Sewvivor-purple poppy quilts

I've quilted for so many reasons in the last 10 years. I've made quilts for babies, mine and others. I've made bed quilts for my children. I've made wedding quilts, graduation quilts, t-shirt quilts, and every other quilt imaginable. A few years ago, I made the smallest quilt ever for my sweet baby niece's casket. Quilts have been such a pivotal part of my growth as a person in the last ten years that I can't imagine my life without this hobby/craft. 

A few months ago, I started noticing this "Sewvivor" icon pop up on instagram and quilty friends' blogs. I was curious but felt completely overwhelmed by the task of getting 4 children through summer (who am I kidding, I was worried I would survive summer) that the thought of entering a quilting competition seemed daunting, intimidating, and downright scary. But, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that this was a perfect opportunity to challenge myself to try new things, improve my craft, and be more intentional with my quilting skills. 

So, here we are at the very last day to enter the competition and I'm still sitting here, second-guessing myself, my skills, and even my sanity for taking on a four weekly project amidst vacations, soccer camps, beach trips, and general summer craziness. But I'm in, regardless of the outcome. I mean, I did pay my entry fee, so how hard could it be to write a blog post and upload a few quilt pics? Here goes nothing. 

This is my farmer's wife quilt top. It's not a completed quilt, but I felt it showcased my quilting ability thus far in my quilting journey.  There are so many things I love about this quilt. I love that it's bright when so much of living in Seattle is grey, dreary, or dark. I started this quilt almost 18 months ago when we first moved to Seattle. It was overwhelming, as I'd never done a sampler quilt before. But I kept at it and I finally finished the top a few months ago. 

 One of the primary reasons for choosing this top for this competition is because of what it symbolizes to me. First, the perseverance & tenacity of farmers' wives has always inspired me. Second, though my blocks are not even close to perfect, they reflect me perfectly. There are a few blocks that went wonky with pressing, a few that just didn't want to square up to 6.5", and even a few with chopped off points (gasp!). Why would I pick an imperfect quilt for a quilting competition? Because I believe the art of quilting is not in the perfection of the craft, but in being real and true to ourselves in pursuit of something that fils us with joy. 

 I learned so many new skills with this quilt and I'm immensely proud of achieving at least some level of competency in some of those skills. I'd never used templates, hand pieced a block, sewn Y-seams, set a quilt on point, used posts with my sashing, or made a sampler quilt. This quilt tested my patience, as well as my quilting skills. Some of the blocks aren't set correctly, but that's ok. Some of my fabric choices aren't ideal, but I learned so much about choosing fabric and what works for my eye, that I don't care. What I see as the goal of this competition, and quilting in general, is to expand our view of what can be achieved in the industry and in our own quilting experience. Whether I progress to the next stage or not, I'll follow along and test my quilting proficiency. I love this incredible art form that creates memories and tangible evidence of my love for friends, families, and perfect strangers.

My Rubber Stamp Giveaway

This adorable shop is having a giveaway! They have some great ideas for gifts for everyone, including yourself!

another new addition

Since moving to Arkansas, I've had some interesting requests for quilts that are new to me. Apparently, t-shirt quilts are big and I've totally missed the boat. So, starting now, I will be adding t-shirt quilts to the other styles of quilts I'm learning to master. There's a gadget on the left side bar that will take you to the order form and/or pricing information if you'd like a t-shirt quilt made for you or for someone special. These are great birthday or graduation gifts. I'm excited to try this out. I might even try it with some of Ronell's shirts.... you know, once I finish the five other quilts, duvet cover for our bed, Halloween costumes, and finish my fall decorating.

new direction

Yes, I'm a GLEE fan but that's neither here nor there (unless you recognize the title, hee). But I wanted to let you know that if you've visited my previous quilting blog (www.quiltingchaos.blogspot.com), it's moved to this one. Since I'm opening my etsy shop soon, I thought this would be a better way to showcase some of that stuff. I'll still post quilts and crafts that are not for sale, too. I must say I'm feeling a little ambitious and nervous about this whole sell-your-hobby-so-it-might-not-be-a-hobby-much-longer thing, but hopefully you'll like what you see and send everyone and their mother (literally, mothers and grandmothers are usually willing to buy quilts and such for grandbabies) my way. You can also follow this blog and see what's coming. I'll give sneak peeks, too, of the quilts I'll be selling. For now, enjoy the empty etsy shop. :-) It won't be empty for long. Maybe I'll stop blogging now and get cracking.

