Projects Archives - Page 158 of 217

Early Bird Quilt Top

October 24, 2011 jennifer Quilting and Sewing

Remember my stack of fabric from last week? It’s now a quilt top.

This is one of two quilts I promised myself I’d make in/for the fall. I intended to do it in September, but as you can see, I’m running behind.

The pattern I used is Merry-Go-Round by American Jane . I also bought their set of equilateral rulers because I didn’t have any. It made the cutting fast and easy. Rather than purchase three jelly rolls (yikes, expensive!) I used yardage I already had. I made the quilt a little bit smaller, taking off three rows, but it’s still a big quilt.

One of my favorite elements of this quilt is the addition of tape measure prints from the Tailor Made collection. They add a lot to the quilt and I’m glad I chose to include them.

The big question now is how to quilt it. If I knew how to do free motion quilting, I’d probably opt for that, but this quilt would be too big to learn on, and I’m sure I’d ruin it. So I’m going back to finish another quilt while I think about this one.

Hopeful Homemaker

4 comments quilting

Monday and a Stack of Fabric

October 17, 2011 jennifer Musings on Life and Beauty, Quilting and Sewing

This morning I woke up intending to work like crazy on cleaning the house so I can afford time for yard work later in the week. Usually I enjoy cleaning, or at least the results of cleaning. Today, however, I was all out-of-sorts emotionally and found myself feeling irritated with my children while I was cleaning. Instead of enjoying the process I felt frustrated with them for being sloppy.

That’s never a good thing to feel, especially when you know that four of them have major projects to work on after school today, and when you also know that it’s going to take patience and persistence to get them all going. {And even then there may be a battle.} It will never work if I’m frustrated with them before I even pick them up.

Please tell me you have days like that, days when everything that’s wrong feels really wrong and everything that’s right feels wrong anyway. Days when reminding yourself that everything is, in reality, great does nothing to squelch the tears pricking behind your eyes. No particular reason, just cloudy on the inside, I guess.

So I took a break.

I’ve had a large stack of 44 inch strips of fabric sewn together for weeks. It’s for a quilt I wanted to make in September. Today I ironed them and cut them into triangles. While I did it, I opened all the windows in my studio (the sunniest room in the house) and enjoyed a gentle breeze and bright light.

Somehow it worked. I don’t know if it’s the sunshine, or a stack of triangles that will never again be 44 inch strips (unlike the laundry, which will shortly be dirty again). Perhaps it was just the steady cutting of fabric at the same angle for an hour or so. Whatever it was, it cleared my mind and calmed my heart.

I picked the children up with a happy heart. Two are now working cheerfully, one is working resentfully, and the other has yet to start. At least their mother isn’t grouchy, although the family room still needs to be vacuumed. I think it was time well spent.

Just look at all those warm, yummy colors. I’m excited to sew them together.

Fabric is Early Bird, by Cosmo Cricket, with a little bit of their Tailor Made collection thrown in. It’s been out for a while, and I’m finally using it!

Hope your Monday has gone well.
Jennifer

Elsie’s Blessing

October 10, 2011 jennifer Decorating, Entertaining, Parties

A couple of weeks ago when my brother got married, I mentioned that we also hosted a gathering for another brother. He and his little family traveled from Mississippi to be with us, and while they were here they blessed their new little baby, Elsie. We were honored to host the blessing in our home, and it was so kind of Christa’s family to come here and join us for the event.

I knew I’d only have a few minutes to prep for the blessing but I wanted it to be nice. I wanted to do something for Brent and Christa that showed them we love and support them, and I wanted things to look nice for Christa’s family. That can be tricky when you also have three other four other families staying with you, but I think we managed.

I built the decor around two things, the vintage tablecloth with green and turquoise flowers, and the Elsie banner. I used all white dishes, simple plates and napkins, and we had milk and water to drink. Too late I thought about finding some little milk bottles to serve drinks in, with striped paper straws. It would have been perfect, but I couldn’t find what I was picturing, at least not disposable or cost effective.

Christa’s family brought the food, so we had it all prepped before they came and it only took about 3 minutes to arrange.

Much as I love cupcakes, it was kind of nice to see something as simple as cookies being served. They were delicious, and a variety of cookies were offered. My personal favorite: molasses.

The banner was fun and easy to make. I tore some pages out of my vintage dictionary and cut them into triangles. I then glued some glitter to the edges and stamped the letters with rubber stamps and ink. We simply stapled them to the aqua ribbon and I used the large silver urns to anchor them on each side of the food. They provided just enough height for the banner to hang over the cookies. At the end of the evening I put both the banners in a bag and sent them home with Elsie’s family.

We made a second banner and set up a second table in the backyard for the children and others who would want to sit out there. I set up a couple of tables with chairs and tied aqua sashes around the chairs. And then I forgot to take a single picture. I guess that’s what happens when you get busy playing hostess.

On the other end of the counter near the drinks I got out my silver glittered baby letters and took a walk around the yard for some fresh flowers to cut.

In the end, I think everyone had a great time. People visited and lingered, and seemed to enjoy themselves. It was such a great day. And my payment for it all? Holding beautiful little Elsie. Oh, she is precious.

Brent and Christa, thank you so much for sharing such a special day with us! We love you and miss you and think you’re amazing.

Jennifer