ARRRRGGH!

The baby quilts were set aside this evening so I could complete an entirely different type of project -- 24 felt pirate beards for my elementary school musical. (They look much cuter when they're on faces, trust me!). The rainbow of colors is due to the fact that the pirates' names are Blackbeard, Bluebeard, Yellowbeard, Redbeard, Purplebeard...you get the idea. I found the beard tutorial here (isn't it great when people share their creative ideas and spare the rest of us from trying to reinvent the wheel?!). The pattern was easy, but by Beard # 24, I had lost the will to live. Needless to say, they got progressively less perfect, and none of them will win any sewing awards. However, they are DONE and I'm sure no one in the audience will notice my crooked stitches.

I did manage to finish quilting the Adirondack baby quilt last night. All that remains is to hand sew the bindings on both baby quilts -- tomorrow!!

Baby Quilt Progress!

My family will certainly vouch for the fact that I have a tendency to, when faced with a deadline, add unnecessary items to increase the stress level. For example, since I needed to complete two baby quilts by Wednesday, why not add a third baby quilt to the mix? In my defense, cutting and sewing multiple identical projects appeals to my love of efficiency. (I'm also the type of person that would just as soon make 3 lasagnas or a triple batch of brownies if I'm going to bother getting out the ingredients and tools!)

The two originally planned baby quilts were an Adirondack-themed quilt for a boy, and a Moda Blush (by Basic Grey) quilt for a girl. I had enough scraps leftover from a previous Adirondack project to complete the first quilt, but needed to purchase some Blush fabrics for the second quilt. Since the fat quarters I bought yielded enough pieces for two quilts, I figured I might as well make a third quilt for my Etsy store.

So, here's the progress so far. The girl baby shower quilt needs the binding hand-sewn to the back (pic above shows pink binding in progress). The second Blush quilt is completed and listed in my Etsy shop (I used aqua binding on this one). The Adirondack quilt finally has the borders on and is ready for loading on the quilting machine. With any luck, I'll have most of it quilted before bedtime! The folded quilt in the third picture is the one listed in my shop. By the way, my 11-year old niece wrote me a lovely letter which I have not yet answered, and one of the questions she asked was "How do you fold the quilts for the pictures in your shop?" The answer is "I have no idea!" I can never get them folded the same way twice!

The final picture explains why I've had time to accomplish so much this weekend -- UNFOLDED laundry being guarded by our cat, Hunter.

Welcome to My Blog!

For the past year, I've been "hovering in blogosphere", reading other people's blogs, being inspired by their quilting projects, and enjoying their anecdotes on everyday life. Today, I've decided to take my first baby steps toward being a "blogger"! Since my blog will focus mainly on my quilting life, and since I'm also a David Letterman fan, here's a top ten list to start things off!

Top Ten Signs That You're Addicted to Quilting:

(I'm sure there are a lot of versions of these on the web, but I decided to use my own personal examples!)

10. Even though all of your clothes are wash and wear, you own a very expensive iron, and your ironing board is almost always out.
9. When your daughter sees an iron in the hotel room closet, she says "Look, Mom -- you could sew here!"
8. Your 11 year old son can correctly define "WIP" and "fat quarter" , and knows who Alex Anderson is.
7. When you fly back and forth across the country to visit family, you bring a Singer Featherweight in your carry-on luggage.
6. You own 5 sewing machines, one of which is located 3,000 miles away (in order to avoid #7!)
5. You've considered legally changing your children's names to Kaffe and Amy (just kidding -- this is too over-the-top, even for me!)
4. When you say "It's in the sewing room", the follow-up question is always "Which one?"
3. Your husband's co-workers are constantly picking thread off his clothes.
2. Everyone in your house has had a pin stuck in his/her toe at some point.
And the number one answer...
1. Even though you have known for months that 2 co-workers were pregnant, you wait until the weekend before the baby shower to finish their quilts (see photo-- quilt # 1 still needs binding and quilt #2 hasn't even made it to the quilting machine yet!).

So, there -- you know a little about me and my obsession with quilting. Now it's time to order a pizza so I can get the baby quilts finished!