Slow Sewing

With coming in to the last few weeks of my cookbook project, I haven't gotten much time to do a lot of sewing. I did lock myself away from the family for a little while this evening. I have a project going, I don't remember the name of the block, but it is a square set on it's points, and then triangles are put around it to make it a bigger square. I need 120 for the top I want to make, all scrap fabrics again. I'd say I have about 30-40 done now after what I was able to add to it today. I'm just not too sure how it will look when it's done. I really have a lot of different colors and prints, so it will either look really cool or... well, not so cool.

The cookbook, well, it's my baby. I'm part of our fire department auxiliary, and it was my big idea, and I still really believe in and support it, but man it's a lot of work!! I have been entering recipes in the online site the printing company has, and we have passed our goal of 500 recipes. People have the rest of the month to get them in, then it's off to print. I've decided once it's all sent in, I'm getting a massage. It will be well worth it :) This is our cover picture:

A few more finished projects

I got the back put on my waterfall quilt- I love the print! I was off 2 days last week, and made the baby quilt too. Also broke my commitment to not go to the fabric store, and got enough for about 3 backs and one batting.

I'm home again today because my son got pink eye. That's ok (the staying home part) because I am working on another top for a queen sized quilt for my cousin. On top of that, making a few aprons for my 2 cookie days in the next month, and I'm the chair for the cookbook our fire department auxiliary is putting together. Our deadline is less than a month away now, and we hope to have at least 500 recipes. Our number is at 426, and there are still a lot of people who have said they will be getting us recipes. If anyone else wants to share recipes with me, be my guest!

Success!

My son had his first successful potty training night! I was so excited to get him to use the toilet. I hope we can keep it up and work on getting him out of diapers.

One other success was selling my 3D pinwheel quilt with stars on etsy today. Good thing too, I got one more sweater at the store today than I needed to have (but it could be a gift from Santa if I wait long enough to wear it...). One not so great thing is that I think I lost or threw out a basic quilt block book. I have searched high and low, and have not found it back. Guess I need to find a new one, darn, huh?

Thinkin pink

I just about have this top completed. I cut my strips this morning and hope to get the border on during nap time. The back will probably be pieced, as I am trying to use up some of my stash rather than buying more. (HAHAHAHAHAHA! Like that will actually happen!) I did purchase pink for the border, but should have enough in my tote for finishing it otherwise. Now I just have to decide if I am going to keep it or sell it once it is done.

I really don't need to keep another quilt, but it does look awfully cute.

Apron Pattern request

Anyone have any suggestions for a pattern for a retro style apron? I might check out my LQS tomorrow, but I want to try making some for my sister-in-laws for Christmas. A free pattern would be really cool.

More Progress

I love this 3D Flying geese pattern! And the prints in the charm packs I used are so cute!. It's from the Lollipop line from Moda, I think they aren't actually out yet, but I got these on ebay. I want to find something to match and add one more border around the whole thing.

New 3D Pinwheel

My latest finished quilt. I will probably be listing it on etsy shortly. I've done pretty well on that site, with 11 sales since about April.

Darning Foot is here

So I got a darning foot. How do I free-motion quilt?

Waterfall Top

Here is another pattern I saw and had to modify to my liking. I really like how it turned out, and would like to try it again, maybe using just shades of 1 color or 2 colors.

Too many bug bites

That's about all the more my little guy can open his eyes right now. He got a lot of bug bites Wednesday night in out backyard. The mosquitoes have been terrible this year. I might have a 4 day weekend, depending on when I get him into the doctor's office.

New nephew and Quilt top

My sister-in-law had a little boy this morning. Everyone is doing well, he was 6 pounds, 11 ounces, and 4 days over due. He'll have lots of fun with my boys in just a few months.
And this is what I made with the pieces of that card trick that didn't quite work out. I didn't want to trim the larger triangles to make my miscalculated smaller triangles work for the card trick. Got it finished up over the weekend, and 2 nursing covers. I need to figure out which version works better, and then will list them on etsy, with all my other projects.

Darning foot??

A co-worker told me to use a darning foot to do a meander on my regular sewing machine. Anyone do this before? I want to get a little more info before I try to buy one.

Finishing some Projects

I got the trip around the world finished up today. I had it on my frame for a few weeks, meaning to tie it, but wasn't getting around to it. But today, after quitting my job this morning- huge weight off my shoulders- I came home, tied it, and pinned my edges. After supper I found time to sew the edges.

