Confessions of an understuffer

Well, I finally finished my Hexagon Caddy from Penny's tutorial. It was a lot of fun!   It is much larger than I was anticipating. But I guess in order for it to hold supplies it has to be, otherwise it would fall over.

Mine!

However, the way I stuffed it is pretty awful.  My points aren't pointy and the sides don't pooch out like they are supposed to. But it is done and it is mine and I love it anyway.

I posted it (and all of its imperfections) on Penny's Pincushion Parade.

Thanks Penny for posting the tutorial. Love it!

Royce's Dinosaur Quilt

Royce!

My now 5 year old nephew, Royce, LOVES dinosaurs.  When he was 3 his big sister, Gabriella,  asked him at Thanksgiving what he was thankful for. He raised his arms up and yelled "DINOSAURS". So, I figured I couldn't go wrong with a quilt with those giant creatures. I searched the internet tirelessly for the "perfect pattern". I had decided I didn't want cartoon like ones and was not comfortable enough with designing my own.  So, I found a fabulous pattern booklet called:  Dinosaurs, Stomp Chomp & Roar, by Pam Manning. Perfection! Seriously.  I highly recommend it.  It can be found here.  I also saw it at my LQS when I was home recently. So check yours, too!

This was a labor of love.  Mostly love, though. ;-) I decided to make the quilt large enough to fit his full size bed. This would be the biggest quilt I have made yet. It was a giant. I chose to do fusible web applique, even though the book called for something else. One of the cool things about the pattern is that it has 3D parts to it. Some of the legs move as well as the top parts, you know, the sharp 'fin-like' things on their backs. It is really cool.  I was concerned about my pieced sashing at first. Looking at it before it was sewed to the blocks, it looked way to bright. Now, seeing it all together, it is just right. :)

I sent it to a longarm quilter in Dubai. She did a fabulous job. She even quilted dinosaur shapes into the 4 corners. Love it, love it, love it.  I had to steal it away from my husband.

Here are a lot of pics, including some of the details.

ignore the hay and lint.

My label, complete with a thimble sewn in!
It's these extra special touches that mean so much.



The black dotted fabric is done in layers and is not attached to the foundation.
This is one of my favorites.



His head could move, if I hadn't tacked it down.
Although, this did go to a 5 year old boy, it may not even have a head now.



His teeth are rick-rack. His right lower leg moves!




His left lower leg moves, too!

 

The orange colored part is 3D, it is not attached to the foundation either.



  

Another favorite.
That 'fin-like' thing is really cool. The technique is awesome.
Click on picture for close-up. It's kind of textured, maybe
it is called pintucking?

A Sampling of my recently completed quilts.

I am finally back home!  I returned home to Oman about a week ago, now just trying to get used to the time difference. Texas is 10 hours behind Oman. Traveling to Houston is much easier than traveling from there.  Takes me at least a week to re-adjust.  I am starting to feel normal again.  I haven't even taken a nap in the past 2 days!

Anyway, my quilts were a huge success. I think everyone loved them. I even received an Accuquilt GO! cutter in exchange for one of them! WoW!  Was. Not. Expecting. That. At. All. Thank you cousins, Sharon and Stacy!

Here are the pics!  More details to follow.


 
 

 

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Stomp! Chomp! Roar!
The Dinosaur quilt for my 5 year old nephew, Royce.
He loved it! I'll post more details and more photos later!



Close up of one of my favorite blocks.



Baby Quilt.





Aja's Spring Flower quilt. Aka "my GO!-getter quilt"



 



The back.



Christmas Quilt Show 2010

I have been in a mad rush to finish my Christmas gifts as I am leaving for Texas in 2 days!  Here are 3 of the goodies I am going to give to  3 of my very special cousins! 

I am also participating in SewCalGal's Christmas Quilt Show. There are many gorgeous things to see. Go take a look!

Pattern is from Majestic Splendor ... Got the kit from here.
 Edit:  The pattern design is from a company called Mount Redbout designs, their Majestic Splendor line.



The apron even has 2 pockets! 



The picture is  crooked. oops.





Here is the link to SewCalGal's site.  Enter your christmas pretties, too! 

Spring Sampler Quilt in progress

 I have been sewing in my hotel room.  See! 

I had precut the sashing pieces and cornerstones at home, and sewed them together here in Dubai. I wish I would have brought the setting triangles with me....I could have finished the quilt top!  But, no, there they sit on my cutting table at home.  I got the pattern from the online shop hop.  I really liked the pattern, but now... not so much. It wasn't really fun to put together and I am not totally happy with my choice of sashing color. The good news?  I used everything from my stash, except for the white, dotty background.. This quilt is planned for the 10 year old granddaughter of one of my cousins. I hope she likes it.

Today I plan to work on the finishing details of my dinosaur quilt that I am making for my nephew, adding buttons, stitching 'mouths', etc. Hopefully, can show a progress photo tomorrow.

Cheers!

