ABC Baby Quilt!

A great friend had his first baby this summer. She was born in late June - 20 days after he and his wife came to our wedding. Mr. Gnomemade and I were thrilled to have them there and get to see them before such a big event in their life.


Welll, the little one arrived and she's absolutely beautiful. This is the same couple who I gave a wedding quilt to when they got married a couple years ago, so I figured it was only appropriate to give their new little bundle of joy a quilt too!


Now, getting married and going on a honeymoon didn't give me a lot of time to put something together, so thank goodness for some really cute cheater panels!






Such a cute theme and hopefully one they like for the newest member of their family! (And another UFO challenge item complete!)

Batik Color Sample Quilt

Now, it's never happened before, but I made a quilt that I don't have a home for. Up until now, everytime I've started a project, it's been for a certain person in mind. They always have homes they are going to go to, and in fact, with the exception of the one I just made Mr. Gnomemade, not one quilt has stayed in my home. (Wait, that's a lie - I have kept one Thanksgiving small wall-hanging).

But, a quilt larger than 20 x 20? Never happened. Until now.

A couple of years ago, I was in a small quilt shop when I came across a kit. I'd never purchased a quilt kit before then, and I'd actually never used batik fabrics. I figured I might as well kill two birds with one stone, and picked up the kit. I thought it was really cool, and something completely different than anything I've done.

So, here's the final project! I'm pretty proud of it myself.


Now, just to figure out what the heck to do with it! It doesn't match anything in my house, but I think it's really cool. Maybe my office? It used to be a supply closet (no joke), so I'm afraid the quilt will overpower my little area in the world!

Mom's Americana Quilt

As I mentioned yesterday, I challenged myself to a UFO completion! , part of my post-wedding/summer plans was to try to get a handle on all of my unfinished projects. I've been lucky to have lots of projects started, and some new exciting fabrics and patterns come in over the past year. I'm itching to get started on the new stuff, but know realistically that I should probably finish up all the old ones before I get started! I've been trying to keep my sidebar up-to-date with all my UFO's, but even that doesn't even touch some of the projects I need to work on.

To start this effort to finish up all my UFO's, I tackled a project that is long overdue. For one of my mom's big birthdays, I put together a quilt top. Mom loves all things Americana, and I'd been collecting red, white and cream prints for a while. I put together the top and presented it to her for the birthday. I had just started hand quilting it, and hadn't accounted for how long it would take.

Fast forward a couple of years (yes, I really am that far behind) and I finally got all the hand quilting done. Mom and Dad visited in early August and I was finally able to present to her the final project! SCORE!

So here it is...

And the hand quilting that took me so long to finish...

I think she likes it an I'm just happy to finally make good on my gift!

UFO Challenge

This summer, I challenged myself to complete all my UFO's. Part of my post-wedding/summer plans was to try to get a handle on all of my unfinished projects. I've been lucky to have lots of projects started, and some new exciting fabrics and patterns come in over the past year. I'm itching to get started on the new stuff, but know realistically that I should probably finish up all the old ones before I get started!

After getting back from the honeymoon and unpacking some great wedding gifts, I took stock of all my unfinished projects. I promised myself I would get through them as quickly as possible. And, so, I hunkered down over the month of July to get them done!

Now, I was hoping I'd get them done during the summer, but August quickly crept up on me and I found myself consumed by a 19-day work week with 15-18 hour days. So, I got through some of the projects, but not all of them.

So, rather than abandon the project by saying, well the summer's over, I'm going to keep going.

This July I completed several items:

• Mom's Americana Quilt
• Batik Color Sample Quilt
• ABC Baby Quilt

I look forward to blogging about these finishes soon and posting some photos of my industriousness.

But, for the rest of 2010, I'm going to focus on the other UFOs/WIPs in my life, including:

• Flower Power Pillows
• Quilt Along Quilt
• Christmas Embroidery Quilt
• Wedding Autograph Quilt
• In-Laws Surprise Quilt
• Pizza Box Challenge Quilt

Now, I'm sure there are others, but those are the big ones. I've got to fit in completing some projects to sell at my Quilt Guild's quilt show, as well as some Christmas presents, but I'm not letting myself cut into the beautiful fabrics I've purchased over the past year until those are done! (And my, those are tempting - my birthday presents from my parents was a shopping trip to a local quilt shop, so I had to tuck all my purchases away in a drawer to keep from tempting myself!)

