Monday, July 25, 2011

Calling all "wannabe" quilters...



Hello friends and followers, I would love to welcome you to a Wantobe Quilters Campaign over here...http://www.stashmanicure.blogspot.com/
They are having quilting supplies to giveaway 5x a week for 12 weeks.
Supplies that will have you quilting before you know it...From sewing machines to irons, to die cutters, to mats, to rotary cutters, sewing baskets, scissors, batting, needles, rolled sewing machine bags, patterns, books, magazines...everything you could imagine to assist you in being a NEW Quilter.
Even if you are already part of this community you can win quilting stuff too...Tuesday and Thursday are days for us.
All you have to do is send me an email (stylin.master@yahoo.com) with your name and phone number and email sew I can submit this to the organizer, because if you win anything I can win something too.
All you have to do is be my follower and a follower over at http://www.stashmanicure.blogspot.com/...
That is all!  There are over 49 sponsors involved.
I am pretty excited to be part of this, sew should you.
I love being a QUILTER!
 
(p.s.  you will not be eligible to win anything if you do not register with a blogger where you see this message.)

I still had some questions regarding just how this campaign was going to work and I found a post over here at Stitchin' By the Lake that answered all of my questions and probably some of yours, too.  So click on her link and if you still have any questions, feel free to leave me a comment and if I don't know the answer,
I'LL FIND IT!

Monday, July 18, 2011

What I've been up to...

A few of these...
A couple of these...

Some of these...


But mostly, I've done a whole lot of work on this...

This is just the bumper.  I also made a dust ruffle, and a ruffled pillow for sweet baby Breanna.  I've been working on this set for about 3 months now...my "real" job totally cramps my quilty style ;)
Here's the whole thing all put together...
I wish the crown hadn't turned out so blurry.  It really is spectacular!  The only things I can take credit for are the dust ruffle, bumper and pillow.  Breanna's mom did all the rest.  Isn't it beautiful?! 

I know it's been awhile since I've updated my blog, and the only excuse I have is that I had missed WAY too many deadlines and have too many projects "hanging over my head" so to speak.  The truth is, I didn't want the friends waiting for those projects to be finished to see everytime I was side-tracked by something else.  Please tell me I'm not the only one!
I have 1 quilt top to finish and send to the long-armer for quilting and I will officially be "caught up" on those projects...Yay!  I hope that blogging about it will maybe help me to keep this motivation that I'm feeling right now.  I will keep going and make my goal to finish that top TOMORROW!

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Quilt for Missions

Finished up the quilting on this one today.  My usual meandering.  I decided not to add a border.  I kinda like it like this.  Just needs binding and it will be all ready for the conference.  It measures approx. 66"x86"...almost a twin, but not quite. 


I've had some questions about how I am able to quilt on my domestic sewing machine.  I've posted before about my Flynn Frame, but today I had hubby shoot a short video actually showing how I do it.


It was taken with my phone so the quality's not the best, but trust me, I've been snowed-in all week (originally posted in Feb) and have also taken the week off from make-up.  You don't wanna see me in HD right now.  I had already quilted as far across the quilt as I could with the throat space I have on my machine.  So in this shot you can see that I have removed the middle rod and turned the frame around to continue quilting down the rest of the quilt.

Friday, February 4, 2011

Cabin fever

The guys ventured out today, but not for a good or fun reason...

We got a call this morning that some pipes in the ceiling at church had burst.  Nobody knows when it actually happened, but most likely, it happened a couple of days ago.  The damage is pretty extensive.  The entire south wing of the building was flooded.  In the top pic, you can see the classroom where the break occurred. 
While the guys have been busy at the church, Aimee and I have beaten our cabin fever the best way we know how...

Aimee is working on the quilt for her bed (her first bed-sized quilt) and I'm working on my missions quilt.

I'm about half-way done with the quilting.
And you'll never guess what else!...
More snow.  That's right.  We got another 2" today.  You know, because we needed more snow.
I'm so grateful for electricity right now.  So, since tomorrow will probably be yet another snow day, I will hopefully get the other half done.  And, of course, I'll post pics when it's all finished :)

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Memory quilts

I'd like to introduce you to an incredible little girl.  Her name is Haley and you can read more about her story here.  In May of 2009, I made my first memory quilt.  It was for my daughter as a graduation gift.  I posted pics of it on Facebook and was contacted by Haley's mama (who I went to high school with).  She still had all of Haley's clothes and thought it would be cool to have a quilt made from them.

