Ok… This is the longest I’ve ever gone without posting.
And that means it has been the longest I’ve ever gone without QUILTING.
I am a horrible, no good quilter.
But at least give me a chance to explain myself!

After well over a year I am back working on my Hawaiian quilt!
I know.
I can’t believe it either.

All I have to say about my long absence is, 2008 certainly was a long, long year.
In addition to two surgeries, the last of which took me quite a few months to recover from, my family and I relocated. My last surgery, as you may know, was foot surgery, and I didn’t walk for over a month. When I did begin to walk again, it was not without the constant burning pain of RSD. Yes, I still have RSD and believe I will continue to be riddled with it for the rest of my existence. For this reason, this realization, I have finally moved on. Yay! So, once again I am a college student, and once again I have taken up the hobby of quilting. YAY!

Right now my only project is my Hawaiian quilt. I am currently basting it together and am also counting my lucky stars that the pins that have resided in the quilt for so long haven’t rusted the fabric. The basting is going to take me some time, but I will certainly rest easier once those pins are out of it. I definitely look forward to the time when the hand applique process can start. For that is my absolute favorite part of the Hawaiian quilting process. I find peace in the needle-turn applique technique. And it’s a good thing, too. I expect it will take me a very long time, years even, to complete the applique process.

Until I have more pictures to show you of my Hawaiian quilt’s progress, I noticed that there are a few quilts that I have neglected to blog about. The first is the Sunbonnet Sue quilt that I made for my little girl before she was born. I love Sunbonnet Sue (or Holly Hobby for those acquainted with it in the 70’s) and my favorite color is red… Hence, the creation of this quilt.

This next quilt is what I believe is called a “stack-n-whack” quilt. I took this class with my MIL and my little sister finished it (she sewed together the blocks, assembled the top, and quilted it) for her senior-project in high school. Of course, I am the one who taught her how to do all that so I think that I should get some of the credit for this quilt as well. (I mean, after all, I am the one who cut out all the pieces, pinned all the layers together, and I put on the binding. Not to mention I taught a seventeen year old to quilt. Gah!)

Anyway. That is that.
I am working hard on my big HUGE Hawaiian quilt and I will post more pictures of it soon.
Who knows? Maybe I’ll start working on my block of the month from 2005 again!!
We shall see!

I was recently sent EIGHTEEN POUNDS(!!!) of fabric scraps!
Holy moly, right?
I received the box yesterday and when I opened it, I was shocked speechless.

This is your basic “dream come true” situation.
You see, I run a blog called “Aunt Scrappy”.
And that blog has that name for a reason…. other than the name just rocks.
Just read the “about” section to your right and you’ll see what I’m talkin’ about.

I KNEW there had to be at least ONE quilter out there that would love to give their scraps away instead of having fabric scraps sitting around, never to be used again. (And what quilter worth her salt would ever even DREAM of throwing those precious scraps away?!?!?! Quilt blasphemy. That is what that would be, in my opinion.)

Well, my Mother in law found me that one quilter.
Marie!! Thanks SO much for contributing to my habit.

I promise you that your leftovers are safe with me and will be used very SOON! You, and anyone else for that matter, are completely welcome to unload fabric scraps on me anytime you please. You have my address… or at least know where to get it! As for anyone else who wants to unload… let me know. We’ll talk. You’ll send. I’ll be happy. You’ll be happy.

Funny that my MIL is mentioned in this post because she is the BIGGEST, most prolific, perpetrator of my quilting habit. Part of that EIGHTEEN POUNDS of fabric scraps were sent by her. I’m pretty sure that ever since she took me to my very first quilting class, that she hasn’t been able to enter her local fabric shop, “The Patchwork Pig”, without leaving with some sort of an assortment of fabric for me. I would say that a good 90% of my fabric has been donated to me by the MIL. Apparently she loves me…. and knows that every woman needs a big fat fabric stash! And now I’ve got her on board with my mission to collect fabric scraps from wherever I can get ‘em. With her on my side I know that I will have enough fabric to quilt the world over by the end of this year!! (Not that it will be enough… I’m just sayin’…)

Before I go away again, I just wanted to give an update and try to explain why I’ve been MIA. I got the carpal tunnel surgery and have been recovering. Next Friday will be the two month mark. I am still healing because my hand still has a way to go before I get my strength back. The other reason for the absence is because I haven’t been quilting. What you saw in my last post is really the last time I’ve done anything. The Hawaiian quilt is still pinned and waiting to be basted. I’m hoping to pick that project up again very soon.

