Andrea's Quilting Obsession

New Fabric

2008-08-31T18:31:00.003-05:00

Went to Joann's tonight and got some more fabric. I was trying to get away from the colors I LOVE (blue and purple) but I ended up buying blue and purple because that's just what I wanted! Not to mention I found a really pretty blue fabric, and I got it for the remnant price because there wasn't a yard left (which is what I said I wanted)

Block Completely Done!

2008-08-25T23:33:00.004-05:00

My block is completely done! And I checked and it does measure 7.5 inches square! I should have probably ironed the seams open as I went but oh well, it was just practice anyway!

Done!

2008-08-25T17:00:00.002-05:00

Finally done with the block! Okay so it's not sewn together yet, but deal with it!

A picture of my little cutie, Alex

Our new car, 2008 hyundai accent. We traded in our 2003 ford focus because it was just giving us too many problems and a huge money pit!

Still Working on Block 2!

2008-08-25T15:59:00.002-05:00

I am STILL working on block 2!

I got some of it done, then realized that it wasn't going to work because I didn't have any seam allowances! So I had to rip it all back apart, split the pieces up into sections and started over. That and the way I was doing it was confusing me!

And now I'm almost done making all the sections, after that I'll just need to sew the sections together and I'll finally have my block done!

Piecing a Backing

2008-08-19T15:18:00.002-05:00

I was getting ready to pin Alex's winter quilt all together the other night and then realized that 44" fabric is not quite wide enough for the quilt.

The quilt is 50x60ish, so if I cut two pieces 60 inches (or 70 inches long to make sure I have enough) then I'd end up with an 88 inch wide backing and that's excessive. Seems a waste to make a backing that big and then end up having to cut it down a lot at the end.

Block #1, Sewing Room

2008-08-16T11:48:00.004-05:00

I did another block #1 because I felt like my first one turned out crappy. I'm happier with the 2nd one.

I also took pics of my fabric stash and my sewing room.

Block #1

And I just now realized that on the top of my block the two green triangles don't meet up just right!!

Some of the puckering in the block

My fabric stash, that whole basket is full

The desk my machine sits on

BOM Done

2008-08-11T23:58:00.002-05:00

Hasn't been squared up, and some pieces have ripples in them from the thread being pulled to tight. But I finally got it done!

BOM #1

2008-08-10T23:46:00.002-05:00

I'm not too sure about the orange in the center. It just looks off to me, like it doesn't belong. The other colors seem to go to me but that orange just doesn't work for me!

I got all the flying geese pieces done, and two of the corner squares.

Beginning of Block 1

2008-08-09T16:42:00.002-05:00

I'm doing Judy Laquidara's block of the month (and I spelled her last name without having to look it up! Double checked it though!) And this is the beginning of my block 1 along with my fabric selections.

My fabric selections are in order from outside of the block to inside.
Dark blue=her light shade/white
Green=her green
Purple=her purple
Blue=the gold triangles in hers
Orange=square in the very middle of the block

Gone Favorites Only

2008-08-07T20:21:00.002-05:00

At least that's what I'm calling it!

Apparently some people have nothing better to do than stalk me on the web and chit chat about me, so only people I trust are able to read this!

I'm stressing out right now with that BS, submitting a request for a/c service and having to call the home warranty company this afternoon because the a/c people had never contacted me in 2 days, the car not working right. Oy.

We went down to the gas station, filled up with gas, then pretty much sat there for almost 10 mins just turning the key so the electric stuff came on, then seeing if it would actually show the odometer reading. If it did, we could start the car. But then 2 or 3 times when we went to put the car in reverse the car would die, so we'd have to start all over again!

So no buying batting right now because I don't want us to end up stuck at Joann's and not able to push the car home! At least now the gas station is only like 2 miles up the road, so it's not a bad deal pushing it home from there.

Best Reaction Ever!!

2008-08-06T22:19:00.002-05:00

I just got the best reaction ever to one of my quilts!!! I walked into Alex's room with his winter quilt I've been working on off and on for 2 years now and I unfolded it and he said oh wow!! I handed it to him and he took his blanket off the bed (it's actually another quilt I made) and put his winter quilt on the bed!

It's like awww, he really likes it!!! He would have slept with it if I'd let him!

Alex's Winter Quilt

2008-08-04T16:58:00.002-05:00

I got tired of cross stitching so I pulled out Alex's winter quilt that I started working on in oh....August 2006!!! And it's still unfinished. I've finally got everything into rows now LOL. At least I haven't been working on it continuously since then, that would be really bad!

Alex has been enjoying some learning time with daddy. They go on starfall.com and go through the letters and watch the little things together. Alex says the letters and tries to say the items that he sees. Like doll, bear. I haven't gotten my chance to play it with him yet. I know he recognizes some letters, at least the ones in his name!

Having Fun

2008-07-28T15:47:00.004-05:00

Getting Busy Around Here!

2008-07-26T22:17:00.003-05:00

Could anybody who visits my blog click one of the adsense links? I know I've got some of my quilting people reading me, so if you wouldn't mind clicking a link, that would be much appreciated. Thanks!!!

We adopted a dog today. And so it's an adjustment period for both Alex and the dog. Eventually the dog will settle in and Alex will get used to not being the center of attention anymore.

Hopefully now that Alex has gone to bed and things have calmed down around here I can get back to working on the other bedroom and get my sewing stuff set up!

Does anybody have some good ways that they have their fabric so you can actually see what you have and not have to go flipping through a box? I have all of my fabric in small boxes, so I'm having to flip through it all to find what I want. Plus it isn't sorted by colors or anything!

Update

2008-07-26T10:27:00.003-05:00

I got some more work done on the 2nd bedroom last night. It's getting close to ready to do some sewing. I've actually been working on a cross stitch for a bit now. Don't worry quilting, I'll be back!

If any of my quilting buddies are still reading me can you leave me a comment?

Alex is doing good too. His tummy was upset yesterday, we'll see how he is today. He has his 3 year check up soon, so I'll get to find out officially how tall he is and how much he weighs. Last time I measured him he was 38 inches, and 31 lbs. He has probably hmmm 30 words and 30 signs at least now? His newest word is cat and kitty.

The Pattern

2008-07-20T16:23:00.001-05:00

NOTE: I want to use all my own colors, not buy her fabric, so I need it all figured out by the fabric A light value, medium light value etc. Can anybody help?

All seam allowances are 1/4". Please read all directions before beginning and press carefully after each step.

