I Bee In LOVE!

I finally got my VIBee and Quilting Divas Bee quilt top finished. This top have been about 3 years in the making, WOW typing that out makes me realize how long 3 years is! A lot has happened in those 3 years too. This quilt will always be a favorite of mine. Not only is it going to be GORGEOUS, it will remind me of the 3 years that passed during it’s making.
It has seen me through a divorce, a new marriage, a child leaving the nest, and another being born. The quilt is far from perfect. So many quilters created blocks for this quilt which means many different machines. None of the blocks were exactly the same size so I had to improvise. I think this just comes with the territory when doing a Bee quilt. I actually don’t mind this. It is a good reminder that life is not perfect and it shouldn’t be. Sometime it seems like what you are doing is going to be difficult (like matching up so many different blocks or getting through a divorce) but we do the best we can do and improvise. It makes us better people. It make us flexible, It gives us character, it makes us human. And when you get past it you realize it wasn’t that bad after all and it actually turns out the way it is suppose to!
This quilt also helped me step outside my box. I always use fabrics from one line. I never mix lines or designers, EVER! This quilt was different. I wanted it to be a ton of different fabrics in aqua, green, and a few yellows. A friend helped me pic out some of the fabrics (she helped get me started anyway). I sent the fabric to the VIBee girls (having the option to throw in something from their own stash), and the Diva girls used fabrics they had on hand. For the back, a few friends (some from the VIBee) helped me pick the fabric. It is one that is no where else in the quilt (another 1st for me).
So here it is, a very special quilt top.

I made several blocks to add to the quilt because I wanted it to be larger. I also made the borders using foundation piecing (loved that).
And here is what will be used for the back.

I can not wait to have this quilted!

No Longer MIA!

I can not believe it has been 7 months since I last posted. So much transpired, I just haven’t had the time to post. When I last posted I was patiently (OK so not so patiently) waiting on my baby girl to be born. We were getting things ready and I was on bed rest. Hartley was born 2 weeks before my due date on March 4th. Beautiful and healthy! Having a baby in the baby in the house again has been quite an adjustment, but I am loving EVERY minute of it!

Now that things are settling some I am slowly getting back to quilting and sewing.

I finished my Pinwheel Sampler top. It needs quilted…

I made this sweet dress for my daughters first photo shoot…

and I made this quilt top for my niece's birthday. It is a complete top now, I just don’t have a picture yet…

I also completed my VIBee/Diva Bee quilt. It has 24 blocks. I made 8 of the blocks and the Bee Members made the rest. I decided I wanted it to be wider so I use some of my many scraps to make a scrappy border using foundation piecing. I love foundation piecing!

The circle is for another project I am working on

Getting Things Ready

There hasn’t been much sewing going on since my last post. I did start a quilt I was hoping to have finished for V-Day

Cutting the squares and getting the heart laid out was as far as I got, because the night I started this I went into preterm labor and was put in the hospital. I was released after 2 days with orders for strict bed rest and put on meds. The goal was to stay pregnant until at least 36 weeks if not 37. We hit 37 weeks yesterday and little Hartley is still snug as a bug in my tummy.

While on bed rest my Mother-In-Law came down to stay with us and to help us get things in order just in case.

Nana getting things ready to paint

Daddy painting the nursery

Nana & Daddy painting the nursery

Daddy painting

The beautiful floating shelf Daddy made to hang above the dresser

Letters I made to hang above the crib

Daddy putting the crib together

I LOVE the way the crib turned out!

Daddy making the Changing table

We still have to get the changing table painted and in the room and hang stuff on the walls and buy the nursery chair, but all in in all it is coming together and I LOVE IT!

My favorite maternity picture of Daddy kissing my bump

The bump @ 36 weeks. They day I was able to get off meds and bed rest

Hartley, we are ready for you to come any day now!!!

The Best Birthday Gift Ever!

Mine and the Hubby’s birthday was January 3rd. We decided to give each other a 3D/4D Ultrasound as our gift this year. Our appointment was today.

