Baby Quilt

The latest baby quilt is completed. It was longarmed on Friday and the binding was attached on Saturday. Today the binding was handsewn to the backside. Tomorrow I have to repair a couple of places where the stitches caught on the back. The repairs will be done on the Bernina. On Tuesday my niece and her husband will take it back to Wichita to give to my latest grand nephew who was born two weeks ago. What's next?? Hmmm . . .

Sketchbook Project

Tonight I got out the paints and fired up the creativity and thought I'd start experimenting. I think once I decide the direction I want the book to take I'll be able to make faster progress. After a long day at work, I am happy with my small triumph tonight. I can tell this is going to be a FUN project.

I'm experimenting with fabric and Peltex. The colors are a lot more vibrant than what is shown here. I will be adding these to my sketchbook and drawing the face, hands and feet. It's all experimental right now so bear with me.

Summer Reading

Look what just came in the mail on Monday. Yes, I ordered it on June 24 and waited and waited and wondered . . . what the heck??!! FINALLY, the books arrived and unfortunately I haven't had the appropriate amount of time to adequately salivate over them. I will, though. Trust me.

I also received my moleskin sketchbook for the Sketchbook Project. I haven't been able to "sketch" in it yet, but I have done a rough draft of what I want the book to be. My title is "It must be . . . ". I like it. Today I did a search for other fabric artists in the blogosphere who are participating in the Sketchbook Project and I found several interesting sites where artists are deconstructing and rebuilding. I'll tell you right now, I'm not brave enough for that. I want it to be "perfect" knowing full well that it's not going to be. I don't want the added pressure of trying to figure out how to bind the book again after it is finished. I guess I should just "do it". Hmm . . .

It's All About the Little Things

This weekend I finished up the latest baby quilt and then spent Saturday and Sunday trying to sew a little girl dress. I haven't sewn clothes in quite awhile, but I have been keeping up with my Project Runway so I was undeterred in my determination to make this dress. The pattern was from a sewing magazine (which I will not mention) since the instructions weren't very good. I ended up improvising quite a bit, but at the end of the day, I think it turned out okay. It could have been better if I'd known what kind of craziness I was getting into, but . . .

Baby Quilts Update

Update to the baby quilts: I finished longarming the two quilts given to me at my nephew's wedding a month ago. The second one should have taken about 45 minutes to an hour to quilt, but since my longarm was in need of repair on the shaft that holds the hopping foot, it took me almost four hours to quilt the baby quilt. Needless to say, the workmanship is not up to par, but since this was a non-paying gig and I needed to finish it before my brother arrived in town last weekend, I did the best I could with the tools I had at the time. Yesterday my machine was repaired by B and it is ready to go again. Yay!

Working On The Chain Gang

Awhile back I experimented with making some wonky (very technical term) squares. I've had them on my design wall for a bit now so today I decided that I would make a baby quilt out of the squares. All in all the piecing went quickly and I found a new way to chain the sashings. I may add some applique in the plain squares or I may experiment with another technique that I've been thinking about. I have two great nephews that will be born in the next couple of months so I'm sure this quilt will go to one of them. It's not too girly is it?? I think it looks soothing.

Bummer . . . Big Bummer

The mail was waiting for me when I got home this evening. There before my eyes were two envelopes from IQA. For a few, brief moments I was giddy and actually thought that I was holding my acceptance letters for my quilts. Ah, but it wasn't to be. Both quilts were rejected. I must say I was stunned. For the past two years the number of quilts shown at IQF Houston has decreased and last year especially, quilts were hung that had no business being accepted. I felt sure that my quilts would hang in full glory at the George R. Brown Convention Center later this year. Nope. Rejected. Yikes, that hurts. Oh, well. Life goes on. It'll probably sound bitter when I say this, but I'm not bitter. I just feel like I threw $65 down the toilet and I have no intention of going to the show this year. I'm afraid that I would be judging each of the quilts and thinking "why did that quilt get in and mine didn't". And when I see all the empty space again at the GRB, I will definitely wonder why they only accepted 377 quilts compared to 670 last year. Hmm . . I can assure you that my quilting is impeccable. Heavy sigh. I would say that I'll try again next year, but I do not think that I will waste any more money on entry fees. I know my work is good. I'll just continue to make and give away. C'est la vie!

It Must Be...

Today I signed up for the sketchbook project. In the next couple of weeks I will be receiving a sketchbook and I will use it to create a book entitled "It Must Be . . . ". I'm pretty sure that once I get going on this project I will have lots of FUN with it. At the end of the day it will be both a library book that can be checked out and also a digital book that can be viewed online. Stay tuned for updates.

This is the week that I should be receiving my acceptance or rejection letter for the two quilts I submitted for the Houston IQF. I'm crossing my fingers . . .

Lots of ideas right now that need to be fit into a tight schedule. It's tax season for me and while I'm crunching away at numbers during the day, I'm also daydreaming about the upcoming projects in my mind. Shhh . . . don't tell the people at work!

Pillow Fight

Today I finished quilting the first of two quilts for my nephew's mother-in-law. In reality, the quilts will both be going to my nephew for his first born baby due later this year. It was the first ever polyester batting quilt that I've longarmed. Not my first choice for batting as I am a cotton kind of girl, but this is what I was given and it turned out nicely.

In addition, I took out all of the hand basting on the second quilt so that I could load it onto the longarm. Doggie and I curled up on the couch and made this our afternoon project. Tomorrow I will start the quilting process. I'm hoping that both quilts will be done by next weekend so that they can make the trip back to Kansas with my family.

Yes, another family running event will take place on July 4. The same crew that ran OKC will be running a 5k with me on July 4. Yesterday I signed up my 11 year old niece so I will be running with her. I'll be signing up for the inaugural Dynamo run a couple of weeks later so I can record my July time. Who knows, though, maybe A. is going to kick me some butt in the upcoming run!

My second project of the day was to finish the three UT pillowcases for a fellow co-worker. Her son (who's 10) is a Longhorn fan through and through. I hope these cheer up his newly redecorated room.

A Day of Sunshine

It didn't start out that way. This morning was doom and gloom on the way to work and then the sun peeked out and as I stare out the window on the 6th floor of my building it is beautiful outside. And I'm inside . . . hmm . . . I'm thinking that perhaps it may be time for a career change. How scary is that?

I've been thinking for awhile about opening a sewing/quilting studio. It wouldn't be for traditional basic sewing classes. It would be for more of the fun stuff . . . creating with fabric and paper and stitches. I have the name I'd like to use. I have an idea of the place I'd like to do it in. Now I just need to make some decisions and decide if I want to give up the lucrative day job (I won't; I need insurance!) or if I'll jump in and just do it! Since I know I need to keep my job, I've been thinking about doing it in the evenings and weekends only. If the business took off, then I could hire a manager and have longer hours. If the business really, really took off, maybe then I could afford private insurance and be free of the day job. Oh, to dream . . .

My niece, A, has been staying with B and I for the past couple of weeks. She managed to get in some quality sewing time with her auntie (me!). Yes, that's the $69 Singer I bought a couple months ago. I set her up on it and turned it on. Next thing I know I hear the machine whirring and there she is sewing away. She's only 11. I'm so proud!

This week she has switched gears and is attending horse camp. It turns out she's quite the horse rider. She learned to ride English this week and she has been having a blast.