I bought Quilting fabric!!!

Not sure if you noticed, but the background of my blog is a repeating quilt blog. This was initially started as a newly wed wanting to show off her quilting projects. Then it turned into Christian Fiction Reviews. Then Maternity Reviews and Journey. Then Baby Products and More! Now it is a bit of everything, but it has been a while since there was anything quilty. One issue, I cannot read and quilt. Now I cannot play with AppleBlossom and read and that means that I cannot even think about quilting (or cross stitching). 

Well today I bought quilting fabric! Backing material actually for a quilt top that I finished before the end of my pregnancy (my daughter is eight months old btw). In the depot downtown area of the town I live in there is an amazing quilt shop The Arlington Quilting Barn (they're website is under going some construction, so bare with them). The few times that I have been I have met some different ladies and they are all so nice and geniunely interested in my projects (and my AppleBlossom). So far AppleBlossom has behaved very well and grins and cuddles on cue. It's fabulous. 


I cannot wait until I can grab a few hours here and there and get back into quilting. Right now I am the main source of AppleBlossom's entertainment, but as she is now crawling and standing and very close to walking I'm sure we might be able to find some toys (or something) to entertain her for a least a short little while. (One can hope right?)

Quilting - two finished tops and a cross stitch quilt

Over the last couple months I have been quite busy. I found out last fall that my Sister L was expecting baby #5 and so I set to work on my tradition. With each niece and nephew I have made them a cross stitch quilt. This was one was probably the hardest to work on because at first I was working on it without much distraction except needing to read and then I found I was pregnant in December and while working on this one I kept thinking about the one I would make for my own child! Now, I have finally finished this one... and I am excited about starting mine... but now I know that I have another expectant person in my life that I have to make one for! Oy! My poor fingers and hours of reading I will not be able to do...





Another project I have been working on that is close to completion now, well as close and a completed quilt top... is this Hydrangea quilt that will be for our bed when it is finished. I found it in a magazine and ordered it up and I love it! There were a few things about it that were not quite right, but it turned out well in the end with my alterations. I am quite content.



Lastly is the sheep in the daisy field quilt. When I first decided I wanted to take up quilting this was the first quilt I ever started. Notice it is not finished. It was only in the last couple months (knowing that I'm pregnant and need this baby quilt sooner rather than later) that I went back to it. I have learned so much in quilting skills since I started that this things was horrid! So I took it all apart and fixed lines and such and put it back together. Now the top is finished, and I'll have to find some backing fabric to get it going to full completion...

The lambs are appliqued by my sewing machine too. Gotta love those embroidery/sewing machines. *grin*

Quilt Festival

I am uber excited about a Blogger Quilt Festival. I just wish I had something better to contribute. I guess that you could still say that I am a beginning quilter, but I do not feel like it. More accurately, I would say over all I am a newbie, but I have a lot of experience under my belt as a piece-er, just not the actual quilting part. Therefore, I have dozens of completed quilt tops, but only about two or three Completed Quilts.

The completed quilt project that I will show you today is not very exciting, but it was new to me to piece a quilt on the diagonal and to work with the pattern so that it created a blooming outward effect. I made this quilt because I saw it and thought it was pretty and a class was available. It was a in a quilt show, and I got basically a first time quilter honorable mention. It was fun. Now the quilt is currently used most by my elderly black kitty, which the fur on the white is not so attractive! But it cleans easily enough. *grin*

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Now I am depressed. I know I have a picture of the quilt, but I just spent three hours looking and cannot find it anywhere. UPDATE: Found it! See above!!!

For further entertainment of completed projects, but not really quilts see these links:

http://cherryblossommj.blogspot.com/2009/02/hydrangea-bag-quilt-project-finished.html

http://cherryblossommj.blogspot.com/2008/01/latest-quilting-projects.html

Bloggers Quilt Festival !!!

Can you hear my squealing? I'm squealing, this is quite exciting!!!

How do you get involved?

Be thinking about, and post on Friday, your favorite completed quilt project, and the story that goes with it.

Click on the button above for more information. I just wish now that I had more completed projects... So many UFO's... But I get carried away, who does not???

