The Masterpiece is Finished!!

Here she is. My mom's quilt! I'm so excited to finally have it finished!! I know my mom had been waiting patiently until Christmas to unwrap it... but maybe she didn't know that I put the finishing touches on it the night before we left to travel home! For the first time ever, I finished the binding by machine (first time on a huuuuge quilt). I mostly did this because I was under a time crunch and didn't want to rush myself on everything else that needed to be done. It turned out perfectly, although I didn't take any pictures of those perfect neat little corners... I know they're there! I used this method for pressing the binding before finishing it

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 Although I can't remember specifically what the measurements of this quilt were (without searching through my sketches to find the one where I did the math), I think it finished at about 60" x 78" HUGE. 

 It's perfect for snuggling on the couch or throwing on top of Mom's side of the bed... so she doesn't have to share and Dad won't be too hot! 

 Here are some bits and pieces. Pictures here of the prayer written into the binding before sewing it up. I also wrote the same note on the tag that I tied up with the quilt. So my mom can remember it, even though it's hidden inside. I like to think of this as a way to literally wrap someone in love and prayers. I can't claim to have thought of this on my own (I got the idea from a blog friend who sent a block for Rosemarie's quilt). I try to remember to do this for all my quilts.

 Here's mom reading the note. :) She did cry... which was pretty sweet and made me cry a little too. :) She's my mom, what else can I say? 

Here's the only full length photo I've got. It was so overcast and dreary, so I'll have to take some pictures of it once the sun comes out again... come June! lol.

I'm pretty much in love with this quilt and I'm glad my mom loves it too. I designed the whole quilt around that AMH fabric (totem, from her LouLouThi line), which I'd envisioned in those panels from the moment I'd seen it online! The fabrics were picked gradually and eventually I had enough for the quilt. Not worrying about whether it was the exact shade of blue or anything, so it still looks nice and scrappy. The yellow there is Kona Curry, my favorite. That Curry just ends up in everything doesn't it? This time it was with intention. I decided to use only about 15%- 20% of that yellow in relation to the blue. The curry is cut into 1" strips and I wouldn't let myself add more than those strips that I'd cut! 

The herringbone blocks were derived from this tutorial I think I found it on pinterest. Speaking of pinterest here's the inspiration board for the quilt. Also in other details, nearly all of the solid fabrics in this quilt were purchased from Connecting Threads, at just a fraction of the cost of Kona, and it's really soft and great to work with! I completely recommend it. 

If you want to read more about the process of this quilt check out this link for all the posts about it!

Shared over at AmyLouWho's for sew & tell friday!

A little catching up (and rambling)

(please enjoy some totally off topic photos of my mom's quilt - and my kid jumping/tumbling all over it. BTW: Mom, don't look!)

First off, my Christmas sewing is looking good. I have one of the two big quits nearly finished (just need to add binding and the label!) and I did more fabric cutting/marking last night for the other. I'm still not entirely sure how I'll quilt it, --it's Swoon -- and it's going to be about 80" square! Eeek! I have had an offer to use a guild friend's mid-arm on it... I've never used one but it might be worth a try!

Christmas shopping... I'm one of the only people that we're buying a gift for this year (since I'm making so many!)... my request was one of those acrylic sewing machine extension tables. I can order it for my machine for about $120 (24" square)... but Vogue in Evanston recently bought out a lot of them that are pre-made, and they're selling them for half off ($50 for 24" square!)... unfortunately they don't have a listing for one that matches my machine exactly. So I have tried scouring the internet for a better deal - one that fits my machine... without much luck. I found one option that's smaller (about 20" x 15") on ebay for $25... that would sorta fit my machine... there might be a bit of a gap and the shipping is $9 which really makes it not as worth it. 

