I'm Back

Sorry for the long absence (ha, I wrote that like people are actually looking at this blog).  I'm PTA pres at my kids school and it has been so busy.  I have been sewing, I just havn't taken the time to post stuff.  I did a quilt this week that I'm kind of proud of and thought I'd share.
I have a client that I do a lot of work for and last week she emailed  me with a picture of a baby's room and asked if I could come up with a quilt that would work for it.
This is the room.

 I love projects like this,  it's like Project Runway for Quilts. 
This is what I came up with.
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I really think this is going be cute in that room.  I tried to pull in the colors and mimic the strips.

I decided to try and machine quilt this.  I've done machine quilting before and never been very happy with the result.  I can never get it stretched right and I end up having lots of puckers and it just dosn't look right. This quilt worked up so great.  There are some very small puckers but they mostly got lost isn all the quilting.  I used my embroidery machine for the hearts.

So happy with the results of this one.  Now I need to get started on Halloween costumes.  My girls want to be a Pirate and a Snow princess. 

Henry's Quilt

Sorry I have been MIA life has been happening and I just haven't taken the time to blog here. I have been sewing though. I try to catch up over the next little bit.

This is my sweet new nephew Henry.

And this is his quilt.

I LOVE how this one turned out!

My favorite quilt I've done the last little while.

Stay tuned..... Coming up Easter Dresses.

Sewing Machine Woes

Thursday morning I got out my backup machine and found that even with the new part, it still wouldn't work. So I ran it over to the shop only to find out that it would be a $70 fix. That machine is 15 years old and a bran new version of the same model is $150, so it really wasn't worth it to fix it. Needless to say I was pretty upset thinking I would be without a machine, add to that that I had promised some hemming that day. Luckily my mom came to the rescue and brought over her machine. My amazing husband decided the machine couldn't get any worse so he looked up directions on how to fix it. Today we cracked open the machine, and went to work, and we FIXED IT! Yay! It took less than an hour to fix and I really can't figure why it would be a $70 fix normally. So I'm back in business, good thing because I might just go crazy with nothing to sew. I finshed the quilting on the baby quilt I was working on. I'm going to start working on the binding and hopefully it will be done in the next couple of days.

Separation Anxiety

This morning I took my sewing machine in for service. There isn't anything wrong with my machine but, like a car it is very important for your machine to get regular maintenance. The shop I like to take it to was having a $ 20 off service sale, service normally is about $80 for my machine. I had to do some quick work to get some things done before I sent it in, and even though I have a back up machine I'm still having some major separation anxiety about my machine being gone. This sale is kind of a big deal, the sale started at 10 this morning and I got there about 1 (I tried to get there earlier , but I had a dead car battery that slowed me down) and I was already 34 th in line, which means my machine will be gone for about a month. Oh how I will miss it.
I have a Viking Rose machine. it is about 13 years old, but has never given me a minutes worth of problems. It's not the fanciest machine, and just perfect for me but, some times I wouldn't mind having a newer fancier machine. Because of the dead car battery my husband came with me to the sewing machine shop so we looked around at some of the newer machines. He offered to buy me a new one. I can't believe how fancy and expensive the new machines are. I think I'm going to start saving up for a new machine, but I really love my old one.

Sigh

I put the quilt I'm doing for my sister's baby on frames yesterday, and breathed a sigh of relief. Not because it is done, but mostly just because I'm just a bit calmer when I have a quilt on frames. Call me crazy, but I find hand quilting very relaxing. There is something about the repetition that I just find calming. Sometimes I listen to podcast or music and sometimes I just sit in the quiet and organize my thoughts. I love when my husband or children keep me company. Today I have a busy day and it makes me happy to know I have a quilt to come home to.

Preview

Here is a little preview of a few projects I'm working on.

I've been in the mood to so something with knits, I found these two the other night. It has been so cold around here lately these made me hopeful for spring. My little one saw them and is already planning her Easter dress.

I'm so very excited for this quilt. My sister is expecting a baby in a few months, and I've picked out these fabrics for his quilt. I keep changing my mind on which pattern to use, but I think I have settled on a zig zag pattern similar to this one.

Stay tuned!

ADD

I have been trying for the last month to get my sewing room clean. It has gone from messy to looking like I have a hoarding problem. I really do have some addiction issues when it comes to fabric. So the reason I'm having such a hard getting anything done is that I keep getting distracted. At least if I'm distracted, I'm getting something done.


This is another of my Trash bag quilts.

This is also a trash bag quilt and rather than have a pattern, I just started in the middle and started piecing. I love how it turned out. I'm not sure how I will quilt it, but I'm excited to see how the quilting changes it.

Neither of these quilts have homes. I will sell a top for $20, or finished for $45.

Lovely lavender

I took a bit of a break from sewing after the holidays. I've been trying to get my sewing room cleaned out, but I hate cleaning, and I'm always getting distracted. So when my mom called and asked if I had a baby blanket with no baby, I was happy to stop cleaning and make one.

This is one of my trash bag quilts. It's made just with scraps that I had on hand. I used cotton flannel, and flannel backed satin. I really love this quilt and am almost sad to see it go.