Friday, July 13, 2012

Friends, Babies, and Quilts! Oh My!

     Last month was a month to be reckoned with.  I finished pediatrics, which I loved but the class did not love me, one of the hardest classes I have ever taken in my entire academic career.  I managed to finish with a B, so I was very pleased with myself.
     I had about one week to finish (and start mind you) a baby quilt for my friend Amy, as well as a baby ring sling for my other friend Amalie.  Well, wouldn't you know that my sewing machine would break the day before I was to leave for the baby shower!!  Thankfully my mom had her sewing machine with her at the lake, so I had a nifty excuse to pack up and head to our vacation house to finish quilting and sewing.  Here are the results!!


{This is right before leaving for the baby shower, don't mind my face, I dont know what I'm doing}



{The back, there's a "B" on the bottom}



{Me and  the mom to be!}







{Amalie and baby Caleb, in his new baby ring sling!}



It was great to see everyone at the baby shower and I'm glad I was able to finish everything on time.  Now baby Bryce needs to get here to enjoy his new quilt and his awesome mommy!




Wednesday, May 9, 2012

School's Out For Summer!... well, 3 weeks.

So I just finished this last semester and it feels FANTASTIC! I don't have the entire summer off, but I do have 3 weeks to myself.  Here's some things I've been working on!




I've taken up crocheting and I love it!  I'm making a granny square afghan.  I have a feeling this is going to be a long, ongoing project.  I need 45 squares and only have about 15 done.


It's been a rainy day here so I decided to make a little caddy for my sewing machine with some scrap fabric.


Well, that's about it- nothing too special but I loved getting back to my sewing machine. More to come soon!

Thursday, March 8, 2012

A Very Special Baby Quilt

One of my best friend's is having a baby at the end of the month and I recently went up to the DC area for her baby shower!  Before she was pregnant she had asked me if whenever she was pregnant if I'd make a baby quilt for her... OF COURSE I would!  Well, the time has come and I'd been planning on what type of quilt I would make for her baby boy!  After may deliberations and admiring star quilts for a wile, here's what I made...



{Done with the quilt top.  Spray basted the sandwich.}





{The quilt backing, my friend's theme is Elephants.  They are keeping the baby's name a secret, but she divulged to me what letter is starts with.  "C"}




{Ready to quilt!}






{All done! The lighting is terrible, but still looks good!}







{I had a brilliant idea to use the left over fabric from the quilt to make a diaper bag! Turned out great!}






{Little perspective on the size.}






{Turns out, she loved it! And it looks great on her crib!}






Designs Used:
    Saw Tooth Star By Sew Mama Sew

Monday, February 13, 2012

I'm not the crafty type but...

When it comes to fabric, I get really inspired... Here are some other things I've made recently.

Last Halloween I watched Marie Antoinette and was determined to make my own costume. I thought it turned out well, and I won first place at the costume party. Not too shabby.




 (Used about $3 worth of lace and ribbon and some old shoes)

(Me and the bottle of wine I won!)



My best friend, Anna, wanted to be Florence Welch for Halloween, so I made this lovely dress for her, I used a pattern for a gown and altered it to mach what she was looking for (below).




Lastly... I saw a great idea on Pintrest for a doggie car seat cover. Voila!



Well that does it for now.  Hopefully there will be more to come VERY soon!  I can never saw away from sewing for too long. 

Quilting endeavors...

My first quilt... had NO IDEA what I was doing.  I never even pressed the seams until the quilt top was done.  Also notice my old singer. :)









My second quilt, this was for a baby boy, but it was the same design.  I did much better this time.









Jumping straight in from baby quilts that are very beginner right to the DWR (Double Wedding Ring) quilt for one of my best friend's wedding.  I was under a 3 week timline, so needless to say, I hauled ass making this one.  

Before this quilt, I had never used a rotary cutter, so I decided to go ahead and splurge for this quilt.  Thank goodness too because I think there was around 500 pieces!!








Here's my next: A T-Shirt quilt I helped my sister-in-law make for our family.







After finishing this quilt Ryan (my DH) and I spent a few days with my parents for Christmas and I received this WONDERFUL AMAZING gift from my parents:



Wait for it.....YES! A brand new, fantastic sewing machine... and an awesome one at that!  My old one was a Singer I bought from a pawn shop for $30 and ran into the GROUND!




I decided to step things up a bit with the new sewing machine and make small investments to hopefully pay off in better quilts.  My next project was to be a quilt for my mother's 50th birthday party.



(I look super rough in this picture, good thing you can't see my face)



I spent about $50 total and got myself a few crucial tools:

1. New sewing gloves (for gripping the quilt sandwich)
2. A custom built sewing table (made by yours truly)
3. A darning foot.









(First time trying some embroidery)




She loved it!!




More to come soon!!




Some of the designs I used for these quilts and projects:

Far Far Away Quilt- Made by Rae

Lark Quilt- Amy Butler

Custom Quilt Table Tutorial