Here goes...

I have decided to try another quilt-along!




Even though this is actually my second quilt along (read about my first one HERE), it FEELS like my first, because the last one mostly just focused on different quilting styles.
Usually I just follow the quilt-alongs and then bookmark them for later use once they are finished.  But this time, I think I am actually going to make each block as we go!  This is a pretty big leap for me...
The reason I finally chose a quilt-along is because this one focuses on EMBROIDERY!  The timing is perfect.  I have been a crosstitcher my whole life (mostly sticking to counted crosstitch kits), but never ventured into the world of embroidery.  Now, I think I am ready to try!
This quilt-along will have 9 blocks.  That sounds pretty doable, right?  I am thinking that instead of making mine into a quilt, I will make three separate wall hangings.  Perhaps one for my mom, one for my MIL, and one for me?  Maybe...
Hubby said I could only do this quilt-along if I shopped my stash.  So I did!  Jennie says we will need 9 fat quarters all together (3 for every 3 blocks).  Since some of my fat quarters aren't exactly full fat quarters any more, I decided to go with 4 for each mini-quilt.  After MUCH deliberation and switching around, this is what I ended up with:

Bundle #1

 Bundle #2

 Bundle #3

Can you tell which one is intended for me?  Yep.  #3.  Bright and cheery!  And there are TWO pink prints. :)

Now I have to pick up some thread for them! (I don't have a lot of that on hand... don't tell Hubby!) I think it is going to be hard to choose with this much variety to match.  Wish me luck!

And for fun, I thought I would throw in a sneak peak of the crosstitch pattern I am working on right now.  Hopefully I can finish this one before Christmas! ;)

Blogger's Quilt Festival

I've been following Amy's Blogger's Quilt Festival for awhile now (I LOVE IT!) and I finally got up the nerve to enter a quilt of my own...

This is the first bed sized quilt I have ever made.  I'm still pretty new to quilting (and will probably never stop), so this quilt was a major learning experience for me!  I learned a lot about color, precise piecing, arranging, straight line quilting (and the importance of REALLY good basting), and even cutting - I cut this quilt out entirely with SCISSORS!  I know, I must have been crazy.  I was hoping/expecting to get a rotary cutter/mat/ruler set for my birthday and just couldn't wait, so I cut all the pieces by hand.  Don't worry - I have the proper tools now and have been using them for the past year or so (I started this quilt in July and finished it in April).

I originally intended to give this quilt to one of my sisters when they got married - but none of them is married yet!  I was going to put it in the closet for storage, but then I accidentally put it on my bed... and never took it off!  I actually love it on my bed.  Besides, there are SO many flaws in this quilt - my sisters will be grateful to get something a little more professionally done.

And here it is!  Enjoy!

Thanks so much for stopping by!!
Hopefully there will be a lot more stuff here in the next few months.  Thursday is the last day of school and I am BURSTING at the seams with anticipation!!!

Mother's Day

Things have been quiet around here.  We are on the home stretch at school and I just come home wiped every day.  Plus, I think I am coming down with something.  I feel really bad that I haven't really made anything for almost a month!
I did, however, whip these little babies up on Mother's Day.  Yep.  I made them ON Mother's day - before we went to church.  We kind of procrastinated this year and couldn't decide what to give our moms.  I have been seeing lots of little make-up pouches in blogland lately.  Then I found THIS tutorial at kellyrachel.com and decided I might as well give it a try.  I made two of these in a couple of hours.  Unfortunately, it was overcast the whole day and I didn't have a ton of time to take pictures before we drove out to our moms' houses, so the pictures are not that great.  Oh well.  At least I made something!  I am SO looking forward to school letting out so I can spend some good quality time in my sewing room!!!

Makeup roll for my mom:

Makeup roll for my mother-in-law:

Want to learn how to quilt?

Check out the Quilt Class 101 going on over at Chasing Cottons!    You can find the button for it in my sidebar over here: ----------------->
It has been fabulous so far and I will definitely be following along for the whole thing.
If you are even considering learning how to quilt someday, bookmark this blog!  I am so excited!

Quilted Tablecloth

I finally finished my "Kitchen Windows" tablecloth!  

It took FOREVER!!  I wanted to quilt it really closely so that it wouldn't have too many bumpy spots.  Or something like that.  I was a little surprised when I completely ran out of thread (started with a brand new spool) when I still had two more sections left to quilt!  But alas, it is finished. 

I decided to use flannel for backing, but skipped the batting.  So this tablecloth only has two layers but the back is nice and soft.  Which, I'm sure will be useful for when we are eating dinner on it...  If I decide to allow that...

I tried a couple of different quilting styles.  I started with swirls in the sashing:

I did a couple of sections with pebbles.  I thought this heavy quilting design would make the thing stiffer, and even though this particular section IS stiffer, it is also particularly bumpy.  But it's in the middle.  I think it looks good.

