Practicing Machine Quilting (And Hand!)

By blog hopping by chance, I found this awesome site that helps show you how to do free motion quilting. And she's got some You Tube videos too: Free Motion Quilting

I've got an older machine, my trusty White, and it's been giving me some hiccups. I'm trying with it, but sometimes it's just sticking - and I've oiled it. So I'm going to practice with some of these new techniques that I've learned and hope my machine stitching gets better. But no matter what, I still love hand-quilting little projects. They're just so much fun and relaxing.

Speaking of hand quilting - I'm making more progress on "First Snowfall" It's almost totally done now, just a few (10 or so) more curly-q's.

Progress Photos:
The front of First Snowfall:


If you look close you can see the disappearing ink pen for my guide.

And here's the back:


I used the same white on white fabric on the back as I did on the front for the triangles and the borders. I'm really loving this quilt - but I'm not sure what I want to do with it when it's done. This was originally going to go to the Holiday Quilt Swap - but it's too small by 2 inches for the minimum size so that's out!

I'm working on the final one that will be going to my Holiday Quilt Swap Partner - that one is Penguins! And I'll have a photo of the 3/4 finished top soon - probably in a day or so.

And this is the floor after JellyBean reaches into one of her toy boxes.. Not that I mind in the least bit.

Fantastic Deals! And an Idea...

JellyBean and I went shopping today. We actually went out to get something for dinner - strawberries, mandarin oranges, lettuce, chicken and croutons. It was absolutely delicious, but I digress. So on our way, we stopped into a store that I've seen tons of times, but never actually been in. Today we went in, and wow, there were some awesome deals. The basic set up of the store is kind of like a Big Lots, but smaller - it's got brand name stuff at close-out prices. Of course, I had to walk up and down every single aisle, even if I wasn't buying anything. But then, I saw the aisle "Home Goods" I never ever expected to find crafty stuff in it - but I did. They had brand name quilting supplies for dirt cheap. I got all of this for under $15! In the kit to the left, there is a book with 17 different patterns in it, as well as containing 3 triangle templates for $6.99, the 3 templates at the top of the photo (two purple triangles and one orange diamond) were only $3.99! And the other two rectangular rulers were only $3.99 for both!



And now as I write this, I've got my hoop next to me, and I'm about to work on some more of JellyBean's quilt.

Question for anyone who's reading this - The border of the quilt is just a solid white - should I quilt her name on each side of the border? That's what I'm planning on, but I'm not sure if it'll look "right" having her name 4 times on the quilt.. What do ya'll think? If I take your idea, I'll make a little gift for whoever's idea I do take.

Now, for my idea.. I'd really like to put together a freebie block of the month for anyone to download. I'm not sure if I should do applique patterns for a quilt or wall hanging. What would you all like to do? Is there any interest in this? Just leave me a note and let me know what you think and if you're interested in it or not.

Till tomorrow!

Sewing, Company and Free Furnature

Yesterday was super busy. I cleaned up the house because I was having company come over and even though we moved in about a month ago, I still have tons of boxes left to unpack. And that's kind of difficult especially when we don't have the furniture for three rooms. So I keep trying to put stuff away but I keep on moving things around.

So A & M came over yesterday to see the house (and my lack of progress in putting things away) but more importantly to spend time with me and the JellyBean. They got here around 3, so I cooked up some lemon pepper chicken with a side of pasta shells, a little salad, fresh carrots and fresh fruit. I really thought that it was good - I love to cook. One of my favorite channels on the television is Food Network. There's just something awesome about cooking up a good meal.

Then, A & M left around 5:30 ish, and I fed the baby, and the phone rang, it was Deb, one of my friends from way back in grade school - I've known her since we were about 6 years old. Terry (DH) and I moved about 2 blocks away from where her parents live! Deb wanted to know if Terry and I wanted to take her parent's extra twin size bed and frame and a lounge chair. Since free is certainly in our budget, I said of course. :) Then Terry got home from work around 6, he brought his co-worker over who's also moving, so she's taking all the boxes that we've unpacked so far. Danielle (his co-worker) brought her sister over and they packed up about 12 boxes!! Deb and her dad came over and set up the bed in the spare room and Terry and I took the baby and we went and picked up the lounge chair. It's got a little scratch in the bottom of it where their cat was, but other than that it's absolutely perfect and it matches our living room so well.

