Graduation Technically

I guess you have been wondering, I thought that I had already written this post, and as I could not find it, let me share the news.

I GRADUATED!! That is right. I am a graduate! Graduation date (technical date) was on December 21, but the graduation ceremony is not until January 14. That means no graduation pictures for a few more weeks.

So, I am filling out applications, waiting for my certification to be approved, and I went back to my old job. I love this job but teaching is what I have been preparing for and my life long dream and goal.

Here is to the future and what it may hold.

Wonky Squares

Remember this post?
Well I am working on the wonky squares and should be finished with the top soon and the quilt soon after that. My nephew made his appearence in September. I want him to be able to use the quilt in this cold.
Here is a better example of what the quilt should look like:Wonky Squares Small
And here is the tutorial that I am using for this quilt:Wonky Squares Tutorial

Alabama Wreath

If you live in Alabama you often hear the war cries of the faithful football fans. In fall when college football starts the calls of "Roll Tide" and "War Eagle" are heard every where. This call does not die of completly when football season ends it is simply not every other work spoken.

This is to say that there are MANY die hard fans here, and I made a wreath for one.



This is my first wreath. It has been an interesting experience.
I used these posts as references:
ruffle and wrap
flowers the circle ones
I made the pointy flower up. It is just long petals sewn together at the tips and then placed using a long pin.

Xs and Os

This is a quilt that my mom pieced. She named it The Big Kiss because she arranged the white squares to make a circle or a big O. This is the second quilt top she has made, and she made it very quickly. She made it for a cousin for her fifty year anniversary. My mother was the maid of honor in the original wedding. She asked me to quilt it for her, so this is my current project.

I had to piece the batting. I did not have a big enough piece for the quilt. What I had needed to be ten inches wider. So I butt together another piece that was about twenty inches wide and zigzagged it together with my machine. I had never zigzagged batting together with the machine. In the past I just whip stitched it by hand. This was one hundred times better! It was completely flat and it did not take as much time, so I will definitely be doing this in the future! The entire time I was wondering what took me so long to try this.

I could not decide on a quilt pattern. So, first I tried to make stipple it but the thread kept breaking every few inches. I must be doing something wrong, so I gave up on that and got out the trusty seam ripper. Then I went back to the drawing board. I though kiss O hug X and decided to quilt a big X on the quilt.

I have quilted the X and echoed it a few times, but I did not want to quilt the entire quilt with the straight line of the X. So, I went back to the stipple in the corners of the X and the thread broke worse. I do not seem to be having luck with the stipple and this quilt.

Now I am just pondering how to finish it. I may just finish the straight lines or come up with something else. We will see.

Green Strip

I have finished this quilt as a gift for a certain person who has been a great help during my student teaching. Don't you think that a classroom make the perfect backdrop for this kind of gift.

I asked both of her children, at different times, what her favorite color was. Both told me that it was green. I have been wanting to make a strip quilt ever since I saw this post.



Maybe you can see them since they almost blend into the floor!



I rearranged and took out a few strips that would make this quilt too long and sewed them all together. (I think the previous picture is after I took out the few extra strips. I am reserving them for a quilt for my mom.) This is a lap quilt meant to be snuggled under while reading. So it is not meant to be big and long. Don't you just love the leaves? I knew that I had to get them then or they would be gone. Now my trees are bare.



Then I brought it back to the kitchen floor for basting.



I finished binding this over the Thanksgiving holiday. I thought that the dark green would be perfect.



The back is pieced. I prefer a patterned back to a quilt and this fabric was great, but I did not have enough. I had the dark green, but I was quilting in white and wanted to make sure there was enough for the binding. I had enough of this white left, so into the mix it went. I really like how it turned out. I will be making more quilts like this, but perhaps with a bigger color palette.

Wrapped in Hope

The 2012 Wrapped in Hope list is up. You can also find information about this ministry here.

I love making these quilts! I made these two quilts this year.

For the new 2012 list I am making a quilt for a young lady who will turn ten in January. She likes turtles, pink, and purple which is perfect because I love turtles, pink, and purple! Also, I have the perfect fabric! I have been collecting turtle fabric for a long time, so I knew exactly what fabric to chose.

I bought this turtle fabric about ten years ago. It was intended to make a couple of pillowcases, but I was new at sewing. I did not know the proper size to cut the fabric to make a pillowcase and just abandoned the project until the beginning of last year when I made this pillowcase.



