Lots to Catch Up On

Holy Cow!!! Where has the time gone??? I knew that I hadn't posted in awhile, but was surprised that it had been as long as it has...Soooooooo there's lots to catch up on...

The two most exciting things going on right now is that my youngest daughter and her husband are expecting their second child in November. Can I just tell you that being a grandma is one of the best callings in the world! This will be # 11 for me YIPEE!!! Secondly, my oldest son and his family will be moving here from Arizona. I can't tell you how excited I was when they let us all know that they would be moving out when their kids get out of school (end of May). My son starts his new job on Tuesday and so he will be here sometime tonight. His wife and the kids will remain in AZ and make the move June 1st!

In all of this I have also moved to a new home and with everything that entails, service people not showing up when they're supposed to and then when they do they can't get the job done, had no Internet service for nearly a month. I finally go fed up and called my provider and had them walk me through the set up over the phone. After nearly an hour on the phone I was up and running...finally...I think I stayed up until nearly 3 that morning just trying to do a little catch up.

My camera got packed in some box that is somewhere here...I will eventually find it, but that was just the excuse I needed to buy a new camera. I should add here, that I now have 3 digital cameras...the one in the box, another one whose cables are packed away in another box somewhere and the new one that I bought just before I moved and now have no idea where it's box and cables are..........can we say AGGREVATION!!!!!!!!!!! I have been snapping many pictures, tho, and will be tearing this place apart to find the missing parts so this post won't be naked, as it were;)

There's nothing like moving to point out just what size a person's stash is. I knew that I had a lot, correction...TON of fabric, but now I truly know just how much I have...You might wonder if that's stopping me from getting more...well, of course it isn't. I went out and bought new supplies for the class I took with Linda Jenkins. I didn't have time to go through boxes. Anyone else suffer from this??? ;)

I FOUND THEM I FOUND THEM I FOUND THEM

YIPEEEEEEEEEEEEE

well at least one of them anyway...

What you might ask???

Camera cables, of course;)

this post won't be naked after all...

During my down time I was lucky enough to win not one, but two blog give aways. The first was this scrap bag from jelleybelley http://wwwjellybelly-jellybrain.blogspot.com/.

Lots of fun little scraplets along with a few large pieces. I know that several of these will go into my postage stamp quilt that I'm collecting for. As for the larger pieces...not quite sure yet. Thanks a ton, Emma, for picking my name;)

I also won another drawing...a quilt of all things!!! How generous of Barbara

http://panhandlesuesquiltingspot.blogspot.com/ to offer a quilt. I was shocked that I won her drawing. Take a look......

The front

Sorry about the picture being sideways.

I love the pink and black.

(and just so we keep the neck exercises equal on both sides...)

The Back

the stripes are too cool!

What a cute little label with all of the pertinent info on it;)

Thanks a TON, Barbara! I feel so fortunate to have won your quilt;) This little jem will be loved and cherished;)

And more fun stuff...Had Quilt Guild meeting last week. We had a very special guest...Linda Jenkins from Piece O Cake. Linda gave a class on color before our meeting. It was great, filled with lots of info, and the room was overflowing. After lunch we were then treated to a trunk show provided by Linda and her ever able bodied assistant, Paul, aka her husband. She shared over 50 of her quilts with us. I took lots of pics with said new camera, but am afraid that many of them might land on the cutting room floor because I'm not used to the new camera yet. There are beautiful pics on our guild's blog (uvqg dot blogspot dot com) tho, and you can check them out. Here is just a very small sampling of some of the quilts Linda shared with us...

Linda's applique work is beautiful

The front

and the back-just as pretty as the front

The next day Linda did an applique class for us. There were only 20 spaces and I was lucky enough to get one of them. She taught us one of the blocks from her quilt, Aunt Millie's Garden.

Aunt Millie's Garden

We did the Rose Block...third from the top, left side

A close up of Linda's hands in action

Working busily on our applique

well, sort of

Paul and Linda

Paul is Linda's husband and now that he is retired, accompanies her when she travels.

