I'm Still Here.

I'm still here...still reading blogs and being inspired by others.  I'm just taking a sewing break.  It will be a short one.  I have no desire to stay away from my sewing machine for too long. My husband and I are currently purging our home to get ready for a church garage sale and we are going room by room getting rid of the excess.  Since we both work full time, the evenings after the kids are in bed are the only time to truly get any work done. It feels good to know we are getting rid of things that are cluttering our lives and hopefully raise some money for a good cause through the garage sale.  Our goal is to be done by this weekend.  I'll be sewing again soon and turning out those MSBHQAL blocks at record speed and figuring out what exactly I'm doing for the back of the Patriotic Quilt.  Wish me luck!

MSBHQAL: Block 3 of 9

Block #3

MSBHQAL: Block 2 of 9

I spent Monday evening cutting the rest of the fabric for the remainder of the blocks.  Yesterday was spent sewing all the strips together with their center sashing and piecing the second block.  Now that all the strips are sewn, I should be able to pick up speed on the blocks and get those knocked out soon.

Here's a mock-up layout that I'll be updating as I finish more blocks.

Patriotic Quilt Top!

I had a wonderful quilting weekend.  I was able to finish up the top of my mother's patriotic quilt.  I'm so glad to have that done and now it's time to start working on the back.  I'm not sure what I'll be doing for the back yet, but I do have some ideas floating around.

I also attended the monthly Memphis-Area Modern Quilt Guild yesterday, which I hosted in my home.  It's so much fun to get together with other passionate quilters.  We are a new guild with a lot of potential.  We covered and accepted our bi-laws for the guild and then we had a wonderful show and tell.  We have so much talent in our group!  We also got our hands dirty with a fun fat-quarter swap.  It's always great when you get to walk away with some wonderful fabric.

Quilting Gallery Contest!

Hey, everyone!  I entered the Quilting Gallery: Leaves, Trees, & Flowers Contest with my Petals Quilt!  Use the link above to stop by, pick your favorites and vote!

Arkansas Traveler DONE!

Whew...it has been a long journey for this quilt.  The planning for this quilt started in early June.  A dear friend asked me to make a quilt for her soon-to-be-born niece and I quickly accepted the job because I had been eager for an excuse to try out the Arkansas Traveler pattern.  Once I had all my fabric, I started cutting in mid-July and finished piecing towards the end of August.  I'm so thankful I had a productive Labor Day holiday to finally finish the backing, basting, quilting and binding for this quilt.  The recipient has already been born (5 weeks early!!!) and is eagerly awaiting her quilt.  So without further adieu, here it is!

The colors are so bright and vibrant.  The pattern gives off a scrappy vibe, which I LOVE and really compliments all theses fabrics together.  For the quilting, I echoed around the outside of each diamond shape creating a cool star pattern.  I also placed diagonal lines right through the center of each diamond all the way through the quilt.   The backing really shows off the quilting design.

The main backing fabric is out of the Carnaby Street collection and can be found in the Arkansas Traveler blocks on the front.  I used up the scraps left over from the diamonds by sewing them together and placing them vertically on the back.  This really adds a point of interest to the backing.  I also used one of the pink fabrics for the initial to help tie it all together. 

This was my introduction to paper-piecing and I may be taking a break from anything paper for a while.  I LOVE the final results, but I'm not sure I loved the sewing fabric to paper to just rip it all off.  I felt like there was a lot of waste involved...paper, fabric and time.  I'm more of a regular piecing kind of gal...at least for now.

I will be placing this quilt into a box in a few days and saying my farewells.  I know it will have a wonderful home and I will have my pictures to remember the journey we embarked on together.

MSBHQAL: Block 1 of 9

Here's my first block...not too shabby!

Mom's Patriotic Quilt

I have been putting this quilt on the back burner for over 2 years now.  Why, you ask?  I don't really have an answer.  It's at the top of my Bucket List and I'm finally ready to face this quilt again and FINISH it!  I have pulled out all the already cut pieces and the half-pieced top and have put them up on my design wall to get ready to work.

I fell in love with the Kaleidoscopic Kites pattern from Fresh Lemon Quilts and I wanted to try and turn this into a patriotic quilt for my mother.  She is a 4th of July baby and there has always been a patriotic theme in the decor of my parent's home.  I grew up thinking the HUGE fireworks display was to celebrate my mom.  It was always the best part of the day...watching fireworks with my mom on her birthday.

I found the Stars and Stripes fabric collection and knew right away this was absolutely perfect for what I wanted to create.

As I mentioned, I already have everything cut and half of the top already pieced.  I just need to finish piecing the top (hopefully this weekend) and start planning for the back.   Here is the drawing of the quilt I made 2 years ago.  It's finally time to see this come to fruition.

The top half that is pieced is resting on the table and the fabric waiting to be pieced is on the design wall.

 See Mom...it's finally happening!  Wish me luck!

August Finishes

I was busy this month and I didn't even realize all that I had accomplished.

Next month's goals:

- Finish Arkansas Traveler Quilt
- Finish my parent's patriotic quilt
- Start my swoon quilt
- Start and keep up with the MSBHQAL

Almost done!

I've been busy this weekend finishing up the Arkansas Traveler quilt.  I'll be showing off the finished quilt very soon, but I wanted to show the progress of this past weekend.  I finished piecing the back of the quilt and got busy basting.  I couldn't have done it without Mr. Kwik Klip...he's my hero!

After basting, I got busy quilting.  I love that I'm able to machine quilt my quilts, but my machine doesn't have a needle down function, so it slows things down every time I want to change directions.

Since this is a girl's baby quilt, pink is the binding.  There was so much pattern in the quilt so I went with a solid.

Wonder clips are my best friend when it comes to hand-stitching the binding on the other side.

Of course, I had to add an initial to my quilt.  Here I am hand-appliqueing the fabric down to the back.

Those pesky tight turns cause me to have to cut the fabric to allow the fabric to turn under on the marked line.  Thank goodness for Fray Check.

I'll be posting the finished quilt soon.  I just need to try and find a nice place to take those pictures.  This quilt deserves a special picture...especially since I will be giving this quilt away and a picture is all I'll have to remember it by.