More good news!

I'm so excited to announce to all my Quilty friends that I am expecting child #3, due February 2! We are very excited and my little guys are so curious and excited, too!

And of course, I'm starting a list of items I need to sew and quilt to get ready for baby!

I've never gotten a baby shower, so there  are some things that I'd really like to have. 

1--if it's a girl, I will need to make a white blessing gown. In the LDS Church, the baby's daddy (or close family member) who holds the priesthood, gives the baby a blessing and their name, accompanied by a circle of male priesthood holders who are family and friends. This usually happens during a regular church service.

2-- Two car seat carrier covers. I would like one for the car seat, and one to attach to the bassinet shade. The bassinet and its shade is white, so it doesn't shade the baby well.

http://imsharingthewealth.blogspot.com/2011/12/car-seat-cover-tutorial.html?m=1

3--At least two nursing covers. I found several tutorials that I would like to try.

http://freshly-picked.com/breastfeeding-cover-tutorial/

http://prudentbaby.com/2010/01/baby-kid/diy-nursing-cover-2/

Has anyone ever made one before? What do you think about having soft nylon horsehair braid in the bottom hem? And what about making it reversible  (two layers of cotton fabric? Would that reduce breath-ability?)

3-- A crib-sized quilt! That's a no-brainer and a necessity! I like mine 44x60.

Any colors depend on whether it's a boy or girl ! If it's a girl, I want purple and yellow and cute flowers and butterflies. So that would translate to adding:

4--bassinet and crib sheets (crib sheets I would buy; I had to deconstruct the included sheet and draw a pattern to make more bassinet sheets.)

5--and a girl would necessitate making lined curtains, too.

When it comes to baby items, I firmly believe that having at least two of every item is necessary because of messes and washing. That's part of life with a new baby. :-). You can never have too many burp cloths, zipper feetie pajamas, and onesies.

My first ribbon!

I'm still giggling and glowing and happy!

I collected my quilts at the close of the Peteetneet Quilt Show, and fellow quilting blogger and Payson City neighbor, Konda Luckau (Moose on the Porch Quilts) checked out my quilts to me, and showed me that my quilt won a ribbon!

Remember, this is a fun show, and the awards are Viewer's Choice. I received an Honorable Mention white ribbon for my To The Rescue fire trucks!

Konda said that the fire trucks generated a lot of interest and lots of comments. I'm so happy!

It's my first quilt show, and I received a ribbon. How lucky and cool is that?!

Squares vs Rectangles

In all my musings about quilts and designs while I go about my daily life, during those times that I don't get the opportunity to cut and sew, I occasionally  think about quilt shape.

Squares vs Rectangle -shaped quilts?

Recently the quilts I've worked on are square quilts. Diamond Daze, Starburst, and now the Swoon.  And I find myself shying away from the squares, and adding wider and narrower borders to make the quilts rectangular.

Vs the original design by www.happyquiltingmelissa, blogspot.com

Why do I do that????

Here are some possibilities that I thought of:

1--I graduated in Home Economics Education. Part of the interior design curriculum is the thought/design element 

that slightly rectangular rooms are more pleasing to the eye, and are easier to fit furniture and objects into. Ever wonder why most picture frames are rectangular, and not square?

2--beds are rectangular, so why make a square quilt for a bed? And not have the whole bed covered?

3--my hubby has a good idea and it's quite funny and quite a bit true: people have forgotten what a quilt is supposed to be used for: keeping you warm in and out of bed. His opinion is that a quilt is NOT a decoration, but a beautiful bed covering. A hand-carved headboard is art, but it is still a bed. An object of beauty or work of art, can and should still have a function.

4--Another thought from my hubby: think houses, churches, clothes: a hundred and fifty years ago, before the industrial revolution, everyone had to do things by hand, and always put their best work into the job. Things had to last a long time. Every piece was different and hand-crafted and looked like a work of art.

These days, everything is mass-produced and assembly-lined and identical, because that is what is cheapest and most economical and easiest thing. So hand-made has become a huge novelty now, and crafters pour their best efforts and talents and best materials into their items. Those items are valued so highly for the amount of time and effort, that they have become treasures to be displayed, and not used for their purpose and loved.

What do you think? What shape do you prefer to make your quilts?

Peteetneet Quilt Show

I woke up late, still exhausted, and feeling chilled, again. What is up? The antibiotics?

I finally got ready for the day and headed out around noon, telling my boys the rules for quilt shows as we drove. 

Walk, Hands to self, No Hiding, Stay with Mom. The Peteetneet building is only 2 miles away. I didn't get a lot of time to enjoy the quilts because of needing to keep track of my boys.  At least they followed some of the rules I gave them. They did enjoy the quilts in their own way, I guess.

My favorites:

--beautiful paper-pieces stars with Patriotic quotes in alternating squares, with Patriotic colors, made to honor a young man in our community that just died in the war in Afghanistan and just came home to be buried last week. Another quilt was made for his family right next to that one, with his picture in between.

