Write (a blog)

So I stopped being a baby about quilting Frenchie and just did it. The first two tries were not pretty and I ended up picking out hundreds of too tight, too tiny stitches. Which was not fun at all!

But as they say, 3rd time is a charm. And the 3rd try was acceptable. Not perfect, not even close to perfect, but acceptable. A good place to start *practicing*. I swear I would have never thought machine quilting was going to be this difficult.

I’m stitching these little stitch patterns in the squares in between the nine patches on Frenchie. This is the 3rd one (not including the 2 I re-did), and they’re getting better. So I’m actually starting to have fun now.

Can’t wait till she’s finished. Once I finish Frenchie and Sanctuary, I’m going to take a little break from my feverish quilting and get my Entrelac sox done. Which are coming along, albeit slowly.

I am such a chicken I’m about to sprout feathers.

Frenchie is basted with basting spray and all ready to be quilted. I have my fantastic new sewing machine all threaded with a pink 100% cotton quilting thread on top and white in the bobbin. It’s ready to go. I have my fancy stitch patterns drawn out on Frenchie’s top in blue water soluble ink. I’ve stitched a couple practice designs in preparation. I’m ready. Nome is ready (yeah, I named my machine Nome. That’s no-mee). Frenchie is ready.

And I am too freaking scared to actually start puncturing my beautiful Frenchie. I have almost zero experience free motion quilting. And what little I have done is HORRIBLE. I am so going to screw this up.

The whole point of Frenchie was to give me some good experience in free motion quilting. I thought the shabby chic-ness would work well to disguise any weird stitching I am bound to do. But now I’m ready to start and I … just….

Can’t

Do

It.

*dramatic sigh* I’m going to go knit something.

I’ve been very industrious in my work on Frenchie and have already finished the quilt top. It’s a pretty simple quilt design made up of nine patch blocks, but I still think it’s the prettiest quilt I’ve made so far. I just love the subtle colors and patterns in the fabrics. I hope to make it to the quilt shop tomorrow to pick out a backing fabric so I can finish her asap. I’ll machine quilt her, but I’m not sure how yet. But whatever I do, I’ll try to keep it congruent with her fanci-pants look. She’ll have scalloped borders too! Ooooo!

Ok enough chit chat. On to the pix!

*sigh* She’s going to be GOR-JUSSS!

Oh, and before I even started on Frenchie, I whipped this little top together using 3 charm packs of Moda’s Sanctuary collection. My LQS was out of Sanctuary yardage, so I picked out 3 other coordinating fabrics for the borders. I’ll work on that soon enough. (I told you I was being industrious, eh?) It’ll just be a lil lap quilt, but you can’t have too many lap quilts!

Had enough pix yet? I didn’t think so. Here are some long overdue pix of the baby items I made recently. The baby shower was this past Saturday so I can show you now. First is a knitted blankie. This pattern is from Vogue Knitting Baby Blankets Two. The original blanket was knit in pink and white, but since I started this before the mom knew what she was having, I knit it in yellow. I also altered the pattern on the edging, as the original had roses on it, which were kinda girlie. Good thing too, she’s having a boy.

And because I’m on this quilting kick, I made her a quilt too. Easy peasy.. finished in 2 days.

Oh, and yes of course I’m still knitting! Despite this sudden addiction to quilting, I can not let a day go by without knitting a little. I haven’t spun any fiber in a while, but I only have 2 hands you know! I pretty much just go back and forth between knitting and quilting. I’m still working on my Entrelac Sox, and they’re coming along nicely! Oh, and in case you were wondering, I start teaching at Joann’s next month. So in between quilting, and knitting socks and quilting, I knit the samples for my classes.

That was work you know. I mean I had to sit on the sofa and knit these things. I HAD to. For WORK.

Yeah, my life stinks. HAHA!

This morning, the tracking number for my package said my package had been delivered yesterday. Um, no it wasn’t. Not to me. I was watching my mailman and all he did was put junk mail in my mailbox then he went on his way. I sadly brought in my junk mail, but still had no package.

But this morning, just on a whim, I checked my mailbox. And incredulously, I stared at the torn up package stuffed in there.

On the back, someone had written “Postman: Found this on Dakota, was all torn up”. Dakota is a nearby street and apparently someone found it in the street and put it in their mailbox. When the mailman found it, he turned around and brought it to me. In the meantime, I had already gotten the mail so my mailbox was now empty. The mailman knew this was a missing package, had to have seen my now empty mailbox, but he just stuffed it in there anyway and didn’t even tell me. *SIIIIGH* Maybe he thought I would be irate and pissy at him so he avoided confrontation. No, I wouldn’t. I’m not like that. Mistakes happen.

I’m just happy it found its way here. I have my quilt kit. And miraculously, while the outer envelope was torn to shreds, the contents inside the ziplock baggie are completely undamaged. And I am happy.

Beautiful, no? See why I was so excited?

After haunting Shabby Fabrics’ website for a while now, and thanks to Lori for buying some of my yarn so I could turn her money into quilt fabrics, I finally broke down and ordered a kit. The Frenchie Quilt Kit to be exact.

I am so in love with that pattern and the fabrics, and the colors. So… ME! I couldn’t wait to get it in my hot little hands. I ordered last week and Jennifer quickly sent it out via USPS Priority.

Tracking said it arrived at my post office on Saturday morning.

And that’s the last anyone has seen of it. I’ve talked to my post office twice. They’ve done a visual search for my package twice. They’ve talked to my mail carrier.

Nope, my beloved, anxiously awaited quilt kit is LOST.

And I am sad. Very very sad.

Now that the cat is out of the bag, I can share what I’ve been working on for the past 2+ weeks, a Mother’s Day gift from my sister and I.

A couple weeks ago, I had an idea of what to make her, a quilt, of course. But not just any quilt.

I carefully selected my fabrics…

And cut them into strips and triangles…

And sewed them together into pinwheels and monkey wrench squares…

To make a quilt top…

And then into a quilt.

All from my Nana’s clothes… My mom’s mom. Nana passed away 2 years ago on February 8th 2005. There is a memorial patch on the back with Nana’s name and the years of her birth and her passing.

A picture is nice, but a picture can’t wrap you up in love. A handmade quilt is a very comforting thing, but one made from the clothes of a loved one, is as close to a real life hug as you can get.

The main fabrics on the front are all from articles of clothing, each brings back a memory of Nana wearing or using that item. One of them is a pillowcase, another a dress, others are shirts or outfits. My sister helped to pay for the other supplies to make the quilt, and my dad made a cedar lined chest to hold it and/or other memorabilia.

Needless to say, mom loved her gift this year. This photo says it all…

I love you Mom. Use it to keep warm, to remember, and to feel her hold you again.

What possessed my quilting friend to send me the link to Shabby Fabrics? That is just mean, mean, mean! Especially since I just gave her almost $500 for my new sewing machine and other goodies, and now I’m all out of pennies!

I think someone needs to buy all my yarn so I can go shopping. *pout*