Quilt Updates

Little Grace's 100 Wishes Quilt is complete.  She is a sweet little 4-year old who will soon be snuggling with her very own twin-size quilt.  Each square is 8".

 Of course we had to make a custom label for the little one.  I must say the hand embroidery has greatly improved.  I really enjoy it now and love new challenges for different stitches and even cursive fonts. 

I got new labels!  Love them.  I actually ordered two sets.  The navy blue (above) I ordered from a lovely Etsy seller, The Dancing Needle.  I wasn't sure about fonts and colors and such so I also ordered from Namemaker (pink ones below).   They both come to about $1/label after shipping.  Of course nothing beats Tracy's personal service and no minimum order.  For example, I just ordered 5 of the navy ones just to see what they were like.  Namemaker is a huge company and I think I have about 35 of the pinks to use. 

Which is fine because I like them.  But if I didn't that would be bad. 

I just like to give ya the low-down because it took me about a gazillion years to settle on these heavy decisions.  I'm very indecisive. 
 

Melodie's quilt is also coming along nicely.  The quilt top is done.  I love the applique here.  I just ordered the flannel backing and so excited to put it all together. 

Sorry for the yucko pictures.  Dropping major hints on a new camera for my upcoming birthday.  Husband are you reading this?

Next on the to-do list:  three pillows and a boy quilt of bicycles!  Sooo excited as I have wanted this fabric for Nino's quilt for quite some time.  And now I have an excuse to buy it.  Hooray!

Enjoy these lovely, lovely end-of-summer days.  Say yes to going outside even if it totally messes up your schedule.  You won't regret it.  Just sayin'.

xoxo

Love Thy Neighbor

I think I'm a bit of an introvert, as most sewists out there tend to be.  Just give me my machine and fabric and I'm happy for hours.  But there's something about getting together with friends, old and new, that just really fuels me. 

I think that's why I love shows like Friends - people just enjoying one another and mutual commraderie.  The laughs, the tears... God created us to be with others, not isolated in sewing bunkers. 

So as summer is winding down I feel like there's a few things we just haven't done enough of.  One of them is entertaining.  We used to have people over at least monthly but excuses, excuses... we just haven't been as frequent lately. 

Until now!  I organized a Progressive Dinner Party with three other neighbors/couples and it was GREAT!  It's been almost a week now and I'm still riding this wave of excitement.  It was like living in sitcom land where the food was great, the laughs were abundant, and everyone just really enjoyed one another. 

 We had drinks and appetizers.  Yes!  I fretted a while about what to serve, how to serve it, etc.  I asked for suggestions on Facebook the night before and got some great responses.  I finally decided to go with Baked Brie. 

 It was super easy.  And looked super awesome.  Well I made two of them and the one at the bottom here on the blue cake stand did not look as awesome but it tasted great!  Again, very easy recipe.  Check out the link.

So the night continued with much success and I must say I loved it.  We ended up next door around the fire eating peach cobbler.  A fantastic night all around.  If I may urge you to organize something as well, you will not regret it.  And do so while it's still nice out so you can entertain outdoors and not have to clean the house.  wink, wink. 

I currently have two commissioned quilts going.  One is consisting of the above colors.  Holy Vibrance, Batman!  I'm so excited to be working with such electric colors.  The client must have a very exuberant personality because not many people go this bold for a baby.  I can not wait to see the finished product.  The fabric should arrive any day now.  I can barely wait to get started!

 Back to people... here is my husband's aunt from Italy.   We have had such a lovely time visiting with her and her husband.  Oh how I wish I could speak with them.  My Italian is limited to yes, thank you, and shoes.  Not really conversational, per se.   But we would take walks around my father-in-laws gardens, peach trees, and sit at the table fussing over the baby together.  At least I think that's what we were gesturing about....

I hope she knows how much we love her even though I could only tell her she had on shoes. 

Back to sewing... my other current commissioned quilt is for a little girl who has been adopted from China.  Her family here wanted to make her a "good luck quilt".  So the client sent 100 squares from various family members consisting of different novelty-type fabrics.  Lots of ladybugs, butterflies, etc.  This is only a portion of it as it will be much bigger than my little design wall can hold at one time.  I try to make the larger quilts in sections and then stitch them together.  I LOVE when the quilts have a story.  Getting to know my clients through fabric and the history and how it came to be is really the best part of this little gig. 

And now I must start sewing these squares together.  Nap time is coming to an end and I need to have a little more to show for it!  ;)