I will be making my block into a pillow. I love the portability of applique and the fact that there's a lot of handwork that goes into it. I would say that I have about a quarter of mine done now and am having a blast working on it. It definitely has that "handmade" look;) My applique skills are in severe need of help, but it's still fun.

There's been more knitting/crocheting going on here lately. I knit several beanies and matching scarfs for several of my grandchildren that they will get next winter. I'm also working on an afghan that I hope to have finished by the 4th of July...that's a hint as to the colors I'm using in it. I have to get a jump start on my gift giving and knitting/crocheting in the summer isn't one of my favorite things to do.

Just two more things and then I'll call this post good...

First of all...I am participating in a PIF

...so if you are interested in receiving a handmade suprise from me within the next six months, just leave me a comment and I will be choosing 3 of you. Make sure that you leave me your info so I can get in touch with you. The PIF part of this is that you will also post about PIF on your blog and agree to make something for three of your 'fans'.

Second...I woke up to snow this morning. The sun is out now and most of the snow from earlier has melted but the wind is blowing and it's C-O-L-D!!! I like Winter and the snow, but I think I'm ready for Spring and sun and flowers;)

Another Birthday...and A Few More Pincushions

I would be remiss if I did not take a minute and wish my youngest a Happy Birthday today. Her birthday is the third of eight that we celebrate this month.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LES!

I made one of these pincushions last week (previous post) and was very surprised just how quickly it went together. When I find something that is quick and easy I usually make several and so here are a few more of the same that I made tonight. I love that they are the same, but different.
A top view...sitting in the snow...

...and here's a side view so you can see the different fabrics that I used...

All of the fabrics that I used are from my stash.

If you need a new pincushion, or even if you don't...try this pattern...it's quick, easy, fun, and best of all you probably have a lot of fabric choices right in your stash;) You can find the pattern over at May Britt's blog...Abyquilt...

I hope that you are all having a good week with lots of sewing time.

Stay warm, or cool where ever you may be;)

Look Out Improv...Here I Come

First of all, I must start off my telling my oldest son HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! His is the first of eight this month and the first of three in a row. He, his wife, and two children live in Arizona and I was lucky enough to go out a visit them last month.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DANNY

I was thinking that I wanted to challenge myself, in my quilting, this year. I usually stay within the confines of traditional patchwork and applique with mostly traditional prints and colors. In other words...not much imagination. With all of the bright, fun prints that line the shelves of our quilt shops now a days it was about time for me to take the plunge and step into the present day. I have no doubt that I will continue to do traditional quilting it will just be with a somewhat more modern look...I hope...I think...

As I was visiting blogland this week I found that the hostess of a blog that I follow, Jackie at Tall Grass Prairie Studio, was challenging all, who care to join her, in doing that very thing, to think outside the (their) box.

One of the things that each "challengee" is to do is to choose a color combo from the three that she offered and make a Log Cabinish type 12" (finished) block that will be part of some quilts that will be made and donated to charity.

There are people that have volunteered to donate batting and backing fabrics and others to machine quilt all of the quilts that are made and still others have volunteered to finish up with the binding. What totally awsome people!!!

The color combo that I chose was orange and pink. I love the look of these two colors together because the remind me of the beach, where I used to live, at sunset.

The fabrics that I chose to make my block out of...

...all from my stash...

When we chose our color combo Jackie said that we could add other colors to our block, so I threw in a little green and turquoise.

Here's my block.......

...what she lacks in construction points, she more than makes up for in cheery brightness...at least I think so;)

Tomorrow, I will be another year older, and wiser too , (yeah, right) Happy Birthday, to me;)

I hope that everyone is having a GREAT weekend;)

My First Finish for 2K9

I hope that every one's New Year is off to a great start.

Looking around blogland many of you are getting projects finished up that were left over from last year. I love to see what everyone is working on and that so many of you are already off and crafting on new projects for this year.

One of my favorite things is to see the same project being worked on by several people and just, even though the project is the same, how very different each one is, depending on the creators likes and preferences. There's so much inspiration to be had out there.