When I read her requests I pulled it out and looked at it. It was perfect. Then I pulled out all of my pink and purple fabrics. With the large size of the turtle on the fabric I wanted it to be big. So I decided on a six inch finished square and decided that I wanted to put sashing (two by six inch finished) and corner stones (two inch finished) around it.



The required finished size of the quilt is 40"x60". So, I decided to make twenty four blocks (ten inches finished each). After I piece the blocks together, I plan on sewing on a lime green boarder and then a scrappy boarder of pinks, purples, and turtle fabric. I already have six blocks together and I have some of that pink fabric from the pillowcase used as corner stones.

What do you think? I love it!

Student Teaching Wrap-up

I am almost finished student teaching. It is bittersweet. I am going to miss teaching for now, but it will be great to graduate and have the possibility to have my own classroom and classes.

The teachers who have welcomed me into their classrooms have been marvelous. They have taught me many things from their experiences and allowed me to make my own. They have been more than helpful in every way including giving me direction when I was unsure of my next move. They have shared resources unexpectedly and openly. Most of all they welcomed and accepted me and that means so much.

The students have been a great mixture. They were very respectful and attentive. I was very proud to have been their teacher for a short time.

I have one final day as a student teacher and then we will see what kind of adventures will follow.

Quilt Comic

We all like to laugh, right? Although I am sure that as quilters and/or fabric lovers you have already seen or heard about these comics that talk about or depict fabric and quilts, but for your and my pleasure here they are again!

quilt comics
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

Pickles cartoon on fabric!

T-Shirt quilt finish

T-Shirt quilt


I finally finished the last little touches of the t-shirt quilt. I know that I said that I had it finished. I did have it finished. It was quilted with the binding, but it did not have a label or a sleeve. This quilt will be hung in an office and it was requested to have a sleeve. With the business of student teaching, I put this quilt on the back burner. This week I had some time and felt productive, so I finished and put both the sleeve and label on the quilt.

I delivered this quilt yesterday and it felt so nice to be able to have it both finished and delivered. The best part is that it is for a great friend who I know will treasure it.

There is a story behind this quilt. My friend is the Director of Wesley Fellowship at my university. She has been the Director of Wesley Fellowship for over ten years. She has spent about six years at my university and another five or so divided between a college and another university. These T-shirts are from her collection over her time as director. What a great quilt to place in her office.

I have a few of these shirts and plan on making a T-shirt quilt for myself after graduation from all of my college/university T-shirts, and with the idea that I may continue, either in graduate school or for another certification, that may be awhile.

So, yesterday before I delivered this quilt I HAD to take a picture. I have loaned my camera to my sister and, although I have been promised pictures, I had to make sure that I had one. To get a good picture, I went to my university and took a picture in the room that we hold our meeting(they have a coffee shop there). I used my phone, which does not give the best pictures. I was alone and needed someone to hold the quilt. I went right up to the counter of the coffee shop and asked the girl there to help. She looked a little uncertain, but I told her that I was not taking a picture of her that she would be behind the quilt. She had already agreed and seemed to have come to this conclusion on her own but also relieved. So, here is a big thank you to the coffee girl!

previous posts here, here, and here
size 56"x70"
machine and hand quilted

*edited to say this: This is the first time that I have linked one of my blogs to any other blog. After looking at a few other links I noticed that they mentioned the link. So, here you go: This post is linked to Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it up Friday 4. Amanda Jean's blog Crazy Mom Quilts is the first blog that I started following and is the reason that I started my blog. Her blog is very informative, funny, inspirational, and down-to-Earth. Check her blog out sometime.

Baby Sheets

In the past few months I have been whipping up baby sheets. I have tried to count how many, but I cannot count an exact number. It is somewhere between 15 and 20.

This is one that I made for Jacob. It turned out to be the only sheet she had, so I had to make her a couple more! I was pleasantly surprised that the sheet matched the bedding so well, since I did not know what the colors were. *I did not make anything else in this picture and credit for this picture goes to Mindy.

You have already seen three other sheets that I made for Mack, but I am not sure how much I have mentioned about my baby sheet production.

I have so far made sheets for at least seven babies; six boys, six girls, and a currently unknown. I did not take any pictures of these. I think it is because they do not take as much time to make them as a quilt, and for some they were finished and delivered on the same day.

I have to say that I do not think I would have made the first sheet if I had not bought the serger. I love that thing.