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?

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.

Quilting Bee

I joined a quilting bee. It's entitled the Moody Blues Bee because the quilt blocks we'll be making are all about blue! Which is awesome for me because I LOVE BLUE! I am joining in a little late but you can see what the rest of the group has already made by visiting the Moody Blues Bee Flickr Group.

Go! Baby Go!

Ok, corny title I know but how else could I share with you that I WON AN ACCUQUILT GO!

WOOHOO! *kermit arms*

I owe it all to Fabrics N Quilts! They were hosting the giveaway on their blog and it was sponsored by Accuquilt.

It seemed like forever but finally my Go! arrived.

I was so excited! Even though I was in the midst of preparing for dinner guests I tore open the box to show it off to my husband. lol

On a sad note I haven't been able to play with it yet. =( On inspection I discovered that the handle was flush with the cutter and was leaving marks when rotated. I called Accuquilt and they are sending out a replacement handle with instructions on how to replace it. It should be here in a couple of days.

I guess I'll have to start saving up to buy some more dies to go with my new toy!

Candle Mat Swap

I joined my first swap and I'm excited about it! The Quilting Gallery is hosting this swap and we are all making a candle mat from the same pattern just using different fabrics according to our partner's wishes.

My partner wasn't very specific just that she wanted to be able to keep it out all the time so I decided on a Fandango Charm Pack.

I found this lovely on sale at Hip Fabric. I loved how they sell Fat Quarters as well! You can choose to buy just a Fat Quarter from the fabrics that they carry! This worked out PERFECTLY for me since I needed a Fat Quarter for the Candle Mat.

I was finally able to start on mine today. After a lot of changing around charms to decide on their placement I started cutting and sewing. Here's my progress so far:

(Oh, you're wondering what that corner of a box possibly could be in the photo? Well, you'll just have to wait 'til tomorrow to find out!)

As you can see my top is almost done. After I got all those little pieces sewn together did the idea hit me, "Wouldn't those look so cute as wonky strips!" I really want to make this over again so I can make them wonky. Oh well, I may have enough to make another. =)

There are some really cute Candle Mats popping up on the Candle Mat Swaps Flickr Group. Stop by and take a look!

What Do You Do With Your Quilt Tops? and A Vote!

Well, what do you do with those quilt tops that are finished but you just haven't gotten around to quilting yet? Are they folded up neatly on a shelf in your sewing room? Are they up on your design wall? Or are they in some dark corner?

The answer for mine is none of the above.

I make my quilts so that I can have pretty things around my house so when I finish one of my quilt tops I just can't wait to have it quilted to display it.

Here's my most recent quilt. It's actually not finished yet I just need to applique F-A-L-L on it

This is the last quilt top I finished. It will eventually be a wall quilt but until it's quilted it adorns my entryway table.

This was the second quilt top I ever made it actually still needs sashing and borders.

So if you're tired of not being able to enjoy your hard work place some quilt tops in different locations throughout your house! Enjoy them! Oh and get them quilted please! =)

*SHAMELESS PLUG

PS: I am part of the Flickr Friday Vote at Above All Fabric! Please go vote for my voile top! Kay? Thanks!

Fall Quilting

Fall has started and even though the weather doesn't relay that fact I wanted to get out my Fall decorations this year! After digging through our storage closet I found that the dog had eaten most of my decorations. I put out what I had and decided I needed to get to work on making something more. A Fall Wall Hanging!

Earlier this Summer I won an "Awesome" Charm Pack and I knew that I wanted to make something for the house with it. So I pulled it out and started planning. I came up with this layout:

Once I knew the direction I was going I started piecing. I wanted something fun so I made some wonky blocks. Pretty much just made a 4 patch then wonky cut them and sewed them back together.

I really wanted the middle seam to line up so I pulled out my seam ripper quite a bit for these blocks.

They turned out really well! I trimmed them down to 8 1/4" squares then sewed them together. I wanted to add a sashing to this quilt so I dug around in my stash and came up with some pieces of a very deep and rich purple that goes perfectly with some of the purple accents in the charm pack. After sitting for over an hour trying to calculate how wide my sash strips needed to be I decided to just make them 1 1/2" wide (finished).

I just want to say in advance that I'm sorry. I'm sorry that the quality of this upcoming picture does not do justice to the beautiful colors on this quilt top.

I just could not get a good picture of this. The purple is so rich and pretty that it frames the light wonky blocks perfectly! I'm almost tempted to leave it as is!!

