Diamond Chevron Quilt Top

I have a finished quilt top to share. I participated in Kristen's QAL at KD-Quilts using her pattern Diamond Chevrons. I made it with Tula Pink's Prince Charming fabric and Free Spirit solids. They were all a Designer Select Bundle over at FatQuarterShop. Seriously LOVE this quilt. I had sworn off HSTs after the quilt I did for J, but I enjoyed doing this one. Prep time took the longest, but the piecing didn't take long at all! I managed to do a row here and there in between caring for my spoiled sweet baby boy and before I knew it, it was done.

I ended up adding a row to the top and 2 rows to the bottom because I wanted a little extra length. I'm still trying to decide what to use as a back for this one, but I can't wait to get it quilted to cuddle up under. 

I also posted this in the Tula Pink Sew Along Flikr group. I have to say that, sadly, this is the first time I had used Tula Pink. Lets just say I'm hooked! I still have a bunch of 4" squares and plan on creating another quilt top with it. Wonder what I'll do with them? Any ideas?

Big Bundle of Joy

This little (BIG) fella has been keeping me busy lately! He will be 4 weeks old tomorrow. I cannot believe how the time has flown.

Kaiden (known as K or baby K)

Born August 30, 2012 at 7:57am

Weighing 9lbs 07oz

  Here's a more recent picture of my little man.

He's a wonderful baby. He's so calm unless he wants food and when he wants it, he WANTS it right then. LOL He is very, very spoiled. He loves for mama to hold him. It doesn't help that I love it, too. He also has reflux. Which means he gets held more than he should (is that possible). As for me, I'm managing. I've been struggling emotionally, but hopefully I'm getting back on the right track. I still have a couple more weeks before I'm off complete restriction. That hasn't stopped me from pushing my limits, of course. I'm still not used to the fact that I have a son. Nor am I used to the fact that I have 4 kids. LOL Well, baby K's waking up so it's time to go!

What's Up? (Picture Heavy)

This is me:

I deliberately hid my face because it is so swollen and I look pitiful. This was actually taken a week ago. I'm currently 31 weeks. I'm miserable and not really fun to be around right now. Lately I haven't really been spending time at my sewing machine, either. However, I do have some stuff to show you that I've done over the last few months. I could separate these out into additional blog posts, but just the thought makes me need to go take a nap. So, here goes:

First, I want to show you the last full quilt I finished. This one I finished in May for my mother. It features Java by Deb Strain. It is almost the size of a queen, but not quite. It was huge! Also, it is the largest I have quilted on my little home machine.

Front

Back

After I had finished this quilt, with many many tears involved I swore off quilt sandwiches until after baby K is born. Here are two quilt tops I have finished:

D9P featuring Fandago by Kate Spain

New Wave Pattern by Oh Fransson! Featuring Terrain by Kate Spain

Also, I've been doing a bit of sewing for the baby:

Burp Cloths

Bassinet Skirt

Nursing Cover

So, that's pretty much been what I've been up to since my last blog post. Most of these pictures were taken with my iphone on instagram, so they aren't the best quality. I apologize, but I just do not have the energy to dig out my good camera and stage fancy photos as I normally would. :)

Until next time (whenever that may be)... happy sewing and quilting!!

Father's Day

I'm a day late with this post because yesterday was a very difficult day for me. You see, my daddy unexpectedly passed away at the end of February and this was my 1st father's day without him. The grainy picture I posted above is my dad (forgive the graininess. it's an old pic of a pic that's been cropped).  My dad was a carpenter, a hunter, a gardener, a quiet and laid back man. He would give me his last dollar out of his pocket and do without food if he knew that I needed it. He hardly ever got mad or raised his voice. I don't know what else to say except my daddy was a good person. Holy crap, I miss him SO much. I can't write any more about him without a big tear fest, so I'm going to stop here and move on with my story.

Back in December at Christmas time I gave my daddy a lap quilt. I think he used it a couple of times before he passed away. He was always afraid to use something "nice." I threatened him though and said he'd better use it because I made it for him to use and it would hurt my feelings if he didn't. lol He did comment a couple times that it was nice and warm and that he really liked it. :) Below, again, are grainy pics of the lap quilt. I'm doing this as a tribute to my dad and I can't bear to dig out the quilt just to take new pictures with my good camera.

Front

Back

All I did was take a panel and add a border to the top and bottom (all from my mother-in-laws stash). It was very simple, just how my dad liked things. I did a very minimalistic quilting job on it as well. I followed the borders of the squares and then did a big X through the center.

