So I've started a blog...

So I've decided to start a blog. I'm not sure that anyone will read it or not, and that's ok, but I wanted somewhere to keep track of my artsy-craftsy projects, so here it is! It all started when my husband got me a sewing machine for Christmas this year. I had honestly never really sewn anything, aside from a gym bag made in home ec in middle school, but I thought it was something I could get into...well I LOVE it! More recently I've started quilting, and I don' t think there is any going back! I love creating things that are so pretty and interesting to look at.

My dining room has been taken over by all things sewing...my neighbors probably look at me through the window and think, why is she ironing in her dining room?? The dining room table is just the greatest large cutting/sewing table, so that it has taken precedence over eating (luckily its just me and my husband, so we don't do that much eating at the dining room table, its more like we eat dinner on the couch watching dvr'd TV shows).

I think I'm just going to start posting pics of the few quilts I have made throughout the past few months and just kinda go from there...so here's what I've been up to for the past few months...

This was my very first quilt top before I assembled it. It was supposed to be a baby quilt for my cousin's new baby girl, but I have decided to keep it for myself (more on that later) and have made another quilt for the new baby. Here it is finished... I free motion quilted it, and absolutely love the way it came out for my first attempt. I think the colors look a little muted here, but in real life the combination of blues, greens and yellows are so vibrant! It measures about 48 inches x 48 inches, and now makes a great lap quilt. Here's the quilt back...

I used some leftover strips I had cut for the front of the quilt and pieced it with a white with yellow tiny polka dot fabric and a soft yellow solid moda fabric, buttercup I think?? (BTW those are my husbands knuckles and knee caps you can see...Hi Babe!, what a great quilt holder-upper)

My second project was again a baby quilt. (We have quite a few friends/family members who are pregnant, and I seem to have gotten the quilting bug just in time to make baby quilts for them!!) This is for a baby girl, they haven't decided on a name yet, so as soon as the baby is born (any day now) I plan on embroidering the baby's name on the quilt

This quilt was made using the Modern Baby Quilt pattern by Oh Fransson! I love that there are so many different prints and block combinations. It measures about 40 inches x 40 inches, perfect crib sized quilt!

I had an unfortunate accident with my first quilt I made, It somehow got a hole in the bottom right hand corner of the quilt top! I think I somehow singed a small piece of fabric that was slightly metallic-y, and when I washed it, that portion literally just shredded :( After a minor breakdown and a small temper tantrum, I've come to terms with it, and it is now housed in my living room with an applique over the hole, and all is well. I now needed to make another baby quilt...and this is what I decided on:

I had seen this: http://http//www.flickr.com/photos/redpepperquilts/3571901274/in/set-72157607481499797/ and loved the clean lines, and thought "I can make that" so I thought I'd give it a try. Mom and Dad are very anti pink/lace girly girly, so I thought this was perfect, not to girly, but still pretty and feminine. I embroidered baby Allison's name onto the bottom right corner. I straight line quilted this quilt, I must say, I think I enjoy free motion quilting more than quilting in lines with a walking foot, but I thought it fit this quilt perfectly!

And here's a pic of the back:

Mom and Dad are super huge sports/football fans, and my cousin went to Penn State (Lets go PSU!!) So I had some Penn State fabric from a separate project and thought I should throw it in there! I hope little Allison loves her quilt as much as I do, it was shipped off to Indianapolis yesterday, so they should be receiving it soon!

Next up was a baby quilt for a co-workers friend. She had seen some of my projects I had taken into work to show off, and she asked if I would make a quilt for her friends new baby...I again used the Oh Fransson! Modern baby quilt pattern, and came up with this:

I was a little bummed that I apparently mis-centered Emma's name on the block I wanted it centered, but after my husband convinced me I was just being neurotic (Ha!) and that if I would quit pointing it out to everyone, noone would notice, I got over it, and just enjoyed the pink/green/yellow/brown goodness of this quilt!

Well, I think this post is getting quite long, so I'll just post one more thing...This is my absolute favorite thing I have quilted as of yet. I had seen this on a flickr post, and thought, "If this quilter ever makes a pattern for this, I will but it and make it immediatly, because I must have this!!" Lucky for me Carol (mamactj) did make a pattern for her Christmas tree skirt, and just like I had said, I bought it and made it!!

I just love that it is fresh and modern and so Christmas-y all at the same time! It was relatively simple to assemble, and so fun to pick out all the pretty christmas fabric in April! I had never done bias binding, but thanks to the wonderfulness of the internet and video tutorials, it was a piece of cake!

My only thought while making this is that I kinda wish it was just a touch bigger. It measures about 40 inches in diameter, which will be great for a pencil tree or smaller artificial tree, but we always get a big 5ish foot large live tree, so I think what I have in my head is to just make the triangles a little larger than the pattern calls for to make it 60 inches in diameter instead of 40, and then I can make a second one!! We'll see...

Here's just one more of the trees...I seriously can't wait for Christmas to use this!!...I already have ideas in my head for coordinating placemats and table runner for the dining room!

Anyways, I think this is enough for one day, I'm sure if anyone has decided to read, they are probably about done looking at my arts and crafts projects!

Jessica