Busy!

Ok guys. Been busy. I know. Not a good excuse. I have been so busy that I have not been doing much in the sewing room. Since the last post I made a purse for my boss at work. It took me forever.... Not because of it being a difficult pattern... But because it took me a long time to get into the sewing room and complete it. I think I had it cut out for a month before I took the 3-4 hrs needed to get it sewed up. :-( such is life.

Ok. So what I have I been busy with lately. I have been working of course. And I started a new adventure with AdvoCare. I have been using advocare products and helping others be aware of this amazing company too. 2 months in and I have lost 9# and feel great. Plus by helping others get products I have made $250.00. I'm thinking....save for a longarm? :-)

Last weekend I did spend a couple hrs in the sewing room and since I know that blogs are better with pictures here is a picture of the block I finished. It is for the craftsy BOM. Almost done with this BOM. Excited to get this sampler put together soon.

Talk with you all later
--amy

Work in progress. Urban 9 patch.

Here a a couple of quick pictures of my urban 9 patch quilt. I am LOVING the curve master presser foot that I just got. I have included some pics of curves done with it. It works amazing without using any pins! Yep, not even 1 pin.... Again... LOVE IT! Enjoy the pics.
-amy

My favorite basting method.

When I baste large quilts I prefer to stand rather than kneel on the floor. For all quilts that are as long or longer than my dining room table I use it for basting. Here is a quick overview of the procedure followed by some pics. Please comment with any questions and I can clarify.

1. Place backing wrong side up with the middle if the backing in the middle of the table.Leave excess   hanging as equally as possible to all sides so you you can baste the center out and use the weight of the quilt to help keep things nice and taut.

2. Spread with your hands to even out wrinkles. Then use big office binding clips to hold the backing tight all the way around. I use 2" clips and they're maxed out on my table. You may want to measure before you buy your clips.

3. Spread out batting. Ensure that this is also centered on the table and square with the backing. Use your hands or a large ruler to smooth out any wrinkles.

4. Find a husband or child of appropriate age and height to help lay out quilt top right side up on top of the batting. Center this in the quilt batting/ backing and spread out wrinkles with hands or acrylic ruler.

5. Use more binder clips and clip between the ones holding the backing in place to secure the entire sandwich. Be sure that everything is remaining square as you clip. (I use sashing and borders to eyeball if it is nice and straight).

6. Pin baste all the layers as normal leaving a fists width between pins.

7. When this center section in completely pinned you need to unclip all the office clips and move to another section of the quilt.

8. For the next section you will use the binding clips first on the side if the quilt that is already basted. Next pull up the top and batting and pull taut the backing to secure it taut.

9. Repeat steps 5 and 6 above to baste this area and the move to another end of the quilt to re-clip and secure again.

Depending upon the size of table and quilt you may need to baste in several sections. For my large dining room table the most I have needed is 5 sections. The middle and 4 sides. But this was only necessary for queen sized and up.
Try it out and see if you like it. If you don't have large dining table then a large folding table or even a small card table would work as long as it has a hard top and not a padded top.
I can answer any questions you may have. Just ask in the comments or shoot me an email. Enjoy!

Urban 9 patch, bags from jeans, and a runner up!

Working on my urban 9 patch quilt using a new ruler from sew kind of wonderful. It is called the quick curve ruler and I can't wait to start cutting with it. Right now I am just working on the 9 patches for the centers. I have ordered a curve master sewing foot and will be using that to help get nice curved piecing without pinning! Yeah! I hate pinning. :)






I Have ve also made a couple of bags from kids jeans. They turned out cute. I used inspiration from a recent issue of STITCH magazine. They are great for kids school bags. We used old ties for the handles which are soft and sting for all those books;-) The girls each got to pick out jeans from goodwill, the fabrics to use, designed the fabric layout, and picked the ties. Pretty good job for 6 and 7 year olds. The picture here are of Faiths bags b/c I think Bekah was sleeping with hers! LOL. I love letting them help out in the sewing room. Great memories.

I also wanted to let you all know that I got an honorable mention for my house quilt! I had sent it in for the Alliance for American Quilts home contest this year. It will now be traveling the US to some big quilt shows and then auctioned on eBay to support the alliance. I was very surprised at the honorable mention because of the amazing quilts entered... But I will sure take it! Sorry for the horrible picture. I remembered in the car in front of the post office as I was sending it out for the judging. If you want to see a good picture of it it you can see it here. Along with all the winners for 2012.
I am number 51--- the wonky log cabin in solids.

All for now. Enjoy!
-amy

Pincushion plus!

Super cute pincushion from the book "with fabric and thread". And a baby boy quilt for a friend from work whose daughter should be delivering today or tomorrow! Yeah! Sewing for babies is the best! Quick small quilts and practically anything goes... Love it. I made up this plus sign 2 color pattern that is basically a simple 9 patch. Add some fun bubble quilting and a lovely gift is born.

Enjoy!
-Amy

PS. A picture of my baby today. Such a cutie!

Forgive me!

