Ben's Quilt and Noah's Quilt

This is the t-shirt quilt I inherited mid-piecing, ripped apart and put back together in my own style! What a task! But I was able to fit in some shirts that weren't going to make the quilt and reduced the size and weight of the quilt considerably, so I'm very happy with the result. It's still a good twin size, though! There are a few places that could have been better if I had it from the start, but that's what I get for being a little obsessive!

Ben's birthday party is today, so I hope he gets a huge kick out of seeing all these shirts he thought he threw out years ago!!!

They requested that the back have the Greek letter alpha in red to represent his team at camp. I just pieced the rest out of whatever I had left over and some extra maroon fabric I bought. It's stippled all over in white and bound with maroon scraps. It's actually the first quilt I got to wash and dry after stippling and see the fun crinkle (the first one I had time to wash, my mom took out of the dryer and ironed! he he).

My friend was sweet enough to pay me a little something for my troubles and I have already spent it on fabric for some upcoming wedding quilts!

This is a quilt I made for my friend, Jenny's, baby shower a couple of weeks ago. We've known each other since kindergarten and it was such a special time to see so many life-long friends and celebrate the upcoming arrival of Noah! With a name like that, you've gotta know that his room is animal themed, and I just happened to have picked up this panel in the clearance bin at Hobby Lobby thinking I'd make a Linus quilt with it one day. It was a perfect weekend project to make as soon as school was out and have ready for her shower on Saturday! I had already washed it and Mr. Lion's eyes and mouth came un-embroidered, but that didn't take too long to redo. Just a quick iron, sandwich and baste with some batting and white flannel I had on hand, stipple all over, and I tried my hand at this satin blanket binding. It was a good learning opportunity and I used My Spare Time's tutorial which was so helpful! I'm sure it will look even better next time I use this type of binding!

Here's Mr. Lion up close. He's got a smile back on his face, now!

I hope Noah gets lots of tummy time on his quilt!

I had another baby shower today for my cousin and made her some super cute burp cloths with some of the flannel blankets she registered for, but, alas, I took no pictures. I'll have to work on that.

Right now I'm in that blissful stage in-between projects when I can clean up my sewing room and get my act together before I start ramping up for a graduation, two weddings and Christmas! So much to get ready for!

100th Post, A Milestone Birthday, and a Finish!

Let's start with the birthday - I turned 30 this past Thursday! Yikes! I had a great day and got lots accomplished with my patients that day - even a quiz got postponed : ) Erik spoiled me with a subscription to the Dallas Opera and some beautiful new jewelry! I spoiled myself with more fabric! We put off the birthday dinner until Wednesday night, and my brother and sister-in-law handed me a card that had this temporary tattoo in it:

How awesome is that? I'm wearing it to my next guild meeting! They're sold by Block Party Studios..check 'em out!

It is so awesome in fact, that I decided to do my first little giveaway to mark my 100th post! SO, leave a comment between now and next Saturday (Oct 3, at 12am CST) and I'll pick a random winner to receive one incredibly cool "Born to Quilt" temporary tattoo just like mine and an envelope stuffed with scraps from Cotton Blossoms, Peas and Carrots, Shangrila and more!






Here's my latest finish:

It's a baby quilt for my cousin Jon's new baby, Duncan. I used Amanda Jean's Elia's Squares pattern and love it! The fabric is Peas and Carrots and some solids from my stash. The green solid was a pain trying to find and looks amazingly lime in this picture. It is not in reality.






The back:













And a close-up : )













Can somebody please help me put my crochet hook down? I have no idea why I'm making this, but I can't stop. It's not amazingly beautiful by any means. I don't even know who is going to wear it! If anything, I'm learning to be consistent, getting faster, and slowly building up my addiction! I've even signed up to get newsletters and patterns from Lion Brand Yarn. They're doing a cool crochet-along, too, using motifs!





This t-shirt quilt was inherited from a sweet lady who offered to make a quilt for a friend of mine. At first, I thought I would be able to embrace her design and plan, but the few issues that were present induced me to start taking it apart entirely. Well, almost. It was just too big to be the lap quilt my friend wants, and I'm forcing the last bits of t-shirt in to make sure everybody's included. I hate it when a few get left out! There was also an issue getting the sashing to line up, and since I try to avoid lining anything up at all costs, I changed plans. In the end, it will be a hybrid of my Aggie quilt and Sarah's quilt, as my friend would like the squares sashed in the the blues/blacks provided, but also wants a definite Aggie maroon presence : )

Gotta get back to studying as I have a test on Monday. I start my pediatrics rotation this week, so wish me luck and no screaming children!

