MommaChelle Quilts

Baby Quilt

2011-11-01T02:10:00.001-04:00

My best friend is due with her 2nd baby girl in November. I set aside the quilts I was making for my girls to work on a baby quilt for her. I chose the Sweetheart charm pack from Fat Quarter Shop for the quilt squares. I used one pack of squares, made the disappearing 9-patch square with the fabric, and instead of putting the 9-patch squares together, I kept them seperate. Then I added a pink border around each square with a mitered corner. I bought some polka dot fabric as my sashing between the squares. I love how this little baby quilt top turned out!

Here are some of the squares with the pink mitered corners. Not my favorite to make, but the end result looks so nicely finished!

The polka dot sashing between the squares.

And the final quilt top complete. The finished top measures 44"x44" with just one charm pack, some left over pink fabric, and a yard of polka dot fabric cut into strips.

Im still unsure what color to use for the binding, but I did order 1 1/2 yards of the pink flower fabric for the backing.

I finally got my darning foot in the mail from Sears. I practiced free motion top quilting with it. The top quilting was fine, but on the back of my quilt the stitches looked pulled to the side in some areas where I did a curve. Frustrating but I know it takes practice and I cant be perfect on the first try. I want to finish up this adorable baby quilt for my friend and get it mailed off to her, but I wont send a sloppy top quilted stitch just because Im anxious to get it mailed out.

In the meantime, I've been looking at a few other things to sew. I made this little handy scrap or thread caddy to hang next to me for my scraps and thread pieces.

Next up is a little purse with a zipper for my 8 year old. She's been wanting a little purse for a while now, so I thought I would sew one for her. She picked out her fabric (a green flower fabric for the outside, and a purple flower fabric for the inside), so this should be interesting lol.

New Quilting Area

2011-10-11T17:56:00.001-04:00

Im here in CO, living with a roommate for now until I find a job out here. I have a bedroom and part of the downstairs area for my quilting setup. I forgot to take pictures of the swap mug rug and poochie bag I made for my swap partners before boxing them up and mailing them out >.< I thought they turned out really cute and I loved them =D

Here is my new quilting area, small but it works ~

I started some squares for my friends baby quilt Im making her. She's due in November with her 2nd baby girl. I decided to do the disappearing 9-patch quilt pattern, but instead of joining the 4 squares together, Im just using each square seperate and then adding borders around each square, and then putting in strips between those. Hoping it turns out well, just need to figure out what kind of fabric to use for the borders and strips!

Also the crochet hook holder I did with the purple fabric. I have yet to sew on the button. Its the little details that take me longest to do!

For now Im working on getting my sewing area set up how I want it so I can begin sewing again. I need to either borrow my landlords (roommate) ironing board and iron or I'll have to go buy one myself before I do any more sewing.

Moving to CO!

2011-09-30T20:50:00.002-04:00

I'll be moving out to CO next week, I'm so excited! My girls live there with my ex-husband, so I'll be moving out there and looking for a job. My husband will stay behind for now and pay for my roommate rent while Im out there, and then he'll move out there once I get a job and we can get a place. I can't wait to be able to see my girls more often than just twice a year.

So my sewing will have to be put on hold for just a little bit. I did, however, finish up the mug rug and poochie bag pieces for my swap at swap-bot.com. I'll post pics as soon as I get a package together for my swap partners to mail out. Then it's packing and driving to CO. I'm so excited!!

Disappearing 9 patch

2011-09-18T21:17:00.002-04:00

I love the disappearing 9 patch square pattern! Im using this pattern to make my 13 year olds quilt with mostly blue fabric, with some pink and brown fabric to go with it. I will also be using this pattern to make my best friend a quilt for her baby that's due soon. I purchased a charm pack with 42 5" squares for the baby quilt, which will be so much easier than all the square cutting I did for my daughters quilt.

Here's the fabric Im using for my daughter's quilt, and one of the squares I put together.

Very easy pattern to put together!

I rescued a basket from being thrown away today! My mother-in-law was going to throw out this basket and I whisked it away and said this will be a perfect scrap basket for my fabric scraps! I've been looking for something other than a plastic bag to put my scraps in!

So I was browsing through some quilting blogs last night and my cat Fritz apparently decided I wasnt paying him enough attention so he jumped up onto my desk and made himself right at home!

