Beautiful weather, busy weekend..

The weather this weekend has been absolutely beautiful!! I've done alot of the yard work that needed to be done before we move...stuff like replacing the bulbs in the outdoor lights, cleaning the decks/sidewalks, cleaning out the garage (for some reason we have a problem throwing away empty bottles..they multiply in our garage!!) and today, I'm going to wash the car!! I was so productive yesterday, I started cleaning house about 7:00 last night and finished the entire house, including most of the laundry. I was worn out by the time I fell into bed after midnight but I had completed almost my entire weekend to-do list (including a few extras that wasn't on the list) and now, I have my entire Sunday free to do what I want. So nice!!

Needless to say, I haven't done alot of sewing the past few days. I did get some of my fabric separated and organized into project groups. I like to buy plastic containers and put all the items including thread/pattern/fabric/notions..etc needed for a project into the container so I can just grap and go when I am ready to start something new...I also keep the in-process work in the container as long as it fits so that it is easy to store/find. I stock up on the containers whenever I find them on sale at Wal-Mart, Lowe's, etc... Plastic shoe containers are great for small projects like pillowcases, runners, totes, small wallhangings, etc.. Sweater boxes are great for baby quilts, lap throws, etc... Very neat and stackable too.

I hope everyone has a very nice Sunday!!!

Busy times...

Sorry it's been a few days. I'm in the middle of relocating to another state with my job and I've been traveling...went this week to find a home and we have an offer working now..I love house hunting, hate house buying! I'm just very grateful that I have a good job right now in these tough times so I'm not going to complain at all.

Needless to say, the quilting is taking a backseat to work and all the craziness that goes along with moving. I still haven't quilted my niece's quilt and her birthday is this week! Oh well, won't be the first time she gets a belated birthday present..if I throw in a couple of $20's, she won't mind a bit!

I'm also trying to get rid of alot of unnecessary stuff so I'm prepping for a yard sale in the next few weeks...the house we are looking at is larger in square footage but smaller in number of rooms so we need to downsize. I'd rather have fewer larger rooms than many smaller rooms so we will be giving up a bonus room for a larger kitchen and family room. Thus the exercise equipment (which I don't use anyway, but it looks impressive!) and some extra computer desks (since we recently purchased laptops for me and the hubby) are going up for sale in addition to numerous boxes/baskets of 'treasures' to help clear out the attic. I move pretty frequently (every 3 years at at least) and I'm tired of moving the same unopened boxes. So, I'm getting rid of the junk! Hopefully I can raise enough to purchase a new dining room suit. We shall see.

I love sunny Saturday mornings....my hubby woke us up early this morning so we could go have breakfast together at a local mom and pop diner. With me traveling so much lately, we don't get to see each other much and having a nice, peaceful breakfast together (that I don't have to cook or clean up!) was great. He dropped me back off at the house and is now off to the races for the day.

I'm heading up to the sewing room to have some fun of my own!!

More travel....

I've been traveling the past few days which means no sewing but I did do some fabric shopping. I'm leaving again on Sunday for all next week so I'm going to sew like crazy tomorrow and Saturday!! So..maybe I'll have some new pics to post as I want to quilt the gift for my niece and complete it this weekend...

Question for you experienced quilters....help a newbie please!!!

Well, last night I pin basted my first quilt. I discovered it is not my most favorite process but it is very nice when it is done. The quilts I have done so far have been 'quilt as you go' types. This is the first quilt top I have done, thus the first quilt that will require layering and quilting..thus my first experience at basting.

The quilt top itself is very simple but very special for me. I have one sibling, a sister, who is the mother of one little girl, my very darling niece. My niece lights up my life. I spoil her rotten and she thinks I am pretty ok! I love her with all my heart. I have called her SweetGirl from the minute she was born and even though she is 11 (almost 12), she is still and will always be my SweetGirl. Enough gushing about her...

SweetGirl and I love to have Aunt/Niece bonding time with just the 2 of us. Usually this bonding time involves a shopping trip so I can stock her up on clothes that she quickly becomes too tall for!! I should really invest in Rue 21 since alot of my money goes there!! Well, this past Christmas it just so happened that she didn't have to go to her Dad's, her Mom needed to study for exam's, my hubby needed to help his Dad and I had a few days off from work. So, it was decided that SweetGirl would come back to my house for 4 days between Christmas and New Years, just her and me! We were so excited. SweetGirl loves fabric and is learning to sew as well (her paternal Grandmother is a very talented seamstress) and might one day be a fashion designer (or so she says!!) Anyway, we drove back to my house Christmas night (my and my hubby's families are about 3 hours from where we live..so not too far), just the 2 of us. We decided that the next day, we would wake up and drive to Paducah, Ky and go to the Quilt Museum and some fabric stores. We had a really good time and while we were at Hancocks of Paducah, SweetGirl picked out a layercake that she really liked (Moda's Love is in the Air) and wanted us to spend the next day making a quilt. So, the next day, we went up to my sewing room and SweetGirl spent a great deal of time laying out the different 10 inch squares in various different arrangements until she found just the right layout. Then she handed them to me in the exact order that she wanted and we sewed up the top. Since we left the 10 inch squares intact, it didn't take long at all to sew it up even with my lack of experience. And she was thrilled with the quilttop she 'designed'. My intentions were to quilt it and give it to her for Valentine's day but that didn't happen. Her 12th birthday is this month so that is the new plan. I have it basted and will quilt it this weekend. I also have enough fabric to make 2 matching pillowcases which I will applique with her initial as an added suprise. Thus my first experienced in basting..I'll post pictures once I have it quilted and will let you know how that goes...it will be another first.

