Embroidery – Kelly's Kwilts

April Goals

I would absolutely LOVE to get another quilt finished this month! 🙂 I actually have 2 goals this month, I want to finish my Good Night Irene quilt that I basted last month, and I would like to start working on my blue and white challenge quilt for guild. I have the quilt designed, and I need to stitch out blocks on the embroidery machine.

I also have a commission quilt that I need to have done for next month, but I don’t know an exact due date yet, as soon as the fabric I ordered gets here I’m going to get to work on that too, the top should be done by the end of the month. So many things that need to be done this month, but I don’t think there’s a lot going on around here and I might get a lot of time to work on projects this month.

Linking up with Elm Street Quilts.

January OMG

I know I haven’t been around for awhile, I kinda skipped the month of December when it came to sewing. I had exactly 1 project that I made for Christmas, however I spent a couple of days stitching out candy cane holders for the kids to give their friends at school. I made ornaments for the teachers, but it looks like I didn’t get any pictures of them.

For January, I have 3 items I want to get basted and quilted. 2 table runners that I’m not yet sure what I want to do with and a table topper that will be listed for sale in my etsy shop. I want to start out the year with some small wins before I get into the larger quilts I have left to finish. Not sure if these 3 items will be on my 2018 UFO challenge yet, depends on if they are done before the next guild meeting or after. 🙂 I have the table topper basted today and hope to get started quilting it in the next day or so.

Linking up to Elm Creek Quilts OMG.

Etsy Shop

A few years ago I created a shop on Etsy intending on putting items up for sale, and I just never got around to it. Last year I started listing items that I make on the embroidery machine and every couple of weeks I add new items. Today I listed this cute Love Bunting. It ends up about a foot long once it’s on the ribbon. Come on over and check out what’s available!

New Start

So I finished a quilt this week, that means I can start a new one right? LOL. I have 2 small quilts sitting here basted and ready to be quilted and another that’s been quilted and just needs binding. Do I work on either of those today? Heck no! I started a new quilt that I designed in EQ recently. These are all the 2.5″ squares I need to do the 84 small 4-patches and I need to decide what I’m going to use for the 21 4-patches made from 4.5″ squares. I’m thinking I might use a charm pack I have sitting here, I’ll think about it for a while since I need to finish putting these together first. I pulled 108 white and 108 colored 2.5″ squares from the bins to put these together and would you believe that I had very few duplicates in the colored squares? The whites I don’t have a lot of, but I don’t mind duplicates in those since it’ll be spread out and they are white on white so the texture is all the same. Hoping to get all the small 4 patches done tonight while I watch the Cavs game – after the kids go to bed of course!

I’ve had the embroidery machine going all day stitching out some new lace designs I bought. It’ll be another banner/bunting for my etsy shop that I’d like to get posted tomorrow. The last design is on the machine now – for the fourth time! I think I need the machine needs a tune up, but I’d have to pay to have someone come to the house to do it, I can’t get it out of the room anymore! I need to do some research, maybe I can do it myself.

Linking up to My Quilt Infatuation – Needle and Thread Thursday.

I’m back!

UGH! I can’t believe it’s been so long since I’ve posted! SO much has been going on around here and I really haven’t had time to work on projects. Cassie turned one in March and yes, mommy made her onesie! I found the design on etsy and stitched it out twice – because the first one I cut the applique wrong and the satin stitch didn’t cover the edges. It was a wonderful party and she looked beautiful!

I started working on the end of school year gifts for Alex’s teachers, both teachers are getting alphabet/number magnets out of felt that are done in the hoop on my embroidery machine. These are pretty quick to do, just need time to work on them! I’ll take pictures when they are done.

In the last 2 months I also created a shop on etsy. I used to have my own website with a shopping cart and never got any hits/business. So I did some thinking and decided that since anything I make on the embroidery machine is custom, and there’s no shortage of items that are decorative that I can do in bulk that I’d create a shop and start filling in items. The listing fee is pretty cheap and are good for like 4 months. Please visit my shop! 🙂 I need to come up with a logo, but I’ve needed that for a long time!

Earlier in the month at guild we had a speaker from a semi-local quilt shop and I bought a pattern for a Mondo Bag by QuiltSmart. I had previously made some Lone Star quilts using their interfacing panels and I really wanted something different for a diaper bag. I wish I had realized how BIG this bag would turn out! It wasn’t too hard once I figured out the instructions, and I do like how it looks. I’m planning on using it as a diaper bag until I can see what size the Midi bags turn out to be. I’m going to get some of those panels once hubby gets paid.

I’m still slowing working on my knitting and my hexies, I’ll have to do some update posts of those soon!

Guild Block Exchange – Xmas

Well I finally did it and finished the quilt top for the guild block exchange! I only had to put the border on, and had originally intended on putting 2 borders – a thin one using the background fabric and then the thicker one using the focus fabric. Unfortunately I didn’t have enough of the background fabric to do a border, and not enough time to order more. So I just took that border out and put the thicker one on with the focus fabric. I do like how it looks, and I have NO clue how I’ll even quilt it. Now that it’s done I’ve folded it and hung it in the closet with the other tops needing quilted. I’m trying to get people interested in next years exchange, but I don’t have a single person that has signed up yet. I’ll keep trying, if I don’t get any takers I’ll order the fabric and make myself a quilt instead!

Last year I had found a pattern online and made a hexie wreath for the tree with a jingle bell in the center. I had pulled the 2.5″ squares to make 3 more but never finished them. I found them while looking for something else and decided that I needed to finish them this year. Didn’t take me long, when I was awake enough to work on them, they are now all hanging on the tree!

