Snuggle Bunnies

 
Today I had another early birthday party with family and I got a Pandora charm for my charm bracelet (love those things!) and a tablet for my computer. One of my friends had a great idea for a Valentine's day gift for her boyfriend, she is going to buy a bottle of wine and remove the label and she wanted me to design a custom label for her to put on the bottle instead. This was the perfect opportunity to test drive my new tablet with an easy project! Here is the draft - what fun (btw for those who have never used a tablet before like myself, they are pretty freaking cool!


 

I Can't Resist!

Dear Pottery Barn,

Please stop making adorable overpriced toys that my child loves and I can't resist.

Sincerely,
My Budget

P.S. Same request to StrideRite ($50 for a pair of toddler shoes?!?!)

Crazy Quilt

 
This quilt was a bit of an experiment. The fabrics are not things that I would typically pick but I was drawn to them for some reason. It is much funkier then my normal style. I also changed it up a bit and used a disappearing nine patch pattern which is more of a traditional style then I am used to. Overall I am really happy with it, I love the orange binding.



This time I used a 2.75 binding and machine bound and it worked out perfectly - I think it looks great and I will definitely machine bind again in the future!



Don't you just LOVE the backing fabric?? I do..




Here is a picture of the pucker (it is really tiny and I doubt anyone would notice it but I was still disappointed, it is the first time I have ever had a pucker!)



 

Bag Envy

 
I am in love with this bag... How could you not be? I may not be able to resist it...




 

Tired of Looking at Baby Quilts Yet?

 
Yes, I agree, I probably need to move on to a different type of project, but I still have a few more baby quilts in the queue so you will be seeing them for a little bit longer.



I tried fully machine binding this quilt and I learned a few things... (for those of you who have never done a machine binding, you stitch the binding to the back of the quilt instead of the front of the quilt and then you pull the binding around the edge and top stitch the edge of the binding down onto the front of the quilt - it is basically the reverse process of when you hand stitch the back side of the binding)

1) If you are going to machine bind I would recommend a 2.75 inch binding. I used a 2.5 inch binding with a 3/8th of an inch seam and the problem with that is that when you pull the binding over and stitch the other side of the binding to the quilt, half of the time the stitching is on the binding and half of the time it is on the back of the quilt itself. I would prefer that all of the stitching be on the quilt to keep the binding looking clean.

2) If you are doing machine binding I would choose a thread color that will make the stitches hard to see because it isn't as clean of a look as hand binding.

3) I would recommend a patterned backing and binding to hide the binding stitches as much as possible so they blend in with the project.

4) Be sure to use a foot on your machine that allows you to stitch very close to an edge consistently.

Asian Print Modern Baby Quilt

 
Last night for my birthday I had a great girls night. We had some amazing food and got a lot of sewing done! Here is one of the projects that I recently finished (it is 30x41 inches). I am really happy with how it turned out. I love the colors!

I had a lot more success with binding this quilt. I used a 2.5 inch binding and I managed perfect mitered corners. I think the trick to it is to make sure you don't have too much fabric when you do your corners or else they get bunchy and large. I have been hand stitching the back of my binding but I think I may try a fully machine done binding on my next quilt.



I think one of my favorite things about this quilt is the fun fabric on the backing. This quilt really could be reversible. One of my friends thought that this could almost be used as a wall hanging.






Up it goes on Etsy - Wish me luck!
 

Upgraded

 
Today was my day off (I officially work a .9 so every other week I get a day off). When I rolled out of bed around 10:30 this morning and wander down to do some crafting look what I found waiting for me in my craft room as an early birthday surprise?!?!?!?!



Ahhhh the joy of a fabulous new upgraded fancy sewing machine. I giggle whenever I look at it, I am still in shock. The new machine is so quiet and smooth and pretty much perfect! So thank you to my wonderful husband for starting 28 off with such a bang!!!

Also here are a few projects that I have going on...






