Bag It

I made one of Leila's Simple Drawstring Bags yesterday and fell in love.  They really are simple to make and super cute.  This bag is based on the 1/3 yard measurements she gave.  It was the perfect size for all of the animals in the barn.

I liked it so much that I made another one.  This time I made the fabric size slightly bigger at 15" x 30."

 It was the perfect size for Little Man's wooden blocks.

I think I'm going to be making a bunch of these.   They're addicting.

Christmas Block Update

I've gotten four more Christmas blocks done and it's putting me in the Christmas mood.

The first three are from the Celebrate Christmas Quilt Along:

#5- Holiday Ribbons

#6- Road to Retreat

#7- Holiday Gifts

 This one is from the 12 Days of Christmas quilt along:

#4- Scrappy Star

I have yet to finish the Santa Block.  I didn't have all of the thread colors I needed.  That's on the To-Do list for this week.

Christmas Block Finagling

I've been immersed in Christmas blocks - blocks that are stretching me way beyond my comfort level.  I thought - wouldn't it be so much fun to finally make a Christmas quilt? - I saw the 12 Days of Christmas Quilt Along, and thought - perfect! . . . . until I saw the blocks - they're all paper pieced and have tons of applique - neither of which do I really know how to do.  But I thought, I've got to learn sometime, right?  Well, here's the first block......

 I obviously had some issues, but I actually enjoyed putting together this block.  It's my first real paper piecing challenge. 

Then I saw the second block (a cute Santa Claus) and um, this is as far as I've gotten.....

The rest of it is all applique and I've never tried to applique ever.  Sooo- that's going to be my experiment during the kiddo's nap time tomorrow I think.  Don't judge me if it turns out all crazy looking. 

Anyone have any tips for applique before I experiment with this tomorrow?!

Meanwhile, the 3rd block came out yesterday using paper piecing and a ton of applique again, so I'm feeling slightly overwhelmed and not sure if I can (or want) to keep up. 

Luckily for me, I came across the Celebrate Christmas Quilt Along yesterday as well.  It started back in September, so I'm late to the party, but I've decided that I'm going to do the blocks that I like from that one and combine it with the ones that I like from the first quilt along and just make my own "super special" Christmas quilt. 

Here's a slightly altered version of Block #1:

Stats for the Week:

New projects - 1
Completed projects - 0

Projects In Progress -

1. Skill Builder Sampler - up to date
2. Blogger's BOM - up to date

No progress-

1. Mom's Christmas Table Runner
2. Ladybug Quilt
3. Halloween Wall Hanging (oops- maybe I'll finish it for next year)

Check out the other WIP at Freshly Pieced!

Blogger's Quilt Festival

The Blogger's Quilt Festival is kicking off today at Amy's Creative Side.  This is my 3rd time participating, and it's always so much fun to see so many wonderful quilts in one place.  I chose one of my recent finishes - It's my Diamond Chains Quilt from a Quilt Along that we just barely completed 2 weeks ago. (The weather is still rainy and dreary, so I'm afraid I only have indoor pictures for you).

Front

Back

Here's an up close look at the Swan Star (prior to piecing the front together):

And.....I got goodies from Melinda this week for participating in the Quilt Along.  Who doesn't love getting fabric in the mail?!....I mean, seriously - I confess though that the adorable little bag it came in was my favorite part.  Thanks, Melinda!!

Blocks A Plenty

1- Here's my Bloggers BOM for October:

 2- Skill Builder: I had 2 blocks to do to catch up.  The first one was #14- Crazy Quilt Block: My favorite part of doing this block was trying out a lot of cool stitches on my machine.  I think this would be a really cool technique (sewing onto a fabric base) to make a t-shirt quilt or for baby clothing.  I think I may venture out with this later on with my kid's clothing......I just need to get a little braver first.

 

The second block was #15- Diamond Dash: Well, let me give you a little background.  I have always been super scared about paper piecing quilts - I've never done it.  Then this block shows up that uses paper piecing.  I consider putting it off....

Meanwhile, I decide I want to be apart of the '12 Days of Christmas' Sampler Quilt Along.  I've been really excited about making a Christmas quilt, and then.....I see the first block - a paper pieced truck.  Seriously?!  I'm not going to lie - my heart sank.  I knew that if I'm going to try the Christmas stuff that I'm going to have to suck it up and do the SBS #15. 

