And in record speed

as far as Bible covers go for me, I've done the last of the 3.

Really should have ironed that thing one more time...

Bible Cover #2

Apparently the success with my first Bible cover was a fluke. Because my 2nd one turned out hideous.

Look at all those rumpled, jagged edges. I couldn't deliver that.

So I gave up on the idea of being able to do it without binding the edges. Trying to sew & turn that neatly was just too much for me.

I also didn't like the color or the chunkiness of the cross. Having worked on this more hours than a queen-sized quilt already, I just left it off completely.

This one has neat edges everywhere, and was soooo much easier.

If you ever have a mind to make one yourself, just go with the bound edges. And also, cut into the seam allowance a bit at the corners when attaching your zipper. Makes those turns go much more smoothly.

One more to go, but I'm not dreading near as much since making the design change.

Pam Kitty Morning

I just today found out that they will be re-printing the Pam Kitty Morning panels!! I'm not sure why I'm so excited, since I have two of them, but I am. Those little kitties are just the cutest thing ever!

If I've done my math right

which I'm not promising, I now have all the stars I need for my quilt.

63 of them.

Now it's time to move on to these:

The connecting white diamonds.

I have loved this paper piecing project, to the point that I think I need to have at least one paper piecing project going at all times. The portability is one factor, but also the relaxing hand work. Why wait until the binding to relax on the couch with your quilting?

My past life

I've mentioned before that in my past life, I crocheted rather than quilted. Since I have no exciting quilting projects to show you - I seem to be right, smack, boring, dab in the middle of everything I have going - I thought this might be a good time to show some of my favorite doilies. I crocheted other things as well, but my favorite was working with size 20 or 30 thread and getting as intricate as possible.

This one had you put multiple stitches in each chain to form swirls & twists. The kind of thing a person like me has to try once, but it's very impractical as you can neither iron it nor starch it to get it to lay flat.

The edging alone on this one took me a week. I briefly considered selling some of these on ETSY at one point, but I found some of these designs being sold for $15 - $25 dollars. I have months of work in each one - they can HAVE that market!

And you thought hexagons were limited to quilters:) This is a rare one for me as it was made with size 10 thread, but it's still only about 10" across, so it would have been nothing but a coaster if I'd gone with smaller thread. It's also a slight rose color - I usually stuck to white or ecru.

Yes, those are rows of popcorn stitches mid-way around and on the outer edge. And I wonder why I have carpal tunnel.

While not the hardest doily I've ever done, it probably is my very favorite. All of these are just stuffed in a drawer right now. When we remodeled, we went from a Queen Anne type decor to something more modern and I just don't have a place to adequately display these. My friend Mandy was fussing at me for this. I guess I should maybe frame some and hang them on the walls?

Those are the faves. That I still have anyway. A good number succumbed during the devastating bleaching experiment in '08, and the vast majority were given away. I hope the ones with new owners are being taken care of better than these!

I haven't crocheted in about 2 years now. The last time I made a doily, it was after we remodeled and I literally finished & walked straight to the drawer where I keep them. I decided that was about as silly as a hobby got. So I switched to something more useful for my current life, and I'm really glad I did. But just last week, my husband & I got some horribly stressful news & about an hour into my worrying I thought: "I need a crochet project." So, for whatever reason, I guess crochet is still more relaxing for me.

Quiet

The reason the blog has been quiet this week, is because the sewing machine has been quiet this week.

No real reason - I just wasn't really in the sewing mood.

But that mood came back for a while today:

This is my first block using the Aster Manor prints and the same pattern I used for Tracy's quilt.

I loved it so much that I went for round 2:

I was a bit worried what this quilt would look like with each block out of different fabrics.

I don't think I should have worried - I think it's going to be just fine!

Quilts in Use IV

Ok, really this is a poorly veiled desire to show off my cat. This cat's mother was in labor when her owner took her to the vet & gave the instructions to just destroy the kittens - she didn't want them. Luckily, the vet tech did, so she took them home and bottle fed them every two hours, around the clock, with the help of her mother, until they were old enough to eat on their own. That vet tech was the sister of a friend and that's how I ended up with Snick. (Snicky Doo.) I want to just go on & on about how wonderful this cat is - how I go to sleep every night with him against my chest purring, but even cat lovers would soon get bored. 


So I'll show you a better pic of the quilt instead:

This was the first quilt I made last year. After tons of online research into the how-to's, I thought I was ready.  So I picked up a couple of flannel fat quarter packs at Joann's and just dove right in. It was a nap quilt for my daughter for a while, and it did a great job of warming her in the car last winter. Despite my newness at the craft, the only thing I did wrong on this simple quilt was the binding. It took me a few tries to really understand the online tutorials and so I basically have too fat, only one layer of fabric binding on this quilt. I'm ok with that. 

And another one

I think the kaleidoscope is my all time favorite pattern.

The back is just stripes again:

Because what started all this was some fabric cut into strips too small for what I needed.

I played with more fancy stitches:

And like this one much better, even if it is pretty time consuming to do.

I like having these pillows, matching but completely different patterns.

A pillow for me

I made myself a pillow.

I had a quilt planned using these fabrics, but I made a math error & cut a bunch of strips just a smidgen too small. I will proceed with the quilt - I just haven't gotten around to buying more fabric yet - mainly because I can't remember if that tan color is sand or tan or what. 

In the meantime, I decided to use some of those too small strips for a throw pillow for my living room. These little blue flowers are one of my favorite prints. 

And I loved the way my double hourglass quilt came together - much easier block than it looks. 

The back is just strips of the tan & floral: 

I decided to play around with the fancy stitches on my machine.

Meh. 

But overall, a very fun and satisfying project. I can't wait to do more. My daughter has requested 2 pink, one orange & 2 blue. She was that specific even when she was 2. You should have seen the nightmare of trying to find a mermaid costume that she could walk in that had a realistic enough looking fin for her. I thought I was going to have to cancel Halloween that year.