Fabric A: 1 3/4 yard of BTR-4850 Sky
Fabric B: 1 1/3 yard of BTR-4850 Sage
Fabric C: 1 1/4 yard of BTR-4850 Spice Fabric
Backing: 3 yards of BTR-3909 Lapis

Cutting Instructions:
Important: Before cutting strips, cut values apart at cut line.
Fabric A (Light value): Cut (1) 2 1/2" strip, from strips cut (14) 2 1/2" squares.
Cut (4) 2" strips x length of light value fabric. Piece strips together for binding.
Fabric A (Medium-Light value): Cut (2) 2 1/2" strips, from strips cut (14) 2 1/2" squares and (14) 2 1/2" x 4 1/2" rectangles.
Fabric A (Medium value): Cut (3) 2 1/2" strips, from strips cut (14) 2 1/2" x 4 1/2" rectangles and (14) 2 1/2" x 6 1/2" rectangles.
Fabric A (Dark value): Cut (4) 2 1/2" strips, from strips cut (14) 2 1/2" x 6 1/2" rectangles and (14) 2 1/2" x 8 1/2" rectangles.
Fabric B (Light value): Cut (1) 2 1/2" strip, from strips cut (12) 2 1/2" squares.
Fabric B (Medium-Light value): Cut (2) 2 1/2" strips, from strips cut (12) 2 1/2" squares and (12) 2 1/2" x 4 1/2" rectangles.
Fabric B (Medium value): Cut (3) 2 1/2" strips, from strips cut (12) 2 1/2" x 4 1/2" rectangles and (12) 2 1/2" x 6 1/2" rectangles.
Fabric B (Dark value): Cut (4) 2 1/2" strips, from strips cut (12) 2 1/2" x 6 1/2" rectangles and (12) 2 1/2" x 8 1/2" rectangles.
Fabric C (Light value): Cut (1) 2 1/2" strip, from strips cut (10) 2 1/2" squares.
Fabric C (Medium-Light value): Cut (2) 2 1/2" strips, from strips cut (10) 2 1/2" squares and (10) 2 1/2" x 4 1/2" rectangles.
Fabric C (Medium value): Cut (3) 2 1/2" strips, from strips cut (10) 2 1/2" x 4 1/2" rectangles and (10) 2 1/2" x 6 1/2" rectangles.
Fabric C (Dark value): Cut (3) 2 1/2" strips, from strips cut (10) 2 1/2" x 6 1/2" rectangles and (10) 2 1/2" x 8 1/2" rectangles.
Backing: Cut backing into two pieces each 1 1/2 yards long. Sew together along the long edges.
Assembly Instructions:
1. To make Quarter Log Cabin Block, sew Light 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" square
to Medium/Light 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" square.
2. Add Medium/Light 2 1/2" x 4 1/2" rectangle to first two squares.
3. Add Medium 2 1/2" x 4 1/2" rectangle.
4. Add Medium 2 1/2" x 6 1/2" rectangle.
5. Add Dark 2 1/2" x 6 1/2" rectangle.
6. Add Dark 2 1/2" x 8 1/2" rectangle.
7. Make (14) Quarter Log Cabin blocks from Fabric A,
(12) blocks from Fabric B and (10) blocks from Fabric C.
8. Following quilt photo for placement, sew blocks into rows.
Sew the rows together to make the quilt top.
9. Layer, quilt and bind as desired.
BLK-2684-001
Shade Cascade
While all possible care has been taken to ensure the accuracy of this pattern, we are not responsible for printing errors or the way in which individual work varies.

©2007 Karen Combs • All Rights reserved ©2007 Blank Quilting • All rights reserved
65 West 36th St., New York, NY 10018 • Toll Free: 1-888-442-5265 • Fax: 1-212-563-4733 • www.BlankQuilting.com
Finished Size: 48" x 48"

Pattern Problem

2008-07-19T12:47:00.002-05:00

There is a quilt that I would LOVE to make, only problem is it uses a fabric that has stripes of color (Cascade by Karen Combs) and so you have to cut apart the stripes, but it also just tells you that you'll need 1 3/4 yards of the one thing, but that one thing has 4 colors in it. I just want to go to the store and get my own 4 shades of one color. Anybody know how I could figure out how much fabric I would need for each of the 4 parts?

Still Not Done

2008-07-11T08:55:00.002-05:00

Soon after I wrote my last entry I went into the 2nd bedroom to work on getting it all set up and cleaned up and realized that the ceiling fan does absolutely nothing to cool the room. Not to mention it's like a 12 foot ceiling? and the fan is right up against the ceiling instead of hanging down somewhat. The fan in our room is hanging down some, and those ceilings are the same height.

So it's hot in there. I need to take the box fan in there and work on it.

Been quite a while!

2008-07-06T22:01:00.002-05:00

It's been quite a while since I've written here. From waiting to close on our house, and then packing, moving, getting stuff in order at the house...whew we've been busy!

We actually just found the pedal for my machine maybe a week ago if that, so even if I had wanted to sew I wouldn't have been able to. And right now the room with my sewing machine is still a mess. We haven't gotten it together at all yet!

I hope to get back into sewing and quilting soon and be posting again!

Eric's Christmas Quilt

2008-05-12T22:09:00.001-05:00

Well I finally got Eric's Christmas quilt done. Now to work on my own little project again. :)

Update on Eric's Quilt

2008-04-22T19:46:00.002-05:00

I know I took pics of his quilt at one point and now I can't find them. But anyway, I worked on Eric's christmas quilt the other day, and got it all quilted but then I still have to add the borders and get that done.

I just have to make sure I cut the border strip big enough to be a 1" border and also able to get sewn to the quilt!

Planning on Working

2008-04-19T13:18:00.001-05:00

Planning on working on Eric's Christmas quilt in just a little bit. Have to put the sewing machine back on the table because we moved it to eat Valentine's Day dinner and I've just never moved it back.

EDIT: Ugh, now I'm reminded why I really don't like polyester batting! It is as thick as can be and so difficult to get underneath my needle!

Been a While

2008-04-14T00:10:00.004-05:00

It has been a while since I've written. As part of my Christmas present from my MIL, I got a quilt that had been started for Eric but it was never finished. And now I get to put it together!

I have also had a quilt in the works for Eric for a while now. I have it all pinned together and just need to sew through all 3 layers to get the quilt done.

What I've Been Up To

2007-10-31T21:41:00.000-05:00

I haven't been quilting in quite a few weeks. I've been working on trying to earn some money so I can go back to college.

I've been working on offers on this one site for not even 2 weeks and I've already made $42.60. Not bad for doing the site for 2 weeks. And since I stay at home with the little guy, this works great for me, because I can do an offer when he is taking a nap, or after he's gone to bed at night.

Check it out!

TreasureTrooper

2007-10-01T14:01:00.000-05:00

I haven't been working on quilting much. Been working on TreasureTrooper. I make money by doing free offers online. There are times I've paid say $5 for shipping and handling but then made like $10 or $15, so a profit of $5 or $10 right there.

I've actually been paid a few times. I don't have all my checks scanned though.

July 13, 2006-$39.88
August 12, 2006-$48.11
Sept 12, 2006-$53.01
Oct 11, 2006-$26.60
Sept 24, 2007-$24.05

Fabric Stash

2007-07-17T16:19:00.001-05:00

I'm definitely a lover of fabric. Although I don't have as much of a stash as I've seen some people have!

