Bret's Quilt

Yesterday, I went and visited one of my very good friends who just had her 3rd baby at the beginning of August.  Well new baby, always means another baby quilt to make.  My friend was doing a "western" theme in the room which will eventually house both of her boys once Bret is big enough to sleep in the crib.  She already had the bedding for her oldest son, so I wanted to make something that would compliment what she already had.  I purchased "Lil Cowpokes" by Michael Miller from the The Fat Quarter Shop.  When I got it, I couldn't believe how perfect it was going to match her current son's bedspread.  I couldn't have gotten more perfect if I had made both quilts myself!

This time, I also wanted to try something different pattern wise, so I purchased the book, Little Quilts 4 Little Kids by Anka's Treasures.  The quilt pattern I used was "Oh Baby" because I like to be able to embroider the child's name onto the quilt and add a few "embroidery touches" if I can.  I must say the pattern was a very easy pattern to do and really showcases' the fabric and quilting nicely.  I highly recommend the book because Heather's directions were great and I had no trouble at all piecing the top together.  The pattern is also really nice if you have a child with a really long name.  I wish that I had purchased the book when I was making a quilt for one of my nieces.  Here is a picture of the quilt top before being quilted.

I decided to quilt it with a double loop quilting pattern which I thought would resemnble a little cowboy trying to lasso something.  I am very happy with how it turned out.  The only unfortunate part is that I haven't been able to master taking good pictures of a quilt on my quilting machine.  I can't seem to get the lighting right in my studio, which just so happens to be in the basement, so very little natural light.  

 

The finished quilt all quilted up.

 

Close up pictures of the double loop quilting.

 

I also included a couple of pictures of Bret "enjoying" the quilt.  Isn't he cute! 

I also made Bret a couple of personalized burp clothes using the cowboy hat and boot that I used in the quilt. 

The only bad part is that I had this quilt finished before I had started up my "Hustle" list, so nothing is coming off my list just yet, but I am slowly working on that and will show you my progress as I complete.  Goodbye September, hello October.  Thanks so much for stopping by.

 Melissa  

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The 100 Day Hustle

Kelsey of Kelsey Sews is hosting The 100 Day Hustle, which I think is a brilliant idea.

I don't know about any of you, but my "To Do List" sure has grown over the past couple of months since my new long arm quilting machine purchase.  I have a goal of quilting for customers in January 2013, but to achieve that goal there is so much that I need to do to get ready for it.  I also am doing a local craft show on October 20, 2012 with my aunt and mother in law as well as Christmas being around the corner once again, which means "homemade gifts" to make!  So here it goes.

MY TO DO LIST:

1. Make 15 to 20 quilted bibs for craft show, which are excellent practice pieces for trying new design on the long arm 
2. Make 15 to 20 burp clothes for craft show.
3. Make baby girl quilt for craft show.  
4. Make baby boy quilt for craft show.
5. Make a quilt for my sister in law to photograph for me to use as "new banner" pic to update my website.  
6. Make myself a Halloween table runner.  
7. Finish my mother in law's quilt that she started.  How did this get on my list?  LOL.  
8. A Craftsy Class called Machine Quilting Negative Space by Angela Walters
9. Make a "Family Tree Quilt" for my mother in law for Christmas with my sister in law.  
10. Make my husband a coffee quilt per his request because my youngest daughter got a hold of the ink pen and inked his current deer quilt I made him before we were married, so now he wants a new one that is coffee themed and has flannel on the back.  Talk about picky!  
11. Christmas stockings for my daycare lady's family as Christmas gifts this year.  
12. Christmas stockings for my parents to hold their Christmas gifts.  
13. Christmas stocking for my daughter's kindergarten teacher.  (I am going with a sort of theme this year, so hopefully these are easy to make.  I intend on purchasing Camille Roskelly's pattern to make these. 
14. Melia's petal pocket pillow
15. Maelyn's petal pocket pillow
16. A baby quilt for my new niece or nephew after it arrives in late November.  
17. Long arm quilting samples to show customers.  I want 3 samples of 3 different allover designs.
18. Christmas table runner for me and my mom.
19. Baby girl quilt for a family friend. 

Well I guess that is it.  Pretty long list, but thankfully my oldest is in school and I still plan on sending my youngest to daycare on Fridays, so I can try to accomplish the majority of this.  Thanks again Kelsey for putting this Quilt along or whatever you want to call it together!  I am definitely in!

