Moody Blues Quilting Bee - January Block

FINALLY! I joined the Moody Blues Bee in October of last year but due to some slight problems I didn't get any blocks to work on until the end of last week.

When my Hunny brought me my package I didn't know what it was, until I opened it. Inside was a pretty robin's egg blue 9 inch square a long with some pretty gray strips of fabric. The instructions said we were going to be making an Asterisk Quilt Block. It looked simple enough and I had never made one before so I jumped right in the same day.

Since this was for someone else I didn't want to make as many "design decisions" that I usually do when putting together quilt blocks. I took my time trying to make sure every cut and every stitch was just right.

I'll be putting it in the mail today and hopefully Miss January will be as happy with it as I am!

Mitered Corners and a Finished Quilt Top

In April of 2010 I attended a Quilt Show where I purchased a "Nap Time" Quilt Kit from the vendor The Calico Horse. I purchased it with my son in mind and because I loved the colors also I'm a sucker for striped fabric. =) I started said quilt kit right away and got a lot done on it too, rather quickly! However once I came to the borders I was brought to a halt. I had been sewing this at the sewing group I attend and my teacher was planning to teach me how to miter the border. She gave me enough instruction to piece the border strips together but then class ended and I never was able to take this particular quilt back to class.

The other day because of my New Year's Sewing Resolutions I decided to pull this one out and finish it up. Since it is still very hit and miss for me to attend my sewing group I decided to reach out to the online sewing/quilting community I have become a part of for help.

Amy of Amy's Creative Side came through! She makes the most beautiful quilts! She has a wonderful tutorial on her blog if you were ever wondering how to make Mitered Corners.

I am very proud of this corner!! See how the seams match up just beautifully! *Sigh* It makes me happy just to look at it.

With Amy's help I was able to finally put this quilt top on the finished pile! Now it's not a completed WIP until it gets quilted and it's binding put on. One of my favorite things about this kit was that the binding came with it! It will be the striped fabric that's in the border.

Another shot of the "Perfect Corner" (Yes I know I need to press it still)

What about the other corners you ask? Well, they are all just a smidge, an ever so very small smidge, off. After trying to redo 2 of them and coming up with the same results I decided to move on. It's not like my baby boy is gonna say, "Now wait a minute, Momma! These mitered corners don't match up!"

I would like to quilt this one myself. I think the fabric is way too busy for any type of free motion pattern. Any suggestions?

Happy New Year!

Wow what a Holiday Season! It seemed like nothing but busy, busy, busy all throughout November and December. I was able to get in a little bit of sewing and creating during the last two months but definitely not what I would have liked. So now it's time for a little Show and Tell to catch you up on the projects I did get done.

My big (and only) accomplishment was making these 3 dolls for these sweet little girls! They were much easier to make than I anticipated and I really enjoyed it! Now I am in the process of making them some clothes! lol The dresses they are wearing came with the girls Christmas dresses that my MIL sent.

In their PJ's! Made these out of scrap fabric I had in my stash.

The other project I started working on is my Layer Cake quilt. Last Monday I set a goal to finish 10 quilt blocks and I did it! I'm loving how they are turning out. Only 10 more to make so I can start on the sashing.

And last but definitely not least is some news. I made my first sale on Etsy! Yay! On my to do list is to add more items to the shop.

My New Years Resolution for my sewing is to finish up my WIP quilts before starting a new one. My list of WIP is as follows:

1. Layer Cake Quilt
2. Sister's Quilt
3. Caleb's Quilt
4. Table Topper Quilt
5. Doll Quilt
6. Living Room Quilt
7. Flamingo Quilt

Yeah I think that's all of them. =)

I hope you have had a Happy New Years!!


PS: Thank you for all the well wishes on my last post! I really appreciate the prayers. Sorry I didn't respond to them sooner for some reason the comments weren't getting emailed to me like normal so I didn't see them til today. I've fixed the problem and should be getting my comments when you post them again. My Dad is doing good! The Chemo is working. The tumors on his liver and abdomen are shrinking. The one in his lower intestines they are not able to see if it is shrinking or not but they think it is since the others are. Thank you again for your prayers!

Beauty from Adversity

Recently I asked the Lord to change me. I wanted to grow. Grow closer to Him, and closer to my family. Grow in my life. Well, He's given me a way to grow if I so choose.

My Dad has been diagnosed with cancer. This has happened really in just the last few months. It really seemed to turn the whole world upside down.

Whenever I ask someone to pray for him I also ask them to pray for my Mom. My Mom is an amazing woman but usually it's her with the health problems and my Dad takes care of everything but now their roles have been reversed.

I wanted to make her something so I dug through my stash and came up with some 4" squares that I bought a long time ago. With them I made her a Mug Rug.

