Star Wars Chevron Quilt

 Finishing a project does not come easily to me. I'm not sure why. The universe seems to really have something against it. It is a fight   all out battle to get anything done. Last winter, when I was on such a roll finishing up old projects, I made the mistake of being in a quilt store  I had to go to a quilt store to get my machine fixed (that is only a part of this saga of how-come-it-was-so-hard-for-me-to-get-this-quilt-done) and while I was waiting, I walked by some bolts of Star Wars fabric. While I'm a pretty big fan of Star Wars, the biggest fan I know is my younger Brother, Chuckie. I also had his name for Christmas this year (we rotate gift giving among my siblings) and he was turning 40 just a few weeks before Christmas.

 So I went against that promise I had made to myself not to buy any fabric for new projects until I had finished all the ones I'd already started... and bought the fabric. And I started making it a good six months before his birthday, ensuring that I would have plenty of time to get it finished. Then my machine broke, and I had to take it into the Bernina shop which is almost an hour from my house... like 4 times. So I pretty much didn't have a sewing machine ALL SUMMER! I worked on it until Finally I had it pieced by the end of October. So I called the quilt shop that's an hour and 20 minutes away to schedule the long arm quilter.
Well, it was that time of year when every one is finishing their Christmas gifts/quilts, and there were only two days available before Thanksgiving. One wouldn't work, and the other was the day before I was leaving for Houston- where myself and 4 siblings and our families were gathering for Thanksgiving and a surprise birthday party for Chuckie. Well, at 6:30 am that day, my 3 year old threw up.
He was fine, but I didn't know that until later, and could not in good conscience leave him with my friend who has 4 small children. So I had to cancel it.
I packed my machine, and spent hours and hours at my other brothers house quilting this on my machine. It would have taken a fraction of the time on a long arm. I finished sewing the binding on at midnight the night before the party.... cause that's how I roll sew...

Scrappy 9-patch wedding quilt (project 75)

 So, first off, let me confess that I didn't piece this quilt. I friend of mine did, and gave it to me as payment for babysitting and for quilting some other quilts she had pieced for her.

 Then I got a wedding invitation from one of my old Young Women. I was her leader like 13-15 years ago. I knew I didn't have time to piece something in time for her wedding gift, so instead I just quilted this for her. There is a quilt shop about an hour and 15 minutes north of here that rents a long arm quilting machine by the day! So, it would end up being much less expensive than even using the one I used to rent by the hour! So, I made arrangements for someone to watch the kids and spent the day quilting away. It was like going on a vacation!!

 I have to admit, that once it was all done, and I saw that it even fit so beautifully on my KING sized bed, it was a little hard to part with!

 This fun lime green fabric I chose for the back specifically with the bride in mind. I think she'll love it.

 Below is my favorite way to wrap a quilt. Just roll it, tie a pretty bow around it, and wrap the bundle in cellophane. It doesn't completely give the surprise away because they don't really get to see it until they lay the whole quilt out. But, it gives them a peek, and it's prettier than any wrapping paper anyway!

 It was a 6 hour drive to get to the wedding reception, and I don't think she thought I'd really come, so it was really fun to surprise her!

More Quilts! (projects 72---74!!)

 This Spring I really got busy finishing up some old quilting projects. Although this one is a brand new one, but made out of old scraps that I had. I made it for a new mother I go to church with, for her first baby- a girl...

 I tried some new machine quilting styles, like these swirls, and I also did some feathers for the first time.

 Then I got out this old thing. This was from a class I took when I was at the quilters guild. We had a guest teacher come who not only designed the pattern, but all the fabrics we used were hand dyed by her! They were beautiful.

 I actually really liked doing this raw edge applique and would love to do more of it!

And I also drug this old Valentines quilt out. It gave me so many headaches, and I had to take my sewing machine in to get fixed so. many. times. while I worked on this. It was honestly just a huge relief to get it done. I'm totally fine not to look at it again until Valentin's Day. Next year. Or the year after that might be soon enough.

Quilting Again!! (projects 69-71)

 These first two quilts are a matching set of twin quilts. I started them about 2-3 years ago for my two youngest daughters, who began sharing a room when their little brother was born. I wanted them to have matching quilts. Of course, with the new baby and our lives getting so crazy, these took a lot longer than they ever should have.

 They were supposed to have a big huge daisy applique on them... but it got to the point where I just needed them done, so I left it off. My friend who owned a long-armed quilting machine was moving last summer, so just before she left, I went to her house and quilted both of them. You would have thought that since they only needed binding, I would have quickly finished them. But instead, they sat there for six months!!!

 Then about a month ago, I started quilting again with a new friend, and these were the first things I finished!! It really didn't take long once I got serious about it! I love the 3-dimensional look of it, with ric rac and ribbon, and especially the scalloped part.

 They are really nice, and it's so great to have them done and now my girls have some cute matching bedspreads!

 This zig zag quilt was actually pieced by a friend of mine from church. When she saw the chevron wall treatment we painted in my oldest daughters room, she was reminded of this and went home and got it and gave it to her.
So, I quilted and bound it.

 Then we had a dilema, because we had also started to finish her quilt (last one in this post) which she wanted to hang on her wall. She didn't want multiple wall hangings, and she also couldn't use it as a regular quilt because it's baby size. So, we decided to talk to the woman who pieced it and ask how she felt about gifting it to a new mom we go to church with who had a baby girl just before Valentine's Day.

We thought it was perfect for her since it has a hear fabric background

 This last quilt was done with Batik fabrics, and was started more than 5 years ago!!! Before we moved to Texas, I decided to teach my two oldest kids how to sew/quilt. This was the project my with my daughter. She loved the bright fabrics. 

I'm embarrassed to say that we didn't finish it then, but when I started quilting again with my new friend, she finished piecing it while I was quilting one of her quilts. So, it finally got finished!
Once again, it was amazing how quickly I was able to finish it once I got serious about it. I did all the quilting in an afternoon. It's probably hard to tell from here, but I quilted it with a variegated thread that was rainbow colored. It looks SO COOL up close as sometimes the thread blends in an disappears and sometimes it pops in each color.
It feels SO great to get some little projects done. I have more in the works, and even better: I have a plan for finishing them and a place where I actually can work on them.