Friday, April 15, 2011

Cherry on Top

My Cherry on Top is finished!

I got the final stitching done yesterday morning.
And promptly wrapped my son up in it
to check the "cozy" factor.
It passed with flying colors.

I spent several hours throughout the day
cutting the seams to make it "raggedy".
Then, of course, it had to be washed.
And dried.
Clean lint filter.
Dry some more.
Clean lint filter.
Dry some more.
Get the picture? It created a ton of lint!

Oh! Well, here's a picture

And here's a close up of the blocks.

And here's the back.


Remember?
Pink for the girls,
Blue for the boys.

So, this was my fourth of 11 in '11.
I am right on track.
Nick's quilt still needs layered and quilted.
My king size still needs dropped off at the quilter to be quilted.
And when I get home from my trip, I plan on starting my Sunkissed quilt.



Saturday, April 9, 2011

My daughter, the quilter

Allie is 10.
She's my youngest daughter
and the only one who seem's to have
a genuine interest in sewing.

She is always *making* me buy her fabric.
Either for her to make stuff herself,
or for me to make for her.
She also loves to sew scraps on whichever sewing maching I am not using.
She actually has her own box of scraps that she keeps on my shelf
and is constantly going through and playing with.

Today, I was napping on the couch
(Late night and too much to drink, LOL)
and, apparently, she decided she wanted to sew.
Which was fine, really.
I don't mind and I trust her to use the tools
correctly. After all, I taught her how.

She decided to make a quilt square.
On her own.
With no help.
Here it is
I have never taught her to do this.
She cut the inner green square. Added the blue triangles.
And then added the border. She also used the fancy quilting stitch to dress up the middle.
She knew not to use the iron without supervision,
so, she finger pressed the seams open until I showed up to iron.

Not only am I impressed with her skill
(not perfect, but darn good!),
but she learned this by watching me.
How cool is that??

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Cherry on the top

Is it or isn't it?
A rag quilt.
Is it a real quilt?
Or just a fancy blanket?



I'm going to go with a real quilt.
I cut out all the pieces.
I will sew them all into strips.
I'll sew all the strips together.
And then my quilt top will be done.
Its just that it will already be quilted.

I made one for my mom for christmas and I loved how it turned out.
I forgot how much until I was at her house last month
and got to use it. So cozy and warm!

Bear with me for a second.
I know this seems off tangent.
I made a flannel quilt for my new nephew.
I wasn't in love with how it came together,
but it was cute.
Well, one day it was laying on the back of the couch.
I was cold, so I pulled it down on top of me.
I think it instantly became my favorite quilt!

Aiden was born last month and the quilt was dutifully given.
My kids thought for sure I was going to keep it for myself.
I didn't.
But, man, my mornings have been much cooler without that quilt.

You can see where this is going now, right?
I had to make another one.

I didn't like the way the flannel quilted together. The fabric
was much harder to quilt and it kept bunching up.
I wasn't thrilled with the idea of doing that again.
Soooooooo.........
I decided to make a flannel rag quilt.
Best of both worlds.
I can quilt the small squares together, then proceed
as with a "normal" quilt.

In reality, this quilt is my #6 for 11 in '11, but
it should be done before #4 and 5, so those two will
have to move down a slot.

I do appreciate how quickly rag quilts come together!

Disclaimer: That photo only tell's part of the tale.
The blue will be on bottom and not seen anywhere
near the cherries! Don't worry, the fabric's are awesome,
you just can't see them all!
I decided to do "girly" on top for the girls, hawaiin blue flowers on the bottom for the boys.
and



Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Weekly Goals

Its Weds.
Maybe a little too late to be making a weekly goal?
Awwww, its never too late to have goals!

Ok, so I mentioned in my previous post that we are
going out of town next Friday.
So, these are my goals to get done before then:

FINISH my flannel rag quilt.

Start my new Sunkissed quilt.

Make a Sprocket pillow using the tute I picked
(Did it this morning, here's a quick pic!)
You can kind of see where I did a scrappy border that
matches the top.


Drop my king size quilt off at the quilters.

IF I get all of these things done,
I'd also like to:

Layer, baste and start quilting my son't quilt.

Design a spring table runner.

Work in my sewing room...
I have bought a shelf and a clock, and I am recommissioning
a cork board from the kitchen, and all of those need put up on the walls.

Layer, baste and start quilting the pillow shams for my room.

AND THEN:
I am going to have to set my quilting aside for awhile
and start focusing on all the summer/Hawaii sewing that needs to be done.
I have dresses, shorts, carry on bags, luggage tags and eye masks
that need to be done and I don't want to wait til the last minute
(which, by the way, is July 13).

I'll keep you updated!





Missing Pics

I know, I know, I really
need to get some new pics up!
To be honest, I haven't picked up my camera
in awhile.
Maybe this weekend?

So, the big news of the day is.......
I finished my king size quilt top!
I'll take it to the quilters either tomorrow or Friday.
I can't believe how close I am to having it on my bed!
Hip Hip Hooray!
 
Fabric updates:
I bought some flannel and have cut out all the pieces
to make my new flannel rag quilt.
I'd really like to get this done by next Friday so it can be
my car blanket for our trip to Iowa.
I'm going to buy the batting this afternoon and hopefully get it started
tonight or tomorrow!
 
I have also figured out what to do with my Sunkissed/Bloggers Quilt A Long.
I really liked the design they created.
But I was not liking the look of the sampler blocks.
Which was really my fear when I realized that was what
the whole quilt was going to be.
So, I redesigned it.
I'm going to do 2 quilt block designs around the outside for the border
and keep the center applique.
You can check out the applique here
and the quilt design here.
I think I will be much happier with this idea :)
 
On hold:
I haven't touched my son's quilt top since I finished it last week.
Its on my to do list to layer and quilt, but those are
my least favorite parts of quilting.
I also haven't done anything about a spring/Easter table runner.
At this point, I'm not sure what is going to happen with that.
I may just jump right into something for May and skip Easter this year.
The St Pats day runner is still on my table.
Which, to be honest, didn't make it there til the end of March, so
we haven't been staring at it for that long!
 

Saturday, April 2, 2011

I'm Tired

...Its Saturday night and I'm tired.
I got some quilting done this morning and more later in the afternoon,
but I'm just too tired to want to do much right now.

I finished the mug rug/snack mat that I was making for hubby.
The applique was tougher then I thought it would be,
and it didn't turn out great, but its cute
and he likes it.

I got 2 borders sewn onto my king size quilt.
Now I need the "busy" border and 2 more plain ones
before its done. I am really pleased with how it is turning out.
And again, I'm thinking of quilting it myself.
I have no idea why I keep going back and forth.
I probably won't make a final decision until the top is
100% complete. Which, I am hoping, should be by next week.

The spring/Easter table runner is still
rattling around in my head. I have no idea what I want to do
for it.

I stopped at the fabric store today.
Bought a few fat quarters and browsed the flannel.
I really miss that flannel quilt I made for my nephew,
so I'm going to make another for myself.
Except I think I'm going to go with a rag quilt.
Putting that on my mental to do list.

And, because I am tired and lacking motivation,
I browsed the Flickr group for the Spring
Block A Palooza.
OMGosh, so many cute finishes!
Really makes me want to finish mine, but I'm just not thrilled
with all the blocks that were designed.
But I do love the Sunkissed by Sweetwater for Moda fabric,
so I want to make sure I love how the final quilt turns out.
Another thing to think on.

I need to go to sleep, but its too early.
I could go quilt, but I am really bad at it when I'm this tired.
Maybe I'll go find a book and a hot cup of tea.