Thursday, June 25, 2009

Fabric Fairy came today!

Yay!! I got my fabric today that I ordered! Chocolate Lollipop (by Anna Maria Horner). I'm going to make this quilt with it. Yep this is Old Red Barn Co.'s quilt-a-long quilt. I missed the boat on the quilt-a-long, but I love the quilt and when my sister showed me this fabric I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it! So I ordered the fabric and one day, I'll get to making the quilt!
Then I also received a couple jelly rolls I won on Ebay (for under $17 each, I might add!) and a pattern I ordered to use the jelly rolls on! I'm so excited to start these! (no, the jelly rolls will not be used together! I will make 2 separate quilts) I just love Moda's "Swanky" and "Soiree"!

picnic quilt top done!

My picnic quilt top is done. I'm just waiting for the thread to get here to quilt it. The backing fabric I have for this is a lime green with all the colors on the front with butterflies and flowers. Really cute. So I've ordered some lime green thread to quilt it with. Not sure how that is going to look because I've only quilted with white or off white. I'll probably do a sample piece first because there is no way I'm ripping out quilting! ripping out seams is my least favorite thing to do! This quilt is going to be used for all our day trips we take exploring the country. We love to take drives to the Lake Tahoe area, especially North Shore. Also we like to head out east to the middle of Nevada and pack a lunch and scout out cool places to camp. This quilt will be great to use on our trips. In a year we will be heading back to Southern California and I think this will be a perfect beach quilt!

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

A use for scraps!

So I'm working on a 9-patch quilt and I'm using layer cakes. Well I have to trim 1" off two sides of the layer cake. I was going to toss those 1" strips not even thinking about it! Then I started seeing all these "string quilts". (see I told you I'm new to quilting!) Anyway after seeing this I figured, "hey, I can use all those leftover pieces for that!" Thanks Rachel, you created a monster now! I can't stop! (I should probably mention Chen too since she sent a few tutorials my way, as well, and convinced me to make some string squares!) Now I've run out of strips and have to cut my next layer cake (which I need to do anyway) I'm not sure what I'm going to do with these squares, but I'll think of something!

They are tiny strips because each piece was only 1" wide. Each square is 6 1/2" x 6 1/2". This may end up being a doll quilt b/c I think I'm only going to be able to get 6 more squares...I don't know, we'll see!

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Blueberry Buckle


I felt the urge to make a buckle tonight. Yes, even though it was the hottest day we've had here in a long time. Nothing like having your oven cranked to 375 degrees for an hour! But boy was it so worth it!

You can find the recipe here if you'd like it...you won't be disappointed! (I always have to bake mine longer than it says, so you just have to check your to make sure the middle is set)

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Little Boy Blue

All finished with my boy crib quilt I named "Little Boy Blue". This is a gift for a friend that is having a boy in August. After washing and drying it, it turned out so nice. I wasn't too crazy about it, but now I kinda like it! It's a disappearing 9-patch pattern. Still not very good at these, but I'm learning. I love the quilting on this one though! I am getting a little better at that...finally!

...and one of these days I'll get better at taking pictures of the quilts! I don't have a fence so I can't hang them. I've got nothing but desert in the back yard, so front lawn is probably where it will have to be!

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

picnic quilt

Started my picnic quilt tonight. I could probably sew all night and finish the top, but seeing how it's 10pm and 1/2 of the family is in bed, I guess I'll quit for now. Hopefully the little one will give me some time to sew tomorrow. This is going to be an easy quilt so I should have the top done fast. This is also my first big quilt. (well bigger than a crib size!) I think it's going to be around 60x70, give or take. I love the pears and apples fabric so I picked others I thought would go with it well. Here's a teaser for now...

Saturday, June 13, 2009

I am such an idiot

I just attached my whole binding and starting tacking it down, got all the way down one side of the quilt and then realized I was tacking it to the FRONT of the quilt!! So much for me getting some time on the weekend to actually quilt! Way too many distractions in this household......obviously! Well, the binding has all been ripped out and guess I'll try again tomorrow. I was so hoping to post pictures tomorrow, guess it will have to wait!

Friday, June 12, 2009

My firsts quilts

I was clearing out my camera and loading pictures to the computer and figured why not post the pics of completed quilts on my blog! These are my first quilts. They aren't the best but I'm gradually getting better, like they say...practice, practice, practice!

Very 1st quilt, made with Moda's Sultry charm packs
I outlined quilted the whole thing (in the ditch and then 1/4" on both sides of each seam) Then after doing that, I wanted to try free motion meandering. So I did every other square.


2nd quilt made with Moda's "Sleepytime" charm packs

This quilt was a baby shower gift for my dear friend Tracy.


Doll quilts
This one is really bad. It's just made with some scraps because it was the 1st time trying something other than just sewing charm packs together. Gave a disappearing 9-patch a try. My cutting was so off on some pieces! Boy did I learn a lot making this one!


Now this one, I completely winged it, hence 'doll quilt' size! I was trying to replicate this quilt. Then, gracious Carly of Quiltville, did a tutorial for me! Come to find out, I didn't do it the same way. Her way looks much easier! So now I can't wait to try it in a regular sized quilt!

That's all I've done so far. I have another that is just about done. I just have to start & finish the binding. It's a baby gift for another prego friend. I've got a ton more fabric and many ideas and a whole bunch of quilts to make! Now if I could only find the time......

Thursday, June 11, 2009

I'm not doing crazy mom quilts quilt-a-long but I've started some 9-patches to make a quilt on my own time. When I decided to make the 9-patches, I was way too far behind to join! (and the fact that my eldest is done with preschool and home all the time and the 10 month old doesn't allow me much time to sew, this one may take me a while!) I'm using Moda's "Hello Betty" line. I had a couple layer cakes and just didn't know what to do with them. I think this will work. (don't mind the wrinkled muslin underneath! it's a huge piece and I didn't feel like ironing it!)


Wednesday, June 10, 2009

So here it goes....1st post....

I got this new book and I absolutely love it. I had to try some of the patterns out.

Now, I've only ever crocheted blankets and dishcloths so I wasn't sure how these would turn out, but I think they turned out cute!

peanut butter & jelly sandwich

pancakes

apple wedges

apple

These were fun! I'll work on some more over the next few days.

Maybe one of these days I'll have some time to sit at my sewing machine to finish a quilt I started a couple months ago!