Crazy Summer

Wow, it has been a crazy summer.  I have not forgotten about my blog, but have had so much going on that all my sewing, scrapping and anything creative has gone the wayside. Even this blog.  Now that school is back in session and I am down to one child during the day, maybe I will get down to the basement and clean all the legos off of MY table and get back to the things I love.

I have also started running again.  Oh my, I am absolutely in love again.  I don't know how I went so long since I have done it on a regular basis.  I even managed to run a 5K road race in August.  And signed up for an Adventure 5K in October.  So fun!

Bloggers' Quilt Festival

Wow, I can't believe I am doing this.  I am going to enter my latest quilt into the Bloggers' Quilt Festival.

I am trying so hard to put the Bloggers' Quilt Festival button here but just can't figure it out.

I have had so many people recently ask if I sell quilts (I don't think they are that good).  But, wow, what a compliment!  I have only just begun sewing.  Made only three quilts.  And two dresses.  I guess maybe someday I could sell them, but for now I just love making them for family and friends.  I haven't really made any for family yet though.  Not even one for my house.  There is one in the works though.  And more that are in the design stage in my head.  Hehe

So, which of my three quilts will I enter.  Haha.  Actually, it is an easy decision.  My last quilt.  And what perfect timing, I need to post about it finished.  Here it is.

This is a baby quilt for my son's teacher.  When we found out she was expecting, I asked him if he wanted to give her something for the baby.  Of course he said yes.  She is the most amazing teacher.  She is understanding, caring and one of a kind.  My first thought was a quilt, and again he immediately said 'Yes'.  We found out her decor for the nursery was polka dots, mostly pastel greens and pinks.  Searched different fabrics and my son picked this bundle.  It is perfect.  He also choose the pattern and the layout. 

And he chose this flannel for the backing.  He loves frogs...

I followed this tutorial. So easy...and we love how it turned out. I think Holly sewed more lines but I left it up to my son. He liked it this way, so I stopped. I like it too. I think gives a water effect on the back, with the frogs. 

  

 
That yellow wall is much prettier in person.  I promise.

 I hadn't given a thought to the binding until it came time to do it.  Ugh...what do I do.  I found some strips of the fabric fat quarters that I had left over...thank goodness.  Cut them and thought I had enough.  But I was wrong.  So I used a piece of the frog flannel.  Wasn't sure how combining the two types of fabric with work out.  But it ending up being fine.

I think what amazes me the most about this quilt is how long it took.  Not counting cutting the fabric (cuz I don't remember how long that was, not long obviously) I did this quilt in 5 days!  I never thought I could do that.
 

He is so proud of it.  And my other two love it to.  And so am I.

And that is one of my favorite photos!

We gave her the quilt on her last day. (We didn't realize it at the time) Phew!
And it made her day.  And ours, to see her so happy with it.  She said it was perfect.  It matched her room beautifully.  She even said she wanted to carry it around with her all day.  Another teacher saw her with it and asked if another teacher made it for her.  My son's teacher replied "No, you will never guess who made this for me."  She then proceeded to take it out and unfold it to show it off.  Hearing this story made me feel even better than I already did about giving her the quilt.

Thank you, Mrs. Stanhope!  We love you!

And the list grows

I just found out I am going to be an Auntie again!!!  Yay!  But that means I now have another quilt to make.  My list keeps getting longer and longer.

In no particular order, here it is:

Twin quilt for son's bed

Twin quilt for other son's bed

Halloween

Christmas

New nephew/niece

Everyday use for couch

Old t-shirts

Twin for Little Miss (thank goodness this one doesn't need to be done anytime soon...till we get a house)
Table runner
Mug rug
(dying to try the last two, but don't NEED them.  hehe)

Guess a list of my finishes would make me feel better about the list of to-dos:

Baby quilt for friend

Baby quilt for friend

(both of these quilts were much larger than baby size)

Baby quilt for son's teacher (ok, it is not finished but only needs rest of binding done and label)

Little Man is home sick today.  And I am ready for a nap.