Teya's Baby Quilt

Before Teya was born, my mom offered to redo the crib bedding. We chose green damasks and brown prints. To coordinate, I decided to make a boy quilt and a girl quilt (we didn't find out the gender of our third baby). I luckily finished the girl quilt first.

This pattern is a smaller version of "Gumballs" by Under the Garden Moon in crib size. The squares are 8 1/2 inches and the circles are hand-appliqued on. I used the template method to applique the circles on. The inner border is a 1 1/2 inch stop border and the outer border is 4 1/2 inches. I quilted it using a large looping stitch, basically a version of a meandering stitch. I enjoyed making this quilt. The boy version (blues, greens, & browns) is still under construction. The squares are finished. When I finish it, I'll get it posted.

Adam and Megan's quilt

I didn't take a picture of this one before I sent it off. Our good friends, Adam and Megan, just bought their first house in San Antonio. They were able to do so because Adam was on "Deal or No Deal". We are so happy for them and this quilt hopefully matches their decor.

It's a "fat" version of a log cabin. Each square has a 4" center square and a 4"border. I just did my usual X through each square because I didn't want the quilting to detract from the cool fabrics (Plus let's be honest, I'm still not up to the level where I can make amazing patterns with my free-quilting). I was a little skeptical about doing an orange and black quilt. I was worried it would look like Halloween. But as you can see it looks cool with Megan's uniquely awesome decorating skills.

Connect the Dots

This has to be one of my favorite quilts that I've made...thus far. I call it my Olympic quilt because I started it last August with the Olympics. Each square has 1/4 of a 6" circle and 1/4 of a 9" circle appliqued to the edges. (So I appliqued a total of 192 circles. It was fun.) You put four squares together to make a complete 9" circle, if that makes sense. It has a 2 1/2" stop border and 8" border. I machine quilted large loops in the middle. The stop border is in the ditch quilting. The outside border is meandering loops to complete the circle theme. This quilt I am definitely keeping for myself...something I never do. This will go on the wall of my quilting room someday.

BYU MBASA Friendship Quilt

This quilt has been quite the process. As part of Ronell's MBA adventure, I've joined a Spouse Association that has been a huge lifesaver to me and the kids while Ronell studies his heart out. One of the projects we undertook was a friendship quilt with a BYU theme. Everyone made 9 strips and we swapped with each other. I made an extra so I could include some sashing between every other strip. Here's my finished product. The borders say, "Enter to Learn/Go Forth to Serve/BYU MBA/ Class of 2010". I machine quilted down the middle of each strip and in the ditch for the sashing. It was fairly easy and I didn't want the quilting to distract from the fabrics from my wonderful friends. This was a fun quilt to make, simply because of the memories I'll associate with it.

Quilt for Katelyn

Our good friends, Joel and Bonnie Andrews, adopted a beautiful little Guatemalan girl named Katelyn last fall. This is another version of "Miracle", but with 2700 1 inch squares. I added an appliqued border to it. I just machine appliqued the flowers and vines using fusible webbing and blanket stitch. I think it turned out very cool. I swear, though, I'm done making pink and green quilts for a while.

Lexie's Log Cabin Variation

I'm very proud of this quilt. It's a queen size quilt (which was oh so fun to quilt on my little Bernina) made for my sister, Lexie. I think I've made a quilt for every member of my family. I'll hopefully get them all posted someday!

This is called a log cabin because you start in the middle with a single square and add rows to it. The killer part of this quilt is pressing each "layer". I think I pressed each square about ten times because you add two sides and press, then add the other two sides and press. It's sometimes tedious but the result is great fun. The quilting was a simple X through each square. Someday, I will get fancier with my quilting. I was actually very surprised that Lexie picked pink and green--she's not the "pink" type of girl usually.

Just for future reference, I'm getting better at documenting the process and the next quilt that I display, I will give instructions on how to cut and piece the top, as well as layer and quilt it.

Sienna's Miracle Quilt

This quilt was made for Ashlee, my cousin, and her baby, Sienna, in June 2008. It's called a miracle quilt because each square is 1 1/2 in. finished. It was actually pretty easy to piece. It's just a series of "four patches", which is just four squares sewn together and then four of those four patches sewn together, and so on. It's a easy way to make sure your corners match up, instead of trying to match up really long strips. My other favorite thing about this quilt is that I got to use some scraps of my favorite fabrics.

The quilting is called shadowing or echoing, I think. I just sewed 1/4 in. (a quilter's favorite measurement) from the edge of each corner. I've decided that I love to make baby quilts. It's also becoming very apparent that I like piecing squares.