Bloggers Quilt Festival Time

Its been awhile since I posted anything but I really wanted to join in Amy's Blogger Quilt Festival again. I call this quilt 'Chicken and Stars' and I just finished it this week!! This is a baby quilt that was made for my brothers second child, but I started two years ago for their first :-). I made one chicken block then found out that baby was a girl so I decided to make her a girly quilt instead. When they found out that baby #2 was a boy I decided to pull it back out and finish it for him. Now I know that chickens might be an odd choice for a baby quilt but you have to understand that my brother loves chickens. He has been obsessed with chickens since he was a kid, and yes he does have real chickens.
Ok, so I had this two year old chicken block and no real plan for this quilt. I made a normal star block in a solid red to go with and I hated it. So I put back in a box. My SIL calls about a month ago to tell me she was in preterm labor and they were trying to stop it. This gives me a good reason to pull it out and think about it again. I decide I want to try something new so I made a wonky star block in the same polka dots and I loved it! Then I decided on its placement and that I wanted prairie points on the quilt too. Let me just say that I wasn't sure I was going to like this quilt the whole time I was making it, I just couldn't see it finished in my head.
I made this label on my computer then printed it on printer fabric and I love the way it turned out. I love it because it was super easy and so unique.
I am so happy with the way this quilt turned out. It is currently in the mail to the new little baby, He can have his own blanket in the NICU, and I know that they will all love it! It is so perfect for the son of my baby brother!

Starting the New Year...

I started out the new year with alittle sewing project. I got an E reader from the hubby for Christmas and it needed a cover. I went to my fav LQS and got a couple fat quarters and then whipped up this cute case! It fits perfectly on the side that holds it while you are reading but the pocket on the other side is a little snug. It works though and I love it!
I just joined two new swaps and I'm so excited about them! First I am doing the quilting gallerys mug rug swap. I have been seeing mug rugs everywhere and can't wait to make a few! The other swap is a mini quilt swap on flickr. They are small projects so hopefully I can whip them up pretty quick.

Been awhile...

It's been awhile since I've blogged and I don't have any quilty pictures for you yet. I have finished several quilts but just haven't gotten around to taking pictures of them. Our new baby boy arrived at the end of September and he is keeping me pretty busy. We took the kids to see Santa the other day and even got to meet a couple of his reindeer, this is Prancer. Isn't he cute! I love everything about the Christmas season! Decorating, visiting Santa, baking(including a birthday cake for Jesus), and spending lots of time with family and friends! I hope you all have a great Christmas season and I'll be back with pictures next year, which in case you forgot is less than a month away! Where did this year go?!

A few more things for baby...

So lots of people seemed to be expecting little ones here lately. I usually make taggie blankets as shower gifts but this time I needed burp clothes and bibs so I thought I would try my hand at those. I bought a cheap bib from walmart and made myself a bib pattern, then I got some flannel and some terry cloth from Joanns and got started. These were super easy to make and I got to use up some of those batting scraps I had laying around, see I new they would come in handy eventually. The flower set on top are for a friend who is expecting a girl and the cute brown with animals is for my little one. I think I will like these more than the store bought ones, I have yet to find a store bought burp cloth I really like.

I WON!!

Look what I got in the mail from the lovely Jennifer Paganelli! I won the poodle raffle she was hosting on her blog a while back. I was so excited when I got this beautiful little bundle! I am thinking that a dresden plate quilt will be in the making soon. Well that is if I can bear to cut it up! :-)

Wow, it's been awhile...

So I haven't blogged in awhile, mostly because I haven't done very much lately. I just haven't had any motivation this pregnancy, I don't remember being this tired the first time around. Anyway so I have a few finishes now to post about. First is my best friends table runner I made for her wedding. I made a table runner as a gift because I knew that a quilt just wouldn't get finished anytime soon. This is a disappearing nine patch made with hunky dory. Her favorite color is Tiffany's blue and I think the hunky fabrics are close.

This is a baby quilt for our new little one. I just fell in love with this panel from spx fabrics. My four year old picked the fabric for the pinwheels and I found that orange rick rack on clearance at Joanns. I really like the way it turned out and it was pretty simple! Now I am going to try and finish my pinwheel sampler from psiquilt. I finished the first two blocks on time and haven't seemed to get back to it yet, but I'm thinking this will be a perfect weekend to get it done!