However…. I am getting another surgery next Friday. I am getting surgical hardware removed from both of my feet. And as one of my feet in RSD ridden, there will most likely be some complications. I hope not, but the Doctor tells me to prepare because chances are so high that he all but said it would definitely happen.

For those that don’t know what RSD is and what I am talking about, I’ll try to give a short version of “my story”. RSD is a painful nerve condition that I’ve had for almost two years. I broke my foot one morning in August of 2006. The fracture took 16 weeks to heal, and about halfway into that nightmare my foot decided to swell up every time it was not propped up and then it would turn a loverly shade of purple that made it look like my foot was choking. I have undergone 16 sympathetic nerve blocks to try to snap that particular nerve out of it’s current major freak out mode. My foot hasn’t been purple in a little over a year, but it still is a tad swollen most of the time and if the color changes, it only changes to a reddish hue. I still suffer from pain in that foot and it really sucks. I am only grateful that I have gone into remission this much. But now it looks like I will rapidly return to square one next week. And before you ask, yes. I do have to get this hardware taken out. The screws are working their way OUT of each foot. And that in itself is painful. Put that sick situation on top of a nerve that is flipped out… and you get an increase in pain and suffering. Seriously… if I could sue this nerve, I would.
And that, is “my story”.

I’m hoping that while I’m in recovery from this upcoming surgery that I will drag my huge Hawaiian quilt into bed with me so I can baste it while watching movies. We’ll see if that happens.

Hopefully I will be posting more often now.
Because that will mean not only that I am that much closer to completing my Hawaiian quilt, but that I am using up some of my new fabric scraps!!
~Crossing my fingers for the energy to quilt often~

**Forgot to mention that as of last week The Husband and I have been married for 7 years!**

Happy Anniversary to us… And many, many more!

I cannot BELIEVE that I have not posted in almost three months.
I suck at quilting.
You see, I only post on here if I’ve done something… Anything, really.
And since it has been three months since I’ve been on here, that just shows how dedicated I am to my supposed “favorite” hobby.

I’m sorry!! However, I hope to make up for it with the picture that I’m about to show you.
My Mom was in town to help me out with my kids a month ago (I’ll tell you why in a minute…) and she helped me lay out my ENORMOUS Hawaiian quilt.

WOW!, right? I absolutely love it and I am sure you all are massively impressed. I could not have done it without assistance, so I am so grateful that my Mom was here to help me do it. She helped my iron the background fabric, which was a BIG chore that absolutely takes two people, and then she helped me lay out AND pin the big design to the background. I think it took about three hours to do and we did it in the dead of night when my kids were fast asleep. Now I need to get on the stick and baste that sucker together so I can get those pins outta there so I can begin the hand appliqué. (Which I estimate will take me, oh, I don’t know…. For.Ever!!)

Basting will take me some time to do, so now I am searching for someone local to help me out. FYI: I’m not a big fan of basting. I hate it, actually. So I am hoping to wrangle my sister into doing most of it for me under the pretense of me teaching her to “sew”. (hahahaHA!)

During this whole adventure I found out that I have severe carpal tunnel syndrome in my right hand and borderline in my left. Three different doctors have advised me to get surgery to correct it… I just don’t know if I can. The recovery involves THREE weeks of no movement of the hand. And then for a month or so after you can’t lift anything and there are other activities that will be limited as well… But I guess I have to wait for the surgeon to tell me what those activities are.

I’ve got two kids.
One is almost five and the other is three.
Taking my right hand away from me would be disastrous.
I mean… you KNOW that quilting would be way out of the question for a while.
And we all KNOW that I love quilting so much that I just couldn’t stand to ever abandon my hobby.

Clearly, I am a horrible quilter.
Have you noticed that I only update this site about once a month?
It’s not because I am a horrible blogger… because I’m not. Really.
It’s because I only quilt about once a month.
Isn’t that terrible?