I'm Still Here

School is crazy! I have no time to blog! But now that I found my camera (hiding in the back of the Jeep) and had a chance to gather a few things together and take pictures, I offer to you: my 99th post! What in the world will I do for the next one? 100 posts is exciting! We'll see...

I did almost finish crocheting the edge around this fleece blankie for Project Linus in the car on the way to Houston last weekend. Hope I can find more yarn to match to finish up the border, run a ribbon through the center and turn it in! I whipped out my "I Taught Myself to Crochet" book to add the last row.

I finished this quilt the first weekend of September and even took it to Show and Tell at guild, but I just never had time to get a picture of it. We're enjoying it on the couch now that it's college football season! Lots of couch time...

Here's the back:

I ordered this panel from Melanie and it was sooo great to get a fun package in the mail today as this entire week was a doozy with the grand finale today! I plan on leaving a bit of the red border and adding some coins as a border since I have some Merry and Bright charms in my stash.
Easy, fun table topper!

Little did she know that stuffing this way fun panel in the envelope with it was just the lift I needed when I got home today! Thanks so much, Melanie! I can't wait to make a fun christmas project with this!

I decided that this was my favorite snow man in the panel. Snow days are so longed for here in Texas and so very rare. They really turn out to be "ice days", and since we don't know how to drive on ice, we stay home. Nothing better!

I ordered this sewing machine tote for myself, for my birthday. I turn the big "3-0" soon, and can't seem to stop buying myself birthday presents as the day approaches. At least that's the excuse I use!

This is a quilt top that is just about finished for a baby that will be here really soon. I used Amanda Jean's pattern and it was super easy. I love that there are no corners to match up, except the blocks themselves! I'm so lazy...

I also stocked up for the winter. I think I'm good to go!

And last, but not least, I did actually receive a gift for my birthday. My mother-in-law picked out this great organizer and pressing station which will be perfect for toting all my stuff around now that I'm into that whole "quilting with other women" thing.

Hopefully I'll finish up that baby quilt this weekend. Then it's back to the grind of dental school and rotations. Blah.

Wedding Quilt Mania

Erik and I had another wedding to go to this weekend. Yet another of my dental school buddies tied the knot, this time in Texarkana. You figure out where that is.

This time I dove into my stash and chose fabrics based on the only color scheme I could come up wtih for this couple: maroon and green. Jon went to Texas A&M and Kim to Baylor. There you have it.





One fabric was from the curtains we found in our Round Rock house when we moved in and subsquently replaced. Two fabrics are left over from a welcome mat I made in college that said "HOWDY" and was taken (contrary to the Aggie code of honor) right off the front porch! The homespun maroon was left over from my Aggie t-shirt quilt and the greens from Nanna's table runner. I did buy the bleached muslin for the borders and the backing.

Sorry, this pic is a bit windy and shadowy....

This one a bit dark...

(I've discovered I don't allow my husband many opportunities to use our little camera. He needs some practice...)













And this one is just right ; )

It's lap sized and stippled and was bound on the 2.5 hr drive to the church plus the extra 45 mins sitting in the parking lot because we were early. Whew, that was close!

It was a beautiful wedding and a fun reception! I hope they love their quilt and spend many hours on the couch in front of the tv watching A&M vs. Baylor games with it ; )

No, You're Not Seeing Double...

Yes, I have lost my mind. Finished these up today and will spend my evening quilting a(nother) wedding quilt for this weekend.

These are for Mary Kate and Emory, my cousin's new twin girls. I have reports that they will match their nusery perfectly. That makes me giddy!

They are smaller, around 40x40", and made with Shangri-La by Moda, some off-white fabric from JoAnn, and what turned out to be curtain lining fabric. That's what you get when you dive into fabric from someone else's stash.

The quilts began as nine patches-to-be-disappearing nine patches, but they ended up just turned inside-out. Kind of. I just sliced and diced and put the big remaining squares back together.

It's all super random this way and I like it.

The backing is solid but I did make the binding from the blue floral fabric. I like it. I stitched-in-the-ditch on this one because of the square patterns, and it's ok. Not a huge fan.

Just a few labels and these will be in the mail since we didn't make it to Houston (long story). I'm so excited for them to get a fun, unexpected package!

Wedding Quilt

It was such a privilege to go to San Antonio this weekend to see my friend Elizabeth marry Dane. What a celebration! The party wasn't over until 2am (no, we didn't last that long)! What was even better, was giving her the quilt and getting to see the look on her face! Absolutely priceless!