I did make a few items for Christmas gifts this year, however I will not be posting any information about them until after they have been received. Right now the embroidery machine is humming along stitching out some free-standing lace gingerbread men ornaments. I found the design on Embroidery Library – my favorite site for embroidery designs. I love doing lace designs, they turn out so cute and there’s really nothing I need to do for them. Put the same color in the bobbin and on the top and let it go. This design stitches out in under 20 minutes, so I can work on lots of other things while it runs.

I spent a little time working on cleaning things up in my office, things have gotten WAY too dusty and unorganized in here. Since I’m now done with pretty much all my Xmas gifts and just have to finish decorating and get a few items ready for folks the hubby works with I can spend some time working on items for myself. I’m hoping to finish Scrappy 9-patch this week and since they announced at our guild meeting last week that the next quilt show is going to be in October 2014, I’m planning on seeing if I can get hexie diamonds finished for the show. Of course I’d really rather it be ready for the 2014 camping season, but we’ll see what happens.

We have just barely started getting the baby’s room ready, which means my mini-pinni frame needs to come down. I asked hubby to leave it in the room for now, I have a few quilts I’d like to put on it to pin before we take it apart. The basement isn’t finished yet and I don’t want it setup in the basement until it’s cleaned and looking better down there! I think I’ll be able to easily quilt some of the scrappy quilts and get them finished before the baby is born.

I think I’m going to go play with a few of my Go dies and plan a few more quilts – I think baby girl needs something made by mommy!

New Purchase

OMG! I can’t believe I just pushed the button and bought the Accuquilt Studio! I have no idea where it’s going to live, I’d love a table that rolls underneath my big 6′ wide sewing table. That would be the ideal solution, I just don’t know if that will happen. I also bought a 5″ charm square die that cuts 8 at a time, I’m hoping to be able to cut charms and put them on etsy. I’d like to also cut other peoples fabric – maybe something like drunkard’s path dies, or winding ways, etc. I just don’t know if it would sell or not. I hope this isn’t a case of buyer’s remorse already!! 🙂

I hope to start working on some sewing this week, since I designed a few quilts this week while I was testing EQ, I have a lot of ideas! I also have to fix an embroidery order for my friends bakery, I guess pregnancy brain hit me early and I didn’t do the full design on her shirts. Logo is there, but the name of her business is not!

I did finish the cross stitch piece for the wedding, just need to get to Joann’s and get the frame. I’ll get a picture up once it’s framed.

Til later,

Hexagon Diamonds Update

I only have 1 more diamond to put together and I’ll be able to attach the next row to the main body of the quilt. I might pick a different half diamond though since it is using the same fabric as one of the diamonds. They are all ready, just need the 5 black pieces added on and those are fairly easy.

Spent the afternoon working on tshirts for my sister’s preschool. I do the shirts for the staff. They added 3 colors this time, the lime, orange and hot pink – the others are their usual colors. As long as I have them finished by Saturday I’m golden, my sister will be coming over and I can send them with her. Otherwise Alex and I will just have to take a trip out to see Aunt Kimmie!

I’m such a bonehead! Last night I was working on my hand quilting and bent a needle. So at bedtime I went in my office and was looking for the tub where I have an old mint container where I toss all my broken/bent needles/pins, old rotary blades, etc. As I’m rooting around for the container my finger hit the rotary cutter with a pinking blade. It’s not too bad of a cut, just a funky shape because of the pinking blade. I need to put that thing somewhere else! I’m also getting another mint container from the hubby, to keep with my hand work in the living room. Very happy with the way the hand quilting is coming, I need to start thinking about what backing to use for my hexagon quilt so I can get it basted and ready to put in the hoop. I think I need to buy some batting too, need to see if I have anything large enough. I have a packaged one, that was supposed to be for our flannel bed quilt, but now I’m thinking that since that one is all flannel (even the backing!) that I don’t want any batting in it. I think we’ll be warm enough without it. So I’ll be able to use that batting for the hexagon diamonds or the hexagon quilt, it will work with either but probably be better for hexagon diamonds since the batting is king sized and hexi diamonds is going to be queen sized. Oh heck, I’ll just get some batting at Joann’s for the hexagon quilt, now that decision is made I just need to figure out a backing!

Guild meeting is tomorrow night, can’t wait to show off my first hand quilting piece!!!

Design Wall Monday – 2/11/13

I’ve been working hard the last week to get more put together on Hexagon Diamonds. I officially have 3 rows completed and I’ve started working on the fourth row. All the pieces I need are basted and ready to be sewn into diamonds. I’m hoping to have this fourth row completed by mid week, just so I can get started on the next one! There are 13 rows in the quilt and if my calculations are correct from the EQ yardage sheet, 2,477 hexagons.

I ordered a few things from 123 Stitch last week, some more of my thimble pads, some thread heaven, ultra thimble and a book of cross stitch ornaments. I’m thinking they might be nice to work on while we are camping. I like to have multiple projects when we go on vacation, mainly because after awhile you want to work on something different. I thought these might be good for Xmas presents this year. If I don’t get them done, it’s ok there’s always next year! The tracking shows that it is delivered, which means it’s in the mailbox. So hubby will bring it in when he gets home from work, I have to wait until 6! I might take a walk with Alex when he gets up from his nap to get the mail, we’ll see how cold and windy it is when he gets up.

I need to get working on the order for my sister’s preschool/day care, I’ll be back soon!