Making a Barn Quilt

One of my great friends who blogs over at Home on the Range Exchange was hosting a Barn Quilt class. I thought it sounded like a fun idea to get out of the house and be creative. Plus I haven't had a lot of time to quilt lately so I was happy to have a quicker finishing project.  This is my completed square. I love the way it turned out and it sets on my front porch now. 

The history of barn quilts is actually really interesting and someday I would like to go see the Flint Hills Barn Quilt trail.

Care Bear Baby Quilts for Twins

I had previously posted finished Care Bear Cross stitches on my blog. I had always wanted to make a baby quilt out of them when the time came.  I had four of them all ready to go- bedtime bear, good luck bear, cozy heart penguin and proud heart cat (yes I am a nerd who knows all the names of the Care Bears and the Care Bear Cousins!).  But then I found out we were having twins! I knew I wouldn't have time to stitch four more Care Bears, so I altered the quilt design to have an appliqué in the center square and put their name with a border on the lower right square.  Then I stitched Baby Hugs and Baby Tugs Bear which was perfect for Little Man and Little Lady's quilts!

The finished quilt for Little Lady.

I used the quilt as you go method to put these quilts together, because I don't have a quilting machine at home and I knew the shop I usually take quilts to couldn't have them done in time for the babies' arrival.  There was definitely a learning curve with getting the back to line up right, so Little Lady's quilt is definitely sewn better than Little Man's because I did it second.  It is a method I would use again, but probably only on quilts this small or smaller.

The finished quilt for Little Man.

The quilts hang in their nursery and I love how cheerful they look on the walls.  I also use them as a background for the twins monthly growth pictures. 

 Little Lady at 2 Months

Little Man at 2 Months.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Chevron Birthday Quilt

A while ago I decided that I wanted to try and make a quilt for my nieces and nephews on their 10th birthdays. My oldest nephews birthday came up faster than expected but I did get a quilt made for him. I asked him several months ago what he would want to decorate his room like if he had his choice and he said he would want a Kansas State room. Of course I was totally happy to make a K-State quilt.  

I used old jeans to make the denim part of the chevron pattern. I used this tutorial for making the chevron pattern without having to make triangle pieces. 

I used interfacing to cut out the letters and the powercat and stitching them on using a blanket stitch on my machine.

I decided to tie this quilt and it was a pretty simple process.

I am so happy with how this quilt turned out and I hope that Garrett likes it just as much!!

Thanks for stopping by!

I will be linking up with some of these parties!

Ahh, wish it hadn't been so long since my last post!

For new years I had a resolution to post more often on my blog- my plan/hope was to post about once a week- well that has not happened this month. At the beginning of the month we put an offer in on a house and it was accepted. We got very excited about moving and I spent a lot of time packing, doing all the paperwork involved with purchasing a house, and cleaning this house. But the inspection didn't go so well- so it looks like we will not be moving as soon as planned. But, I guess that means I don't have to pack up all my craft things yet!

At the beginning of the month I got my K-State quilt back from the quilt shop. She did a tight stipple on the white part and a meandering stitch around the border and on the power cat. I love the way it turned out and I can't wait to get it to Bret's parents. I finished the binding last weekend and I also love how it turned out. Below are some pictures of the details.

Today I had a sewing fail- maybe. I am running in a Dog and Jog race next weekend and Penny is running with me. I wanted to make her a t-shirt for the race. I tried to make it out of one of my old t-shirts. My husband was so sweet and helped me figure out where to sew/cut. I think we may have over done it because it is a little tight. I may have her run a little with me this week to see if she looks uncomfortable- most likely I will just make her a K-state bandanna to wear-

She doesn't look too happy does she?

Baby Shower Day

Today I went to a baby shower for my good friend. That means I get to post the projects that I gave to her. I was really excited to have her open them and I hope the new baby boy will love his blankie.

The project was similar to the quilt I made a few months ago for another friend's baby. It is a rag quilt made out of cozy flannel. I used the tutorial on this page. It is a pretty fast and easy way to make rag quilts and they come out so soft and cozy.

Back of the quilt- with the fuzzy part!

Back and front of the quilt.

Close up of the patterned flannel I used.

When I was finished I had some squares left over so I decided to make some matching burp clothes- you can't have too many of those, right. I enjoyed them and I think they are pretty cute.

I have been spending some time working on stitching too- making some progress on the Vegetable Wreath- if I get far enough I will post some progress pictures!

Happy Stitching and Happy Weekend!

New Year Resolution- Craft More, Blog More!!

Well, I guess so far my new year resolution has not been met in the blogging aspect, but it has been going ok for the crafting- I have finished a small cross stitch so far- December calendar hanging from Rainbow Gallery- now just January left and I will have the whole year. I haven't finished it off due to my sewing machine being out of commission, but will do that once I get the January one stitched. I think it is pretty and I like the snow!

Now I am just going to catch up with some projects that I finished at the end of last year- first I had made some scarves for Christmas for the dogs. I put their initials on them and below is a picture of Scout and Penny in their scarves. My sister made some for her dogs too and the dogs all looked so cute on Christmas morning!

For Christmas I made my in-laws a K-State quilt. I pieced the middle pieces together and then did applique in the shape of a power cat- Kansas State's mascot. I was pretty proud of how it turned out because it was my first attempt at applique. I just took it to get quilted a couple weeks ago (decided not to hand quilt this one!) and I can't wait to see the finished project.

My last (and favorite!) Christmas present I made was for my niece Marley. I made her two Binky Baby Bunny from a pattern from mmmcrafts.I really love her patterns- they are so cute and easy to make. I made a little boy bunny and a little girl bunny. I made little "binkies" for them out of coordinated fabric. Marley loves them and has been playing with them a lot.