It's lap size, made of Camille's colorway of Cotton Blossoms by Moda and sashed with unbleached muslin - the only fabric I could find to match the off-white in the quilting fabric. I know many people use muslin to sash all the time, but this was my first experience. I'm not in love, but it is very soft and looks great in this quilt!

It was hard to part with this one!

I used a layer cake and cut them all in half to make the large "coins" and sashed it all. I then stippled the whole thing with a natural thread and hand stitched the binding.

Just another strip on the back and a label to mark the occasion! This time I wrote out the message with a dissappearing ink pen and stitched it, so it's in my handwriting - it's kinda odd to see my handwriting in thread!




Let's just say I have enough Cotton Blossoms left over for another project and that makes me really happy : )

Finished by the Fourth!

Around 2 am this morning, that is...

I've been on a roll with these late nights this week: I had a cram session for a test on Monday night, set anterior and posterior denture teeth all night for a patient on Tuesday night, and waxed up those dentures to turn them in to the lab pretty late on Wednesday night.

It was only appropriate that I decided that this quilt had to be finished before going to bed yesterday/today.

It is the 2nd machine quilted quilt I've made, but since this one is like 4 times the size of the baby quilt, there is no comparison. My arms got quite the workout! I stippled it with black thread. That was a hard decision. Would I use white if I did it again? I still have no idea. If I hand quilted it, it probably wouldn't matter because the spacing of the stitches makes it more camouflaged, but this continuous line stitch shows up a lot more. It works. Just hope Sarah likes it!

It's a good-sized twin that is just short on my full sized bed in the quest room. I haven't labeled it yet because I have no embroidery thread that matches...but I solved that problem with a free shipping order placed to Joann's yesterday. Gotta be prepared for next time! And gotta love those coupon codes!

We're going out to Sarah's dad's house today for some fun in the sun at the lake on their new boat! (Hence the necessity of having her quilt finished.) This is what I'll be doing - floating on a life jacket. Nice. Our not-so-new boat is due back from the boat hospital on....Monday. Timing was a little off, but we still get to get out on the water with all the other crazy people who don't mind baking in 100 degree heat on the water! Wish me luck! I'm going to go apply my 1st layer of sunscreen over my ever-so-white skin right now. Then I might just bake a pie. Apple would be appropriate...no?

Erik and I recently watched the John Adams HBO mini-series and I now have a whole new perspective of what my ancestors lived through to birth a new nation. Wow. You have to see it. Thanks, Uncle John and Grandfather Valentine amd the rest of the clan (including the women who supported them) for fighting to create our free nation! This is the big battle they fought on King's Mountain.

Happy 4th of July!

Kennedy's Quilt

Well, little Miss Kennedy was born this week and her quilt is finished! Sure hope her momma loves it! I got to see some pictures of her sleeping in her crib on Facebook. Her bedding totally matches the quilt. Totally.

I was hoping to get this done a lot sooner, but my cold knocked me out last weekend, and when I finally had the energy to get to it, I realized the brown binding I had was not chocolate enough for me, so I had to buy some more...and wash it...and iron it...you get the picture.

The quilt is on the smaller side because I designed it on my 36"x48" science fair/quilt design board. Still perfectly appropriate for a baby quilt!

This was my absolute first quilt to stipple and I'm pretty happy with the outcome. Still have a long way to go, but I've got the gist of it, now.

My bindings are down to a science, now, and I really feel like I've got the hang of the whole bias thing. I thought about giving it up after Elizabeth's discussion of binding during her mod sampler quilt-along, but when it comes down to it, I'm too lazy and will probably always buy my binding and deal with the bias-ness of it, angled seams and all!

I just pieced the back with whatever fabric I had left. It works!

I would have loved to applique her name, but it wasn't divulged until now, and well, "Kennedy" is kinda long.... : )

So, welcome to the world, little girl! Now on to binding Sarah's quilt! I'm on a roll!

Miss Riley Bliss' Quilt

I made my first quilt a little over 3 years ago for Angel's first child, Savannah. I was so excited about quilting I decided that I would just go ahead and make 3 quilts, all exactly the same. Crazy? Manic, even? Probably. But I just kept on sewing. I figured that there'd be other friends and family having kids, and eventually I'd join the ranks of motherhood...

Funny thing, is that once the babies really started coming in the lives of those around me, instead of giving them one of the quilts I had already made, I chose to buy all sorts of cute fabrics (no!) and try out different blocks (heavens!) and attempt to make my quilts fit in with their nurseries (never!).


