JemJam

Bella

I finished my Bella quilt, a local woman, Wendy quilted it for me and I love it! 

mmm, crosshatch... 

I attached the binding by machine, it can be a bit fussy, it takes a lot of practice!  I have not clocked that many hours on the skill, but, I am will keep trying.  I still like hand stitching bindings, but, sometimes, a girl has to move on to new, possibly, unfinished projects.

I do not always want a quilt with visible stitches, but, sometimes, it's fine.

 

 

I am tickled pink to share this---

my first needle-turn applique project!

I am done with this Merry Merry Snowman quilt top!  I did needle-turn appliqué on all 9 blocks--it is easily over 100 hours of work, hell, at least 150 hours.  I still cannot believe that I'm done with this part!  I sent this away for quilting, Wendy will do some custom quilting, I'm excited to get it back.  I'll talk more about this when I finish it.

 

If you are interested in reading a little about me and quilting(I know you are), I did an interview with Amanda for our guild--OKC Modern Quilt Guild, you can read it on that blog.  I welcome your comments.

 

This week, I'm headed to a nearby city's quilt guild to do 2 presentations on modern quilting with a fellow guild member.  I'm anxious today as we finish preparing our material, I might be crazy.  

 

I went to International Quilt Market in Houston a week ago, look for some posts soon!

 

I am linking to OKCMQG's "Flaunt Your Finish" feature, which I plan to do often, maybe you will, too?

 

A Review of 2010, part 1 of 2

It is really nice to reflect on the year's past through pictures, I am going to show some things that I made in 2010 in 2 posts as I am doing individual .jpgs.  Yes, this post is the best kind of heavy...

 

January:

 A birthday dress for our 3 year old

 

I loved it so much, I started another after our guests left that evening.

 

February:

Oh, this little thing?  It was a class with a Holly that I know. 

 

Of course, French General is on the list

 

March: 

Bibs for aforementioned Holly's baby boy

 

April: 

A Gilded Life meets Kaari Meng

 

Yes, again with the French General.  This bracelet was sold to aid Haiti after the earthquake last year.

 

May:

I made a lot of trips to the zoo

 

June:

A tiny necklace for a friend's Stella

 

Yep, okra's in the garden

 

E & I started morning glories with an eggshell garden, look at how much they've grown!

 

Basil, we can't get enough of this herb, E would pick it right out of the garden and snack on it.

 

This month, I am working on a birthday dress for a girl who's soon to be 4, my Cosmo bag, and a quilt.

 

 

It's a French Gilded Life!

Recently, Robin and I were able to attend a jewelry class with Shea Fragoso, Debbie Murray, and Kaari Meng in Dallas, Texas.  

Shea and Deb are a mother-daughter combo forming the Gilded Life, they are amazing, talented women and have great hospitality.  Also, they know how to serve desserts, lots of them.  Until 2 in the morning.

The charm that the Gilded Life girls taught was breathtaking.  The techniques were new to me and that made me feel adventurous.  

Kaari arrived as we worked on our first charm and swept all of us off of our feet with this necklace.

   

This was a pleasure to put together. I originally did not attach the "shine" charm to the necklace because I thought that it may be to heavy, but, it is really beautiful all together. Aside from the class itself, I had a blast with the Texas mommas and my bird. Robin gave out lil' gifts (stamped fabric swatch w/vintage buttons), Heather A. did as well (thanks for the beaded charm!), and so did Shea and Deb (the initial necklace)!  Thanks to all of you!  

   

I received an extra gift from Robin, I am in love with the packaging.

   

It is a thimble, I love it so and I will use it once I can break the seal on the bag. It will take a little while longer to do that, by summer, I'm sure.

_{I had fun with everyone that night, especially Stacy "I can't sew" McGiness, who apparently does not realize that she is a Texas momma.}

I Will Not Say it Anymore, After This Post...

Donna Layton was our instructor at Paper Crown for a honeycomb balls (last time) garland. She has got some talent, the scary kind. The honeycomb was an interesting construction, overall, it was not complicated, but it is hard to do something like this when I want to talk the entire time. This is the final product:

   

I added the heart charm and bead to mine, very sweet.

   

Donna made our name tags, she drew the flowers. Is it not pretty? I wore this cardigan that Jimmy washed and shrank (no! not the anthro clothes!). I wore it anyhow.

   

Yes, it looked like it belonged to 3 year old E, I don't care. Look at how well this tag matches my sweater. Please, do not try to ignore the necklace, it is 3 strands of FG goodness. It took about 4 hours to make. Worth.it.

Birthday Party Dress

The Perfect Drug

It's true, I heart French General. I've stayed up too late too many nights to work on several pieces. Here's a green charm bracelet:

I made this necklace for my 10 year-old sister's birthday:

A necklace for myself that I may have made too short:

A WIP:

This mini necklace is for a little darling that will be 3 in a couple of weeks (wipes tears)

and no one is allowed to speak to me when I am wearing this.