A Merry Christmas to me!

Been busy with the holiday and family (and still didn't finish all my quilting, like the binding!) but I thought I'd share the big gift I got. A new digital camera!

Below is a picture of my baby sister while we were unwrapping gifts.

I love her hair and I hope she never dyes it, you can't get that unique coloring from a bottle.


Then I snagged this picture of Pops reading the newspaper.

Newspaper reading is a very daily part of his life and I can't imagine him not spending a few minutes going over the latest.

A fantastic Christmas gift from my parents, and I didn't have to bribe them with an announcement of "you're expecting your first grandkid! Don't you want good pictures of the baby?" to get the camera. ;)

Leah

End in sight

Phew... I'm so ready for my bed. I spent this afternoon pinning the top. My poor finger's numb from closing all the pins. I know, there's tools and gadgets out there, but I've never gotten them to play nice for me.

Although, can I ask what I was thinking when I used the highest loft possible for the batting?! Oh. I know what I was thinking. I didn't want to piece a batting, and WalMart is sold out of every batting size except crib. I had a roll of extra high loft, twin size in my closet and deemed it the best answer for the quilt.


Spent the evening quilting a meander. Started around 6:30, finished a bit after 9:30 with a couple breaks.

Surprisingly, the biggest thing that help me push on was keeping myself hydrated. Any time I started to feel myself waning in efforts, I'd just take a couple sips of water and keep on pedaling.

Now it's 10pm, I'm gonna hit the shower then go to bed! The binding can be dealt with tomorrow.

Good night! :)

Leah

Christmas Progress

I'm not panicking... yet! Christmas is 3 days away for me, since I leave this Saturday for my parents. No more access to my sewing machine (and it's abilities to free-motion), so I need to get all my quilting done!

Quilt top, check! This is for a male relative of mine. He certainly deserves to have this quilt by now. I had to avoid all pink, purple and flowery fabric. :)

Back to the grind!

Leah

Bear's Paw Top

I've completed the Bear's Paw quilt top... and wow! It's much longer than I realized.

I think it's almost 100 inches long. If I hadn't ran out of the darker plaid, perhaps I could have done a 4x5 block setting instead of 3x5.

But the top's done! Now I need to focus on some Christmas gifts. I'm gonna make as much as I can before leaving, and what doesn't happen I'll just have to buy for them.

Here's to hoping that I don't get sick like last year. :)

Leah

String Quilt Project

A long time ago I started saving the ends of my hand dyed fabric strips. Just stuffed and shoved into a pile, then into this baggy.

(Clue #6 refers to one of the mystery quilts I was trying to keep sorted.)


Any quilter who's worked with strings before knows that they just EXPLODE out of their spots when given air. :P

Yeah, looks like I have enough to make a block or two. ;)


Here's 9 blocks, and I made 11 more for a total of 20.

Kinda looks like those Japanese lanterns, cuz I hadn't trimmed the edges yet.


I did have a mini heart-attack moment when I broke my needle. I wasn't paying attention to the top spool, and suddenly things jammed and snapped.

Oh! Ran out of thread. Been a long time since I've ran out of top thread. :P


The quilt top pieced and ready for pinning.



A month ago I posted a teaser from the back as I worked on the binding.


All done!

Small, but has a nice heft to it, given all the fabric and seams. I doodled lines in the opposite direction of the strings. No perfection needed, done in a day. That's my kind of quilting! :)

I'm not sure what to do with it yet. I'm kind attached to it cuz it has all the hard work of me (and my mom!) dyeing the fabric. But I'm not expecting a baby (to my dad's utter disappointment, I'm sure) and my sister isn't a candidate for it. Whenever Dad pesters her for a grandkid, she'll stick up her wedding finger and say "see? No ring, no kids." :D

Leah