Another quilt done

Well I got through an entire season of Lost making this quilt!

Decided to put the borders on per everyone's suggestions

Used the swirl material for the back - but added a ribbon because at the time it seemed like a good idea.

Made my own bias tape/binding.

Now before you peek at the pictures there are some rules:

1. If you notice that the right side boarder of brown is smaller than the left....it is either a) your imagination or b) I did it on purpose....your choice but those are your only choices!

2. If you don't like the ribbon - well I don't really either but because its for a raffle we have to all agree to say we like it and it adds flavor to the quilt; and

3. Tell me why I started doing this? I became obsessed with this quilt for some reason and its not one that I'm doing for an emotional reason (it was a secondary quilt for the kids relay for life team to choose from and a use up the last of the breast cancer material quilt). I couldn't decide on a pattern; I couldn't decide on a boarder; I couldn't decide on the back....I don't know if its a labor of love or a "I'll be dam&*# I am finishing this quilt and it will look like an 8 on Pam's scale of 1 to 10.

I also including a close up of my FMQ - this was the first time I've ever used the clear thread - I thought it would be hard to deal with but once I got the tension right it was easy!

Oh yeah - its lap quilt size - ended up 36 wide by 48 long...again do NOT know how I come up with these measurements....
Ok enjoy and remember the rules above!!!

Front of the Quilt

Back of the quilt

Front and Back the swirls really do match

Up close of my freehand quilting

 

Garage as a sewing room.....

Ok so I have 5 kids - 4 still at home (2 of those 4 leave this August) - no I'm not sad yet and if you ask my standard answre is "I'm not sad today about them leaving"

Anyway - needless to say our 3 bedroom house has been quite crowded....my sewing area is about 3 feet wide by 6 feet long and actually is the hallway entrance to the living room....my camera battery is dead so I'll try and post a picture tomorrow!

Once the twins leave my two younger kids will still occupy the rooms as one is a boy and one is a girl.

More background - bare with me....about 6 years ago my husband bought a 1966 Mustang - he was going to fix it up and drive it around and I don't know try and get some young thing to smile at him (or laugh)...anyway this car has sat in my garage for 6 years...he is not a mechanic - he is a lawyer I have to hire someone to change light bulbs (ok not really but I'm making a point)...so the car sat there until tonight. Someone bought it....yes he acted like a big baby but we need the money because both of the girls will have to have a car when they go to college as they are both going to metro area's.

So I - silly me - make the suggestion that if we put up some plywood to close up the attic; take out the garage door and put up sheet rock - get an AC window unit - I can turn my newly cleaned and empty garage into a sewing room...Plenty of room for work tables; plenty of electrical outlets (some in the ceiling which is great for keeping cords off the floor)....washer and dryer right there....tons of shelves (lining 2 walls) to store stuff in. Put my computer and a TV out there and I'll be all set and out of everyone's way and they can watch TV without the whirl of a machine or two going off all the time! Then we can have our living room back and our bedroom and our front hall and front hall closet and bedroom closet and under our bed back for other things!

Great idea right? I mean kids are growing and we don't need the bikes or the toy box of sand toys or the boxes of hand-me-downs or anything else that has been in there.

So what does he say???? "I don't think we can do it...you'll need heat in the winter and with all that material you can't have a space heater in there!"

I am still sitting here in awe at 1:30 a.m. - HEAT???? HEAT???? We live in South Texas....aside from our 2 week fluke of a winter storm this year in the 20 years I've lived in Corpus Christi, I have barely ever turned on the heater in the house...I don't even own a winter jacket....HEAT????

I am just stunned! So tomorrow I'm going to finish cleaning and start rearranging and I may take some of his Mustang Money to go buy plywood and sheetrock - or maybe just a hammer to throw at him! HEAT!!!!!

Pain in the Butt Boob Quilt

Ok this project started out pretty good. Liked my colors started making my squares....too much brown and blue and not enough pink and not every triangle had the breast cancer ribbon in it.

Plow ahead....

Break 7 needles.

Square up every square...sew together...thought I made sure it was squared again.

Nope - more of a ruffle effect now....must be the satin feeling material I used for the brown outside the ribbon.

Plow ahead.

Make the edge per helpful suggestions on here.

Now I can't decide on a back. Find a back...sew togehter - sewed wrong sides together - at least 1/2 around before I clued in.

My dear friend seam ripper and I had some quality time together. Start again.

Put the binding on - thinking ok on a scale of 1 to 10 (my one to 10 not ya'lls ....a 6...start cutting threads...find 2 places where the seams have come apart and several places where my tension was off and so the threads are showing through (oh yes...did I mention I used white thread and they are showing threw on the brown material?

This was for a raffle...not anymore...guess I could just give it to one of the local hospitals or hospice....

Quilt Slideshow

Progression from "THEN" to now.....

Quilting

I have always been into arts and crafts projects.  Even have a professional embroidery machine I had to have and spent a couple of years doing embroidery for everyone I know.  About 8 years ago I made some shorts and shirts and decided rather than throw the scraps away I would sew them together to make a quilt.  Well what I thought was a quilt.  Turns out its just a blanket of sewn together square patches but hey it was the first one. 

Of and on over the years I made these types of quilts for friends; family; charity raffles.  Everyone loved them.  Some even paid me for them.  Ha Ha - I know but they did - really. 

So about 4 months ago I got the "bug" again and started making "my quilts".  Then I got stuck on a pattern and found out google has about 10 zillion quilting sites.  I joined up with quiltingboard.com  a message board of quilters and a wonderful place. 

I learned that what I was doing was not quilting.  I've progressed since then with the help; love; suggestions and postings of this message board group. 

I'm going to try and post my gallery of photos so you can see for yourself the progression I've made from someone who sewed together material and called it a quilt to actual quilting. 

I now spend most of my time doing this...haven't sold anything lately but my family and friends have gotten some great and not so great blankets and quilts.  I'm getting there but I'm a long way off from matching anything my quilting friends can do. 

Oh my husband said that if anyone wants to buy a purse; quilt or anything else I've posted he would really appreciate it because my fabric habit is killing him!!!