Birdies Top is Done! . . . I think . . .

Hello!  :)

When I last left you I had gotten the sashings and cornerstones on my Birdies Quilt.

I also had decided that I wanted it bigger than originally planned. The original plan called for one border which was going to be this . . .

So I got out my Sophie stash . . . Yes I have a stash of Sophie for another project! I love it that much!!!  :)  I decided to do three borders. Hope it's not too much!

I came up with this as the first border . . .

What do you think? I love it!  :)

Then a second border, the same size as the sashing . . .

This one looked good when I just laid the fabric next to the quilt but I'm not so sure with it attached. My original idea was to bring some of the stitchery color out to the border to balance the colors out. What do you think?

I went ahead and added the last border. I wish I had a better picture. I took tons of pictures but this is the best of them. It's hard to take pictures of something so big by yourself.   :(

So what do you think? Please let me know. I need some opinions here. Sometimes I look at it and I love it. Other times I just don't know. Is it too much? I am happy with the size now.  :)

I will be using this for the binding . . .

And this for the backing . . .

Looking forward to your comments and opinions. Thanks so much!  :)

Until next time . . .

Merry Christmas Wishes to You!

Hello!  :)

Whew!!!! I've been soooo busy! This past week I've barely got any sleep. The hunky dude gets up for work at 3:15am and this week I've still been up working from the night before when he gets up. He couldn't believe it. Then I'd go to bed and get a few hours rest and get back to work. How in the world did I think I was going to complete two twin size quilts in only a few weeks. Especially being that these are only the 2nd and 3rd quilt tops I've completed and will be the 1st and 2nd that I've quilted and bound. I must be crazy dedicated. I have made some runners and mini quilts but nothing larger. I wish this guy could have worked some magic and got them all done for me.  ;)

But alas . . . no such luck! Remember Jay's quilt . . . the Hawaiian Getaway?

Well I've been working non-stop hand-quilting it (for the first time ever!). I finally got it done and then had to get it trimmed and put the binding on. I managed to finish it on the morning of the 22nd. Yea!!!!! I really loved how it turned out. I will have to show you the pictures next week as Jay is sitting close to me as I write this and I don't want him to see it yet.

What about the Peace and Love quilt?

It's pin basted and . . . that's it! I failed! There was no way I could get it done. I decided on the 21st that I wasn't going to make it. You see Jay and Jess were going to arrive at noon on the 23rd. And I had put everything on hold trying to get these quilts done. I hadn't finished decorating yet. I hadn't finished shopping yet. Then there was all the wrapping. I was so far behind! After the Hawaiian quilt was finished I finished up my Christmas shopping. When I arrived home I relinquished the decorating to my son Peter who was eager to put his own touch on things. It was hard for me as I always have to control things like that (yes I'm a control freak . . . I'll admit it!) He actually did a great job and was so proud of himself. He is 16 and autistic. It gave me joy to watch him.  :)  I will share some of my favorite items with you next week.

I stayed up late again and got all the gifts wrapped and ready to go. I wrapped up Jess' quilt, pins and all. She will get to see it and then I'll need her to leave it behind so I can finish it up. I hope she understands. A funny thing happened today. I was talking with her and she asked me to make her a quilt. She described what she wanted and it was as though she had already seen what I had made. It sounds like it's perfect and that she'll love it! I hope so!  :)

After I wrapped all the presents. I left them piled up so Peter could put them around the tree the next morning. When he saw the pile he was so excited and happily placed them around the tree.  :)

Now we're ready for the other two members of our family to arrive and start our Christmas 2011 celebration. Jay and Jess arrived at noon today. We visited and baked and watched Christmas movies. Tomorrow we go to my dad's house to celebrate with him and my sister and her family. Then Christmas morning we will open gifts, have a big breakfast and have to say good-bye to Jay and Jess once again. It's great having them here with us and I will miss them when they go back home.  :(

Hope you and your loved ones have a wonderful Christmas together!  :)

Until next time . . .

Christmas Gifts Progression. . .

Hello!  :)

I've been a busy bee over here.  :)  On Sunday I went and got the thread I needed to finish the last pair of Jammie pants. I also put the elastic in all of them and stitched them closed. All 6 pairs are officially finished!  :)

I still have two more Christmas presents to finished in the next two weeks (actually less than that now!). I need to make two twin size quilts. Sunday after I finished the jammie pants I cut the fabric for my oldest son Jay's quilt. I can share it with you now because I haven't told my older kids I have a blog yet. I will do so at Christmas.

