This was Wednesday night:

Free-motion spiraling away.  I decided to take a stab at free motion quilting the pattern I did on this quilt  using a long arm quilting machine.  I broke my thread quite a bit at first, but once I got in my groove it went really quickly.  I think I got this one quilted in less time than the one I made last week.  I like how it turned out better.  April’s got her signature quilting pattern.  Maybe this one is mine.

The back of this one is a fun Amy Butler flannel.  The front–some Kona cotton and a few fun prints.

I can’t think of a cute way to end this post.  Maybe you can.  I need to go tend to the screaming baby and the hoodlums pounding on the piano.

I whipped this baby quilt together in 2 days.  It is good for me to have a deadline.  I get things done that way.

I kept it super simple– just using some Amy Butler scraps I had on hand and little bit I added with a trip to a local quilt store.  I haven’t had time to venture to many quilt stores since moving here.  I try to get to the Fancy Tiger whenever I can, but it’s a long drive when I can really only steal an hour at a time.  My mission was to find something closer, but it was kind of a let down.  There were a lot of sample quilts made in fabrics I liked, but only one on a bolt.  Oh well.  I guess driving all the way out to the Fancy Tiger is worth it because I know I’ll find something I love.

It turned out cute, though.  I copied April’s swirly quilting (though I think I need more practice) and just used a solid flannel for the back.  I’ve got another baby shower coming this weekend.  Can I do a 2 day quilt again?

Barry got a surprise day off of work today, so I spent some time inside working on this:

while things outside looked like this:

There’s at least 16 inches of snow out there and last time I checked it was still coming down.  We went straight from summer to winter here in Colorado.

I got a cute wooden bassinet off of craigslist to put right next to my bed before Hunter was born.  The problem is, now that he’s a little bigger and wigglier I’ve found his little arm stuck through the slats a few times, poor guy.  This was a perfect excuse to give some free-motion machine quilting on my new machine a try.

I made it with Kaffe Fasset shot cottons in aqua and grass.  The weft and warp of the fabric are different colors, so it’s almost solid, but not quite.    I fell in love with this fabric over the summer when I made this quilt for my new niece, now I’ve got something made with it for me!

The actual quilting was kind of a headache.  It included a trip to the sewing machine store to have help figuring out why the heck I was getting a crazy mess of thread underneath my work, why my thread kept breaking, and why I was SO frustrated that my quick, instant gratification project was not instant or gratifying.  The nice lady helped me figure it all out, and after that the quilting went pretty quickly, but I definitely need to use thicker, nicer thread next time.

Good thing I didn’t stay true to character and try this out for the first time on a king size quilt.

Now Hunter’s little arms will stay inside his bed, where they belong, and he’ll be able to sleep right beside me for a few more months.

………………..

Also, make sure you stop by my friend April’s blog.  She is an amazing seamstress and quilter and she’s been busy making birthday presents for her readers this month to give away on HER birthday.  Time is running out, but if you head on over you can comment and maybe even get one of her amazing creations for yourself!

making… bread with my littles.

laughing… at Ellie helping Brenna fold the laundry.

loving… that 15 minutes of quiet scripture study has become a consistent part of our daily routine.

using… my craft space just a minute here and there– right in the middle of the action, just like I had hoped.

It was one of those days I just needed.  Not totally smooth and predictable, I think it will be many, many years before I have a day like that, but the time flowed and we flowed with it, and I’m happy.

To start with the most important news: I have my husband back and we have a house to move into next week!!! It is so good to be a family again. SO, so so good. There is a light at the end of the tunnel of chaos that has been this summer. YIPPEEE!!

And, drum roll please, I have completed 3 Big Zig quilts for my boys.

I started on Saturday, August 29th and worked non-stop (except for Sundays) until they were done on Tuesday, September 9th. Whew!

Details of Jonah’s (front/back):

Logan’s (front/back):

Ian’s (front/back):

I didn’t have my book (it’s packed in storage somewhere in Denver), so I was probably reinventing the wheel with a lot of it. I even remembered that on triangles a squared plus b squared equals c squared, but in the end I didn’t need all that fancy geometry because I just ended up cutting squares the size I wanted the long side of each triangle and cutting them diagonally into 4 triangles. That way when I was piecing the long strips of triangles together I was working safely with the straight grain and not the crazy stretchy bias. Getting my triangles overlapped just right so that my seam allowances were lined up was tricky at first. I ended up tearing apart the dark green zig zag a few times, but by the time I was on quilt 3 I was a pro. Just marking the quilting lines took a whole day, and then I just used my mom’s regular sewing machine, with a walking foot, to do the quilting. That took about a day each. A long day each. Go, stop, pivot. Go, stop, pivot. Over and over. And over and over.

