two quilts in the process - trying to make decisions

A couple weeks ago, I took a long-arm machine quilting class, & since then I've quilted 2 quilts for Will - his baby quilt & his more-recent big boy quilt. I don't have pictures of the finished products, but here's his twin-size one in the process of being quilted. I love the way it turned out.

Now I'm just having a difficult time deciding on my next step for the Little Lady's baby quilt. I was first inspired by this picture for the quilt design:

via Anna Maria Horner

Then I started wondering if I should add sashing between the squares to break things up a bit. I googled some pictures & found this one, which I also like a lot: 

via Film in the Fridge

I have my squares cut out & was leaning towards adding the sashing, but after staring at it for a long time & talking to my mom, I might be changing my mind. Decisions, decisions . . . . My mom says it looks more striking & dramatic without the sashing, & I'm starting to agree. But most people who've voiced their opinions like it with the sashing more . . . . Now I think I'm just more confused than ever. If I decide to add the sashing, I might add a small pale blue square at the joints (as shown in the last picture), but as of now, I think I need to take a step back & come back to it later once my mind isn't so crazy.

It's hard to see unless you zoom in on the picture, but the sashing I'm considering is white w/ small aqua dots,so it ties into the other fabrics as well.

via Diary of a Quilter

a change of color

When I was originally looking at fabrics for the nursery, I decided to base everything off of the central fabric in the picture below: Amy Butler's Water Bouquet in midnight. But the more I've looked at it & rearranged fabrics, I kept thinking it was just a little too neon for me. I love the fabric, but I don't know that I want to be surrounded by it.

Last night at my baby shower, I got an amazingly cute doll made by my friend Julia . . . and the colors were exactly what I kept going back to in my mind. I am such an orange/coral & blue type of person. So today, I went to Beverly's to see if they had the same Water Bouquet, but in the mint colorway. Surprisingly, they did! I couldn't resist, & I bought it, along with a couple more coordinating fabrics. I am much happier when I look at the color combos together now. It just feels so much more like me.

Isn't this doll so cute?!!

I finally drafted the quilt out today, so I hope to get this bad boy knocked out in the next couple weeks.

It's finally starting to hit me that I'm having a baby girl, & I'm getting really excited!

New Quilting Project: Farmer's Wife Quilt-a-long - Week 1

On Saturday morning, I went to my very first Quilt Guild meeting. It turned out to be more uneventful than I thought it would be, but I did come away with some great inspiration.

One of the ladies there mentioned a quilt-a-long based on The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt. The quilt-a-long was started by Fussy Cut & MsMcPorkChopQuilts & has been going on for almost 4 weeks now. People all over the world are participating & share their progress on blogs & in the flickr group made just for this project.

The inspiration for this quilt was based on letters written in 1922 answering the question:

"If you had a daughter of marriageable age, would you, in the light of your own experience, want her to marry a farmer?"

When this question was posed to readers of The Farmer's Wife magazine, it was during a time in history when World War I had recently ended, jazz, flappers & booze were gaining in popularity, & women had just received the right to vote. There were a lot of social & political changes going on in the nation. With all these changes, the answer to the question was in the affirmative by 94% - these hardworking women would want their daughters to marry farmers for a number of reasons.

For each letter shared in this quilting book, the author has assigned 2+ quilt blocks to go with it. There are a total of 111 - 6 inch blocks (this is pretty small for those who aren't very familiar with quilting), & the goal is to sew 2 blocks a week & have the quilt finished in about a year. When I started looking at all the amazing blocks people were making, I couldn't resist & had to buy the book. I got it yesterday & sewed my first two blocks today while Will napped. I can already tell I'm going to love this project. There is so much variety in it, & it's such a great way to expand my quilting skills (or lack thereof).

 Getting Started:

I didn't realize how small the pieces were going to end up being.

I mean really, really tiny!

My first block ended up having 51 pieces in it - if I could make it through that one, then the other ones shouldn't be nearly as intimidating.

My first two blocks:

(going in order of the letters written in the book)

Reason why your daughter should marry a farmer:

"living in God's open air"

#26 - Cut Glass Dish

My Grandma Aileen had these tacky, but awesome green glasses that I loved drinking from. I couldn't resist throwing a similar shade of green into the block to remind me of her.

#54 - Kitchen Woodbox

I am loving how these are turning out so far, & I'm really shocked that they're actually the right size once all sewn up. Thank goodness.

2 down, 109 to go

11 May - all things coming together

After feeling like my head's been spinning in circles over the last couple weeks, things finally seem to be coming together.

I'm over halfway finished with Will's quilt . . .

I got a new runner for my kitchen, & I love it. It looks so fresh & oh the cushioning on my feet - beautimous . . .

Will's mind has been like a sponge, & he is impressing me so much every day with how smart he is - he "sings" along with Tangled's "Mother Knows Best" (hand actions & all), sings "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" & his ABC's, helps in the garden & chases buggies, jumps naked from the rock wall in our backyard (every smart boy does this, right?), & reads books to me (& his grandparents over the phone or Skype). He is at such a fun age, & I'm just loving every moment of him (minus the scratching problem we're still having, but let's not focus on that right now).

Love this boy (. . . & my new rug he's playing on)!

And the Little Lady is growing & growing. She likes playing peek-a-boo with my feet.

Where'd they go? . . . There they are (barely).

24 weeks today.

