My First Quilt Guild Newsletter President's Article

I became my quilt guild's president in October. I've been the VP for the last year, which was a really easy job until the president had a family emergency and couldn't write her submission for the monthly newsletter. I wrote it in her absence in August. I've written three more since then. If you couldn't tell from the long spaces between my blog posts, I'm not an avid writer. I'll let you decide if I'm good at it or not :) I figured since I'm writing something that at least loosely relates to quilting every month that I'd share them with the universe! Here's my August submission - more to come!

Recently my 3½ year old daughter, has wanted to help me sew. More to the point, she wants to sew herself. Just watching is no longer enough for her. Like Mommy, she wants to sit at the machine, guide the material through the needle and push the “foot thingey”. She’s not tall enough to push the foot pedal and still see the needle. So I let her hop on my lap and guide the fabric along its way. The first piece she sewed was a leftover scrap of binding. That went fairly well, so we moved on to leftover block pieces. She joined two of those together. It was so exciting for her. At first, she was so excited that she tried to shove the fabric under the machine’s presser foot as fast as she could. We decided that we’d take scrap pieces and make a quilt for her doll. I’m surprised it isn’t finished yet!

I think I should quilt with the reckless abandon that my daughter seems to have with her new found skill. It’s so much fun watching her do something new. She does not yet worry about the perfect quarter-inch seam or matching corners. We all need to try different things now and then (even if it is applique!) without worrying too much about the results. Many times we do things in our comfort zone and don’t branch out. Try something new. Branch out. If you need inspiration, here’s a great website with hundreds of free quilt blocks: http://www.quilterscache.com/QuiltBlocksGalore.html.

No, I haven't abandoned my blog!

I just realized it's been 3 months since my last entry. Time flies when you're busy! My oldest started pre-school, my son had a birthday & I had my first booth at a holiday bazaar! It went fairly well. I had lots of interest in t-shirt quilts. I have to go finish up 3 of them for a client. I already made one for her.

<------ It's right here









I also made a giant one for another client from his Redskins shirts.

Twitter Induced Road Trip

Ok, it wasn't really a road trip. It was just a morning of shopping, but I had to drive at least a half-hour through corn fields to get there. That has to count for something, right? Here's a pic of the corn fields.



The kiddos and I went to a Borders (as there are no bookstores in my town). I had to pick up a copy of Opposite of Love by Julie Buxbaum for my Twitter book club. I'm supposed to start reading it tonight. Hmm... not looking good for that. Maybe tomorrow.



Then, thanks to @KyNamDoan, I had a giant Panera craving. Luckily, this particular Borders was attached to a Panera. We stopped by before book shopping for a morning snack. It was a 3-wipe chocolate chip bagel with loads of cream cheese for the kids. (Note to self: go with something a bit less messy next time).


Between the bagels and books, we had a bit of time to walk around (I thought Borders opened at 9, but it didn't open until 10 - oops!). The shopping area is located next to a river. There is a lovely walking bridge over the river and a train station on the other side. The little guy is a HUGE train fan. We were lucky enough to see a train passing by when we were looking at the tracks. This is the only pic I took near the bridge. It's a fountain that is in front of the bridge.

What to Do With My New Thread Fabric?

I went to a workshop on Saturday where we learned to make thread fabric - fabric from scraps of thread, ribbons and other little odds & ends. One is pink & lavender with bits of silver throughout. The other is green, red & gold. Now I just need to figure out what to do with them. I could make a book cover, a change purse... lots of small things. I definitely plan to add some embellishments (beads, heavier threads, shiny things...) Leave a comment and let me know what you'd like to see them become! (I also need to figure out how to photograph them better - this was just a first pass).

Pink Whirligig Quilt for my Friend's Benefit

I loved making this quilt! The pinks are so happy and the pattern is fun and pretty easy. Easy is always good, especially with a looming deadline. I ended up making it in a week, which is super-fast. I started it right after I finished my daughter's Easter dress (check out that blog entry here). After that, I was really happy to know what I was doing when working on something!

I chose the happy pinks and fun pattern for an auction to benefit my friend who is battling breast cancer and has MS. She is a very happy, upbeat, wacky kinda gal. The benefit was awesome and they raised quite a bit to help her with expenses. I'm so glad I could do this little bit for her.

More Ribbon Options for Bows and Binky Clips

This is a listing of more ribbons available for Binky Clips and Hair Bows at Aunt Cindy's Attic.

Flamingos
Bunnies
Piggies

Turtles
Froggies
Green Monkeys

Strawberries
Ice Cream Cones
Cupcakes

Giraffe Print
Ladybugs
Hearts on Red

Electric Blue
Dark Orchid

But I'm a Quilter, not a Dressmaker!

In a foolish moment, I bought a pattern for a dress I thought my daughter could wear for Easter. It was cute. It was fairly inexpensive. I can sew - how hard can it be? I've made clothing before. Sure, it's only been costume items - a super-easy princess dress and some clown pants, but there are instructions, right? Then, delusions still firmly in place, I went one step further and actually bought the fabric. There was no turning back now. To make matters worse, I put off making the dress until tax time. Taxes trumped dress & I didn't start the thing until Thursday before Easter. How much time should one little dress take? I'll tell you. FOREVER! Technically not forever, since I actually finished it, but I think I went a little more gray while making it. Most of the gray was stressing over putting in the zipper, which I didn't think was part of the pattern when I bought it. I swear that little requirement showed up after I bought fabric. Really, I do. I'm proud to say that it only took one try to get it in & it looks fairly good for my first one since 7th grade home ec!

Most importantly, my daughter looked adorable in her little dress Easter morning!

A Study in Color and Scale

I like to make quilts with big squares and bright fabrics, especially with kids' fabrics. I was given some Civil War reproduction fabric and wasn't sure what to do with it. I found a cute pattern called "Uncle Frank's Socks" by Carol Hopkins as part of her Civil War Legacy pattern line. I liked it, but it seemed kind of small. I had some small bits of bright fabrics, so I blew up the pattern and made another. I quilted them the same way and arranged the blocks the same way. I'm amazed how two quilts can look so different!

Wishing for Warmer Days...

It is cold here & only getting colder throughout the week. I want to go back here ---->

My mom, sister, brothers & I went on a cruise 4 years ago. It was fantastic! Warm sun, sandy beaches, warm sun, beautiful ocean, midnight buffet, warm sun, maid service... did I mention warm sun?

I made this wall hanging for my mom to commemorate our trip. It includes the picture of our ship when it was docked in the Bahamas (where we spent a day on the beach & lying in hammocks beneath the palm trees). I also have a pictures of a sand castle, our family, a towel dog and Miami as we were leaving on the ship.

It makes me happy to think of it on cold days like today, when I could really use some sun. I think I'll make one of the trip that my husband and I took to Germany sometime, too. Check out my Etsy store. I can make something like this for you, too!