Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Yeah, I'm a Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!!

Weird title huh? But I am soooo excited because I won in a blog giveaway! Once my winnings come I will post a picture of my goodies. What a wonderful Christmas present!


I wanted to share what I have been working off and on with you for the past little while. Can you kinda tell what it is?? lol! Well, when it's finished it will be a Christmas peppermint cupcake tree ornament. It's a small project, and if I could break away from quilting long enough I could finish it really quickly, but quilting keeps pulling me back in :) which is a good thing! I was a cross stitcher well before I was ever a quilter. I have a HUGE cross stitch project that I worked on diligently quite a bit this Summer, but it is quietly sitting there waiting for me to return. It's going to be a stunner. This is my progress on this little one since Sun.. I stitched on it while watching Quilt Cam. I will every so often show my progress, who knows maybe next time it will be almost done or done!


 
 
Well, off here to go sew - the quilting kind :)

Monday, December 10, 2012

Design Wall Monday!

Well today is Design Wall Monday and Judy Laquidara hosts this every Monday here. It's alot of fun to see a whole bunch of quilters to come together and share what we are working on, and to blog hop and enjoy some quilty goodness :)

Here is what all is going on and around my design wall this Monday....



 
 
Yesterday, me and Elizabeth (one of my twin 13 yr old daughters) helped me to lay out her soft cuddly squares on my design wall. It's that really soft Minky Fabric that has dots,prints,etc on them, and is super uber soft. This is one of her Christmas presents, and yes she does know what it looks like..lol. I snapped this pic before I sat down and started piecing it this afternoon. I managed to get 3 rows of blocks sewn together, and then those 3 rows sewn. So all I have left to do is sew the blocks and rows together for the last 2 rows. My other daughter (her twin Alexandria), picked out her quilt with this type of fabrics but in a different colorway. Also, for her Christmas.
 
 
 
 
Saturday, my wonderful daughters helped me load this onto my frame, and I have had a shortarm machine for about 5 years now. I am so thankful for their help cause my health sometimes gets the best of me. I managed to get the top border quilted and almost all of the first row of blocks Sat night. This was the project that I showed you all for Design Wall Monday last week. I hope to have it done by this weekend, as it also is a Christmas pressie for the hubby. I has the black warm flannel for the backing, as my hubby stays cold most of the time, cause of the blood thinners he is on. Hope to have a complete quilt soon, so I can give it to him for Christmas!

 
 

 
 
Here is another thing I have been doing. After I got a little burned out working with that Minky fabric (the fuzz and stretchy of those fabrics was all I could take after 3 rows...lol) I cut up 5 Batik Sat. Sampler blocks, so that I would have something ready to go and piece the next time Bonnie Hunter has her Quilt Cam! So I am 5 blocks ready for that. I got this off of eBay about 6 years or so ago, and decided it has waited long enough to be made, and would be the perfect sew along while watching her Quilt Cam. As I get blocks done I will post them so everyone can have a peek.
 
 
Well, that is about it for me on this Design Wall Monday. Plenty of Christmas projects going on right now. I told hubby a few weeks back that I am making everyone else something, and nothing for me..lol. Hope everyone had a great Monday :)

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Pincushion and Sunday Ditherings

It has been a lazy Sunday around here today. It has been chilly and rainy all day here in Western NC!

I hung out with Bonnie Hunter on her Quilt Cam from 2-4 this afternoon. I have just recently started watching her this week, and I am hooked! Love her and her way of doing things. She has a mystery going on right now called Easy Street. If you are interested in checking her out here is where you can find her : Quiltville's Quilts & Snips . She doesn't do Quilt Cam everyday, but several times a week. She encourages you to bring a project and sew along with her :)

While watching Bonnie, I worked on a cross stitch Christmas ornament. I will try and to remember to snap a few pics of my work in progress.

After watching Bonnie, I sent hubby to the grocery store to pick up a few things for me, and I made homemade (not from a can) sloppy joes, with the trimmings, including homemade coleslaw, along with tater tots. If you like sloppy joes, and use the can mix, once you make them homemade you will NEVER use the can stuff again. So delish! If anyone wants the recipe let me know. They are really easy to make!

