Inspiration!

Although I have in the past subscribed to many quilt magazines, I stopped in order to save money.  Though I love to look through the magazines, I always wound up with a pile that did not have a single project in it that I wanted to make.  Now I still like to look at all the new magazines, but I won't buy one unless I've looked through it and there are at least a couple of projects that really catch my eye.

Yesterday at the grocery store, I saw the cover of the June 2006 American Patchwork and Quilting and bought the magazine immediately, without even glancing inside.  I just fell in love with the cover quilt and knew it was something I had to make.  It wasn't that big of a surprise to come home and discover the pattern was designed by Carrie Nelson, who is the artist behind Miss Rosie's Quilt Company - probably my favorite pattern designer.  I just love her scrappy designs.

Never has a project sent me so quickly digging into my stash!  I spent a big chunk of last night pulling out all my reds, blacks and creams/whites.  All of which I have a ton of, after making the 3 cherry-themed quilts a couple of years ago.

Ah - sweet inspiration!  I haven't had much time for quilting as work has been busy and I'm preparing things at home for us to leave on vacation.  I know I will miss my sewing machine and will be itching to quilt when I get home!

Adventures in Knitting

Yes, this started out as a knitting blog at some point before my quilting seemed to take over!  I am doing a little knitting here and there, and we're preparing for a road trip to my mom's next week and I'm getting projects ready for the car.

I finished up the Fickle Fingers scarf, which I said I would do before allowing myself to start another project.  I just have a couple of ends to weave in, then I will post a picture.

Last night I got out the winder and swift and wound some yarn for the trip knitting - mostly felted bags, because they are easy to work on in the car.

This morning I threaded beads on 2 skeins of Rowan Cashcotton DK to make the Odessa hat.  This will be my first beading project and I'm anxious to start.  It's already been an adventure because all of the beads would not fit over my needle, but I discovered a trick to help out and now they are all loaded and ready to go.  I NEVER have the right needles for a new project, and this time it's no exception!  So a trip to the LYS at lunchtime today to pick up the correct sizes.

I did a little quilt stash shopping this weekend, but without going overboard.  I picked up a couple of fat quarters of Heather Ross's adorable prints.  I love the colors and the fabrics are incredibly soft!  I also picked up some quarters of pink and brown repro prints for my Pinny 'N Pa quilt.

I've already been promised a stop at the Buggy Barn on the way to my mom's house next Monday, and I am trying to budget for what I know I will spend there!  Then in April, though I'm not officially joining - I will be participating in the "add nothing to the stash" (well, except for the Buggy Barn, but that counts as a trip souvenier, no??)

And then there were 8!

I had a chance to sew together 4 more of the cowboy quilt blocks last night.  I am liking the way this looks with more of the prints added.  I received my last batch of FQs for this quilt last night, so it's full speed ahead on this one!

Baby quilt progress

Here are a couple more blocks that I've completed for the baby quilt.   I hope it's not too drab looking for a baby boy's quilt.  I think when I get a few more of the blocks completed, I'll have a better feel for that.

Thought I would share a couple of pictures from the quilt show I attended last week.  The first picture shows the magnificent long arm quilting of the quilter I'd hoped I could use, but she isn't doing it as a business any longer. It's a shame that you can't see how truly beautiful this quilt was. It also had crystals sewn onto the points of the pieceing - it was stunning.  The second photo is a really lovely quilt with every shade of red and pink. I adore scrap quilts and just loved this - it could be done in any color family, really.  Will have to file that away for a future project idea.

Not much of an update

No new pictures, nothing very interesting.  I really enjoyed my guild's quilt show on Friday.  I took a number of pictures of things that inspired me (will try and post some of them later this week) and spent a moderate amount of money at the vendor's booths.

I found a quilter in the show who did some beautiful work on her long-arm machine, but after contacting her, discovered she no longer quilts for other people.  So sadly, my search is still on.  I have a line on someone in Seattle, so I need to get a quilt prepared to talk to her about.  I think the Valentine quilt for my daughter's teacher will be the first one that I ask to have quilted, since it needs to be finished before the end of the school year.

Boy a quilt show is good and bad - great for inspiration, but bad because it makes me a little overwhelmed by the number of projects I already have!  And which to make next!

I didn't get any quilting time this weekend, but last night finished 2 more blocks for the Johnny & Buck quilt.

Nothing to see here, folks

No real progress on any of my quilts.  I received the rest of my Johnny & Buck background fabric, so I am busy cutting out 48 blocks for 2 baby quilts.  Eek - that's a lot of blocks!

