Quilt Sandwich: Attempt #1

I have decided two things.  1) You cannot lay a quilt out on the floor to work on it when you have dogs.  Especially when your dogs are wild, goofy-butts like mine.  2) Don't freak out when something isn't quite right...fix it.

I know what you are thinking...DUH!  I know, I know...but when I layed my quilt on the floor it looks bowed at one end.  I almost had a mental break down.  With dogs running across all my hard work and it not laying perfectly - I almost lost it!  Well I'll admit some frustration leaked out, but it could have been so much worse.  I have thought of two scenarios where I might have went wrong.  1) When my quilt was bunching at the back of my machine (with this particular quilt having long skinny strips) it was altering the center of the strips seams to be less than 1/4 of an inch.  I noticed this while working on the quilt top and thought I corrected the error.  2) I left my quilt top hanging on my ironing board too long and it stretched on the end that is triangular.  So to fix this, I will need to re-stitch the seams to be perfect or figure out how to shrink the fabric on the one end.

To maintain my positive attitude and deter any tantrums, I will share a phrase with you that makes me feel better.  "Life is not about finding yourself, it's about creating yourself."  With this in mind, think about how you want to be remembered forever and work on creating that life now.  Why wait for the perfect future, when you could have the perfect present?

So over the next few days I will be doctoring my quilt top and hopefully preparing for attempt #2 at making a quilt sandwich.  Cross your fingers!  Until then, I wish you much peace, love, and quilting.

Jamye

Eat. Sleep. Accounting?

It has been a crazy week around these parts.  I started back at school yesterday...night classes and a early to bed person like myself results in lots of yawning, which probably results in a teacher who is not amused.  Woopsy!  So besides my normal 40 hours at work, I will be spending three hours each night for three nights a week learning (or hopefully learning) Accounting.  Piece of cake right? Only two more years left!  Woo hoo!  So since I clearly have not made a quilt sandwich :( I will share with you a top ten list of items I would love to accomplish in 2011.  (Picture below is from Mom's quilt she is working on - beautiful fabric eh?!  It is Whimsy by Fig Tree Quilts for Moda.)

10.  Craft many beautiful quilts to cuddle with!

9.  Makeover my sewing room...and every other room in my house.

8.  Learn how to stipple with my new sewing machine.

7.  Buy as much Moda Fabric as I can afford :)

6.  Lasik eye surgery - this will be taken care of January 29th!  I am so excited!

5.  Start back on WeightWatchers, but using the new PointsPlus plan!  Skinny jeans?  Why not!

4.  Make great grades and understand all of my school materials.

3.  Be happy with life and try not to stress on the little things in life.

2.  Visit a super wonderful aunt in North Carolina as soon as the Husband gets vacation.

1.  Welcome home my sweet brother who will be leaving for overseas in about a week.  Love you Jeff!

Hopefully this weekend I will have plenty of time to piece my quilt together...until then I wish you much peace, love, and quilting!

Jamye

Quilt Top - Check!

I just want to say "I DID IT!!!! WOO HOO!!!!"  I can't explain the extreme satisfaction and self-pride I feel right now!  I just pressed my last seam on this beautiful quilt top. 

 

I feel relieved that I finished the top, excited to piece me a lovely quilt sandwich together, and nervous about binding...but it has to be done.  I'm sure it can't be as hard as I anticipate, but only time will tell.  I also feel like a very lucky lady that I have a husband to hold my quilt top so I can take it's picture ;) Love ya sweetheart!  I can't say it has been an easy task to make time to sew...it seems that every chance I get to sit down with my bernina one of these cuties interupts me...I love them all to death, so it is hard to shoo them away.





Now I plan on enjoying a delicious coconut ice cream bar and snuggling with my love until bedtime.  I wish you all much Peace, Love, and Quilting!

Jamye

Lucian "Jack" Crayton

My grandpa passed away this past Monday.  He was 92 years old!  He always said "when I get to a hundred I'll shut it down."  He didn't quite make it to a hundred, but he sure got close.  He was such a sweet, happy man and I will always remember him.  So in his honor I will share with you my top ten list of what I will always remember about my grandad.

10.  Singing "My momma done told me, when I was in wee pants...Son don't do that no more" never gets old.

9.  You should have peaches/pears, a slice of bread, and ice cream at every meal.

8.  Go for a daily walk - many times a day.

7.  Drawing a lady with a boogie in her nose is always funny.

6.  Don't wear a cap at the dinner table.

5.  A stud finder is meant to find studs...including Jack Crayton ;)

4.  Watch out for drunk cows.

3.  A wallet can be hidden in many places.

2.  "I can't wait till I'm old so I can take life easy."

