wRIte iT DOwN

My baby is 5

2012-01-31T16:16:00.000-05:00

My little one turned 5 years old today.

Happy Happy Birthday sweet boy!

Love you so much baby!

Farmer's Wife QAL

2012-01-26T16:36:00.000-05:00

Farmer's Wife Quilt Along Progress

63 Blocks complete

These are 2 of my favorite blocks.

20 more to go and I will have enough for the twin size.

Getting Ready for Christmas

2011-12-04T14:13:00.001-05:00

We are getting ready for Christmas around our house.

I finished this quilt that I started last year and never finished.

And the boys are thrilled that a little elf arrived at our house on the 1st.

They named him Freddie Rudolph.

He appeared in our house hanging upside down from a red zipline.

We are ready for Christmas.

Hello October

2011-10-17T21:51:00.000-04:00

I am so neglectful of my little blog.

I cannot believe I haven't posted in a month and a half.

These people keep me busy, really busy!

Pumpkin Patch day was this past Sunday.

My sweet babies are so big now,

especially after seeing the little ones at the pumpkin patch this weekend.

I am over at Gen X Quilters

2011-09-01T07:47:00.001-04:00

Thank you to AnneMarie at Gen X Quilters for featuring me today

on First Quilts on the 1st!

Click here to visit Gen X Quilters

Photo Challenge Days 17-22

2011-08-22T11:46:00.000-04:00

Day 17 - On the Shelf

Fabric of course, I really need to use these up.

And hanging from the shelf are my grids.

Estate sale find.

Day 18 - In my bag

Not too exciting, but I got a new Vera Bradley for the fall.

Wallet, checkbook, glasses and case, gum, iPhone and hand sanitizer.

Day 19 - Where I slept

My side of the bed.

Don't let the innocent lab on the ground fool you, she slept there too.

Little one left his blankie.

Day 20 - What I read

I read on my iPhone, yes on my phone with the Kindle app.

I have not read this much in a long time but it makes it so easy.

I have read these books months ago and I am currently reading Ethereal.

Hoping to see The Help very soon.

The Hunger Games is coming out as a movie too.

Day 21 - A pretty pattern

Grandmother's Flower Garden

This quilt was made by my great grandmother, probably in the 1930's or 1940's.

My Aunt had the quilt top and she gave it to me.

I had it quilted and finished the binding and now it lives in my bedroom.

Day 22 - Trees

Pink Tabebuia Tree

I took this back in March of this year, these are not at all blooming in FL right now.

I absolutely love this tree...

The bad part about FL is that we do not get the fall leaves changing,

but we do get this for a couple weeks.

30 Day Photo Challenge - Days 12-16

2011-08-16T12:53:00.001-04:00

Day 12 - Close Up

My little one.

Day 13

My big one, moving father away from me.

But still loves his mommy.

Day 14 - Flowers

Day 15 - My Shoes

I debated posting this one.

These are my shoes from May 24th

when this happened.

We are almost three months away from this day.

I have new shoes now,

And healing is happening,for me and all of my boys.

I have two very lovely scars on my legs which hide the bullet fragments underneath.

But these shoes are in my closet, and I see them think about that day.

We are blessed.

Day 16 - What I ate

I haven't eaten anything today,

but the diet coke is like my coffee (which I absolutely hate)

One day I will stop this little addiciton.

Photo Challenges - Caught Up!

2011-08-11T19:20:00.001-04:00

I've caught up today.

I am on day 11 and I finished days 4-9 while I was at it.

Day 4 - Favorite Color

Nikon D60

1/400s

f/3.2

ISO100

Day 5 - Someone I love

(Ok, 3 someones I love)

Taken with iPhone camera

Day 6 - Childhood Memory

Gatewood Dr.

Just drove around the corner to take this one today.

Taken with iPhone Hipstamatic App

Day 7 - Something New

Off to School soon!

Nikon D60

1/250s

f/3.2

ISO 100

Day 8 - Technology

My beloved iPhone

Nikon D60

1/320s

f/3.2

ISO 200

Day 9 - Faceless Self-Portrait

(I took 2 for this one)

Nikon D60

1/1250s

f/3.2

ISO 100

Taken with iPhone Hipstamatic App

Day 10 - Something I made

(already posted but showing again)

Nikon D60

1/50s

f/1.4

ISO 200

Day 11 - Something Fun

Nikon D60

1/400s

f/3.2

ISO 100

Looking forward to tomorrow,

close-ups.

Photo Challenge Day 3

2011-08-10T21:10:00.000-04:00

Day 3 - Clouds

Nikon D60

1/320s

f/1.4

ISO 200

We've had 2 days of rain in the sunshine state,

but and our skies looked like this around 8:15 Wednesday night.

Lovely.

I love this 30 Day Photo Challenge at

Oh So Lovely

Photo Challenge Day 2 and Day 10

2011-08-10T11:34:00.000-04:00

Ok, so I am playing catch-up with

the 30 day photo challenge at

Oh So Lovely

Here is my Day 2 (which was taken on Day 10)

What I wore

This photo was taken with my iPhone Hipstamatic app

I made the necklace over the weekend,

it is a lower-case cursive k inside the pendant.

