Alex’s Quilt – Done!

Alex's Quilt 011316I 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!

Car quilt 011316I 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!

Scrappy Finish

Scrappy 9 patch with hexi applique 122615I started working on this on November 21, 2013. Here it is 2 years later and I’ve finally completed the top! I don’t know why I have this aversion to finishing tops – I have a bunch that just need the borders and they’d be considered complete. This was based on a quilt I saw on either Facebook or Pinterest – who remembers now? – and I changed the applique part to hexies instead of whatever they had – I don’t even remember what it was now. I already know how I want to quilt this, I just have a few quilts that are getting quilted first. Everything was cut either on my Go or my Studio and I’m thrilled that I used up all these scraps! 517 2.5″ squares were used in this quilt and I will use a few more because I’m planning on putting some hexies on the border at some point. I might even wait until after it’s quilted since they will be appliquéd on anyway.

I pulled out a VERY old quilt from 2009 that I want to keep working on to get the top finished – again it just needs the borders finished. Hopefully I’ll have an update on it soon, I know it won’t be tonight because it needs 4 borders and the one I’m working on now is 1.5″ HST! I also might have some news to announce soon!

A New Finish!

Cathedral Windows 111415Last weekend was my birthday and the hubby got me tickets for the Cavs game on Sunday. Since we needed a sitter anyway, my sister and mom offered to each take one of the kids for an overnight so we could sleep all night and/or do what we wanted without worrying about the kids. So we dropped them off Saturday morning, had a nice lunch out just the 2 of us and then came home where I spent ALL afternoon and most of the evening sewing. Sunday morning I got a little more sewing in and then we headed to the game. They did win and we had a great weekend!

I’ve always wanted to do a cathedral windows quilt, but all the folding and handwork for it seemed daunting. I know I do hexies, but this is a different kind of handwork! I saw a video on Missouri Star Quilting Co’s YouTube page for the Cathedral Window and decided it’d be a nice project for the weekend. In the example they used charm squares and I really should have too, but I just wanted to try out the process and didn’t want to break into any of my charm packs, so I used 2.5″ squares. It’s not a hard process, there’s just a lot of bulk with all the seams. I had the perfect spot in the hallway for this quilt that’s been empty for the last few weeks since I took the birthday banner down after Alex’s birthday. I am happy about the way it came out, and that I had the time to spend working on something for myself.

Now to work on my Red/White challenge quilt for next months guild meeting!

Commission – Wedding Quilt

Wedding Quilt 053115So one of my very good friends asked me to make a signature quilt for her to give her niece. She wanted something like what I made the kids when they were born, a quilt that was a remembrance of those at the wedding. So after designing a few ideas, we came up with a plan and I started looking for the fabrics. Found everything I needed at fabric.com and was ready to start sewing. Didn’t take long to sew all the blocks together, the longest task was getting it pinned so I could quilt it! I was very happy with how it turned out and from what I was told the bride loved it!

Now I have a baby one to make for her in pinks and grays!

I’m back!

March 21UGH! 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!

Mondo bag finishedEarlier 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!

Update and Delivery!

Studio shipmentOMG it’s here!!!! Lucky for me we were still home when UPS delivered and the delivery woman put it inside the door for me.  Lifting that bottom box would be a major issue for me!  Can’t wait for the hubby to get home and get it setup for me!  I only have 1 studio die so far, but I bought the die adapter to let me use almost all of my Go dies on the Studio.  This means I can put my Go away in the closet.  I think I have a table in the basement that we can cut the legs down so that I can store it under my sewing table.  Just have to have the hubby do that work!  I think for now we’ll put it on my cutting table.  I don’t know where else I can put it even temporarily. I just can’t wait to get it setup and ready to use!

Scrappy table topperI finished my scrappy table topper last night.  I really like how it turned out, I can’t wait to make a larger quilt like this!  I’m not sure where I’m going to use it yet, but it was pretty quick and easy! I think it will be really easy to work on the 25 patch as a leader/ender project, and boy do I have a lot of 2.5″ squares!

I’m still working on the guild block exchange quilt, like I said yesterday I got all my blocks finished I just need to cut out the sashing strips.  Not yet sure if I want to use black or the gold (like in the EQ picture yesterday).  I am still leaning toward the gold, I really think I’ve been using too much black lately!

Hopefully I’ll be back tomorrow with an update on my Studio!