Finally feeling well again!

It has taken a long three weeks to get over the nasty cold I had!  I am finally feeling like myself again.  I still have a little cough and throat is a little scratchy, but the achey body is gone...which is what was really slowing me down.

I'm glad to be feeling better because Tuesdays are a very busy and fun day for us.  Our homeschool group started a co-op this year and I am back to teaching Tae Kwon Do - something I haven't done since we moved to San Antonio, four years ago.  I came out of "retirement" for this wonderful group of families that we have in our group, San Antonio Christian Homeschoolers.

Well, yesterday we all brought our favorite Thanksgiving dishes to co-op and shared a Thanksgiving meal together at lunch time.  It truely was a wonderful lunch!! These are just some of the ladies working in the kitchen -

I pretty much stayed out of the kitchen...it was kinda scary with all those other women weilding knives and forks! LOL  I am very much a loner in my kitchen...one of those that love to cook but hollers for you to "get out of my kitchen while I'm working!"

All my TKD classes are after lunch, and I could barely move after all that food!!

I did get some hexies done the past two weeks.  I have also been working on a memory bear for the son of a friend.  I think he turned out pretty good!

Well, I had planned on writing much more tonight.  Why does it take me so very long to write such a little bit??  I talked to a sweet, sweet homeschooling mom on Tuesday that encouraged me to write more in my blogs.... I will try. :-)

Today I worked mostly on the memory doll for the sister of the boy getting the bear.  Didn't get any hexies done, didn't work on Jane, and didn't even think about my Raggedy blocks!  Once I get the doll finished, I should be able to focus on my quilting again!

Thank you everyone that comment on my hexies last week (two weeks ago, actually!!) and my longarm endeavor.  The rental space fell thru, but I do have it set up in my garage so I can get a few Christmas presents finished and then it will have to go back to its crate. :-(

Another Wednesday - where has the week gone?!

I had alot of time sitting at band practices and orthodontist visits to get more flowers done for One Flower Wednesday!

Here is my A4 block for Dear Jane:

I am currently working on a teddy bear for a friend.  He will be dressed in some clothing made from her MIL old clothes.  I will also be making another teddy and a doll from those same clothes.  I will post pictures of those when they are finished.

The rest of this week is crazy busy, so I probably won't get to post again until NEXT Wednesday.  I caught a cold last Saturday and that has really slowed things down.  Now things are piled up and I don't have time to slow down anymore!  I have to get ready for our Quarterly Meeting tomorrow and then I leave to cook for the High School Retreat!

I have a plan, and will be talking to my friend today.  You see, I have a longarm quilting machine.... my baby has been in its crate for four years (since we moved to San Antonio) because we have NO room to set it up.  I am hoping to rent some space from a friend to set it up and I am hoping to be able to rent time out on it to other quilters.  Has anyone done this before?  I seriously can't pay to have a place to set it up if I have no $$ coming in from it!  Eventually I hope that I will slow down enough to be able to take in quilts myself to quilt, but I have alot of practicing to do before that will happen and very little time to practice! :-( I had a whole loft to myself in Delaware, just for my machine and quilting stuffs...but I honestly never got very good with the machine.  I often left the loft in tears because I couldn't do what I wanted to do with it!  We'll see how things go this time!

It's Wednesday again!

This week has been seriously busy, but I did have quite a bit of office waiting time to baste a bunch of hexies and get my flowers done for this weeks One Flower Wednesday.

The little hexies will make a fob for my phone!  You can't really see the sparkles on the blue fabric...it was some millenium fabric scraps I had left over from 1999-2000.

I finished my last two wonky/variable/liberated stars for Block Lotto. I really did enjoy these stars and have three that didn't fit the requirements that I will use to make something for myself!

And last for today is my next Dear Jane block, A4:  ....well, never mind on that! Blogger won't let me upload it.

Today I have most of my afternoon free to sew, and have a few new projects I want to start...I still need to do my second block for Raggedy & Friends as well as work on Shannon's Purple Passion quilt!

One Flower Wednesdays

I was only able to finish one flower this time, but I do believe it is my last purple one. Today is run, run, run... but I hope to get on later and add another DJ block and variable stars I finished.

Benefits of stomache flu?

My busy schedule for the last 2 1/2 days was cleared by a kiddo with the stomache flu, so I was able to do quite a bit of sewing! I have to say, my kids are really good when they are sick. I hate to see them in pain and uncomfortable, but I really did enjoy having 2 whole days at home to sew!

I was able to finish my last fall quilt - table topper for my daughter-in-law.  Well...maybe not my last. I do want to make a fall quilt for the front door. I am just having trouble narrowing down my choices!  Perhaps I will make a halloween one, and a fall one....

