Kelly's Kwilts

sigh

I know, I know….it’s been AGES since I’ve posted anything. This 15 month old little boy takes up all my time! 🙂 I can’t believe how quickly time has passed. He’s 15 months old, walking (and running) and so damn cute it kills me! And smart too! Ok, you didn’t come here for me to gush about my little one, did you?

I’ve been doing some cross stitch, haven’t finished anything since Halloween though. I made this little wall hanging just in time to put up for our Halloween party. You can’t tell in the picture, but some of the thread glows in the dark, boy was that a pain to stitch with!

I haven’t really worked on my hand piecing project lately. I was working on cross stitch and just put that away recently to work on Dear Jane applique blocks. I was talking with some of the ladies at guild and they reminded me that I need to make time to work on my sewing – it’s been MONTHS since I turned it on! In fact I just cleaned it off a week ago! Mended a shirt for Alex that has been sitting here for ages and now it’s ready to work on some quilts! So I’ve decided to start working on Dear Jane again. Finished 2 blocks in the past few weeks and I’ve got another almost done, in fact it should be done tonight since there’s a basketball game to watch!

Saturday the guild is doing a sew-in from 12-4 and I’m thinking that I’m going to go. I really want to sew and this would allow me to do nothing but that! I think that hubby can take care of Alex for 4 hours, especially since he’ll most likely be napping for half of that. So I’m planning on working on Star Crazy. I’m going to get as much prepped as I can before Saturday, I’m hoping I can get the top put together in 4 hours. Heck I’ve already got the center done!

And just because I love posting pictures of my son….

Happy Mother’s Day!

Before I was a Mom, I never tripped over toys or forgot words to a lullaby. I didn’t worry whether or not my plants were poisonous. I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a Mom, I had never been puked on. Pooped on. Chewed on. Peed on. I had complete control of my mind and my thoughts. I slept all night.

Before I was a Mom, I never held down a screaming child so doctors could do tests. Or give shots. I never looked into teary eyes and cried. I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin. I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom, I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn’t want to put him down. I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I couldn’t stop the hurt. I never knew that something so small could affect my life so much. I never knew that I could love someone so much. I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom, I didn’t know the feeling of having my heart outside my body.. I didn’t know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby. I didn’t know that bond between a mother and her child. I didn’t know that something so small could make me feel so important and happy.

Before I was a Mom, I had never gotten up in the middle of the night every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay. I had never known the warmth, the joy, the love, the heartache, the wonderment or the satisfaction of being a Mom. I didn’t know I was capable of feeling so much, before I was a Mom.

I love you Alex!

It’s been awhile….

I know, I’ve been absent for awhile. I don’t get much time to sew anymore since I spend all my free time (and some that’s not free) with Alex. I can’t believe he’s going to be 5 months old on Monday! Time is going by way too fast!

Anyway, since I don’t have time to sew at my machine anymore, and since I’ve been kinda jealous of Karen with all the hand piecing and hand quilting that she does. And because I have my little tubs full of already cut up scraps of fabric, I decided to start hand piecing a quilt. Once Alex goes to bed at 9, I’m just too tired to sit at the sewing machine to sew. But I’m awake enough to be able to hand piece blocks while I watch basketball games or movies with my husband! I’m making 4-patch blocks, 2 white and 2 scraps. I had to pull a bunch of white fat quarters out and cut them into squares with my Go, because I just don’t have a lot of white scraps. Not quite sure why. I took it with me last night to guild and managed to sew 17 pairs of 2 together. This is not something I even care about being finished right away, and I might set it aside and work on something else, but for now it’s the only sewing I can do!

IMG-20110311-00108 — The start of the hand pieced quilt!

I did pick up 3 kits from guild last night to make charity quilts. I need to help more in the guild and I really need to get in front of my sewing machine before I forget how to use it!

In addition to working on the hand pieced quilt, I’ve decided that I want to learn to hand quilt. Again, since I don’t have a lot of time in front of the machine, I need to do things that I can work on in the family room while Alex is playing or we are watching tv at night. There is a class in May that I’m going to sign up for, hubby can take care of Alex for a 3.5 hour class! Oops, just realized that I have a dentist appt that day, now I don’t know if I can sign up…..doggone it!

I’ll try not to be a stranger anymore….I need to start reviewing books, blogs, something!!! Oh and here’s a gratuitous picture of my baby!!! 🙂

SeamedUP

I haven’t had any more time to sew, but I figured I’d post about the new quilting site that’s coming. It’s going to be a bit like Ravelry for knitters in that everything is in one place! Fabric, patterns, projects, etc. I’ve only seen screenshots and I know they are working to resolve some issues they’ve been having, but I can’t wait to see this site in action! Oh wait! DUH! Helps if I give you the link right? You can get the story of SeamedUP here at their blog, but the site is at SeamedUP. I have a block in the sidebar if you want to contribute to the cause to defray the startup costs.

