Relaxing and enjoying the day, Youtube and Merry Christmas

I got to sleep late this morning as I'm off from work today...woo hoo!  My husband got up early and left the house so he could do some last minute shopping (along with all the other husbands and men out there..) So, I got a cup of tea and decided to read my email. In one of my emails, there was a link to some of the new videos on Youtube and I decided while I was still trying to wake up that I would watch some of these.  I clicked on one of my favorites and it was Jenny Doan's video and it was about Applique.  It's a 4 part series and has Jenny Doan and Jan Patek.  It was very enjoyable to watch and has me wanting to do some applique...I've done applique in the past and it is not one of my favorite things to do but I'm going to give it another go next year.  I'm finishing up projects and I do have some applique to finish so these videos came in handy and I'll watch them again to review how to tackle my applique challenges next year.  I've had a relaxing morning watching these and have enjoyed my morning thinking and planning some things to finish up in the new year.  I have two more packages to wrap and then I'm going to start making a dessert for tomorrow.  I didn't get my quilts finished for my granddaughters for Christmas like I wanted but I'm not feeling guilty at all about them. They will get them for their birthdays instead and I haven't stressed about them at all.  I've enjoyed shopping for them and getting my house ready for Christmas instead of stressing out. 
I finished one charity quilt over the weekend and I'll take it to the meeting in January to give out. I have two more quilts to finish over the holidays and these are priority but I'm still not stressing out.  I'm relaxing and enjoying the Christmas season and I hope you are too.  I pray that everyone reading this will have a blessed Christmas. 



If you want to enjoy the video that I wathced, here it is....there are 3 other videos after this one and you can see those on Youtube. 

Craftsy website is having a sale...

I have been a member of Craftsy for a long time.  I love this website.  There are alot of free classes on this site and lots of inspiration.  There are alot of great teachers on the site too.  They are having a great sale.  Classes range from free to $25.00.  There are alot of classes for $9.99 and $14.99 that are quilting related. The great thing about this site is once you sign up for a class, you can view it as many times as you want to and also it does not expire....I have used this for knitting, crochet and quilting too..I just bought the Jenny Doan class for $14.99. It is a beginner class but I always learn something from her. I love her Youtube videos. If you are not familiar with her, she is from Missouri Star Quilting Company and she offers a daily deal on her website. She has alot of quilting videos and she's a great teacher. I also bought another class from Pepper Cory on Scrap Quilting. She is also a wonderful teacher.  Anyway, this sale is only for a little while (until Dec. 24th)  and I wanted everyone to know about it.  Here's a link for you to go to Craftsy quickly.  You do have to join the site to take any classes or to look at the site, but it is free to join....Go check them out, you won't be disappointed.  These classes would make great gifts to a quilting friend!  

http://www.craftsy.com/

Merry Christmas

This week was busy with parties, Christmas concerts and shopping.  Yes, it's true I am still not finished shopping but I might just have to say I'm through. My feet hurt so bad last night, I didn't want to even go eat! 

I have been looking at blogs today while playing with Carmen.  It's so good to read and catch up on what everyone is doing.  Now that Carmen is laying down for a nap, I'm going to try to go sew a little. I just wanted to check in with everyone and say Merry Christmas to you.  I hope everyone is healthy, happy and that you are having a wonderful holiday season.  Hopefully, you will be getting all of your projects finished in time for giving but if not, try not to get too stressed out over it.  Gotta go for now and get busy, Merry Christmas to all!!! 

No heat, hot water or stove, oh my! A birthday and an anniversary too.

This weekend was not a great weekend.  I'm glad it wasn't too cold as we had no heat, hot water or stove.  We came in Thursday night and noticed a slight gassy smell outside. We went over to our propane tank (we live in the country) and there was a strong odor. Normally, there is no smell unless you get close to the end of your gas in the tank.  We felt along the regulator and could feel air coming out of it.  Not good...We didn't turn the heat on or turn any fires on Thursday night. First thing Friday morning, my husband called our gas company and they came out to check the leak.  Yes, there was a leak at the tank and some place else.  They couldn't locate the leak so they capped off the tank and said we had to have a plumber come out before they could turn us back on.  We called about ten different plumbers and no one was certified for LP gas.  We finally found one but he was out of town until Monday.  He could come see us then.  Ok, no heat, no stove, no hot water....I'm just glad it was warm here in Texas!  We went and took showers at my son's house and my MIL's too over the weekend.  The only way I could cook was the microwave and I did a few meals that way but then I had dirty dishes and had to heat water to wash them.  Wow, I am so glad I didn't live in pioneer days, those women had it rough!  The plumber came out today and there was another leak but it was also on the outside of the house. Our pipes in the house were ok.  So glad of that!  We were worried it was going to be hard to find the leak...He said we probably had this leak for a long time and just never realized it.  It's nice to have hot water again and I can take a bath at my own house! First thing we did was turn the dish washer on and wash some clothes. Now to take a shower in my own house! 


