Been Up To… Sunday, Jul 1 2007

Here are a few of the things that I’ve been up to while I’ve been away from my blog:

Training Britta. She’s three months old now and nearing 30 pounds. She’s still doing really well with her training. She’s also worming her way into our hearts. I’ll have to get a picture, but she has the most webbed feet I’ve ever seen in a retriever. We call her duckfoot because there is hardly any part of her toes that aren’t webbed!

Cleaning my sewing closet. Inspired by Tammy I organized bins, threw out some stuff and Hubby added another shelf. Best of all I put all of my in progress projects in one bin and made a list of projects to work on so when I have time I can check my list to see what I should work on. It’s working because I’ve already finished several projects off that list including:

This is a mini quilt…only 16″x20″. I just love the colors. It was fun to do a project that was so quick and gave me lots of practice on piecing triangles. (I still need more practice, but I’m figuring it out.) I worked on this this weekend while our boys were spending the weekend with their grandparents. It was so nice to spend some quiet time doing things for me and with Hubby.

I also have my queen size double irish chain quilt bound. I just need to tweak a couple of things before I can call it completely done. It’s very very warm so we won’t need it for a couple of months yet.

And I also painted Alex’s wall above his bed. He’s wanted me to do this for ages. I did it while he was at camp, and he was surprised and thrilled when he came home and saw it. He actually painted this turtle on paper and then I reproduced it onto the wall using acrylics.

I’ve been enjoying the break from homeschooling, though I am spending some time working on lesson plans for the fall. Also spending some time in prayer and bible study…something neglected for too long.

I hope you are all enjoying your summer!

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Latest Projects Monday, May 28 2007

I’ve had a very good time with my sewing machine lately. For a couple of months it has been living in our kitchen nest to the kitchen table. I put it there when I’m working on big quilts. Usually I get them done in a few days and then put the sewing machine back upstairs in my sewing room. I still haven’t finished the big quilt, but if the machine was upstairs I wouldn’t be getting this sewing done as I need to be downstairs with the puppy when she’s out of her kennel.

In the effort to decorate our house with a little personal flair, I picked up some fabric to make placemats for our kitchen table. I liked them so much I found some for my MIL’s bday. The blue/green ones are for our kitchen. The last one is just to show the quilting detail.

They are about 14″x19″ finished and really simple to sew.

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I Need a Job. Friday, Jan 19 2007

Okay. Let me clarify. A paying job. Not that I have any time for one of these.
Why? Um, because I went to a quilt store yesterday and bought the fabric I need to use as the backing for the quilt. Not cheap. ‘Nuf said.

I was talking to the ladies who work there. They were discussing the latest fabrics that had come in that they were in love with. I said, “I couldn’t work here. I’d spend everything I’d earn!” One replied laughing, “Oh, we pay [the owner] to work here!”

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Double Irish Chain in Progress. Tuesday, Jan 16 2007

I’ve been busy trying to get Alex back into homeschooling. It’s been an up and down road. We made progress again today after a setback yesterday. But in my spare time this is what I’ve been up to:

(Photo provided by Hubby…thank you for getting up so high!)

I still need to add a border and then layer it and quilt it-so still plenty of work to do. And it’s cold here now so I wish it was done. But it’s well on it’s way. Finished size will be about 97″ x 105″. Big!

I’m quite excited because I have not done many projects for us. It’s a nice pattern…not to girly for Hubby. Not too masculine for me.

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Is it just me? Friday, Jan 12 2007

Maybe it’s the lack of winter. Winter is when the weather’s supposed to be bad so you hibernate as much as possible, and with the lack of winter maybe we’re all not getting enough rest. I don’t know. But I’m feeling stressed and so is Hubby. So were the moms at Mom’s night last night. Everyone’s feeling a little thin.

Maybe contributing to my thinness is the new sewing project I’m working on. It’s a double irish chain in blues and cream. It’s going to be 96″ x 96″ when it’s done so it’s big. I have most of the top sewn together except for the border, but I have to get that all done soon so in case I’m wrong on how much fabric I need there’s still some chance that the quilt store will have it. And although it’s “work” it’s the creative outlet I need.

