Sew Liberated

Sew Liberated, originally uploaded by rkkilmer.

Just got home to find a box from Amazon. Can I tell you how much I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE one-click on Amazon.com??? I will be reading a blog, see a book I have to have and then, voilà! One-click and it's there waiting on my doorstep no more than two days later. I just love that.
At any rate, I was looking at one of my fav blogs, www.quiltdad.com and saw where he had joined in on the year long Farmers wife sampler quilt along. I love the idea of traditional blocks done in modern fabrics. Something about connecting what I love now with the original blocks of quilting ancestors just makes me happy. Also, I have come to find that each time I push myself to try something I think is going to be hard, I learn some new skill that before I would have said I couldn't do. So, in an effort to further my aptitude, I ordered to book and have decided to jump in.
While shopping for the book on Amazon, the nice Amazon people of course put forth a few "recommendations" just for me :) Well, who could resist such thoughtfulness? Certainly not me. Therefore, I feel like this properly explains why 4 books arrived alongside my originally intended purchase. At least, this is what I told my hubby last night when questioned!
Behold, the newest book by Meg McElwee of sewliberated.com I have her first book and found it inspiring. I like flipping through it for ideas. But this newest one is going to be used to death, I can tell. Meg is a former Montessori teacher and uses her background in the development of this book, I am sure. She is also a mother of toddlers and that resonates with me at the moment. I can see more than a couple of projects in this book that I will be attempting in the near future. As a matter of fact, I am off to shower so I can head out and find bamboo sticks. I really want one of these tents standing in the middle of the living room, ready for adventure, when my littles arrive home.
Happy sewing,
Rob

Friends, Fabric and Food. What more can you ask for?

Blog pic 1, originally uploaded by rkkilmer.

I was fortunate enough to spend the day with some of my peeps from the Wednesday Wackos. We hit 2 different shops. The Sewing Party in Laguna Hills, CA. and Sacred Moondance in Lake Forest, CA. I didnt know until this morning, but Sacred Moondance was having a going out of business sale. The entire store was 65% off!!!! Pictured here is a total of 33 yards of fabric. Not shown are 5 patterns and some purse hardware that I also purchased. I can not tell you how happy I am with my haul. I dont have plans for the majority of the fabric, but I like that I've added some out of the box stuff for me, to my stash. I was recently moved to start a basic bow tie quilt after seeing one posted on one of the blogs I follow. Its such a classic, simple block and yet in contemporary fabrics - it just looked so fun and inviting. I already have the majority of the fabric cut out. I will post some pictures of my progress in the next few days.
Happy Tuesday,
Rob

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! I hope your day was as fun filled as mine was. Pictured above is my son's haul from the egg hunt. He also found a much coveted "money egg". It was only a dollar bill, but he declared, "Look Mom! I got a million dollars!"
There were so many eggs to hide this year that the yard was literally carpeted. You know you've hidden too many eggs when you have to actually persuade the kids to keep hunting! It was great fun though. The kids consumed more sugar than they should have and my house is covered in Easter grass. I feel like it was a success.
Well, I am off to try to get them to sleep. I have a quilt I am trying to finish. I am hoping to get the binding started tonight. I will post some pics when I finish.
Goodnight,
Rob

Jelly Roll Race Quilt

Jelly Roll Race Quilt, originally uploaded by rkkilmer.

