2012 FMQ Challenge- January

Free motion quilting facinates me, so when I found the FMQ Challenge at SewCalGal I knew it was now or never to give it a try. I have decided to combine many things with this challenge. My final quilted block each month will be that month's Block Lotto block. I had already decided to make a sampler out of this years blocks so this fit together perfectly. Since I will be quilting the block month by month, it will also be my first QAYG (quilt as you go) project. I found a good tutorial here and I think it'll be cool to see it all come together in December. :)  Ok on to my pics.

This is the front of my first practice sandwich. My machine wasn't set up correctly and I had to fight with it for awhile to get it just so.

The back of the same sandwich, you can really tell here how much trouble my little machine was giving me!

Front of the second practice sandwich. Much better! I tried to focus on making different size leaves to fill in the space better.

Back of 2nd sandwich. No machine oopsies here!

The front of my finished block! The block is Eclipse and is Block Lotto's January block. I used a light tan to quilt.

Since I'll be doing QAYG I used a light muslin on the back.

Love FMQ and can't wait for next month's challenge!

Laura

challenged

The block lotto blocks for this month had me excited and fearful. Curves and templates. Two things I had never used in my quilt blocks up to now. Curves especially had me fearful.

But I perservered. I was SO mad at myself when I made my first two blocks (that promplty went into my fabric scrap pile) that I honestly thought about not participating this month. Then I felt like a quitter. I mean I had purchased $20 worth of fabric to meet the colorway requirements, I would at least give it another try on a different day.

Thank goodness I did! I conqured the curves and expanded my sewing horizons. I have made 4 so far and feel good about making 6 more :)

For some reason I didn't get a picture of the 4th one, but i promise it exists :)

Laura

Christmas 2011/ Dec. BOM

Christmas was great. After working all night I got to come home and watch the kids open up their gifts, and boy were they excited!

Man I love those kids :)  One of my christmas gifts from them was letter names from Crystal Vaughan Photography.

Now I have to decide what else I want to put on that wall. Hubby says a roman numeral clock and I'm thinking some kind of wrought iron decor. We'll see what we find. I also received 2 digital picture frames (one from hubby and one from my dad). They are both set up in the living room and I LOVE them!

Today was the release of the December CVQ  BOM. I've been waiting so anxiously for it that I made sure to fit it in today.

This is the 4th month for the BOM, and the 2nd month in a row that I didn't mess up on my block. Yay me! I didn't get to snap a pic of all 8 blocks, but they are looking great together!

Now that those blocks are done i can focus on the block lotto blocks hopefully to be revealed this weekend/next week.

My nephew is staying with us tonight and he is something else. The kids have had so much fun tonight :) Smurfs, then bed.

It's been quite a day, cleaning up after christmas and more water issues. This momma is exhausted and going to bed as soon as the kiddos are settled in. Til next time!

Laura

CVQ November blocks

The snow was gone before I woke up Tuesday afternoon :) 

Today I finished up my second CVQ block for this month. Love them!

I also completed a block I've been meaning to finish for weeks.

For supper tonight I tried something new. Bacon wrapped chicken. A little messy, but pretty quick. Here's Kenzie with them before baking.

I had planned on taking an after picture too, but we were all to excited to dig in. Approval from everyone!

More christmas-i-ness tomorow! Presents to wrap and gifts to order online. I'm excited to get everything ready and be ready in time for christmas!

Laura

First snow

When I was a kid I LOVED snow. Fun to play in, pretty, and odds are it cancelled school in our rural community. As an adult I despise the snow. Driving an hour to work on slick roads in the dark is no fun. I don't want to go outside and freeze my tush off to play in it, and what a mess when the kids are forced inside. More clothes to wash, wet floors, bright red faces just begging for a round of sickness throughout the house.

Ugh!

Double Ugh!

I know it's not alot of snow, just enough to remind me that it's coming.

So to avoid the outside I worked on my November CVQ BOM. I got one done, the pieces are cut for the second one. Hopefully to be assembled this weekend.

I think this is my favorite block yet. Probably because I didn't screw it up lol  Can't wait to make the 2nd one.

My blocks so far. Loving it! Gonna have to pick up some more yellow. I'm afraid it will run out before next October.

Off to bed to start a 3 day stretch at work.

Laura



Finally some craftiness...

All i've been posting is my 30 day photo challenge and today I finally got to craft a little so here goes...

I found this beauty at Goodwill for 99cents. It was absolutely perfect for a project I found on Pinterest.

The inspiration came from this that I found on Pinterest. After I printed it up, the kids and I decided that some thumbprint reindeer would be perfect on the side. I LOVE how it turned out :) Can't wait until Thanksgiving is over so I can put it out!

Pretty bummed that this picture is blurry, but the blocks are put away for the evening and they're not coming back out for a new pic. 8 done, 244 left to go if my calculations were right. Hope to work on it some more tomorrow.

My fun new project of hexagons has begun!

This is the first of many flowers. :)  We're sitting down to watch Rudy now (for the first time!) and i've got the petals cut for two more to work on.

