Signed, Sealed, and Waiting To Be Delivered

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With only days to spare, I have finally finished the quilt. Today it took a trip through the washer and dryer to get its new quilt smell, and remove the majority of dog hair trapped in the stiches. It came out looking perfect–it’s got that crisp look, but at the same time, looks like it could have been made 50 years ago because of the wrinkles. I love the wrinkles. That’s the best part of taking it out of the dryer for the first time. Ahhh!

Yay! It's Done!

I really am pleased with how the quilting turned out on this bad boy. For all of the frustration I had with picking out the design, it was so worth waiting for to start. The pictures don’t show how nice it looks–I wish I could show it to everyone in person.
Showin Off The Backside

But overall, I really am excited to give this one away. I think part of the reason why I don’t have as much stress and tension about giving this one as a gift, is that it’s actually going to another quilter. My Granny does beautiful work, also all by hand, and I know she’ll appreciate all the work that went into it. Although this quilt (which, I should add is called “Celebration”) is smaller than the Wedding Spectacularrr quilt, it doesn’t mean that I worked on it any less than I did the big one. I just know that it’s going to someone who really will see the value in all my work. That makes a big difference to me.
Yay! Another quilt finished!
Looks Done To Me

It’s DONE!

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Okay, so it’s “virtually” finished (when I worked in the news business I was never allowed to write with that word, since it’s a crappy word and in this case means that the quilt is only slightly finished, but not really). I still have to take it to my mom to help me dot the “i” in the embrodery that I’m using to sign my name on the back. I’m French Knot uneducated. So after it goes into the wash after work tomorrow, I’ll have Ben help me take pictures to show it off.
I’ve been contemplating my next project though (like I have time to start a new project). I took some time the other night to draw it out here:

New Quilt.... Again.

I made one block to see how it would turn out, and I think I really like it. If it turns out the way I hope it will, I think it’ll be a really good project.
Purple Burple Block

But the best thing (or it could be worst in this case, since it’ll probably take me around three years to make) is that I already found the perfect backing fabric for it. We have a great Hallmark/giftshop/fabric store in town called Kean’s, and the other day I spotted this fabric. I don’t think the picture does it much justice. It’s much cooler looking in person. Either way, I think that means that I have to make the quilt soon, so that I can at least figure out how much of the backing fabric I’ll need to make it. I have to justify these things to myself.
Pictures will soon follow of the finished product!

Crappy Weather = Quality Quilting Time

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October and Halloween has come and gone. I carved my pumpkins,

Pumpkin Carving Central

dressed up like the tooth fairy for a class full of first graders,
Tooth Fairy Wand

(that’s my tooth fairy wand. Thanks for the great costume idea Becka!) and now it’s November. November sucks. No really, it does. I hate the snow that will be coming soon, I hate the cold, and I hate the way it gets dark at approximately 3:30 in the afternoon now. But the one good thing about late fall is that it’s finally the right season to quilt. I’m so close to finishing up Granny’s quilt, that I’m hardly able to control myself. I need to finish it! I think that if I work everyday, I’ll be able to have it done by the end of the week.
Almost Finished

And to prove just how far my nose has been buried in my quilting lately, I didn’t even happen to notice that Craftster has added a new section for people to post just about quilts. I didn’t have a lot of time to look at all the posts, but there were some good quilts posted. I may have to show off this quilt there when I’m finished with it. (I’m such a show off! Is that a bad thing??)

Finally!

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It’s taken weeks to get there, but I finally figured out how to finish quilting the Granny Quilt. I started a pinwheel sort of design in the four corner spot that I was having so much trouble with. The template is just the same as the lemon shaped pieces in the quilt, cut in half and rotated on the same side of each square, like this:

Pinwheel Pattern

So the cool thing with this is when several of the blocks are done this way, it gives it a distorted Apple Core pattern feeling to it, like this:
Looks Neat, Doesn't It?

(Sorry about the crappy picture)
I wasn’t sure I wanted to do it at first, but I think it’s going to look a lot better once the whole thing is done. Either way, it looks better to me than having nothing in that space. Without it, it just looked like I had forgotten to finish that section. Now I just have to worry about actually getting it done!
Oh, and here’s my new kitchen door:
New Door

It’s nice now, but I freaked out pretty bad when this was the sight in my kitchen:
Holy Crap, There's A Six Foot Hole In My Kitchen!

