Finished Star Light Star Bright Quilt

 I consider the finishing of this quilt a major feat! March has not been my families month as we moved from one sickness to another, it was rough. And I did not get much sewing in. But This last week we finally took a turn for the better and I was able to get in and finish this quilt top!

 And I just love how it looks, so bright and fun! And it has a more boy friendly feel than most of my quilts! It is huge, I had a hard time taking a picture of it that really does it justice!

But this might be my last project for a while as we are up to move again this summer! I could not be happier! North Dakota is cold, cold and cold. And today we have a snow day because of a blizzard. But our next assignment is California! yippee!! So I am cleaning stuff out and trying to get organized as this all goes down in just about 2 months!

Enjoy!

Star Light, Star Bright QAL corner pieces

This past weekend the stomach flu was at our house and now it is my turn with it. So all you get today is a picture of my corner pieces for the quilt along. Not much description, because I want to go take a nap. But I wanted to get my picture linked up!

I have not been sewing much, just helping kids out - let's hope they do the same for me when they get home from school!! 

Enjoy!

Aurifil March Block

I really am liking this block a month thing. I have plenty of time to get them done - even though I usually finish my block within the first week. Here is my block for March:

I had originally used a skinny red strip, where the light blue one is, but it just blended right into my outside border. So I unpicked it switched it out for a blue one. And I love the result.

I tried to take a picture of all my blocks together, but we rarely see the sun these past few days and so this was the best I could get.

And I think my kids have used my camera a little too much, there is stuff in my pictures that is an indication of a dirty lens.

We got another couple of inches of snow yesterday and today there was no school, so we are having a lazy day and an early start to our relaxing weekend!

Enjoy!

Star Light Star Bright QAL update

Here are my end pieces for Happy Quilting's QAL. This was a pretty easy week. I kind of enjoyed it! I have about a billion other projects to work on - don't we all?!

And this kind of reminds me of a chevron dress! I am excited to see how it all comes together! Soon it will be done!!

Enjoy!

Star Light Star Bright Centers

After taking almost all week to finish last weeks assignment I was on top of things this week, and I am done with the one for this week. Maybe it was because this was a lot easier than the hst's! But I am glad it is done, because I have another curtain order to sew and a few more alterations. What I really could use is a couple more hours in the day and a couple more for sleep! Couldn't we all?!

But here are my star centers in all their glory!!

And then here are a couple of my favorite ones:

This one I love how the reddish orange looks next to the floral.

And lastly this one. I really love this light orange one - there is just something about it.

Anyway, it is finally Friday and I am so happy about it! I get to spend some relaxing time with my family and have no obligations! My favorite way to spend the weekend! Hope you all have a great weekend too!!

Enjoy!

Star Light Star Bright HST's

 I did it! And I could not be happier! For the quilt a long this week we were sewing and trimming our HST's. It was a little confusing at first, as I tried to figure out how I needed to get these into piles, but I figured it out and then got to sewing.

And here are all the HST's for each of my nine squares:

And of course the trimmings. Holy cow this took F.O.R.E.V.E.R.  But I love how great the quilt comes together when everything is the same size!! So I endured and finished!

Looking at of this makes me think of the Denver Broncos . . .

Enjoy!

Sugar Snow Quilt

One of the books that I got for Christmas was the Vintage Quilt Revival. It is a fabulous book, and the first pattern that really stood out to me was the Sugar Snow quilt. So I rummaged through my fabric and found almost enough to make it. I was a little bit short of background fabric, so it sat like this in my sewing room for a while.

But once I got more ordered it was super fast to finish this quilt up.

I tried to take pictures of this the same day as my kaleidoscope quilt and the wind was not very cooperative. But I got a few good ones!

I really love this one, and I love the 'orchid' color with the turquoise. When I finally get my longarm, I will have lots of room to practice with all of the open space that this has.

And just because sometimes my points are right on I have this picture for you. Notice my center points?! Aren't they just lovely?!

I really love this quilt, I am not sure if I will be able to wait for my long arm to have it completely done! I want to use it now!!

Enjoy!

Flying Geese - QAL

 Today is the last day my kids off of school for a long time! They have to make up so many snow days that pretty much everyday that was supposed to be a day off has been canceled and is a snow make up day! But it has been the most relaxing morning!! I just love it when my kids sleep in and then play nicely all morning long! Lets hope it continues into the afternoon.

But yesterday I was able to get all my flying geese done for the QAL over at Happy Quilting. She has a great tutorial for no waste flying geese. You should check it out.

And I am loving the contrast of the navy and orange!

Enjoy your weekend!

Aurifil February Block

 This month I was ready to sew this block on the first of the month! I didn't have any other projects right then and so I got it done quick. I went with the more blue tones in my fabrics, which I like.

