High on Spring.

We have been seriously enjoying some nice weather over here.

Spring is in the air and I've been inhaling deeply... one might even say I'm high on life.

I can't help myself.

I love nice weather so much. It makes me all happy. And probably nicer.

If my hubby were smart he'd move us to someplace where it's nice and warm all year long...

Right?

Willow laughs hysterically every. single. time. I push her on the swings.

Like, loud belly laughs.

People turn to look and I catch them all chuckling sooner or later.

I mean, you can't help it, her laughter is contagious.

And the Squish also enjoys the swings!

But she's more of a kick-your-legs-and-squeal sort of swinger.

As you can imagine, when my kids are on the swings, it's a very loud area of the park.

I love my loud and happy kids.

***

Here's another nursery set to share:

Super fun, right?

This was actually my first "theme" bedding set.

(See that jungle print?)

I'll be honest, it was a little tricky finding a jungle print that was girly

and that also

matched green walls.

(These are not the green walls I'm talking about, these are my grey walls that I love dearly.)

I think it all came together really well.

My fave parts of this set would have to be the crib skirt (too long for my crib...)

and the quilt.

It's a string quilt... which I love so much!

And the back:

And a hand-stitched label to finish it off :)

I think that little quote is Irish for "my darling"(?)

For the string quilt, I used the paper-piecing method to make my blocks...

I think I started with 9" squares of freezer paper

and my middle strips of fabric were 2" wide.

I just love a quilt roll...

Wouldn't a whole bookshelf full of rolled quilts be amazing?

Hmmm....

Happy Spring!!

Shortcuts Make Me Happy.

Quilting shortcuts make me very, very happy.

The only problem is, there's not that many of them.

Except for when I make quilts for myself.

Then, there's lots and lots and lots of shortcuts.

I never take shortcuts when making quilts for others... I want to make sure I put my best work into what I send out into the world.

My quilts are a reflection of myself in some ways... and I don't want to look cheap and thrown together, if you know what I mean.

But, oh man, when I make a quilt for myself I like to push the limits in the way of shortcuts.

I will cut corners like there's no tomorrow.

I don't know why this is.

Maybe my need for instant gratification?

Maybe because I sometimes feel guilty when making something for myself when I could be making something for somebody else so I try to make whatever it is as fast as possible?

Maybe because I'm usually trying to squeeze in the making of an entire quilt between several nap times?

(And who knows how long those last, right?)

Whatever the reasons for my shortcut taking... this quilt was FULL of them.

And guess what?

It was one of the most problem free quilts I've ever made!

It came together like a dream!

Weird, right?

I know. It shouldn't make sense.

But that's the true story and it makes me ohsohappy!

So, here's my shortcut-laden zig-zag quilt that I love dearly!

I was originally inspired by this quilt.

I loved how big it was- so I asked her what her dimensions were and she kindly answered.

(HST method, 8x8" squares, and 10 x 12 rows...I love it when people share!)

My plan was to follow her dimensions exactly, but when I started cutting my fabric,

(that I've been saving for this quilt for quite some time!)

I realized I was only going to be able to make my quilt 8 x 9 rows.

Kind of a bummer, because I like the hugeness of the original quilt, but not a deal breaker for me.

Finished measurements are 56"x 64"... so it's still a nice sized quilt.

Other shortcuts:

I didn't draw lines on the diagonals of my squares for making the HSTs

(I'm sure other quilters are cringing right now- sorry!)

I didn't iron or trim my HSTs once finished.

(another cringe!)

I didn't pin a single thing.

(but I never do when quilting...)

And, I didn't iron the completed quilt top before layering everything for basting.

Oh, and I didn't use a walking foot to do my quilting either!

That one was kind of an accidental shortcut because I forgot to switch feet (foots? whatever.)

But the zig-zag quilting was just easy peasy!

Pieced back:

All those shortcuts allowed me to take my time while basting...

I actually taped every layer down and pin basted (<---- my fave method!)

All of my points lined up perfectly... magically even!

I didn't have any bunches or uneven/mismatched corners.

(Unfortunately common in quilts I make for myself.)

And, I saved so much time I was able to hand-stitch the binding!

Yippee!

A fairly amazing trade off if you ask me!

Also, I've decided that this year I am going to make at least 10 quilts for myself.

I just decided this like a month ago.

Of all the quilting and sewing I do, it's a shame how few quilts I actually have in our home.

So, I made a list:

(I just typed this exactly how I wrote my list- so it may not make total sense to everybody!)

1. Asterisk quilt
2. Herringbone quilt (red, yellow, aqua)
3. Houndstooth
4. Swoon blocks (yellow/pink/orange/brown with linen)
5. Granny squares (scrappy)
6. HUGE patchwork (scrappy)
7. Loulouthi whole cloth quilt (handquilted)
8. Willow/Ellie quilts (room colors)
9. HUGE lonestar quilt (brights)
10. Plus quilt (yellow and purple)
11. Log Cabin quilt
12. HUGE(er) zig-zag quilt (10 x12 rows)
13. Subway tiles
14. Mod Bento Box (aqua, orange, yellow, grey)
15. Big zig-zag quilt
16. Finish my king size string quilt and get it quilted

My goal is to make at least 12 quilt tops and of those tops, complete 10 quilts.

I get a lot of my inspiration from other quilts/quilters... I have a flickr group of my favorites here if you'd like to check it out.

There's lots of amazing stuff out there!

Sneak peek of the next quilt I get to cross off the list:

Happy Creating everyone!

And a big thanks to everyone who welcomed me back... you're the best!

Lame.

Where have I been?

It's really lame...

Like really really lame.

Are you ready?

Ok, so... around the 12th of December or so somebody may or may not have

spilled coffee

on the computer keyboard.

(And lied about it...)

The bottom row of keys may have stopped working.

(It's basically impossible to do anything without the spacebar, FYI)

We may have put off buying another keyboard for no particular reason.

at.

all.

(Other than having to actually go to the store to purchase one... I guess. Lazy, I know.)

And that's about it.

Yup.

Super lame.

I was absent for 3 months because I spilled coffee on my keyboard and didn't buy another one.

My bad.

The good news is that I have been sewing like crazy since the coffee mishap!

I've got lots of projects to share!

I really want to give everything its rightful post... and I made a promise to myself that I won't try to cram the last 3 months into just a few posts.

Which I could totally do because I am SO PUMPED that my hubby brought home a keyboard today!

I could sit here for hours and just write the longest post known to man.

But I will spare you.

And it's kinda more fun to write lots of posts anyway.

More pictures...

And I'm just going to go ahead and claim this post as the

breaking-in-the-new-keyboard-and-getting-back-into-the-blogging-groove post.

Does that work for you?

It works for me...

Thanks for being patient!

I hope I didn't lose any readers because I appreciate every single one of you!

Stay tuned...