This is just SOME of her clothes.
But before I could make one for her mama, she thought it would be cool if she could give one to Haley's grandfather and aunt (her dad and sister).  So, last Christmas, these are what I made...

Using the same quilt-as-you-go method that I had used to make Kylie's quilt I made these 2 small lap-sized (or wall hanging) quilts. I was still very new to quilting, but these were fun to make and I was looking forward to making another one for Haley's mama.  I thought it didn't seem fair that she wouldn't get to keep these first 2 quilts, so I thought it might be cool for them (mostly for Haley's little sis) to have something they could cuddle with until the 3rd quilt was made.  So, using one of Haley's sweatshirts,

I made these...


This was one of Haley's favorite quotes.
It took her quite a few months to bring me more of Haley's clothes to make this last quilt,
but that was ok because it took me another few months to get it made. This time, I wanted to make it the traditional way...you know, make a top, then layer and quilt it as one big quilt.  We were going for a large lap size to maybe a twin.  I had finally figured out how to install longer rods on my Flynn frame and THOUGHT I wanted to try and quilt it myself.  Here it is all loaded on the frame and ready to go...

I don't know if any of you have ever wondered, but just in case you have, THIS is what "un-quilting" looks like...
And it's NOT fun.
I thought I had practiced enough on other quilts, but apparently not.  It was not good.  It took me about 5 days and I can't tell you how many hours to un-pick all those stitches.  So I called my friend Christie and begged for her help.  She let me bring it over and also let me help her load it onto her long-arm frame so that she could quilt it the way it was meant to be quilted.  And I am SO glad she did!  It turned out beautiful and was finished just in time to be included in their Christmas holiday...a whole year after the first 2.

Displayed on a king-sized bed

That block above the picture of Haley is the shirt she was wearing in the picture.  So many memories in all of these quilts.  And I am so glad her mama trusted me to make these priceless treasures for her and her family.

Follow the link to read about Haley's brave battle and to learn more about Cystic Fibrosis and how you might be able to help find a cure for this terrible disease.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Oklahoma Blizzard and a finish..

There's no sun today in my creative "sunny" haven :(  I wasn't going to let that stop me from sewing though.  Thankfully, we haven't lost power.  So I got a very important project out to work on, so excited to be able to finish it today...I didn't buy enough fabric for the 2nd border (@$#%%^$%$%)...
No trips to my LQS today...or probably the rest of the week.

Poor Mojo wants to play outside so bad.  I'm such a mean mommy.  I don't want to open the door or the snow will be IN my house.  Every door is blocked by snow drifts...this is actually the shortest drift!

Well, since I'm snowed in anyway, now's a good time to share my latest finish with you...

This one is for a very sweet friend that we thought we were losing just a few years ago. When I saw this quilt, I knew I had to make it for her.

The pattern can be found here.

I quilted it myself on my Flynn...fun fun.

LOVE the backing.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

I'm speechless!

...not really!  I'd like to thank all the little people...oh wait!  I AM the little people!  I would sincerely like to thank my friend Mary over at The Tulip Patch for awarding my humble little blog with this...
And honestly, I DO try to be stylish...I AM a hair stylist, after all!  But not on my blog.  I really didn't imagine that anyone other than maybe my mother (Hi, Mama!) would ever care to read about my adventures in quilting.  I am SO very grateful to my followers for reading and giving me feedback with your comments :)

There are a couple of rules that go along with this award.  The 1st is, I get to pass this award on to 8 of my favorite "stylish" blogs.  And 2nd is, I have to share 8 things about myself that you may, or may not, know about me.  And in the hopes that you will stop at each of these links and skip over the 8 boring facts about myself, I will start with the links...
and the awards (in no particular order) go to...

Sandy @ Sandy's Sew Clever
Victoria @ She's Crafty
Grandmama Jane @ Grandmama's Stories
Natasha @ Joy of Quilting
Andrea @ Millions of Thoughts
Miranda (and Charlie) @ Miranda and Charlie
Erin @ My Patchwork Life
Vera @ Seams to Sew and Quilt

I "follow" roughly 85 blogs (yes, I counted, and yes, I read new posts everyday!) and it was really hard to single out just 8...I love them all!  These are just SOME of my favorites and they ALL deserve this award, too!