It was very simple to put together. It's dimensions are 6.5" x 12.75". I appliqued some fussy cut pieces from 2 of the charm squares.

After doing a quick stitch in the ditch around the center and messy stitching around the 2 "flowers" I decided to try out some free motion quilting. I free motioned a meandering heart pattern in the center. Then went around the outside with some large hearts.

I do like how it turned out. I'll be sending it off to her tomorrow. I pray it brings a smile to her face whenever she uses it.

Blogger's Quilt Festival - Fall 2010

I am very excited to be joining in on the Blogger's Quilt Festival hosted by Amy's Creative Side!

Thank you for coming to visit and learn more about my quilt. I hope you enjoy it!

It was very easy for me to choose the quilt I wanted to post about because it's the only quilt larger than a mini that I've finished! lol

It also happens to be the very first quilt I've ever made.

So here it is, Folks!

"The Baby Quilt"

Here's a little more about this quilt:

This quilt is special to me in a couple of ways besides it being the first quilt I've every made. It's the very first thing that I made when learning to sew.

You see I BADLY wanted to learn to sew but alas and alack I had no machine. So the Lord blessed me with a friend who bought me my first sewing machine! I was so thankful for her generosity (especially since the machine was a Bernina!!). She says it was more out of selfishness for herself in buying me my Bernina because she was going to teach me how to sew. She didn't want to worry about the hassle of figuring out a cheapy machine (which I would have bought if left to my own unknowing devices) while teaching me how to create with it.

The very first class I took was a beginner quilting class taught by my friend. For the class she chose a simple quilt pattern made from Charm Packs.

This quilt went with me on my journey in learning about my machine: threading it, bobbins, and seam allowances. And all the things that go along with creating something lovely: pressing, rotary cutters, and let's not forget the seam ripper! I enjoyed every minute and worked on it any chance I could get. Ahhh, memories!

The choice of fabric in my quilt was based on what charm packs were on sale at my local fabric store, Silly Babies by Moda. I thought they were perfect since the purpose of this quilt was to be something for my kids to snuggle under on Family Movie night. Which comes to the 2nd reason this quilt is special.

It's a quilt that will keep my kids warm and it will get a lot of love!

I like this picture of The Baby Quilt best because it's doing what it was made for, being snuggled under!!

Thank you for visiting! Now go see all the other gorgeous quilts that are being shown in the Blogger's Quilt Festival!

Tears and Triumphs (In One Project!)

It started like a dream turned into a nightmare but it all turned out ok in the end.

I wanted to make myself an Over the Shoulder Bag for our next family trip to Disneyland. I found the perfect tutorial on Noodlehead. I picked out some fabric from my stash and got to work early one Wednesday morning (we were going to Dland on Thursday). All was going well. I had to start and stop numerous times stretching this project out into an all day affair. It even went into the night and early the next morning!

I wanted a bag that would be sturdy so I decided (my first mistake) to line the interior and exterior fabrics with fusible fleece. It sure is sturdy! I didn't realize my mistake until I tried to attatch the straps with grommets as the pattern states. AFTER I cut holes in my strap AND my bag did I discover that grommets don't work on 4 layers of fabric on the seam and 2 layers of fusible fleece and a layer of heavyweight interfacing.

It was 3 AM and I was pounding so hard my grommet tool GOT STUCK!! I tugged and tugged but alas all that came loose was the strap through the hole in my bag. Now what was I supposed to do?! I had worked literally ALL DAY and NIGHT on this bag I didn't want to just toss it aside.

I cut the strap above the 2nd hole and re top stitched it. I then sewed (with much difficulty) the straps onto the bag, covering up the giant holes in the side. I learned why she used grommets to attatch her straps. Sewing them was very tricky.

After that was done and I was admiring my work I discovered that while in my zealous pounding I POUNDED A HOLE IN THE FRONT OF MY BAG! UGH! What else could go wrong!

I covered up the outside hole with some fabric I used Heat N Bond with and cut out a flower but it looked more like a splat. Didn't last long though at Dland. Need to recover it. Any suggestions?

The inside hole I left alone.

I did learn alot in making this bag. It was the first time I made a lining zipper pocket! Should have used a smaller zipper but it works!

On a quicker, happier (and definitely cuter due to the model!) note I quickly and successfully made a Sippy Cup Leash for the baby in between my bag making drama. It worked great! No more sippy cups on the filthy ground a million times a day! Or left behind while walking through crowds when it gets dropped from little hands. It worked great in the car seat too! Gonna make another so this one can stay in the car.

Any sewing disasters happening in your world lately?

My Life Verse

Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

Isaiah 41:10

Have A Wonderful Sunday!