Compulsive Quilter

I Love Wonkiness

Lovely Messes — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 21:22:31 +0000

As a beginner quilter, I don’t know a ton about the hobby yet. I haven’t tried a ton of different techniques yet, I’m still figuring out what batting and thread I like, and I haven’t even finished a full size quilt yet. But, I already follow a ton of quilt blogs and one of my favorites, Quilt Dad, is teaching a wonky series this month. I am already in love!! These wonky log cabin blocks are so cute and are so much fun!

I had an Arcadia charm pack and I wanted to try a log cabin block. Another of my favorite blogs, Crazy Mom Quilts, had a tutorial for log cabin blocks and I modified it a tiny bit to fit the charm square size since that’s what I had. I got 24 blocks out of 1 charm pack plus a bunch of 1″ strips left over to play with.

Aren’t they so pretty!

I knew I wanted to add a border to make them bigger, so I tried out John’s Wonky Log Cabin Block and here is the finished square. It is a lot smaller than his, but that’s ok! They are 6.5″ squares.

All of my wonky squares waiting for borders and left over scraps!

I love off center, quirkiness, (I’ve been scrapbooking for 10 years), so wonky squares are awesome to me!! Thanks so much to John and Amanda for their fantastic tutorials!

Awesome Giveaway

Lovely Messes — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 00:18:27 +0000

I’m Just A Guy Who Quilts is having this awesome sewing calendar giveaway!! I would love to win and I’m sure others out in sewing land would love it too! So go over and try and win it, you have until September 12th!

In The Middle Of Nowhere

Lovely Messes — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 17:05:02 +0000

That’s where we are this week! In the middle of nowhere, SC. I told my 3 year old to tell his great-grandpa that and he started laughing. It’s true though. I have Verizon which works everywhere that I go, except here. I’m actually surprised that my internet is working because I have a Verizon modem. It’s really slow, but I still feel connected to the rest of the world!

I was tempted to bring my sewing machine along, but I wanted to read my last leisure book of the summer. Class starts on Aug. 17th and then I will only have time to read textbooks.

So, until I get back to sewing. . .

A Lovely Sunday

Lovely Messes — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 00:11:18 +0000

My aunt and cousins from PA are visiting for the next couple weeks with us. They arrived last night. This morning we took my aunt to our new church and had a great time. After church, we came home and had lunch and then put the boys down for a nap. I had some time to sew a few things this afternoon and now blogging real quick before Zachary wakes up! My mom is having a cookout tonight since we have so many visitors! Lots of yummy food awaits!!

Tomorrow morning I am taking the boys to the Riverbanks Zoo and then we are off to my grandfather’s house in SC. My aunt and cousins will also be headed down there. The boys love going to Great-Grandpop’s house, it’s always a fun, relaxing week. He has a golf cart and that is always the big hit of the summer.

I just wanted to show you my pile of fabric that I have to play with in the coming weeks! Don’t you just love the look of fabric waiting to be played with? I know I do!!

My pretty pile of fabric!

My 3 year old was with us when we went fabric shopping and he loves fire trucks (he’s having a fire truck party for his birthday in September). So, when he found this fabric he had to have it. Now I just have to figure out what to do with it!

I am so excited about my first charm square purchase! I just love the colors in the Arcadia line. I think I may make a tote bag with them. Thanks to imaginefabric at Etsy where I bought these charm squares! Go check out her shop, she has lots of great fabric, I will definitely be going back!

I Finished My Bag!!

Lovely Messes — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 20:41:33 +0000

My very first tote bag is done and it is so pretty! The bottom corners didn’t turn out as well as I would like, but I’m going to keep trying. I also should have put some pockets in it. Other than that it turned out pretty good. My family all loved it and now I have orders for 5 more bags, lol! I don’t mind because I need the practice and now I have a whole bag full of pretty fabrics to play with, yay!

I would love to see bags that others have made!! If you have a favorite, post a link, I love new ideas!!

My Quilting For The First Time

Lovely Messes — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 11:18:48 +0000

Yes, this is a small project, but I’m so proud!! I did a square pattern to practice 1/4″ seams and straight lines and I don’t think I did too shabby. You can see the border along the top too. That was really good practice for straight lines. They definitely aren’t perfect, but I love it anyway! Here’s a closeup.

Newest Project

Lovely Messes — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 11:18:03 +0000

I found this fabric and fell in love with it and I’m not usually into pinks. Isn’t it just fantastic though! I’m going to make a tote bag out of this. I cut it into 3″ squares and laid out this pattern. I am actually going to quilt on this one, my first time ever!! We’ll see how it goes.

My Sewing Machine Is Working Overtime

Lovely Messes — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 18:34:00 +0000

Bags, purses, totes. . . I love them all!! I used to get a new bag every time I went shopping. Once kids came along that habit had to stop (along with the shoe obsession). But, I still browse them when I go to the store and now that I’m getting pretty good at sewing I can make my own, yay!

I found the cutest pattern on allpeoplequilt.com and had to try it out. It’s called a grab bag. One handle is longer than the other on purpose. You slip the longer handle through the shorter one so you can grab it and go, hence the name. I think this bag will be cute to use for the rest of the summer, it’s all nice and bright! Can you see the green swirly fabric that I used for the lining? So fun!!

I also made a bunch more quilt blocks for the quilt a long. I can’t wait to see how this turns out!

Here I am

Lovely Messes — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 14:57:36 +0000

I have no idea if anyone will find me in my little blog world, but hey, I want to document my quilting experience!

I am a brand new quilter and so excited about it. There are too many projects that I want to try, I love it all!

I found a quilt a long on this blog and thought it would be a great way to practice and so this will end up being one of my very first quilts, yay!!

Here is one of my first blocks.

I’m just pulling from my scrap bin from other sewing projects, we’ll see how it turns out in the end.

If you find me here, say hi!