Weekend Check In

So here we are, 10 pm on Sunday night.

Seriously, where did my time go??

 

Because of working 12 hour shifts, I actually had a four day weekend.

So during nap time, I rocked out in my sewing room.

 

I finished my February Globetrotting Block of the month, "Venice":

Love the 'Me and My Sister' black and white print in the center:

 

I also put in quite a bit of work on my honey's Civil war Quilt:

I actually put in some serious work on this bad boy.

I finished attaching my square in a square blocks.

Made the 2 inch square borders and added the 1 inch borders.

 

Only four more borders to go...

 

But between the 8 star blocks and the 48 flying geese, I have ALOT of piecing left to do.

So it will remain my work in progress.

 

The sun was shining so brightly here in South East Michigan this weekend, so I took the lighting opportunity and grabbed a few shots of some quilts you have not seen yet.

 

-These were my finishes late last summer-

 

First off, my cop-out Riley Blake block of the month quilt:

(I copped out after the April block)

 

But I totally adore the monochromatic-ness of it.

And, you can barely see it in the pics, but the fabric has sparkles as well... LOVE.

 

And my orphan block quilt:

 

This quilt actually contains orphan blocks from myself, my mom and my aunt.

 

I always think of a farm when I look at this quilt.

You have the split rail fence, the houses, barns, geese, pond, stream, silo, windmill, furrows...

 

You see all that, right??

 

Everyone enjoy your evening!

Olive Progress

I finally had some time tonight to sit down and sew.

 

Between potty training with the toddler and a virus with the baby, this mama has been waaaay too exhausted to sew.

 

I finished cutting out my Mod Olives pieces:

 

 Cutting out these bad boys wasn't hard at all.

 

But...

I guess I should have made some sort of practice piece with my Quick Curves ruler before I jumped right in sewing the Mod Olives pattern.

This being my first time using the ruler, I don't know if this pattern is totally geared for a beginner.

 

But I ripped a few stitches and used ALOT of steam from my iron and got my first six blocks done:

 

And this means I'm ahead of the 4 block a week schedule- Sweet!!

 

It wasn't until after I was pressing my finished blocks that I started to see these little puckers in my solid fabric. 

 

I have to figure out how to get rid of those...

or I'm REALLY hoping that some free motion quilting will forgive those little puckers.

Another little project that is ongoing is my husband's civil war quilt:

I've been working on this quilt since earlier this summer. I get really bored with these little 4 inch squares, so I do a little at a time.

The top five rows are all sewn together, The bottom five are a work in progress.

Once these blocks are all together, then I can start adding pieced borders.

 

I do feel like I was making economy block before they were cool. ;)

 

These little blocks have been rearranged more than once on the design wall.

 

She just wants to help with daddy's quilt.

 

This kid loves her fabric. 

 

Can't imagine where she gets that from!

 

Have a great night everyone!

DC finish

I finally put together my January 'Globetrotting' block.

Has anyone else jumped on this bandwagon?

You can see everyone else's fab Washington DC blocks on Pat Sloan's Facebook page.

I did have to rip more than one seam to get those fussy cut flowers going the right way... probably why it took me 2 weekends to get it together.

And trimming HSTs are SUPER boring... :)

 

I have unofficially dubbed this year as the year of STASH.

Every quilt top that I make this year needs to have fabric pulled from my stash.

Like I said, totally unofficial.

(Completely subject to change!)

 

So, in light of using my stash, I decided to join the Mod Olives Quilt Along from Jenny at Sew Kind of Wonderful.

I picked the following for my solids and background:



This QAL starts up this weekend.

I bought the quick curves ruler this summer, and haven't even taken it out of the package-

It's about time I learned how to use it!

She has made some amazing stuff with her ruler.

 

I also got this little baby back from her tune up:

 

My mother very graciously gifted me my grandmother's 99K Singer sewing machine.

She bought this after her first baby was born in 1955.

 It followed her from Michigan to Alaska in the early 1960's and came back wither her 11 years later.

It sewed evening gowns for her, Barbie clothes for my mom, patches on my uncle's jeans,

 and buttons on my pajamas,

 -to name a few things-

 

It still runs like a charm, and I am so completely honored to make it part of my sewing history.

 

She needs a good polish on the outside, but her insides are well oiled and ready to go!

 

And because I haven't put a picture of the kids up in awhile:

 

My sweet little girl is starting to enjoy the prettier things in life:

Like bright pink boots!!

 

And if they fall off, big brother is there to give her a hand!

Have a great evening everyone!!

 



Six Month Check Up

Hey there!!

I'm here for my 6-month check-in!

Okay, actually, I'm hoping to get back into the swing of blogging again.

New computer, new job, new resolve... let's get this underway...

 

I was crazy busy over the holidays in my sewing room.

I made 2 full sets of jammies, 2 pairs of pajama pants, a stuffed animal, a quilt, a table runner... and I wanted to do more. I had to draw the line somewhere!

(And of course, no pictures of my work... Too busy!!)

 

I am happy to say that I sold my first commissioned quilt this fall:

 

And a commissioned table runner for Christmas: 

 

So exciting!

 

I finally got to work on my daughter's I-Spy quilt this week...

 

 

Top is done.

 

Back is done. Binding is done.

