Friday, August 19, 2011

I Must Be Crazy!

The last project I bought on my Anniversary trip was a kit for a Snake River Log Cabin.  This quilt has THOUSANDS of pieces.  For 2 months now, I have been thinking - "What was I thinking?"  Only to remind myself that I saw this the year before and have loved it each and every time I have seen it.  I think I can, I think I can, I think I can,...

So I started by figuring out how to organize my pieces.  Since I am frugal, I didn't want to spend money on silverware organizers or anything else.  I finally decided to take some empty cereal boxes from the cupboard and create my own organizers.


These are the organizers with the pieces that I cut out while trying to get ready for our Washington D.C. vacation.


Please notice the smallest pieces in the b compartment, they are only 3/4" by 1 1/2".  Again, what was I thinking? 

Yesterday my little girls spent the night with my mother-in-law.  Perfect time to dive into this project so that I would know what I was doing when everyone was around!  Thank you Meemaw.


Here is the one block that I finished yesterday.  It took about an hour and a half to put together.  Each block has 52 pieces and there are 64 of them. 





I also put these partially together.  Maybe I can finish these today. 

I can't wait to finish the quilt, but need to remember to enjoy the whole thing.  This is the kind of project that will make me a better and more confident quilter.  There will definitely be some smaller projects thrown in so that I don't loose interest in this quilt. 

I think I can, I think I can,...

Well I better get back to sewing.

Heather

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Vacationing

It has been a few weeks since I posted, mainly because we were getting ready for our family vacation to Washington D.C.  The trip was fabulous and I found quilt inspiration all around me.

This is on the ceiling of the Lincoln Memorial.  I think it could be a simple quilt with some complicated quilting in the sashing.


This would be way beyond my quilting skill, but maybe something similar.




The fabulous floors in the Library of Congress also had many quilt worthy patterns.  This was my favorite. 


I must make some of these dresses that my little girls played with at Mount Vernon!  They were adorable and lucky for me, did not have a zipper in the back, just ties.

Our vacation was wonderful and much needed family bonding time.  There is so much to see there that even though we walked our legs off, we still had so much more to see.

Yesterday was spent cutting out the many pieces for a Snake River Log Cabin quilt, which I am sure I will be working on for many years.  There are finally enough pieces cut out that I can begin to sew it together.  I am so excited to turn my sewing machine on and finally get to sew something together again!

Time to get to it!

Heather

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

It's Fair Time

Last week was my local county fair.  My children are very involved in 4H and had many projects to get ready and take to the fair.  They raise goats and pigs for their animal projects.  They also take several static projects including decorated cakes and photography. 



This is my 8 year old walking in the parade.  She came home with half of her candy bucket so that she could have some of the candy.  I had to laugh at her logic, since I had already kept a stash in the camper.


This is my oldest daughter showing her market goat. 


My 16 year old showing her pig.


My youngest after a very long and exhausting day of fair!



Finally, these are the projects that I took to fair.  Some of them I have already shown, but some of them were made before I started talking about my sewing adventures.  There are three 1st, three 2nd and one 3rd place ribbons.  My children are always so nervous about getting their projects judged.  I never quite understood this until a few days before the projects were due. 

One thing I discovered when taking this picture is that I must really like orange and brown together.  Taking my projects to the fair to be judged has given me confidence in the quality of my workmanship. 


Heather