Between all my things of fabric I have 13 3/4 yards total. I told hubby that I could probably make a queen or king sized quilt from all the fabric I have.

Quilt Update

2007-07-16T00:40:00.000-05:00

Finally done! I used tape to tape it to the wall for picture taking purposes.

Trying to do the rest of the binding wasn't very easy. I folded it over to the back and then flipped the fabric under itself. So that when I sewed through the top layer it went through all the layers and the edge of the binding on the back is a folded edge and not a raw edge. And the raw edges are tucked into the binding and are sewn through. The only real problems was when it came to the corners, I was trying to get it as least bulky as possible. Instead of doing a mitered border I just sewed the binding to the top and bottom, then to the sides, then folded it under just right and pinned it into place. But there was bulk in the corners that I had to figure out.

I'm planning on practicing mitering borders on a 4" square piece tomorrow hehe.

2007-07-09T17:54:00.000-05:00

Just a quilt update. Haven't really been doing anything on this site in a bit but I still like to keep my quilting journal because I can see my progress as I go along :) Plus I can find other quilting friends!

I actually have the binding almost all the way on it. I'm still trying to do the one side of it. My thread got messed up on my machine when I did the last side (I think its because the bobbin isn't even) so I have to pull out some stitches and start on that side again.

I originally tried to do a mitered border but I didn't know you had to stop 1/4 inch from the edge, fold up the binding, fold it down, THEN turn the thing and start sewing from that new side! I had pinned it down all the way around the quilt (and had done the folding for the mitered corners) and then just sewed all the way around the quilt. It wasn't till I was done that I realized I'd messed it up. So I took it with me in the car to get some black fabric that I would then use for the binding instead of what I bought. And in the car I ripped out some of the stitches for the binding. Took me a bit but I finally got it undone. I'm just doing strips across the top and bottom, then the sides and I'll turn it under and tuck the ends in and use the machine to sew through the original seam from putting the binding onto the whole quilt.

Quilt Update

2007-06-27T00:06:00.000-05:00

This is my mini quilt so far. It's not quite perfect but hey...now I can say I've done a mini quilt! It's something I've always wanted to do :)

Half of the 9 Patches Done!

2007-06-19T14:35:00.000-05:00

Aren't they cute?

Still Not Done!

2007-06-18T23:15:00.000-05:00

I'm surprised I'm not done with my mini quilt yet. I mean it is a whole 22 inches big. Or at least will be! I'm still working on the 9 patch blocks in it. That is all I have to do and then I can sew the top together! So I am pretty close to the top done phase!

Town Not Walking Friendly :(

2007-06-10T23:44:00.000-05:00

Our little town is not walking friendly. See I live in a small town (actually a suburb of Fort Worth) and there is a main street that has quite a bit of stuff on it. And I live really close to that main street. That is where the grocery store is, the pharmacies, just about all the gas stations in the town. Plus if I want to take Alex to the park we have to cross that street and walk along it.

A few weeks back Alex and I walked to the one gas station near where we live. I pushed him in his stroller like I always do when we walk anywhere. The street that we live off of has no sidewalk (at least where I was walking) then the next street we walked has a sidewalk partway down on one side, then it ends, and the sidewalk pretty much starts on the other side of the street. So if you want to walk on the sidewalk all the way you have to cross the street halfway down the street to stay on the sidewalk.

And then you can only cross the main street from one side of this street. So instead of the shortest way being straight across the street you might have to make a U or C shape just to get to where you wanted to go because of not being able to cross from both sides of James St.

So Alex and I go to the gas station. I get a soda for me and a candy bar to split with him. We went and sat in front of this one building on their porch. We ate the candy bar and I talked to my mom for a little bit on my phone. Then we headed back.

I'm getting ready to cross the one street to head home and I have a walk signal. There is a woman in a mini van who I can tell is working on turning right. She is only looking left. I started walking cautiously (considering I did have a walk sign but I wasn't sure if she saw me or not) Sure enough she starts turning right and her passenger like points to us and I think is telling her to look out for us. Since I was watching her movements I stopped when I saw her going and we were safe. But if I hadn't taken note of where she was looking we may have been hit. She didn't try to come back and apologize or anything.

We made it safely home and I got onto our towns website and sent them an email about traffic issues. I said that the crossing signals are kind of far back from the road (try pulling a stroller 5 feet into some grass just to hit a button and pull the stroller back out of the grass to get to the crosswalk) And that there are no sidewalks along the main road. Which of course would be really helpful. They said that when they plan to enlarge the main road in 2010 they will be adding in sidewalks. Okay it is 2007 now...and we probably won't still be in this town in 2010. You'd think with a town this size, sidewalks would be a given. Considering there are like 2 main streets in this town.

Darnit!

2007-06-02T15:32:00.000-05:00

I spent what felt like forever sewing these strips together to make a 9 patch block. When I got done I thought the middle stripped looked too narrow for what I figured it should measure. 1 inch strip....two strips sewn to it, one on each side, 1/4 seam allowance. Should measure 1/2 inch in the middle strip right? Nope...mine only measures 1/4!

And then I laid down the whole strip and measured the middle strip and it looked like it was only cut 3/4 of an inch. No clue how cause the rest of my strips are 1 inch!

Square Question

2007-06-01T16:44:00.000-05:00

I have a pattern that tells me to cut out 2 3/8 squares then do the sandwich method (I think that is what it is called) to make the squares and they should end up as 2 inch squares.

Okay now correct me if I'm wrong but wouldn't using a 1/4 inch seam make it so they are LESS than 2 inches square?

Quilt Update

2007-05-31T13:16:00.000-05:00

Got one column of my quilt pieced together. And this is it. Doesn't look as bad as I thought it would actually :)

So Frustrating!

2007-05-30T15:41:00.000-05:00

I can't figure out how exactly to get my blocks to line up perfectly! I tried pining in a way I thought would get them to line up right but nope.

I think if I want to do this quilt it is gonna take a bit of ripping :(

Sewing Table

2007-05-29T13:46:00.001-05:00

I finally got a chance to clean up the dining room table and so I took some pictures of my sewing area.

The whole table

Left overs from my current project underneath the blue box

Pieces for current project in the shoebox with the ruler on top

I also cut Alex's hair last night and think he looks more grown up now than he did before!

Quilt

2007-05-25T22:13:00.000-05:00

I don't really know what to put for my title LOL.

I pinned the first row of my quilt together last night. The first piece that I tried ended up a bit off. But I tried to line up the middle of the square with the seam on the strips and the only piece I did ended up really well. It's like a smidgen off, not like the first one I did! LOL.

And then while I was sewing it, Alex was standing by my side with a big grin and "yelling" at me. He kept getting excited when I'd start to sew on that piece LOL

Quilt Squares

2007-05-24T22:49:00.001-05:00

Took a picture of each of my quilt squares. I pinned the first row together. I did a test sew because it is hard to tell where you have to line the stripes and squares up in order to get the seams to line up just right.