Here is a little sneak peek of Hartley Grace and her adorable chubby cheeks…

31 Weeks 4 Days

I all ready love this little girl so much, at times I think my heart may explode!

The ultrasound tech said she thinks she may have a little dimple on her left cheek. I was thrilled to hear this. There were 2 things I wanted this little one to have, a hooha and a dimple!

I am almost 32 weeks along. Hard to believe it will be just a few short weeks until she arrives. In the mean time I have been sewing away. I am currently making an adorable little quilt to hang over the back of the chair I plan on having in the nursery. I will post some pictures soon!

Blame it on the Nesting!

I was able to get another WIP almost finished yesterday. I have been working on the Pinwheel Sampler I think since the summer of 2010! WOW that seems like forever… Yesterday I pulled it out. Made the last 2 blocks (the one with the most cutting). Cut all the sashing and got it all pieced together.

I would be quilting it instead of writing this post, but I need to find a backing for it. Thinking I may go to Target and look for a matching sheet to use as the backing for this one. I thought about white (because I have TONS, but I also see this one getting A LOT OF LOVE so decided against white. I don’t have the patience to get online and look for the perfect matching fabric (if any even exists at this point after waiting so long). So a sheet seems like a nice, inexpensive, quick alternative. I will be putting this one on my Bernina Quilt Frame to quilt. It will be the first one . I am nervous, but excited to play with my new toy (that has also been waiting to be used since the summer of 2010) LOL!

I only have this and my other quilt along quilt to back and quilt then all my WIPS will be FINISHED!! WhooHoo

I have so many projects I want to make and can’t wait to feel like I have the freedom to do so without all the unfinished ones hanging over my head…from now on I am going to try and only do 1-2 at time…

Goodbye 2011, Hello 2012

2011 was an excellent year for me, and quite honestly I am finding it hard to imagine my life getting any better than it has been this past year. Yet, I know it has to because this is the year I will be welcoming a sweet baby girl into our family!

I have lots of great memories for 2011. Here are a few of my best moments

• Getting engaged to the love of my life!
• May 30th, moving in and and starting a home with him.
• July 4th, finding out that God had answered our prayers and was blessing us with a baby of our own.
• July 9th, that 1st kiss as Mrs. Scotty Thornton!
• October 18th, that split second I realized our little blessing from God was going to be a sweet little girl!

2011 (the end of 2011) also brought me several finishes as far as quilting and sewing goes. In the past month I have managed to

• make 4 scarves (Christmas presents).
• 2 aprons.
• Finish my Bliss quilt.
• Make Hartley’s 1st quilt.
• Fill my first custom baby quilt order.
• Sew a wall hanging to frame fro Hartley’s nursery.
• Catch up on my VIBee Blocks.
• Frolic Imagination in Bloom quilt finished!

That is a lot of sewing in a month! I’m going to blame it on Nesting

SEWING AGAIN!

I finally found some motivation to sew…I am so happy that I am going to have a little girl to sew for and I have so many things I want to make for her.

This week has been productive (at least for me). Last Friday, Amy (Allie Kat Mom) and I took a little trip shopping. We hit up two of our Local quilt stores. The plan was to find fabrics for me to send out for my month in the VIBees. Which we did.

Here is my lovely stack of fabrics from that trip…

I am very pleased with the fabrics we found…Now I just need to get them cut and sent out.

On that trip we also came across this pattern…

I fell in love with it and bought the kit. I plan on framing it and hanging it on Hartley’s nursery wall. Here is mine…

I still need to do the stitching and frame it, but I am so in love with the way it turned out. I think it is going to be beautiful in her room

I also bought 2 Sophia charm packs and some backing and binding fabrics to make Hartley’s first quilt. I started out wanting to make the Moda Bake Shop quilt “Mod Circles” but it soon turned into something so much more!

Here is the top (I found the background fabric in my stash. I couldn’t find a “solid” that I thought worked).

And here it is all completed…

The quilting detail (LOVE LOVE LOVE how it turned out)…

A look at the back…

I think it is so pretty and quite fitting for a sweet baby girl! I can not wait to wrap her up in it!!!

Now, I am off to start (or finish) more quilting!