Thanks! Just the view I wanted to see. Silly cat.

Poochie Bags and a drink!

2011-09-17T21:39:00.000-04:00

Worked on a couple of sewing projects today. I started out with making a poochie bag for my mother-in-law. She has so many bags for everything you can think of, so I thought "why not? Let's give her yet another bag!". She loved the black squares fabric so I put these fabrics together to make her bag:

I used the blue fabric for the handles, the black and white flower fabric for the bag lining and pockets, and the black squares fabric with the flowers and butterflies for the main fabric.

When attaching your handle straps together to make a longer strap, do NOT do what I did: CAUTION this is the WRONG way to sew your handle pieces together!

Yeah, I knew better than to start sewing before I had my caffeine this morning! Good thing I had extra fabric.

Because Joanns sells their fabric quarters in 18"x21", I had to cut my fabric 10 1/2" x 9" instead of 10 3/4" x 9" - I dont think it made a huge difference, but why does Joanns fabric only give us 21" off the center cut? So strange.

After a few seam rips, I finally got it right and am excited to make more! I top stitched the pocket 1/4" as well as the top of the bag 1/4" all the way around. I think it gives the bag a more finished look.

Finished bag measures approx. 9 1/2" x 9 1/2" and 4" deep. My mother-in-law wanted a large depth on the inside for whatever she decides to use this bag for. I think I prefer the 2" deep bag size.

I also made a crochet hook holder in the purple flower fabric that I used for my zipper pouch. I made a fabric button in the same fabric as the lining, and will post pictures of it tomorrow after I get the button sewn on.

I ended up with a huge headache today which only got worse when bending over my sewing table. Im not sure where it came from, but it hit hard and fast. So I end the day with a nice fruity drink and some relaxation time.

Until next time!

New fabric and a zipper pouch

2011-09-16T20:55:00.004-04:00

Today was a fabric shopping day! First I headed over to Sears to see if they carried any darning feet in-store, my store does not, so Im going to have to order it online. Just pushes my top stitching practice out a few more days, and in the meantime I have plenty of projects I want to work on.

Then I headed over to Joanns and Sew Much Fun quilt shop for some fat quarter fabric. Bought a nice selection of fabrics to make some potholders (to practice top stitching), zipper pouches, mug rugs, and poochie bags. I joined a couple of swaps over at swap-bot, the first is a mug rug swap (which will be my first mug rug but I hear they are addicting!!), and the other is a poochie bag swap. I am excited to make my first mug rug and poochie bag!

Here is today's fabric purchase. My favorite <3 is the purple flower fabric which I used to make myself a zipper cosmetic pouch with.

Im going to use the brown rooster fabric with the brown circle fabric to make my first mug rug. And I've already picked out a few fabrics to make my first poochie bag with!

Here is my zippered cosmetic bag I made for myself this evening. It was a very fast project to work up, and is my first ever sewn zipper project! I will certainly be making more of these! I used the warm and natural batting I already had on hand instead of buying the fusible fleece, and it worked just as nicely since the fabric clung to it very well. Not buying the extra fleece left more money for more fabric ^_^

The inside lining of this pouch is the same fabric I used for my daughter's edging in her fun and funky quilt =) The two fabrics go very well together with a purple zipper to match.

Im having so much fun getting back into sewing! Next on the list is the poochie bag with some of the black patterned fabric I purchased. Stay tuned!

2011-09-15T17:03:00.000-04:00

If you read or have read my posts from 2008 you will see that I had started my daughters Fun and Funky quilt (aka Spring Fever pattern from Fourth & Sixth Desings) and had completed 5 squares and cut all of her fabric into strips before things were packed up for the move out of Cali. Those squares stayed packed up for the next 3 years... until last week!

Im amazed at myself at how quickly I finished her quilt top, complete with borders! Here's a picture preview of the progress of the quilt starting 3 years ago..

Finished today, folded and set aside until Im ready (and practiced!) at finishing it with batting, backing, and binding it together.

And I will leave you with one more picture. You can see throughout my blog that my cat Fritz very much enjoys being in the middle of my crafting and sewing space. So I leave you with this most recent photo of Fritz doing what he enjoys most, sleeping on my fabric.

2011-09-15T15:17:00.001-04:00

MommaChelle Quilts is back! It's been a few years, and much has changed over those years! Divorce, moving to a different state (and coast!), getting re-married, finding myself again.

