Destash

Check out my ETSY for my destash!!!

Destash!

Of course you know I am moving soon….so its time to do a little destash.

Here are a few things I would like to get rid of. I will be listing it on Etsy, but if you see something you like just leave me a comment and I can get it to you. I really am just trying to make room so I am willing to sell these for a good price.

All three 1/2 yard cuts.

One on left is 1 yard. Two on right are 1/2 yard each.

Three on left are 1 yard, two on right are 1/2 yard each.

All 1/2 yard print. Great for baby quilts.

Misc prints all  FQs

All FQ’s Lizzy House. Castle Peeps.

Three on left are all yard cuts, the one next to it has had a piece taken out for a block I made but is still well over 3/4 yard. Two on right are FQs.

One on left: 1/2 yard. One on right 1 yard.

I am open to offers in the next couple days. Will be listing on Etsy by Friday. Shipping will be whatever it costs me to ship…any extra will be refunded.

How do you feel about sampler quilts?

Me? I don’t love them. I sometimes wonder why I join bee’s because I have yet to find a sampler quilt that I really like…..until now.

I am currently in only two bees and my month just happened to be the same time for both bees, so I decided I was going to have both bees do the same block.

I sent out this stack of fabric.

Asking the bee members to make me one 16.5 inch block…only I wanted them to go together somehow. Since I don’t usually like sampler quilts I decided that if each person added two borders around their block (one white one color) then they would tie together.

I think my idea worked out well and I love the top of this quilt…and to my surprise its large enough to fit my king size bed.

I sashed it with Kona ash and I think it really lets the blocks shine and makes it neutral at the same time.

Only three things are on my mind about this quilt. I would love any input or suggestions.

1. How should I do the back. I would love to give it a simple design that is easy to do but somewhat interesting. Plus of course it has to be affordable and large enough for a quilt this size.

2. Quilting. Anyone have any advise? I could free motion quilt all over this of course but wanted to see if anyone had any clues….also any tips on quilting a quilt this size. Not sure how much it would cost to send it to a professional.

3. Although it fits fine on my king bed, I would love for it to be a tad longer on the sides. I need some options. It is long enough but not wide enough. I have thought about adding another row of blocks but that means I have to creatively come up with 4 more blocs for this quilt…..anyone want to help? LOL

Anyways there is my accomplishment I have been working on for some time now. I am proud of it and it just might be one of my favorite quilts to date.

Actually quilting!!!

Yes! I said it! I am quilting today! Working on one of my WIP. Pattern designed by a friend of mine and I am testing it out for her. I must say that I like how it looks finished, but I really suck at matching all the petals up. So it doesn’t look so hot. LOL

It feels good to actually be quilting again. I haven't had the bug for a long time and have had to force myself to want to quilt. Which I pretty much had to do with this quilt that has been an ongoing WIP since last fall! Gasp!

It feels good to have a top done and waiting for the final steps. I think it actually gave me a little motivation to work on a few more WIP. I think I have 3-4 that are sitting in my closet….not including the two that I need to buy backing for.

Moving…

Going to be moving in August. The week after school starts. Husband and I have decided that we need some time apart….so Aliya and I will be moving into a one bedroom apartment late August.

Its on the other side of town, closer to the boardwalk. Aliya will be changing schools, but it is an excellent school there too.

I will also be starting back at school in August. Working on my Bachelors in Nutrition. Hopefully finish in two years. Taking 6 classes this fall which is 16 credit hours. I will be very busy, but it will be very worth it in the end.

Just wanted to update all my friends…just in case you are wondering where I have disappeared to.

I am working on a quilt though. Along with the many things I need to do to get ready to move. Hopefully be posting pictures of that soon.

All caught up!!

Just in time to get more blocks in the mail I’m sure. At least I am done for now and I have nothing that I HAVE to sew this week. Feels nice to be all caught up.

First I did a block for VIBees  Megan requested patriotic themed blocks. So I attempted a “wavy” flag. I wish it would have been a tad more wavy, but I think it will be ok.

Second block was for my Fresh Modern Bee and “Wonky” was the theme. So I had this vision in my head and WOW! Next time I get this vision somebody slap me! LOL It was not easy! Although I like how it turned out, I think it was a little more than I really wanted to take on.

I also managed to pick up my sewing room a little bit. It still have a little mess from sewing today, but for the most part it is all picked up.

So happy (early) 4th of July! Hope everyone has a great holiday.

Oh Christmas Tree!

