Hand Quilting

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Did I ever mention I love Hand Quilting? It is one of my favorite things that I learned when I started quilting. The problem?…..Not enough time, unfortunately. This quilt on my frame is the only ‘big’ project I have tackled the hand quilting on. I have done little projects and some practice squares but I found that I was not to fond of using my 12″ hoop for bigger quilts. First off, it was obviously too small. Second I found I was constantly struggling with the hoop and quilt trying to get my hand underneath and just in general. So I put off doing it. Then I found a wonderful company – Hinterberg Designs. They make these wonderful frames and I figured why not try a frame. I decided to ask for one for Christmas. Last Christmas my wonderful DH surprised me with the Hinterberg frame in this picture.


This frame is actually their Easy Build Plus kit which makes it way affordable- especially if you have never used a frame and want to try it out. It comes with everything but the rails ( my DH purchased these at the hardware store and cut them to my specified size). So I finally have a place to set it up and have been slowly working on finishing my Star of my Heart quilt. This quilt is actually a class I took while Jeff was deployed to Iraq in 2003 (I know it should be finished by now but life got in the way…and of course the hoop issue). My friend Shelli is who designed and taught this quilt and she is also the wonderful person who taught me to hand quilt!

Anyway, in working with the frame, I found that I loved that there was always perfect tension and of course the best part- NO BASTING! It is like when you use a longarm machine with the leaders and what not. This gets me to why I am writing this post….You see, in using a stationary frame, I have had to make some adjustments. The first adjustment I made was learning to quilt with my thumb for the ditch quilting that went away from me. I found this to be fairly easy (I used Alex Anderson’s book for the technique) and it helped then to go away from me with the thumb and towards me using the traditional hand quilting method. So then I found that I needed to get a thimble for my thumb- but could not find anything I liked -until I went to my LQS Lil Country Shoppe . My friend Susan was working and is a hand quilter and helped me remedy this by recommending the Ultra Thimble. Let me tell you- that is one amazing little tool! It was so much easier than trying to jam a thimble on my thumb! So that solved that problem- thanks Susan! My issue is with the curves. I am having trouble figuring out how to do these comfortably. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

So I will leave you with a couple of pics of a couple of the blocks that are finished:

Thanks for sticking with me till the end of this very wordy post! I look forward to hearing the suggestions that you may have for easier quilting using a frame!
Happy Stitching!
Cara

Happy 2009! Do you make ‘Resolutions’?

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Well, here we are in a brand new year….made any Resolutions??? I am not really one to make resolutions per say but I do like to make a list of things I would like to accomplish during the new year.

Most of those things have, of course, a lot to do with quilting. To start with, I would like to finish my seemingly never ending list of WIP’s and To Be Quilted (TBQ’s) list on my sidebar. In recapping my 2008 finishes, I realized my list to be finished consists of quilts started in the past couple of years. In light of that, I would like to get those finished and make sure that this time next year anything started in 2009, get finished in 2009. Lofty eh?! I am up to the challenge! Are you with me?! I would of course also like to get my patterns made, written and into my Etsy and further my aspirations of being a designer proper. Hmmm, of course I would like to attend the markets again and go to the retreat from my LQS Lil Country Shoppe in November.

On a more personal note, there are several rooms in my house that I need to update in color (read paint) and of course do more decorating with Quilts around my house. I also would like to do more cultural things (ie. museums, aquarium etc.) with my children as we do live so close to Baltimore and D.C. It is a shame to waste those opportunities! And of course I really would love to get back to reading more. I used to read all the time and finish several books in a month but since the little ones and quilting keep me so busy, my reading time has diminished greatly. This past few months those I revisited my love for books and started back at the pile on my night stand. I also started re-reading and continuing my journey of the Elm Creek Quilters- in fact I just picked up book # 6 “The Master Quilter” today at Barnes and Noble! Yippee! So far a good start! To help me with this accomplishment, I moved the Shelfari up on my sidebar to remind me of those books I already have in the queue. Well that about sums up the various things I am already wanting to accomplish in 2009.
Thanks for humoring me and if you have made a list of things to accomplish or resolutions or whatever it is you call them, I’d be interested to see how many of us have similar ones!