And of course my little pocket tee from Target.

And Day 10 - Something I made.

I made a baby quilt for my dear friend Angel.

She is due soon with her 1st baby, a little girl.

Here is a just a little bit of it, I have not given it to her yet!

And I am proud to say this photo was taken inside in full manual mode.

FLA is really dreary right now.

30 Day Photo Challenge - 1

2011-08-09T12:12:00.000-04:00

I am trying this 30 day photo challenge at

Oh So Lovely

Day 1,

which was supposed to be August 1st.

Oh well, late again...busy, busy around here.

Day 1 - Self-Portrait

A Milestone

2011-07-28T15:57:00.000-04:00

My baby lost his first tooth this morning.

He was playing the Wii this morning and casually came into the family room and said,

"mom, my tooth fell out."

WhAt!!

We have been trying to get him wiggle that thing out for weeks,

the tooth behind it is almost all the way in.

The tooth fairy will come to our house tonight for sure!

I made my little guys pouches for their teeth when the tooth fairy comes.

We'll see how it works out tonight.

She is sure to love it!

I used this tutorial from The Purl Bee.

We also had a little art time in the front yard this morning

with our favorite girls down the street.

They each split a canvas in half and had their own little space for painting.

We needed a little outside creative time around here.

Even mommy was gettin' creative with the camera.

Trying full manual mode for the first time.

Practice, practice, practice!

The two shots below are in manual mode.

I have been shooting in aperture mode for some time now and feel

that I have the hang of that.

Now I need to bring it all together;

aperture

shutter speed

ISO

the right light

and many more things I know very little about

If only my little subjects would stay still...

not likely!

Friday Started with a Bang

2011-07-25T10:27:00.000-04:00

Actually it started with a boom, 2 really.

The last sonic booms from a long time.

A little before 6 am on Friday the house shook as the space shuttle Atlantis came home.

The boys didn't hear it, but it woke me up.

Wonderful sounds.

Then it was off to the final day of VBS for the summer.

The kids had their celebration in our church's sanctuary and all 300 of them sang to us.

My sweet boys were up there singing too.

Then it was off to see a great concert with these sweet ladies.

We saw NKOTBSB.

(New Kids on the Block and BackStreet Boys)

It was great, beyond great.

One of the best concerts I have ever been to.

Matthew Morrison (from Glee) opened up and did a great job.

NKOTB & BSB performed together and then switched on and off throughout the night signing their own songs.

And since BSB is from Orlando, they had a special surprise for us.

They brought Boyz II Men on stage and they sang three songs for us.

So much fun!

I am so glad I went.

But of course the night ended,

the girls dropped me off at my car and they headed back up to their home.

Headed to I-4, took a wrong turn and

BAM

found the tour bus,

got out and got Joey McIntyre's autograph and picture.

This is the cell phone pic I was texted by my wonderful friend.

UGHHHHH, I was so upset they had already dropped me off!

But so happy for her, she is a big fan.

Next time they come back we are going,

and waiting around for the autographs!

Fun, fun weekend!!!

What's Happening on our Farm?

2011-07-21T20:20:00.000-04:00

We are on the backside of summer,

a little more than 4 weeks until school starts in this house.

We are finishing up VBS this week,

I had a PTA leadership conference last week

and tomorrow night, the best of all,

I am going to see NKOTBSB!!

Enough acronyms for ya'll?

I am also working on my FWQAL blocks

(farmer's wife quilt-a-long)

I have 14 total (week 7), so I am only a week behind.

Not bad.

Here are my latest blocks.

This was my little photoshoot helper today.

I think he might just be a natural!

He loved using mommy's camera.

These were taken on my iPhone with the hipstamatic app.

These little guys are turning into jumping fish in our pool.

They jump in and run to the side to jump in again, and again...

Until the poor boys are out of breath and they need a rest.

This is their improvised diving board.

Thank goodness they don't dive yet,

but it looks like this is a peek into future summers.

Happy Almost Weekend!

Anyone else out there that is going to or has already gone to see NKOTBSB??

Wish I still had my gigantic Joey McIntyre button.

damn.

I think it will be outstanding,

the husband has another opinion, that is why he is not going.

Pintrest Inspiration

2011-07-20T21:13:00.000-04:00

I created these two pictures of my little ones recently.

I found this adorable idea from this photo on Pintrest.

it was super easy to create,

I did some editing in my Photoshop Elements Program

and then added the text in Picasa.

Loving Pintrest right now, so many great ideas out there!

You can follow my pins here.

FWQAL More Blocks and a Big Fail

2011-07-12T09:02:00.001-04:00

I am moving right along here on my farm for the farmer's wife quilt a long.

Now 9 blocks total.

And one very big fail block.

UGH...

Here it is, the homemaker block with the Y seams.

I have never done a Y seam and thought of course I can handle do it.

I can do the single girl curved piecing so why not this?!?

Um, apparently I cannot do this correctly.

This will wait for another day.

I am glad though, I really don't like my fabrics for this block.

Moving on.

These are my successful blocks done this week.

Gentleman's Fancy block with a little Flea Market Fancy,

like that!

The Homeward Bound block with a cutie little cowboy.

And the Jackknife block.

