Ugly Quilt Contest

Natalia over at Piece N Quilt is sponsoring an Ugly Quilt Contest. What a great idea! Although this quilt of mine isn't totally finished (I still need to quilt it), I thought I'd enter it anyway.

I present to you my ugly submission (the quilt, not the kids - they're pretty darn cute):


This was my very first finished quilt top. I had this idea in my head to do a strip quilt in red and blue for my son's room, but then I started adding other colors that just aren't cohesive in this quilt. I should have known after putting my design together. Yikes!

There's this awesome painting of the solar system hanging on the wall that served for inspiration. I also made some curtains, which I like much better. My idea was to use the same colors in both the curtains and the quilt, but obviously I had no clue what I was doing.


The sad thing is that I'm sure I'll end up using it on his bed anyway and try to come up with a way to salvage it. I'm too cheap to toss out the fabric. Plus, I spent WAY too much time on those rocket appliqués.


Word of advice: you know you have an ugly quilt on your hands when you tell your husband about entering this contest by submitting the aforementioned quilt and he doesn't object, but rather supports you in your decision. =)

Buttercup Bag Redo

More of Jessica Jones' fabric was on sale at JCarolineCreative so I snatched some up (like this and this).

It came in the mail on Saturday so I decided to make another buttercup bag last night after the kids were in bed.


I enlarged the pattern two inches on all sides. I also re-purposed a cotton canvas curtain for the lining. (The curtains were a nasty puce green that I tried dyeing blue for my new bedroom color scheme. That didn't work and they turned out gray. But, they were the perfect weight for the lining and I was happy to put some of that fabric to good use.) Like the previous bag, I made two pockets for the inside because one just isn't enough.


I also doubled the width of the strap to make it more substantial, but afterwards realized that a tad thinner would have been better for sitting on my shoulder. This time I sewed the strap between the inner and outer layers halfway through the process rather than just attaching it to the inside as the last step. I inserted the ends upside down the first time and had to unpick and resew them. Kind of a pain because I hate unpicking. But it worked out just fine.


On the last bag I made, I didn't top stitch around the top edge of the purse and I wish I had. So this time, instead of just doing a plain stitch, I used my machine's asterisk-looking stitch (one of my favorites) to give it a little more personality.


I'm really pleased with how this one turned out. I thought I did a pretty good job on the first one, but now that I've made another, I can see more of the flaws in the first one. But, they say practice makes perfect...and I have lots more canvas to put to use.

Finished Spring Quilt

I finally finished my spring quilt and accompanying accessories (I started it January 20). I learned a lot of things that I plan to do differently the next go around, but I'm pleased with the end results.

Here is the bed all put together. I made the quilt, pillowcases, and smaller pillow covers for the orange pillows. The mister painted the wall.




I wanted to do something a little less common for the curtains, but couldn't find a tutorial online that I liked or that would work. I like to sleep in the dark (like pitch black dark) so I needed curtains to cover the entire window. Unfortunately, I didn't take the time to line this fabric so it's not pitch black, but still dark enough for me to sleep comfortably.


I made the binding out of the blue and teal matching fabrics and alternated it around the quilt. I thought binding a quilt would be the worst part, but it wasn't bad at all.



I'm excited to get started on my next project, but I think I need a few days off first. Also, I need to do the first block in the Jelly Roll Sampler Quilt Along, but that can wait a few days too.

After watching me do all this quilting, the mister told me that he wants to try making one too. Woohoo!

Getting close

I spent the day yesterday quilting our spring quilt and sewing the binding strips together. I was having problems getting my walking foot to work a few weeks ago so I started quilting the quilt by hand. It was taking forever. I talked to one of the ladies at the sewing shop and she showed me what I was doing wrong. I should have talked to her before spending three days hand quilting. Oh well. The goal today is to attach the binding and finish the quilt! Once that's done, I just have to finish the throw pillows and decide whether to sew the curtains or just buy some new ones that will match the color scheme. I can see the end in sight. It's only been a couple months in the making. Sheesh!

On Saturday night, I cut the layer cake and jelly roll for the Make Life quilt I'll make once my bedroom is finally put together.