I'm back!

I am so sorry to have been away so long. That was not my intentions at all....however, this year seems to be speeding faster than the speed of light. I blink and it is May! Where did the beginning of the year go? Although I may have been quiet here, I have not been quiet in my creativity. Let me try and catch you all up on my sewing bits. I will have lots of pictures, so forgive me for that.  In January, I finished my Santa's House,

 

and started working on the second block, Poinsettia Place. Both of these are part of a 12 part series called Santa's Village by Country Cottage Needleworks.  Then I was given a chance to do my first ever commission quilt (sorta....) My mother-in-law wanted to give her oldest granddaughter a quilt for her great-grandson that had owls on it. She found a set at Babies-R-us that she liked, but when she got it home and pulled out the blanket, she was upset there was no tree. So I got on the manufacturers website and found a tree with the owl, freehand drew it and then quilted it into this great quilt.... 

 

yes that is the mommy-to-be in the background with my oldest daughter. Mommy-to-be loved the quilt which made me relax since she is an Art major (there was no pressure in that phrase...LOL) I also made her some mommy essentials, burp cloths and fleece blankets...they were so useful with my girls. 

 

It was fun to actually do some sewing for a boy! :-) I need a boy in my life to help me enjoy blues, greens, and oranges! Then only a few days after the baby shower, we headed on a surprise vacation to.... 

 

none other than Disneyworld...what a fun fast paced princess filled week. In case you are wondering, I did make that Rapuzel Princess dress for my daughter. It was her Halloween costume in 2011. I intentionally made it a size larger so she could enjoy it as a play dress, and boy has it seen it's share of wear! We came home to the cold springtime here in Virginia, and I got so busy with work that I was unable to complete a UFO for March (my LQS is holding a 6 months of making UFO's into CEO's {completely executed projects!}, I flat ran out of time with a 3 year old birthday party, Easter Musical at church, and Easter services. I was thankful to just touch fabric that month. 

Then came April and on top of a BOM at my LQS ( I know I need to get pictures of these taken,) I was able to finish my oldest daughter's quilt, "Hearts, hearts, Hearts!" by KariePatch Designs that I am sorry to say had been a UFO for over 2 years. 

 

But here it is! I am pleased with it. I did all the quilting and sewed down the binding by machine. I was a little frustrated with my free motion quilting, but I did enjoy quilting with the walking foot. I have learned I need to get a few tools to help ease my free motion, and I know I need practice...but after a wash, it is beautiful and my daughter barely let me use it to take a quick picture of it! My hubs was also helpful enough to hold it for me. I love how soft and romantic this quilt turned out!

 I also got another baby blanket started that my mom commissioned for her co-worker, I will have pics of that to come soon as I finish quilting it. I do not want to ruin the surprise for that now new mommy! Baby N came a little early! :-)

 But so far May has been my most productive month. I ordered Tula Pink's City Sampler Quilt and fell in love with the rainbow of fruit flavor inside (oh wait, we are not talking about skittles!) I could not wait to get started on this quilt and pulling from my stash, I was able to cut and piece 6 blocks this weekend.

  

Each block finishes at 6.5" and they are so much fun to make. I can only hope that my quilt will turn out as great at Tula Pink's herself! 

So if you made to the end of this post, I should really give you a medal....but I hope to enjoyed seeing the first part of my year in a quick flash. Now it is on to grading papers, as homeschooling my oldest is winding down, and hopefully I can plan a few more City Sampler blocks. Thanks for reading and I hope that you have been blessed with some creativity so far this year. 

P.S. I promise I will post sooner than 5 months from now!