Free Motion Quilting Challenge

I know I just barely posted but I wanted to make it really easy to find my free motion quilting for January. So this is just a little piece of what I posted before.

I am participating in the Free Motion Quilting Challenge and our design to practice this month was leaves.  I watched the videos and checked out some of the other participants but I just wasn't sure if the leaf pattern fit my quilt.  I decided to go with an echoed leaf.  It was a great learning experience for me.  Sometimes it was hard to get all of the leaves to fit within each other and to keep the quilting even.   But it was a lot of fun.  It was quilted with the burgundy thread.  (Please excuse the washed out picture)

If you want to see the rest of the quilting just scroll down and see the earlier post!  

If you want to see the other participants head over to Sew CalGal!

I Am On A Roll

I have great news to share!  January is almost through and I have finished my UFO, Color Palette Challenge, and my free motion quilting.  I feel I have had a very productive month.  

If you have checked my blog before I have been working on the Color Palette Challenge, and here it is finished, quilted and bound!

 Thanks to everyone who commented on my earlier dilemma with the flying geese border.  I love the decision I made, but I think any of them would have worked out fine.  

I also gave you a sneak peek at the quilting.  I would love to learn how to machine quilt, but I didn't think I could ever learn how to do it on my home machine.  Once I started it was really fun, and fulfilling.  Here are a few close-ups.    

The center medallion was quilted around the applique, then echo quilted waves throughout the rest of the background with a matching thread.  

It was so much easier than I thought it would be.  I just took it slow and stopped when I wasn't sure where to go next.  The overall quilting looks pretty good, but if I look close I can see some spots where I would improve.  

In the corner blocks I decided to try a feather.  I absolutely love quilted feathers!  This was my attempt. It is kind of hard to see because of the background pattern but it's not too shabby.  Again I found that if I just slowed down it was a lot easier.  

The flying geese gave me a lot of grief.  I tried quilting one side and didn't like it so I ended up ripping it out.  I do not like unpicking quilting!  It takes forever.  I finally went with another echo in each center and nothing in the white part.  The black borders I tried a half feather design.  The border is 1 inch but I found it pretty easy to stay within the lines most of the time.  Both were quilted with a burgundy thread that matched the darkest burgundy fabric in the quilt.

I am participating in the Free Motion Quilting Challenge and our design to practice quilting this month was leaves.  I watched the videos and checked out some of the other participants but I just wasn't sure if the leaf pattern fit my quilt.  I decided to go with an echoed leaf.  It was a great learning experience for me.  Sometimes it was hard to get all of the leaves to fit within each other and to keep the quilting even.   But it was a lot of fun.  Again it was quilted with the burgundy thread.  (Please excuse the washed out picture)

The best part about this is I am able to enjoy it everyday!  It feels so good to get something accomplished.  I can't wait for February to see what I will be working on next.  I already have big plans!

I will be linking up with Design Wall Monday with Judy,  Sew CalGal Free Motion Quilting Challenge this week, and the Color Palette Challenge when it is available.  

My "No Make-up" Day

Yesterday when I woke up my oldest daughter was not feeling well, not well enough to go to school anyway. I couldn't get a sub until an hour after school started so I had to go into school for just a bit. With all of the running around and phone calls I did not have time to put on make up. I don't wear a lot of makeup, usually a little foundation, neutral eye shadow, eyeliner and mascara, but my eyelashes are as blonde as my hair so I knew it would be the topic of the day. I was surprised at how big of a deal it was. 


Here are a few of the conversations I heard during the hour I was at school.
 Girl 1- you know, yesterday Mrs. Henrie was normal.
Girl 2- yea?
Girl 1- but today she is not normal.

 During my reading group the boys were very curious about my different look. The conversation went something like this.

 Me- do I look different today?
 They all nod their head.
 Me- I am not wearing any makeup today because I was helping my daughter who is sick.
 Boy 1- yea teacher, yesterday you didn't have all of those lines on your forehead!

 Later in the group when I was helping a student one on one -

 Boy 2- teacher can you put some glasses on or something because you are starting to creep me out. 

Another girl asked one of the aides "What is wrong with Mrs. Henrie she really doesn't look good today?"

 Five year olds have the best comments! They say exactly what is on their mind. I laughed and laughed about it all day.
It doesn't bother me because I don't mind if I am wearing make up or not and it makes all of their comments about how much they like school and like my like my class more real.

Someday I'm going to write a book with all of their funny comments!

Design Wall Monday

The quilting continues on the Color Palette Challenge quilt.  It should have a name but nothing has come to mind.
Sorry, but there are no new pictures but I want to have the whole thing finished before I show you.  Just so you know my seam ripper and I have become good friends again!  When it is finished it will be worth it!
Check out Judy's blog for other Design Walls.

So Far, So Good

I have just started quilting my color pallete challenge quilt.  While I am not a professional I am extremely happy with the results I have so far!
Once I got past the indivudual stitches and looked at the whole pattern I think I can live with it.  Check it out above!  I know it is not the whole quilt, that will have to be a surprise when it is complete.
Have a great day!

Cute pin cushion

I have the opportunity to work with a lot of amazing people at my school. They are the reason I am able to function. Most of them are crafty people so it makes it even better because we can talk about all of the fun stuff we are making when we are not at school. I received the cutest Christmas present from one of these ladies, this cute pin cushion!