What is my problem? Maybe it’s because I’ve got two small kids and a painful nerve disorder…. but still. I love quilting. It is relaxing and creative. And it is something I do all by myself. Most of the time, I love the loneliness of it all. But I have to admit that sometimes I don’t want to be so lonely quilting. I want some companions. Oh how I would LOVE to be part of a quilting circle. I don’t know how to go about finding one close to me, but if I found one I’m sure I would quilt a lot more often.

Anyway. That blither-blather isn’t what I came here today to share.
I came to show you all the baby quilt that I just finished for a friend.
Now, before you look I have to tell you a little bit about it.
I wanted this quilt to be simple and fast. So. Only two fabrics were used.

See what I meant by simple and fast?
I can’t say that this is my best work… but I wanted this quilt would be used and I didn’t want the Mother to be afraid to use it.

In the past I have made quite a few baby quilts. And it has been interesting to see what the receiver’s have done with the quilts. Some of the quilts have been loved to death. And I LOVE that. And then some of my other quilts have never been seen again for fear of it being ruined. So this time I wanted to make sure that the quilt was cute and usable. Hopefully I succeeded.

My Hawaiian quilt has given me many problems as of late so I have been avoiding it. Long story short, I misjudged the amount of background fabric I needed and came up short when I was finally ready to lay the floral design out to get it basted together and ready for the appliqué stage. It was a HUGE slap in the face when I realized that I had to buy MORE fabric and start all over… at least with the background fabric.

So now I get to fight with the endless yards of fabric and my iron. I HATE ironing this much fabric because it never goes well. The fabric still ends up a tad wrinkly and the creases that I need are very, very difficult to get right. Ew. Just thinking about this makes me want to avoid it for at least another month. But. I’ve got to get this started and finished! I’ve got to!

See how I need encouragement?
See how I need the prodding of a quilting circle?
Now if only I could find one, I’d be set.

I know I would…. right?

I’ve made three rag quilts during my quilting career.
I LOVE these blankets. They are cozy, easy to make, and people love them.
But. I’m not really sure if they really are technically what you would call, “quilts”.

I thought that what made a “quilt” was the actual stitching that puts all three layers of fabric together. In my rag quilts, there are no real quilt stitches to be seen. Just stitches that put all the squares together. Maybe I am being too technical and nitpicky about this… and maybe, just maybe, it really doesn’t matter. But this is a question that I’ve been wondering about since I made my first rag quilt. So if you have any thoughts… please. Enlighten me.

The first rag quilt I made was for my first baby. At the time I didn’t know what I was having, so my MIL and I chose bright colors that would do for either sex. The MIL bought the fabric as a present and I was ever so glad… because well… I was broke at the time and fabric can be expensive. I ended up having a boy and this boy is now four and a half years old. He still sleeps with his rag quilt every night and he absolutely cannot be sick without it. I swear, that blanket has healing powers. Can you tell?

The second rag quilt I made was for my second baby. This time I knew that I was having a girl so I picked out what I thought was the cutest flannel ever made. My Mom was with me to pick out the fabric and she bought it as a present to my unborn baby. (Once again… I was broke!) My daughter is about to turn three and she hardly EVER uses this blanket.

She prefers the jersey knit baby layette blankets to any of the MILLION quilts and afghans that I made for her. (OK. I only made one other quilt and crocheted her one afghan… but that is two more blankets than I made for my boy….) I think it is hilarious that she could care less about my craftsmanship… One day she’ll appreciate me and my work. I know she will…. Right?

The last rag quilt I made was a HUGE one (alright, twin size) for my little sister. She loved my kids’ blankets and since she is the baby of a family of six kids, she just HAD to have one for herself. So my Mom found herself in a fabric store buying a LOT of flannel for her baby…. Who just happened to be nineteen years old.

I made the nineteen year old “rag” her own quilt though. For me, that is the worst part of the whole process. My hands hurt after about ten minutes of “ragging” and my scissors take a beating. I figured my little sister was qualified. She is, to this day, my only quilting pupil. I taught her to quilt during her senior year of high school… But that is a story for another time!

Have any of you done any sort of rag quilting?
Care to show me any pictures???
(I love seeing pictures of other people’s work. It inspires me. And, as it happens, I am still in desperate need of inspiration!)