Dec 31, 2011

Happy New Years


Here's to a new year...
where...

1. I plan on finishing all these projects.

2. I hope not to quit sewing once the weather turns nicer

3. Finish home projects that need to be done.

4. Not let all other sewing stuff make me nervous...like bags, clothes and zippers

I hope you all have a Happy New Years and be safe!

Dec 28, 2011

I can't sleep

So it's midnight and I can't sleep. 
I could go sew but that seems like it would wake the house. 

So the advice of the day is.....When you've had a rough day at work and you think your just going to go read a couple blogs as you lay out n your couch. DON"T DO IT!!!!!! Or you'll wake up at 10pm and realize you just took a 4hr nap and you'll be up all night reading blogs that you just found. Fun times unless you have to get up and  work the next day.

Hope your today is fantastic. Coming soon to a blog near you is a mini quilt I whipped up for my Mother-in-law after I said I wasn't making anything for anyone for Christmas.

Dec 24, 2011

Merry Christmas!!!

I wanted to stop by and wish everyone a Merry Christmas may you all have a wonderful time with family and friends! As for us I'll be spending time with this great kid and my hubby!

Dec 10, 2011

Friday night sew, Saturday afternoon share


Last night I participated in the Friday night sew-in.
 I have done this a couple times and it's a time where you can give yourself a night of from doing everything you normally do and give yourself some time to get some sewing done. I know a lot of people use this time for finishing homemade Christmas stuff, but this year I took the time away from making anything for Christmas. I honestly knew I would be rushing at the last minute to get stuff done so I opted out and decided to buy everything. So this is what I made a giant star following this tutorial. It was really easy to make and it made my hubs happy cause instead of buying anything for this I went and got stuff out of the stash. Granted I did use stuff that I didn't love but I really am liking this quilt. How much you say? I see my self making this for two....not one but two!!!! people for Christmas next year.
 Wouldn't this be nice in burnt orange and white for a Texas Longhorns fan?
Or maybe different reds?


So there ya have it. Its a win-win. Hubs is happy I used stuff up. The kid is happy cause she got to go see a Christmas play downtown with friends and I'm happy cause I just got to get down to some 80's tunes and sew my heart away!
Happy Saturday!

Dec 8, 2011

Beer...

I must not go into the alcohol section of my local kroger very often cause look what i found!!!!!!!!


I'm hooking up with Friday night sew-in this week.

Dec 7, 2011

The one with all the cussing


I am so cussing angry today...

The kind of day where you wake up to a child yelling at you cause they didn't do there yearbook application so they can work on yearbook stuff and it's due today.

Then you have to drive to work with the WORST drivers in AMERICA. Bet you didn't realize they live in Indiana.

Then you get to work and get thrown on a project that you were anticipating.

To then getting back into your car and driving back home with the worst drivers in America.

You then go get the same child from this morning who is complaining that she got in trouble at school for not getting her math homework done. (who is this kid and what is her problem? She normally has her homework done before she leaves school)

Get home to an email from said math teacher trying to give you crap about not paying attention to your child's school life. We're on this kid like white on rice when it comes to school work. We just happened to be teaching her a lesson about happens when we put our friends and fun lie before school and getting good grades. She has only never finished her homework this time.....Which is where my somewhat crappy day turned ugly. Who the heck does this lady think she is?

So you think screw the chores cause I can live with delivery pizza and the growing laundry pile, I just wanna touch fabric. I start cutting my fabric for the chasing chevrons quilt-along when I realize I made a mistake when ordering my background fabric and only ordered 2.25yrds when I should have of gotten 3.5yrds. 

Oh well I'm going to make due until my order comes cause I'm pretty sure I'm not going to find any Kona Pacific around here at my LQS.

                                                     Here is most of the fabric cut out.

             This is a mock up of the chevron right after making my hst's before squaring up and pressing.
                                                                  I think I'm in love.

                 Until then Calgon take me away and Papa John's hurry up cause this girl needs dinner.

Dec 6, 2011

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to this guy!!!!!!

Love him as my cheesy face may show!
                                    He is the cheese to my macoroni and the eggs to my bacon!!!

Dec 5, 2011

Wishing for some sunny days

This past spring I reieved a block of the month kit from my monther in-laws bestie. She had purchased it about 10 years ago and had put together 2 or 3 blocks. She realized she wasn't going to finish it so one day when we were over at there house she gave them to me. It took me a while and was one of the last things I worked on before my bloggy vacation
    So as the weather turned to fall and I decided to make my way back to my sewing nook I was looking for a quick project that would serve as motivation to finish some of the quilt tops I was working on last year and into the spring. This was the first one I grabbed. When I was finishing the blocks this spring I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with it finsh I didn't have a finishing kit to finish it.

    The day I was looking at this trying to brainstorm what I wanted to do it rained. Then the sun came out and then it got cloudy and then it got sunny. All of a sudden it hit me, just plain ole Kona Grays!! Since the blocks were called Sunny days and I live in Indiana where when we end the summer it turns gray outside. I still need to add another dark gray border around the edge.

                                  

I have been wanting to photograph this top for a while but when I get home from work the sun and all light is pretty much non-existint.  So Saturday morning. I grabbed a jacket and some thick socks and went out to get some pictures. The one above is the sky through my trees. I'm sure many people can reconize this winter sky.
My favorite part of this picture is my dog looking at me like I'm dumb and the fall wreath till on the door.
Luckily after this photo shoot I got busy on my Christmas decorations.

Dec 4, 2011

Thoughts?

Look at this lovely stack of black, greys and mustard.
 Any suggestions on what I should do it it?

We are of to my in-laws for December Birthdays.

I hope your all having a wonderful Sunday and if your birthday is in December,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!



Dec 3, 2011

Dresden Pillow

I made my first pillow cover the other day.
I had all these Dresdens I had sewn together but didn't have a plan or purpose
for. I decided to make at least on into a pillow cover since the ones that came on the couch were UGLY.

This lucky guy is current supporting my neck as we speak. Helping me recover from a Saturday of holiday decorating
SO COMFY!!

Dec 2, 2011

Here's to procrastination

I seem to have a theme going when it comes to getting things done right under the wire. This quilt is no exception. I had to have it turned into my lqs but closing time yesterday. These pictures were taking a quarter to five, when they close at five. That's pretty sad since I have had to top done forever.

Maybe there is something to the saying about time flying when your having fun, or your children are growing up. It seems like the other day that I signed up to make this quilt.
 So I wanted to share the reason I actually decided to do this. Most people signed up for the chance to win a janome or a go baby cutter. Being someone who never wins anything and I mean anything, I decided to make this because all i could think about was if my brother (who is on deployment in the middle east) got hurt I would want him to have a quilt that someone made to honor his sacrifice. I know that most Quilts of Valor quilts are more patriotic in the shades of red white and blue and hopefully some woman will appreciate the colors of red, white and blue but the more feminine aspect of it.
 Until next time please pray for our troops whatever your position on our wars are. God Bless!

Dec 1, 2011

Quilts of Valor

I I wanted to share these blocks I made for this quilt only I thought I took my pictures. Ooops. I made a quilt for Quilts of Valor. I know most of the quilts you see for this ar made with more patriotic fabric but I signed up for this with my LQS. They were having a sign-up donation list. The catch was you had to use Thangles and the pattern they gave you.
Have any of you ever used Thangles before? This was my first time. It's like making hst's with paper piecing. But more on those another day. The pttern I got was called jewelry box. I made it with stuff I had around the house but I used shades of blue and red with some Kona white.

  This is the finished quilt top. I wasn't sure I was going to like it but I do. I kinda didn't want to give it away. With so many of my family members being retired military or currently enlisted I just felt like I had to make this. For those of you who don't know about Quilts of Valor here is a link. I think I'll make more in the future with more patriotic fabric.


                                                      Finished quilt pictures tomorrow!

Nov 25, 2011

Playing with an iPad

Someone in my family has an iPad and I'd never thought I'd say this but I really want one! I hope everyone had a great thanksgiving. I had to work for a bit then spent the evening with my husband's side of the family. Today I'm spending time with my family cause my niece and nephew are in town. Have a great weekend. I hope to get a little sewing in along with making a corn hole set for my hub's birthday.

