T-shirt Quilts Galore

I have been swimming in tshirt quilts lately - as in I have done 8 this month.  That is a lot of tshirt quilts!

I have definitely learned a lot of them experience.  

Although t-shirt quilts aren't my favorite to quilt - I do love the idea behind them.  I had a cute client make 6 quilts....YES 6 for her daughers drill team friends.  I think she may have mentioned these were her first quilts too - so I'm so impressed she went for it!  They were so cute!

They all looked similar to this one above.  I love the bright blue and orange colors - of course the school colors...

She chose the Posies 2 pattern for all the quilts which I thought looked so cute.

On the back she used leftover strips so its like a strip quilt and is a quilt all on it own.  Looked great.

Close up of the back and quilting pattern.

These quilts took me awhile to get through - but so much fun.  I kept imagining the girls getting their quilts and what a treasure it would be for then.  Wish I could be there to see their expressions.

This next quilt is another local t-shirt quilt for her daughter who graduated.  Again, fun colors staying in the school theme.  

This quilt was a  dream to quilt.  Her sewing was perfect - which is hard on a t-shirt quilt!  She chose the Geometric quilting pattern, which I hadn't used so I was so excited to try.

I love how it turned out, especially on the minky back.  This is a fun pattern.  Would be great for a boy and for a more modern quilt look.  This quilted up perfectly and was a fairly fast pattern.  I love how it turned out!  

Needless to say - I have been trying to get caught up on my quilting - and not a lot of sewing is getting done.  I have 2 more swoon blocks in the works, but nothing to show as of yet.  Clearly my project for February is not going to get completed.  Hopefully I can get it done the first week or two in March.  I've been dying to start some new projects but keep telling myself I have to finish my swoon one first!  

Linking up to WIP Wednesdays!

February Progress

Instead of making block #2 of the Blogger Girls Block of the Month - I decided first to make another version using a different line.  I have been dying over the one Monique is showing on her blog out of the Double Chocolat line - so I decided to make me a version.  I love how these are looking!  Still hoping to get block #2 done out of both lines this month.

I also made a little progress on my Swoon blocks (block) which is my goal for the month of February for Lovely Year of Finishes.  I now can't even find this block!  So this is a picture I took for Instagram.  

I used the solid grey and blue for this block - which I love and it doesn't have red in it!  I'm hoping to hit the rest of the blocks hard this weekend so I can still get this quilt done this month.

Been doing a lot of quilting these days - 21 quilts in 20 days.  Maybe this month I can average a quilt a day....I only have 1 left right now - so help me out!

Linking up to WIP Wednesdays and A Loverly Year of Finishes

Conversations with Sam

Warning - may be giving too much info here!

Sam has been potty trained (mostly) for awhile now, but he still has a little trouble when he sleeps and with #2 - he wants to put  a pull up on when its that time of the day.  

Last night as we were getting him in jammies and pull up for bed - he said to me - 

"Mom, this is the last pull up."  He said while handing it to me.  "I think I can go in the toliet tomorrow."  

Me - "Sammy that would be great, I think you can do it too."  

Sam - "Mom, I just have to believe in myself and I can do it."  

I couldn't stop laughing.  Where in the world has he learned the statement believe in yourself?  He said it about 10 more times, and woke up saying it this morning.  

Maybe today we'll have a break through!  Wish us luck.

Menu Mondays

OH...the joys of no carb - yes Mike sprung that one on me last week - he's going no carb.  So maybe I'll help him out with some low/no carb dinners and in the process help myself out....worth a try.

Monday Luncheon - Happy Birthday Whit - Pesto Stuffed Shells, Grandma homemade caesar salad, and garlic bread

Monday Dinner - Tri-tip (costco and good!) and Salad
Tuesday - Joe's Crab Shack eat out night
Wednesday - Chicken Salad rolls/lettuce wraps
Thursday - Caesar Salad w/grilled chicken
Friday - Omelets
Saturday - Chicken Pesto Salad - minus the bowtie pasta

Weekend Updates

When I wrote the title of this post I could totally hear Seth Myers saying Weekend Updates on SNL...

Very full and fun weekend...here are some highlights.

- Made forts w/ the kids
- Cleaned the house w/the kids (trying to make them responsible)
- Quilted 5 quilts (ALL T-SHIRT QUILTS ARE DONE!!!)
- Completed a Swoon block
- Completed a BOM block
- Tending my cute nephew
- Instagram (Follow me http://instagram.com/alatimer)
- Went to a $1 movie (Twilight - I think I'm going to have to dedicate a post to this one)
- Sam stayed with a babysitter and didn't cry once (this is monumental)
- Cleaned house (again)
- Ate a lot - (note to self - start diet tomorrow)


Overall - it was a fun family weekend.  Staying home tomorrow to celebrate this cute girls birthday with a little luncheon with the girls.

