Friday, July 10, 2009

My First Quilt

Here it is in all it's glory... the first quilt I ever finished. I actually starting quilting because I wanted a quilt for my oldest's bed. I couldn't find one I liked so I decided to make one (it's in the wash right now so no picture). At the time we had just moved to Saratoga Springs and my friend Kristen called to see if I be interested in doing a quilt block swap. There were quite a few of us and we each cut fabric to make five shoo fly blocks to swap with each other. We used white backgrounds. Although I had already started my other quilt I finished this one first. I love it. It is absolutely the worst quilting and piecing job you will ever see, but I love it. I didn't know how to square it up so I just made it into a square and some of the blocks are practically cut in half. A few people in the group had never sewn at all before. They cut their fabric by hand. Some of the cuts people made were not accurate. I didn't want to replace any fabric for fear someone would see it and feel bad because their fabric was not used. So I used all of what I had. I love the scrappiness of it. There is all kinds of fun fabric in it. I think if I had not been invited to do this swap I would have made my other quilt, maybe taken a class or two, but I don't know if I would have fully fallen in love with quilting.

Four years later this is my newest quilt for my newest child....

So there you have it. My newest and my oldest quilt. I've loved seeing all your first and last quilts this week. Thanks Camille for starting all this! Oh... something I learned along the way? Really, look at the first quilt. What haven't I learned along the way? I have definately learned a thing or two about matching up points. I've also learned how to cut more accurately, I've learned how to applique. I've learned to LOVE ric rac!

Friday, July 3, 2009

Ellie Fun

This is not my typical style of fabric. I saw it several months ago and fell in love with it though! I love those cute elephants. Usually I like fabric for a baby that isn't necessarily baby, but could be used for a baby. I like novelty fabric in general, just not baby fabric. When Olivia was born I had to get some of this. This was the only piece that the quilt store near me had. I need to buy the other pieces online. I have no idea what I will do with it, but I love it.

So remember yesterday when I was getting ready to quilt my flutterby quilt? Well... I got it all set up on the frame and my stupid Pfaff would not work. It's been having trouble for awhile now. It has never kept the speed up very well. It's suppose to do 1000 stitches per minute. Well, yesterday I was lucky if I could get it to do 1. Then when it did the stitches were the length of my shin. Ahhhhhhh! There is almost always something wrong with my Pfaff. It is seriously less reliable then my mom's old White she hated when I was growing up! Thank goodness for my trusty Bernina, however it doesn't have a long enough neck to quilt on the frame.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Flutterby

I know that in my last post I said that I was going to work on finishing projects before I started new ones. I should have added finishing projects or starting new ones out of stuff I already have. Yes, I started a new one. I had a jelly roll of Flutterby that I've had for a long time. I bought the jelly roll without having plans for it. At the time I bought it I also bought fabric for an outer border and binding. Well..... I was in the mood to make something out of it. So I started a new quilt. Another baby quilt. I am loving making baby quilts. They are quick. Sometimes I get tired of the fabric or block before I am finished and when I make baby quilts that just doesn't happen as quickly. The outer border has now become the backing. I am thinking I'm going to save the binding ( or use it as more backing if I run out) for another project. I think I'm going to bind in Moda's Essential Dots in brown. I'm loving the essential dots more and more lately.

I'm having to piece the back. Two yards was just not quite enough. I used some left over blocks in the back and now I'm doing some creative piecing to try to make it big enough. Again, some of the fabric that was planned for binding may show up here. In the picture I have the backing on top of the top so I can see what I need to do. You can see the top on the bottom and in the top right corner.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Baby Quilt and Burp Cloths

I used my first honey bun this last week. It's Hello Betty from Chloe's Closet. I can't say that I loved working with a honey bun. There aren't many patterns out there so I made up my own. I was thinking I'd have a good sized baby quilt. WRONG! It's a small baby/ doll quilt. I haven't put a border on it yet and I'm not sure if I will. It's so busy that I don't really want one. I may just wait and she can use it now and then use it as a doll quilt when she is bigger than a doll herself.
I also made Olivia some more burp cloths. Really, can you ever have enough? I feel like I need at least two a day, especially if we go somewhere so that I don't have to take one that already has spit up on it.

This one totally clashed with the others so I took a picture of it separately. I still feel like I need a few more. I made some others earlier when she was very first born, but they were in the wash and I never got around to posting pictures. These are the most absorbent burp clothes I own made from cloth diapers.
I really, really want to start a new quilt. I would love to buy jelly rolls of American Jane's Snippets and make Black Diamonds. However, I'm trying to first finish what I've already started and second only buy fabric I need to finish what I've started. I keep telling myself that I can buy the fabric online after it's no longer in stores and also new fabric that I always LOVE is always coming out. Hopefully I can resist, but I just had a birthday and my birthday money is screaming to be spent on fabric.



Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Rs Quilt Class Rescheduled!

Hi everyone! Sorry about last week. I had the flu starting on Saturday 13 and lasting through this last weekend. It's good to be on the mend! Anyway.... hopefully all of you who are taking the quilt class got a call from my husband canceling it. Hopefully he also told you that it is rescheduled for tomorrow, June 24, 2009. I hope you can all come! Sorry about all this!

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

OOPS!!!!!

Sorry everyone! The RS quilt class is NEXT WEDNESDAY June 17, 2009. I forgot it's the THIRD Wednesday and not the second Wednesday. Don't go tomorrow! Here is a picture of the finished block. Here's the pattern:
http://www.quilterscache.com/J/JacobsLadderBlock.html

Also, we need to be thinking of what we want to do next. Do you want to keep doing piecing to practice your skills, or would you like to do applique or hexagons next? We will do it all eventually, but would you like to take a break from piecing and do something new? Leave a comment and let me know!

RS Quilt Class 6-10-09


Tomorrow we'll be having the RS quilt class at 7 at the church. We are going to be making half-square triangles and making a block called Jacob's Ladder. It will be helpful if you already have the fabric cut when you get there. Here's the pattern: