Giveaway Winner!

Congratulations Rachel! You won! I put the numbers in a hat and randomly drew a number from that (hey...that rhymes!) And the lucky # was #3. I'll send you an email to get your address! Thanks for participating everyone!

"Sail Away"

Finished my "Sail Away" quilt. I'm heading to a baby shower tomorrow to give this to a dear friend from the UK that is stationed here with us right now. She's having a little boy and she's doing the baby's room in a nautical theme. This baby quilt measures 36"x51". The pattern is a modified version of "Toddle Time" by Carly of Quiltville. (I just omitted a row or 2 and didn't add the border) I didn't want it too big since I wanted it as a crib quilt. This pattern was SO FUN to make! I loved every bit of the piecing which  is usually a part of quilt making that I get rather tired of! It was so fun and easy. I've got several other of Carly's patterns and I can't wait to get started on another one! I'm actually making another one of these in a western themed print next for another baby shower in November. The fabric is "Sail Away" by Debbie Taylor-Kerman for Henry Glass Fabrics. I'm also giving away all the scraps and leftovers from this quilt here, so please enter the giveaway, if you're interested, that is!

How about a giveaway?

I'm just about done with a quilt for a friend that's having a baby. Just have to do the binding. She's doing the baby's room in a nautical theme. As usual, I overestimated the amount of fabric needed. So I have extras that I know I probably won't use for anythings else. I LOVE the fabric though! Figured, why not pass it on to someone who may want it! It's from the line "Sail Away" by Debbie Taylor-Kerman for Henry Glass Fabrics.

• the light blue background with the anchors is just shy of  1 1/2 yards
• the cream background with the large sail boats is 7 1/2 inches x wof
• there are 7 of the 4-patch blocks
• some strip scraps
• and quite a bunch of pieces I strip sewed together and then cut (I was going to use them as a border around the whole quilt but after attaching one side realized it would make the quilt too big for what I wanted.

All the pieces that are sewn together could easily be taken apart to use for whatever you need!


All you have to do to win this is leave me a comment! And if you have any great tips or tricks on squaring up a quilt; basting a quilt, how to keep stitches even when free motion quilting, or any other tips/tricks in general that you think are time (and insanity) savers, I'd love to hear them! I've only been quilting about a year now and I'm completely self taught (or blog taught!) so I need all the help I can get! I'll draw for a winner Monday October 26th. Good Luck!

Halloween Trick or Treat Bag

I couple weeks ago I won a Moda Spooktacular Jelly Roll from a blog giveaway that Carly had. Well I wasn't sure what to do with it, then realized I could make one of Rachel's Friendship Bags but on a larger scale and use it as a trick-or-treat bag for my 5 year old. So 3 hours later, it's done! The pics aren't the greatest because I'm still trying to figure out how to take good pictures for the blog and it's kinda dark in my house right now, so I had to use the flash etc. etc. (one of these days, maybe I'll get good pics!) But you get the idea. The measurements are approximately 13" high x 12" wide x 4 inches deep. I did my handles different than the tutorial because I wanted something wider and shorter. I even have enough fabric to make several more! I'll make another one for my 15 month old, but no rush since she really doesn't need to fill it with candy at her age right now! But I'd like to make more and give them to some of my friend's kids. I have so many projects going on right now, I'm a little overwhelmed; so those will have to wait!

 

Overseas friends are the best!

Look what I got today! I have a friend who is also a Navy wife and they are stationed in Germany. Well she requested some of my crocheted scarves that I use to  make. So I sent her several to have this winter. In return, I got a bunch of goodies from Germany! Yummy chocolates, sweets, cookies, and coffee! So far, all that I've tried is fabulous! I love getting packages in the mail!

How do you baste your quilts?

I'm curious....do you spray or pin?

I've only ever sprayed. Never had much of a problem until this last quilt, the one for my mom. This is how I spray baste my quilts. I taped down the backing, sprayed from the top moving down with the batting rolled up and moved it down as I went. Smoothed it all out...perfect. Then did the top. Picked it up and checked the back and there were puckers, gathers and just a plain ol' hot mess! So then I tried the best I could to lift and smooth it out, really to no avail. I was so frustrated. The absolute worst part of quilting for me is the basting part. I think my problem with this last one was that I didn't use enough tape to really pull and stretch and lay out the backing. I quilted it anyway...yep I got some puckers. Not too noticeable after the quilt is washed and all. But of course, I could see them and it really bugged me. My mom probably won't even notice; but I'll tell you, if this was going to anyone else, I wouldn't have given it to them.

Now I'm considering pinning to baste my quilts. BUT I REALLY DON'T WANT TO! (said in a super whiny voice!) I like spray basting because then my quilt is all together, I usually get no puckers, I can start anywhere I want to on it to quilt it, and when I'm quilting...I can just go go go. I don't have to stop every few inches to remove pins. I don't have a large quilting surface so I'm super worried that I'll get even more puckers and gathers if I pin baste because when I'm quilting I don't have that nice big flat surface to smooth it out and move the quilt around.

Ahhhh... what to do, what to do?? Honestly, I don't think I could ever pin....guess I'll just have to master the spraying!

Mom's quilt

I hope it's safe to post this! I'm mailing it today for my mom who's birthday is the 18th. I hope she likes it!

 

 

back from camping

We had a wonderful time camping in beautiful Bridgeport, CA. Finally saw some fall colors. Not much, but more than I get here in the desert in Nevada!

 

 

and my little baby girl taking a walk.....

and the big girl climbing on a rock....

fabric, tri tip, apple pie & a sunset

My latest order from fabric shack arrived today! I'm super excited to get started on this quilt. I'm making a baby quilt for a friend from the UK. The only problem is that the shower is Oct. 24th, so I better get busy!

 Husband made a delicious dinner of BBQ Tri Tip and.......

 

 

apple pie for dessert!

  

and then a beautiful sky to end a great day!

Applique.....

is so hard! That's all I gotta say!