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Kaelan's Quilt

I am proud to say that I am catching up and another baby quilt is completed.  At the time that I got pregnant with Mae over a year ago now, two of my sister in law's were pregnant as well.  All 3 girls are no more than 5 months apart.  My daughter Mae was first, 2.5 months later my neice Cate was born, and another 2.5 months later, Kaelan was born.  I finished up Cate's quilt a couple of months ago, which was my very first blog post.  Now I have Kaelan's quilt completed and it happens to be a very special quilt to me as well.  It is my very first completed quilt on my new long arm.  After a month of practice on muslin pieces, I finally got the courage to quilt on an actual quilt.  I must say that quilting on a quilt is very different.  It is harder navigating the seams at times, but it still was a lot of fun.  I free motion quilted an allover Loopy D Loo pattern. 

 

I did machine applique on the 4 corners of a monkey, giraffe, elephant, and a lion.  I personalized the quilt with Kaelan's name in the middle square.  It definitely was a fun quilt to make. 

Here are some pics of baby Kaelan testing out her quilt. 

 

 

I think she likes it.  My daughter, Mae had to even test it out with her.  Aren't they just so cute together? 

 

 

Well I am definitely very happy with how it turned out.  I know that I still have a lot more to learn, but seeing people enjoy the final product makes it all worth while.  Especially when they are under 2 feet tall!

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Sewing update

Finally another post.  Sorry I have been MIA for awhile, but I have mostly just been practicing on my long arm. I figured how many plain fabric sandwiches do people really want to see?  Probably not that many that is for sure.  Well I did do some other sewing over the weekend and I can also show you what quilt I have been working on and just finished up.  Anyways, here are some things that I have been up to:

First, my sister needed some burp clothes for one of her friends that just had a baby boy this past Friday.

I must say that I am very happy with how they turned out.  My sister just loves frogs, so she asked for a frog to be on one of them and a giraffe, the theme of the baby's room, to be on the other one.  Sorry the lighting isn't the best.  It started to drizzle as I was taking these pictures.  

Second, I also joined the Vintage Holiday Quilt Along sponsored by the Fabric Mutt, which began the first part of August, so I am obviously way behind.  However, one of the instructions was to have "no guilt", so currently, I am guilt free (yea right).  I am supposed to be on Blocks 7 & 8, but I do have Blocks 1 & 2 completed. I am hoping to catch up after Melia is in school and I can send Mae to daycare on Fridays.  I haven't been getting much sewing time here at the end of the summer with pool Fridays and all.  Back to the blocks, I was very surprised at how easy the pattern is, which is by Camille Roskelley.  It looks a lot harder than it really is and she did a very nice job on the directions.  I would highly recommend her patterns.  

Block #1

This "new project" has also allowed me to get over my fear of sewing triangles.  Very silly fear I know, but I still had it, which may also be why I am behind as well.  I just didn't want to "tackle" those triangles because they already show up in Block #2.  Ugh, is what I was thinking.  However, I decided that I had to take the plunge.  And I did.  It was actually very very simple, so now I am feeling quite silly, but what can I say.  It is what it is.  The scary part is, I think I may actually like doing triangles in quilts!  

Block #2

Blocks 1 & 2

Third, Kaelan's quilt.  I finally had the courage after quilting on many many fabric panels on my long arm, to actually quilt a real quilt.  And I definitely emphasize the many part and I won't bore you with seeing all of those.  I just really didn't want to screw up an actual quilt, so I must say that when I started to quilt Kaelan's quilt I was really nervous.  However, I new I would have to take the plunge eventually.  It definitely was different quilting on a "quilt top" rather than just on plain fabric.  It was a little bit harder, but I also think it was a little bit more fun too.  Sorry I can't post complete pics just yet, but I really wanted to give it to its' new home first, so more pics on that too come, but here is a sneak peak or two.     

Well until next time, which I promise won't be that long.  Hopefully!

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My New Toy - Part 2

Well it was finally delivered.  Yep, you guessed it, the rest of my new toy!  Isn't she beautiful.  I must admit, it was love at first sight!

I also had my first lesson on the same night.  I must say that it went pretty well.  I definitely have A LOT more practicing to do, but at least I have a starting point and something to build from.

Here are the results from the very first lesson. 

The first thing I learned was squiggles and loopy d loos. 

Then we moved on to flowers, which I think need a lot more work, but my teacher was impressed. 



Stars.  These were definitely fun.



My teacher thought I was advancing pretty quickly, so she decided to teach me feathers as well.

The top batch of feathers were my teacher's and the bottom branch is my attempt.  I definitely think mine need some work, but at least it looks like a feather.  It is a little harder to see my teacher's only because we were starting to run out of room and had to put designs on top of each other.

I must say that I absolutely love to play with my new toy and can't wait to actually try out some of these new design techniques on some of my quilts.  Good thing I have plenty of baby quilts in the works!

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My New Toy

I have a new toy to share with you and I must say that I am extremely excited.  I must admit that excited doesn't even begin to cover it.  Try ecstatic.  I have been wanting one for several years now and now was the time to take the plunge.  Yes I purchased the Tin Lizzie DLS with the Phoenix frame or as I will be calling her in my future posts, Liz.  She joins my Brother Embroidery machine (Maddey) and my Grandma's trusty Kenmore sewing machine (Nina - named after my grandmother of course), which is next to impossible to break.