Please let me win! please.

Yes, another GO! giveaway.  Surely, THIS is the one.

Please go to this lovely blog, Lavender Ridge, and enter.  http://lavenderridge.blogspot.com/2010/11/go-giveaway.html#comment-form

Good luck!

View from my hotel room... Dubai skyline

Ignore the sand/dirt on the hotel window...

I live in the Middle East.  In a country most people (that I know of) have never heard of... Oman.  Not to be confused with city of Amman which is in Jordan.

So, to review...   Oman = a country, Amman = a city. 

My mother has an interesting story about telling the two apart..... let's just say she is geographically challenged also.

Anyway, my husband and I drove the 4 hours to Dubai yesterday. He has a conference here all next week.  So, I brought my sewing machine.  You see I am going back to the United States for Thanksgiving and am bringing back lots of homemade gifts.  And, um,  I need to finish them.  This will require lots of late nights. 

I'll post pics of my works in progress later in the week.  Now, time for lunch...

Cheers!

Aren't these fabrics gorgeous?

Little Miss Shabby is offering a GiveAway!  Go enter!  http://littlemissshabby.blogspot.com/2010/11/summer-in-city-giveaway.html#comment-form

It's Time for the AccuQuilt GO Giveaway

It's Time for the AccuQuilt GO Giveaway

I really, really, really want to win one of these! I couldn't tell you how many give-aways I have participated in, because it's too many to count. But, it could happen this time, right?

Stacked Coin Quilt I - for friend's new baby

Oz fabric line from Moda.

This is the baby quilt I gave to an online friend who's baby is due early November.  I mailed her the quilt several weeks ago. She was very surprised! I am waiting for the baby to be born so that I can send the quilt's label. My friend also quilts so she will be able to attach it herself.

I found the tutorial here at Moda Bake Shop, the pattern is by Rachel Griffith of p.s. i quilt.  Love her blog.

This is also the first quilt that I quilted and really liked the end product.  I always can find "something" wrong.  But, this one, is pretty good.  I am now a big fan of straight line quilting. I like the look... clean and simple.



the back

 

close-up of quilting

How do you all keep up?!?

Okay, bloggers... how do you all do it? How do you keep up with your posting?  I find I spend my days LOOKING at other peoples' blogs.  Oh, how I enjoy it.   How do you find the time to write on your own?  I have never been much of a journal writer, so maybe that is part of the problem.  But, I really want to document my quilt making trials and accomplishments.

I really also want to participate in the Blogger's Quilt Festival.  I hope to get my dinosaur quilt pictures up soon.  I'll tell more about it at that time.

In the meantime, I will post a few of my other quilts I have completed.

Have a great day!

Green Fairy Quilts: All Jelly Rolls only $25.95 - and $3 Turnovers!!!!!!!

Who doesn't love a sale?!

Green Fairy Quilts: All Jelly Rolls only $25.95 - and $3 Turnovers!!!!!!!

Excuses from a non-posting blogger

A month!  Yes, a month, since I last posted. Pitiful, isn't it?

Although, the reasons for my 'non-posting' is quite sad.  My mother-in-law died unexpectedly shortly after starting this blog.  So, me and my husband hopped on a plane for the ~20 hour plane trip back to Texas.  Her funeral was September 21st, which happened to be my 8th wedding anniversary. 

We stayed in Texas for about 4 weeks.  I did manage to stop by some quilt shops (oh how I miss these) and buy about 50 pounds worth of fabric and sewing accesories. I know the weight because we don't want the dreaded "overweight"  baggage fee.  So we hook our bags on a fish scale to weigh them.

We are now back in Oman, thankfully.  I have actually started cutting the fabric for a baby quilt. I'll show work in progress pictures soon.

Take care!

Alderwood Quilts: September Giveaway

Alderwood Quilts: September Giveaway: "This is my golden retriever, Jaeger (pronounced YA-ger). No- I'm not giving him away. This picture shows Jaeger with his favorite pillow. ..."

Remembering 9/11

The big question today seems to be "Where were you when the towers were hit?" Me? I was at home getting ready for work. I had scheduled to go in late as I was needing to get an estimate on some houshold repairs.

 I had the morning news shows on. I saw the second plane hit live. I sat there with my mouth wide open in disbelief. All I could think of were those poor people still in those buildings and all the rescue workers who had gone into help. And then the pentagon. And then Pennsylvania. 

For the next several days I was glued to the news stations. I couldn't sleep. I also worked in a government building (the largest government facility after the pentagon). I remember lots of security measures, checking cars and id's and baricades. I also remember lots of patriotism, lots of pride, lots of American flags. I remember President Bush at Ground Zero responding to the firefighters who couldn't hear what he was saying. "I can hear you, the rest of the world hears you. And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon."

Several months later, I took my first flight after 9/11. I remembered the people in those planes and wondered what they must have gone thru when they realized what was happening. I cried.

The innaugural post

This is a test. More to come!