I really like this one, it is Kate Spain's Central Park

and some green dots from my fabric stash.

Some of the prints from Central Park seems to work nicely with Sunkissed.

Looks like the Kitchen Windowbox is up next.

Anyone else out there a Farmer's Wife???

Leave me a comment, I would love to follow along!

W.I.P. Wednesday

2011-07-06T17:02:00.001-04:00

I am working on so many projects and quilt a long's right now.

But first I have an actual finish!

My single girl quilt

(well 4 squares of it)

is done!!

DONE!

I wanted to make this a king size quilt,

and I made all of the cuts to make it king size.

But wow! This is a lot of work.

I completed these 4 blocks, quilted and bound them to make sure I really love it.

I do love it.

I have enough to make 16 blocks. But that might take some time.

So here is a mini-single girl!

Now my 2 quilt-a-longs...

This one is moving right along.

I have 3 blocks all done, 9 more to go.

I chose to make the smaller version.

And the Farmer's Wife QAL

I have 6 blocks so far.

They are addictive and I am really like them all so far.

Check out the flickr group for many more blocks.

I am going in alphabetical order and taking one from each letter of the alphabet as I go through the index.

So there you go,

hoping to make some more progress soon!

Farmer's Wife QAL - I'm in!

2011-07-05T10:55:00.000-04:00

Hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July!

So I decided to jump in on the The Farmer's Wife Quilt-A-Long,

it has been all over the blogs recently.
I got the book on Amazon and it arrived on Saturday.

I decided not to make my blocks in numerical order,

BUT I do have a little system.

I am choosing one block from each letter of the alphabet (from the index)

and will continue through as far as I decide to go.

These are my blocks so far.

Attic Windows

Big Dipper

Contrary Wife

My next block will be Duck and Ducklings.

They are challenging, but that is a good thing.
There are 111 total blocks in this book.
The flickr group has many, many more blocks to look at.

I have tons of Sunkissed fabric from my fat quarter bundle so I have chose those as my main fabrics. I am adding some other fabrics from my stash to add some interest.

Anyone else out there that joined the Farmer's Wife QAL?

Kaleidoscope QAL 1st Block

2011-06-30T22:57:00.000-04:00

Here is my first block for the quilt along.
I am really liking it!
This fabric is Denyse Schmidt's Picnics and Fairgrounds line.
I really like most of the prints,
some I could do without but I am leaving those ones out of this quilt.

I am finding that the hardest part is bringing the fabrics together.

The flickr group has tons of great pictures.

More to come soon!

6

2011-06-27T23:12:00.001-04:00

He is 6 now.

How did that happen so quickly?!?

I stole an idea that I heard is from my uncle Duncan.

I heard he took a picture of his girls (my cousins)

on the morning of their birthday each year.

Is this true Auntie Sue?

So here are my 6 years of birthday morning pictures of my baby.

(1)

(2)

(3)

And yes, we still have that blankie.

(4)

(5)

(6)

And a big milestone of this year, the last day of kindergarten!

I think our next big one will be a missing tooth.

We are waiting!

Happy birthday, my sweet angel.

We love you to the sun and the moon and the stars and all the way back.

2 Years I have Been Blogging

2011-06-24T23:53:00.000-04:00

It's been 2 years of blogging now.

I went back and read my first post.

Wow has life changed in 2 years around here.

My oldest boy is turning 6 very soon and my little one is almost 4 1/2.

In my first post I talked about binkies, those days are long gone now.

My boys are now little fish jumping in the pool,

getting braver and braver by the day,

even venturing into the ocean to boogie board.

No training wheels,

running back and forth to friend's houses in the neighborhood.

A wiggly tooth and preschool will be behind us in less than a year.

They are my boys, my babies.

They drive me crazy but good crazy.

They are friends, little one still calls his big brother "Bubbie".

I often wonder if he will call his big brother "Bub" when they are grown men.

I adore them, I truly do.

I am so grateful for this little spot on the internet to write all of this stuff down.

This bloggy year has also inspired me to read more.

I started seeing suggestions on other blogs about books to read.

I read on my iPhone, yes my iPhone.

People look at me like I am CRazY but I'm not, really I'm not.

I am reading my 30th book in the last year at the moment.

Previously I would only read magazines.

Now I am always reading on my phone.

I just finished Unbroken (link is on the left side) and it was an incredible book,

tough(emotionally) to read but absolutely amazing.

And of course I am still quilting, I love love love quilting.

I have joined many quilt along's this year.

Those are the best, especially seeing other bloggers' progress.

I just ordered The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt for the FWQAL and I need to start making the cuts for the Kaleidoscope QAL.

So much going on around here.

Happy Anniversary to my Blog!

More Embroidery

2011-06-20T10:17:00.001-04:00

Another hoop for my wall!

Inspired by this image at The Purl Bee

And this pretty emboridery hoop I pinned on my pintrest.

I love it!

And Happy Father's Day to my Dad and The Husband!

A little embroidery

2011-06-16T13:54:00.000-04:00

I have been loving embroidery again.

Especially since I have been on Pintrest.

Here are some of my recent ones.

I am hoping to make a big hoop art wall by my craft room.

I am sure my husband will be thrilled.

