Three quilts done already this year!

I gave up the search for the lost SD card and simply bought another one -- usually when I stop looking for something is when I find it :-).  Let's hope that happens.

My goal for this year (as in many years past) is to get through my stash of UFO's.  I'm making pretty good progress so far this year!

The first quilt to be finished this year is a breast cancer awareness quilt.  The background fabric has pink ribbons on it.  The solid pink is a Fairy Frost fabric.  I purchased both of these fabrics at the quilt store when on a mission for a totally different quilt.  Both fabrics were half yard pieces that were end of bolt and displayed nicely by the register.  So it isn't just the grocery stores that cater to our impulse buying.

The next quilt to be finished is one that I posted here last year.  It is a paper pieced wreath pattern by MH Designs.  I also did this one using only Fairy Frost fabrics (no, I'm not really obsessed with Fairy Frost --- any more).  This quilt used to scare me.  It is really so beautiful I didn't want to quilt it for fear of messing it up.  I finally took a deep breath and just did it.  It didn't turn out too bad.

The last little quilt is also a paper pieced pattern by MH Designs.  Tulips are my favorite flower and now I can see them every single day and gaze upon then whilst creating new quilts.

And last of all, a picture of my clean(ish) sewing area.  I did a lot of dusting!

The quilt on the left hand side was a present from a dear friend.  She brought it back from her hometown in India.  I absolutely love it!


The big question now is.....which UFO do I tackle next?  Or do I work on one of my knitting UFOs?  Decisions, decisions.

--Steph

Lost Christmas photos.......

Well, my blondeness strikes again!!  I have misplaced the SD card from my camera that had all the photos of the items I made for xmas presents this year.  I hadn't posted any of the photos in case the recipients should happen to read my blog.  Sad, very sad.....guess I'll have to see if the recipients will take some photos for me.

Small Quilt Exchange -- part 2

Sometimes the United States Post Office just amazes me....in a good way.  The quilt I made for my exchange partner was mailed from Phoenix on Monday, December 5th.  I didn't want to post a picture of it in case she happened to look at my blog.  Low and behold, she received the quilt in Ohio on December 7th!!!  That's amazing.

Here's a picture of what I made my exchange partner.  It is a 26" square Carpenter's Wheel.  I loved making the quilt and will be making another one in Christmas colors this weekend (or there abouts!)

Small quilt exchange

One of the yahoo groups I belong to (smallquilttalk) hosted a one-on-one small quilt exchange. I received the quilt below from Mary M. Who lives in Sprinfield, Ohio. The quilt is 15" square and right now resides in my cubicle at work where I can gaze at it 5 days a week. Mary incorporated my favorite color into the quilt ---- purple! And she made one of my favorite blocks, Lone Star, without knowing it was one of my favorites. Thanks so much Mary!!! I love the quilt.

When Mary receives the quilt I made her, I'll post pictures of it.....don't want to spoil the surprise.

Another blast from the past...

Here's another afghan I made, this time for my son.  I made it sometime between 2001 and 2003.  I copied the pattern from a very colorful afghan my grandmother gave me in 1988.

The picture is a little dark.  When I'm up in Washington next week I'll try to get a better picture.

Blankets from mom....

I asked my daughter to take pictures of the afghans I've made for her over the years.

This first one is a basic granny square.  I made it for her during her sophomore year in high school and made it with her school colors.

 

And this next one is just a basic knit made from Red Heart Baby Cloud.  I actually made a smaller version of this for the baby of a friend.  My daughter liked the yarn so much I made her a bigger one.  I believe I made it her senior year of high school.  Blue is her favorite color.

I now finally have pictures!  Now to get some pictures of the afghans I crocheted for my son.

Happy stitching....
Steph

It's been a while.....

I just discovered the other day that a friend and colleague of mine has taken up crochet.  And she has been incredibly prolific in the past month or so....several caps, scarves, and shawls.  And she is really good about taking pictures.  After giving me a slide show of her goodies, she asked to see my pictures.  Pictures?  What?  I realized that most of the items that I knit, crochet, quilt or cross-stitch are usually given away and I don't always take pictures.  When I started crafting digital cameras didn't exist (and I'm only 43 years old!). 

My daughter has several items that I've knitted, crocheted and quilted for her so I asked her to take some pictures of the items for me.  I've also reached out to my ex-husband, who has a couple of lap sized quilts that I made years ago, to take pictures of them as well.

I'm making a New Year's resolution early.....take pictures of the items I'm working on and take pictures of the items when they are done.  And it wouldn't hurt to take pictures of them with their recipients, too.  This has to be easier than a New Year's resolution of losing weight!!!!!

The title of this blog really has to do with the fact that it has been months and months since I posted an entry.  Life has been a tad crazy around this house and around work.  However, thanks to the prodding of my friend, I'm going to be a bit better about posting what I'm working on and <gasp> include pictures.