Then we ate dinner and I finally got to do a little more quilting. I got one more block done - not much, but still, it was a bit of progress. I'll post pictures of the progress later today. :)

More Progress

Today was pretty busy. One of my friends from work invited DH, JellyBean and me over to her house for dinner and some video gaming on the Wii. We played Wii Sports at the Resort and it was a ton of fun. I won the Frisbee game on it, and nothing else. But I had fun with it - and it was so much fun! DH won a few of the games, one of them was Canoeing and the other was Archery. JellyBean fell asleep about four hours into being there, so we drove back home. It's not a long way, but it was about 30 minutes of a sleeping baby in the car. She hadn't napped at all since getting up at 6 AM, so it was a nice little break for Mommy and Daddy.

Tomorrow I have 3 more of my co-workers coming over to have a mini house-warming party. There are still a bunch of boxes in one room, but overall I think that I have gotten the house to a relatively neat and orderly state. It always seems like there is just "one more thing to do" before I go to bed at night. But, since having JellyBean, I've really learned to relax and let things go - or at least make reasonable priorities.

Here's the progress on the quilt. Since these photos were taken I've gotten 4 more blocks quilted, and it really feels to me like I'm making progress. I just hope to keep up this good progress and have it totally done before I go back to work in September.



And here's a few close-ups of the center squares. I fell in love with the fabric and wanted to make something beautiful for my beautiful little JellyBean.









I've got a handful of these blocks left over, but they're only about 7 inches or so(I forgot the exact measurements of the blocks) and I have no idea what to do with them. Any ideas? Feel free to comment!

And after I finish this quilt, I'll be making miniature quilts for Alzheimer's research. I've been following Ami Simms and her work for a while, and I decided that I was going to make the $1000 promise. Goodness knows I've enough orphaned blocks laying around and ideas to make some miniature quilts. If you don't know about this project check it out here:
The Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative

Till tomorrow night! Have fun

Started Hand Quilting The Baby's Quilt

Today I embark on a new challenge. So far, all but one of the quilts I've made have been machine quilted. The one quilt I did hand quilt was only an 8x8 and it wasn't really a proper "quilt". It was made when I was really young and I needed a doll house rug - so I can't count that. And besides, I didn't have a sewing machine back then.

Now, I've started the journey to hand quilting my daughters Peter Rabbit quilt. I started making the top before she was born and completed the top in November 2008, right around Thanksgiving. Because I was due in the beginning of December 08, I couldn't sit in the sewing chair for too long (I was *huge*!!) so the top went unfinished until now. I wanted this quilt to be something super special for my daughter - she's our first child. I poured hours of love into making the top, and I wanted to do something equally as nice for the quilting. But, as I got bigger and bigger, the less and less I could sit in the chair. Even finishing the top before she was born was a true labor of love (pardon that pun). Then after she was born, I was too enthralled with a new baby and I wanted to be with her all the time, so sewing and quilting definitely took a back seat. I packed up all my fabric and other sewing treasures and concentrated on being a good mom. In April, DH and I started looking for our own house. We found a house that we fell in love with and closed on it in the last week in June after I finished work for the school year. We planned it this way so that I have the summer off to unpack and relax before the school year starts again. So again, all my sewing stuff stayed packed up for the move. I've got a lot of the unpacking done now, there's still about twelve boxes left to unpack, but now I can devote some more time to sewing - and now I've got my own sewing space - not just on the dining room table anymore! When I get my sewing space up I'll post some photos.

So now, the hand quilting has begun. I think what I'm going to do is to quilt in the ditch around the blocks, and quilt her name into the border. I've got this awesome variegated thread that is purple, light blue yellow and light green that matches perfectly with the quilt top.

I hope that when JellyBean grows up she realizes how much love went into the quilt, and still loves it - faults and all.

Here's the quilt in the hoop:


Close up of one of the blocks:


15 minutes into the hand-quilting: (Apologies for the lightness. I hope you can see the stitches)