This is what the overall pattern in the middle of the quilt will look like. The actual colors of the fabrics are almost identical to what was on the website. Wahoo! :-)
Monday, April 28, 2008
Baby Quilt #6
While I haven't finished ironing and cutting all the fabric yet (I've been lazy lately), here's the patterns of what the next baby quilt will look like. The two duck fabrics will make flying geese on the border while the light fabric with the bottle in the middle (it has other baby stuff on the fabric) will be borders between the flying geese and the main pattern of the quilt. The pink fabric with the letters on it is actually the backing. I could only get photos of three of the four main colors in the quilt. The fourth is actually the bunnies again, but with a blue background.
This is what the overall pattern in the middle of the quilt will look like. The actual colors of the fabrics are almost identical to what was on the website. Wahoo! :-)
This is what the overall pattern in the middle of the quilt will look like. The actual colors of the fabrics are almost identical to what was on the website. Wahoo! :-)
Friday, April 25, 2008
Another Quilt Down....
I finished another baby quilt last night. This one I had finished putting together a while ago and had even machine sewed the binding on, but I hadn't finished (or even started) hand sewing the binding. I finally finished it last night. I'll post a picture of the quilt on here eventually, but in its unfinished state you can see it under Ellie when she was "quilt testing". So I now have no started-but-not-finished quilting projects.
I have fabric for the next baby quilt that I'm making for a due date of September, so I have some time before I really have to start working on that one. I just need to iron and cut the fabrics and I can start sewing. At this point, I'm trying to determine the type of quilting I want to do on it. I've been hand tying the past few baby quilts, but I think I want to machine quilt this one. The question is... what pattern and how much quilting? I haven't tried quilting on the new machine yet, so I'm a little afraid to do it on a quilt that I'm going to be giving away.
Other quilters say that its the best to try stuff on other people's quilts because if you don't like it you don't have to look at it. But the way I see it is that its a piece of myself that I'm giving to someone else and it should be good. It shouldn't just be the "throw-away" part that I don't want or like.
Time will tell what I want to do with the quilt. At least I have time to figure it out.
I have fabric for the next baby quilt that I'm making for a due date of September, so I have some time before I really have to start working on that one. I just need to iron and cut the fabrics and I can start sewing. At this point, I'm trying to determine the type of quilting I want to do on it. I've been hand tying the past few baby quilts, but I think I want to machine quilt this one. The question is... what pattern and how much quilting? I haven't tried quilting on the new machine yet, so I'm a little afraid to do it on a quilt that I'm going to be giving away.
Other quilters say that its the best to try stuff on other people's quilts because if you don't like it you don't have to look at it. But the way I see it is that its a piece of myself that I'm giving to someone else and it should be good. It shouldn't just be the "throw-away" part that I don't want or like.
Time will tell what I want to do with the quilt. At least I have time to figure it out.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Baby Quilt #6
Last week I ordered fabric online (a first for me) for a baby quilt that I will be making for some friends that have a baby due in September. The website (www.equilter.com) had pictures of the flannel fabrics and they were pretty cute (many based on kids' nursery rhymes). I was a little hesitant to buy fabric online as I couldn't actually see the fabric or feel it. However, I figured with a baby quilt if it turned out to be a bust, at least it was only a little bit of fabric. :-)
So the fabric arrived on Friday afternoon and as soon as it arrived, I opened it up to find the cutest fabrics I've ever seen. They were good quality and looked exactly as the website had portrayed. I'll have to take some pictures of them to post on here.
To put it in words though, the fabric for the main design of the quilt was four different colors. Two fabrics had little white bunnies on them with a blue background on one and a yellow background on another. The other two were blue and pink backgrounds with the cow jumping over the moon on it. (I couldn't resist!) The fabric I got for the backing actually has the alphabet on it and for each letter it shows a different item (T - teddy; A - airplane, etc) . They even had X and Z on there. I was impressed. ;-)
So the fabric arrived on Friday afternoon and as soon as it arrived, I opened it up to find the cutest fabrics I've ever seen. They were good quality and looked exactly as the website had portrayed. I'll have to take some pictures of them to post on here.
To put it in words though, the fabric for the main design of the quilt was four different colors. Two fabrics had little white bunnies on them with a blue background on one and a yellow background on another. The other two were blue and pink backgrounds with the cow jumping over the moon on it. (I couldn't resist!) The fabric I got for the backing actually has the alphabet on it and for each letter it shows a different item (T - teddy; A - airplane, etc) . They even had X and Z on there. I was impressed. ;-)
Thursday, April 17, 2008
No More Boot!
