Time Management

A lot of people I know ask me how I produce so many quilts.  This morning my best friend sent me a message saying she thinks she must be a lazy quilter because she doesn't produce as many quilts as I do.  I felt terrible!  I really don't want to be a discouragement to anyone, so let me answer the "how do you" question in so much detail you will wish no one had ever asked...

1) I am a stay at home mom. Being a stay at home mom is a very physical job, but there are plenty of times I can dream up plans for quilts. When you are doing tedious housework, sitting in traffic, sitting in the park, or watching cartoons, you can think a lot. When I worked full time, I came home and crashed. I was so exhausted by a day full of talking and people (yes, I'm an introvert), there was no way I wanted to engage my brain in any way.

2)I have a dedicated sewing space. We have a breakfast nook in my house that was placed right by the only downstairs bathroom. I hated that room for a long time. It's embarrassing to go potty with nothing but a core door separating you from people eating. YUCK. I tried exiling the toys to that area, but it was colder than the rest of the house and the kids always just wanted to be near the t.v. me anyway.  One day I just claimed it for my own.  It's a lot easier to sew when you can take 15 minutes while you are waiting on the oven to pre-heat to iron some half square triangles.  All those little things I can do in the 15 minutes other people may be setting up just to get started add up. 

3. I have good machines. I can't tell you how many hours I wasted ripping out quilting on my older machine. The juki is super fast, too...I think 1600 stitches a minute? I throw on a 1/4" compensating presser foot and I can really fly.

4) I buy fabric for several projects at once and I keep a bolt of white at all times. I usually save my buying binges for when I am visiting Mississippi where my husband grew up or Waco where my best friend lives. There are better quilt shops there anyway (sorry LQS!)

5) I abandoned perfectionism. My house isn't 100 percent clean all the time. My hair is not done up cute every day.  My quilts are not imperfection free. I'm ok with that. (look at that wonky top on the green crayon).  I do what makes me happy and am blessed by being one of those people who really doesn't care what people think about me.  Enough said on that!

6). I am not a twilight reader, but I did go see that latest movie with my friend Hope.  I think new quilters are kind of like the newborn vampires...just rabid wanting to create, create, create!  Now I feel I have the basics down and I want to challenge myself to longer projects.  My production level is slowing down considerably.

7) My husband and kids are really sweet about it.  I know my limits...I can't ask them to set foot in a Hobby Lobby.  My husband is really busy with Little League, Church Softball, Scouting, and a graduate class he is taking.  I know he likes the fact that I have something to do that makes me happy when he's away and the kids are in bed.  My oldest is wanting to learn how to sew and now has his own little little machine.  The younger two like to sit on my lap sometimes and they get excited to see a quilt come together.

8) I blog a few posts at a time and just hit "Post Options" on the lower left side and schedule them to post by themselves...otherwise I'd never keep up with blogging.

9) I ladder stitch my bindings and I save bindings for family time when I can share their company and quilt at the same time.   Tutorialhere!

I really really hated it when my mother sewed though she only did it recreationally on weekends.  I do try to wait until they are in bed, napping, or otherwise engaged, but I think it's good for them (even though they might whine in the present just as I did) to see their mom and dad doing something they love and I know I am creating things that will be a love letter to them even when I am gone. When I moved out out of my parent's house, I took only my favorite baby doll, a quilt my mother made when she was pregnant with me, and a wooden ammunition box my mother used to store embroidery threads.  I filled that box with all the letters she had written to me when I went away to college.  My father's house burned down soon after and that was all that was left.  Jewelry, GONE.  Furniture, GONE.  Photos, GONE.  I think the items I chose to carry with me show just how valuable a child views something created by a mother's hand. 

Have you got a good time management tip?  Lemme know in the comments!

I'm here...

I'm still here.  I was taking a shower the other day when inspiration struck.  For the first time ever, I wrote down one of my patterns.  It took a LONG time.  I am testing the lap size version now for accuracy and will hopefully make it available for sale in my etsy shop as a pdf.  

I've also written a FREE tutorial which will be available sometime in October.  More details to come on that.  I took my final pictures of the finished product today at a local park.  That's one of the great benefits of blogging for me...I have to get out that camera and I end up getting a lot of cute pictures of my kids that would have otherwise been too lazy to take.

Finish: Autumn Hourglass Quilt

I have been dreaming of Katie Jump Rope fabrics for a long time and recently I hit the motherlode in Lake Jackson, TX at the quilt shop there. They had it on the clearance bin for half off and they gave you an extra 20 percent off if you finished the bolt! I went home and found some additional prints on etsy for $3.33 to $3.99 a yard. I also used a dotty piece from stash and bordered the whole quilt in that black flower print from American Jane's Peas and Carrots. I went to our church's monthly craft night knowing I could not just waste 5 or 6 hours of sewing time, so I carried this stack and cut out 9.5" squares, split them diagonally twice into quarter square triangles, and sewed back together randomly. I finished the blocks 2 weeks ago all during that craft night, but I just finished the quilt last night.

