basted!

I was thinking this morning about Kathy, and all the women who went to QuiltCon,

and wondered if they settled back into life yet.

I still don't feel like I've fully recovered from all of the wedding hoopla.

(I mentioned we'd decorated, but I failed to tell you that we spent two entire days

to do it.

(not counting prep work and my guys making an 8ft pillar)

I was so proud of my gang!

And when I was starting to fall apart

because nothing was looking like I envisioned,

(and it was taking twice as long as I'd anticipated. ahem)

Brandon said, "You can't judge until it's finished.

And when it's finished, if you don't like it,

we'll just add more - because it wasn't really finished yet."

Which, really, is great wisdom for life in general, don't you think?

 ~

So.

We left off with Ties That Bind in one of those 'not really finished yet' states

(even though I'd make it according to my plan)

and instead of making the additional dresden plates and

finishing it (for real)

I made an entire quilt!

But once I got that out of the way,

I dove right back into my fiddly dresden making.

(the smaller the plate, the more trouble it gave me.

And the fewer blades it took (?!) One only used 13! What. The. Heck?!)

forgive the crappy phone pictures. again....

I got the top finished on Monday of last week,

two days ahead of my projected date :-)

and Tuesday,

I got started on the back.

I really didn't want to piece a back

and almost ordered widescreen in black for it,

But then I thought, 

I already have all these fabrics left over,

I really should use them up.

I don't know why I have such a hard time using all of the fabric I bought for a project.

I just want to keep all the fabrics.

Sheesh.

Most of my leftovers were roughly fat quarter-sized

and I just pieced 18"-27" rows about 87 inches long

until I had enough to equal about 100 inches,

then sewed my rows together

and finished the back on Monday.

Tyler met me at the church yesterday while the kids were at TKD

and we got it basted.

Took the entire can of spray.

I was praying that God would make it last, and it did.

Whew!

(There's not much spray on the last half of the top section.

Tyler said, "You'll just have to quilt it gingerly.

I was like, "Baby. 

There is no quilting a queen size quilt on a small domestic machine

gingerly.")

I am so pleased with it so far,

but I'm always a bit nervous at this stage.

Right now, I've got a perfectly lovely (though not yet held together..) quilt,

what if I ruin it with my quilting???

I was much more confident quilting on my Janome.

She was such a good friend machine!

sigh.

I won't get to start on it today - today, I am helping out my friend Hannah,

she's got a prom dress (with sequins) that needs to be taken in a bit.

But tomorrow?

Tomorrow,

I quilt.

these colors are much more accurate!

Linking up with the inspired, (and inspiring) exhilarated, exhausted QuiltCon attendee (and teacher) Lee.

p.s - all the wedding decor ended up looking exactly as I'd pictured in my head.

Maybe even better :-)

flower girls

I'm sorry.

I just can't help myself.

SarahB texted me when the pictures
were available

and I have just looked and smiled.

She was such a lovely, beautiful, happy bride,

and my girls were just so lovely too.

No more words,

just pretty pictures.

all photos by Samantha Daniels Photography

looky here

Here

is a beautiful video of SarahBeth's wedding day.

Take a look ~ pretty sure it'll make you smile :-)

(If you happen to notice any reception decor (or lights) - that was our contribution to the festivities :-)
And if you look closely, you'll see Josiah, Brandon, and the girls.

Oh,
speaking of the girls,
here's a picture that the photographer posted on FB

Awfully precious, I think!!

And hey - aren't those skirts something?!

I'm just sayin'... ;-)

pink parade, a finished (and SOLD :-) quilt

 I gotta tell you - I am just so tickled!

I started this quilt Tuesday around noon

and threw it in the washer this morning at 10:25.

Brandon and Jeremiah snapped a few photos when it came out of the dryer

(thanks, guys!!)

and we delivered it at 1:00 this afternoon.

I am 

so excited to be able to give Rahab's Rope a sewing machine for Valentine's Day!!

