WIP ~ Finishing Touches

Well, the quilt is quilted and bound, but is it really done-done?

I don't think so. Not until I put my finishing touches on it. Namely, a label.

I want to include the quilt's name, my name, the city where I quilted it, and the date. But how do I go about making my own label? I have a couple packages (above), but am not sure if they're really right for this job. Previously, I bought little labels. I'd like to try to do something really neat and professional looking and then iron and/or sew it onto a back-corner of the quilt. Does anyone have any ideas how to go about doing this? And sites that offer free templates? Do I need to buy different label-making material?? I'm at a loss. Any help is appreciated!

On a side note, if anyone wants to see the quilt in "action," I took it outside with my kids on Monday for a photo shoot.

I'm linking up here today:

My American Pie Quilt

One of the best parts about quilting, in my opinion, is the photo shoot when it's all done. I love going out and putting my quilt in different spaces to see how it looks. Yesterday, I got some help from my two little assistants.

 We drew a lot of sea creatures on the pavement and while they were busy coloring, I thought I'd put my quilt down in the middle of it. I kinda like how the pictures turned out. Even with the interruptions. :)

 Hehe, it's fun to be done. Now everyone gets to enjoy it.

I'm happy to be linking up here:

PS: Once again, I wanted to mention that I got this fabulous idea for this quilt at Crazy Mom Quilts. Thanks Amanda Jean!

I Needed Another Bag...

I wanted a little bag to carry around my essentials when I was outside with the kids. What I was using was...not so cute. So I used the size and shape as a model and made my own. Cuter.

 I added a deep inside pocket for my keys...and all those shopping cards dangling from the key chain... Oh, and I added a label.

 Ready to go!

 And if you look closely at the bottom corner, you can see my hand-made AllThisForThem.blogspot.com taggie label. Fun thing to add, just for myself. :)
I'm happy to be linking up here today:

Work-in-Progress: Binding

I've made it to the binding stage. I love this part. It's so relaxing! I get to sit back and do my stitches. (None of that hunched-over stuff at the machine or cutting floor, er, table.) I am doing the ladder-stitch, and I'm definitely happy with how it's going (this being my third quilt with the ladder stitch. Hey, I'm getting better!). 

Happy to be linking up here today:

Sewing Again

...and making some progress.

It's been a busy summer so far. Mostly, in a good way! Here are the highlights and lowlights and reasons I haven't been around:

Highlights: family vacation to Cape Cod, my son's 4th birthday and party, pre-school year-ending celebrations, family in town.

Lowlights: daughter's broken wrist (as seen in earlier post), followed immediately by daughter's broken big toe (unloading a dish from the dishwasher with her cast, the day before it was to come off!), a couple bouts of sickness (son), many doctors' visits.

This past week, my son has been sick, but because he's been napping, I've had a little more time to myself.

I made some more progress on the quilt:

 Oh, the quilting. It took a long time stippling this quilt. Maybe because I kept starting and stopping and being interrupted with life. It just felt like a long time going. But I did enjoy it, for the most part. Despite being plagued by tension issues seemingly throughout the process, I liked the care-free, unplanned movement of stippling. I liked wandering this way and that and not worrying about things too much. I learned a lot along the way too. I learned that I need to be patient. If I hurry too fast, the stitches get too long. I also learned which meandering patterns I liked better (the clover pattern; what looked like fat "L"s; and generally, larger figures). However, it was hard at times to move the quilt and my patterns ended up being smaller and more compact (ie., much more quilting and stitching than I needed to do). Also, the middle of the quilt was so very hard to move. I started at one end and worked to the other, and by the time I got to the middle, I really had to use my muscles. In fact, I worked up a bit of a sweat, and I consider myself in good shape! This was surprising to me. By the end, I felt like I accomplished something big. (And I guess I did.)

 I don't look forward to making binding, but it went rather quickly this time. Perhaps this is because I was able to cut, sew, and press it all during one afternoon nap.

 Now I'm putting it together and hope to update the blog again sooner (than later) this time. I'm excited to be coming (hopefully) to a close with this quilt. It's been fun, but I'm ready to finish. I'm ready to move on to some smaller projects. Maybe because it's the summer. I think that may be it. I have other things on my mind. I wonder if this is a common theme in the quilting blogosphere? (or just me?)