LOVE panel

Another UFO done!  This was a panel I bought several years ago, along with the coordinating fabric, after seeing the sample in a store.  It ended up bigger than I thought it would, about 40" x 50".  I quilted it with just a general meandering pattern, and did the binding tonight.  Overall I'm happy with how it came out, save the binding finishing.  I'm still trying to work on my machine binding as it is SO much faster than doing it by hand, but I have yet to get really spectacular results by machine.  It's frustrating, and my standards are high because I can get it to look really nice when I do it by hand.



Here's the current 12 in 2012 UFO list and progress.  Red is what I did tonight.
London Blue afghan (not a quilt but a UFO)
Black & white b-day blocks quilt (finish piecing, quilt, make binding, bind)
2008 signature swap blocks quilt (finish piecing, quilt, make binding, bind)
Christmas stars quilt (quilt, make binding, bind)
Jungle quilt (quilt, make binding, bind)
Red, white, and blue batik quilt (add border?, quilt, make binding, bind)
Valentine charm pack quilt (add border, quilt, bind)
Valentine panel quilt (add borders, quilt, make binding, bind)
Yellow Brick Road quilt (finish binding)
First Hawaiian applique (finish quilting, make into pillow cover or mini quilt - if so, add make binding + bind)
Finish our Christmas stockings (!!) (not quilting, but still a UFO)
Make a pillow with the embroidered butterfly

Another UFO complete.

It looks a little wonky, but that's because the pillow form is a wonky $3 IKEA pillow.  I might add some batting or something to plump it out a bit.  I'm pleased with how the zipper came out.  I've had the butterfly done for over a year - it's a random Google images design I found and thought would look nice embroidered.  The thread is a variegated Presencia perle cotton, and the fabric is a Moda Marble.  

Anyone have a link to a good tutorial (with pictures!) that shows how to avoid the "dog ears" when making a pillow?

Edited to add:

I found this tutorial.  I tweaked my pillowcase by cutting it down another 1 1/2" on each side and using the method.  It helped quite a bit for the fullness and a little on the dog ears, but I still stand by the pillowform is wonky statement.  The corners have very little filling, despite my best efforts.  Thoughts?

Updated pillow:

I've been working on getting my UFOs turned into FOs.  I agreed to a challenge called 12 in 2012 - get 12 UFOs done (ideally, one a month) in the year 2012.  I have had to modify my list, due to some odd circumstances.  My list is below.  I'm behind thanks to moving and hand surgery, but I'm quickly catching up.   I just got two of these quilted Friday, as well as the pillow finished and some binding made.

London Blue afghan (not a quilt but a UFO)
Black & white b-day blocks quilt (finish piecing, quilt, make binding, bind)
2008 signature swap blocks quilt (finish piecing, quilt, make binding, bind)
Christmas stars quilt (quilt, make binding, bind)
Jungle quilt (quilt, make binding, bind)
Red, white, and blue batik quilt (quilt, make binding, bind)
Valentine charm pack quilt (add border, quilt, bind)
Valentine panel quilt (add borders, quilt, make binding, bind)
Yellow Brick Road quilt (finish binding)
First Hawaiian applique (finish quilting, make into pillow cover)
Finish our Christmas stockings (!!) (not quilting, but still a UFO)
Make a pillow with the embroidered butterfly

Pictures to come soon, I promise!  

Love Charms quilt

Another UFO bites the dust! I pieced this little quilt top at LEAST three years ago. I opted to keep it small just to get it done, especially since I'm not particularly attached to it and didn't want to spend a ton of time on it. I also have the panel from the same Moda line, which has been pieced but not yet quilted.

It's been awhile...but I got my groove back!

I finally broke out of my crafting funk!  Anyone still here to read about it?

I decided to make Kiarda her first big quilt (I made her a small floor quilt before she was born for tummy time and the like).  The focus fabric is the paisley that I used to make her room decor stuff.  I've had this pattern and fabrics hanging around since before she was born, and I figured now was a good time to make it for her.  It took about 20 hours total.  I'm particularly pleased with how my binding came out (save the one off miter on the back by the label, the only one that got photographed, go figure!).  I used Sharon Schamber's gluing method, and MAN, that binding is damn near perfect.  I'll be using it every time - it's so worth the results!

