Signed, sealed and delivered

Done!

Last baby quilt is finished, delivered and photos taken.  Again I learned a lot from this quilt! It was another rush order since our power went out for an evening that I was going to use to finish it.  My next goal is to begin the trapplique parts of my state fair quilt and baste the baby quilt that I am going to enter.  I imagine the next two months are going to be very busy! Hope you enjoy the pictures of the finished quilt.  I have also included pictures of the latest storm that hit New Mexico.

Picture of the jungle. (Also known as the backyard.  Had to rescue the pups before they got flooded out. 

Grass and flowers are loving the moisture! 

Finished quilt! 

Close up of the quilt!

Back of the quilt. 

Shot of the whole quilt.

Have a great week! 

Holly

Fun with feathers!

Feathers!

This week I have been hard at work finishing this baby quilt.  However, I ran out of thread! I hate when that happens.  Looks like I'll have to make my way over to the local Jo Ann's in the morning. Oh darn ;). With this post I wanted to share what I accomplished in the time I spent on this quilt since I hope to be finished and have it delivered by Monday! Yay!!

Last Friday I shared with you about the leaves that I had done for the surrounding borders.  These leaves took some time but they turned out beautiful! 

Looking at the next border I wanted to do something different.  For the last several quilts I used stippling.  I used stippling over the panel and wanted something different.  I have only been doing free motion quilting since December so every quilt is a learning experience.  I have never done feathers and after listening to Angela Walters on the Quilt Con video, it made me want to try them.

First time attempting feathers.  I'd have to say they turned out pretty well. 

View of all three.

Favorite part is the corners! So random. 

I say it after each quilt but this is one of my favorites! Even though it is far from perfect it has been fun! I am looking forward to having the final borders complete and having the binding done.  Final picture will be posted next week. 

Some even more exciting news, I received an email from a friend that asked if I would be willing to donate a quilt for a raffle that she is putting together.  I feel so honored that she thought of me.  I never thought that I would ever be considered good enough to donate a quilt.  Perhaps I could sell them in the future. Who knows! 

Until next time! 

Holly

Progress this week

Slow and steady wins the race right?

For the last few weeks I've been hitting the gym hard, trying to continue losing my baby weight.  Well, I think I overdid it and now I am paying for it.  No Zumba or leg exercises for a week.  I am so down but I know that it's for the best.  So now I am doing abs and arms.  I can't wait to be on the mend and doing what I love again.  

I can't imagine what it would be like if I couldn't quilt, better not overdo it with the arms!!  Last night I took the night off since I quilted during nap time and I enrolled in the free class on Craftsy on Quilt Con.  I spent time listening to Angela Walters.  I have a couple of her books, but listening to her speak was very informative.  

On my last post I spoke about breaking thread so many times in my baby quilt that I had reached a point of frustration.  I finally broke down and my little girl and I headed over to the local Jo Ann's.  This is one of mine and my little girls favorite stores and they all know her by name.  We initially went to get thread but we ended up looking at the patterns and material for her Halloween costume, coloring books for her and pattern magazines for myself.  We can spend at least an hour at any quilt shop that we frequent.  I suppose this means Hazel is destined to be a quilter. 

  

Sorry for such a random post but there is so much on my mind and felt the need to write it out.  Next time I plan to have pictures of my finished quilt.

Until next time!

Holly

FMQ Friday

Where did the week go?

Last week if you remember, I was hoping to have my baby quilt done.  Well, that didn't happen.  Life happened and between gym workouts, baby and general clean up of my house the week got away from me.  I was pretty happy with how far I got considering that I didn't work two nights.  

                 

Finally completed the main panel section now onto the boarders.  Flowing leaves idea from Leah Day.

Close up of the two textures. 

I love how the leaves are showing up with the thread that I have chosen but I am afraid the thread is not loving me.  I have so far broken two needles and have countless thread breaks.  I'm hoping this next week I have more success.  

As far as my State Fair piece which I need to start on.  I have been referencing back to the Leah Day videos where where she teaches trapplique.  I was so off track with my idea of how I was going to do it, which was more complex.  I am so grateful for technology when these types of things occur! I look forward to finishing this quilt up and sharing the final result (hopefully) next week! 

Until then,

Holly

I'm linking up http://www.freemotionquilting.blogspot.com/

Baby summer

Baby Summer

This summer has been the time for babies, and in my case baby quilt making.  I am currently working on my last baby quilt of the season! This is an exciting time since I am waiting in anticipation to begin my state fair piece.  Along with quilting and raising my baby girl Hazel, I have an obsession with Zumba! If you haven't tried Zumba, I highly recommend it. 

Quilt on the Janome 6600.  Can you tell I'm a little paranoid about a shifting quilt?

Stipling done on this quilt since it is mostly flannel.  Wanted a light texture feel. 

Right now I am doing Zumba pretty much every day except for my active rest days.  Why am I talking about Zumba you may ask? When I was in high school I was a soccer and softball player.  Since then I've always been pretty active until I became pregnant   When I was pregnant I gained 60 pounds! Crazy right! I currently have lost around 50 pounds since I had my baby girl and at the last visit to the doc she said she would like to see me lose around 40 more before I could even think of having another baby. 

This may seem like a huge number, even to me but I know I can do it and probably more.  So Zumba has been my go to exercise for the mere fact that I love dancing.  It has also brought routine into my workout schedule.  To get more Zumba and weights we now have joined the local gym.  Which is good for Hazel since she gets to meet other kiddos and it gets me out of the house and closer to my goal.

Since I say it is a time for babies, perhaps next year I can look forward to making my own quilt, or making one for Hazel since I've had the material for one since before she was born.  

Next week I look forward to hopefully sharing the finished quilt. Also, showing the progress that is being made on my state fair piece!  

Some of the pieces of my State Fair piece.

Until then,

Holly

I'm linking up http://www.freemotionquilting.blogspot.com/

Done!

Done!

The baby quilt that I have been working on for the last several weeks is finally done! There are so many parts that turned out better then expected.  However, I am a little disappointed with how the binding attachment looks.  I have to remind myself that I am still learning and that the back of the quilt is never perfect.  With every quilt that I finish I learn so much to pass on to the next.  

Finished quilt.  I love how the binding colors turned out!

Border done in stipling design.

Back of quilt

Another shot of quilt back. 

 Looking ahead to the coming month of July I have a lot of projects to accomplish by September.  This week I plan on  prepping my trapplique quilt and quilt panel for the State Fair which is in September.  I also plan to begin quilting the baby quilt I have to have done by the end of the month.  

Add all this to my goal of losing 10 pounds and it is going to be a crazy month. 

Until next time. 

Holly