Wuthering Heights Quilt for Sister B

I have two sisters. Sister L and Sister B. I am making a quilt for B. She lives in Scotland, and I am sure she could use the snuggly warmth of a quilt handmade by me.

Here is most of the quilt lined up on the planning wall. The blocks are sewn in their rows as are the triangle borders, but nothing is sewn to each other just stuck to the wall for the overall appearance.



The fabrics are so pretty. They are Wuthering Heights by 3 Sisters from Moda. This is an absolutely fabulous quilt kit and I am very excited about it.

The center piece is a giant applique. This is the part that will take some time... and extreme patience...

Hydrangea Bag Quilt project Finished!

Ahh.. *sigh* I can finally sigh relief because this blasted project is finished and now I can get onto the next thing! Woohoo!!!

A while back, my friend took me to Dragonfly Quilt Shop, that was new to me and absolutely fabulous. There were many fabric lines that I had been unable to find elsewhere, and if the shop was not such a drive, I would go much more often.

While there, I purchased a pattern and material to make this bag and I was so excited. It says that it is "carry-on" rated, and I was going in a few weeks to help my sister after the birth of baby #4. (He will be two this April...) I never got very far in this project until this week.

I almost do not want to tell you what the pattern was, because the instructions were HORRIBLE! But I do not want anyone to come back and accuse me of not giving credit where it is due... This is the only pattern I have tried from this group and I have no idea if this is typical of their quality or not. Regardless, I was able to figure things out, and adjust for the parts that were not apparent until too late. The final project is still wonderful, but I was and am deeply disappointed with the quality of the instructions. As my friend said, it seems that the person who wrote the instructions was so familiar with what they were doing in the steps that they left out some key elements. Anyway, the pattern is from Tammy Tadd Designs, and the pattern is the "You Go Girl Bag".

And now, after $51.67 in fabric, plus batting, plus interfacing, plus a button (that I have yet to buy) and four full days of labor... I present to you, my Hydrangea Bag.

*drum roll, please*

Hydrangea Bag (front view -still needs button)

Side view, both sides have this cute pleat and tie straps.

A close up of the straps, front, and back.
(Would you believe these things took an entire afternoon to put together?!? - fold, press, pin, slide, stitch, repeat)

Just a closer image on the fabric, *sigh*.

Back side, big pocket!

Just so you have some sense... this bag is relaxed at about 16 1/2" in height!!

The outside of the bag has a big pocket on the front and the back. The front even has a fancy key fob for keys! (That also was not on the supply list for the pattern, but never mind...) On the inside there are also pockets, bunches of pockets lining the entire sides. On one side a giant pocket, and then two smaller. On the other side, two pockets that will easily fit a 400 page trade paperback book each and the two smaller pockets. *grin*

Thoughts? Was it worth the money and effort? I am still not sure, but you can bet this bag is going no where after all that effort! (Meaning, it's mine and all mine).

Finished Quilt Top

Finally, my Batik Star BOM Quilt top is complete! This last step with the borders was a nightmare. The quilt is on-point, which means that the rows are sew together on an angle and not straight across (make it diagonal). That is all well and good. But ideally with an on-point quilt, you would miter your borders. Well... there was no where near enough fabric for that. So I did chopped borders. It looks fine, but there was not even enough fabric cut for that per the directions! So I had to cut more, I'm lucky there was a slight bit more. Either way it is finished, and I am very happy with that. Because now I can move on to something else and worry about quilting it later.


Enjoy the images.






And my next project, maybe. The green quilt...

Crafty moi

In the past few weeks, I have been very busy attempting to be crafty. I have been sewing the rows of my Batik Star BOM Quilt to the sashing, and now the only step left is to sew it all together. Other things that have kept me at the sewing machine are baby gifts. *grin* I was able to make a bib for my friend Lindsey's Emma and also a couple blankets and other things for my friend Amy's brand new Tristan. Also, I was able to make somethings for the newest babies in our church (a girl born in November - my birthday actually - and a boy born in December). Also, I made a dish cloth for my DH's grandmother (she's 91!).

These things have kept me busy and I love it! I even made my self something... I could not help it!! My mother is running a slight word of mouth business now for these baby gifts. So if you need a gift, or know someone who might... Well word of mouth is nice. We are not looking to make a profit really, just it is fun and we need to pay for supplies and that's about it. So email me, if you have any questions madebymardi(at)gmail[dot]com (ask for Margaret).