Well I was all set to get my "new toy" on Friday (7/20).  I sent my kidos to daycare in the morning to pick up by 1pm so we could have our usual "Pool Friday".  It has been so hot that we actually haven't been able to stay at the pool for very long because the sun has just been too strong.  Anyways, the machine tech got the frame all set up, leveled, balanced, etc.  He goes and puts the machine on it.  Now I am getting super excited!  The machine is on the frame and he plugs it in.  He turns it on and we hear a cranking noise kind of like the machine is stuck or something and then it stops.  It just locks up.  He spends the next hour trying to get it to work and calls the store back, so on and so forth.  He then tells me he has to take it back for the store to fix it.  Talk about a bummer.  I have been patiently waiting, and believe me I am not a patient person, so these past two weeks have just been torturous.  He picks up the machine and bids his goodbye taking my "new toy" with him.  I kind of felt like my kids when I take their brand new toy away from them for being naughty.  The only thing is I wasn't naughty!  I promise!

The store said that they would have it back to me today, Monday (7/23), so I could still keep my first lesson with Ellie.  Last night I was so excited that I slept like a kid on Christmas Eve night.  Not much!  I just got the phone call this morning that the machine is still at the shop and the soonest I can get it back will be this Wednesday, when I can re-schedule my class with Ellie.  Super bummer!  So now until Wednesday!  Here is a taste of what I get to stare at every time I go down in my basement!

So here is part of my "new toy", what do you think?  Hopefully after Wednesday I can show you all of it!

On a positive note, I did get a fun box today from the Fat Quarter Shop.  I just love that shop!  The fabric I ordered for the Vintage Holiday Quilt Along came in along with some other "projects" that I will show you at a later date.  I can finally join the rest of the flickr group and add my fabric combo into the mix. 

Well hopefully later this week, I can post pics of my entire toy and the results of my first lesson.  Wish me luck!

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Maelyn's Baby Quilt

For my second daughter, I really wanted to document her growth in comparison to an object that doesn't change.  What better to do that with, then a quilt made for her by mommy.  I found this cute Minnie Mouse Flannel blanket pack from Sears and had to have it because it was Minnie Mouse.  You see I just love Minnie Mouse and since she couldn't tell me otherwise, mommy won out on this one.  So the day my water broke going out the door to take Melia to daycare, I quick ran back in the house, got a towel to wrap around my waste and of course grabbed my bag that housed the unfinished quilt and headed out the door.  Now mind you, I did not bring a bag of clothes or even a toothbrush, just the unfinished quilt and my purse.  Yes that is some serious quilting dedication, or maybe denial of what was to come I don't know.  After a lot of rigamaroll walking around to different places, I was admitted and they monitored me for a couple of hours because I was 1 week early and my c-section was scheduled for the following week.  My husband was 5 hours away anyway from when I called him on my way to the hospital, so we were going to have to stall this no matter what.  So while they hooked me up to all the fun gadgets and gizmos, I continued to ferociously bind her quilt.  You see this quilt had to be done before she was born!  That is all there was to it.  Thankfully, they sent me home for a few hours because the contractions had stalled, so I finished it up at home and was able to take pictures!  I don't think they would have let me stood on a chair above a table trying to take pics at the hospital.  After I finished up, the contractions got a lot worse and my husband took me back to the hospital and we had the baby 3 hours later.  You just have to love some deadlines.  Even if they are physically forced upon you.


The finished quilt hours before the baby arrived. 

1 Week Old.  Look how little she is in comparison to the quilt!

1 Month Old

I just couldn't resist this one my friend Tonya took of her at the pool in her cute swimsuit.  

2 Months Old

3 Months Old

4 Months Old

5 Months Old.  Look at how happy she is!

6 Months Old

7 Months Old.  She refused to lay down for me.  She was all about the sitting!

8 Months Old.  It is so much harder to catch her laying still.  What a cute stinker!

9 Months Old.  Isn't she just precious!

10 Months Old.  Not so willing to sit still anymore!  You also have to love the striped sockies!

11 Months Old.  Not to happy with mommy because I got her up to take the picture after she was sound asleep, but I didn't want to miss her 11 month birthday!

12 Months Old.  Sorry the lighting is not the greatest, but look at how big she has gotten.  She is pretty much the same size as her quilt now if she would have laid out straight for me.  I guess I should be thankful that at least she is laying there nicely right!

Well there you have it.  My daughter's growth over her very first year!  It was so much fun to watch her grow a little bit every day into the precious angel that we know and love.  Such a sweet, funny, very independent little girl who is now into absolutely everything!  

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