Meeting a new Quilt Friend

This past month I had the extreme pleasure of meeting Nettie of aquiltisnice.blogspot.com. 

 

I was putting together a little party to try to convert a few friends to the ways of quilting, and on a whim thought I might send an email to Nettie, introduce myself and ask her to come do a trunk show for us.  When she responded positively, I was absolutely giddy with excitement.  

 

Nettie has been a huge quilting inspiration to me over the past few years.  I love her colorful, modern, scrappy style.  Seeing her quilts in person was so much fun.  Nettie did a wonderful job of presenting her quilts in a way that got us all, new quilters and old, excited to get sewing!  One of the things I love about her, is that she is a stay at home mom (of 4) just like me, and she quilts as an outlet for her creativity and her sanity.  I'm not sure she used those exact words, but I felt like I found someone in her that understood my passion for quilting.   

 

What was equally as exciting as seeing her impressive collection of quilt masterpieces was finding out that Nettie is as cute and sweet as can be.  It is a little bit of a drive from my side of Houston to hers, but it makes me very happy to know that I have a new local, experienced quilting buddy.   I hope to be able to meet up with her again soon!

 

These pictures do not do her or her quilts justice.  My silly camera battery died before the very end, and I didn't get a good picture of her standing next to her enormous piles of quilts.  For more Nettie goodness head over to her blog. 

 

Making Waves Quilt

 This blue and white quilt was made a year and a half ago for my oldest son.  I have been on a blue and white kick for a while now.   

 

 

My original thought was to make a blue and white quilt that looked sort of like ocean waves.  Once I got started though, I knew it needed something.  My son really liked the addition of the orange fish. 

  

The binding is a solid navy and the backing reminded me of waves. 

Munchkin #3 likes it too.  Or at least she likes the camera.  :)

 

Little Boy Blue Baby Quilt

This quilt is old news around here.  My baby that this was made for turned two last Monday.  I have decided that for me, the simpler, the better for baby quilts.  This is one of my favorites and it is so simple!  About 10 different blue fabrics + one yellow fabric to make things interesting + white + one block (equilateral triangles in this case) = the perfect baby boy quilt. 

 

 That's my third little munchkin peeking at the camera up there.  She loves to help. 

 I was worried that the backing and binding (a teeny blue gingham) were going to be too boring, but once it was on I loved it for a baby quilt.  The front is the star of the show. 

Girlie I-Spy Sqare in a Square/ Economy Block Quilt

 I started this quilt over three years ago when I was pregnant with my second daughter.  The economy block that is all the rage right now is just perfect for an I-spy type quilt.  I made all the center blocks square in a square blocks and then let it sit.  I got busy with three and then four kids and put any quilting that required much thought on the back burner.  I really love this quilt though.  I finally finished it and had it quilted this last fall. 

 

  I have a really hard time making quilts smaller than twin size.  I guess I am just too darn practical.  If a quilt can't fit on a bed and keep someone warm at night, I almost feel like its a waste of time and materials. One of the reasons why I love quilting so much is because it is both creative and practical. So when I got tired of making the economy blocks, I put it on the back burner until I could figure out how I wanted to finish it. 

 The fabrics are all scrappy.  I LOVE love LOVE scrappy quilts, but I'm getting tired of my scraps.  Sometimes I daydream about how fun it would be to use other peoples stashes/ scraps.  Well, that and having a million bucks to spend on fabric. :)

 My mom quilted this for me and did a beautiful job!  I love it.  Can you see the flowers in the center white squares?  So fun.   

The back is polka dotted- my favorite!  And the binding is scrappy pinks. 

Scrappy Trip Around the World

Did anyone else get all excited seeing Scrappy Trip Around the World Quilts pop up all over the net, jump on the bandwagon and then lose steam?  Anyone else out there with a whole bunch of these blocks growing dusty next to your sewing machine?  Just me?  Everyone else finished theirs like, a year ago?  hmm.... that's embarrassing.  Oh well.  It's time I finished this trip.   

I've seen so many pretty Scrappy Trip Around the World (from here on out referred to as STATW) quilts and just can't decide how I want to put it all together. 

The traditional route: 

Or this one, which I think has been the most popular lately:

A little bit different: 

 

 Or zig zags:  (This version is inspired by a quilt is nice. )



Which would you pick? 

Return of the Polkadot Quilter

Anyone out there? 

I've been away from this blog for about two years and a half years and I'm ready to return. 

Here's where I've been in a nutshell:

These four kiddos (and their Daddy) are my life.  They keep me running from sun up to sun down.   And sometimes from sun down to sun up.    I think I had just had #3 when I last blogged.  And then #4 came along and well, that's where I've been. 

 

After a few years of changing diapers almost non-stop, (You think I'm being overly dramatic?  Maybe just a tad.) I'm ready to flex my creative muscles again. 

 

I did squeeze in a little bit of quality time with my sewing machine here and there,  but actually taking the time to take pictures, and then sit down and blog was just more than this non-super mom could do. 

 

So, I've got a little catching up to do.  And then I can move on and try to keep up with this little craft journal/blog of mine.

I decided to make a family tablecloth for my inlaws for Christmas. Here are the results after many frantic evenings of sewing and hoping to get it done in time. I'm really happy with how it turned out and hope they like it.

(These pics aren't the best and some of them were taken before I decided to get out my iron.)

The flowery corners are all from patterns I bought at patternbee.com ( i love that site).

One of the short ends has the first names of my inlaws and the other short end has our family name.

The two long ends contain all the names of children, spouses and grandchildren. (There is room for more- it just won't be quite as evenly spaced.) Each family is grouped together and sewn in a different color.