My daughters/daughters-in-law and I have started a new challenge this year...we will be doing one craft per month and one quilt block per month. Three of us quilt and three don't, so for those that don't we will be starting off with the basics, in hopes of not overwhelming them and inspiring them to do more.

Our January craft project is a pincushion. I chose to use May Britt's Pincushion Tutorial on her blog, abyquilts...you know the rest... Her directions and pictures made this a very quick and easy project.

Here are a few pictures...

Sitting in the snow...

...could it be a snow star or snow flower???...

The snow really throws the color off...

...the color here is much better...

The button is abalone and just a little smaller than a quarter...

...and a side view...

I hope that you are all enjoying you Winter/Summer whatever it may be where ever you may be;)

A Couple of Days After Christmas

I am so grateful for this time of year and for the things that we celebrate. Without getting caught up in all of the commercialization, I decided to give handmade gifts for Christmas this year. I was involved in a few swaps and had a very fun time with those. I think that I have been very good to wait to open my SSCS gift, until the big day.

On Christmas Eve, I worked from 1500-0500 Christmas morning...a long shift to be sure. Went home to get a very few hours of shut eye and then............................... it was time for................ the grand opening...................but wait............before that.....my SSCS elf was none other than Chookyblue herslef. It seems that my original elf had to pull out of the swap and being the perfect swap hostess, CB took me under her wing;) Something we all need to think about before hosting a swap...what will you do if someone who joins your swap is unable to make it to the finish line???

OK....now for the unveiling...... This is what my SSCS gift looked like all nice and neatly wrapped up when it arrived.....................

..............and inside I found..............

...............by now I was pretty excited because I had waited about 3 weeks to open my gift.............

The Violet Crumble, I had never heard of before....but for the record........it's gone.

Needless to say it was yummy. One of those things that you just can't get enough of.............When all of the wrapping paper was removed .... look what I saw..........

.....a lovely little mini quilt, a kitchen towel, a charm square pack and my yummy Violet Crumble;p

My mini quilt

...............a cute little kitchen towel.............

........sorry about it being sideways............

and my charm pack, and of course, the oh so quickly disappearing VIOLET CRUMBLE . . yum;p

Thanks so very much Chookyblue, for all of the goodies that you sent. They are very much appreciated!

And thanks so very much for offering the SSCS to all of us;)

I played SSCS elf to Kris in Australia. I peeked in on her blog several times to try to find out just what I might make for her. I had never seen Kris' blog, Tagalongteddies (you know the rest), before so I read several of her posts just to get some ideas...Well I found out that she liked teddy bears......hummmm.....imagine that........ I wounder how she came up with the name for her blog. I also found out that she has a wonderful sense of humor, and feel like we would have a blast hanging out together.

Anyway, this is what I used to make her gift.......

...some PINK leopard fur........

...............shinny black eyes...

.....a BLACK VELVET nose............

pink button belly button

before the final stuffing and embellishments.....

.........and after the final stuffing and embellishments.........

...... soaking up the last rays of sun before the snow gets here.....

Again, sorry for the sideways pictures.

I hope that you all have a healthy and Happy New Year filled with lots of love and creativity;)

HAPPY NEW YEAR

to you all!!!

Merry Christmas to All

Merry Christmas to all of my new Bloggie Friends. I hope that your Christmas is a very happy and safe one. Thanks for so much inspiration and for your wonderful comments. I look forward to spending much time with you all in 2K9.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

PIF

Just a short post to let you know that I am participating in the PIF Program and here are the rules...
I promise to hand make three of you a little gift that I think you will like and have it to you within the next six months. In return each of the three of you will promise to do the same to three others. Easy peasy...so please let me know if your are interested by leaving me a comment. I will be taking the first three that specifically mention that they would like to participate in the PIF Program;)

Happy Holidays To ALL

Where Does the Time Go???

I can't believe that it's been weeks since I've had the time to do some blogging. With all of the hussel and bussel of the season and all of the added things to try to get done time has just flown by. I have a lot of catching up to do---so let's get to it.

I've been involved in several swaps and am receiving some really fun goodies in the mailbox Isn't it the most fun to open the mailbox to find goodies from some other part of the country or even the world. I love the thought that there are people all over the world with whom I can share the things that I love to do and that make me happy. I love checking in on all of your blogs and seeing all of the lovely holiday goodies that you are making and receiving.

