Pictures

I finally got those pictures taken. I ended up taking them in our basement so it's not great light but you get the idea.

A Few Things Crossed Off My List

This weekend was good for quilting and good for me! I was able to sneak in a little early-morning work and bits here and there and got a couple of quilts quilted and bound as well as two things pin-basted together so I can work on getting those quilted. (I think that's a run-on sentence. I'm just not sure I care.) I haven't taken pictures yet, but I will. Mostly because the last 2 times I've thought to get the camera out it's been dark out and I want some natural light for the photos. I finished a rocket themed kids quilt (for no one yet) and a fall-ish wall hanging that I had tried to hand quilt once and machine quilt twice. No joke. I ripped it all out because I couldn't get anything to look good enough. I think it was mostly the fault of the quilt being pretty ripply and so I ended up quilting the heck out of it so that it would look mostly mashed down. I think it will look really great this fall, even though I'm still deciding on where to hang it. It's pretty large as far as wall hangings go, so I need to find a blank wall. I pin-basted my Christmas quilt and also a little panel for Valentine's Day that I think will be really cute.

Overall, I haven't felt totally inspired as I've been working on these things. I mostly feel like I'm doing chores and crossing them off my list. But I'm still accomplishing things and I won't get any downtime until January to just sit in my sewing room and play because of football season and the holidays. For now, it needs to be about just getting things done and dreaming about the projects to come.

I also realized that we have a friend that's about to have her baby and I didn't have a quilt for her. I found a cute pattern on http://www.allpeoplequilt.com/ and it was so easy! Here's my beef with it, though. (I'll take a picture of it later) It's called the "monogram quilt" or something. It's really just big blocks of fabric with some sashing and a giant letter appliqued in the center. But it's really cute. So I downloaded the pattern and actually tweaked it a little because I like a smaller quilt better. Then I was looking to make sure they had the patterns for all the letters of the alphabet because I'm not good at free-handing 12-inch letters. Yeah. They only have the pattern for "B" which is shown in the pictures. Now apparently "B" is for baby. First off, why would you call it a Monogram quilt if there is only one letter option? I thought monogram meant your inital pretty specifically. Secondly, who in their right mind is going to go to all the work of applique and then give a quilt that has a giant "B" on it to a baby named Gabrielle or Jackson or Micah or Julia? Not me. I can just imagine some poor new mother opening that gift and being totally confused about the quilt. Kind of crazy if you ask me. But it was a really cute design (and did I mention easy?) so I just put it together and I guess I'm going to wing it as far as the letter goes. We'll have to wait until they name her, too.
Well sorry for the mini-rant. Just don't get it is all. Hope to get pictures up soon!

I finally got all the stars appliquéd and the squares sewn together. I actually have the backing all planned out, too. So unlike me. :) Maybe I'll get it pin-basted together soon so I can think about quilting it. Thinking maybe echo quilting around each star or something.

I started a ticker-tape quilt on a whim. Thought I was really making headway but then I realized when I took it off the machine that I had actually only completed a tiny portion of the rectangle.

Turns out someone wanted in the picture!

Finally, I just wrapped up a finished quilt for a little guy that was born a few weeks ago. He lives down the street from us. He was born a little early, so I'm glad I already had it done. That's about it from around here. I feel like I have a lot of projects underway. Hopefully more progress soon!

Finished Tent!

I finally finished the project I had been working on. Saturday morning I had a "Make-It-Work" moment (I could almost hear Tim Gunn saying it) and got it done. I wasn't sure how it would go over, but it turns out it was a hit! I was unsure about it because it was kind of big, and giving someone something that takes up a lot of space can be unwelcome. Kind of like when I gave our friend's boy a drum for his birthday. The kid loved it, but I'm guessing the parents are probably sick of it. I should revise my gift-giving guidelines. :) Also, I was unsure about the finish level of it. I didn't know if it would look cheap or poorly-made. In the end, she seemed to like it and her parents were at the very least, great actors. :) I learned a few things during the course of it so it hopefully won't take long to make one for my son. When I get around to it. After all those other projects that are hanging around in my sewing room.

I, of course, didn't take a picture of it before I gave it to her so I'll have to try to snatch a photo off of Facebook. We'll see how that goes.

I'm loving my new darning foot and have done some free-motion quilting recently. No finished items yet, but I'm close. Hopefully I'll get some time in the next few days. I also have about 27/35 appliqued stars done, so I'll be sewing that together sometime soon, too. Oh, more things to quilt!