My First Scrappy Quilt

I have been wanting to make a quilt.  First off, I love fabric!  LOVE.  So I started to look through books and saw this scrappy quilt in a book called "Sunday Morning Quilts", by Amanda Jean Nyberg and Cheryl Arkison.  It's such a cute and more modern looking book.  There are really some antiquated ones that don't do anything for me.  So, I read the directions and went with my style and picked fabrics I love.  I bought small quantities of them over time and had built up a nice little stash.  Very small probably.  I decided if I was going to do it, I had to just jump in.  If I made mistakes, so be it.  So I put all the layers together, basted the quilt and started.  OUCH!!!

Yup, OUCH!  Never again will I use strait pins to baste a quilt that I have to do this much turning around in my sewing machine.  I got stabbed multiple times before I took them all out and used safety pins.  Live and learn, right?

So I just kept sewing the pieces on.  Going and going.  I decided my stash was too small.  So I started looking around ebay and craigslist trying to see If I could get some scraps.  I didn't find anything too promising, or as cheap as I would've liked.  So I started searching for fabric groups on Facebook in search of good deals.  Then, lo and behold someone was offering a box of scraps for super cheap!   The first box I got in the mail wasn't so great.  Sucked, actually.  Then another presented itself, and it was glorious!!!  Amazing!!!  So many dots, stripes, and beautiful vibrant colors!  It was just what I was looking for.  The pieces were really quite small, but perfect for their purpose.  I could've never, ever bought that variety of fabrics for the steal I got it for.

I kept sewing and sewing.  I was very excited about my variety, and took great care to not place any two fabrics too close to one another.  Although, it did happen.  Not sure how.  I think your eyes start to play tricks on you.  I changed things up about half way through the quilt.  I began planning on the floor and pinning the scraps on about a dozen or so at a time, then taking it to my machine and sewing them all on.  Repeated that many, many times.

At about this point it got quite difficult to pick out the next fabric choice.  I kept thinking I was using the same fabric too frequently.  I felt as though; if a fabric was in the center or on one side it shouldn't be in the center or that side again.  Over thinking things much?  Yes, I really was!  I can still see where I think some fabrics are too frequent, but I don't think it's a bad thing anymore.

I even went in search of new fabrics.  I was convinced I needed more variety.  Eh, I could've done ok without them, but they are cute.  I see them blending in so well with all the other scraps.


So here it is all trimmed up around the edges and ready for the binding!  What?!?!  I've never done binding before!!  Lucky for me there are some great online tools and tutorials.  Oh yea, I went and bought a binding tool as well.

So here it is....  All done.  I think it's worth mentioning, I still have a ton of scraps left from that box I bought.  I don't really think I made much of a dent in it at all.

Ta Da!!!!  I'm in love.  Of course binding choice wasn't easy.  I went through a ton of options before I chose and felt great about this one.

The binding had me worried, but it was easy as pie!  I'm anxious to do it again even.

Some more shots for your viewing pleasure.  I am very excited about my first completed quilt.

Very proud, as you can tell by the number of pictures.

I did miss some threads here and there that must be trimmed, but I was too anxious and just had to share!  I hope you enjoyed this project of mine.

Let me know what you think...  

Jules 

My small garden

This is the second year I will have a small garden. This year, I already have a lot more growing than last and I hope it continues to grow every year.  I have red onions at the top of the box and those have been there for a while.  Not really sure what to expect.  They have gotten much bigger.  I have an heirloom tomato plant over on the right and where it looks as if nothing is growing there are carrots planted there.  I have beets, chard, and lettuce growing in the rest of this space.  In the pots I have chives, mint and basil.  I'm gonna need to get some rosemary.

Here is one of my 2 pots with tomatoes.  There are a couple of different ones going.  This is my first tomato of the season.  I had tomatoes growing last year and they were very generous.  We enjoyed and shared a lot of tomatoes.

