Sweet Dreams Quilt

It seems odd to be posting twice in a few days when it had been a month since my previous post. Maybe things are settling down a little so that I feel like I have the time to post stuff. At least that's what I'm hoping. :-)

I finished the quilting on the center part of the Sweet Dreams quilt last night and tonight I just finished the quilting on the border. I had originally sketched some "swoops" in the border, but then decided I hated it. So I ended up using Power Point to create some stars and moons in the size I wanted, cut them out and traced them onto the quilt border at semi-equal intervals and just free-handed some loops between them. I'm completely surprised how appropriate it looks on the quilt...and how good (at least to me).

Here's some pictures of the quilting on the borders and a little bit on the edges of the center. Sorry about the colors being off a little...since its 9:45pm right now, there's absolutely no natural light so the flash was all I had. Once I get the binding made and onto the quilt, I'll be able to wash it so all the chalk marks come off. I ended up using a combination of Fons & Porters chalk pencils and some tailors chalk. I like the tailors chalk, but it doesn't keep a crisp line very long...and it doesn't show up on white. I'm going to have to experiment with some marking methods. Enjoy the pictures!

Stash Busting - 8/24/2009

It has been a few weeks since I last posted. Things have been EXTREMELY busy between work, vacation and personal stuff. Work was insanely busy with not one, but two design reviews in late July. They were both within a week of each other which meant a lot of long hours at work to prepare for the reviews. Once those reviews were done, I was finally able to take a vacation. It was about a month overdue at that point! Vacation was good, but we didn't go anywhere special. I went to visit my Grandmother who's health was in very poor condition, and we went to visit my husband's Grandmother. We also spent a few days at my husband's parents as they have a cabin on a lake in the Adirondack Park and its very peaceful and quiet there...especially during the work week.

However, vacation ended on a bit of a sad note. My Grandmother whom I had just visited passed away on Friday, July 31st. While it wasn't unexpected has her health had been declining and she was 93, it was still sad to lose her. It was a very difficult few days and even now I run across photos of her and it makes me sad. She was a wonderful woman though and she spent the last 75 years of her life putting her family first. She was always there for all of us (4 kids, 15 grandchildren, 9 great grandchildren and 2 great-great grandchildren and too many neices and nephews to count). I do have very fond memories of her and she will always be an example for me to follow.

So back to the present....

I've finished up two quilt tops in the past few weeks. The first quilt top is for a co-worker who is expecting boy this fall. I've called this one Sweet Dreams. While I don't have any pictures of it while I was piecing it, I do have a few pictures of it about 75% quilted. I still have to outline stitch the yellow stars and put something into the center of the white blocks. The border also needs to be finished up, too. The best thing is....this quilt is 100% stash!! :-)

The second quilt top I've put together is from a pattern. The pattern is by Tammy Tadd and I posted about it here. I don't have any of it quilted yet, but here's the completed top along with a close-up of the appliques. This was my first time doing appliques and I think they came out really well for the first time of doing them.

So here's my stash report for the past few weeks(since I've been pretty delinquent):
Fabric Added this Week: 0.5 yards
Fabric Added YTD: 109.5 yards

Fabric Used this Week: 5.38 yards
Fabric Used YTD: 28.4 yards

Net Fabric: <81.1> yards