Three Reasons

I am thrilled to start a new year.  There are lots of wonderful things to look forward to.  The most important ones are these:

Lately some people have been giving bloggers a hard time about including their "personal" lives on their blogs.  To that I give a big middle finger.  I feel like I have an extended family of friends all over the world because of the intimacy of online friendships.  If people didn't include personal bits in their online story, I would instead feel like I had an extended professional community around the world.  The difference between professional relationships and true friendships is the personal information we share:  vulnerability, failures in addition to successes, and the most personal reasons why we do the things we do.

These are my Three Reasons.

Final 2011 Finishes! Feast your eyes on these.

Even though I've been slack at blogging, I have been completing lots of other things.  Here is the Post-Summit Swap mini-quilt for Heather:

The Bumble Mug Rug for Maria in the Scrappy Mug Rug Holiday Swap:

The Joy Mug Rug also for Maria:

Trip to Callaway Gardens to see the lights:

Here's a quick break to show The Husbeast:

Husbeast's true personality:

 

Bee Tweet Blocks:

Baby Doll Bedding set for little girl gift:

 

 

Sewing Summit Name tag:

 

Quilt for my mom for Christmas:

 

Strawberry Fields Quilt for my In-Laws:

Whew!  I'm sure there's more, including several scarves since I've learned how to knit!  However, I want to go ahead and get this published so I can move on to 2012 :-)

Happy New Year everyone!

The Sewing Summit

I can hardly express how amazing The Sewing Summit was!  200 quilty sewisty people gathered together in a lovely hotel in the wide open city of Salt Lake. 

I have spent two weeks trying to write a blog post to describe this event but I keep deleting it and starting again.  Words and iPhone pictures don't do it justice!

So for now I'm going to just say this:  GO.  In 2012, GO TO SEWING SUMMIT.  You won't regret it.  I tweeted during that weekend that it was like the "Woodstock" of sewing bloggers.  It's true!  Love, chatter, late nights, and lots of laughs. 

Thank you to Erin and Amy who gave us the gift of togetherness.  And thank you to the bloggers that did a better job at describing it.  And a better job at photgraphing the weekend.  Meanwhile, here are a few of the pictures that I did get.

The snowy mountain view from my room:

The bus for the Shop Hop:



Amanda and Amy right before Amanda's class on Mini Quilts:

Erin and Amy opening their surprise quilts (quilted by me!):

Nine.

My firstborn turned nine years old yesterday.  He is smart, serious, organized, bossy and opinionated.  He is loving and kind, helpful, and a very healthy eater.  He loves to read and competes with his friends to earn AR (Advanced Reader) points at school.  He prefers playing defense or goalie in soccer and is very good at it.

This year he wanted a road bike so he can join Daddy riding on some serious bike rides.  We got him a youth road bike last weekend and he loves it!  He can already ride over 9 miles on it. 

I wanted to buy him a couple of other items to unwrap on his actual birthday so we got him a CD compliation of top 40 pop music, a compilation of well-known Christmas songs, a red hoodie sweatshirt, and a kids Sonicare toothbrush.  Oh yes I did.  He loves it.  That's the kind of kid he is.  The only one of the three of them who actuallly brushes his teeth without being cattle prodded.

Luckily he has people like my mom who gave him a nerf-like bow and arrow set, my sister who gave him Star Wars Legos and his friends who are giving him Target gift cards and cash.  He loves to shop.

I can't express how much I love this human.  He is so interesting!  I put on Facebook yesterday that I was so lucky to have him in my life, and one of the first people who commented was his teacher saying how wonderful he is in her class :-) 

I wish for him an easy life, full of laughs, happiness, adventure, and loving people surrounding him.  I am so thankful that he came into my life on that dark and rainy morning in High Wycombe, England.  He made me a mother and challenged me to become an even better one each year.  He is now becoming a friend as well.  Happy Birthday baby boy!

*Crickets*

*tap, tap, tap* ... this thing on?

Here is what's new at our house:

4 year old with broken leg.