Can’t wait!!

Sewing Update

Well, I really wanted to keep working on the Quilt Show 2010 BOM, but I decided I needed to spend the time yesterday working on some terry cloth bibs and burp cloths for my son. I had bought white and pink terry cloth a few years ago intending to make bibs for my cousin’s baby. At the time I was going through a miscarriage and just couldn’t make anything baby related. So these 2 yards of terry cloth have just been sitting. We have now gone through all the small bibs that we were given because my wonderful son just got too big and drools so much they just don’t hold it all! And I’m still trying to understand why companies make burp cloths that don’t cover your shoulder all the way, because this kid loves to spit up on mommy!

I’ve made 2 bibs so far, and I have enough white left to make at least 4-5 more when I get time. I used up all the pink for burp cloths since my husband doesn’t mind if Alex spits up on pink, he’s just not allowed to wear it! Hopefully I’ll be able to get some of my own sewing done soon!!

November Blocks!

Oh my goodness I finally finished my November blocks! Took me awhile to get all the pieces cut out, but I’ve finally figure out how to make the most of Alex’s nap time! As long as my household stuff is done (try and do the night before after he goes to bed) I can work on sewing during his naps. With chain piecing, I flew through the half Irish chains, but I noticed my cutting wasn’t always as precise as I though it was. You’d think after almost cutting this entire quilt out, I’d be better at it, but I guess I have more room to grow! I also noticed that we cut a few more white pieces than we needed, not sure why, but I know I have 1 full Irish chain block and 12 half blocks, which is what we are supposed to have! On to December’s blocks!

Happy New Year & Dear Jane

I hoping that I will be able to start posting more in 2011 – at least I’m going to make an effort to try! 🙂 This year has ended on such a happy note for our family and I can’t remember what life was like without Alex in our lives.

I’ve been able to work on applique at night this week after he’s gone to bed and finished 2 blocks. AND I was able to prep a few more and complete a pieced one today. Lucky me, I got to end 2010 with some sewing! The applique isn’t perfect on these blocks, but I think they look ok and I’m not redoing them! With the one I completed today I’m now happy to say that I’ve completed 75 of the 169 blocks needed. I need to get to work on the triangles too!

Hope everyone has a safe and happy new years!

Dear Jane Update

I have finally been able to work on some of my applique blocks after the baby is put to bed at night. I’ll need to prep some more so I can keep working on them! I’ve been toying with piecing blocks by hand just so I can get them done, since I don’t have time to sit at my machine these days. My only free time seems to be when he’s napping and he isn’t always consistent with the length of his naps! I think I’m getting better with my applique, I still need to work on the turning points though, some of them are a little messy. I’ve now completed 72 blocks and 5 triangles, I’m making slow progress! I know this is supposed to be a quilty blog, but I just can’t help posting pictures of my handsome son once in awhile! 🙂

October Blocks – FINALLY!

Well, it took me almost 2 months, but I finally finished my October blocks. The first 2 weeks in October I cut out all my pieces, but due to the fact that I was 9 months pregnant I couldn’t really get to the sewing machine. My little boy was born October 14 (10 lbs even and 21 inches long) and I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect child! Trying to get into a schedule of some sort took time, and this was the first time I have been able to actually sit at my sewing machine in 2 months! Took me 2 days to get everything together, I had to fit it in with his feeding schedule. I am hoping to get November’s pieces cut out tomorrow, as my husband is still home from work and can keep an eye on him.

I haven’t been to guild in 2 months and I’m looking forward to going in December. Alex will be going with me, I think the ladies would kill me if I didn’t bring him!

Latest Finishes

I know I haven’t been around in awhile, but I’ve been VERY busy getting things ready for my son’s arrival. I haven’t even had time to work on my Dear Jane quilt – although that could also be due to the carpal tunnel!

I’ve added another finish to the PhD Challenge for the quild, I finally got the Sudoku quilt quilted and bound. The best part of this quilt is that it is the first quilt I completed on my quilting frame with a pantograph! I haven’t been able to work on any others on the frame, even though I have many I could do because my belly is a little to large to get close to the frame! They’ll have to wait until after this little one is born!

I also managed to complete the Shower Quilt and a Wallhanging that allows me to put pictures in it. There’s lots of room left on the Shower Quilt to allow others to sign it once he’s born, but it looks pretty good in his bedroom.

I doubt I’ll be around much in the next few weeks, we’ll see what I can get done before he’s born (I’m not counting on it being very much!)