I am so excited to finally share with you my second  Moda Bake Shop Tutorial. I have had this quilt done for quite some time now and have been anxiously waiting for Christmas in July!

I hope that you enjoy this quilt. I just love HST’s and this quilt was so much fun to make.

Let me know what you think! Happy Christmas in July!

Loads going on!

I have been extremely busy this summer. Sorry for the inactive blog. I really have had little time to sew or do anything. Also have found that we are moving. I have found an apartment that we are going to move into and we will see if it all works out. So please pray for me that I can get into the apartments before school starts in August.

This August is going to be a busy month for me. I have lots of cleaning, purging, and a huge garage sale planned. We have to move the week before school starts and its an hour away. Not 100% sure yet, that is where I will settle. It all depends on if everything is meant to be, I believe if it is then things will just fall into place and I wont have a problem moving like I keep thinking I will.

Aliya starts Kindergarten and I will go back to school full time. Taking a whopping 16 credit hours. Not going to be fun but it has to be done.

Hope you all are having a lovely summer! Also check back on the first as I will have a surprise for you! Happy quilting!

Last day of school!!

I’m so proud of Aliya this year, she accomplished a lot in Pre-k.

Next year she will be starting Kindergarten and will be ready for it.

Two of her main accomplishments this year were: learning to read (which she does very well for a 5 year old) and she learned to tie her shoes all by herself!

We are so proud of her!

We decided to make a little gift for Aliyas teachers. This is my first year with a school age kid so I wasn’t sure what to make the teachers. I did some looking online for some ideas and saw that soaps, lotions, and gift cards were all pretty common. Since they were probably going to get tons of those we decided to be a little different.

These pouches were made using Keyka Lou’s patterns. Her patterns are well written and easy to understand.

Being the first time I made these I like the way they turned out.

I hope her teachers like them. We really appreciate all that they have done for Aliya this year. I know that Aliya will miss them very much! I will miss her picking her up from school and hearing about her fun day and all the new songs she learned.

Also be sure to check out my friends blog. She is hosting a fun “Fresh Sewing Day!”

Playing catch up….

I am late with my bee blocks. I hadn’t finished my April blocks and here it is…end of May.

Well I am happy to say that I finished a total of 4 blocks today. Forgot to take pictures of the first two blocks I finished…they were pretty easy blocks….you can see them in the Fresh Modern Bee group. We all did the same two blocks for April.

I am still behind on my May block for that bee and will hopefully get to it this weekend.

I also finished my April block for Corey in my VIBees group. So so so love this block…so pretty. Plus it was awesome because all the pieces were precut so it was super easy to put together…and look how awesome it looks!

I also finished my May block for VIBees I must say that I really love this block. The theme was “petals” and I had this image in my mind that I wanted to try. Originally I wanted to add some kind of flower center in white but saw that I didn’t have enough fabric for it so I quickly changed my design and added more petals instead. I actually like this design better because it includes more of the pretty fabric that was sent. I really think this block is one of my favorites!

I’m so glad it will be going to one of my closest online friends, Tracey!!

Jackson Quilt

My first custom quilt. Made for a friend of mine who is expecting a little boy any day now. She requested and approved these colors and then picked a quilt style that she liked and I started designing.

I ended up with 3 or 4 different blocks to give the quilt some variety with the squares.

I used some of the left over scraps to spell out his name on the back. I used the prints for his name then used the solids for the backing itself to showcase both the quilting and allowing his name to stick out.

I really do love how his name turned out and plan to use this on my future quilts.

I also added one of my new labels to the back.

I made it big enough that the little guy can use it for several years. Really love how this turned out.

A little TBall

It wouldn’t be the Alliekatmom blog without a few Allie Kat updates would it?

Aliya started T-Ball and Saturday was her very first game.

She is warming up here, not the best at throwing a ball…some of the boys can really chuck it!

Guess that’s what happens when you are the only girl on the team. Even the team we were playing against was all boys…..I don’t get it!

Of course she doesn’t care, she loves T-Ball and asks me everyday how many days she has till she can go play T-Ball.

Here she is running to first with a hat that is a little too big. LOL Yes, she was safe!

Her team does this before and after each practice and game. It’s so cute because Aliya thinks they are the Blue Rangers…you know as in Power Rangers. They shout “Go Rangers!” I can hear the Power Ranger theme music now.

And for those of you who come here to read about my sewing and quilting….. I have new labels.

Aren't they the best?! I will be using these from now on. I really like them and I did them in Word.