(ok, so technically, I didn't earn enough to buy one,

but I have another small sewing job coming up 

where I'll earn the rest of the money, so I'm calling it a win
and giving one anyways :-)

I free motion quilted a loop de loop

in white Aurifil with light grey Bottom Line in the bobbin.

I really wanted to use pink thread,

but my machine was not liking it.

I'd sew for 3 minutes, and seam rip for 10.

After and hour of that, I said forget it,

switched threads,

and everything went swimmingly from then on.

I added 'Jesus loves you' as requested,

only,

I had planned on using pink thread when I determined where I was going to put it

(I always like to have these things in my head when I get started)

and I didn't think to change plans after I changed threads.

I thought it might not show up well enough,

so I added a second 'Jesus loves you' on the California Dreamin' fabric

for good measure.

I'd planned to sew the binding to the back by machine,

but once again,

I misjudged my seam allowance when I sewed the binding on,

and had to sew it down by hand.

Which, of course is my preferred method

plus - it gives me more time to enjoy my fantastic corners ;-)

but, of course, adds quite a few hours (that I didn't charge for) to the making of the quilt...

Even still ~ I made a quilt in less than 3 days!! :-)

And 

we did (some) school

and nobody went hungry.
We exercised,

and I even showered twice....

Linking up with zippy Amanda Jean and all the other rock star finishers

a pretty pink party

So.

I was all set to get the Ties That Bind top finished today.

I'd gotten 3 of the 4 remaining dresdens made,

and the center circle appliqued on 

to the one that wasn't double bladed.

Right on track, I tell ya.

Then, I got a text from somebody wanting to know if I had a baby boy and a baby girl quilt ready to sell.

The boy one, I had covered,

but no quilt for a baby girl.

I responded with a photo of the pigeon quilt and a link to my post,

and said that,

while I didn't have a girl one just yet,

I had one in my head

and

had fabrics for it already,

so it was practically as good as done.

(Right?!) 

these colors are more accurate

I dug through my fabrics,

made a stack,

replaced a few fabrics

and started cutting.

(I didn't even starch and press first. gasp.)

love it when things match up like that :-)

Not counting the gathering of fabrics,

I've invested 365 minutes

and I've got a quilt top :-)

the little footprints - ahhh - so cute!

She may not end up wanting to buy this quilt,

but I'm enjoying the challenge of putting it together quickly,

And if she doesn't - hey, I've got one ready for next time somebody asks :-)

Linking up with Lee.

Now I'm off to make the back...

(this is not my own original design - I saw a similar quilt (most likely through WiPW ;-)

I didn't pin it, so I don't remember where I saw it, but I did leave a comment.

If it was yours, let me know, so I can link to your post :-)

(here are some photos of the finished quilt :-)

Monday musings

That's how I felt when I really and truly had finished those skirts.

~

Lime essential oil takes away the brown scuff marks

from white dancing shoes

It also gets all the sticky label residue off of jars.

Plus - it smells good.

~

White

dancing shoes,

a black fedora with a white satin band,

and an 'icecream suit'

might just garner you the title of "best dressed"

It did Brandon....

~

My family drives me bonkers with

'would you rather?'

(like - would you rather cut off your own pinky toe with a pocketknife

or

have diarrhea every 30 minutes for the rest of your life?)

 How do they come up with these things?!

They've been playing for weeks...

~

My favorite hand soap is

It's a splurge, for sure, but it is so yummy!

And the bottle is nice :-)

Of course, I dilute it slightly to stretch it further.

It's fair to note that Brandon doesn't like it.

Actually - he likes it okay,
but he feels that when you've washed your hands, they should simply smell clean
not
delicious.

Silly boy.

~

I did not sit down Saturday afternoon/evening

from 2:30 - 10:00

except for 40 minutes, give or take, during the actual wedding ceremony,

and about 10 minutes when I sat on the floor

to visit with a friend who was nursing her baby.