I'm really excited because this is going to be a good quilt for putting on top of hay bales when we visit the pumpkin patch. We go to a pumpkin patch at a local church every year and they have lots of cute spots for photos. Usually the scratchy hay bales the kids have to sit on makes for some unhappy campers, but not this year! I can also use this quilt to line the back of one of our vehicles for Trunk or Treat at church. My theme this year is "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!" Any excuse to break out a quilt, right???

I just realized I never took close up shots of this quilt or a shot of the back. I used the Katie Jump Rope Orange Bandana Dot print for the entire back and the Orange Stripe from the same line for the binding. I just can't get excited about piecing backs...once I am done with the front, I wanna be done period!

The thing about tulips...

When I was in 3rd grade, my parents had a large rectangular hole dug in our front yard. I was so sure they were putting in a swimming pool just for me. I was a little disappointed to find out my mother had just decided to add a patch of tulips. They planted bulb after bulb and eventually a beautiful spot emerged that secured our community's yard of the month award. The newspaper came out. Mama and I had a picture made. She wore a skirt and long sleeved sweater. I wore a minnie mouse sweatsuit. We both looked pleased as punch.

Since my mom (who, by the way, was an excellent seamtress) passed away, I have always looked at tulips as a reminder of her. When my husband gave me my engagement ring, we were both surprised to realize that the filigree was, in fact, tulips. I felt like it was a sign that this was a good thing. When I was stressed about having a beautiful ceremony with a lack of funds a few days before my wedding, I walked into the wal-mart garden center and was greeted with pot after pot of white tulips marked down to 50 cents each. I snatched them up and made them wedding decorations. I carried a big bouquet of perfect white tulips that day.

Right now I am sewing a quilt that is very important to me. I'll share details later, but I knew it was going to be ok when I looked down in the midst of chain piecing and saw this:



(brown) tulips on one of the prints (Fandango by Kate Spain for Moda).

Have a wonderful day!

Autumn is on the way!

I am gearing up for AUTUMN! I hope to have the matching quilt soon...not because I have to be matchy-matchy...but because I am absolutely in love with these Katie Jump Rope fabrics!

A tale of 2 fabrics...

Sometimes I resell fabric. I find a discontinued bolt of a hard-to-find print languishing away on the clearance shelf in a quilt shop and I feel it is my civic duty to rescue it for resale so somebody can enjoy it to the fullest. Did I mention the upside is a hefty profit which allows me to purchase even MORE fabric??? It's a win/win/win. The LQS gets rid of a hard-to-sell bolt of fabric, I get money to buy more fabric, and somebody gets to enjoy creating with a fabric that is hard to find.

Well, because *I* sometimes do this, I made the assumption that all people reselling fabric on etsy or ebay do something similar. I bought 4 prints of Katie Jump Rope at a LQS for $4 and $5/yard recently. MAJOR score. I planned on reselling some of yardage but acquiring other prints from the line with my profits to give myself an awesome quilt in lucious fabric. I was delighted to find other prints to round out my quilt for $3.23 and $3.99/yard on etsy.

First off, the lady described the orange prints as red. She insisted I was wrong. Yes...EVERYBODY ELSE is wrong...EVERYBODY who is describing the same prints as orange. I ordered a yard of "red" but got more of the orange I already had. The lady was pretty rude about the whole thing. The price was cheap...but so was the customer service.

I'ts all good, right? I still got great quality fabric for 1/3 of the price...or did I?


I dunno if my shoddy photography skills were able to capture this, but the quilt shop print is much whiter on the back. I think it might be because the fabric is thicker (therefore less translucent).



I really wish you could see this in person. I don't know if it is seconds, rejects, or what. Common sense really should have told me someone could not afford to purchase first quality fabric from freespirit and still be able to turn a profit on $3.23/yard. This person had bolts and bolts for sale...Heather Ross prints, Denyse Schmidt...lots of big time fabric designers.



You can still find great deals on etsy...people are always destashing or lucking up on a great find like I do. Just remember when a wholesaler is selling great fabrics at rock bottom prices, you might be getting the print you want, but you are taking a crap shoot on customer service and quality.

