red

Way back in early 2008, I started making a series of monochromatic scrap quilts. Anyone remember that? I started with yellow. Then I made a green one, blue one, and pink one. Yes, I really am crazy. (As if there was any doubt!) Monochromatic quilts are quite fun to make. Even though this most recent one has taken me a long time to complete, I'm glad I have this on-going project.

Sometime last week I finally finished a red one.

It makes me happy. I added some uneven borders-the top and left sides are smaller than the bottom and right sides-just for something a bit different. I generally don't do borders, but this one needed it. They contain all the chaos. :)

I quilted loops all over. I used 3 spools of red thread that I had on hand...no two colors exactly the same, but close enough. I'm beginning to detest small spools of thread!

I had to make the binding slightly scrappy, too. I love this detail.

And a very predictable pieced backing. I used left over chunks from my candy cane quilt for the patchwork. Pretty handy, since they were pre-cut and they were just the right size.

The quilt measures 59" x 69".

Red was my grandma's favorite color. It's also my sister's favorite. Some days it's mine, too. Today it definitely is. :)

Now, I wonder what color I should move on to next...

a process post

I took this quilt to my craft group with the intentions of starting to rip out the stitching. Unquilting this was going to be my winter project. I'm not feeling the quilting. I like the approach, the execution isn't all that fabulous. There is a little bubble in the back and the quilting on some of the circles is wobbly. The quilted circle shown is one of the better ones. Although, if I would rip out the stitching and try to quilt them over, I'm not sure that my results will be that much better. Quilting circles freehand is HARD!

The ladies in my group this morning convinced me that I should leave the quilting as is and finish it up. The quilt police aren't going to get me.

But this begs the question, where is that line between perfectionism (mine is in fine form these days) and lazy/shoddy work? I've heard the phrase "if you can't see the mistake 10 feet away from a galloping horse, leave it." That phrase irritates me, to tell you the truth. I want my quilts to be well made, and while they won't be perfect, I do want to do my best. On the flip side, I also want to finish my quilts! In order to do that, I need to let some of those things go. But finding that happy medium, now that's a trick.

off kilter

This quilt is my entry for the Blogger's Quilt Festival.

I made this quilt earlier this year (during my blog hiatus) for my nephew. He's 16 now and he's a special kid. I love him to pieces. Our bond started when he was 6 and I was a new mother of a 2 month old colicky baby. It was deer hunting season, and we were up visiting my in laws. My husband was out hunting. I was trying to keep it together and not start screaming and crying myself. My nephew who could walk and talk and tell funny bits of stories was a breath of fresh air! He and I went out to build a snowman, and I found out he had NEVER built a snowman before. I couldn't believe it. It was great bonding time and I guess that landed me on his good list. For some reason or other, I've been there ever since.

Last year my husband and I got the chance to take him out to practice driving. It was neat to share in that huge life milestone with him. We don't live very close to each other, and we don't see each other that often, so it's a treat when we do.

The quilt was made using Cheryl's gratitude quilt along. Susan named the quilt. (I LOVE the name!) It was a 100% stash quilt. This is one quilt that I am actually anxious to give away, because I think he's gonna love it.

blue giveaway winner

I just finished reading each and every one of the comments. (yes, even yours, Jessica Christensen!) :) Thanks for sharing your silly games with me. I think these were the best comments EVER! I laughed out loud several times. It also gave me a few more ideas to mess with my kids. Those ideas are always welcome! ;)

Ok, so the winner of the blue quilt kit is Sandi from Sonora. Thanks to each and everyone that left me a comment. I'm glad you all played along. :)

(Apparently I'm very smiley today.)

Hope you are too!

flock block

Have you seen the website Quiltivate? It's a nifty website that makes it easy to design your own quilts. I've been working behind the scenes with Kacie (who has been an absolute gem to work with) to write tutorials for some of the blocks on their site. The tutorials are up and running as of today. You should go and play around on the site. Just don't blame me if you get sucked in. It could easily happen. :)

As I was writing the flock block tutorial (way back when), I fell in love with it so much that I had to make an entire quilt top. It's been promised to my son, who is anxiously awaiting it's completion. I'm trying to work up the guts to do some Diane Gaudynski treatment to it. I still get nervous when I start quilting a new quilt, especially if I'm branching out with a new-to-me technique. I'm trying to tell myself that it's nothing a seam ripper won't handle if things go bad. I'll keep you posted.