I received excellent news from the doctor yesterday that I don't need to drag around my heavy boot anymore. I have to wear a stiff ankle brace for the next two weeks to help stabilize my ankle, but its a heck of a lot better than a heavy boot. Plus, I can start driving now. They said I can't run, jump or twist on it yet, but I'm happy to be just getting closer to normal and I probably won't need physical therapy.
On the quilting front, I haven't really been able to do much quilting lately. I'm working on sewing (by hand) the binding onto my sister-in-law's baby quilt, but I haven't had a lot of motivation to sew lately. I think I get into these ruts every once in a while. I am expecting to get new fabric in the mail on Friday (YAY!), so I'll be able to start the next baby quilt. I've also been sewing the loose ends of the fabric I have for our bedroom quilt. I read on another quilting blog that its handy to sew the raw edges of the fabric before washing so that it doesn't unravel as much. We'll see how it works out. Since I haven't posted these before, below are snapshots of the fabric for our bedroom quilt.
Here's all the fabrics laid out together with the colors that will actually be touching each other in the quilt positioned next to each other.
The four main colors below (green, white, red, and blue) are making up the main pattern in the quilt. The green is just a border around 12" blocks, and the 12" blocks have a a combination of white and blue squares and white and red triangles.
Finally, the border on the quilt will look somewhat like a curling ribbon with a white background, and the two shades of blue being the ribbon. The green is once again a border. Its difficult to see in the pictures, but the darker blue fabric has a lighter blue pattern that has a little bit of irridescence to it. The light blue fabric is completely irridencent, so they work really well together.
All said and done, I think between the different colors I have somewhere around 15-20 yards of fabric! Rich advised me to increase the amount of excess material by 25% to make sure that I have plenty to work with. However, I think if I only increased it by 1/4 yard I would have been fine. So I'll have lots of extra that I can use for other quilts or table runners, or something. It will be fun to think of the "or somethings". :-)
On the quilting front, I haven't really been able to do much quilting lately. I'm working on sewing (by hand) the binding onto my sister-in-law's baby quilt, but I haven't had a lot of motivation to sew lately. I think I get into these ruts every once in a while. I am expecting to get new fabric in the mail on Friday (YAY!), so I'll be able to start the next baby quilt. I've also been sewing the loose ends of the fabric I have for our bedroom quilt. I read on another quilting blog that its handy to sew the raw edges of the fabric before washing so that it doesn't unravel as much. We'll see how it works out. Since I haven't posted these before, below are snapshots of the fabric for our bedroom quilt.
Here's all the fabrics laid out together with the colors that will actually be touching each other in the quilt positioned next to each other.
The four main colors below (green, white, red, and blue) are making up the main pattern in the quilt. The green is just a border around 12" blocks, and the 12" blocks have a a combination of white and blue squares and white and red triangles.
Finally, the border on the quilt will look somewhat like a curling ribbon with a white background, and the two shades of blue being the ribbon. The green is once again a border. Its difficult to see in the pictures, but the darker blue fabric has a lighter blue pattern that has a little bit of irridescence to it. The light blue fabric is completely irridencent, so they work really well together.
All said and done, I think between the different colors I have somewhere around 15-20 yards of fabric! Rich advised me to increase the amount of excess material by 25% to make sure that I have plenty to work with. However, I think if I only increased it by 1/4 yard I would have been fine. So I'll have lots of extra that I can use for other quilts or table runners, or something. It will be fun to think of the "or somethings". :-)
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Think SPRING!
While this time of year is usually seen as good, sometimes I think that spring just isn't getting here fast enough. Only a few of my flowers are starting to poke through the ground and the grass hasn't even really started turning green yet. So... to help others who find this time of year frustrating, here's some pictures of flowers from my garden from last summer.
Some pretty coneflowers.
My nice yellow gaillardia (which I probably spelled wrong).
A larger picture of the left front corner of the planting bed. By the way, Rich (my hubby) built that stone wall himself. At the tallest part, its about 18" tall. The shortest end is only about 6".
This is one of my gorgeous roses. I'm hoping the plant survived the winter as I really love the flowers. They are so pretty and as they age, they fade to white and pink versus yellow and pink. They also have a wonderful smell that isn't too flowery and has just the right amount of citrusy smell to them.