The latest project is my absolute most exciting!!! The reason for the blog post actually... Being a quilter one of the things that you have to do is set out your blocks before you sew them, so that you know what they will look like. Usually, I use my floor space (that happens to be a good amount in the Quilting Den) and all is well. Well... I am pregnant, in case you did not know, and my body is releasing this hormone called relaxin (if you need more details, email me or comment and I will refresh my nursing skills in an email for you *grin*). This hormone basically is "relaxing" - notice the name - my hips and other bone joins (and more). So crawling over the floor to arrange fabric is really not the best idea and I end up in pain for days later.




So after begging and pleading and then coming up with a great plan. I convinced DH that I needed a quilters planning wall and I needed it now. So, off we go to home depot on Saturday evening. We were looking for some wood that a woman described as white on one side and about $11. Well we did not find her suggestion, but we did find some plywood for $10, and then when we were about to tote it off, fabulous DH found some for $4!! So we bought my plywood and then DH came home tired and refused to go to Wal-mart, but promised to on Sunday. On Sunday after church we drove to a historic neighboring town for a good restaurant. Well being my normal pregnant self, absolutely nothing appealed. So I ate the appetizer of one chicken finger with wonderful honey mustard and then three fried motzarella sticks and could not fathom anything else. It was okay though, because DH enjoyed those left overs later. On the return trip, we stopped at Wal-Mart in that town and bought a set of twin flannel sheets. The only color they had was tan or red, so we went with tan. Then came home. We figured that we could use the fitted sheet on my smaller piece of board (explain later), but then found out alas we could not and needed another flat sheet. Ugh. Into the car we went to our local store to find another set of the sheets, but alas they have none! The clerk tells us that they all went on sale and are gone! NO!!!!! So, DH being in an extremely good mood says, get in the car. I am extremely distraught, but trying not to show it. Well he gets on the road, but not pointed toward home. He drives back to the historic neighboring town's Wal-mart to get me the last set of sheets!!! We get there at 7:50pm and they close at 8, it is the LAST set, and we get it!! This town is a 24 mile drive one way. So he has already driven over two hours for this project today! He loves me. So we get home, and he puts it all together (see image proof) and I have a planning wall!!!




Now for you quilters, dying with envy, let me tell you. This wall is two sheets of plywood covered in flannel sheets. Very pretty tan sheets actually. One piece is 4x8' and the other is cut shy of 4x8' to fit my 82" wall section. So. I have 81.5"x 96" of planning wall space. Are you oohing and ahhing?! Are you wanting to come over yet? *sigh* It is amazing and wonderful, and I am really glad that I have a step ladder...

I am Woman (Quilting)

Tonight I was sitting in the living room listening to XM Sirius and flipping channels. There was a Spa channel that was great until this one song with a completely repeatious tune made me want to shoot something... Then I flipped some and found the Seriously Sinatra channel. Never have really listened much in detail, but it is something I like on occasion. It makes me think of stories I have heard and reminds me of my favorite restaurant that always plays this type of music.

From Creative madness that makes me myself

Sitting on the couch, I am working on hand quilting my quilt work in progress and a relaxing. A song comes on, and the lyrics were just so fabulous that I had to come and find them and share them with you...


Peggy Lee - I Am Woman
I can wash out 44 pairs of socks and have 'em hangin out on the line
I can starch & iron 2 dozens shirts 'fore you can count from 1 to 9
I can scoop up a great big dipper full of lard from the drippins can
Throw it in the skillet, go out & do my shopping, be back before it melts in the pan
'Cause I'm a woman! W-O-M-A-N, I'll say it again

I can rub & scrub this old house til it's shinin like a dime
Feed the baby, grease the car, & powder my face at the same time
Get all dressed up, go out and swing til 4 a.m. and then
Lay down at 5, jump up at 6, and start all over again
'Cause I'm a woman! W-O-M-A-N, I'll say it again

If you come to me sickly you know I'm gonna make you well
If you come to me all hexed up you know I'm gonna break the spell
If you come to me hungry you know I'm gonna fill you full of grits
If it's lovin you're likin, I'll kiss you and give you the shiverin' fits
'Cause I'm a woman! W-O-M-A-N, I'll say it again

I can stretch! a green black dollar bill from here to kindom come!
I can play the numbers pay the bills and still end up with some!
I got a twenty-dollar gold piece says there ain't nothing I can't do
I can make a dress out of a feed bag and I can make a man out of you
'Cause I'm a woman! W-O-M-A-N, I'll say it again
'Cause I'm a woman! W-O-M-A-N, and that's all.