So. I talked it over with my dad - fix-it extraordinaire (but he lives two states away!).... if I can find one of the sale ones at Vogue that comes close to fitting my machine we can take it with my dad to my uncle's wood shop and find a way to trim it down or fill in the gaps (if it's too big or too small). It seems pretty straightforward from what I read online (if you have power tools!). So that's an option... the catch is that Vogue doesn't have them in store, they're at the "warehouse" across town... which is open for re-sellers only... lol. I think I'm going to call up the warehouse tomorrow and see if they'll let me in to check the dimensions. Maybe they'll let me... and then maybe they'll let me purchase the right one on the spot (no shipping!!). :) Best case scenario I'll find one that matches up pretty well without needing any alterations. 

Another option/idea. My sewing table is a general wooden craft table - with lift out panels on the two sides that open into a compartment several inches deep for storage inside the tabletop. ... If all else fails I may bring one of those panels and my machine home with me at Christmas and we'd use the power tools to cut an opening for my machine to sit inside the table (lifted to the proper height with a book or two). I like that idea too... it would give me about four feet of level work space to move my quilts around while quilting them.... 

Can I have some experienced input? I hear the extension tables make a TON of difference in FMQing, and in general. Do you think it'd be better to lower my machine into the table (nearly free), or better to buy the one from Vogue that fits best? Ahh. I hate parting with my/our money! 

Sorry that was such a rambly process to lay out my options... sometimes writing it all out helps me to process what it is that I really want. Maybe that will help. 

Another thought which is quite unrelated. We had Allie's IEP meeting today, and it looks like even though she's cleared to start pre-school in a normal (non-special ed) classroom, she won't be able to get a spot in one of those classrooms until she's at least four - since they're all full with waiting lists. So it looks like she'll be in the hearing impaired classroom, potentially with some time each day in the regular classroom.... I'm ok with that. The HI program has a longer day which I'm not happy about... the kid is three and doesn't need to be in school all day... but they assured me that if we wanted to limit her hours there it'd be completely up to us, so we could do half day instead. Which is awesome. (rambling again....sorry). I'm excited that she'll finally be being followed by a speech therapist again (and that it'll be as needed), and that she'll get to be around the other kids. We've been warned though that she'll likely be the most advanced in her classroom. They were having troubles coming up with goals for her IEP... because she's already there with all the normal 3-4 yr old things. lol. What a great testament to our "language rich" home (and her AMAZING early intervention therapists who taught us everything). 

As a side note to all of that... can you imagine how much I could get done sewing (or *gasp* housework) during those hours each day? lol. I won't know what to do. 

Finally a real post!

(warning spoiler alert - Mom don't read this!)

As I'm writing this I'm home sick from work - I think I may have the flu... slight fever and altogether feeling pretty  yucky. In my new knowledge that every medicine known to man has glycol in it (which I'm allergic to) I'm stuck taking disgusting alka-seltzer instead of dayquil. Whatever. At least it's working a bit. :)

I'd mentioned earlier this week how I'd finished tons of projects but hadn't taken pictures - I had my chance yesterday -- a moment of sunshine so I snuck outside to take some pics (even though I felt crappy). 

First I'm going to show you why regular machine maintenance is good. 

Before I began free motion quilting my mom's quilt I decided to clean out my machine really well. Knowing that I'd sewn quite a bit in the past week and that it really needed it. I opened up the casing around the take-up lever assembly to dust and oil, and this is what I found. A screw had completely wiggled loose. See that circle of light up there in the middle? That's where said screw belongs, it was found sitting inside the casing right below it. Eek!

This has happened before. I'm fairly certain that this is the same screw that came loose the last time I had major machine troubles - I took her to the repair shop and my repair man took 6 hours to find that a screw had wiggled itself completely loose. This is the general area where he'd said it had happened.

I put the screw back in and am now sewing much more smoothly. I took these pictures to show the repair man to see if it was the same spot. 

Then I took apart the bobbin casing and dusted in there. Whoa I had a whole sweater worth of lint! 