I got tired of pebbles (they are SO time consuming), and did a couple of sections with a simple tight meandering.  NOW I understand why most people just use this design on their quilts.  So much easier and faster!

Then I got the great idea to try a couple of straight line sections.  These sections lie the flattest and have the least amount of bumps.  If I were to do another tablecloth (hey - Mom just said she wants one!  Christmas will be easy this year), I will definitely do the whole thing with straight lines.  It is also quite time consuming, but if I did a more overall design, it would be okay.  Plus, it just looks/lies SO much better for a tablecloth!

And there you have it!  It looks a little retro, but I think I like it.  Plus, the browns and greens kind of match some of the decorations in my kitchen!  And I TOTALLY LOVE how it actually fits our little table!  No more folding tablecloths on one side for us!

...Frugality Wins!

This is probably a silly post (and I have been posting a LOT lately - with even more to come), but I am so excited right now. 
I went to WalMart today to do some routine grocery shopping.  You know.  Milk, bread, new seam ripper.  The usual.  My old seam ripper somehow got shoved in a drawer it didn't want to be in and this is what happened:

It was a sad day.  Even sadder - I've been using it like this for months now!  Well, I got fed up with it and bought a new one.  I KNOW you want to see a picture of it.  It's purple:

And it comes with a lid!  I had forgotten seam rippers were supposed to have lids...

Anyway.  That is not the point of the story.  The point of the story is that while walking (quickly) past the fabric section (I wouldn't want to get distracted), I noticed a whole section of fabric on sale for $1.50 a yard!!! Unheard of!!  SO, I bought my groceries and came back to check out the selection.  I ended up getting a whole bunch of yard cuts.  Not sure EXACTLY what I'll use them for, but I'm sure I'll find something.

Remember THIS post?  Well, I have recently discovered that there are quite a few people out there who still buy the cheap fabric over the more expensive, name brand, high quality fabric.  That was nice to know.  It looks like I will continue buying cheap fabric most of the time, with an occasional splurge on something I REALLY want (like the PURE charm packs I used to make THIS quilt).
However, this fabric isn't exactly "JoAnn" cheap - it's "Walmart" cheap.  And I am totally aware that the quality of the fabric is not as great as it could be (especially with those pinks and blues - they are very thin).  But for $1.50 a yard?  I just couldn't pass it up!
I'm pretty sure I bought enough fabric to make at least 2 baby quilts (tops AND backs) and one large quilt.  All for less than HALF the amount I spent to make THIS quilt!   Maybe I should go back for more.  I tried to find some greens and yellows, but there wasn't really THAT much to choose from.  I'm still just in shock.
Now, I hope I haven't offended anyone - particularly those who sell fabric online.  Someday, when I am a professional quilter, :)  I PROMISE to buy that Moda or Robert Kaufman, or whatever kind of nice fabric I have had my eyes on.  But for now, this is the only way to fuel my hobby...

Want to see what I got?  Well, okay.

These are going to be added to my ever growing stash of pink and blue "baby quilt" fabric.  Except, one of them is purple.

I bought these because I wanted to buy something NOT pastel.  I have always wanted to make something black and white with only one other color thrown in.  Looks like it will be red!  I'm not a huge fan of leapord print, but that's okay since I will probably be cutting this into lots of pieces when I figure out what to do with it.

This one I just like!  It will probably match NOTHING, but it has a very nice thick texture and I just like it.

All in all, I ended up with 11 yards of fabric for $17.  You would be excited too.

On a side note, I won a couple of giveaways!  Yay!  (I'm as shocked as you are...)

I won this from Staci at The Confused Quilter:

And THESE lovely fabrics are from Kaelin at The Plaid Scottie.  She calls it her "Saturated Rainbow" fat quarter bundle.  I LOVE it and the colors are right up my alley!  I think the purple is actually my favorite, since I have NOTHING purple yet.  Plus, Kaelin is from New Orleans!  Anyone who knows me personally will understand why that is significant. 

 I can't wait to make something with them!

A new BAG!

I finished another project... a Ruffle Bag!   I love it!  Hubby bought me this fabric for Christmas.  He knows just what I like.  I made/designed this bag all by myself with the help from a mish-mash of online tutorials.

It wasn't too hard, though, and came together fairly quickly.  My inspiration came from THIS bag and I found THIS website to be amazing!

 I just love the ruffles!

 And the fabric on the back is my favorite!

 Instead of using fusible interfacing, I used some cheap burlap (picked up from the remnants bin at WalMart) for the lining and it is stiff enough to keep its form.

 I wanted to make this bag wide enough to carry all the books/school stuff I usually haul back and forth between school and home (usually that's all I do with them - haul them back and forth :) - but at least now I can do it in style!)
Turns out this bag is PLENTY wide!  Love it anyway.  I think there are 7 or 8 books in there right now.  Much better than either the oversized backpack or the undersized purse I have been using!

I love it. 

I'm linking up to Clover and Violet today.  Which is a little scary because they are like the queens of bags...  But this project came entirely from my stash!