So, this quilt top sat in my stash for 3 years. It only seemed appropriate to make it up to match Savannah's when Angel had her third child, Miss Riley Bliss. The pink backing is different, the tied bows are much more secure, and the binding is much, much better. It was hard to finish it as the piecing is nothing that I would now approve of, but it's way fun that it was pieced at the same time as her big sister's. The tied bows cover a multitude of sins...

That's one quilt down...

(sorry, Mel, didn't build up enough courage to free-motion! But bandana quilt, here I come!)

One. (my first commission!)

Two/Three. (twins!)
Four.

Five to go.

Before June.

Sydney's Quilt

It's so fun to finish! Especially when the project has been challenging. I'm sure your sharp eyes can see some of the minor problems the white minkee squares gave me, and oh that satin! Even with a walking foot, some ugly things were said under my breath while sitting at my machine. ; )


And it felt like I was stitching in the grass as I hand stitched the binding on the back side with that super soft and fluffy rosette minkee. I'm slightly disappointed I didn't take a picture of the mess it made on the carpet cutting the excess off once the binding was on. Pink everywhere!

So the specs: the squares are home dec fabric, sashed with brown satin and backed with pink minkee. It is hand quilted with soft pink thread: stitch in the ditch around all the lines and a big "X" through each square. It's a big baby quilt: just a tad smaller than the Heirloom cotton batting, so around 45" x 60". And it's heavy!

I'm thinking I'll drop this off at it's new home tomorrow after school. Then I HAVE to nail down what I'm doing for my advent calendar. I still like my Christmas tree idea, but I found a Michael Miller pattern for an advent calendar using a Christmas tree theme, so I might go that way, too. Decisions, decisions. I WILL have the fabric picked and cut this month!

I have decided to make a quilt for baby Brandon (the recipient of the black-and-white burp cloths - his middle name, by the way - Red-Wilder - I knew it would get in there somehow!). I've also decided that it will be made via the quilt along with Elizabeth at oh, fransson! I'll cut out 2 rows or so to make it a baby quilt. This way, it will be done before the end of the month and I'll be well on my way to a quilt a month this year! After that, my friends need to seriously stop having babies so I can make quilts for other people without deadlines like due dates or baby showers (even though I'm not very good at sticking to those).

Addictions

One of the blogs I read is Perpetualplum's, who repurposes found objects to make jewelry. I made my way to her Etsy shop and found a necklace I just had to get for my grandmother's birthday (in April...). Therefore, I had to get an Etsy account. BIG mistake (but GREAT necklace!) I proceeded to look at fabric shops and found a great deal on 1.25" cotton webbing to make key fobs a la Melanie. I got fabric to make 2 quilts (I'm going through a Moda phase, right now.) I was so excited to get some Cotton Blossoms designed by Camille Roskelley and her mom. Also got some Portugal which matches someone's decor perfectly. I will be severely limiting my Etsy adventures in the future.

In the spirit of limiting my Etsying, I would like to mention that Melanie (Above All Fabric - see the button on the right side of my blog...) is having a give away to celebrate the 1 year anniversary of her store! Nothing like some free fabric to satisfy those cravings that get me in trouble! Go check it out! I also enjoy buying fabric from her - great service and some really good deals. (But don't buy the end of bolts - those are mine!)

Above is proof of my crafting gluttony...another rag quilt, this time for my sister-in-law, Monika.

Below is the quilt I'm making for her. It is pieced and basted and ready for some serious hand quilting action if I'm going to make it before the baby gets here. Wish me luck! (She's due around Valentine's Day!)

For a split second, I thought I had run into trouble with the white minkee blocks, but thanks to my feed dogs, all is well. I have to kick my shouts out to Fons and Porter for this one. They're the ones that taught me that if you have a stretchy fabric or a section that's a bit too long when your trying to match seams....all you have to do is put the long and/or stretchy fabric on the bottom and sew at a moderat pace, and those feed dogs will magically scoop up the extra. It totally worked, and I must say that this is the best piecing I've done to date. Maybe everyone knows that trick, but when you learn as you go on the internet, you may miss some things....I also used pre-sashing which I learned from their show. So much better than using long strips.

Now, take a good look at the pink minkee rosettes she picked out for the backing. Now, take a look at this:

That would be the exact same minkee in the form of a girl's shirt at Walmart. Yes, Walmart. Never would have thought to make a shirt out of minkee. They had every color imaginable. It really is amazing what you can find there!