Finished quilt!

I literally spent every moment I was at home the past few days working on the Happy Campers quilt. It got to the point where I wasn't very happy with it at all...

The quilting looks sloppy in many places — it's amazingly difficult to sew a straight line using a darning foot with your feed dogs down.

The thread tension is messed up in so many places — I swear the tension kept changing as I quilted it. I would test on scraps, start out just fine, and then later it would be all messed up. I could only rip out and re-quilt so much of it. I mean, it has to be done in time. I think it may have to be re-quilted at some point in the future.

Oh! And somehow the binding wound up being too big. I made do, but it still looks a little funky to me.

After spending a couple hours Sunday night and five straight hours Monday tying off and hiding thread ends from the quilting on the Happy Campers quilt, I decided to forgo the appliqué all together. This is largely due to time constraints, but I'm justifying by reasoning that the appliqué may be a bit too cutesy for my dad, and now I can use those charm squares to make him some matching potholders or a pillow for Father's Day. So it's a total cop-out, maybe, but I finished! And I got to use a little bit of the selvage in the label, which I really like:

Now that I have the label put on, and I'm not looking at it so closely, I'm a lot happier with it. It's a big-picture kinda thing.

ps: I just signed up for round 3 of the Potholder Pass. (Don't worry, the deadline isn't till May 31...) Isn't the button absolutely precious?

birthday presents and a question

I know I wasn't supposed to add anything to my plate, but I had to make a couple of quick Make Life birthday presents this past week. Now that they have each been gifted, I can show you all!

This is a reporter's notebook cover I made for my friend Patrick using a couple of the solid squares from my Make Life layer cake. It turned out a bit dorkier than it had looked in my head, but he still liked it. I'm pretty proud of myself for engineering the pockets and pen slot without following any instructions.

This is a quick Make Life makeup bag, using only two layer cake pieces, some batting, and a zipper. I just made it up as I went, and I could only find a 7" zipper, so the edges on either side of the zipper are a little funky.

I'm gonna toot my own horn here and brag on my free-motion quilting. I'm getting more confident with it, but only on small projects. I basted it with Wonder Under, since it was pretty small, and it was so much easier to quilt without having pins in the way, and it didn't shift one little bit.

Oh, yes, I have a very important question for you guys... I'm going to finish quilting Happy Campers today, and hopefully be able to get the binding at least half-way done. I was planning to appliqué the words "HAPPY CAMPERS" on the back after I quilted it, and hand-stitch the edges down so that you can't see the stitching through the front of the quilt. However, I'm getting a bit worried about time. I have to have this thing completely done, washed, wrapped up and ready to go see my dad on Friday. I also have to put a label together. So I'm considering getting some no-sew fusible and just using that for the appliqué. I would love to hear y'all's experiences with different fusibles, specifically with no-sew and how they look as time wears on. Any and all advice, experience and/or tips are immensely appreciated!

Make Life notebook cover

I get to cross the first thing off my Spring to Finish list! I made this composition notebook cover using one piece of the Make Life layer cake I won from the lovely Claire at Claire's Chaotic Corner and a few pieces of a Make Life charm pack.

I used Wonder Under to raw-edge appliqué flowers and some "make life..." words.

I zig-zag stitched around the edges after basting it, so the appliqué served as quilting. Two birds, one stone.

I used a Sew Mama Sew tutorial. The directions were great, but either the measurements were off or I got an odd-size notebook. Somehow my cover wound up being about a half-inch too long on the height. But I'm still very happy with it. Now I have a central location for all my random crafty notes, thoughts, sketches, etc.

Spring to Finish Challenge and BWO

It's been almost a week. I make no apologies. I'm adding two buttons to my sidebar today. Here is the first:

You can click the button to learn more about Blogging Without Obligation. Here's a sample:

Because only blogging when you feel truly inspired keeps up the integrity of your blog.

I've had a rough week, and I've just been in a funk. I missed the April Friday Night Sew-In, which sucks, but I just wasn't feeling it. I finally got back to my machine the other day, and I'm working on some smaller projects this week. More to come later this week, since one is a birthday present for a friend, and I don't want him to see it here first.

