Quilting 101, Take 2 . . .

The work on the quilt has slowed down quite a bit. With the parties and such that needed planning, Hailey and I hadn't had a lot of time to work on our quilt blocks. I have to admit the ones we have completed turned out pretty good, for being first-timers and all!

There are three blocks left, I just finished one of the three last night and it isn't in this picture. I have another one left but it has some applique on it and I am going to have to do a little more "research" on this one to get it right. Hailey also has one to finish but she has had almost NO time with homework lately.


Here are the fabrics that are going to be used in piecing the whole thing together. The green one will also be the whole back of the quilt. The original plan called for a light blue and bright red and I have to honestly say it wasn't colors that I was too excited about so I decided to pick a few colors out of the blocks I liked that matched my favorite colors and ones found in my home and went with them instead. My sister Pat had taken Tyler out for lunch one Saturday when Hayden was really sick and actually picked these out for me. They are beautiful. I had sent her with the blocks with my favorite colors and gave her some description of what I was thinking of and I think she did a fantastic job!

If you remember back to my last post on quilting you will remember that I had mentioned some books I had read that really inspired me to want to quilt. Well, from those books the Author had gotten together with another quilter and they created this full color book of the quilts that were written about in the books. I absolutely fell in love with this one because of the leaves all around the border. I decided I would get creative and try to make one of these leaves. . .

Well, sadly to say, it didn't go too well! It was MUCH harder than I thought. I couldn't believe how many pieces it took to create! I thought I would do it in reverse by making the background dark instead, maybe be more stunning - this is some old fabric I had in the house. Hmmmmm. I had to measure it to make sure my eyes weren't fooling me but one end of my block is actually one inch BIGGER than the other end (not stunning)!!!!! How horrible is that! Can you tell which side?

Here are all the templates for the leaf block. Some of these you needed several of the same size. Needless to say it took me about 2 1/2 DAYS to go from fabric to block. The seam ripper was involved in this project too. I have now stepped back from my plans on making that quilt in the book for the time being. I have also learned many valuable lessons. DON'T use paper as templates, DON'T use Tailor's chalk to do the tracing, it's too thickand not very accurate, Pencils DON'T mark too good on black material, Seam size IS important, DON'T underestimate rotary cutters(I used scissors), Needles do draw blood when you are tired, Somethings are smarter to just buy than to make!

(kidding on the last one, maybe)!

So, I have stepped back on trying to make a whole entire quilt from scratch from a book of professional quilters! I might actually opt to get another kit for my second quilt before venturing out on my own. There also is a big difference between fabric you get at Jo-Ann fabrics and a specialty quilt store! Quality and by far price!

Also, what is great about doing things like this is that it really teaches you to appreciate things! I sure stare a lot at my quilt on my bed that I ordered from JCPenney's many years ago! And the quilts that Grammy has sent in the past all have a higher place than even before. They were always loved and special to us because they were from her but now that I know all the work involved they are even more incredible to me now! Thanks for all your hard work Grammy! These are treasures for us!

Mailing May Project

I have to say that of all the projects my kids have been assigned over the years, this one has to be one of the cutest ideas!
A few months back Tyler's first grade class was reading a book called "Mailing May" which was about a little girl who wants to visit her grandmother but the parents can't afford it so the family decides to mail May to her Grandmother in the form of a paper self. So the kids all got to mail a self made self to a relative of their choice!
We chose to send "Tyler" to his Great Aunt Flo in New York! Flo is known for going to many interesting places and doing a lot of fun things so we thought it would be fun to see what her world is like (plus Grammy is there and he would like to visit her too)!

Here is a picture of Tyler with . . . himself!



Flo did a stellar job of this one! Not only did she take pictures of not only herself, but Grammy, family and friends all holding Tyler in different locations but she also had them made into a fantastic little book! It was beautiful! She also sent a couple of magazines, brochures and maps!
Tyler said he had the most stuff of all the kids in his class!


This is a picture of the front cover of the book! There is the creative Aunt Flo to the right and Tyler in front of a flamingo-like bird in a garden area at the Tioga Garden Dome and Floral Center in Owego, New York!


This is one of the pages inside! The woman in the picture is our beloved Grammy by the Susquehanna River also in Owego. So cute to see her holding this little paper Tyler!

There are so many beautiful pictures of family, friends, and local scenery! All I can say is Thank You so much Aunt Flo for putting your time, effort and heart into this. And also how you included other people into holding Tyler, it is so great! You turned a project into a treasure! Will keep it always! XOXOXOXOXO