ABC Quilt

I finally finished my ABC quilt project. It took me the whole month to get it put together. It was a super easy quilt to assemble and my girlfriends Lisa and Amy came over to show me how to pin it for quilting. I felt like we were back in the 1800's working on a project on the table - a great girl bonding experience. Amy even left me her pins "for good luck on the next quilt". So here is my summary: total cost with fabric and batting was about $60. I found out batting isn't cheap - I think it was $20. I also discovered that I don't love quilting. It is so much of just piecing and cutting and piecing and cutting. Honestly, you can buy something for so cheap these days that unless I find jusr fabulous fabric - I probably won't be making anything for my house. It was a wonderful craft to learn though and I can see myself making some wall hangings to give away. Total time involved - about 20 hours (it was my first one).

Team Gator Shirts

My son Manny is on a great little soccer team - the Gators. They've ranked #1 or 2 in their league for the last 3 years. The Cuellars finally decided to get into the team spirit and wear some Gator shirts. I created these fun little things for the parents to wear on the sidelines and sold them for $10/ea. Just enough to cover the cost. I also did a baby version for Amado that said "Mini-Gator". I've finally got t-shirt embroidery down. There are a few very imporant tricks: (1) use a small hoop that won't tug on the fabric, (2) use ALOT of stabalizer. I used 3 sheets of cutaway for each of these, (3) use Poly thread to keep your designs from fading in the wash, (4) wash your shirts before you embroider or buy pre-shrunk, (5) check the density of your design before putting it on the fabric and (6) use a loose hoop technique - in other words don't pull the fabric too tight.

The Blanca Bag

O.k. - so most of you that read this know that I am a spoiled, spoiled woman and that I have a full time nanny in the house that helps me care for Amado. If you want my detailed sales pitch on why you should never, ever have a child without a Blanca, contact me. This is about sewing you silly girls! Blanca always loves to watch me work on my projects and she always wants whatever it is that I am making. While I appreciate her lust for my work, I've never really done that "special" thing for her. Her birthday arrived and so I decided to make her this big purse for traveling. I actually started the top and didn't like it so I wasn't going to use it for anything. She begged me to use it for her purse - so there it went.

Front Door Curtain - August 3, 2007

This was one of those projects that I've been wanting to do FOREVER, but just never got around to. We just finished a floor to ceiling remodel of our house so I was out of my sewing room for a while. As I was putting it back together I came across this project and realized it would be more efficient to do just do it than to try to find a place to store the fabric any longer. I needed a new front door curtain and I wanted it to match my new customer drapes. I had saved several yards of the fabric from my sheers, but wanted something to make them unique. Then the a-ha. I had some embroidery designs that I purchased for making jewelery last Christmas. Of course, I never started that project either, but at least I had the software loaded. They were perfect for applique. I sized about 5 different flowers, all similar design but each with a bit more or less detail than the others. I embroidered a ton of them onto my shade fabric and started cutting. I used 4-5 pieces of stabalizer in between to make sure they were very heavy when finished. After I cut them out, a little touch up with a fabric pen and I glued them to the curtain. I love it - they look like 3-D flowers and are definitely original. Perfect for a front door.

Quilt Square with Picture - August 1, 2007

I have really come to cherish the time we spend together as part of the SGSG. Thank's so much to Amy for getting us started. The best part of getting a group together to do work is the inspiration we get from eachother. Not to copy or duplicate, but just to take an idea and make it our own. Ronnie is one of my favorite members of our group. I find that she ALWAYS inspires me to not be afraid of the tools and the machines that I have. In this case she inspired me to crack open the "Picture Stitch" software that I had purchased as part of 3D-Embroidery Studio to create this quilt sqare that will be added to our group project. It literally took me about 15 minutes to get this photo in shape to embroider out. I've had the software for 2 years and only ventured in one time only to be scared away. Thanks to Ronnie for helping me out. Thanks to her I have plans to create a memory quilt for my Mom and one for my daughter's band booster as a donation. I can do it!