Also, 4 years ago today, I started this blog. It's been a crazy journey. I was reading back to some of my earlier posts last night. It was kinda weird to look back and see what I was doing then. It seemed like a (much) simpler time. Anyway, reading old posts always gets me all sentimental. Thanks to each of you for stopping by, reading and commenting. I appreciate it soooooooooo much!

I plan to pick a giveaway winner tomorrow.

a blue giveaway

Happy November! Every month my family and I play this silly little game. We all try to be the first one to wish someone else a happy month. This morning I was greeted by my 7 year old (before I even got out of bed) with a "Happy November!" Not a bad way to start off the day.

November is my favorite month. I love fall. I love the Thanksgiving holiday. It's cooler so there are plenty of chances to wrap up in a quilt. It's a great time to make more quilts. (Well, it's always a good time to make more quilts, if you ask me.) I think November is good all around!

In honor of the first day of my favorite month, I'm going to give away a quilt kit to one reader. The quilt kit consists of 42 blue, black and grey kona cottons, so you can make your very own blue quilt. Or...you could use the pre-cut rectangles for various other projects if you so desire. Each rectangle is a generous 5.5" x 19.5" so the possibilities are endless! If you would like to win, please leave me a comment letting me know of any silly games you and your family play. If you don't have one, your favorite color would be a good substitute. Happy Monday to you!

liberty scrap challenge

Annie's scraps arrived in my mailbox several weeks ago. She sent me these lovely liberty tana lawn scraps, and in turn, I will use them to make a mini quilt for her. I have had no previous experience with liberty fabrics...but I'm learning that these fabrics are delicate and amazing. And did I mention pretty? They blew me away.

She included this little card in the package...it's just as cute as can be. Look in the lower left. Those bikes! My absolute favorite fabric of the whole lot.

I finally got to cutting and piecing this week. The quilt top is done...now it needs some hand quilting. Not my forte, but I'm excited to see this mini come to life.

And here's a shot to give you an idea of the scale of the squares...teeny tiny....almost 1.5" finished.

I started making two quilts right off the bat, because I knew it was going to be hard to let this one go.

sewing with my boys

My boys have taken an interest in sewing. I'm not sure if they have taken a "if you can't beat them, join them" approach with me or what. Maybe they love the speed of my Juki? Or maybe they love the process of creating as much as I do? (How fun would THAT be?!?!) Whatever the reason, they LOVE sewing. It makes me nervous to have them sitting at a machine that can sew 1500 stitches per minute, but they are doing great. Their 1/4" seam isn't spot on yet, but my 10 year old does sew an impressive seam. My 7 year old LOVES to iron, and he does well sewing, too. (Don't get me wrong, this process isn't without it's tense moments!)

On Sunday night we took a bunch of strings that I wasn't crazy about (some of them are fine, but some of them have been recycled so many times that I'm sick of seeing them), and we started sewing them all together. Now that they are together, I like the fabrics again. Funny how that works! I do believe that it will make a dandy quilt.

As long as my boys are having fun with it, I refuse to feel guilty about being dangerously close to running a sweatshop. :)

i wish i could dress this cute!

I'm making my peace with the fact that my "to do" list is hopeless. Completely hopeless. You see, I'm not the only one who adds to it. My husband regularly says, "You know what you need to make?...." Then he rattles off one of his great ideas. I know I shouldn't complain...inspiration overload sure beats twiddling my thumbs. That's what I try to tell myself anyway.