The tree on this one is from the Doodle Stitch Along

I added the fabric for the bunting and the circles.

This was my own drawing.

It is a patchwork quilt on a fence, one of my favorite things.

I cannot remember where I found the patterns for the last 2.

I did these quite awhile ago.

These are in some vintage embroidery hoops from my Auntie Sue.

(If you find more I am happy to take them off your hands!!!)

This is a good summer project.

And there are some many more that I would love to make...

Like this one, and this one.

Spoonflower Swap

2011-06-14T10:05:00.000-04:00

AnneMarie at Gen X Quilters is hosting a Spoonflower Swap.

What a great idea!
Click on the button to get all of the details and join in.

This is the perfect reason to order the kite fabric that
I designed for Project Selvage a couple of months ago.

My Great Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt - DONE!

2011-06-13T09:34:00.000-04:00

I have posted about this quilt before today but I have finally finished the binding and it is all done.

So I had to share!

I used the yellow polka dots from the Sunkissed line. I had a good amount of yardage and it seemed to fit well with the other colors in this amazing quilt.

So while these people were sleeping yesterday,

I was finishing the binding.

(I am really paying for this late afternoon nap today!

One boy did not go to sleep last night until midnight and he is a little grouchy today)

I caught up on some DVR'd shows and after awhile I was all done.

So now its hanging in my bedroom.

Love it!!

Thank you Grandma Edie!!!

Finished Supernova

2011-06-11T00:22:00.000-04:00

My Supernova quilt is done and have been passed along to its new home.

My sweet friend had her baby shower last weekend and this is for her baby boy.

And really for her.

She loves these colors and this fabric.

Thinking of you and your sweet baby boy Mrs. P!

We love you both lots!!

I am happy to show this quilt now that she has it.

She was watching me make this over the last few weeks on my blog

but I wanted it to be a surprise.

Fabric is Arcadia by Sanae for Moda

Pattern is the Supernova from the Supernova quilt along.

Thank you so much to Lee at Freshly Pieced for the wonderful instructions!

Backing is Kona Sage, thank you so much Katie B. for the suggestion!!

Quilting is a basic straight stitch echo quilting.

I did leave off of the borders though,

I wanted one solid fabric piece for the backing.

Its a great baby quilt size.

Scrappy binding from leftover jelly roll pieces.

Can't wait to meet the little guy, gotta love baby boys!

I think I am ready for my next quilt along...

here we go.

(and the single girl is still chuggin' along)

May 24th

2011-06-07T10:51:00.000-04:00

I am so glad that I wrote my previous post about my loves.

My boys truly are my loves.

I am glad that I have this blog to write about our happy times, our milestones and yes even my crafts and quilting.

I am glad that I can share silly pictures and write about our happenings.

(a surprise picture taken by the husband - morning snuggles with mommy)

We had something happen the day after my last post.

May 24th

Something that could have changed our lives and our family forever.

We were hurt, physically and emotionally.

And we will be hurt for awhile because of what happened.

We went out to dinner as a family.

We were leaving the restaurant and waiting for my husband and Joey to go to the bathroom. Me and my little one were waiting for them in the lobby.

Somthing popped.

Something really loud.

Something I have never heard before.

Then I saw blood on the floor and felt something burning on my legs.

I saw my little one shaking and crying and then I realized it was a gun shot.

We are doing OK.

There are several bullet fragments in my legs and my little one had surgery to remove a fragment from his finger.

We are healing.

We are surrounded by people who love and care about us.

We love them all too.

We will be ok.

It will take time, lots of time.

But I worry about these boys.

Of course I worry about them, I am their mom.

Summertime is here, I want them to have happy times.

Happy smiles, careless days, no worries.

I love all of my boys, they are my boys to take care of.

We will all heal.

Loves

2011-05-23T00:00:00.000-04:00

My boys, my sweet, sweet boys are getting so big.

My little one decided it was time to give up his training wheels tonight and learn to ride his bike all by himself.

And he did.

At first he did not want a little push start from Daddy but then decided it was OK.

I love his determined little face.

And off he went.

And he even had a big crowd of neighbors and friends cheering him on.

I am so proud of this boy.

And even more special was that when I went to check on them in their beds tonight,

my sweet little one was tucked into his big brother's bed.

My loves.

Bloggers Quilt Festival

2011-05-15T15:40:00.000-04:00

I am sharing my newest quilt made of Denyse Schmidt's fabrics,

Flea Market Fancy & Picnics and Fairgrounds.

I have been working on a lot of other things lately and wanted to make a quick and simple quilt this weekend.

I missed the whole Flea Market Fancy craze when it came out so I am paying for it now.

I found etsy and ebay sites here and there for some "reasonable" purchases and the fabric has been staring at me for awhile now.

I added some of the new Picnics and Fairgrounds that I thought go well with the FMF.

I really like the new line.

I am still learning so much about quilting.

One thing is for sure that sometimes you need to be able to

start and finish a project quickly.

Other times its nice to have a long term project (ummm, my single girl quilt)

Thank you Amy for organizing the Bloggers Quilt Festival again!

I absolutely love seeing all of the other quilters out there.

Happy Mother's Day!

