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Tuesday, December 30, 2008
A little bit of hand quilting
Today I worked on the Tumbling block quilt I'm making for my daughter. I'm hand quilting it. I haven't worked on it regularly, because of trying to get my Christmas gifts done. But now that Christmas is over, I can work on it more often and hopefully get it done sooner than later. I've got quite a few projects on the go right now. Some days I'm all into working on one project, then the next day I want to do something else. I just need to make sure I don't have too many started. There is only so much free time to do these things. But I love it and I just can't resist starting something new or working on a project I really love. Well, here is a picture of the hand quilting I'm doing on my daughters quilt. I'm no expert. I'm just learning from all these wonderful blogs and websites with endless amounts of information. My stitches aren't too small, but I'm trying to keep them close to the same size. I think it's looking great.
Friday, December 26, 2008
A gift for my daughter
I ordered the pattern "Poppy & Her Puppies" from Audrey & Maude. You can find it at www.audreyandmaude.blogspot.com. I made Poppy for my daughter for Christmas. She just loves it. I didn't have time to make little puppies or the doggy bed. But I may do that soon and surprise her. It turned out nice. It was my first time making a stuffed animal. So I was pretty happy with the results. Here it is.
Another Scrap Quilt
Today, I was off from work. The kids were all excited, playing with their Christmas toys. My husband was sleeping. He worked midnight shift last night. So, I decided to work on one of the quilts I've been working on. It's a scrap quilt that I'm making for my second oldest son. The pattern is "Jacob's Ladder". It has been more demanding than I first thought it would be. There are so many colors in each block. Twenty-eight to be exact. The pattern I had was for a king size quilt. I just made a twin. I still need to add a few borders. I'm glad to finally get to this point. The center panel is all done. Yeaaaah!!!! Here it is.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Merry Christmas!!!
I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. My day has been great. I got up early with the kids and they opened all their presents. They were very excited with everything they got. My sister stopped by and brought me the cutest present. She made me a felt pincushion. I just love it. I needed one. I didn't have one yet.
I also gave a small gift. I made her two mats for the table. They can be used together like a table runner or just one. I think she really liked them. It has been a busy day. We had our dinner early because me husband had to work. But I'm very happy with they way everything turned out. Everyone was in the Christmas spirit.
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Scrap quilts
At the end of August 2008, I started making a scrap quilt for my oldest son. It was my first attempt at a bigger quilt. I bought a bunch of fat quarters at different quilt shops. I didn't really consider the colours and if they all went well together. I just found fabrics that I liked and bought them. I needed a certain amount of dark fabric and light fabric for the pattern. It went together quite well. It took me about 3 weeks to make the quilt from start to finish. I was so excited to get it done, that I spent every extra moment I had working on the quilt. I machine pieced it and quilted it. My sewing machine isn't the greatest, so the quilting didn't turn out as well as I would have liked. But I really like the quilt and my son likes it a lot too.
I had a lot of small left over pieces of fabric when my sons quilt was done. I didn't know what to do with them at the beginning. I went to the public library and found the "Tumbling Block" pattern. I thought that would be a good pattern to use up small pieces of fabric. I had never made a block with inset pieces before. It was kind of ambitious to do a quilt made completely with inset pieces when I had never done it before. But I thought....I will give it a try. I decided that I would hand piece the blocks. I wasn't confident enough to use my sewing machine. I cut out all the pieces I needed and started to piece the quilt top together. It took me about six weeks to piece the whole centre panel of the quilt. I then attached the borders by hand as well. I decided I would make this quilt for my daughter. She just loved how it was looking. I was going to do some machine piecing on it, but she said it would be extra special if I did it all by hand. So that's what I'm doing. Here's a picture of the completed quilt top. I did start quilting it by hand. I still have a long way to go. I think it will take me a long time. But I'm really happy about how it's turning out. I will post more pictures of it as I get further into the project.
I had a lot of small left over pieces of fabric when my sons quilt was done. I didn't know what to do with them at the beginning. I went to the public library and found the "Tumbling Block" pattern. I thought that would be a good pattern to use up small pieces of fabric. I had never made a block with inset pieces before. It was kind of ambitious to do a quilt made completely with inset pieces when I had never done it before. But I thought....I will give it a try. I decided that I would hand piece the blocks. I wasn't confident enough to use my sewing machine. I cut out all the pieces I needed and started to piece the quilt top together. It took me about six weeks to piece the whole centre panel of the quilt. I then attached the borders by hand as well. I decided I would make this quilt for my daughter. She just loved how it was looking. I was going to do some machine piecing on it, but she said it would be extra special if I did it all by hand. So that's what I'm doing. Here's a picture of the completed quilt top. I did start quilting it by hand. I still have a long way to go. I think it will take me a long time. But I'm really happy about how it's turning out. I will post more pictures of it as I get further into the project.
Friday, December 19, 2008
My first baby quilt
Last summer I decided to start a new hobby, quilting. I thought I should make a baby quilt to start. I then found out my cousin was having her first baby. So, I decided that it was the perfect opportunity to make a quilt. I went and purchased some fabric for the quilt. I didn't know if she was having a boy or a girl so I made a quilt that I thought would suit either sex. This is what I made. I am pleased with the way it has turned out. I also made a receiving blanket out of flannel to match. The backing fabric was a flannel print. It was all machine pieced and quilted.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
It's my first day blogging!
Hi Everyone,
I've finally taken the plunge and decided to make a blog. I've been reading blogs for inspiration for a long time now. I am amazed with all the quilts and crafts that I have seen. I hope to share with you a few of my projects. I'm just a beginner quilter. I just started quilting last summer. I've done cross-stitching for many years, and have now started to try some embroidery. I just finished a Christmas gift I made for my mom. I don't have a very good sewing machine, so I did some hand stitching and some hand quilting. I also did some of the sewing with my machine. The table runner was hand-pieced and quilted. The place mats were sewn together with the machine and hand quilted.
I also made a bag. It was my first attempt at making one. I got the pattern out of the Australian Country Threads magazine. I just love the pattern. Mom should be getting her gift tomorrow. I'm not too worried about her seeing this before she gets it because she doesn't have a computer.
I also made a few Christmas ornaments. I just made my own pattern and tried it out to see if they would work. They turned out pretty good. It was a lot more work then I had expected. But it was fun.
Well, that's all for today. I hope to be able to share more with you soon.
Ariane