I've been doing a lot of sewing for my girls, and recently pulled out those old quilting squares and started quilting again! Im still a beginner, make quite a few mistakes, and learn along the way.

I invite you to journey along with me as I create more quilts, learn new techniques (like free form quilting), follow along with my first baste and binding, and more. I like to start out big and jump right into it, but Im learning that I really need to work small and go from there. I wanted to immediately create twin size quilts for my 3 girls, and while the quilt squares are going well, it's a big project to start with. I still have to learn the best way to baste the 3 layers together (pinning or spray? on the floor or on the wall?), make my own binding strip, and then machine bind the edges.

Yeah, maybe I'll make a few potholders before I attempt to finish this twin size quilt I started 3 years ago for my daughter!

A NEW Knitting/Crochet Holder!

2008-04-10T14:23:00.000-04:00

I dont really use those really long knitting needles, so I thought I would make a smaller size for the needles and crochet hooks that I DO use. I also added more of the bigger pockets that I said I would be adding.

I love these fabrics! This one will be mine, definitely! I still have to add the ties to this one too, which I will do today. So, I call the other holder my large knitting/crochet holder, and this one my medium holder.

I have tons of fabric here, and these holders are a perfect way to use up that fabric! Also, I finally have a place to hold my needles so they dont get lost and I forget what size the circular needles are because I could never remember to put them back into the bag they came in (what a pain!). I do have a needle sizer somewhere around here. That will go into my holder once I find it as well.

This one is also padded with some batting. The pocket stitches are sewn onto the batting to cushion the pockets for the needles/hooks.

Time to put another holder together! Which one is the better size to make do you think? Im thinking the medium holder?

Knitting/Crochet Holder

2008-04-10T14:18:00.001-04:00

I thought I had published this post a few days ago? But it's not showing up here, so I guess I will have to try posting it again!

April 8, 2008

I finally started sewing again yesterday! And I didnt stop until 3:30am this morning. Over doing it a little? :o) I have been wanting to create a knitting needle case/roll for a while now. Well yesterday my new set of needles came in the mail from knitting-warehouse.com, so that put me into action creating a needle roll!

I used fabrics that were on hand, measured my longest needles (who uses those these days anyways?) and made my first needle roll! I used thin batting for cushion, and all I have left to do on it is make the ties and sew the opening closed!

I have more fabric ready to go for my next roll!

I put the circular needle information in the pockets with the needles, to recall what size they are. I dont understand why the companies cant add a little something somewhere to the circular needles stating what size they are?

Since this is my first roll, Im already looking to improve my next one. I will have 9 bigger pockets (2 on the right on each pocket top to bottom for 6 big pockets, and 1 on the left for each pocket for 3 more big pockets). There's also room for my crochet hooks as you can see. But I need more of the bigger pockets since I am overlapping my circular needles, and I need room to put my measuring tape and scissors.

Yes, I plan on selling these. I cant understand why some people (on etsy) sell either a circular roll or a straight needle roll, and you are paying near $30 for each of them - instead of having 1 roll to hold both?

Addicted

2008-03-13T06:10:00.000-04:00

Hello! I am still around! Fighting off another cold. I was in the clear for about 4 days and then I caught a different strand of it :-(

My daughters got me hooked on toontown! I know, a 30 year old woman playing a childs cartoon game! But it is so addicting!! I played it all day yesterday and all day today. There are missions to complete and things to buy for yourself or for gifts for others using jelly beans to pay for it all. So, I've been caught up in that!

I have 2 purses 3/4 done on my sewing table, with matching zip up pouches in the works and all I can do all day is play an online game. It really is relaxing actually - especially since I've been sick and coughing my lungs out and cant breath out of my nose.

If anyone wants to check it out and join me LOL let me know! :-)

My husband and I just watched a launch go off here from Vandenberg Air Force Base - a Atlas V launch. At 3 am in the morning, it was awesome to watch! I've seen many launches in the 4 1/2 years we've been here, but we actually watched one where it was dark enough and where we were actually awake to go outside to see it. There have been launches in the dark before, but we have always been in bed and no way were we going to get up and out of bed just to watch a launch.