2011-05-08T13:00:00.000-04:00

A very Happy Mother's Day to all of the bloggy mommies out there!

My sweet boys made me surprises at preschool and kindergarten

with their handprints and gave me pretty flowers.

And then I found they left some crayons in their pockets that ended up in the dryer

and made a load of laundry very colorful!

Love my boys!!

My mom is headed out of town to Paris for the week so I decided against giving her flowers this year and made her this little pillow.

The pattern is from Twin Stitchers, I love this site, they have the most adorable patterns!

And the fabric is the new Denyse Schmidt line found at Joann's.

I added some straight line stitches around the border.

Happy Mother's Day Mom!

My Kentucky Derby Hat

2011-05-04T14:39:00.000-04:00

Taking a break from all the sewing and quilting lately,

I decided to create a Kentucky Derby hat today.

We have a party for our friend's daughter this Saturday

and she said to be sure to bring our hats!

So I bought this floppy black hat at Target today for $12.99

and some ribbon and flowers from Hobby Lobby for $9.36

and whipped up my little creation.

(before)

(after)

I first wanted to try to just pin the ribbon to the hat so that

I can wear it without all the flowers,

but eventually I pulled out the hot glue gun.

Oh well, it was only $12.99!

Then I cut the flowers from the stem and hot glued them on the side of the hat.

I will have to share more pics with it on me this weekend.

But my model was so sweet to help me out today,

although he might not agree when I bring certain hat modeling pictures

out when prom rolls around!

HAHAHA.

What a weekend

2011-05-02T15:15:00.000-04:00

This weekend has been crazy and exhausting and fun all together!

For some strange reason on Friday morning I woke up at 3:51 am (completely unplanned) and decided to watch the royal wedding. Which is very unlike me

1. because, hello it was 3:51 am and I am really not a morning person at all

2. I really do not follow the royals

but anyways it was wonderful to see them get married and all of the ceremony that surrounded the wedding.

Next, we hosted a party at our home for my son's preschool advisory board.

A really nice time and our first real party at our new home.

Then Sunday was the big fun, the husband and I went to see this man in concert

Oh yes that is Tim McGraw looking into my iPhone camera.

Such a great concert, always such a good show.

We were on the floor and the stage came out into the crowd about 5 rows away from us.

Of course I did not bring my good camera,

(and I am the one to always have my camera with me, UGH!)

I just had my iPhone with me.

So forgive the yuck photos.

On the way out of the arena people were chanting,

U.S.A., U.S.A.

I had no idea what was going on until we got in the car and saw the wonderful news that

Bin Laden has been killed.

Amazing news.

We watched the President at the press conference on the news and then the people gathering at the White House and at Ground Zero.

So proud!

I think the whole family is exhausted from the long crazy weekend,

I know I am .

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T21:47:00.000-04:00

Happy Easter!

We had a nice morning starting with a visit from the Easter bunny.

My boys spotted Easter eggs all throughout the yard and saw that the bunny

ate the M&M's and sweet tea (what a combo for a bunny!) that they left outside.

He even left big, white, fluffy paw prints on our walkway!

Around 8:00 am we walked around our neighnborhood to find eggs and paw prints at many of our friends' homes. Saw some buddies and talked about our great morning and then headed home to get ready for church.

My boys did an amazing job sitting in church today.

They are getting so big.

Happy Easter!

For Olivia

2011-04-19T09:29:00.000-04:00

Olivia's quilt is all done,

and is might be born today.

I hope her mommy likes it and one day she likes it too!

Egg Hunt

2011-04-17T23:30:00.000-04:00

We spent a nice Saturday afternoon at our annual Easter Egg hunt.

My family has remained friends with the families from our old neighborhood.

(From when I was growing up in the 80's!)

So a couple of years ago, one of the moms from the old neighborhood started an annual Easter Egg hunt to get us all together once again. It has been wonderful to see these friends each year and see all of the little additions that come along.

My little ones have even made friends with my friend's little ones!

The boys listening as they are getting their instructions.

Daddy was torn between the Notre Dame spring game and the Easter Egg hunt,

look what won!

Thanks for coming along Daddy!

Looking forward to a new week and even more Easter Egg hunts!

Supernova - almost done

2011-04-16T16:20:00.000-04:00

My blocks are done and have been stitched together!
Just need to get the border in place and the quilt top is complete.

Here it is,

the fabric is Acadia by Sanae for Moda

(I used a jelly roll so my quilt is a bit smaller than the original quilt along).

The background is kona natural.

Not sure yet what I going to happen with the backing.

I really like the blue in this line so I might try to find the solid to match it.

I have many jelly roll strips left over so I will probably use those on the backing also.

I think I am at a stopping point for right now,

these next couple of weeks are crazy busy around here.

I hope a certain preggy friend likes it because it is hers.

These colors are her perfect match!

Another WIP Wednesday

2011-04-13T19:53:00.000-04:00

I can't believe I haven't posted anything in a week. We have been trying to get back in the swing of things after spring break and have had lots of visits with out of town family!

Not much progress on my Supernova, just completed the 3 blocks that I had in progress and added one more full block. I need to get caught up on these blocks.

Here is my supernova progress so far.

My single girl is coming along, background pieces are slowly but surely getting stitched.

