2nd Annual DMQG Retreat

I just got home yesterday from our 2nd annual Dallas Modern Quilt Guild Retreat- We stayed at the Compass Center again and had a great time! I stayed all 3 nights this time and feel like I got so much accomplished! Mount Calm, Texas is such a quiet country town (which i LOVE), so of course I had to scope out some good photo op spots- and THAT i just did! Not only do I love to quilt & sew, but also explore my surroundings!

I took a break on Friday afternoon and went for a drive to scout out some places. Come to find out, this area has much more history than I thought. It was established in the 1880's, was a fairly populated area up until the depression and has basically stopped advancing since then. It is really neat to see something that is almost caught in time since the depression. (considering that was 70 years ago!)

anyway, enough of my love of seeing history- just a few minutes down FM 339 there were 2 abandoned farm houses. The first is a Queen Anne style farm house which dates from the 1880's to 1890's (not sure that this house is specifically that old, but matches the time frame and established era) and it sure looks that old!

The 2nd house seemed in worse shape, but not sure if it is older or newer. None the less, just as cool! Sure wish I wasn't so chicken, would have LOVED to explore inside, but the tiniest sound would make me jump just standing outside! Not very brave, am I!




So back to quilting! I arrived just after dinner on Thursday night, settled in and got straight to quilting my fall quilt not only did I quilt it, but I finished the binding all before turning in for the night! LOVE how it turned out!

(DON'T YOU LOVE THESE SETTINGS?!)

my 2nd quilt I completed is a gift I'll be giving away to someone in a few weeks. I used Moda's French General Falalalala (maybe another lalala in there? ha!) line, which I just absolutely love!


The quilt pattern I used is this 10 minute block pattern (which half way thru I promptly named, "10 minute my ASS block"!) haha, i do believe my very LAST block took me only 10 minutes. I used a Falalalalala layer cake, very little ivory (for the border) and some yardage from the same line for the outer border, and backing. None the less, the quilt came out great, I really love everything about it, NOT to mention I pieced (both front and back!), basted, quilted and bound all in 1 day! (granted it was a very long day, but its DONE!) I can't wait to give it to it's recipient soon :)

Saturday, I worked ALL stinkin' day long on 1 quilt top and never finished it (and I even worked on Sunday until noon) there was just THAT much cutting and piecing. Hoping I'll have it completed soon.

I had such a great time sewing, hanging out with some great ladies, laughing ( A LOT!!!!), and not much relaxing! I just need a good night sleep and I'll be ready for the next retreat!

DMQG October challenge

Last night was our monthly meeting & our challenge was to make a fall inspired mug rug. then we also swapped our finished mug rugs. I love these type of challenges!
I knew i wanted a scrap buster, and so I turned to flicker for some inspiration & also tried reverse appliqué (shown at our August meeting) and this is what I came up with:
my mug rug being shown off by Robin, who picked mine first (but then was stolen by Angie 2 minutes later lol)



Dont worry, I actually took pictures of my process while I played around making this mug rug so I'll post a tutorial this weekend!
I picked this BEAUTIFUL mug rug made by a new member Charlotte- what talent!




I also splurged & bought a few new quilting books

*10 minute blocks
and
*Pieces of Pie (a la mode)
Excited to try these quilt patterns!


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Coming up for air ! (with a quilt!)

I'm alive! Not only did I survive that insane weekend of weddings, but my BFF's baby shower (with completed baby bedding & a quilt!) and also moving 2 days later!
we've now been in our new house 1 week & sadly I haven't touched my machine since moving it in. My craft room is still in boxes. Boy am I anxious to quilt my fall quilt ! I've got a few more boxes & rooms to set up before I can get to that though.

enough of that- I must show off a very special quilt! my BFF is due later this month with a baby girl (who I am hoping will be my future daughter in law- I'm a mom of 2 boys- I can hope right??) I have been eagerly waiting for this little blessing for our sweet friends for the last 5 years & she'll now be here shortly. so making her bedding & such a sweet quilt really meant something special to me! and what a quilt to finish off the 2011 baby quilts with !


A fairly simple quilt, but wow do the colors pop with this simple design!


I really racked my brain on quilt designs... For Jes' birthday last year I made this vintage kitchen inspired quilt - I knew I had to make another stacked stripe quilt, but for Kinsley. I know how much jes cherishes my quilt, I was hoping Jes would get the connection with the pattern ;)




Quilting on this quilt was such a breeze, I think I'm really mastering stippling & meandering. I've always done my own quilting but sometimes I get a hiccup in the process, but I'm proud to say- the last 4 quilts I've mastered my technique- what a great feeling that is! I did a very tight stipple design on this quilt.


