Signed Sealed Delivered!

This quilt has been a long time in the making! I have a good friend, her name is Tara. We've been best friends since 3rd grade... lost track of each other during college, and we finally reconnected a couple of years ago. I was so happy to have found my long lost friend!


Last summer I got hooked on sewing and wanted to get back into quilting so I decided she needed a new quilt for Christmas (2008) I bought this fabric in Sept 08 and had the top pieced by December. Its mainly Heather Baily "Fresh Cut" fabric with some Joel Dewberry and Amy Butler interspersed. At the time, it was only my 2nd attempt at quilting. I wanted to quilt the top but it was SO intimidating... I tried doing a scroll type design and it was a disaster!

I ripped out the scroll design which covered 1/3 of the quilt and decided I couldn't finish it for Christmas, so I made her a fun little clutch bag made from the Pink Wallflower fabric. Not a bad Christmas gift ;-)

(**Tara loves frogs, so I found this uber-fun Alexander Henry frog fabric and added it to the mix**)

In the past two months, I mastered free-motion quilting (stippling) and decided to go for it on this baby! So 10 months later I REALLY love how it turned out! The quilting only took me 3 evenings... maybe 2 hours each. So worth it! Tara's birthday is July 25th and she received it in the mail yesterday.
And my favorite part?I added this tag on the back (a boring, all creme back) and I think it really makes it special. Back when we were classmates, each year on our birthdays, we'd use the same gift bag that said "Best Friends Through Thick & Thin." That bag is long gone, but I named this quilt after our little tradition.

The finished quilt is about 60" x 65" which should make a nice lap quilt to cuddle up with in the winter with a cup of tea, a good book, and her puppy dog, Chloe, at her side. The top was pieced with no pattern in mind. Basically - I flew by the seat of my pants. Oh yeah.

Finally- this will probably be my last post for a week or so. We leave for vacation this weekend and will return August 1st - rested, bright eyed, and bushy tailed.

Work In Progress Wednesday

Here's the BACK of this baby quilt... just finished stippling it last night, and even made the binding before midnight. I had a fairly productive evening considering I didn't start sewing until 9pm! My annual pedicure took precedence - can't help it! (I'm still trying to decide if teal was a poor color choice for my toes... maybe, but I like it.)

Anyhow - After MUCH brain wracking I figured out a decent piecing design for this back. Note to self, don't try and piece on the fly after 10pm!

I plan on hand sewing the binding while on vacation (Norris Lake in TN) next week and it will be washed, dried and photographed there as well. Our "cabin" which sleeps about 20 people has a washer and dryer, 3 outside decks, and its more like a mansion cabin. So I'll have an entire week of leasure to get the photos just right. It will be listed in my Etsy shop upon returning to Ohio, if not sooner.

** Tree fabric is from the "Wildwood" collection by Erin McMorris - love it! The green windopane fabric is from the "Monaco" collection by Free Spirit.

Baby Ripple Afghan for CAL

So who knew... there's a website devoted to ONLY Crocheters and Knitters! Where have I been? Its called Ravelry.com and it rocks! I'm sure I've only just begun to scratch the surface of the community, but I did join a CAL (Crochet Along) Group and I'm quite enjoying it. We're supposed to do 2 rows a day and its strcitly for RIPPLE style afghans. I really adore this pattern and wanted to start something I could mostly complete while on vacation... so here's my start! There will also be rows of orange and white, but I haven't gotten that far yet.

Yes, I know I know... How do I find time? Well, we've got a lot of time in the car coming up... as well as a week at Norris Lake in TN so I'll have time, don't you worry! Unfortunately, my sewing machine will be staying at home collecting dust and resting up for some more stippling to be done!

Am I the only quilter/crocheter out there? I Image not.

The End of a Spending Spree

I've been eying these fabrics for MONTHS and decided to just buy some already! And they are even more gorgeous in person. Thanks to Down Shadow Lane and Whipstitch Fabrics on Etsy.com, I've got enough polka dots to keep me busy for a while... not to mention my favorite - The Orange Duck Stripe! Ok, the Full Moon Polka Dot (from Amy Butler) is ALSO one of my favorites, as I have it in almost every colorway. They just go with everything - don't you agree?


