christmas pecans and quilt

I just love Amy Smart and her blog. She is always so inspirational and has so many darling quilts to share. I just finished a quilt that she collected the fabrics for - lots of retro Christmas fabrics that made up into a cozy old fashioned snuggly quilt.

Thankfully my kids were willing quilt hangers for these photos. Un-thankfully the lighting was terrible, and the next few days we had rain and snow, so I finally decided just to post anyway.

Here's the front: And the back (with Dr. Seuss fabric and some cute stuff from JoAnns):

And just a side note: This year for Christmas goodie sharing, I ordered some cute little jars online and filled them with candied pecans to take to neighbors and friends. We put a little sticker label on the front, saying Merry Christmas from our family, and took them around this weekend.

That was a super fun project, and a big hit as well. I love giving out cute little goodies.

alien quilt

Okay, I just submitted my first ever quilt to a quilt challenge/contest. Not really in my comfort zone, but the challenge of creating a "modern" quilt, from my own design, intrigued me. I am a stay-at-home mom, however loosely that may be interpreted. I often feel that I live out of my car, playing taxi lady to and from activities. I really don't stay at home. I also work - all day, every day. But not for pay. At least not the monetary, instant gratification kind. My work is more of the long-term pay-off type. I hope our kids turn out good and happy. I also do a lot of laundry.

Thinking about this quilt challenge, I snapped this picture. Alien invasion/endless black hole of laundry? Could be an inspiration ... ... Found a couple of fabrics in my stash that I just love ...

... and voila! A quilt with endless black holes and aliens all over it. Much cuter than a load of dirty clothes, but it sure was fun to make. And I even got it finished 3 days before the deadline - good for me!

But I can't forget to show this part. When here for a visit, my dad fell in love with the design of this quilt, loving the 3-D aspect. I have to give full credit to him for the idea of using glow in the dark thread to quilt it - I didn't even know they made such a thing! I will also give full credit to my kids for taking it into the dark laundry room and yelling and screaming about how cool the thread really was. Quite entertaining.

Oh, just a little FYI, so you can learn the easy way: Don't use glow in the dark thread for the top stitch and the bobbin. It's slippery and the tension won't work well. A regular thread on the bottom works much better. Do I really need to mention that I learned this the hard way?

wave quilt

For church, we have had an ongoing service project to make and collect quilts for various shelters in need. One lady, unable to quilt herself, donated fabric to those of us who can quilt. This is the quilt that I made from her fabric donations.

Front: Back:

Moda fabric - came from this fabulous tutorial.

it's done!

I completed my quilt top, and not a moment too soon. My goal was to finish it up before we had company this weekend. They come in today, and I finished it yesterday. Kind of pushing it to the limit ...

I think I may actually like this quilt top, after the pain of making it wears off. I followed this quilt along, knowing that she always makes darling things. I think it was worth it in the end - but I must say that if I hadn't already cut everything out, I definitely would have quit in the middle. I think this will go in my closet for a while. If this little baby on the way turns out to be a girl, maybe it can go on her bed when she gets old enough. I can tell her it was my huge challenge to finish up so I could get to work quilting all those darling little baby quilts.

Twin size, Moda 30's reproduction fabrics, 2 1/2 inch squares everywhere, rotating out from the center.

sticky yumminess

It's that time of year again ... carmel and apples. But, I really don't like the regular "dip the whole apple in carmel and then try to eat it before the entire carmel layer slides off in your lap, or even worse, your hair" type of carmel apples. When we were kids, Mom always sliced our apples, and then gave us our own little cup of carmel, where we dipped away to our hearts content. More carmel for your apple that way, and less mess. That's my type of carmel apples.

This morning, I made little jars of carmel to take to some of my friends. I figure they need to experience the lucious experience of dipping their apple slices in carmel. It gives a whole new meaning to carmel apples. (Of course, there's some carmel left over in the pan, which we really can't let go to waste. Maybe we'll need to have some for brunch today.) ... and in case you need some carmel for your apple slices ...