Tic-Tac-Toe

My 6 year old has recently become interested in tic tac toe and sewing. He decided we could make a tic tac toe quilt. I let him select the fabrics and I cut them. He sewed the squares together with my 1/4" compensating presser foot and ironed everything. When the 9 patches were done, we sewed it up pillowcase style. he didn't stick around for the topstitching around the edge, but he came back once it was complete. We are using old bobbins and some covered buttons for the x's & o's.

The Monet Quilt

I am thinking this is like a Monet painting. I don't think it's a masterpiece, but it is best viewed at a distance... and I feel like I have been working on it since the early 1900's! I started this quilt in April. It has the distinction of being:

1)My first Applique quilt...and it shows
2)My first attempt at loopy quilting...and it shows
3)My first attempt at pebble quilting (see the flower centers)...and it shows
4)My first full size quilt (which turned out ok)
5)The quilt I have spent the most time on (which doesn't show)



Pebble quilting on the flower centers was harder than I thought it would be. I never got a good rhythm but I did eventually figure out how to (very slowly) quilt something that DID resemble pebbling and not just a random mess of stitches.



I love love love the loopy quilting. I think this is going to replace stippling as my go-to free motion stitch. I got a boo-boo spot in the quilting but I think with the washing you can't really tell. I love how washing a quilt can literally wash away a mistake.

This quilt will go in my 6 year old's bedroom at his request...under the duvet cover if I have my say. I am grateful for the lessons learned, but this is not a favorite of mine.



YOU:create

Design Wall...

So I feel a bit pretentious calling a backwards $2 tablecloth I have stapled over an ugly window a "Design Wall." I held off for a long time, but honestly isn't this a lot prettier to look at than mini blinds???



I wish you could see the beautiful autumn color this has cast into my kitchen and sewing nook (but that would involve me cleaning the kitchen!).

Today the hubby drove some of our town's Little Leaguers in a parade celebrating their great showing in the 2010 Little League World Series. I am pretty sure on September 11, 2001 I never imagined I would be spending the 9 year anniversary doing something so innocent, American, and fun. It was such a poignant way to celebrate Patriot's Day. Many thanks to all the men and women who sacrifice themselves so we can feel normal again.

I spy...

I spy, with my little eye...



4 cute chocolate-chippy hands...
2 I-spy doll quilts...
1 super cute backing fabric (You&Me, Alexander Henry).

These were made to bribe my friend Holly into auditioning her identical twin daughters for a t.v. role in their area. They did not get the part, but they will get the promised quilts. They ARE, however, going to be starring in the movie Conviction as Hillary Swank's daughters. It is based on the Betty Anne Waters story...a fascinating real life story. I hope the girls enjoy them!

Good ol' boy...

This quilt was made for my husband's 32nd birthday. He loves the Dukes of Hazzard.



Each block represents a character...it was an idea my husband had. We have (left to right, top to bottom) Uncle Jesse, Roscoe, Boss Hogg, Bo, The General, Luke, Flash, Cooter, and Daisy. The pockets really work...I'm thinking you could hide a remote in Uncle Jesse's square. I already hid a bag of M&Ms for the birthday boy.



I've had the Dukes of Hazzard sheet for a long time...I bought it before I even really sewed a lot. It was on my son's bed for about a week...the elastic was too worn for it to really work, so I have hoarded this waiting for a project. It made a great backing even though I did have to repair a small area.

I used a lightweight denim for sashing and was going to use red gingham for the binding until I found the most awesome vintage fabric for $1...I think there were about 2 yards of it. It really lit a fire under me to do the project. I am so glad I found this fabric at just the right time!



I didn't like using the sheets. The General Lee square was fussy cut from the more worn sheet. Lots of stretching going on. I had to square up and square up again. The backing was really slick too..it makes it really soft to snuggle with, but on the sewing end it was so slick I had a hard time getting a good feel for my quilting rhythm. I think it shows in the quilting unfortunately.

But ya know what? He said this quilt was cool. I secretly posted it on my facebook and even his uber macho friends said it was cool. I think to get a bunch of 30 something males to call a quilt cool is pretty much a success.

Finish: Cracker Quilt

I am finished with the Cracker Quilt done in 30's reproductions. I really like how bright and happy this quilt is. I'm not quite finished with this pattern yet. I am hoping to make it in current fabric to showcase how timeless this fun block really is. The fabrics are ordered and I am excited!




I think I cut one of my prints incorrectly because one of the yellow prints needed more trimming than the others. It could have just been the piece of fabric, though. There were bias edges involved and sometimes that causes issues.




This quilt is currently in the wash...again. Apparently that fence was pretty dirty...much dirtier than my back fence where I usually take pictures. Lesson learned!

Happy Labor Day and Happy Birthday to my husband! His birthday means one thing for y'all...I can reveal his birthday gift on my next post.