How to Quilt This?

2007-05-24T15:11:00.000-05:00

I was thinking of just going up and down the rows. Another idea I'd had was to quilt the "towers" but that seems like it would be tons of quilting.

Quilt Pieces All Done!

2007-05-22T21:38:00.001-05:00

Got all the individual pieces sewn together and ironed! Now to work on getting the rows together! I found a perfect square earlier while I was doing my ironing. Just have to scan it.

All the edges go together just right and it's like a perfect square. Some of my other pieces look like I need to trim a little bit here and there but not this square!

Quilt Pieces All Done!

2007-05-22T21:38:00.000-05:00

Got all the individual pieces sewn together and ironed! Now to work on getting the rows together! I found a perfect square earlier while I was doing my ironing. Just have to scan it.

Update on Quilt!

2007-05-22T16:36:00.000-05:00

I finally have everything sewn together for this quilt. I have the squares done and the strips done. I just need to sew everything into rows now!

Trip to the Country Quilt

2007-05-21T19:44:00.000-05:00

I looked back in my posts and didn't find a picture of the trip to the country quilt completely finished! So I went outside and took a picture and here it is!

Sick

2007-05-16T22:09:00.000-05:00

The whole family is sick. Eric, Alex and I. I worked on my quilt some earlier today. Not very many squares, just all the ones of one color. But it's slowly getting worked on! I want to do another one that I saw on somebody elses blog but I want to make it bigger than crib size I think. And I don't know how to enlarge it LOL

Thread Breaking

2007-04-24T23:32:00.000-05:00

My thread has been breaking while sewing if I go fast. No clue why. I got the last of my rectangle strips sewn together though.

I still need to sew my squares together. I have to draw the diagonal lines to sew on before I can actually do some sewing.

I don't have as much time to sew as I used to. LOL. Now it's only during Alex's naptime or after he goes to bed.

Before I had him I could have sewn whenever I wanted or all day if I wanted to, but not now. Got a little one to take care of. :)

Been a while

2007-04-19T21:37:00.000-05:00

I do have a bit of that quilt I started finished. Well it's still in pieces, none of the rows are together LOL.

I need to find my seam ripper because I accidentally sewed together pieces I shouldn't have. But looking for it will have to wait until Alex is in bed.

ETA-I looked around on the kitchen table (where I keep my sewing stuff) and no luck. Would suck if I'd lost it cause that'd be the 2nd one!

Gotta Get a Marker

2007-03-01T03:58:00.000-06:00

I've gotta get a fabric marker to draw lines. I did have a light blue one somewhere, but well I don't think it will show up very well on my darker fabrics plus I can't find it. LOL.

I used pencil on the two yellow colors, but it won't show up on the rest of the fabrics. So gotta buy one of those marker things.

Need Quilting Help

2007-02-23T00:56:00.000-06:00

So I was looking at the directions for cutting the black (magazine said to buy 1 3/4 yards black.

And then it wants me to cut 2 (3.5x87.5 strips), 2 (3.5x78.5 strips), 2 (3.5x75.5 strips) and 2 (3.5x66.5 strips)

Umm you can't do that with only 1 3/4 yards!!!!

And the only way I know how to cut like that is to cut across the fabric instead of from selvage to selvage which is weird to me. I always cut selvage to selvage, never along the length of the fabric. So why would we do it for this?

Quilting Update

2007-02-22T13:13:00.000-06:00

Bought the fabric on 2-19
Started ironing on 2-20
Started cutting it on 2-21

Made first cutting oops on 2-21

I thought my medium yellow was actually my light yellow and cut it as my light yellow. Oops! I should be able to fix it though. And hopefully we won't have to make a run to the store for any more!

Last night we bought another lip ruler for me. The ones at WalMart didn't come in a long length (like 24 inches?) so the one I have is like 3x18 inches. I normally fold my fabric in 4 anyway so it still works for me.

I read somewhere that it talks about folding in half for a beginner quilter and I was thinking, do cutting boards come in that size? And the rulers?

New Quilt, Alex Update

2007-02-20T23:52:00.000-06:00

So I picked a new quilt to make. I haven't finished Alex's winter quilt yet either. Bad mommy!

That's it. At first glance it looks really difficult but its not at all. You take a medium and dark strip, sew them together. Then for the square of it, you just overlay the correct colors on the corners and sew them on to make it into a bigger square and voila! That takes it from the square on point to a normal square that you can line up with the rectangles.

I love the 3D look of it too. They actually show an example of it in the magazine where it looks like a view of the downtown of a city.

Now my only problem...I was looking for my cutting stuff earlier. I found my rotary mat and the rotary cutter...but I can't find that clear thingy that you use to cut straight lines! Which means I can't do any cutting yet!

It might be in the closet with Alex's crib and that would be a pain because I'd have to get Eric to hold the crib up so I can get to the back of the closet.

Speaking of the crib, Alex is now in a toddler bed. :) The first night he like freaked out when we put him in it so we drove around until he fell asleep and put him in bed. He's done well ever since then. He seems to be getting better at actually staying in bed too and not falling out. If he fell out he'd just play in his room and eventually crash on his floor. LOL. It's definitely low enough for him to climb back in it. Heck he climbs onto the couch in his room!

He's 19.5 months old now. :) Sneaky little guy too at some times. We just one day didn't hear anything out of him and went and checked on him in his room and found him standing on his couch! And he kept doing it LOL. He doesn't know how to get back down though so we have to rescue him each time he climbs up there.

Question about Quilting

2007-01-08T21:36:00.000-06:00

Okay the quilt I'm making for Alex will look like this.

Now if I wanted to quilt around the outside of each "diamond" that is in the quilt, what would be an easy way to do that? I don't have a longarm so it is harder for me to do nice designs when I quilt.

I think the way I did it last time is I went around the whole diamonds and just turned the quilt as I went and then when it got to where I couldn't go around each diamond anymore I just started doing the diagonal lines.

I want to quilt

2007-01-07T03:11:00.000-06:00

I want to work on Alex's flannel quilt. It's my closest project to being done. The only problem is the dining room table is in Alex's room. When we put up the Christmas tree we moved the dining room table into Alex's room (after we took it apart) and by the time we put the Christmas tree in the box, Alex was already asleep so the dining room table is stuck in his room until he wakes up tomorrow.

I've been playing Everquest a bit lately. I'm kind of irritated with the game. See I haven't played since Dec 2005, and before that I had like 8/10 expansions. Now there are 12 expansions and the levels go to 75. Before then it was only 70. They changed the way that monsters con to you. Like white is the same level as you, then dark blue, then light blue, then green. Now it's white is the same level as you, then dark blue, then light blue, then green, then gray. Now you get experience for green when before you didn't. Like a monster I've heard to kill, which might have been dark blue a year ago is now light blue so its probably not as good experience. Since I haven't played in a while I have no clue where to take my character and level her up now. My enchanter was powerleveled up to 45. Higher level people took me on groups with them and I got experience that way, and I never had to cast spells, so now that I do need to cast spells I can't because I haven't built up my skills.

