Yo Momma is so...

Okay, so the yo yos are making me kind of punchy now. I gathered up some more fabric and cut a whole new stack of 5.5" squares. Thanks to Sew Obsessed, Quiltique, and Joann's I was able to add some great colors to the project.

You might recognize some of the designers in here: Amy Butler, Heather Bailey, Michael Miller, Kaffe Fasset, Joel Dewberry, and Anna Maria Horner. I figured if I average 12 yos a day, it will take me 28 days to finish the rest of my goal of 409! However, I pushed myself to get 15 done this evening (this really doesn't seem like an amount to brag about), but my basket is starting to fill up and the yos are multiplying!

Once I made a yo from all my new fabrics I decided to lay them out on my background fabric to make sure I didn't have too much of one color and not enough of another. I think I concluded that I need a little more pink, orange, and purple. The green and yellow is certainly covered.

What do you all think? I need some advice.

State of Yo....

For those of you who are too young or whose mother did not drag them to a Smother's Brothers concert when they were children, would not know about being in the "State of Yo" as the 'Yo-Yo Man' would get into prior to starting his yo-yo act. Well, I am in a state of yo with my new yo-yo maker and my new quilt adventure. I discovered this quilt on the cover of American Patchwork & Quilting (June 2011, Issue 110) and just HAD to make it.

Between the turquoise background in batik and the bright, fun colors of the yo's I was practically salivating before I made it to the checkout to buy the magazine. Now, let's take a step back here: (1) Have I ever made yo-yo's? No. (2) Have I ever worked with a batik fabric? No. and (3) Was I aware that this cute 'little' quilt required 409 of those a fore mentioned, never having done, yo-yo's? Uh, No. So, here I am at my first attempt of making them, and yes, I went with Clover's 60mm Extra Large Yo-Yo Maker template/tool because I wasn't really sure what I was getting myself into.

After some trial and taking the first one apart, I finally got the hang of it. However I did consult a couple of tutorials and videos on-line prior to attempting this. As always, I decided to Mary Shelley (Frankenstein reference) a few of the tips together to form my own way of making them work. I took some from Heather Bailey's tutorial, some from Lazy Girl Designs, and some You Tube videos. Here is the finished product...

Now only 406 to go! (This is only a fourth of the stack that needs to be done)

I might have to recruit relatives with tequila to get this done (yes, mom I am talking to you).

Basting my Single Girl...

Well, with the Valori Wells quilt finally complete, it is time to pick up the Single Girl again. I have decided to try to basting video tutorial that I found rather than the old safety pin method. Partially, because I have decided to use Perl 8 cotton to hand quilt this one and I just didn't want all those safety pins in the way. Additionally, I am always on the lookout for new ideas of making quilting easier.

So here is my attempt of the herringbone baste that is described in Sharon Schamber's Network via YouTube. Here is Part 1 and 2.

Lucky number three...

My third quilt is finally done! Thanks to another P.I.G.S. Night Out at Sew Obsessed last night and some work this morning, I can finally give my family their quilt. Yes, it is 113 degrees outside, but I know that my husband and I will crank up the AC just to cuddle underneath it tonight! She is quilted with a beautiful satin/cotton binding and is the first one adorned with my new quilt label. Are my corners perfect? No. Are my quilted lines straight? No. Does it lay perfectly square? No. Will my family enjoy it, love it and have many years curling up underneath it? Yes. She turned out just wonderfully and I can't wait to have everyone see it.

This was Valori Wells pattern used with her High Desert Del Hi quilt fabric line. I fell in love with it when I saw it in a magazine and I fell in love with it all over again when I saw her in all her glory.

 Here is a picture of it spread out on the bed. It is almost big enough to fit a Queen sized bed, with a little overhang. We have a DKNY quilt on our bed right now, which is all white, but I think we have to put the new quilt on for now!

View 2.
I just love the colors so much! Especially next to the dark wood bed frame.











I need to work on adhering the label some, as the dark fabric shows though a little, but I used Steam-a-seam and attached some of the scrap material from the front as a "frame." I love that I can label my quilts now to remember when they were finished and to dedicate them to my loved ones.

Next time I will have my husband take the pictures; he has a GREAT eye for pictures. Here she is all folded up and waiting to be presented to the family. Her big reveal is in less than two hours! I can't wait.