Wednesday, November 24, 2010

W.I.P. Wednesday

I am sad to say, but I haven't made any progress this week on my projects.  I was really moving along, but things came to a complete halt when my son got sick this weekend.  Now that he is feeling better I would typically be able to pick up where I left off, but now the preparations for Thanksgiving have commenced.  Oh well maybe this weekend...

I'm so lame I don't even have pictures...Sorry next week will be better!!!

I hope everyone has a very safe and Happy Thanksgiving!!

Goals for this week:

Finish baseball quilt and turn it in for 100 Quilts for Christmas

Bind the Hushabye quilt

Start Christmas quilts (yikes!).

Friday, November 19, 2010

DC Modern Quilt Guild Sewing Lounge

Last night I had a great time at my first ever DC Modern Quilt Guild "meeting".  Everyone was so nice and welcoming, and I loved being around all those ladies sewing!!  I don't think I have ever seen so many sewing machines going in my life!!  By the time all of our projects are finished I think we will have made a large dent in our goal for 100 Quilts for Christmas.  See the event blogged about here.  I can't wait to go back on Saturday to help finish up! 

Here is a picture of my blocks.  I have four of the six finished.  I'm going to stop blogging about this quilt now and go try to finish it before my sweet little boy wakes up!!  I will post more as this project is closer to completion!



I love how this is turning out!  I can't wait to see it finished!

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Why?

Why am I thinking about joining this quilt along?  Yes, it's pretty, it fits my skill level, and it would be super fun to sew along with my internet peeps but I don't have time!!  Christmas is just around the corner...

I have no self control!!  I will make a decision after I see how much progress I make after this weekend's sewing...

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

W.I.P. Wednesday

I'm a little late this week, but better late than never!!  I didn't make a whole lot of progress on my projects, but I completed my biggest goal!!  I finished free motion quilting my Hushabye quilt.  It took me many, many, many tries and I pulled out way more stitches than I ever dreamed I could, but it is done!  I am not going to pretend that it is the best quilting ever because it most certainly isn't, but I am so proud of myself for not giving up.  Sunday afternoon I decided to just get over myself and just quilt the thing and be done with it.  It turns out once I took the pressure off myself to be perfect I actually enjoyed the process which is the reason we quilt right?




I wasn't able to do the stipple quilting like I had originally planned, but I am happy with the random, wavy, vertical lines I used instead.  Like I said above it isn't perfect, but that's okay.  This is the first quilt I have ever FMQ, so it's okay if there are a few (or a lot) mistakes.  I am hoping that maybe next year when I am a quilting genius I will look back at this project and smile.  I know I will love snuggling under it with my boys!  I am taking a little break from it to work on other projects, but I do plan to bind it this weekend.  I will post a final picture when it's completely finished.

I didn't touch any of my other projects this week, but I hope to make up for lost time since my husband is taking all of Thanksgiving week off and I have been promised lots of sewing time!  Gotta love that!

I did add a new project this week.  I have finished cutting out the top for the charity quilt I am working on for 100 Quilts for Christmas.  I blogged about that here.


Now that Hurst is in bed, after I finish this post, these strips will be turned into a rail fence quilt top.  My goal is to have this finished by Saturday so I can turn it in with the rest of the guild's quilts.  Wish me luck!

My goals for this week are:

1. Finish binding Hushabye
2. Finish baseball quilt for charity
3. Cut out at least one of the Christmas quilts

Hope everyone has a very productive week!

Monday, November 15, 2010

100 Quilts for Christmas

I am so excited to be participating in this awesome sewing event.  It starts today, November 15th and lasts through the 15th of December.  The goal is to donate 100 quilts to children in your community (or other communites) this month.  If you can't find a charity in your area some suggestions are Margaret's Hope Chest and Project Linus.  To find out more details check out Kate at Swim, Bike, Quilt blog post.  If you do decide to participate you will be eligible for multiple fabulous giveaways!!  As if helping children in need weren't enough to get one excited for this event, there are prizes involved!!

On Thursday night the DC Modern Quilt Guild is hosting a sew in to make quilts for local kids in our community.  I can't wait!  It will be so much fun to get together with people who love to quilt and help out at the same time!  I will be sure to post details of the event later this week.

I have started cutting a baseball, rail fence quilt to work on Thursday night.  As I have said many times before I am slow, so I hope I am able to finish it in time!  Even if I can't it will still be fun to sew with everyone else! 

I would love to be able to say that I have made a large amount of progess on my other projects, but I can't.  I am still plugging away at the FMQ for the Hushabye quilt.  I am hoping to finish that up after I make the charity quilt.  I hope everyone else is having a very productive sewing day!

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Work in Progress Wednesday

I am so excited to join in the fun of Lee's W.I.P Wednesday!  Hopefully this will help me stay on track and give me an extra push to finish those Christmas presents!  I definitely need to get cracking!

My W.IP.'s:

The Hushabye quilt:


I blogged about this earlier when this was just a quilt top.  Here is the pieced back I made with the leftover charm squares and some basic white fabric.  Hopefully during naptime I can start quilting this baby.  This will be the first quilt I have free motion quilted, and so far it's not going so great :(  I am giving myself until Friday to make it work or I am going to just do straight line quilting instead.  The weather has definitely turned cool in these parts and I want my quilt!!  I don't know if I have enough patience to stipple it!

The Red, White, and Blue Quilt


So far this is just a pile of fabric, but eventually it will be a gift for someone very important.  I won't be able to show pictures of the finished product until after the holidays, but I will update every week on the progress.

The Brown and Blue quilt


Also, just another pile of pretty fabric, but this will hopefully soon be a quilt for another special someone.  Like the red, whilte and blue I can't show the final project until after the holidays, but I promise I will be working on it!  I plan to use this tutorial to make a double hourglass quilt.  I can't wait to see how this one turns out!

The Dr. Seuss quilt


This is the quilt I am most looking forward to completing!  My husband and I are expecting our second child (a boy!) in early March!  Needless to say, we are over the moon excited!  As soon as I saw the fabric I knew I had to make a quilt out of it for #2!  I plan on using a pattern out this book.  The trick will be making myself work on the Christmas presents and not jump right into this one!  This line of fabrics is just too cute!!

These quilts will be my focus for the next few weeks, but I reserve the right to take a break and make pillows,stockings and other Christmas projects along the way!  I am afraid that when it comes to quilting/sewing I have a bad case of ADHD!  That's why I am hoping this project will help me stay focused!

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Mary Mary, quite Contrary

How does your garden grow?


Very, very slowly!!  Just one little flower at a time.