DQS 7 Progress

I feel like a slacker... I have a month before my swap quilts are due in the mail, but I haven't gotten nearly as much work done on them as I've wanted to. It's just been so incredibly hectic, as I've been stupidly busy building furniture for my mother-in-law, helping her get more of her stuff moved in, and getting my own home in order. We've got a new bed arriving this Friday and have been trying to get the whole house reorganized and clean in anticipation of this.

Above is the sketch I came up with for the DQS 7 quilt. The inner yellow circle will be echoed with a yellow binding. Below is the image of the top in progress:

The outer border evolved from simple wedges into paper-pieced triangle-thingies. The yellow isn't nearly as distracting as I thought it would be. I'm very glad for that - I just wanted the yellow as a "zinger" fabric. I'm pleased as punched so far :) It's turning out better than I expected.

Tomorrow, I'll finalize the outline for the phoenix that will be going on this. On Friday, I'll pick up fusible webbing, so that I can attach the bird to the top. I'll also get some red thread, to satin stitch the bird down. I seriously debating doing some beaded embellishment.

Well, I should say I hope to be able to satin stitch it. My sewing machine is sick, and the top tension is way too tight no matter what I do. I've changed the needle, re-threaded the thing at least a dozen times... Nothing.

If my machine doesn't get fixed in a timely manner, I might have to reconsider my plans for this quilt... Maybe do some embroidery in the white area. Let's just say that I really, really pray that my machine gets fixed. If the repairs will cost more than $75 though, I'm just going to junk the thing and look for a new machine. The Brother CS-6000i got me through almost three years without a problem, and I love it, but it only cost $150. I can't see spending almost half the purchase price to get it fixed.

Digital Scrapbooking...

So, in an attempt to re-invigorate my interest and justify the disgusting amounts of money I've spent on it, I've decided to post about my digital scrapbooking here as well.

I love scrapbooking. I do. It's a wonderful hobby, and a way to make sure the memories actually mean something more than a stack of photos moldering away in a box. I just hated doing it the traditional way: Cut up pictures, cut up paper, tape/paste/otherwise attach all items together.

I'm a digital girl when it comes to creating pretty paper things - which is just funny considering that my other, primary hobby is something as traditional as quilting. So, shortly after my son was born, I discovered digital scrapbooking and a whole community of designers who create digital kits that allow me the freedom to make up a scrapbook on my computer.

I LOVE digi-scrapping. There's no wasted materials. I don't have to buy two of everything if I want to make another book for someone else. I can reuse as much as I want. I can play with layouts as much as I want, because I'm not committed to anything!

With all this said...

This is the title page for my son's scrapbook. Look at that precious face! The paper is from www.godigitalscrapping.com's Family Memories Collaboration Kit and the lettering is by Jennifer M. Tripetti, from her "Tough Guy" kit.

This is the second page for the book. Everything on this page is from Jennifer M. Trippetti's "Tough Guy" kit.

When I'm happy with the number of pages I've got done, I'll get the book professionally printed and bound. I'll need at least two copies - one for us, and one for my mother-in-law. I'm debating just doing three or four. That adds one copy for Zeb and his family when he's older and one for my father.