But I have to tell you, my husband and I just stood there watching the twinkle of the light from the launch go up into space. Up and up and up for over a minute - and then we saw it break apart (the engine that sent it up) and it was awesome to see the second burst of flame coming from it as it boost it up again.

Very pretty and I wish I would have grabbed my camera on the way out the door, but it probably wouldnt have focused very well anyways.

If you ever get the opportunity to watch a launch in the dark, I would highly recommend it. Especially when all the stars are out and you can see the stars with the launch and the twinkle of light and flame burst.

Well at 3:30 in the morning, it's time for me to head to bed! Poor hubby will only get 4 hours of sleep before getting up and running 3 miles before work. He works in Space System Operations with satellites and missiles - too cool :-)

Too many ideas!!

2008-03-06T18:55:00.000-05:00

I have so many sewing ideas and not enough time in the day! I havent even finished one quilt yet and already Im thinking about more dolls, and even quilted purses/bags!

Im going to be starting my first bag tonight after I check out the fabric store, and yet while I wait to go I want to create another doll. But I have a dilemma - I cant seem to get off the internet!

Priorities Chelle LOL

It works!

2008-03-03T22:58:00.000-05:00

After Joanna's suggestion of using a table cloth (the vinyl ones with the fuzzy backing), I pulled my table cloth out of the drawer that I had bought for like $2, pinned it to my wall, and put my squares on it. They've been there for 2 hours now and they havent fallen off once!!

Thank you girl!!

Ok I Get It

2008-03-03T17:59:00.000-05:00

After doing a google search for quilting wall and finding nothing, I went back to Barbara's blog to see what she called it. OH! It's a design wall! Makes sense :o) So I googled design walls and read some websites on it.

I see that you need flannel (or flannel sheets) to stick your squares onto. Why does batting not work? It works for a few minutes and then the squares fall off.

Hey, check out this quilter's little studio her husband made her!!

http://community.webshots.com/album/511888120qJpqda

Help!

2008-03-03T17:11:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I wanted to make a quilting wall so I could put up the squares of my daughter's quilt so I could see everything at once and decide what other color combos I needed. So I go to walmart and pick up some batting to thumbtack to my wall. My squares kept falling off!

What am I doing wrong?

Fabric Strips

2008-03-01T17:13:00.001-05:00

This wave of intelligence washed over me this morning LOL I realized I should cut all of my fabric for the quilt into strips so when I am ready to work on it, I can just grab the three fabric choices I want and start working! This makes it so much easier!

My husband gave me a great tip while I was cutting the fabric with my rotary cutter. He said that the fold should be at the beginning of where I cut so I cut outward toward the open edge instead of cutting toward the fold since you push against the fabric upward slightly when you cut.

Anyways, I kissed him for his stroke of genius :o) He's also the one who showed me how I can get my 45 degree triangles for my 4 triangle squares off of my rectangular ruler instead of going and spending $12 on a triangle 98L ruler. Now Im cutting like a quilter! :o)

Fun & Funky

2008-03-01T13:29:00.000-05:00

I bought a pattern the other day at the fabric store when I got my yummy fabric for my 9 yr olds quilt. The pattern is called Spring Fever by Fourth and Sixth Designs. I really dont like the color combinations they used for the quilt on the front of the pattern. The colors blend in too much together. They had the quilt at the fabric store put together in better colors, and because of that is the only reason why I purchased the pattern.

Last night I put together 2 squares of my 7 yr olds quilt. WOW it's such an easy square to do and it goes so fast I can have my daughters quilt put together in no time! I am using this same pattern for my other 2 daughter's quilts but in different colors.

Here are the two squares I finished last night:

My 7 yr old picked out the fabrics for her 3rd square which I will be starting on today. Funny, the weirdest designs that I wouldnt have picked otherwise really look good together in the squares!!

Now I need a quilting wall :D

In other news, Fritz has found himself a new napping place while I sew. Silly boy.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Stars

2008-02-29T20:46:00.000-05:00

The star squares are done!! I have the edging to do in light blue and dark blue strips, and then I have the border to do in the dark green. Pin it to batting and backing and quilt it!

What do you do when you have a huge quilt wider than the 44" width of fabric? Do you piece backing squares together?

