Sunday

Look for a giveaway later this week!

I've Learned Two New Things

I posted about starting a Farmer's Wife Quilt a few weeks ago and have completed a whopping 7 blocks! Through this experience I have determined 2 things. Number one, I hate working with itty bitty pieces of fabric. It makes me crazy and it's very frustrating to work with. Number two, I may not be cut out to be a Farmer's Wife. I love the patterns and I love the look of a sampler quilt. I just wish the blocks finished a bit larger! At this rate, the farm may be years in the making! In the meantime, Im going to cut out another quilt to work on today! Have a good Saturday.

Grandson is Here!

Jensen Nicholas Clark McEneaney has arrived from heaven. He weighs in at 7lbs 3 oz, has blonde hair, his mothers lips and daddys nose. He is a healthy little boy and looks just like his big brother! Congratulations to my beautiful daughter who did fantastic! My wonderful son in law who was right by her side. Pauline and Paddy in Ireland, we miss you! Wish you were here for this beautiful event.

Using some Stash!

I love working with charm packs! They are such a time saver for me and I love the fact I do not have to waste fabric. I finally decided to use some of my Ruby stash on this cute little baby quilt. A friend at work found out Friday she was having a little girl and I have been dying to make a sweet little quilt! I am using a pattern I found on Moda bakeshop, it was such a simple quilt to sew together and I love that!

This is the back of the quilt. The pattern I was using showed the flower on the front of the quilt, but I thought It would look better on the back. Ruby is such a great line of fabrics and have several more ideas in mind. I also started my Farmers Wife quilt Sunday and will be using some Ruby on it as well.

I planned to have this little jewel quilted Sunday afternoon, but I was so busy with other things I ran out of time. My new grandson will be making his arrival tomorrow, so not sure how much sewing time I will get in this weekend. His big brother will need looking after. School starts Monday and with 12 hours this semester, plus a full time job....my sewing time will be limited for a few months. Hoping to finish this and make some time for a few blocks each week to finish my Farmer quilt. I am also practicing free motion quilting on my new machine. Looks like I have a really busy year ahead!

What are you working on?

Farmer's Wife

As you can see we have several farmers in this family! Today, I recieved my copy of the Farmer's Wife quilt. I cant wait to get started on it. I have been following several blogs who are making this quilt and very inspired by the different color ways that have been chosen. I have alot of Ruby on hand, so think I will use that and then possibly a fall color scheme as well. I know this will be a year long project and plan to take my time. I also will be signing up for the Dear Jane BOM. This is at least a 2 year project, but such a work of art to create. Currently I am working on a really cute baby quilt for a co-worker, she is expecting a baby girl soon. Was so happy to make a girl quilt for a change. I have had a rash of boys lately! Have a great Sunday and enjoy the day!

Road Trip!

I am up early this morning ! My daughter and I are taking a little trip to Quitman,Texas today to visit Stitchen Heaven! I have been looking forward to this trip all week long. I didnt want to drive that far by myself, so daughter #1 said she would go with me. Cant wait to look at all the wonderful kits and BOM programs. And Moda!!! And any other little notion I can find that I need. I know I should stay home and practice on my free motion quilting, but this might be the only chance I have to travel for a while with a new baby on the way! Have a great Saturday, I have to put on my stitching boots!

Logans New Quilt!

I am a little behind on my New Year projects! My goal was to have this finished before today.

I got up early and started the binding this morning. I just love this little quilt. I made it with Moda Hometown fabric. The backing is the barbershop dots, I thought it needed the extra bit of color.

My applique is not the best since I am still in the learning process, but very happy with the results.

Hope you have had a great New Year day!

Merry Christmas...The List is Here!

Santa approved the List this morning. Its now printed and on the fridge. One or two made the naughty list with one year probation to improve! I am baking today and wrapping a few presents that I forgot about. But overall it should be a quite day. All the family will be here in the morning and we will celebrate Christmas. I am very happy with all of the progress that was made on the gifts. Everyone will recieve a handmade item as we are trying to stay with the Made In America theme! Of course, fabric is probably made in China, but it was assembled here!

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We have much to be thankful for in our family. We have added 4 new members since last year, and if Kristy doesnt slow down Jenson may arrive anytime. I bought him a gift just in case he decides to make it in time for Christmas. We are keeping his big brother Logan for a while this afternoon, so his mama can get a bit of rest.

Remember, Jesus is the Reason for the Season

End of the year count!

My sewing year didnt begin until this past oct after my knee surgery, I was stuck at home and going crazy, My plan was to make one quilt for my husband it snowballed into a quilt for all of our children plus a new baby quilt, I took stock of my stash and really had to add a lot to it to be useable

My old Singer broke down during this time so I replaced it with a Horizen 7700 Janome. So far it is a wonderful machine, My goal is to do free motion on the machine this year. I cant wait to apply this knowledge and be able to fininsh my own quilts1

This gumdrop quilt was the first one tht I did and I really like it well.