And one more wonderful reason for my getting behind.

A baby girl quilt.

A great family friend is having her first granddaughter very very very soon and she asked me to make her granddaughter a baby quilt.

So we went shopping over at Hobby Lobby this weekend and she picked these cute fabrics.

I am almost done, I just need to add the binding and it will be all hers!

This is Olivia's quilt.

Oh and another fun surprise.

I saw over on Diary of a Quilter this new fabric line.

Do you know who it is from?

Do you know where I bought it?

Yes!

Denyse Schmidt,

the maker of Flea Market Fancy and Katie Jump Rope.

And I bought it at Joann's.

The girl at Joann's said it just came out Monday,

I went to 2 stores trying to find the entire collection and I think I have it.

Go run out and get some!

And bring your coupons!!!

I have no idea what I am making with this one, but really like this line.

WIP Wednesday

2011-04-06T10:14:00.000-04:00

Still chuggin' along on my 2 big quilts,

The Single Girl

and The Supernova.

First my single girl.
I love it, I really do but it is going to take forever!

I went ahead and pieced a whole circle so I could see what it would look like.

The inner curved piece sews right along where it should.

The outer curve is a little off,

I must be doing something wrong so I need to figure out what is going on.

See how the seams at the edge are about 1/2 off,

I just want to make sure this is OK before going on.

Yes I am going to love it.

So in the meantime I will sew the inner curve pieces to my KJR curves.

2 down, 78 to go (oh and I still need to piece the 3rd & 4th quadrant curves)!

It's a bit overwhelming at times.

But one day I will have this as a king size quilt.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now over to my supernova.

I have 3 of the 9 blocks done for this weeks piecing.

This is block 1,

trying to be more conscious of the directional fabrics after this block.

Block 2, much better.

and block 3.

Only 6 more to go until the next step is posted tomorrow.

Spring Break '11

2011-04-04T12:35:00.000-04:00

Our spring break started with thurnderstorms and tornado warnings
and cancelled playdates.

Several days of this.

But finally Friday came and look was else decided to come out to play.

not just one, but three butterflies.

Friday also started our little family vacation/staycation.

We went away but not too far.

Out to the Hilton Bonnet Creek near Disney.

The storms moved out and brought flawless Florida spring weather,

not a cloud in the sky for 2 days.

We swam,

floated in the lazy river,

had drinks and lunch by the pool.

So much fun!

These silly boys live the life!

But they are sweet, telling us the whole time how much fun they had.

And movies in the pool at night,

one night was Despicable Me, the next night Toy Story 3.

And one of the best parts??

We got home in 30 minutes.

Back to a hard reality today though,

school is back and so is waking up early!

Stinkers.

Quilt Along Progress

2011-03-29T10:00:00.000-04:00

I am participating in 2 quilt along's right now.

I am a little farther along on the Single Girl with two of the four curves pieced.

Here is my progress.

Gotta stay organized!

And I couldn't decide between these two jelly rolls for the Supernova quilt,

because oh yes, you can use a jelly roll!

Simple Abundance or Arcadia???

Which would you choose?

We'll I chose Arcadia.

And here is my progress so far with cutting.

These will be two VERY different quilts.

One I am keeping, one I am not.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ok, its spring break and we are off to Monkey Joe's for some bouncing.

Happy Tuesday!

Grandma Edie's Quilt

2011-03-27T22:37:00.019-04:00

It's quilted, and so pretty.

This was made BY HAND by my great grandmother,

Grandma Edie.

I am so happy to have this.

(Thank you to my Auntie Sue!)

I need to bind it and then it is officially done.

But in order to bind it I have to cut a bit off as it was not finished.

This is making me nervous.

The quilting is beautiful, the first time I did not quilt it myself.

She did a wonderful job.

This quilt top is probably from the 1930's or 1940's,

and some of the material may possibly be ever older than that.

It is in incredible shape for being 70-80 years old.

Just a couple of tears that I patched before quilting.

Just had to share!

Project Selvage - My Design

2011-03-25T11:35:00.001-04:00

The deadline for entries for Project Selvage at Spoonflower is now closed.

I was so excited to go for it with this contest.
The theme for the design is baby boy.
I think I have just a little bit of experience here.

This is my entry.

I tried some other ideas but for some reason I kept coming back to the kites.
Maybe because its spring and I am seeing kites everywhere,
but when my boys were babies I never saw a kite theme and I would have loved it for their rooms.

And this is what it will look like in a repeat pattern.

I am so excited to see if I make it into the 75 finalists.

I would be stunned if I did.

These are some of the other entries over at spoonflower.

Did anyone else out there enter a design?

It's Spring Break!

2011-03-24T22:46:00.000-04:00

One of my boys is officially on spring break,

the other has one more day.

Today was Big J's boosterthon fun run then field day.

It was a wonderful day, and I got to be there for him.

I am lucky enough to be able to be his room mom and volunteer for the PTA.

And to be there to bring in popcicles for the class

and to do fun fall activities and leprechaun hunts.

I am lucky to be able to watch my baby run laps for his school and cheer him on.

I am so proud of him, and more importantly he is so proud of himself.

My husband works and works and works so that

I can be there for these little things for our boys.