I started trying to knit something earlier. Just a simple washcloth. I want to work on my quilting darnit! But I can't do anything about it until tomorrow. :(

Still Here

2007-01-06T06:00:00.000-06:00

I haven't written or read in quite a bit but I am still alive! I just lost my urge to quilt for a while there. And since the week or so before Christmas we had the tree up in the dining room so we had to take down the dining table, which is where I had my sewing machine which has meant no sewing even if I wanted to!

I know I have quite a few blogs on my list but I can't remember the site to read all the blogs in one place. :( I reformatted my computer and probably had it bookmarked and can't remember the URL now.

ETA-bloglines.com!! I found it! Did a google and looked at an article that had the url.

Quilting Update

2006-09-29T02:33:00.000-05:00

I still have 3 or 4 projects in progress, depending on what you count as a project. I have the trip around the world top that needs quilted. I have the homeward bound to union square blocks that I need to do something with. I scrapped the blocks from the homeward bound quilt that had all the triangles, so now I have to find something to do with the rest of the blocks. I have the flannel quilt for the winter for Alex still in progress, and I still have the quilt for an hour project in progress.

When my mom came down last Friday I went to WalMart with her and picked up some more black thread because I was low, low enough that I could see the spool! I sewed more on the project after I got the new thread (still using old thread though) and I have 16 of the 20 blocks done. Only problem now is that Alex grabbed the cord to our iron and pulled it off the ironing board and the top seperated from the bottom and Eric doesn't want me using it, so we're going to buy a new one. But the parts to the last 4 blocks haven't been ironed so I'm 4 blocks short of a top right now! And then I still have to keep sewing on them.

So the no iron issue is why I haven't been doing any updates.

Quilt For An Hour Project

2006-09-22T03:36:00.000-05:00

I have 10 squares completely sewn. I have 8 more that I have in pieces and still need to sew, but I'm running low on black thread, the white on the spool is showing. And then I have 2 squares that I need to put together but I don't have parts to any 2 complete squares! I don't know why either! I could swear that I had 20 sets of squares and all that stuff but now I don't, I only have 18 so I have to make more HST's to complete my squares.

ETA: I found the missing pieces, turns out they were behind me where I hadn't looked. *sigh* But I do have all 20 squares now. Only 10 of them are sewn together, and once I get more black thread I can keep sewing.

Khaki Quilt?

2006-09-22T01:10:00.000-05:00

Eric has two pairs of khaki pants that have started to get worn so he isn't wearing them anymore. I had an interesting idea to make a quilt out of the pants. I also asked him if he had any of his old work shirts that he can't wear anymore. Because I think it would be interesting to make a quilt from his old khaki pants and his old work shirts.

I have no clue whether a khaki quilt would be tough to quilt or not. Or whether I should just sew together squares of khaki and then just sew a back to it and not put any batting in the middle or just do like a vertical line, horizontal line, maybe the diagonal lines and leave it at that.

Or maybe I can just make a small khaki quilt.

Alex and Mommy Pics, Quilt Pics

2006-09-18T00:59:00.000-05:00

It's hard to take pictures of Alex and I because he likes to grab at the camera and get really close to me. And excuse Alex drooling, he just got tooth #6 in today.

5 of my quilt an hour a day blocks

My Living Room

2006-09-17T21:31:00.000-05:00

is a mess!

I had my quilting stuff on the floor and when Eric and Alex got up, Eric just left it on the floor so Alex has been playing with my fabric pieces. LOL

Sewing Machine Not Working Right :(

2006-09-17T01:35:00.000-05:00

I'd been working on Alex's flannel quilt for a bit, then my bobbin ran out of thread.

So I loaded it with white just to play around with something, it started sewing all funky.

When I got on the machine tonight, I pulled out the bobbin and replaced it with a black bobbin (top thread is black)

I started trying to work on my one hour a day quilt project that I hadn't worked on in a while and the thread was still skippy feeling. So I tried switching out the needle for a new one. Still skippy feeling.

It seems like I got it sewing just fine on one piece of fabric, but when I try to go through 2 pieces it gets pissed at me.

When I look at the threads it looks like one of the tensions is off on the threads but I haven't touched the tension at all. So I don't know what else could be wrong. :(

It also just felt different when I was trying to sew with it.

I thought maybe I had put the tape on the feed dogs and that messed it up so I peeled the tape off and still didn't fix it.

ETA: My machine is cheap so if I needed to replace it I could...but it costs like $80 to replace and I don't have $80 available to just go buy a new machine. I'd have to layaway it or something until the next paycheck. I just hope its something like the tension!

Looking for pattern

2006-09-15T18:30:00.000-05:00

Okay I was going through my blogs the other night and I saw a post that was talking about copyrights and had a picture of a quilt. I think it was called like baro box or b something or other. It looked like a square, that had a bigger square around it, then a bigger square around it. And the squares were set a certain way so it looked like they were offset but it was because two colors were used in the quilt.

I don't really know any other way to describe it. I'd know it if I saw it!!!

ETA: BENTO BOX!!!! I did a search for box, copyright, quilting and the first post that came up was the one I'd been looking at!

Alex Entry

2006-09-15T18:08:00.001-05:00

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Alex said he wanted to write a message to everybody who reads my blog. He says hi.

Haven't Been Around

2006-09-08T14:02:00.000-05:00

I haven't been in much of a quilty mood lately. I tried to do some of the union square blocks for my quilt but I'm just not liking them. I do like the homeward bound ones so I want to do something with those but I don't know what yet. I mean I want to stick them into a quilt but I'm not sure if I should just put borders around each square and then sew those squares together or what.

I haven't worked on Alex's quilt in a bit. Having the flannel squares not actually matching up with the color plan on my paper is making it hard work to make sure I have each triangle where I need it. So I'm just matching triangles up and sewing them together.

I would be sewing right now but I'm waiting on the company that is delivering my nebulizer for my asthma.

I'm not sure if I wrote about it here, I think I did, but one weekend I had to go to the ER because my inhaler wasn't helping my asthma attack. Got put on prednisone there.

And then last Wednesday I had to go to my Dr because I was having a bad attack and my inhaler wasn't helping again. I just got Alex up, got him dressed and walked us both to my Dr's office. It's only a 5 minute walk so it wasn't a big deal to just gather him up and go. I got to my Dr's office and told them I needed a walk in because I was having a bad asthma attack. I got called back to the little room and the Dr came in, listened to my lungs, had the nurses give me a nebulizer treatment and then prescribed me an inhaled steroid (asmanex) some antibiotics (I'm not really sure what for), and a nebulizer to use when my asthma attacks got bad enough that I needed it.

