Blogger's Quilt Fest

I haven't had any new quilts finished like would have liked, so my entry is my trusty ol' Amy Butler "just because" quilt. It was one of the first sewing projects I ever did, probably going on ten years ago. It's a great example of how a quilt starts to become like an old friend, worn & loved.   

              Now go check out all the amazing quilts & get inspired!

brights & birds doll quilt

i let C dig into my stash & design a little dolly quilt & this is what she came up with ~i was pleasantly surprised with the maturity of her palette choice (tho i do admit, i weeded out a few without her knowing.)       

      it was a fun, quick little project. i used a new method i came across for patchwork (when i can find the link i'll post it) it really is quite clever --just fuse your squares to interfacing & zip right through them, sewing in long lines instead of individually ~& no nesting or matching up! it's perfect for a small project like pillows or placemats.  

  love this bird print ~really wish i had bought more of it.

sweety girl's quilt

I can restrain myself no longer!! I bought all this gorgeous fabric almost two years ago to make C a quilt for her big girl bed ...but, even though I wanted to dive right in, I put it aside, telling myself I better finish some old projects first. Well I have finished up a few, but not as much as I'd like; I just can't stand letting this adorable stash of yummies sit there anymore.

So I refined my vision in my head & started chopping away :) I love how it's coming along so far. This is not going to be a hurry-up marathon project, though. I really want this to be special, something my daughter will hopefully treasure for a long time (at this point in her little life, she'd be thrilled if I went to walmart & bought her a cheesy, bright pink "princess" bedspread! (shudder)) But I know she's going to love this & later on she'll be so thankful she got this instead. I'm adding lots of special touches like hand embroidery, applique & ric-rac; so like I said, it'll be a slow process. 

     ....and here's the little dolly quilt I already made for her to match her future quilt ...         

finished quilt & BQF entry

 Blogger's Quilt Festival

 Well I finished the quilt I've been working on this week for my friends' wedding/first anniversary gift. Although I've been making quilt tops for a few years, this is the first good size quilt I've done from start to finish. I quilted it in a plain straight stitch on my trusty little machine, not free motion, so I could only do so much. But I'm really happy with it in the end; I love any of Amy Butler's fabric & this is her Charm line. I love making handmade gifts for friends & believe everyone should have a quilt that becomes an old friend the more you snuggle with it, wash it & love it. Next year I hope to enter something more planned out, but since I had just finished this I didn't want to pass up the chance to be included!       

         

quilting continued

I'm determined to get this quilt done by this weekend so I've been staying up late working on it, which is not so smart. I can fall into this habit, since I crave my alone time so much, of staying up once the kids are finally in bed. I really pay for it ..& yet I keep doing it. And of course, if I focus on one thing, everything else goes to shambles; if I have a day in the garden, the dishes & laundry pile up; if I get into a project & try to keep up on the house, by the time I get back into the garden the weeds have taken over! Right now I have all of the above: dishes, laundry & weeds. And I'm not even doing a great job putting this quilt together. Like I said, it's my first quilt to complete start to finish -I usually just do the top. I might have started on a smaller quilt of course, but that would have been too sensible. But to cut myself some slack, this is what I have to work with:

a very plain, very old machine with no fancy quilting foot or platform or whatever else I would need. So I guess considering, I'm not doing too bad. It'll be fine. And I will try to make myself get some sleep tonight so I don't sound so whiney next time.  Oh! But we did get our first zucchini out of the garden today & now we are going to go eat him! 

     

...a superb lesson in procrastination

here's lovely quilt i'm working on. it's actually quite beautiful. it's one of those projects i'm making for someone else that i really wish i could keep for myself. it's made from amy butler (my fav), i think the line was called 'charm', mixed with solid four-patch. it will be the first quilt that i'll be finishing from start to finish- yikes! when we lived in wyoming, i worked in a fabric store for a lady with a long-arm machine, so i'd just do the fun part of sewing the quilt top & then trade work for her doing the rest of putting my quilts together. now i don't have that luxery as it's quite expensive, so..... i'm looking forward to it though. the pathetic part of this story is that it's a wedding present for some friends that got married...a year ago. yep. when i didn't get it finished for their wedding, it got put aside, destined to be a one month anniversary present. then a 3 month. then a 6 month. now their anniversary is june 11 & i'm determined to present it as a true anniversary gift... i'll let you know how that goes ;)                                                                                                         

                                  

a boy... & a quilt

Just thought I'd put up a few pics of this gorgeous boy ...this first one is from a few months ago; he found a  Dove dark chocolate & sneakily popped the whole thing into his mouth, foil & all. He was not so willing to let me fish it out...                                  

      

...he loves cars (makes the bbbbbbbrrrrrrrrr horsey lips sound every time he sees or hears something with wheels or motor) & mud & water & music (i.e. drums!!)     

...here he is today playing in a box. Handsome little goober.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Been sewing. Quilt tops are coming along quite nicely.

                                                                                                                                                                                                    

a quiet creative moment

...for mom & daughter. Little brother is sleeping, so C wanted to paint. I also wanted to take advantage of the alone time, so I set her up on the floor near my sewing table & had a little time to work on a project my mother-in-law commissioned me to do because she doesn't have time (like I do? haha) I love quilting & it's nice to put together a couple small quilt tops without having to put them together & bind them; especially since it's with such adorable fabric. They are for her granddaughters, sisters, so they're from the same fabric but will each be a little different. I'll post my progress soon ...my camera ran out of battery before I could get more pics...