  

Polka Dots & Frogs

Where do I start?  I can't believe it is May.  So much has been going on in our lives.  So much I can't even write about it all, there would be now possible way.

The yearbook I talked about in my last post is currently under production.  I can't wait till the kids get to see it.  I truly believe we made the best possible one we could.  There are lots of new faces and lots of school activities as well as extracurricular ones.  When we get a copy I will be sure to post a pic of it.

My oldest turned 9 this month!  Holy cow....9.  Where did time go.  He is such a great kid.  Smart, caring, funny, creative, loving...  I could go on forever.  He has his moments, but what kids doesn't.  They are stressful when they are in the moment but on a night like this, the eve of Mother's Day, I have a quiet house and after finishing the quilting to his teachers quilt (pics to come further down in this post) all I can do is think about how blessed I am to have him as my son.  And of course my other two also.  They are all so different, and I love each and everyone of them more than I ever could have imagined was possible.

The boys have been playing lots of baseball.  They are having so much fun and doing so well.  My middle boy (the one with the mohawk) is a natural.  He is trying so had to hit a homerun on the tball field.  My oldest does well too.  But he gets discouraged very easily.  His strong suit is school.   :)

Little Miss, will she is a true girl, and yet loves to get down and dirty too.  And a complete joy to be around (ok, most of the time). 

Alright, enough of that...I could go on forever, but couldn't all of us moms.

How about this quilt I have been working on.  I finished the top on Wednesday, basted it last night and quilted it tonight!  I can't believe how quick it went together.  It is a baby quilt, and much smaller than my first two quilts.

The finished top:

Quilted top:

 

Back

and a few more, just because

I followed this great tutorial that I had found a month or so back.  Maybe more.  I thought it was just perfect for this quilt.  My oldest did too.  He has had the final say on everything about this one.  From the fabric choices to the pattern to the quilting. 

My little man wants me to hurry and finish so I can get back to his quilt.  Soon, Dude, soon. :)

Oooo I almost forgot.  I used two layers of batting for this one too.  I wanted it to be nice and soft for the baby.  I was a little afraid as to how well it would quilt but I really didn't even notice.  Super psyched about that. 

I can not wait to be able to give it to my son's teacher.  I am hoping she is blow away.  She has been so wonderful this yr and I can't think of a better way to thank her.  Here's hoping she doesn't have the baby this weekend so she will be in school on Monday.

And this is just some of what has been going on...I went back to soccer...oh there is so much.

There is this blog that I just love reading.  Heidi is amazing.  Her work is beautiful and her kids are adorable.  And she is one of my followers too...hehe.  She talks about Google reader sometimes, and I never know what she is talking about.  So finally when she mentioned how many posts she has to read...she gets me thinking.  I havent been in blogland for a while, I wonder how many post I have missed.  I know that I have this google reader thing but I have never used it.  Well, I looked into it more, and now I do.  Ugh, I have 445 unread posts!  Oh boy.... I am in trouble.  But I love that I can read most of them right from google reader.  Duh.  Why didnt I know about this sooner.  Oh well.  Besides to sleeping in, and maybe finishing the above baby quilt, maybe I will sit with a great big glass of Mango Daquiri and read up on my blogs tomorrow. 

Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms out there!!!! 

Other things...

Haven't done much sewing lately.  Maybe two - three rows of my baby quilt.  I have been working on my oldest's school yearbook.  Once that is done, I will get back to sewing. 

Oh...I almost forgot!  I am going on a scrapbook retreat in June!  I am sooo excited.  Went on one last yr and can't wait to go again.  It has been so long since I got any pages done.  The ladies at the retreat may laugh at me if I bring the same album as last yr.  But unfortunately, I have to.  Yup, it's been that long.  And this time I got some friends to go with me!  That makes me even more excited. 