--a beautiful Fireworks quilt, pattern by Camille Roskelly. I don't know who made it, but it was gorgeous in sunset oranges, soft pinks and whites, and bed-sized.

And I have to say, it felt good to see my own work up on a wall in a show. And it was gratifying that my little boys recognized the ones I made!

Pardon the fuzzy pictures and poor lighting--the building is very old, and I guess the volunteer hostess doesn't know how to focus an iPhone camera even after I showed her.  :-)

After the park, lunch at the park, and a chocolate milk run to the store, we got the mail. Hot and windy day. My package from Intrepid Thread came!  Julie had some great sales for Father's Day, and I couldn't resist. And she shipped them so quickly!

She always sends a cute charm square or two...I feel like it's my birthday in the mail because she wraps my fabric up in tissue paper and a pretty fabric bow and card!

I took the picture and realized my order was all blue this time. LOL. More of my favorite Cuzco, and blue puzzles from Pieces of Hope Autism. The blue puzzles print will be pieced with red puzzles print for the back of the Swoon quilt.

What a great day, but I'm bushed and time to lay under the fan and chill with the boys in front of a movie for the rest of the afternoon.

Quilt Show entry: Starburst and To The Rescue

Good Sunday and Happy Father's Day!

I didn't have time to post, but Tuesday on the way to work, I entered two of my recent quilt finishes in the Peteetneet Quilt Show in Payson, Utah. It is a small, non-juried show put on by our local Peteetneet Arts Council. Peteetneet was a local Indian chief who lived in this area with his tribe when the LDS pioneers settled in this area around 1850's I guess. They named the first school after him, and that big school is still standing and is the local "museum" and artsy events are held there.

I entered Starburst in the baby quilt category, and To The Rescue in the wall-hanging category. You should have heard the coos from the quilt ladies gathering the entries, as they saw my paper-pieced fire trucks!

It doesn't seem like I've been quilting much, but I have. I just haven't had time to share. I'm on a second round of antibiotics for a sinus infection, and I've been working a lot of swing shifts and grave shifts--like last night: 6 pm to 6 am. I'm awake now and cleaned up at 4:30 pm, but only just functional. I did stick a roast and potatoes in the crock pot before I went to bed this morning, and frozen rolls are thawing on the counter, so the house smells wonderful. Dinner shouldn't be too much work now.

I was able to get three more blocks cut for my Swoon.

I was able to get the Dresdens assembled, appliqués, and the ring sewn onto Maltese Dresden. It's growing and looking great!

Just keep stitching

Hi. Just sitting here, catching up on past episodes of Glee, while hand-stitching binding. That is all. Good weekend!

New winner

Well, I really feel sad because my first winner was no-reply and I couldn't contact her, and she didn't check back.

So time for a new winner!

I had to go through all 113 comments and disqualify 17 because they did not leave an email, and are no-reply bloggers (they don't have email visible on their profile).

The new winner is #54, Tanyia Deskins:

Please watch your email, Tanyia. Please reply in 48 hours; I'm sure Julie would love to send you your prize!

June goals

I was pretty happy with what I accomplished yesterday.

Here is my first Pieces of Hope Swoon block!

I love it! What's more, I showed it my little guy and the smile on his face was priceless! I said, "This is going to be part if your new quilt! Do you like the star or the red?" He smiled and said "red!"

Now my goal for June for the Swoon is to purchase background and backing. I'm thinking Kona. The Riley Blake solid red I found was lighter weight than the collection prints, and still $8.00-$10.00 a yard!

By the way, any tips for cutting fat quarters? I like to start with a straight edge, and trimmed as little as possible, but I still didn't have quite enough orange stripe for the last two flying geese, as you can see.

I also got the Dresden fans pieced for the next ring of the Maltese Dresden station quilt.

My goal for June is to get the paper-piecing for the vehicles accomplished.

I also plan to piece the rest of my patriotic sampler blocks during June.

No-reply winner ?

So I am thinking that my winner is a no-reply blogger!  I have tried to email her twice, and she has not replied. I have tried to click on her profile, and I can't see her profile nor her blog. When I try to see what email address that I'm replying to, it says "no-replyblogger@blogger.com!

Tania, if I don't have a way to get a hold of you, I will need to pick a new winner soon!

Everyone, I saw several no-reply bloggers who entered the giveaway. This is how to fix it: 

on your Blogger Dashboard, click on the arrow next to your name in the upper right of the screen.

Then click on "Blogger Profile".

Next click "Edit Profile",

Then check the box that says "share my email address". Make sure you have a valid email address showing in the box under "Identity".

Last scroll down to the bottom of the page and click "Save Profile".

That's all. Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy!

Thank you to Michele for the instructions on how to fix this. I, too, was once a no-reply blogger, and I followed her simple instructions!