I would have called Eric to come home and get me but I know the ER copay is like $100 (my visit on that one weekend will cost us $400) and it would have been a 30 minute drive for Eric to get home and then another 10 mins to get to the ER. So I just walked the 5 mins to my Dr's office and got it taken care of like tons quicker than the ER would have done.

It does seem like my asthma is getting somewhat better with that inhaled steroid but I'm still needing my inhaler too much.

Like I bought one on insurance on Aug 18th, bought one again Aug 28th (off insurance) and then bought another one like Sept 5th (off insurance again) On insurance they cost me like $6 max, off insurance they are $18 each. And you know an asthmatics asthma is bad if they're using a 200 dose inhaler (use 2 puffs each attack, so technically 100 doses) in 10 days! Or like my second one was 8 days! That is BAD. When I was first diagnosed I could have an inhaler for months without having to refill it.

For my asthma right now I'm taking claritin (I have allergy induced asthma), asmanex (inhaled steroid), albuterol inhaler and my nebulizer, both as needed.

Boy that seems like a lot of meds for my asthma. But I'm sick of not being able to breathe.

My "Twins"

2006-09-05T07:15:00.000-05:00

Told ya I have 2 LittleFoots! Left one is Dave and the right one is Darryl. As you can tell Dave has definitely been loved on a lot. :) Darryl is the one we're keeping in good condition.

How can I fix him?

2006-09-05T01:27:00.000-05:00

I have this dinosaur named Dave, you guys might better know him as Little Foot from The Land Before Time movies. I've had him since I was 4, so 17 years now. As you can tell he has been loved alot. I also have a dinosaur named Darryl (also Little Foot from The Land Before Time movies) but he is in better condition, he hasn't been loved and chewed on by me. :) I'd like if I could fix Dave so that Alex can play with him if he wants to. I'd let him have Darryl but Little Foot was released by Gund in 1988 to JcPenney from what I know and they aren't made anymore, so it'd be hard to get another one if he played with Darryl too rough.

This is Dave

And this is what he's supposed to look like in new condition

Now as you can tell Dave has been very well loved by me but I'd like to try and fix him so his stuffing stays INSIDE his neck and doesn't come out when he gets played with.

Does anybody know what I could do? I think it would work if I could find a brown color that matches him closely and make him a little elastic "neck" that covers his neck and has elastic at the top and bottom of the neck part. But the wear on him goes below his neck to his chest some.

And I don't know how many times my mom and I have tried to stitch him back together to keep his stuffing inside him :)

Found Fabric!

2006-09-04T20:41:00.000-05:00

I figured out the fabric I was looking for. It's by Fabric Traditions and is a flannel! I thought it was a calico or quilting cotton! So I was looking on the wrong spot on Joann's website but I still haven't found it on there. :(

I'm looking for it right now. I told Eric I want some of it! And it's $5.99 a yard

Where do you buy your fabric?

2006-09-04T01:20:00.000-05:00

I wonder where everybody buys their fabric. Wal-Mart, Joann's, Michael's, Hobby Lobby, LQS?

Alex's quilt that he sleeps with was made from Wal-Mart fabric. The trip to the country quilt was made from fabric bought at Joann's. The flannel quilt I'm working on for Alex is all Wal-Mart fabric.

I was just looking at my LQS and there are definitely some fabrics I love on the site but at $7-8 a yard it could get pricey quick and I just don't have that type of money. I really love these butterfly prints that have been marked down to $4 which is a steal for a LQS when they used to be 8.75 a yard!

See aren't they pretty? But I'm pretty partial to butterflies as they're my favorite :)

9-03-2006

2006-09-03T23:16:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow Alex will be 14 months. *sniff* I asked Eric if he ever wants to just sit Alex back down on the floor and tell him no walking allowed that he is growing up too fast. LOL.

I took the quilts I've made to Wal-Mart to show them to a friend there. She worked there back when my mom still worked at that store and she knows who my mom is. I actually started selling my quilt squares online when I was pregnant with Alex so she got to watch me pop out with him too. :)

The one fabric woman was amazed that I cut such small squares and made Alex's quilt. They're just 2 inch squares.

I think Susan really liked the trip to the country quilt. It has such bright, vibrant colors and I just love it myself. :)

I told her I made a Trip Around the World quilt and once I get that quilted I'll bring it to her and show it off too. :)

Are there any good clear threads to quilt with? I know I bought some stuff one time and it feels like fishing line but it isn't. It's just really slick ya know?

Another Quilting Test Square

2006-09-03T20:59:00.000-05:00

I used a stencil I have to make this one, you can tell I'm a little new at this but I think if it were white or clear thread it wouldn't make such a big deal if I wobble a little bit.

New Alex Development

2006-09-02T20:51:00.000-05:00

I'm a very proud mommy right now. This is what Alex started doing at Grandma's house yesterday!

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v161/ammorgan/?action=view&current=Picture246.flv

Fun With My Sewing Machine

2006-09-02T05:42:00.000-05:00

I was watching QNN and decided to try my hand at quilting. So I grabbed 2 4" squares that I had and put batting between them. The first one I was trying to do I think its called trapunto. Where you stipple quilt around an area and therefore that area stands up and looks stuffed compared to the rest of the quilt. I said screw it after playing with it and decided to see if I could write Alex's name in cursive with needle and thread. Not bad but could use some work. I don't know how to do a cursive X on the machine without having to cross over thread.

And the second one I drew lines on one of my squares. I originally planned to do 1/4 inch lines, then I tried to sew every other line so the lines would be 1/2 inch apart instead. The squares aren't quite perfect but I tried :) And I used black thread on white fabric so it showed up well, plus I didn't want to have to unload my thread and reload it all again LOL

Trip Around the World Pictures

2006-09-01T01:31:00.000-05:00

It's about 38x43 inches. I used 3" strips and my seams were about 3/8ths of an inch instead of the normal 1/4th of an inch. I am quite proud of it and I love how quick it all came together! Thankfully when I was sewing it together I wasn't using the smallest stitch setting otherwise it would have taken forever to rip the seams apart and fix it!

I originally wanted to make a Trip Around the World quilt for our queen sized bed and I found a pattern I loved, got it almost done and gave up on it because I messed it up and didn't want to have to resew some squares back together and unpick other squares.

I'll have to figure out exactly how much fabric I would need to make a queen sized version, unless somebody has already figured this out. :)

Figured It Out

2006-08-31T23:36:00.000-05:00

I figured out how to fix the TATW quilt. I had swapped the left and right pieces. I haven't stitched it back together yet though. I feel like taking a small quilting break.

Trip Around the World Finished

2006-08-31T03:37:00.000-05:00

At least the top of it is finished. What I can't figure out though...is the top is 17 squares wide, and the bottom is 19 squares wide. I can't figure out how I ended up with 2 extra squares on the bottom half. I'll have to take a look at it tomorrow and figure out exactly where I went wrong when I put it together.

