My First Paper Piecing . . .

Hello!  :)

Hope you are doing well! I happen to have a massive sinus and ear infection . . . yuck! I've actually had them for a couple of weeks. I finally went to the doctor yesterday for some antibiotics. I don't know why it took me so long to get some help. I'd been in lots of pain, haven't been able to concentrate on anything and very tired. Now hopefully I'm on the road to recovery.  :)

I haven't gotten much done lately, as you know. I did manage to get some heart blocks done last week though. I wanted to take pictures and post them but my older kids were visiting this past weekend and I didn't get it done.

Last night I went to take pictures and my SD card was missing from my camera. I went to my computer which is the only other place my SD card ever is and it wasn't there either. I have no idea what happened to it. I looked everywhere and still didn't find it. I went out today and bought a new one. I put it in my camera and it didn't work. An error kept coming up. I got online and did some research to see what the problem was. I found out that my camera was not compatible with the 4GB SDHC card I purchased since it's an older camera. I needed a 2 GB SD card. UUUGGGHHH!!! I really didn't want to go back to the store and get another one. I asked my son what type of card he had in his camera and he happened to have the one I needed so he traded with me. Now I have what I need and he has an upgraded one. Lucky him!  :)

Sorry for the long story. Just one frustration I really didn't need when I'm not feeling well.  :(  I did manage to get the pictures of the blocks taken. YEAH!!!  :)

It was my first attempt at paper piecing. I made 3 blocks. One for me and the other 2 for my two swap partners. Here they are . . .

I'm a little behind on these blocks as it's already March but the sign ups were late. It's part of a 12-month block-of-the-month swap so it's really not too big of a deal. Here's one of the blocks up close . . .

I'm happy with how they turned out!  :)  I was very nervous when I started on them as I hadn't ever tried paper piecing before. I used this tutorial for the heart. It was really great and I had fun!  :)

I'm hoping to sit down and get some cutting done for a couple of projects I want to start on tomorrow. Hopefully I'll have the energy. Wish me luck!  :)

Until next time . . .

Remembering Mom . . .

Hello!  :)

One year ago today, February 4, 2011, my mom, Toni Louise Smith, lost her long battle with breast cancer.  It has been a long difficult year, but I made it through it. I miss her terribly. My dad, my sister, and our families, are getting together today to visit my mom, have lunch together, and comfort each other.

I want to share some of my favorite pictures of my mom and my family with you.

My mom was born on October 19, 1948. She was an adorable baby!

She grew into a beautiful woman!

My mom and dad met and fell in love almost immediately.

They were married for 46 years.

I was their first child and a pretty big baby.  :)

Here's my mom, my sister Tammie and me in pigtails.

Here are the four of us. The happy family photo.  :)

This one was definitely taken in the 70's.

Another photo from the 70's. My mom was always dying her hair. This is one of my favorite pictures of her. 

Here she is with her family. Her only brother Rick, her dad, her mom, sister Verna and her sister Teri.

This one is the four of us, Christmas 2009.

Her she is with her father who survived her.

And the last one is of her and my dad. Happily ever after.  :)

Miss you mom! Please watch after us all.  :)

Thank you for sharing with me.

Until next time . . .

MIA

Hello!  :)

Yes that's me! MIA . . . missing in action . . . lol!  ;)  So sorry that I've been gone so long. I got consumed with the holidays and then my daughters and my birthday were after that. So much was going on and there was so much to do. I felt overwhelmed and was just trying to survive. I did make it through the holidays and the birthdays and am now trying to get back to a sense of normal (if it even exists).

When I last left you I had finished Jay's Hawaiian Getaway quilt and was about to give it to him for Christmas. Before I show you the finished quilt I need to show you the newest edition to my family.

Meet Doobie! He's a 3 year old Miniature Pinscher we rescued from our local shelter on December 30th. He's such a cutie!  :)

He's the mellowest dog I've ever seen! He loves to sleep. He was already house trained when we got him. He does like to run away when he gets loose though so we have to be careful when opening doors and keep him on a leash. We think he was abused by a man before as he's real cautious around men and a little timid. He's fitting in nicely though and we're all adjusting well. I love him to death! He loves to sleep on his back . . .