The Hubby. I think this is hilarious. He and I were playfully arguing about lightbulbs and one of the kids snapped this picture of him. Cracked me up when I found it on the camera. :)

Laura

Sept/Oct CVQ BOM

It has been quite a morning with these little blocks! lol

So to start out, I realized that the 1 block i made for Sept. was not supposed to be squared to 8", rather at 8.5". So i redid it.

Size difference

Next I decided that I would want/need at least 2 of every block to make my quilt a decent size. So I made another Sept. block.

September blocks

Looking good right? :)  I then started working on the new October blocks. LOVE the design, and again I want 2 of each. Prepare yourself ....

October blocks

Yup I goofed AGAIN! As I'm making the blocks I keep reading "Make sure the diagonal seam is aligned exactly like the photo" and kept rechecking as instructed. So imagine my upset when I realized I did it wrong. Grr!  I paid extra special attention on my 2nd one. lol

I contemplated redoing the oops block, but I still like it, it's kind of a wacky pinwheel. And it's my quilt so why shouldn't it reflect my learning process as I become a better quilter. It will probably bug me for years to come, but I'm going to treat it as a lesson in patience. Slowing down and doing a job well done.

All of my CVQ BOM blocks to date.

Can't wait to see next month's block and disover a new way to mess it up! lol

Laura







Being cancelled is great

I was able to do more than i'd planned today since i got called off work.  I started sewing my blocks together for our quilt. It will be 98x85. 252 little blocks, turned into 64 13 inch blocks. It's gonna be a long process.

5 blocks down, 247 to go!

I will call this quilt Manic Meadow. Manic for the randomness of the layout, and meadow for the colors. I found this quote and fell in love...  The meadow: green in spring, gold in summer, brown in fall,
white in winter, everlasting,ever-changing!

Today was sneak peek day for the Block Lotto, and I got a block done for that too. It was alot of fun to make, can't wait to see what everyone else does. We can't share until November 1st though.

Today was also the revealing of the second CVQ BOM. I love Vicki's detailed instructions. Here is the link. I'm hoping to make mine tomorrow morning. After my walmart run of course.

Off to knit on my monkey, but I leave you with this. My son is obsessed with the coke/mentos phenomenon. I captured his second attempt...

Laura

Whew!

I feel quite accomplished as i head back to work tonight. I may not have done much housework, but I had a great weekend with my kids and got some great crafting done! :)

I have everything ready to start sewing on our new quilt for our bed. It's gonna be gorgeous! I can't wait to start on it this weekend. I am using this tutorial for paper piecing string quilts. The white strips are cut to 1" for the center of every quare and the prints range from 1"-2.5". My paper square are done using printer paper and are cut to 6.5" squares. Makenzie helped me cut some of the strips, and Blake provided his awesome ironing skills. Later on i'm gonna let Olivia help me rip off the paper so that all the kids helped make mommy and daddy's quilt. :)

This beautiful fabric is going to be Makenzie's first quilt. this baby quilt is her pattern. Once she gets it done it will be going to the Children of the Promise facility in Haiti.

Behind that fabric block is my new flannel board that i made from this tutorial. I think it's gonna be a great tool as I continue making quilt blocks.

This huge thing of yarn will be made into a hooded towel also going to the Children of the Promise.

And of course I'm still making monkeys!

These are the two that I finished this weekend. Two complete out of my goal of 5, a little dissapointed but I know that I got alot done besides monkeys.  Pity party over now. lol

This is my complete gaggle of monkeys so far. Love them!

And a little closer shot.

Out of all 6 monkeys i've made so far, this little guy is my favorite. I MAY have even slept with him a time or two. Don't judge me, he's adorable. lol

I have alot of projects in the works, and I didn't even mention my new knitting obsession. But for now it's off to bed to prepare myself for 4 nights of some nursing. :)

Laura

This & That

The kids had picture day this week.  I dread this day as a parent. Gotta make sure they look good, stress over if they will still look good 3 hours later at picture time. And the cost! Depsite it all they all looked very nice, and i didn't even realize they were all wearing plaid until i took these pics.

 I picked up a new camera yesterday at the city-wide yard sales. Its a Kodak Easyshare Z612 for $35! It has manual settings that i'm really excited to play around with. Our other good deal of the day was a pair of Justin boots for K for only $25. I feel like i spent alot of $$$ on yard sales, but i got some good deals that I just couldn't pass up. Lovin the pictures this camera takes :)

There have been hints that the new Craft Hope project will be sock monkeys. Totally excited! I've always wanted to try a sock monkey. So i've begun playing around with different patterns to get a jump start before the project is announced.

 One crocheted and one made from men's work socks. I have another crochet pattern that i wanna try, but for now i'm leaning toward the traditional sock monkey.

We're all pretty taken with them. :)

And last but not least I signed up for the Block Lotto this week. And the block was announced yesterday as quilters choice. I have my 3 different blocks picked out, now i've just gotta stop making sock monkeys long enought to make them. My goal is to get one set of 3 done today, we'll see how that goes. :)

Laura