Okay, 1 More New School Supply

I ordered a new map for under our plexiglass table top.  Last year we had the world map that came with our Geography Songs.  This year, we'll concentrate on learning the States.

The One School Supply on our List

On my list for the year, is a digital camera for my school age kids.

It sounds a bit extravagant, doesn't it?  But hand-me-down, partially working ones are perfectly fine for my two big kids.  And so much fun for our nature studies-that I am determined to do with more consistency this year.

Did you invest in any new school supplies this year?

How to Make a Quilt Without Actually Quilting

or how to use a long arm quilter to do the work for you.

For my first quilt, and I'm sure for my next, I had a long arm quilter finish my quilt.  It was very simple and affordable and I'm so pleased to have a finished quilt.

Find your local quilter's guild for long arm quilters who take in business.   Call for rates and compare.  The first person I called lived in my neighborhood, charged $0.03/ sq in but had a 3 month turnaround time.  The second quilter lived about 5 miles away, charged $0.02 sq in and finished it in 3 weeks.

Prepare top and back.  Finish your top, making sure seams are pressed and loose threads are clipped.  For the back, find out how much larger they want your backing to be.  My quilter asked that the back be 4 inches larger than the top in each direction.

Choose your pattern.  My quilter had a notebook of patterns, or pantographs.  I chose a meandering one and really love how simple it is.

Wait.  The hard part.

Trim and bind.  This is how it looked when I picked it up.

Enjoy.  

For those wondering about how affordable it is-here's the breakdown on my quilt:

Quilting was $.02/sq inch.  It came to $81. The batting was $16, and provided by the quilter.  And there was a $3 thread fee.  So worth it.

Have you used a quilting service before?

London Stamp Set

Just got this cute stamp set from Yellow Owl Workshop for a project I'm finishing up...

So I put the stamps to use for an anniversary card for my parents-who will someday soon get back to the beautiful city.

Happy Anniversary, Mom + Dad!

My Valentine Quilt

It's done!  My New Years Resolution can officially be checked off.  It is official when you've blogged about it, right?

Or I could change my goal, and quilt a few quilts this year...yes, that is my new goal.

I love it-and the feeling of having made it yourself...with some help. 

I'll post about the help soon. 

Any other quilters out there? 

July 2011

Hello August!

While I was away from my blog, I was with my family-on possibly our first family vacation.  It was a near perfect getaway for us-out of the Texas heat and up into the Adirondacks.   

  

I'll be back soon with some other projects I worked on this summer.   

It's good to be back.  

How was your summer?