I  did sew a little this weekend but it was just my nine patches for the month.  Forty more nine patches!  Only 2 more months to go, whoo hoo! 

Sunday was our 34th wedding anniversary and we went out to celebrate, looked at a few Christmas lights and went and showered at my MIL's. 

Tonight, we went out to dinner again to celebrate my sweet husband's birthday today....Now, we are watching a football game and relaxing.  Life is back to normal. 
I'm hoping this is our last thing to go out for awhile.  We've had the air conditioning go out, our hot water heater had to be replaced, my internet connection was faulty and now the gas connection...I'm glad these were all fixable and we were able to figure them out but I'm ready for some relaxation time.  Ah, the joys of owning your own home!  We were planning on putting new floors in the house over the holidays but we've decided to put that on hold.  We are just going to relax and enjoy the season.  I hope you are enjoying the holiday season and getting to sew or craft too. Til next time, happy sewing!

No words can express my feelings.

My heart and prayers go out to everyone effected by the Newtown tragedy. 

A Love quilt and some finishes!

I have a wonderful quilt to show you. This is a lovely little quilt made for a tatting friend that is going through chemo for colon cancer. My tatting friends and I made the blocks.  That's right, my tatting buddies.  A few of these lovely little ladies are quilters but not everyone.  Two of the blocks have crochet on them. Some of them have tatting as embellishing .I will be quilting this and hopefully be finishing it and giving it to my friend by next week.  I gotta get busy! I'll show you this again when it's quilted and bound...The picture does not do justice to this wonderful Love quilt.  I'll try to take better pics when I'm finished with it...

 

This is a small wallhanging I finally finished.  I love drunkard's path quilts but hate the name...

I made this one a while back and just finished quilting this on my new machine.  Lots of fun!

 

 

 

 

These last two were also quilted on my new machine.

 

This one was alot of fun.  It doesn't look like much in the picture but I love this quilt.  I did all kinds of quilting on this one. It was one of those I practiced on...I wasn't worried about messing it up and I really enjoyed doing it.  This will make a great picnic quilt or cuddle quilt...

 

And, here's my latest swap blocks.  I only have two more sets to do and our swap will be finished. Then I can start putting this quilt together. I can't wait!  We have been exchanging blocks all year and I've gotten some get blocks. This will be a beautiful quilt! 

 

That' it for now, I hope you all are having a great holiday season.  I've been to two parties already and have two parties to go to next week. I love this season. It gives me a chance to get together with friends and family and have great times.  Thanks for stopping by and I hope you are having time to sew too. Until next time, happy stitching! 

Back up and running.

Finally, I'm able to blog again.  My computer connection has been out for many weeks and I was not able to post or even go online.   We first thought  that it was my computer,  but found out quickly it was ok...figuring out the problem was hard.  My service guys finally figured out the problem and got it fixed. I won't bore you with the details but I'm glad I can get on and see what everyone is doing.  I could use my Iphone but it's not too much fun to see things on it so small.   I do have a few things to show you and I hope you didn't give up on me by not posting. 

The first thing I want to show you is my Christmas present quilt.  I love this.  I almost gave up on the border and just put a solid fabric and called it finished  but I'm so glad I didn't do that.  I used 2 1/2" squares and did a double border with them.  I want to quilt this one soon but it doesn't look like it will be ready for this Christmas...I have too many quilts on my quilting stack right now that have priority. 

 

Here's two quilts I quilted for a friend.  Yes, they look almost exactly alike...She made these for charity quilts and gave them to me to practice on. She was very pleased with them and they were fun to do too.  

 

I made this block for a friend of mine going through Chemo.  The girls in my tatting group all made blocks and the quilt is being put together by another friend of mine.  I'll be getting the quilt back tomorrow to quilt it so you will see the whole quilt soon.  The fabric in my block was Quilt for a Cure fabric from several years ago.  I was given a love quilt that had some of this fabric in it when I was going through my chemo years ago.  I made two quilts using this fabric and I had a small amount left over and just had to use it for my friend.  I know she will love this little love quilt. I can't wait to get it back. I've seen the blocks and they are wonderful but I haven't yet see the quilt together yet...

 

 I hope you are having a wonderful holiday season and enjoying your family time. Last week, we went to Holiday in the Park one night and here's a picture of my son and his little family...The little person in the middle is why I'm not sewing as much as I used to!  I keep her on Friday nights and  Saturdays and she keeps me hopping! She's alot of fun and I really enjoy my time with her.  She loves fabric and colors and I hope she will be a future quilter!