As I leave, I realize that there are no pics in this post so I will leave you with a pic of what’s on my hand loom and maybe I will elaborate on it in the next post!


Hope you are making your lists of 2009 accomplishments to achieve!
Cara
P.S. I forgot to add “blog more often” to my list of things to accomplish in 2009! LOL! 🙂

2008 Finishes!

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Here is my final list of Completed Works 2008:
MOPS gift Pillows*
Shabby Chic Baby Angel Quilt*
Baffling Basket Case Mystery Quilt(actually, just quilted and bound it-pieced in 2007)
I decided to also include a pictorial list of this list as documentation to the year, since this is a journal about quilts! So please – Enjoy!

Thanks for recapping 2008 with me!

Catching Up!

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Hello again! I feel like December has just gone by so fast and I have not had the chance to blog much. A lot has been going on over the holiday (Merry Christmas to those who celebrated) including the ENTIRE family being sick…so needless to say a lot of my ‘to-do’s’ for Christmas did not happen (including blogging). So I thought I would play catch up and combine what’s been happening this past month.

First I will start off with the aprons that I made for cooking Thanksgiving supper with my Mother in law this year.

I used this book and the pattern was actually one of our strip club samples ( Happy Apron) from the last year. I don’t have a pic of mine but hopefully I will get one soon!

Then my wonderful friend Shelli sent me this wonderful bundle of fabric for my stash- Thanks Shelli! I am already putting it to good use!


And last but not least is the latest customer quilt that I did for his wife for Christmas. He wanted a garden theme and to have a couple of verses embroidered. Also he sent the t-shirts that his wife had designed so I pieced them together and used them on the back. All in all I totally love the way the quilt translated from my original design to the quilt you see here! Word is she loved it so now I am totally pleased!

I named this design ” Memories Among the Flowers” and there will be a pattern for a similar quilt in 2009 in my etsy!

Well gearing up for the New Years celebrations tonight and hoping to get a great start to 2009. Hopefully I will get my 2008 finishes recapped soon!
Until next time I hope you all have a wonderful time with whatever you do tonight to celebrate the changing of the year!
Happy New Year!- see you in 2009

Moda Fabricmatcher- are you a member?

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Wow! I cannot believe this has been such a busy couple of months! I have been working on some last minute projects and getting them finished up so hopefully I can do a big post about the past couple of months! Today though I wanted to use my break from the Nook to tell you about the coolest new tool over at the Moda website. They have this program called Fabricmatcher that you can go in and design one of their quilts using a huge Moda library of fabrics! I have had fun using it and will continue to do so. Check out a couple of my faves from my projects:
http://moda.fabricmatcher.com/Stash/tabid/84/page/3/Default.aspx
http://moda.fabricmatcher.com/Stash/tabid/84/page/3/Default.aspx
Once you sign up you can save all of these! Check out some of the other stashes while you are there!
Now the best part…each month they have a giveaway based on your submitted quilt designs! So the whole thing is a win win…you can pick a pattern and audition fabrics before going to the quilt shop-WIN….you can check out the newest fabrics to come out-WIN and best of all you could win one of their giveaways- definitely WIN! I highly recommend popping over to the site and trying it out!
Well, off to get the little ones into their beds! More posts about some projects very soon!
Cara

Stitcher’s Angel received her gift!

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Well, I got a lovely comment/email from Cici letting me know that she received her parcel in Sweden safe and sound! If you remember , in my last post, I gave a sneak peak of what I was making….here are the finished products….

I used a tutorial over here for this awesome collapsible bucket that is made out of canvas. I did not want to use canvas so instead I lined it with Timtex. The pin cushion is from my Quilts and More mag and is by Heather Bailey. I pieced the top piece of fabric though for a matchy look. And last but not least the Stitching folder is from this pattern by Renee Plains. Instead of the wool I used an angel applique from Nancy Halvorsen’s book Angels Among Us and added my own stitchery touches. Most of the fabric is Moda and some is from my long stashed away Robyn Pandolph fabs (from when she was with Moda). All in all I had a great time both finding these gifts and then making them. So…..