Thank you Mr. Heaney.

I think this boy is really grateful too.

And we are looking forward to a week off!

Happy Spring Break!!

This married girl is making a single girl

2011-03-21T16:16:00.000-04:00

I might have really lost my mind this time,
but yes I am making this quilt.
King Size for even more craziness.

The pattern arrived today

It will be made from Katie Jump Rope just like the picture.

I have been collecting KJR little by little over the last month for this quilt.

I love etsy shops and Olive Juice Quilts!

Even the Hubs said he likes this one.

Well I hope so, it's going on our bed.

This could quite possibly take me until I'm 33,

but it's going to be good.

We Almost Caught One

2011-03-17T14:17:00.000-04:00

Happy St. Paddy's Day!

Our home was turned over by sneaky little leprechauns overnight.

They left green and gold glittery dust everywhere, even outside.

And tons of shamrocks too!

Our carefully constucted leprechaun traps did not work this year.

BUT we did catch their hats.

We figured as the leprechauns were falling into the trap,

they did a back flip off the top and their hats fell in.

They even left a taunting little message behind.

Pictures were turned unpside down throughout the house, there were pots of gold left in the boys' shoes and the leprechauns made a shoe train just to be silly.

Our big question this morning was the leprechauns were girls,

or boys or one boy and one girl????

Hmmmmm...

Supernova

2011-03-16T07:00:00.001-04:00

Lee at Freshly Pieced has started a new quilt along

I'm in.

I am determined that this quilt will be made COMPLETELY from my fabric stash.
No new fabric AT ALL.
I have to STOP buying fabric.

UGH.

Anyone else out there who wants to quilt along?

Just One Star - Join In

2011-03-15T17:32:00.000-04:00

Moda is making 100 quilts in 100 days for soldiers,

in order to do this they need 1800 blocks.

I saw this post at P.S. I Quilt and joined in by making this block.

You can help too,

here are all of the details for fabric requirements, the pattern and the shipping address.

This took very little time and very little fabric to make.

Mine is off to Moda in Texas.

Go visit P.S. I Quilt and let Rachel know you made a block,

she is sending out a special thank you package to a lucky somebody!

Quilting By Hand ~ KJR

2011-03-14T11:26:00.002-04:00

I am ~~slightly~~,

~~just a little bit~~,

absolutely obsessed with Denyse Schmidt's Katie Jump Rope fabric at the moment.

I have been on the hunt (ebay and etsy and quilt shops and blogs) for relatively inexpensive fat quarters and I am doing a pretty good job with my little collection. During my treasure hunt I have also become a little infatuated with Denyse Schmidt's Flea Market Fancy. But apparently I missed the boat on that line because all that is left is selling for craziness like $45.00/fat quarter. UGH.

I did score a little FMF find on ebay, a good amount of 5" charm squares for $12.

Not totally unreasonable, right?

Anywho, I did make another little KJR quilt and decided to quilt it by hand,

this is a first for me.

I probably did it all wrong and I used embroidery floss which is probably wrong too but I wanted lots of different colors for the quilting so I used what I had.

It is beautifully and perfectly imperfect!

I love the hand quilting from the front side.

The quilting on the back is a little strange and crooked

and all those things that make it perfectly imperfect.

Here is the back.

I think this little one is staying with me.

Probably a wall hanging in my sewing room.

Floridian

2011-03-08T11:04:00.000-05:00

I am a Floridian, a true Floridian.

Born and raised here along with my dad

(my mom moved here when she was very little so really that counts too)

Grandparents, etc.

My first son was born in the same hospital where I was born.

My babies went to the same preschool I went to and my first born is also going to the same elementary school that I went to,

and it will probably be the same for middle and high school.

So really I am a Floridian.

Sometimes I hate it here, and sometimes I love it here.

This is one of the love times.

Spring is here,

the time when we are not hibernating from the

sweltering heat and humidity of the summer.

We are outside all day long.

Playdates at parks, practice, bike rides, running around.

The time of year when you drive and that sunroof is open, the windows are down and the music is loud.

And you drive to school and Publix includes this

EVERYWHERE!

I think these yellow ones are gorgeous but there is this one pink tree a few streets away that is amazing.

This really is the best time of year to be in Florida.

My little one is still in preschool so he is home part of the week.

I wanted him to see these colors and smell spring.

The next few weeks will have lots of flops floppin'

Soccer Saturdays

along with practice and a new sport once a week for both boys,

tennis.

Toes in the sand

Fairs

Spring break

and the Plant City strawberries are good

It really is

But as fast as it comes in, it leaves.

Don't Blink.

Katie Jump Rope - Sliced Coins Quilt Done!

2011-03-05T12:21:00.000-05:00

Sliced Coins Quilt

Pattern & Tutorial from Don't Call me Betsy

Fabric is Katie Jump Rope by Denise Schmidt

Machine Quilting by Me

Measures 60 x 70

The back is plain except for this scrappy border framing my label.

And a pieced binding with my leftovers.

This photo session was a family effort today.

Thank you Hubby and Little One.

I loved this fabric so much I have ordered more.

I have a bit of a problem.

