To do this year...

(Present from my mom)

2012 is my first full year of quilting. It's going to be a busy year, too! Now that I'm done with my Christmas deadlines, I can move on to quilts I'm making for other people, mostly family members. I have a list going of who's getting a quilt and what fabric might work for them, but most importantly what type of pattern I want to use. I'm the only one in my close circle of family and friends who does any quilting and I want to make sure I match the quilt to the person as well as I can. I like to assume that they all appreciate receiving hand made things from me, and I don't want to turn them off for sure on quilting! :o)

My only problem comes with... well, everything. Since I'm just starting, I don't have a stash of fabric to work with. I'm buying fabric to match the recipient. Not too bad of a problem since the bottom line is I get to shop, but my mind works in over time all the time. Until I put my foot down (and drown it in cement to make sure it doesn't go anywhere) I tend to change my mind about patterns, or fabrics pretty easily. I think it's just so easy for me to be inspired by everything I see being done that my mind keeps wanting to up the ante with my choices. And that's really why I call it my "Craft Monster". It just doesn't know when to stop! Just when you think it's down for the count... BAM!!! It's up and running before you can be safely out of the way. *Sigh* I could have worse problems, I guess. :o)

I have a couple of quilts that are further along in the pattern/fabric process, so I'm going to start with those. I have one deadline: August 4th. I have some friends who are newly engaged so of course I want to make them a double wedding ring quilt. Wait, what?! You mean, and "advanced/experience needed" type of pattern?! With a deadline in less that 8 months?!!! Yeah, scratch that. I'm really fascinated with double wedding rings, I think they're gorgeous. BUT the curved piecing makes me nervous. My local quilt shop is offering their first double wedding ring quilt class at the end of March. It's two sessions and at the end I would have a baby sized quilt. Craft Monster tells me "No problem! That only leaves you 4 months to grow it to a queen size, quilt and bind it. You can do it!". What Craft Monster seems to neglect is that a) I'm a mother of two, a wife, and I work 40 hours a week. And two: I'm a beginner who wants to do other quilts, too! So rational Vio won.

I decided to go back to my very first idea which was a Triple Irish Chain in their wedding colors of lime, lemon and aqua. I'm going to do it with lots of different fabrics with a white background. I'll figure out the backing and binding when it gets closer. I even drew out a sketch to figure out how I want to lay out the colors. I think I like the top one better.

My niece's quilt is all finished... except for the binding. I was supposed to get it started last weekend, but I was just down in a funk. All I did was read my book club book (Moloka'i by Alan Brennert), fold some laundry, and finally play Lego Harry Potter on XBoX. BUT I told myself that I'm going to make myself happy this year, and right now, quilting makes me happy. So... back to binding I go! I even have the fabric! I just have to start cutting. Maybe this Friday I'll bust out one of the 3 seasons of "The Big Bang Theory" I got for Christmas and make a night of it. :o)

Next is my daughter's quilt. We went to the zoo for her birthday this summer and she became enamored with giraffes. Not regular giraffes, of course. PINK giraffes. Soon after, I found Zoology in Bloom by Michael Miller and an idea was born. (I just hope she still likes it when I'm finished with it.) I was inspired by AmandaJean's Star Quilt Along but because I want to feature the giraffes, I'll only be doing sawtooth stars with the setting blocks. I was originally going to use gray as the background, but I quickly realized that gray is not in the rainbow, and therefore not one of my daughter's favorite colors. :o) I switched to a bright pink, but I had put too much time and effort into the coloring... just imagine the gray is pink, and the pink is gray.

My poor nephew... he hasn't gotten a blanket from me!!! I was going to crochet him one when he was born, but I was just not happy with the yarn I chose. It didn't matter how many different patterns I tried, it just never materialized. He's now 4 and a half (oops!!!) so he's next on the list. His dad is REALLY into comic books and super heroes, which of course means that he is too. I found this fabric while perusing one of the online quilt shops and I just had to buy it.

It's kind of hard to imagine what to do with it! That big one is literally BIG. It's a super big scale. I thought of doing 12.5" squares of all 3 fabrics with a 4 patch in green, blue, red and yellow. The bottom two fabrics are kind of khaki colored, almost like old newspapers, so I thought I'd do some brown sashing to compliment.

BUT now I don't like the idea of brown next to the big scale print. :o( I saw Corrie from Quilt Taffy use the Kitchen Windows pattern by Elizabeth Hartman for her Ghastlie Blog Hop and I like the idea of keeping the scene "untouched". So now instead of trying to make my own pattern, I will do a couple of Kitchen Windows for the big print, with some solids and the other two fabrics filling in some of the other panes. I haven't done the math, but I hope it looks good.

