Bring on the Steam

I started cutting into my red and aqua fabric today. It was such a thrill!

My little craft room partner was busy making her own crafts from a little stash of things I've collected for her. I had to stop occasionally to help her with a little gluing or to demonstrate how to give a pipe cleaner a good curl but she was nice company and I got 4 or 5 blocks cut.

I picked up this little magazine and DVD for about $10 a couple of weeks ago and watched it clear through last night. Waaay too late last night. I fell asleep about 12:30 am and when I woke up towards the end of the video, I had to check out what I'd missed and that made it even later. But...it was a wonderful video and perfect for a true beginner that's never been around fabric or people who sew. They explain basic vocabulary and take you step by step through every part of making the example quilt. I'm such a visual learner and I got quite a bit out of it. I can see myself going back and watching some parts again later. And I really like the pattern to as it offers a few different setting options. I highly recommend it and I think it is still out on the magazine stands.

One of the things I learned last night was to set your seam by pressing the seam that you have just sewen and THEN opening up your two peices of fabric to press the seams to one side. I have a great new tool to do just that. My old Rowenta was just hobbling along and I use it almost daily to iron clothes. No steam, no spray, just heat. I opened this new Professional Rowenta up last night (Christmas gift from my wonderful mother!) and tried it out on my red and aqua fabric. Can I just say, I'm in love!

Wishy Washy

Faded Glory and my unnamed bed sized square patch quilt are back from Tennessee. My mom did a wonderful job quilting both of them. I just SO appreciate her taking the time to quilt them for me, especially during her busiest time at the quilt shop. I really love the red thread on the Faded Glory quilt. I plan on starting the binding on the bed sized quilt this weekend. I'm looking forward to sitting and watching some movies in the evenings after little one goes to bed and stitching away.

Today was a preschool day so after singing some songs at circle time and picking up a rare latte at my favorite coffee shop, I dashed home to my craft room. I was itching to break into some new fabric. Just before I visited my mom in October, I discovered this beautiful quilt on the Crazy Mom Quilts blog. I just love Amanda Jean's quilts but the color combination she used to make this quilt really grabbed me and I couldn't stop thinking about it. So as I walked around my mom's shop I spotted these two fat quarter bundles and knew they were perfect to try with this pattern.

This is my favorite of the red prints. I love scrolly, swirly, flowery lines!

I have been asking around and reading around about whether I should prewash my fabric or not. I had pretty much decided I was in the no prewashing camp. I like the crisp new fabric to work with and like the little puckery look after it's all washed after it's quilted.

Then I happened to wash a big quilt that had red in it and I had a couple spots of bleeding occur. Luckily, there is a lot of red print on the cream background where it bled and you can't really tell unless you are looking for it. But it's scared me enough to prewash for this quilt. Here it is ready to iron with all of the strings and knots. I did wash the blues and reds in a seperate load. Hopefully that will take care of any issues.

I made a stop at Quilting Bits and Pieces today to check out some quilting templates for the Cookie Crumb Catcher and had to pick up these four fat quarters. Can you tell it's been dark and dreary the last few days and I'm craving a little spring? I'm loving the pink and orange together!

Splat!

Have you seen the laminated fabric that several designers have come out with? I went shopping for some to make a table cloth for my daughter's little table. After having our carpets cleaned I changed my mind and decided it would be better used as a splat mat under her dining room chair. I just turned it over to the back side and used a bowl to trace scallops. I was surprised to find the fabric very pliable and it is soft enough to have some drape. Love the fun design on the floor rather than just a white plastic sheet. The print is from Amy Butler's Love collection in Paradise Garden Mint.

I just finished piecing this table topper for our dining room table. I started it at the retreat this fall and had a few borders to put on. The piecing quality is improved from my last project. I really focused on trying to get the points (corners) to match. It's better but still not as accurate as I want. I found I was overcompensating at first when I was butting my seams together and causing problems. I also discovered that I wasn't making quarter inch seams. They were a little bigger. It didn't really matter on this but I'm working towards being very accurate so I can try some more complicated patterns.


The pattern is "Christmas Cookie Crumb Catcher" by Chick-a-dee Hollow. The pattern calls for holly applique on the center and the corners of the light border with embroidery. I decided not to add those. I really liked the simple design and the center would be covered by a centerpeice on the table anyway. I just love the fabric and want it to stand out. It's Peppermint & Hollyberries by Nancy Holversen (Benartex). I love the swirls and little peppermints.

I'm contemplating how to quilt it. I could try to stipple or do some other free motion quilting on it (after I practice quite a bit). Or I've thought I could have someone with more skills quilt it and quilt a neat design in the middle. I think I'll do some practicing first and see how it goes before I decide.

Gingerbread House

I've had such a fun December with my little one this year preparing for Christmas! I took her to a local gingerbread house tour to introduce her to the concept and that in itself was so fun. There were so many imaginative creations. A few days later I brought out a Wilton kit to try. I was hoping it would go smoothly and walls would stick together. I'll say, she was very patient with all of the waiting in between steps. We did the piping hand in hand and she had fun putting all of the candy in place.

My mom sent her an apron which she loved working in and she also wore it while we baked cookies with her other grandmother. It felt like my mom was involved in the festivities just a little bit, too!

She told Santa that she would like and Achoo Baby and a blanket for her baby. Santa asked if I could help out so I dashed off today to find some flannel fabric and hopefully I can put together a quick blanket in time to give Santa to give to her.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I took my daughter to the zoo recently and the fall color was just beautiful! I'm ready to set the mood for Christmas but before I do, here's a few photos of the leaves I took that day at the zoo.