This project was my husband's brain child. Last winter I was knitting a striped hat, and he thought it would make a great skirt for our daughter. I don't know if that means I have a big head or if I have a little daughter, or both! It wasn't long before I headed to the yarn shop to pick out some yarn. What a hardship, I know, but someone had to do it. ;) Actually, having your husband dream up the projects is a great license to go to the yarn shop and spend some money without any complaint on his part. It's wonderful!

I knit like I quilt...mostly without a pattern. I wasn't sure that this would work, but hurrah! It did! And on the first shot, no less. I'm (more than) a little surprised. :) Too bad it wouldn't be cute in my size...

Happy Monday to you!

flickr groups you may or may not know about

Rene and I had a discussion about flickr groups way back in June. There are so many good flickr groups out there, but sometimes it's hard to find them. I'm going to highlight a few of my favorites here. And hey, it's only taken me 4 months to get around to it! :)

Carin just started a group for the Fair and Square quilt pattern. I finished this quilt top yesterday and it will be sent to MHC soon. They will quilt it, bind it and give it to someone in need. YAY! (One more thing off the WIP list!) They are always up for more quilt (or quilt top) donations if you wish to help. If you've sewn one of these up already, add it to the flickr group! It's so fun to see all the variations of a single pattern.

In my last post I had several people asked if I liked my Juki. I had to laugh, because I thought my deep love for my Juki was common knowledge. :) I wrote more details in my FAQ post about it. I will add this: if my machine died today, I'd replace it with the exact same model. The discussion in the comments made me think I should start a group on flickr about sewing machines, and likes vs. dislikes of your current machine. I did a search and there's already a group for it. Hurrah! It's called Sew me your machine. For those of you in the market for a new machine, it may be something to check out. For those of you who love your machine, can you add your 2 cents to the pool? It's so nice to read reviews of a machine (by real people) before buying. I am only making this plug because I could find next to nothing on-line for Juki machine reviews when I bought mine. It would have been super helpful to have reviews to reference.

Have you seen the scrappy mug rug swap group? Oh-my-goodness! Cuteness overload.

Simply solid quilts. Be prepared for inspiration overload (or total intimidation, which happened to me).

My morning cup is a cute group.

There is a group for Manly Quilts. You all know how hard those are to make. Some great ideas there.

Lots of inspiration for Quilt Backs. This is a personal fav since I'm a huge fan of pieced quilt backs.

There is a zig zag quilt group.

And a new house on the block group!

The half square triangle group is amazing!

Are you a moda addict? There is a group for you, too! Mad for moda.

I know I linked to this one before, too, but it's a good one. Modern quilting stitches: Life beyond Stippling.

How about you? Do you flickr? Are there any good groups I should know about? You know, because I need to spend even more time on-line than I already do.

right under my nose

I have owned my Juki for precisely 4 years and 2 weeks.

Do you want to know what I found in my bag of tricks today? I don't think that I can emphasize the word "today" enough.

I found this little foot. I noticed that it has a marking on the side that says CR1/4E. The 1/4 thing piqued my curiosity.

I looked in my sewing machine manual to see what it was. There was only this tiny little section talking about the "compensating presser foot". I quote "It is convienent to sew material end straight."
First off, I got a huge kick out of the wording. It just sounded funny to me. You could almost take it as "your project will come together better if you sew your ends together properly." But what the manual should say is: "Use this amazing and handy little foot to get consistent 1/4" seam allowances." How on earth did I not know this?

See that bar on the right? It guides your fabric.

And gives you a consistent 1/4" seam allowance. Every. single. time.

I am laughing so hard at myself right now. (Because it sure beats kicking myself over and over and over and over again.) :)

i cleaned my house so i could mess it up again

 I have a friend visiting for the weekend. Boy, oh, boy, are we having FUN!

We have fabric messes that would make Victoria proud.

Fabric is flying.

Backs are being pieced.

We are inspiring the next generation of quilters. (YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

There's still lots to do. Namely, basting 5 quilts. (For crying out loud!)

Super cute pincushions in use. (LOVE!)

Including this awesome one from Cindy. (LOVE!!!)

And I can't tell you how fun it is to see projects in real life rather than on screen.

Hope you are having a happy weekend, too!