All that's left for this quilt top to be finished are the border squares and to applique F-A-L-L on the front.

Are you making anything for the Fall season?

Finally Finished Friday

Today on our agenda was prepping the baby's room for painting but inbetween scraping and sanding I was able to sneak in a little sewing time! With a million things on my 'to sew' list I wanted to get something done for my mini quilt wall in the living room. There aren't any mini quilts on it yet that's why I'm so anxious to get something made for it.

Here was my inspiration to start a quilt wall in my living room.


I chose the 1800's Vintage Doll Quilt on the Moda Bake Shop Website because all it called for was one charm pack and some ivory fabric for the sashing(?). I already had an American Primer charm pack that I got 1/2 off at my local fabric shop a long while ago and a bunch of ivory fabric on my shelf. I started on this quilt earlier in the week.

This was very fun and simple to put together! However the instructions are a tad bit off. You need 18 dark light dark strips to make 70 subcuts and 13 light dark light strips for 49 subcuts. Once you're done putting the whole thing together it looks like it was a lot of work piecing all those tiny little squares but following their instructions with chain piecing makes it so easy.



After finishing all of my 9 patches I was ready to pull out my seam ripper to fix some of the patches that weren't lined up correctly. Then I remembered something I read on A Few Scraps "Done is better than perfect." So I said goodbye to my seam ripper and kept on going! (Actually I had to pull out my seam ripper once or twice for more extreme mistakes such as sewing the wrong blocks together).

I pieced the whole top together this evening and with it pressed it looks so lovely! All that's left is to quilt it and bind it. I would really like to quilt this myself and I'm thinking a stippling pattern would be good for this one. I'm gonna have to practice my stippling a bit more though before I attempt it on this one. My stipples aren't smooth at all they look "unnatural". lol If you have an idea for a quilting design for this quilt I'm all ears (or should I say 'eyes' since we're online?).



I already know where this will be hung in the living room but right now it's decorating my entry way table. Now I've got 2 quilt tops decorating my house. lol I need to get them both quilted quickly or quickly quilted. (Ok it's getting late lol)

I hope to start having regular "Finally Finished Friday" posts. We'll see how that goes though. =) I'll have to pull out all the stops for next Friday since we'll be gone (again) at the beginning of the week. This is the last trip until December. It'll be nice to be home for awhile.

Have a great weekend, Everyone!

Patchwork Cards and Quilting

I made some cards the other day using this tutorial from Pioneer Valley Girl.

They were very simple to make and they are great for gifts!



I also worked on the 1800's Vintage Quilt from the Moda Bake Shop. I'm using an American Primer Charm pack and you don't even need to cut every charm square. I might make some new potholders for my kitchen with the leftover charms and pieces.



I'm starting to think about Christmas gifts for the kids and since they definitely don't need anymore toys or clothing I'm going outside the norm. This year on the gift lists are personalized bath towels, Pretty pillowcases and pillows, and whatever else I can think of to make. lol I need to get started since I've got 4 of them to sew for! Trying to think of what to get my husband for Christmas as well. It's always so hard to shop for him. Any ideas?

Free Motion Quilting

I finished my extremely ugly quilt top for the Free Motion Quilt Along at A Few Scraps. After I finished it and posted a picture in the flickr group I realized I put it together wrong! lol Oh well, since it's for learning how to free motion quilt I didn't even attempt to pull out my seam ripper.

I also put together a couple of 12"x18" practice quilt sandwiches and did my first attempt at free motion quilting.

I'll mostly be working on quilts and stuff for the shop this month. The kids have been completely outfitted with lots of new clothes from grandparents that there's no need for me to make them anything. =(

What do you have in store to make for this month?

Seven Sisters Quilt Show Goodies

Spending the day at a quilt show is so much fun! So many beautiful quilts and some of the beautiful stories behind them were just fantastic. I wasn't able to take many pictures or good quality ones because my camera was lost. I found it when I got home.

It was such a gorgeous day outside in SLO at the Madonna Inn but every time I stepped outside I started to sneeze and my eyes started to itch. *sigh* allergy season

Ok on to the show. When we first got off the trolley bus that took us up the hill there was a tent filled with vendors selling oh so many beautiful things! We browsed a little then went into the main building each going our different ways. (Oh didn't I mention I went with 2 friends) I decided to look at the quilts on display first.

There were so many beautiful quilts but the one above was my favorite and that for any know me you can guess why. The horses of course! lol The company that makes this pattern I have discovered also sells a few different horse ones so I need to get myself one right away and start making it. It would go perfect in my living room.