Pretty little pouch received.

What a wonderful package I received from Crystal. She made this little pouch with Aliya in mind. Her little note said that it was intended for her to be used as a crayon pouch. She was going to put her name on it but left it off just in case I wanted to use it myself. Well of course it’s a perfect pouch for crayons and look at those rainbow colors! Guess who got it?…ya its not a difficult guess.

The cutest wrapping

I just love the fabric that she used. The hand stitching just makes it perfect.

She even sent crayons and some little coloring pages (princess, perfect) some Dutch letters that were yummy and a little coin pouch for myself…which holds my change in my purse.

Aliya loves her pouch, she got to work coloring right away.

Thank you Crystal! She/We love it!

New logo? Blog name?

Remember this post? Well I am still looking around for that perfect logo for my blog.

I am getting tired of the look of my blog and am wanting something cleaner, fresher, unique to me.

So in my search for something better I was wondering…..what do my readers think of me?

When they read my name what do they think of? Cats? I am not a cat lover, they are adorable from far but I am more of a dog lover than a cat lover. My name? Which is Actually Amy and not Allie…..

The name AllieKat is actually a nickname for my daughter. My grandfather (who passed away when she was 2) asked me if he could call her Alley Cat for short and of course it stuck. She was his one and only great grandchild. Of course since she is my pride and joy I decided Alliekatmom is the perfect name……what do you think?

As far as a logo design…do you all think I should have a logo with a drawing of a little girl in it? Should I just keep it simple with some pretty writing and a little design….or maybe add a sewing machine or some scissors so everyone knows this is a quilting blog?

It of course will be purple, orange and gray. My blog is looking too green and blue these days.

I would love some input from my readers on this.

If you want to design one for me even better….LOL

My first pouch

Well I have done a few zippers but this is my first pouch that I made. I made it for my secret partner in the Pretty Little Pouch swap.

I used AMH on the front of the pouch. The squares are 1/2 inch each.

The back I just used some scraps, the square with the hand stitching has an initial of my partners name in the middle.

A scrappy inside of the zippy.

Also some extra goodies that I included in the zipper pouch. I hope my partner enjoys this zipper, I know I need to practice a bit more.

Happy Easter!

We had a little Easter party at our house. The Easter bunny came and brought Aliya a sand bucket with a tootsie roll bank, play dough and a pin wheel…..

…he also hid eggs all over the house and in the back yard.

Hope you all have a happy Easter.

Make Mine Modern swap

….coming to an end.

We are just about done with our third swap and plan on going into a summer swap. This swap has been fantastic! Just go check out some of the items that were sent here.

This is what I made my partner.

I made an iPad cover. I do not own one of these so I hope it fits. I used a binder to reinforce it so it is more stable. I also did some stitching on it to spice it up a little. You can see I stitched the Apple logo on it and then some hand quilting.

Then I made a sewing machine cover. It is matching fabric, so I could stick to a theme. I wasn’t sure of the height of her machine so I hope that it works. I also added some hand quilting to this.

Then some hand stitching in the bottom corner to add character.

I had a friend of mine, Christine, who has awesome talent making pins make her some Santa pins since she collects Santas. I think this is the only item I was sure that she would like….sorry, not the best picture of them.

Finally I included some fabric….yumminess

AND!! This is what I got in return! I feel so spoiled by Ali who has the cutest little blog!

I got some Parisville, HR Vans, Hope valley and cute hexi’s. I also got the coolest card from Anthropologie that I am going to frame because the colors are perfect! Then I got the cutest bunting that is going in the corner of my sewing room. A rug that is going at the foot of my cutting table. I just have to look at it every day. A sewing machine cover that is FABULOUS! Also, she forgot to add another thing that she had made for me to the package. I got yesterday but havent taken a picture of it yet. I got a zippy pouch with a needle book attatched to the inside of it, a pair of orange scissors that fold up, and a thread catcher. So very perfect! I will take pictures soon.

Here are all my goodes in their new home!

I also forgot that I have not made a post about my Doll Quilt I received.

Remember I made this one! She loved it by the way. Was sent to WestyChic

And this is what I got in return. Looks so lovely on my wall (see picture above) and who doesn’t love linen, Heather Ross and hand quilting?!? I know I do!! Made by Maydela

So I promise that I am working on a few things. I have a baby quilt in the works, a pouch to make, and a tutorial that I just finished and should be coming up on MBS very soon.

So I am staying busy, just cant reveal too much yet but keep your eyes peeled….its coming!