Here is the second button:

I have been stressed lately with all the projects I'm working on. Most of them are pretty small, but they all need to be done in the next 1-3 weeks! Jacquie at Tallgrass Prarie Studio is hosting this challenge. It started Monday and lasts six weeks. I'm breaking up my to-do list into two sections, one to be done by the halfway point May 10, and one to be done by the end of the challenge on May 31. Divvying up my to-dos was easy, because everything in the first part has a deadline! Luckily, only one of those things is a quilt; the rest is a bunch of little sewing projects. Here's my list so far:

By May 10
• Happy Campers quilt for my Dad's birthday (this actually has to be completed and washed by April 29. I'm 40% done quilting it. Hoping to spend my weekend finishing that...)
• 2010 Great Potholder Pass hosted by Malka at A Stitch in Dye. (I have to have these mailed the first week of May, so I have less than two weeks to make them.)
• A birthday present for my best friend, which needs to be mailed to Taiwan! I can't say what it is, because I know she reads this. (Jimmie, I love you, but your present will probably be late)
• Garden tote for Mother's Day (this doesn't necessarily have to be finished by Mother's Day, since I'm not sure when I'll be visiting my mom.
• Notebook cover I'm making with some of my Make Life winnings using this tutorial at Sew Mama Sew — this one is just for me :)
• A little something I'm making for the Bee in my Bonnet members
By May 31
• Deanna's blocks for Bee in my Bonnet
• Pinwheel Sampler quilt, following the Pinwheel Sampler Quilt-Along by Rachel of p.s. i quilt
• Whirligig quilt, which has been sitting on a shelf for far too long
And maybe...
• Hexagon quilt following the Hexagon quilt-along by Julie of Jaybird Quilts and the Old Red Barn Co.

I have a lot on my plate! My reward for finishing this enormous list will be to actually buy fabric and start a new project. I'm resolving to only add small projects to this list. I'm hoping to have my first finish ready to show in the next day or two! Are you joining Jacquie in the Spring to Finish Challenge? What's on your list?

Pinwheel sampler progress, I'm a winner again and an awesome coupon

Pinwheel Sampler Quilt-Along Block 7

All caught up in the pinwheel sampler quilt along. There's only one block left!

The quilting gods are smiling on me this week. I won one of the many prizes from Quilting Bee Blocks' grand opening giveaway! I've gone on and on about the fabulous Quilting Bee Blocks blog before, so I won't repeat myself. All I'll say is: If you haven't been there yet, go now!

I will soon be the proud owner of two adorable fat quarters from Darci at Stitches & Scissors:

(image from Darci at Stitches & Scissors)

A big thank you to Erin and Darci for the fabulous prize. Robots and stars... it really doesn't get any better!

In sale news... I checked twitter this morning, which I don't do often, and I saw this:

FatQuarterShop: COUPON: $10 off order! Expires Fri 4/16, midnight CST. Exclusions apply, see FB for details! Code "AprilCoupon" http://ow.ly/1xC3R

How fortuitous that Kimberly announces a coupon code on the day I get paid! Guess I'll have to get used to it, Kimberly says she'll be posting special discounts on Facebook and Twitter every Wednesday!

I got two charm packs (only $12 with shipping!), one Make Life to go with my Layer Cake prize and a Love U simply because of the cute owls and snails:

     

I've been drooling over hand-pieced hexagons on Flickr and Texas Freckles, so I'm hoping to make some adorable owl hexes for a pillow or potholder.

I'm a winner — and some hexes!

(more on that later!)

You know how when people win things they always say "I've never won anything before!" I always think that has got to be a load of ... well you know what. I mean how likely is it that someone has never won anything before? If you really think about it, I'm sure there's something you've won.

The point of that mini-rant is that I'm not going to say that today. I am only going to say I've won my first fabric giveaway! Many thanks to Claire of Claire's Chaotic Corner for the Make Life layer cake headed my way! I absolutely love the Sweetwater collections because they usually include a word print in a couple colorways. I'm an aspiring copy editor, and I work at a newspaper.. words are kinda my thing :)

Are you doing the Hexagon Quilt Along with Julie and the Old Red Barn Co.? I know Candi at Raccoon Creek Quilts is quilting along. I got an equilateral triangle ruler from JoAnn's (50% off! Gotta love those coupons) and got to sewing and cutting. I'm using Glam Garden by Josephine Kimberling for Robert Kaufman. I got all caught up yesterday, check it out:

we can just pretend that picture is in focus :)

Oh and I almost forgot — it's Tuesday! Hop on over to Jaybird Quilts for Julie's list of giveaways, and while you're over there, enter Julie's own giveaway, sponsored by the fabulous Fat Quarter Shop!

Exciting day

Fridays are awesome. Fridays are the only day of the week that I have no obligations. I usually spend my Fridays in my pajamas (all day) sitting at my sewing machine.

Last night, I finished the shell of the tote bag for my mom (yay!):

The materials for the lining and handles are all cut and ready to go, but I wanted to get started on this, which needs to be completed a few weeks before the tote:

(bad picture, but you get the idea)

I just finished marking guides for quilting the Happy Campers quilt! I had to take a break to eat, so I thought I'd post this little update. It took longer than I thought to get the tape on there right, but I developed a system after a bit and it started to speed up. I've used painters tape to mark once before, on the hanging organizer I made last week. It worked really well. The best part is that you don't have to actually mark on the quilt! The tape is made with a very gentle adhesive, so it comes off easily when you're done, and it doesn't leave any icky residue on the fabric. Oh, and you can re-use it a few times before it completely loses its tackiness. I'm hoping I won't have to make any more tape-squares; I can just move these from row to row as I go.

