Thursday Night Sewing

Well I did actually get something done tonight. I completed 2 of 3 blocks for our guild block of the month. I still need to write up the instructions but that is easy. Here they are..

Common Threads Block January 2012

Simple but I think that they will make a great quilt for whomever wins the blocks. I have debated getting a jelly roll to make the same quilt but I am going to pass on that until I get some other things done.
I also completed step 2 of a mystery quilt that was supposed to be worked on for Christmas eve and Christmas Day. I cut a bunch of stuff those days but wasn't up to sewing. I decided to do a scrappy christmas quilt. Here are my squares cut for clue 2:

Christmas Mystery 2011

I am working out of my comfort zone on this one. Its supposed to be scrappy and I decided to use some green fat quarters that I got through the Cotton Patch stuff your stocking deal that they had this year. They picked the greens, some that I wouldn't have touched with a 10 foot pole but its supposed to be scrappy. We will see how it turns out.. Smiles

Tomorrow is belated Christmas with my family. So tomorrow Maggie (the dog) and I are going to hop in the truck and drive to my parents house. I don't think that I will have the chance to sew tomorrow but you never know.

New Years Resolutions/ goals

Well if your like me you set a resolution or like last year a new years goal and things happen and you fall short. This year is no different I have my list of goals and things that I want to accomplish in the new year. My number one goal is to have a happy and healthy baby boy here the end of march. Having the baby is going to happen no matter what so that is one goal that I can't fall short on.

Then there is a list of other things that I would like to make happen like making sure that I have a good meal ready for Keith when he comes home at night. This past year was rough with being sick and some other medical issues and Keith alot of times would come home and make dinner even though I was home. I felt bad so that is one thing that I want to change. I am going to stay up on the cleaning through out the week so that we can enjoy the time we have together on the weekends and not be spending it cleaning house.

But this blog isn't about making dinner or cleaning my house its about my quilting and craft adventures. So I have set myself a goal of being more active on my blog, sewing or embroidering one christmas item every month until next christmas, and then of course keeping track of my stash and busting as much as I can.

The new year starts on Sunday so I am going to give myself a bit of a head start and not count the fabric that I bought at the after christmas pre inventory sales as added to the stash. But anything bought from today December 29th to Sunday is fair game. Nothing will be counted as busted until it is sewn into a project or donated to someone else. Completed tops even needing borders will be counted as busted.

So what are you doing this new years? I have fabric all cut to sew all sorts of things and hope that I have the chance to get something done.

Oh one more goal for the year sew something or be creative every week even if it means that I just meanded something or sew'd uniforms for Keith.

Friday Night Fun

Well after several months of not feeling well and having absolutely no sewing or embroidery mojo at all I actually sat down to the embroidery machine. Mom and I have been sitting here watching TV together and I have been watching her crochet and knit all sorts of things since she has been here. But a couple days ago she realized that she hadn't made her traditional ornaments to hand out to the family at Christmas and most of her patterns were at home. She had a few here and was having trouble with the one that she wanted to do so I told her that I would help her. It really is amazing what you can find when you actually read your emails. I get tons of embroidery advertisements and rarely have the time to browse them but this time I fouind some great ornaments to make for mom to give to the family. Here is a peak:

Its not the greatest picture but it was the best I could get. There are a couple embelishments that I need to finish but other than that I think that they look great. I hope that the rest of the family likes them as much as Mom and I do. Those worked up so easily that we then picked out these:

Aren't they super cute? They are little gingerbread men. Then while we were thinking about it Mom says but then the girls (triplet granddaughters/ neices) will want their own ornaments and we had only planned on making one per family. No problem I had the perfect solution.. Tiny Christmas trees that had hidden Hershey Kisses. So I proceeded to try to make those as well. Here they are:



And here is what it looked like before we laced the ribbon through to close them up. They were super easy and look great!

Well I hope that everyone else was as productive as we were. Hoping that Saterday will bring the same. Until later...