But they’re done!! The boys love them and I got them out of my mind and into reality!

Now it’s time for a road trip, a stop at Ikea, some supervising of the movers, arranging furniture, unpacking boxes, meeting neighbors and getting on with this move already!!

My mom made Brenna a beautiful quilt for Christmas. While we’ve been here they put all the scraps to use.

Brenna did all the designing and sewing, Granny did the cutting. Their goal– to make a little quilt for Buttercup. (Oh, and I did the quilting and Granny the binding.)

It turned out very cute, and has been put to good use.

Ever since Denyse Schmidt’s book came out I’ve had it in the back of my mind to make some Big Zig quilts for my bunk bed boys.  I’ve picked out colors over and over, figured out dimensions and yardage, just never got around to actually buying fabric and making anything.  Well, since the house we were planning on moving into the middle of August, then the end of August, then maybe sometime the beginning of September has just fallen through altogether and I’m living with my parents for another couple of weeks, I needed a project to throw myself into to distract my mind from all the uncertainty that has become my life of late.

I’m making three.  Two quilt tops are done, one even has all the quilting lines marked.  They should all be ready to baste and quilt in very short order.

So, the moral is– when life throws you lemons, make lots and lots of quilts!!

It is essential for my sanity to be creating something. That has made this nomadic summer a bit hard, but as soon as we got here to my parents house and I had access to a sewing machine I got to work on this:

My little brother and his girlfriend had a little baby girl right before we got here, so naturally she needed a blankie from her Aunt Jess.

I have fallen in love with Kaffe Fasset’s shot cottons– the warp and weft threads are different colors, so the fabric is almost solid with the perfect amount of subtle texture.

The other cool thing is that another brother’s mother in-law (you got that?) has a long arm quilting machine. Driving that thing over my quilt was like magic. I love how it turned out.

(For real baby quilt inspiration you should really check out my friend April’s quilts.)

I haven’t been totally idle on the creating front until now, though. While we were in Alabama I discovered that I was growing little fingers and toes and eyelashes in my tummy.

And since I didn’t pack any maternity clothes for our summer of travel, the first thing I had to make was a new skirt to fit over my tummy. I wear it nearly every day. I used Amy’s tutorial here with a few minor adjustments.

This pregnancy is the main reason I just haven’t been able to wrap my head around blogging. I just didn’t know what to say. I could have just not said anything about it, but the nausea and sleepiness were a hard fog for me not to mention. I mean, 5 kids! That’s a lot of kids. And, I’ve had miscarriages between Jonah and Logan and then between Logan and Ian, so I was sure that this pregnancy wouldn’t stick– just make me a tired, crazy, emotional wreck while my husband was thousands of miles away. But, now the bump there is undeniable and I can feel the flutter of little elbows and feet every now and then. I did have scare a couple of weeks ago, made a trip to the ER, and tried to hold myself together as I layed on the bed for an ultrasound, positive I would see just a bunch of lifeless globby stuff with maybe a recognizable limb or head, like I’ve seen on previous ER visits, but to my surprise there was a crystal clear spine, little ribs, and a beating heart right in the middle of them. There was a sweet, perfectly shaped little head, fingers and toes, and, of course, obvious little boy parts.

So it’s real. I’m going to be the mother to 1 girl and 4 boys come February.

And I can be excited about it now.

Spent most of the day yesterday piecing the first charity quilt. I’m on the home stretch and should finish it before today is over!

Are you making things with your blocks yet? I promised I’d post some layout ideas.

Here’s the first: Make three more blocks so that you have 12 and you can make a little quilt this size:

This is a top I pieced while I was making my 10 blocks. I just couldn’t stop! I was liking the messy log cabin thing with warm/dark colors on one side and cool/lights on the other, so I just kept going. This is just 12 10 inch blocks with a 3 inch pieced border. It’ll just hang out in the living room for Brenna to read under.

I’ve been thinking up bed sized ideas too. You could make a simple block stripe, put some solid on either side of it, and you’d have a really modern, simple quilt without making any more blocks.

I’ve got more ideas than I have time right now, but I will post some more next week. In the meantime, post your layout ideas and leave the link in the comments so that we all can see ‘em.