1.  Always be a character.  If you can't laugh at life then it's not worth living.

I love you Grandad! We will miss you so much!

April 12, 1918 to January 10, 2011

Caution: Work in Progress

Let me start off by saying my babies are mad at me.  You see I had to lock them up for a little bit so I could lay out my quilt strips on the floor.  Now, surely these cute faces would never walk across my beautiful quilt and wreak havoc. (L-R: Lola and Sugar)  Yeah right!  Mama didn't raise no fool!  You see Lola is my dirt digging, wood and tennis shoe killer and Sugar actually ate a 1' x 2' hole in her last plastic crate and will eat any no-sew blanket in sight.  So you can see why precautions were taken. 

I got the instructions for this quilt from the Winter 2010 issue of Quilts and More magazine.  It was designed by Holly Hickman and is adorable!  The instructions are available for free here!  This was very easy to start off using jelly rolls.  Next time I will buy a jelly roll of Moda Basics for the white strips instead of cutting all of them by hand.  I will warn you the strips are very long and you will need a large area to work with.

Not too much longer and I will have my first quilt under my belt and hopefully on my couch with me and two snuggle monsters.  Maybe they will forgive me then...

Hope you had a very peaceful weekend with lots of love and quilting!

Jamye

Out with the old...

My mother, bless her, gave me this lovely Necchi machine so that I could start to sew at my own house.  Which was great because before I got her if I wanted to sew I would have to drive two hours to visit my family and borrow Mom's Husqvarna.

Though we were only together for a short while, I have to admit I was excited about Necchi's departure.  Don't get me wrong I liked Necchi okay, but with her departure meant I could finally pick out a new baby!

Shopping for my new machine was hard and I started to feel discouraged when I found out that for new Bernina's to have automatic tensioning you had to spend around three thousand dollars...Yikes!  Things began to look up when my mom happened to mention my issue with the new Bernina's to the cashier at our local Moda/Bernina distributor.  The words she had to say were as sweet as honey!  She told us that she had a great, used machine in my price range that had automatic tensioning and everything else I'd ever want in a machine. It was almost like seeing your wedding dress for the first time...I just knew that I loved it and it was going home with me!  Two hours later I got the okay from the hubby (major husband points for this) and I wheeled out the red carpet all the way to my house.  Here she is, isn't she a beauty! 

I know, I know you may be feeling bad for Necchi, but believe me she did not get the shaft. On the contrary she has found a loving new owner that is cute as a button!  My lovely neice Nadia, who is ten years old and would love nothing more than to be a fashion stylist and has taken a liking to quilting.  She certainly is alot like her Aunt Jamye!

More on the progress of my first quilt tomorrow...I promise!  Until then I hope you have much Peace, Love, and Quilting.

Jamye

The Beginning of the Rest of my Life

I have finally taken the plunge and began my very own blog.  I must admit that I am semi-obsessed with blogs.  I get so inspired when I find a blog where the author is completely and utterly passionate about life or a hobby that interests me.  I feel it links you to that person and even though you don't know them, you feel like they are a long lost friend.  But they are not an old friend, they are a new friend!  What is better than having a new friend?  Well if I may be honest, the only thing better than a new friend is a new friend you can learn from!  Can you imagine the amount of information available to us now-a-days --- anything is possible.  Anything can be learned, practiced, and eventually mastered.  This blog is my journey of exactly that.  By no means am I a master at quilting...I am merely a beginner!  So come along with me as I learn, practice, and hopefully one day master a piece of my heritage...who knows maybe we can learn something together.

Alas!  I will let you take a peek at my very first quilt!

The printed fabric is Adoring by Sandy Gervais for Moda Fabrics.  The white fabric has a cute, little swirl design in it and is from Joann Fabrics.

You may ask why a Christmas quilt in January? I will tell you three reasons:
1. I think we should celebrate Christmas all year.  I have even thought about leaving a Christmas tree up all year and decorating it for each holiday/season.  Would that be a sin?

2. I love Christmas so much that I have Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer footed pajamas and wear my Christmas socks all year long. Hey now...don't judge me!

3. I snagged all of this beautiful fabric for a whopping 50% off!  Completely awesome, especially since it is Moda!

Now, if you don't tell...I am going to snuggle with this baby as soon as it is done! Updates on this beauty to come very soon...I swear!

Until then I wish you all much Peace, Love, and Quilting!

Jamye