 Eh....I made a stupid mistake - I was thinking the seem allowance was there for the triangles not the actual block, so my triangles weren't big enough.  Oops.  The block still came together, but it wasn't the greatest.  I'm glad I tried paper piecing, but it didn't give me the confidence boost I needed to paper piece the truck.  We'll see.  I'm still debating what I'll do.

3- I made a Ticker Tape Doll Quilt for my niece (blogged about here).

4- I pulled out an old project (it's actually one of the very first things I started working on 3 years ago).  When I showed my husband what I was going to work on, he said, "Hallelujah!  I never thought I'd see this day!"  He's been trying to get me to finish some of my old projects (without much success - I might add) for a long time.  My mom wanted a Christmas table runner, but at the time I didn't even know how to make one.  I've made a couple now, so I'm going to finally get this done before Christmas.

 I kind of cringe to see some of the seams not lining up, but it's kind of nice to see how far I've come in the last 3 years of quilting.  I sewed the 3 blocks together this week, and now I need to get it layered together and quilted this week.

Stats for the Week:

New projects - 1
Completed projects - 1
Projects In Progress - 3
Projects on Hold- 2

Check out the other WIP at Freshly Pieced!

Doll Quilt

I'm usually not very good about birthday gifts, but my niece is turning 4 in a month, and I thought it would be the perfect excuse to make a doll quilt. 

Can I just say I love the quilting community?  I started searching online for possible ideas for the quilt, and I found so many tutorials.  The one that really caught my eye was a Tiny Ticker Tape Quilt from Sew, Mama, Sew.  It's such an awesome way to use scraps, and so different from your average quilt. 

 The back looks fun even without a patterned fabric.

So, my only irritation is my stitching for the binding.  I'm a hand-stitching girl when it comes to the binding, but I thought since this was such a little project that I would experiment with a machine binding.  I was all over the place (as you can see above), but since it's my first time doing it I shouldn't be so particular.  I had a lot of fun putting together this little doll quilt though.  I already want to make another. :)

Modern Day Miracles

We've been challenged by our Stake President (regional ecclesiastic leader of my church) to attend the Columbus temple 5 times in 5 weeks.  Joel and I typically try to go once a month, so this has really stretched us (mostly because the challenge came right during one of Joel's worst rotations at the hospital, so we've had to be creative when we can go).

The last time I drove to New York it was pure wretchedness.  Let's just say there was a lot of uncontrollable screaming and crying.  By the time I got home I never wanted to make that trip again, but call me insane- my family talked me into coming to visit. Yep- last week I traveled to New York with 2 young kiddos, and um - by myself.  I can't tell you how seriously worried and scared I was about the 9 hour car trip. 

What does this have to do with going to the temple?  Well, the night before I left I was scheduled to attend the temple.  I had a million things to do and I was starting to second guess my choice to go to the temple.  In the end I decided to just go.  While I was sitting in the temple, I had the distinct impression that because I was trying to be faithful and fulfill the Stake President's challenge that I would be blessed- that everything would be alright during my travels.  I was relieved. 

I have to tell you that Emma didn't cry at all the entire trip up to New York, and was completely fine on the trip home until the very last 5 minutes.  Are you kidding me?!  I was shocked.  Everything went smoothly, and both of my children were wonderful.  The chord of the DVD player stopped working on the ride home, and Nathan didn't even care.  If you had experienced what I had with them a mere 3 months earlier, you would know how incredibly miraculous this was.  We actually had a good time while traveling.  Is that even possible?!

I suppose a pleasant road trip seems like not much of a blessing, but it was what I needed when I needed it, so I have a real testimony that we are blessed when we are obedient.  I also know that Heavenly Father knows us and our needs, and is so willing to bless us.  Yes, I believe in miracles, because I had one occur to me. 

A Few Finishes

I'm slightly cheating for WIP this week, because my major accomplishments are actually finishes since I was out of town and away from my sewing machine.  First- I finished the Diamond Chains quilt (see here for pictures), and then last night I finished my Baby Boy Farm quilt. 

 (front and back)

I've been trying to break out of my super safe quilting habits, so I did free-style wavy lines down the quilt.  They really show up on the black.  It was actually kind of fun.  I may just get the hang of it yet. 



I still need to make my Skill Builder block #14.  For some reason I'm a little intimidated by this one.  I haven't touched my Halloween wall hanging (I should probably try to finish it before Halloween, don't you think?)

Stats for the Week:

New projects - 0
Completed projects - 2
In Progress - 5

Check out the other WIP at Freshly Pieced!