This is the same rose bush as the last picture. This one you can see a bee trying to get some nectar along with an older bloom right next to a brand new one.
Some pretty coneflowers.
My nice yellow gaillardia (which I probably spelled wrong).
A larger picture of the left front corner of the planting bed. By the way, Rich (my hubby) built that stone wall himself. At the tallest part, its about 18" tall. The shortest end is only about 6".
This is one of my gorgeous roses. I'm hoping the plant survived the winter as I really love the flowers. They are so pretty and as they age, they fade to white and pink versus yellow and pink. They also have a wonderful smell that isn't too flowery and has just the right amount of citrusy smell to them.
This is the same rose bush as the last picture. This one you can see a bee trying to get some nectar along with an older bloom right next to a brand new one.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Official Quilt Tester
Now that I have the camera hooked up to the computer, I was also able to download some pictures of my cat, Ellie, helping me with my quilting. She is the official tester to make sure my quilts feel good.
Caught in mid-lick. ;-)
Time for a BIG stretch!
Giving me the evil look because I disturbed her sleep.
The last one is, of course, the aftermath of her testing.
New Quilt Pics
I finally got the camera connected to the computer again and here's some pictures of the quilts I made for the twin girls.
New Toy!
I FINALLY got my new toy this weekend.... a brand new sewing machine. :-) When I first got it home, I was actually afraid to use it because I didn't want to break it. I've now sewed a few practice pieces on it, and I absolutely love the machine.
I ended up getting a Bernina 440 quilting edition (for quilters who read this, they'll know what the machine is). It comes with a few standard pressure feet, but it also comes with the walking quilting foot. However, the BEST part about it, is that it comes with Bernina's Stitch Regulator foot. This foot attaches to the machine and it senses how quickly you're moving the fabric underneath it and automatically adjusts how quickly the needle moves so that your stitches are always the same length.
Once I get a little more used to the machine, it will definitely be a dream to use. I have to make a few "mini-quilts" to test things out and see how to do different stitches. I also want to try a few new techniques that I haven't tried before, so it will be good to make some practice pieces.
Happy Quilting! ;-)
I ended up getting a Bernina 440 quilting edition (for quilters who read this, they'll know what the machine is). It comes with a few standard pressure feet, but it also comes with the walking quilting foot. However, the BEST part about it, is that it comes with Bernina's Stitch Regulator foot. This foot attaches to the machine and it senses how quickly you're moving the fabric underneath it and automatically adjusts how quickly the needle moves so that your stitches are always the same length.
Once I get a little more used to the machine, it will definitely be a dream to use. I have to make a few "mini-quilts" to test things out and see how to do different stitches. I also want to try a few new techniques that I haven't tried before, so it will be good to make some practice pieces.
Happy Quilting! ;-)
Friday, April 11, 2008
Taco Loaf!
After cooking the same exact things for the past few weeks, I was tired of the recipes I have for ground chicken (which I needed to make before it went bad). So I searched the internet for a while to find a receipe that involved ground chicken and the ingredients I have in the cupboard. Usually when picking out a recipe online, you only try it if there's a lot of people that say its good.
In this case, I found a recipe for meatloaf using ground chicken and taco seasoning (and a few other random things). Reviewers said that it was good and that they would definitely make it again, so I decided to try it. Fortunately, it was still edible when it was done. But it was essentially and huge taco loaf. Its not that it tasted badly, but I definitely would not make that one again!
So not only did I get rid of a car that was once termed "The Loaf", but I've now made a Taco Loaf. The car was definitely better than the dinner!
In this case, I found a recipe for meatloaf using ground chicken and taco seasoning (and a few other random things). Reviewers said that it was good and that they would definitely make it again, so I decided to try it. Fortunately, it was still edible when it was done. But it was essentially and huge taco loaf. Its not that it tasted badly, but I definitely would not make that one again!
So not only did I get rid of a car that was once termed "The Loaf", but I've now made a Taco Loaf. The car was definitely better than the dinner!
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Tuna!
Over the past few months, one of the beer manufacturers (I think BudLite) had a commercial where if you drank BudLite you could hear animals talking. There's a dog in the commercial that's constantly saying "SAUSAGE!" and you hear the person asking different questions and the dog keeps saying "SAUSAGE!" Well, we finally figured out that each time we say something to the cat, she just yells "TUNA!" instead of "SAUSAGE!" :-)
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