Very Unproductive Monday

Last night was a rough night I was pretty sick though were not exactly sure why. It pretty much has ruined the best of my Monday since I am still feeling the aftermath. I slept extra today since I didn't sleep well last night and have tried to eat things today that would calm the acid reflux but nothing has seemed to work. Tonight I am going to have a bake potato for dinner because it is on the safe to eat list.

The last couple hours I have been scanning through the Moda Bake Shop website and have found so many great things. As I mentioned in my last post I want to try to complete 1 Christmas project a month until next christmas and have decided to start looking for my projects now. Its too late for this year but I might get some good end of season sales.

The first on my list are some Christmas placemats using the "Table Graces" pattern.

If you haven't seen the pattern it is super easy and can be adapted for just about any holiday. Keith and I picked up fabrics for a fall/ Halloween set and a bright and cheery Christmas set. The intention was to get those cut out and kitted up so that when I was up to sewing I could sew away but was just not feeling up to doing any of that today.

I look forward to all of my up coming holiday projects even if most of them are just in my dreams at this point.

Wednesday pondering...

Well my ponderings started last night but they were too late to get them out there on my blog and I was having computer issues any way. Last night Keith asked me to come out to our front room and sit with him. When I got out to the front room he had all our Lemax Ceramic Halloween houses out and had decided to decorate the wall unit with them.

While we were out there we started talking about lots of things the baby, the up coming holidays and pretty much anything that came to mind. Keith will be missing the birth of the baby but we know that he will finally be home for Christmas. Last year and this coming Christmas he will have been deployed but in my opinion him being home for the baby's first christmas will make it all worth it.

Keith and I have found that we like to decorate for the holidays together. Our second Christmas together we went crazy with lights and decorating the yard. We even had compliments from some guys that I worked with in the navy that lived in the apartment complex across from the house we were renting.

So even though it is a a few monthss early I have already decided on a couple of my 2012 goals. The first is that I want to complete one Christmas project every month for the next year for us to decorate with for our super special Christmas. I already have some things in the works but they will need to be finished. I hope to get more than this done but 12 is a good goal.. 14 if you count the 2 months left of this year we are too far into October for me to figure something out for this month so if there is a finish for this month that is a bonus.

My second goal is to learn and make use of my Gracie II frame this would help me complete alot of UFO's. I have already ordered new tubing for the frame rails and have pulled muslin out to sew leaders and enders for the rails.

What to do with Tuesday

Goodness what to do with my Tuesday? My first thought is to think about and make a list of the things that I want to have ready to work on if I feel up to Friday Night Sew In. I actually had my days wrong and thought that last friday was sew in night and it wasn't. But I was happy to get the things that I wanted semi accomplished.

First thing that my Dad asked yesterday when he came in was "What are you working on now?" Being that I really had nothing in the works but 4 patches I showed him that and told him all about that. I am glad to see that my family likes to see the things that I make as much as I do.

I spent the day looking at old quilt magazine and craft books contemplating the projects I could make using my stash. The more I use the more Keith will let me buy later but I have to prove that I can use my stash.

Well Until later...

A case of the monday ickys

Well today has not gone as I had intended. I wanted to finish my 4 Patches and get those and Noah's Halloween costume out in the mail but am just not feeling up to it. Yesterday Mom and dad stopped by to bring back my car and there were some baby things that Mom made that she wanted to be sure that Keith got to see before he leaves in November. So they were here for a little visit and we celebrated Dad's birthday with a chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream cake from coldstone.

I was up early this morning to bake some cinnamon rolls for breakfast for the 4 of us. Mom helped me put together a pot roast in the crockpot as Keith was getting ready to leave for work. Sortly after Mom and Dad cleaned up and packed to head back to Colorado. The pregnancy ickies have kicked in so I am just feeling horrible. I have been told that when you are sick during pregnancy that means that you are going to have a healthy baby. I sure hope that is the case because I have felt so yucky.

But on a better note I have found a fellow blogger that for many more reasons can be an inspiration and sure left a bright spot in my day. I started out looking for quick and easy quilts for many reasons but mostly because I want to be able to sew something ANYTHING and at the same time I want to have something to show for it. I wanted to have quilts and things done for the arrival of our new baby and figured if it wasn't simple and fast it wasn't going to happen.

