Getting Better

Here is my second embroidery project. It's a tag for my Quirky Boxes quilt and I think it looks quite a bit improved from my first one. I learned a French knot, a chain stitch and a split stitch. I'm coming along!

I also finished my quilt top yesterday, but it's absolutely huge so Casey has to help me and hold it over the stair banister so I can get a picture of the whole thing. Sadly, it now has to go on hold like my color wheel quilt because i have no funds for batting. *sigh* I do have a plan for piecing the backing together though. It's amazing how resourceful we always-broke sewers can be, huh? And, I kept a couple of the leftover little hourglass pieces because I want to embroider the tag right onto one of those. I can't wait to finish! In the meantime, embroidery is a seriously cheap hobby, I'm talkin' like spare change cheap, so I'll be playing some more with that this weekend.

I take it all back

I know I said in yesterday's post that I haven't been doing much of anything lately, but it turns out, that's not actually true! Besides keeping the house in (somewhat) order and the laundry done (not as easy, when I'm soooo pregnant), I've managed to do a few creative things after all. Although my nose is nightmarishly (is that a word?) stuffed up today, lying around just makes it worse, so I got up and sewed together my quilt center. I think it's absolutely beautiful. There's still a pieced border to add, as well as an outer border, so much to Casey's delight, it will be quite a bit bigger than the two quilts I've made before. I really think it's pretty, so I couldn't wait to share.

Also, I've been wanting to try some embroidery for awhile now ('cause I need another hobby, right???) and I've been meaning to make quilt labels for my quilts before the years get totally away from me and so I decided to tackle the Wonky House label for my first project. Yes, it's crooked, no, I didn't measure, but I like it anyway :) I'll be making one for my Quirky Boxes quilt next. It's a fun thing to do while sitting around watching TV in the evenings. I bought this book and just love it! Anyone have any sources for free embroidery patterns on the internet??? Please share!

Quirky Boxes Finished!

Yay! I finished my Quirky Boxes Quilt and I'm thrilled with how it looks. I free-motioned a loopy design along the border (my first free-motion experience) and it looks so cute. Free motion is fun! the backing is out of a thrifted sheet and it must be high-quality because the fibers are so tight, I had a hard time getting a needle through it while hand sewing the binding. Speaking of getting needles through things, I actually sewed right through my finger while quilting this baby. I have never actually done that before, so I guess I was due. Oh, and speaking of quilting, I talked myself out of the hand quilting. I was afraid I would start and take a year to finish, which would have been a bummer. Maybe in a different stage of life, I will take up hand quilting and try out that big-stitch method.

Quirky Boxes Update

Here's my quilt top so far! I'm planning on adding a scrappy border, but I couldn't wait to share what I have so far. While I was making the blocks, I came across this blog for the first time and couldn't seem to leave! I saw this quilt there and was able to draw some inspiration for the sashing from it. LOVE how it's turning out. Just quirky enough for me. I'm considering trying the "big stitch" method of hand quilting. This is only my second quilt and I quilted the first one by machine, but I like the big stitch look and I think it might look really cool on this quilt. I'm wondering though, any of you hand-quilters out there, do you use a hoop? And, do you have to baste by hand to hand-quilt or can you use the pins? 'Cause hand-basting does not sound like fun to me. PLEASE comment, I would love some advice, even if someone would like to try and talk me out of it. I am, after all, a busy young mother, so seriously, do I have the time for hand-quilting???? ;)