Here is my question...I've looked into purchasing a quilting frame that allows you to quilt without basting. I have some 'mad money' that I've put back and will be having a yardsale this month that will also go toward the fund. I've read alot about the Little Gracie frames and would like some input from those of you who use frames such as this. What are your thoughts??

I love sleeping in on Sunday mornings...I generally get up around 4:30 a.m. each morning to get ready for work so I can be there between 6:00 and 6:30 a.m. so I love sleeping in to 8:00 or 8:30 on Sundays!!! It's great to look at the alarm clock, then roll over and go back to sleep!

Here are some pics of the first quilt I completed. I took a one hour lesson at a local quilt shop and then did this one at home over about 6 Saturdays...I am very slow at measuring and cutting out the fabric...hopefully I will get faster with practice. This was a very fun quilt to do and not very hard at all...looks much harder than it is. It is a 'quilt as you go' so I didn't have to layer and quilt at the end. I liked that. It was a gift for a very good friend's little girl, thus the bright colors. She is 2 and working on her colors and I thought this would help her practice them. It is far from perfect (not all of my corners meet and the stitching around the leaves is a bit random) but I enjoyed it.
I took the picture really fast right before I put it in the gift bag to give it to her. Not the best picture but at least I got one to document it by! I embroidered her name on one of the corner pcs to personalize the gift even more. Turned out very cute. I didn't label this quilt which is something I am doing now. I've created a label with my embroidery software that has my name, the name of the person I made it for and the month/year of the gift. I embroider the label onto the back of the quilt. Easy and looks nice. Lesson learned...

Here is my 2nd quilt..it is a baby gift for a new little boy and is a simple rag quilt using Happy Bugs flannel fabric. I bought the fabric last year and was waiting for the perfect chance to use it. Most of my friends have little girls and this fabric just screamed to be used for a little boy. I was so glad when I found out one of my family members was having a little boy. He was born this week and this is on its way to him...

Here is one of the front...cutting all those tabs so it would fray was not fun but it turned out cute..
Here is the back...you can see my yellow label on the red square...
And here is a close-up of the cute bug fabric...
I'm really happy with it overall..only took about 3 Saturdays...cutting was the worst..I hope I get faster!!! I wish I'd used more fabric patterns so that is a lesson learned from this one...I would have liked less repetition and more variety..

Hello! Let me introduce myself...

Hello and welcome to my blog. I've been a fabric and quilting 'blog addict' for a while and finally decided to take the plunge and start my own blog..primarily about my new addiction..quilting and fabric but with a little bit of my daily life thrown in as well. So welcome to the first post! I hope you enjoy it!!

Let me give you a little background about myself. I am a child of the 80's..grew up with the big hair (complete with the AquaNet wings!!) and a huge crush on Jon Bon Jovi. I had a Great-grandmother and Grandmother who quilted and I was given beautiful hand sewn quilts for most special occasions such as Christmas, graduations, etc.. I loved the quilts and cherished them. Fast forward about 20 years and I am now in my late 30's and both of my quilting Grandmothers are no longer living..but their love lives on in the quilts that I still adore. About 18 months ago, I realized that my niece (who was 9 then) would grow up with only the 2 or 3 quilts that she received before my Grandmother's death and that once those were worn out, the family legacy would end with them. So, I decided it was up to me to prevent that from happening. Now, this doesn't seem like a big deal...but I am so far from a domestic diva that my family actually thought I'd lost what mind I had left...I'm the one that couldn't even sew on a button and would just go buy another shirt when I lost a button on one I owned...now I am going to make quilts. They thought it would be another one of my well-intentioned but short lived brilliant ideas...little did they know....

I've always loved fabric..the colors, themes, patterns. I've purchased fabric in the past just because I loved it even though I didn't sew and at that time, had no desire to learn. I just loved the fabric and had to have it. So I would put it in a container in my attic with some vague intentions of using it 'later'. Well, later is finally here and I'm loving every minute of my new journey!!

On a personal note, I am married to a wonderful man who always supports me. We've been married over 14 happy years. I have a step-son who lives with us and who I love dearly. He's been part of my life since he was 2 and has grown into a very handsome young man. He graduates high school this spring and it's hard to believe! I work full time and really enjoy my job. I am a pretty lucky girl overall.

When it comes to quilting, I am drawn to bright colors and love doing baby and kid quilts. I have already acquired a pretty impressive stash in the short time I've been actively quilting and wish I could sew it together as fast as I can buy it!! So far, I've completed 2 quilts and have 1 more top ready for quilting. I have several projects in process and hope to have 3 or 4 more completed in the next 2 months. I have a lot to learn and am sticking to pretty simple projects at this point that help me learn the basics. I also love doing machine embroidery and have done alot of that for baby and Christmas gifts on purchased base items such as tote bags, bibs and fleece blankets. Being able to combine embroidery with my own hand-made quilts is a great feeling!! I'd also like to eventually learn to make my own tote bags and simple baby items and plan to start down that path after I complete a few more quilts. I don't want to spread my limited sewing time too thin.

So, welcome to my blog. I'm excited to be here.