Michele Bilyeu of With Heart and Hands is fantastic! If you have a chance to look at her blog she has done alot of charity work, art quilts and has even done some fabric dying. She has tons of links for free quilt patterns and a very motivational statement about how she copes with her mothers Alzhiemers. If you are a supporter of Project Linus she has some great ideas. 

Saterday Sewing..

Well I can't say that I got a whole lot accomplished but I did get some sewing done inbetween the resting. since Keith is home we spent some quality time with each other watching the shows that he asked me to record while he was gone on the ship for the last month. He has also done alot around the house that I haven't been able to do.
My goal was only to work on my little rug and try to get some 4 patches completed to send to Regina this next week. I set up an attainable goal on my blog of 25 completed squares and I already have 69 - 2 patch blocks ready to be sewn into 4 patches and a few strips that I have yet to cut. Here are my half complete blocks..

This is all that I have to report hopefully they will be completed and ready to send to Regina Monday as planned. Since I have already cut more squares than my intended goal I am going to go ahead and change my goal to 50 squares. Until next time..

Trying to get back into blogging.....

So I figured that I would try yet again to get back into blogging if you only knew how many posts that were started and never published. I only wish that I didn't feel as if I had over tasked myself to the point that there was no time to sit down and write. Alot has happend since I last posted anything and well I'm sure that there is alot still yet to happen.

Keith returned from deployment and shortly after we found out that we were expecting no suprise right? Most people that we know are on the same family schedule because we are all on the same deployment schedule. Though most of the people we know already have their 2.5 kids and arent planning on any more.

It has been an extremely rough start for us I have been sick for most of the last 4 months and they are telling me just give it a couple more weeks.. I'm wondering how many more weeks is a couple because the dr has been telling me that for a while.

As with any other mom to be I have a list that seems like its never ending of the things that I want to make and do before the baby gets here. Keith will be deployed again so my mom will be here to help me thank goodness. I don't know what I would do with out parents like mine.

SO on with the point of this blog my quilting, sewing and crafting adventures. I have a list of things that I want to start working on hoping to finish some UFO's here before the holidays as well as make the holidays tolerable since Keith will be missing them again this year. But Ryan and Molly have decided that they and my nephew Noah are going to be here for christmas so the four of us are planning to have a good time.

Being in bed most of the time does not make it easy to do any sewing so I have over the last month dug out a couple little projects that I can work on while I am in bed. I have tons of cross stitch and things that I have had for years but I picked these from my blackhole of a stash:

 

If you have never done them or seen them they are latch hook rugs... I learned to do these as a kid and have several that have been stashed away for I don't know how long and 2 I bought in the last year that are for Keith and possibly my Dad I haven't decided who is going to get them. Right now I know that I have 4 of these small ones that measure 12 X 12 and they would be perfect to put out at christmas.. More over perfect to keep me occupied while in bed. Here is how I have done so far:

I know that is not a whole lot done but it is a start and that is good enough for me. Until the next time.....

Time for Friday Night Sew In....

Its that time of the month again time for Friday Night Sew In. Every month Bobbi of Crafty Vegas Mom or her cousin Heidi of Handmade By Heidi host a friday night sew in to encourage us to stay in and work on some of our projects. Its a great way to set aside the time to work on things that get pushed aside during our busy schedules. Or in my case a not so busy schedule. In my case it will be getting past the side effects of pregnancy and being able to get out of bed.

I am determined this week though. Keith will be home and be able to help me do some cutting and prepatory things that would make FNSI more productive. If I am not up to sewing then I have some other little cross stitch kits, latch hook rugs and goodness knows what else that I can have Keith dig out of the sewing room for me to work on.

I have fabric pulled to cut for Regina's 4 Patches 4 Hope, and am planning on working on those so that I can get them in the mail to her on Monday. I think that she has set a very attainable goal of 1000 - 4 Patches and I have set my first goal of 25 patches that I want to donate. Unfortunately with baby on the way and currently no job I cannot afford to donate money as well but will do what I can with stash.

