Alex – Page 2 – Kelly's Kwilts

Another Finish!

I really wanted some mindless piecing this week and decided to make a scrap quilt from a design I did in EQ7. It’s just a mixture of small and large four patch blocks. I used a lot of 2.5″ squares, and used 1 and a half of a batik charm pack for the 4.5″ squares. I finished it up Sunday afternoon, but there were too many toys on the floor to get a picture. I wanted to get pictures yesterday but Alex somehow managed to catch strep throat and we spent all morning at the Dr’s and I just didn’t have the energy to do anything in the afternoon! I still need to find some backing and batting so this can be quilted, but it will make a nice quilt for in the trailer this summer. Unfortunately this hasn’t made a single dent in my 2.5″ square bin!!

Linking up to Linky Tuesday.

Alex’s Quilt – Done!

I FINALLY finished Alex’s bed quilt! I started cutting out and putting the blocks together January 1st last year, had the whole top finished February 28, 2015. It took me just over 10 months to get it basted and quilted. I had all the quilting finished and ready for the binding to be hand sewn while I was recuperating from surgery. Last stitch was sewn on the 10th and it got washed and now is on his bed. It’s VERY gratifying when he came up to me after it was on the bed and gave me a BIG hug and said “Thank you mommy, I love you”. Unfortunately for him I’m taking it off his bed tomorrow so I can take it to guild tomorrow!

I also have had a quilt sitting here for a couple of years that just needed the binding put on. I had found some black binding that was just a few inches too short and just folded the whole thing up and put it in a corner for awhile. I wasn’t happy with the way the quilting turned out, it was the last thing I quilted on my mini-pinni frame before we took it down to make it Cassie’s room. So I figured I’d get it ready for when I finished Alex’s quilt. I found some already made solid black binding and just added it in for the last few inches. You really can’t tell there’s a different fabric in there. At least now it’d completed and it’ll go in daddy’s truck as a blanket for the kids. Now they’ll both have a blanket in my truck and daddy’s truck, and can’t complain about being cold!

A few weeks ago I posted that I just had 1 border left to finish on my 2010 Quilt Show BOM. I needed just 1 more strip to finish off the last side and had ordered 2 greens to try and match it. Yeah, that didn’t work so well. Neither of the greens I ordered matched, so I decided to just take off the 3 sides I had already completed and use one of the new greens to do all 4 sides. I finished taking off the border this morning and hope to get the last border on by the weekend to have another finished top!

So close….

So doggone close! I started this quilt back in 2010 with a bunch of other ladies. I managed to keep up in 2010 and get all my blocks together with some small delays after Alex was born. In 2012 I managed to get the center done, and just had 4 borders to complete the top. I’m in the mood to finish tops this week and decided over the weekend to pull this one out. I do have an ulterior motive, if this is finished I can use the rest of the Moda Marbles in the tub on hexie insanity! So I’ve been slowly working on the borders, those half square triangle borders are hard to get going the same way. I found a piece of very light green fabric that looked like it was enough yardage that I could get both thin borders out of it. It was too much to ask for! I need 1 strip so I can finish that last side. I THINK I found the right color at Miller’s Dry Goods, I’ve ordered it and I’m hoping it gets here by the weekend so I can finish the top. I think 5 years is more than enough time for a quilt top to be completed!

Christmas was so fun with the kids! Santa brought them gifts they didn’t ask for, but still love! The holidays continue this week as my brother-in-law and family will be here tomorrow and we get to spend at least 3 days with them.

Linking up to Freemotion by the River.

I’m back!

UGH! I can’t believe it’s been so long since I’ve posted! SO much has been going on around here and I really haven’t had time to work on projects. Cassie turned one in March and yes, mommy made her onesie! I found the design on etsy and stitched it out twice – because the first one I cut the applique wrong and the satin stitch didn’t cover the edges. It was a wonderful party and she looked beautiful!

I started working on the end of school year gifts for Alex’s teachers, both teachers are getting alphabet/number magnets out of felt that are done in the hoop on my embroidery machine. These are pretty quick to do, just need time to work on them! I’ll take pictures when they are done.

In the last 2 months I also created a shop on etsy. I used to have my own website with a shopping cart and never got any hits/business. So I did some thinking and decided that since anything I make on the embroidery machine is custom, and there’s no shortage of items that are decorative that I can do in bulk that I’d create a shop and start filling in items. The listing fee is pretty cheap and are good for like 4 months. Please visit my shop! 🙂 I need to come up with a logo, but I’ve needed that for a long time!

Earlier in the month at guild we had a speaker from a semi-local quilt shop and I bought a pattern for a Mondo Bag by QuiltSmart. I had previously made some Lone Star quilts using their interfacing panels and I really wanted something different for a diaper bag. I wish I had realized how BIG this bag would turn out! It wasn’t too hard once I figured out the instructions, and I do like how it looks. I’m planning on using it as a diaper bag until I can see what size the Midi bags turn out to be. I’m going to get some of those panels once hubby gets paid.