Anyway . . . I'm going to back up a little bit. I knew I wanted to make both of my older kids quilts for Christmas this year. They both live at their Grandfather's house (on their father's side). He doesn't have a working heater and I know they could use something to keep them warm. I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to do for my daughter Jessica's quilt but I had no idea on a theme or color scheme for Jay's quilt. Then all of the sudden it hit me. Hawaiian! He loves Hawaii and all things Hawaiian, beach themed, etc. I go to thrift stores all the time and began looking for cool Hawaiian shirts to use for his quilt. There were lots of beautiful shirts in all kinds of fabrics but I stuck with the 100% cotton ones. I forgot to take pictures of the shirts while they were still shirts (sorry). There's actually quite a bit of fabric in the shirts, especially the 5x one I found. I couldn't believe I found one so large. Anyway . . . In the picture below you can see the squares already cut from the shirts in a circle (ignore the center fabrics for now).

For the quilt I'm using Amy Smart's Lattice Quilt pattern that I got from her Bits and Bobs Etsy shop. I laid out the fabric squares in a pleasing arrangement.

Then I labeled them and stacked them up ready for sewing.

Before I continue I'll share the sashing, border and backing fabrics I chose to use.

The fabric on the bottom is a really cool sheet I found while thrift store shopping for the background. I love it! The blue fabric is a wonderful Hawaiian batik print I found to use for the second border and the cornerstones. It really ties all the fabrics together. I'm using Kona Cotton in bone for the sashing and first border. I think I'm going to use a black batik for the binding but I haven't gotten it yet.

On Monday the quilt top sewed up pretty quickly. Amy has great instructions. When I finished sewing it I laid it out on the floor to view it. I actually squealed in delight and jumped up and down. I was very happy with it! It was great satisfaction after a long day sewing.  :)  This is only the second quilt top I have ever made.

Tuesday I woke up with a sore throat.  :(  I have been pushing myself pretty hard to get these things finished up before Christmas. After I took my son to school I came home and went back to bed for a few hours. It helped. I woke up without a sore throat but now I have a cold. Oh well. Someday I'll learn to take care of myself better. :)

I did manage to get the borders on the quilt top today. I'm very happy with the results! The blue really brightens it up but not too much. I think I made the right decision in using the same blue for the cornerstones. It really carries the colors throughout the quilt to complete the look.

What do you think? Do you like it? Does it look masculine enough? Here's another view. . .

Tomorrow I will cut the fabric's for Jessica's quilt and get it started. As soon as I have both tops finished I'll sandwich them and hand quilt them. I've never hand quilted before but I think I can do it. I love embroidery. Isn't it similar? If anyone has any pointers, tips, tricks, suggestions please share them with me. I'm hoping to be able to start quilting them by this weekend. By the way, what color (or colors) would you use to quilt Jay's quilt? I just can't figure it out. I appreciate all the help and advice I can get! Thanks! :)

Until next time . . .

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

Hello!  :)

So Sorry I've been away. I was going to try to keep up with posting while I was getting ready for boutique but it just didn't happen. I did manage to get a lot of stuff done though. I'm actually quite amazed at how many things I finished in a week. This is going to be a long post . . . but hopefully one you'll enjoy!  :)  I'll start with the items that I had already started when I last posted.

Remember this . . .

It turned into this . . .

Isn't it adorable?!!! I'm really happy with the way it turned out!  :)  This runner was made by a pattern I got from Cleo And Me on Etsy. You should check out all her adorable patterns! They are really great patterns with easy to follow instructions. 

Here's the back of the runner . . . 

And a close-up on the fabric . . .

Isn't it adorable! I absolutely LOVE this fabric!!! It has glitter all over too. It's so festive! I got it at JoAnn's. I only had a little left so I had to go and get more to make more runners. I already made two runners and plan on making more. They only had a few yards left so of course I got all of them!  :)

Here's the finished Christmas Tree Mini Quilt. I wish the picture was better to show all the rich colors. I added red buttons since you last saw it. I was supposed to add some stringed lights too but I didn't think they looked good. Maybe it's because I used such rich deep fabrics. I made four of these . . .

Remember this stitchery . . .

It was the last stitchery in a set of seven for a banner. I had made two of each for two lap quilts. I actually made four of the snowman just because he was so cute!  :)  I planned on using the extra two for a couple of mini quilts. Here's the beginning of the mini quilts . . .

I loved the way it looked but it needed a border. I tried lots of different border fabrics and ended up with the same white polka dot that I used on the Christmas Tree Mini Quilts. It didn't distract from the other beautiful fabrics I used and I think it kind of looks like snow.  :)  I quilted it in the ditch and then added the light blue snowflake binding to finish it off. Here it is . . .

What do you think? It turned out pretty cute, huh?!!! I really like it! Here's the back . . .