My friend Cecilia and I are taking the day off work on Friday to go to my guild's quilt show.  One of my goals is to try and find machine quilting I like and hopefully find a new long arm quilter.  I have a stack of quilt tops a mile high and will not use my former quilter after she badly mangled the last 2 quilts I brought her.  :(

In other quilt news, I have decided to donate this quilt to an auction being conducted for a fellow employee.  Her 8 year old daughter was hit by a drunk driver and needs 24 hour care.  So sad.  I hope the quilt can help to raise some money to help them with expenses.

One down!

I finished attaching borders to the first of my pink and red Valentine quilts.  After removing the border and cutting, I found the pieces I'd previously sewn on were at least 1/2" bigger than the quilt.  No wonder it was wavy!

I did notice after I sewed the first side border on that I attached it upside down (the hearts are a directional print - click the second picture and you'll see for yourself), but - you know what? - I'm not ripping that sucker again.  Let's see if anyone notices...

I also worked up 2 test blocks with the Moda Johnny & Buck fabrics for the baby quilt I'm planning for my stepsister.  These blocks will go together with the dark triangles forming a pinwheel in the middle and also in the sashing.  I like the way it looks so far, but I'm waiting on more of the brown horseshoe fabric so I can cut the rest of the blocks out.

Choir for life!

Here is a picture of my son Eric (he's the blondie) at his choir concert.  He loves singing in the choir - this is his second year and he told me last year he was "in the choir for life"!  I hope he does want to continue with it, he has a really beautiful voice.  His twin brother loves music and loves to sing, but is too shy.  My DD Lily, when asked if she wants to sing in the choir rolls her eyes and says in her best Valley Girl voice "BORING"

Cutting corners is never good

I sewed the borders on one of my Valentine's quilts last night, only I was lazy and didn't take the time to measure the quilt and cut the borders to fit - I just sewed them on and cut off the excess fabric.  Well, as soon as I tried to hang it on my design wall, I could see a huge problem - wavy borders.  Ugh.  Now all that time I saved (and then some) not measuring, I will spend ripping out the borders and doing them again.  See what happens when you're way too anxious to move on to your next project?  Bah.

Much better!

I completed piecing the top of my Buttercream and Figs quilt.  I like this much better with the lighter brown setting squares and the dark brown to frame the quilt.  I haven't yet decided if I will use another dark brown print that I have for an outer border, or whether to stop at this point.  Decisions, decisions....

I received the fabric I ordered for the borders of my 2 pink/Valentine quilts.  Those are next on my list to put finish assembling (only the borders need to be added), and then I haven't quite decided which project to start next.  So many projects, so little time...

Why yes, I *have* completely lost my mind!

I registered online today for the Danskin Triathlon.  I have never done a tri and actually haven't ridden a bicycle or been swimming in 20 years or more.  Let's hope it's "just like riding a bike" to get back into it!  I'm doing it with my best friend from work and hopefully we will be able to do some training together, and definitely we will be motivating each other along the way.

This is crazy to even consider, but I figure I'm only going to get OLDER, so if I don't do it this year, then when?  Wish me luck!

Quilt progress - not so much

I'm kind of stuck, not completely happy with how these 2 quilts in progress are turning out.  Well, first I found out that my stepsister is having a boy, not a girl, so one of the pink quilts will not be for her.  I've decided I'll keep one and give the other to my daughter's kindergarten teacher at the end of the year.

I had a couple of different fabrics in mind to use for borders, both in light pink colors and they looked completely awful.  It really needs something calming, because the quilt is so busy.  I think something darker, more red or dark pink like what I put next to it in this photo, but also I think it needs to be more plain than either of these fabrics.  So I have a couple of things ordered.  I just hate having to have so much extra fabric around.  <sigh>

I put my Buttercream & Figs quilt back on my design wall with the new setting squares.  I like the new color squares, but I still didn't really like the overall effect of the quilt, shown here.  Then it dawned on me to try the dark brown fabric in place of the gold fabric for the outside edges and it looks AWESOME!  I didn't get a picture of it yet, but take my word for it - it really sets the quilt off and frames it beautifully.  Now I'm loving this one and can't wait to get it together.

New yarn stash

I had a free Saturday and made the mistake of going to the LYS.  This is a new shop where the owners are really friendly and they carry a lot of nice yarn.  The store was PACKED, which I was happy to see!  I'm glad they are doing a good business there, and carrying all sorts of fun goodies.

I came home with a Fleece Artist kit for the Thrummed Moebius - aren't these colors to die for?  And I must have been in an orange mood, because I bought the yarn to make this fun Goldilocks purse, too.