Mom's Halloween Carmel Sauce

Cook slowly to 220 degrees on a candy thermometer:
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup corn syrup
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/8 teaspoon salt

Add:
1/4 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla

... enjoy!

quilt tops only

I really need to stop piecing and start quilting. (Wouldn't that be such a great excuse to just bag that quilt that's driving me crazy right now - all cut out, and only halfway pieced together, but driving me loony.) This little baby on the way is sure going to have some fun quilts. I'm sure more will be in the works when we find out the gender. For now though ...Starting at the top left: a wonky log cabin quilt made of Denyse Schmidt Hope Valley fabrics, then the martian quilt made mostly of Michael Miller fabrics, then a funky Dr. Seuss quilt, and on the bottom, a Moda Bliss quilt made with the Apple Core die from the AccuQuilt Go! Cutter that I won.

So anyway, I haven't been stale in all of my non-blogging - I've only just had the energy to put quilt tops together, not blog after that. Now, on to the backs (well, maybe after I put together just one or two more tops ...).

a lot of quilting going on

Does your quilting table ever look like this? I think the only problem with this is that this sewing table is also our dining room and home school table. Combine that with the iron on the counter and the giant ironing board sticking out in the middle of the kitchen ... take out tonight?

i'm still around . . .

Just a quick note. I haven't fallen off the face of the earth. I just am going through a little morning sickness that is lasting the whole day, so . . . I'll be back asap. I have a AcuQuilt Go! that I won on a giveaway, that I want to tell you about, and another new little quilt I've started using that machine.

But for now - just taking a little break to try to feel a little better.

martian quilt design

Do you ever stay up all night, designing and quilting? Not in reality, I mean - just in your head as you lay tossing and turning in bed - quilt patterns and fabrics rolling around in your brain, stealing precious sleep. That's what happened to me Sunday night.

Before I went to bed, I jotted down this design. That must have been my problem. I had some great martian fabric from Timeless Treasures that I wanted to use, and came up with a brainstorm design that would be similar to a string quilt without using paper piecing. I tossed and turned all night, got up early in the morning, cut out enough fabric to make one test block, and . . .

. . . it worked! Now I can't wait to finish it up and see the end result. (Plus, I even got sleep last night. Maybe the trick is to actually make a block - not just design it before bedtime.)

And the other exciting news is that I am being featured on Quilt Story! What a honor in my small little blogging world! So . . . for any of you who happen to drop in from there, be sure to follow my blog, as I plan to have a great giveaway soon (involving the lovely Denyse Schmidt Hope Valley fabric line). And thank you so much to Heather & Meagan - you two are wonderful!

and the winners are . . .

#2 - Ericksons: "I'm a follower!"

and

#4 - Nancy Sue: "Hello from Maryland . . ."

Thank you all for entering, and thank you to Penguin Books for hosting this giveaway.

Please contact me with your mailing address in the next 48 hours to claim your prize. Happy Reading!

quiltmomadw at hotmail dot com

flying geese circle block

In May, I used the method I call hack and whack and made this quilt.



Front: Back:

Today I used the scraps to make a flying geese circle block. I found the tutorial online, and tried my hand at paper piecing.

While this little block turned out just as darling as I had hoped, I must admit that I prefer the hack and whack method. Love the paper pieced look, but also love the free look of more modern quilting. Still - can you just imagine a darling nine patch quilt made into a baby blanket - flying geese circle block for five of the nine squares? Sounds cute to me! Now I just need someone to give it to to inspire me to complete it.

book giveaway

Yes, I know this is, in general, a quilting blog. But - what do you do with quilts? - Snuggle up in them. - And what's one of the best things to do when you're snuggled up in a quilt? Right - read a book!

I just read this true story about a family of women who have so much cancer in their family, genetically speaking, that it broke my heart. That being said - I loved the book, and couldn't put it down. Dealing with my own family members working through breast cancer treatments, on both sides of our family, this book was such a tender glimpse of how another family survived, and lived well throughout their challenges. I think you all should pick up a copy and read it for yourselves. Whether or not your family has been touched by cancer, we all know friends and neighbors who have. This book deserves a place on your bookshelf, and will keep you thinking for long after you put it down.



