Katie's quilt

I'm finally getting something done on Katie's quilt, which I have owed her since the shower (she's now nearly 2!) I have been busy with my own nearly two year old, but finally gained some inspiration and motivation. This quilt is completely different from the one I originally envisioned and purchased fabrics for, but I like it. It still needs to be steam-a-seamed down, and stitched, but here is the work-in-progress picture:

Fabric purchase

Here is a picture of the fabric I purchased the other day, referenced in my last post. I just love the two patterns (green with orange leaves, and the funky mushroom-y looking green and orange pattern), and I purchased the accompanying colors to coordinate with them. Now if only I can start actually producing an output and blogging about that instead of purchases and plans...

Shopping provides inspiration

I went shopping today for fabrics and came home with nothing like what I went shopping for, but love what I found. I'll post a picture shortly.

I also saw a beautiful sample from an upcoming class and signed up immediately. We will be making this pattern (click here.)

The raw edge applique technique should be fast and easy, so I am hoping it will come together fast. Another pattern caught my eye, which I bought as well (click here to see.)

And a little browsing online showed there are lots more in this genere. If the first project goes well, perhaps I'll make this trio (scroll down.) And this couldn't be cuter for October... And then there are all of the baby quilts I expect to want to make in the coming months for the flood of pregnant friends and relatives I have, such as this one... And then there are these patterns with a sense of humor...

What am I doing??? I am way behind on plenty of other projects... I shouldn't be adding more, especially since I quilt only once every few months. Perhaps I'll have to start spending more time on this after the kids go to bed...

Wonky snow covered tree

I was inspired to pull out my sewing stuff by the snow covered tree tutorial I found on J's Quilting Blog (here). Decided to try it, with the following results. Mine don't look as cute as hers do, but its a start. Next time I need to start with a much wider strip of green. And much longer pieces so that my green triangles can be bigger. And offset them more I think. Thank you Joyce, for inspiring me to sew. This came together in a precious afternoon quiet moment in the house while the kids were occupied by my hubby. I rarely get quiet moments, and when I do I'm usually too exhausted to pull out all my quilting stuff. It takes so much effort just to get things out and put them away again. It's a huge demotivator and makes me determined to find space for a permanent sewing nook in our someday-to-be-remodeled house.

I am going to try some hand quilting on this little sample, something I've never tried before. Perhaps I will try putting in some words, such as is done commonly by Tonya (see example in the 3rd picture in this post on Lazy Gal Quilting.)

A Quilting Christmas Present

My hubby bought me a quilting-related Christmas present this year! He actually took the time to go down to the quilting store to pick it out for me. I was so pleased. I had mentioned wanting a sewing box/basket of some sort to store my tools, thread, etc. The one he picked is not what I'd pictured at all, but it turns out the picture in my head is outdated. This works great, and now I'm totally organized, compact, and portable. My previous organizational method was to store all of these things in a set of 6 tiny little boxes. Now everything is together making it much easier for me to get my quilting things out and put away (since I don't have a dedicated sewing space in my house.) Thank you hubby!