The only way I could convince my husband to let me make a quilt for our bed was that he got to pick the fabric. He decided that if I made a quilt using Asian inspired quilts, it could go on our bed. I fell in love with Swoon by Camille Roskelley when I first saw it and I think it could look really good in Asian prints paired with some solids. I'll be making it 4 by 4 for our king sized bed.

I think this will be the only project that I'll be working on while I have other ones going on. I can make a block here and there. :o) I'm nervous that if I just start cutting into everything, nothing will get finished.

Oh, and I almost forgot. I do have one other non quilty thing. I promised my best friend a Birdie Sling last July. Yeah, she was kind of expecting it for her birthday. Oops. Well, at least I have 6 more months until it's due again! I still need the fleece interfacing, but I think they have the one I'm looking for at JoAnn's.

(Yes, that's barbed wire fabric. She chose it for the inside.)

And that's it! ("For now!" says Craft Monster) It's a lot, but at the same time, it's not. I just have to keep myself motivated and remember how happy it makes me. Oh, and since I'm not taking the double wedding ring class, I think I'm going to take the basic long arm class instead! The quilt shop offers rentals on their machine, after you take the class of course. I'm making a visit this weekend, and I'll have to ask how much it is to rent. I imagine it's way cheaper than sending out my quilts to be done by somebody else. :o) I just don't think my machine has a big enough arm to fit a queen/king sized quilt.

P.S. Maybe if I start blogging more often, about all my steps and the wanderings that Craft Monster does,  I won't have to write the great American novel every time I sit at the computer! Whew! Or it could be that I just talk way to much. :o)

Done, Done, DONE!!!

My happy dance is a conga. *Happy Conga!!!* I finished 6 Christmas stockings. And it's not December 24th!!!
 I tried to modify some store bought stockings last year. It did NOT work out. They were cheap, and I didn't have a sewing machine yet, so I did everything by hand. I finished 3 out of 4. Guess which one did not get finished? Mine. :o( So with my new found love of sewing/quilting, and my old Craft Monster to cheer me through, I made 6 this year. Four for my immediate family, and one each for my mom and brother. There's a few things I'm not super happy with, like the cuff is too small...the font is too small, and the embellishments got caught up on the seam. But they're finished. And I made them. :o) I used Cluck Cluck Sew's tutorial on Purple Panda Quilts and random Christmas fabric from JoAnn (that was deliciously on sale). It's super easy! Now that I've tried them this way, I may try the lined version next time.
Now to find gifts to fill them with!!!

P.S. Sorry, I don't know how to flip the pictures when I'm taking them straight from my camera. Stretch out your neck muscles and turn your head to the side. I'm sure you need to de-stress anyway. :o)

Ornaments.... DONE!

Add one more finish to the list! I've finished 10 quilted Christmas ornaments. And it's not Dec 24th!!! Take THAT Craft Monster! :o)

I haven't kept track how long it's taken me to finish them. I know that I usually did them during marathon sewing sessions, aka Friday nights. Last Friday was all about making and pinning all the binding to the blocks. Then yesterday I was meaning to only sew one side of the binding on, but that first part is the hardest and when it's over, it's just a bit longer to actually finish the whole thing! Which is also why I was up until 11 pm. :o/  BUT they're finished! I just have to assign them to individual kids and write on the back my little dedication to them. "For so-and-so, Christmas 2011, Love, (Tia)Vio". Loving isn't it? :o) I was planning on appliqueing each kid's initial on the back, but that would have looked weird with the quilting. A permanent pen is also a lasting love. :o)

I used charm squares for the backs. They look like a bunch of pot holders. :o)

These two are my favorites. They might have to go to my two children. :o)

Next: 6 Christmas stockings, binding my niece's quilt, starting on my daughter's quilt and possibly my nephew's. Oh, and my husband bought me Lego Harry Potter: Years 5-7 for my birthday last month (yes, I know I'm not 13) and I want to start playing it! When I'm focused on one thing, I go all out. I know that if I start playing Harry Potter, I won't sew until I beat the game! So Craft Monster, let's get through Christmas first, then we can Expelliarmus to our heart's content. Deal? :o)

2 month round up.

I finally have some time to catch up on my blogging, so I'll try to fill you in on what went on craft-wise during Sept, Oct, and most of Nov. Wow... that was a long time! I did actually work on projects, I just didn't blog about them. Bad Vio.