Happy stitchin y'all!
Steph

Deb Karasik

The Arizona Quilters Guild held its annual Spring meeting in Globe, Arizona this past weekend.  Our theme was "meet me at the fair" and our guest speaker was Deb Karasik.  What an absolute hoot!  I love the fact that she doesn't take herself too seriously and certainly doesn't think of herself as a diva.  But man, I'm here to tell you she is definitely a quilting queen!!  We had a wonderful time seeing her quilts and hearing the stories behind them.  And I learned a new word:  schmatta.  Deb seems to be under the impression that many of her quilts are schmatta.  I disagree.

On Sunday I was lucky enough to take a class from her.  We worked on her Ribbons of Hope pattern.  You know, one of those that she claims only takes a day or two to put together.  Holy cow!  It took me from 9 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. just to do 1/16th of the quilt.  Again, I'm in awe of the woman.  She does reassure me that after doing a few more of the blocks I will love curves, I will love curves, I will love curves....

Stop by and visit Deb's web site at www.debkarasik.com.  She also has a Yahoo group called DebKarasikQuilts.

Kudos also to Jeff Karasik.  What a wonderful man!

I'll post a picture of my 1/16th of the quilt when I un-bury it from my class bag.

Happy quilting all!

Quilts for Japan

Like many of you, I have watched in absolute awe at the power Mother Nature has unfurled at Japan.  I've watched houses and cars float through the streets.  I cannot even begin to imagine what the people of Japan are going through right now, both physically and emotionally.

And like many of you I've wondered what I could do from my little corner of the world.  I was reading via another blog that the Quilter's Newsletter will be gathering quilts to send to their sister publication in Japan, who will then distribute the quilts to those in need.  I was sure that I could find plenty of fabric in my stash to make some quilts.  And guess what?  I did!

As a born procrastinator, I figured I'd better pick a fairly easy pattern otherwise nothing would get done.  I contemplated just plain large blocks.  Then I thought about a nine patch.  Then I remembered someone on one of my quilt lists talking about a disappearing nine patch.  So I looked it up and decided to give it a try.  I am TOTALLY hooked!  I made two small quilt tops this weekend.  And I made both of them with stash fabric -- even better!!

The first step it to  make a basic nine patch.  The first quilt I cut my squares/strips 6".  The second quilt I cut them  8".

Once the nine patch is put together, you then cut it apart!!!  Yes, you cut it apart.  You cut it down the middle both vertically and horizontally.  This will yield four blocks.

Now it's play time!  Here's what my quilts ending up looking like.

Both quilts still need to be sandwiched.  I'm heading over to my local quilt shop tomorrow after work.  My goal is to make (and finish) at least four quilts.

I'd like to encourage all of you to make at least one quilt to send to the Quilter's Newsletter.  You'll get to do something you enjoy and someone on the other side of the world will be able to feel the warmth, love and caring from a total stranger.

Happy quilting!

First quilt of the year

I finally did some sewing this year.  And it's only March, lol.  I participated in a signature block exchange with a quilting group online.  I had enough of the fabric left to make some extra blocks so I put them together into a small quilt.  Love small quilts, you can get something finished rather quickly.  The quilt should be about 20" when finished.

Maybe this will the start of a sewing spree....

Where does the time go?!?

Wow, last time I sat down and wrote in the blog Gary and I had just decided on a wedding date.  Time has flown by since then.

Let's see, Mom and my daughter moved in with me (at different times).  So we now have three generations living in one condo.  And my daughter has "dognapped" my mini Schnauzer.  He only belongs to me when he is 1) acting out or 2) needs to be walked.  We're having a great time living together.

Hosted Thanksgiving here at the condo for Gary's family and my mom.  It was a great success.  We had a ton of food and I had been worried that we wouldn't have enough.  We played Wii after dinner and had a fabulous time playing Just Dance 2.  Even Gary's 78 year old mother got her groove on!  Go Lora!!!

Then came Christmas right on the heels of a stressful deadline at work.  Christmas was wonderful (with the exception of the ER visit on Christmas Eve when daughter's kidneys decided to cause some problems).  Gary and I had our first Christmas exchanging presents and it was wonderful.

And let's not forget:  we got married on December 28th in Las Vegas.  No, Elvis did NOT marry us.  Both of my kids were there as was Mom.  My son walked me down the aisle wearing his Class A uniform -- he's a Private First Class in the U.S. Army.  One of my dearest friends in the world was my maid of honor.  Gary's sisters, brother-in-law, niece and nephew-in-law, sons and aunt and uncle were also present.  It was a great time!  And I finally got to marry my Prince Charming!

With the beginning of the year came the reality of getting back to work.

And I haven't done ANY quilting since then!  I've done a little knitting and some cross stitching.

Hope everyone had a great holiday season and you are elbow deep in quilts!!

Ciao!

Remembering to breathe

Things have been a little wild in my world since my last post.

First of all, my fiance and I decided on a wedding date!  And it is 6 weeks from today.  I was in full panic mode last week about all kinds of details.  I've settled down since then.  My dress and the suits have been purchased.  My maid of honor has just purchased her airline ticket and sent me a link to an adorable LBD that she plans on wearing.  Hotel rooms have been booked.  Ok, the to-do list is now manageable.

