Finish--Star Sampler

Hi !

I'm embarrassed by how long it's been since I posted. I'm not even going to peek to see how long! I guess it's been easier to post quick updates on my Facebook page.

Here we go: my baby's star sampler is finished! Although he is a toddler and in a toddler bed, the bed still uses a crib mattress, so crib-sized is great. I like crib sizes to be about 44x60", slightly rectangular. (I also happen to think 45x60 is a great adult lap size.) My older boys still use their crib star samplers on their beds and are very attached to them.

Don't you just love how the light illuminates through the yellows and silvers and the star patterns, almost like stained glass?!!

Stats:

Connor's Winter Stars or Connor's Winter Starflakes. (Please vote!)

44 x 60"

12-12" star blocks with 2" sashing in a 3x4 layout.

Fabrics: Michael Miller Fair Frost in Gold, Black Diamonds, Silver, pale yellow; medium yellow blender from Cranston Village.

Backing: a strip of "made fabric" or "crumbs" leftover from paper-piecing the blocks. Snowflakes print from: "S'Noel" by Dana Brooks of Lazy Daisy Cottage for Henry Glass.

Blocks top L to Rt: Little Lone Star, Crossed Diamonds from Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks collection, Starshine from Quilterscache.com, Star in the Window, Turning Star by Quilterscache, Dogtooth Violet by Jennifer Chiaverini, Folded Star from QuiltersCache, Amish Star, Mariners Compass by Jennifer Chiaverini, Silver and Gold, Morning Star, and Liberty Star from Jennifer Chiaverini.

I love using the Amish Star for an album or label block. This time, I decided to try embroidering the baby's name with my new embroidery machine.

I used several techniques for quilting. I like to mix it up. Whatever it takes to create my vision!

--The dreaming man in the moon, and the snowflakes, I copied by hand on tracing paper. Then I stitched FMQ through the paper.

--I used mostly dot-to-dot geometric filler shapes.

--I used my embroidery machine to quilt some of the snowflakes in corner squares and centers. And to embroider my son's name.

--used the walking foot quite a bit, and not just for stabilizing and SID (Stitch in Ditch).

And it still needs a label! I'm trying to figure out my embroidery machine's editing software.

September report

Hi!

Finished or progress in September:

#1: started making more progress on quilting the Swoon!

Finished 2 blocks (one is really a border), in Pat Sloan's BOM.

Finished a back for a mini-quilt.

Finished a Row by Row kit that I received from belonging to a row swap group!

Made cute little scissor holders from a Moda Bake Shop pattern.

Submitted my Star Hope quilt in the Peteetneet Quilt Show, and received 3rd place in Wallhanging category. Whee!!!!!

I nearly have my design wall panels finished. Then hubby needs to drill in hooks to hang them on the wall.

I guess I got more finished than I thought!

Goodnight all !

ALYOF-January finish

Hello! Am I still here?

Yup! Slow and steady wins me a goal for the month.

I have 14 blocks finished for the baby's star sampler crib quilt. Now I just have to decide which ones to go in the final quilt. 

Um, not quite right.

Now I switched Crossed Diamonds for the Starshine. Still not quite.

I asked my husband when he came home from the fire station, and he really likes the Crossed Diamonds. It's different than the others, kinda catchy-looking, with a vintage vibe (vintage Maltese Cross!)

So now I have two extra blocks....Pat Sloan's Mystery BOM January block, and the Weathervane. My hubby thought the Weathervane looked too much like the other blocks with the sawtooth stars.

And you can see that I've already put sashing rows together, too, one night this past week. So now, I'm finally ready to assemble the quilt top.

ALYOF--December finish

Well, I didn't get a whole lot done.

I got one block done on the baby's sampler.

I finished the top of the Solstice Moda Love mini-quilt.

Thanks for everyone's opinion on Facebook. I really love the red border. I have a whole layer cake of Solstice to use, and some fat eighths I picked up, so I will save the large green prints for those projects...I really want to show them off because of their larger scale, and a mini-project won't do that.

I'm sure I accomplished more, but I just can't think much. It doesn't feel like I have. Post-partum depression stinks; I've been fatigued and depressed this month very badly. Maybe there are lots of people who will gasp and criticize me for being truthful and honest about it in public, but that's my life. Hiding depression doesn't make it get better, anyway. I probably just need to go back to the doctor anyway.

