bluebirds

43" square

I made this little quilt for my daughter, who turned 4 yesterday, using Anita's fabulous tutorial for the birds.

It was intended to be a lap quilt but it does double duty as a cute wall hanging for my dining room. It's perfect for the little birthday/tea party that I am hosting tomorrow. I thought it was only fitting to whip up some birds to hang from the chandelier to match.

Happy Weekend!

explaining myself

Thanks so much for your gracious response to my re-entry into blog land. I'm very thankful that you all are so excited! I've missed you guys! I'm excited and a little bit nervous, too, if I'm going to be truthful.

I feel like I need to explain myself a bit. You see, I try to be a woman of my word as much as possible. Back in January when I said I was done blogging, I really thought I was done. Then tax time rolled around and I needed info on some quilts I had donated. Well, I looked back on my blog and it was all there. How handy! Plus, I saw tiny snippets of my life that I had recorded over the past few years. It all made me realize just how valuable my blog is to me and what a great documentation tool it is. So, here I am, back at it, for better or worse. :)

The quilt shown above is a king size that I stippled for my haircut girl. We worked out an arrangement where we are bartering haircuts (and highlights!) for quilting services. It's a happy arrangement for both of us! I'll admit that I'm glad that she will be the one binding this monster quilt.

Happy Monday to you!

coming back soon...

quilts of 2009

the links to each specific quilt are here

Happy New Year, friends! I really like the new year. It's a good time to reflect on the past year and to look forward to what's ahead.

Looking back....
You know you made a lot of quilts when you can barely fit them into one mosaic.
I finished a total of 44 quilts last year. I'll be the first to admit: that. is. insane. If I weren't me, I don't think I'd like me very much. :)

Looking ahead....
This was a very hard decision to make, but this will be my last post on crazymomquilts. When I started this blog I had no idea where it would lead. It's been an amazing journey that has been exhilarating at times. It has provided me opportunities that I never would have dreamed of: working with moda on the bakeshop, being published, and teaching at a retreat in CO. It has also been a lot of work. Anyone who keeps a blog knows what I'm talking about. It's been such a big part of my life for over 3 years, but I know that it's time for me to move on. My husband and I joke that I am resigning from my full time unpaid position as quilt blogger, but that's what it feels like. I'm not sure what I'm going to do next, but I am excited about what's ahead. It really is bittersweet.

A few notes of business to wrap up...

I have closed my P.O. Box, so anything that has been mailed to me at that address will be forwarded to me, but it is no longer my current address.

I had many questions about the tide is high/lazy summer days quilt pattern. I haven't decided for certain yet, but I may share the instructions for the quilt over on flickr sometime after January 31.

I plan to keep my blog up as is as a resource. I'm not sure for how long, but I guess at this time, indefinitely.

I still plan to post my quilts on my flickr account.

So, for one last time...thank you for reading. thank you for commenting. thank you for being a part of my life. it means so much. big huge hugs to you.

amandajean

geese in the forest

Here's my last finish of the year. It combined two of my wip's....geese in the forest and tokyo's triangles...which is handy. :)

The center panel is made up of the 12 blocks I managed to make for Anina's quilt along. The top and bottom borders were made from flying geese triangles that I made using this method. I kept adding borders until I came up with this layout. I l-o-v-e the results. It's not huge-it only measures about 50" x 64".

I backed it with green and added a pop of pink for the binding. I love those two fabrics together.
I did loopy quilting all over, which wasn't easy. This quilt is not assembled as neatly as I would have liked....it's actually quite wonky. Hopefully that's all unnoticable after it takes a trip through the washer and dryer. :)

Since it's the last day of the year, here's a little WIP rundown....

I started Jacquie's Joy in the New Year Challenge with 19.
I have finished 12 quilts since that time.
9 were WIP's, 3 were new projects.
(This quilt took two off my list, but I'm only counting it as one finish.)
My final count will be 9 for the challenge.
And I'm left with 9 WIP's.
There's always next year, right? ;)

How did you do on your WIP's?

the tide is high/lazy summer days

These two quilts were finished much earlier in the year. I have to blog about them before the end of the year so I can link to the quilts on the list in my sidebar, and so I can include them in my end of the year flickr mosaic. :)

Both quilts are the same pattern but in different colorways. I wrote this pattern as a mystery quilt along for Sew Hip Magazine.

This one is called the Tide Is High. (Thanks, Susan, for the perfect name.) This was the quilt I made as I was designing the pattern.

Heather contributed many blue and green scraps to the cause. I changed the binding colors to match the color blocks on the front of the quilt. The back is the solid dark blue you see peeking out. I am beginning to really like solid color backs on my quilts. I stippled it, of course. I have this one hanging on the end of my bed and it coordinates quite nicely with my bento box quilt. Love that.