Ok, so I guess there's just one more order of business...

1.  I've been a hair stylist for almost 18 yrs now and I absolutely LOVE my job, although, it does cramp my quilty style occassionally.

2.  I'm "mom" to 3 beautiful, talented, extraordinary, funny, etc...children...who are not exactly "children" anymore.  At 20, 18, and almost 15, they are almost grown.

3.  I am married to the "Love of my life" who has 4 kids of his own.  I call them my "bonus" kids.

4.  I have NEVER won a giveaway in blogland.  And I've entered A LOT. 

5.  I have an addictive personality (self-diagnosed, of course).  But because of this awareness, I have chosen to make my addictions of the sewing-kind.  Also, puzzles of just about any kind, but mostly numbers.  I love math and I suspect that's why quilting is SEW appealing to me...lots of math in quilting :)

6.  My very 1st job was at McDonald's.  Which I am oddly kinda proud of...not even I know why.  I encouraged each of my kids to apply there when they were old enough, but none would :(

7. Both my girls are also hair stylists.  The oldest has had her license for 2 years now and the younger will test for her license in May.

8.  I can solve a Rubik's cube.  I keep one on my station at work and will occassionally ask someone to "mess it up" for me.  I love love LOVE coming into work and finding it "messed up".  And I cannot leave work until it's "fixed".

So there you have it.  Be sure to check out the links above and to those of you who have wandered over from The Tulip Patch, WELCOME!  I would love to get to know ALL of you so leave me a comment, click on "follow" and if you have a blog, let me know so I can follow you, too...there's always room for more on my reading list ;)

Monday, January 17, 2011

I survived...

...the holidays, that is!  But just barely.  Right after Christmas, we had company.  Our sweet friends from Mexico, G and Cesia came to spend the New Year with us.  They got here on friday and by monday, I had the flu.  Boo.
BUT while I was aching and chilling, Cesia was working on her first quilt.  She wanted to learn how and I wasn't going to let a little fever keep me from helping her.  She made a baby rag quilt out of flannels and it really was the CUTEST thing and I've waited to blog about it because I didn't get a pic of it before they left on thursday morning.  She promised she would take a pic and then left it at her parent's house on her way back to San Luis.  So I'm still waiting on that pic...but I'm so proud of her, I just had to brag.  So, Cesia, now it's a lot more than just me who wants to see that pic...just saying.
Before Christmas I was working on a commissioned quilt that I hope to show pics of soon.  So, so far I guess this is the most boring blog post EVER.
Oh, wait!  Ok, so after the New Year and our company were gone, I decided to make a few handmade gifts for Christmas.  Oh, I know Christmas is over, but who's gonna say "no" to a handmade gift?  As most of you know, I'm a hair stylist in my "other" life.  I found this tute by accident one day, and just KNEW I had to make these for my girls at work.
It's a case for your flat iron! 

I have a case that I paid WAY too much for and have thought several times, "I could make that."  But I wasn't crazy about the design.  then I found this cool tutorial.   This one is different because...
...it has a flap that holds your cord, nice and secure.  Now I can pick it up anyway I want and my precious (and very expensive) CHI doesn't fall out.  Genius!
I did change it slightly, though.  I wanted the seam that is made by the pocket to land in the middle of the case, so I shortened the width of the pocket by a 1/2 in.  I also did not want to mess with trying to line up bias tape on the front AND back and just "hoping" that I'm catching both.  So I made my own bias binding and sewed it on the same way I would machine sew a binding on a quilt.  If the stitches showing on the inside of the case would bother you, you could just hand-stitch the binding down to the other side.  I also went ahead and quilted the body of each case.  It doesn't seem right to put batting inside an item (insulated or not) and then NOT quilt it.

I almost finished a Christmas gift for a very dear friend...didn't quite get it quilted, but here's the top...

I found the pattern at the Moda Bake Shop and bought a kit for it from the designer Natalia over at Piece N Quilt.  I'll post finished pics later...you know, when it's finished.

And just a little side-note...I've been wondering lately...How do you suppose God was able to create the whole world and everything in it, without making a huge mess?  My sewing room is a disaster area!