add 10 extra entries into this quilt give away for you. Remember the projected number of quilt lines was 176 if my lines are all straight and even. (which they are not) It is possible for more than one person to win the extra entries.

**Leave your guess with your comments in this post only.

Please, only comment once on this post. I’ll announce the number of quilt lines at the end of the month along with the winner.

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Finished baby quilt

My friend and I finished up the baby quilt for a mutual friend. Here are some pics. I did the blocked front and the quilting. She did the cute back with an evil eye, the curved corners and the binding. I am so very in love with this and cant wait to meet the baby it belongs to.

I finished up the quilt for my give away this weekend. It is all washed and ready to be photographed. I’m just waiting for the storms to pass so I can search out a good locations to photograph it. Hopefully I can show you the finished product soon.

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Things are going much faster now.

I bet some of you might start to recognize the pattern now. It was very simple to put together and yet so colorful and fun. The quilting is adding to the quilt in a way the exceeds my expectations. I hope whoever wins this will love it as much as I do.

So, do I hear any more guesses?

How many lines would it take to quilt this blanket if I continue as I started here?  I’ve given a couple of clues in my posts and comments so have a look and I bet you can figure it out. The first one to guess how many quilting lines it would take gets 10 extra entries for the quilt give away. If they guess it before I finish quilting I will add 10 more to that. This is the estimated guess on how many lines it would take if my lines are all even and exact. (Which we all know will not be the case.) I will have a separate contest later for guesses on how many lines it actually took, giving more people the chance for extra entries in the give away. More on that later.

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More Quilting

This is my favorite “block” from the panel. (Yes, that is a clue)

Last night I quilted for about an hour and a half. This is all I have completed with 2 days of work under my belt. Things might start moving faster though. I figured out a way to move this quilt through the machine in a more organized fashion. This saves time but even though I am using the side of my foot for guidance my lines aren’t always straight because I am giving up some control. Also, it uses a ton of arm power. My arms are feeling it this morning. It think it is worth it, if I save myself a few hours of quilting time. The non strait and  uneven quilt lines add to the charm of the quilt anyway.

**Note :: I updated my opening post for the month with some clarification on the rules of my give away.

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Started Quilting

Two lines of quilting takes about 7 1/2 minutes. Ouch! This baby will probably take the whole month to complete.

Just for fun I thought we could have a challenge. How many quilting lines will it take to complete this quilt if I continue at this same distance? I’m not going to tell you the exact size between my lines or the exact size of the quilt but I bet you could figure it out. If you’re the first one to figure it out I’ll give you 10 extra entries for this quilt on my give away.  If you figure it out before I finish the quilting I’ll add 10 more to that.

Here is your first clue: I used a free pattern that I got off the internet and my measurements are the same.

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Morning Fluff

Sigh. I loved my pin cushion. It was found this morning with all the pin pulled out (how or why she pulled them all out is beyond me) and our dog earnestly trying to get all the wool out. Sigh. Let hope she didn’t swallow any pins. Its my fault she got ahold of it. I was up late last night sewing and it had fallen onto the floor and I just left it planning on cleaning up in the morning. Sigh. That dog sure keeps me on my toes.

Here is the finished top. I’m now going to fold up all the extra fabric and pass it on my friend so she can get going on the back (front?) I am having my typical love hate relationship with it but am so excited to see what my super talented crafty friend comes up with. You’ll be seeing more of this quilt in the near future as we finish it up.

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Egypt and a Quilt

We are back from Cairo and I loved it 99%. If the kids had gotten along better it would have been perfect.  Here are a couple of my favorite pics. Dave did a couple of posts on the family blog you can find them here and here.

I had hoped to get this quilt started sooner but the mail has been slow to these parts lately. I am participating in the Denyse Schmidt Hope Valley Quilt Along over at Little Blue Cottage. These are my finished blocks layed on top of the fabric I will be using for the back ground. I added an outside border to mine and love the look of it. The next steps are not posted yet but I am going to go ahead and try to finish it tonight following the technic in Denyse Schmidt’s book Quilts.  This will be a joint gift from myself and a friend to a little baby girl who was just born on Sunday. My friend will be doing the back. I am so excited to see how it turns out. I’m hoping to finish my part tonight so I can focus on getting things ready tomorrow for  my Birthday Give-Away.

Notes – All solids are Kona Cotton. The back ground pink is Pedal. The cream border is Bone. The rest of the solids are Blush Pink, Plum, Woodrose, Rose and Egg Shell. All the prints are from the new Denyse Schmidt line Hope Valley

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I wanted to hang it up by the ears

Not the bunny but the quilt.

The two things I overlooked are probably the two things I should have taken the most serious in this tutorial. Paper choice and stitch length. I used quality computer paper with my normal stitch length. A lethal combination I’m telling you. When I went to rip out all that paper my poor seems started to pull apart with them.  I over came this by using a paint brush and painting the seams with water.

The next problem was the fabric. I used some shirts, a skirt, a pair of pants and a curtain and repurposed them into this blanket. One has too much stretch and another shifts way to easily also with some stretch causing wonky seams and a blanket that wont lay quite flat.

(You can’t see it real well but the quilting is quite cute. Sort of a double loop that makes it look like  bonnets on a vine. I will be doing this again.)

Lately, I’ve been really working on paying attention to detail and so this quilt just drove me crazy. No matter what I did, I couldn’t get it to cooperate. I wanted to trash it many times but just didn’t have the heart. With all the mending of seams and then the heavy quilting I am just crossing my fingers it lasts a few months and have given up on the idea of an heirloom.

I had originally wanted to make another cute bunny to go along with the quilt but now I’m thinking I’ll send the quilt along with the bunny. She’s got a little heart just like my Raggedy Ann doll and is cute as a button. She is stuffed with wool and made with left over repurposed clothes. 