Isn't he a cutie?!!! Here's a funny picture I took when my daughter was here for the birthdays. He was wedged between her and the couch trying to sleep on his back. Kind of looks like he's smiling huh?

That's for letting me share my joy with you!  :)  On to the Hawaiian Getaway Quilt finish. Here it is . . .

I hand quilted it in navy on the squares and blue in the border. It's kind of hard to see.

Here's the full back . . .

and a better close-up of the quilting . . .

I really love how it turned out and he did too! I took some pictures of Jay with the quilt but my hunky dude hasn't given them to me yet (they're on his camera).

Jessica was bummed that her Peace and Love quilt wasn't finished before Christmas but understood. She asked if I could finish it by her birthday, January 6th and I said of course. With trying to get things back in order after Christmas I barely made the deadline, but I did make it. Her quilt had much more quilting on it than Jay's did. Here's a picture of her finished quilt (with Jay's cat testing it out).

I hand quilted it with green, pink, yellow, blue and purple on all the solid squares, around the flowers and in the borders.

Here's a picture of the back (sorry it's not a good pic).

I added one appliqued flower to the back of the quilt. Here's a close-up of it and the quilting.

I joined an I-Spy Charm Swap the other day. Lorelei from Midnight Maker is hosting it. She had lots of interest and opened a second group. Of course I'm doing both!  ;)  If you're interested in joining you can check it out by clicking here . . .

I ordered my two fabrics for the swap from Fabric.com. Here they are . . .

Can't wait to see all the fabrics!  :)

I'm hoping to clean up my neglected sewing space tomorrow and get some projects lined up to work on. I have a few that were started before Christmas and others that I want to get started on.

Hope your 2012 is going great for you! So far mine is!  :)

Until next time . . .

Merry Christmas Wishes to You!

Hello!  :)

Whew!!!! I've been soooo busy! This past week I've barely got any sleep. The hunky dude gets up for work at 3:15am and this week I've still been up working from the night before when he gets up. He couldn't believe it. Then I'd go to bed and get a few hours rest and get back to work. How in the world did I think I was going to complete two twin size quilts in only a few weeks. Especially being that these are only the 2nd and 3rd quilt tops I've completed and will be the 1st and 2nd that I've quilted and bound. I must be crazy dedicated. I have made some runners and mini quilts but nothing larger. I wish this guy could have worked some magic and got them all done for me.  ;)

But alas . . . no such luck! Remember Jay's quilt . . . the Hawaiian Getaway?

Well I've been working non-stop hand-quilting it (for the first time ever!). I finally got it done and then had to get it trimmed and put the binding on. I managed to finish it on the morning of the 22nd. Yea!!!!! I really loved how it turned out. I will have to show you the pictures next week as Jay is sitting close to me as I write this and I don't want him to see it yet.

What about the Peace and Love quilt?

It's pin basted and . . . that's it! I failed! There was no way I could get it done. I decided on the 21st that I wasn't going to make it. You see Jay and Jess were going to arrive at noon on the 23rd. And I had put everything on hold trying to get these quilts done. I hadn't finished decorating yet. I hadn't finished shopping yet. Then there was all the wrapping. I was so far behind! After the Hawaiian quilt was finished I finished up my Christmas shopping. When I arrived home I relinquished the decorating to my son Peter who was eager to put his own touch on things. It was hard for me as I always have to control things like that (yes I'm a control freak . . . I'll admit it!) He actually did a great job and was so proud of himself. He is 16 and autistic. It gave me joy to watch him.  :)  I will share some of my favorite items with you next week.

I stayed up late again and got all the gifts wrapped and ready to go. I wrapped up Jess' quilt, pins and all. She will get to see it and then I'll need her to leave it behind so I can finish it up. I hope she understands. A funny thing happened today. I was talking with her and she asked me to make her a quilt. She described what she wanted and it was as though she had already seen what I had made. It sounds like it's perfect and that she'll love it! I hope so!  :)

After I wrapped all the presents. I left them piled up so Peter could put them around the tree the next morning. When he saw the pile he was so excited and happily placed them around the tree.  :)

Now we're ready for the other two members of our family to arrive and start our Christmas 2011 celebration. Jay and Jess arrived at noon today. We visited and baked and watched Christmas movies. Tomorrow we go to my dad's house to celebrate with him and my sister and her family. Then Christmas morning we will open gifts, have a big breakfast and have to say good-bye to Jay and Jess once again. It's great having them here with us and I will miss them when they go back home.  :(

Hope you and your loved ones have a wonderful Christmas together!  :)

Until next time . . .

