Fabric Stash

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

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.

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

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!

Aren't they cute?

Still Not Done!

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 :(

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!

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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?

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!

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!

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!

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

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

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