This one had to be the funniest quilt! The lady who made it used baby clothes for the clothing on the men. It could have been a snapshot of that day! I saw so many men walking around holding their wives goodies as she ooed and ahhhed over the quilts.

This quilt is a mini that was made as part of a competition. It was the one I voted for. My husband loves this pic and I'll have to see about making a similar one for his office.

Now for the goodies!! This is all the loot I brought home from the quilt show:

Starting in the upper left and working my way around. The first is a Nap Time quilt kit. I bought it to make for Caleb. It was too cute to pass up and I loved those colors! To top it all off the binding and the pattern was included in the kit and they had already cut pieces of fabric for the backing selling right next to it. I loved it! I started working on it last night at the Monday Night Mavens Sewing group and have 1/2 of the top complete.

Next to it are 2 pieces of fabric that were only $4 a yard. I thought they would make a cute shirt for Caleb.

The clear bag was filled with a purple needle threader, a spool of thread, 100 paper pieces for making 1" hexagons, a pack of needles, easier instructions to make those 1" hexagons. At the last quilt show I went to someone handed out samples of paper piecing and I thought I'd give it a try. LOL Trying to follow the manufacturers instructions was a nightmare. After making one I gave up on it. This was not for me! But at the Seven Sisters Quilt show a lady was there demonstrating how to make them and boy was it a lot simpler and faster. I'm gonna use this as a car trip project and make a bunch using one of my charm packs that has been sitting around forever. After I get a bunch made I'll figure out something to make with them.

Moving on down the pattern is an embroidery piece I thought would be perfect for my mom's birthday.

On the opposite end is another quilt kit for a large table topper, binding and pattern included as well.

Well, that's all the goodies! If anyone actually made it to the end of this post there are a few more pics of quilts and up close shots of the goodies on my flickr page.

Quilting Spree

It's been a while since I posted last but then it's been a very busy winter. I didn't stop my sewing activity though. There were some weeks of inactivity but I've been able to complete some projects that I just love.

At the end of last year I was able to purchase a tie pattern that is super easy to make and so cute. I've made 2 ties so far for my little guy one for Thanksgiving and another for Christmas.



And speaking of Christmas, one of my gifts was a walking foot! I used it to finish quilting my Petit Fours table runner! I love how it turned out! I specifically made it for the dining table but it ended up looking great on my piano so I guess I'll have to make another one for my table. lol


I loved how the table runner made the piano and items on it look so much better I decided I needed something for my coffee table. I found this mini in an All People Quilt magazine. It was very fun to make since it was my first time doing these kinds of quilt blocks, very labor intensive, lots of pressing and cutting. I made a lot of "design decisions" with this one but I love how it came out.

"A Little Star Struck"

Finally, last but definitely not least, I finished my first large quilt! This was the quilt I started to make in the quilting class I took in January of '09 to learn how to sew. At the end of last summer I finally took the top to my teacher for her to quilt. She got it back to me in no time and I finally got around to putting on the binding. I finished it last week just in time for the purpose I wanted it to be used for....Family Movie Night!!

Getting things done...

I finished one of the nursing covers for our church nursery today. I had to spend some time with my seam ripper though. =/ I messed up on the order on which I hem the sides in turn placing the top straps in the wrong place. I had to rip out and do over but it went pretty fast after that. I placed it in the van tonight because I just know that if I waited 'til tomorrow I would forget it. (It's not fun trying to get 4 children ready and out the door and on time to church by yourself.) So trying to remember extra details is out of the question.

There is one more to finish for the nursery then the one for a wife of one of our Missionaries, also a friend of mine. I'm looking forward to making her's because I think the fabric is gorgeous and I hope she loves it as well. Finally, the new one for myself to be made from a beautiful batik I found. That comes to a total of three nursing covers.

I found some beautiful solid curtains on a great sale at the store the other day and I'm going to use some of them to make myself some new potholders as well as a host of other ideas I have for them. I've not gotten new potholders since I got married and the ones I have need to be retired. I'm going to make them and use this No-snit binding tutorial from You Go Girl.

Got some quilting done tonight. Finished 8 squares for my Charmed and Dangerous Quilt, 12 more to go! I've mixed up the squares a little so it won't turn out exactly like the Charmed and Dangerous Funny Babies quilt top that I have. I need to get it done and off of my makeshift design wall (a vinyl tablecloth with the fuzzy back, tacked up in my room) so I can move on to other quilting projects.