Fortunately, it looks to be a quiet weekend. A trip to Costco tomorrow, church and small group on Sunday. Maybe we’ll get some rest in and feel better for next week.

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The Christmas We Learned to Knit Friday, Dec 29 2006

Okay, or tried to learn to knit. Yep, on Christmas day after the company left and the kids went to bed Hubby and I curled up on the couch with two pairs of knitting needles, yarn and some basic directions. We learned to cast on and a knit stitch. We practiced. I think we both got the general idea, but we both need to work on our tension-yarn tension that is. We decided to see what else the craft store had and picked up a book (the directions online are a little confusing). It’s a fun project for us to learn together. Brian would like to make socks. I don’t know what I want to make…maybe just some more baby stuff for charity.

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The Shop is Open! Saturday, Aug 19 2006

I’m so very excited to announce that my first item is now up at my Etsy shop. I hope to have more things up soon!
Check it out!

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Upcoming stuff and other random thoughts Friday, Aug 18 2006

You probably won’t see me here much the next few days. We are having new carpet installed in our family room and office on Tuesday. This, of course, means dismantling the entire office. Fun, fun, fun…

In other thoughts, I sure have appreciated all your encouragement, prayers and support regarding my friend. I see God at work in this situation already. I know that right now is not the time to talk to her about it. She’s having a difficult time with her husband, and I don’t want to add to her troubles. It’s not that urgent. And things seem to be improving slightly right now anyway. Our last couple of phone conversations have been more in depth and…better. I may still need to approach her on this subject, but I am committed to doing it at the right time, the right way and from the right attitude (love and hope). I believe God will show me the right time and give me the right words.

I have a parenting thought I wanted to share. I shared this with the moms at playgroup yesterday and they went, “Wow, what a good idea.” I have started telling my boys to not complain. Instead, ask for a solution. Instead of, “Mom, I’m hungry.” say, “Mom, may I please have a snack?” Instead of “I can’t find it.” say, “Please could you help me find my pencil?” It’s been helpful and will be more helpful when they make a habit of it instead of having to be reminded.

Remember Dave and Julie’s quilt that I was working on? Well, I accidently sent photos of it to Dave’s parents. I’m frustrated with myself for a silly mistake, but they love it. I think they’ll love it even more when they see it in person. But since they’ve seen it, I can post them here.

Here’s Daves:

Here’s Julies:

We hope to be seeing Dave’s parents in a couple of weeks to present it to them.

The borders between the t-shirt squares are also their clothes. Dave’s plaids are from button down flannel shirts and Julies blue flannel are from her favorite pajamas. I think I’m going to try and put up directions on how I did this. When I started I tried to find directions and they were not as thorough as what it took to get these done.

Have a great weekend!

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Quilting Resumes Saturday, Jul 29 2006

I haven’t been quilting much in the last week or so because I have been busy with Dave Day and had no batting (the warm stuff that goes in the middle of a quilt to help make the warm). I knew Joann’s would have it on sale today so I put off buying it and got there at opening to make sure there was some there. They had a full bolt. 40 yards. I had been planning to stock up, but 40 yards was more than I bargained for. It takes me 5 yards to do a queen size quilt, and the lady who was helping me was sweet and petite and I didn’t want to make her cut 20 yards of the stuff so I bought the whole thing. I have now made a serious investment in this quilting thing. Time to go finish those flags and help pay the bills!

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Latest projects Thursday, Jul 20 2006

I wanted to post the latest project pictures.

Here is a part of Sam’s bunny quilt (which he loves!):

It’s quite big at 66″ X 90″ and a little rumpled from being on his bed.

Here is the Christmas quilt top that I finished this morning just before playgroup arrived:

It’s about 48″ square which included a green border that got cropped in the photo. I still need to layer, quilt and bind this one. That has to wait until the batting is on sale at Joann’s next Saturday. I will be stocking up. I also need to pick out a backing for it which will probably wait until my next trip to Red Rooster Quilts.

I have been having so much fun with this. I really am very excited about my projects so I hope you will pardon my “showing off”

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