And it is baseball time in our house too.  I got both boys playing, one in farm and one in t-ball.  Going to be a long spring with 4 practices a week and then come May 4 games a week.  Oiy!

Design

With help from my son, I have a layout of my WIP. We tried a few layouts before we got one that he was happy with.

Please excuse the ugly brown rug beneath it.  I am hoping to have it gone this summer.

My son is thinking a solid blue for the backing.  I am a little bumming about that but it is for his teacher.  She loves polka dots and says that the room is mostly pinks and greens...maybe I can get him to do green instead.  I figure I will go with a flannel.  Hope it is not too hard to work with.  I haven't used if on a quilt yet.

 

WIP

I am being to feel like a real quilter.  I have two WIP.  Hehe, even using the lingo.  I havent touched this  in a while, but I will get to it, I promised my little man that I would.  And then there is my newest project...

Another gift...someday I will make a quilt that will be for our family to keep.  But this one is going to an amazing teacher.  This is the only way I can think to thank her for all she has done. 

And then there are these additions to my little collection that I have started... 

Not sure what I am going to make with them.  I've seen a bunch of cute things out there in blogland, and that is where I got the idea to keep my salvages.  Of course I don't remember where I saw the ones I liked, so I will have to go a search when the time is right. 

 

I am linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced, today.  Can't wait to check out what others are up too.

Time...

It is 10 o'clock in the morning.  My boys are at school and my daughter is next door having a playdate.  I have time to myself?!?  It feels very funny.  Not even sure what to do with myself.  So I checked my facebook like I always do, checked in on a few new blog postings, and now what...I guess I could post something on my own blog.

 So here I am...  Just writing. 

 No real news to update you on. 

 Except I have been not sewing, but rather doing lots of digital scrapbooking.  Yay!

In 2010, I decided that I was so far behind on my photos that I would start my yearly family albums in digital.  So I opened my Storybook Creator (an amazing CM product by the way!) and started my album.  Kept pretty up to date with it until July.  And then forget...I feel way behind.  It is now 2012 and 92 pages later, my book for 2010 is almost complete.  I have been making my last touches to the embellishments and journaling for a little over a week now.   I really am liking the way it is turning out.  My kids are going to flip over 92 pages when it arrives.

Hmmm...let's see what else have I been up too?

Oh I tried a new egg salad recipe.  I am not usually a fan of it but this recipe had been calling my name for sometime now.  I found it in a book I bought at one of my son's book fairs at school...taste of home kid approved cookbook.  It was fabulous!  So fabulous I took a picture to share it with you all.  Hehe.

  Don't you just love the fabulous easter tablecloth I have?

The wind is whipping today.  Mother Nature has decided that last weeks beautiful weather in the 80's was just a tease.  It is back to normal March weather and temperatures around here.  My kids left the house this morning in winter coats, hats and gloves.  It is hard to believe that we were at the beach last week.  It was a beautiful day...my husband was home from work for a change and so we pick up my oldest and suprised the kids with a drive. 

For the whole 45 minutes...we heard "where are you taking us" and when we finally got there, they said "why are we at the beach?" Oh well, some things never change.  They did have a blast at the playground and walking on the beach though.  And so did I.   

 

Number 2...Success!

The Hungry Caterpillar quilt is finished, labeled and gifted.  A beautiful baby girl was born on March 4th.  And she is now the proud, alright - maybe her parents are proud owners of a new quilt.

I couldn't be happier!  I am so excited about how it came out.

And the beautiful girl herself!

And so now I am onto my next quilt...one for my son's teacher.  I think I am going to let him even help with this one.  Not sure how I am going to teach him to sew when I am learning myself, but he will be so proud to tell her that he helped.  He already picked the fabric.  This lovely little bunch...

ORGANIC Little One fabric by Katie Hennagir for Robert Kaufman

Isn't it just amazing for a little girl's room that is decorated in pastel polka dots?!?

