Weekend

This weekend I did some stitching. I stitched on about 1,000 (ok,not really) Girl Scout badges on a friend's little girl's vest. I had forgotten how stiff these little boogers are! My fingers were very sore by the time I finished.

I also spent alot of time on the computer looking at quilt blogs. There are thousands of talented and nice quilters out there! and I think that I read all of their blogs! People are so nice to share their talents and their projects, so many great tutorials and quilt-alongs. It is very hard not to start a new project after an hour (or 2) of blog reading!

Here are two blogs with projects that have caught my eye. Have you ever read Humble Quilts?

http://humblequilts.blogspot.com/

Lori makes such sweet quilts. She is doing a little quilt quilt-along.http://humblequilts.blogspot.com/2012/01/pink-lemonade-part-1.html

My laptop won't highlight (i have no idea what is wrong) anyway, I think the little quilt is darling. I had to try a block or 2:)

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and another fun quilt along is the one happening at Jo's Country Junction.http://www.joscountryjunction.com/

She is hosting a quilt square quilt-along. I finished mine and I love it! I plan on doing a post on the square and linking to Jo's post on January 30. I also need to take some better pics!

What fun projects have you seen in blogland lately?

Cute Enough

Look at this sweet snack mat! I can't believe that I made it! I take (still) such terrible pictures, and this one doesnt do this cute mat justice!..if I do say so myself;)

I followed the awesome tutorial found here at nanaCompany. I love Amy's blog...go over there and look at the sweet stuff that she makes! Plus, she has such cute cute kids!

Do You?

Applique?

Read Amanda Jean's Blog "Crazy Mom Quilts"?

I LOVE her blog! I have emailed with her a couple of times and she is SO sweet! I love her style and her quilts.
I fell in love with this quilt of hers.

I had a couple of free hours Sunday evening so I thought I would try me some applique.
Hmmm, I know that AmandaJean used the wax paper method of applique. I did some reading up on it (which really means I spent 1 hour on the internet) and gave it a try.

Not too good:( Its pretty lopsided. I love the look and the idea of hand applique. I love hand work so I really would like to be able to do this. Any hints or tips?

Do you applique? What is your favorite method?

Today is my grocery shopping day and I also have to take Cade to karate later today. I hope to try this block again.

Happy Monday!

Best Day Ever!!

Remember this picture?

I entered it here at Insights From SewCal Gal??

I WON!!!! (thanks Regina for the heads up) I have never ever ever won anything EVER!!! and this prize knocked my socks off!! Thank You SewCal Gal for hosting this!! I never thought I would win anything. I just wanted to show off Ruby and I had so much fun looking at the pets on quilts!

WOW!! You have to go here to see what I won!

Tank

This is Tank. Cade has loved Tank for many years. Don't let the Hot Pink Bow Tie fool you...

Tank dreams of being a Cowboy. Riding the range and sleeping out under the stars. This ADORABLE pattern came from Flossie Teacakes. I can't say enough about how stinking cute this little sleeping bag is!! and it was so simple! I plan on making a set for each of my new neice for Christmas. They are darling and great for using up (and showing off) fabric!

So, tonight Tank will be dreaming of shooting 'em up in the Wild West!

My Name is Libby and I am an Addict

First off, sorry for this dark picture, we have been having severe storms. This is the huge amount of embroidery stuff that I have somehow come to own! I just can not control myself when it comes to embroidery "stuff." I have had a couple of the books for awhile but I have bought most of it this year!! I have hoops, needles, floss holders, patterns, kits, books and FLOSS!!!! Who how I love embroidery floss!! You should see me snatching up the skeins!! I am going to blame this on Big B. I found her sweet embroidery patterns, followed the directions on her blog, learned how to make a lazy daisy stitch (and more) made Kelsey a set of pillowcases and I was hooked!! I love it so much but I have to slow down. How many pillowcases can I use?

I spend waaay to much time doing embroidery. I tell myself that it's practice so it's ok. The one place were I refuse to do embroidery is at Cade's Karate class. I sit there the whole hour thinking "I could be doing embroidery" but I will not!! Don't think that it is because I am paying so much attention to the class. When the class is sparring, I am so nervous I can't even watch. So, why don't I take some handwork to class?? Cade has a really super intense female instructor. Ms. Lisa. All the students love her. All the parents are scared of her. We are talking super fit, clean eating and highly motivating!!! Everytime she does a class on nutrition, I am so scared that she will smell the M&M's on my breath!! Anyway, I feel bad enough sitting on my butt during class, encouraging Cade to hurry with his 80 sit-ups and push-ups, If I sit and sew I am afraid Ms. Lisa will look at me with scorn in her eyes, she will know exactly why my butt is so big!!

Have a great day!!! I am off to Karate classs!

Blog Find

I have been wanting to make my Kelsey a hand embroidered pillow case for her college dorm. I love the look of embroidery and I really like the idea of giving her a gift that is handmade. The internet is loaded with so many beautiful pictures, patterns and ideas! I enjoy handquilting so much and I have always wanted to get better at hand embroidery. I am a very weak beginner and I know that if I want to get better at it then I will have to practice! I spend alot of time waiting for Cade to get out of school and embroidery is a perfect "take with you" project.

I started looking on the internet for a cute, simple project. I came across this blog. big B is an embroidery blog written by a lady named Kim. The blog is named after her very nice looking dog! Kim's blog is fantastic! She is currently working her way through a 100 embroidery stitches book. She shows how to do many stitches and I can't wait to see them all! The pictures on her blog are so pretty and her work is beautiful! I fell in love with her Lazy Daisy Heart and knew that I wanted to do that pattern on a pillowcase for Kelsey. Kim has an etsy shop and I was able to buy her Be Mine pack for $3. This booklet is full of sweet patterns, it's 13 pages! She sends the pattern book in a pdf email! It came right away and I started practicing right away!

I also asked Kim about her favorite colors of floss to use for these projects and she got back to me right away! I am having so much fun doing this. I still need to practice my stitches before I start the real project but I'm pretty proud of what I have done so far! and it's fun, relaxing work!

I PROMISE that I don't know Kim at all and I did not tell her that I would blog about her site! I just loved her blog and I am a very happy customer! I am very excitited that I found exactly what I was looking for and learned some new stitches too!

Have a Great Day and Thanks for reading!

Libby

Not a good week to start a blog!

ok so this isnt a good week for me to start blogging! I am working everyday at my 9 yo old son's school Book Fair. It is alot of fun being around the kids and the books but by the time I get home, do some housework, supper and homework...I'm ready to go to bed!! Hopefully this weekend I will have some time to figure out this blog thing!

I am in between sewing projects. I just finished quilting a king sized quilt for a friend. I don't know what I want to start yet! I have been working on some 9 patch blocks for AmandaJeans quilt along (crazymom quilts) I will try to post some pics of it this weekend!

And..thank you so much Kristie for commenting and helping me out! If I could figure out how to link to your blog I would!!

Here I go..

Last night while washing my dishes, by hand (I dont have a dishwasher) I was thinking about all the great blogs that I love to read. Anything to keep me from drowning myself in the dishwater!! I decided that it was time for me to start my own blog. Will anyone read it besides me? Who knows? and since I am a computer idiot, I'm going to get my computer smart daughter to help me set it up!