I've got my mojo back...

Got the binding on this today...between haircuts. We've had snow and ice the last 3 days and I had enough cancellations today to do some sewing.

I made this quilt top...well, I don't even remember how long ago. 2 years? 3? 

I finished it for an auction that our Missions team is having at church on Sunday.

I THINK I used "Happy" by Me and My Sister designs.  I do remember that I made it from part of a layer cake.  It measures approx. 48x56 and was made with HSTs.

I used this one to practice some new free-motion designs.

And then while I was putting on the binding, my pretty brand new iron (I hadn't even had time to get adhesive on it yet!) DIED.

So, I improvised...

 

with my flat iron. Luckily, it worked.

 

Baby boy quilt

 

Just got this one delivered tonight.  Baby boy isn't due for a couple more months, so this is definitely a first for me.

Super soft minky for the back.  A fun loopy free-motion quilting design.

I used a half of a Pure jelly roll and some neutral tan for background.

The inspiration for this pattern came from Jaybird quilts hexagon QAL.

It was really fun to make.

 

 

Rewind to 2012

2 years ago, my sweet husband (who is extremely supportive of my quilting) bought me a Gracie Start-Right frame and a Juki TL98Q.

I was so nervous to "play" with my new toy so I thought, I'll just use a quilt top that I don't really care that much for and then it won't matter if the quilting is bad, right?

I just THOUGHT I didn't care for this one.  It had been hidden in a closet for, oh I don't know, 2 years or so?

So I put it on the frame and gave it a go...turns out, quilting was all this baby needed to find new life!  I love it!  AND I love my Gracie and Juki...of course, I love hubby, too.

This was another top that I had tucked away, not because I didn't like it, but because I made it with nobody particular in mind.  Then a co-worker had a baby girl. I used this tutorial for the blocks and it was SUPER fun and SUPER easy to make.



In April 2012, a very close sweet friend turned the big 5-OH and I knew I just HAD to make her a quilt for her birthday.  Her favorite color is blue and I found this pretty blue and purple peacock fabric that was just perfect for her.  The pattern is called Winding Ways.  It was my first time to make, quilt, and bind scalloped edges and it was actually pretty fun.

In July, our Pastor and his wife celebrated 20 years of being at our church and my gift to them was this quilt.  Each block has the name of a Sunday School class machine-embroidered in the middle and then I went around to each class to have as many people as possible to sign the blocks.

There was more in 2012...

Another day...

Jude's quilt

My finish for the week. This baby quilt is for a sweet family at my church who had a baby back in August.  I know, I know...another one that's 3 months late!  I have joked with his mom that my goal was to get it done before he went off to college...mission accomplished!  The family is moving to Asia, so my real deadline was before they leave.  This is also the quilt that I was thinking about posting a tutorial for.  It's really just a combination of a bunch of tutorials that I have found helpful throughout the www.  So I haven't decided if the www NEEDS another tute out there.  To be continued...

Hopefully not the ONLY thing I finish, but most likely.  We have a very busy week ahead...annual Christmas party tonight for the guild, work wednesday-saturday (I constantly have to remind myself that I DO have a regular job), Ladies Christmas Tea at my church AND my 5th anniversary with my hubby on friday and celebrating that anniversary on saturday.  So for those of you who just KNOW you should be getting a quilt from me any day now...just KNOW that I AM working on it!  Not sure if I'm gonna make all those Christmas deadlines, but I haven't given up yet!

Out of the strain of the doing, into the peace of the done...

~Julia Woodruff, Gone

I borrowed this one from Stray Stitches blog.  I don't know where she finds quotes for her posts, but she's had some GREAT ones.  This quote spoke to me because I have worked on this baby quilt for 3 months now.  (Found the pattern here).  It shouldn't have taken me this long, but I had the hardest time with the quilting. I thought I wanted to use my Flynn frame and just stipple it, but the length of the quilt was too much for the 48" rods that come with the frame.  I have been to every place in my little town that might possibly have pvc pipe and/or emt rods that I could use to do larger quilts with my frame, but was unsuccessful.  The more time that went by, the more trouble I had finding the motivation I needed to finish. I finally finished it last week.  I decided done is best.  So when I read this quote, I could truly relate.  I am feeling that peace, and it feels good.  But I will not be posting any close-ups of the quilting on this one.

Since it took me so long, I figured I would throw in a little sorry-it-took-so-long gift, so baby Britton also got a teddy to go with his quilt.  And here's something that I thought was pretty cool with this quilt...