Sunset

I got to visit my family in Tennesse recently and had such a great time. The best part was celebrating my niece's 2nd birthday. I snapped this photo of the sunset when I was almost home. We get sunsets like this quite often and I love them!

My sweet Mom offered to quilt the two quilt tops I had finished and she took this picture of it on her long arm. I'm so excited to see it in person!

Creating Keepsakes Convention

I had the opportunity to attend several classes at Creating Keepsakes Convention in Kansas City this past weekend. I was excited to make some projects using a few new techniques. This acrylic album designed by The Button Farm was my favorite. I've made an acrylic album before but I just guessed on adhesive to use and design ideas and I was interested to see how someone else would approach using acrylic. The Button Farm had a booth in the vendor fair and I just loved all of their kits. They had such beautiful embellishments that I just had to touch them all. I'm a texture gal! Each of the kits includes well written instructions with color photos and helpful tips. I'll definitely be trying more of their kits.

This "Monkey Business Word Book" was a fun class too. It was taught by Lickety Split Scrapbooks.
It was easy to put together because the chipboard letters and pattern paper letters were both already cut out. The edges didn't match exactly which bugs me a bit but I just inked up the edges and called it good. I plan on putting some pictures of my little girl with her favorite monkey in the album.

This cute little card was one of the projects made in the "1 Stamp Set, 10 Techniques" by Wendy Sue Anderson for Creating Keepsakes. It focused on ways to make a stamp set more versatile. I love the little birdie and how it pops up off the page.

All in all, the convention was a good experience. It was nice to choose from a variety of classes and be able to take them in one day. I do think the some of the local and chain scrapbook stores offer classes that are just as good. I will say that all of the classes provided instruction up to a point and then expected students to finish the projects on their own at a later time which worked well for me as I had time over the weekend but it's something to consider. I will definitely check out the classes online next year and consider taking some.

The vendor fair was a treat. It was great to see so many different products offered in one place. I came home with a bag or two of some fun things to play with!

Something for Santa

Here's a little peek at something I've been working on for Christmas. I started it at the retreat and have a little more of the piecing to do. I'm not sure how far I'll go with embellishing it. The pattern I'm using has some applique and needlework included but I may make some modifications. I love the holly/peppermint fabric.

And before anyone is amazed by how on top of things I am to be getting ready for Christmas, let it be known that this was going to be gracing our home for my sweet little girl's first Christmas. She's three now.....I had all of it cut before she turned one but had stopped because when I was ready to cut the last part (the binding), I got stuck. I didn't know whether I should cut it on the bias or straight. So I put it away until I could figure it out. Now, I'm not sure why I was wondering that but I must have learned along the way that bias binding is for curvy edges. It was obvious to me when I pulled it out to work on again. But I still haven't cut the binding. I just got started sewing.

In the process of sewing, I discovered that I have either put back on my original non-1/4 inch foot or my 1/4 inch foot is not really a 1/4 inch foot. I decided to leave it on and continue as I was so that it all turns out in the end but I discovered it when one of my borders turned out too long. I was also getting frustrated that my corners were not aligning. One of my lovely new friends inspected my project and decided I was overcompensating in my attempt to make the seams match so they were overlapping a bit. UGGG! It's so hard for me not to pull that seam ripper out of the little box it sits in. I'm going to keep going carefully and keep learning and live with my progress and little mistakes. I crave that precision piecing though that I need to to some more intricate work.

I may try to just do my piecing with my walking foot on so that the fabric feeds evenly on both sides. I think my mom does this and several of the other gals at the retreat do the same thing. But I really like using the edge of the foot as a guide so I'll have to experiment a little

Pumpkin Update

I got to go with the family to the local pumpkin patch over the weekend. I just love this time of year! The air is cool and crisp and the leaves are changing. We have such fun picking out just the right pumpkins. I like to find something unusual each time. I might have to sneak back soon and get some corn stalks for the front porch.

I did finally finish the applique on this pumpkin quilt. I know I blogged before that my goal was to finish quilting and binding it at the retreat but that plan changed. My mom had suggested I hand quilt this a while back and I couldn't even imagine doing it. But I've had some other people also say that since I put the effort into the hand applique that it would be nice to hand quilt it. So I'm considering it. Actually leaning towards it. We'll see...I'll keep you posted.

Faded Glory

This is the second project I worked on at the retreat. It is a smaller version of the Turning Twenty pattern. I had completed the middle and just needed to add the border and corners. It's amazing to me that I got so far and then let it sit for so long (maybe 2 years? - gasp)! I met some wonderful quilters at the retreat who confessed that they don't often get to quilt either. One even said that she takes the same project to her quilt group once a month and works on it for 2 hours, then puts it away until next time. I'm starting to suspect that there are perhaps more quilters like me that I thought...ones that let house work, trips, playing with little ones, etc. come before quilting.

Some of the stripes look wonky in this photo and I think it's because the wind was blowing the quilt around. I tried to snap the picture when it flapped back down but I think maybe it was still moving.

This one gets named Faded Glory because it has a dark blue piece of fabric in it that must have been exposed to some light through my craft room window and has a faded spot. I left it in. Wasn't about to take stitches out. I will be using this to top a table during July and probably Independence Day festivities so it will get a lot of use and washings. Now I won't be afraid to use it.


I'm not quite sure how I'll quilt it yet. Any ideas?