Secondly, my mom and my daughter will be moving in with me in the next couple of weeks.  So there has been some re-arranging of furniture.  I'm looking forward to spending girl time together.

I finished a lap-sized Sponge Bob quilt for a friend of mine back in Washington.  I forgot to take a picture of it before I mailed it to her  :-(  Hopefully I can get her to take a picture and send it my way.

I'm now in the process of marking another quilt for quilting.  One more thing to cross off my list.

Of course there is always the job thing, too!  Need to keep going there to pay for all my toys.

Oh, and did I mention that I'm getting married in 6 weeks and I'm excited beyond words?!? 

Happy quilting everyone!!

Update: Frosty Wreath

Yes, I can be called tenacious at times -- probably many times.  It was really driving me crazy that I couldn't remember the designer of the wreath quilt.  I remembered it was someone's initials.  So Google and I got cozy and I finally found it!  The wreath is by MH Designs.  I love her work.  I have a couple of other patterns of hers buried in my stash.  Take a trip over to Mary's website and wander around the patterns for a while.  You'll have a great time.  The wreath is in the Christmas section.

Daydreaming...

It's been a roller-coaster week at work.  I'm sitting in my cubicle pounding out SQL code, but I'm daydreaming of quilting.  I think I need a little quilt therapy to counter-act the work week.  I'm anxious to get my Sponge Bob lap quilt done so that I can try out my new pattern and tools for the Less Than Traditional quilt.  Has anyone done one yet?

A frosty wreath

This is my paper pieced Mona Lisa!!  Again, my poor camera doesn't do the fabric justice as they are all Fairy Frosts.  Unfortunately I can't remember who the pattern is by.  I know I still have a copy of the pattern buried somewhere in the sewing room.

Anyway, this was definitely a labor of love.  It has 20 flower blocks in it and each one has many seams.  I believe at one point I thought it was going to be the never ending quilt.  As you can tell, I haven't gotten around to the actual quilting part.  I'm scared to death to quilt it!  Isn't that just silly??  It's so pretty I'm afraid I'm going to mess it up - LOL.  The quilt is about 21" unfinished.  And one day soon I WILL tackle it.

Leftovers

My ex-husband and I attended the wedding of one of the ladies that worked for him back around 2000.  Being the nut that I am, I decided they needed a quilt for the wedding.  Yeah, and I decided this a couple of weeks before the wedding.  I know, we've all been there and done that.  Needless to say, the quilt didn't get done by the time of the wedding, but it did get done before their first anniversary.  This little quilt was made with some of the leftovers from the wedding quilt.  My camera doesn't do the colors justice.  The fabric has several shades of blue and a mossy green in it.  I fell in love with it the minute I saw it, and I'm not really a blue person.

When I discovered I had enough fabric left over for a mini, I knew I wanted a bears paw.  This has always been one of my favorite blocks.  The quilt measures 20" square and is not paper pieced.  Like the Mary E. quilt, it has been in my office, several cubicles and now resides on the wall of my sewing room.

My first finished quilt

This was my first fully completed quilt.  I think I finished it in 1998 or there abouts.  I had tried quilting several times without a lot of luck.  Blocks weren't squared, my 1/4" seams were gone, etc.  This really frustrated me because I had been a seamstress for so many years!  At a quilting and sewing expo in Puyallup, WA, I wandered into a booth where a lady was sewing on paper.  Of all the things!  This completely fascinated me.  She let me try and before I knew it --- I had a block!!!  I was hooked.  I bought this pattern and a few others, took them home and used my scraps to start piecing.  And wouldn't you know it, I suddenly understood the mechanics, if you will, of quilting.  Shortly there after I bought several software packages just for paper piecing.  I still love to paper piece.

This is still one of my favorite quilts.  First of all, I love Mary Engelbreit designs so this always brightens my day.  Secondly, it represents my overcoming of an obstacle and an introduction to a new love.  The quilt hung in my office when I was a professor and has been on many cubicle walls.  Sadly, the colors are starting to fade a bit, but I still love it.

It is currently hanging in my very first ever dedicated sewing room!!!!

Comments

Thanks to the ladies of the smallquilttalk yahoo group for testing my blog for me!!  I figured out how to allow anonymous comments.  So comment away :-)

Introductions...

I've been a database geek and developer for almost 20  years and this is my FIRST foray into the blogging world.  Wonder what took me so long?? :-)

I'm a native of the Pacific Northwest...born and raised there.  Just over two years ago I moved from the lush green to the beautiful desert for both physical and mental stability (there's a story about an ex-husband there).  The move was life changing and life affirming for me.  I've truly blossomed here in the desert.  With both of my children now out of the home I have more time to devote to crafting (in theory).  

As usual I have lots of WIPs going on.  My current ones include two lap quilts that have the tops done and are waiting for me to finish the quilting.  I also have a baby blanket that I'm knitting and a couple of cross-stitching pictures that need some attention as well.  The hard part is finding time to do all of them!

I'm contemplating getting into the writing game.  I'd love to put together some quilts for a small book.  We'll see how it goes.  I also have some ideas for a novel as well.  But again, it's all about time.