My quilt class went well. I was trying to think of a summary of what went on, what I learned, etc. and my first thought was "I didn't learn anything!! I already knew everything, I was just there." Silly me. That's not true at all! I *thought* I knew everything because I've been reading blogs like crazy, looking at all sorts of tutorials, etc. But aside from piecing my charm squares together, I hadn't really done anything. What this class did was give me 3 hours at a time where I could devote myself to piecing and actually putting into practice everything I thought I knew.
Our quilts are samplers made up of 7 types of blocks: rail fence, 9 patch, 9 patch variation, square dance, friendship star, flying geese and log cabin.  I was able to do the first 4 pretty easily, without much instruction besides what size to cut. The friendship star was my first stumble. I pieced it incorrectly and had to rip out the stitches. I love the colors I used so that kept me happy. I knew I wanted to see how the instructor made flying geese since there are at least 4 different ways to do it. And the log cabin actually had me lost for a bit. But I worked through them and I really enjoyed making all the blocks. My finished blanket is 5 blocks by 5 blocks with a 1" inner border and a 4" outer border ( I think). I used the fabric I showed earlier.
I was a little concerned at first because all the other ladies chose really nice subtle colors: one had Fall rusty colors, another had browns, reds and creams, one lady chose only yellows and corn flower blue,and another chose Hometown by Sweet Water for Moda. My colors were almost blinding! The instructor kept pointing it out each time I showed her a block. It got almost to the point where I wasn't sure if she liked them or if she was really aghast at them. I started to doubt in my choices, which is not a very nice thing at all. After I put them all together, though, I REALLY like my finished project.

 I pieced the back with a square dance block and strips of all the fabric I used in the quilt.

 I did grid quilting on point in the main blocks, just stitched in the ditch for the inner border and free motion on the outer border following the flowers on the pattern.

 I love the final result!!! I just hope my sister does too. All I have left is the binding. I bought white polka dots on dark gray fabric. I think that will tie everything up nicely. :o)

Oh, and I even made a quilt label. I'll have to hand stitch that one in once I finish the binding. I'd like to have it done by Christmas, but I have 2 other projects with Christmas deadlines that MUST be completed first. :o)

I thought I had a lot more going on, craft-wise, in the last couple of months, but I guess this was the biggest thing! I've posted about my place mats (finished!), I'm working on ornaments and Christmas stockings... I have all the fabric I need for my daughter's quilt... and the main fabrics for my nephew's quilt (which I bought with a gift certificate I won to the Fat Quarter Shop thanks for Lee from Freshly Pieced). That only leaves 5,783 other projects to do! Unless Craft Monster gets some more ideas. :o)

I finished!!

I finished my place mats!!! *Happy Dance!!!* It helps so much to have a dedicated sewing area where I don't have to take anything down. Well, that and sewing for about 8 hours with few interruptions. :o) I thank my husband for that one. Since our dining room table was clean from Thanksgiving dinner, I just sewed my little heart out yesterday until dinner time. Then I saw that Celebrity Ghost Stories was new, and I had to watch. *Guilty pleasure* I was able to leave everything out and pick it back up this morning. And 6 bindings later.... I finished!!!! I'm so excited. One, because it's not Christmas Eve and I'm finishing them as family is arriving for dinner. And two, because I now have time for my other projects so that I may (hopefully) finish those before Christmas Day, too.

I have 10 ornaments that are ready to be quilted. Hopefully I'll finish those today.

I made these with leftover charm squares from my place mats and a border from a few fat quarters I picked up. There are 5 with a pinwheel center and 5 with a diamond center. I'm not sure if that block has a name.  :o)

And now....the place mats!!!!!

I used my two favorite fabrics to back 6 place mats each. (Sorry, I don't know their names, and would rather not go searching for them. They're both part of the Flurry line, though) I love the one on the left because it's very whimsical, and it combines pink and blue with the traditional reds and greens of Christmas. And the one on the right reminds me of all the Christmases we spent in Mexico when I was young. Poinsettias always do, for some reason. :o)

I should mention that I did a machine binding on all of them. No hand stitching whatsoever. Maybe because I'm a little intimidated, but probably because it's so much easier! About two days after my first binding trial, AmandaJean at crazymomquilts posted this and her results kind of, sort of equaled mine (but hers were WAY better) so I felt like I was doing it the right way. I don't mind that the sewing line shows on the back. Who's going to be looking at the back of the place mats anyway?  ;o)

Okay, I think that's it! I want to upload my pictures to Kate Spain's flickr group for Flurry projects, quilt those ornaments, and get started on the super last minute Christmas stockings that I decided would be a good idea. Like I didn't already have 6 trillion projects going on. Thanks a lot Craft Monster. ;o)

Oh goodness...