Regina's 4 Patches 4 Hope

A Friend of mine Regina has started a project called 4 Patches 4 Hope to honor the memory of her mother who recently lost her battle with breast cancer. I plan to help her reach her goal and I hope that you might join in as well.

Heres what its all about:

4Patches4Hope began as a desire to use my passion for quilting, and the power of social media and word of mouth, to create quilts to comfort those undergoing cancer treatments and at the same time raise money for cancer research. The original timeline was to begin on Valentine’s Day, 2011 and culminate on my mother’s birthday –today - October 4, 2011.

For one reason or another, I did not get the ball rolling and start to get the word out about the project, so then I revised my start date to START on Mom’s birthday.

Unfortunately Mom’s cancer had a different timetable, and on July 12, 2011 her battle with this disease ended.

As I worked through the emotions that came after - I decided to forge forward with this project - as there are mothers, sisters, aunts, cousins, daughters, nieces, friends and more who could benefit.

The concept is simple - Make a 4 Patch... Make a Donation... Make a difference.

How to Help:

1. Make light-dark 4 patch block(s) using 2 1/2” squares (blocks should finish at 4 1/2” square).
Use any colors you like for your “dark” but please try to use white or ivory for your “light.”

2. Send the finished block(s) to:


4Patches4Hope c/o Regina Arlauckas, PO Box 363 Churchville, NY 14428

3. Please consider making a $4 donation for each block you make to the American Cancer Society via the link at The American Cancer Society or enclose a check to the American Cancer Society with your blocks. (Please do NOT enclose cash and be sure your checks are to the American Cancer Society.)

4. The goal is 1000 blocks and $4,000 by February 28, 2012.

5. Received blocks will be assembled into “comfort quilts” and donated to the Anderson Medical Center in Anderson, SC and the Pluta Cancer Center in Rochester, NY.

6. Each block donated will enter your name into a drawing for “participation prizes.”

7. Donations of backing fabrics, batting and services are also appreciated.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Share this on your own blogs...
Share this with your friends...
...Share the dream of a cure.

Design wall Monday

What was on my design wall today... well not much of anything until about 30 minutes ago. And technically it wasn't on the design wall it was on the floor. I finished cutting a quilt for a store sample and plan on sewing it this weekend. I have a bunch of things on my list that I want to get done for the store as well as done before Keith gets home. So here is what was on my design wall/ floor today...

Its a small quilt. But a quilt none the less. The pattern can be purchased at Quilter's Quarters. These are some of the post card patterns that we carry from Villa Rosa designs. They are quick and easy patterns.. I have made 2 so far and this is my 3rd. A 4th is in the works.

Well I made it!! Two Days in a row lets see if I can make it 3

Until later!!

Wow I Can't belive its almost the end of April.

Boy does time fly.. even when your not having fun. Keith is still deployed though there does seem to be a light at the end of the tunnel there. Things at Quilter's Quarters are going well. I'm still plugging along. We have gone to 2 Quilt shows since I last posted and are preparing for our Heart of the Valley Shop Hop so we have been really busy. As those of you that have done shop hops know each shop has their own block and then puts together their own version of what the completed quilt should look like. Here is a peek at our quilt.

The staff at the shop put most of the squares together, I did a couple and then I assembled the top with the advice of Linda the shop owner. She told me what she wanted it to look like and I got to work. We were pretty happy with the out come.

I have done a couple other shop samples but looking at my pictures it looks as if I haven't taken pictures of them so I will have to do that this week so that I can get back into posting. I have quite a few things that I plan on getting done before Keith gets home still and mom is here helping me. This weekend I tried to cut some kits that I had so that I could just sew through out the week but that was unsucessful.. I miss cut some things and had to search the internet for replacement fabric. Luckily I was able to replace the panel and the 1/2 yard that I miss cut. What the cutting table looked like after some not so nice words.

Tomorrow will be spent working on things in the shop for our Mothers day sale coming up and then hopefully I will have some time to sew or embroider. Well I am off to bed its late and I open at the store tomorrow.

Until Later ,