Progress

Sorry for the dark pics but the lighting in my house stinks! I am on week two of psiquilt.coms pinwheel quilt along and this is my progress so far. I am working with an Arabella by Pat Sloan FQ bundle and I just love the colors. I bought the fabrics close to year ago and I had planned to make a pinwheel quilt with them so when Rachel announced this quilt along I knew it would be the perfect project! I'm gonna add a few extra block though because I want a bed sized quilt. Can't wait to see the new block on Saturday!

A new finish

I finished the Shelby mine bag I have been working on. I decided I didn't like it about half way through but now thats it done I think I like it after all. I wasn't sure about the Boutique fabric, my SIL picked it, but I think it's OK. I love the shape of the bag though!

For your viewing pleasure

I just got back from my guilds quilt show "A Quilters Journey". It was great! I thought I would share a few of my favorite photos. Hope enjoy this mini quilt show!

Been awhile!

Well it's been awhile since I posted anything! I didn't realize it had been so long. There has been so much going on here. I finished my scruffily quilt top, tutorial by Rachel at psiquilt.com, it is done in objects of desire and I love it. My daughter does too, can you tell. :-) I also finished my modern siggy blocks and got those mailed off.

Right now I am working on a purse for my SIL. I am using the shelby mine pattern by Carley of quiltville and some boutique fabric. So far it seems pretty simple. I haven't felt up to doing much lately though so it might be awhile before it's finished. I have so many projects planned for this year I really need to get started. My hubby told me I needed to finish some before I bought stuff for anymore, then he gave me a gift certificate to my LQS for valentines! I just added three more projects to my list this weekend. Anybody else have this problem? How do you know when to say no?!

I need to be sewing!!

I really need to be sewing but I want to pop in really quick to say hello and Merry Christmas! I doubt I will have time to post again for awhile. I have been really busy since I got back from the east coast. I am trying to finish up some last minute Christmas gifts. I just finished an armchair caddy for my MIL and I am trying to finish quilting a small lap quilt for my FIL. They get here the day after Christmas. I forgot to take a picture of the caddy before I wrapped it but I do have a few pics to share. Here a couple of Christmas projects I finished.

The first one is hanging in my hall and the second one I made for my brother and his wife. These were made from a free pattern from the cross country blog hop.

My Aunt just opened an adorable little gift shop in Anderson, SC and I am going to start selling things there. This is my first attempt. This little pinwheel baby quilt is made out of chenille and cottons in blue, green, and yellows. After Christmas I will tell you a little bit more about Deb's and I'll be having my first giveaway!

Christmas in November

So I finally finished my last Christmas present for my family in SC! I even got them in the mail today! This quilt is for my dad. I know it looks like a kids quilt but he is still a kid at heart. :-) My dad has his pilots license and loves all things planes. He even flys model airplanes! So I thought this fabric was perfect for him! I stippled the entire quilt,the largest I've done yet, because he loved the quilting on my niece's quilt so much. I love the way it turned out and I know he is going to love it too! When I get back from SC I'll have two weeks to make a quilt and an armchair caddy for my in laws before they get here! Oh and I pieced the back of this quilt with leftover fabric from the front so here's a picture of the back!

Busy Bee

Things have been crazy at our house lately! There seems to always be something going on this time of year! We had a blast at all the festivals and trick-or-treating this year and we are looking forward to all the craft fairs going on between now and Christmas. When I find down time I am trying to finish up my handmade Christmas.




This a table topper I recently finished. It is made from a tranquility charm pack and I love it so much I put a sleeve on the back because I think it could be a wall hanging too! This fabric is just so pretty with all those rich colors,although they looked washed out in this photo. The tutorial is at www.aquiltinglife.blogspot.com

This table runner is also made from a charm pack using Rachel's disappearing nine patch tutorial. I got a little adventurous while quilting this and added a few free motion flowers with the stippling. I'm quilting a twin sized quilt right now and it is the biggest quilt I've ever quilted. Hopefully I have it finished soon!

Friendship Bag recieved

I am so excited! I recieved my friendship bag from the swap today! It came from Grazia in Italy(Italy, I am so excited I love Italy!)! It is very adorable and I love the fabrics she chose. The pink plaid cows are so me, I love them! And look at the other goodies she sent! I love the tissue cover and I can't wait to make something with fabric she sent. This swap was alot of fun, so glad I joined it!