Penguin Books has generously offered to host my first giveaway! Two lucky people will get a copy of What We Have by Amy Boesky (of course while snuggled under a lovely quilt, and hopefully with a cup of hot chocolate as well).

And you get several chances to win (enter a separate comment for each one you do):

* Just leave a nice little comment on this post

* Follow my new blog (let me know that you did)

* Blog about this giveaway (send me a link)

* Post a Facebook entry about this giveaway

* Tweet too

Best of luck to you - Giveaway ends . . . Oh, let's go for September 7th so we have through Labor Day. Sorry, no international entries this time.

Thank you Penguin Books!

giveaway coming soon . . .

I just read a fabulous book - you know the kind - one of the ones where you kind of snuggle up a little deeper under your quilt, duck your head, and hope no one sees the tears in your eyes. Then those eyes betray you and start to leak. Soon you have to get up for a Kleenex, but run right back to your quilt spot and grab your book to read some more.

Yes, you too need to read this book.

. . . Giveaway coming soon . . .

. . . be sure to start following now so you don't miss out . . .

denyse schmidt single girl queen sized - check!

. . . And here it is, in all it's glory - Our completed quilt! Okay - the hexies on the pillows are just laying there - it didn't look quite right without some of the color and shape that will eventually be on the shams - but the quilt is done! Most of the fabric is from the Hope Valley line, but there are some omissions from that line, substituted with other fabrics. Since it is on our happily married bed, we choose to call it 'Family Circles' instead of 'Single Girl' - the original title just didn't seem to fit for us.

And of course, I always love the tags on quilts. There's a secret love note hidden on the back, which I didn't photograph because it's secret - but it was done in the same embroidery as the letters on this tag, which I stitched right into the binding.

The back is actually really fun too, but since I just now realized that I forgot to take a picture - I'll have to try and remember to do that later.

Anyway - it's done!!! That was a lot of work, and sure is nice to snuggle up with at night - all the stippling just makes it drape so nicely. Well done, me!

whew!

I know - it's been a long time since I last posted - but, did you see the previous post as to what I've been working on?! That's one big quilt!

I actually finished the quilting of it today, but no sneak peeks yet. I've got to put the binding on before I post end result photos. For now, a few details . . .

This is the bowl of basting pins I used for this quilt. It's a queen sized quilt, the largest I've made, and I had to go out and buy additional safety pins 3 times in order to have enough to finish basting it properly. That's after moving the furniture in our living room to even accommodate the stretching of it. Today, after three 547 yd. thread spools and 17 bobbins (yes, seventeen, that's not a typo), I finished quilting the new quilt for our bed. I would have liked to do some echo quilting on it, but had no idea if I could even reach the middle without puckering everything to pieces, so I went with a much more forgiving stipple, and have ended up loving the crinkly look it made.

My machine: a Viking Sapphire and a Fab-U-Motion attachment, and I love it! What a great invention for those of us without the room or the finances for a long arm. I can still dream of one, but in the meantime - keep posted - I'll get that binding on soon enough, and have a tricky way I want to try out for putting the tag on this time.

distracted projects

I did it! I finished my queen sized quilt top. Must admit, I was inspired to finish due to Amy's challenge, and then wasn't linked up properly to receive feed from her new web page and couldn't enter the lovely giveaway - but I am still so happy to have been inspired to finally finish this top. My husband told me it looks pretty easy, but I have informed him that sometimes quilts that look simple are the hardest to make. Curved little scraps sewn together is not a simple quilt. He is duly impressed now. And then that wonderful husband and I went out this weekend and bought new bikes. I'm so excited to ride with the kids! So of course, I had to make new little bike buckets for them (which wouldn't have taken quite so long to make if I would have appliqued the first alligator to the front of the bucket instead of the back - then had to go and put another one on the front - a very decorated little thing and lots of applique practice for me). I'm thinking that maybe if they carry around snacks and a drink in a cute little fabric basket, they won't notice that I'm keeping them out riding so long.