I'm not even going to try to do these in the order done or received...

This is what I came home to on Friday...

With the ever present warning...

Can I just tell you...this is killing me...good thing I'll be going to Arizona later this week so the temptation to ignore the warning and open this package will wane, even if just a little. That is if I can make it to Thrusday.

Here's just a little hint of what I made for my SSCS partner...

Sorry about it being sideways--thought I fixed that. These are some of the other things I used to make ............





...I took some of this...


















...and a few of these...

...and one of these...

...and a whole lot of this...

I have more pictures but they will have to wait until I hear that it has arrived at it's new home far, far away from here;)

Another swap was ALQS. Has anyone ever quilted with metallic thread??? That was the challenge that I took on. I don't recommend it. The pictures that I have don't hardly show the quilting or the large seed beads that I added for bling, but I had fun making this little gem...

You can see a little of the metallic thread along the back of the snowman on the left and if you look really hard you can see some of the seed beads.

As hard as it is to see the details in this little quilt when the light hits it the look is just what I was going for. I hope that ____ in____ likes it.

One of the RT's that I work with raises alpaca. This yarn is from some of the animals that she owns. I can hardly wait to start knitting with it, but that probably won't be until after the first of the year. I would also like to try some dying...

A week or so ago I came home to this...

...all the way from Teresa in Whales...
There are 4 little maple leaf buttons that are just adorable and the colors are very just beautiful;)

She also sent along these yummy little goodies ...

...and as you can see ... there aren't many left;p

Thanks sooooooo much Teresa the little quilt is just as cute as it can be and the candy has been enjoyed, as you can tell.

I made these today...They'll be heading off to their new home in a few days...along with some other holiday goodies...

When I was a little girl one of my great-aunts gave my brothers and me a very special Christmas Pillow Case. I remember hardly being able to wait for December to put my Christmas Pillow Case on my pillow. I left it on clear through January because I wanted a special pillow case for my birthday and that was the only one I had.

Well, this has turned out to be longer than I had planned and I still have more...I will be heading off to Arizona on Thursday to visit my oldest son and his family. We have an annual ornament swap each December that my dil's mother organizes. It's fun to get together for a night of girl stuff, yummy food, and ornament swapping.

I hope that you all are enjoying this holiday season. Until next time...

Enjoy

I Love to go Thrifting

My dil and I went thrifting today. I love to make something new out of something old. I spent less than $20 total and this is what I got...

I'm not sure just what I'll do with this piece yet, probably dissect it into a lot of small projects. I love the little mittens along the bottom border...it's 4 times this size and cost $1.

There are 3 place mats for $.75, 3 hoops for $.75, some RED crochet thread that will not be used for crocheting for $.50, the little doll was $1.19, but she only cost me $.25, and 3 pieces of woven cloth each about the size of a fat quarter +/- that cost another $.50.

The light fabric here is 3 yards of knit, good for t-shirts or jammies (the colors are a little washed out in the picture) for some little girls I know. The next fabric is also a knit and there's about 2 yards there. It's pretty stiff so I'll have to wash it before I decide weather it's soft enough for jammies. If not, then it's t-shirts for this piece. The next piece is one yard of flannel. No plans for that one yet and then a one yard piece of baby gingham in pink (I can think of a zillion projects for this piece). Who knows what I'll do with the little burlap bag, but for $.50 I just had to get it.

A variety of patterns for just $.25 each

This is a "book" of fabric samples for only $4. Each piece is 10" x 5" and there are 62 pieces in every color, texture, and pattern you can imagine. I know that there's lots of potential here...so if you have any suggestions, I'd love for you to share them with me;)

All of my Christmas Cottage Blocks for the swap over at Freda's Hive are done now and ready to go to their new homes. I have had so much fun making them.

I may have shown some of these before, but they're just so darn cute. This will be a fun quilt to put together, especially because each block is made by somebody different;)

I hope that you all have a great week;)

Enjoy;)