Katie Jump Rope - WIP

2011-03-02T23:26:00.000-05:00

Wednesdays are so wonderful,

I get about 4 hours to myself.

Both boys in school and it is so quiet and I can get so much done.

Like quilt!

I finished my Sliced Coins quilt this morning using my

Katie Jump Rope fabric.

Then it was on to basting with the help of a fireman

(see him near the bottom of the picture).

My little one wants to help me so bad so I showed him how to undo a safety pin.

Not quite there yet, but he just cannot wait to run some car races on this quilt.

Then I moved my operation to the dining room table for 3 hours of machine quilting.

Me, my sewing machine and iTunes.

I just finished quilting this quilt,

IT IS MY FAVORITE!

I hope to get the binding done very soon, I just love it.

(the pictures will be so much better in the daylight ~ I promise!)

Just Stuff

2011-02-27T19:45:00.000-05:00

Just some random stuff I wanted to post this weekend.

I finished my Central Park baby quilt last night.

Its a scrappy little jelly roll quilt.

Very cute fabric.

Straight line quilting is not as easy as it looks but I am growing to love it.

It is available in my shop.

Its a pretty little spring quilt.

And spring has definitely sprung here in Florida.

And even more stuff...

My selvage collection is getting better and better.

I love selvages. But what to do with them?!?!?

I just keep saving them.

One day I will do something wonderful with them.

This little pattern has been itching to get out of my head for a week now

so I finally wrote it down.

We'll see how it turns out very soon.

And lastly I found some

Katie Jump Rope fabric

at this wonderful little quilt store in Wisconsin.

I saw this post at Canoe Ridge Creations and called the

Olive Juice Quilts store.

They had 11 different Katie Jump Fabrics and I got 11 fat quarters sent out.

They included a very nice thank you note, I will definitely buy from them again.

I think I will use the sliced coins quilt tutorial found at

Don't Call me Betsy for this fabric. This will be my next quilt.

Hope you all had a nice weekend.

Charm Pack Quilt Tutorial Part 3

2011-02-24T21:43:00.000-05:00

Charm Pack Quilt Tutorial Part 1 (Quilt Top)

Charm Pack Quilt Tutorial Part 2 (Basting and Machine Quilting)

Part 3

Let's Finish This Quilt!

For the final part, you will need:

Quilt

Binding Fabric

Straight Pins

And it is really nice if you have a rotary cutter, ruler and mat (but scissors work too)

For this quilt I chose to use 2 1/4 inch strips to make the binding.

You can also use 2 1/2 inch strips. I am not sure why one would chose one way over the other.

But I was not sure if my little fat quarter of green polka dots would be enough so I thought this would give me a little extra fabric.

So cut your binding fabric into strips.

Place the right side of 2 strips of fabric together and sew.

Continue sewing to create one long strip of fabric.

Once you have a long strip of binding fabric, press all of the seams outward.

Fold the binding fabric in half and press.

as the picture shows, when you reach the end of the binding fabric,

open it up a bit and finger press the end back and press.

This is so that when you join the binding together on the quilt,

you will not have any

raw edges.

Fold back over and iron in place.

The binding fabric is all prepared.

Trim your quilt so that the top, batting and backing are all even.

The rotary cutter is extremely helpful with this.

Now, using your straight pins line up the raw edge of the quilt with the raw edge of the binding fabric.

Pin in place along the edge of the quilt.

When you approach the corner,

place a pin at an angle 1/4 inch from the edge.

Then pull the fabric backwards

(see picture below)

Fold the fabric back over itself.

Pin in place at and angle.

You will have 2 pins in each corner.

This will create a small flap

Continue to pin the binding fabric all along the quilt until you approach the starting point.

Make sure you have enough fabric to overlap at the starting point.

I would suggest switching back to your 1/4 inch foot if you have one.

Start sewing your binding to the quilt, leaving a good couple of inches unstitched

at the starting point. You will join the edges later on.

When you come to a corner,

sew almost all the way up to your first pin.

It should be right around 1/4 inch from the edge.

Make sure to remove the 1st pin.

Once you have sewn to 1/4 inch from the edge,

life the needle and presser foot and pull the quilt out slightly.

Leave the thread attached.

Turn your quilt so that you may continue to sew down the next side.

Move the flap to the other side and place the quilt back under the presser foot.

Start sewing again 1/4 inch from the edge.

Continue sewing to attach the binding and use the same process for each corner.

Now to attach the binding edges.

There are other ways to do this but this way seems to work for me.

Approach the starting point.

Fold back your binding at the starting point.

Place the fabric inside the binding fabric.

Sew a couple of stitches and the backstitch so you can close the binding fabric.

Continue stitching a bit more and overlap your first stitches.

Now to close the binding on the back of the quilt.

I hand stitched this binding. You can also machine stitch a binding, but this one is special so it has been handstitched.

Using your straight pins,

pin the binding to the back of the quilt.

When you reach a corner,

fold the binding fabric at an angle (see picture below)

And then fold over itself.

Start hand stitching the binding.

I try to hide the thread between the binding fabric and the quilt backing.

Alternating stitches between the two.

Continue all the way to the end and stitch the corner down to make sure it is secure.

Continue all the way around the quilt.

And you are done!

One sweet little baby quilt!