Modify Tradition's quilt along progress

I haven't posted any of my latest blocks lately. I've been having a rather hard time with this! I love doing the quilt along but I'm using fabrics that I normally wouldn't use. They are rather vivid and bright and not typically my color choice, but I wanted to incorporate the whole line. I've got 1/8 yard cuts and that is why this has been hard. Sometimes I have to piece fabric just to get a 6" piece, so it's been challenging..but fun none the less!

#5 : Starflower Block

#6 : Churn Dash (I did a "floating" version)

#7 : Amish Diamond

#8 : Maverick Star (an Ohio Star is called for this block, but I don't care for the Ohio Star)

I made 2 because the 1st one doesn't show up that well,  but the 2nd is the 1st block I've used white. I plan on sashing the quilt w/ white so the block w/ the white may end up on the back of the quilt.

The most exciting part is that I just received an email that Anna Maria Horner's "Folksy Flannels" are now out SOOOO, I think I'm going to use one of those for the backing fabric! I never used flannel for the backing before but it looks so warm and cozy! Ever since seeing Crystal's quilt that she backed in flannel, that's what sold me! Since I'm not sure how I will like this "sampler" type quilt, I have a feeling I'll LOVE it with flannel on the back!

fabric wreaths

i finished a couple fabric wreaths that Rachel of p.s.i quilt did a tutorial for. I made these w/ an 8" frame vs. the 12" that the tutorial calls for. I wanted some small ones to hang on the bedroom doors down our hallways. I also am going to make some larger ones on the 12" frame. These are so fun to make!

So I have some great sites for the supplies! I live an hour away from Reno, NV which is where I have to do all shopping for pretty much everything. It's kinda a pain in the rear, so I do a lot of shopping online. I found these wreath frames so cheap here! AND some excellent prices on Honey Buns here! I have a bunch more frames and honey buns to make lots of these adorable wreaths! The first two that I have done are going to my mom and grandma as a thank you for my birthday gifts.

"Giddy Up"

"Giddy Up" crib quilt is done and ready to be delivered to the baby shower today. Made with "Udder Cowboy" by Sew Treasured for Moda Fabrics. Measures 44" x 50" and is Carly's "Toddle Time" quilt pattern (a bit modified for size). I love this quilt and hope the recipient will love it just as much! She's from Texas, and as with most wives I've discovered that are from there, misses Texas a lot! So she's doing her son's room in a western theme.

Some pictures were taken last night after the sun had already gone down. I just snapped a couple pictures out front w/the sun out. That's why the colors are a bit different in some of the photos. I think my favorite part of the quilt is the label and the scrappy binding. I love the rustic look of the raw edges of the label!

Advent Calendar is DONE!

I am SO EXCITED about this! I love it so much! It was labor intensive, as always the first time I make something,  but so worth it! I'm going to make a couple more. But for the next one I got felt for the numbers. That way I don't have to applique them. I'll probably still stitch through the numbers but maybe just do a straight stitch through the middle or something. The appliques was so hard and cutting the numbers out of the fabric even with the heat and bond was difficult. So maybe the felt will be ok. I got it in various colors that match the fabric.

The fabric I used was Be Merry by Mind's Eye for Riley Blake Designs. You can find the tutorial to make this lovely Advent Calendar here. Measures 23 1/2"W x 34"H.

Here's the back 

And if you look close...my one pretty big mistake on this thing! On the number 23, I forgot to applique it! I didn't even realize it until I had the whole top sewn together. There is no way to fix it now, but it's ok. This one is for our family, so no one will mind! Now I know to double check all my numbers before I make the pockets!

Well...tomorrow is my birthday. I'm going to a baby shower in the morning and then my dad and his wife and meeting my girls and I for lunch. They live a few hours away and we haven't seen them in a while. We'll do lunch and then they'll come to our place and visit and play w/ the girls for a while. My hubby is gone due to work yet again for another birthday. But it's ok, I pretty much stopped celebrating birthdays at 29! (in case you are wondering...I'm turning 38) Birthdays just aren't the same as when you were a little kid! He did give me a great gift before he left though! I got a Kindle!