Well, this year should be a great one for crafting- I have some goals-
1. Finish a quilt out of some squares that my Grandmother had cut out.
2. Finish my Under The Friendship Tree cross stitch
3. Multiple more that I cannot think of now :)

Has it really been September since I last posted? It doesn't seem like it was that long ago! Here are a few things I have finished since then- more coming soon :)


Bedtime Bear- my fourth and last classic care bear or care bear cousin to complete a quilt for my future baby! Took a little while to stitch but I love how it turned out!



Flannel rag baby quilt for our friends baby. It is so soft and hopefully the baby loves it. This was a fun and easy project!

Doing my Super Happy Dance!!!

Today I finished my first quilt ever. I started working on it mid-July of 2009 and just finished it today. I machine pieced it all from apattern that I made up. I hand quilted about 345 individual squares and hand stitched the binding on it. I love it so much and can't wait to use it on the bed. And I am so glad that it is done!!

This is a close up of the quilting with the backing and binding in the lower left corner.

This is me holding the quilt- don't I look excited :)

Hopefully now that this big project is done I will have time to work on some other projects- here is a review of my August goals (Yes I know September is almost over :) ).


1. Finish quilting the border of the quilt.- yes (well not in August, but its done now)
2. Start on Lizzie Kate- Dogs leave paw prints on your heart.- nope
3. Start on 4th Classic Care Bear for baby quilt. - yes- I have started on Bedtime Bear- looking pretty cute so far.

Goals for October-

1. Finish Bedtime Bear
2. Start on Lizzie Kate- Dogs leave paw prints on your heart

I am linking up here:

Has it really been a month?

Well, one of my goals was to post more this month, but that apparently didn't happen- oh well, that is just how life goes... But I did finish a project! My first cross stitch project I have worked on since February! This is Forever Friends Bear, I finished it for a round robin that was started several years ago and never finished by one of the participants. Sadly she still has my snowman I started and I haven't been able to get in touch with her. But I hope Robin enjoys the bear and it brings her joy :)

I did finish the outside squares on my quilt... but then had a minor setback. Apparently when I basted together the back and front of the quilt the backing didn't go all the way to the edge on one corner. I had to trim an inch off of each side- but that made all my quilting on the outside squares look funny- so now I am in the process of tearing out the old quilting and re-hand quilting it. But, still pretty close to being done, and I got all of my binding stitched, pressed and ready to go.
This is a pic of my little sweetheart Penny, playing at the beach :) She is such a silly dog!

Recap of my July goals:

1. Finish quilting the border of the quilt.- Yes and No, did finish it :), but having to redo it :(
2.Work on a round robin cross stitch project- Forever Friends Bear- Yes, done and sent out!
3.Start on Lizzie Kate- Dogs leave paw prints on your heart.- Nope

August goals:

1. Finish quilting the border of the quilt.
2. Start on Lizzie Kate- Dogs leave paw prints on your heart.
3. Start on 4th Classic Care Bear for baby quilt.

I'm back to the crafting

Well, I haven't had a post in a while. But, that just means that I was doing good with my training. I finished my triathlon on June 27th. I met my goals for my time and I had a lot of fun with it! Two of my sisters also did the triathlon and my mom came to cheer us on. I did get to quilt a lot on the way there and made a lot of progress.


And now that I am done with training I am going to focus more on my crafting!! I have already done good and finished the middle section of my quilt. Tonight my plan is to get the outside border of the quilting stenciled in and get ready to finish up the quilting.
These are my goals for the rest of the July:
1. Finish quilting the border of the quilt.
2.Work on a round robin cross stitch project- Forever Friends Bear.
3.Start on Lizzie Kate- Dogs leave paw prints on your heart.

Happy St. Patrick's Day- My TU SAL is only a few days late!

Well, maybe my TU SAL is 3 days late- but here it is: Not too colorful- mostly white thread from my quilt basting- I am finding I don't have too many ORTs because I stitch down to the very end of the thread.
Isn't everyone glad March Madness is here! Go K-State Wildcats!!

I have been working on my quilt lately, its not done, but sometimes Scout likes to use it to cuddle her!!


Today I got the Bunny Binky Pattern from mmmcrafts.blogspot.com. I am very excited to work on this pattern and I think my nieces are going to get some cute presents in this coming year :)

This embroidery transfer below I am excited about- going to put these patterns on some denim squares to make a quilt- but that is a few projects down the road.


Thanks for visiting my blog and happy stitching/quilting!!!

TUSAL for Feb 14th and Mid-month update

Well first things first, here is my ORT jar for the new moon. Only a day late. I didn't really forget yesterday, just had too much going on. Took my nephews to see the Percy Jackson movie and cooked a roast chicken dinner for my family.


I have been making progress this month on a few things.. stitching on my vegetable wreath and quilting.

Here is my most recent progress on the vegetable wreath and what it was like at last update.

The progress on the quilting has been good d/t the SuperBowl and Olympics. I can quilt pretty fast while watching sporting events.... Not that I stay really in tune with the sporting evens. Anyway, the progress was 32/320 squares at the end of January and now it is 52/320 - 16%.

On Saturday I had Craft Day with my Mom and my sister.. Our main goal was to finish stockings for the family and we did it! We made 12 stockings to add to the ones my sisters had made a few years ago. They are all finished... This is my mom with the finished project.




I also working on Bret and my scrapbook for Valentine's day at craft day!

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone and have a great rest of February!