Quilting

In recent years I have discovered a new love...

Funny how my hobbies evolve.

After I got marred I took up cross stitching and did tons of that.  

Then I started toll painting with my friend Angie.  We sawed and sanded and created and painted all kind of things.  We did craft bazaars and  then painted some more.  It was tons of fun that turned into tons of work.  My kids were little tiny guys back then and I spent all of nap time painting and creating.  I even took some classes and spent tons of money on patterns and books and paints and brushes and whatever else I needed to keep me busy.  I hate to think of how many board feet of wood I went through.  

Eventually I got tired of that...well, not so much tired of it as I got started on something new.  

Scrapbooking

Scrapbooking was the best ever and I went through the same motions of collecting ALL the stuff I could to use to create my awesome pages.  I got into this with my BFF Nan.  We spent hours every thursday dragging our little kiddos to each others houses to spend the day scrapping together.

I have to say this was probably the best hobby because the end result was a history for our family.  Also some of the best memories for me.

Sadly my kiddos got big enough and Nan and I both got jobs and the free time for scrapping came to an end.  

Then she totally KILLED the dream by moving away.  Ok, it was her husbands fault.  I still blame him.

Anyway, I still have all my stuff and I have an ongoing dream of getting "caught up" but I'm not doing much with it.  I do still love it and someday I will get to it~I hope.

Now to my new love...

Quilting

I'm not very good at it but I do love to make them.  I usually just make up a pattern and go for it but occasionally I use a real pattern.  I have a couple that I have done that I am really happy with.  I made one for all my kids for their senior year.  Jordan's wasn't super awesome because I was really new at it but it was still a little awesome. The other 3 kiddos were really cool.  Not perfect, but perfect for them.

Daisy's and flip flops.  (That was definitely Kenzie.)

Justin's-hockey/Boston Bruins and Batman
(because those go together right?)

Colten's-soccer
(this one has pictures of him from 3-senior year)

(Sadly Jordan's pictures were pre digital, or probs on my old computer)

I'm currently working on one that I am really excited about.  And a little scared.  I guess we will see how it turns out.  It's one I found on pinterest.  I liked it so much that I ordered the actual pattern instead of trying to make it up.  I'm just in the beginning stages of making it now.  The funny thing about pinterest quilting,
I can pin the quilts at rapid speed.  I have tons of them on there I love, but doubt I will ever make very many of them.  At least it is good for ideas.  

The biggest problem with this little hobby is that it is a very expensive one.  The tops aren't too bad but the batting, backing, and mostly the quilting are ridiculous.
 That would be why I have 4 or 5 tops done and folded up and put in a closet.

I have started learning free motion quilting. That is doing the actual quilting part on my little sewing machine.  It is really kind of fun.  I've only done small ones, but people actually do up to king size quilts this way.  

Maybe someday.

After a lot of practice.

A LOT OF IT!

My cute niece Hannah (one of my favorite girls ever) got a sewing machine for Christmas this year.  Grandma helped her make a pair of pajama pants and I told her I would help her make a quilt.  

Yesterday was the day.

She came over in the morning and picked her fabric out of my scrap box and we picked a design and away we went.  We just did a small lap quilt so it wasn't too much for her to handle.  She is new to sewing and straight lines can sometimes be a problem.  Who am I kidding, sometimes they are a problem for me!

After we got the top done I had enough leftover batting from other projects we were able to piece together so we actually go to finish the project.  She did all of the sewing herself until the machine quilting part.  That took both of us.  It can be tricky to feed that through sometimes.

In the end we got it all done and I think she is pretty happy with it.

Maybe I have helped create another quilter for this world!

Somebody has to keep us all warm right?

That's All!