I am a bad blogger

I don’t even know for sure when the last time I blogged was.  I’m slowly trying to get myself back into sewing.  I can’t stay in the sewing room for too long though because it really hurts my back. 

I’m trying to get some things ready for when baby comes.  The first big project is recovering the carseat that my sister gave us.  Since we don’t know whether we’re having a boy or girl I picked out fabric choices for each.  This is the girl fabrics.  I took this picture before I got the elastic and binding sewn on but I’ll get another soon to show it finished.

Goodbye to one Quilt and Hello to Another

The wedding quilt was picked up first thing this morning.

It was too big to get a great picture of it but here it is spread out for a good de-theading.  It was headed to a bridal shower this evening and I hope the bride loves it as much as her grandmother and I.

Right after this quilt went on it’s way a new one arrived in the mail!

This is from my Doll Quilt Swap partner for April.  I love it!  The colors are beautiful and I love batiks.  I also sent hers out this afternoon.

Here is the quilt I made for my partner.  She told me that she likes 1800s so I raided my 1800s stash and designed this after a quilt I had made a few years ago.  I like how it turned out and I hope she does too.

FMQ for April

I did my FMQ challenge for April.  I wasn’t sure I’d like following a pattern but I had fun with it.

 

I stayed on the line pretty well and I love how it looks finished.  I still need to to my block on my sampler quilt but I should be able to get that done over the next couple of days.

A Few Finishes for a Very Long Month

I have been finishing things here and there I just haven’t been getting to blogging them. 

 

Up first though this is the generous prize I won from Pippa’s Patch last month.  I love the quilt journal I can’t wait to start planning in it.  I’m trying to think of something special to use the fabric with.

 

 

Here is my Stash Bee block and siggy block for April.  I finished these a while ago but I still need to get them sent.

 

 

Here’s a sneaky peek at my Doll Quilters Monthly swap quilt.  My partner likes 1800’s so I dipped into my stash for this quilt.  Hope she loves it.

 

 

I also finished the quilting on the wedding star quilt yesterday and got the binding sewn on today.  Now it’s sitting on my couch to be hand sewn.

 

Baby Shopping

Yesterday my Hubby and I were in town doing some shopping and celebrating his birthday.  We bought our first baby thing!  The background story is that my husband’s nickname is Cow.  When I first met his family and friends everyone called him Cow and I was the odd man out using his name.  So yesterday we saw this and couldn’t resist it.

It’s a cow and it’s so cute!!!

This is the back.  It has a tail!  How cute is that?

These are the little sockies that go with it.  Sorry about the blurry picture but you can still see how cute they are.

They have little tails too!

So that’s my show and tell for the week.  Still now getting much sewing or stitching of any kind done.  I do have my doll  swap quilt finished except for binding so I’ll be finishing that in the next couple of days and it will be on it’s way to it’s new home.

An April Announcement

Oh my goodness!  It has been so long since I have blogged.  I’ve been a little off for the last couple of weeks.  I have an announcement that I hope will make up for my absence.

The big news is that Tinkerbell is going to be a big sister!!!!

That’s right we are expecting our first baby in late November.

As usual Tinkerbell seems somewhat underwhelmed but I know there is excitement bubbling somewhere in there.

So there’s the reason that I have been AWOL lately.  Baby and I are very tired and sometimes slightly sick.  Sewing is not a huge priority right now.  I am working on a swap quilt though that will have to be kept secret until my partner receives it.  I also got the wedding quilt on the quilt frame and was going to start quilting this morning.  Only a couple of inches in the needle broke and my hormonally overloaded self left the sewing room very unhappy.  I’ll try again tomorrow morning because it needs to get finished.  Maybe I’ll be less emotional tomorrow.

 

March FMQ

I didn’t even wait until the last day!  Are you surprised because I sure am.  I was so excited that this months guest teacher was Ann Fahl.  Her book Thread Dancing was the first book on FMQ that I bought.  I didn’t do the loops or the stars because I’ve had lots of practice with them since they are two of my favorite quilting designs.  I’m quite proud of my spirals.  I need to work on my speed control with them but I like how they worked.  I’m not so good with the flowers.  The ones that didn’t get messed up by my misbehaving bobbing looked ok but they are HUGE.  I’m going to have to learn how to make them better and a little smaller.

So of course I chose the spirals for my sampler quilt.  I knew I could get them to look at least halfway decent.

Here’s my first three months.  I think that I’m doing ok.  I definitely see improvement.

 

I also cheated a little and got an early start on one of my guilds next projects.  We’re making a Stack-n-Whack and I couldn’t wait to see what would come out of my fabric.  I also wanted to have some done so I could pick out a background at a great sale this weekend.

This is the only block that I have sewn so far and a scrap of fabric I had to test the kind of fabric I want to buy.  I think that I really like the pink with it.  Can’t wait to get more done and to be able to go shopping this weekend.

Wedding Quilt Top Finished!

I did it!!!  I’ve been saying for over a week I was going to get this quilt top finished and today I finally did it.

This isn’t the greatest picture.  It’s hanging over the quilting machine waiting to be rolled on and quilted.  That’s not on the list until at least next week.  I’m hoping that while it hangs there it will tell me how it wants to be quilted.  Any ideas are more than welcome.  My biggest worry is that I only have a midarm machine and this quilt is 95 ” square.  By the time I get to the other end I’m not going to have very much quilting space.

I also got all of y pieces cut out and ready to sew for my spring mystery quilt.  That is going to get finished first thing tomorrow so that I can take it back to show the store and get a 25% discount this week.

This is what it will look like when I get it finished!

Sooooo Close

It’s so close to being finished.  I have one border left to go.  Don’t all of those solids look great though!?!  It will for sure be done tomorrow.  Then I need to get my spring mystery quilt sewn together and get my FMQ challenge done for this month.  Once again I am demonstrating my amazing skills of procrastination.

 

Yesterday I finished the fairy I’ve been cross stitching.  The picture isn’t the best because of the frame but she is absolutely gorgeous!  The pattern is a free one from Passione Ricomo.  I jazzed her up with some sparkle and beading.  All in all I’m pretty excited about my projects!

Tinkerbell isn’t too impressed though.  She’d rather be left out of the stitching.

We Have a Winner!

Thank you to everyone who participated in my giveaway this week.  I love reading through comments and hearing what everyone is working on.  This morning I got everyone’s names written down and cut and folded.

Here’s the big bowl full of names.  This was definitely my biggest giveaway ever so I was super excited.  After mixing them all very well I pulled the name…..

Janet Wright!  Who said… I was asked to teach a beginners paper piecing class, so i have decided to design my own pattern to go along with it.

Congratulations Janet I will email you right away for your address.  Thank you again to everyone who entered.