And I have to show this close up because my corners were spot on! I am getting better at this and I love it! When I first started they were just so-so, but now they are so much better and I could not be happier!!

Today I am trying to sew up my flying geese for my other quilt along before my neighbor gets the extra fabric for me to 'fix' her curtains.

Enjoy!

Star Light Star Bright Cutting

 I got all my cutting done for the Quilt-a-long over at Happy Quilting. It only took me all morning and I took every interruption I could! And here they are in all of their glory!

This is my background and it is not purple as it looks like in the picture - it is really a dark navy . . . not sure what is up.

Now on to more fun things like actually sewing instead of cutting!!

Enjoy!

Kaleidoscope Quilt

I finished my Kaleidoscope quilt! It was on my list to get done in January and I did it! And this quilt is huge!! My super tall husband could not even help me when I wanted to get pictures! It was still pooling on the floor!! So I went outside one day when it was not snowing and tried to get some good pictures of it!

Unfortunately the wind decided that it would blow - all.day.long!! So I snapped a few, well okay a lot, and called it good. IF the snow ever melts here I might have to take all of my quilts outside and take better pictures of them!

I love how this turned out - the turquoise really helped to calm down the busy fabrics. I used Bella by Amy Butler, which fabrics are gorgeous!! My husband says it reminds him of the 70's! Ha!

I need to get some close ups of it so that you can really see the awesomeness of the fabric prints!! And one more picture because I just love this quilt, and well I took a ton of them trying to get one where the wind was not blowing one of the corners up!!

And Aurifil posted their new block for February on their blog this weekend, I got it cut out, I am hoping that this morning I can get it all sewn up - and my kitchen cleaned!! I'm thinking that the sewing will get done and maybe the kitchen!!

Enjoy!!

Star Light, Star Bright QAL

I have been on the fence about the Star Light, Star Bright QAL that Melissa is doing over at Happy Quilting. I have a few projects that I am working on right now and wasn't sure if I could find the time. But then I love making quilts!! Well the love of quilting won over and I decided to participate in the quilt along! If you are in need of another quilt project you should check it out. She does a great job with her quilt a longs and there are some great prizes for getting your stuff done!

I didn't want to use any of the fabrics that she suggested because none of them were really something that I loved, and I am trying to not buy fabric. So I went through my stash and found a couple of orange prints, and then I caved a bought a few more orange ones to come up with these nine:

And are then not so lovely and happy?! Here they are so that you can actually see the prints:

I am going to do a navy background fabric because I am trying to make this quilt a little more boy friendly. Yes there is flowers in there, but only that one print. There is one other, but there are more dots than flowers on it so I am not counting it! I like the contrast of the dark navy with the bright oranges.

Today I am going to try and cut all of these out! I really dislike cutting so it is hard for me to stay focused on it - I get distracted by other things that have to be done in the house!

Enjoy!

Ruffle Curtains

This cold has really been getting to me lately, and so I have spent more time sewing than on the computer, but today I have something super cute and girly to share with you! Pink ruffle curtains!!

My sweet neighbor is having a baby girl in a couple of months and is going all out on making the perfect nursery. I get to help her out. I made the curtains, some sheets, and changing table cover and a few other little things. But today I am sharing the curtains with you. Those of you on instagram have seen these already, but now I will tell you a little bit more about them!

I did a simple pocket rod top because then she could stick a curtain rod through it or use curtain clips to hang them. (and sorry for the bloated curtain look, it was so cold the day I took pictures and it seemed like my heater did not turn off!!)

For the bottom I did two larger ruffles and then one that was slightly smaller. They were super simple and easy! And then just folded over my hem and sewed them onto the curtain.

The hardest part was sewing the blackout liner into them! But I got it and they are done. But because she used regular fabric and not drapery fabric they are smaller than she wanted. So now she is trying to figure out how to have me make them bigger! We tried a ruffle on the side, but it just looks like an after thought! (which is what it was!) I am trying to convince her that a seam off to the side will not be that bad and will give the curtains the width that they need. We will see what I end up doing!

And here is the crib with the bedding that she got off Etsy, before she knew I could sew! Which is probably a good thing, because I do not like sewing bumper pads! I did them once for one of my kids and used those until my last one because I never wanted to do them again!! Ha!

I just love how girly and fun this room is! She has some turquoise accents throughout as well. As she finishes it up I will post the 'done' pictures!

On another note, I got my ombre quilt all cut out and most of it sewn together. I am starting to sew the rows together now! And I hope to start cutting for another quilt this weekend! I'll be sure to share pictures!

Enjoy and stay warm everyone!!

Aurifil Block of the Month - January

I stumbled upon the Aurifil Block of the Month this year, and I decided to participate! I went through my stash to pick out some fabrics and chose Delighted! by Riley Blake.

