Stockings Completed!

I had to make one extra stocking for the baby, and then I made 5 more for my sister. I think her set turned out way better than mine, but I love them all. Especially the hexies, though they take forever!

(Better late than never)

WIP Wednesday

So much to work on! Still plugging away on Christmas stockings. 3 left to finish now (yay, hexies are done!) so I made some progress on hst's at our Sewing Saturday for the SLMQG, so hopefully I can have those done in the next week. That is my goal. And then I realized I want a tree skirt to be finished by the time I get my tree, not Christmas. Going to have to start that soon!

I've started kicking around some things to do for 4X5 bee. This is my first quarter and I know I want herringbone-ish so this is a start. Still trying to decide if I want to sash it or what. Or start over and make them match up. We shall see!

Post Summit Swap

Amylouwho is doing a miniquilt party and since I did my first mini quilt for the post summit swap, I decided to add it to the bunch!

I have to admit it was easier than I thought to actually make, but harder to plan out. With such a little space, you really want it to shine. I wasn’t thrilled with how it turned out, a little too busy than I would have like, but overall it was great practice and now hopefully I can get some little mini’s up all over my sewing room!

My partner mentioned some colors she liked so I went with brown and lime green and made some cute wonky stars and they are so cute and easy to make!

 The back

 I also wanted to try out machine binding again and my first run did not go so fabulous, but this time was great! No unpicking and no missed it on the back (I pinned ALOT this time)

These Boots Aren't Made for Walking

 Practical? No. Darling? Yes. Every girl needs a pair of boots. Or two. Come on, brown and black. I whipped these little cuties up for baby M and she loves them. 

 Well, I am sure she would tell me so if she could talk.

I had an easy little pattern and made a few adjustments. Aside from her huge calves, her feet have a certain chubby height to them (why does no one sell baby shoes for babies with FAT feet, not wide, tall!) 

 And who doesn’t love a little velco when we are talking babies!

Too cute! Okay, back to quilting next week, I am off to Vegas to run the Ragnar. Wish me luck!

Sewing Summit!

This last weekend I went to The Sewing Summit and had a wonderful time. I took some great classes on Mini Quilts, Color, Machine Quilting, Photography, and Improv Quilting. Our guild hosted a dinner one night at Blue Lemon and it was great, we are already planning next years. I am trying to commit more time to sewing and hope to do more bees and swaps. I only wish I had take some pictures. 

 So my first project to cross off my list was my bee block for La Beeda Loca for Brooke.

Next I am pairing this up with some nice red wool felt and I can't wait to show it off when I'm done!

So glad I got to go to the summit, be inspired, meet some fabulous people, take home plenty of fabric and swag, and walk away with an overwhelming sense of community. Where else could you be surrounded by so many people who understand the love of fabric!

Pillows!

I finished some pillows last month that I have been too lazy to post. These are just right for my front room during fall. 

 Plus I get to stare at some of my favorite fabrics all the time!

I made these after seeing them at Cluck Cluck Sew that my friend said she wanted to make so we did them together. She is still working on hers, but I am glad I stayed up and finished, I just love them!

Kindle Cover

Used a little Dream On to make a kindle cover for my MIL's birthday gift. Now I am wishing I had done the A in a darker color so it would stand out, but oh well, I think its cute, I hope she likes it!

I just used 2.5 inch squares and then quilted straight random lines. 

Growth Chart

 Other than actually adding the names and measurements, I did finish my growth chart today. I used Kona Ash on the binding and I like how it turned out with the rainbow. I also machine bound it which was a HUGE improvement from the last time. I think using 2.75inch binding was the key. 

Kati taught photographing quilts tonight and it mostly just confirmed that I have no eye for photography, nor skills to go with it. There is always room for improvement, I guess. Yes, the sun spots totally white out the quilt. I may try again tomorrow with some of the tips I learned, but for now this is it. 

 I used a green print for the back because it reminded me of growing, though you probably won't ever see the back.

 And of course I made a new label out of some green ribbon I had, with the date I finished on the back. I used heat transfer material and I think that is what I will use on the front for the dates and names as well, I just can't see me embroidering the whole thing.

Tutorial found Here!

WIP Wednesday

So as to show I am not a total slacker, I am linking up over at freshly pieced. 

I think I like WIP because it makes me accountable, or at least track what I have (or haven't) been doing. I started a new project that I saw somewhere on my reader from someone but I can't remember (here). I was cutting up a bunch of 2.5 rainbow squares, so I thought I would just add 1.5 inch squares to the mix as I only needed 12 of each color. I am really digging rainbow right now and since I wanted this for all 3 of the kiddos, I figured it was gender neutral. I just finished quilting, so hopefully I will have binding cut and at least partially sewed on before SLMQG tomorrow night.

In progress:

Central Park-most of the HST are cut for the big squares. Now time to assemble the blocks.
Rainbow squares-After I got going, I was able to not repeat fabric for purples, blues or greens. Of course I need the fewest of those. So now I am debating doubling up on the Yellow (17 out of 62), Orange (23 out of 78) and Reds (21 out of 94) or trying to have all of them different prints as well. I just have so far to go! Is it cheating to use pink? I have a ton of that and technically it is light red. I am still debating.

