Rice Bags and Paper Pieces

When I finished up my zig zag baby quilt I found I had a few extra blocks, and I decided that little rice sacks would be perfect for the next time I run into some small people...

I also finally finished the quilting on my RTR quilt and I'm busy binding it up...looks like that will be my second quilt finish for the year and one less UFO hanging about.

I've got lots of flights in the next two months, and a wedding quilt to finish. I've been tracing and cutting and ironing my heart out to get some pieces ready for my flights! When it's all done it will be a hand pieced Joseph's Coat quilt!

Back to the ironing board!

My First Mug Rug and Modern Quilt Guild meeting!

This past weekend I went to my first Modern Quilt Guild meeting! It was so much fun. I met some great people. This was one of the first meetings for the Music City chapter and it was great to get in a group as it was just starting. After about 10mins of chat I realized that these were my kinda people...hexies, white space, and designer names ran amok in the conversations.

Our generous sponsor Burgundy Buttons (a local fabric retailer) owned by Leah brought GOODIE BAGS! She's a rockstar. They were filled with samples of the Java fabric line designed by Deb Strain for Moda. This was a great line full of great brown and teal combos...Just perfect for mug rugs! Burgundy buttons has a great mug rug challenge going on right now! We all worked on our mug rugs for a few hours and chatted about quilts. Perfect for a cloudy/rainy Saturday. I finished mine on Sunday:

A baby quilt!

wow! How did a month go by between postings? Well I'm back on track. I just mailed out a baby quilt ....a little late for a baptism gift. At least this baby will still be a baby when the quilt is finished :) I did a zig zag quilt because I love them so much. I used some of the dream on I got on sale just before christmas and the quilt came out super cute. Here are some action shots!


Colby and I went to the dog park in Huntsville, Al recently. It was a great park with a separte area for big dogs and little dogs...but it was kinda a mud pit typical for the season. When we got back to Nashville he needed a serious bath. He looked pretty pathetic. I think he's wondering here if the fantastic time he had in the mud was worth it:

my sewing circle

If you haven't already you should check out :

http://www.mysewingcircle.com/

It's a great place to organize projects and talk shop! It like Raverly for sewers!

Basted

How do you baste? I've tried unsuccessfully for years on carpets in various apartments.. after hours of quilting only to discover I've got an annoying little crease in the back. All the tutorials out there say that hard floors or large tables are the best. Neither of these is an option for me so I've been stumped for awhile. How do I get a large hard surface to baste on without using the floor or table top?

I decided the wall in my bedroom seemed pretty perfect, and gave it ago. I taped the backing to my latest quilt up and went to town. It worked great! better than great...my best basting yet! I'm half quilted and no folds yet!I'm doing a wave pattern in the black areas. The idea being "Roll Tide Roll". I figured a rolling tide would be appropriate if not obvious.


So I offer up this solution to other apartment dwellers with little space control.....Just be prepared for a few sore mucles the next day from holding your hands above your head!

Now back to work!

A post written just for me

I was looking at my reader over lunch and I saw this post on apartment therapy.

I think it was written just for me, and my project finishing resolution.


It was just too timely not to share.

New Year's Resolution Progress

This year I've broken with my usual tradition for new years resolutions...I'm not resolving to loose weight and go to the gym.

Instead the incrediable amount of UFO (UnFinished Objects) around here is getting obscene.
I have everything from partially quilted quilts to dresses all done they just need a zipper...

So I just figured I'd start with the project sitting on my sewing table and just keep going until they were all done. I think this might take most of the year but it will be nice to finally see some finished objects.

My first finished quilt top of 2011:
I'm pretty satisfied with it. Crimson and black are really not colors I ever quilt with. I'm more of a fresh pallet person but I'm pretty happy with this. I needed a more masculine feel, and I think I accomplished that too. To quilt it I'm going to do rolling waves because after all it is the Crimson Tide...Roll Tide Roll. Right now it is in the wash, and I'll baste this puppy tomorrow...

I'm making slow and steady progress.

To inspire me I finally gave in and hung a simple design wall:
I'm pretty taken with it, and I can't understand why I didn't do this before.

You might have heard but we got a ton! of snow around here for Nashville. 3inches!!! Not much by NY standards but enough to bring the city to a halt. My southern dog was very perplexed by how huge my feet instantly became.