Starburst

Introducing my 4th finish of the year!!

This is my Giant Starburst quilt. I followed the quilt along by Megan at Canoe Ridge Creations.

This backing is one of my favorites!!!

I quilted it with straight line machine quilting. I love how it came out. To mark my lines I used painter's tape. Each line of blue is two strips of tape. Sewed down one side, removed one strip and then sewed along both sides of the second strip.

I absolutely love how it turned out!

This is my second Angel Quilt: Helping find a cure for Joshua and CF of the year. (5th overall) If you don't know about this project you can learn more here.

In the past I have done a silent auction on fb with my friends. I am still very nervous about strangers having my quilts. Is that weird?

A friend recommended that I raffle them off instead. That way I could set the price and determine how many tickets I wanted to sell. What a great idea!!! Thanks Michelle.

I am very proud to announce that after the raffle I was able to donate $220 in profits, to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. The check is in the mail today.

 

 

I have another announcement too!!

I now have a facebook page for my little business that I am starting. Check it out. It is still a work in progress. Hope you enjoy it and "like" too. ;-)

I have been keeping a list of all the quilts that friends have asked me to make for them. I also am working on seven memory quilts for a client that my brother found for me. I am so blessed to have so many people asking me to make them quilts. Business is beyond great... now just to schedule time during the summer, with 3 kids home, to work on the giant list I have.

 

 

Linking up with:

  

 

 
 

Apple Jam

I haven't posted in a long time, but am happy to share my 3rd finish of the year!!

 

First, I must tell you all that has been happening here in my little crazy world.  This little business (Angel Quilts) of mine already is backlogged. I have a list of eight people who have commissioned me to make 16 quilts!!! I can't believe it. I ordered labels to add to every quilt I make from here on out. I absolutely love them!

You can find them at inkedpapers on etsy.

 

Now for my lasted finish!!!

I present to you...

Apple Jam!

It measures 57" x 55".  The top is made out of a jelly roll of Apple Jack by tim and beck for Moda and Lipstick by Moda. The backing is Soft N Comfy Dot in grey. I used a pattern I found on the Fat Quarter Shop website, but made a bunch more blocks and added a border. I really do hope you like it.

Can you see the giant swirl quilting?  I just love how it came out!

 

 

Every year I walk with a group of amazing people, Joshua's Angels, in the Great Strides Walk for Cystic Fibrosis. Last year I made three quilts, sold them and donated all the profits. This is quilt #4 and is up for auction as I write this. It currently has no bids and that makes me very nervous.  I made it an event on facebook, a silent auction event. I typically invite only friends. I am not over the hump of selling to strangers quite yet. I am thinking this quilt may be the time to take that giant leap. However it is a huge fear of mine. Not knowing who will have my quilt. Will it be taken care of? Appreciated? Or stuffed in a closet and left? I make my quilts with lots of love and they are meant to be used and loved. They are angel quilts... meant to take care of the person using it. Make them feel better. Make them feel loved. Everyone needs an angel in their life. 

Linking up with Show and Tell Tuesday

Time for another Angel Quilt...

I have been wanting to make this Giant Starburst since Megan at Canoe Ridge Creations talked about doing the quilt along. But with still working on my boys' quilts I had to wait.  It is almost time for my Great Strides Walk for Cystic Fibrosis and that means times to make more Angel Quilts. I already had the colored fabrics for the Giant Starburst and just needed to buy white. I can't wait to sew this one together.

My colors are cut and ready. Hoping to cut into the white maybe on Friday.

 

Linking up with Lee @ Freshly Pieced

 

I hope you come back to see the finished quilt. Thank you for stopping by if you are hear from WIP Wednesday.

