Pieced Heart Quilt

This is the second quilt I made. I obtained the pattern from a book at the library. I wrote in my quilt journal that the quilt went together very quickly. I also wrote that I was saving it for my first baby. Little did I know at the time that I would have two boys. The boarder is made with Prairie points. I finished this quilt in 2001. This remains one of my favorite quilts. I love each one of the printed fabrics that make up the hearts. I remember I bought them in an expensive fabric store and spent hours matching them up. I have no memory of how I made this quilt. It looks like it was so difficult and time consuming. This quilt is much neater compared to my first quilt.

Since I remain the only girl in the family I have kept this quilt on a quilt rack so I can admire it.

First Quilt

I used to keep a quilt journal. I took a picture of each quilt and wrote a little about how I made it, what inspired me, or just my thoughts on it. This blog has become that journal. So now I need to add all my quilts that were made before digital cameras and blogs existed. This is the first quilt I ever made. I call it the Cat Quilt. It was the hardest quilt I ever worked on and took me over a year to finish. It required two sewing machines. The first machine broke in the process of making this quilt and had to be repaired. I remember giving myself a deadline to finish the quilt - the day of my marriage. I decided I had to complete this quilt before I got married. I was married June 3, 2001, so I must have finished the quilt some time before that. This quilt used to be our T.V. blanket. We used it every night when we snuggled on the couch. When my boys were born they used this quilt in their cribs and then in their toddler beds. It was just the right size for a little boy. Now this quilt sits folded neatly in a dresser drawer. It is the messiest, most disorganized, least neat quilt I ever made. But as it was my first one it holds a place dear in my heart.

Grandma's Quilt

This quilt was made for Grandma E. It is the first quilt I made for someone else. It was made using a Moda charm pack entitled Aviary by 3 Sisters. The boarder, binding, and backing were purchased at Joann's. The pattern was from the Moda Bakeshop called Clara's Quilt by Angie Davy http://http://www.modabakeshop.com/2009/05/claras-quilt.html. This was the first time that I stippled a quilt. The pictures did not come out that well but you can see I used a free hand pattern similar to the puzzle pattern. I really enjoy making this and loved how the stippling came out. The quilt has such an antique feel and look to it. I loved running my hands over the quilt feeling the waves from the stippling.

I used an iron on quilt label that I hand colored with fabric markers.

I finished this quilt last month but had to wait to post about it until I presented it to Grandma E. She was delighted with it. I am very proud of this quilt. It was a great first quilt to give away. And check out those mitered corners on the binding!

Weekender-Tote

I blogged about this Weekender-Tote that I had seen on the YouCanMakeThis.com website. This is the first pattern handbag I have made and it was pretty hard. But I am proud of myself for trying it and completing it. Once I was done it didn't seem so hard. I won't be afraid of patterns after this. The bag only has some minor errors but they are probably only noticeable to me. I thought the bag was going to be bigger. It looked a lot bigger in the photos. My patterns matched the template so I am not sure how that happened. I am also not happy with the colors. I really like the shape and design of the bag but I just don't think my color combo worked out. Maybe because it just started to rain and I chose the colors when it was hot and summery. I am not sure if I am going to use the bag or give it as a gift. I think it might make a cute diaper bag.

Halloween Decorating with Dazzles

PaperWishes.com has great Halloween Dazzle stickers. I saw this project idea in their latest catalogue. I already had the candles. It is hard to see but I also accented with purple Crystal stickers. They were very easy to make and so much fun.

A Cricut Halloween

I love love Halloween. I love to decorate for it and I love to dress up. Every year I buy new decorations to add to my collection. This year I used the Cricut to make some cute decorations. I used George and Basic Shapes to make the letters. And the shapes were made with SCAL.

This little cat is on my front door.

This spider web is in my guest bathroom. A little spider accompanies it.

This is my chalkboard adorned with black cheese cloth and cute little Halloween shapes. I am still searching for a bat to add to my collection.

SCAL and Star Wars

I purchased the Sure Cuts A Lot (SCAL) program so I can download fonts to use with my Cricut. I only have one Cricut cartridge so I thought this was a better way to go as the SCAL program costs the same as one cartridge. You can use any of the fonts in your computer or download fonts, images, or shapes from the web. This is a much more economical way to go. Once I had installed the program and hooked up the Cricut to the laptop I was ready to start playing. The first order of business was to do something Star Wars related. I already have the Star Wars fonts in my computer from when I did the boys Star Wars birthday invitations. Using my Cricut vinyl again I cut out the logo and put it on the boys Star Wars Toy bin. Very exciting and very easy to do.

No mistaking this toy box for anything else now!