New sewing machine!

You'll see me quilting a lot more in the coming months, because I got a sweet new sewing machine. It's a Janome 1600p that I managed to snatch up on craigslist, along with a Little Gracie II quilt frame (that barely fits in my house). I'm heading for the big(ger) leagues!

Now if only I can figure out how to properly use them...

The machine:

The beast:

a 70's inspired log cabin quilt for Alex

My next big project is a curl-up-on-the-couch quilt for Alex. Wintery nights usually find him wrapped in a giant Sesame Street blanket that is nearing the end of its life... my aim is to replace it.

A while back I came across some owl fabric that he really liked, so this has become the inspiration. The colors are all 70's yucky (or not, if that's your thing, as it is Alex's): browns, oranges, red and cream.

Here are the blocks all set out on the floor as I figured out the layout:



I am going to sash them with a creamy solid, so it won't be THAT dark.

Last night I finished squaring them off. One of the great things about having a drummer around is how many giant flat drumhead boxes there are around that I can use to make big 14.5" square templates! This was my evening last night:



And here's a closeup of the stack waiting to be squared up. Love those owls!



My goal is to get the quilt top done before xmas, and the quilt itself done by the new year! Here's to dreaming big!

The Joys of Paper-Free Wrapping

My family and I have a deal this xmas -- no more paper gift wrap! Last night I received a big package from back home, filled with goodies in home-made fabric holiday bags made by my mom. They all look amazing!

As for my own gifts, I splurged on a bunch of fun xmas fabric earlier in the year, in the hopes that this fabric will be traded around between family members for years. Some of the highlights are Sheri Berry "12 Joys of Christmas" (now on sale at pink chalk fabrics... get some now and join in the revolution next year!) and a bunch of selections from the Alexander Henry "Christmas Time" collection.

I wrapped each present up in a piece of fabric, much the same way I would've done had it been paper, and then tied them up with a 2" length of white linen. To top it off, I embroidered simple name tags using some cute xmas transfers from Sublime Stitching.

The final result? Pure Christmas spirit!

3rd baby quilt down, 3 more to go!

I finally finished the charm squares quilt and handed it off to the new parents to be. They have assured me that they will do their best to see if it can become "THE BLANKET" for their kid. That's really my ultimate goal with all of these.

I forgot to take a final pic of it, so I snapped one as I was on my way out the door to give it to them. Look how cute it is all tied up with an extra strip of binding!

also...

told ya.

Charm Squares Baby Quilt II -- In Progress!

Last night I started the quilting on my latest project -- another version of Elizabeth Hartman's Charm Squares Baby Quilt for yet another pregnant friend.

Here's the top, with lots of excess batting poking out around the edges:



I'm going for the same straight line quilting that I did last time, as you can see here...



And speaking of last time, I think I probably never posted pictures of the last quilt since I was afraid Karen & Luke would see it before I had a chance to give it to them.





Hopefully the one I'm working on now will turn out as well. I'm planning on binding it in yellow, which I think will be super cute! I would love to try some free motion quilting but I just don't quite have enough faith in my crappy Shark sewing machine. For now, though, the straight lines are working for me.

I also did one quilt between these two that I forgot to take any pictures of before giving it away! That one was from Elizabeth Hartman's Nine Patch Lattice Quilt pattern. Can you tell I like her stuff? She writes a fantastic blog called Oh, Fransson and just came out with this delicious looking quilting book (it's on my xmas list!):

The July Breakdown

Not a break-down like my car is broken or I'm having a meltdown but, rather, since I haven't posted anything in July, here's a quick breakdown of some things that have occurred or happened to me this month...

1. Pigs in rain boots; they're everywhere. (Wow, I wish I meant that literally.)





2. I'm trying to get a regular poker game together, so I've been thinking about poker... and stereotypes of poker games... and dogs playing poker... which brought me to the site "dogsplayingpoker.org" which had this pic in the gallery:



Note the fantastic line: "He reads the day's mail and has no worries or women within sight."

3. Every kind of varmint in the world has taken up residence in my yard including, most recently, a rabbit. And all of them want to eat the kale. Yet, despite everything, I know I will try to grow kale again next year. Some people never learn.



4. Speaking of gardens, the veggies are coming along okay (despite the rabbits eating the beans, and everything eating the kale), but the hubby and I have decided that this fall it is time for a complete revamp of the veggie plot layout. I'm thinking keyhole/mandala style, with a fence around it to deter critters. The question now is: do I make the mandala garden raised or just do it at ground level?

5. I have been majorly slacking on quilting projects. My fabric stash continues to grow (the fabric addiction is waning slightly, but it's still there), but my quilting project pace has stagnated. Man it's hard to quilt when there's weeding to be done, and hard to weed when there's cookin' food and hanging out with friends to be done... See, this is exactly why I need to be unemployed. How else will I find time to garden, quilt, cook elaborate meals, hang out with friends and also be a lazy bum? Ahhh c'est la vie.

6. The Dexter season 5 trailer came out! HOLY BEJEEZUS! I am embarrassed to be so excited for a tv show.


7. And as if my level of excitement about Dexter isn't embarrassing enough, I am positively giddy over this Game of Thrones teaser trailer from HBO.



I read winter-is-coming.net daily to keep up on all the Game of Thrones gossip, and have even convinced some of my co-workers to do a chapter-by-chapter bookclub (a la the folks over at Gestalt Mash). GoT fever is in the air!


Well, I guess that's all for now. See you in August!