 



Have A Heart

About a month ago, maybe a little more, a friend asked if I would make and donate a quilt to a silent auction to benefit a little girl's family.  The little girl is two yrs old and is in need of a heart transplant. She has had 11 surgeries in the last yr. Absolutely heartbreaking (no pun intended). I was more than happy to do it but when would I fit it in, I thought. And what fabric would I use? I don't have a large stash and not enough scraps to make a good scrap quilt. So I contacted another friend who I knew had her grandmother's fabric and is looking to sell it. Long story short, she ended up donating a beautiful pile of fabric. I was originally going to make another Around the Block quilt but then when I had so many great fabrics, I decided to make a strip quilt. A first for me.

I cut all the strips into 2.5" and asked the kids to pick five. We did this till all the strips were in sets. No two set is the same.

 

That is a lot of strips!!

 

A few pieces were smaller than others so I was only able to get one block out of them. Others I was able to get two.

 My next challenge was how was I going to make them perfect 10" squares without a proper cutting ruler...

Go buy one of course. Hehe

Love this one!!!  Here are all my perfect 10" blocks and all the trimmings.

My oldest son helped with the layout. Like usual. He has such a creative eye.

 



The top came together real well, minus sewing a row in the wrong position and having to take out two seems and replace them. Oh well... it happens. I added a border to make it a little bigger.

It was hard to get good pictures of this one during the process because I did most of the work at night and the lighting in our house isn't so great. And some of these are cell phone pics too.

 

A little basting...

I was planning on a giant swirl quilting pattern but decided against it and went with hearts on each of the blocks. It was very fitting. A bit tough to do because I was having issues with my walking foot. (That is a whole other story, one which I am not ready to relive... yet.)

 

And the final quilt...

 

My oldest, holding it for me. Haha

 His arms got a little tired.

 Can't forget the label.

The silent auction is today, starting at 4pm. I am excited to see how much it goes for.

 

On to my next project...



Finally Basted

With yesterday being President's Day, my husband was home from work, and I got to work on some quilting. YAY!!!

I first had to rearrange my home a little to make some space to baste my son's quilt. What I would give to have a space like below without having to move my dining room table and chairs... 

Sorry for the not so great photos...they are from my phone. For some reason I don't think I took any with my good camera.

I was completely overcome with emotions while basting this one. It was very odd. I think it was because this will be my first quilt that stays in my home. It is for my younger son and he has picked out each fabric and had a major input on the design. This one has taken me yrs to get to this point.

When I turned it over after thinking I was done, I realized that the backing was not at smooth as I would have liked.  I am such a perfectionist and so I had to go back, take out the pins and fix the back.  I baste with a spray baste but am always nervous about moving so I pin it also but not with a lot of pins. Once I fixed the back, I felt much better and repined. I know, lots of extra work on my part but it is what it is. A little ocd I guess. This one really has to be perfect. Now to figure out, quickly, how I am going to quilt it. Any suggestions?

 

Linking up with:

 Randi from Fresh-Squeezed Fabrics.

 Lee from Freshly Pieced.

 

 

Love

 

Fifty years of marriage!  Now that is love!



January Finish!

I know it is February, but I did finish this in January and still can't get pictures that are really capturing this quilt the way I want.  For those of you who are new followers, this quilt was made for my parents' fiftieth wedding anniversary.  It is made up of 10" blocks that were sent to relatives around the country.  I requested they write a note to my parents and send them back to me.  My siblings and I (there are 6 of us total) planned a surprise party for them back in June of last year.  I was able to have the top completed in a short two weeks or so, before the party.  I wrapped it up as was and included the fabric I had chosen for the backing.  I then took it back and planned on having it completed in a short time after.  Well, as you can see it is still in my possession and it is Feb. (So very disappointed in myself, but hey, life happens...) 

 See, way too many shadows.  But no matter where I go in our yard, they are there.  Unless I go in the middle of the parking lot but as you could guess by all the snow in this picture, the parking lot is super wet and very dirty.

It is very difficult to tell but it is quilted in the ditches and I tried for the first time FMQ in the rectangles.  I will work on better pictures of that too.

I am loving the backing. Birds and flowers. Perfect for my parents.  And I do actually love this picture.