 

Here they are again with my sweet husband. 

 

 

Yesterday was my youngest grandson's (Trent)  4th birthday!  Time sure goes quickly! I can't believe he is already 4...We went and celebrated his birthday. He had a soccer birthday party.  So much fun!

 

Ok, gotta get busy now.  I'll have more to show later in the week. Please come back and see me.  Until next time, happy quilting....

 

A Few Things to show..

I don't know what it is here lately but I just haven't had the time to blog.  Hopefully, things will change and I can find the time to post.  I have been very busy with family. I've been sewing a little too and here are some of the things I've been working on....
I'm trying really hard to figure out my machine and it's a slow process but I'm getting there.
I quilted this little lap quilt. This was the first quilt for me on my TinLizzie.  This one is quilted and ready for binding.  Hopefully, I'll get better quickly and will be able to quilt my quilts like I want. I have been watching all kinds of videos on Youtube and reviewing all my quilting books.  That's another thing that's kept me from blogging.  There's just not enough time in the day to do it all! 

Anyway, this one is quilted and I'll be binding it soon.

 

This is a little quilt I made with leftover blocks from another project.  I made my oldest son and DIL a king size quilt out of these fabrics.  It was a Yellow Brick road pattern and I didn't use these blocks. I've had these laying around for about six years.  So, I grabbed these up and put them together. I found the fabric in my stash for the borders and now it's ready for quilting. 

 

This next one is the same way. These were blocks that I've had for a while. I did some demos at my local guild and group on how to do these 3D bow ties. I grabbed these up and put them together and pulled the brown fabric out of my stash for the borders.  Now, it's ready for quilting....

 

This top was given to me to practice on with my quilting machine.  I don't know who made it but she used all kinds of fabrics in this one. She put scraps together to make small pieces for this quilt. Now that it's quilted, I love it...It will be a good snuggle quilt or picnic quilt and be well loved.  It is now ready for binding too. It was fun to quilt this one and not worry if I messed it up.  I played around alot on this one and had a good time. I guess that's another reason I like this quilt.  It's a big quilt and has no border.  It really looks alot better in person....

 

These Christmas blocks are what I worked on this weekend.  Every year, my small group puts together a quilt for the church we meet in as a thank you to the church for allowing us to meet there.  This year it was decided we would be doing a Christmas quilt.  Everyone has been asked to make two blocks and turn in 5 strips of the fabric that we used to make a piano key border. (See the little strips at the top of the block, that's what those are for.)  I made one of these quilts last year and actually I'm still working on it.  I have the quilt all together except for the outside border. I decided to make the border a double row of 2 1/2" blocks...I have been collecting Christmas fabric and have three complete borders done and half of the last border. I'll be showing you the finished top soon....

 

These two dresden plate blocks are for our Christmas drawing.  We have two drawings a year.  One in the summer and one at Christmas.  The more blocks you make, the more chances you have to win.  I hope I win.  I love this block and it was so much fun to make.  I used the EZ Dresden ruler to make these.  

 

I also made these blocks for my scrap quilt.  Leftovers from my other projects and I put together 13 other DP4 blocks but didn't get a pic.  I'll show you those later. 

 

I hope everyone in the storm's path will be safe, please take care.  Until next time, happy sewing.

 

Catching up again! Some swap sewing and retreat hi-lites.

Last week came and went and I just couldn't find the extra time to blog. I was busy every night.  I had to make some choices and the computer didn't win...

Since the last time I blogged,  I went on a quilt retreat with my friends and had a great time.   I only finished one thing but I  got a few things further along too.  Good food, good friends and relaxation.  It's so nice to get away and not worry about making dinner, answering the phone, cleaning, laundry, etc, etc.  Nothing but me time.  That's what I like about retreats. I can sew until I'm too tired to sit any longer or take a walk or even a nap.  Of course, I didn't do those things. I just sewed and sewed. and ate and talked alot!  I took my tatting and my knitting but didn't touch either one.  We did make a trip into the local quilt shop and I bought a new project too.  Like I needed another project, right?  I saw this quilt and just had to have it, it was beautiful and I didn't want it to get away from me.  I'll be starting it soon but I have to finish at least 3 things first.  I started out telling myself I had to finish 5 things but decided to lower it to 3!  Ha, ha, I don't know if I can wait but I'm going to be patient and get some small things done first. 

When I came home Sunday, I was so tired. I brought all of my stuff in from the car and put my sewing room back together. I planned on sewing some but it just didn't happen. I sat in my chair and started watching some TV I had recorded and fell fast asleep. No sewing that day or the rest of the week either.   I didn't get to sew again until this past Saturday afternoon!  Last week was busy with grandkids and friends and family but no time to sew. I did watch TV one night and I knitted for awhile.  I'm still working on my Wingspan shawl. 

