Quilting with Stampin' Up!

My story begins with this cute little purse I made a few weeks ago. Now, I should also start by saying that I am not a seamstress by any means. I can make my sewing machine sew straight lines (most of the time) and that is about it.

These cute little purses have been all the rage in the Stampin' Up! world for about 6 weeks or so, at least that is when I first saw them. What does quilting and purse making have to do with Stampin' Up! you ask. Well, each one of those squares was cut on our Big Shot Machine by Sizzix (113439) using the Scallop Square Die (115950). By using the Big Shot to cut, I was able to cut 8 perfect squares at a time just by folding my fabric and running it through. Even I couldn't believe how easy that was.

When my purse was complete of course I had to show it off to friends and family, and some of you may have seen it if you have attended one of my most recent workshops.

My sister, who I didn't think would care less about it said to me, "Wow, do you think you could make a quilt for the baby?" My response was no. I was willing to make her a pillow in that style, but she really wanted a quilt. I think you know what happened next...

The "baby" was born on 2/10/10 and I planned a surprise visit (I'm in Massachusetts and Abi is in Michigan). I showed up at her house to meet the new precious Amelia Margaret, who was only 3 days old, with my big shot in hand.

I had three goals for my trip. One was to meet my new niece and spend time with my sister. Two, to help her around the house any way I could. And, three, to make her a quilt in the 3 1/2 days I was there.

I had planned to use the leftover fabric from her crib bedding and curtains that my mother had made for the nursery, but there wasn't as much left as I had hoped. I was able to get some really great fabrics to go with what we had a the local fabric store. I started cutting my squares on Saturday night. I finished cutting and started pinning the layers together on Sunday morning (Thank you Linda for your help pinning). By the time my mom arrived on Sunday night we were ready to start sewing.

Here she is in action sewing the x across each square.

When all the layers were together, it was time to assemble the quilt. I laid everything out on the floor and pinned numbers to each square to keep track of where it was to be sewn.

With my mom doing most of the sewing (probably about 70%), we were able to finish putting it together, trim the scallops (sometimes a little too close) and get it into the washing machine by about 2:00 am on Tuesday morning. We got a few hours of much needed sleep. In the later part of the morning we took it out of the dryer and realized we had some repair work to do. If you clip those scallops to close to the seam that creates a hole. Fortunately the holes were very easy to repair. There were quite a few. I guess that's what we get for playing with sharp scissors when we were very tired.

I am soooooo proud of what we made. Thank you Mom! I could have never done it without you (at least not in just a few days).

I think it looks beautiful on the crib. The whole nursery is just gorgeous.

This is my favorite picture of all. My sweet niece, Amelia Margaret (6 days old) is enjoying the fruits of our labor. Amelia, I hope you love your new quilt!

I didn't spend my entire trip quilting, I did quite a bit of cleaning, cooking, helped with feedings, diapering, holding (my favorite job), visited with family, and before I left on Tuesday afternoon, I designed her birth announcement on My Digital Studio (118108).

This is the front, the birth information along with a picture of her with her brother will be on the inside.

To order the Big Shot, any of the Bigz dies for your quilting projects or My digital Studio, please visit my online store.