A Human Moment

Can I have a human moment and admit that I constantly overcommit myself? And that I'm more than a little bit terrible, because I was 4 months late giving my brother-in-law's girlfriend her birthday present? Yeah. I know. Four months is pretty bad...*sheepish grin*

I've known what I wanted to make her since her birthday in January, I just haven't had time to plop my keister down and do it. So, to make it up to her, I thought it only fitting her pillow should be the first thing I made in my new sewing room. She knows how much I sew, and I thought that declaration might earn me an extra brownie point or two, lol!

My Rain or Shine quilt is her designated "movie quilt" whenever she comes over, because she's a LSU alum and die-hard fan, and half of the things she owns are purple and yellow/gold. So of course, she needed something similar to take home with her :)

I used the fabrics from my favorite block in the quilt, and it's backed with the best polka dot print ever created - Echino in Grape.

P.S. Wanna hear about another human moment of mine? I sliced clean through my iPod headphones with a rotary cutter while I was working on this yesterday. I knew that dangling cord wasn't a good idea...

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Blogger's Quilt Festival

Remember when Amy's Creative Side had a Quilt Festival this past Fall to coincide with Market? Well they're doing it again for Spring Market! This time I've chosen my most recent quilt, the one I made using Elizabeth Hartman's Rain or Shine pattern.

I chose this quilt because it's a bit of a milestone for me - it's the first quilt I've ever made specifically for myself. Heck, it's one of the only things I've ever sewn for myself. Quilts, bags, purses...practically everything I make is given away to other people. Angela and I were talking about this problem the other day. We quilters make all of our quilts for other people...which means we end up giving them all away...which means we rarely have a record of our work except for the photos we take. How sad is that? People come over all the time and ask to see my quilts since they know I'm passionate about it, but I never have anything to show them! Sorry folks, there aren't many quilts for you to snuggle under at my house - instead you'll have to make do with me forcing you to look at my Flickr photostream for hours on end, lol!

So you see, making this quilt was a big deal for me. For once, I put my foot down and devoted some of my creative energy to myself...yes, I actually quit putting one million other projects ahead of my own (which was a big deal for me...it took a lot of willpower...trust me...because I loooove making presents for people!). Don't get me wrong...I love making quilts for other people and think it's an incredibly special way to celebrate their milestones in life :) If I didn't love it, I wouldn't do it. All I'm sayin' is that it's important to take a breather every now and then and make something for the sake of being creative, rather than for the sake of a deadline! I have to confess, it was really nice having the freedom to do whatever I wanted for a change. What's that you say? The seam is off a little bit? Who cares! It's for me! What now? The colors & prints are a little ostentatious? Who cares! I can wear it as a flashy cape like Liza Minnelli and sing show tunes in my living room if I want! Because it's for MEEEEeeee!

Want to taste a little bit of that sweet freedom with me? Then I hereby challenge you, my fellow quilters, to spend some time on yourself and make a quilt for your own snuggling pleasure!

Until then, let's bask in my quilt's over-the-top, peacocky splendor together - woo hoo!

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Rain or Shine Quilt

I finished my Rain or Shine quilt last Monday and have been dying to share it with you, but the weather wasn't cooperating! Springtime in New Orleans = Monsoons. This is the first quilt I've ever made for myself, and as you saw last week, Whiskers and I have been happily snuggling under it the past couple of days. For those of you not familiar with the pattern, it's from Elizabeth Hartman's Practical Guide to Patchwork.

I have a ton of pictures, so I'll stop typing and let you see for yourself :)

Block 1

Block 2

Block 3

Block 4

Block 5

The binding fabric is Flora & Fauna Dandelions in Stone. 

A big thanks to my awesome friend Karen for letting me take over her dining room for an entire Saturday. I showed up at her door with a homemade pie and some big, sad Puss 'n' Boots eyes, and she let me use the superfly quilting frame she keeps set up on her dining table. It was just big enough to accomodate this quilt (the finished dimentions are 62" x 62"), so I was in luck. It took me about 6 hours to quilt, and my neck totally locked up on me the next morning when I woke up...oh, how we quilters suffer for our art :)  It probably would've only taken me 3-4 hours to finish if I hadn't kept forgetting to lower the presser foot...which made the thread wad up on the bottom - GAH! *tears hair out*

And of course, another big thank you goes to my loving husband who stood outside looking foolish with me at our apartment complex taking pictures, lol!

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Finished Rain or Shine Quilt Top

I finished the top for my Rain or Shine quilt this weekend! Ray was sweet enough to get up from his nap/That 70's Show marathon and help me take photos yesterday afternoon :)

A group of us from the NOLA Modern Quilt Guild are taking a long arm quilting class at a local store, and I'm gonna use this as my test project. After we take the class we'll be able to rent their machine by the hour, so I'm super excited about finally having a long arm machine at my disposal (because I'll finally be able to finish this bad boy!)

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Progress

We were househunting this weekend, so I only had a little bit of time to work on my Rain or Shine quilt. Basically my blocks went from this to this: 

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