It may be hard to believe, being that I’ve not written a word here in over a week, but I’ve actually been pretty productive lately.


Wispy Lawn

This is my favorite project that I finshed last week. I’ve been inspired by other quilters who work in the small-scale for so long, and until recently I was stumped on what I wanted to try to make. For being my first attempt at something like this, I was very happy with what I finshed.
For now, my quilt is resting on one of my shelves, but if anyone is interested, “Wispy Lawn” is for sale at my Etsy shop.

Now that I’m officially finished with the ugly curtains (yay!) I’m able to get back to work on the things I like to do. First up (besides the few Christmas presents I’m working on and can’t show right now) was to finish up the log cabin square that I started last week. I decided to go for a quick to finish project, and make a pillow.

Log Cabin Pillow, no. 1

Shortly into it though, I realized that I was actually far behind the times. These pillows at A Bird In The Hand are far superior to mine. So I know that I’m not being that unique or creative after seeing those, but it was a lot of fun to make, so I whipped up a smaller second one, too.
Log Cabin Pillow, no. 2

I really enjoyed making these, and there may be others like it on the way!

Snowy Thanksgiving

Here in Michigan it’s been getting whiter all day long. At work this afternoon, all I could think about was coming home, putting on comfy clothes and quilting. After a week of sewing nothing but curtains (I’m so tired of curtains) I’m so eagar to get back to projects that I want to work on.
Bent Squares

I started this quilt a few months ago. I got bored one night and just decided to start sewing squares together to see what I could come up with, and it ended up turning out. It was fun proving to myself that I actually could make something look good without a plan or a pattern.
Ecletic

Then the other night in a fit of curtain boredom, I decided to start working on this log cabin quilt block. I wanted to challenge myself to put together fabrics that I normally wouldn’t have put together. I want to do something with the log cabin block to make it look less frumpy and country, and more modern and bold. I’m not done with this one yet, but hopefully after a couple more hours with it, I’ll have something that I’m happy with.
And no matter where you are at tomorrow, and regardless of what country you’re in, Happy Thanksgiving to you all. With all that I’m thankful this year, I really am so lucky to have the ablity to keep and write this weblog. Your visits and comments really do mean so much to me. Many good wishes to you all!

It’s SO done! After a weekend and a few extra days of relaxing after our friend’s wedding, I’m finally ready to show off the pictures of the latest wedding quilt. I’ve had a hard time not really talking about this quilt much over the last year (since it took so much work to make!). It came down to the wire (yep, I’m a procrastinator!) but I finished it up last Thursday night and had it ready to pass along to them on Friday at their rehearsal dinner.
I did mangage to squeeze in a photo shoot before I packaged it up!

It's Finished!

It’s amazing how different it looks to me when it’s open and not right in front of my face. I really didn’t get the full effect until I had it all done and could look at it from far away.
A Ton of Squares In That Thing

I put a patch on the back like I have for the last three quilts I’ve done. It looks about the same as the others!
A Ton of Squares In That Thing

I realized when I got home that my camera did not take very good pictures of Laura and Steve opening their quilt in the dark restaurant. So here’s the best I can do for now though:
It's Not a Girlie Quilt, Steve!

It’s such a big relief to have it done. Enjoy it, Laura and Steve! 🙂

With only a week to spare, I’m once again finding myself in the situation of stressing out about finishing a quilt for a wedding (Anyone remember my rants from last July?). For this one, I’m close to having half of the binding on, and two more borders of quiltling left.

Binding!

For so long I’ve been putting this project off–it’s been too hot this summer, other projects were more important, going back to work–and now I’m worried that I waited too long. People keep telling me it’s not a big deal–that even if it’s not finished, I can give it to them after the wedding, but I really, really don’t want to do that. I’m so close, but I have so much to do the next few days (and I recently started knitting a pair of socks, and that’s way more fun right now than flipping out about a quilt being finished).
I’m coming to the conclusing that I love working on big projects until right before I’m finished with it. Stupid, isn’t it?

With just over a week to go before I go back to work, I’m starting to notice that I’m in a little bit of a frenzy to get as much quilting as possible done before next Wednesday. To most people, that would probably mean working on the projects that I’ve already started and committed myself to (like finishing Laura and Steve’s wedding quilt, basting the Modern Quilt-Along Quilt, making a final decision on which Denyse Schmidt pattern I’m going to do for the quilt along) but apparently, I just can’t do that. Instead I decided that I wanted to try something else, without a patten. I came up with this:

Blue and Yellow Blocks

I’m really happy with what they’re turning out like. No two blocks are the same yet, which I think is good. I figure I’ll make as many blocks as I can until I either run out of the fabric, or I have enough to make a quilt. I’m thinking I’ll also add a cream colored muslin sashing between the blocks. We’ll see.

Second New Bag In Less Than a Day

I said I was making more! This one is also a bandana I found (cool bandanas, aren’t they?) and I quilted it in spirals. Here’s a little bit better of a look at that:
Close Up

Sometimes it’s important for me to take a break from my bigger projects and do something I can get done in a few hours. I’m ready to get back to my other projects now.

New Bag

Gosh, I love bags! I picked up a patchwork bandana today, and decided that I’d make it into a new lunch bag for work. It only took me a few hours and for a first try, I’m pretty pleased with it. (I love projects that only take a few hours to do!) I have collected a few other bandanas (not the patchwork kind like this one though) so I think I’ll make some more. Maybe my sewing skills will get better with the next one.

Quilts on Display

My Wedding Spectaularrr Quilt ended up with a 3rd place ribbon at our fair. I was pretty disappointed, honestly. We thought my quilt was much better than the 2nd place winner (the one above mine). There was very little actual quiling on it, and I thought my stitches looked a lot cleaner. I’m not even really sure if they’re judged by a quilter though. Oh well. It’s not what I had hoped for, but at least I won a ribbon.
(Special note: I came in 3rd and 4th in the hand-quilted, pieced division. There were only 4 quilts entered into that category!)

Tagged!

Yeeeehaw! My quilts are going to smell like swine by the end of next week. It’ll be worth it if I win the top prize of 7 bucks. I could almost buy an elephant ear with that on the midway.
Here’s what I took in: I entered my only completed queen-size quilt finshed to date: Wedding Stars, aka, Wedding Spectacularrrrr (you’ve really got to roll your “r’s” when you say it though or it just won’t come out right). It was a gift to my sister-in-law and her new husband just over a year ago.
Wedding Spectaularrr, One Year Later

I also ended up entering the first quilt I made that was finished in 2002. I hadn’t planned on using my second entry since the other wedding quilt that I’m still finishing (I’m getting close!) isn’t done yet. I didn’t want to waste the quarter that I paid to enter a second quilt (yes, I’m cheap). From far away it doesn’t look too bad:
Ben's Quilt

But when you get up close to it, you can really tell that I had no idea what I was doing. I hadn’t read a book, talked my quilting Granny, looked anything up online…. nothing. I remember when I put it on the floor to baste my quilt sandwich, my mom was standing there and her comment was, “It looks nice, but it kinda looks like an elephant sat on it.” The thing doesn’t even come close to being squared up. And when I started to quilt it (I hand quilted this one too) I had no idea that you could just pull the knot through the fabric and slip it into the batting….noo. I wiggled my arm all the way up to the middle and started my needle between the quilt sandwich. I got a book about 5 squares into it and suddenly realized, “oh! That’s how I do it.”
Band Hand Quilting and Puckering

Just look at that puckering and stinky hand quilting! On the up side, it does have a four-leaf clover fabric in it that could look like a 4-H logo. I’m hoping to win some of the judges over that way.