Loving This Quilt

I posted this quilt on my blog a few years ago & just came across the picture again today. I am still loving this design & the beautiful colors & fabrics. It's so soothing to me. I think my reward for finishing Will's & the Little Lady's quilts will be to finally buy the fabric to make this one.

On another note, I'm trying to decide on a pattern for the baby quilt - perhaps something like one of these?:

(leaning towards this one)

projects in the works

Scott & I are each doing our part to get Will's "big boy" room put together. I'm so glad to have the nasty sour apple walls repainted in my former sewing room. That color was a definite mistake when we chose it 3 years ago.

Scott painting while Will climbs the step ladder in his Toy Story Pull-Ups (we're hoping to potty train soon.)

I love the new blue. These pictures don't do the horrible green justice - it's way too bright in person.

I finished the back of Will's new twin-size quilt today. Here are the fabrics for the front (minus one that I'm waiting for in the mail).

I discovered a new quilt store today in Folsom called "Sew Fun." While trying to find the rest of the fabrics for Will's quilt, I couldn't resist buying some fabrics for the Little Lady's baby quilt (I already had some of these, so I just picked up a few more fabrics to balance out the colors).

It feels good to see things coming together!

Charlotte Wood Quilt Show

Yesterday, I went to the Charlotte Wood Quilt Show in Danville.  I'd never been to a quilt show before & honestly had never cared to go to one before my newfound quilting obsession.  Some of the quilts were incredible.  I was so sad that my camera kept flashing to change my battery pack, otherwise I would have taken more time to capture some of the amazing detail.

These quilts were some of my favorites:

I love these quilts just the way they are, but I also wonder what they would look like if they were done in some more funky, modern fabrics.

This quilt was so interesting & had a lot of detail.  There were so many squares in it to make up the background, & I especially loved the flowers at the top.  They were all sewn onto the front of the quilt with beautiful stitching around the petals.

I dragged Scott along with me (actually, I told him that we didn't have to go, but he insisted b/c he knew it would mean a lot to me - what a great guy, not many guys would stand to walk around looking at quilts for an hour just to make me happy).

I thought this quilt was my favorite until I turned the corner & saw the next one (but by then, I was lucky to be getting any pictures before my camera turned off, which is why I didn't make Scott take my picture with the next quilt).

My favorite one: The featured designer at the show was Sandy Klop (who Scott & I spent quite a bit of time talking to). She designs vintage fabrics & quilt patterns, & this one was my absolute favorite of hers (& the entire show).  This reminds me of a quilt that my great-grandmother Hazel made (that my mom now has hanging in her home).  I also love quilts with white - it's so fresh.  I think I might attempt a quilt like this one day - if I can get past the fact that I would have to cut out a lot of little pieces for it.

Which One?

I'm trying to figure out which pattern to follow for my next quilt - which one do you like the best?

Here are the fabrics I will be using (if that possibly helps you visualize).

If I do this one, I'll make the squares/diamonds in between each octagon white, so that the octagons & fabrics pop out more.

I love this quilt, but it would require two pieces to make up each hexagon instead of one like in the quilt above. The only reason this would even matter is because my fabrics have larger scale prints on them & they might get cut up too much in this pattern.

I love the way that white looks in quilts.  I imagine I will have enough scraps left over from the hexagon/octagon quilt to make one like this after.

So really, what do you think? Which one catches your eye? - b/c I can't make a decision.

Dog, Cousins, Rash, Rain, Quilt

My sweet baby 'Kissy Cheeks'

Will was cracking me up the other night.  To start, Will LOVES dogs.  He gets so excited whenever he sees them, & I think he thinks he's one of them. So, the other night, I kept asking him what the dog says & then "Ruff"-ing, so he'd know what to do.  He totally surprised me when he pointed at the dog (Toodles) & started barking at her.  He then got down on all fours & "ruff"-ed - a perfect 11-month-old impersenation. I can't believe how fast my baby's learning & growing up. He can also 'quack,' 'moo,' roar,' & 'baa.' He has also said his first word this week - "Ba" for 'ball.'

Playing w/ Grandma & Carter (one of Will's many cousins - they were born one week apart exactly)

Last night, my brother's family came over for dinner.  Will really liked that there was another little boy his age to 'play' with (if you can call trying to poke Wes's eyes out playing).

Say 'Cheese'

Will also got this weird rash on his back last night - any ideas what it could be from?  I'm nervous he's allergic to something I'm feeding him, but I don't know what it could be.

Last night, it started to rain - one of the first rains of the season.  It was so beautiful & it smelled glorious - there's nothing quite like the smell of freshly fallen rain. Will was also able to have his first experience playing in the rain.  He'd just barely finished getting ready for bed, but I couldn't resist letting him have his fun.

And this is what we woke up to this morning - isn't it beautiful?:

I also stayed up late last night and finished William's baby quilt.  I honestly never thought I'd finish this thing.  I started cutting out some of the fabrics when I was pregnant with Will, but set everything aside until one week ago.  After finishing my "Belle" quilt, I got a sudden desire to get this baby quilt done.  So here it is, & Will already loves playing Peek-a-boo with it.  Every time I tried laying it out to get a picture, he'd head straight for it, hence the series of pictures of him playing with my quilt . . . his quilt.

I finally just pinned it to the wall out of the babe's reach. I think this quilt may be my favorite one so far.