I think I am going to try and make this.  Or something like it.

Sorry

I haven't posted in a real long time.  I started a post about finishing my quilt, but never finished writing it so it never got posted.  I now have finished the label and just have to attach it.  I will then take some pics, especially since it is suppose to be beautiful out this week.  Then I will be sure to post, I promise.

Hmmm, wonder if I have any cute pictures to post...

...here's me, working on the quilt.  I am usually the one with the camera, so shots with me in them don't happen very often.

Almost there

So this weekend, I finished quilting my HC Quilt!  Machine sewed on the binding to one side and started hand sewing it to the back.  I did my first binding all by machine so this is new for me.  And very slow but I really like the look better.  I am so excited about how it is turning out.  I almost wish it was for us...hehe.  But very pleased to give it to my best friend also.  She hasnt had her baby yet (her due date was yesterday), but I am convinced she is going to have a leap year baby. 

What do I do?

I finally made time, and room to baste my Hungry Caterpillar quilt. 

Then I tackled this crazy task of quilting.  I had gone an bought a bunch of threads.  A special one for the back, and one to match the other colors of the quilt.

Aren't they beautiful?

So I started...and this happened...

Oh boy, is this gonna be a rough one.  I forgot to test my tension.  It is hard to tell in the picture but the bobbin thread can be seen on the top of the quilt!  :(    This made me very sad.  Had to dig out my seam ripper and start again.  I only did one blue square.  I don't think I even have a picture of that.  Then I decided to move onto the purple border that goes around all the blocks.  And then onto the purple pinwheels.  Here's what I ended up with.

I love how they are coming out but then I realized something...]

Do you see that puff that is forming in the middle of the pinwheel?

HELP ME!!!!

I wanted to quilt the polka dot fabric the same way as the purple but then it will puff up even more.

What do I do????

I really don't want to have to take all those stitches out and do a different pattern.   I just don't know if I can handle that.

Please. Please help me.

I am linking up today, here and here

(oh I wish I knew how to put your buttons here too.)

WIP

I haven't put together my quilt sandwich yet.  I am waiting till I know I will have time to start quilting it.  I don't want it to sit like last time (cuz I was too nervous to start the quilting).  I learned the hard way that the spray adhesive only lasts so long.  Hoping to get to it this weekend.  My horrible headcold from two weeks ago never really went away, and now I have a sinus infection.  I dragged myself to the doctors today and got medicine, but my migraine has yet to go away.  I have a huge deliberative meeting to go to tomorrow (our schools are in desperate need of renovations and enlargement), then a basketball game in the evening.  And then Sunday...well it is the Super Bowl!  GO PATRIOTS!!!!  So not sure how much quilting I will be able to get done.

Before I starting feeling worse this week, with this sinus infection, I was able to work on my little man's quilt.  I now have 1/3 of the blocks done.  Here are the new ones I worked on.    

And this one too.

I am thinking they are a bit crazy.  But he loves them.  They will look much better once they are all done and I am able to mix them up a bit.  If you look closely, you will see that a set 2 green fabrics are in the same position in each block (in the first picture).  1/3 of the blocks have these greens.  Another 1/3 of the blocks will have the greens in the above picture in the same place in each block.  And the final 1/3 will be another set of the same greens.  Make sense??  If not...I will post all three types later.

I linked up here.

...with a happy heart

I am off to bed with a happy heart tonight.  I am feeling much better than I was yesterday.

I got the backing to my quilt finished!!!

Quilt Sandwich...here I come...hopefully before the weekend.  :)

Ugh...

It has been a rough going 'round here.

I haven't worked on anything in a while.  Not sewing, scrapbooking or any other type of crafty thing for that matter.  I want to, but just can't get motivated.  I always have to pick up something (like, clutter or the kids toys) before I can even think about it.  I am just so tired of it.  And all it makes me think about is how much I want to get a new place with more space.  Unfortunately that is not happening anytime soon.  This housing market is crap and so living in our little two bedroom condo with our three children has to do for now.