But this summer included some wonderful things such as:

The Atlanta Modern Quilt Guild Retreat:

Family Reunion with 33 Crazy People (whom I adore!):

A lot of stealing mom's iphone:

Visiting my hometown (Greenville, SC):

And Napping:

The number one most exciting thing I'm looking forward to right now is The Sewing Summit!  It takes place in less than two weeks in Salt Lake City.  This is the LAST WEEK TO REGISTER.  If you are considering joining this incredible group of online sewing friends, register now before it's too late.  I can't tell you how much work Amy and Erin have put into this weekend.  In addition to these two leaders, several participants have already come forward to lead small groups including dinners, swaps, tutorials, etc.  The involvement and excitement by the participants stuns me.  Please consider joining us if you're at all able.

I have also been longarm quilting as much as possible.  I got backed up this summer way more than I expected so I've been trying my hardest to catch up now that the kids are back in school!

Happy fall everyone.  Stay tuned for more updates including some finished Bee Tweet blocks, detailed longarm quilting pictures, and my first attempt at hexies.

Chris



 

Fig Tree Polka Dots & Summer Dress

As a Fig Tree Fanatic, I couldn't help but swoon over the Polka Dots & Summer dress pattern found here.

I used my Spring Street fabric by Carolyn Gavin which is so fun to look at.  I also love the fresh colors.

I am not a garment sewer by any stretch of the imagination.  I'm too much of a "just wing it" type sewer.  I'm going to switch now from saying sewer (which reads like a poo processing plant) to sewist (which sounds very posh).  So, as I was saying, my goal when putting together anything other than a quilt is to just do my best to follow the pattern and forgive the mistakes.  I wouldn't say I cut corners but I don't do my best to get it just right.  Instead I do my best to get it just done.

This turned out way less than perfect but way more than cute.

This last photo is to show you the vast discrepancy between the front length and the back length.  Completely my own fault for not reading the directions all the way through before beginning.  That's not usually like me!  I actually love reading directions.

She's wearing a tiny pair of white bike shorts underneath it so I don't need to worry about accidental flashing.

Just a note to those of you with monitors large enough to notice her red splotched feet:  her brothers lovingly shared some of their Sharpie marker love with her last night.  On a completely related note, SoftScrub actually took Sharpie off my wooden breakfast table!  Maybe I caught it soon enough but I was very pleasantly surprised (ie, desperately thanking the tiny baby Jesus).

Hope your summer is as fun as mine so far :-)  If you're within driving distance of the Atlanta area, please check out the Atlanta Modern Quilt Guild Summer Retreat!  You do not need to be a member to attend and it is just a one day event.  Let me know if you have any questions.

Chris

T-Shirt Quilt

I've been working for a while on a t-shirt quilt job for a neighbor friend.  I finally finished it and was able to deliver it to her on Sunday.  It turned out great and is the softest thing ever.  The flannel on the back was a lucky find at Tiny Stitches in Marietta.  It is softer than you can imagine.

T-shirt and sports jerseys are not easy to work with.  They stretch like you wouldn't believe.  I used interfacing but still had to struggle to keep them in line.  Obviously these pics are taken after a nice trip through the washer and dryer.

One of my favorite blocks is his old Woody costume.  The polyester makes it sort of slippery like the nice silk edge of a baby blanket.  His Hulk t-shirt has preschool paint stains on it which just melted my heart every time I looked at them.  The Flash shirt in the upper right-hand corner was made by his grandmother I think and the spider t-shirt was made from his handprints.  Could you not just die at how sweet all of these memories are?!  His class t-shirts from elementary school, his football t-shirt from when his dad coached. 

If you are interested in having a t-shirt quilt made, please let me know.  I am partnering with Rachel Locke (my Tupelo, MS quilting homie) to be able to get your t-shirt quilts completed more quickly.  Rachel is a piecing machine and I am a quilting machine.  Together, we can put together a t-shirt or memory quilt for you that will be snuggled and loved for many years to come.  Let me know if you'd like more information!

Happy Thursday!

Chris