Love this!

This photo makes me so happy!

isn't she a beaut'?

I unpacked my new sewing machine, courtesy of JoAnne's mom, and I am so excited. I'm looking through the manual now and I can't wait!
It is the simple things in life...like a built in thread cutter, an up /down needle position button, and a foot pressure dial.
Did I mention that I can barely wait? Gotta get through the manual quick!

another sam video

Playing in the snow!

video of Sam in the snow

This is before we got the big storm and had even more snow.

willa's pillow

Friends of ours just had a baby (okay, it was like 3 months ago), and we finally got over to see them this week.  Their baby's name is Willa and she is cute with a full head of hair. 

I made her a pillow as a birthday gift.  I know babies can't really use pillows, but as she gets older it will come in handy.  David helped me with the design. I brought him an idea and he gave me a different idea and then I kind of combined the two ideas for the finished product.

 TA-DA!

 Her pillow is fairly small, and I made it in cute colors that aren't necessarily girly.  Our friends were happy about that.  This is before I quilted it and made it into a pillow.

I did a couple different quilting designs- some outlining the fun shapes on the fabrics and the middle lines were just wavy lines with little loops in them.  I really like how it turned out.

 I also embroidered Willa's name on the back with a little flower.  Happy little girl!

half square triangle quilt top

I finally finished the half square triangle quilt top. David has claimed it for his own. He tells me I will just have to make something he doesn't like and then I can give it away or sell it :)

Of course I still have to make the backing, quilt it, and do the binding, but one big step is done!

been busy quilting

Since I made Weston's quilt, I've been busy making other quilted items.  Three of them are all based on the same combination of fabrics, just put together a bit differently and in different sizes.

First, I made a birthday quilt for our friend's baby who was born last year in October.  To me it was fitting that the quilt had a halloween theme.

Birthday Quilt back.

Then, seeing how that turned out, I decided to make a bigger quilt (lap quilt size) for David (and me).  But before I finished the Halloween quilt for us, I made a little table runner.  I wanted to practice my free motion quilting and see how it would end up looking on the Halloween quilt. I did a little playing around with different color threads for the top and bottom.  You can see where I switched the top thread in the second picture (on the right).  Not the best look, but it did make me realize I liked the black thread on top --it made it look much less busy.

 _______________________
And now the Halloween quilt...I decided to use black sashing instead of the white I used on the Birthday quilt.

Here are the some of the squares I used in the Halloween quilt.

Here is what the quilt top looked like before I made the quilt sandwich and quilted it. 

and here it is after quilting (Sam is guarding it!):

 It shrunk a bit after washing--I didn't prewash any of the fabrics, so I usually expect some shrinkage.

I used an all-over free motion technique like on the table runner, but the scale of the pumpkins is bigger on the quilt.  Detail shot to the right.

We have been using it, but I think it will be put away for the summer.  I guess I'll have to make a different lap quilt we can use all year round!

my new design wall

Playing around with a few ideas for a new quilt...

my quilting future?

I recently "inherited" a whole box full of fabric from my in-laws.  I went through it all last night and got so excited about the possibilities!

What is on the couch above isn't even half of what I was given! 

So, the next steps are to:
1) get a sewing machine -buy or borrow (Spassky- tell me who you are!)
2) decide on a pattern
3) get some supplies
4) go to it!

I have been getting inspiration lately by checking out a few blogs/websites focusing on modern quilting.  Here are a few I really like:
Amy's Creative Side
Handmade by Alissa
Oh, Fransson!
Film in the Fridge
Sew, Mama, Sew

the quilt was presented

I had the honor of presenting Weston's quilt to Jodi and Matt yesterday.  Here are the two photos I took with my phone yesterday.

Weston, chillin' on the his new quilt!

 Jodi and Matt opening the present and checking it out :)

a quilt for Weston

One day at work I was talking with my colleagues at the lunch table. I explained that I wanted to get my sister and her husband and bun in the oven a nice gift, not just some onesies from Target.  My friend, J, suggested that I make a quilt for the baby.  I laughed it off and joked that I had no idea how to make a quilt, nor do I even have a sewing machine.  So incredibly gracious, she offered to teach me how to make a quilt and let me borrow all her quilting supplies.  After thinking it over a bit, I decided that this sounded like a great idea, if a little ambitious, and I took her up on the idea.  I'm always up for a challenge, so head-first, I dove into the world of quilts.

Here I will chronicle some of the steps in the process.

Going to the fabric store was the first step and so much fun.  J went with me, and we searched all over the cutest little quilt shop in Ballard called: The Quilting Loft.  I found these three great fabrics that were all part of a theme (see owls, frogs and foxes/squirrels in 2nd picture down).  And then I saw the monkey fabric, which I loved.  So then I spent the rest of the time coming up with coordinating fabrics for these four fabrics.  I bought a quarter yard (or more) of each of the fabrics in the pictures below.