ALYOF: November Finish

Well, I didn't finish my main goal (piecing the remainder of baby's stars).

But I did have other finishes and progresses.

Finished the 20" Lone Star.
 

Finished the Hope Star, made with bonus HST from the Pieces of a Hope Autism "Hugs n Kisses" quilt.

Yes, baby boy wanted to see the new quilt and colors and what mommy was doing. He's trying to stand up on his own already!

 

I can definitely see the things I would do differently next time:

--Put a narrow white border around the quilt before putting on the last green puzzle-pieces border.

--On the sides, break up the squares of the green word prints into rectangles, so that one rectangle will go underneath the last block (green, block, green, block, green...white lattice sash)

--Probably do that same thing a bit more on the top and bottom too (a green spacer between the blocks and white lattice

Finished the top for the ModaLove Mini-Charm quilt, made with a "Paradiso" by Kate Spain mini-charm pack. It is finishing at about 18" square, after a 1 1/2" border. Pink seems to be the prominent color in Paradiso, so I went with a pink border, and I pulled the FQ of the pink Arcadia print from Daydreams to be the backing.

The original ModaLove star pattern (peeking out from behind the quilt top) is a free pattern by Moda....with which they had a fun blog hop a few months ago. Each designer by the Moda brand chose a collection of theirs to spotlight the pattern. Kate Spain used her "Horizon," Minick and Simpson used "Lexington", etc. The pattern includes instructions for versions in a mini-charm, charm, and layer cake sizes. How cool is that--three patterns in one, and all free!

If you want to make your own Moda Love  quilt, click for the free pattern PDF :

Moda Love

The pattern is a one-block quilt, made of squares and HST units. So once you piece, press and trim the HST units and trim the squares, it goes together rather quickly!

This month, I've been working on Paradiso, another one in Sunnyside charms, and another in Solstice mini-charms.

One thing that I thought that I'd play with, is that the pattern only uses 30 of the 42 charms. I've been designing ways to use the last 12 charms in the quilt. The easiest thing, so far, was to make more HST, cut a few more background squares, and add another ring. That's what I've done with Paradiso: look at the aqua-colored addition in the mini-charm pattern. I have used my Quilt Pro and coloring in a grid on the pattern, to design with. I think I have one more design that I'd like to sketch, too, and trying to decide which ones I like best.

 

I also got another Plumeria cut and basted (for a pillow this time).

I followed the Quiltmaker 100 Blocks Volume 10 blog tour.

Baby boy and I got bad colds and mine turned into a sinus infection (no big surprise, but yay for antibiotics).

Baby boy grew 3 new teeth in November (one popped up today!)

Whew!

Linking up with A Lovely Year of Finishes with  www.SewBittersweetDesigns.com.

ALYOF: September Finish

I think that I did pretty well for September.  I would have liked to get more done, but it is what it is.

1--The HST Star is all quilted, except for the final outer border. Yay!

2--the Hawaiian-style Plumeria got its final border tonight! Whee! It's now about 54" square. It's been a longer ride than I hoped, with so many ideas floating in my head and indecision fogging up the ideas.

And I received the quilting thread so quickly from my order from SewThankful !

Meanwhile, I've been playing with Sue Pelland's Hearts and More templates. They are very slick, so I will need to get the grippers like she recommends. I wanted to put daisies on the Hawaiian appliqué, but the fun, cute daisies just didn't jive well with the more formal Plumeria. Plus, the daisies seemed to interrupt the flow of the two-color quilt, and interrupt the flow of the medallion on point.

At first, I cut individual petals with the template. (White daisy) That started to get tedious.

Then I read a bit more in the template instructions and the different types of shapes and cuts. Sue shows how to make 4 and 6 petal flowers, and mentioned 8-petal flowers in passing. I cut a square of pre-fused fabric, then folded it into eighths like I did with the Hawaiian appliqué. I stapled the fabric together, then used the template to draw the curves on the folds. I used scissors to cut, then opened the flowers! I also used the template to cut the circles for the flower centers.

So now I need to figure out what to do with the daisies!  How fun....!

ALYOF August Finish

How did I do this month ?

I finished piecing all the main blocks for Sylvia's Bridal Sampler. All 42 blocks! I've been stashing the finished blocks in my regular Super Satchel box...it keeps them flat, together in one place, and dust-free.