Happy Father's Day to my Daddy in Heaven. You will never be forgotten but forever missed.

Getting stuff ready

Those of you who follow me on twitter know that I'm expecting my 4th child at the end of August. We are very blessed to be having a little boy to add to our mix of 3 girls. We are so excited!! Yay! :)

The one thing my husband asked earlier in the pregnancy was for me to make the baby his or her own quilt. Basically, he wanted me to make the crib bedding instead of buying it from a store. I was thrilled! It's such a huge compliment for hubby to ask me to do that. So, I started searching for my favorite fabrics hoping the "perfect" one would jump out at me. I immediately fell in love with the Backyard Baby Collection by Patty Sloniger. I mean seriously! Look at those yummy fabrics!

Moving on... once I found out the baby was a boy I ordered fabric and also ordered the tumbler Go! Baby Die. I had been sitting on a Go! Baby since October, but didn't have any dies. To cut an already long story a little shorter here's the quilt I ended up making for baby K.

Front

Back

I also decided to attempt free motion quilting on this quilt. To me, straight lines just didn't give it the character that I wanted it to have. My attempt was not perfect, but it was fun and I enjoyed it! Here's a close up of my FMQ.

FMQ close up

I'm happy with how it turned out and I love that my little man will be wrapped in a quilt that I made. :) Also, this will be my last quilt sandwich I will be making while pregnant. I will continue to make tops, but I just cannot get on the floor and waller (southern to the bone). I attempted to pin baste on a table, but the back got all messed up. I ended up taking out the pins and carrying my design board outside and (with a mask) I spray basted it. That was nice and easy, but I do not like the kind of spray I got because it was too tacky. Yuck!

Anyways, I'm off to attempt to be productive! Thanks for stopping by! Happy Quilting!

Thrifty Deal...I Think

Hiya!! I'm still alive and kickin'. (yay!) I'm starting to get back into some kind of new normalcy after everything that has happened. In fact, today I went by a Thrift store and they were having a 1/2 off everything sale. I ended up buying this-

Then, I noticed it came with this-

Supposedly works

I got to looking in the drawers and found this-

Intriguing, yes?!!

What are these? Looks like stitch selectors?

What ya think?? Pretty cool, huh? Would it make it even cooler if I said I got it for $40?! I'm mostly excited about the desk because I sew on a flimsy 4ft card table. Anyways, anyone know anything about this machine or what the donut thingies are? Eeeee!! Okay, I'm done squealing... have a great day!!

Only So Much

It seems as though I keep popping in here just to give more bad news. I mean, really, a human can only handle so much. My Aunt passed away in August, my grandma passed in November, and my dad a little over a week ago. I'm surviving. Of course, now there's a huge void in my life and in my heart. I spent so much time and energy worrying about my dad. However, I'm completly at peace with his passing. It's really hard to cry and be sad for someone when you're happy for them because they are no longer sick or in pain.

I have been back and forth to Arkansas more than I care to even think about.  My sweet hubby allowed me to hire someone to clean my house because I had gotten so far behind. Also, I'll be headed back to Ar next week to clean out my dad's house and get a head stone. The following week, I'll have all my girls home with me because of spring break. Meanwhile, I'm still pregnant and dealing with those issues. :)

I don't think I ever posted pics of my dad's lap quilt I had made for him. I had given it to him for Christmas. It was a hunter's dream quilt (IMO). Anyways, it was drapped over my dads casket for his grave side service. I think he would've been happy.

I hope to be back to quilting soon. I have some stuff I need to finish up within the next couple of months so I can start sewing stuff for the baby.

Happy Quilting!!!

First Finish of 2012

I realize it has been almost 2 months since I've last blogged. I'm still dealing with family changes, but I'm starting to get back into my routine again. Thanks to some nudging from my mother, I have managed to complete my first quilt of 2012! I started this quilt many months ago, but was burned out (3rd quilt with Sherbet Pips in a row). This quilt is for my middle H's twin size bed.

I ended up doing many changes to my original idea. Originally was going to do the back solid instead of pieced. This was my first attempt at a pieced back. I was not happy with it, but I continued on. After getting the quilting done on it I'm very pleased with how it turned out. Another change I made was going with  pieced binding vs solid, darker blue. I think this makes it so much more girly, too.

Next quilt up is a Java quilt for my mother! She "says" that once I finish that one for her I get to borrow her New Home 9000 Embroidery machine. Yippee!