Clear to proceed...

Last night I attempted to start my Christmas tree skirt. As I got further and further into it, I started getting more and more confused about some dimensions. Since I tend to do things much more complicated than they need to be, I decided that I needed a hexagon shaped tree skirt. Not a square or a circle. Then I decided that it can't just be one color, it needs to have several. As I started trying to figure out angles and lengths and how to fit it all on my fabric, I realized that I needed to draw it up. So today I spent my lunch drafting my tree skirt pattern in the CAD program we use here at the office. Being a nerdy engineer has it perks at times.

Now things are all clear and I can continue my project.

Primary Zig Zags

I finished a new quilt top today. This one came together quite quickly. The top itself is quite simple. I plan to echo the zig zag in the solid red portion and I think that will really make the quilt. That is the hope anyway! It will be baby sized. I like the little projects. :)

I've got the idea for this quilt as I was making the Earth Tones quilt last fall. I bought the fabric around that time and it has been sitting around waiting for me to have some time to start the top. It is flannel so it should be quite cozy when it is finished.

I used the flying geese tutorial Amanda Jean of Crazy Mom Quilts linked to a couple weeks ago. Since I've had this idea for so long I've had my eye out for flying geese patterns for awhile and this one is the best one I've seen. It has no fabric waste- which is really nice. Other ones are confusing or have a lot of waste.

Now off to start planning my Christmas projects since my stack of Merry & Bright fabric came this week! Exciting!

Thinking About Christmas

This past weekend my mom and I took a trip to Bronner's, the self-proclaimed "CHRISTmas Wonderland". I've been excited to put up my first full sized Christmas tree in my own home and our trip to Bronner's was to get some ornaments for our tree. While I did buy some, it mostly got me excited to start some Christmas sewing projects. After I got home I went online and bought myself some Merry & Bright fabric and am scheming ways to make stockings, a tree skirt, and a Christmas quilt. I'm looking forward to its arrival later this week!

Surprise!

I finished Owen's quilt this afternoon around 1:00. My friend's baby shower started at 3pm. Just in the nick of time. Notice the date on the tag. Three days ago. Owen decided he wanted to make an early debut and was born nearly 5 weeks early. Please pray for Owen and his mommy and daddy. Owen is healthy but is only allowed to go home after he eats and keeps down enough food. Let's pray that is soon!


I am so happy with how this quilt turned out. There were times were I was unsure whether I was going to like when it was finished. I liked it more after the top was completely pieced, but it wasn't until the quilting was finished and the binding was on that I really loved it. The quilting really made the quilt so much and the binding really finished it off well. I chose the dark brown to tie it all together and it seemed to do the job.


I really love the back too. The linear quilting pattern really is just what the simple backing needed to really look good.

Finish Quilting... Check!

I have finally finished quilting my latest quilt. This is my first attempt at free motion quilting and I'm pretty pleased with the results. It wasn't as difficult as I expected it to be- when my machine was working properly, that is. I think this is going to be my method of quilting from now on. I really like it!

So this one time, I finished quilting. It was awesome.

It didn't come without its hiccups though. The most major one was when I sewed my finger. I am still amazed that I managed to do that. But ANYwho. In the process of sewing my finger, I managed to break my needle and that started a chain of machine/user related problems. I had issues with the needle size, there was major birdnesting problems, and then my machine decided to start skipping stitches. All of these has put me about a week and a half behind schedule. It also made me very frustrated and have me really wanting a nicer machine than my super basic Singer. I'll add that to my wish list. Along with a new couch, bookshelves, sharp kitchen knives, and a Toyota Camry... Hybrid... for the environmentalist very, very deep inside.

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