This one is called Lazy Summer Days. This is the quilt I made to test the pattern for accuracy.

I apologize for the poor quality photos...I quick snapped them back in May before I shipped the quilt off to England. I was hoping to do a side by side comparison of the quilts, but this one isn't back in my possession yet.

I love the soft colors of this quilt so much.

Again, I stippled it and used 3 different colors of binding.

The backing fabric looks like it was made especially for this quilt. I found it for half price at my LQS and that was a happy day. :)

Both quilts measure 60" x 72". Perfect lap sized quilts.

My thoughts on pattern writing? It's really, really hard work. I admire those who do it repeatedly. :)

color wheel quilt

This quilt was inspired by the photo in this post. When I saw it, I knew I just HAD to make a color wheel quilt. I whipped the quilt top up for a sample for the retreat, because I thought it would be a good scrap quilt idea to share. I wanted to do a circular layout, but the math made my head hurt, so I went the easy route. I do like the layout this way. A lot. You really can't see in the photos, but the two center white blocks are pieced from scraps as well. Each block is 12" finished.

The yellow square is my favorite.

I swirl quilted each of the color blocks with matching thread.
Then I stippled the sashing in white. I haven't washed it yet, but I'm sure it's going to shrink and pucker like crazy because it's pretty heavily quilted. I can't wait.

I bound in with a gray solid, because black was too black, white was too light, but gray was just right. I like how the gray compliments each color. And the backing, too.

Since I changed thread colors for each block (in the bobbin, too) the backing is a bit chaotic, but actually, I love it. This was a really fun quilt to make. I want to try another color block quilt (someday!) but without the sashing. I have no shortage of scraps for just that. :)

It measures 44" x 60".

Hurray for another one off the WIP list! :)

merry christmas!

Merry

Christmas

to

you

and

yours!

:)

scrap happy

I'm happy to report another finished quilt. :)

This was from my second round of the 9 patch quilt along.

I do love scrappy quilts most of all.

The printed fabric on the back is by Jennifer Paganelli. I love this fabric so much. I'm not sure if I love the white strips on either side of it, but what's done is done.

I talked about the quilting in this post. Since so many of you asked, I should state that I started and stopped the quilting for each flower. That's when the auto cut button on my Juki came in very handy.

I had a hard time deciding what to bind it with, but I fell back on my trusty flea market fancy fabric. I don't know how many quilts I've bound with this fabric. (many!) And it looks good every time. :) I'll be so sad when my stash runs out.

Here's (almost) a full view of the quilt.

It measures about 66" x 90", so a nice twin size.

I'm also happy to report that my motivation for finishing up my WIP's has kicked in to high gear (finally) and I'm having so much fun! I worked on 3 different quilts today. One of them is soooooooooo good! I can't wait to show you.

random saturday

I am the happy owner of my very own Lisa Leonard necklace!!

Her work is gorgeous.

I had such a hard time deciding what to have engraved on it, but in the end I chose something simple and sweet. I absolutely LOVE IT! She has all sorts of gorgeous jewelry and her blog is beautiful, too. If you need a last minute gift, you can order one of these (until tomorrow) and have it shipped to you by Christmas. I don't think you could go wrong. :) Thanks, Lisa, for such a beautiful necklace.

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This is today's quilt project.

Picking out matching thread colors was so much fun. I know, I'm such a geek. ;)

I've had this quilt basted and ready to quilt since before Thanksgiving, I think. I was stuck on how to quilt it. I browsed the modern quilting stitches pool on flickr this morning and then started playing with designs.

This is what I came up with....sort of a double swirl. I love this quilting!! It's fun and easy and looks a little fancy, too. I'm soooooo glad that I stepped out of my stippling comfort zone. I'm having a blast with new designs.

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Trisha left a comment yesterday wondering how many WIP's I have done for the Joy in the New Year challenge. I only have 6 out of 19 done. (Time is ticking fast!!!) I finished 8 quilts since the signups, but 2 were new projects, so they don't count. I really need to knock out a few more before this year is done. How are you doing on your WIP's?

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Thanks for all the sweet comments on my candy cane quilt. My "eeek!!!" was definitely a GOOD "eeek!". :) And to answer Jessica's question, the candy cane quilt is a new addition to my WIP pile. But I just HAD to, you know?

Happy Saturday to you!

candy cane quilt top

Eeeek!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

simplicity

do you know how many charm squares make a king size quilt?

483.

do you know how many hours it takes to sew them together?

neither do I. I started sewing these together at the retreat in the beginning of November. It seemed to take for-ever.

The fabric is simplicity by Moda. I absolutely L-O-V-E this fabric. This is going to be my summer look for my bed. I think it goes without saying that my husband doesn't care how girly our quilts are. Hurray for that!