So yeah, I quit my job this morning. My boss was terrible, very rude and unprofessional. In my review last week she admitted to being a b****, but I shouldn't take it personal, and should leave it at work. Yeah right! My hubby had noticed for a while that I was crabby more often than not, and that's just not healthy for me or my family. I didn't have anything lined up for work, but things have just been falling into place. Spoke with a temp agency today- I can start Monday as a loan processor at a bank, which is more of what I went to school for anyway. Less pay, but still income and hopefully a better place.
And this is the pillow case I made for my first little boy. He loves trains, and Thomas the Train right now, so I thought this was fitting. He wouldn't leave me alone when I was making it for him.

Change of Plans

I got all my pieces cut to start a card trick top. It was a new pattern I found in a book ordered online. The book was pretty old- it only gave templates for the pieces, so I had to figure out my sizes and quantities for using strips. Then I got to thinking. All the squares that I initially cut were the same size. But that was the problem. The extra seam in the smaller triangles made them about a quarter inch too small when I put the whole block together as seen below.
So, now I have a pile of the little triangles that I don't know what to do with. The larger triangles I am going to use together and make a pinwheel top. (I was thinking about doing one of those next anyway)

Sort of Rail Fence Top done

Someone was excited to see me put a quilt top on the floor to try and take a picture of it. If you look close, there is a little leg in the top right of the picture below.
I like it. The blue and purple make the rail, but even with that not being real noticeable, I still like it.

Wedding Gift done, next project

I love the back of this quilt!! I had cut my borders too large, but didn't want to cut them off, so I wrapped them to the back as the binding.
And then there's the next project. I liked the 6 colors, and hope it will sort of look like a rail fence. If not, it should still look pretty nice.

A Year Gone By

This next week my baby turns one. I got some pictures of him playing with a cake a little early so I can hand them out at his party next weekend. He wasn't the least bit afraid of it, unlike his older brother. Tyler ate most of the cake too. (not much that he doesn't eat)

I wish I had more quilt progress to report. I sold my 3D flying geese top on etsy today. A really cute pattern, but I wished it had been bigger. I am working on what I hope will look like a rail fence top. I'm using 6 colors, and having ABC going vertical, and DEF going horizontal. So even if it doesn't look like a rail fence, it should still look pretty nice. I got a top tied for a friend's wedding, still need to sew up the edges on it, and find time to put the next wedding quilt on the frame to tie. Or machine quilt. I'm not sure which, mostly because it's a queen top, and that's a lot of fabric to wrestle on my machine.

Three more really busy weekends, and then summer should be winding down.

Still Stuck

I am still trying to decide which will be the gift to my sister-in-law. Her baby shower is on Sunday. Which one should I give her?

So, I've been busy at my machine for a while- I guess when am I not? Here are the two latest tops. I really like the Paddington Bear one. It might be a gift for my future nephew, if I get to finishing it up before the shower. The trip around the world top was a UFO I had for a few years. The pattern was the one that has you sew the strips into tubes, and that was where I got stuck (more just lost interest in it). Glad I finished it. Sold this, another top, and 2 finished quilts on etsy this last week- very excited about that.

Tyler has started to take a few more steps! His first birthday is now less than a month away, can't believe how fast it has gone.

Which one?

I got both of these tops finished over the weekend, but now I have to decide which to give my sister-in-law for her baby shower, and which to sell on etsy. What do you think?

Sneek Peek

Here are the blocks I have started to work on for my next top. There will be 20 total, 10 of each, and it will be queen sized. I don't know what color I will want to use for the strips- any suggestions?

Sold another Quilt :D

I sold another quilt on etsy today. I get excited everytime someone buys one. (It means a little more me money for fabric). Overall I don't really price them to make much money, mainly to cover my expenses. I've gotten to a point where I don't always have a reason for making quilts, but really enjoy it. I figure if someone I don't know wants to buy them, and I still get to make them, we all win.

Here is a link to my shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/ninepatchmama

I got the top done for a friend's wedding quilt. The wedding isn't until October, but I didn't really have anyone else I could think of to make a quilt for. I like it, but got really sick of the little squares. I think I need to stick to at least a 4" block. And right now, I think it might be too long, but I can fix that.

Recent progess

Here are 2 projects I've been working on. I did the flying geese top to try the pattern, and have it listed in my etsy shop. The green one was a quilt I have been pushing off finishing for quite a while, but got it all done today.

These are the two tops I recently finished. The scrappy looking one was just for me to have a project, after my potholder plan fell through. The baby top is for my cousin. She isn't finding out what she's having, but I think girl. I just can't get over how adorable it turned out.

I do have a boy top started, as back-up. Just my usual 4 patch in flannel. I was able to make some decent progress on that one today, pictures soon (hopefully!)