…I am glad that they arrived to you safely! I also must say thanks to my accomplice, Stina, who was gracious enough to answer some questions for me so that I could make sure I was choosing things that Cici would like! Of course I would like to extend a BIG thanks to Helen for hosting this really cool swap!
Also, I found a great giveaway the other day…if you have not been to Camille’s blog lately, hop on over there quickly and enter to win-get this- a quilt made by Camille!!! Isn’t she just awesome to do this?! There is not much time left for this though so get and move on! There are also some great ways to get extra entries if you want to increase your chances! Thanks Camille– you are the coolest!
Well, I am off to see if I can get some of my Etsy stocked up and of course to do some work on my numerous WIPS! I will hopefully have something to show soon and maybe a sneak peak of the pattern I am working on!
Cara
P.S. A while back our guild had a sew in day for ConKerr Cancer and I have learned recently that Cindy Kerr, the founder of this awesome charity, has been chosen as one of 10 women to receive the 2008 Women Of Worth award. This is a wonderful charity and this is our chance to help out once again. Please go to http://www.womenofworth.com/ and vote for Cindy and if she is selected, ConKerr Cancer will receive $25 000! Hurry on over and vote as it ends November 24th! You can also help by making these pillow cases and donating them. Thanks for supporting this cause.

Market, Retreat and a Sneak…

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Whew! I have had a busy couple of weeks, as mentioned in my last post…I attended my first market then we had a retreat to attend and then unfortunately my littlest one has been sick so this is the first chance I have gotten to download allll those pics and share with you!

First, Market was a huge success! Stefanie and I met a ton of wonderful people, saw a ton of beautiful new fabrics and of course got the inside scoop of this wonderful industry. It was overwhelming but exciting and at times so daunting, but overall I am energized and excited about venturing into this amazing world!

The first night we attended Sample Spree which, to say the least, is crazy! We met some wonderful people in line from all over the country and of course met up with Sharon from Red Geranium Cottage and briefly met her friends Nancy and Karen. Then the next 2 days were spent looking through the booths and meeting some of our favorite designers- it was so hard to not be completely star struck, I tell you! Some of our fave’s were Joanna and Eric Figueroa of Fig Tree Quilts fame…one booth I really wanted to take a pic of( go here to check out Joanna’s pics) …both Joanna and her husband are wonderful and nice and I am so excited for her new line Patisserie to come out! It is gorgeous! We met Barb Adams and briefly Alma Allen of Blackbird Designs fame. Very beautiful booth that one an award for Best single booth. They also have a really awesome book coming out that had this amazing cross stitch pillow to make! You can go here to check out pics of their booth. We also met Cyndi Walker of Wishful Stitches as well- her patterns are just wonderful. Oh there were so many others and we enjoyed meeting every single one and to see all of their newest designs- very inspiring! Unfortunately I did not realize that I had only taken a couple of photos….Stefanie, I believe took more. I am hoping to be a little better about the camera next time around!

One of my faves to meet was Lynette Anderson and her son Eddie at her booth Lynette Anderson’s designs. She is the sweetest and talked with us a while even offering me some good tidbits of what it is like to design (thanks Lynette!). She is coming out with her first line of fabric in June from Henry Glass. Go to her blog and check out her sneak peaks- too cute! If you have not been working on her cute Noak’s Ark Stitchery, then pop over and check that out too! I am hoping to have some of her paterns and books on my Etsy shortly so keep checking back if any one is interested.

We also bumped into Melly and Rosie from Melly and Me and Rosalie Quinlan Designs fame on the shuttle to the convention center! They were so sweet and so we made a point of stopping by their cute booth and they obliged us with a photo op! Their designs are just darling!