Sewing Area

2008-02-29T12:39:00.000-05:00

I was going blog hopping today and I noticed people posting photos of their ironing board and work area! Thankfully I had just cleaned off my sewing area last night when my friend came over. Haha, that reminds me - when ever I go around cleaning the house or do all of the dishes (or even if I just get dressed and look nice) my kids ask "is someone coming over?" or "are you going somewhere?" Guess Im that predictable! Anyhow, back to my work space. It was pretty messy yesterday with 3 projects going on at once! It feels nice to have an open clean area again. A messy workspace just turns me away from creating anything.

You cant have a true sewing area without your kitty around! Unfortunately, the only reason Fritz likes to be on my ironing board is so that he can play with the ribbon hanging down from my harlequin masks! Good thing we teach all of our cats/kittens the word no starting at 4 weeks old! Fritz has to have a harsh "NO!" and then he looks at me like "what did I do?". Otherwise, if it's a soft no, he'll keep doing it cause he thinks he's a spoiled kitty :o) which he is - but dont tell him I said so!

I keep the cup on my table for all of my thread ends or little scraps/trimmings of fabric. With a kitty around, you have to keep your work area and floor free from any thread! Dont want the kitties swallowing any - especially any nylon threading I think it is. Ever watch animal rescue shows? Scary!

Im off to make some more ohio star squares! Question, the quilting walls (or whatever they are called) - is that just some batting on the wall or is it something else?

Fabric!!

2008-02-29T01:51:00.001-05:00

I got some yummy new fabric today!! I got this fabric for my 9 yr old's quilt. The 4 pieces on the sides are the fabric I already had from a different fabric store, and all the squares in the middle are the new squares I got today. YUMMY!! I also bought the quilt pattern that Im going to use for all 3 girls quilts - same design/pattern, different fabrics.

I also finished 2 more star squares for my dad's quilt today. Only 3 more squares left to do!

Update on my hospital visits. Seems everything is ok! The pain was most likely from the fluid around my ovary, some of it leaking and irritating something inside that made my pain. I have 3 cysts on my right ovary with 1 on my left. Cysts are supposed to go away naturally. So all I have to do is just check in each year to get them checked out and make sure everything is still ok! I had pain last year from a cyst, so as long as it's only yearly then Im ok!

Thanks for the support!!

Squares!

2008-02-27T01:08:00.000-05:00

Yay! I got another square done yesterday for my sampler lap quilt that we are doing in quilting class! Im going to put together a page with each of my squares on it so we can see the progress and also the colors of the squares as they tie in together.

Here is the square that I so hurriedly made yesterday before class. I wanted to have it done so I could move onto the next square!

And another churn dash to match. I made the above square in colors that would pull in this square since I had done it previously but the colors didnt work right with my other squares I was doing. Now I found a way to tie it in!

Our next square is the morning star - evening star. I have already picked out my colors for it! We also learned that our next square after that is an applique square. So we learned about how to applique onto a square. I have had fun looking up designs! I think for us beginners, we're supposed to keep it very easy - but not me! I want to dive into it and try this one I think ~

with some colors to compliment my other squares. Too hard for a beginner? Our teacher showed us a few methods of how to applique onto a quilt square. Seems easy enough really! I will most likely use the zig zag stitch to attach it. I dont want to do some beginners one piece applique! I want the best! :o)

Long Day!

2008-02-27T00:35:00.000-05:00

I had a bit of a scare today!! I woke up at 4:30 this morning because I was coughing a lot and my 5 yr old was awake and I didnt want to bother my husbands sleep since he had to get up in a couple of hours. So I went into the living room, took some robitussin DM for my coughing and hopped on the computer to look up applique designs. Soon after I took the tussin, I had a huge coughing fit and my right side started cramping up really bad. I tried to go back to bed at 7:30 for a couple of hours (I am so not a morning person!), but the kids kept waking me up. I was coughing again and this time I had a sharp stabbing pain at the top of my side below my ribs. The pain got really bad so at 8:30 I called my husband and told him. He told me to call the base hospital for an appt., I called my mom instead and asked her advice.

She had some ideas as to what it might be but told me that I really should go see the doctor. UGH I was tired and I didnt feel like getting up and going to the doctors! Well, base hospital referred me to Urgent Care. My husband got home and took me to urgent care. He checked where the pain hurt and told us to go to the hospital here in town for some blood tests and a CT scan of my abdomen. He said he wanted to rule out any possibility that it was my appendix. He told me not to eat anything before we get there. GREAT I hadnt yet had anything to eat that whole morning!

SO, we get to the hospital around 1pm, they draw some blood in my right arm. We go to CT and she gives me this huge bottle of contrast to drink. She added some crystal light fruit punch to "make it taste better" but it didnt. At this point Im still coughing and still getting the really sharp pain, almost unbearable pain, when coughing.

So, I had to sit in CT for 2 hours drinking this contrast which highlights certain areas of my body to make it easier to see everything when they do the scan. I was able to take my bathroom breaks as needed, but still could not eat anything.

So, I finally get in to have the scan at 3:30ish and they put an IV for more contrast in my left arm! So now I've gotten poked twice by a needle today and my left arm is the worst most painful vein I have. I wait for a bit, get the scan on my abdomen (which is MUCH better than having your head scanned! I had that done last year and it was just awful!), they did 4 scans total, then waited for 15 minutes after with the IV still in my arm to make sure I didnt have any reaction to the IV contrast. Nope, I was good to go!

We waited in the waiting room for about 10 minutes, and then the technician comes out and says to head back to Urgent Care. So we asked, it's not the appendix then? Because if it was, I would be staying there and not heading back to Urgent Care. She said we're all clear and my appendix is fine! YAY! But what was causing my pain?

So we get back to urgent care at 4pm, still no food but having to pee constantly. We sit in the room for a while, doc comes in and says the scan was clear for the appendix but it showed my ovary was enlarged and there was built up fluid around it. Oh great! So here we go, a pelvic exam! Lovely! He said I have a few cysts on my right ovary (which I went through last year - completely different pain this time), but that either my ovary had dropped which could be causing the pain, or that he was feeling a cyst and not my ovary which could also be the pain. OH and the fluid around my ovary could also be causing the pain!

I get dressed, we make an appt. for tomorrow to have an ultrasound done to see the ovary more clearly and look for anything else alarming. It's 5pm and we FINALLY get to go home.

Where did we go? Walmart! I was so hungry I could have figured out a reason to have every single pack of food in that store! We didnt have any milk, cereal, or bread (or cookies hehe), so we grabbed those. If we would have had cereal, I would have eaten a quick bite this morning!

Even better news? *sarcastically* I cant eat in the 8 hours before the ultrasound! My ultrasound is at 4:30pm, which means I have to fill myself up before 8:30 in the morning! Most days I dont get up until 9am from lack of sleep during the night! What did I eat today when I came home? Cookies on the drive home, and then cereal. And then I slept.

Im awake now and I think I will go get myself some more food, watch american idol and big brother, and then go to bed again. Not a happy 2 days here.

This post was supposed to be about the squares I made for my sampler lap quilt and it became all about my day today. Hopefully after about 5pm tomorrow I can relax easier. Oh, and did my pain go away? NO. Still got it. The doctor asked me if I wanted some pain meds for it. I asked if it would help when I cough, laugh, or anything else where I tighten my abdomen and make the pain shoot through me. NOPE, wont help that! I can handle the crampiness of my side during the day/evening. It's when I start my coughing fits that I have a big problem.

Ah well, anyways. If you've made it this far through my post then I commend you! Now Im going to start a new post and talk about the squares I've made!

Another Dolly!

2008-02-25T01:44:00.000-05:00

I finished my second raggedy doll today! She smells like Vanilla *mmmm* and I love it! I did a strip work for her dress and left the edges unfinished to give her an older look. I did a double layer of hair to give it a fuller look. I wasnt too sure about the hair when I started, but you should always trust your instincts! After I set the ribbon in her hair, I knew I had made the right decision.

Because I brushed this new doll with coffee after she had already been tea dyed, she is darker than Shellie Ann.

My next doll will be hand drawn. I want her taller and maybe a rounder head. She is going to smell Vanilla yummy too! Vanilla is my favorite scent in almost everything. Candles, Bath and Body Works hand soap and lotion (Vanilla Sugar), body spray, and now dollies! I couldnt stop smelling her head as I was making her LOL

My Fritzy has found himself a new bed. He has gone in there for the last 2 days when he takes a nap. This is right next to my sewing table, and occasionally I will put some fabric in there while I work on something else. Fritz thought this made a GREAT bed and happily plopped himself down and slept.

