January Goal - A Finish!

I am so excited because I actually finished my first goal for January!  It was a close finish, but a finish none the less.  My long arm quilting machine broke down on me and had to go to the shop, so it was out for a week.  I got it back last week and after a couple of "quilting headaches" I was able to actually get the quilt quilted and bound over the weekend.  Man was that spa trip over the weekend well deserved!  So let's get to the pictures shall we!

I quilted a spiral pantograph on it, which was a little bit difficult at times with all the seams.  Some of my seams were pretty heavy so that was actually an excellent learning experience for me.  For the most part it turned out pretty good.  I was happy with it.  It was my first time doing this pantograph on an actual quilt top and not on a plain piece of fabric.  I must say that I agree with Abby from Latimer Lane and you do get better with the pantograph the further you get to the bottom.  I will try to practice this more though, so my top will look like my bottom in the future!  I forgot to show you a picture of the finished quilt before quilting, so that is shown here below:

Here is a picture of the entire quilt all quilted up.  I must say I just love how much texture quilting gives a quilt.  I just love that crinkle bumpy feeling.  

I also did a different binding treatment on it.  I added a brown ric rac which I have never done before.  You can see a better pic of that below, but if you would like a good tutorial on this that I used, I got it from here on Bee in My bonnet's blog.  She does an excellent job on explaining how to do it, so I highly recommend you check it out.  I think it looks so adorable on a "girly" quilt.  

Quilt Stats:

Pattern: Hourglass Quilt you can find the tutorial here on Cluck Cluck Sew's blog

Fabric: Calm Curiosities by Nancy Halvorsen and Moda Bella Solid in Brown

Thread: Superior So Fine and Bottom Line in White

Pantograph: Denise's Spirals

Well there you have it, my January goal finished!  Even before the baby is here!  Double yay!

Linking up to 2013 - A Lovely Year of Finishes hosted by Fiber of All Sorts.

Happy Quilting!

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Pantograph Lesson

I am so excited, but this Friday, I am getting my first pantograph lesson.  I was actually able to put together the laser light and put it on the machine, which made me feel very good.  I have been practicing a pattern, but I am currently just leaving the machine turned off until I actually have someone show me how to line up the start of the quilt with the pantograph and how to advance it.  Unfortunately, I don't have anything to actually show you except the pattern that I have been tracing.  The pattern that I have been practicing is called "Denise's Sprials" shown below:

I am so excited to quilt this for real instead of in thin air.  The first "official" quilt that will get this treatment will be my teal and purple hourglass quilt, so I had better get this stack of blocks sewn up this week!  

Don't you think this pattern will look great on this quilt?  Especially after seeing the fabric above with it's spirals, I know this would be the perfect quilting for this quilt!  

Linking up to WIP Wednesday link party hosted by Lee at Freshly Pieced.

Happy Quilting!

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2013 - A Lovely Year of Finishes - January Goal - Teal and Purple Hourglass Quilt

I have a real problem of starting a bunch of projects with great intentions in mind but never finishing them.  I know that I am not the only one with this problem, but sometimes it really helps when other people hold you accountable.  Shanna from Fiber of All Sorts and Melissa from Sew Bitter Sweet Designs are hosting a group called "2013 - A Lovely Year of Finishes".  I just had to join.  It will be so exciting for me to accomplish something each month especially when working almost full time and raising two little ones.

So for my January goal, I want to finish working on this purple and teal hourglass quilt that I started last year.  I am making it for a family friend who is having a baby in February 2013, so finishing it in January would definitely be ideal.  I am using a free tutorial from Cluck Cluck Sew, which you can find here.  It is her Pink Hourglass Quilt, which I think is absolutely adorable.  The new mom has chosen to use the Brooklyn nursery bedding by the Pottery Barn, so I will be making my Pink Hourglass Quilt by Cluck Cluck Sew in teals, purples, and white.  Here are the 8 different blocks that I will be using throughout the quilt.

Here is my finished stack of 63 blocks, which are ready to sew into a quilt top.  I better get moving.  Unfortunately, they do not sew themselves together.  

Linking up to 2013 - A Lovely Year of Finishes hosted by Fiber of All Sorts.

Happy Quilting!