Like I said, Market is a bag of feelings but mostly it shows a wonderful example of our industry and I can’t wait to be part of it someday!
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Last weekend, my bestest Quilt Buddy Stefanie came to visit for a wonderful 5 days! The reason was to attend the Lil Country Shoppe’s third annual Quilt Retreat in Rehoboth Beach Delaware. She flew in on Thursday and we began immediately to catch up and of course pack our bags for a weekend of quilty bliss! I of course was way to ambitious and packed several projects of which are still untouched. Instead I pick an intricate wall hanging called ‘Snowmen on Parade‘. It is adorable and I cannot wait to finish it and show you! I will see if I have a pic from the shoppe. It involves applique and paper piecing and the prep from that alone kept me busy! Stefanie managed to get one quilt top pieced and 2 others almost completely pieced. This year we sat with the wonderful sisters that I sat with last year (guess I did not talk too much since they invited me again! : ) ) Here is the group sitting at our table getting some work done. From the back to front: Susan’s sisters Charlane, Nancy and Susan (no blog-yet) and on the right is Stef. I of course am taking the pic so managed to stay out of it! LOL!
Here is a picture of the strip club quilt that was done this weekend and Doris graciously presented it to those members that were at the retreat! WOW! I am not sure what it is called but I will edit when I find out! Doris made this one out of the jelly roll Harvest Home from Blackbird Designs! I cannot wait to make this one!
All in all we had a blast! I am so ready for next years to come already! Doris and Susan did a great job as usual! Unfortunately it did not seem to last long enough before Stefanie was jetting back to her coast : (….
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I also manged in the past couple of weeks to send off my Stitcher’s Angel present to fly across the big blue ocean to somewhere in Europe! I have included a sneak peak of what I made, just in case —- reads my blog….I cannot wait to hear she has received it and I hope she loves it!
Once I know she has received and opened it I will post the other pics! I had so much fun doing this and anxiously await my own Stitcher’s angel parcel to come! Thanks Helen for organizing this awesome swap!
Well, I have rambled on for too long and have to go hit the drawing board! Too many ideas in my head! LOL!
Enjoy your weekend!

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Well, after a very busy couple of weeks I am finally back in the blogosphere! A lot has been happening and not a lot of work unfortunately- although I have managed to get my stitcher’s angel stuff done in the nick of time! They will be winging their way across the pond to their new home! As soon as I have my pics downloaded I will give a sneak of them and once they have arrived I will reveal who she is!

On a different note, I am not sure how many of you knew that I have started a business. I started making custom memory quilts and other types as well and it has been a lot of fun! Well, since I was doing a lot of designing for these quilts I realized that in reality that is where my heart is- design. So I have started working on a pattern line for The Quilt Nook and had a very exciting opportunity to go to Quilt Market in Houston last weekend. All I have to say is WOW! It is definitely an exciting event but at the same time, as it was my first, it was very overwhelming! I did however get to meet a lot of wonderful people, designers and others as well as be able to get a peak at the up and coming fabrics that are coming out. I have taken pictures but have not downloaded them as of yet so I will have to share them in my next post.

The best part was I brought along my bestest Quilt Buddy and I must say we had a blast! We were totally exhausted though as we covered the whole market in 2 days!!! Can you believe it! Let me tell you, if you have not ever been to one – it is HUGE! We did meet up with some fellow bloggers- Sharon ( of Red Geranium Cottage Fame) and Nancy (of Nancy no-blogs fame) and quite a few others! It definitely was a weekend to remember and let me tell you I came back totally inspired and with plenty of knowledge to help me with my new endeavor (thanks Doris and Lynette!).

I will leave you with pics of a beautiful fall mini quilt that Stefanie made for me…it goes perfect on my kitchen table in the sun room! Thanks Stef! More to come about market and all the goodies we found there!

Stefanie’s Fall Mini Quilt

More to follow…
Cara
P.S. Happy Halloween!

I think fall has arrived!

