Why I Quilt...

I quilt for many reasons but the main reason is Stress Relief!
I can get in the zone once I have all my squares or strips cut out. I can stitch for hours as it calms me. My ex stresses me out when it comes to our daughter. Needless to say I have been stressed out this week. Not knowing if he was going to come get our daughter for Spring Break (he never showed) but the disappointment he left behind (broke my daughters heart).

I have started a few more projects in the last week. Have picked up a few that I had abandoned temporarily (one involving a lot of Froging). I am almost done with the one I abandoned, I had to take apart about 20 4 patch blocks because my seam allowance was too big (forgot to change my settings on the machine). Now I could have adjusted all my other blocks and strips but I didn't want to think too hard on having to re-measure everything. I only have about 6 more to piece together and then figure out what I am going to put in between the blocks. I will post pictures later in the week.

I Quilt to create and bring out my artistic side. Growing up I would paint and draw. I am able to look at something and tell if it is missing something or has too much of something. I can look at colors and tell if they are or aren't going to work together.

It has been proven in various studies that sewing, creating, crafting, drawing, painting, etc. is calming. Art is powerful. It can tell a story. It can convey a feeling or emotion. What is your current project telling us?

Lots of projects going on...

I haven't been blogging as much as I would like so here is what I have been doing quilting wise. Between school and my daughter I try to squeeze in as much as I can when I am not studying or doing homework... This week I have been busy!


Cupcake Table runner is Finished! this is the finished product before I turned it over to the school... I will have to eventually make one for myself (once I stop seeing cupcakes everywhere).

This is a quilt I am working on as I get ideas for it. I picked up the bird panel from the donated fabrics table from a previous quilting bee I attended. I framed the panels with more donated fabric. I am trying to decide what to put in between the squares. I was thinking of solid color panels (muted tones). Then I was thinking of doing window blocks (not sure what colors to use for the squares).

Yes some birds are flying upside down at the moment of this picture. My daughter went and rearranged them and put some upside down. :)




This beautiful miniature I am calling "Mother's Flower Garden" I am trying to get some miniature quilts done to sale in the next little while. I just need to finish the border. I did this from a few fat quarters I picked up from JoAnn's. Some of them the prints were pretty but I decided the flowers were too spaced out so I fussy cut the big rose prints out. I love this combo and might at some point buy yardage to make a bigger version. That is when I can support my habit again!

There is another miniature that I finished yesterday that I haven't taken a picture of yet. I will include that in my next blog.


Ok here is my final thing for this blog entry.... (drum roll please)...
We have a "Leftover" quilt! There are Jelly Rolls, and Honey Buns and Turnovers. Well I have "Leftovers." Leftovers is just that, fabrics leftover when cutting out blocks. Most people throw these pieces away. My mother even told me that they were too small to do anything with! I will admit I did too up until I had a big stack of pieces just big enough to do something with. This quilt is about 7" X 6" and the perfect size for my daughters polly pocket dolls and her doll house furniture. I used left over binding from other projects and left over strips that didn't get used.


I am open to any ideas y'all might have to offer.

I have ADD when it comes to quilting!

I have decided that I have ADD when it comes to quilting. How do I come to this conclusion?
Well it is simple really, I have started a few projects ... no more like many projects in the last few weeks or so. Not to mention my stack of finished tops that are waiting for backings and to be quilted. My least favorite part of quilting is the finishing part. I have finally finished the Cupcake Table runner! One thing I can add to my small stack of finished projects (I will post pictures of the finished product later). I have a perpetual scrappy 2 1/2 & 1 1/2 inch square quilt I am working on (I know it will take awhile because I want it to be big enough to go on my bed and drape on both sides). I have started a crazy quilt. I have cut squares for another doll quilt. I have plans to start another Sunbonnet Sue quilt. I have a "Blue" quilt in the works. I need to finish my sampler quilt I started during the summer in a class my mom was teaching. The "Strawberry Shortcake" for my daughter (perfect time to finish it is now since her birthday is coming up in a few weeks). I have cupcakes started for either a table runner for myself or a lap quilt (or perhaps both haven't decided yet). I have lots of ideas too! Perhaps I should be more diligent in writing the ideas down on paper.

This week...

Monday:
1. Finish binding for Cupcake Table runner... Should be done with that tomorrow (maybe even today depending on how motivated I feel after church).

2. Work on crazy quilt squares...

4. Clean everything out of my closet and actually put stuff away (have been working on this for a few months now)....

5. Homework

Tuesday:
1. Go to school...