This makes the 3rd one of these quilt tops that I have made. My friend Robin posted about the jelly roll races that she saw on YouTube. She suggested that our friendship group try it out. Well, needless to say, I am more than a little hooked. A jelly roll is made up of forty 21/2" wide X roughly 44" long strips of a coordinated line of fabrics. I think you see them most commonly from Moda, but many others have joined the trend, which makes them easy to find. However, my friend Pam created her first one by using 5 strips each of nine different fabrics that she cut from her stash. I was the lucky recipient of this one! I am putting it together to use as a nap quilt for the babies at school. When using 45 strips, as opposed to 40, I find the finished size to be 60X63, which I really like. That is also the way I put the one pictured above together. I found my fabrics at Fresh Picked Fabrics in Brea. I really do like that shop. So bright and colorful. Plus, they come up with so many finished projects that I find it inspirational just walking around.
So, I am ready to begin pin basting. I decided to write this little blog post first, for a couple of reasons. The first being that I hate pin basting and am no hurry to get down on my hands and knees. Secondly, I know that it's been a while since my last post. This is because my father had a stroke and my grandma died, all in the same week. Thankfully, my dad's stroke was mild. He doesn't recall any of it and seems perfectly fine now. My Grandma was 89 and had come down with pneumonia again. Her wish was to be at home, surrounded by her loved ones when her time came. That is exactly what happened. I was sad to lose her as she really was a very nice grandma. But, I know that her heart was right and that she is in a better place. She passed with all of her children and all of her 39 grandchildren surrounding her bedside. I just don't think one can ask for a better way to go.
We'll travel to New Mexico later in the week to lay her next to my grandfather in the small town she grew up in.
Till next time,
Rob

Dresden Plate

Dresden Plate, originally uploaded by rkkilmer.

Behold my new project! I purchased a Dresden ruler a while back. I was going to use it to make some mug rugs. However, as usual, other projects crowded in and the ruler was laid to the side, unopened. But today, as I was perusing my many blogs, I came across a tutorial for a Dresden plate pattern. I never knew they were so simple! At least, the tutorial certainly made it seem that way. So, remembering my new ruler, I dug out some scraps and started cutting. This is what I have so far. I have yet to decide what to do with it. Do I make a large pillow? Or, do I make 3 more and patchwork piece a lap quilt? I think I'll put the first one together and see how it goes.
Post more tomorrow,
Rob

Happy Valentines Day 2011

Happy Valentines Day 2011, originally uploaded by rkkilmer.

I wanted to share my Valentine Day babies with you all. I am sure that years from now the babies will hate me for posting this picture of them that will forever live on the Internet, but I just can't help myself. They have gotten so used to me and my camera that they barely acknowledge me when I follow them around with it. I asked them to kiss and was just lucky that they complied. I know it looks like they are just so nice to each other. I would like to take credit for being an amazing parent at this point. However....in the interest of full disclosure, it should be said that Jack pushed her off the chair directly following this photo. Those of you who have boys will understand. They can't help themselves :)
We had a great night at home, just my husband, the babies and myself. We all exchanged cards and the babies actually signed and decorated their own. We then had bacon, eggs, and chocolate chip pancakes for dinner. It just doesn't get any better than that.
See you soon,
Rob

One "road" lead to another.......

 Above is my first completed fabric flower. I attached it to a pin back and then added it to a cute fabric covered headband. My darling girl actually wore it for a little while! She is vehemently opposed to hair accessories, so this is quite an accomplishment.

Last weekend I was lucky enough to attend the "Road to California" quilt show over in Ontario. What a feast for the quilted eye that show is!!! At any rate, I came across 2" hexagon die cuts from Paper Pieces. I have always been curious about english paper piecing, so I bought 2 small packs of 25 each. Pictured below is my first stack.

I took a road trip to Arizona this past week, so I had some time to kill in the car. I am not a hand quilter by any means, but in the tradition of the new year, I had decided to step out of my box a little. Well, lets just say that I am hooked!!!! I had pieced all 50 die cuts before we hit the AZ border. Next question of course was what on earth was I going to do with them?

 I follow a blog called www.stitchedincolor.com

Rachel had posted about 2 separate pillow contests, so I thought I would give it a try. Nothing ventured, nothing gained - right?

So, after messing with the layout a little, I finally decided on a design. I began whip stitching my little beauties together. May I offer a word of caution if you do decided to give english paper piecing a try? Make sure you are lining up the correct edge, to the correct edge. It's easy to just start bending and stitching and then before you know it, you've got a funky fabric origami thing that you just never intended.

I also came across quite a few accessories for the quilter that were made for my little "Bigkick". I will be logging in to order some more dies to make my cutting time fly by!

Happy quilting,

Rob