Friday, December 31, 2010

2010


When you look at it this way... I think I might have gone a little overboard! 2010 was a wonderful year!! Here's to a wonderful 2011! Happy New Year!!

Monday, December 27, 2010

A pretty good haul!

I got some great quilting Christmas presents this year! From an awesome gripper for my straight edge (no more missing fingernails!) to Quilt Clips (can't wait to use these!!). I also got a fabric store gift card (Thanks Hubby!!) and some awesome charm packs!


My sister gave me this charm pack! The line is called Sunkissed and it's my new favorite!!! I can't wait to make this cheerful quilt!! Yea!!!


Monday, December 20, 2010

Christmas Table Topper

One last project!!! This was a bonus project, made with scraps from the massive pile I have, and only took one day! I am so happy I did this one! It's cute, and I got to practice applique a little more! So, here's my Christmas Table Topper!



Now, all of my Christmas sewing project are done! To recap, over this past month I have made: 4 quilts, 2 dresses, a few mug rugs, an advent calender, a table topper, and 17 cute little mini-quilt wall hangings for the young women in our ward. Here's a picture of those!


After all that... I'm not even going to turn on my sewing machine until after Christmas! lol! Now it's onto making some yummy treats to take to neighbors! ;)

Merry Christmas everybody!!!

Sunday, December 19, 2010

The Princess's Dress

Here are a few (not very good) pictures of the little princess's Christmas dress! It turned out really cute! I wish the pictures were better, but it's been raining for 4 straight days, so we really can't get outside! Oh, well! Here it is!



One more Christmas project and I'm finished!! Yay!

Monday, December 13, 2010

A Cherished Memory

So, my uber talented friend Valerie took some amazing family pictures for me (They. Are. AWESOME!!!) Here's a taste...


You can see more of our wonderful photo shoot HERE (Go look! Really! She's amazing!!!)

Anyway, in return, she asked if I could recreate a very special quilt for her.

This was her own baby blanket that her mother made for her before she was born.


A darling Mother Goose quilt! As you can see, it was very well loved.


Valerie really wanted to have one like it for her own daughter (who may well be the cutest baby on the planet... just saying), but she and her mom couldn't find the pattern anywhere, and because her mom in now legally blind, she couldn't make up a new pattern herself.

So, Val asked if I thought I could do it. And, naturally, I said "Sure!"

I came up with the pattern simply by tracing the appliques, although I did round out some of the curves until they looked right to me. I had to seriously think this one through to get everything right - and I am SO pleased with the end result. So, here is the newly recreated Mother Goose Quilt:

Valerie choose these beautiful fabrics, and they look so awesome together!! She has such a great eye!

Yes, Mother Goose's wing is attached to the front and can flap. It's awesome!

The back... I had to do another stripe! lol!


And I had to throw in this little guy on the back! He's cute! :)

I have to say, that I may be most proud of this quilt. It was an honor to make this very special quilt, and I hope that in 30 years, it looks just as loved as her moms! Hope you love it Val and Addy!!!

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Freebird #2

My Mother-in-law asked me to make another of my Freebird quilt, to give a friend, so I set out to recreate my favorite quilt. Some of the colors had to change, but it still turned out beautiful! I think this is the best quilt I have done so far! I am so happy that it's done and that it turned out so well!!! So, here it is - Freebird #2!!






Two more Christmas deadline projects to go!! I think I can do it!! :)

Monday, December 6, 2010

An Advent Calendar!

We get Advent Calendars every year. They're fun! But this year - okay, last year - I thought it would be fun to make one. I didn't do it last year, so this year I made on with all the left overs from the Christmas quilts. It turned out CUTE!!! I did a lot of applique on it and just LOVE it!!!!


My appliqued presents! I used leftover squares from the argyle quilt and added the bows! I love them!!

The mitten and pinwheel pockets were made from leftovers from Christmas Quilt #2. I think they are fun!

I needed a simple, happy word for the top and "Joy" just seemed to fit the bill (and the space) just perfectly. The holly berries were and after thought, but I am so glad I got them on there! So cute!

Cute, cute, cute! I filled the pockets with candy and the kids are thrilled to get a little treat every day! This is one of my favorite traditions, and I am so glad that we now have a permenant one to hang every year!!
So, that's 4 Christmas projects down and 3 to go. I am thrilled with the ones coming up, so stay tuned!!

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Christmas Quilt #2

I have finished my second Christmas quilt, and it looks really fun!

However, this quilt shall be named "Murphy". Because everything that can go wrong did.

It all started way back in July when I first bought the fabric. Hubby was away at Scout Camp, so I was up late cutting the darling Christmas fabric for this quilt. While I was doing this - I cut my thumb nail off. OFF. It was gross. I should have seen it as an omen, but I laughed at myself, and moved on.

I put the cut fabric away, until a few weeks ago when I pulled it out to work on it again. Here's everything that went down...

I sewed several squares wrong, and had to unpick and redo them.

As I sewed the blocks together, I sewed them in the wrong order (on EVERY ROW), had to unpick and redo.

When I sewed the rows together, I managed to sew them in the wrong order. Had to unpick and redo.

While I was quilting, I ran out of thread (that has NEVER happened to me before!) It happened to be on a Sunday, so I couldn't run off to the store to buy more and had to wait. Grrr.

As I quilted I found a spot where I had missed the fabric on a seam. GRRRR. No good way to fix it at that point.

Twice, my tension went all crazy and I had to unpick, fix the machine, and redo. I was ready to rip the quilt up for a while there...

BUT, even with all of that, the quilt turned out cute! I quilted with orange thread and I have to admit... I love it! It's fun!! I also LOVE the backing fabric of this quilt!! So fun! Because of all of the mistakes, I have decided that I am going to keep it, as there is no way I could sell and feel good about it. So, it will adorn my couch for the holidays! Yea!






So.... Yea for Christmas quilts, even if they give you a hard time!