Bloggers Quilt Festival

Amy over at http://parkcitygirl.blogspot.com/ is hosting a quilt festival for bloggers and I thought I would join in!

This is my all time favorite quilt! It may not be the most beautiful, but I still love it. I made this quilt for my husband, he is a navy submariner. I wanted to make him a sub quilt but couldn't find a pattern for one. I had only been quilting for a short time so I thought I needed a pattern. I collected all the blue fabric I could find for the water and made the stack and whack blocks. Then I fused the sub on, yes it has raw edges. It took me forever to figure out how to make the mariners compass blocks. They are a combination of piecing and applique. I was so excited when I took it to the quilter because it was the first quilt I had designed. When I get there to pick it up she asks me what that "large ugly black thing" on the quilt is suppose to be! I paided her good money to be insulted?! But on a happier note, I gave it to my husband for his birthday that year and he love it!

One of those things

Have you ever started a project and right from the start everything goes wrong. Thats what happened to me and these two dolls. I was so excited when I found this pattern at goodwill for 99c. It said that one of these dolls would take less than a day! Fantastic I thought, my daughter and niece will love these. So I pull out this fabric that I have had for years and start. First I trace the patterns onto freezer paper, that took me several hours but ok. Then I sew the dolls body and arms. My daughter and I start to stuff them and run out of stuffing before we finish the first one. The next day we go and get more stuffing and finish. Then I had to sew them all closed then sew arms and legs to dolls. Now we are on day 3! I finally start to sew the outfits. I start with the pants first, they seemed the easiest. Well I was mistaken. I have never really sewn clothes before so almost ever time I sewed a seam I had to pull it out and do it 'correctly'. The same thing with the dress and apron. Now a week later, remember I was thinking this was a day project, I attempt the hats. I call my mom on the webcam and have her walk me through it. The hat which I thought would be the hardest ended up not so bad. So now they are done and I don't think I will be making anymore for awhile. I am pretty happy with how they turned out though. My daughter loves hers and I'm sure my niece will too. Ok I think I'm done complaining :-).

Fun with bags

I joined the Friendship bag swap over at quilting gallery and have been making bags ever since! The small pink and blue was the first one I made and was quickly claimed by Baby Boo! I made the green one for the swap and hope she loves it as much as I do. The large pink and teal one I made for my sister-in-law to use as diaper bag, they have a baby due in December. The stripe fabric across the front is actually several pockets. These bags are so easy I think I'm going to make a few more. Off to the fabric store for supplies!

Getting ready for Christmas

I decided to make homemade Christmas gifts for my family this year. I am doing pretty good I think, but I have to have them done by Thanksgiving. I am going home, to the east coast, for Thanksgiving and want to take my gifts then.

I finished this apron for my grandma today. I am pretty happy with it, even if it is very pink. This is my first apron ever! I modified a pattern out of a fig tree book and I like the way it turned out.

I am going to make a few bags and quilt a few other things that I have made, including an adorable quilt for my dad. It is really fun thinking up gifts to make for my family and friends.

New Stuff

Wow, it has really been awhile since I last posted! We are finally settled into our new house in western WA! I finally got my sewing room set up so now I can work again. This is the first thing I've made since the move. It is one of my favorite quilts so far I think.

This a baby quilt for my new niece that is due the first of December. I used Racheal's easy disappearing nine-patch , from PS I Quilt, she has the best tutorials! The fabric for the blocks is Aviary by moda. The border fabric I pulled out of my stash. I used the most adorable birdie flannel for the back so Miss Katie will stay nice and warm!
Now I'm off to do a little more sewing! I'm thinking a cute little bag for a friend.

Fresh Petit Four

So let me just say that I love the moda bake shop! I want to make almost everything they put on there!! This is called Petit Fours and I made it out of moda's new Fresh line. I love it! This was my first attempt at FMQ and I think it turned out pretty good, and I had so much fun doing it. I have decided to try and FMQ all my small projects.
Well we leave to take Baby Boo to disney this weekend. I am so excited!! This is her first trip and she turns 3 while we are there. It's gonna be so much fun, both sets of her Grandparents are coming too! Pictures of Mickey coming soon!