It is Finished

It is finished – my first quilt is finished!!!!  For nearly one whole year I have been working on this beauty, and now I have finished!  I started cutting the fabric in March of 2010, and here is what it looked like all laid out.  Note:  I couldn’t actually get the entire thing in one picture because it was so big!

It took Bayley and I over an hour to get this all laid out in the perfect design!

After I laid out the design, I began embroidering a few of the squares with flowers.  Here is what one of them looks like.

This was the last square I embroidered, and I finished it in April of 2010

 Once I got all of my squares embroidered, it was time to start piecing my rows together.  I am not exactly sure how long that process took, but I know I was finished piecing it together in the early part of summer.  It was either May or June.  Well, when I finished I kind of put the quilt top aside and didn’t really think about it for a while.  When I started thinking about it again, though, I ran into a problem.  I called to make an appointment to get it quilted, and she was unable to get me in until late August!!  So, I made the appointment and just sat tight.  It actually worked out pretty well because it took me about that long to find the perfect backing.  : )

Once quilted, the next task was to get it bound.  My mom helped out by attaching the binding, but I was responsible for sewing it closed (by hand!).  So, after many hours of hard labor, blood (I did actually stitch my finger to the binding once – I don’t recommend it!), sweat, and tears, I finished the last binding stitch in the 11 o’clock hour of Monday, February 21, 2011 while watching Aliens with Joel.  And here, my friends, is the finished beauty.

Here she is! All finished and cozy at home on my bed!

She fits a twin bed, and she’s super cozy!  I have been trying to think of a name for her, but I am not coming up with a winner.  I want the name to have something to do with flowers, since every square is a floral print.  Do you all have any suggestions??  Please post your ideas!

Oh, and here is just one last picture with all of my pillows and my headboard so you can get the full effect.  : )  And remember my headboard?  I actually planned that headboard for this quilt.  I was a bit more efficient at getting the headboard finished, though (June  of 2010)!

It is great to see a dream come to fruition!

A Baby Log Cabin

As promised in #4 – here is a picture of the quilt top I completed during the snow days!

It is supposed to measure at a perfect 42" square, but as you can see... it's a little off : )

I hadn’t ever made a log cabin quilt before, and I did not know much going into it, but I think it turned out pretty well!  I did have a bit of difficulty getting it to come out perfectly square, but it’s all part of the process!  I’m excited to get it quilted and bound, but I’m not sure what color and design of material I would like for the backing!

Any suggestions?

Here is a close-up of the material I used for the quilt top!

Signature Color Palette

I follow Mollie Johanson’s blog, Wild Olive, and I was really inspired by her recent post, “goal:  create a signature color palette“.  It made me decide that at 22 years of age, I should have my own signature color palette, so here it is:

I hope the photo quality allows you to get the full effect of the color palette!

I chose my 15 colors from DMC Embroidery Floss, and here is the list:

154 = Very Dark Grape
315 = Medium Dark Antique Mauve
434 = Light Brown
729 = Medium Old Gold
781 = Very Dark Topaz
830 = Dark Golden Olive
833 = Light Golden Olive
838 = Very Dark Beige Brown
840 = Medium Beige Brown
842 = Very Light Beige Brown
3740 = Dark Antique Violet
3787 = Dark Brown Gray
3799 = Very Dark Pewter Gray
3802 = Very Dark Antique Mauve
3861 = Light Cocoa

My first craft goal with my palette is to create a wall hanging that is done with Doodle Stitching!  When I complete the project, I will make sure to post it for you all!

Fabric Flowers

Every Thursday night my friend Kristen and I have a ”date night”.  I have known Kristen since the day she was born, and next month we will celebrate the 22nd year of our friendship!  It is so great and such a blessing that we get this time together every week to share life, grow in Christ, and to just be.  We always fix a meal together, and sometimes we watch a movie or make crafts or just simply sit and talk.  No matter what we do, it is always such an enjoyable time.

At any rate… we recently decided to make some crafts and chose this tutorial to make fabric flowers!  The tutorial was fairly easy to follow, and we had a great time making them!  Here’s how they turned out!

I tied a piece of twine around them and placed them in this mailbox I have on my bedroom wall!

Here is a closer view! The pattern is great because it allows you to make either a rose bud or a full bloom!

 

 

Diaper Cake

To further my evidence as a craft-dealer (see #7), my friend Jannell asked me this past weekend if I would be interested in helping her make a diaper cake.  As I was her go-to girl for crafties, I said “of course!”  However, upon agreeing to do this, I had to google what a diaper cake actually was.  It turns out that it is in fact a cake made of diapers.  Who knew?

At any rate, we fashioned a cake with 76 diapers, 3 bottles of baby products (lotion, shampoo, and diaper cream), a few rolls of ribbon, and a hot glue gun!  Here is our finished product:

Even though I took part in making it, I think it is one of the cutest things EVER!

We had such a good time crafting it, and I will definitely be making these in the future!  SO CUTE!