I liked it so much that I made four of them. Yes I used the other two that I had planned on using for the lap quilt with the other stitcheries. I just couldn't help myself. I knew I wasn't going to have time to make the lap quilt for boutique. Then I got to looking at the other stitcheries and my stash of Christmas fabric . . . hummmm . . . 

I turned two of these . . . 

Into two of these . . .

Here's the back . . . 

And two of these . . .

Into two of these . . . 

Here's the back . . .

I stopped there. They were all made using the same design and quilted with the same in the ditch method. I wanted to keep it simple.  :)  I ended up with four Snowmen Mini Quilts, two Santa Mini Quilts, and two Christmas Tree Mini Quilts. I still have two each of 4 different stitcheries ready for the lap quilt I plan on making. I just have to stitch up 6 more stitcheries to replace the ones I used for the mini quilts. 

What else did I make for boutique? I made some crayon roll-ups. I used Angie from Summerfield Quilts, awesome Crayon Roll-Up Tutorial to make them. The tutorial is very easy to understand with lots of pictures. Thanks Angie for such a great tutorial!  :)  They were very simple and quick. I made 8 of them.

Here they are all rolled up . . . 

Here's the back of my favorite one . . . 

And the inside . . .

I had picked up the crayons during the back-to-school sales earlier this year just for this purpose. I even have more leftover. Guess I'll be making more in my future.  :)  

The night before I had to bring my things for boutique I had some extra time so I looked through my stash. I had some wine fabric and thought it would make a nice runner so I got busy putting it together. I didn't use any pattern. I basically made it up as I went along. I knew I wanted to keep it pretty simple. I also want to use some prairie points in it. I started with the wine fabric and then put some log cabin style strips around it. Then I put a border between the two blocks and at each end. I added the prairie points with the borders at the end. I was going to leave it there but it looked kind of skinny so I added the borders to the sides. 

Here it is . . . 

And the back . . . 

I didn't know whether I should turn both blocks the same way or not. I ended up facing them away from each other. I figured it would look great that way in the center of a table. What do you think? I kept the back and binding the same brown as the front to keep it simple. I wanted the focus to be on the wine fabric.

Here's a close up of one side of the runner . . .

And a closer view of the prairie points . . .

I kept the quilting simple by quilting next to the seams and around the prairie points. I couldn't believe how quickly the runner came together. I even had time to sew the binding to the back by hand. I was very happy with all I'd accomplished.

My boutique is in Quartz Hill, California, which is next to Lancaster, California. It's where I used to live before I moved to Corona a year and a half ago. I've been doing this boutique for the last 5 years and it's a really good one. If you are near there and want more information just ask. I went there Wednesday morning to bring my stuff and help set up. The boutique runs Thursday through Saturday. I will be there Saturday afternoon to work a shift and pick up my stuff when it's over. I hope I do well. The money I make will be used for Christmas presents. Wish me luck!  :)

Until Next Time . . .

Progress is good! :)

Hello!

How are you doing today? I'm doing pretty good.  :)  I've been making lots of progress! I love progress! I would love to share it with you!  :)

Here's what I was working on today . . .

Whatever could this be?  ;)  I'll let you stew on that for a few more days. I'll share more as I get further along. Sorry . . . I can't help myself.  ;)

I've gotten the last stitchery done for my Christmas Stitchery Mini Quilt. Actually I made 4 of them. I know I only made 2 of each of the others, but I really liked the snowman!  :)  I saw it and just knew I wanted to make another project (actually 2 of them) with just him!  :)

Isn't he cute?!!! I love snowmen!  :)

I've made more progress on my Christmas Tree Mini Quilts. I've got all 4 of them quilted. The quilting actually went pretty smooth. It's the first time I used different top and bottom thread colors. I was nervous but it worked. I didn't want to do too much quilting so I just outlined the tree levels and stitched on the red, right next to the white. Here's a close-up of the front quilted . . .

And a close-up of the back . . .

Here's the whole back, angled for a better view . . .

I couldn't really get a good picture of the quilting on the front. Oh well. Here's the whole front . . .

Did you notice I was able to get the binding on already too?! Tonight I'll be hand stitching down the last binding and then that part will be done. All that will be left will be the finishing details. Yes! There is more! I'm really liking how these are coming out!  :)  It's been really fun and didn't take too much fabric. The hardest part about the fabric was finding a variety of greens. Oh . . . and don't you just love the border and backing fabric? I love it! The reds are so deep and beautiful!  :)

Tomorrow will be the only 1 week left until boutique mark. Yes I'm behind . . . but I'm making good progress.  :)  It hasn't helped that my son's sick this week and I spent 3 hours at the doctors with him today. However now he's all stocked up on meds and should be getting better everyday. That's the important thing!  :)

Until next time . . .