Here is my block all done! I loved how easy and quick it was! Made me feel like I accomplished something before 10 am! It was great! 

If you have not been over to their site and seen this you should. They have a designer of the month that they interview and they give you the block. This month they interviewed Brigitte Heitland who designed Zen Chic.

Enjoy! 

Half Square Triangle Quilt

Lately I have been on a cleaning rampage. I am not sure if it is because I live in the middle of no where and never go anywhere, or if it is because it has been so cold, or if it is because I know we will be moving in a couple of month. Regardless, my house is looking so great!! And things are organized, and I am finding all sorts of things.

These last few days I have spent in my sewing room - which also doubles as my daughters room - cleaning and organizing. while going through fabric that was stashed here and there I found this pile of half square triangles.

I got these a couple of years ago from a grab bag at my local quilt shop. From that bag I have made one baby quilt and I have one twin sized quilt top done, and there is still this much left!!

I just stuck them in my scrap bins knowing that someday I would get around to using them. Well this week turned out to be that someday. With the artic weather we have been having I have been stuck inside way too long, which translates into a lot of time wasted on Instagram and Pinterest. While I Instagram I saw a picture from Canoe Ridge Creations that just caught my eye, and I realized that I had everything I needed to make this quilt like hers.

Now I did not have a pattern or anything, I was just going by what I saw in her picture. You may have seen my progress on Instagram. But I finished it all up and I love it! I happened to have some white on white print in my stash as well, so I had to buy nothing for this quilt top!! Score!

Here are the rows all ready to sew together. I love the soft look of the pastel colors.

And here we have the finished product:

This is just a tiny bit bigger than a baby blanket, which in my mind is perfect for when you want to have a little bit of blanket on you when you are feeding the baby at night! My soon to be teenage son is helping me hold this up. I might have to re-press those side strips, they seem to want to fold in.

For now it is going into my pile of quilt tops that are so patiently waiting to be quilted. Someday I will own a long arm. I have a whole list of alterations that need to be done for my neighbor this weekend, and some baby curtains for her as well - so after those I will be one step closer to it!

We are supposed to get a little bit warmer temps this weekend - like we might actually reach freezing! We might have to go outside and play all weekend! Hope you all have a great one too!!

Enjoy!

Sugar Snow Quilt

Lately I am having a hard time trying to decide if Instagram is a good thing or a bad thing. I love it because I can share a photo of what I am doing and a quick description and it takes only a minute or two. And I can see what others are making so easily and quickly. But at the same time it makes me not want to blog because it takes so long and requires more work. But I have decided that I will persevere and keep blogging. Because really it is where I am able to share more and really get to know you.

Today I have a quilt that I am in love with!! But I have run out of background fabric. I have made all the star blocks on this quilt with fabric from my stash, and some leftover solid - now I just have to get some more solid to finish it.

This is what it is supposed to look like. It is called the Sugar Snow quilt from the Vintage Quilt Revival book. If you are on the fence about that book, you should just go ahead and get it you will not regret it. It is filled with all sorts of goodness!!

Here are my blocks so far. I obviously need more fabric to finish them.

I love the color turquoise, and I decided that I would also use the color of the year with it 'orchid'. I will be ordering some fabric next week - then it will be onto finishing this beauty up!

Enjoy!

January Goals

I am a goal setter, list maker type of person. I love the beginning of the year when we think about what we want to accomplish this year. I have some attainable goals and some pretty lofty ones this year. I decided to share them with you to help me keep accountable. But I have broken some of them up into monthly goals - cause then the time frame is so close, it makes me want to get them done!

1. I have plans to finish this quilt. The top is done, and I just bought the backing this week. So my plan is to get it all quilted up before the end of January. This one I am sure will get done because my boy keeps asking me when I am going to do it!

2. I want to get my Kaleidoscope quilt top sewn together.  I have all the blocks done and trimmed just need to sew them together. I hope to have this done by the end of January.

3. Another January goal is to finish my Sugar Snow quilt from my new Vintage Quilt Revival Book. I have most of the star blocks done, but I need to get some more backing fabric. I am doing a post about them later this week. You've probably seen photos of these on Instagram.

4. This last one is a year goal. I having been saving all the money that I get from doing alterations and other sewing for people to get a long arm quilting machine. I have quite a bit saved up, but still have a long way to go! But I want to get better at my machine quilting. I got these books for my birthday and christmas this year, I have been practicing on my home machine for now.

5. I want to make more quilt for others this year. I have plans for a wedding quilt for my sister and if I can a baby quilt for another sister.

These are my goals for January and the year as far as sewing goes. I have some other personal ones like eating better, and spending more time with my family.

What are your big plans for the month or for the year? Anything great you want to accomplish?

Enjoy!