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The Final 100 Day Hustle Update

MY TO DO LIST:

1.  Make 15 to 20 quilted bibs for craft show, which are excellent practice pieces for trying new designs on the long arm

2.  Make 15 to 20 burp clothes for craft show.  Ended up not having time to do this.  Big surprise. 
3.  Make baby girl quilt for craft show.  Started to do this but my long arm started to act up so I ended up ruining it and it became a practice piece.  
4.  Make baby boy quilt for craft show.  This piece became a practice piece to "fix" the long arm and I ended up practicing my feathers on it.  
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.  Bagged this for now.  I do have the pieces parts and will do that sometime this winter.  I am kind of making two different ones now at this point.  

7.  Finish my mother in law's quilt that she started.  How did this get on my list?  LOL.  In process.  
8.  A Craftsy Class called Machine Quilting Negative Space by Angela Walters.  I purchased the class and at half price!  I hope to do this really really soon.  I got a little bit behind in my present making:)  
9.  Make a "Family Tree Quilt" for my mother in law for Christmas with my sister in law.  This got pushed back because my sister in law had a baby and we couldn't agree on a pattern as of yet, so if you know of any good family tree quilt patterns please let me know!
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!  I have the fabric purchased and the quilt pattern picked out.  That should count for something:)
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.  I decided to hold off this year because my mom decided she wanted a Christmas cactus which sent me over my "budget" for her for this year.  In addition, I wanted to quilt it with straight lines and I am not getting my table extension, which she bought for  until Christmas, so again this is her fault as well:)  
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  Changed my mind and going to do for next year.  Want to give to the girls together and Mae has decided to use "everything" in her crib to stack up and try to escape.  This currently terrifies me, so I may wait another year when the girls are older.  Melia would have really loved it and could have used it since she is a such a hoarder and literally takes EVERYTHING to bed with her.  
15.  Maelyn's petal pocket pillow  See Item #14.  
16.  A baby quilt for my new niece or nephew after it arrives in late November.  I purchased the embroidery designs.  I want to quilt this by doing some custom quilting on it and need my table extension.  I should be getting it really soon!
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.  Postponed for another year.  
19.  Baby girl quilt for a family friend.  The fabric is all cut and I am working on sewing it into hourglass blocks, which are coming along nicely.  
20.  Baby doll quilt for Angel Tree child.  Was added after my list posted, but still completed.  Yea!!!!

I must say that I feel a lot better about this list now.  I did get more things crossed off.  I have learned though that a list of this magnitude is probably a better idea for a "year long hustle"!  I definitely want to thank Kelsey for hosting such a fun event and for helping me in getting some more "projects" accomplished!

Hooking up to The 100 Day Hustle at Kelsey Sews.

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A Super Hero Christmas!

I promise this is my last post on Christmas stockings.  After this batch, I am done making them for this year!  I must say though they have been a lot of fun to make, so I am a little bit sad.  I gave this batch of stockings to my daycare lady's family yesterday and I was so thrilled that she loved them.

I wish you all a Very Super Hero Christmas and a great Holiday season!

Linking up with Plum and June.  

Happy Quilting!

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Santa's Workshop

Have you ever felt as though you are a part of Santa's workshop?  I do and I must say that I love it.  I must be crazy, but I just love making Christmas presents.  The only thing that I wish that I would do is start sooner, but one of these years I will be more organized!  I just finished up a Christmas stocking for my daughter's Kindergarten school teacher shown below:

And now I have started an assembly line to quilt up 4 superhero stockings for my daycare lady's family.  Talk about fun and each stocking is getting easier as I go along.  Thank goodness!

My daycare's family is obsessed with wonder woman and superman, so I thought I would make stockings for the entire family using this theme.  They even painted their camper superman colors!  So I think my choice is safe.  I can't wait to show you the finished product this weekend.  I should have them done by then.  

Linking up to WIP Wednesday link party hosted by Lee at Freshly Pieced.

Happy Quilting!

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Baby Doll Quilt Finish

I am very happy to say that I was able to finish this over the weekend well before my Wednesday deadline.  It feels so good to check another item off of my list!  I must say that this pattern was very easy to do and did go very quickly.  You can find it as a free tutorial on Vanessa's website here.  Here is the finished quilt top before quilting...

I decided to quilt some basic wavy lines on it.  

I must say that I am really happy with how it turned out.  The fabric is Vintage Modern by Camille Roskelley.  The top thread is Superior So Fine Thread #50 in color 451.  The bottom thread is The Bottom Line by Superior Threads in color 621.  I just love using this thread once I figured out I just needed to use a 16 gauge needle.  I was using 18 and it just shredded the stuff.  Anyways, here is the finished product.  I hope the little girl loves it just as much as I enjoyed making it!

Linking up with Plum and June.  

Happy Quilting!

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