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Wow! It has been a while! Well I have managed to get my Stars Around the Garden top pieced…I just have to do the applique in the border and I can add it to the To Be Quilted pile! Yahoo! I decided I loved the look of the applique in the border of this pattern, but not the plain border and I also still was partial to the squares but did not like that they were so small…so I altered it and used larger squares in the darker fabrics and in 2 of the corners I did cream squares for some applique- the best of both worlds! I really love how it has turned out! Hopefully I will be showing it completed very soon! The other project that I worked on was not really quilting related but part of an update to the Quilt Nook itself. I was finding my tiny wipe off board was not big enough to hold all the magnets and papers/notes that I would like so I decided to start a new project to make it more efficient. Here are the results…

As you can see I decided to use this awesome paint by Rust-o-leum that basically makes your wall a magnetic surface. After it cures you can leave it as is or paint over it with the wall color making it totally hidden. I have not decided yet if I am going to cover it or frame it out some how. Any thoughts? I also was sitting in my nook yesterday cutting out my freezer paper templates for the Stars applique, and I happened to notice that fall is definitely upon us…so I thought I would share the view I have from the Nook’s window with you.

I also have been tagged by Lenora over at Lenora Jenkins Designs! Thanks Lenora- sorry it has taken a while for me to post it so here goes…

To come up with seven random things…Hmmm…

1. I LOVE Starbucks lattes, cappuccinos and such but absolutely do not like straight up coffee.

2. I am a Canadian Registered Nurse who has worked in England and worked in a Neonatal ICU.

3. I used to ride horses (jumpers -hope to ride again soon) as did my mum when she was a teen.

4. I would love to go to Tahiti some day and stay in one of those over the water private huts.

5. I love playing games- such as word games, Sudoku and board games.

6. I used to love writing letters and was good at it-not so much now but I wish to someday get back to it- nothing like receiving a hand written note in the mail.

7. I would love to be a fabric designer one day for Moda…

Well I am supposed to tag 7 people…this part I am not so good at but I guess I will tag Stefanie, Dawn, Sharon and if you are someone who comments on my blog consider yourself tagged- let me know and I’ll come check you out! : )

Well, that is it for now…I have to finish up my stitcher’s angel prezzies and ship them across the pond to ….well now that would be a spoiler! I can’t wait to finish and send the parcel!
Enjoy your weekend and thanks for stopping by!
Cara

Happy Fall!

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Wow! I can’t believe it has been 2 weeks since I last posted?!! I guess September is getting away from me too quickly! I have obviously not been getting any type of quilting done, but the past few days have seen an increase on that. Today I dropped the little ones at pre- school and came home with the idea of using the time to complete a project. In light of the fact I only had a couple of hours, I decided to go for some instant gratification and made a candle mat from wool. The pattern is from Bareroots– a pattern (among others) I purchased while in San Deigo on our shop hop. They are a cute line of these little penny rug wool mats- perfect for my kitchen island’s candle! I used ‘Nina’ [ a.k.a. my sewing machine!] to blanket stitch the appliques down and did the french knots and window treatment by hand. All in all I completed the project on time and now can have a cute spot for my candles to sit! I also have the Hearts & Flowers Mat and Santa & Reindeer Mat patterns to complete so they will have to be another day!


In other news, I received a wonderful envelope from my dear Quilt Buddy this week- in it was 2 Thimble Blossoms patterns from the giveaway Camille had earlier in the month. Thank you to Stefanie for sharing her winnings with me and I would also like to extend a huge thankyou to Camille for autographing them for me! I absolutely love your patterns and your new fabric! I am going to add them to the top of my ‘To Do’ pile and find some yummy fabrics to make them out of! If you have not seen her Thimble Blossoms patterns please check them out as they are fabulous (as is her blog)!

Well, I am off to play some more with ‘Nina’ and see if I can get my Stars around the Garden top pieced and then on to some Dear Jane blocks I think! Hopefully that will mean a post or two later on…

May you always have somewhere cute to set your candles!
oh and Happy Fall!

Cara

I also wanted to say Thank you to Tracey at Flower Pebble for tagging me! I do appreciate it so to pass it on…hmm…I will say that if you have not checked out The Quilt Buddy’s blog yet please pop over- she is quite creative and uses the best fabs in her projects! Otherwise, I say if you are on my blog list and would like to pass on the Kreativ Blogger award, consider yourself awarded! All of you on my list keep me inspired and I love belonging to such an amazing community!

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