The Accidental Crafter

AMQG Fall Retreat

Amy — Sun, 11 Nov 2012 16:50:16 +0000

A weekend away from the daily grind with my friends from my guild? Yes please! The Atlanta Modern Quilt Guild had its fall retreat 2 hours away in the mountains where all we had to do was eat, sleep, talk and sew. It was awesome!

At past retreats I spent way more time talking than sewing but this time I was on a mission. I wanted to get my son’s quilt (yes, the one Ive been working on forever) sandwiched and quilted. So, I brought my earphones and got to work.

I got the quilt sandwiched the first night we were there. Being segregated to a distant room motivated me to hurry and get it done even though I was placing a pin every inch or so thanks to the minky back.

I spent the rest of the weekend quilting that monster. I didnt want a quilting pattern that would distract from the squares in the quilt but wanted to soften it up a little. I decided to do an irregular square-ish pattern from top to bottom. I really love the way it turned out but man, wrestling that heavy quilt all weekend was tough!

All done!

Some more good times: Coffee with the ladies

LCR dice game

Time for a Change, CrossFit style

Amy — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 19:09:23 +0000

Im going to be honest, I havent been happy with most things for quite a while. There’s the usual suspects of daily life, being a wife and Mom, but when I really look at it, the truth is that Im not happy with myself first. Since I quit working a few years ago, Ive struggled to figure out how what I do matters outside of my home life. I was so lucky to find quilting and sewing 2 and a half years ago, its given me something productive to do and so many new friends who I love. But, theres still something else missing. Ive never been a very athletic person, Im one of those unhealthy people who hide it pretty well. Im tired a lot, get winded easily and dont like looking at myself in the mirror.

Ive become friends with some really great ladies who are into CrossFit and Ive been hearing how much they love it. The difference in one of my friends the short time she has been going is amazing. It finally clicked in me that this is what Ive been missing. So, tonite is my first class then Ill go to 2 weeks of fundamentals classes to work on form. Im excited and nervous and really hoping I wont die within the first 10 minutes. As a way of motivating myself and to see my progress, Im posting my before measurements.
Chest – 38″ Waist – 32″ Hips – 40

I love this quote, its keeping me moving forward: “When we are no longer able to change a situation – we are challenged to change ourselves.”

Work in Progress Wednesday #7

Amy — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 17:52:53 +0000

This week I managed to sandwich and quilt my mini quilt. I know, I know, not much done but when youre only sewing for an hour here and there during naptimes, thats pretty good for me! Here’s the last peek at my mini (still only peeks until its finished because I dont want to totally spoil it for my swap partner if shes looking).

Ive got 2 quilt tops waiting in the wings to be sandwiched and quilted still. The smooth minky finally arrived for my son’s quilt after 3 different times of getting the wrong thing. The thought of crawling around on the floor pinning quilts for the next couple days doesnt exactly get me excited. Sandwiching quilts is my least favorite step in quilting, most because my neck and back hurt for days after. Whats your least favorite step in quilting?

Work in Progress Wednesday #6

Amy — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 16:50:01 +0000

You may recognize this little number from last weeks WIP post. Unfortunately it hasnt moved from its place since I finished it because fabric.com has messed up my order not once but twice. Of course this has to do with the dreaded minky my son requested, they apparently really want me to have dimple dot minky instead of the smooth which doesnt look too spiffy (in my opinion) once quilted. So here it stays, prettying up my hallway giving it an almost stained glass effect when the sun shines in. Too bad it isnt for that purpose!

And now onto what I actually worked on this week. Im part of a mini quilt swap with my MQG, my partner didnt give me any hints as to what she likes so I pretty much winged it. Ive been thinking a lot about navy lately for some reason and wanted to give it a shot as the neutral in my mini. I noticed on her blog that she seemed to like pink so I pulled some Kona pomegranate to work with the navy. Next up is quilting which Im pretty excited about! Please forgive my sneak peek pic, I didnt want to give away the whole thing until it ships. Ill post it as soon as its completed.