Fritz is one of our boys that came from a litter in our cattery. We've had wonderful kittens who have all found wonderful homes, and one of our kittens has even earned awards for best kitten and best ragamuffin all around in shows. We have decided to close down our cattery for a few years so we can focus on buying a house when we move in May, and our children can do their activities without breaking the bank. Breeding is expensive! After 4 years and 4 litters, we need a break to focus on the family.

Fritz was my favorite from the beginning. He was the biggest and heaviest. He was going to be our future stud to breed with our other queen. Since we recently decided to close down our cattery, we fixed Fritz and he is now our loving pet. I just feel that because he was raised by us from birth (well, mommy kitty had some part in that too! :o) that he has much more of a connection with everyone in our family. He will let the girls pick him up in any position and carry him around. He will lay in bed at night with the girls for about 15 minutes before he heads back into the living room, and he and I play "peek a boo". Yes, laugh LOL but it's the cutest thing!!

He is very curious and is not afraid when he is taken to the vets. I will let him out of his carrier and hold him and he will watch the other people around us and watch the other cats and dogs with interest. He's our big boy, so be prepared that you may see a lot of his pictures in my posts. He likes hanging around me and when there's an opportunity, I grab the camera!!

Introducing

2008-02-23T16:46:00.000-05:00

My first prim doll! Though, she doesnt look too prim to me - she looks too cute to be prim lol. I'll have to do better next time with the prim look :o)

I painted and embroidered the other dolly head the same time I did this one, so I might add more dye to her face, arms, and legs to get her a bit darker. I still want my dollies to look nice, but not too nice!

I've named her ShellieAnn (Shellie for Chelle, and Ann cause she's a raggedy!). Let me know your thoughts on her! I was trying too hard to make each part perfect - perfect lines on her legs, her eyes perfectly round, her nose perfectly stitched, her dress hems finished, etc.

After I was done with her, I realized prim dolls arent supposed to be "perfect". Not horrible either, but a little more on the raggedy side.

Oops!!

2008-02-22T00:32:00.000-05:00

My 7 yr old is NOT happy with me! I tea dyed her cherries fabric that was going to be on her quilt! *shame on me*

I thought it was the perfect fabric choice for my first ever annie doll. I only had half yard of it so I tea dyed it all!

Shellie Ann will be making her debut soon! She's still getting ready. :o)

Inspiration

2008-02-21T03:05:00.000-05:00

Wow! I am loving all these blogs and websites I am seeing! I came across this website and saw her quilt rack with the primitive dolls on it. I thought "I want one!!" So I followed a link on her site to get to this site and I so fell in love with her dolls!! So my "I want one!!" dream was smashed when I noticed her dolls that I really liked were already sold! So I browsed her blog and her website even more, and decided to try my hand at making a raggedy doll myself! I purchased her pattern last night, then ran to the store today to pick up my supplies. I only hope I can do it justice! What a process to go through! - but I know it will be worth it when I have my own little annie prim in my arms and decorating my house!

Quilts and Annie dolls - and bunnies?

Bunnies!

2008-02-20T00:31:00.001-05:00

I have done pretty much nothing today. I woke up this morning with a horrible cold. The last few days I had a sore throat but I thought I had it under control, then my voice went hoarse the day before yesterday and then yesterday my voice started going back to normal again, so I thought great! But I woke up this morning to sinus pressure, stuffy nose, coughing and sore throat.

I did get a couple of stuffies made for my swap partner at swapbot. We are only supposed to send one stuffie, but I took a look at my partner's flicker photo album and saw a purple nursery so I just HAD to make a purple bunny stuffy to match!

I got this pattern at kwoozy.blogspot.com

After making the first one, the other two were easy! I had a hard time with the first one, especially turning the ears right side out! But once I got it, it became much easier to do.

The one on the left was my first one, the other two are the ones I am sending to my swap partner.

Here they are together after I put on the eyes

I am going to add a little white tail (the little craft fuzzy ball things) - not in the pattern, and then I have to give them a mouth and they will be ready to head out to their new home!

Now my girls want me to make them some! Like they dont have enough stuffed animals already!?

My Dad's Quilt

2008-02-17T20:40:00.000-05:00

Ok, here is the beginning of making my dad's quilt. I started off with my fabric choices for the quilt I wanted to make him.