His mama thought it would be cool if I could somehow incorporate a piece of her wedding gown.  So I pieced this block right in the center of the back of his quilt.  VERY cool.  As much as I want to see the quilts I make being used and loved, I do take it as a compliment when mama says it's too pretty to use and she plans to hang it on the wall in his room.

It amazes me how a finish can motivate me to mark more things off my list...

It's time to tackle the Christmas list.  I'm praying the motivation I feel right now will last.  I NEED it to last!

Progress

Well, it's not much, but I think it counts.  I SO want to get this one finished!  But I keep getting discouraged with the quilting.  It was too long to mount on my Flynn frame so I decided to "keep it simple" and just follow the blue lines with some straight lines.  Problem is, I'm using white thread.  Basically, everytime I get to a brown block, it looks as though someone keeps bumping me while I'm sewing...ugh.  Everytime the thought crosses my mind to just rip it all out and start over, I just can't DO it!  I hate ripping and I have to keep telling myself, done is best.  So I will push through.
Also, I started a tutorial a few weeks ago and then realized I had way too many things to finish before Christmas.  2 twin-sized, 1 queen sized, and 1 lap-sized quilt.  The tute quilt is going to be a baby gift for someone special, but I've had to put it aside for now.  Here's a sneaky peeky anyway...

I think my hope now is that if I actually SHOW you what I'm working on, then maybe just MAYBE, I can find some motivation to get these things DONE!

DONE IS BEST!!!

Darlene :)

Instant gratification...

I've had a busy couple of weeks, and we're just getting started. Do you guys realize just how close Christmas is?! I still have several quilts with Christmas deadlines and I keep getting sidelined with other projects. I made a diaper bag in the same prints as Jorden's purse, but the pockets were different on the inside.I had some pretty good sized scraps left over from Hayden's bag and I've had this pattern for something like 6 months now, so I decided to give it a try. It was quick and easy and SO cute! So Hayden's mommy got a little bonus with her diaper bag.That's right, it's a camera case. It was so fun to make, I couldn't stop...I pulled out some more scraps and made 3 more!
Once I got that out of my system, it was time to get back to work...

I have several quilts on my "to-do" list that are going to take some time to get finished and I REALLY wanted instant gratification. So, I pulled out my "Book of Inspiration", a binder that I keep (actually, there's 2 of them now) full of patterns that I have found in quilting magazines. I love the inspiration I get from magazines, but don't like the clutter of having them pile up in my house. So I bought a binder and some plastic sheet protectors, and voila! My books of inspiration were born. When I'm feeling low on creative juices, I turn to the books.

I've been wanting to try this pattern by Julie Herman of Jaybird quilts that I found in the Aug/Sept edition of McCall's Quick Quilts. I have several jelly rolls lying around (I need a 12-step program for my addiction to pre-cuts) and this one only took 16 strips. I went ahead and used 5 more strips to make the binding, but that's still only 21 strips used...I could still make another one!It took me about 12 hrs to make...mostly because I have quilting ADD and had a hard time staying on task. And I DO have a family to take care of! Oh, who am I kidding? My sweet daughter made herself some mac & cheese and forced me to take a break long enough to eat some for dinner ;) Thank you Aimee! Originally, I was thinking it would be nice to have a little lap quilt to take to church with me. It's FREEZING at my church! I caught a glimpse of one of the thermostat's, and it was set on 65 degrees! Don't these people know, room temperature is 74!

I'm pretty sure when I have my 1st hot flash, I will finally be comfortable. But until then, I'll have to start bringing my own warmth to church. Now, after I made this one (which I do love by the way) I decided it really looks like a baby quilt. So I may need to make another one and give this one away...we'll see.

Also, I am working on a baby blanket for a friend who just had a baby boy. Using a Pure jelly roll...that's right, I said jelly roll. I told you I have a problem!

I've had this idea bouncing around in my head for a couple of months and I thought it might make a good tutorial for beginning quilters. So, I'm working on my 1st tutorial. Yay! I'll post when it's finished.

One more little side note...has anybody noticed I also have a love for all things circle-ish? Circles and dots...I've definitely noticed a trend here.

Ok, now back to that Christmas list...

Have a blessed day!

I'm still quilting...

I know I've been quiet for awhile (can't say I didn't warn ya'll)

but I HAVE been busy.

We went with a group from our church on a missions trip to San Luis Potosi, Mexico...amazing, exhausting, humbling...more pics here. But before we left, I made this... Yep. It's another Circle Around quilt. But this time, I made it the size of the original pattern (twin) AND I used a full-sized flat sheet for the backing, and a pillowcase (cut on bias) for the binding. The pillowcases came as a set of 2, so the other one will be used as a cover for the quilt when not in use...and a pillowcase when it IS being used ;)

Straight line quilting (which I didn't think I would like) makes this quilt the current favorite in this house. My daughter seems to think it belongs at college with HER. But it currently sits on the couch (or in my lap).

When we got home from Mexico, I guess the stress and exhaustion (totally worth it) caught up with me and I caught a cold. So no sewing for the 10 days in Mexico and then again for the weekend after...

But this past weekend, I knew it was time to get back to work. While we were away, a friend from work had a baby boy. I can't wait to meet him, but in the meantime, I'm working on this...
Found the pattern in the Moda Bake Shop, of course.

Ok, back to work...oh, who am I kidding?!

;)

Have a blessed day!

So many projects, so little time!

I haven't posted in awhile because I have truly been trying to mark things off my "to-do" list. We've had birthdays and weddings, babies born, road trips...in between all the busy-ness, here's what I've been working on... Turned this...
...into this.
Using my new Twister tool. Fun fun. Except, I'm having trouble finding the motivation to add any borders. This may be one of the quilt tops I use to practice on when I get my long arm machine. Someday.

Finished this pillow a couple of weeks ago for a sweet friend who had her 90th birthday on July 3rd.

You guys saw this one (still on the frame) in a previous post and I never got around to showing the finished quilt. So here it is with it's teddy bear companion.

Also finished this one from the Moda Bake Shop.

My 1st bias binding. Not as difficult as I thought it would be.

This latest finish is for a 3 yr old friend. This cool quilt was featured on the cover of Quilts and More magazine. I had just bought an Olfa circle cutter and could hardly wait to use it. This quilt was so fast and fun to make. It's the 1st pattern I've made that I KNOW I'll be making more of.
The backing is pink flannel to make it extra snuggly. I went ahead and washed it to see how pretty the raw edges would turn out. Love it.

I still have a loooooong list to conquer. [Taking a deep breath...]
Have a blessed day.
Darlene :)

Told ya so!

I told you I was bad at keeping a journal! I wasn't lying...it's been over 2 wks since my last post. I hope everybody had a great Memorial weekend. God bless the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Unlike most, we didn't have family come over. It was just us. Actually, by dinner time, it was literally just us. My husband and me. The kids all went their separate ways and we were left with a giant platter of grilled hamburgers and hotdogs. Sorry I didn't think to take pics of that platter (it really was yummy) but I had no intention of blogging about it :)

I DID get a lot done this weekend though. I love my husband so much for letting me be lazy. What I mean by "lazy" is...when I don't feel like doing anything else (housework, laundry, etc...), he will leave me alone to sew. He is so patient with me when I get on a roll and can't concentrate on anything else. He just lets me be me.

Saturday, we went to a beautiful outdoor wedding and all I could think about was this baby quilt I had seen at the Moda Bake Shop a few weeks back. I had bought the materials from Natalia over at Piece n Quilt back when I saw this. I wanted it to look just like the sample at the Bake Shop and I couldn't wait to get back home and get started on it.This one's for a friend who just had a baby boy 2 wks ago. It was so easy and fun to put together. I will definitely be making more of these. I can hardly wait to get this one on the frame and get it finished.This one was already on the frame and had been there for over a month. I think my husband was just so grateful to not have to look at the frame leaning against the dining room wall. But I have more baby quilts ready to be loaded, so I had to get this one done. It's a donation quilt. It still needs binding, but it's quilted at least.
This is the frame I keep talking about. It's the Multi-frame from John Flynn. I love love LOVE this frame. Of course, my dream is to one day own my own long-arm machine, but this will do for now. I can comfortably do baby quilts or wall hangings up to about 45 inches wide with this frame. The quilt on it now is for a baby shower coming up on sunday for a friend at church who is having a boy and they are HUGE OU fans. Since I actually have a real job to go to tomorrow, not sure if this one will get finished, but I will do my best.

OH! And I made a bear for a friend who is adopting a 4 yr-old boy. It's amazing how exhausting is to be so "lazy"! Tomorrow, it's back to reality.