Don't you just love fabric?

I also have a quilt that I am just finishing the hand stitching on the binding...so assuming all goes well there should be pictures of that coming soon!
 

Happy Early Valentine's Day To Me

 
I have been admiring necklaces from Under Her Charm's Etsy shop for months now and I couldn't resist her latest creation. I love love loved it...so I convinced my husband to get me one for Valentine's day! I am so excited and I can't wait for it to get here. The charms will say "Chase", "Boris", "K" and it will have an Amethyst charm which is my birthstone (I was debating between Boris/Chase's birthstone and mine but I liked how the purple looked).




I also saw this bracelet on her shop and I thought it would be perfect for my husband for Valentine's day so I got it as well with the word "music".


 

Modern Baby Quilt

 
I am excited to say that my first free-motion quilt is finished. I love the fabric for this quilt and was happy with how it turned out. I still had some areas of uneven stitch length because I haven't quite mastered free-motion yet but overall I love love love how this project turned out.

I have two more quilts that are in progress and fabric for a 3rd on the way. Hopefully I will be sharing those soon!

Today's Retail Therapy

 
I was in desperate need of some retail therapy today and this is what it ended up looking like. I have been wanting to make Chase a quilt for a long time but I don't usually like little boy fabric. I found this set by Michael Miller and I really liked it and since I am on a quilting kick I thought it would be perfect for Chase. The website I ordered it from has a lot of great stuff.




 

Free Motion Quilting

 
Yesterday I went to Jo Anns and I bought my first jelly roll with the intention of giving free motion quilting a try. Here are my initial attempts.

Quilted Scarf
I needed a small project to practice my new skill on so this was my test run. Overall it turned out pretty well. My stitches aren't all consistent since I am still a beginner but you can't really tell with all of the crinkling. Here are a few things I learned:
- The needle needs to be moving fairly fast or you end up with massive odd stitches
- It is easier to try practicing with contrasting thread because I had a hard time seeing where I had stitched at times
- Over pinning is a bad idea because taking them all out while you quilt is quite a pain (I think I want to try an adhesive sometime)
- I used a 2 inch binding and I wish I had done a 2.5 inch because it was a bit small. Also I tried machine binding both the front and back for the first time. It isn't as clean as hand stitching but for a project like a scarf it worked out well enough.
- I still haven't quite figured out how to finish the binding perfectly or the corners but I did alright.





Pin Cushion
Here is my other little practice project. I LOVE how this turned out. I saw online that someone had made a pin cushion and they put steel wool inside it to help keep the pins sharp so that is what I did with this. It turned out really well.




Baby Quilt
Here is a peek at the quilt. It is all pinned and ready to be quilted. I can't wait to finish it! The pictures don't really do it justice.




 

2010 Plans

 

What does 2010 have in store for me? Of course there are the typical things such as being a good wife, good mother, good friend etc, but here are a few additional things I want to try to take on.

- For the last 3 - 6 months I have spent a lot of time thinking about what it would be like and what it would take to be able to quit my job and be self-employed. I am still a few years out because that goal isn't realistic until Chase is in school but that leaves me a few more years to start planning / preparing. So 2010 will hopefully be my first steps in that direction. Specifically I want to focus on seeing if there is anything specific that I can market (I am a rather unfocused crafter and if I am going to try to get a little business going I probably need a theme and consistency). Then in 2011 and 2012 I want to try to actually get my Etsy shop going.

- Another goal of mine is to actually put some thought into my blog. Typically I just post whatever is on my mind, in 2010 I want to be a bit more thoughtful about whether or not readers would enjoy reading the posts. I think if I eventually want to start some kind of homemade shop it would be nice to have a blog following to share ideas with.

- I would like to learn a bit more about photography and digital art design. Both topics have always interested me.

- Lastly, I would like to try to get healthy again. I have let that ball drop ever since I had Chase and got sick but it is time to pick it back up again.

What are your plans for 2010?