Blogger's Summer Fair

Ah, the Fair! My favorite time of summer. Corn dogs, corn cobs, quilts, cotton candy, quilts, hypnotists, games, giant stuffed animals, quilts, sno-cones, over-priced beer, and, did I mention, quilts?!



This Summer Fair is for bloggers. You don't have to leave your house to see all the beautiful quilts and drool over the yummy food! I worked on my submission all day today! May I present to you:

Mack and Jennifer's Wedding Quilt

This is actually a replica of the quilt I made and gifted for our Reverend. We got married in front of this quilt at the Burning Man Festival (the most awesome Summer Fair in the world!) last summer. I free-motion quilted large feathery hearts around the heart blocks.

I love how this design expands beyond the square. Like our love is too big to box! In the borders I did a free-hand loop-de-loop and hearts. I also quilted our first names at the head of the quilt and our last name at the foot. On the sides I quilted "Forever and Ever," "Eternal Bliss" (that's engraved in our wedding rings), "True Love", "Love", and "Bliss."

In each corner I quilted a special date. The day we met, the first time we said "I love you," the date he proposed, and of course, the date of our wedding, Sept 2, 2010.

In the border I quilted our sweet special nothings we tell each other constantly. "I love being married to you," "You are the love of my life," "We were made for each other," are just a few of the phrases.

I know it's hard to see the red thread on the red fabric, but I told my husband it was more private that way. It's kind of like our sweet secret.

Have I grossed you out with all this LOVE yet?! I finished the quilting in a marathon quilting session today and then made and attached the binding. It still needs to be sewn down and the label added, but I was so excited to show everyone! It's approx 45 inches across by 60 inches tall. Here's its cousin at our wedding:

Ahh...aren't we cute?! I am completely in love with this quilt and can't wait to finish!

Go to Gen X Quilters
blog right now to check out all the other entries! (WTF?! Blogger won't let me type links in line right now, ugh!) If you'd like to link up, post a submission to the quilt show by August 3rd. Coincidentally, we are going to the California State Fair tomorrow. We will be the ones holding hands and being blissfully in love! <3

Blissfully Finished!

I have a UFO Bust to report today! I'm linking up with Susan from Blackberry Creek Home Arts for the Friday UFO Report.

I finished my Bliss Quilt!

Stats: Pattern Charming Stars by Stefanie from Little Lady Patchwork for Moda Bake Shop. I changed it to make it smaller so I could use 2 Charm Packs of Bliss. It will be my cubicle quilt for when the AC is pumping hard and I'm wearing a dress.

Quilting: FMQ by me. I copied the designs from 501 Quilting Motifs and then did it free-hand. The stars were hand quilted. I really love how it turned out. I wish I would have learned to correctly bury my quilting knot before I began this. I learned towards the end. So some knots are visible. This quilt gave me so much confidence in my FMQ skills.

Backing: Some random piece of fabric I found. It's super soft and cuddly. I had to add a few leftover charm squares and some flying geese units made from the triangle scraps cut from the stars to make it big enough.

Binding was hand sewn to the back. My binding skills improved a lot too! Working with a smaller binding helps so much. I used 2 1/4 strips. I made sure to pack the binding with batting, something that took me a while to catch on to! I found the binding at Joann's Fabrics and it matches perfectly.

What's that? A label?! Haha, my first label. I wrote with a Micron Pen. This little guy was a bonus piece I got from cutting the star corners off. I hand stitched it to the back. This taught me to consider the label as I do my backing next time! I made the label and stiched it last night just so I can finally say:

This quilt is finished!

It's really straight, this angle is just weird :)

Started: Nov 20, 2010.

FNSI Results: FAIL

What?! It’s already Monday? Where did the weekend go? I was soooo lazy this weekend. I spent 80% of my time surfing Failbook.

Weekend Fail.

What a booger.

I had some problems with my quilt and Friday night did not go like I thought it would. This is what happened:

1.Spend a few hours marking quilt
2.Decide I did it wrong. Spend 2 minutes ironing marks out.
3.Spend a few hours marking quilt
4.Quilt a block
5.Decide I don’t like it. Change the thread, quilt another block.
6.Decide it’s not the thread. It’s the design. Change the design, quilt another block.
7.Decide that’s too much quilting. Quilt another block, this time not so much.
8.Perfect.
9.Spend 30 minutes sitting on the bed next to husband agonizing over which block design and thread combo works best.
10.Decide on the Perfect one from Step 8.

Geez Jen. What a total waste of FNSI. There wasn’t even wine involved. Maybe that’s what went wrong. This is all I got done:

I quilted six of these. Here's a pic of the template:

I thought I would make up some time on Sunday, but this is how that went:

1.Walk into sewing room refreshed and jazzed. Spend an hour marking quilt, all the while jumping up to do laundry or dishes whenever my timer went off.
2.Lunchtime. Hmmm…maybe I’ll check out Failbook while I eat my rice.
3.Spend the next 4.5 hours on Failbook, sitting on the couch with my rice plate on the coffee table.
4.Finally tear my eyes away from my phone (yes, I read 250 pages of Failbook on my iPhone, what a loser!) to watch Harry Potter and bind my Bliss Quilt.
5.Last hour before bed, run around like crazy packing my lunch, picking out clothes, and gathering everything for work today.