Friday Night Sew-In Results!

Hello!  :)

I had a very successful Friday Night Sew-In last night! I hope you did too! Before I show you what I did I want to share some awesomeness with you! I checked my email this morning and it turns out that I won another giveaway! Must be my lucky month!  :)  Kathy from "It's Only Natural" was having a giveaway as part of Sew Mama Sew's Giveaway Day 2011. I won 3 fabulous prizes! Here they are . . .

The first is a group of 6 fat quarters of Dream On by Urban Chicks of Moda! So Yummy!  :)

The second is a Charm Pack of Cape Ann of Oliver + S! So Adorable!  :)

And the third is a Charm Pack of Soiree by Lilla Tueller of Moda! Lovely!  :)  I can't wait to see them all in person! I'm such a lucky girl! Merry Christmas to me!  :)

Do you remember me telling you that I'm making quilts for my two older kids for Christmas? I finished Jay's quilt top the other day and showed it to you here. I started Jessie's quilt on Wednesday. She loves bright lime green. She also loves the whole 60's & 70's vibe. So that is my theme for her . . . lime green with vintage sheets from the 60's & 70's and peace and love. I'm going to call it "Remembering Peace & Love".  :)  Here are the fabrics I'm using for the quilt, all cut and ready to go. All the fabrics are sheets.

I'm not following a pattern for this one. I made a rough drawing of the quilt before I started but then basically made it up as I went along. I laid out all the squares to figure out the placement. There are going to be flowers appliqued to the green squares.

Then I numbered them and stacked them.

I didn't take pictures of the next few steps (bad blogger!). I traced and cut out flowers and centers from the same sheets I used for the blocks. I then ironed them onto the green squares.

On Thursday I machine zig-zag stitched around the flowers and centers. I am going to be hand-quilting this quilt but I went ahead and used the machine to stitch around the flowers to save time.

At this point I had to lay them all out again to figure out placement of the flower squares. It would have been much easier if I had done the flowers first and figured out the placement all at once instead of twice but I didn't think of that until I it was too late.  :(

Once the placement was set I numbered the green squares again and stacked all of them up ready for sewing.

I forgot to take pictures (again) of the next few steps. I sewed all the blocks together then laid the quilt out. There was a problem . . . it was way too small! I would be adding borders but they would have had to be really big borders and that just wouldn't do. I was really frustrated! I was trying to get this done quickly and it just wasn't working out. It would have been much easier (and quicker) if I had only followed a pattern. Of course I had a vision and had to go with that and make it up as I went along. I decided to add another row to the side and bottom. It would have to wait until the next day though as it was very late and I was very tired!  :(

On Friday I was refreshed and ready to go backwards and cut, applique, and piece the additional rows together. They actually went together pretty easy!  :)  I then attached them to the quilt and laid it out again to view and measure.

 

I went out and ran a few errands and came back home for the Friday Night Sew-In. I cut and attached two borders to the quilt top.

It was now finished! Hooray!!! I do love how it turned out! To me it's very 60's - 70's-ish. What do you think? Here's a close up of part of it . . .

Did you notice the block with ducks? I know it doesn't really go with the theme but Jess loves ducks and I found this vintage duck sheet and just had to include it!  :)  When I hand-quilt it I think I'm going to add some "peace" and "love". I can't wait to get started on it.

Today I've been working on the backs of Jay and Jess' quilts. I'm hoping to get them sandwiched tonight or definitely by tomorrow if I run out of time. Then I can begin quilting them. I'm excited to see how they turn out. My goal was to get both of the quilt tops done by the end of this week and I did it! Now I just have to get them finished by next Friday. Can I do it? Stay tuned!  :)

Until next time . . .