Nov 20, 2011

Pressing Board Tutorial

This is what I have been pressing on. It's SOOO bad! The cover is falling apart and it's all yucky from the iron so when I was out I saw a pressing board that you can buy but it was white and boring so I thought, Hey I can make one of those and here is how I did it...
 I called my mom and asked if she had any spare plywood type wood lying around before I went out and bought some. Luckily she had this, it's kind like sauder material. It's plywood with some sort of fake wood side. If I would have gone to Lowe's and bought stuff I would have purchased a hardwood type plywood. I then had my Hubby cut it down to the size I needed. I couldn't tell you the size cause this happen to almost fit in my window area with a little over hang so I had him take of 3 inches so it wouldn't bump again my chair
 I think took batting and laid it out. One I just happened to use polyester cause it was in a box of stuff I was using for H's American girl doll quilts whenever she wanted a new one. Two I didn't really want to use my cotton batting when all I was going to be doing was stapling it to wood. Feel free to use whatever you have on hand. I put it on in three layers just for and extra measure.
 I then started to bring it around and staple the ends down. I would do one side and then flip it to the opposite side and make it taut and then staple again until I had all the sides done and I then stapled the corners.
 Here it is with all the batting stapled down. I had some extra home decor weight fabric leftover from making the laundry room curtains a few years ago so I used that. I laid the fabric out pretty side down and then laid the board on top with the batting side face down. I then stated stapling then sides and when it came to the corners I stapled them at an angle. (i forgot to take pictures of this part)
 Here it is all pretty and not gross like my mini ironing board. I imagine by the time I get up tomorrow all my hard work will be covered in cat hair since the cat seems to favor this window. Oh well, That's what those sticky roller papers are for.
 I'm using it before said cat gets it all haired up. More on the partial block later this week.
Until then I hope you had a great weekend. The hubster and I just kind lounged around, while H got to spend the weekend with Grammy. I got caught up on my google reader and he played Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3. I even gave it a go, not a fan, I gave up and then came upstairs to do a little sewing. So much for me and video games

Nov 17, 2011

More Fabric Purchased

Some time soon I'm going to get motivated to go out in the frostey air and get a picture of the quilt top I got done last week. Then I may be motivated to go take pictures of the other stuff  I've gotten done. My excuse is by the time I get off work I've lost all the good light. BOO to daylight savings time. Until all this other stuff happens I'll leave you with pictures of fabric that came in the mail today. What is my deal with reds lately?

Nov 15, 2011

Marmalade Fabrics

How cute is this package? I really have nothing but amazing things to say right now about Marmalade Fabrics. I placed my order Friday night and I received it Monday!!!! First off look how cute it is all tissue wrapped with a ribbon. LOVE. IT!!!!!                      
 Then to top it off with a handwritten card. Now I know most places write a quick thank you on the receipt but an actual card. So sweet!!!!
I know that a post or two ago I kinda complained about the shipping cost but after checking out the store again I realized I was a moron and instead of paying for 10 dollars in shipping I should have ordered 12 dollars more fabric and got my shipping for free. Pays to read sometimes. I'm kicking my our rear end over that one.

P.S. These ae my chasing chevrons fabric.....LOVE IT!

Nov 14, 2011

This is my kind of candy dish


For a while I collected candy dishes. Then I realized we don't really even buy that much candy so I weeded them down to just ones that had a sentimental feeling to them, but even then the were just sitting on top of my cabinets. So when I was dusting the other day I came across on that my husband had on the side table next to our couch and it was full of random stuff. Which got me thinking...why couldn't I use my favorite candy dish I just got from my momma to hold sewing stuff. Now when I want to sew bindings while watching TV I could. Not to mention I would have a permanent place to put needles, thread and a small pair of scissors  and I wouldn't have to keep dragging stuff from my sewing nook to the couch.

Nov 11, 2011

Chasing Chevons Quilt-a-long

I've decided to follow allong with the chasing chevons quilt-a-long going on over at That girl...That quilt. Why you may ask? Becuse I need another project like I need a whole in my head.....BUT all this chevon stuff all over the place is super cute and I just really NEED another excuse to buy a bunch of fabric. Don't we all?

I got my fabric here. I have never ordered from Marmalade Fabrics and I have to say while the prices seemed reasonable I wasn't to thrilled to pay more than 5dollars for shipping but it evened it's self out with lower cost of the bundles I got. So because I just ordered this tonight I don't have real life pictures of I ordered so you'll have to make due with the photos off the website.  
I went with the Theory from Khristian Howell with my colored fabrics and Pacific in Kona as my main background filler color

I know I promised pictures of what I worked on the past week but I have yet to take the pictures cause I am that lazy........excuse I've had a kid sick with the flu.....Yucks!!

