Christmas Quilt 1

So this post is a little late due to some personal issues I was having. But here it is :).  I am doing the Christmas in July Blitz by Monkey Dog Quilts.   I am making a quilt for my Grandmother (on my father's side) for Christmas this year.  Since she has done so much for me over the years I figured it is the least I can do for her.  It will be a signature quilt with a block for each of my cousins, aunts, uncles, father, and sister.  My grandma is very proud of her Scottish heritage and immigrated to America when she was 19.  I have decided to make the Quilt purple and green because those colors remind me of her home.  These are four of the fabrics I have picked out.  I still need to get two more that are green.

Below is a picture of inspiration.  Although my quilt will be somewhat different it will still have the same type blocks.  

I Have drawn this rough sketch to see if it is how I want the quilt but I am not quite sure yet.  I think I really like it, what do you think?

Right after I picked the colors for this quilt a found this quilt being done for an ill mother.  I plan on using my left over fabric to make squares for it.  Maybe you could help too?

My Pledge

Today I watched a documentary on Wal-Mart and have decided to boycott this store and start shopping locally.  I am disgusted with how this corporation treats it's workers from both overseas and right here in America. I will do my best to by form local farmers and to buy as many things handmade and reuse as much as possible.  Read here about what you can do to shop locally and why we should not be shopping at Wal Mart. The documentary can be rented from NetFlix and I highly recommend every one watch to have an understanding of we are participating in when we shop at the awful place.

History Lesson: Friendship Quilts

Friendship quilting started in the mid-1800s and was a huge fad of the time. These nifty quilts where also called signature quilts and album quilts. Friendship quilts were used to help remember friends and feel connected with them in a time before telephones and internet especially when so many families were up and moving out west and would never see their old friends again. They were also used to raise money or to donate to troops. A group of women would charge per signature per block and then raffle off the quilt or sell it at auction. Blocks would include either names, locations, bible verses, notes or any combination of these either written in ink or embroidered.

I love the idea of a friendship quilt! Once I have more readers I plan to do a friendship quilt group project/quilt along and I have some different ideas for them. Maybe one for followers and we can all make squares to send to each other and we could all make our own friendship quilts? And I totally love the idea of making one for our troops! Sending a quilt to someone fighting overseas would be a wonderful thing to do. I think I am going to make a christmas style friendship quilt for my Grandma's Christmas present with our families signatures and notes.

If anyone has anything they would like to add please leave a comment.  I am always in the mood to learn more! :).  Also, if you have done a friendship quilt I would love to hear about it.

Mary Ellen's

So today I had to go to Hancock Fabrics to get some bobbins and I stumbled across a basket with 50% OFF in bright yellow across it. Of course this got me interested. (I am a sucker for a sale) I saw that this basket held Mary Ellen's Best Press. I have heard great things about it but could never bring myself to buy it until now. Again, I am a sucker for a sale. It is usually a bit pricey but at four dollars I just couldn't say no and boy am I happy I didn't. This stuff is AMAZING. I used it to press a binding strip and it made the fabric so crisp and creased yet still very soft. I began finding myself wanting to iron ALL my fabric to make it this nice. I washed and ironed the fabric I will be using to make a quilt tomorrow and then cut it into pieces a little after and it was so much easier to cut and measure perfect little squares and strips. If you have never used this product I recommend you go get, and quickly too while it is still on sale! I cannot belief it made my fabric so much easier to work with and still left it so soft. I hope y'all enjoy this product.
P.S. Oh! And I got some little storage containers for my studio! I am so excited to get my selves up and use my new boxes to organize.

Studio Plans

I have started the daunting task of setting up an organizing my sewing studio. Up until now my sewing things have been scattered around my house and I sew where ever the mood strikes me. YIKES! Talk about messy, messy, messy, and not to mention terribly unorganized. I am creating my spare from room into my studio and have slowly getting furniture and such to go in it, mostly things my neighbors throw out when the Navy relocates them. Who wants to take that cheap bookshelf across country with them? Their trash, my treasure. I am spray painting and fixing up a lot of these things to make them coordinate. I am going to add some links of inspiration for y'all to look at. I want it to be like a mini boutique looking work space, a room style kind of like a nice booth in a craft fair so my completed work will display until it is sold.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thehappyzombie/sets/72157594239808821/
I LOVE this one. She has to be one of my favorites ever! I love her use of color and organization.

http://heatherbailey.typepad.com/heather_bailey/2007/02/the_studio.html

http://sewmanyways.blogspot.com/search/label/sewing%20room

http://members.shaw.ca/shareski/sewingroom.htm

http://www.flickr.com/photos/typefiend/2210774031/

http://www.gloria.beuclers.com/




Also, tell me, what are your great ideas on organizing and decorating a sewing studio? What rooms inspire you? What does our room look like? Once my room is finished I will post a blog tour of it and showing my organization and decoration tips. I cannot wait to have my room finished!

First Post

Hello All,

My husband and I

I wanted to use this first post to take the time to let you know a little bit about me and to layout my goals of this blog. I have been on the fence about getting a blog and have finally fallen into. I have so much fun reading everyone else's blogs why not make one myself?

I decided it was time to start a blog so that I could keep my favorite blogs organized and easy to find, it is MUCH easier to flow blogs when you have a blog of your own. I am getting more and more into my crafts and quilting hobbies and here I can organize my thoughts and let a little bit of my creative juices flow. I want my blog to be a place where I can bounce ideas off of people, teach some of the things I know, learn what others have to teach, and keep my goals and progress in this whole adventure organized.

Well, on about me. My name is Lia and I am a college student who is a new wife to a wonderful US Navy sailor. I have always wanted to open my own boutique (mostly for children and babies)but because of my husband's career we tend to move a lot, making opening up a shop a difficult goal for right now. So opening a shop is a long term goal. My short term goal is to start an Etsy shop online that can move with me everywhere I go. I enjoy learning about crafting and quilting and am always open to a challenge. I love animals, I have three cats and a dog. I love to laugh and make jokes, I am always finding the humor in things.



I looking forward to meeting people and I hope y'all enjoy my blog!