And the kids are completely caught up on their quilt blocks.

And due to my stray sewing this week . . . if you want to see my progress in my personal QAL, you will just have to scroll down to a previous post. I'm hoping to catch up soon, but there's just all these distractions - so many things to sew - so little time!

my day is officially made!

I am a giveaway winner, and am so excited! I signed up for a (darling) pattern giveaway on the Quilt Story blog, and this morning, when I was scrolling through all of my favorite quilt blogs - I saw my name listed there as a winner - yippee! I never win giveaway's, and that just made my day - thank you Quilt Story! (And for those of you who haven't checked out that blog yet - you should go look at it. I love how the real stories of quilts are shared - the challenges and love behind the scenes.)

And, for those of you wondering how all of the other projects are going, hopefully I will have a photo soon to explain what I've been working on that is putting me behind in my quilt-a-long. I will catch up soon though!

Yippee for today!

who's on track?

Well, I must admit that if I don't get in gear this week, I am going to fall behind in my quilt a long project. It's not that I haven't been sewing - quite the opposite in fact - it's just that, well . . .

Our kids are also doing a quilt a long. It's a nice and simple one, and they are so excited. It will turn out a little different in the end (their seams are closer to 1/2 inch, so the blocks are all turning out different sizes), but they are loving it.

I'm so proud of them.

week 5 - check! and a little inspiration

Well, it's not the best photo, but I am up to date with my quilt-a-long. It's growing! Okay, with all this time I have in between QAL postings, I am getting a lot done. I currently finished baby quilt design that I plan to submit to Moda Bake Shop - but not quite yet. I want to finish the queen size Denyse Schmidt quilt that I'm making for our bed first. Then I have to help our kids finish their summer QAL. Then I want to piece my sisters quilt top for Christmas. Then I will finally get on to ... more quilts.





How do you think this would look in a quilt? I think this will be my next design. Got to think about it a little first, and find the perfect fabrics too.

hooked on hexagons

Unknown to my husband, I snuck quilting into our minivan for our road trip to Denver. I had never sewn hexagons before, but frantically spent the last hour before leaving searching the Internet, printing up, and cutting out hexagon templates to take with me. Boy was he surprised when his quilt addict wife pulled this box out! I came home with this . . . . . . and now I'm hooked. What else can you pack up in a shoebox to take with you everywhere?! Dance class and soccer practice is so much more useful now!

quilt-a-long update

I've been following along with Crazy Mom Quilts quilt-a-long, and am caught up to date. Yes, I am one of those Monday morning stalkers on her blog, and just can't wait for the next update so I can do all of the entire week's worth of quilting in the next hour. (Sorry Amanda, my kids actually think I am the crazy mom who quilts - they were surprised yesterday to find out that's actually not my name, even in blogland.) However, I will have to admit that I am really sick of cutting out 2 1/2" fabric squares after this past week. Can't wait to see them finally go together.

. . . So glad she got us started on such a darling little center block.

what a way to start!

Okay, I start a new quilting blog, and then just drop off the face of blogland. Hmmm.

Our computer has been broken. The 'r' key decided to stop working, and therefore, we couldn't type without sounding like we had no teeth (how a-e you today? we a-e going to the lib-a-y ...). Then other keys stopped working, and without a fully functioning keyboard, it's really hard to log in to sites that require a password.

Our choices: a new computer, or a $12 keyboard. We chose the $12 keyboard, and are now back in business. More quilt postings soon . . .

feedsack fabrics

I finally decided to start my own quilt blog at the same time I decided to join up with this quilt-a-long (which I'm so excited about). This is my pile of feed sack fabrics - a mix of Windham Feed sack VI Thirties and Blue Hill Feed sack Thirties fabrics. Love it! P.S. If you happen to find this blog at this stage, be sure to check back in the coming weeks. Maybe I shouldn't be starting this until I have everything set up the way I want it, but I'm afraid that if I don't just dive in and get going, treating this as a work in progress, I may just never get the nerve to start. Here I go . . .