ETA: I think I figured out what I did. I think the two bottom halves were swapped, so the one that is on the right should be on the left and vice versa. But I'm not going to rip out the seams tonight, I'll do that later today after I have had some sleep.

TATW Update

2006-08-31T00:34:00.000-05:00

I now have 3/4ths of the top done.

I've figured out that if you cut your strips 3" wide, you won't need 4 of each color. Because I'm about to sew together my 3rd set of strips and only have 1/4th of the quilt left to do.

This top has gone together so quick! I'm definitely going to use this "pattern" again!

Trip Around the World Update

2006-08-30T01:51:00.000-05:00

I already have 1/4th of this top done! The method I found through a friend's blog is really great! The one TATW quilt I tried to make they had me sew strips together, then cut into the cross strips or whatever you want to call them. Then sew those cross strips together and then unstitch squares as you go to make it like a stair case edge.

As you can tell this is really scrappy, no real coordination of colors or anything. I just used what I have here at my house.

Brand of Fabric?

2006-08-29T22:08:00.000-05:00

I was at Joann's and saw some pretty fabric. If I remember right I saw brown, green, purple and blue bolts of it. It has wide horizontal stripes I believe. I think the fabric maker is Cap or Cop something.

It was up on a shelf above my head and Eric couldn't get it down either.

Blocks of the Month

2006-08-29T20:57:00.001-05:00

I went to Joann's and wrote down the names of the blocks of the month in the one quilt I like.

I didn't see this one block that I keep seeing in the quilt, so maybe it is in the setting kit?

They had all the blocks except for 1 and 2 so I don't know the name of those.

Centennial-1
Crazyhouse-1
Double star-1
Double wrench variation-1
Grandmother's Puzzle-1
Philadelphia Pavement-1
Queen Charlotte's Crown-1
Sawtooth 5 patch-2
Sisters Choice-1
Sugar and Spice-1

There's 20 blocks in the quilt, the 12 block of the month kits make 13 blocks, so there are 7 more I guess in the setting kit.

He's safe!

2006-08-29T17:03:00.000-05:00

Eric got the email this morning that he isn't being laid off! Thanks to everybody who kept us in your thoughts!

Quilt Pattern

2006-08-29T02:21:00.000-05:00

I was looking at the floor in Whataburger a few weeks back and I remember what the floor looked like. It was similar to this. Anybody see where I'm going with what I drew? Or know what it is called? :)

Started a new project-bad me!

2006-08-29T00:41:00.000-05:00

I started a Trip Around the World quilt following these directions.

Good thing...I didn't have to buy any fabric to start it! I just went through my stash finding pieces of fabric that were long/wide enough to get the strips. Except mine are 3" wide not 4".

Car Update

2006-08-28T13:28:00.000-05:00

Our car is fixed. After sitting at Sears for 4 hours yesterday it finally got to come back home! It sounded like they had to really mess with it to even get to where the alternator is. $365 later the alternator is fixed and the car is running nice now.

ETA: Eric told me that decision time is 8:45 CST. So we'll know by 9 am tomorrow morning what is going on with his job.

Looking to read more blogs :)

2006-08-27T07:49:00.000-05:00

I'm looking to read more quilting blogs, so leave me a comment!

When It Rains It Pours

2006-08-27T02:46:00.000-05:00

Oh boy.

We're still waiting for the apartment complex to come fix the hole in the wall they had to make to get to the pipe and fix it. They also are supposed to put new tile in the bathroom and kitchen.

Today we went to Coldstone Creamery and got some ice cream, then decided to go to Borders to read books instead of going to Barnes and Noble. I told Eric that was a good idea since I feel I've pretty much read all of the one Barnes and Nobles quilting books. Or at least looked at them.

We go to Borders, we read, we go out to the car, get in like normal and Eric tries to start the car. Click click click. Lights, dashboard and the radio all come on but the car won't start. So Eric calls his mom so she can come get us and take us home (it's 10 pm at night) and then Eric calls his dad to see if he could come look at the car tomorrow. His dad will be here at 9 am tomorrow to get us so we can go out to the car and try to figure out what is wrong with it.

Hopefully it is just something like the battery doesn't have enough juice to start the car, or there is just corrosion on the battery cables.

I can't remember the exact month but we went to Kroger's once and got groceries and then when we came out and tried to start the car it wouldn't start. Got it towed to the nearest mechanics place and they said it was just that the battery connections were dirty and they cleaned them and the car was working fine. Got it back that same day.

Then June...car was doing a hard shift out of first (it's an automatic) car had been heating up whenever we had the a/c on so we drove around with the windows down. If we had to idle too long we'd have to shut off the car otherwise it would start to heat up too much and we didn't want it to overheat. We took it into the dealership and $2200 later it was fixed. Had to get Eric's dad to put it on his credit card and we are making payments back to him.

And now this with the car.

Not to mention that Eric's company is doing layoffs and they find out on Tuesday who gets laid off and who doesn't. If he gets laid off he gets 8 weeks of severance pay and his 2 weeks vacation, so 10 weeks total.

And then just the other night I had Eric take me to the ER because I was using my albuterol inhaler and my asthma attack wasn't going away. The Dr there gave me a script for prednisone and told me to check up with my normal Dr in a few days.

So we have the old car bill we still owe Eric's dad, this ER bill that will be coming (hopefully that won't cost an arm and a leg!), might possibly have to fix the car again! And Eric may or may not have a job come Tuesday!

I like to blog about my quilting progress but I haven't had much time lately to work on Alex's quilt.

2006-08-23T01:13:00.000-05:00

I have finished row #1 of Alex's winter quilt. I'm not sure whether I should actually put batting into the middle or just do a flannel back and leave the middle empty. I live in TX so it doesn't get quite as cold as up north. I've just never worked with flannel before and don't know if it would be harder to quilt through 2 layers of flannel and batting than just quilting through 2 layers of normal 100% cotton fabric and batting.

This is row #1

This is what my living room looks like right now, trying to keep track of which triangle is assigned to what number and letter combo. LOL.

And this would be Alex. He is the one I'm making the quilt for. :) Eric (hubby) nicknamed him Señor Guacamole in this picture since we gave him avocado to eat and he decided to play in it instead and get it all over his face. It's all the way up to his eyebrows in this picture!

Alex's Quilt Update

2006-08-22T06:33:00.000-05:00

I finally have all the squares cut. I ran into one whoopsie with the kitty fabric. I accidentally cut my last square 7 by 8 inches instead of the 8 inches it was supposed to be. So I just cut another square of the blue clouds I had and that will take the place of two of the kitty triangles.

It's hard figuring out which triangle goes where because it isn't obvious which one is 1B, 2B, 1G, 2G, etc. Because there aren't necessarily 4 of each color, I just picked which was each one at random.

