With all my Heart (Mixi Heart): 2013

Happy Holidays

4:18 PM

Merry Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!!!

I can't express how amazing it is to have a family and I cherish every moment. You never know how things can change in a moment. Although I miss all my family during this time I am grateful for the family I can squeeze to death and I hope they feel that love from me. So to all of you out there I wish you the best holiday season and I hope you are squeezing your family and friends that mean so much!… and just a little flash back missing a couple of years here and there ~

Long-Arm Quilting

Presents and Gifts

6:31 PM

The Manner of Giving is worth more than the Gift.

1 - Sew Need a Break

The end of the year is wrapping up so that means our "Sew Need a Break" group are collecting our items to start our pattern for next year. I shared the pattern by Natalie Bird here. It has been kinda like early presents and a lot of anticipation with all the fabric being delivered over various days.

2 - Tied Quilts
Speaking of Presents… our tied quilts pile is topped off and the quilting frames are set up by the fire to get the last few finished. Four Finished - Five to Go.

3 - ThanksGiving Wall Hanging
I am having a lil bit of trouble finishing this little Wall Hanging. Biggest problem is that Thanks Giving is over ;( So the passion is gone, ha, ha, ha. Do I pack it away until next fall??? NO - because I have all the fabric pulled and I don't want to tie up all the prints until then. You never know when you are going to need the perfect brown intended for something else. SO FRUSTRATING!! But I do just have about three blocks left so I am determined. It will be a wondrous gift to me to get it finished.

4 - Quilting Guild Christmas Party

Our Quilting Guild NEVER disappoints and delivers every time with all its delight. The theme this year was Vintage Christmas and I just couldn't get over all of the vintage toys. The credit always goes to our amazing member Janine. She IS AMAZING!!! She takes so much care with the decorations and it adds tremendously to the ambiance. If you are local here you are totally missing out if you don't attend our meetings (so get out and join in January).

5 - Long Arm Quilting

It has been a joy quilting a few Christmas Quilts that some very awesome ladies pieced. I loved these two quilts and you can always tell when I love a quilt because I take TONS of pics of them. It just helped put me in the spirit of Christmas this last week. I got to try out a new design (Holly Leaves and Berries). I HAVE to make a Christmas Quilt for myself by next year because it turned out so cute.

I pieced the back for the Believe quilt and Chevrons are sometimes a little tricky. I opted to join a green chevron row which created this neat diamond shape. I liked it ;)

So I am definitely a Believer in the Spirit of the Season of giving and reflection and new starts. There is so much to enjoy. It is a GIFT.

PS - It is my Dad's birthday today and I want to give him the gift of my LOVE.

SERIOUSLY!!! It is SNOWING!! :)

Back Pack

Playing with Colors

11:52 AM

What an exciting time of year right now! Oh my gosh the colors!! I love it. I am so inspired by seasons which I pretty sure most people have gathered. One of the biggest reasons is a change of color palette. I have found myself recently just diving into my yellows and browns and always happen to have that green in there somewhere. SO TWO.5 THINGS - I would like to first share a table runner (and a binding tape tutorial) that I have just finished as well as the fact that I finished writing my Back Packing school sampler pattern too, (available in my pattern shop and Etsy shop too).

TABLE RUNNER
I finally got to that table runner that was I talking about being on the frame. I was able to use my new long-arm arc ruler I picked up about a week ago, plus I got to use my piecing ruler that I picked up about six months ago (nothing like taking a lifetime to get to the latter). I finally got a chance to use the Quick Curve Ruler. It took a buddy sewing day to get me to that point. If anyone hasn't had the fortune to check out Jenny's tool and her website it definitely will suck you in. I love her quilts!! I have seen a few in person in schoolhouse and it was sure a treat :)

Curve Piecing -
To everyone that is thinking "what the heck are you talking about?" I will let you in on what I am talking about, lol. Curve piecing is a little tricky. Typically you will use a template to aid you in this process. I used one in my double wedding ring quilt and I have used one here with this table runner. This template that I used is a thick plastic that you use with your rotary cutter. You cut out the curves and their partner melons and sew them together. Then you HAVE to square your blocks again, which is never something that I love to do, but you HAVE to. Then you sew the blocks together and hopefully your curves line up beautifully. If they don't then you just need to practice a titch more... which is the case for myself. Though I was very pleased with my first attempt. I donated this quilt for a bunch of these wonderful ladies I love, for a chance to win. That is always fun because sharing my love of quilting makes me happy. SO now I am going to have to make another to keep for myself :)

Back to the colors - Oh my gosh I love these fabrics. The orange and brown and teal and yellow - HEART BEATS. While I was making the arcs there were some melon shaped leftover scraps. My buddy Katie and I thought they would make the perfect flower and they DID.

BIAS TAPE FINISH
It is funny because when I was finishing up I was sharing the pillow and Katie said she loves the binding tape finish. I need to do a tutorial for this ASAP!! - so here it is :) This is a way that I finish my pillows. It creates quite a bit of interest on the back of the pillow. Especially when it is a very muted pillow like this one.

(Cut 2) 1 1/2" strip x length desired for project (pillow backs 16")

Step 1 - With the right side of fabric facing down, pull each side up to meet in the middle and press (refer to pic below).

Step 2 - With the fabric sides facing up fold one more time meeting these two folds together (refer to pic below).

Step 3 - Applying the binding tape to project. Simply slip the raw-edge of the project (pillow back) into the center fold and stitch 1/8" from the outer fold (demonstrated in pic blow without pillow back). This tape is very versatile being used in a variety of projects such as ties for a bag, binding/hemming a pillow back, etc.

So there ya go. This is how I bind/hem my pillow backs.

Here is a close - up of the binding tape applied.