We went to a cookout on Saturday night and the homeowner (a coworker of mine) had these amazingly gorgeous Hydrangea bushes in pink and purple. They were atleast 4ft tall, and full of these glorious blooms. At the end of the evening I was able to relieve him of 5 blooms and they now adorn my kitchen and bathroom. Just thought I'd share. Fresh flowers (of any kind!) are another one of those little things that make me happy, especially when they're homegrown from a friend. Just wanted to share these beauties with you!

This, I promise, will be the last post for a while with stacks of fabric... QUILTS will be coming, along with a laptop sleeve, and maybe even a bag or two. Yipeee!!!

Sneak Peek

I can only show a tiny bit... for now. Three nights of stippling thus far, and I have 1/3 left to do!
I'm getting really excited about it - its only been 11 months since I started it! Dude, procrastination at its worst! Actually, I was waiting for my stippling skills to come around, which they finally have. So no more excuses!

If you've got a project you've been procrasting on, do share! Then Get-R-Done! :-)

Things that Make Me Happy:

A Finished Quilt Top~


New Gorgeous Fabric~
Wildwood Tress & Green Circles to be used for backing of above quilt... and the rest will eventually turn into quilts, blankets, burp cloths, and the like. Yes, all purchased from my fav fabric shop, Sew To Speak.


**Disclaimer - "Happy" in the title Things that Make Me Happy is not the same happy that I experienced on my wedding day, college graduation, or learning to slalom ski. If my husband reads this he'll say something to the effect of "Woman, quilts and fabric make you happy? Do you need to see a Psychologist?" Thus, happy, in this post, is relative to my sewing/quilting world. I like to think of myself as Happy in general, though. Obviously, I barely passed philosophy 101 in college... I think, therefore I am. *Meh*

So, what makes you happy? In your sewing/crafting world, or otherwise?

WIP and Name That Fabric

My current WIP:
These 9 blocks will soon turn into a baby quilt top... I'm thinking 3.5" white sashing around each of the blocks to make the purty colors pop a bit more. YES, its going to be quilted with stippling, what else?!

I snatched up the LAST fat quarter of this gorgeous home dec fabric from my favorite fabric shop; Sew to Speak. I've searched for the name or design, and cannot find it anywhere! If anyone knows who the designer or manufacturer is, do let me know. I think this is going to turn into a little clutch bag. And fyi - this photo does not do it justice. The colors are so bright in real life!

For those of you in the US - Happy Independence Day! We got to see 2 sets of fireworks, woohooo! And for those of you in other coutries - Happy Weekend! That's reason enought to celebrate!

Hi, my name is Cristin and I'm a stippling addict.

Its official - "Hi, my name is Cristin and I'm a stippling addict."
Thanks to my new extension table (pic in this post) for my sewing machine, stippling has become 10 times easier! So why not make a baby quilt to test it out?


I'm quite happy with how it turned out, and thanks to everyone who gave their thoughts on sashing, or no sashing. I like how the white looks! After a trip through the washer and dryer, its oh-so-crinkly, and you can't even tell if (ok WHERE) I had a few snafu's with the stippling. It really hides a multitue of sins :-)


This binding is just pieced from my scrap jar... including the green Kona cotton, Joel Dewberry, Ikea, Robert Kaufman, and 2 squares stolen from my Amy Butler charm pack. It frames the quilt in a way that white just can't! And its already listed in my Etsy shop. I had a very productive night last night!


My current WIP is another baby quilt made from the same charm pack as this quilt, but pinks & greens mostly...and will be laid out in a different manner. I'm still contemplating EXACTLY how it will look, but sewing will begin soon! Its baby season around here so I need to be prepared for all those baby showers! Can anyone give me an 'Amen'? NO joke people! What's your WIP, or what are you thinking about starting, or buying fabric for? Do tell!