excuse my absence

Life has taken me away from my quilting blog, it was already a pretty busy year, with the addition of our fourth child, but then we decided to move, again, back to texas, and my life is just now starting to feel normal.  I am almost unpacked, and we are starting to feel at home.  

I honestly feel like I miss this blog and my quilting friends, I hope to be back here more often this year!

I have found time to quilt, and have a few to show here on my blog that I finished back before we put our house on the market (and I had to put my sewing machine away)...

 swoon!

this quilt is big, so excuse my not so pretty pictures.  It's an oversized queen, and very difficult to photograph.  I love this quilt, it was fun for me.  I made it for my daughters bed.

I stuck with a blue and pink pallette.  

I opted to send it out to have it quilted, my first time ever, and what a treat that was!  It turned out perfectly, and I probably wouldn't have finished it otherwise.  I had Emily of Emerson Quilting do it for me and it looks sooo good, and she was FAST!

 I bound it in a blue and white stripe. 

 I let my daughter pick the backing...pink mermaids, from sarahjane (I love everything she does!)

Out to Sea Zigzag Quilt

Hooray, I actually finished a quilt!  It has been a while. I actually made a couple quilts and pillows and completely forgot to take pictures of them before I sent them off to their new home.  :(

I fell in love with this line of fabric months ago when Sarah Jane first posted it on her blog, and I immediately knew I wanted to make a quilt for my baby.

I went with one of my favorite patterns, the zigzag, and I think it worked out perfectly.  

 I used the map panel on the back, along with some Mendocino mermaids, which I think work so well with this line.

but my favorite touch was the addition of my daughters name, Elsie Mae, I have had this letter fabric for years, with intentions of using it, but I ALWAYS forget.  I'm glad I didn't forget this time.  I love it!

Bound in one of the Out to Sea stripes.  I love stripes!

I had leftovers, and cut a couple kits for this quilt.  They are available in my shop.  The kit is for the quilt top only.

triangles

One day a month or so ago, I just decided that I couldn't hold on to these fabrics forever (my favorite Heather Ross prints), so I just started cutting and cutting, and eventually had this HUGE (for me) quilt that now lives on my daughters twin bed.  I don't know if she loves it.  She would probably pick princesses or something like that, but I love it and love that I used up so many favorite fabrics!

I used a fons and porter triangle ruler and cutting out the triangles went really fast.  Actually sewing them together went great too. 

I quilted it a quarter inch from each seam.  I love the look of this type of quilting.  If I'm going to quilt a bed size quilt, it has to be fairly easy, and this was!  Just takes time.

I pieced the back with prints from the front, and then bound it in a pink and white stripe.  I still love those stripes!

Every piece of fabric from this quilt came from my stash!  YaY!  I have been trying to use what I have, and I can actually see my stash shrinking a little.  It feels good.

ps:  I am destashing some fabric in my etsy shop.  I'm listing it as fast as I can...but really, that's pretty slow.  

rainbow scraps

Well, obviously I've still been distracted.  I have found time to sew and quilt, it's the sitting down at the computer to write a post that I have a hard time with.  Now it's summer, and that creates a whole lot of different distractions....

I finished up my Rainbow Scraps quilt several months ago, and I still love it.  It's so colorful.  I've seen this quilt several times around blogland, and I love each of those too.  You can't go wrong with scraps and rainbows, I suppose.

 I copied Jolene, and went with black and white for the binding.  I almost did grey, but this was just so much better.

 blue on the back, and all from my stash!  Yay!  It's my ongoing goal--to try to use up my stash.  In my mind I have visions of using up my entire stash, and then being able to add to it.  But the reality is, I have got to get sewing if I want that to happen.

i've been gone forever.

I didn't anticipate it, but I've been gone forever (thanks to those who have sent emails/comments inquiring about me).  We welcomed our new baby girl, Elsie, into our home on January 12th, and she has been such a delight.  She is so beautiful, and the kids love her.  She was a tiny thing weighing 6lbs 2 oz at birth, but has grown so much over the past few months.

She's 3 months old now, and I am finally starting to feel like we have some order in our home.  Routine has returned, and she is a welcome friend.

I have found little bits of time here and there to quilt, and even finished up my One Block Over quilting bee quilt.  I love this quilt, it's busy and colorful and fun.  

I quilted scallops, which is new for me, and they aren't perfect, but I like them.  I'll definitely be trying them again.  I had intended for them to be more like hills instead of valleys, but I was almost half-way finished before I realized they were going the wrong way, and there was no way I was starting over.  I think they look like roof shingles, so it fits in nicely with the theme--that's what I tell myself.

my favorite part of this quilt is probably the backing.  Growing up, my sister had a quilt with this print on it (but red).  it's Hollie Hobbie and totally adorable.  I found a steal on ebay, and snatched up 4 yards. 

 bound in a dark blue.

scraps quilt

 

I finished this quilt up before we moved in October, but just barely got around to taking any pics.  I'm not super in love with it.  I like it enough, but something doesn't feel right.  I'm not sure if it's the layout or the putty color...I can't put my finger on it, but that's okay, the point was to use up some scraps.

I decided to bind it in this small flower print (Children at Play) to make it a little more pretty, and it turned out to be my favorite part.  

  When I started this quilt I thought I'd make the whole quilt top scrappy, but changed my mind.  I felt like it was getting too busy.

I love this print for backing.  It also helps to pretty it up.  This is it for 2011!  (finally).  Baby #4 is scheduled to come this week, so I'm pretty sure I won't be at my sewing machine for a while.  Too bad, because I have really been feeling the itch!

ginger quilt

 

My oldest daughter is 7 years old, and just before she was born I made her this baby quilt.  She LOVED that thing (still does).  It went everywhere with us, church, grocery store, airplanes, bed.  It was her number one comfort item.  Over the years it has suffered from wear, and eventually she didn't "need" it as much.  But it was still always in bed with her. 

Fast forward 5 or so years and my 2 year old discovered how soft and cuddly it is, and pretty much stole it from her big sister.  Luckily she just likes it for sleeping, but it has always bugged her older sister.  I haven't been super fond of it either.  It's pretty ragged, and I don't want to see it completely wear out.

One day, my 7 year old suggested I make a new one for my 2 year old.  I thought that sounded like a fair plan, so we went to work making a new one for Christmas.  At first I wanted to make it as close to exact as I could, but decided I didn't want to buy any fabric for this project, so really only the pattern is the same.

I kept warning my 7 year old that this might not work.  Her sister might not care for a new, crispy quilt.  She might just want her older sisters quilt that is broken in and soft.

But you know what, it worked.  My 2 year old loves her new quilt and was even willing to give back the old one!  Yay!

I love both of these quilts, they seem so sentimental to me.  I keep wondering if I'll have to make another version for our next baby.