I got the last two triangles of Hawaiian-style appliqué basted and a good start stitching. I didn't get them finished because I had to wait so long for the fabric to arrive. That was out of my control.

I'm hoping to get some machine-quilting done tonight.

Jay starting kindergarten has put a hamper on things. Everyone says "aw, it'll just be you and the baby and restful and quiet". Not. Afternoon kindergarten isn't as easy as I thought. I'm trying to walk Jay to school, so I can start exercising again. (Weight gain and swelling from pregnancy is not fun. And I don't lose any weight while I'm breast feeding.) But taking him to school, then going back for him less than 3 hours later, is not easy. And the baby isn't getting much rest. He'll just get to sleep after nursing and I'll have to put him in the stroller or car seat for school. Then when I get him home, I'll feed him to sleep again and he won't get much sleep before going back. And I'm all hot and sweaty because it's still summer hot outside and it's afternoon. And not much time for me to do anything in between.

It's just the start of the third week of school for S, and the second week for Jay, so hopefully some routine will take shape. And hopefully, baby will get more rest on the day hubby is at home, so I can be with baby if he falls asleep, and hubby can bring Jay home.

ALYOF: July Finish

I accomplished some of every goal!

--I finished one block and almost finished a second block for Sylvia's Bridal Sampler

--I finished ditch-stitching the Star medallion Autism quilt; it's now ready for FMQ.

--I have nearly finished the first block of my Hawaiian-style appliqué.

And look at this lovely bundle of rainbow fat quarters from Studio E ! I won one of their weekly giveaways! I love the tonal swirl print.

This bundle is going to help me make a Jaybird Quilts' Night Sky quilt! Whee!

I also celebrated my hubby and I's 10th wedding anniversary this past week. Holy cow, where did the time go? Although, I guess in being married and sealed for eternity in the temple, 10 years isn't a lot. But I still love and live for the flame of my life, and look forward to forever too.

Notes on my wedding dress: yes, I sewed my own wedding dress, and my aunt sewed my veil for me to match my dress.

My dress was white satin charmeuse with overlays of white chiffon. Three tiers of layered bell sleeves. Two tiers of layered skirt with the charmeuse and chiffon...and I loved the slight train that it created, puddling gracefully around my feet. I finished the V neckline with clear rhinestone trim, and the bell sleeves are rolled hem on my serger with white and white iridescent wooly nylon  thread (the edges of the veil are finished that way too by my request).

French seams are not hard! Just slippery with charmeuse!

ALYOF--June Finish

Well, some got finished.

Got the quilt top and backing finished and the quilt basted with the bonus HST.

Did get a few more pieces cut for blocks for the baby's star sampler.

Didn't get any blocks done for Sylvia's Bridal Sampler.

http://blog.sewbittersweetdesigns.com/?p=4894

ALYOF-- May Finish

Hi!

I know it's the last day of the month, but I did finish a few days ago.

I'm here to report that I finished my May goal: complete and deliver the teacher gifts!

They were very excited! Gift-giving my quilts and handmade gifts is my favorite part of creating. I love the amazed looks on faces and hear their first words of reactions!

In April, I asked one of the techs to have the lead teacher and the other techs to trace their hands on paper. Then I traced the hands onto squares of Kona White to match the backgrounds, and back-stitched the hands. Then I traced my son's hand inside their hands, and stitched his handprint and each teacher's name. I used the bonus HST units from the Hugs & Kisses quilt top, with the Pieces of Hope Autism fabric, and pieced little 6 1/2" blocks. (Since my son has autism and he is in a unit class for autism.) I added sashing strips around each block, then joined the handprint squares to the blocks.

After quilting, I trimmed and bound them completely by machine. And hand-stitched my pre-printed name labels to the back of each one. After all, I was on a time crunch!

I delivered their gifts at the end if the school day on Thursday; pretty much last minute because school ended yesterday, Friday!

Fronts and backs, to show quilting and the little labels.

Oh yes, and what's a mug rug without a mug? I had a "recipe" for individual cake in a mug in the microwave. I separated the dry mix into servings in baggies, attached the mixing and cooking instructions on a tag with ribbon, and stuffed the baggies in the mugs. Then I rolled the mugs in the mug rugs and wrapped in tissue paper. S. was so excited to help me pass the gifts to his teachers, and even wanted to help rip off the paper. 

Do you like my new photo collages? 