I rounded the corners on the topper when I added the binding because the corners on her table are rounded. The embroidery floss I used to do the blanket stitching on the applique was DMC Rayon and it was HORRIBLE to stitch with. Knots, knots, knots!!!

I was also able to finish my first block for the Raggedy and Friends BOM.  I did not add the black sashing strips because I am not sure I will use the same sashing as the pattern calls for.  I need to finish a few more blocks before I choose.  My dinning room colors are red, white, blue and black...but I don't know if I want a solid black or a print.  I hope to get block 2 pieced today. Then I will take it to co-op to do the embroidery...if I can wait that long! :-)

And last for today is my Dear Jane block A3.  I appliqued the lighter green fabrics to avoid sewing the curves. Perhaps I will get a couple more blocks laid out today. I would get more of them done if I had everything together in my sewing caddy and ready for me when I have sitting time.

Is it Blogger or is it me?!?!

I cannot believe the trouble I have had with this silly Blogger! It takes so long to load anything, open pages, update my blog, etc! I usually have to reload the page after a couple minutes to get it to actually finish. Is anyone else having these problems or is it just me???

I wanted to post pictures of the variable stars that I finished yesterday for Block Lotto.  I already had the one star center block finished. It was an extra from a miniature quilt I did a few years ago, so I thought it would look good in the middle of a wonky star! 

So I have three stars done for the lotto this month, but plan on getting my full 9 done this weekend.  That's the plan anyway.....

And apparently, that is all I can show you because blogger will not let me upload another picture...sigh...

Today is One Flower Wednesday!  Here are my flowers for this week:

I found a basket full of 2 1/2" squares from a swap I participated in ages ago! There were lots of greens, which is what I plan to use for my flower garden path.  That was a very nice surprise!!

And apparently I cannot show you any more because either Blogger or my internet connection is acting up.  I will try again later tonight, but now my youngest is waiting for me to cut his hair!

One AMAZING Yo-Yo Quilt!

If you could make one of these yo-yos in 5 minutes and could spend 3 hours every night making yo-yos...it would take you over a year just to make all the yos in this top! AMAZING!

Food & Stitching...what could be better?

Well, we bailed on the last two BBQ joints.... we were just too stuffed! Everything was wonderfully good and during all the driving I was able to get all of the blanket stitching done around the applique on my "Acorn Harvest" table topper.  I will post a pic of that after I get the binding on.

When we stopped in Luling, for BBQ, I saw a flier for a Quilt Show.  So after stuffing myself, I was able to walk around and see some neat quilts.  One that I want to share was a yo-you quilt.  The yos were about the size of your fingerprint! There were over 17,000 yo-yos in the quilt top.  I have pictures on my phone and will post them after I finish here.  That quilt was AMAZING!

Here is another Dear Jane block for my 4" squares. This is A2 -

From Blog hopping to BBQ hopping!

I am getting ready to head out on a BBQ hop.  We are running out to Bastrop to start hopping to some of the best BBQ joints in this part of Texas! I plan to come home fat & happy!!

But before I go, I wanted to share a Dear Jane block.  I started working on two Dear Jane quilts in 2001.  I still haven't gotten very far on either one, but I am pulling them out and going to try and get one block a week finished on either one.  I am doing a 4"-block green and maroon, and a 5"-block rainbow one.  Here is A1 of my 4" -

and now....I am off to eat, and eat, and eat....and eat.....

What a day!

Today started as a day of failures, and it continued thru my entire day!  So NOTHING is crossed off my list for today... I have attempted each item though!

 

I am nearly finished with Day 4 of the Fall-O-Ween Blog Hop.  This designer was the ex Home Ec. teacher and inventor Kari Carr from New Leaf Designs. Her design is called "Acorn Crisp".

I just need to finish the blanket stitch around the applique and bind.  I did take it with me to co-op yesterday thinking I would get a good chunk of the hand work done, but I only made it around ONE leave and ONE small circle! LOL  It was good visiting though!

Today is Wednesday - One Flower Wednesday! I finished two flowers and may have another one done before bedtime.  Here they are:

I also wanted to share the quilt I am working on for my neice.  I make all my neices and nephews quilts.  I TRY to do it when they are little and I make a crib quilt.  Try as I might, I am still behind on a few and they have now moved up to bigger beds...which means bigger quilts! But I am the furthest behind on this Purple Passion quilt for my neice who will be graduating high school this year...so I NEED to get it done!