The boys and I might even get another fort built... stay tuned.

Client Quilts - part 2

Isn't this the cutest quilt?  I love the ragged flowers - the pieced border and the purple!  

This quilt was a queen sized quilt and fun to do!  I love getting to try new techniques and new patterns on these quilts! 

This quilt offered a little challenge as the flowers were ragged - so I had to watch this quilt and hold down the flowers so they wouldn't get caught up in the quilting foot.  

Julie wanted her borders to stand out - and the big cream border on the edge was perfect for a big rose flower border.  She is going to scallop the border and this fit perfectly!  A few little loops through the pieced border and stitch in the ditch on the dark purple stop border.  

In the middle she chose the pattern Candyland (sorry about the lighting in these pictures it was 2am!)  I hadn't used Candyland yet and was so excited to try it out.  The shape of these flowers was the exact shape of the flowers on the front of the quilt - they went together wonderfully!  I love how the back looked almost as much as the front!  

The below quilt was a tshirt quilt that a cute girl Cayla brought to me.  The front was a tshirt quilt (and I totally forgot to take a picture) she is putting together to give her boyfriend for Valentine's Day.  This was her first quilt and she was so excited about giving it to him.  I love to work with new quilters!  She was so brave to attempt a tshirt quilt for her first go at it!

She chose Cotton Seed for her pattern - and I love how it looks on this back.  She used a jersey sheet for the back - and it looked really good and will be so soft!   This was another pattern I've been wanting to try for awhile - and I love how it turned out!

This next quilt I think she said was a Crazy Old Ladies quilt pattern - I love the bright fun colors.

She chose the quilt pattern Waverly - and I have to be honest - I was nervous.  I got this pattern from my club in February and I wasn't thrilled with it.  I thought "when will I ever use that?"  Well, a day went by and a client picked it - and I have to say I LOVE how it turned out!

This pattern is modern and fun.  Looks a little masculine which was perfect as she's giving this to her son.  I'm glad I have client who make me step out of my comfort zone!

This next quilt I loved everything about!  This chevron pattern is one of my favorites.  She chose the Holly Panto - which is quickly becoming the most popular Christmas pattern I offer.  

I haven't met a quilt the Holly Panto doesn't work well with.  (Take advantage now as this design will not always stay at $.01 an inch!  It is very detailed and dense!)

The back.

This next 2 quilts are from my client who has been shipping them over to me.  She does such different quilts and patterns it is so much fun to work with her!

Pattern used is called Paisley Flowers

She used the tutorial I used here, but used 5 inch squares.  I think this quilt turned out wonderfully!  

Her next quilt was half square triangles.  I love the reds and pinks she chose.  What a fun, so in right now quilt!  And festive for the Valentine season.  

She chose GooseDown for her quilting pattern.  Another one I have wanted to try for awhile.  I LOVE how this turned out.  

The back looks so good too.  

I love getting to see all these fun quilts and trying these new pattern designs out.  It really is the best part of the job - getting to see what others are creating out there.  

Linking up to Finish Up Fridays at Crazy Mom Quilts

Happy Valentines Day

A few of my favorite quotes for the day of love....

Source: itsirrational.com via Abby on Pinterest

Source: invitationsbyfrescoes.files.wordpress.com via Abby on Pinterest

Source: liliezen.tumblr.com via Abby on Pinterest

Source: happywivesclub.com via Abby on Pinterest

Source: picfor.me via Abby on Pinterest

Source: imjust-a-girl.tumblr.com via Abby on Pinterest

Source: katieannkohle.tumblr.com via Abby on Pinterest

This is why you marry your best friend

Source: sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net via Abby on Pinterest

WIP Wednesday

Even though I am supposed to be working on my Swoon quilt this month - I started a new quilt - Well block....deciding still on the progress.

I bought this pattern from Thimble Blossoms and have been wanting to start on it.  Debating which charm packs to use.  I found a charm pack of Fig Tree's new yet to be released line Avalon on Etsy and paired the two together!  I love how it is looking.

I'm now deciding if I should add a border and call this a good table topper or if I should keep making blocks and make it a quilt.  

I'm putting it down for a week or so to get some Swoon blocks done - so I'll keep you posted on my decision!  

This is a fun pattern to put together and goes fairly fast.  Love the blues in this line!  Wouldn't this be fun with a cute navy border?  UMMMM - maybe a quilt....

Linking up to Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesdays!

Client Quilts

Business has been good the last few weeks.  I have loved this new little venture we have going.  I love seeing all the different quilts and love trying new patterns and new challenges.  

I wanted to share a few of the beautiful quilts I have done recently.  I apologize in advance if the pictures aren't great - some get taken at 2am!  So lighting is horrible.

