OSU Quilt Complete

The OSU Father's Day Quilt is all done! Yay!! I am so so thrilled with how it turned out, and I am sure my dear friend's husband will love it!

Here it is!!

I'm not sure if it's just my computer, but from where I sit, the colors in the pictures are really bright. The orange is in reality a lovely sort of pumpkin orange. Anyway, I love this pattern!!

I backed it in a nice plaid flannel that matches wonderfully. It will be very snugly!! I wanted to add something to the back that would help with orienting the quilt the right way (remember my hubby's manly advice? lol!) but, the backing was big enough without a stripe. So, after perusing the Oregon State website, I found one of their sayings that made me smile and appliqued that on the back!

I love it! I even used the college's font of choice! I hope this detail makes him smile! :)

All in all - a wonderful project! I really hope he likes it!

Stats:
Pattern: Easy Going Modern By Felicity Quilts
Size: 60 x 80
Fabrics: various
Quilting: by me - meandering stipple, FMQ

Lastly - it is Thursday, and I did to something new on this quilt! I had heard of this little technique a while back, but never tried it. I decided to give it a try on this one. The idea: zigzagging the edges just prior to stitching down the binding. The tip said that this would keep the edges flat and make doing the binding easier. I was a sceptic. And at first, as I was zigzagging, it felt like a waste of thread. But I persevered and gave it a fair shot.

My thoughts - it really does help. It made things more uniform, and the finished product looks great. I don't know if I would do this every time, but it is a good tip and I would do it again! SO here's to trying something new!!

TNT Thursday - Teacher Edition

Today for TNT I am proud to have done something that I have never done before - planned and started my teacher appreciation gifts a whole week before school gets out!! That's right! This week, I'm trying out this "being prepared" concept! lol! Get ready for Sprocket Pillows, teachers! (Son's idea!)

And if I'm lucky, I'll get them done a whole hour before I need to take them to the teacher...

TNT - Long Arm Edition!!

Last Saturday was an AWESOME day! For two reasons...

First, I got to meet someone amazing!

That's right folks, That'sMelissa, of Happy Quilting, my new "real" friend, as well as a quilter extraordinaire and the Bee Mama of my Beejeebers Quilting Bee!! She is super sweet and fun! It was a real pleasure to meet her!!

And where did we get the opportunity to meet? At Let's Quilt! The local Long-Arm Quilting place! We were both able to rent a machine and learn how to quilt with a long arm!!!

Long Arm quilting is SO totally fun! The owners were helpful and patient. We learned how to load the quilts onto the machine (which was the hardest part and took forever!!) and off we went.

Melissa flexed her awesome muscles and went for total free motion quilting (and it turned out aMAZing!!). I went with the pentagrams - a pattern that you can follow. Totally worked for me and make my quilt look amazing!

I really, really wish that I had a cutting table this large at my house!! ;)

All in all, it was a wonderful experience, and I totally plan on doing it again (and again, and again...)



Here's to trying new things!!

New Blog Header

So, what do you all think of the new header?

I'm not going to lie... I just love those shoes. I almost didn't buy them. I am glad I listened to the little shoe devil on my shoulder... :)

I made this with some new software that I won a few months ago and only just started experimenting with! It's scrapbooking software, and I don't scrapbook. At all. But it is a lovely program, and I think I am going to have a lot of fun with it!! Glad I tried it out! :)

Wonky Stars

For this week's Skill Builder's Block, we did Wonky Stars. This is the first time I have ever done one!!

This was pretty fun! But, I think (I mean, I know...) that my points are way too small. But hey, that's how we learn!!

Linking up!!

TNT Thursday

So I have done a few new things, and I want to link up to Melissa's TNT Thursday!!! :)



Some of these, you've seen - but I forgot to credit my new acheivements. One is a small thing, but a NEW thing, so here we go!

First - a few weeks ago I made my own paper piecing pattern for the Beejeebers!

Word.

Second - this week, I FINISHED my first needle-turn applique block!



Yea!

Last - yesterday I ordered fabric online for my daughter's baptism dress. Now, I have ordered fabric online before - but not SILK!!!

That's right folks. The princess is getting Dupioni Silk. I've never worked with it before, never bought it before, and I am scared to death of ruining such delicious fabric.  :) Wish me luck!

Happy TNT Thursday! Here's to trying new things!!

Quick Skirt, and Sad News about the Dress

First up - we took family pictures today. I had tried to do some via tripod, but they were an epic fail. So I asked my sister in law to take a few for us. As I was planning the wardrobe, I realized the sever lack of nice skirts for the princess. So, I made this one. It took less than 1 hour, start to finish!!!! I am definitely going to do a tutorial on this skirt soon!