Yes, those are 1" logs in those log cabin blocks! I don't know what I was thinking when I started making them that size!!  I fussy cut the shoes in the basket because my neice is like me and HATES to wear shoes.  When we do have to wear them, they better be cute! The lighter purple fabric I dyed myself when we lived in Delaware.  It took me quite a few yucky batches to get one I could actually use in the quilt!

One of the reasons I am having a hard time working on the quilt right now is that I have no space big enough to spread it out nicely -- as you can see in the picture.  I have two more borders planned, that should bring the quilt to the correct size for a full size bed.  I just need to get my dinning room table finished so I have a flat surface large enough to measure correctly!

And that is it for today.  I am going to watch Pushing Daisies with my boys while I hand-sew one more hexie flower before bedtime.

Blogger ATE IT!

Oh goodness, it is going to be one of those morning!  I was putting the finishing touches on my post for today, lots of pictures and Blogger at it!!  It is completely GONE!  So, I will try again later today....now I have to start on that list that I typed up just 5 minutes ago and LOST.  Thankfully it is also written on a piece of paper in front of me now. :-)

For the rest of it, I will show you all what I have been working on...later! :-)

Enjoy your fall day!

Fall-O-Ween Days 2 & 3

Fall-O-Ween Day 2's designer was Sandy Gervais from Pieces From My Heart.  I loved her little Pumpkin Table mat!  I don't however work with wool, so I knew that I was going to have to make a few changes.  I also want to do all the Fall-O-Ween projects by pulling only from my stash, and I have no giant ric rac....

I decided I would use all cottons, back it with flannel, do prairie points where the ric rac was and quilt as I go. 

I pieced all the tans into strips and sewed them onto the batting and flannel in the quilt-as-you-go style.  Then I fused on the pumpkin, making it three pieces and stitched 1/8" in from the edges....same for the stem.  I chose brighter colors for the stars, applied them the same way.

When I was finished, it all looked a little "flat" compared to Sandy's, was it because I didn't add the wool acorns? 

By that time I felt a bad cold coming on and decided not to make any more decisions until later.  In the meantime, Fall-O-Ween Day 3 arrived and solved my problem for me.  This designer, Roseann Kermes, had the cutest jar decoration for us.  It was also in wool, so I had to make some changes again.  I also didn't want to make a jar decoration, but did want to use her pattern a different way! Perhaps on my "flat" pumpkin!!

I made up the acorn and the leaves using cotton fabric and I fused two together so it was reversable.  I stitched 1/4" in from the edge with thread that matched my pumpkin.  I pulled little curly sticks from a dry flower arrangement that has been hidden back in a corner and used those for the twigs in the directions.  Then I tried to find a spot on my pumpkin for them to go.  No place looked right because the acorn was nearly half the size of the pumpkin.  So, I had to split the trio and arranged the leaves on the pumpkin and the acorn as an accent in the corner. 

That worked! I stitched them down, added a floss bow up by the leaves and stitched the acorn on by going over the "X"'s on the cap.  So day 2 & day 3 are complete and ready to go home with my girl friend!

Fall-O-Ween Blog Hop - Day 1

I am so excited, today starts the Fall-O-Ween Quilt Designer Blog Hop! Gudrun has organized a fabulous 10 day hop with a free pattern each day from a different designer. Check it out!!

I finished the first project just a little bit ago...I love candy corn, so couldn't wait to get started!

I have another halloween project that I want to do that has a stencil like pumpkin, so to make this match I did the candy corn as a raw edge applique and put a tiny space between the pieces (don't know if you can see that in the pics) to make it look more like a stencil. 

I also used fleece as my triangles rather than the prairie points, just because I wanted them to pop and I had this BRIGHT orange fleece left from another project.  My son thinks I should make another and add fingers to either side and triangles all along the top and bottom so it looks like a monster is trying to eat the candy corn.  Perhaps I will make another when this hop is done....

For now, Day 1 project is finished and already on the table ready for supper. Can't wait to see what we will have tomorrow!  I have co-op tomorrow, so will check early in the morning to see if there is anything I can cut and take with me to hand sew in the morning when I have a few free minutes here and there.  If not, I will take my hexies as usual and start the hop project after supper when we get home.

House Warming

This is my sweet, sweet friend Cindy.   I wanted to make something special for her when they bought their house.  Since hubby and I had just returned from a wine tasting tour, I brought them back a bottle of Vintner's Blend from Perissos, one of the wineries we visited.  Cindy loves to support small family owned ventures and Perissos is just that.

I know Cindy likes pink, so I used some of my favorite pink with black polkadots and searched for a poem to put on the bag I was going to make for the wine.  I finally found one online that I just had to change a couple words to make it work for me.