This quilt was made by my dear friend Nancy for a client.  This baby is KING SIZED!  My first king on the new machine - and she brought me two of them!  She chose an all Loops and Swirls pattern and it looked great on this quilt!  

This next quilt was also large - and I don't have a picture of the whole quilt.  It is the pattern Star Cakes which I made a version of here and here and I think my mom has quilt out of the pattern also from long before I started blogging.  This is a great pattern - big quilt and only takes a layer cake and some background yardage.  Goes together quickly.

 

This quilt was made by Judy a long time friend and client.  She chose the Holly Panto for this quilt and it turned out great with the fabrics in this quilt.  

This next quilt was sent to me from a client.  She is whipping out these quilts quickly and this was my 3rd or 4th quilt from her.  I love that her quilts are so different from one another.  She mentioned that she had lived in Africa and these fabrics either were her clothes she wore while there or reminder her of the clothes?  But what a great way to create a memory of that time in her life!

We chose the Wind Swirl pattern for this quilt.  

These next 2 quilts are from another great client Kathy.  She just brought me another 2 quilts.  She may be the fastest seamstress I've laid eyes on!

I love these fabrics she chose.  This was such a pretty quilt to work on.  

She chose Trailing Vine as the quilt pattern - and I was so excited.  I hadn't used this one yet, but have wanted to.  It may be one of my top picks going forward.  

I love how the leaves kind of look like hearts.  She did minky on the back which shows off the pattern very well.

Kathy also brought this fun bright quilt!  It has birds all through the border.  And I love the ombre fabric. 

She chose the Peacock pattern which worked perfectly with the fabric and theme of this quilt.  

She used a pretty minky on this back too - and I love how the design shows up on this quilt!

Last night Kathy brought me another quilt just like this one but bigger - and she chose this pattern to be used on it.  I haven't tried this one yet and I'm so excited to see how it turns out!

The last quilt I'll share today was fun for me - a little challenge - something new to learn - and I was excited with how it turned out.  I think Jo was too!

This quilt pattern would be the perfect quilt for some serious custom quilting - but she just completed another very custom quilt - and didn't have the money to go all the way.  So we did some light custom work on this quilt.  

We used the all over peacock design through the outer portion of the quilt.  Its hard to see below - but the pattern fits perfectly with the peacock in the middle.  

I trimmed the design around the center design and we did a little custom work around the peacock. 

A little fancy feather in the border

Some echoing around the peacock in the middle.  I think it turned out well and really made the bird pop on the quilt!  

Most importantly - Jo seems to have loved the quilt - and there is nothing better then having a happy client who is thrilled with the outcome.  Such a rewarding feeling!

I have a lot more quilts to share - so check back this week for more pictures. 

Menu Mondays

Monday - Chicken Meatballs and Pineapple
Tuesday - Steak and au gratin potatoes
Wednesday - Pesto Chicken w/ salad
Thursday - Cheese Stuffed Shells - in freezer ready to go
Friday - Chicken and Rice Casserole (Costco freezer section - its good)
Saturday - Baked Spasagna

I had a good week - and then last week was horrible - so I'm going to pick it back up now!  Easy meals should make it easier to stay on track this week!

We Have a Winner!

Thanks everyone who left a comment for the giveaway.  It was so much fun to read them all - and good to know I'm not alone with my sewing and fabric addictions!  It was so fun to visit the new to me blogs from some of you and I found some great new reads! 

The winner of the table runner is Jan who commented -

"I can't believe you have 500 posts. I just discovered quilt blogs a month ago and just stared commenting on them this weekend. My favorite things to do are quilt and read. But my most favorite is spending time with my sisters."

I loved this comment because I love spending time with my sister also!  And what luck that she won a contest the first weekend she started commenting! 

Jan - send me your address and I'll ship out the runner to you.

Thanks everyone for making the first 500 posts so rewarding.  Hope you all stick around for the next 500 posts!

What I Love Most About Blogging

So I'm hosting my first ever giveaway (still time to enter go here) and let me tell you what I love most about this process. 

When people comment - I link to their blog if they have one - and my world gets happy with new inspiration, new ideas, new friends, new eye candy!  I love getting to see what others out there are working on.  The trials they may be facing.  The smiling faces of their kids.  The products and services they are selling.  I have to say -  I think I'm turning into a social network junky! 

Yesterday while catching up on my new friends - I ran into this quilt - and quilt a long.

Source: hopefulhomemaker.com via Abby on Pinterest

I could die - I love this quilt.  Love the swoon block, love the scrappy look.  Oh the possibilities.   

This just made my very full to do list, and might be headed to the top.  I love blogland - I love being inspired and motivated to stay up all night and sew.  I can't stop thinking about what fabrics I should make my Scrappy Swoon in.  I have a feeling there will be a lot of Red Bull being consumed this weekend!