Finally got some pictures posted of the Africa quilt. It turned out pretty well. It's sort of reversible since I pieced the backing. I totally stepped out on a limb while quilting this. I had never done a quilt this large, which was a challenge. I also just tried all new techniques from stuff I had seen online. No stippling here! I think it turned out great. I'm really proud of it! I'm definitely going to use some of these patterns in other quilts!

Also I included a picture of a quick little wall-hanging that I made for my Secret Santa at work. I'm a little disappointed how you can't really see the appliqued holly leaves too well. but overall, it was quick and easy and I think she really liked it.

Cross it off my list!

I have finished the epic "Africa" quilt and gifted it to my sister-in-law. (although I need to steal it back to take a few pictures) I can officially cross it off my list. Now that brings me to looking forward to a few things on my list that should be completed this upcoming year. I am working on a few projects for friends who are expecting since it seems that everyone has chosen 2011 to be the "year of the baby". Those are obvious deadlines I have to comply with, but I've got several started. I'm also starting to think about what projects I'd like to do this year for myself. There is a Valentine's Day wall panel that I've started quilting and should finish before Feb. 14th so I can hang it up. I've always wanted to make a red, white and blue quilt for the summer. (I think that project will wait) I need to get my Etsy site up and running again. There are a few fabrics that I've got in my stash that I've reserved for "something for me" because I love them so much. The problem is that I don't need more quilts. Hmmm...and I can only make so many baby blankets because I will only have so many babies to keep them for. (number to be determined) So, I don't know what I'll do with some of this fabric. Projects will pop up, I'm sure. For now, I just want to try to get some projects off my shelves and lighten my load for the new year. We'll see how that works. For now, I'm digging in to putting away Christmas messes and enjoying the last few days of my twenties while I still can!

Quilting Adventures

I wasn't brave enough to title this "Quilting Disaster", but that's about what I've got on my hands. So the grey square quilt with fabric from Africa is pin-basted together and I started quilting it last night. Oh my. I'm seriously worried about the stability of this thing. I have already noticed some of the seams were coming unsewn. I'm quilting it tightly, but I'm not sure it's enough. I have put all this work into it, and I think I'll be happy with the way it turns out, but I should have just stopped after I washed the fabric and said, "This will not do!" Oh well. It will hold together for awhile and I'll just tell her not to wash it. Like, ever. :)
Of course, it's not that bad, but it's not great. We'll see how much luck I have repairing some of the little seams and then how it looks after I'm done quilting. By going over as many seams as possible, I feel like I'm reinforcing it, so hopefully that will add a lot of stability.
I've put any other projects on hold until I get this done for the obvious reason that, if I start something new, I will tend to work on that too much while the other, more pressing project gets neglected.
After I made the fabric basket in the previous post, I thought about making some Christmas-themed ones to use as stockings this year. I have to work, so people will be coming our way and it'd be nice to have something to put a few little things in. My family always did stockings and I want to keep the tradition going. Without stockings for the others, those fabric baskets might just do the trick. Not to mention, they'd be a whole lot easier to stuff!

A Few Pictures

So this has been what I've been up to lately. Well, sewing-wise anyway. Not much has happened in the sewing room recently. Here are two projects I've managed to work on.

A cute little fabric basket...made from a tutorial online. Also a quilt made from some fabric that my sister-in-law brought back from Africa. It's been a little tough to work

with since after I washed all the starch out it kind of slithers around. But I think it's turning out well. I just need to figure out how I'm going to quilt it.