Now, I know it is classic. I know I have heard it before, but it was just so fun to hear... Love it.

So now the quilt is completely quilted (the picture is before), except the borders... Need to decide what I am going to do there. Any suggestions?

Batik Stars - last two blocks complete!

Happily, on Wednesday, the missing two blocks from my Batik Star BOM quilt came. The mistake was that they had been mailed to my OLD address. Nobody is quite sure how that occurred, but the important part, is that week late or not, they arrived!!!

So I jumped in today, to complete them. The bonus block (pictured left) was a NIGHTMARE to put together!! It's all triangles and all bias sewing and I promise you there must have been some errors in original numbers, but never the less... I was able to tweak and push and pull until it does in fact meet up to 12 1/2".

The 12th block confused me. If you know the original pattern you have to take a double take, because in the fabric pieces that were cut the blue and the yellow were switched. But that is okay. Because I like the way that it turned out any how, even though I'm not a huge fan of the brown splotches...



So if you can picture the last two blocks in place, you know the basis of my quilt!!

Batik Stars - lay out

Now today, after endless hours of cutting the sashing, borders, and binding. Then sewing 96 itty bitty squares into triangles, then crawling around the floor in an effort to align things properly... I have this picture to show for it!

Now, I wait for the last two blocks, and one border fabric to arrive.

Meanwhile, I can start sewing them together, if going at an angle with agree with me...

Sherbet, Stars, and softbooks

Today was a crafty day. While listening to Masterpiece Theater's renditions of Jane Austen's Sense & Sensibility and then Pride & Prejudice I have been making soft books and working on some quilt projects.

Upon looking at my pictures uploaded, I was unsure if I was able to share the background fabric that I chose for my Sherbet Quilt, so I have a picture here to present. This fabric was picked out with the guidance of Melisa from her fabulous shop Sweet Home Quilt Co. and I could not be more pleased with it!

First projects of the day were the softbooks. You buy these anywhere they sell fabric as panels and the full instructions are on the panel. All you have to add is low loft batting and if you are game piping for the book cover (I have yet to experiment with that...). I had some of these books when I was a child and loved them! Now I seek them out and buy several panels when I can find them at a decent price. The problem is these days they seem to be rare, and not many people know of them. Alas.



Yet, what could be more perfect for a child of a book junkie? Start them early right? These books can stay in the bed after hours of reading and work quite well as a pillow. Or on a car ride they are fabulous, because even if dropped there will be no page ripage. *grin* If you ever see a good one in store, let me know will you?

The next project, is the never ending BOM (Block of the Month) from Quilts & Fixins, the Star Batik Quilt. It is still in need of a name. Thoughts? I'm waiting (very impatiently, I might add) for the last two blocks to arrive and then I can get to putting it all together. It was the 2008 BOM so each month I received one block in the mail (a very exciting day each one was as well!) and was able to stitch it together. The quilt itself is 13 blocks, so from December (meant to arrive any day now!) I have two blocks coming!



I had to cut what seemed a million squares that will be later used for sashing... I still have yet to cut the sashing, now that I think of it...
The furry helpers, were very helpful of course...



And the there were the triangles. Do you know how absolutely delightful (insert extreme sarcasium and frustration here) it is to cut 18 1/4" squares out of a FQ (Fat Quarter = a piece of fabric that is ~ 18x 22"). Not sure they thought that through on the directions... I was able to make it work, because obviously if you look above, you did not need both halves of the triangle. But, um? Confusion much?!

So now the cornerstones are cut and ready. Now the two missing blocks and sashing, and the missing border... And I'm good to go!

Go back to this post and this one to see pictures of the individual star blocks and the final ideal.