Mommy to be & Kinsley's quilt







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Procrastinatitis- it's an illness...

My best friend's baby shower is this coming weekend....of course I'm doing her baby bedding, which is not finished .... yet. Bumper is complete. Quilt top is complete. so I have to do the skirt & finish the quilt. yikes. It's 1 week away. I know I can get it done...however the next 9 days will be complete chaos in my mind although I might not show it. I have my regular work this week, as well as my freelance work, so a VERY busy week for me, and 2 days after Jes' shower - we move! yikes! Needless to say my plate is full. and about to spill!

OH did I mention I'm also HOSTING her shower?? ha, I can hear you laughing now.... well thankfully Jes has some wonderful friends who offered to help host as well, and these girls are really pulling through for me.

So wouldn't you know it, Friday night I hit a creative wall...well really i just couldn't decide how i wanted to design her darn crib skirt. I know i'm being picky & just need to do it already, but I just want it to be perfect. of course. I have the fabrics & all. It'll come to me in my sleep, i just know it! ;-)

So just keep laughing....I haven't bought any new fabrics in quite a while as I wanted to finish some unfinished projects before splurging anymore. I've done SO great...until yesterday... stopped by my LQS and I've always wanted a fall themed quilt that I could leave out all season long, well i came across a great combination I paired together (didn't even have a quilt design in mind yet)

I really love the precuts that Moda designs, but sadly this LQS doesn't carry many, so I just paired what I thought would make a great combination.

home elements in orange by mark limpinski for northcott fabrics

Joel Dewberry Woodgrain in Green

Four All Seasons- Fall by Andover Fabrics (Kim Schaefer)

Yellow diagonal check by Moda Lily & Will

Halloween Night Dot Black/Orange by Minick & Simpson for Moda

Just enough fall tones, the colors are out of my normal range (I am not an orange kinda girl!) but the Black & orange polka dots give it just enough for halloween too :)

So i really expected it'd sit on my shelf & not get done until the very end of fall- well....sadly last night, I was so inspired by these new fabrics and procrastinated so much- what did I do???? i finished my quilt top. and just to make it worse...today I pieced the back! This is awful, procrastinating..... almost like a sickness...I mean who is this productive when they procrastinate?? I'm not going to allow myself to baste it until after I finish Jes' quilt. girl scouts honor!

I am proud of myself however, for actually using a quilt pattern out of a book I bought a few months ago- Camille Roskelley's book 'Simplify' I used the "Little Man" pattern. But I've just doubled the pattern really..and added an extra border too.

Now I'm really motivated to finish that baby bedding so I can quilt this new baby! I've decided it's going to be a housewarming gift.....FOR MYSELF! it'll be the 1st quilt I finish in our new house. I'm excited to get to snuggle up under it soon with my 3 guys with some cooler weather soon!

A quilt for Silas!

My sweet friend Elizabeth had her 2nd boy last week (baby #3 for her- she's a pro!) Her & her husband decided to not decide on a name for the little guy until he arrived (complete inconvenience to gals like myself who like to personalize every gift! lol)


But today Silas got a personalized gift, a sweet baby quilt. I made it pretty large for a baby quilt 50" x 50" is the finished size.



I really loved the fabrics we used- I did some baby bedding for Elizabeth earlier in the summer using some fun Ikea fabrics, gold cottons & navy blue as well. I've really been into gold & yellows this summer so I loved working on her bedding & quilt.




I broke out of my box & tried something new- i have attempted to quilt with minky a few times- not a huge fan of it, but I have managed. Call me crazy but I much prefer to free motion quilt over straight line quilting with my walking foot. I really wanted to attempt to free motion quilt with the minky on this quilt. I googled some tips on FMQ'ing with minky & found the best tips are in basting (don't pull it tight) and make the quilting a little more 'loose' than normal. I have to say I was impressed- it moved fairly easy with the machine, and I didn't get a single pucker on the backside. I had really debated about quilting the border which I normally would be consistent in my quilting across the whole quilt, but I really felt by only FMQ'ing in the middle it helped the border stand out even more. I think it would have looked great with just the simple quilting too, but to be honest I basted it late at night & had to use 2 pieces of batting.... So another reason for the free motion quilting was to insure that the batting stayed right where it's supposed to be! ;)




so again, another reason why I love quilting- it's always teaching me something I didn't know I could do :)
Even more- I love giving to such sweet friends like my friend Elizabeth. We spent so much time together this summer & her friendship has blessed me so greatly.... My only problem now is that I want to make a quilt for both of her other kids too, only because I love them so much!



