Baby Quilt

The mommy loved it!

Baby Quilt Finished

I finished off the bubbly baby quilt I showed last week. It's quilted quite heavily around the dots so that they pop. I haven't quilted like this before. I'm visually happy with the results - the heavy quilting is a bit stiff, but I expect it to loosen up with washing. I also put my first official label on this quilt - a dot on the back with my name and date embroidered on it. The back is a swirly pink/purple batik type fabric.

front

back

Baby Quilt

Here is the project I'm working on right now. It's a baby quilt for a friend at school - she's having a girl and pretty soon too!
The dots are attached with steam a seam and then raw edge appliqued down with a freehand straight stitch. I'm working on the quilting now (free hand swirly circles upper left) but my sewing machine is making an awful noise so took it in for service today. Hopefully I'll have it back by Wed.

Baby Quilt

Mug Rug

I decided to make something for myself this weekend. I saw this pattern a while ago on Madame Samm's blog - the post has now been removed unfortunately. I thankfully saved the pattern when it was up, but had to make up the directions to sew it. I'll use it at work and it will make me happy every time I see it. Tomorrow I hope to work on quilting a baby quilt but my sewing machine is making a very squeaky noise when I'm free motion quilting. As soon as the baby quilt is finished the machine will need to go in for service.


front side

back side

Tomorrow is the last day for my church in it's current location. We have been in a shopping mall for 37 years - it's the only place I ever remember being. The mall did not renew the lease this year; a new location has been found and everything will be a-okay.

new book to read

My Nest Isn't Empty, it just has more closet space - Lisa Scottoline - I saw this on another blog - it's a collection of news columns this woman writes - one is about how we don't have enough stories in our lives (soap operas, etc.) so we use gossip to fill the void.

Dear Jane & Happy Easter

I finished my marking homework (well, almost - I'll finish up now before bed) and finished my Dear Jane homework too. I'm all caught up for my class at the end of the month. I'd like to make a new spring purse/handbag for myself - I ordered 2 books on modern sewing so will wait for them to come in before I start. Pieces used: 402. Happy Easter!

G11

D5

F7

E12

H10

Dear Jane

I have finished 4 more blocks - my piece total is up to 293. I sure hope the original Jane had a lot of time on her hands! These blocks average about 1 hour each - some more, some less. A2 has 40 pieces in it! B2 I hand pieced the curves then sewed the rest together - I'm off a bit because it wrinkled some in the middle.

A2

B2

C6

G9

I also finished reading The Virgin Cures - it was pretty good. Ami McKay put in little sidebar tidbits that were part of her research. She also included diary entries and newspaper articles.