Thursday, June 21, 2012

Up and Running Again

This weekend my husband and I participated in our first 5k. The first of many to come I am sure, I loved it! I set a goal to finish in under 30 minutes and succeeded. Lee runs faster than me, but was kind enough to stay at my pace and push me along. I never told him what my goal was, which incidentally enough was his goal as well. He encouraged me to run faster, when I really didn't want to run any longer. The thing that kept me going was running with others around me, and running for a purpose. The 5k raised money for our local Relay For Life, as well as money to help out a local teacher whose cancer has returned.
Here we are after the race, hot and sweaty. :)
My post title has to do with more than running. My cousin came by this week to have me help her make a towel wrap for her new sorority "baby" in Alpha Phi at UNL. She and I made a trip to JoAnn's for materials and put together this fun little wrap for the incoming freshman to use.
I loved picking out the colors and materials and spending time with my little cousin. This towel wrap took very little time, although it was not so kind to my machine when it came time to add the Velcro (I broke 2 needles!).
Spending time at the sewing machine has released my creative juices once again and I am working on another new project. Which means I have way to many things  started and not being finished. Isn't that a true quilter though, WIPs always outweigh finished quilts. :) So this girl is up and running once again. I'm excited to get back into quilting and to prepare for the Color Run I'm doing this July in Omaha.

*sorry for the bad photo quality, one was taken with a phone, the other at 11pm

Saturday, June 16, 2012

Have Quilt, Will Travel

Remember my cousins quilt, the one with her shirts from cheerleading and dance. You know the one I've been working on for over a year. Well I'm hand quilting it...and it is much harder than I thought it would be! 
I think our ancestors who quilted for generations would cringe at my stitches and technique. I'm not using a thimble, which hurts! And I am only just finishing my first block...of twelve needing to be quilted. I'm thinking straight line stitching this with my free motion foot on the machine would have been better. I will not give up though, so I'm going to push through. Wish me luck!


Monday, June 11, 2012

Hippie Babies

It has been WAY too long since I last posted, sorry friends. I have been enjoying the freedom of no school work and have been busy reading books for leisure rather than quilting. I plan to jump back into quilting this week, I have a quilt on my design wall that needs to get down and basted, and another couple of quilts swirling around in my head. :)
Back in April I finished up these twin quilts for my neighbors' boys, they turned out great! I quilted them with random straight lines and I love how the quilting adds to the simplicity of the quilts. I wanted to do an 'I Spy' feel to their quilts using some of the fabrics from my stash, and I wanted them to be similar but different. I love how they turned out! The binding fabric is a polka dot, which has many colors that match the block alphabet fabric on the back. When Lee and I took the quilts over to the family, the big sisters decided to cuddle up with them too. I'm glad they can get some use when the boys are laying on them.
The boys' parents are huge Jack Johnson fans, so I named the quilts after Jack Johnson songs. This one here is for baby Max, the quilt is called "Banana Pancakes." I used alphabet block fabric for the backs of the quilts and was able to piece together the letters to have each boy's name on the front.
This quilt is baby Jack's, named "Better Together." I choose these song titles because they were both songs of love, and who can't love these wonderful baby boys.
What I loved the most about these quilts was how grateful our neighbors were to receive them. A few weeks ago Lee and I got a text from them saying how much they enjoy the quilts and how thoughtful it was for me to make them. It made my day to hear their kind words, and I hope all the babies I've made quilts for are able to enjoy them as they grow into amazing little people.