Kiarda loves her new quilt!  She got all excited this morning when I gave it to her.  She proceeded to dance on it, roll all over it, pretend to go to sleep on it, and just be silly on it.  While she likes to get tucked in on the couch, she still doesn't want blankets in her crib, so she's not currently using the quilt for covers at sleep times.  Ah well...in due time.

Here are a few pictures of the silliness:

She's got a pretty good downward dog, dontcha think?

The label. I decided at the last minute to use some of the leftover binding around the label, and I like how it turned out!  "Futterflies" is how Kiarda says "butterflies" right now, and it seemed appropriate given the backing fabric.

I also found a mini quilt - likely a round robin quilt in progress, from the looks of the piecing - in my UFO pile tonight.  I think I inherited this from somehwere, because I can't for the life of me place where it came from.  It did have the coordinating fabrics with it to continue adding onto the center.  I opted to just square it up as is, quilt it, and bind it.  I'm pleased with my binding, but I'm still figuring out what the "magic" strip length is so that I can machine stitch down the back of it and not have too much extra overhang.  I went with 2.25" on this one, and I think 2 1/8" woudl be perfect.  Ah well.

Again, I didn't piece it.  It did lay flat, though, so that's good.  It came out ok overall though!

Christmas stockings in progress

I have been wanting to make Christmas stockings for my husband and myself since we got married. I decided to wait until after we had children to do it, though, so we could have a family set. I did not get to make them in time for Kiarda's first Christmas, given that at that time I was averaging about three hours of sleep a night spread across the entire night.

Anyways, I finally made a decision about how best to create the images in my head about how I wanted them to look: wool felt! I'm about halfway done with them so far, so here's a picture.


Each will have a white cuff with the person's name on it. There will be a few embroidered details, as well as a few snowflake sequins added to the background of each one. I think I will opt for a "less is more" with these - I want them to be whimsical and too much detail can detract from that. The stockings will be lined. I may use fun prints for the insides...will have to dig through my stash and see what I can find!

Pillow for Kiarda

I finished my embroidered pillow case for Kiarda! The zipper is a bit wonky, but it was truly an afterthought so whatever. (She won't notice, I think!) I'm pleased overall with how the embroidery came out. I have never done "fill" embroidery, and I clearly got better as I went along. I only have one picture right now, and it was taken with my phone's camera as I lent my regular camera to a friend for the weekend. I'll post close-ups when I get it back. The letters came out much better than the lady bugs, but I did the bugs first and well, there was a learning curve. You get the idea, though!

I'm alive!

So the kiddo has eaten up my crafty time...but I'm still here and have a few things in the works. If you would be so kind, please comment to this post to let me know there's still someone reading out there? Please?

A few nursery items

I realized I hadn't updated since I finished the things for Kiarda's nursery! I made a valance, crib skirt, pillow for the rocking chair (my first zipper!), and painted some letters for the wall. I don't have much to say, so I'll just post lots of pictures!

















I found this shelf at Goodwill a few years ago. The colors were HIDEOUS but the shelf itself was solid wood and in good condition. Here are the before and after shots:

Turning 20 top completed!

I'm calling it "Turning 20 30" as I celebrated my 30th this February. (The pattern is called "Turning 20" for the non-quilters out there.) I thought it fitting. Edit: I goofed. This is a Yellow Brick Road. I'll have to come up with another name, DOH!

There's a little bit of yellow in two of the fabrics that I wanted to bring out, so I added the thin inner border. I'm really pleased with how this came out! The black dot fabric was the perfect finish, IMHO, as all of the colors of the dots are in the center. I thought a plain black border would be too plain for the fabrics I used.

Been busy!

I haven't posted in what seems like forever. Just as the weather was turning nice enough to open the windows (and therefore not die of heat exhaustion in my sewing room), we found out we were pregnant! Needless to say, the fatigue of the first trimester put an abrupt halt on any potential crafting. I'm hoping there's still someone here to read! :D

Now I'm almost to the third trimester (Kiarda Nicole is due July 11!), and I've been busy making stuff for the nursery as well as stash-busting. My sister is pregnant as well, and due about 5 weeks before me. I made a few things for my soon-to-be-here niece, Eva.

