The Wrong Season

This morning I started boxing up Jocelyn's 3-6 month clothing to move to the 6-12 month box. (She is growing so fast :)   Now, I have to say, this is a slightly emotional process for me.  I have seen my 3 girls grow out of most of these clothes and to box them up for the last time ( Yes, our little family is done) gets me a little weepy.  So when I went to box up this dress and realized that Jocelyn had never gotten to wear it (a little cold for a summer dress) I couldn't help but dress her up for a little picture and then of course shamelessly post it here.  

 

I made this about 3 years ago based on a tutorial I saw over at Crazy Mom Quilts.  I mean, who wouldn't love patchwork added to 3D sewing.   Unfortunately, by the time I finished the dress my then baby (Kamryn) could not fit in it. (She was a wee bit pudgy)  So I cut the back and made this little alteration so I could button her in it instead.  And I just loved how it turned out.  I mean, who doesn't love a little bum peaking out of the back :)  

So now, I can go finish boxing it up and know that Jocelyn got to wear it at least once.  Even if it was only for a photo shoot.  (And it is a good thing I did this today because I could barely do up those buttons.  Maybe I should feed them less, tee hee hee :)  Oh, and I am sure I will probably cry a little more, but that is okay, because nostalgic tears are good ones :)

Some Crafty Help :)

So in 2 weeks I am in charge of a rather large party and have assigned myself to make a pinata that looks like the world.  I figured no problem right, I can just google how to do it.  So I did and talk about information overload.  There are so many ways and I have no idea which one to try.  More importantly, I don't really have to time to try more than one.  

So . . . .  If you have a tried and true way to make a pinata or know of a tried and true tutorial to make a pinata could you help a girl out and send it my way :)  I would sure appreciate it :)

TNT Thursday

So I have been in a bit of a funk since I got back from Salt Lake on Sunday.  (Do you ever have those days, or several days???) The only thing I have sewn hit the scrap pile because I just wasn't liking it.  So I suppose I can show you something that I actually did a few weeks ago but haven't shown as it is for a little later this month.  But a sneaky peak is always fun  :)

So here is my Trying New Things for TNT Thrusday.  I did a new quilting stitch.  It is similar to a basic stipple but instead of nice curvy edges it is all completely straight and boxey.  I had a lot of fun doing this stitch and it really wasn't to bad once I got over the impulse to curve :)  And it really fits the quilt well so I am super happy about that :)

So what have you been Trying New this Week??  Hopefully you were a little more productive than me :)  Link up your pics, or posts.  We all want to see what you Tried :)

Winner and Wednesday

First off, Lets start out with the winner of the Studio Kat Pattern Giveaway.  The lucky winner of 3 of Studio Kat's amazing Patterns is :)  

Which happen so be . . .

Congrats Barbara @ Nahtante Quilts!!!  Please send me an email so I can get your patterns to you :)  (I couldn't open yours in your profile page :)

Now, Onto Wednesday . . . .

First off, Let me say Thank you, Thank you, Thank you to all of the sweet comments you left about my Grandmother's Surprise Lone Star Quilt that I posted yesterday :)  You guys are the greatest!!!  Oh, and I found a picture of the basting stage, turns out I did remember to take one I just forgot I had already downloaded it to the computer :)  Isn't it hilarious.  My kids got a kick out of watching me try and work around it :)

And as requested, here are a few close-up shots of the quilt my grandmother made for me 11 years ago :)

So obviously, what I mainly worked on this last week (frantically trying to finish in time :) was the Lone Star Quilt for my Grandmother :)  And with being out of town for the weekend, I haven't gotten much else done.

 I did start on this little table runner that I will be doing a tutorial for in the coming weeks but I hated the start, so I am scrapping it and starting over.  I thought the dots would be fun (you know how I love dots) but it is just way to busy for the piecing I am attempting :)  So back to the start on this one :)

And that is about all for this week, So let's run it down so I can keep track of it all :)

Designing Stage

• Twister Toddler Twin Quilt
• Solids Quilt for Free Motion
• King Size Serenity Quilt
• Circle Meets Square Quilt
• Secret Project MB
• Secret Project QQ
• Moda Bake Shop Take it All

Piecing Stage

• Jessi and Me Quilt 
• 4th of July Table Runner for Sister-In-Law 

Quilting Stage

• Stars Quilt-A-Long

Completed Stage

• Lone Star Quilt
• Pillow Talk Swap

Grandma's 80th Surprise aka Lone Star!!!

