Whew! Finished!

I worked all week on them and finally got the two "Quilts for Kids" quilts finished! In my defense, Greg left on a unexpected business trip and I have had to juggle everything all week.

I felt much more confident machine quilting these two. I did a simple cable stencil on the boy's....

and a flower pattern in the 4-block of the girl's. I just couldn't bring myself to stitch up the pretty butterfly material, so I just stitched in the ditch around each block

I still have a long way to go to get machine quilting down. Each quilt has been a big learning experience. Tomorrow will be getting the labels on, and then on to my next project. I hope to have these three little quilts on their way in the mail Monday.

Happy Quilting!

Cindy

Caught up!

Today I caught up on the pinwheel blocks. I changed my mind on a couple fabrics so had to wash and iron some new recruits! That slowed me down, plus I had forgotten alot about matching points, etc. My first block (the right hand one in the top picture) I wonked out the center points.....I didn't notice it until I had it all together. I decided not to rip it out and start all over again. I did much better on the second one (blue).

I followed Rachel's tutorial on how to reduce bulk in the seams, and I think I did okay! It makes a cute wee little block hehe.

On the agenda tomorrow is to get the two "Quilts for Kids" sandwiched and pinned so I can machine quilt them on Thursday and Friday.

Happy Quilting!

Cindy

Decided to join...

p.s. i quilt's pinwheel quilt-along

I went today and bought the two background fabrics I wanted. I picked a creamy off white for my blue focus fabrics and a more tan than white for the green/red/pink focus fabrics I want to use. Both background fabrics are Kona cotton solids so they are very good quality material. I decided to join her quilt-along as it is only sewing a block a week and I can continue my other projects. I need/want to hone my skills for this major project that I want to do next year.

I picked up this book today. (40% off yay!!) I have been eye-ing it forever. Next year I want to work my way through it and make every block, sort of like Julie does with Julia's cookbook in the movie "Julie and Julia".

Not much sewing today. I did hand piece a little on my Grandmother's flower garden. I mostly just washed and ironed all the fabrics for the pinwheel quilt along.

Will post picks of the pinwheel blocks after I get them made. I am only two blocks behind!

Happy Quilting!

Cindy

Giveaway!

After seeing this giveaway I just had to post about it! You can win one of two wonderful Janome sewing/embroidery machines!! Check it out!

http://www.thediydish.com/

But here's hoping I win!!!

Happy Quilting!
Cindy

Got my sewing mojo back!

After the attack of un-sewing I had, it was so nice to make progress again. I was able to get 5 blocks of the leader-ender quilt (shaded 9 patch) done. This quilt will be for my brother so I again am using male oriented fabric. I really like this layout of the shaded 9 patch pattern. The contrast between light and dark is much better than the last one I made.

I also got another "Quilts for Kids" sewn together. I had to make one for a boy after making the butterfly quilt for a girl. I had a bunch of 50% off coupons for JoAnn's so I was able to get the cute sports novelty and the blue marble fabric for a song. I have enough to make another, same as the butterfly. I will probably wait to make anymore until after our trip to Texas in April. JoAnn's will have batting (warm and natural) half price next week. I am waiting to score some of that before I machine quilt them. My hope is to get these two quilted and in the mail with the original quilt before we leave.

So nice to be making progress again!

Happy Quilting!

Cindy

Un-sewing....

(Jake squeezing his 20 pound body in my fabric shoebox)

That has been the theme for the last three days. I have been slowly sewing on my leader-ender quilt for the last 2 weeks. I had a shoebox full of the blocks. I decided to stop and start sorting them out to make the bigger blocks. I "thought" I had been randomly sewing all the scrap 2 inch blocks together. When I laid them out I found out there was too much order in my randomness. (isn't there some theory about order happening in choas??) So out came "Jack" the ripper and we started unsewing all the parts that were repeats (which was a lot!).

When I got the randomness of the pattern I wanted, I started building the blocks. (Day 2) When I got 18 of the larger blocks together, on a whim I decided to lay them out to see if I like the look. Sigh, I hated it....... out came "Jack" again.....blah!

So after 3 days of ripping, rearranging, and re-sewing, I am back where I was at the beginning. So I learned an important lesson about leader-ender's. Have a plan! I thought because I had made a similar quilt before I could just wing it. I learned that I need to lay out the pieces that I will be leading and ending with so you can see the pattern or repeats (if scrappy).

Happy Quilting!
Cindy

Giveaway!

Had to blog about this gorgeous fabric Pickles and Bacon is having. Such gorgeous, yummy fabric!

Happy Quilting!

Cindy

Cindy