And now I am in need of advice from all you lovely seamsters and seamstresses out there. I have little to no experience sewing clothing. My boyfriend came home from work today and showed me this ...

... a huge rip in the only pair of pants he has to wear to work. I have today and tomorrow to fix it. I assume I'll need a patch of some type. I am in dire need of recommendations and tips. Seriously, explain it to me like I'm five years old. I have to have these fixed in about 24 hours :/

Free-motion quilting, a tool to avoid and another to buy ASAP

Well there you have it. My first efforts in free-motion quilting. It for a tote bag I'm making for my mom for Mother's Day, based on this Sew, Mama, Sew tutorial. The quilting is far from perfect, but I'm actually pretty happy with it. It's turning out better than I thought it would. A lot of it will be covered by pockets, and my mom won't mind the imperfections since I made it for her. The colors are a little less Spring-y than I wanted, but I saw this fabric (thumbnail at right), and it was just perfect for the lining and pockets! The tutorial recommended using a home-dec. weight fabric for the outer shell of the bag, to give it a little more strength. I got this gold stripe on sale 40% off at Jo-Ann. The colors actually match my mom's living room decor, oddly enough, so I know she'll like them. Since I'm putting together the bag, my brother is going to help me fill it with gardening stuff as the rest of her gift.

Can you see how the gold fabric is kind of shiny? This means it is slippery! I had gotten these quilters finger grips on a whim at Jo-Ann a while back and decided to try them out. I didn't even get through quilting one flower motif before I gave up on them. They were slippery on the inside and didn't quite fit my fingers (especially my thumb), so the grip would sort-of stick to the fabric while my finger slid around inside. Not good. I'm curious to know what (if anything) you guys use to hold your fabric while quilting.

But on to one of my most favorite notions:

I don't remember where I read about the Kwik Klip, but it is an absolute lifesaver when pin-basting — or perhaps I should say finger saver :) After I basted my Happy Campers quilt (which, with y'all as my witnesses, I will start quilting this weekend), my legs and back were sore from crawling on the floor hunched over the quilt sandwich, but my fingers were prick-free and not the least bit sore!

What are your favorite tools?

star sightings and bee musings

I just had to buy the new American Patchwork at Quilting magazine at the grocery store today. I really need to renew my subscription... Anyway, I was flipping through and whose bright smiley faces did I see? Bradie and Julie, featured in a full-page Moda Bakeshop ad. I have to admit for a moment I was a bit star struck. I read their blogs religiously, and I've exchanged e-mails with these ladies! I've been trying to hunt down the May/June issue of McCalls Quilting Magazine to read Julie's article. I'm hoping it will show up at my local Jo-Ann store soon.

I've been wanting to join a virtual quilting bee for a little while now. It seems like such a great way to meet other quilters out there on the internets, as well as create something for someone without having to buy fabric. For anyone unfamiliar with how bees work, it's typically a group of 12 quilters. Each month, one of the members mails out fabric and maybe some design requests or block layouts to the other 11 members. Everyone makes a block and mails it back, so by the end of a year, everyone has a quilt made by the bee members. Elizabeth at Oh! Frasson has a great post about quilting bees. There's also a brand spankin' new blog called Quilting Bee Blocks (click on over there, they're having a give-away!(, that grew out of a Flickr group. Well that Flickr group just happens to be one of the best places to get the scoop on upcoming bees looking for members. Quite a few people have posted in past couple of days saying they were interested in a beginner's bee. Well, one of the group's admins, Erin, suggested we stop trolling for a beginner's bee and go ahead and start one. And, well, I may have volunteered to be the "bee mama." So, if you're interested in jumping in head-first with me, shoot me an e-mail or leave a comment here.

and now for something completely different

pinwheel sampler quilt-along block 6

As you can see, I finished block six of Rachel's pinwheel sampler quilt along. I'm really not too thrilled with one of the blocks. (Can you guess which one?) I also pieced them differently. On the cool block I pieced it into squares instead of rows, and I found it to help a lot with the seams on this particular layout.

I also joined another quilt-along. Julie, the author of one of my very favorite blogs: Jaybird Quilts is hosting a hexagon quilt-along. It was a lovely excuse to get some of Josephine Kimberling's Glam Garden, and it was on sale at Burgundy Buttons. The discount worked out to just about equal the cost of shipping.

...And now for something completely different!

All-righty bloggy friends. Leah at Burgundy Buttons has deemed today Mo 'bout Me Monday a.k.a. SWATCH.com day. (Let's just pretend it's still technically Monday... by the time my Monday is over it's usually well into Tuesday morning). Leah wrote:

I realized that we have thrown ourselves into this little virtual world and wrapped ourselves into this web of friends without really knowing anything about each other- well except that we all like fabric!

