Friendship Braid Quilt Update

 Well I'm going to write this post about the main project I'm concentrating on right now and probably the most important one. I've set a goal for me to finish this Friendship Braid Quilt in the next week. I had finished piecing the front and back of the quilt a few days ago and really needed to get my butt in gear to baste and quilt the thing! So I purchased a showcase spot on Etsy for my quilt for December 18th, and you better believe I'll have the quilt done by then!

So tonight while catching up on some Law & Order episodes I ironed the two sides and then basted them together with some lightweight natural cotton batting in between. I like to use the lightweight batting, because I live in Texas and its just too hot ten months out of the year for anything heavier!! Since I haven't made any quilts to sell in my Etsy shop yet, I am still creating with myself in mind. Eventually I might branch out into thicker quilts, but for now I'm sticking to the lighter variety. I'd like for my creations to be used all year since I put so much love and effort into them!

Anyway, once I basted by quilt I started taping down lines for me to quilt along. I've decided not to "stitch-in-the-ditch" on this one, because it hasn't turned out as neat as I've wanted it to in the past. Plus, since I'm using a contrasting thread color on this one, I needed it to be perfect. So I've used masking tape to tape along the edges of the braid pieces and am quilting about 1/4" from that tape line. Once I've done the entire quilt in this direction, I will do the same on the lines perpendicular to the ones I've just made. This will make a traditional quilting pattern, but at an interesting angle, at least I'm hoping it will!

Here is a close up picture of my masking tape lines and the quilting I've done!

 And here is the first view of the quilt backing. I took some scrap brown damask print that I had, and added in portions of the leftover braid cutouts. Then I used some white fabric to add a border.

I'm really excited about this quilt, and I'm already really proud of the work I've done on it. The quilting isn't taking me very long, so I have no doubt I'll get it done in the next week in time for my showcase! Look for it soon in my Etsy shop!

Holiday Season

I'm a CPA in Dallas, Texas with a knack for sewing and crafts. Once I get past each busy season, I struggle to focus on each project on my list of to-do's and get myself into a downward spiral of multitasking where nothing gets accomplished. I'm hoping this blog will help me keep myself more accountable for the projects I'm working on, and hopefully get more items posted in my Etsy shop!

I'm currently working on a couple of projects, as usual. The first is the Friendship Braid quilt from the book Jelly Roll Quilts. I'm making this quilt as an experiment in full size quilting, and hopefully will have it in my Etsy shop soon! I'm almost done piecing, and should start basting and quilting right after Thanksgiving. I'm using the Pure by Moda jelly roll in browns and blues. Here's a snapshot of how it's going so far:

The next project I'm working on is making some homemade Christmas gifts. I spent all day Saturday looking for some interesting vessels to turn into candles. I went to my local Goodwill hoping to repurpose some donated items, but I didn't find anything that was very interesting. Instead, I picked up a few items from TJ Maxx, and hope to find some more at garage sales or on another trip to Goodwill before the holidays. Here's a picture of the batch I have so far (they are not going to be a set, I bought each one with a specific person in mind).

Once I get past these few projects, I'm hoping to start a wedding quilt for my sister, who is getting married in June. I should have about six months to put it together, which I'm hoping will be plenty of time! Its going to be a Daisy Chain quilt, made up of floral and botanical Moda prints. I'm really excited about it! I just hope I don't lose steam while working through tax season! As I make some progress I'll post updates to these projects and new ones. In the meantime, please visit my Etsy shop to view the projects I've already completed!

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