Looking ahead to 2015

 

Although 2014 was a good year, there are definitely changes I’d like to make in 2015, starting with this blog.  As of right now I have a whooping 19 blog posts done for last year.  That bums me out big-time.  I use this blog as my online diary and we print books out at the end of each year and we’re hoping someday we’ll have an entire set of the books with the story of our lives in them to pass down to the kids.  I have so many pictures from last year that I haven’t even looked at, but I am starting to go through my photos and edit them and it is my goal to get all of those pictures, at least, up on the blog.  I’ll write as much as I remember about the days I took them, but at least the pictures are better than nothing.  And then I hope to keep up on it much better this year, although with having a job and adding another kid to the mix and possibly moving God knows where, that might be tough.  But I’m going to attempt it anyway.  I’m bound and determined to get last year caught up too, but I’m going to be back-dating all of my posts so they probably won’t show up in your feeds.  If you want me to email them to you, let me know and I’ll add you to the list!

Speaking of the blog and all my photos and editing, that’s another thing I’d like to work on.  I really want to improve in my photography, including the actual picture taking and figuring out my camera more and then editing in Lightroom.  This blog was a lot easier to keep up with when I didn’t know much about photography and didn’t edit any of the photos.  It adds significantly more time to the blogging process when I want to edit the photos before I put them on here.  This year I would LOVE to upgrade my camera to a full frame (preferably the 5D Mark iii), but considering that camera is about $2500 I’m not sure that’s going to happen.  Although, when we had Abbie, we got my first DSLR, the XSi, and shortly after we had Ben we upgraded to the 60D, so it would just be keeping up with tradition if I upgraded again with baby #3.  I love the 60D but I take a lot of photos inside and I have to bump the ISO up SO much to be able to have the shutter speed above 1/120, which I need considering I’m shooting kids or dogs (aka – moving targets).  But if the ISO is above like 800 the photos have a ton of noise in them and that bugs the hell out of me.  (See below for examples.)  I still get decent pictures, but I like crisp, clean shots and these are far from it.  

I also would love to work on de-cluttering my house.  I am the queen of holding on to things I don’t really need to keep because I always think of the what-if’s.  But let’s face it, I’m not ever going to be the size I was in high school anymore and having some of those clothes is more depressing than motivating at this point so I could probably unload them.  We have so much stuff that we don’t use that I should just get rid of.  And my main motivation is our potential move this summer.  We were close to our weight limit when we moved from Italy to here and since then we’ve purchased another kitchen table (and I’m using the old one as one of my sewing tables), a solid oak antique desk for Abbie, a huge 3 piece sectional couch and lots of other little things that add up in weight.  I can almost guarantee wherever we go next we won’t be living in a 3100+ sq foot house and we’re not going to have room for all our stuff so we might as well downsize now.  I’m hoping I can put some things in my parents basement/shed for a while until Mark is out of the military and we’re not moving every 1-3 years.  This will be a tough one for me, but I’m going to try!

I would also love to be more active this year.  Right now it’s a little tough with being pregnant and all, but after I have this baby, I would like to be more active.  I have dreams that I can actually run for any real amount of time.  I have never been good at running and I have never enjoyed it.  If I could get to the point where I could actually jog a mile without stopping and without feeling like my lungs are going to explode or collapse or both, I would consider that a win.  I’d love to someday do a 5K, but that is a long way in the future.  I have pretty much zero endurance and I would like to build that up by walking/jogging and maybe swimming.  This will probably be the hardest of all my goals because I tend to not make time to exercise and I can only imagine that might get more difficult with 3 kids.

I would also like to have more patience with my kids and really work on the way I talk to them and handle them when I’m tired/stressed/busy/etc.  My kids tend to get the brunt of my pissy-ness and I hate that.  I want to learn to take a step back when I feel tension building and then handle the situation and my emotions the way I would like my kids to handle them.  They are little sponges right now and I really want to be the best example to them of how we should act and how to be kind and if I’m flipping my lid, I can’t expect them not to.  I’ve been reading articles regarding the way you talk to kids and how it affects them and I’m much more aware of what I’m saying now or how I’m coming across to my kids.  I’ve already noticed I’ve been able to hold back a few times and not flip out on them.  I’m far from the perfect parent, and I never will be perfect, but my goal is to become better and to bring myself up to a level I’m comfortable with and I’m not there yet.