I am such a poor friend, the bag was finished and sitting on my shelf for weeks before I finally took it to the house on Thursday!  I sure am glad she loves me anyway!

My Liberated Houses for Block Lotto!

Well, I just joined Block Lotto this month...two days ago actually...and here are my four Liberated Houses (or Wonky Houses) to go in for the drawing.  I only like the polkadot house...I think I have too much going on in the others.  But that is all the turqoise fabric I have, so they will just have to sit at those four blocks.

I may make four houses for myself without the three color requirements of the Block Lotto.  I think a Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter House wall hanging would look good in my hallway!  First, however, I must get another border on my neices quilt since I found the purple yesterday that I had stashed away.

Book Review - Billy Graham His Life and Influence

Billy Graham is a name everyone knows, and also a man many have written about. David Aikman adds his book, Billy Graham His Life and Influence, to the list. He writes about important times in Graham’s life and recounts impacts he has had on political leaders here in the United States and abroad. He starts with Billy as a country boy and follows him through his world changing life.


While there was so much information contained within the pages of this book, most of it was regurgitated from other sources. I was excited to start this book, but it didn’t take long until I was dreading having to read another chapter. I could not, at all, stay interested and felt I could have just read the books he was quoting over and over. I also got the impression that Aikman did not agree, or looked down on alot of the personal areas of Graham's life. If I were to recommend this book, the recommendation would also come with the statement that - if you like to read books of regurgitated information, then this one is an easy and informative read.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

E-I-E-I-O

It is hard to see the detail on these from the pic, but they are very cute! The rooster is the only one with the back & front sewn together. I will get to the others tomorrow.

Now that is one cute cow!

The chicken turned out so cute, i had to try one more finger puppet before moving on to my shirt order! Now that is a cute cow! Cant wait to see these on my grandsons fingers!

I finished my pin cushion yesterday! My big blue magnet pin holder has been dropped so many times that at was all cracked and ugly. So i made this pin cushion and put the ugly blue magnet into the top. The top of my pin cushion is now a strong magnet and i can stick my needles around the outer edge and on the sides. I used the fabric left over from my binder cover, which i will try to post later. I will also find the site with the pin cushion directions and post that later today. Now back to my chickens!

----Here is the website with the directions and templates for the pincushion:
http://www.unitednotions.com/fp_prairie-flower-pincushion.pdf

Enjoy!

I was trying to work on some breast cancer awareness t-shirts but my file is corrupted, so i decided to stitch up some finger puppets for my grandson. They are cute! I still need to fix that embroidery file today... But for now, something fun! :-)

Hexies getting started

I just finished hand piecing the top and Bottom of my pincushion. Now i can start making the hexies for my quilt challenge!

Challenge...what does your crafting or sewing area look like???

I was issued a challenge to show the world my cafting and sewing area.  I know that I took a bunch of pictures, but only these two remain on the camera! :-)

This is the biggest room in my house and it is nearly always overrun with my "projects"!  If it ever gets cleaned and cleared, I can't seem to get the creative groove going again.  So it seems I am more creative in my cluttered mess, than an organized (as I prefer it) room.

Bunko Gifts

Bunko was at my house in July and I was in the picnic spirit!! I embroidered all the prize winners their own person picnic bag.

I purchased cheap bags with an inspirational message from the Dollar Tree and embroidered each with ants and a watermelon.  Then I embroidered ants along the edges of a cotton dishrag and made it a "fancy" picnic napkin.  I also embroidered a feedsack with a picnic poem phrase in one corner and picnic themed pics in the other corners.  All of the embroidery designs I got for free off of embroiderydesigns.com. I also purchased a small plastic container for food and a waterbottle.  Put them all in the bags and whalllaaa....a personal picnic kit for one! :-)

Quilting with my Embroidery Machine

Saturday morning I attended an intro class for the Hoopsisters.com Block of the Month program.  It was alot of fun.  Of course the quilter in me was screaming, "But that is cheating!!!" LOL  I brought my free program home and played with it.  I decided I wanted to stick to two colors...

I hooped my backing fabric, laid the quilt batting on top and ran the program.  It outlines it all first and then shows you where to place your first color.  The program makes it almost painfully simple!

I made up four of the blocks, put them together the way I wanted, and now have no clue what I am going to do with it! LOL

Any ideas??

Lovely Memories Quilt (Grandma's Quilt) Finished!

Well, Lovely Memories Quilt is finished and in its gift bag ready to head to Michigan!

I can't wait to give it to my Grandma!!  Here are a few close-ups...

I stippled in the blocks around the pictures and did a loopy trail on the sashing.  For the triangles, I just stitched-in-the-ditch and outlined the hearts in the corners.