Nov 10, 2011

I'm back at it.

After a good six months off from any kind of sewing I sat down yesterday at a sewing machine. I feel great. I cut out stuff for new quilts and got a quilt top done. Along with sewing bindings on to two...not 1 but 2 baby quilts. Pictures will follow but I'm off to my job that makes the fabric buying money.... Hope your all having a productive time. I know I've been a complete slacker lately.

Apr 23, 2011

Spring and a break

Well it's spring and the rest of my life has taken over. Yard work and cook outs, Family and friends. I really haven't had the time to do any sewing. I guess I'll see ya around soon. Does anyone Else's sewing life go for a downturn once spring hits?

Mar 11, 2011

Mod Mosaics

Here are blocks 7 and 8 for my swap. We are making them in groups of 5 and I signed up to make 15 but I like them so much I may make 20 to swap and 5 for myself and make a 5x5 square. So thankful I have till the end of the month to get them all made.



 Here is my favorite part of the top lock. I keep the leftovers when I cut out my dresdens. Love how this modern midwest looks with the white.

Mar 10, 2011

Time flies while life happens.

Well the past couple weeks have been so crazy busy. With work and the hubby going back to work, H's school and getting time in my mind to adjust to the fact I will soon be a mommy to a pre teen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just dealing with the everyday drama my family comes with too. I'm so blessed to have them all in my life but I'm even more blessed to be able to have an scape when it gets t be tomuch. That's right sewing. I have been finishing up some projects I have been working on for years not to mention the adding of new ones. Today I have blocks 6 and 7 of the block of the month that our friend gave me.  



Mar 8, 2011

Block of the Month 5

I really am having a good time making these. I always wanted to do some of these traditional blocks but this reall took the guess work out of it. Not to mention the fact that I can do these and I have the patterns so I can do them in a fabric I really like at a later date, I'm kinda thinking I will put thise together when it's done and give it to my grandmother. I think when you do quilt you don't really recieve quilts.

Mar 7, 2011

Mod Mosiac blocks 4, 5,6



Not much to say about it but here they are. These are really fun to make now that I got the hang of it. The best part of it is being in a swap so you get a wider variety of fabrics.


Mar 5, 2011

Modern Mosaics blocks 2 and 3

Well I'm here to say they definately get easier as you go. It's really kind nice to see some of these scraps again and think about the quilts or projects I have made with the fabric. We'll enough with the sentimentals and on with the blocks.



Mar 3, 2011

Block 4

Here is block four. I'm not sure how I will finish this quilt of since all I have are the blocks and the date on the back is from 2002. I suppose I should worry about that later. So without further ado.................BLOCK 4!!


Mar 1, 2011

My new camera bag.....

My hubby and I bought a camera bag for our camera. I actually think he was tired of me shoving it in my purse and was scared it would get scratched up. It's your basic bag bag until I took a ton of scraps and made a scrap holder for the strap.

Feb 28, 2011

Mug rug Swap 2011


So here are the mug rugs I sent off to South Carolina. I forgot to get pictures of them with the bindings on them. I suppose I need to get more on the ball cause it's been a while and I'm just getting blogging about these. Geez, I feel like a bad person

Feb 25, 2011

Finds for fun.....

A few weeks ago we were hanging out with some good friends and we were talking about old sewing machines and Julie goes to pull them out to share. along with the machines she pulled out and old block of the month set she had started but had never finshed. So she gave them to me. For a while they sat in a basket until last week until I grabbed them and opened one to check them out. WOW!!!! How easy it's all cut up for you. All you had to do was sew it together. I thought I would share the 2 blocks that were put together already and then the one I did.





Feb 24, 2011

Modern Mosiacs

On flickr a while back I signed up for the modern mosiac swap. It's pretty much you make however many blocks and then send them in and get back how many you send in. It's based on this tutorial from Oh, Frasson!. Geez this is really cool looking but I can't even believe how hard the first block is to make. Even though you have the tutorial and the advice from the others in the group it still took me about 3 hours and lots of visits frommy best friend seam ripper. So here it is..........


As you can see from that blue sliver I wasn't really paying attention and When I squared it up the whole block got cut.