I love how the binding came out.  I typically machine stitch the binding, due to time.  It is so much quicker and I am usually ok with the extra stitching that ends up showing, but this one I chose to hand sew.  I felt it deserved that and couldn't bare to see the extra stitching. 

Looking forward to washing and drying this to see all that wrinkly goodness!

I will try for some more and better pictures too. I might have to go hunting for the perfect spot around town. Hmm.

 

Happy Sewing!!

 

Can't wait to dig into some fabric this weekend.  Hoping to work on my boys' quilts.

 

 Linking up with Finish it up Friday



Grow Your Blog

 Hi! I am Jean. I am fairly new to sewing and quilting. Have only finished seven quilts, but have a few in progress.  This blog is all about my sewing adventures and an occasional post about life.  I hope you enjoy what I have to share.

 

I started following blogs to learn about quilting. My boys asked me to make quilts for their beds and that is how it all started.  I started my blog to journal my experiences, and with the hopes of having followers that might be able to help if I get stuck. :) 

I do all my piecing and quilting on my very basic home machine. I love growing my fabric stash and have become very particular about my thread. I have discovered online fabric shops and have a few that I love.
I am a wife and mom of 3, love to play indoor soccer and will soon be training for a marathon. It has always been a dream of mine to complete one.

I look forward to finding new blogs and 'meeting' you.

Linking up: 2 Bags Full

Pinterest

Today I found three of my photos from my blog on pinterest!

How cool is that?

 

I am soooo excited!!!



A Good Year

So I am not going to do a post about my finishes in 2013 because I don't have too many and you have probably seen them too much already. But I am very excited to have completed 4 quilts, 32 coasters (I have yet to show you those so they will be in this post. hehe).  There are 3 more quilts in the works also. Two of which are really close to completion.

 

I do wish to share my goals for 2014 with you. There are a lot of them. Let's see how many I can accomplish.  Some are sewing related, some home related.

1. Clean out clutter. (Am off to a great start with this already)
2. Home upgrades: floors, heater, paint, interior doors, bath remodel, quilting/scrapping space redo (I am sure this list will grow, got to get ready to sell our place in 2015! Yay) 
3. Break out my new darning foot and finish my 50th Anniversary quilt.
4. Finish Little Man's quilt
5. Finish my oldest's quilt
6. Great Strides Walk to find a cure for Cystic Fibrosis is in May. I would love to make 4 quilts this year to auction and sell with all profits donated to CFF.
7. Create a quilt label for Angel Quilts and find out about protecting the name or if someone already has it.
8. Train for and run a marathon.  Hopefully the local one in November.

 

Well, I think that is plenty. I'm sure I will add more as the year goes on.

 

Now to share my coasters with you!

I used this tutorial I found on Lori's blog, Bee In My Bonnet. I just love her blog. I knew they would be perfect gifts for the kids teachers. And the kids thought so too.  I had bought two charm packs of Scrumptious by Bonnie & Camille for Moda Fabrics, (love, love this line) and knew it would be perfect. The kids picked out which pieces they wanted for each set and for which teacher. The rest was up to me.

 It was so nice to see them work together. They didn't fight over even one piece! Which is truly a miracle when it comes to my kids.

When I was a kid, we had one teacher, but these guys have a teacher, or two and a paraprofessional (or two) and one has a 'grandparent'. So that makes for 7 sets of coasters. Wow. So when my oldest asked to make a set for the translator that works with a boy in his class, I was more than happy to oblige. What was one more set?

 That's a lots of sets of coasters!  There are two extra stacks of squares on that table. With the left over fabric, I was able to pick some for a set for me and even one more. (Those two sets didn't get made yet. I was way too tired.) Hmm, something to add to the list of to dos.

And lots of sewing. I really should have started this sooner.  I have two days. Once I started there was no turning back.

 Tops are finally done and now it is time to add the backings. I stayed up till 4am to finish these. I was exhausted but it was all worth it.

These next pictures are from my cell, so they aren't great quality.

 

I love them!!!