May Blocks for do.good Stitches

Amy — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 20:02:47 +0000

For May, Jessica chose for us to do a stripe quilt, specifically for a boy with the colors of green, orange, yellow and grey. We could choose to make them however we wanted as long as they were vertical or horizontal. I loved the challenge, it left the possibilities wide open to do almost anything we wanted. With my first block I decided to pretty much wing it and add rows without plan. Im really happy with how it came out.

Since my first block was so free form, I wanted to make my second block more structured. I really like how the charcoal fabric really shows off the colors.

Work in Progress #5

Amy — Tue, 22 May 2012 12:06:04 +0000

Things on my blog have gotten a little stagnant and it looks like I havent been doing much but aside from all the end of school parties, activities and running around Ive been working on several quilts. At the Atlanta Modern Quilt Guild retreat in March, I knocked out a lap quilt top for my Mom. (No pics, dont want to ruin the surprise whenever that is!)

I finally had enough of staring at and petting my Terrain bundle and decided to cut into it. This is as far as I got.

I just cant bring myself to pair my grannies with white or snow. I went on a search for something different and stumbled across some really nice Grunge at a new LQS that opened nearby. Its a mixture of white, grey and tan and I think it’ll add some texture to the quilt.

I finally picked up J’s quilt again and started working on it like crazy. After a year (and then some) Im ready to get it out of its bin and onto his bed. I assembled the blocks over 2 weeks of nap times and it was really exciting to lay it out on the floor to see what it will look like after so long! All thats left are to sew the blocks into rows then together to complete the top. He requested minky for the backing (insert groan here) so Ive been on the lookout for some that is a similar color to the top and fabric for the binding. Hopefully Ill find what Im looking for soon because I want to get this baby wrapped up!

April Blocks for do.good stitches

Amy — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 01:42:29 +0000

This month our group made granny squares. When I read the colors we would be using, purple/lavender and green, I panicked a little bit. I have almost nothing in my stash of either color but that just meant fabric shopping which is always ok. I hadnt tried making granny squares since they got really popular so it was fun to finally try a few.

March Blocks for Do.Good Stitches

Amy — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 21:34:01 +0000

I was excited to be invited to join the Harmony group on do.good stitches last month. Do.good stitches is a charity bee that has several people in each group who make quilt blocks then send them on to a different person each month who assembles the blocks to make a quilt for different charities, ours is Project Linus. For March we made heart blocks, I chose two different styles. My favorite was the 12.5″ block made from a tutorial by my friend, Ali at a.squared.w. It didnt come out quite the way I wanted it to but, live and learn right? It was fun to make them all and send them on their way!

Pay it Forward vSewing

Amy — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 19:54:25 +0000

Last August a large group of us quilty/sewing types on Twitter got inspired to Pay it Forward by sending out some hand crafted love to friends with a year to get it completed in. Whats happened since then? Holidays, exhaustion and lots of other sewing. Until I went to my mailbox the other day and found a package there. I wasnt expecting anything, no fabric, no clothes, nothing! I tore through the package and found the prettiest zip pouch, a card and an entire sleeve of Thin Mint cookies from my friend, Beth at Wandering Threads! It was so exciting to find a surprise in my mailbox and I love it all. (Yes, the Thin Mints are long gone) Thank you Beth!

Wonky Stardust Block – ATLMQG Block of the Month 1

Amy — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 04:27:07 +0000

The Atlanta Modern Quilt Guildis participating in the Free Spirit Jay McCarroll Habitat challenge by doing a block of the month. The rules were that we could only add solid fabric to the Habitat fabric, no prints. Not a problem, these fabrics are plenty on their own! I used Kona Charcoal with mine to really bring out the colors of the line. I struggled making the first set of star points (ok, first two sets) because I didnt read all of the directions first. After I got that out of the way, the block went together without a problem.