I found a cool, new, free app for my iPhone called InstaCollage. Since I take most of my photos with my phone and blog on the phone app, it's now easy to put a watermark on my photos!

Here are three of the other four HST blocks that I've completed so far, with the bonus HSTs from the Hugs & Kisses quilt. These are just the small 2" unfinished HSTs from the tops of the hearts and x's and oh's. The large HST from the bottom of the hearts measure 4 1/2" unfinished, and I will do a bigger block with them (36 total HST).

Linking up with Sew Bittersweet Designs

http://blog.sewbittersweetdesigns.com/?p=4822

"You take the Cake!"

1 cake mix

1-4 oz box instant pudding.

Mix together cake mix and pudding mix (dry!)

Measure 1/2 cup mix into baggies and seal. Tie with ribbon if desired. Add another Baggie with toppings, like 2 tbsp chocolate chips or sprinkles.

Tag has mixing instructions:

Add mix into mug. Add 1 egg white (or 2 tbsp unsweetened applesauce if you're allergic to eggs like me), 1-2 tbsp water, and 1 tbsp vegetable oil. Mix well.

Microwave on high 2 minutes. Let stand for a few minutes. Top with chocolate chips, sprinkles, chocolate syrup or other flavored syrup.

Cake flavor ideas:

Yellow cake + French vanilla pudding

Yellow cake + coconut pudding

Chocolate + chocolate pudding

yellow + lemon pudding

spice cake + lemon pudding

Butterscotch ?

Pina colada?

Be creative!

March finish

Hi!

I've been able to sew every day this past week. Yay!

I reached my March goal:

Three blocks for the baby's star sampler.

Other things I accomplished:

Sent my charms off in the mail to Michele at Quilts From My Crayon Box for the Kate Spain Charm Swap Round 2. Here are my fabrics: Daydream!

Reflections in Tangerine and Cadence in yellow.

I also finished all 10 blocks made from the bonus HST units from the Swoon quilt. I'm going to use them as a teacher gift quilt. I don't really have any ideas for a layout though!

Help! Ideas please! Something simple!

So gorgeous and fun, aren't they? Very rainbow and busy.

These blocks were a lot of fun to make, because I had the HST all ready to go, sorted in piles by color. I had my Quiltmaker Magazine as my resource for block options (thanks to Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville for helping me remember that I had that issue!).

I challenged myself to work fast, because I usually don't work fast, and I don't have a lot of time with a newborn.

I also challenged myself to just make decisions quickly, picking a block layout and colors.

And I had a lot of fun! I actually found myself giggling once. Amazing! (maybe it was just late-night tired and having a few minutes to myself, and just giddy with finally having a baby asleep and off my lap and chest.)

Oh, this just gave me an idea for a book review. Note to self! Hint: 15 Minutes of Play by Victoria Findlay Wolfe.

I'm linking up with Kim at My Go-Go Life for Sew-Jo Saturday:

http://gogokim.blogspot.com/2014/03/sewjo-saturday-3.html?m=1

And as always, linking with Melissa at Sew Bittersweet Designs:

http://blog.sewbittersweetdesigns.com/?p=4663

February finish

Hi!

I'm so excited, because I finished my February goal!

I published my first tutorial on my blog! My Maltese Cross Dresden tutorial is finished. 

It seems to be received well. It was fun, and I love writing.

Thank you to Melissa Corry for giving me tips on tutorial writing.

Here are a few other things I've managed to get done in bits and pieces this month:

So now I have 3 blocks finished for the baby's quilt:

January finishes

Well hello!

What a crazy week!

Goal #1 is accomplished!

Connor was delivered by c-section on January 20, 2014, at 38 weeks 1 day. He's got dark hair and long lashes, and he's another mini-me for my hubby!

We all adore him already!

I'm tired and very sore and stiff. But doing pretty well.

Goal #2 and Goal #3:

1 1/2 blocks finished on the baby's star sampler.

1 1/2 blocks finished in Sylvia's Bridal Sampler (there were some hang ups with correct sizes of enlarging the block from 6" to 12")

Side note: I received several emails from ladies requesting how to make my firefighter Maltese Cross Dresden. So I sidetracked from the other goals and started another block and a tutorial. I'm not sure when I'll have it finished, but hopefully soon. I was working on it on Monday, and not feeling well, so I decided I needed to go to the hospital....and my doctor decided to deliver me right then!