Oh the things I could vent about today.  But I won't...not sure that people want to hear about my silly issues and not sure that I am ready to share just yet.  I am still new to this blogging thing.  I haven't even posted a picture of my kids yet.  How long did it take you to put more personal things onto your blog?  Did you have to overcome anxiety about doing so?  

Anxiety....oh how I greatly dislike you.

Here's to hoping that I am not so tired from my day/week that I can get to work on the backing to my quilt.  It really sounds like such a simple thing to do.  

I feel the need to leave you with a few pictures.  So here are a few pretty ones I thought might make this blah post a little more happy.  

  

 

Finished top

I added the final border...

I absolutely love it!

Just have to piece the back now.

Friday night sewin'

With my table cleared off (again), I took off down stairs, turned the heat on, and stitched away...

I was really surprised at how quickly the pinwheel blocks came together. 

And I learned something new about my machine.  I had been having a hard time with the 1/4" foot this whole time.  It didn't seem to sit low enough to put pressure on the fabric so that the fabric moved through the machine like it should.  (Does that even make sense?  For some reason, the words I want are not coming to me.)  But last night, a light went on in my head, after the foot kinda fell on its own of course (the screw holding it somehow came loose).  Well...that is when I thought...oh my gosh!  I can adjust the foot height and tighten the screw to hold it there!   Duh!  I knew that it came loose and the foot could come off but using it to adjust the height never crossed my mind.  I felt so silly.  No more holding the threads and pulling it through.  Yes, I know, I seriously use to pull the fabric through by hand.

Well...back to my quilt.  

I am so excited.  I am loving how it is coming out.  The colors are just perfect.  And I managed to get the blocks all the same size, so they lined up almost perfectly.  Part of me is going to hate giving this one away.  One of these days I will be able to make a quilt that will stay in my house. 

One more border to put on using the fabric with all the food that the caterpillar eats through, then I can work on the backing.  My husband is going out to a friend's house to watch tonight's football game (GO PATRIOTS!!!), so once the kids are in bed I think I will be watching and sewing!   

 

Happy New Year!!!

Wow, I can't believe it is a new yr already.  Oh how time flies. 

I have many hopes for this year.  I always do but have never really written them down before.  It will be interesting to look at this post a yr from now and see how many I was actually able to achieve. 

1.  My boys quilts...I want to have them done.  My daughters will have to wait until she has a big bed. 

2.  Get rid of (sell) my extra scrapbooking things.  I have way to much unopened stock and it will allow for more storage of my sewing things. 

3. New floors in my house.  The rugs I have are just plan disgusting.  And new paint on my walls.  Its been six yrs of the same colors...time for a change.  

They don't have to be in that order. Hehe

Oh I could write a book about all the things I hope to do this year.  But I figure if I am realistic maybe I will get them to come true.  

Guess what I made!!!  Pillowcases.  Real simple, I know.  They were so quick, it was great.  And boy were the kids excited to see them done so fast.  I only made two because they are flannel and my younger son is a sweatball (lol) at night.  I have to keep flannel away unless it is super, duper cold.  And besides that, the day I bought the fabric, they really didn't have any that 'fit' him.  I even got enough fabric to make a sheet to match for my daughter.  She only has one top sheet for her toddler bed, and you can't buy top sheets for them so I figured...why not make one.  

Aren't they cute?

I may had a little rick rack, but I have to go buy some first.  I wanted to get this posted because I haven't posted in a while.  And I am soooo behind on reading blogs I love.  I just haven't had the time, between Christmas, sewing, trying to digital scrapbook again, and cleaning...things around here never stop.

Hope you had a great holiday, no matter what you celebrate.  Thanks for reading my blog!

Here's to lots more sewing projects!

I've linked up with Sew Much Ado and Quilt Story.