{Quilts in Progress}

     Quilting! Sewing! I'm so excited that I'm finally going to get the chance to experiment with free-motion quilting today.  I'm going to start super duper basic, using this video here by lcvday for instruction.  She's got a TON of  videos, each progressively harder and they totally make me believe I can do this - so I'm excited!

     I got to go to the local quilt shop called Sew Many Quilts to pick out backing fabric today. Here's what I came up with:

     This is a quilt that will belong to a very special little girl.  This is the first of two for a set of twin girls.  I thought I would make them very different from typical frilly girly and then also very different from each other too.  Avoid all the stereotypes!

        The quilt is made out of a collection of fabrics from ConnectingThreads.com, which is sort of like the Knit Picks of fabrics: very cheap but usable.  I figured out why they're so cheap, though.  The thread count isn't as high as some of the nicer cottons.  In fact, I think you can see the difference in the sheen on the backing fabric versus the top I made there.  Also, when you buy their precuts (which they don't charge extra for!) you don't get a very good mix of fabrics.  You get a lot of solids and a lot of weird prints you that don't necessarily "balance" a quilt, if you know what I mean.  I didn't end up using but half of the fabric I'd say.  So does that still make it cheaper if you have to buy twice as many precut packs?  Yes, but not by as much as you'd think.  

     This is the table runner that I showed you here.  It's been done for a while, but I hadn't decided what to back it with.  Isn't this fabric PERFECT???  Even the theme of the fabric, that swoopy leafy feathery design, is very similar to most of the motifs in the fabrics of the runner.  I'm pretty much in love with this times 100, but it's promised to my mom.  Maybe I'll have to make her another so she'll trade me back. :P

    So I've already spray adhesived the quilt sandwich together and I'm experimenting on a scrap with the free motion stuff.  I'm going to have so much fun!  I'll let you guys know how it goes. :)

    What are you working on this weekend?

{Current Goings-on}

Hello all! Oh how I've missed you!  I do read all of what you are doing, even if I'm not writing as much anymore.   I've been busy doing all kinds of post-graduation things.   Like working. (mostly working).

The Job is going well and I have no complaints in that area.  Like any industry I've had to start at the bottom and therefore don't have glorious and exciting things to tell you, but I am learning a TON every day about the world of banking and wealth management.

Hubby and I have been house hunting at the same time and it is SO EXCITING.  This is the one we're eyeing right now:

credit: fair field farms realty

There are more pics of you click the link.  It's not 100% perfect but there are so many things in it that we never thought we'd get.  Major pros: beautiful new kitchen, pantry, fire place, 3brs, refinished hardwood floors, right beside a creek, tons of character. Major cons: not in the area we were looking for, no open floor plan, way over priced, right beside a creek (floor insurance).  We're working on getting officially pre-approved this week and then we'll enter in to the bidding process me thinks.

I've not been doing much at night after I get home because I seem to be totally wiped at the end of every day.  I hope this is not going to be the case forever, because I would like to take back a few of my hobbies. lol  I have had my outlet on the weekends though.

Just today I decided to take my new sewing machine for a spin after I spied this tutorial on Pinterest  (click if you'd like to see what my pinterest is all about) about how to make a zipper pouch on Skip To My Lou.   You see, I have never ever sewn a zipper before and I was WAY scared but the tutorial make it look super easy!  I pulled out my sewing bin and found a few pieces of silky fabric that had coordinated patterns.  I was worried that the fabric wasn't strong enough to hold up as a working pouch so I altered the pattern just a touch and included some scraps of quilt batting to give the fabric substance.  I suppose I also could have interlined it... is that basically what I did?  huh.

The result:

Super cute, right??  the stitching along the zipper isn't perfect, but it's dang good!  I messed up the sides royally once and had to unpick some stitching, but I'm happy with the finished result.

I'm also working on the Tara socks by Janneke Maat in a sock yarn that Jenny sent me AGES ago! (click on her link to read her brag about how she knit a pair of sock in 5 DAYS. Gah!)  I think it was my birthday last year, maybe?  It's called " handfargat sockgarn" and it's really great to work with.  It's durable feeling without being super scratchy.  It is pooling a bit, which is my usual complaint with multi-colour sock yarns, but I'm enjoying the pattern and the yarn anyway. :)

Other than the exciting stuff listed above, my weekend has been filled with laundry, gardening, eating our garden spoils, and time in front of the tv, which is just about as much action as I can handle right now. lol