WIP Wednesday

I know, amazing, I am actually starting a new quilt. Actually I started two (and no, I have not finished the 3 I have sitting here). But its always fun to start a new project and here are some of my 2.5 inch squares for my rainbow quilt. I haven't cut any of  my yellows yet, purples are done, and I need a ton more blue, red and oranges, but its a start. I would love to have one done for the next SLMQG meeting, but at this point I am just hoping for a quilt top, but at least its something. Let's hope this trend can keep up with school out next week. EEK!

A little dress...

I am attempting to put together a little blessing gown. With no pattern. I had an old dress with eyelets on it I thought I could just cut up and go. Things were going well till we got to the sleeves. And I realized my baby is already getting chubby and it has to open in the back or I won't be able to get it on. Now even with the buttons, I am doubtful. I am done with the top, I am hoping the bottom is easier. Just sew a tube, right? Right? Not sure why I do this to myself.

Sewing?

I would love to work on various projects bouncing around my head, but this little girl is keeping me distracted. Oh, and those 2 boys as well. Luckily Nana helped me pack it up for SLMQG Sewing Saturday and I got the back of GJ's quilt pieced and basted so now its just time to quilt and bind.  I am thinking spring break this week is going to lend itself to even less time at the sewing machine. But soon, soon. I got M's newborn shots back though. She is such a dolly!

Map of the States completed!

 I finished the quilt top for my baby two days before she was born so I could take it to SLMQG. 

 I also wanted to add a label, so using my Silhouette, I cut out my initials and date with heat transfer material and put it on some ribbon. 

 Then I just sewed it right into the binding. 

So far so good, I think I will keep it up. 

 I love all these blocks! Finished quilt is about 48 inches square. 

Learned:
1. These squares take a long time to make, but totally worth it.
2. I used the poly batting for the first time because I wanted it fuller, but that made it a pain to quilt and I probably won't do it again. Back to Warm and Natural. With a 50% off coupon of course.
3. Sewing on the binding it not for me. I tried and don't love how it turned out as I didn't do a great job and had to go back and fix several places. Maybe with practice. It was WAY faster obviously; very nice to get it done in less than an hour as opposed to days.
4. I love this quilt! I can't wait till we have our meeting on taking pictures of quilts because I am sure I am failing to let you see how totally awesome it is. :)

Been a little busy...

...cuddling with this little sweetheart. She is two weeks old today. 

Mail Call!

Okay, I promise this is my last order of pink fabric. You know I just can't pass up some Heather Ross goodies. But now I am done. Probably. Pretty sure. Almost positively.

Organization

Sukie inspired me so I decided to try to organize my fabric. Too bad it fit into just 2 drawers. But now I see what I have and can figure out what I need to bulk up on. I really need to finish sewing a few things for the baby though, less than 4 weeks to go. I need to make a cover for my changing pad, anyone know of a nice washable and wipeable material? I have two new quilts in my head though that I want to start and we finally got bunk beds so I need to finish child #2's twin rocket quilt back and then get it basted and quilted. I wish my kids took naps.

Map of the States #3

And #3 is done! Coming up with enough yellows was not easy and I may need to go find some more before I start the next blocks. I've looked a little and I guess I just don't love yellow as I can hardly find a print I really love. 

In case you were wondering how I do this, here are a few pictures to show how I cheat a little from the Oh Fransson method.  (which of course means more wasted fabric, but I think its worth the time I save). I start out with a 12x12 square of freezer paper and cut it into 5 random strips and draw the individual squares on. 

 I do not cut out each individual block, I just get out my fabric and cut blocks roughly the size of my squares till I have a block cut for every square, then sew them in rows. Next, I iron on the freezer paper and cut 1/4 inch around them.

 Then I sew the strips together and iron all my seams open. I have done this with and without the freezer paper still on and can't figure out which way I like better. I am more accurate if I leave it on, but its a pain.

And there you are. I also really liked this tutorial, but since I am using smaller pieces and only making 9 total blocks, it just didn't work. 

Block #2

This obviously isn't going to be the fastest quilt I have ever made, but I did whip out #2 today. I didn't think I had enough greens and I even had a few prints that I didn't use, so I am feeling better about the other 2 green blocks. Now I need to whip out the yellow next and see if that works. Then maybe after that I will stop giving you the play by play till its done.

This block went much better in the sewing stage and I paid more attention to the lines I drew on the freezer paper to make sure my seems didn't line up so now I feel like the process is working. 

(and yes, I am taking any donations of cute pinks, greens and yellow scraps if you have some lying around dying to go into this quilt)

Another baby quilt!

So I finally started my Map of the States quilt. I had the most pink so I made up one square last night. I am planning on doing yellow and green blocks too. We'll see when I get to those, I need more fabric though and nothing seems to be jumping out to me online, so looks like I will need to venture out to the quilt shop. If I can get enough energy with this huge belly to do that!

Tooth Fairy Monster

My 5 year old has his first loose tooth, so when I saw this tutorial yesterday, I had to make it! Very quick and easy! You just put the teeth in his mouth, and find money! Now if I can just convince him to rip that tooth out!

Finished my first pillow!

I finally found the camera. Here is proof that I have been sewing lately. I think it turned out fabulous of course. :)