Long Arm of the law...

The Law of Long Arm states:
You will quilt that 6'x6' quilt in no time!

Its true! I took the class to learn to use this amazing, fast long arm machine at my LQS and now I'm hooked! It took an hour to set up (thanks for your help Jen!) then I went to town doing a meandering stippled free-motion design and boom! One hour later I was done!

This sweet piece of technology has a stitch regulator so EVERY stitch is the same length... no matter how fast or slow you move. Yes, its my new best friend when I have a large quilt to finish.
Baby quilts I can still manage on my little Janome at home.

If your local quilt shop offers Long Arm rental time - take advantage of it! Learn how to use it and you'll be amazed how quickly and easily the quilting part will go! No more wrestling matches with big quilts at home. Yay!

And I just finished the binding on this quilt today and its in the dryer as we speak... will be handing it over to my sister this weekend! And I think a little photo shoot is in order!
Only about a month late as a Christmas gift. This year, I'm starting my Christmas projects in June. I kid you not.

ps: My new crafty friend, Leslie over at Jar of Vintage Buttons, is featuring me on her blog today!
I met her at a craft show in N. Kentucky and she's even putting together a MODERN craft show that will be held this November in Florence! More info to come! Thanks for the love, girl!

I dare you

I dare you to find a better looking front door wreath for $7!
I saw this wreath at Little Scraps of Happiness and filed it in the back of my mind. (Be sure to check out the link to Design Sponge.... where the idea originally came from!) My non-Christmas, non-Fall wreath was faded and worn so I decided to check out Joanns for a new neutral wreath.
I didn't find anything I liked for less than $20 and remembered this gorgeous heart wreath!

I am NOT a "crafty" person... but I was able to create this wreath in less than 2 hours.
Really. You should try it! I may need to make a non-heart one for March-August! Now... what color(s)???

$2.99 for 1 yd of red felt (72" wide)
$3.99 for the foam heart
straight pins I found in my sewing room
equals this:

Bee Block for Amanda!

For the final month of the {Bee}-autiful VQB Amanda requested 16" square blocks that were non-wonky and bento box like. She's going to be chopping these blocks into quarters to yield 4 8" blocks then sewing them together like this. I really do think its going to look amazing!

sdlkfj

lsdkjf

WIP Wednesday

Lattice top: Done!
Backing: In the works!

I'll be quilting it on a long-arm machine at my LQS and I'm pretty excited about it!
To quilt a 72x72 inch quilt in an hour... instead of 4 days on my little Janome...
words cannot explain.

My New Favorites - Part Two

{scroll all the way down for Eli}

These red, grey, and black blocks will soon (ahem, tomorrow) turn into a quilt top! I'm thinking this design will be a new favorite for sure! Said quilt is a belated Christmas gift for my little sister and new BIL. All of the red fabric is the red colorway of the Tufted Tweets collection which is just too fun... I was inspired by Ashley's quilt and just had to give it a go. Each block is 12.5" square and the grey is Kona Ash, love it!
Speaking of favorites...
Columbus finally has its own branch of the Modern Quilt Guild! We've met twice and meet again this Thursday at 7pm. If you're near Central Ohio and love modern quilts/sewing... come check it out! We also held a little Sew-In this past Saturday and that's how all the above blocks came to be finished so quickly! Its amazing what one can accomplish in 3 hours of uninterrupted sewing time!

And here are more new favorites!
My family finally noticed I'm addicted to fabric so for Christmas I received this gorgeous FQ set of the "Sanctuary" collection by Patty Young. I am SO saving this stack for a quilt... if you have any suggestions on a pattern that uses fat quarters, do share! I'm awful at deciding on a quilt design!

More fabric favorites from Christmas!
In particular, the top fabric has numbers in handwriting and I just love it! Ready? Its from Ikea!
Which means NOT expensive!
Perfect for a quilt back, no?

And last but not least - Eli! I had to get a few shots of his messy self after eating squash and beets... no babies or small animals were harmed, I promise! I realize he looks like a carnivore here. The red stuff is BEETS, people!

WIP Wednesday

So this is one of my two big WIPs... daunting eh? I had some help making all these string blocks thanks to the lovely ladies of the {Bee}autiful VQB on Flickr. Um, back in September.
Each block is 12" square.

Not surprisingly, I don't have near enough blocks as I'd like! And I'm nearly out of the Darcey fabric that makes up the blues and greens. Therefore, I'll be mixing in a few other non-Darcey prints of similar blues and greens... hopefully it won't throw the whole thing off.
And if it does, I'm keeping this quilt - so no one will be the wiser. Except me.

I'm also thinking of dividing sets of 4 blocks with white sashing, (like this) although I know that will diminish the overall impact. I'm just looking for ways to make it BIGGER. I'll work up some more blocks and see how big it turns out. Or I could add an outside border? Not a huge fan of borders but to make it bigger... might do the trick!

Anyone want to swap their Darcey fabric with me?
I have Japanese grey elephants... :-)

Eli's First Christmas

Enjoy!

Thanks to my wonderful sister for shooting these photos of Eli... and to the Grandparents for picking up this adorable little Santa suit!

Frame worthy for sure!

ps - Eli said "dada" tonight for the first time! But I'm pretty sure its just a bunch of consonant sounds he's making. Nothing deliberate. If that were the case, he'd be saying "Hazel" and "Mama" first!

My New Favorites - Part One

I received these Gingher 8" Knife Blade Scissors and I have to say, they are pretty sweet!

They cut through fabric like butter. And I'm not joking. Buh-bye old worn out scissors!

AND

Under the scissors... my new copy of The Practical Guide to Patchwork
by Elizabeth Hartman (of Oh Fransson!)... my new favorite book! If you love her quilts and fabulous use of color, you will not be disappointed in this book! It lays out the basics of how to construct a quilt, how to choose and cut fabric... plus there are 12 of her quilt patterns so you too, can create a gorgeous quilt of your very own! The Birdbath quilt is my favorite, I think.
If you have never made a quilt, after reading this, and following Elizabeth's precise and intuitive directions... I'm sure you could sew one in no time! Well, not no time - some time, but you know what I mean.

Another favorite: a new quilting design! Not NEW as in never been done before but new to me... and I love it!
I was inspired after seeing this post from Elizabeth, who like me, usually does a standard stippling on quilts. It was really fun, but hard for me to break the curvy-ness of my old ways, so not every corner is crisp like it should be. I'll definitely be trying this on other quilts! Love it!

What have you tried that's out of your realm of 'normal?'

Macbook Sleeve for Sister

My sister requested a cover for her 13" Macbook so I came up with this fun little
design using teal Echino fabric and a super soft plush minky inside.

An elastic loop and button finish it off for a nice secure fit.
I hope it made her Christmas (and laptop) a little more cozy.