My Grandmother has made a quilt for every single grandchild for their wedding.  I was the first to receive mine.  Grandma individually french knotted and quilted by hand each corner of gingham to make these beautiful patterns.   And in the 11 years since I was married she has made 27 of these beauties.  So I figured it was high time someone made one for her.

So here is the story of the 80th Birthday Surprise Lone Star Quilt.  In January, the Cedar City Quilt Guild put on their retreat and when I saw that I could take a class on the Speed Lone Star Quilt I knew it was perfect.  Grandma's room is blue so out came the blues (I love the look of these in monochromatic tones)  from my stash and a few from my MIL's Stash (this quilt is all stash, Yippee Skippee!!!)

 

We learned how to piece the Diamond points at the class and I managed to get 3 put together in the time allotted.  The next night was the all night sew where I cranked out the other 5 points.  There was a major learning curve to making these and my last ones look much better than my first ones, and they went together a lot faster.  Luckily, when all of my diamonds were sewn together the star still laid pretty flat (phew :)

Over the next week I started to add in the inset pieces of background.  This is where I hit a snag.  The instructions we were given was to measure the opening on both sides, average it, and then cut a piece that size to insert and ease in the extra.  Unfortunately, my sides and easing did not want to agree and my triangle inserts were great on one end but came up short on the other end.

And of course, as this was all stash fabric, I only had just enough to do it once.  So I forged ahead thinking I could make it work.  I found a new way to put in the corner squares (using a variation of paper piecing) and they went in super fast and nice.  So I went to add on the borders.  Which in turn, chopped off all of the end points of my diamonds on the left hand side of the triangles where I was coming up short.   (They looked about like the diamond on the end of this picture, horror!!!!)

So I thought, and thought, and tried to figure out how I could make it work with little to no extra fabric for piecing.  And I came up with a solution, which I am happy to say, you don't notice at all unless you knew to look for it.  (I tested it on several people ;)  I made tiny points with turned applique and just whip-stitched them on to the ends :)  Yippee Skippee for adverting a tragedy!!!  (Although, you notice I conveniently forgot to take a picture of them, wouldn't want to burst my bubble of my theory now would I :)  

Then after a little time spent crawling around on the floor (This quilt took up the entire floor of my sewing room to baste, I wish I would have taken a picture, it was hilarious :)  it was time to quilt. And 27 bobbins worth of thread later and a little wrestling match with good old Bernadette the Bernette Bernina I was ecstatic!!!  I can't begin to say how happy I am with the quilting came out on this one!!!   I did a little vine in the 2 top and bottom strips, super easy and I wanted to keep the same kind of movement. (see above picture :)

And now something I am totally proud to say, I did feathers!!!!!!  I finally got up the nerve to try them out on a huge quilt :)  And I am so happy with the way they turned out.  I just did them around the outer border, (and there is a reason I don't show you curving around the corners, scary :) but I am really pleased with them.  I think I might be ready to add them into my comfortable quilting patterns toolbox :)

I did a beautiful swirl in the background and added some sharp points that I usually don't do with a lot more echoing. I loved it.  It has so much movement and flow and it was so much fun to sew :)

And I echo curve quilted the diamonds in the star.  You can see it a lot better along the back.  And I just had to add this photo because I get a kick out of my shadow standing on top of the lawn furniture to take the picture :)

Here is a better shot of the echo quilting on the pieced back :)  Although I still didn't manage to keep myself out of the picture :)  (That is what you get when you remember to take pictures of the quilt about 30 minutes before the party, wouldn't that have been horrible if I forgot. )

So that is the tale of Grandma's 80th Birthday Quilt.  I so enjoyed making this quilt for my Grandmother.  And I so enjoyed watching her receive it.  And ya, I was crying ;)  (To bad my batteries were dead on my camera at that point) Love you Grandma!!!  Happy 80th!!!!!

And since it is Tuesday I am linking up to Quilt Story and since this is an all Stash project, I am linking up to Slash the Stash :)  Isn't it just fun to Link Up :)