I quilted this quilt with my long-arm arc ruler. It was very fun to add the gradual curves that helped keep the emphasis on the curved piecing. Then filling in the center melon with an easy back and forth filler.

So I would say that this runner was perfect for this season and was a fun challenge to undertake. Plus it is always nice to check off one thing I have piled on my list.

Back Packing -
Last thing to add is that I have finished writing my back packing school sampler pattern. This pattern is such a favorite one of mine. It is such an enjoyable one to make. The trims are super fun to add and I have included an label block or as an alternative to the backpack block, just in case people might not want to venture into zipper land. Though, I want to point out that it is super super easy so go ahead and venture.

I will take you through the quilt. We have an apple block, and a book block, and a fleece ABC block, and a school bus block. Then on the next row we have a ruler block, a hall pass block, a school house block, and a paper block. I have shared pics before in this post as well.

Then on the next row we have a turnstile block, and a backpack block, and a hourglass block, and finally a color-wheel block.

Oh my the polka dots! I love them. These fabrics are from Riley Blake's basic prints. This means that no matter when you delve into this quilt you will have access to all of these fabulous fabrics :)! That is the best right!

Then here is the super super sweet and delicious APPLE.

This pattern is versatile just like my other sampler patterns. You can choose to make the quilt in the wall hanging version, the skinny wall hanging version, or the multi-directional table runner version. So there is definitely a place in your sweet home for this lovely little teacher's tool.

I have made two of these quilts and my kids have put their stamp on each of them. Here is before I was able to bind my quilts but it shows how they have each signed and drawn all the cuteness on the paper block. PRECIOUS!

Of course now I have the quilts bound but I still have to stitch on the label - my quilt name and date I started and finished, then still applique it to the quilt(s). Don't tell anyone... they are just pinned on...

But that is a little bit closer.

Just count 1.2.3. and I'll be finished all the way :)

BOM 2014

BOM's and quilting Holiday LoVe!

12:33 PM

I am so excited to share what I am going to be working on very very soon. I was lucky enough to choose a pattern and teach our BOM for my Quilting Guild this upcoming year and of course I have picked our Sew Need a Break's newest pattern! Yay! Two patterns I am so tickled to start :) amongst all the patterns I am working on myself ;) Oh Geez, Louise.

So first of all Jen Kingwell's Green Tea and Sweet Beans - This designer has such a unique design style. It will be amazing to see how our guild members will piece this quilt together in all different traditional/modern varieties. I love her newspaper prints and I have ordered a bit myself to work into the quilt. I think "how can you not" include a little bit of that in this pattern!! You have to right?! :)

Next up - the Red Home Quilt in Natalie Bird's newest book. I love her really traditional use of fabric and color. I personally love a little bit of embroidery work because I tend to spend too much time back in the sewing room. Hand Embroidery gives me a chance to spend time with my family on the couch while stitching. It is a win win. She was a fantastic lady to meet at Market. She did an amazing job displaying in her booth.

On the Long Arm side of things I wanted to share two of my favorite quilts I have just quilted. This Christmas quilt could not have been more perfect in my opinion. The fabrics are to die for and it has made my anticipation for Christmas grow tremendously. It might be a combination or the fabric with the fact that Christmas shopping is in full swing here in this house. I have narrowed down my list and am checking it twice. The checks are that I have bought it and stashed it... It is not whether we have been good or bad because let's face it, we are always good and bad at one point or another.

I have to show you my most treasured piece of fabric right now which is convenient because it just happens to be in this sweet quilt. It is the snowman print. That might be another reason I love this quilt is because it has this most favorite fabric of mine right now. I only have a yard and I am thinking should I've bought more? It seams you can never buy too much of a good thing but it gets tricky when there are too many good things.

Just one more shot of the quilt I love. I quilted it with an all over pattern I have. It was perfect for this quilt and more importantly my tension was PERFECTION. Curse adjusting tension. It is the worst but this time I can not complain in the slightest.

Lastly, I was able to use some of my circle rulers. This quilt below shows how in the center of the block. This quilt also is the perfect colors for this ThanksGiving Season. So appropriate. I posted this quilt on my Instagram a bit back. I can hardly wait to use some more of the templates I just got. Itsn't crazy how the minds envisions all the possibilities and it seems like you can hardly wait a minute to get those out. I have a table runner on the frame right now waiting for me to jump on it. I hope you are all enjoying the holiday season and I am sending out Holiday LoVe to everyone. It sure brings a smile to my face and warms my heart.

Halloween

All Hallow's Eve... Eve

10:08 AM

Before I headed to Texas for Quilt Market I took our annual Halloween Costume Photo Shoot. This year I did what I thought I would never do... which is make a costume. It wasn't too tuff so I am not going to complain and my little scarecrow turned out just fine so I guess I will have to say that it was fun and I am not totally opposed to this in the future. However, my little ones are growing up fast so who knows how much longer we got anyhow.

So my kids developed little personas of the characters they were dressed as and it totally cracked me up. This look is without any coaxing or direction...

I think she thought that a scarecrow is a very thoughtful high fashion expression kind of a thing.

This is what she really looks like :) She wanted to be a beautiful scarecrow and not a cutsy scarecrow. So we have a little bit of both here.

Here is the little one from the back.

Now on the other side of the spectrum is my little Astronaut. His take was a strong confident I-walk-into-danger-unafraid demeanor. Astronauts are pretty much that awesome.

Oh Geez, where did I get these kids? I can't believe their little minds sometimes. This is what he really looks like. He is a goofy smiling kind-hearted soul. But he definitely has both characters inside that little body.

See... a little goofy.

UMMMM... This is after I asked like twenty times who likes Mom more than Dad and he finally caved. Success!!

I feel so incredibly blessed right now in my life and I am so grateful for what I have. I hope that we continue smiling no matter what we have to face and stick together.