Last but not least, I love buying fabric.  I have a pretty healthy stash of fabric, but I never DO anything with it.  I have lots of plans for it, but actually sitting down and sewing something doesn’t ever happen.  I don’t make it a priority so it just doesn’t happen.  I love making things though and I love giving homemade gifts so I’m hoping to use at least some of my stash this year.  I haven’t even made my own kids quilts yet so if I could make them their own full sized quilts I would be happy with that.  And I think I’ve decided I’m going to pay someone else to quilt them for me since that part really stresses me out and trying to get a full sized quilt through my little machine sounds like hell.  I love piecing the tops together so I figure if I can at least get 3 tops done and then pay someone else to do the hard part it’s a win/win.  I get to use some of my stash and don’t have to do my least favorite part of quilting.

Lofty goals for 2015, but I’m really looking forward to this year!  Big changes are going to happen for us as a family and looking forward to seeing what’s in store for us and meeting our newest addition!

PS:  All of these pictures were taken Jan-March of 2014…  Better late than never.

Rachel’s quilt

One of my good friends from IA is having a baby boy soon.  I made her this chevron quilt and I’m happy with the way it turned out.  It was harder than I thought it would be to keep all the pieces together in the correct order and some of my seams aren’t perfect, but they never are all perfect.  I love the colors of this quilt though.  I ended up just quilting it by following the chevrons in the middle which was also a bit of a learning process.  But it didn’t take too long and was fun to do.  I really need to get ahead on my baby quilt collection so I’m not so rushed to get them done when my friends are due.  But by the time I have time to actually get ahead on my quilting, my friends will be long done having babies.  That’s just the way life seems to work.

 

Jenn’s baby quilt

One of my best friends, Jennifer, is due with her 2nd baby in the middle of September.  Another friend of ours and I hosted a baby shower for Jennifer and I started this quilt WAY late.  I really need to make a bunch of quilt tops for boys and girls and then just finish them when I need them done, instead of waiting until a week before the shower and then rushing to get the quilt done.  Either way, I think it turned out pretty well, despite a few of the mistakes I made.

 

I always love when quilts have the contrast strips in the back and this is the first time I did this with one of my quilts.  I like the way it turned out.

For the quilting I did a really big stipple pattern on the main part of the top and then a loop pattern on the border.  I used pink thread so you could see it a little better, although my free motion quilting still leaves MUCH to be desired.

I love doing baby quilts.  They come together relatively quickly and I don’t have to fight them as much to get them through my little sewing machine when I quilt them myself.  I think if I did a full sized bed quilt I would probably send it off to be quilted since my machine is really little and I’m just not good at maneuvering that much material around.

I think Jenn liked it and I hope that she and baby girl will get lots of use out of it.  Her cousin (pictured in the blue dress) surprised me by crying when Jenn opened the gift.  I guess their grandma had always made quilts for new babies in the family and Jenn’s baby girl was the first one that wasn’t going to get a handmade quilt, so she was really happy that she did get one after all.

I have a BUNCH of friends that are pregnant right now, so I’d better get working on my quilts!  I love putting them together and seeing the finished products!

Confetti quilt finished!!

I started this quilt back in 2010.  Originally I was going to give it to Abbie, but then I decided to go a different route with it.  It was the first quilt I pieced together by following a pattern.  I learned a lot making it.
My cousin had a baby in September.  She didn’t find out the gender until the baby was born, but her husband knew so I contacted him and asked him if girl colors were okay for the quilt, and he said yes.  This was in July or August I think, so I knew there was no time I would be able to make a full quilt by September, so I decided to give this one to little Zaley.  Even though I had the quilt top done, I still just finished it in December.  Mark being off for a few holidays and us not traveling during them make it SO much easier to spend time quilting.  Ben is in to EVERYTHING now, and since I quilt at our kitchen table, it makes it tough to concentrate on anything but him for more than 30 seconds.  Hence Mark being home helping a LOT.

I love the pink binding.  I think it really makes the front of the quilt pop, and I like that.