What blocks are in this?

2006-08-21T23:41:00.000-05:00

Hopefully this link will work

Tuscan Sun

I'm trying to figure out what the blocks in this quilt are. It's the block of the month I want to do from Joann's.

I'm thinking one of them is Pennsylvania Pathways? Or Pennsylvania something? I know I looked at the blocks at Joann's but I didn't remember their names.

ETA: I think one is a buckeye beauty block

Rest of Alex's Flannels

2006-08-19T00:49:00.000-05:00

These are the rest of the flannels for Alex's quilt. I didn't realize until after I got all 16 fabrics that there were solid colors. So that explains some of the weird fabrics. Like the drunk elephants LOL. Notice the martini glasses in their hands! And then the license plates and the cats on pink.

Sewing Tonight!

2006-08-18T17:16:00.000-05:00

There should be some sewing tonight! They fixed the leak in the apartment! The kitchen sink line was clogged. The pipes in the wall are shared between all the floors. They had to call Roto Rooter to come out and clear the pipe and then the maintenance guy had to come fix the leak in the pipe.

The carpet people came and sucked up the water. And Tuesday the maintenance guy will be trying to get the painter people out to fix the hole in the wall and the paint from when our place got flooded in Sept (lady above us fell asleep in her bathtub and all the water came leaking through the ceiling!)

What A Day!

2006-08-18T01:15:00.000-05:00

I did work on my quilt for an hour project some. I got the rest of my 1/4 inch seam lines drawn. But I haven't sewn at all today. I didn't keep track of my time though.

Today has been a bad day! This evening I walked down the hallway and felt water on my feet. There was water in the one bathroom and the kitchen. I called maintenance and they checked it out, tried to find where it was coming from, called carpet people to come vacuum the carpet. Later I had to call maintenance again because our disposal wasn't working. My mom tried to use it and water in the sink went down and came back up and more water was on the floor. The maintenance guy turned off the water in the kitchen and he'll come check on us again tomorrow. The carpet people came back out and vacuumed the carpet again because there was more water in the carpet because the water hadn't been stopped by the time they vacuumed it the first time.

The tiles in the kitchen and bathroom will be replaced. Hopefully tomorrow the maintenance guys can figure out where the water was coming from and get it fixed.

With all this craziness today I just want to sit down with a book and a drink and read. So no more sewing/quilting stuff today. I just want to relax!

Quilt for an hour-Hour #1

2006-08-17T01:05:00.000-05:00

I am done with hour #1 :) I got 24 HST's done. But I don't have a 1/4 inch seam thing on my machine so I drew on the back of all my light squares with a black pencil crayon.

These are only 5 of the designs for the blocks. I'm not sure exactly how many I have but enough so that each block is the same pattern.

And the lightest light color I could find was a blue pattern. I don't have any white fabric, so blue has to do. Okay I do have white fabric but it has butterflies so it wouldn't do well as a background fabric.

Flannel Pics

2006-08-15T15:41:00.000-05:00

Alex's Winter Quilt

2006-08-15T00:48:00.000-05:00

I bought half of the fabric for Alex's winter quilt today. I'm just using 16 different flannel prints. I'm doing that trip to the country pattern but with his flannel instead.

I was cutting some of the fabric up tonight and Alex kept running a marathon in his crib and making noise so I went in and got him so he wouldn't disturb Grandma anymore. I'd have finished cutting the 8" wide strips but Alex insisted he needed to help and kept trying to grab the rotary cutter from me and my ruler so I had to put it up for the night.

This quilt is going to take me a little bit longer than the last trip to the country one because I'm actually going to draw the 1/4 inch seams on the back of the fabric pieces.

Winter Quilt for Alex

2006-08-14T16:00:00.000-05:00

I'm planning on making Alex a winter quilt to take along in the car to keep him warm. I'm planning on doing the same pattern as in this picture except I'm going to use flannel. I'm planning on leaving the squares 8 inches instead of trimming them down like I did with this quilt.

In other quilting news. I showed my MIL the two quilts I made and the one I am currently working on and she told me I should try to enter my quilts in a contest. I told my mom what she said and she agreed with her. I don't feel like my quilting is quite that good yet though. I'm working on it. :) The hardest part is getting a 1/4 inch seam allowance since I don't have that marked on my sewing machine. The first seam allowance marked on my machine is 3/8ths.

Applique

2006-08-13T00:24:00.000-05:00

At some point in my quilting "career" I want to learn how to do applique.

I tried last night but I don't think my machine is good for machine applique. Or maybe I'm supposed to be turning the edge under and THEN doing the sewing. I was just trying it out last night without looking anything up.

Maybe the buttonhole feature would work for the sewing?

I was just trying to look up at the local community college what a basic quilting course teaches to see if it would be about my skill level or not.

Okay I looked up the beginning quilting at the community college. This is what the description says

How to create a beautiful and durable source of
warmth and comfort. Come and learn this traditional
American art. You will be introduced to basic quilting
techniques. Students practice during class and
furnish all materials. You will complete a quilted wall
hanging composed of six different quilting patterns
and techniques.

And that's really broad. :)

Union Square Blocks

2006-08-12T03:44:00.000-05:00

I got my 2 3/8 squares cut earlier and cut them into HST's. And then I started sewing them together. I've got 18 of them done, 16 of them ironed.

There's 56 to make and I'm at 18. LOL.

I still have to make up the centers of all union square blocks. And then make the "borders" for the blocks.

Homeward Bound Blocks Done!

2006-08-11T17:34:00.000-05:00

I have my 8 homeward bound blocks done! Okay so I have to iron the seams on the back of the last 4 but the hard part is done!

Now I move on to the harder blocks! I hope there won't be a lot of cursing with the union square blocks :)

This is what my homeward bound blocks look like :)

And if anybody can tell me how to use images already uploaded to blogger? When I insert an image it says its uploading it to blogger. Do I have to keep uploading the picture or is there some way to insert it again without having to upload it yet again?

Amy Butler Fabric

2006-08-11T03:40:00.000-05:00

I bought some Amy Butler fabric from a co-op a bit back and don't have any plans for it. I had originally bought it to sell on Ebay but by the time I got the fabric I had shut down my Ebay business.

So now I have 4 yards of fabric with nothing to do with it. It's so luxurious, so soft. Feels nicer than the normal fabric I buy! :)

Kaleidoscope Picture

2006-08-10T21:18:00.000-05:00

This is the picture I'm working from. Well there are cutting instructions and such but for some reason I just cannot get the pieces to line up right. I don't think I was cutting straight, it seemed like it but I think the fabric wasn't lined up just right.

Kaleidoscope Quilt

2006-08-10T00:40:00.000-05:00

I bought fabric tonight to try and make a kaleidoscope quilt but I don't think it's going to work. I don't think I got the fabric just right. And I only need 21" tall of fabric. Guess I could always measure out 21" tall then rip the fabric across.