Looking Back, Flying Foward

Last night I finished piecing all the of the flying geese for my next quilt. For me these pieces are special. They are the first flying geese that I have ever made. I am so happy and proud of myself. Four years ago I never imagined that I would actually be the quilter that I am today. I am self taught and the early stages of my quilting were filled with many meltdowns and having absolutely no idea what I was doing. Then I only ever dreamed of being able to make something like flying geese. Now not only did I make them, but I knew what I was doing!

I think that I may really like flying geese! I know that they are time consuming, but I love the simple classic elegance of them. I foresee a lot of flying geese quilts in my future!

Especially since I have the Bloc-Loc flying geese ruler! I don't know about you guys, but I absolutely love my Bloc-Loc rulers! I have a flying geese and a HST ruler and they are amazing. Now if only the rulers would trim all 168 flying geese blocks for me....

I will need to come up with something for all of my tiny triangle scraps? What do you all do with your triangle scraps?

Last but not least, Happy Hanukah everyone! It has been such a treat to sew with my menorah in front of me. So far no wax has dripped on my project, but there are more nights to go!

Snow Day Sewing

It has been a very warm December here in sunny Flagstaff, Arizona. I know most of you are probably envious of the Arizona sunshine this time of year, but I love snow! I used to live in Montana and absolutely loved winter! Needless to say, I was so excited when we finally got snow this week! 

Even better was that I was able to quilt all day long! It was one of the best snow days. Last year I found this awesome piece of fabric at Goodwill. It was just calling me to make a table runner out of it. I have never made a table nor used one. I guess this little guy was dying to be my first one!

I had cut and basted it last year, but never quilted it. I was confused on how I should do the quilting. Now for experienced quilters this might seem silly, but for me it took me a year to figure out. I pulled it out the other day and just said, "Duh!" All of a sudden it just seemed obvious. It has tons of straight lines, so I just paralleled some of them.

In retrospect I probably should have figured this out sooner. Do you guys like it? Simple, but I think it will become a nice country table runner!

WIP Wednesday: V & Co To The Point

I am very excited to share with you my WIP this evening. It is my first attempt at 60 degree triangles.  After I finished cutting today, I jumped right into piecing. In a very Maggie fashion I got a little ahead of myself and realized that the pattern instructions did not give detailed advice on pinning the triangles in place. So my first row looked like poop! So I did what I do best, and went into my LQS for help. Boy did they help! Turns out of was on the right path and just needed a tiny bit of help.

After 6 rows I think I can say that I have got the hang of it! I actually think my last row was quite good! Two more rows to go!

I'm a little surprised that I am getting everything to line up so well. If I can keep up like this, I may actually have nice points on my quilt!

The pattern had no instruction on which direction to press the seams. Does anyone else hate when patterns assume you know the small things? I looked up a tutorial online for help, and the directions for pressing the seams didn't make sense until row 6. For one row press all seams to the right, then the next row all seams to the left. Wow that should have been easy!

Nice pressed seams, finally!

The other thing I struggled with for most of the quilt is that lining up your triangles is going to depend on the direction that you pressed your seams. I do not have good photos of this. Im sorry I tried, but it is too dark in my quilting room for good photos at night. If you need help try, this tutorial. 

The nice lady at Odegaard's Sewing Center showed me this. If you pin parallel to your seam sewing the bias edge is easy. If you a lazy like me, you can place the pin just right so you don't need to remove it while sewing! I call this a win! 

Linking up with Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday!

My First Craft Show

It seems to be a great task to actually sit down at my laptop and write a blog post these days. I have been so focused on the craft show that I haven't gotten in to a normal quilting routine. Although, does anyone have a normal quilting routine? It may be a far fetched idea, but I am still going to strive for it! On top of the craft fair, Christmas activities seem to be the main distraction right now. Especially sewing presents, at least this year I decided not to sew for everyone! But now the craft fair is over and I am almost done with presents!!

I am very proud to say that I have not only participated in my first Craft Show, but actually sold some items! I even sold my first blanket. This cute little minky blanket pictured below.

I was primarily trying to market custom T-Shirt Quilts. A handful of people were very interested, but so far no one has committed. Sigh...at least handing out more cards is progress. 

Here was my little table! A small beginning, but it feels good to start somewhere.

And then because I just couldn't resist, I bought my first handmade quilt! My little cat Riley is very kindly modeling the quilts comfort. It is beautifully made and I am so happy to have a Christmas quilt for the holidays! 

Has anyone else bought quilts that they love?