Thirteen different patterns/fabrics in total!  I lived with these fabrics for a week or so, trying different combinations of them to see what I liked best. I emailed my mom pictures of the fabric to get her opinion on which ones I should use.  In the end, five of them were cut from the final design.

Then, knowing which fabrics I would ultimately use, I did some conceptual drawings.  The plan, at first, was to make the quilt 8 squares across and 10 squares down for a total of 80 squares.  That sort of freaked me out a bit, given that was my first quilt.  In all honesty, it scared me so silly that I re-vamped my design.

[First design ideas with 80 squares]

Here is the new idea for the quilt. A much more manageable 35 squares (5 squares across by 7 squares down).  I was playing around with the location of the different fabrics, as shown by the different colors in the drawing.  Neither of these ended up being the final design.

Here are the 35 squares, each one assembled, but not attached to each other yet.  You are supposed to pin up your squares to make sure they are in the right locations.  I found that this design was not quite right so I slightly changed the location of a few of the polka-dot squares in the final version.

Here we have the blocks sewn into the rows, with the brown sashing material.

And here is the quilt top finished, with all the sashing and the polka-dot border material.  J. usually uses a wide border, but I wanted to keep the size of the quilt manageable for a baby quilt. It was already almost as big as the top of a queen size bed!

Then I had to go find the backing fabric.  I used a flannel so it would be nice and soft.  J helped me every step of the way, including making the "sandwich", which is the backing material, the batting and the quilt top all "sandwiched" together.  Then you safety pin the heck out of it so that you can quilt it without the different layers moving around on you. This picture shows the backing fabric and many of the safety pins.

I started by sewing "stitch in the ditch", sewing along the already existing seams.  Then, I did the rest in free-motion quilting techniques.

Here is the quilt, completely quilted, but without the binding.  The binding is a small strip that goes around the edges to seal it all together.  I used a doubled binding, to give it extra strength and machine sewed it to the front of the quilt and then hand-sewed it to the back.

TA-DA!

The final quilt!  This was after washing the quilt, and it seemed to shrink up a bit.  I washed it in Woolite on cold, but there was still some shrinkage.

Those are my feet in the picture.  It is a tall blanket!

And here I am, so happy to have made this quilt for my new nephew!

Oh!  Lest I forget, I wanted to do something special for the signature block that goes on the back of the quilt.  So, I learned how to embroider!  It is amazing what you can learn these days from the internet.  I found the website Needle n' Thread  to be especially helpful in teaching me how to embroider.  Below is a close up of part of the signature block.  I used 4 different stitches in this signature block:  stem stitch, whipped backstitch, backstitch and satin stitch.

And here is the final signature block!  I even added a monkey to it- since I know Weston is the newest monkey in the family!

Here are a few detail shots of the different squares.  I used a different free-motion technique for each of the different fabrics in the center squares.  I got some great ideas for my free motion quilting from the Free-Motion Quilting Project website.

Monkeys got spirals.

Frogs got a wavy, watery looking design.

Squirrels/foxes got a sort of raindrop looking design.

Owls got swirls.

Oh, and I couldn't just learn to quilt and embroider, I had to also make a quilted pillow.  I know, I know, glutton....punishment....me. :)


The first photo below is the pillow front, before quilting and sewing on the back. Next is the finished product, quilted and back sewn on.  The last photo is of the back, just to show you that I didn't choose the hardest design for a pillow- no zippers or anything like that- just a simple envelope style back.

So that's all folks!  My first foray into Aunt-hood combined with my first quilt.  I don't think it is my last quilt though.  Now I just need to get a sewing machine that will take a quilting foot!

gardening update

I can't believe it has been so long since I've written.  I'm including a gardening update, since I have been so bad about posting lately.  The garden is one of the big things that has been going on in my world right now.  It is always just amazing to see it grow and I challenge anyone to plant a garden and not get excited when the veggies start producing. 

 Here is the pumpkin/squash patch at the beginning of the growing season.

 and here it is now!  I can barely walk through it without stepping on vines!

Here is one of the many pumpkins we will have grown!

Here is one of the three raised beds.  Tomatoes in the back, rainbow chard in the front right, and some newly planted carrots in the front left.

Here is another one.  Tomatoes in the back, along with bush green beans.  In the front is some newly planted arugula, lettuce, basil, and a huge sage plant.

Maybe these tomatoes will actually get ripe before it gets too cold...I'll hold my breath given the weather we've had this season.

Here is one of the green bean plants.  They've been pretty good producers. 

I picked these the other day and cooked them with some garlic, dried red chili flakes, and chicken broth. David really enjoyed them.

The Chard is a little out of control. I've been giving it away like crazy, and I still can't use it all.  Looks like one of the plants is beginning to bolt :(

We had so many Kale plants that there wasn't room in the boxes, so I planted these down by the patio. they grew pretty well down there, and have mostly been decoration. I gave away a bunch of the Kale too, but we still have more than we can eat.