I just planted a blackberry tree.  Here it is in all it's glory.  It's all of a foot tall and already giving me tons of flowers and berries coming in place of the flowers.  I'm really looking forward to my son picking and enjoying these.  I also have a fig and pomegranate tree planted.  They are just leaves right now, so I didn't bother taking pictures.

Another picture of the blackberries............

Here are my strawberries forming.

A close up of the chard.

The lettuce is coming in quickly.  By far the fastest and seemingly easiest to have.

These are some of things that are coming in nicely.  I also have kale, cilantro, another container with carrots (rainbow variety) and rainbow chard.  I have cucumbers, pumpkin and I feel like I may be leaving out a thing or two.  I have an almost three year old who likes to move my labels so some of the stuff will be a mystery for a while.  It'll be exciting realizing I'm growing something I forgot about at least.  ;)

I haven't shared a post in a while and I think I have just been busy with spring cleaning, gardening and the new thing I picked up:  quilting.  I love doing things around the house during spring time; the air and the greenery is so uplifting.  I hope all of you are inspired to create your own garden from this post if you don't have one already.  As you can see you can start small and start a small container garden, or an herb garden.  It's very rewarding and nice to know where your food is coming from.  

If you are a gardner or are just starting out like me; please share what you love to grow, or some tips.  I'd love to get some fresh ideas, and any tips to make it easier would be great too.   =)  

Jules

Easter/spring tree

I started making these little flowers I got the pattern for from Attic 24.  I was looking for ways to use up all those last little bits of yarn I keep, and don't really know what to do with.  So, I made a few then thought; what am I even gonna do with these!  I loved Lucy's display on her mantel with the little tree limbs and the flowers all over.  I don't have a mantle nor do I have anything that looks like tree limbs.  While I knew I could go out to a craft store and buy some and something to put them in to do something similar, but I don't have the space for anything that large.  So I quit making flowers.

I started making flowers again.........

I made them in pastel and fun spring like colors.  I used all yellow (except the yellow flowers those I used pink) for the middle accent which I sewed on with a tapestry needle.

I started making them again cause I found this precious little spring like tree in the easter section at Target!  I'm sure one like it could be made, but I saw it and figured It would probably not get done as fast as I wanted it.  Especially cause I needed to finish the flowers to put on this tree.  ;)

We are really enjoying the splash of spring in our home.  I'd like to add a few more things around the house but those will have to come a little later.  Happy spring!

Rainbow noir crochet blanket

I finished this blanket up recently. Here is the finished product. I added a simple black border to make it complete. It's a good toddler sized blanket.  I used a simple seed stitch on this one and did 10 rows black then 2 of each color, 10 rows black and so on.  The basic pattern of it allows you to work the rows very easily without needing to count much.  The only thing I really counted past the initial chain was the 10 black rows to make sure I didn't go over or under.

This could be a great project for anyone new to crochet.  It is fun and uses just basic stitches.

Crochet butterflies - mariposa

I had so much fun doing this little project!  I love how this little butterfly came out.  Now to figure out what to do with it.  I found the tutorial on youtube.  It's in spanish, but if you don't speak or understand spanish I think you'd be able to follow it.  She does and excellent job showing it.

Rainbow stripe blanket

My current project.  The inspiration for this blanket comes from a cloth diaper.  I really love rainbows; they remind me of being a kid. This is a very easy project.  It uses sc and a seed stitch.  You work in the spaces making it very easy to work the rows.  

Crafts are theraputic

I have always loved to do crafts.  I've been into scrap-booking, jewelry making, crochet, needle point, sewing, and probably others.  My latest and greatest craft loves are crochet and sewing.  Right now, I am in the process of trying to revamp one of our spare bedrooms into an amazing craft room.  It will be a work in progress for a while.  I will be posting before and after pictures as changes are made.    I have been searching for inspiration along the way, but of course money can be such a downer on getting things exactly the way I want them.    I'd like to invite anyone and everyone to follow my projects and join me through them.   This should be fun!