So then I found the ohio star square and really liked the way it looked!

So I designed how I wanted his quilt to look in my paint shop pro program. It took me 3 hours to get it right!!

Now when you see the squares I made LOL I messed up and put the red center in the blue star points. When I realized that I had done it backwards, I said "oh well!" (I was NOT taking it out when it looked so good!) and changed my colors around then what is shown in the pattern I made.

I finally realized that I should cut up all my squares first and then cut all of my triangles together and sew them one right after the other (still connected to save on thread - a trick I learned from my quilting teacher in class!), and then putting each square together after that was easy!

Here are the two strips when sewn together:

And then here is the most recent progress made. You can see in the left bottom corner, my points dont match up there. So looks like I will have to pull that piece out and reposition it to work right.

I only have two more strips to do and sew on, then my borders and Im done! I will be giving this to my quilting class teacher for her to quilt for me.

And then it's on to my next quilt - the fun one for my 7 yr old!! I may need help in deciding which square to do, or if I should do different squares to match her personality, with the different pinks and orange colors.

Cats and Quilts

2008-02-17T02:42:00.001-05:00

This is what happens when you piece a quilt together on the floor! One (or all) of the kitties will come and "help" by laying on it. LOL

The quilt is the one I am making for my dad. I have to figure out how to get all of the square points/corners to match up when I join my strips!

Fabric & More Fabric!!

2008-02-17T00:58:00.000-05:00

Uh oh, now Im getting started on a fabric stash! Wasnt enough that I have a huge yarn stash, but now Im getting a fabric one!! I love it though - hubby not so much LOL

Here is my first stash of fabric ~

Some of the fabric came from our quilting teacher, and the rest came from walmart when I wanted more color variety to make my log cabin square from.

As if that wasnt enough of a starter stash, I purchased some more fabric for my dad's quilt Im making him!

Oh, now I have designs and fabric color (and have even started purchasing the fabric!) ideas for my girls' quilts I want to make them when I am done with my dad's quilt! I made my dad a crochet afghan quite a few years ago. He used it up so much he said he's in need of another one! Well, since Im learning how to quilt, I thought it would be a nice surprise to make him one! I have a feeling the quilt will last longer than a crochet afghan any day!

So, my fabric stash just keeps growing and growing!

I picked these up for my 7yr old's quilt (she's a fun and funky girl and I wanted her fabric to reflect that as well):

I received this fabric in a fabric swap (I will post more about that later too!) which goes very well with the fabric for my 7 yr old:

We drove down to Ventura today and on the way back I wanted to check out a fabric store in Santa Barbara. Oh my, so many great wonderful fabrics!! But, I cut it down to only a few, much needed, fabric!

These colors are for my 9 yr olds quilt I want to make her. Her favorite color is blue, but I want her quilt to represent girlyness as well as being blue. So I found these!!

Oh, and then I picked up this fabric to go with my 7 yr olds quilt color stash!

I know there's no way Im done yet! I have a few more colors to pick for my 9 yr old. But I need to finish my dad's quilt before I start on any others! I dont want this to be like my crochet, a bunch of unfinished projects here and there. I want to make a quilt, finish it, and give it to the recipient in a well timely manner! Now hopefully that will happen! :o)

I'm Quilting!!

2008-02-17T00:32:00.000-05:00

I LOVE quilting! My best friend and I started going to quilting class 3 weeks ago. We've been to 4 classes so far and we have really taken off!

I had always told myself that I would learn to quilt sometime in my 30's. I crochet mostly, then I learned to sew a few pieces of clothing. My friend called me and said there is a FREE quilting class right here in town! I was so excited! My birthday was in a couple of weeks, turned 30!, so for me - it was great timing!

We are learning different square designs. Our first square project was the Churn Dash. We are making a 4x4 lap quilt, with each square 12" finished. Well, my friend and I have a different plan in mind and will be making extra squares to get ourselves a full quilt!

Here is my first square made:

I was so happy with myself! I thought it turned out really really cute - until I went to class the next week and saw everyone else's! Mine looked really plain compared to theirs SO here is my next square I made which I am much happier with:

It goes much better with my log cabin square!

I got so excited with quilting, that I am making my dad a quilt now! I will post progress photos in another post. It's coming along quite well! Only 5 more star squares to create, then the border and Im done with the quilt top!