I Love Being Random...

...Especially when it makes me a winner!

A great big "Thank you!" to the wonderful Blogger's Quilt Festival sponsor From Here To Quilternity!

This was my first time participating...and I loved it!  

What a wonderful experience to be able to participate and SO many gorgeous quilts & wonderful blogs!  

I'm already looking forward to the Fall 2012 Festival!   

Amy did such an amazing job of organizing everything!

I am finally winding down from our Spring soccer season.  I'm ready for a nice little break.  Soon you will be seeing some lovely views of North Carolina's Outer Banks.  I've found a fun new knitting project...one of the good things to come out of our little battle with pneumonia.  I met a lovely lady at the hospital's x ray waiting room and she shared the name of the yarn and showed me just how quick and easy it was to knit.


I'm hoping to be able to fit my Jelly Roll Jive in red, white & blue into the suitcase so that I can get started with the hand quilting.  My thought is that if I can associate it with a trip to the beach I will be more likely to continue working on it and get it finished in a reasonable amount of time.  


Had a very busy day today (and got a sunburn) at soccer, so I am off to crash for the night.  I still have one of Kelly's quilts to finish binding and I'm going to pop in a movie and "Get 'er done!"


Do you have a favorite movie (or music) that you like for your quilting time?
Tonight it's going to be The Changeling for me.

Blogger's Quilt Festival Starts Today!

Today is the opening day of the Blogger's Quilt Festival!  

Please stop by Amy's Creative Side to see all of the wonderful projects and inspiring stories!

My quilt was made a couple of years ago.

I used the pattern Jelly Roll Jive designed by A Graceful Stitch and a couple of jelly rolls from Fig Tree Quilts Urban Indigo line.

At the time this one was made, I was working at my local quilt shop.  I had taken several classes and was even teaching the "beginner's" class.  

This was my first adventure into piecing a project without being in a class.  

This is where I stepped back and said, "Wow! I'm a quilter!"  "I can do this!"

After struggling for most of my life with low self esteem and never really being confident in who I was as a person, this was my statement to me, my family and my friends...

"I AM A QUILTER!"

I had some help choosing the background fabric.  Marshall, our service and repair guy is great with color.  I questioned his choices initially but in the end, I was SEW happy that I listened to his advice!  I absolutely love the effects!

Earlier I said that I used a "couple" of jelly rolls...and this is true.  The pattern only calls for one, but I made a horrible mistake.  I sewed & trimmed the corner triangles (on about half of the required strips) to the wrong side.  So, I called the shop and called my husband and had him bring home another jelly roll.  Darren was in a panic!  He wanted desperately to help, but was afraid that he wouldn't get the right fabrics.  Luckily our fabric shop had a wonderful computer program that tracked all fabric purchases and they were able to look up everything that I had purchased for this project.

Sew...I started over.

I finished all of the pieces.

I finished all of the rows.

I sewed the first & second rows together.

And then...

I started ripping stitches!

I sewed & I ripped.

Sewed & Ripped.

Finally I took the whole thing into the shop for a lesson on how to pin my points.

(I am a bit obsessive.  I don't like to make leave mistakes.  I think this is why I am a quilter...I have a perfectly acceptable outlet for my OCD/Type A personality!)

After several weeks of near insanity (my family was afraid to be in the same room with me) I finally got it!

I sent it off to "My Quilter".

And she did an amazing job!

Can you see the cherries?!  I love it!

Sew, I bound it and fell in love!  All of my hard work was finished.  Even though I thought I wouldn't survive, I learned a lot.

  

No matter how simple it looks, most things are NOT easy!

When choosing a pattern, look for matching points!

If you need help with color, sometimes it's best to ask a man!

If you don't know how to do something, ASK someone who does!

And I have learned after having taken multiple classes this past year in spinning, weaving, dyeing & knitting that...

I AM A QUILTER!!

A great big "Thank You" to Amy for hosting this Quilt Festival!

So glad you stopped by...

~Kristy

WIP Wednesday...Sort of...

Well...

It's Wednesday.

I have several Works In Progress.

So, I am going to link up with Freshly Pieced  for their WIP Wednesday.

There are so many "irons in the fire" around here that I just don't know where to start.

I haven't actually managed to do much sewing/quilting but that doesn't mean I don't have any ongoing projects.

I have signed up to participate in several different blog activities.

First, I signed up for the Blogger's Quilt Festival!

 (I really need to learn how to put a button here!  Any help would be greatly appreciated!)

Then, I signed on to participate in the Red, White & Blue Blog Hop hosted by Jane & Madame Samm!

Here's a little peek at some of what I am tossing around...

 You'll have to come back in July to see what I finally decide to do!

I'm also signing up for May's YesterYear Challenge hosted by Christine over at Quilt Monster in my Closet.  You can join in...on May 5th, I will be working on my Cinnamon & Nutmeg quilt.  It's not really old, but I did start to collect the fabric in February 2009.

 And speaking of my favorite Quilt Monster, I won a table topper from Christine!  

During the Table Topper Blog Hop, I told her that my favorite of her table toppers was I Heart Love Notes!  

And her Mr. Fantastic chose me to be a winner! 

You can still hop over and see all of Christine's table toppers.  They are beautiful!

And Madame Samm has them all collected here.

I'm also getting my ugly fabric ready for the In the Bag Ugly Fabric Quilt Challenge.  I have been emailed my swap partner's information and I'm really excited to get our fabric swapped and start trying to figure out what to do with the new "uglies"!

You can visit my partner at her blog Kinda Quilty.

Well, the kids are begging for the computer so they can get their homework done, so I'm gonna be a good Mommy and let them get busy...

Have a good one!
         ~K

Upcoming Events!

I am so excited!

I am going to be participating in some fun activities!

I have signed up for my first Blog Hop...with Madame Samm & Jane!

I am also going to be participating in the Blogger's Quilt Festival.

AND...I signed up to participate in the "In the Bag! Ugly Fabric Quilt Challenge".

All of the buttons are on the right side of my blog posts.  

Right there at the top.

I think all of them are still open if you are interested.

My poor little brain is just about wore out thinking of all of the possibilities for these projects.  I need to get busy making notes, and creating lists, and writing my quilt story, and shopping for fabrics, and going through my stash...and who knows what else...

I'll keep you posted!

But, for now...

SLEEP!

'Night!