Happy Halloween!

Have a safe and happy Halloween everyone!!

Baby quilt

I love making baby quilts!!

 This one was a lot of fun.  It was the first time I used such a modern pattern.  I really enjoyed making the blocks.

I got the pattern here, and will definitely make this quilt again!!

Of course, we can't forget the label!!

We will be delivering this quilt to baby Eva very soon.  I can't wait to see her!!

 I have linked up to TGIFF!  Please head on over and check out some other fab finishes on this terrific Friday!!

Miss Perfect...

I am known in my family as being a perfectionist.  If I try something and don't get it perfect the first time, that's it, I don't do it again.

I have tried machine quilting before.  I took a course for machine quilting on my domestic machine.  I really like stitching in the ditch or doing straight lines where I can use my walking foot. When using the free motion foot, I couldn't get the stitch length even and couldn't get the curves down.  So I don't do free motion quilting.

My mom has a long arm quilting machine.  She has been quilting with it for 12 years now.  She has been bugging asking me to try it for years.  I did give it a go when she first got her Gammill.  I did one row of apples.  Let me tell you, they were some pretty square apples!!  

So of course you can guess, being a perfectionist, I didn't want to touch the machine again... until today!

While reading all of these blogs where people talk about doing machine quilting, I decided I should give the Gammill another try.  After all, I am so lucky to have this machine at my disposal, and for free!  

I made a quilt this past summer (for me!) and decided I should try quilting it myself.  Of course, I needed to practice first!

So, today was the day!  We had this charity quilt that needed to be quilted.  What better to practice something new!

As you can probably tell, I am not too thrilled with my work.  After the first row it was very difficult for me to keep going, but I did!  I did the whole quilt myself!

To be honest, I didn't really enjoy it.  It was very difficult for me to deal with the emotions I was feeling. Part of me really wants to do this, but the perfectionist in me says, you can't do it right, so just get mom to do it for you.  I was mad and frustrated with myself because I didn't have fun and I wanted to quit.  

I am really happy I finished the little quilt though and didn't give up.

I will quilt on the long arm again... I just need a little more practice and lots of time...

10 years!!

10 years ago I married my Prince Charming!  I swear it feels like only yesterday.

We have made so many memories already and I really can't wait to see what the future holds for us.

10 years ago, quilting was already a very important part of my life.

We had a quilt hanging at our wedding reception.  It was a maple leaf lap quilt that I made.  Unfortunately I need to scan the pictures of it, so hopefully I can post them at a later date to show you.

The quilt pictured in the header for my blog was my gift to my husband on our wedding day.  It is a rail fence quilt made of beautiful fall fabrics.  My mom helped me finish it on time!

We also had people sign quilt blocks, in lieu of a guest book.

I love scrap quilts so my mom and I made up some signature blocks out of muslin and scraps.

We asked everyone to write us a message and sign a block that would eventually become part of a quilt.

Everyone had a very special message for us.

Now this quilt sits on a quilt rack in our room.

I take it off the rack every year and we like to read the messages and remember how much fun we had on October 13th, 2001, with all of our closest friends and family.

Happy Anniversary Marty!  Here's to many more years of wedded bliss, and quilting too!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I have been busy since my last post with the family, work and a little bit of quilting.  

I helped finish Catherine's quilt so that she could have it this weekend.  It is a gift for a friend.  I forgot to take pictures of our masterpiece but she promised to take some of the quilt with its rightful owner!

I have also been working on these little projects...

That's a sneak peek at the gifts I am making for the teachers for Christmas.

It is Thanksgiving weekend here.  This is one of my favorite holidays.  It's a great time to be with family and spend time together.

Hope you all enjoy a wonderful weekend too!!