Wish me luck as I embark upon this adventure! Hope I can keep to my promise of not starting something new!

The Wedding Quilt

Well, one of my projects for the wedding was a surprise - for everyone except me. I know it's tradition to exchange gifts between the bride and groom for the wedding, so I wanted to do something special. Mr. Gnomemade got me a great gift that arrived before the wedding - a Le Creuset lasagna pan. It was too heavy and too much a logistical nightmare for him to get it to Williamsburg, but I was able to transport his gift!

For months I'd been working secretly - when he was at work, at church, etc. - to make him a quilt. He'd been asking ever since I started quilting when I was going to make him one, so I figured there would be no better time to! He walked in a couple of times while I was working on it, so I was certain he knew what I was up to and was just sparing my feelings.

But, turns out he had no clue. So, on our wedding day, he opened my gift and found this...

Front of the quilt


Detail of front

Back of quilt

The colors are a little bit off - it was sunny out taking the photos, but I found lots of fabrics that are his favorite colors - blues, greens and browns. I actually had been collecting them for several years now. Some of the backing is leftover fabric I had from a Williamsburg quilt I made for another friend's wedding.

Our Winner

Where did I go? How is it the beginning of August already and I didn't even post the winner of my blog giveaway? So sorry about that.

I asked the Random Number Generator (aka Mr. Gnomemade) to choose.

So congratulations to...Megan!

I've e-mailed you to get your address. Thanks to everyone for participating!

The Wedding Day...

Our big day was great. We had a wonderful time with our family and friends. It was an amazing day (an amazing weekend all together), and made so special by being surrounded by everyone we love. We really wanted a weekend where we could visit with our guests, and I hope they walked away saying we did. With just over 100 people in attendance, Mr. Gnomemade and I did our best to chat with everyone that day, and throughout the weekend. We really were humbled by how far our friends and family were willing to travel to be with us - from New York, Rhode Island, Boston, Orlando, etc.

The morning of the wedding was spent prepping. The girls met in the bridal suite and had their hair and make-up done. The boys went out to lunch and then spent about 20 minutes putting on their suits. Mr. Gnomemade and I met up in the bridal suite just ourselves, and then we headed out for some photos. (We wanted to get our photos done beforehand so we could enjoy our entire reception and mingle with our guests). Our photographer was wonderful and willing to trek around campus with us - we're still waiting on those photos to arrive, so what you'll see here is those from our family and friends. And Mr. Gnomemade, as he carried a camera with him - the only groom I've ever seen do so.

Our day was hot...99 degrees out! We visited a couple spots on our campus where we met and were being married before meeting up with our families at the chapel. We did our formals together, and then it was time to say "I do." After the ceremony (which we don't have any really good candids of), all our guests assembled in the courtyard of the building where we were married for a group shot.

My maid and matron of honor and I after the ceremony.

Lots of hugging, and a couple more formals later, we were on our way to the reception. Our reception was held at a town hall type building. It had large picture windows and beautiful natural lighting which made it a wonderful location. Our caterer was great, the DJ phenomenal (we're pretty certain people liked her better than us!) and a good time was had by all.

Mr. Gnomemade and I really wanted a fun, relaxed wedding where our guests wouldn't stand on ceremony and really enjoy themselves and I like to think that's what they got. We were blown away by the number of people who could attend, but once there the dance floor was packed, people milled about socializing and everyone enjoyed the food. We were thrilled.

Mr. and Mrs. Gnomemade at the reception

Well, the reception went by like a whirlwind, but we did manage to make it to every table in the place - so we were happy. We were determined to give our guests individualized attention - I mean, how often do you get everyone you love in one room? There were toasts, pie (yes, pie - I don't do cake), lots of dancing, some games and well, a lot of heat (poor little AC just couldn't keep up with us!).

After the reception, the parents got together back at the hotel along with some of our guests, while we went out with our college/high school/work friends to a local tavern - which gave us a great chance to visit.

The next morning, it was up bright and early to greet our guests and bid them goodbye at a brunch. Then Mr. Gnomemade and I packed up and headed off to our car to drive back home, where we were greeted with this...

Thanks to my sister (who served as my maid of honor) and my close friend (my matron of honor) and their signfiicant others, our car got the royal treatment. The balloons and streamers were removed before hitting the highway, but we still got lots of honks (until it rained) for the messages written all over our windows!

So, there you have it - our wedding in a nutshell. I'll be back again soon to post some of the more personal touches we had at the wedding!