So I thought I would take Mondays and make it a Mo 'bout ME day. I tell you something about ME and then you tell me something about YOU! It's like our own little Match.com for Fabric Friends! Would that be SWATCH.COM? Hey- what a Great Name!! SWATCH.COM it is!

(I highly recommend following her blog, btw. Leah has some great stuff up there, and she often posts info about sales at her shop, Burgundy Buttons.)

I could not agree more! The reason I started this blog was to get to know other quilters. So in homage to Leah, here's a little about me, in hopes that you'll share with me a little about you!

I'm 24 years old, and I live deep in the heart of Texas. I grew up in Arlington, and moved to Austin in 2004 to go to the University of Texas (obligatory Hook 'Em). I love Austin, so I just kind of stuck around after graduating. It took me about two years after finishing college to wind up in a "grown up" job. I work at the local newspaper as an editorial assistant (I post stories to the Web site at night. It's entirely un-glamorous). They let me work one night on the copy desk each week, where I proofread and write headlines and photo captions. I'm hoping to move over to the copy desk eventually.

The first thing I do when I get home from work each night is put on my pajamas. I could live in my pajamas. I usually don't get dressed for work until an hour or so before I have to leave, unless I have errands to run before-hand.

I definitely get my craftiness from my dad. He is a DIY kinda guy. He laid all the tile in my parents' house by himself. He also took down the wallpaper and textured the walls. He's currently working on building himself a smoker out of a huge propane tank that he bought on Craigslist. I love building things, too, but since I live in a tiny apartment the closest I get is assembling furniture bought at Ikea. I do, however, know how to safely operate power tools. But I can't change the oil in my car.

Another thing I got from my dad is a love of all things Willie Nelson. With that said, I'm not really all that "into" music. I enjoy listening to music, sure, but I'm just not one of those people who seeks out new bands. I am absolutely terrible at defining musical genres. I run into this a lot because my boyfriend is a musician, and people always ask me what kind of music he plays. My best answer is some mix between Grizzly Bear/Animal Collective and Pet Sounds/the Beatles' White Album.

I do, however, love TV. I know that sounds almost pathetic, but I do. I love TV more than movies, and definitely more than music. I really like keeping up with timelines and continuity on my favorite shows, and seeing the characters grow over time. Some of my favorite shows on the air these days are Lost (I'm obsessed), 30 Rock, The Office, House, Bones, Mad Men, Grey's Anatomy, Modern Family and Ugly Betty (only two episodes left of this one). I'm getting to really like the sci-fi dramas like Fringe, V and Flash Forward, too.

I mentioned before that I want to be a copy editor. I have always been known as a stickler for all things grammar. I had a professor once who would give extra credit if we e-mailed her about any errors in handouts she gave us — if all my professors had done that, I would have graduated with a much higher GPA!

There's a lovely lady at my office who keeps a desk drawer stocked with candy. If this post is too much stream-of-consciousness rambling, blame her!

In any case, I'm Meghan. Nice to meet you!

quilting truckers

Today was an all-star boring day at work, but I did discover a cool article from last week's Wall Street Journal: Idle Pastime: In Off Hours, Truckers Pick Up Stitching. The article is an interesting take on the economy. Since fewer goods are being moved on trucks, those drivers have a lot more down time. One person featured in the article described it this way:

Quilting, he said, "gives you a little bit of ownership. You've actually accomplished something with your time off."

I know it sounds cheesy, but this article has helped pull me out of my funk from a couple of days ago. An HR manager from a trucking company says this in the article:

"We want them to pass the time to make themselves happy, rather than get frustrated waiting."

I'm not making quilts to sell, and I'm not making them to prove myself to anyone. It's really just a positive, fun thing to do with my time. I really just like to say "look what I made" no matter how perfect or how artistic it is.

I will also readily admit that the fact that I spent my afternoon before work curled up on the couch watching whatever chick flicks the TV would provide for me helped, too (I cried my eyes out watching Mona Lisa Smile and Where the Heart Is).

I would love to know how you got into quilting (or your other hobby of choice) and why do you do it!

an off day

Do you ever have those days when it feels like everything you touch turns to crap?

I wish I could say my infrequent posting was indicative of my getting a lot done. It's really more of a combination of laziness and bad luck. I worked got started on a tote bag I'm making for my mom. After quite a few knots and tension issues, I ended up running out of thread not even half-way through. So I decided to switch gears and work on the pinwheel sampler quilt-along. I got one block done, and to say I'm not happy with it is putting it lightly. I'm going to turn off my machine for the night and try again tomorrow.

I hope I'm not alone in days like today. What do you do to pull yourself out of it?