Let The Quilting Begin!

I've been wanting to get back into sewing since moving to New England about a year ago. But I've let a lot of things get in the way -- other interests, lack of a dedicated sewing area, the need to have my sewing machine cleaned and tuned up. But finally, the time has come.

I've been inspired by my friend Patty who has been having so much fun with her embroidery machine. She's done so many fun projects (purses, quilts, shirts ...) that I've caught the bug again.

So I took my machine to have it overhauled and recently got it back. I've slowly been washing and ironing all the material I brought with me to see what I've got in the way of stash (and I am really kicking myself for tossing the bags of scraps I had been saving ... what was I thinking? Argh!) I've been visiting lots of blogs and finding inspiration galore on the internet. I've even gone and checked out a few nearby quilt shops and ordered a few books from Amazon.

I've always loved scrappy quilts and that's where I plan to start. I would love to make a few cuddle-up size quilts that can be used up in our loft and I'd like to make some decorative ones to hang on the walls as well.

There will be no shortage of ways to enjoy the quilts I have bouncing around in my head -- of that much I'm certain.

I've got a few projects in mind for starters:

* a baby quilt for my new granddaughter Delilah
* a bullseye quilt inspired by the Quilts From Aunt Amy book and a few of AmandaJean's designs over at Crazy Mom Quilts
* a scrappy string quilt inspired by The Heartstrings Quilt Project. I just love the quilts Mary makes!

I figure that will be plenty to get me back into the swing of things and should keep me busy for quite a while.

I'm also thinking of joining The Farmer's Wife Quilt-A-Long ... I might be getting in a little bit over my head with that one, but I've ordered the Farmer's Wife Sampler Book that the quilt-a-long is based on and it's due to be delivered today! So we'll see ...

I'm working on getting my sewing area set up and even went and purchased new pins and machine needles (I really need to go through my boxes of supplies and see what else I need ... my husband is going to faint when he sees the bill I suspect I'll be racking up!)

I'm hoping this blog will serve as an ongoing journal of what I work on and the progress I make on each project and will encourage me to keep going. I've been following a few blogs that do daily (if not daily at least frequent) update posts and I love it ... accountability! LOL.

Now my next step is to actually get started. And on that note ...