I decided to quilt this by just outlining the squares.  My free-motion quilting still leaves much to be desires and I wasn’t sure how to FMQ such a symmetrical quilt anyway, so I did the outlining.  This quilt was a little bit big for my machine though, and trying to get it to fit into the neck of my machine to quilt was a bit challenging at times.  I think I would probably pay someone else to quilt a quilt this size next time and stick to quilting the smaller baby quilts on my machine.  This one was pretty big for a baby quilt, since I had originally intended it for Abbie.

I hope they get lots of use out of this quilt!  I’m happy with the way it turned out and I learned a lot quilting it.  Hopefully I can pick up speed a little bit on my quilting where it doesn’t take me so long to finish them!  In our house in AZ I will have a much better quilting space so I think I will spend more time quilting than I do now.

My second baby quilt

I started this quilt back in August or September, for my friend Liz.  I had every intention of getting it done before I left the States, and then I got super busy saying goodbye to everyone so I didn’t get it done.  Then I had every intention of getting it done during Mark’s 2 weeks off after he got back from the deployment in October, but I was enjoying my time with him after not seeing him for 6.5 months and I didn’t work on the quilt at all.  Then I made it my goal to finish it before Ben was born (due mid-Dec), and that just didn’t happen either.  I did try to stipple quilt it while Mark was on his 10 day paternity leave.  I got the whole thing done and then turned it over and the back of the quilt had little “rats nests” all over it where the thread had come out too much.  It looked horrible, so I spent the rest of his paternity leave with my seam ripper taking all of that stitching out.  After his paternity leave was over, I didn’t work on it at all because I was learning to keep my head above water with 2 kids.

 

 

So when we decided that everyone was coming back to the States for Mark’s SOS course, I knew I had to get it done before we left.  Liz’s baby was almost 6 months old at that point…  So I buckled down and managed to finish it and get it mailed before we can back to the States.  I’m pretty happy with the way it turned out.  It was a very easy pattern and the top came together really quickly.  It just took me forever to actually quilt it.  Again, it’s not perfect, but I’m still pretty new at quilting.  Finishing it up made me miss sewing.  Too bad I wasn’t able to bring my machine back to the States with me.  I would have had a lot of time to work on my quilting while we’re here.  Oh well.  I’ve taken up trying to run instead.

I love the owl fabric I used in this.  It’s bright and colorful – my favorite type of fabric.  I wasn’t positive Liz was having a girl when I started this, but I took my chances with the pink and it worked out in the end.  And luckily it’s a pretty good sized quilt for a baby quilt so she should still get lots of use out of it, even though she’s half a year old.

Thanks for all your advice and help and support during my bout with GD, Liz!  You were more helpful than anyone in Italy, even from across the ocean!  Hope you enjoy the quilt!

Synchronized squares top

A few weeks ago I finished the quilt-along top I was working on.  I’m pretty happy with the way it turned out.  I just love the colorful fabrics.

This was a fun quilt to work on.  It went together fairly quickly and if you had all the time in the world to quilt, you could easily get it done in a day or two.  I took me about a month to get it done.

I have a light lime green fabric to back this with and I’m going to try to get the top, batting and backing put together in the next week or two.  I haven’t decided how I’m going to quilt it yet.  Any suggestions?

I’m feeling pretty comfortable with my mom’s friend’s (or my friend’s mom’s – same difference) sewing machine.  I really like it.  I’m going to have to re-adjust to my machine once I get back to Italy.  Although, in all reality, I’m not 100% sure how much time I’ll have to quilt when I get back anyway, especially after baby #2 arrives.  But I’m loading up on fabric to take back with me, just in case!

I also need to get labels to put on to my quilts.  Does anyone have any recommendations for quilt labels?  I’ve never used one, but I figure I’d better start!

Fabric for charm quilt

Yesterday my mom and I (and Abbie, who was a huge help – NOT) went to Joann’s.  My MIL had gotten me a gift card for there for Mother’s Day and I they were having good sales so we went to check it out.
I got 2 quilting pattern books for 40% off each of them.  One is for charm packs and one is for jelly rolls.  (For those unfamiliar with quilting terms, a charm is a 5x5 piece of fabric and a jelly roll is 2 1/2 x 40” strips of fabric, as seen at the bottom of the Jelly Roll Quilts book.)

This is the pattern I plan on using for the fabric I got,

and this is the fabric I chose for that quilt.