Needless to say, I was pretty happy when I had a wall again.

Gotta Get The Gifts Done

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So I’m back to work on Granny’s quilt, but I’m still not sure what the final quilting pattern is going to be. I’m trying not to think about it while I just try to finish the basic pattern that I’ve already started. I’m getting the pre-gift jitters again though, with concerns about if I’m going to be able to finish it on time or not. I have one other gift that I’m working on too, that I’m not able to show or speak about, since the person that it’s going to visits here. That one isn’t nearly as exciting as Granny’s quilt though, so you all aren’t really missing out on too much.
I have been knitting scarves like a crazy woman though. You’d think by the time I made three scarves that I’d probably want another knitting project to start on. I bought a book the other night with a hat pattern in it, but I’m just so content to knit scarves right now in a boring old garter stich, that I’m not sure that I could try making one any time soon. I’m in a knit rut, but I seem to be pretty happy where I’m at right now.
I did happen to stumble across a fun quilting link, found at the blog Wee Wonderfuls. She mentioned an article about a company called Fun Quilts that’s in the current issue of Country Living magazine. They’ve got some really great modern quilt patterns, but unlike quilters like Denyse Schmidt, the quilts are all machine pieced and quilted. I just guess that’s the traditional quilter in me, that thinks a quilt is of higher quality when made completly by hand. Fun Quilts prices are a bit more reasonable than Denyse Schmidts though, and they do have some really great looking designs. It’s fun to check out either way.
We have another hole in the wall of our house. This time it’s to put in a patio door. It’s a going to be a bigggg hole. I’ll post pictures later!

It’s Show And Tell Time!

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The computer is finally back to normal again, and I have pictures to prove that I have actually been working! The current wedding quilt is coming along so nicely right now. I got a ton of piecing done this weekend when Ben and I were stuck in the house being sickies (which I still am). I keep looking at my bag of squares to sew and thinking just how much I have to go, even with all of the fabric not cut yet. It took me over a year to do the Wedding Spectacularrrr quilt, and this one’s got a lot more piecing and quilting than that one did. As of this Friday, the 8th, I have exactly one year.

Long Way To Go

There’s a lot more to do, isn’t there?
But during the time when I’m not working on that, I’ve been keeping myself busy with the knitting. I finally finished the blue scarf that I ripped out and started again, and I’ve also started a fuzzy orange one. I love the color orange, and have no idea when I’ll ever use an orange scarf, but it’s fun anyway.
Blue Scarf

and….
Pumpkin Orange Scarf

If nothing else, I’ll be able to wear that one for Halloween.
And finally, after several weeks of stress, I finally recieved my new quilt rack. Finally! I’m really happy with it too, but I found out, that there really wasn’t a good place to put it in my house. Its location is still somewhat to be determined, but for now its sitting at the end of the hallway, just inside our office.
It's A Quilt Rack...FINALLY!

The green quilt on the front is the first I ever made, for my now husband as a high school graduation present. It took me a year and a half into his time at college to actually finish it. The one behind it is a quilt titled “Bloom,” made by my Granny. She’s the recipient of the blue, yellow and green quilt I’m working on. Which, by the way, is still causing me major stress and headaches, since I still haven’t decided how to finish quilting it. I figured some time away from it would help me.
Whew! That was a long post!

A Post Without Pictures

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I’ve been working on projects a lot the last couple of days (along with having a cold to slow me down pretty badly) that’s been keeping me from posting anything new. So this afternoon, after work, I decided that I’d update everything that’s been new in the last week, and I went around and shot some pictures to show what’s been up. But what I didn’t know, is that Ben changed around our computer last week, and the program I use to load pictures to our website is no longer installed. So while I wait for that, let me just say, that Wedding Quilt #2 is coming along nicely. Also, the blue scarf I started awile ago is finally finished, and a new fuzzy orange scarf is newly started. I also got my new quilt rack (which is lovely, despite the rage I experienced while ordering it) and it’s looking very cool. I’d show you all of these things, but I guess I’m going to have to wait until I’m able to put them on our website. Hopefully that’s no later than tomorrow!

The Stress Is Killing Me!

