no. five quilt

Last weekend two very sweet people got married.  Jay and I both worked on a little something for them.  I have been waiting to post pictures until they got home from their honeymoon and opened their presents.  The word on the street is that all gifts have been opened... so I present the No. Five Mrs. Hess quilt. You see, Brook is now the fifth Mrs. Hess, so we had to create something that symbolizes this world changing event.  Afterall, there are five of us now. Five fabrics on the front of the quilt, representing each Mrs. Hess.  Wrap that up with one poem written by my Mr. Hess and you have one original wedding gift!

“I need some Hess women,” said God So he found a great couple and gave Norma a nod And Norma was a great great commencement But one Mrs. Hess was just not sufficient So Norma bore her first born son And Richard Hess began to run All over Milford, here and there Until he met a young girl with long dark hair He thought, “this girl, I must make my wife” And the second Mrs. Hess came to life Not long after, came David and Dee And before we knew it, the Mrs. Hess’ were three To Germany, Texas and Utah too And in the process two boys grew The girl with long dark hair had a son And the road to four Mrs. Hess’ begun Jay married a girl from 45140 And left for Virginia with Melissa in tow Back home in Ohio, Tristan met Brook And like most love stories it began with a look They walked, talked and their love began to thrive And so that’s why today we now have five.....Mrs. Hess’

If you would like the pattern for this quilt, you can find it here, it was pretty high tech!

Congrats again, Mr. and Mrs. Hess

xoxo, Mr. Hess and No. Four

Beth's Birthday Quilt

Remember several months back it was my very dear friends birthday, you know back in January! Well for her birthday this year I promised to make her a quilt.  But first I had Jay's quilt to finish and then a baby blanket or two and a first birthday party to plan, well guess what... I finally finished it!  It was only three months late, good thing she is so patient with me!

This quilt was really tough for me.  It was not the quilts fault at all, she really picked out a very simple pattern.  It stated on the pattern that it was classified as a weekend quilt and I believed it!  I told Beth when we went to buy the fabrics that I thought I should have it finished in roughly a week.  That totally did not happen, not even close.

It turns out life really got in the way of my quilting, don't you hate when that happens.  Jay was really busy the past month and it seemed that every time he went out of town C managed to get sick somehow with either teething or a double ear infection that just would not go away.  So every time I went to quilt I had baby fever brain and kept making stupid mistakes.

I had a couple of down times, but kept on persisting because it was for Beth.  I like to think about the person I am making the quilt for when I am sewing.  It helps me to keep going if I know I am making it for a loved one or a loved ones wee baby.  This one really took a lot of love to finish.  If it was for anyone else (yes, even you Jay) it would not have been completed.  But it was for Beth and I do love her so!  So it eventually was finished .  Way later than promised.  But finished with love.

I hope she enjoys snuggling with it in this lovely 90 degree spring we are having in Va!  Love you Beth, Happy Belated Birthday!

fail.

Have you seen this graphic on pinterest?

I hate it.  Bad.   Really.  Every time I see it, it digs under my skin a little.  I hate when someone tells me that I can not accomplish all that I want.  I hate it even more when I realize it myself.  This weekend has been a little like that.  I had really big plans, and I did not succeed.  If I had not set myself up with a goal, it would have been okay, but I did.  And I failed.

I never want this to be a blog that only shares the lovelies of our life.  The fun times and the success projects that we do here and there.  So I thought it necessary that I share the failures as well.  I also can not stand when people complain, so hopefully I will be able to walk the tight line between honesty and whining/self pity.

This weekend I had three goals. 1. Keep the baby alive while Jay was out of town.  2. Serve my shift at Chalk up the Town with Charlotte on my back in her backpack carrier, without people gawking.  3.  FInish Beth's BIrthday Quilt.  Yeah, that quilt that was given back in JANUARY!

I should feel slightly successful because, C is still alive and pretty happy might I add.  We went to Chalk up the Town, had a great time and I do not think many people thought I was crazy with C on my back.  The last goal is where I fail.  I was just not in my groove this weekend.  I need my groove to sew. No groove, no sewing.  I started the weekend with one of my favorite movies, Mona Lisa Smile while I attached the required letters to the back of the quilt, it took the whole movie, but I think they look super cute.  I assembled the back of the quilt, penny strip and all on Saturday morning, made my quilt sandwich and was ready to roll.  Only I was not rolling to good.  I completed a couple passes and it didn't look right, tore it out, tried again..times three.  Finally got it right and quilted about an 1/8 of the quilt before Chalk up the Town Saturday afternoon with plans to finish it that night.

It turns out that carrying a baby for two plus hours can really wear on you and make your back and neck pretty tight.  Saturday night is when the fail started to happen.  I first had a little melt down and gave up on the quilt for the night.  I can not quilt when I do not feel perfect.  I know that some people may wrongly think that I am really good at sewing-not so.  I just have to much confidence and jump into things to quickly.  In some ways in life it has been helpful, in other ways not, and I am sure  it has given Jay loads of headaches.

So, Sunday morning I continue quilting on Charlottes first nap that was from 7:00-9:00.  She napped so early because she woke up at 4:45.  I blame that on part of my self destruction.  When I got home from church and looked over my progress I hated it.  I did not like how I quilted it, I did not like the length of stitches or the tightness.  It was not good, so I watched some Yard Crashers.  After my little break I pulled myself up by my bootstraps and got it together.

I practiced a little, got all the kinks out and was actually really enjoying myself.  I was cruising!  Loving the design, even beginning to sing a little.  Got more finished in thirty minutes than I had over two hours the previous two days.  I was really fleeing confident.  I had found it, my grove!

And then my needle broke. Ha!

I do not have any more, so I have to run out when C gets up from napping.  I guess my groove is on hold for now.  Life lessons, as soon as you get overly confident (and sing while you quilt) your needle will break!

-melissa

a very hungry craft round up...part 1

As soon as I knew C's theme for her first birthday party, fabric, patterns and textiles went flying around in my head.  When I think of most holidays, I think of what type of fabric I could use.  I think most sewers have that chronic condition, you may too! Of course pinterst inspired me in many ways.  Jay and I both had shirts that I saw straight from pinterest and the party girl's dress was inspired from a dress I saw on pinterest.  Both outfits were a cinch to make, here is what I did and some pics of the final projects. First our "congrats we made it one year" shirts.  All you need is two cotton tshirts, your desired logo printed on iron on transfer paper, plain white cotton fabric, heat n' bond lite, and letters with the font you like best (remember a chunky font will work best).  You will notice that the font that is shown here was not the font that I ended up using.  I noticed that I was not happy with how small the letters were with the lowered case letter and I simply changed the font and it helped with the final look.

First, iron the heat n' bond to the back of the white fabric, then iron on the logo to the other side of the fabric.  On the heat n' bonded side trace your letters upside down onto the fabric, cut out, sew around edges onto the shirt and you have yourself a personalized theme party shirt!  Much needed for two doting parents!

Next, on to the party girl's dress!  I used this McCalls pattern that I got from a closing JoAnns for 99 cents!  I spliced together several different dresses.  My requirements were a fitted bodice (dress d) with cap sleeves (dress e) and a full bodied skirt that I could add accent to (dress d).

I bought solid white kona cotton and a panel of the very hungry caterpillar fabric for the outside of the dress.  I used this fabric for the bottom portion of the dress, the two ties in the back and I attached the caterpillar to the dress the same way I do my fabric letters.

Tomorrow, a very hungry craft round up...food and cake!

-melissa