I used suiting for the first time ever! (Hello, TNT!)

I must say - I have now fallen in Looooooove with suiting! It is so soft and the perfect weight! And the lining fabric was so silky too... I love finding a good fabric! It does fray a bit, but not any worse than organza or satins.

Check out my hem-less hem! It was so easy and I'm glad it worked as well as it did! Again, stay tuned for the tutorial!

So, in other news, I managed another epic fail on my pretty blue dress. Everything went pretty well, but once the zipper was in I found a major problem with the fit that cannot be easily fixed. I would have to redo the entire bodice (and that's the hardest part of the dress!) Grrr...

I am sad about it, but - never to be kept down - I know what needs to change, and I am planning on redoing the dress - in suiting. **Delighted Sigh** I think I will like this much better than satin prom-dress material anyway! :)



Linking up to TNT at Happy Quilting!! Cheers!

Dopp Kits

When I finished making the Weekender Bags, I found that I had a obscene amount of fabrics left over. So I thought it would be fun to make little Dopp Kits for the kids to go with their bags. I found several Dopp Kit tutorials, was (and am still) unsure which one to use, so I decided to try THIS one.

I started using my fabrics, so I wouldn't mess up the kids and somehow run out of fabric. Here's try number... well 2. Try number 1 was a disaster... lol!

The cute little handle. It's still a little wonky, but I think I have it figured out for next time!

In a further flash of brilliance, I decided to try out putting in an exterior zippered pocket. I used THIS tutorial for that, and LOVE how it turned out!! Not hard at all. This is going to become a regular part of my bag making!

All in all, this was fun, and turned out okay. I am going to make the kid's smaller though. SO many firsts here, I am definitely linking up with TNT at Happy Quilting! Today she has an awesome bag tutorial, so check it out!!

My Turkeys

I really love Thanksgiving!! Since I am not (ever) in charge of cooking the main dishes (I'll try not to take that as a commentary on my cooking... lol!) I try to contribute some fun extras. This year - Cornucopias and Pilgrim hats!!
Wait for it... The Cornucopias started with this...

I know. the picture alone makes me happy... Anyway, that turned into these:

Then - the hats:

Chocolate dipped marshmallows on fudge stripe cookies. Your welcome, family!! But - to the real reason for the post. My Turkeys. The only turkeys I will probably ever make...

You may notice the Princess's very interesting shirt? It her own design. It used to be a tank top, and she had me sew in the sleeves, upside down, of an old sweatshrit of her dad's... as turkey wings. It was a cleaver idea! lol!

He really is a little turkey...

hahaha! But really - from my home to yours - Happy Thanksgiving!

*****

As I have never used foam board in something that someone wears, and also... I have never made turkey costumes, I am going to link up to TNT at Happy Quilting!



I also want to list a few things I am thankful for:

I am thankful for my family. My husband, who is my best friend, and my kids who make me smile everyday.
I am thankful for all of my extended family. It's like having a giant cheerleading squad just for me!
I am thankful for my home.
I am thankful for my talents and the opportunity to share them.
I am thankful for the Internet!
I am thankful for all of you!

WIP Wednesday

Another week... a busy one! Let's get to it...
Finished: Awesome Quilt!! Yea!

Weekender bags.

I cut out everything that I could possibly cut out. One total bag and all of the fusible webbing and peltex for the other two. Although, I did end up being short on fusible webbing. Either the pattern was wrong, or the lady at the fabric store stiffed me. Who knows. Anyway, today the fabric for the other two bags arrived, and can I just say - GORGEOUS!! I am so thrilled. I don't have a picture yet, but will get one by next week. So - first bag. I am through step 7. Now I'm on hold until my zippers arrive. This is my very first attempt at piping, and it wasn't too bad! YEA!

So far, this pattern is not as bad as I expected, but let's see how the rest treats me...

SBS:

Block 15! Love it!

NO Progress:
Princess Christmas Dress (although we did decide on colors and pattern)
Mug rugs (yeah, right. Let's talk about these around December 20th)
Lego Bag (soon, though)
King Size for E (we did find some fabric that she likes, though!)

NEW this week! (I know - I really have lost it.)

A dress for me! I am so excited to do this!!!

Turkey Costumes.

I suppose it's my fault. But, the kids begged for Turkey costumes for Thanksgiving. Here's the idea...

Which inspired this:

A Turkey Table Runner! This is just the layout, but I really think it's going to be darling! :)

So, there we are! Lots on the sewing table. Wish me luck and sanity!! :)

Linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced!



And TNT at Happy Quilting!