July 31, 2013

Update on 10 Thing to do for Summer

I am tackling my list for summer. I came out fighting. Behind the scenes, this is all that's been going on over here. I usually don't type this much out, but I thought it would be nice to share a little bit today.
    I have started a flickr account. Flickr name is yvcampbell. I have friends and relatives that sew and some of their pretties are on there too. Woohoo! I am still learning about flickr. At first, I think I was adding people to my friends circles. Well, if you sew, then of course you can be my friend. Come on over and we'll sew the day away. Truly, though, I figured out that there is a regular follow box that can be checked. :) This post has been sitting waiting to be edited for a little while, and I am really enjoying flickr.

Free form quilting. It's not perfect, but it's mine.


I set up the tutorial page. Progress of any kind is good.
I am ready for borders on the rail fence quilt. Finally! You know what, I am going to tell ya'll the biggest secret. I use my seam ripper almost as much as my cutter. Plus, I've been using it so much lately. I had to take all the borders off and rearrange one row of blocks to make the rail fence the actual size I wanted it to be. I seam ripped all day on it.



 I sewed the row back on the other side and the way it was pieced was totally not right. I didn't realize it until I was showing it to my hubby with all the borders on it. Pooie! I threw that stinkin' thing in the sewing room, and I was just mad as heck. Sometimes, I have to walk away. Anyway, while being in the living room and in my room so the kids could watch the living room tv, and then the kitchen table with the seam ripper. I have misplaced the seam ripper. This is my tip for the day, have more than one seam ripper. Bahahaha. All laughing aside, if the rain quits, I am getting another seam ripper. How many seam rippers do ya'll have??
Seriously, it was in the laundry room!

This morning, I left my laptop by the bedside so that I could wake super early to be apart of sweet  pouch swap hosted by Alyce @ Blossom Heart Quilts. I think I made it. I'm super excited...
Two weeks later-So, I have to keep a lid on what I made for my swap partner, Stasia. I just need my candies now, and I have no worries at all that those will be loved. I fretted over the look and the fabric. I started on something, and then I finally got to see her stuff on Instagram, and she uses some brighter more graphic prints. So, I ditched my paper piecing with solids for something else. Stay tuned for those pics....
While I was catching up on my blogs, the other day,  I saw Ros' post about  international mailings over @ Sew Delicious. I asked her about Australia and that I wanted to make sure and send something unique. It surprised me that they don't have a Joanns in every town. Wow, and their prices on fabric is like double ours. She was very sweet to say that anything sent will be appreciated. I finished the bag yesterday, and I slept like a baby last night. It must just be the unknown, since this is my first swap. 


I took some time this morning and worked on some scrap cutting. It really makes it easier and less bulk. Although, I am still not a fan of cutting. The cutter here is one of my favorite tools. It puts less pressure on my wrist. It's a good thing. I realize that taking photos at 12:00p.m., equals very nice photos.

I set up a linky party for the Farmer's Wife QAL. Woohoo! I used this tutorial from A Turn to Learn. I super excited to see everyone's work, and I linked up with WIP Freshly Pieced.

I am having some blog difficulties. I usually do though. I am not a techie at all!  I spend days figuring things out on here. One of the issues is I can't make the comments visible. While trying to figure out how to make them visible, I realized that I had it set up so that you could only post a comment if you had google plus. So, I said bye bye to that. If anyone knows the magic solution for making comments visible, please let me know.





Farmer's Wife QAL BLock 1

 

 

 


 

Block 1 is Attic Window
 
It only took a few minutes to complete. I see now why other people post 2 or 3 at a time. I will stick to this one for now. If you wanna quilt along and link up. You will need the book. I'm sure a lot of people have it. I missed out on some other quilt alongs last year.
 
 
I had to print out the templates. There's a tip here. I use double sided tape, and you can stick the template to your ruler.
 
 


 

 
I'm linking up with WIP Freshly Pieced WIP .
.  I am going to work on some more, and I will do a post weekly. I may do 2 a week. That's a plan.


Feel free to go out, get the book, and link it up with me here.

July 18, 2013

Double Wedding Ring 1st Try

Just thought I would share today's sewing with you.
 

 
I haven't done that many curves. I have always loved the double wedding ring pattern. I saw that there's a contest http://www.nycmetromodquilters.com.  I decided immediately to  jump in head first. I went straight to my sewing den to start at it. Who wouldn't want to win a Juki. I found a template here.  Ok, don't judge to harshly. This is my first attempt.



Something is going on with the size of the rectangles that are navy. I am having a hard time joining the points. I am not even going to sugar coat it. It isn't easy. I would say moderate to hard. This is a new level for me. As I am typing, I have the block right here. I am already doing surgery on the purple. For a first try, it's not that bad.  Blog at ya later.


July 12, 2013

Baby Changing Mat

     


 
 I have my friend Ayna visiting for the week. She is working on a baby quilt for a friend. I decided to make a cute little changing mat that also has diaper and wipe pockets.  I used a changing mat tutorial here, but I tweaked the size of the mat to 15"x30".I found this cute little button at Joann's. Of course, we had to make our rounds to the fabric stores. I saw on another local bloggers blog that we have Cloud 9 fabric at our Joann's. Yes, indeedy, we do. Ooh La La.

She is adding borders as I am typing.



 
I really like the pockets.

 
It's like a clutch. Just flip up the flaps and fold. Say that 10 times really fast.

 
Cute and I already had the fabric and batting in my stash. Hope she likes it.
 
*Update on this summers-to this-summers-to-do-list : Rail Fence is ready for borders. Yay!
I made a flickr account. Yvcampbell, I'm still finding my way around flickr.
I also just got the Swoon  pattern from Thimble Blossoms for the quilt along.
......the house is in decent condition. lol It's always a work in progress.

 
This is a sneak peak of something else that I started. I got a grab bag of Robert Kauffman fabrics for our local store. I wanted to try something really out of my comfort zone.

 
The improv log cabin piecing didn't scare me. It's just putting random fabrics next to each other. I wasn't that okay with it. I talked myself through the first block. It sounded something like, "It's okay. It's going to work out. You are just going to use that strip and not put it back. This is supposed to be fun and so on..hahaha. I made it through with support from Ayna. If she wouldn't have been here it might have went in the trash or somewhere never to be found again.

 
Although, the first couple were giving me a complete panic attack. It's going to turn out good. I'm okay with the process now. Woosah! Blog at ya later.
 
I'm linked up with Crazy Mom Quilts finish it up Friday.
 

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July 3, 2013

10 Things for this Summer's to do List


 
I saw on A Quilting Life blog that she did a list of to do's for the summer. I have seen several blogs with lists. 99 to do in 999 days. Which is far more than I would like to go with the list. I do love lists, but I also like to keep it simple. . So here it is starting with my WIP today.
 
10 seems doable
1.  Finish my new project that I am working on cutting. I don't have the full design laid out. I was just super excited to start cutting up this charm pack by Moda VandCo.  Simply Style. I love it!


2. Make Tutorial Page for this blog ,start flickr , and do a linky party
3. Do the Swoonalong 2013. I put up a button for it.
4. Join the guild.
5. Start working on Farmer's Wife Sampler. I have the book.
6. Take a few cutting days. All my scraps are gathering in different baggies.
7. Finish Magaritaville Quilt.

8. Finish Rail Fence Quilt

9. Do a scrap quilt from 2 inch squares that I am collecting.
10. Find the time to do all of the above and keep my house looking good at the same time.

Linking up with aquiltinglife and freshlypieced. Link your list. Blog at ya later.
© Quilty Dream
Maira Gall