I’m still slowing working on my knitting and my hexies, I’ll have to do some update posts of those soon!

Friday Night with Friends

I was reading one of the many blogs in my feeds and found that the first Friday of the month is Friday Night with Friends over at Gone Stitchin’. So I signed up for this month. I spent a little time knitting (see yesterdays post) and then I switched to hexagons. I finished up one I had started and then kept going! I now have 40 of the 158 diamonds finished. Thank goodness this is a long term project! I still can’t decide if I want to work on some white hexies and start putting it together or wait until I have all 158 of them done. I like the idea of doing a rainbow effect, but random appeals to me too. I don’t know why I’m so indecisive!! Oh well, off to see if I can finish Alex’s quilt while the kids are napping.

Project Update

I’ve gotten a few more hexagon diamonds completed, I’m now up to 36 diamonds completed and 18 flowers. I’m still trying to decide if I want to put a corner together now or wait until I have all the diamonds completed. I’m actually now thinking of waiting so I can decide how I want the diamonds laid out in the design. I could do a rainbow effect, or just randomly place them. Still plenty of time to decide since I still need 122 more diamonds!

I managed to finish the border block pieces for Good Night Irene, I now have all the pieces ready to put together. However, this will now be set aside for a bit because I got the rest of the fabric I need in order to finish Alex’s quilt. I bought the 4 yards (maybe too much) so I can do the piano key border and probably also a scrappy binding. Now that I have the kids in bed for naps (Alex is STILL sick!) I can get to work!

Design Wall Monday – January 26, 2015

First up is my design wall/floor. I finished all the 16 patch blocks for Good Night Irene and cut the 44 4.5″ blocks I need to finish the pieced border. I just need to sit and sew the triangles on one corner of 40 of the newly cut blocks and then I can start putting it all together. Glad to see this finally coming together, it was a sew along from last year that just didn’t happen.

So Saturday when I was sewing and Alex had gotten up from “quiet time” he said he wanted to sew like me. Made my heart melt that he was interested in something I was doing! I told him we could make a blanket for his Glomer (glow-worm) that he takes EVERYWHERE! So yesterday he picked out 6 4.5″ squares and we sewed them together. I just put the backing on the top and sewed around it, flipped it inside out and then sewed around it to close the hole up. He helped with almost all of it, started to get bored by the time we got to sewing the last go around. But he’s proud of it and has been carrying it around with Glomer since we finished it.

So I meant to actually post this yesterday, and link to Kathy’s Slow Stitching Sunday post, but never got around to actually opening my laptop and doing a post. Just went to the page and it’s still open for posts! Yesterday was spent working on Hexie Insanity while we watched the Cavs beat Oklahoma City Thunder. I really am loving the peace that comes over me when I work on hexies. There’s no rush, no deadline, just time to work and relax. Not a lot of time for relaxing with 2 kids under 5, but we make do! Hopefully I’ll have some more progress to show with this quilt soon. Today I cut some white 2.5″ squares down to 2″ and some scrap white from the Good Night Irene project so I could start prepping some white hexies. I also signed up for white on white fat quarters in our guild exchange so I will have some nice variety coming all going to this project.

Linking up to Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times, check and see what others are up to!

On a Roll!

Oh my am I on a roll this week!! I have the center of Alex’s quilt completed, I just need to add a thin black border and then a piano key border after that. Unfortunately I need more fabric for that so it will have to wait until hubby’s payday. I put it on his bed the other night so I could decide whether the borders were needed or not, and I just want to put the piano key border on the sides and bottom, it’s not needed on the top at all.

I’ve been using my Good Night Irene blocks as leader enders while working on Alex’s quilt, and I’m flying on getting them done! I have 8 more of the 16 patch blocks to do and then start working on the pieced blocks that make up the first border. I need to cut out the white squares before I can put those together though. Maybe by the end of the weekend I can have it all put together and figure out something for the final border from the stash.

Plan on working on some hexies later today, going to take my car for a major wash inside and out, so I’ll be working on them while I wait.

Design Wall Monday – January 19, 2015

Well I’m FINALLY working on Alex’s quilt again! I got all the blocks put together last week and ironed on Friday. After my sister cleaned on Saturday I laid everything out on the floor in the living room – this thing is a lot bigger than I thought! I like the way it looks with all the different colored strips on the blocks, hopefully he likes it too! I have the top half of the quilt webbed together so I don’t lose any blocks or turn them the wrong way. I’m using my Good Night Irene quilt blocks as leader/enders so that I can get some work done on that one too. I’m glad to finally be sewing again, I need it these days for stress relief! Hope to have these blocks put together by the end of the day – depends on if the kids nap this afternoon. I think I’ll be doing a thin black border and then I was thinking of doing a piano key border with the 4 solid colors from the blocks, but I might need to get some more!

Linking up with Patchwork Times for Design Wall Monday.

Design Wall Monday – January 19, 2015

Linking up with Patchwork Times for Design Wall Monday.