Quilt Along Progress

My Mom and I finally got together and finished our quilt tops!

I think they both turned out really well. I can't believe this is my Mom's first attempt at quilting!!! I think she did an amazing job:

Here is one of mine - the other is still in progress. I LOVE how this turned out. I ended up using a linen blend for the sashing. It was an accident, I had planned on using some white kona cotton, but I think the linen looks pretty good.

Because I am a teeny tiny bt OCD I had to make the layout of the quilt top as "random" as possible and by random I mean I didn't want any kind of pattern at all. But that, as it turns out, is impossible. But after Aaron helped me sort it out I came to an arrangement I can live with, although I wish it could be different.

The next step is quilting, which I have been dreading because I stink at free motion quilting and I don't want to ruin all my hard work. I am thinking of taking a free motion quilting class to see if that makes a difference. I love this top, I would hate to screw it up with terrible quilting!

Quilt Along Progress

We have made some excellent progress on our quilts!!! We have all the blocks made. Mom's turned out really great, I seriously love her fabric combinations. She is using a natural colored sashing that looks really good.

I have my vintage blocks done but still 6 or so left on my other quilt. I LOVE how this turned out though. I am using white sashing which makes the bright colors really pop.

Ella thought the quilting looked like so much fun she wanted to participate.

I am going to mend it rather than remaking the block. I think it will be a good memory of what a helpful 3 year old Ella was. I think a little fusible interfacing and then I will zig-zag over the top so it is an obvious mend.

The next step is cutting and sewing the sashing. I have been on a sewing break since we finished the piecing. But I have an unexpected day off on Monday so I think I will get back to work then!

Gift of Choice

There has been a rash of birthdays at my office. Oddly enough, within about two weeks someone has turned 30, 40 and 50! Of course I forget all about it until late the night before so I have to come up with something quick but cute. So I have made up a couple of journal/pencil pouch combos that I thought turned out pretty cute.

I made this one with some cute Japanese fabric with a sewing theme. I attempted to do some free motion quilting circles over the fabric on the journal. I am clearly not an expert, but I like it.

I made a pencil pouch out of the same fabric:

And put some glitter gel pens in it - for a fellow pen connoisseur:

I made this set a few weeks ago - I used some wool felt I had to make a flower that I quilted on the journal. The pencil pouch is the same felt and I embroidered the recipient's initials on the bag. I like the flower on this one a lot, I think I will have to make one for myself - maybe with a cute patterned fabric.

Vintage Quilt Part 2

I am moving right along on my vintage quilt for the Oh, Fransson! Mod Quilt Along. I have all but about 8 blocks done on this one (and about the same on my other quilt too) and I am LOVING IT! I have been saving up these vintage linens for quite awhile and I am so happy to finally be using them.

I was dissatisfied with my original green print, so after some judicious internet shopping I found this which I really like:


I decided to have a pieced binding using all the vintage fabrics, I think it is going to look really cute:

All the pieces I had made as of last night:

Tomorrow Mom is coming over for sewing. I am hoping to have at least one of the tops finished (maybe both) and then it is quilting time - and I am nervous because I have never done free motion quilting before. If I was rich I would send it out to be quilted so I didn't have to worry about ruining all my hard work!

Vintage Quilt Part 1

Last night I pieced the first set of blocks in the first color combination. I really like how it is turning out! The vintage fabric is kind of tricky to sew with - it is thinner than the quilting fabric and it is kind of soft/slippery so it gets crooked really easily. It also stretches more. But, i think it is totally worth it because I really like how this quilt is coming together.

I made one change to the quilt along directions. For the log cabin blocks I cut the strips a little longer and then trimmed after I had sewn them. In my other quilt my inaccurate cutting made that block really tricky.

New Quilt Along Fabric!!!

Since I can't keep working on my quilt until my Mom gets back from vacation I decided I might as well just start a new one! This one is vintage linens and patterned quilting solids. I have been collecting the linens (pillowcases) for awhile and I ordered two more from etsy (best website of all time). I even had most of the fabric, I stopped by the Quilt Tree and picked up three fat quarters and I am all set! I can't wait to get started. Although, I now have to decide between sewing and watching Twilight. A tough decision, we will see what I choose :)

Quilt Along

My Mom and I are participating in a quilt along put on by one of my favorite craft blogs, Oh, Fransson! I have made several quilts before but I have never followed any directions or a pattern and I never had any idea what I was doing. I just kind of made it up as I went along. And I am terrible at following directions. So this is really different for me! Mom has never made a quilt before, but she is really good at following directions. So this is a challenge for both of us!

I decided to try and use some fabric I had in my stash, instead of buying all new fabric. I thought it might make Aaron happy :) Tragically, I have not stopped buying fabric, so I don't think it made a difference. But, I am happy to use these cute 30's inspired prints I got last year for Mother's Day. I did have to buy more to get the 12 different fabrics I needed for the pattern, but these are the ones I had:


The cutting directions were amazingly precise and efficient. Which is the opposite of how I usually do it which is likely in the most backwards and wasteful way possible. It was very hard for me to follow the cutting instructions and I messed up several times (and cut my finger once and had to start over because I got blood on my fabric) but I managed to get it all cut out in two evenings and I didn't run out of fabric! Success! There are 12 different patters matched up into 6 pairs. Oh, Fransson! had a great idea to organize all the different pieces of fabric using a labled grid on cardstock. Very handy because there were quite a few different pieces:


Mom got all her fabrics cut out and we got together last Saturday to start sewing. I had my craft room set up so we could both sew together. It worked so good! We also had both girls in with us, Avery playing on the floor and Ella doing her own crafts. It was really really fun!!!

Even though she had never quilted before Mom did a great job!

I didn't do so bad myself :)

The worst part about quilting is the endless ironing! I wished we had two irons because we had to take turns. Next time we get together I think we will have two going to make it faster. Although we did use the waiting time to play with cute babies, so it wasn't all bad :)


Here is my set of Block 1:

Mom's set of Block 1 - I am wildly jealous of her fabrics, we had so much fun picking them out at the fabric store! I think the colors are beautiful and the tree fabric is definitely my favorite, I am going to have to pick some of that up for me!

There were only directions for blocks 1 and 2, but we were on a roll so we decided to keep going and we sewed 1, 2, 3, and 4!

Mom's blocks:

My blocks (I don't know why the angle is so weird here):


Now Mom is in Hawaii and I am in Alaska. It is going to be hard to keep from finishing up the piecing while she is gone. I might have to start a new project to cheer me up. Sewing is not as good as the beach, but it is better than nothing!!!