An apron for a wanna-be cowgirl

First of all, I need to tell you about my new toy.

I love my new toy.

My new toy is a Bernina special edition 765 sewing machine. 

My old machine quit working. Again. 

So I finally decided it was time.

Time for a new one.

Brand, Spankin' new. 

It's my 3rd sewing machine, but my first new one.

I love my new sewing machine.

 My friend has the Bernina 770 quilter's edition. We have compared them, and they are exactly the same except for where mine says Special Edition hers says Quilters Edition. And mine is "rose gold" across the top part, and hers is silver.
I like the rose gold better, but don't tell her that. In fact, I'm naming her Rose in honor of her beautiful color. But you can also call her Rosie.
I have this theory that the Bernina company was trying to come up with a creative way to sell more of the 770's. So they changed the silver part to rose gold, called it a Special Edition, and sold it with a promotional deal.
The deal was this: it came free with either the "quilters bundle" (which then really made it identical to the 770) or an Embroidery unit. Well, about the only things I'm willing to dust off my shabby math skills for is sewing and quilting. So I did the math. Because I already had the walking and 1/4 inch feet, the only thing I needed to make it the quilters edition was the Bernina Stitch Regulator (BSR) which was $899. The Embroidery unit was $2,000. I hope you know which one I chose to be included and which one I bought (with the 20% off deal you get on everything you buy the day you buy your machine)

So I am a happy new sewing machine owner. I hope that means I will be whipping out projects like nobody's business.... but if you've read my blog before, you'll know that's not likely.

I DID, however, finish this Texas Flag pillow sham to go with my sons quilt that I made him... 

  4 years ago...

 And I also made this apron for me:

 Out of some cute scraps a friend had left over from making her daughter a dress. It was too cute, I couldn't let her throw it away. I made it for myself. I pretty much live in aprons, so I am loving it.

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.

Lime Green and Red Christmas Stockings (#59)

12 years ago, I bought a set of 6 matching stockings. At the time, I planned on having more than 4 kids, but six was all they had. So, they lasted us a long time. 

But, last Christmas I knew would be our last time using them since I was pregnant with baby #5. So, I bought some coordinating red and lime green fabrics, and planned to have them finished LONG before Christmas season rolled around this year. 

As you know, this year ended up not being anything at all like I had planned. 

Needless to say, these stockings were NOT done by Christmas Season. In fact, I finished them on Christmas Eve at 7:00 pm.

Just in the Nick of time!

My 6 year old was so worried that Santa wouldn't have anything to put out gifts in!
I hurried and hung them on the "ice cream parlor" Then she was concerned that they weren't hung on the fireplace mantel.... Santa will understand. We have too many to fit there now!

 You can see our tree in the mirror there, we decided to put it in the front room because with the super tall ceilings would could get a really tall tree. Ours is 10 feet and it is beautiful. So, I liked that I had something to hang the stockings on in the same room!

 Here's a few close-ups. I quilted the fronts of them after blanket stitching on the toe and heels. I did each cuff a little different, mixing and matching fabrics and trims. I also made these bigger than our last ones, they were kinda small, and once they had an orange and apple in them, you couldn't fit anything else.

We also didn't have our own names embroidered on the previous stockings, so it was lots of fun to not have to guess whose was whose.
And here they are in the daylight:

And yes, I did notice that they match my lamp shades!

Just In Time For Valentine's Day- Table Runner Project #48

Along with my goal to use up all the fabric in my closet, and finish all my unfinished projects, I dug up my Valentine's Day fabric....

I love this fabric. 

I am almost finished with a little quilt in this fabric, and can't wait to show it to you.

Last year, I was at a friends house, and in the mail she got a lovely Valentine's Day table runner from her mom. I knew I wanted to make one, but wouldn't be able to last year. So, this year in January, I asked her if I could borrow it. I made a pattern from it, and here we are:

 I ran into some problems with mine... this often happens when I do it different from the pattern/thing I'm copying. Hers was done envelope style, and mine was bound. I decided to use pre-made bias tape. I have never used bias tape, although I have made my own bias binding before. Apparantly, bias tape is a lot stiffer than the binding I have worked with before, and this had A LOT of curves, so it was difficult to work with, and didn't always lay flat...

 I wanted to use this heart stitch on my machine, and didn't think to use my walking foot, so also ran into problems there...  my old quilt teacher, Dixie, would be scolding me right now. She said you never point out your mistakes when showing your quilt... but I confess a lot of things here that I probably shouldn't.

But, most importantly, I am really happy with how it turned out, in spite of the challenges. I love it on my piano, but think I will make another one (I have enough fabric!) and put them running down my dining room table.
What do you think?

Texas Flag Quilt- Project number 47

I bought the fabric for this last June, before I knew I would be spending half my summer on a 6,000+ mile road trip, and the other half of the summer recovering from the road trip.
Then the day before school started, I found out I was pregnant... so this quilt got put on the back burner right behind my throw-up bucket until I felt well enough to really get going on it.
Over Christmas break, when my husband was home a lot to make trips to Red Box and push play to watch the kids, I finally got to it.
It's a pretty simple quilt, since I was doing the Texas flag, I didn't even use a pattern. Just figured out how big I wanted it and added the borders...

I had made this other quilt for my son- get this: 9 Years ago!!!

Ya, I know, it's held up well. I wouldn't even believe it was that old, but I did put a label on it... 2004 it says!
And believe me, it's been washed A LOT! If you look close, you can see that it is starting to wear out... but it does make me glad I used good fabric and thread.

So, about a year ago we bought a bunk bed for my son's room. Not that he needed it, but we thought it would be nice to have for quests. You can never have too many extra beds when you and your husband both come from big families...

so I kept debating whether or not to make 2 new matching quilts, or to try and make one to match the quilt he already had.... I didn't have fabric requirements for the log cabin quilt, and didn't want to risk not buying enough, or to spend extra $$ buying too much (especially since you all know that I have a closet full of fabric already...)

So I decided that I could just make one in red, white, and blue, and it would be close enough until I was ambitious enough to make 2 new ones.

At a friend's house, I saw a Texas Flag quilt that her mother had made.
That was it! It would be perfect, especially since we live in Texas!!!

But I still haven't told you the best part about this quilt:
I have a friend that just moved here about 8 months ago. She. has. a. long. armed. quilting. machine. THAT. SHE. RENTS!!!

Yes, After it was pieced, I went to her house, she taught me how to use it, thread it, wind the bobbin, and we even did a little practice quilt for about 3 hours, and she only charged $20 for the instruction.
Then, she helped me load my quilt, backing, and batting onto the machine, and it only took me 1 hour 45 minutes to quilt it! And I did it all myself!!! She charged me $10 and hour to use the machine. Awesome deal   for those of us to will never don't currently have the money or the space for a long-armed quilting machine, but who still want to quilt our own quilts!!!

I decided to quilt the shape of the state of Texas into the star... I like how it turned out.

 You'll notice that the backing from the first quilt (9 years ago) is the same that I used on the outer border.

I made this pillow sham to go with the other quilt. It has gotten more worn out than the quilt... I've decided to make a pillow sham to match to new quilt as well.

 
And here's one more shot of it on the bed: 

 So, I'm super motivated now to get some more quilts ready to go!!