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“What you create doesn’t have to be perfect. So what if the eggs are greasy or the toast is burned? Don’t let fear of failure discourage you.”
― Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Blasts from the Past Part 4

This is a quilt I made for my Mother-In-Law at least five years ago. It's a basic nine patch quilt pattern. I had a lot of leftover pieces, and I think I managed to send most of them to Jessica, but every once in a while I run across one. This quilt is between a full and a queen. And at the time, it was the largest thing I had quilted on my machine. It is quilted with a giant stipple.

I made these booties from scraps of fabric from Heather Bailey's Freshcut. I made a charm quilt for my youngest daughter while I was pregnant and had a few tiny scraps leftover. I loved how these little booties looked on her tiny feet. They are lined with a supersoft terrycloth. I still have then in her sock bin even though they haven't fit for quite a long time. There is just something so lovely about tiny things. This is a quilt I made for my oldest daughter when she was a few months old. My mother sent me the fabric-it is Free Spirit I believe. I loved it so much at the time, and still do. She sent me the book Quilts from the Quiltmakers Gift and enough fabric to make one of the quilts from the book. Luckily, she sent more, or the pattern called for more than was needed, so I still have some of this left, I delight in scraps of my favorite fabrics.!
Anyway, this quilt is still regularly used by the current six year old and it still quite large enough to cover her up. I used a lot of different machine quilting styles, there is stippling, stitch in the ditch, and some freehand flowers, crowns, stars, and magic wands. This was one of the first projects where I really started feeling like I could draw anything on fabric.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Ottobre Dresses


About a year ago my mom sent me some fabric with instructions to make dresses for the girls. She had seen a dress in Sophie's size she really loved, didn't want to pay full price, so found similar fabric and sent it to me. So, I pulled out the ever loved Ottobre designs and found a few patterns. Just after I got the fabric cut out, the dress she loved went on sale and she bought it. Well, that made me lose steam in a major way. So, the dresses sat unfinished for almost a year. Last week I rectified the situation. For Bella, I made a bigger size, still fits as a dress. Sophie's dress has now become a shirt though. But, the main point being, they are done. I added the green fabric as accents. I have enough of the blue left to back a quilt-small one, or make a skirt for myself. Sophie was not thrilled to have her picture taken.

Both of the dresses have a lot of detail I failed to capture adequately, but I really love how the bodice of Bella's dress turned out.

Monday, July 6, 2009

Blasts from the past 3

I made this ladybug quilt for a friend three or four years ago. She went into labor the night before her baby shower and sent her husband in her stead. It was hilarious. He was a little uncomfortable at first, then started getting into all the unwrapping and such. He held up a few outfits and said things like "This is so cute, I bet we won't return it!". He had a roomful of women laughing so hard. It was so sad his wife couldn't have been there for it all.

I made this quilt for Jack right after he got his big boy bed. It's a crazy cut quilt with all the blocks cut at a slight angle. This was one of my first big lessons about mixing fabrics. I used both quilt store fabrics, and fabric store fabrics in this quilt, and the fabric store fabrics have really not held up as well as the others. This is a quilt that is used a lot, washed a lot, and loved a lot. So I really didn't expect it or need it to stay pristine. But some of colors still match my original scraps, and some are unrecognizable. Frustrating considering all the time put into it.


I love this jacket, so much so that it is still hanging in my closet despite the fact that it doesn't fit anyone who lives here. Jack was four when I made it and he wore it for about a year and a half. It is a dark blue corduroy lined with a baseball print and has olive green cording. Not really a water-proof type coat, but warm and toasty and snuggly. It has side pocket and the sleeves roll up for extra growth. I have big plans of making a few of these for my girls this fall.

Friday, July 3, 2009

Old Red Barn Quilt Finished!

I am really loving how this quilt turned out. I tried to use brown as a central theme, then go with colors that coordinated.


The finished size is 64 x 82. I used a 6 by 7 block formation. I stippled the quilt using pink thread on top and brown thread in the bobbin.


The quilt-a-long was great. All the instructions were clear and easy to follow. I loved seeing all the different choices people made in the flikr group. If anyone out there wants to make a quilt, try this one out.