I think Nancy (my machine) was happy after I cleaned her up! Since she gave me only a little trouble quilting up this giant couch quilt for my mom's Christmas present!

More details on that later! :) 

It's dark and dreary here...

So I don't have any cool pictures to share... just old ones from when I started the quilt.

But... Yesterday I officially finished piecing my mom's quilt top!! Now I just need to decide and purchase a backing and quilt it up! It looks pretty awesome! I am excited to see it all come together!

Other than that it's been a relatively unproductive week. I haven't made much progress on my swoon quilt since my husband keeps trying to get me to go to bed before 2AM... and it takes too much time/concentration to stop in the middle of that block - meaning I can only work on it after Allie is in bed for the night. 

Lets see... I joined up for the Christmas Scrappy Mug Rug Swap - after sitting out a round I feel ready to jump back in! Although I feel a bit weird because this round is not secret - so I feel the pressure of trying hard to make something for someone who knows I'm their partner. Luckily for me I received an awesome partner - Wendy, who I met at The Sewing Summit! 

Keep your eye out for a post later on about a super secret project that I can now talk about! 

A quilt for my mommy!

Remember the list of my quilting goals for 2011? I'm well on my way to checking off one more item!

One of my goals was to make a quilt for my mom or my mother-in-law. I had the color scheme in my head for some time... and had been gathering a few prints here and there all year. A couple weeks ago Connecting Threads had many of their solids marked at just $3 a yard. Even when I'm broke I can't pass that up! I bought about $20 worth of mostly half yard cuts of all their blues that were on sale - plus a couple yards each of their two greys (which are very comparable to Kona Ash and Medium Grey). With that and a quarter yard of Kona Curry thrown in the mix I had a decent stack to get moving.

The pattern/sketch has been done for weeks, but with the table covers for my aunt looming over my head I couldn't get started. Since I finished those covers I got busy cutting and sewing!! I've got most of the quilt top finished! I followed this tutorial for the herring bone blocks. I used varying sizes of strips from 1" -2.5" the majority were about 2" - as a result I needed to add many more strips than were used in the tutorial. It also made trimming them down a bit of a hassle - so I made a template and drew some reference lines for the proper angle. It's pretty random that about a week ago I stopped into the Tuesday Morning (it's next to work) and happened upon a package of template plastic for just about a dollar. I'd never used it before and it made it much easier!

yes, I had to tape two pieces of template plastic together since they were too short.

Today I finished trimming all the herring bone segments and free motion quilted the label. I think it's pretty good don't you? My best FMQ'd words yet! It'll be blanket stitched to the back of the quilt when it's all finished.

Here's the pinterest board of my inspiration.

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In other news I finished week two of the Couch 2 5K program today! I am really enjoying it! So far my lungs have managed it great too - no asthma attacks!

August Bee Block and other random WIP's

Today I finally sent out my bee block for August. The {Sew} Beautiful Bee has been so much fun - and we get to meet soon at the Sewing Summit! I can't wait! This month's block was for Kati and I had fun making it wonky and crazy. :)

Next I've been working on this diamond border for our CMQG round robin quilts. I've never made diamonds before... and pretty much figured it out on my own. They're pretty challenging getting those points to match up. I haven't quite mastered it yet... and I am our of that green fabric so I'll have to figure out something to fill in the gaps (I have enough made for about 2/3 of the border). I like the challenge of trying something new and using different colors than I might normally use. Pretty fun!

Finally, this is my next major project. It's the beginnings of a quilt for my mom. This has been on my list for this year's quilting goals - and I started it yesterday! I've finished 9 blocks so far and need to work on the last 7 (or maybe more... we'll see how big that puts it). I need just another yard of AMH's new fabric to do the focal point too. I  have big plans for this one and I'm loving the colors. By the way, those solids - they're from Connecting Threads and I got them for about $2.50/yd on sale. Whoa is that great! They're pretty soft too - way softer and cheaper than Joann's brand solids.