Here we go. Picture overload! Have I not been sewing... Of course not. But, I have not been doing any journaling. So here is an attempt to add a lot of pictures to the journal all at once. We will see how many projects I forget to add! :-)


baby boy quilt for Maggies little one yet to be born

close up quilting of all over meander in a bright red thread

This was one of my first quilts.  Super inspiring. It now hangs in my office at work.

Another view of the wallhanging. Did I tell you that I won 2 ribbons for this little quilt at the county fair!

Sewing machine cover.  Made it big so it fits even with the embroidery arm attached.

you cant tell here but this is a tiny block. It finishes at 7.5 inches and is traditionally pieced.  I usually never work this small.

fabric bowl. cute and functional.  gotta love it.

my new/old machine. picture taken by the seller  check him out for old pfaffs at www.zuesmachines.com

my pfaff once I got her home.  in love.  and I got this great cabinet for her at goodwill just $15

Very pretty right!  totally non functoning.  Missing about everything.  Oh well I have spent 20 bucks in many worse ways

my entry for the alliance of american quilts home quilts contest.  highly unlikely that I will win anything but very fun just the same.  It will travel to a few big quilt shows and then get auctioned this fall. 

a sunday night project.... my husband thought it up and together we got it designed. Stiched out and recoverd his center councel in the dodge.  I think it turned out great! 

a picture before it was reinstalled in the pickup.  Nebraska blackshirts!  Go Huskers!

Ok, so I know that I did not get everything added so here is a little more: 

1. 2 Skirts, one for each of my wonderful daughters

2. Curtians for our bathroom that I have since decided I do not love and will be replacing when the right fabric is found.

3. working on 2 different block of the month quilts.  one modern and one batiks

4. made some self mitering baby quilts from the missiouri star tutorial for a friend about to have twin girls!

5. recovered moms high chair that still had 1970 flowers.  Now has cute dinosoars from a vinyl coated cotton.

6. quilted an OLD 1930s!? hand pieced spiderweb quilt that was donated for a church project.  (I will try to find pictures from the auction site and add them later)

7. put a binding on a hand embroidered and hand quilted quilt from another friend at work.  She got this amazing quilt from her inlaws.  They bought it at an auction for 5 bucks and all it needed was a binding.  I machine stitched a bias binding to the front (because is has rounded corners; usually not a fan of bias binding on quilts) and then returned it to her so she can hand stitch it to the back.

I doubt that is all, but it is all i can remember right now.  Anyways, Happy Stitching!
-amy

A finish. Plus some curtains.

Here are a couple of pictures. Gonna hang this up in my office at work. Can't wait... My office could use a bit of homemade.
I also made some curtains for my sisters house. The kind with the tab top. Never made curtains before but I think they turned out ok. I will take a picture next time I go over to her house.

Hmmm... Where was I?

The last entry was a while ago.  Have I been not creating?  No.... Just not posting.  A little behind with the journal.  Here is a quick catch-up.  Look at all those cute little prairie points. They are just adorable.

I am working now on a few quilting options. Not sure yet what I will choose... but it will have some of the elements I practiced on the pink!

This Xs and Os Quilt was made for my little sister. A couple of batik charm packs and some neutrals thrown in. Not bad for a couch throw.

I have also been doing some buying from various vendors.  Waiting now on some books from C and T, a package from amazon, and some notions/rulers from fabric depot. 
Since I have been making some purchases I also have been selling some unused items on ebay.  Extra embroidery thread, some quilting and painting books ect.

I am really wanting to enter something into the alliance for american quilts contest this year.  Deadline is June 1.  I hope that I will be able to get someing together.  To much thinking and not enough doing on that project. 

I also need to finish that batick tonga rhapasady quilt before the local county fair in July.  I am nervous to start quilting it for fear of "messing it up"  
I know right... Just get over it and on with it....  I am trying  ;-0

By for now...

-amy

Catch Up

Picture Day.

Just A couple of pics of my most recent purse. A couple of problems here and there... But a nice finished project. Wanted to do an in progress post but it just wasn't happening. So here they are together. BTW: amy butler pattern blossom bag.

Group quilt

Here are a couple of pics on a group project that we have been working on at piece makers group. I took it home to finish up the sashing and add the borders. Turned out nice and a good sized queen which is what we were wanting.

Bath mat... Or baby Mat?

Here are a few pics of a cathedral window mat I created using a layer cake. I think it turned out super cute. I used Amy Gibson's tutorial from moda bakeshop. It was listed as being used as a child's play mat.
I changed it a little. I used towels for the inside instead of cotton batting. I am using this as a bath mat. I really like the way it feels on the bottom your feet and if looks great!

Sunday Sew In

Here is what I got accomplished today! How did your weekend go? This is the "lovers knot" table runner. I used the book Lovers Knot by Eleanor Burns. This is a cute pattern and has a totally different effect with different color schemes.
Now for the quilting... Hum. I always seem to stall here. Any suggestions?

Block of the month. Modern

Work in progress

Here are a few pics f my daughters and a work in progress top. I the pictures it just needed a bit more border work. As of now the borders are on and it is waiting to be basted. I will be quilting it on my home sewing machine. I just can't make up my mind how much detail I want to put into the quilting. How do you decide your quilting designs?