 

Choosing the fabric is half the fun of making a quilt, although it’s not quite as “fun” with a 2 year old who needs a nap in tow.  But I managed to pick it out and I’m excited about it.  I’m not sure when I’ll make this quilt, since I don’t have tons of time to quilt, but I’m glad to have the fabric to take back to Italy with me.  My goal is to get enough fabric to make at least 5-6 quilts and take it back with me since I have to buy fabric online when I’m over there.  Italy has zilch as far as quilting fabric, and the VERY small selection they do have is much more expensive than what you can get in the States.  So even the Italian quilters buy their fabric online from the States.  And online fabric shopping isn’t nearly as fun as buying it in person and being able to hold different fabrics up to each other to compare colors and stuff.
I’ll try to take pictures of the other fabric I’ve bought for various quilts soon.  I’m planning on doing this quilt-along next, and I have the layer cakes for it already, I just need to find binding and backing for it.  I’ll probably wait until I have the quilt top done to do that though so I can just take it to the store with me to compare colors.
I just love fabric and creating stuff with fabric.  I wish I had more time to do it and was better at it, but even though I do it rarely and I’m not very good, it’s fun to try.  And it’s fun to have a stack of quilt tops that I’ve made to look at.

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Baby quilt done!

I recently sent my friend, Erika, a quilt that I made for her baby, Elise, who’s now a month old.  I had every intention to have it finished before Elise was born, but honestly, I was terrified to try free-motion quilting for the first time.  So it took me a while to get the guts to try it.  It’s not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but I think they’ll still like it anyway.

Here’s a picture of the front and back.  I’m pretty happy with the way it turned out, even though there are quite a few mistakes.  This is the 2nd quilt I’ve completely finished, so I didn’t expect it to be perfect.  I had fun making it and I learned a lot also.

Oliver is my trusty side-kick, as usual.

Congrats on your beautiful baby girl, Erika and Brian!  Sorry your gift was so late!

3rd quilt along

I have recently started my 2nd quilt along.  I love doing quilt along’s.  For beginner’s like me, they are perfect because they’re usually pretty easy, there are lots of pictures and if you do have questions, there are many people to ask.  I love them!
This one is the Synchronized Squares quilt along by PSIquilt.  I’ve had this layer cake from Me and My Sister Designs for quite a while and I decided to use it for this quilt, along with a Bella Solids layer cake.

As I’ve said before, I LOVE fabric from Me and My Sister Designs because it’s so colorful and fun, and it makes me happy to look at it and work with it.  This line of fabric is appropriately named “Happy”.

I had lots of fun perusing JoAnn’s for the backing fabric.  I had the top swatch of fabric from the picture above with me so I could make sure it matched, and I decided to go with a lime green fabric with a subtle white florally design throughout it.  I think it’ll go nicely with the rest of the fabric.

Here’s all of the fabric together.  I am attempting my first scrappy binding with this quilt, and I’m not 100% sure I have enough scraps from the layer cake to make it, but we’ll see.  If I don’t I’ll have to improvise something.

I’ve already started cutting my fabric for this quilt, but I haven’t done any sewing yet.  Hopefully I’ll actually get around to that before it’s time to go back to Italy!

More fabric!!

I’ve spent a little bit of money on fabric since I’ve been back in the States.  I LOVE looking at fabric, even if I don’t buy any.  I’ve missed fabric shopping since I’ve been in Italy.  It’s just not the same looking at it online.  I like to be able to touch it and hold it up against other fabrics.  That’s half the fun of making something, I think – picking out the fabric.

I got these little fat quarter bundles to use to make baby quilts someday.

These two sets of fabric are for bags that I want to me.  I already have the ones on the left cut out in the pattern and now I just have to figure out how to sew it all together.  I’ve never made a bag so we’ll see how it turns out.

I’m also trying to finish up a quilt that I’m making for a friend.  I’ve decided to just stipple it, but I am SO intimidated by free motion quilting.  I’ve been really nervous to start it, but I need to finish it since I’m borrowing one of my mom’s friends sewing machines and I’m sure she’ll want it back soon.  I just need to get the guts to start it and pray that I don’t screw it up too much.  I’ll post pictures of it when I’m completely done with it and it’s been received by my friend.  I don’t want to ruin the surprise!!