And from my girls, my hubby always gets me a couple of these gorgeous Willow Tree figurines that I collect. Aren't they lovely??

 

Hand Quilting

Have you ever done it? I just got this book from my mom. It's a gorgeous book and has some great quilts in it. Just about every single one of them is hand quilted. I'm finding myself drawn to it! It looks so good! The book has tips on thread to use etc. I've heard people say it takes so long.

I'm wondering if I should give hand quilting a try. My favorite part of the whole quilting process is sitting on the couch and hand sewing the binding to the back of the quilt. I'm one of those people that like to sit and do stuff w/ my hands. I like to knit and crochet for the same reason. I love the TV. I'm pretty much addicted to it. So I find that if I'm knitting, crocheting or doing the binding while watching the TV, it's not so bad that I sit in front of it for hours!

It seems that most of my quilts are always gifts for people so I'm always rushed to get them done by a deadline. But I'm thinking that maybe one day I'll actually make a quilt for myself and possibly hand quilt it.I love the look of them. I did try browsing around Flickr to find some great photos of some hand quilting that I like but wasn't too successful at finding anything to post. At one point I saw someone's blog that had an absolutely gorgeous hand quilted quilt that they did; and now I can't find it! I think I saw it on a blog during the Sew Mama Sews May give-away month. I should have saved the link b/c it was amazing!

What are your thoughts on hand quilting?

Block #4 for Modify Tradition's quilt along

First time I've ever made one of these. Again, I had to piece each block to get to the right size. I matched the blue fabric pretty good, but didn't even attempt the light green and white fabric. But I think it will look fine in the grand scheme of things! (I find myself saying that a lot!)

The 5 year old was home from school today sick. She's got a bad cold. But even with that, I was able to quilt the baby quilt that is needed by Saturday! I've attached the binding and now have to hand stitch it to the back. Good TV night for me..Biggest Loser and Sons of Anarchy. So now I can do my favorite part of making a quilt while watching a couple of my favorite shows! Husband is gone for 2 weeks, so it'll be a nice quiet evening for me, as well.

What a pain in the rear!

I had such a hard time w/ this block! I really wanted to make it, so skipping it wasn't an option. The dilemma I had is that my cuts of fabric are 4 1/2" x WOF. This block need more inches of fabric than I had. I wanted to stick w/ the Good Folks by Anna Maria Horner...so I pieced each triangle to get the size I needed. Such a pain...and I didn't really try to match pattern or anything. So i finish that, sew them all together and then discover my points in the middle don't totally match up. oh well. I can't rip out and redo anymore! It took me 3 hours to get to this, so I'm done!

And to top it all off, I have to sandwich, baste, quilt, bind, wash & dry a baby quilt for a shower this Saturday!! Husband left yesterday for 2 weeks (so no help from him w/ the kids); I do recess duty at my daughter's school Mondays and Wednesdays for a 1/2 hour (plus 20 minutes travel time); then pick her up at 3pm everyday....when am I going to get this done! My 15 month old decided to make my life a little more difficult by only taking one nap a day and that's in the a.m. where I did the above block (instead, of course doing something that needs to be done in 5 DAYS!) Ahhhh!!!! I need more time in a day!

Skinny 9-patch

Figured I'd try one of these as well. Super easy! So this will be block #2 for Modified Tradition's quilt along.

These are typically SO NOT my colors! But since I have that sample pack and I love Anna Maria Horner's fabrics, we'll see. I'm thinking I'll love it when it's all done. Plus I need to do something other than my usual colors!

Modify Tradition's Quilt Along

So I'm doing my very first quilt along! Modify Tradition is hosting. First tutorial is found here. I like modern quilts and want to learn how to do different things, so I figure this is just the thing for me! They are starting simple and will progress from there. Should be lots of fun! Here's my first block.

I'm going to make the sampler quilt out of the 1/8 yard cuts of Anna Maria Horner's Good Folks line that I got a while back. I had no idea what to do with it and this will be perfect!