Now I just have to sweet talk my mom into letting me use her long arm to get it quilted up!

 

I am jumping on the Globetrotting band wagon.

 

Is anyone else joining this BOM with Pat Sloan?

I love a good free Block of the month!

I picked all the fabrics from my stash this afternoon.

 

 

Tip for any of you participating in this BOM...

I will totally screw up my fabric selections about four months in, so I took the supply list provided:

 

 

Clipped up the lists:

 

 

And pinned them on to my fabric:

 

Now in September, I'll remember what fabric goes where!!

 

Happy Quilting!

 

Have a great night everyone!

A little Out of My Norm...

This summer marked our fourth year in our home. It was when we moved from our tiny one bedroom apartment into our own 'expansive' (1050 sq. ft) home that I really got serious about quilting.

 

Since then, my husband has been asking for a quilt. Sure, I made him a quilt while we were still in college together. But my skills have evolved (tremendously) since then. On one of our (okay - MY) trips to the quilt store, he took a liking to the Civil War reproduction fabrics, and has wanted a quilt made from reproduction fabrics since then.

 

So it's been pushed off and pushed off for the last four years... There has been quite a few distractions: other quilts, two babies, and the fact that I am TOTALLY not interested in reproduction fabrics. But, I have collected fat quarters and scraps of civil war fabric and pattern ideas. I may have been completely uninspired, but I wanted to make this quilt for my husband, who does so much for me.

We finally settled on a square-in-a-square block for design.

 

 

I actually had the opportunity this spring to attend a lecture by Jody Barrows at my local quilt shop. She has designed the 'Square-in-a-square" template system that makes your life MUCH easier when attempting the square-in-a-square block:

 

This book and template are fabulous. She gives you the math for an size square you could ever want, she gives you the starting block and strip width and just tells you how to cut. It's wonderful.

I promise you my first attempt at the square-in-a-square would not turn out so nice without this template.

It does get quite tedious, and there is ALOT of trimming:

 

I had a nice little stack of four inch squares,

 

But once they got up on the design wall, those four inch squares did not go far...

 

It's about half as big as I would like it to be... so I guess I need to pound out another 100 squares.

 

Until then, I hope you all have a wonderful evening.

 

 

Summer Recap

Well, it's been awhile since I have blogged. My apologies if you have missed me!

So I have a little recap of what I have been up to this summer.

I'll start with my finish for the store sample:

 

The pattern for this quilt ended up being super easy to put together. I had a ton of leftovers, So I used some to piece the back:

 

I also added a close-up of the quilting from the back. I did this on my own machine here at home. I did an allover feathering design. This is always my favorite free-motion design:

 

This quilt has already made it back home to me. According to my aunt, the pattern and fabric sold out right after they put this quilt up in the store.

How cool is that?

 

I also put together a cute summer bag:

 

This is the 'Pinafore Bag' by Me and My Sister Designs. I made this out of some Amy Butlers that I had stashed away. It was not easy to cut into this yardage, but I loved the end result. This bag is awesome- it's cute enough to go anywhere, and it will fit all sorts of baby paraphernalia!

 

This next quilt is my Bohemian Kaleidoscopes:

I finished this in June for the wedding of my husband's cousin.

 His cousin had told me that they had an "Eclectic Bohemian" feel to their home. I have always wanted to try a kaleidoscope quilt, and felt like that this would be perfect for a Bohemian scrappy quilt.

I loved this quilt. I ended up pulling out ALOT of my Kaffe Fasset and Amy Butler prints for this.

The red border with the 'exploding' kaleidoscopes were a last minute decision, because it just needed 'something.' - It really did give it that special something that it needed.

Like I said, I loved it, and so did my husband. (He didn't want to give it away)

The newly-weds loved it!

My only regret is that I didn't get a better pic. The above pic was taken in a hurry with my cell phone as we were packing up the babies to drive out to Massachusetts.

(That was an experience - an almost 2 year old and a 6 month old on an 11 hr trip...)

 

And I have been making clothes for the kids:

These are a pair of pajamas for my little man. Little projects like these help to keep things fresh and interesting.

Like they say, "Variety is the spice of life."

 

This next one is a quilt 3 years in the making:

I started this quilt in the summer of 2010. It was my first attempt at applique.

I loved pairing the colors together for the flip flops. They are all outlined in black button-hole stitches (by machine).

This has been sitting in my finish piles for the last 3 years, because I didn't know how it was going to be quilted. It's amazing how things change in 3 years.

3 years ago, I was not confident in my machine quilting abilities, and did not want to quilt this quilt for fear of screwing up something I loved so much.

I was able to use my mom's long arm for this quilt- I ended up quilting the black background prints in bubbles and did little loops in the pink sashing. The green border has a palm leaf sort of motif going on.

Here is a shot of the back:

 

Can't wait to use this on the beach next weekend. Both the kids love this quilt. My little man has been 'trying on' each of the flip flops.

So funny.

Have a wonderful afternoon everyone.

It is great to see you all again!



Long time, no see!!

Hi All, I'm checking in to say hello!

 

And to claim my blog on Blog Lovin!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

 

I've been busy busy in the sewing room! Can't wait to show you some of the things I've done.

 

I've been busy on Instagram as well. Check me out at: MelMart89.

 

Have a great afternoon!