After supper, the time had been set-up to open up our Secret Santa over on the Quilting Board, that I had mention in some earlier posts. It was so much fun opening up the box and seeing what your SS sent you. It's always fun to see what another quilter will send you, but you will at least get something you want ;) I will post pics tomorrow of all my goodies. I loved everything, and a special thank you goes out to Deborah/hearthhush!

I received this lovely pincushion from Sara/saraaev from the Quilting Board this week, and wanted to share a pic of it. I forgot to take a pic of the pincushion and goodies that I sent her :( I usually am pretty good about remembering to take pics before sending... I guess I just had a "duh" moment..lol! I love it, and she set the pins you see with it. I love the two decorative pins. I use to make them, but haven't in awhile.


Well tomorrow is Design Wall Monday, and I hope to post then :) Hope everyone had a great weekend! :)
 

Monday, December 3, 2012

Design Wall Monday - Nascar Style!

Today I got the borders put on the Dale Earnhardt Jr #88 Nascar quilt. Alot people hate doing binding, but I hate doing borders!! I don't mind binding at all...lol. But if we are to ever get a quilt done it MUST have it's borders ;)

This quilt is going to be for my DH for Christmas. I have had the fabric for this for about :blushing: 4-5 years! I will openly admit that I haven't quite enjoyed doing this one, as it's not my type of fabric. Isn't it funny how you enjoy a project more if you like it...lol!

Also, the checker blocks is NOT printed fabric, but striped pieced squares. The backing fabric is in the washer as I type. It is a Dale Earnhardt Sr #3 black soft flannel. DH was a huge fan of Sr before is tragic accident on the track.

I will be quilting it this week, and pretty much have figured out how I will be quilting it. Nothing elaborate but something nice all the same.

Here is some pics of the top all done:




 
 
 

Christmas 2012 Pictures

Our family has worked hard over the last 2 weekends to get the inside and outside ready for Christmas!Whew, is all I can say. I was so tired last Mon. that I missed Design Wall Monday, and I didn't sew a stitch :(

Me and the girls put up two trees, and today we added some more outside lights. I just love Christmas time!

But here is our efforts:






 
This is our real tree
This is our artifical tree

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Sunday Ditherings...

Yesterday we went and got our fresh live Christmas tree, and got it placed into the stand. After that I was still a little exhausted and tired from our dinner on Friday. We had our Thanksgiving on Fri. as that was what worked best for everyone's schedule. Today though me and my girls have been busy all day with putting up our huge artificial 9 foot tree, then getting lights on both trees, and got them decorated quite a bit. I still have some more to do on them! Not to mention I have to put out my table top decorations, and I haven't even started on the outside. My boys will have to help me with those. My hubby has alot of medical issues and cannot climb anymore, so therefore I am relying on their help.

Not much sewing going on, but I need to be cranking out some more Christmas gifts! Tomorrow I am going to divide my day between sewing and doing more on the holiday stuff. I also plan on getting Design Wall Monday on time :) I do need to make a pincushion and get it out soon. I am in a swap for holiday pincushions. Friday I received my swap blocks back from 2 different swaps - Funky Valentine Swap and Winter/Holidays Swap. I cannot wait to get those into tops, but until the holidays are over I am afraid they are going to have to wait. I will try and snap a pic of them and post of all the beautiful blocks I got back.

Until tomorrow....

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Design Wall Monday?? Lil Late :)

I came across Judy Laquidara's ( http://www.patchworktimes.com/2012/11/19/design-wall-november-19-2012/ ) blog, and she hosts a Design Wall Monday. Well, today is Weds., and I just got a chance to snap a few pics of what I was working on Monday. A day late and a dollar short, but hey I made it :-). I plan on getting it in on Mon. on Mon.!

This is what I was working on Monday :



 
 

 
 
This is for a Doll Quilt Swap that I am participating in, and this is the one I made for my partner. I love the way it turned out, and have pieces cut out for me one :)