 She found the tutorial on diydish.com.  When I opened it I immediately thought of designing my sewing room around this item.  Can't you see it, white and lavender paint, some funky accent color.  Well it will be awhile before I get a sewing room so I will just have to keep dreaming!

Design Center Monday

Good Morning!  I have to admit I was not as productive as I wanted to be this weekend.  With sick kids and the opportunity to be lazy I soaked up every minute I could.  However, I did get a little sewing accomplished.
Here is my progress on the January Color Palette Challenge.  I decided to go with a border of flying geesse, but now I am stuck!  I have three options and I am not sure which one I like the best.

Option 1

Option 2

Option 3

I like each of them for different reasons.  I need some help!!  Please leave me a comment of your preference.  It doesn't matter if you are a quilter or not, everyone has an opinion.  Hopefully I can come to a decision soon and get this project finished!!
Head over to Judy's blog to see what everyone else has on their design walls.

Have a great day!

Just a Reminder

I just wanted to remind everyone that Erin will be taking down her BOM, My Tweets, at the end of January.  If you are thinking of making this gorgeous quilt hurry and download the blocks.  You can order the center block from her etsy shop.  It is only $10, such a deal when you consider she has given us all of the other blocks for free!  Check out her site One Piece at a Time, and get appliqueing!  You just might find it really addictive.  

Another UFO!

Alright, I can't take credit for this one.  This quilt belongs to my mother.  It is a minkee strip quilt, they have been really popular around here lately.  Six inch strips on the top, gray minkee on the back with a batting in between makes for a very heavy quilt. 

My mom says she has been inspired by the ufo challenge so she is going to try to finish a project every month.  She didn't want to officially commit but will join along when she can. 

Way to go!  This is the year of finishing projects. 

Design Wall

I made a little more progress on the color palette challenge.  I am falling in love with this applique piece!  I love the way the colors are coming together and the different shapes.  I am not sure what will go in the middle, maybe some kind of white flower?  I will probably try a few options and pick my favorite.  The white flowers on the outside are supposed to have three little circles coming out of the center but I'm not convinced I will add them in.  I can't wait to see all of the other design wall links at Judy's blog.  If you want to check them out click on the Patchwork Times button at the top!  It will be posted Monday morning.

Let Me Clarify!

After reading my last post I wanted to make it perfectly clear I have nothing against Chinese restaurants!  I hope my comments will not be taken as disrespectful.
I designed the center block without previewing the colors so I was a little surprised with the results.  The more I look at it the more I like it.  I guess things look different in my mind than they do in reality (my husband would agree with this point)!

Color Progress!

I have started working on my project for the Color Palette Challenge.  I decided to do a mix of applique and piecing.  Here is what I have for the center so far.  There are some stems that are naked right now, I'm not quite sure what I will use but it will most likely be the burgundy color.

I hope I like how it turns out, right now it kind of reminds me of a Chinese restaurant.  That is not the look I was going for. 

Have a good weekend!

1 UFO down - 11 more to go!

It is January 3rd and my first UFO is officially finished!  Alright, it was probably the easiest project, but it feels so good to check one off my list!  Here it is . . . the embroidery envelope.

It looks kind of dirty in this picture but in reality it is a cream color.  I sewed the outside together with one of the fancy stitches (the ones I never use) on my machine which made it easy to finish quickly.  The inside holds scissors, needles, thread, thimbles or whatever I can tie on or fit in the pouch.  

 Since I have my UFO completed I can start on the Color Palette Challenge.  I went to my local grocery store - wait I live in a small enough town we only have one grocery store (not a Walmart) and they sell fabric.  Really how can it get any better, you go to the store to buy milk and pick up a few yards of fabric!  Anyway, I went to the store and picked out a few pieces I thought would go along with the color palette.  They kind of fit and it only cost $11 for 2 1/2 yards, if something else jumps out at me I will probably pick it up as well.  

I will be adding black and white into the mix and we'll see what I come up with.  

Projects and Goals for 2012

Well if you haven't noticed check out the right side of my blog.  There are three new buttons that show what I would like to accomplish (start?) in 2012.  I feel like I am being overly ambitious and I hope it doesn't come back to bite me later.  I already blogged about Judy's UFO challenge.  I couldn't wait to see what project I would be working on first and it will be #5, the embroidery envelope!

I pulled it out last night and I think I can get it finished tonight, that is if I quit blogging about it and get to work.  

I also want to participate in the Color Palette Challenge hosted by Judy at Patchwork Times and Vicki Welsh from Field Trips in Fiber.  Each month Vicki will choose a color palette and we are supposed to design something with it.  Here is the palette for this month, along with her inspiration.  You can find her post here.

I am not planning on making something huge, because it needs to be finished by the end of the month and I want a lot of finished projects by the end of the year, not more UFO's.  When I saw the inspiration I fell in love with it.  I can't wait to start designing and make something amazing!!

The final challenge I would like to participate in is the Free Motion Quilting Challenge.  I would love to learn how to machine quilt because I have a few tops that need to be finished and no cash to send them to a long arm quilter.  I am looking forward to learning new tips and tricks that will help me become a better machine quilter.  The January practice page is here.  I am planning on using the Color Palette Challenge quilt to practice my technique!

In my mind I can get everything done!  You know, after being a mom, wife, teacher, house cleaner, dance instructor, and all the other jobs I have, right?  Well I figure it will either keep me sane or make me insane.  Either way it will be quite a ride!