I started writing a post about a two weeks ago when I realized how long it had been since my last one. I was trying to summarize my quilt class as well as any other sewing I'd done. Well, because I was trying to fit so much, I had to stop and get back to it. It's been so long, and with Thanksgiving going on, I just haven't finished. Anyway, I just wanted to say that I'm still going strong. I may not sew all the time, but I now have 3 projects to finish before Christmas. I just have 6 out of 12 place mats to finish binding and my first project will be finished. :o) I'll have to dedicate some time soon to finish that pending post and put up some pictures. Toodles!

ROAR! (...or Second Wind)

My Craft Monster has been busy!! (That title is him/her? waking up.)Well, busy adding to my list of things to do, not actually *doing* anything. Silly Monster. It's gotten to where I need to write a list of who I'm making things for and STOP buying fabric. I can only do so much at a time. I've had a couple of weeks now where I did some shopping and researching of patterns and ideas, but didn't do much in the actual construction or sewing of quilts. I should be ashamed. But I'm not. :o) I have reasons.

Excuse #1: My daughter started school on the First, so that was pretty exciting. My baby is in kindergarten! It was my first First Day of School as a parent. I held up pretty well. :o) My daughter had a little bit of a breakdown. She was super excited for school, but her teacher speaks Spanish, and she doesn't, so that put a wrench in the excitement. She is in a Dual Language program where they will spend 50% of their school day immersed in the Spanish language (no translation whatsoever) and 50% in English. There is an equal amount of native speakers of each language mixed in both classes so the kids can help each other. The goal is bi-literacy and bi-lingual(ness?) by the end of the program, which runs through 6th grade. I was born in Mexico, I spent my first 10 years there, and I am ashamed to say my children do not speak Spanish. :o( I'm hoping this program can help them and our family be more bilingual in our everyday life.
I did make some project progress while she was at school that first day: I cut the backings, batting and binding for my place mats! That should count for something. I started basting, but ran out of pins since I only bought 75. Oops.

Excuse #2: I didn't have everything I needed! I think that's usually my first excuse. :o) Everything I've read, whether it be in books or blogs, tells me that I NEED a walking foot if I'm going to do any straight line quilting on my machine at home. I went looking for one at my local sewing and vacuum store, but they didn't have the Brother one I wanted, and I did NOT want to spend $100 on another one, so I walked away with only two spools of thread, a binding foot (which I will talk more about once I do some binding), and some advice from the lovely lady helping me out. She suggested I pin like crazy with my basting and that should help me quilt without a walking foot. Well... I started to, but then I gave up and ordered the walking foot online. AND a free motion foot since it was on sale. So now, technically, I should have every notion I need to finish at least the 4 projects I have on my table. (I told you the Monster has been busy!)

Excuse #3: My husband and I went camping last weekend! Adult camping. As in NO KIDS, so many friends! It's the 3rd year we've done it and it's so much fun. Even when we don't do anything *well, except hold a beer in hand* it's so nice to just SIT. Family camping is usually trying to find ways to entertain kids, keep them fed, semi clean, and out of trouble. This year we invited a couple who hadn't gone camping before (at least she hadn't) and I think they had fun. They're already making plans to come back next year. Yay! :o)

I think that was the last of my excuses. I'm getting the quilt bug again, so hopefully I'll be able to keep going and actually finish a project! It's hard to do it at night, though. I LOVE natural light. That's probably why when I'm at work, I'd rather be quilting. But once I get the kids in bed, and it's getting dark out, I'd rather sit on the couch and catch up on Psych. :o)
I basted 5 place mats yesterday and I WILL finish the last 7 today. I cut my Flurry scraps as well yesterday. Those will be for my annual Christmas ornaments for all the kids in my life. My sister-in-law and her family moved back home, so they add 2 more kids to the list for a total of 10 ornaments this year! My plan is to make a simple-ish block, probably no bigger than 4 inches, and to hand stitch their name and the year to the back.  I now have all the fabric I need for my daughter's quilt top, so I'd like to start cutting that down, too. AND my first quilt class starts next weekend! I know that I have enough projects going on (2 with Christmas deadlines) so that hopefully I'll be able to make a dent each week. I plan to stay up super late on Friday, fire up that Netflix, get lost in a couple of episodes of Psych and actually start quilting! :o)  Maybe not so much progress this Saturday because... we're going to the Fair!

P.S. I never did get more storage on my computer to download my pictures off my camera, but I DID get a new memory card. I think I even figured out how to get pictures off of it without saving them to whatever computer I'm on! I think Craft Monster is getting savvier. It still needs a name. ;o)