my first bag

I have a craft group that tries to meet each friday. It doesn't always happen. 

We are very informal. Really its just a reason to get together and eat some yummy foods that people bring. 

Everyone brings their own craft.  Most of the time people bring knitting or crochet. Its not easy for me to bring my quilting- but sometimes I lug my machine around. 

Last night I had a quilt guild meeting and workshop on how to use the "twister ruler" (more on that after the quilt is done) so I had my machine in the back of the van. 

This was perfect since one of the ladies - Emily- offered to teach a couple of us how to make bags/ put in zippers. 

I hauled out my machine and all my paraphernalia (which isnt that bad) so we had 2 machines and a serger to use.

This is what I made:

its a small pouch 7x6.5.

I figured out how to make it so the print remained directional as well.

I had never made anything with a zipper before- so this is my first attempt- and I think it turned out pretty good.

and the back:

Thank you so much Emily!

baby quilt for Anna

Anna was one of the 5 baby quilts that I needed to make for March/April. 

She is actually due on Sunday the 18th I think. 

I like the animals that are shown with him :)


I did cheat on hers by using a panel and a piece of fabric for the backing.

I did the wavy quilting pattern with the walking foot on my machine.

signed 

we had a shower at church for her. 

thats her son looking on

and her hubby

and here are some more pictures from the shower

Christina's baby quilt

Christina is 3 weeks ahead of me in her pregnancy.

She came over one day after I told her I would be making her a baby quilt. We sat down together and went though my fabric stash. I have only known her since Sept? so I wasn't totally sure about what colours she would like. 

She picked out a pannel that she liked and I had matching fabric for it. 

At first I thought about cheating and just making it with a piece of fabric on the back and the pannel on the front- but she wanted a pieced quilt from me.

see the water drops? Im glad it wasnt raining when I wanted to take the picture

 So I went to my fabric that I had to match it and planned out a quilt.
When I measured the remaining fabric from this other baby quilt, I realized I didn't have enough to do the original plan. So I modified it by adding plain blocks beween the pieced blocks.

The plain blocks are not very plain as it was a busy print.

I liked how it turned out with the colours surrounding the blocks.

So this was the quilt I was working on when my machine bit the dust. but before that even happened Christina was put on bed rest and her shower had to be cancelled!
She is now off bed rest since she reached 37 weeks.

Christina was so happy to get it!

signed

RIP Sewing Machine

AKA- How I Got Started Quilting.

My Brother (but I feel like she is more of a sister) and I have been together ever since I started quilting.

I started going to a quilt class with a friend and needed a machine to take with me. I wasnt sure if I would be doing a lot of quilting or not so I just went to walmart and got their mid-high priced machine. 

I spent under $100 at the time for her. 

I found out shortly after starting the class that I was pregnant. This would have been Jan/Feb 2009. So I have been quilting for 3 years. 

I continued taking classes throughout my pregnancy right up to the week before my due date. 

I learned a lot from Mary Beth at Mary Beths Quilting Patch in Lenoir but didnt have time to go in to classes after Zeke was born. The basics were wonderful to learn from her (although I have slipped up and cheated after a while)

That is when I started to follow a lot more blogs. I didnt start using my own blog for quilting topics until April 2010.  I found the quilting community online to give me plenty ideas on how to make my own quilts without going in for lessons. 

She has given me 3 solid years and many quilts. 

She has even been stress relief at times. 

here are the quilts that I have made with this machine.

Summery of 2010
Summery of 2011

I was sewing on her and trying to get a baby quilt done before a babyshower and all of a sudden she started making a weird noise and the needle stopped going up and down. The hand turning thing also was very hard to move. She had seized up!

noooooo

I needed this quilt to be done! It turns out that the mommy was put on bed rest so we couldnt have the shower anyway. But I still wanted it to get done as well as the other 3 that I had lined up (1 for a class, 1 is a challenge quilt, and I should probably make one for my own expected child eh?)

I took her to a sewing machine repair person. The service fee was $75. Since I paid not much more than that for her I wasnt willing to pay to have her looked at. 

I started looking at the machines that they had there. I was glad I was thinking of getting a new machine at some point so I was saving up. I was very glad because that ment I could get one with the features that I wanted. 

Please meet Janome. 

I have already been working with her and she is a pleasure to work with. 

I look forward to many more years with her. 

Zekes train quilt

A long time ago I came across a blog called "Quilt Dad" and saw a quilt on there that I remembered.

So when I pulled out some Thomas the Train fabric to make a quilt for his new big boy bed I remembered it. Then I had to go find it.

It took over 45 min to find!!

here it is: http://www.quiltdad.com/2010/12/rectangle-swoonerie.html

now that I could figure out how to modify to my needs :)

I measured Zekes bed and then wanted to make it only a little bit bigger. I was aiming for 69x36... odd size i know- but Ikea toddler beds are not standard size- they are longer.

It ended up being 67x37
here is how I work things out:

could you follow that?? hehe

1. Sew sashing between blocks

2. sew middle blocks with sashing

3. sew sashing on either side of middle blocks

4. sew middle blocks and sashing to main blocks

6. realize you want it a bit bigger and add some white to the sides

7. call long arm quilter to quilt it

8. admire

9. bind quilt

 10. be amazed at how closely you measured the binding (thats all I had left- it made me a bit nervous)

 11. smile at dogs preferred location

 12. take picture of quilt all bound.

13. enjoy seeing it on a bed and that your son loves it

opps- baby belly got in the way!

oh and here is a video of Zeke getting his quilt on his bed after moving into his new room

quilt and a shower

A bunch of the Google wives get together for crafts or as a mommy and me kind of group. We dont know all the wives but when we find someone we havent met yet we try to make an effort to get to know them. 

This brings us to Kim.

She and her hubby have been here for a while, but we didnt know her.

Turns out she is a vet at a local clinic that many of us take our pets to. 

She is due in March so we decided to throw her a baby shower and get to know her better. 

We just went to a local restaurant for foods and gifts :)

So as I usually do- I made a quilt. 

signed- in green thread so you cant really see it. 

backed and bound in Ikea fabric

front 

And pictures from the lunch. 

look forward to getting to you know Kim!
click on the picture to take you to the album.

The snow 2012

So North Carolina is not known for its snow storms but the last couple years we have had a fair bit of snow, even staying more than a day.

This year we have not had any snow. I have not even seen a snow flurry here this winter.

It was very exciting to see it start snowing.

Zeke woke up from his nap and we told him it was snowing he ran to the window. he said "ohhh snow drops, mommy, snow drops"

I even took a picture at night in case it all melted!

the next morning still had some snow

So Zeke had as much fun in the snow as he could.

You can see where the snow has already melted on the upper right.

some ice on a toy