Mini Quilt

I've tossed my 301 quilt in the corner of my sewing room for now.  I felt overwhelmed with it and needed a break. 
I made a cute mini quilt for my neighbor.  She's an elderly women that barely leaves the house.  She's always happy to have guests, and gets so excited when my younger two kids and I go to visit.  I was so busy this Summer that I haven't had a chance to visit with her since June.  I gave her the mini quilt and told her it's to remind her that I'm thinking of her even when we haven't talked in awhile.  She put it on top of her living room TV.  It gave her something new to look at, as well as letting her know I care about her.  She asked all kinds of questions about it, and was surprised when I told her they only take a day or two to make.
I also finished a dress for my daughter with a pattern by Indygo Junction.  It's GORGEOUS!  And it was insanely easy to put together!  The dress will be on display at the Bernina shop for awhile (I'll be taking it in tomorrow,) go by and see it! I don't have a picture at the moment, but once I do I'll post it here.

I'm sorry I've been MIA.  Since I home school my kids, we're working hard at getting a good routine down for the year.  I will be posting again soon.  I'm hoping I can have something up this weekend. 

I'm still working on that darn quilt.  My oldest son found an injured kitten in our carport on Saturday.  Most of my free time was taken up by nursing him back to health and finding him an owner.  I finally got him placed with someone on Tuesday night.  I have a lot of sewing to do, and I feel like this quilt is holding me back.  I don't like to put something on hold while I do other projects, I have to finish what I'm on.  Once I am done, there are a few dresses I would like to make for my daughter.  I bought "Poppy's Easy Dress" by Vanilla House designs.  Since I work at Bernina twice a week, I'm seeing all these fabrics that I want to make this dress from!  She'll have a halloween dress, Christmas dress, Birthday party dress, just for fun dress, etc.  Since it doesn't have set in sleeves, I'm betting I could whip the first one up in a day!



I should have a few minutes to continue quilting today.  The laundry is piled up, and the house could use a good cleaning... but those things would be waiting for me whether I do them now or later.

Sewing: "Pattern for Smartness" 1948 Simplicity

I don't have much to share yet this week. I started to do some of the quilting on my quilt, but I didn't get very far. My daughter is in dance camp this week and I've been busy with the usual. I hope to get some laundry done, so that I can quilt this weekend without feeling like I'm neglecting my Mom Duties. In the meantime, I found this great video on YouTube! I wish I could travel back in a time machine.

More Quilt Work

I got up this morning and had my coffee, and then I got right down to work.  Here's my first helpful hint:  If you're going to make a nice applique label for a quilt, do the applique before you attach it to the quilt.  Also, don't listen to some random person on an online quilt board that says you can just put the label on first and then quilt right over it.  After all that work, I don't want to quilt over it!!

 (The embroidered & appliqued label)

 (The back)

Then I brought out the pins, and pinned all afternoon.

(the top)

I only took a break to run some quick errands.  Which did include going to Bernina for some clearance fabric, that I plan on using for some upcoming small projects. 

Now I have to do the quilting, but I'm not sure what to do.  :(  I bought some Invisafil thread to perhaps stitch in the ditch around the squares (sewing in the "cracks" where the quilt pieces come together, and the stitches can't be seen.)  Then I would probably do some free motioning with my BSR (Bernina Stitch Regulator" in the triangles, even though that causes problems with the label on the back.  I've thought of just doing strait lines, or perhaps squiggly lines in a crosshatch.  I don't know, I'm really stuck!  The family wants the dining room back and I'm ready to move on to other projects!

Does anyone have suggestions? 

The Quilt is on Hold Again.

I was all set to go last time I posted.  XD  Monday, two of my kids had doctor appointments on opposite ends of Las Cruces (thank goodness for Paul, who took the oldest to his appt.)  In the evening the older two had Boy Scouts.  Tuesday I was running around town, and by the time I got home it was time to make dinner.  Yesterday I worked, and then ended up spending a lot of time on the computer "working" but not officially.  I did get the back of my quilt pieced together, but that's as far as I got.  However, piecing a quilt back is a BIG deal for me!  I have never done it before, and always chose to just buy enough of 1 fabric to make a back out of.  I bought two colors this time, thinking I would test the creative waters.  Then on Saturday night, as I was cutting strips, I realized I didn't have enough fabric.  Bernina is closed on Sunday & Monday, so I chose to dig into my stash.  I ended up piecing a lot more than I had expected, but it looks great!  This quilt is going to just be my throw around quilt, and the patchy back gives it the perfect character.  It needs ironing before I can take a picture.
I also have pieces for a girl’s outfit that I cut out last week, but that's on hold until I can finish my quilt. 
Busy, busy, busy!

301 Quilt

 
This weekend I hope to work toward FINALLY finishing my Quilting 301 quilt. I took the class months ago, and really got burnt out. Then life just got in the way. I'll update you on the progress as I go. After work today I bought my backing, batting, binding, & thread. As usual, I left work ready to tackle this baby. Then I left the Bernina store and was blasted 100*ish heat with humidity, and came home to unfinished chores. My husband, Paul, has homework to do this evening so I may get something done once the kids go to bed.
Here are some pictures from while the quilt was still in the beginning stages.