Wednesday:
1. Work on crazy quilt squares...

2. Work on closet...

3. Homework

Thursday:
1. School

Friday:
1. work on something....

2. work on closet...

Ok this is an idea for the week... most likely I wont stick to any of it except for the homework and go to school. Oh and I will finish the tablerunner!

more cupcakes

Here are a few of the cupcakes I have finished. I almost want to make some cupcakes to eat... (almost). I have more cupcakes cut out just haven't had the time to piece them together. I will need to make many more to have enough for that quilt I want to make. I figure this can be an on going fun project for me.

I am almost done with the table runner. I finished piecing it together Monday. I will admit it didn't go together as smoothly as it should have. *sigh* I forgot to take into consideration the shrinkage of my squares when I did the appliques. I made it work though. Didn't help that my seam allowance was bigger than it should have been too *lol* I have no idea where my brain was that morning. All said and done here is the almost final result.... *drum roll please*



All I need to do now is put the batting and the backing on and the binding. Not sure what I am going to use for the backing yet. I will have to go through my stash and see what I am willing to part with.

Cupcakes in the oven...

Cupcakes... get your cupcakes!

Every year my daughters school does an auction at their Spring Festival. Each class has a theme for a basket to be auctioned off. My daughters theme is "Cupcakes." So I am working on a table runner for the basket and the idea is to do a few pot holders as well. Not sure if I will get the potholders done in time or not. Anyhow I have gathered my fabrics and I have traced my pattern onto my fabric and fusible stabilizer (for the applique). I only need 3 cupcakes for the table runner and a few more for the pot holders. But I got bit by the cupcake creating bug and now I have several and the need to make a cupcake quilt for myself. I love applique work. I find it to be relaxing for me. So here is what I have cut out....

I will post pictures of the actual table runner when I have finished it tomorrow. These have been fun to make.

Quiting Bee Update...

Just an update of the quilting bee... I ended up not turning in the quilt I have been working on. A few days before I got sick with some 24 hour bug and was down for the count all day and all night hoping to hold food or anything down. I managed to finish tying it however and was going to turn the backing up for the binding .... as I was trimming the batting I cut a whole in the backing ( I was certain I had folded the back out of the way).. *sigh* So I will have 2 to turn in next year. I just ran out of time and didn't really feel good still that I decided not to worry about it.

There were many groups there participating and I think at last count before I went home there was 230 quilts turned in.

This year I took my daughter with me. She was excited to go because she wanted to see her quilts displayed. I volunteered some of my quilts to display for decorations.

She was quite bummed about having to give up her quilts for the night. She had a blast though. In attendance this year as well was my mom and my older sister. My sister I call the closet quilter. The quilt she did turned out nicely. I handed her the leftover squares from the quilt I did and she added her own fabrics and created something amazing. I wish I had a picture to show. Needless to say she has been bitten by the quilting bug and has been busting out the quilts almost overnight.

My sister has also been enabling me to buy more fabric. I have bought a few bags worth of fabric in the last week. A few pieces to turn into miniature quilts in the near future. Also a few pieces to compliment a project I am working on right now for my daughters school. I will blog about that later. The running joke at the moment is that I need a 12 step program for my buying more fabric. Then again I am beyond a 12 step program. I just need to create and turn my impulse buys into something.

Here is my loot from the donated fabric table at the Quilting Bee....
I see another scrappy quilt out of this. But this year I plan on making more than 1 quilt. I plan on making a few kid quilts as well. I have a lot of left over kiddie fabrics from various projects that I plan on making an "I spy" quilt. I picture a crazy quilt in the near future. I have never done a crazy quilt before so this should be fun.

inspiration for cupcake table runner

Here is some of my inspiration for my cupcake table runner I am working on for my daughters class basket. The theme for the class is Cupcakes. The parents provide stuff for the baskets to go with the theme and then the basket is auctioned off at the spring fling....




http://www.flickr.com/photos/46525731@N05/galleries/72157623254814355/

Goals for today and this week...

My goals for today and this week:

1. Put backing on scrappy square quilt

2. Pin quilt together so I can begin to tie it

3. Finish reading chapter 2 for my Interpersonal Communication class

4. Plan a design on paper for this tablerunner I am wanting to do for my daughters school basket auction.

They do a "spring fling" every spring and each class has a themed basket
that gets auctioned off to raise money for the school. My daughters class
theme for the basket is Cupcakes. I have an idea in my head but haven't
been able to put it on paper yet.

Alright I suppose I should get to cutting batting and a backing so I can get to reading and designing!