I made an carpenters star and plan to sew a little pillow from it

I started on this cute little pirate quilt for my grandson, He will just love it

Jensens baby quilt is finished as of today. Its washed and ready to bring him in the world Kristy is very happy with it

I made a total of 3 all wrapped upquilts. They were fun and festive and easy to finish

I also made 3 pinwheel quilts. Everything is quilted and washed, wrapped and under the tree. I made one more that never made it the quilter so didnt count it, I made another pinwheel that is white and red for my husband, All have been quilted except the pirate quilt. For a grand total of 9 completed quilts in 9 weeks! I am very happy with my process and now that I have finished, Im searching pattern books for a couple of baby quilts to work on.

My new year goals are:

Dear Jane Quilt

2 baby quilts

babybag

sewing machine cover

ironing board cover

Swoon quilt

Hometown quilt kit

learn to paper piece

learn to machine quilt

And another goal that is dear to my heart. I want to sew baby blankets to donote to the womens shelter for next Christmas, I can make one quilt a month to help a mother keep her child warm
I really want to do a BOM, but they seem to be overwhelming.

I want to find some classes to join.Well, going to bed. I have so much shopping to finish and plan to leave out very early to miss the crowds. Hope you have a Merry Christmas!

Finishing Christmas!

I still have so much left to do. There are gifts to wrap, gifts to buy and I still have bindings on 2 quilts to finish.

We finished decorating the tree with the exception of the topper. My daughter has been so busy she has not had time to tie one for me. I bought some new ornaments this year to go with the large pepermint stick ornaments that I bought on clearance after Christmas last year.

Some of the lights have burned out, so probably need to buy a new tree this year when they go on sale! I love the new look on the tree this year. The previous trees have been so formal and I think this one is great fun! Have a happy day!

Almost Finished

This has been a whirlwind 2 months. First, having my knee surgery and therapy 3 times a week. And the big quilt project. This started off with me making one quilt for my husband. Just something to keep me busy during my recovery time. It exploded into making a quilt for all 7 of our children. yep, 8 quilts,8weeks! I do beleive the sewing machine pedal aided in my therapy plan. As most of you know, my machine was not functioning properly and caused major issues. I was having a meltdown at least once a day! Spending hours ripping out seams and basically so frustrated that I could not enjoy the whole quilt making process. I kicked it to the curb and went out and bought a new(used) machine. I am so happy with it, it sews like a dream, has so many stitches and most of all I can learn to free motion quilt with it. That is one of my goals this new year. I have signed up for the free motion quilting tutorials that begin in January. I am more of a watch and learn person, so I hope I can benefit from it without the aid of someone standing behind me guiding me along. I have worked very hard at building a new stash. My old stash was very depleted and I had given away much of it to my mother during the years I was in nursing school. I almost feel like a new seamstress. New machine,new fabric, I even went all out and bought a new sewing basket to organize my things with. Its been about 3 years since I made my last quilt. The quilt shown is one that I recently finished. I had bought the jelly roll planning to make my new grandaughter a beautiful quilt. Well, when she turned out to be a little boy (oops!), I had to alter my plans. I still had this lovely fabric and watned to use it up. So this one will go to my oldest daughter for Christmas. I wanted you to notice the binding. I used all the scrap pieces to bind it and just love it. This was one of the first I made after surgery and I had many mistakes cutting the squares. It was hard for me to stand up for very long and my cuts were so far off. I had to salvage the fabric somehow. I still have some left and it will go into my scrap pile for a charm quilt someday.

I still have a few bindings to sew, which I plan to do today. I need to get them wrapped, check them off the list and make sure no one was left out. My son in law wanted me to make his mum a quilt for Christmas, so one of them was shipped to Ireland this week. That left me one short and I still need to piece another to replace it. I am so tired of Christmas fabrics, but just one more to go and I can put them away for the year. I have 2 quilt kits that I will start in the new year. I have never participated in a BOM and would like to, but may wait on this since I also want to make a Farmers Wife quilt. I need to order the book and will probably wait until after the holidays. Hope you have a productive weekend. I have compiled my grocery list and plan to hit the stores this morning before the rush. It is the weekend before Christmas!

Christmas Pinwheel Quilt

I have finally finished all of the pinwheel quilts and all wrapped up quilts. Hopefully the kids will like them and I can get back to some serious sewing for me. My first quilt is going to be using the pattern Swoon. And I also saw the cutest little sailboat quilt on another blog. I am trying to find a pattern for that one also.

But, today I am headed back to the surgeon. There is a little knot that came up under my incision. So, we are sure that it is probably a piece of stitch that didnt get removed. Im am supposed to be there at 11 am and it is a 2 hour drive, so we are leaving a bit early to avoid rush traffic.