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Little Apples challenge

So I took my little Apples mini quilt (our September challenge for the DMQG) to CA last month while my family was on vacation. yes I can leave my sewing machine behind, but I need to do something to keep my hands busy!
I took this mini quilt & hand sewn the binding. the quilt itself is a bookcase quilt, which was new for me. I'm pleased with how it turned out! love the quilting too :)




Perfect size for my little man to help me out!







Can't complain much while doing some hand quilting with a view of the pacific ocean & Balboa island!


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September challenge

The DMQG gave us a challenge in July & it is due in September. I'm not going to reveal my mini quilt until after our September meeting. But i will show you the backside! I wanted to try my hand with various free motion quilting patterns - so this was my first. Not sure I would do this on a big quilt because it was so time consuming, however it does look really great!




Now I am on the hunt for the right marking pen or pencil. I used 2 marking water soluble pencils (1 white & 1 blue) the white was still hard to see on the grey, but showed up on darker colors. The blue wasn't as fine tipped as I would have liked, not to mention I had to press kind of hard. So now I'm on the hunt! Any suggestions?



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Quilt Bedding for Lauren

My sister's friend Liz brought me her childhood bedding & wanted me to revamp it. Liz wanted something shabby chic for her daughter, Lauren's room. The comforter was an old Waverly print called "Darlington". The comforter was one solid print and pre-quilted like below. I made Liz a full size quilt, 2 standard size pillow shams and 2 throw pillows.
Since the comforter was pre quilted material, it wasn't hard to disassemble, it was just time consuming. In the end I found it quicker and easier to cut the fabric into fat quarter size pieces, then disassemble and cut the fabric into the sizes I needed.

I used a combo of fabrics that I thought coordinated with the Waverly print. The pink was the hardest to match, so using a combination of the pinks worked I think. The finished quilt is a full size 78" X 88".




The shams are standard size 20" X 27"

Meyer Kate

My sweet friend Adrianne just had her 4th baby. When she was pregnant with her 3rd, is when I learned to sew. Bless her heart...her gift was the 1st gift I've ever made. And she so graciously accepted it.
I made her a playmat, burp cloths & a changing mat for her diaper bag. I had helped her decorate her nursery so I knew her theme & colors. After her shower her Mother in law & her made crib bedding & curtains based on the fabrics I picked out (big compliment!). So this time around- I knew she didn't have a quilt.... But she does now!



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M is for Mia

A couple of weeks back I purchased this cute quilt pattern, not only did I make Addelyn's quilt from it, but also a baby quilt for a friend from my bible study who is due in September.

the quilt top is super quick and easy to piece and i love that it gives me a chance to personalize it- you know how I love to applique! It made a nice size baby quilt - finished it is about 35" X 42"

Finished WIP

My 1st completed WIP after vowing my commitment last week was a simple quilt I started back around new years this year. A simple quilt for my oldest (4 yrs old already) it's backed with black minky & has his name appliquéd on it. It's bigger than a baby quilt but smaller than a throw quilt, perhaps a toddler size throw quilt! it's so basic- the fabrics & quilting that I ended up not liking it. so I left it on the shelf. finally pulled it out- put the binding on & Mason LOVES it! I'm happy with that- and that it is a completed WIP!

Liam's Baby Bedding

Funny that after my 1st round of Baby bedding (my nephew Ethan's) I told myself I would only do 1 more set of bedding this year (my other new nephew Brody) and then no more baby bedding..haha...I'm now starting baby bedding #7 & #8. Baby bedding is starting to grow on me I guess...as I have the measurements memorized and all!

Back in May I did bedding for my friend Analisa, she was due mid July and wasn't finding out the gender, so she went with a Disney theme for the nursery. She had a baby boy a few weeks back and named him Liam (love!!!) I finally made it over the other day to snap a few pictures of his nursery and bedding I made.

Analisa picked out a Disney set of sheets she liked and I cut them up. We actually covered an existing bumper- the inside was the Disney sheet she liked, the outside just a simple gender neutral soft green color, the ties were simple black ribbon (i heat set the ends of the ribbon so it wouldn't fray). The crib skirt I made is black and white polka dots (something to mimic Minnie's skirt) in a simple ruffle. The curtains are just black panels with the Disney fabric again with polka dot ruffle as well.

I'm not a huge fan of logo fabrics, but I have to say I think the crib quilt is pretty stinkin' cute. The fabric had 4 Disney characters, so I just lined them with primary colored sashing followed by a large border of the polka dots. I love polka dots, and I think it really pulled everything together! The binding I did by machine with a simple blanket stitch- the fabric is a simple primary colored small striped fabric.

Welcome to the world baby Liam, I love you already!