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I hate being stressed out over a hobby. I don’t even think it’s that I’m so worked up over my quilting, it’s that stupid quilt rack that I ordered from Crate & Barrel several weeks ago. Turns out that I have to be home for a four hour block for them to drop it off. Since I don’t get home until 4pm, there’s no way that’s possible. I’ve yelled at the shipping company, and Crate & Barrel, and they sugessted that I pay for after hours shipping, or drive the hour and a half drive to Grand Rapids to pick it up at the shipping hub. Which to that I say absolutly not! So hopefully I’ll be able to have them drop it off at my parents house, which is still in my mind, wrong, since I paid to have it delivered to my house. So just a word to anyone out there that’s considereding having Crate & Barrel furniture shipped to their house–they’re not nice to deal with, and I personally won’t deal with them again.
Now on to my quilting dillema. I’ve started the quilting on Granny’s Quilt, and although I like it so far, I don’t know how to complete it. Each block has two sqaures on opposite points, where I’ve quilted a square with an “X” through. On its opposite corners, the four points of each quilt square meet together. It looks a little bland to me there, and I’m not quite sure how to quilt it. I thought about outlining a simple circle, but I’m not sure if that will look right. Either way, here’s a picture of the quiltwork so far. If anyone has any ideas for ways to quilt the blank spaces (Look to the previous post if you need a reminder of what the front looks like) please leave me some comments. I’m taking any and all ideas–even silly ones. Those sometimes turn out to work really well.

Quilting Writers Block

*note: I’m sorry if my description made no sense. Hopefully the picture is self explanitory.
**note2: It is a lot larger of a blank space than it looks like in this picture. Any ideas are greatly appreciated!

Inching Closer To Finishing

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No, I’m not ignoring the world of blogs, I’m actually working on projects! We’ve just about finished the room renovation–I’ve got curtains to make and Ben is finishing some trim up. It’s so nice to have a sewing room that I actually enjoy being in from time to time.
See? It’s pretty nice now, compared to earlier!

Not So Trashy Anymore!

And yes, I do collect and have a slight obsession with yellow rubber ducks. That’s a small number of ducks on display compared to what my college apartment looked like.
And more good project news! I’ve finished piecing together Granny’s Quilt, and I’ve started quilting it. It’s very approprate, since a lot of the prints are the 1930’s repoduction fabric (I love that stuff). I even used one of the repo prints for the back fabric. It took me a while to figure out how I would quilt the bad boy, but I think I’ve come up with an interesting, and not too over the top way to do it. Now if I can just finish it up by the time Christmas rolls around.
Granny's Quilt

The number of projects for Christmas is growing, but I’m not allowed to share them all here. I know who reads this blog! You people don’t fool me!

Procrastination, But It’s Not My Fault!

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I really, really wanted to get my latest quilt project pieced by now. I had been moving along on it really well, when we had to start a new project. The difference? This one’s house related.
To describe the condition of my house, one must think back to the days when pressed wood panneling looked nice in homes. Oh wait, that was never. This winter we pulled down the gray panneling in our office (what an awful job, since it was glued to the walls and pulled the drywall down with it) and now we’re doing our guestroom/sewing room. Lucky for us, the panneling wasn’t glued on in this room, but we still have to patch plaster all the holes in the walls and ceiling from nails and screws, before we’re able to paint and move back in. It also means that the only other woody room in my house is the kitchen. Oh, how I long for the day that we’re able to afford new cabinets that aren’t panneled.
Here’s a recent scene from the work in my soon to be nice looking sewing room:

Bye Bye Nasty Wood Panneling!

But on the other hand, I still have more done with this quilt than I had planned to by this time. The first four rows have been pieced together completely, and it has only taken me about an hour to sew each row on. I’m hoping the room will be finished in a few more days, so I’ll be able to work on this again for more than five minutes at a time. I’d really like to have this finished by Christmas though, since I’d like to give it to Granny for a Christmas/January birthday gift for her. I never seem to be able to hit my deadlines lately though. I need to get better at it by the time my next wedding quilt is due next year.
I really had hoped to have this done by now:
Waiting On The Couch For Me To Finish

I’m still waiting for my quilt rack. I’ll be sure to post a picture of it when it gets here.