Wow! I know, you’re totally jealous of my fabulous life. “How does she do it all?”

If you’re thinking about clicking on this Failbook link, I’m warning you now: Don’t do it!!!

Woo-Hoo! Let's Sew!

It’s Friday Night Sew In! It’s also UFO Weekend Party, and it all kicks off tonight! I’m super excited.

I pulled out my Love Quilt. This quilt is very special to me. I gave the original quilt to the Reverend who married us, and made another copy for us to keep. At the last moment, we decided to hang the quilt as a backdrop for our wedding ceremony. We’ve been married for almost a year now. I think it’s time to get our Love Quilt quilted up!

The first copy hanging behind us at our wedding.

Last night I picked a quilt design from the book 501 Quilting Designs. I traced the design onto freezer paper and made a basic stencil. I cut the away the outside and the inside of the stencil and traced a few blocks last night. I still need to figure out a way to trace the inside lines.

So that's my plan tonight: trace and quilt! I'll be impressed if I can get the whole quilt traced, but I'll be pushing to start the quilting!

I'm linking up with other UFO Busters at Blackberry Creek Home Arts. I don't have a bust this weekend, but I have a start, and that's just as important!

Woo-Hoo! Let's sew!

Decompressing

Hello Bloggers! I’ve missed you! Being away for 3 whole days really takes a toll on me, lol! We had a great camping trip: lots of ATV-riding, shooting, sunning, swimming, cooking, and eating! Lots and lots of eating, actually! Corn-on-the-cob cooked in an open fire, beef jerky, potato chips, watermelon, salmon…you name it; we pigged out on it! My mom decided to leave a day early, and like the lemmings we are, we all followed her.

Since I got home a day early, I decided it was only fair to go back to work a day early.

NOT!!

Haha, almost had you there! Of course I didn’t go to work. Instead I spent the day lounging around the house, doing a zillion loads of laundry from camping and playing in my sewing room! What a great way to end a vacation. I think I’ll try to end every vacation that way from now on. A quiet little decompression at my sewing machine.

I finished my Jewel in the Crown BOM block for July. I mostly like this block, except the dot fabric and the pink blend too well together. And I messed up on my paper piecing. I started in the wrong place. There was a lot of cutting and pasting and finagling and crossing my fingers and holding my breath to get the pieces to look right. Luckily, I’m very experienced in covering up mistakes, so it looks fine!

Then I finished my Boot Bash BOM for April. I was afraid it would be too much purple, but it looks really cute in person. The small, dark purple pieces were cut from a Crown Royal bag. I added some pink stitching to it. Now I’m only 3 months behind. I need to get cracking on these!

Any plans for the weekend? I am playing in the Friday Night Sew In ! Woo-Hooo! I’ll also be linking up at the UFO Weekend Party at Pigtales and Quilts and will be working on a UFO. That’s two chances to win on Friday night! Great motivation to convince you to stay home and work on a UFO. I pulled a new UFO out last night, but don’t know if I’m ready to dive in quilting it just yet. I guess you will see tomorrow!

X Marks the Quilter

Who’s that? A Generation X Quilter? Wow, look, a Generation X Quilter! I want to be a quilter! I love quilts! Can I see pictures of your quilts?

Those are the comments I am sure I will get when I wear my new Generation X Quilter T-shirt around town. I can’t wait! Annemarie also sent me these gorgeous Hawaiian-style fat quarters and a sweet card. Thanks Annemarie!

Are you a Generation X Quilter? I admit, I had to look it up because I wasn’t sure. Generation X is 1965 to 1981. That’s barely me! I was born in 1981 (stop doing the math, I’m 30!), but I am also considered a Generation Y Quilter, which is 1981 to 1990. I straddle. :)



Anyway, if you fall between these letters and you love to make quilts, link up with Gen X Quilter on the Blogroll page and check out who else is there too!

Bustin Out

On Saturday morning we are leaving for a 5 day camping trip. I am so excited. I love camping, and this time we are camping with my family, which is a rare treat. I packed a few hand-appliqué pieces from my Christmas Sampler UFO, and will be working on those. I may or may not also pack my Bliss UFO, on which I am finally hand-stitching the binding. I don’t want it to get dirty, or rather, dirtier, but am excited to finally get this quilt finished!

Hopefully, next week when I link up with my fellow UFO Busters I’ll have a finish to show!

Will you be working on any UFOs this weekend? Grab a few hours and bust one of those lingering UFOs! Pick one now, snap a picture, and link up with Thearica at Pigtales and Quilts. Look what I won last week:

Awesome! I can’t wait to start playing with these appliqué shapes. Thanks Thearica!

This week I won’t be playing in the UFO Weekend Party. So sad. No internet or electricity where I’m going! Have a great weekend everyone!