Brace yourself, lots of pictures!

First, the nursery fabric I picked out for Kiarda.


I'm glad I bought extra, because it doesn't exist anymore. This was the Makower challenge fabric, and they told me that it has been discontinued. I can't find it ANYwhere now. I love it! The walls will be the light aqua color, with an accent wall of the medium blue.

Here is the wallhanging for Kiarda's nursery, which matches the one I made for my sister's baby in design. The paisley looks odd from a distance, and the colors didn't turn out quite right in the picture. The lighting in my sewing room isn't the best for picture-taking!


Close-up:


Backing fabric and binding - it's hard to tell but the design on the binding coordinates perfectly with the blue cupcake wrapper!


This is the one I made for my sister. The print fabric is what she's using in her nursery.


Close-up:


I have been trying to do some stash-busting. As I started pulling out coordinating fabrics, I ended with enough for two tops of similar colors. I didn't realize I had so much pink, turquoise, and lime green LOL.

A Snapshots by Atkinson Designs top. This will probably end up being a floor quilt/tummy time quilt for Kiarda. The dark pink border actually coordinates with one of the fabrics, but you can't tell from a distance, or really, the close-up I took, oops! It will also be used for the binding. I couldn't get the color to come out quite right - there is a pretty dark, royal purple and a chocolate brown with skinny black swirls on it. This entire quilt, backing included, is 100% stash!


Fabric close-up (see the flamingos?). The colors of the dots are pink, blue, brown, and green - so perfect for this top!


Backing for this top:


A Turning 20 top in progress (blocks), also by Atkinson Designs. I just finished piecing the top (sans border - need to get some black fabric) but took this picture once I got the blocks up on the design wall. The binding will be turquoise, which I have also already made.


Fabric close-up:


Backing fabric - LOVE these cute frogs!

Crochet baby car seat blanket

It's been awhile since I last posted, but since summer nationals, I've a) been in a car wreck and getting over whiplash, b) had my sister's wedding and all the craziness therein, and c) moved. Needless to say, I haven't done much crafting! I did get this done, though.

I made two crochet baby car seat blankets, using a pattern by my friend Jennifer. One was blue and for my nephew-on-the-way and was given to his mom at a shower two weeks ago. I also did a purple one for a good friend, whose baby is due on Halloween that I'll get to meet when I go to my conference in New Orleans in November. There is a hole in the bottom center so the car seat straps can hook through it. I took pictures of it on our friends' baby, Mira. She makes a great model, don't you think?

Looking for a fabric

I need two five-inch squares of the blue and white batik shown in this picture - if you have this particular fabric on hand, I'd gladly send you a FQ or other payment/trade in return. The FQs I had weren't cut properly, so I barely don't have enough to finish this!


Toni hooked me up with a FQ of the other fabric that was short (thank you again!!). I have pictures I need to post of my package from her, but need to locate the camera...

Christmas swap top completed!

I finally made a decision about the borders after much deliberation and several inputs - thanks everyone! I opted for a narrow inner border in cream, with the green holly fabric as a larger outer border. I'm pleased with how it turned out. I'll probably bind it in either cream or red - or maybe mix it up like a candy cane? That might be too much. We'll see. I'm glad I finally got this done - I've had the borders cut and sitting on my ironing board for a month. It's about time!

It turned out much larger than I had thought it would be in my head, oh well! I'm holding it up as high as I can, and I'm 5'8" - DH couldn't even get it all in the picture. Sorry the color is a bit off, but you can get the idea.

Miniature Booty Swap Quiltlet

I got my quiltlet done tonight for the Miniature Booty Swap. I'm running a bit behind (today was the mail date), but it'll go out tomorrow so it should be A-OK. This swap was a kitchen quilt swap - and in addition to the quiltlet, we had to come up with a dishtowel to coordinate. I made a little crocheted one with variegated red/white yarn, to be used as a dishcloth for washing dishes rather than drying them. The yarn started out making kind of a cool pattern, but then it changed. I tried to square it up when done, but alas, no luck. It also has bits of pink where the colors transition...I hope it's okay!