She is what made this blanket worth giving. If I do ever have the time I will make Little Miss B a proper quilt. Until then I will send this one along to be used. It’s always great to have a blankie to take with you in the stroller or to keep in the back of the car. One that you don’t have to worry about getting stained or dirty. Thats my justification anyway.

Hope you love use it Libbe.

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David Walker Robots

I fell in love with this fabric a little over a year ago but only purchased a fat quarter stack pack from Pink Chalk Fabrics and have been waiting for the perfect project to use them in. I did cut into a little of it to make this sham but other than that this adorable fabric has just sat. Until now.

It took a special little guy whose entrance into this world is  finally here. There has been many years of praying and waiting and I am so very excited for his special mama. So I was honored to cut into my tiny little stash of robots to make this little guy a quilt.

Inspirations for the front came from these adorable quilts

and the back is sort of a copy cat of a quilt from the ever talented Film in the Fridge.

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A Birthday and String Quilt

It has been way to long since I visited this space.  I have some Christmas sewing to share, a robot quilt, an adorable bunny, and some fun backpacks. We’ll see if I can get to those posts over the next few days. 

For today a quick little post to say

“My baby has turned 4!”

and “I’m making my first string quilt.”

I am using the Film in the Fridge tutorial and am really loving it. This is for a special friend who just had a baby girl. I couldn’t decide on what type of fabric to order and decided to go to the local thrift store and choose some clothes in pink and green to repurpose. I’m anxious to see how this one comes out.

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Using what you’ve got

September it was family, and now in October my mind has been filled with thoughts about home schooling my three kiddies. Lucky for me a tiny, and I mean tiny, little girl was born and has distracted me back to the sewing machine. There was no time to order anything special, so I had to use what I had around the house. For some reason I knew I wanted pink, but my pink supply was limited to the pink scrap bag. With the pink and yellow scrap bag next to me I searched flickr for some inspiration, followed some links and found this. I knew right away that this would be perfect. My squares are 6 inches each with 3 inch sashing. (a little more on the side)

I am having mixed feelings about the inscription square but felt I should use it regardless. If I had more time I would make it again and use 2 strands of floss instead of 3.

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Geese and some firsts

I started this quilt way back in early 2006 using fabric left over from this quilt.  This is the Denyse Schmidt Flock of Triangles quilt.  I had sewn up a few rows and was discouraged that I couldn’t get the triangles to work. The problem probably had something to do with the fact that I don’t follow instructions. I think I did try to read them but since I really can’t learn that way, I went about it my own way. Well, for some reason I was determined to finish it, but not then, of course, but at some future date, which turned out to be this summer. I looked over the instructions again and gave another row a try. I turns out that my sewing skills have changed much since then. This row was like 3 inches longer than the other rows. I consulted my afternoon sewing buddy and talked myself into ripping seams and starting over. One evening in front of the TV was all it took to take out all those stitches and by the end of the weekend I was back to where I left off.

I had a little neice (so I had hoped) due soon and decided that she needed this blankie. I got news that she had arrived and that she was indeed a girl, quickly finished it up and sent it on its way.

So about the firsts.  While making this quilt I: did a major seam rip instead of just trashing it, bound the quilt by hand, and embroidered for the first time. We all need an afternoon sewing buddy. We do things we never dreamed possible. Thanks Kim

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Birthday Give-Away Quilt – Comment Here

I am so very excited to show you the finished birthday give-away quilt. 

I had hoped for it to be 50 X 60 inches but I forgot to account for shrinkage and so the finished size is approx. 48 X 58 inches. Still a great throw size.

If you would like to have this quilt for your very own, leave a comment on this post and you will be in the drawing. Comments left on all other April posts will go towards a general birthday give-away for all other presents I make this month. Reread the rules and then e-mail if you have any questions.

I hope you like it.

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10 days left

I’m sad, the month is on its way out. I had high hopes of getting so much more done for my Birthday Give-Away.

The next ten days with the exception of one or two are pretty much empty on my calendar, so we’ll see what I can get done. I did get the quilting finished on the quilt. Here is a sneak peek of the back.

As soon as I get off the computer I will get the binding cut and hopefully get it sewn on and washed this evening.

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Reluctantly

With great hesitation that I show you the finished top for my give-away quilt.

I go through a love hate relationship with my ALL my quilts as they progress.

On paper – Love it

Piecing the top – getting scared but have learned to trust myself

Finished top – hate it. I often consider trashing the whole thing. I never do, thank goodness.

Quilting – I start to relax as I start to see that all the bumps and imperfections of my ironing and sewing fade away. I also start to wonder if my quilting imperfections will be a distraction.

Binding – I start to question why I sew quilts and wonder if the recipient will care that the corners aren’t perfect. (I always mess up on at least one)

Washing – Before it goes into the washer I am always nervous. What if all the colors bleed, or the quilting mistakes are obvious, what if, what if, what if….

Washed and Dried – I usually giggle with happiness and wonder why I was so worried. All the imperfections have faded away and I am left with a soft, crinkly, treasure.

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Inspiration

It never seems to take long for me to get distracted from crafty tasks with a quilt idea. I was working on a much belated birthday present for my mom when I looked and saw the makings of an awesome quilt. This idea, however, will not have to sit on the back burner long. I think it will work perfectly with my chosen fabrics for this months give-away.

Inspiration for the  beach display came from here. The, oh so very talented, I am so very lucky to be able to call her friend, Jessica.

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Its done, so now on to other things

In order to keep this post out of my Apirl posts, I’m cheating and posting this as if it was still the 31st of March. I did finish it yesterday but didn’t have it washed and fluffed till today. If you are in the USA, it still is the 31st so I’m not cheating too much, just a little.

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