I can not even tell you how many times I ran from one side of the building to the other.

It was a lot.

~

The wedding was sweet,

and, with Tim performing it,

of course had some humor, too.

He's a nut!

It goes without saying that the reception was wonderfully decorated ;-)

~

Lana and Luke were there,

and I got to hug her neck.

That made me happy

~

I found fabric that was perfect for the backing for Matt & Marin's quilt.

But it was from Ikea,

and they don't sell fabric online.

I sent out an S.O.S.

because I really wanted that fabric,

and Scott and Jackie offered to go pick it up for me.

Only their Ikea didn't have any.

Another friend offered to try her store.

They had it, so she bought some and sent it to me!

I got it today :-)

But it's not so perfect after all.

Pooh!

It's more of a decor weight than a quilting cotton

and the quilt is already going to be heavy,

since it is double layered where all of the dresdens are.

Plus,

the white is really creamy,

and the black

is more grey.

But still, I am so thankful to have friends who will go out of their way to help me out :-)

And,

I have 3 yds of sturdy fabric I can use for something.....

~

This weather!
I am sooo grateful we've had so much sunshine this winter!

~

I finally used my favorite needles, milliners, for their intended purpose.

Well, sort of....

~

If you like Lay's salt & vinegar chips,

you should try these.

but consider yourself warned.

They're at Walmart for $1 a bag.

~

Our family did the decorating for the reception, so I might be just a little bit biased.
Plus, I have no pictures to prove it....

~

I promise.
I'll stop it with the tulle skirts.

eventually.... ;-)

the secret to an adorable, as opposed to an ugly, tulle skirt

Buy one already made!

hahaha

I crack myself up :-)

~

In all seriousness

 I went through four

 -you read that right, four! -

attempts,

before I got a tulle skirt I was happy with.

I know, I said I was finished after my second attempt,

but I lied.

In an effort to save you four tries,

and lots of tears,

tortured texts to your sewing buddy and your husband,

and maybe even some sobbing

(Not that I'd ever sob and slobber over something so trivial as a *%$@#& tulle skirt...)

I'm going to let you in on a little secret.

Okay, two secrets.

Well.

Maybe three four.

First, it's going to take more tulle than you think,

and even for little girls, with little bellies,

72 inches around is not enough.

Nope, you need 108.

I used every bit of 9 yards  (of 54 inch tulle) for Lily's skirt,

and all but about 300 sq inches  of 9 yards (which, if you care, is 17,496 sq inches) for Lexi's.

Secondly,

borrow your friend's huge cutting mat if at all possible;

the fewer times you have to fold that *&%^$@ slippery invisible fabric, the better.

The third,

and perhaps most important secret trick is this:

you can not

- I repeat

not -

gather all of your layers together.

In order for the skirt to fluff properly,

you must have multiple layers - gathered, and sewn on -  separately.

I found 3 layers 

of 3 layers of tulle worked perfectly.

Claire - I am so soo sorry! Darn wind!  I will replace this picture as soon as I have one to replace it with, K? XO

There you have it!

All the best-kept trade secrets.

I mean,

I assume they are the best kept trade secrets,

because I sure didn't find that info in any of my searches....

Oh, wait - there's another one:

mark 'quarter points' on the tulle before you begin gathering it,

so that your (3 stinkin' yard long) piece of tulle will be somewhat evenly distributed throughout the width of your skirt. 

(I used safety pins to do this, as I figured it was the most visible, least permanent option)

Now, 

you have all of the best kept secrets.

You'll thank me.
Your sewing buddy will thank me,
your husband will thank me.....

PSA

An alterations tip:

When you are shortening sleeves

on a long sleeve dress shirt,

you might want to have your client

button said shirt,

before determining just how much length you want to hack off

before sewing the cuff

back on.

Today's Public Service Announcement comes from Tracy,

long time seamstress,

but still a maker of rookie mistakes.

At least it looks good, right?