The finished quilt

Yes after two months of barely hand quilting I finally finished the quilt from the quilt along that finished in June. I had a hard time with the hand quilting but only because sticking with that kind of task for more than an hour at a time just doesn't work for me. But I've finally finished it. I also made a lot of mistakes. But in doing so I've learned things that you shouldn't do and things that you should definitely do. Like over baste. Well without further ado here it is.

I'm a slacker

Yeah apparently it's been a while. (Like a month!). But in my defense June and so far July has been kinda busy. Terry finally got a job that he's really enjoying so we've all had to adjust to his new schedule which will be changing to a more permanent schedule here soon. But then we will have to readjust when that happens. Also in June I was working on the quilt for the quilt along which I haven't finish yet because hand quilting is taking a lot longer than I thought. Plus I'm also crocheting an afghan and a floppy Steelers hat for myself. I also made another dish cloth. Not to mention the Feeling Scrappy sketches that I completed. I think I completed 25ish pages in June. I'll post a few of my favorites in the next post.

So without further ado, let's get caught up on the sketchy stuff and the various items from my 38 challenge.

Finished quilt top

I finished the quilt top for the quilt a long happening here. It's been so much fun so far and I can't wait to start the actual quilting on Wednesday. Here's a look at what I've done.

The Quilt A Long

So far so good. I'm really enjoying the quilt a long at the Mommy by Day blog. If you've ever wanted to learn to quilt this is the way to do it. She is doing one set of instructions per week so that you'll have plenty of time to get each step done. We'll have a completed quilt by the end of the month. Last week we completed all of the cutting and if we chose to we could go ahead and layout all the pieces so we'd be ready for the sewing part this week. Here's mine all laid out and ready to go.

Busy, busy June

I'm really excited about June. Thanks to a wonderful friend (Thanks Jen), I was gifted a spot in the Sketchapalooza class and it's underway. For those of you wondering, it's a scrapping class that provides throughout June 20 total sketches designed by some very talented ladies. Plus you get to see the takes on the sketch by all the other attendees. I've already completed 2 of the three and will work on the third one tomorrow. It's not to late to join if you are interested. Check it out here.

The other project that is going to keep me busy is the June quilt a long. I've gotten the quilting bug and I'm so excited. The project started today over at Mommy by Day, Crafter by Night. I got all my squares, sashings and binding already cut and ready to go. Tomorrow I'm going to lay out all my squares. Next Wednesday we are going to start assembling the quilt top.

I'm so excited about June.

New quilt

Now that I've finally finished that quilt I have the quilting bug. So I'll be hanging out at the Mommy by Day, Crafter by Night blog for a zig zag quilt along. I'm really excited. I've got my layer cake ordered and then I'll need to buy the additional stuff to go with it.

I finally finished it

I finally finished the quilt that I started in January. I learned a lot of dos and don'ts while making it. One major thing that I learned is that I would much rather use patterned fabric on the back vs solid. So without further ado here we go.

One thing funny I noticed today as I was finishing. I've had my machine for 12 years, it's nothing fancy but a $40 machine from Wal-mart. I broke my first needle today. Shows you how much it's been used. In fact before December of last year it had only been used once or twice. These past months have made me realize how much I've missed sewing.

The pillow project

As promised here are pics of the finished pillow. I don't follow instructions well but anyone who knows me would probably be shocked if I did. I found the pattern at Walmart for a quilt and the pillow. So I used scraps from my quilt (that is still not finished) to make the pillow. It called for 16 strips in 6 different colors. I used 15 strips in four colors. It was quite simple to make and only took a few hours to put together. The hardest part for me was sewing it closed after it was stuffed. So without further ado here it is.

The back of it.
The front of it.

New recipe number 8

Once again I failed to take pictures of the new recipe but I have to say my oh my it was very very yummy. I made the Lemon Sage Roasted Chicken from the newest edition of the Simple and Delicious magazine. Just reading the recipe it seemed like quite a bit of work but it really wasn't. I just had to mix a marinade in a large bag, put a whole chicken in it and let it sit for 4 hours. Take it out at the right now, put it in a roasting pan, put some butter under the skin, shove some sliced lemon inside it dump seasoned potatoes and onions around it and bake for 3 hours. Wow, talk about fall off the bone tender. I will definitely make that again in a heart beat.

Also on my 38 challenge I finished another book a few days ago. It was The Fire by James Patterson. It was pretty good, not as good as the other two in the series but still good. So that puts me at 5 books for the year and I have 4 more stacked on the nightstand. Guess I need to get reading.

I'm not doing so hot on the 38 projects end though. I've only completed 2, the scarf and now a pillow which I will talk about in another post. I've got a quilt started that just needs to be quilted. I need to quit being a baby and just do it. I've got the gryphindor scarf that I still need to finish and another one of those to make. I've got another pillow that I want to make and another lap quilt in my head to make. I just need to get cracking and start making.

Shopping

As an avid scrapper one would expect me to spend a lot of money walking into Joann's on scrapping supplies. However, yesterday as an early Valentines gift I went shopping. I only bought 4 sheets of cardstock and a bottle of glossy accents. The rest of the money......fabric. For two different projects mind you. I'm going to get started on a lap quilt as a gift and then I'm going to tackle something a little bit harder (for me anyway). Can you tell I may be becoming obsessed with quilting? I'll post a sneak peak at the fabric for my next project. It may let me know who reads this. I also looked at a lot of yarn but figured I have 2 projects started that need to be finished and I have a third that I need to start. Plus I have about 10 balls of yarn that haven't even been opened yet. Guess I should do something with all that stuff first huh? That's if Isis (the newer kitty) doesn't eat it all first.

New recipe number 7

So guess I've fallen behind just a smidge. First off in my 38 challenge I need to read 38 new books this year. I finished the fourth one the other night. It was Devil's Gate by Clive Cussler. Excellent as always by Clive.

Now for the new recipe. We actually had it last night. Sorry no pics or links. I fixed Steak Toscano and Tuscan potatoes. The potatoes were excellent. The steaks while cooked perfectly maybe had to much rub on them. I'll lighten up on it next time.

In the non-scrappy 38 category I've kinda been slacking. I'm about 1/4 way through the Gryffindor scarf and I need to get back to it. I've also been trying to learn how to free motion quilt. That's not been very pretty at all but I'm going to keep at it.

That's all for now.