My partner said she has retro red, white, and yellow in her kitchen, so when I saw the little bee fabric (a 30's repro I actually LIKE) I knew it was perfect! I like vertical layouts on quilts, but don't usually make them, so I decided to do it here. I left the inner columns (note: I *hate* that quilting instructions call them "vertical rows"!) shorter on purpose, to draw attention to the vertical aspect. It is just quilted in the ditch, and backing fabric is the WoW of the front, which has little line hearts on it.

Miniature Quilt

I got my quiltlet done tonight for the Miniature Booty Swap. I'm running a bit behind (today was the mail date), but it'll go out tomorrow so it should be A-OK. This swap was a kitchen quilt swap - and in addition to the quiltlet, we had to come up with a dishtowel to coordinate. I made a little crocheted one with variegated red/white yarn, to be used as a dishcloth for washing dishes rather than drying them. The yarn started out making kind of a cool pattern, but then it changed. I tried to square it up when done, but alas, no luck. I hope it's okay!


My partner said she has retro red, white, and yellow in her kitchen, so when I saw the little bee fabric (a 30's repro I actually LIKE) I knew it was perfect! I like vertical layouts on quilts, but don't usually make them, so I decided to do it here. I left the inner columns (note: I *hate* that quilting instructions call them "vertical rows"!) shorter on purpose, to draw attention to the vertical aspect. It is just quilted in the ditch, and backing fabric is the WoW of the front, which has little line hearts on it.

I'll post a pic

Another top done!

I started this top about a year ago with the intent of giving it to my friend's daughter Leah on her first birthday, which is tomorrow (as is the party). You may remember I made this pattern in the same colors, but reversed, awhile back for older sister Shannon's first birthday. I've been so swamped, I knew I wasn't going to finish in time. Thankfully, Molly (the mom) understands. :D I did get the top done tonight, though, so that's something! I have some fun flamingo fabric for the back (sort of like I did for Shannon's quilt!) that I'll take pictures of when the whole thing is complete.

Fabrics close-up:

Hawaiian Quilt

I finally have a (mini) Hawaiian quilt in the works. I have wanted to make one of these since I first saw one, but a) wanted my applique to look decent, and b) I wanted to know how to hand-quilt. (A) is still something of an issue, but I can do reverse applique ok - even with needleturn! Whee. I am taking this with me as we travel for Christmas, so I have something small for handwork. Here's a sneak peek:

The colors are a deep, purple-y blue and bright turquoise. Traditional Hawaiian quilts are made of two contrasting solids - these are true solids, but they "read" like solids. I love the colors. :D

AAQG Show

The Austin Area Quilt Guild biennial show was this weekend. There were lots of great quilts, including many made by friends and fellow bee-members. I did some volunteer work, including check-out at the end which was crazy hectic. My mom came down on Saturday from Dallas for the show. She behaved herself well overall, but some things are just never going to change...

I found multicolored variegated embroidery floss, which made me very happy! I also got three more mini wholecloth pre-printed quilt tops, a Halloween embroidery pattern, and a needleworked scissor case handmade by a guild member and sold in the boutique (all proceeds go to the guild). I'll put pictures up tomorrow, as the camera is currently dead and I need to look for the extra batteries.

Here are a few of the quilts. I didn't get pictures of all of them (there were more than 400!), but I got quite a few and put them up in a Photobucket album.

Here was the Best In Show. It also won Excellence in Design and 1st place in the Art Quilt Category. It was made by Bill Horne, who works at The Quilt Store here in Austin. He's the first male quilter to win a BIS in Texas!


Here are my two quilts! I met my goal of not getting reamed by the judges. I have a few minor things to work on but overall I got good comments. I even got a "lovely hand stitching" from a judge who is known to have a critical eye for handquilting! Whee!


(My little one blended into the grey curtain, bah.) Not a good picture - can't see the wholecloth design! Oh well.


Here are my favorite two - the picture came out small on one of them, though:


Here's a close-up:


This Hawaiian quilt got Excellence in Hand Quilting and 1st in the large applique cateogory. This is my long-term quilting goal - to make a Hawaiian quilt. I can only hope it will be as intricate and beautiful as this one: