I promised Pictures!

And here they are!

My new baby:


And what I've made on it:
Well, I finally quilted the fall mini quilt swap. This'll be mailed with 4 other swaps this coming week, either tomorrow or Tuesday, depending on when I can get out of the house for a bit after Christmas clean-up.



Close up of the quilting:

Finally quilted. I chose to use the new machine and do a leaf motif in the white parts of the quilt, and then do swirly lines on the diagonal through the yellowy/orange squares.

I am totally thrilled with how this one came out. I only hope my partner is as thrilled as I am.

I have just enough of the gold/yellow to make myself one.. this one hurts to part with.. it really does.

This one I did hand applique for the leaf and some new decorative stitching around it. It's for Raesha on Flikr, but I'm still waiting on her address to send it to her.


And the back:

This is the back of the mini for Raesha. I just loved the center fabric and it was gold and brown and just "fall-like" to me.

And I kept playing more with the new machine. I signed up for the January STUD quilt swap with the theme of Rainbows:


I actually made my mini's top.. can you guess what I did with these fabrics?? :D

More pictures of Christmas coming soon - gotta get the photos off of my mom's camera and then I'll pick some good ones to post here!

I haven't abandoned anyone!

I've been so busy creating for Christmas, and having JellyBeans 1st birthday - I've been busy!

Here is the birthday girl eating her Elmo cupcake:


She got a little tired near the end, and just shoved her face right onto the cupcake.

This was the original cake I tried to make. It was from a Build-A-Bear mold, but the frosting was too heavy and it collapsed on itself. We did eat it anyway - and it was good!


A Christmas Gift for my grandmother:

Made for my grandmother for Christmas (Sorry the picture is a bit blurry) it's an eyeglass case at the top part, and a pen holder at the bottom. There are spaces for 2 pens/pencils. Nana keeps misplacing her pens and she almost always needs her glasses to write, so I figured why not get both in one!

A cute little fabric postcard for a swap on Flikr:

Here is my fabric postcard for the ORB postcard swap! :) I'm not sharing who it's going to. Because of the snow it's in the mail on Monday (hopefully!!) It's actually in an envelope to protect it from the snow, and it's waiting in our mailbox to be picked up!

And my re-send to Karol-Ann for the stitchers angel swap:

The only thing you can really see clearly (I want her to have a surprise or two!!) is the rose fabric bowl.

And just so anyone knows - my mother in law mailed us a painting on 19 October 2009 from England. We just got it on 18 December!! So maybe the first parcel is still winging its way to Karol-Ann.


And...
My gorgeous STUD mini quilt from chocolate_is_the_best_medicine on Flikr:

Look at this hand embroidery:

And more

Thanksgiving has been here and passed.. and I'm still no where near more ready for Christmas. Mom and I went out shopping on Black Friday, and did most of the shopping then (I was in Kohl's three times!!!) and got most of my gifts. Now they're all hidden all over the house (so Bean doesn't find them, or the hubby) and I have to get them wrapped. Now all I need is more time! :)

Here's more of what I've been working on (instead of wrapping!!)

For Dee, only a little sneak peak: Yours is in the mail on Monday. I finished part 2! :)


This was the mini quilt that I sent to Maya for the Four Seasons Holiday Quilt Swap. She did receive it (so now I can post it!), but was away for Thanksgiving so it took her a little bit to respond.



This is the beautiful Mini I received in the swap from the extremely talented Sara:



Would you believe she said this was her first time doing embroidery?? It's too perfect, and already hanging up on our walls.

This was one I was late on, it was for STUD October to Kathy: (She did receive it in November, I just got around to uploading it.



And...
I conquered Triangles!!
I'm still nervous about making them, but I'm no longer scared.

Show N Tell

Here are the other things that I've been working on lately.

This mini is going to a lovely lady in a personal swap:



It actually has been bound already, just need to label it.

Here's a close up of the hand quilting:


And this real mini quilt will be going in the package as well:


For Scale:


For Aunt Pitty Pat's Christmas Swap:
I'm in 2 groups, so I need to make 24 9-Patch blocks.
Here are 12 for Group 2.


This shows a truer color:


4 Seasons Holiday Quilt Swap:
This is it unbound, I just need to upload one of it that was bound.


Idea for the Inspired by the Fall swap:


I didn't sew anything for it yet - just playing with some placement.

Some of what I've been working on

Showing off some of the mini quilts I was alluding to yesterday.

For Dena: She should be getting this one any day now:
For the My Favorite Quilters 6" and under swap:



And the back:


For Jess:
The October (I was a little late finishing) STUD quilt:




And the back of it: (Hand Quilted)


For Kathy J:
October STUD Anything Goes - we both chose to do Halloween:
Hand Quilted:


For Ruthie:
6"-12" Swap Group - Theme - Hawaiian. This is a bit larger than the 12", its 16" and all hand quilted. In the center I quilted a dolphin, then there is a star, a swirl, seaweed and a shell. I chose bright colors because to me Hawaii was all about brightness and fun.

I'm so proud of this one I pieced another top and will eventually quilt the other one or me.



True brightness:


Stitching close-ups (some are in black and white so you can see the contrast):












And the Back of the quilt:

Sleepy Baby.. now with 3 teeth!

Little JellyBean is getting her 3rd tooth, and she's super tired because of it. But, problem is, little Bean only wants to cuddle her mommy. And that means Mommy can't get the last of her sewing done. Mommy needs to send out 3 swaps, so they'll be done tomorrow night, no matter what - Daddy is taking over the cuddling business instead of playing on his XBox. Mommy wants to have a little fun too!

Then I just need to put the final touches on a few other quilts, and I've got 2 of my personal swaps done! Yay! Go me!

Then, of course, I've signed up for the STUD mini - 2 of them actually: Woodland and Anything Goes (Halloween). And in my 6"-12" group we're signing up for Hawaiian style quilts or Hawaiian Themed. Since I've never made a Hawaiian quilt before, I figure a tiny mini would be an excellent way to try it out. And I've got a TON of hibiscus fabric which will be perfect for a Hawaiian themed quilt. I know just what I'm going to do for that one - and I've started getting out the fabric for it.

Till tomorrow when I get to show off the final versions of a few minis!

Phew - I can show off!

On Flikr there's a swap group called Swap Till U Drop (STUD) and I participated in my first swap with them for September. I picked the theme Anything Goes and got my partner, quiltinlady21. We were partnered up on the 1st, and I mailed out my quilt on Monday the 14th! Quiltinlady21 mailed hers out to me on Friday the 11th, and I got mine on Saturday.

Here's what I got:
The absolutely gorgeous front:


And the back:



And this is the one that I sent out. I called it Autumn Moon. It was inspired by a free stained glass pattern I found online. It was the first time that I'd tried a machine applique and hand-quilting on something this small! I'm super duper proud of it (It was so hard to let it go, but I know it's in a great new home)


Close up of the machine applique and hand quilting:


And the back. I wanted the label to be creative, so I free hand drew the same pattern on the front for the label.



And this one is going to be going to my Stitchers Angel. The theme is Roses, and I had some scraps of rose fabrics left, so I decided to make a mini quilt. It's teeny tiny - only 6" square. Super fun to make, I hope she likes it.


And, I won a coin purse from this giveaway!
Giveaway - Ends 9 Sept


I'm now patiently waiting for it to arrive in the mail. Well, maybe not so patiently, but I am waiting. :)