Saturday, I planned on finishing my blocks for my current swap but I only sewed on them a little while.  The grandbaby didn't want to cooperate and take a good nap. I had to finally put my sewing away and play with her....What a sacrifice! Not!

 Sunday afternoon, I was finally able to finish them up.  I made my 5 blocks for my swap this Thursday....These blocks took me forever!  Have you ever made a block and had to unsew it because it wasn't right?  Well, these blocks and I didn't get along at all.  I used fabrics for the outside triangles that were two different fabrics.  I had enough to do 3 blocks of one fabric and the other two were supposed to be the other fabric. I had to unsew them because the outside triangle fabrics weren't the same. I wasn't paying attention and sewed the wrong fabrics on the blocks.  They looked almost alike and I started to leave them as they were but I just couldn't stand it. I had to rip out.  I got my trusty seam ripper out and unsewed them. Then, I was stupid enough to sew two blocks wrong again!!!!I didn't think I would ever get these simple blocks done.  I was so aggravated with myself.  I was trying to watch Felix Baumgartner jump out of that balloon 24 miles up and I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing.  OMG, I am so glad those are done too! 5 blocks took nearly all afternoon but I finally got them done.  One more thing out of the way for the month! If you click on the pics, you can see how close the fabrics were....

One of my accomplishments at retreat was my 40 Nine Patches for the month. I love mindless sewing when I'm with someone.  I can chat and sew and not have to think about what I'm doing.  These weren't so bad this month.   We are down to only 4 more months and we'll have enough nine patches for the quilt... Yay! 




I wanted to show you what I worked on at retreat.  I decided I would make both my granddaughters the same quilt.  I think I told you that last week.  Well, I got alot of the blocks done at retreat.  I still have more to do but I am alot further along on this now.  I ran out of white fabric and had to buy some more.  That was my main reason for going to the quilt shop at retreat.  I couldn't stand the temptation though....

Can you tell there are two quilts on my design wall?  I still have some more blocks to make. I'm making them 6 X 8. I'm trying to make them both alike but I have a few blocks in there that are different. The colors are the same but the fabric is different, but just a few.   I think I still need about 20 more blocks.  I have so enjoyed making these blocks.  I even showed the girls at retreat how to make these and they started making some too.  These are my Disappearing 4 patches I've been working on for the Scrappy Rainbow challenge this year.  I've already decided what my borders will be for these two but have to find the fabric.  All of the fabric used is scrap except for the white. I had to buy extra white on white fabric as I used all of mine from my stash.  I hope my sweet granddaughters will like them. 

 

Now, here's a few pics of what some of my friends did at retreat....

 

Karen was working on a Trip Around the World quilt....

 

 

Ruth and Jessica (Mother and daughter team) worked on this beautiful Christmas quilt. Click on the picture and see how pretty this quilt is.  They almost finished this one. They still had to add the beautiful border on it when they left...This was a kit they bought a few years ago. The daughter will get this one...

 

This is a quilt that Judy was working on. The pattern was in a McCall's quilting mag from 2005. 

Some Christmas Dresden blocks. Glenda did these and they were going to be for our Christmas challenge swap but she liked them so much she decided to keep them and make a runner out of them.  She bought two fat quarters and made 5 dresden plates.

 

 

This is Witch Judy...she dressed up for us the last day we were at retreat.  So cute but I wish I had taken a pic of her socks...

 

 

 

Weekly happenings and a few finishes.

Time flies whether you are having fun or not!  It's already Thursday and I only have one more day of vacation... Wow!  I have gotten a little done but not near as much as I wanted.  Mainly because my husband is off with me. Need I say more?   Anyway, we have been going here and there this week and I've gotten a little sewing done. I had planned to sew and quilt on my new machine this week but not too much of that has happened.

Monday, we both went to the dentist and had our teeth cleaned. We then went and got my MIL and took her to lunch. We went to Joann's aftewards and I helped her pick out some fabric for her butterfly quilt.  We got the sashing, border and binding fabric for her quilt.  She was thrilled to find just the right fabric for her project.  I can't wait to show you but I'll have to help her first.  You'll see it in a while.  After Joann's we went to the Salvation Army and a new Goodwill store.  I had never been to either one of these and always wanted to ... I was disappointed in the Salvation Army story. I had heard so many great things about it and was surprised that it was so clean and neat. I thought it would be more like a junk shop.  What I had pictured in my mind was not what it was.  I like to look at thrift stores and antique stores too.  I don't know why or what I'm looking for but I do enjoy browsing.  At the Goodwill store, I bought two quilt books.  I didn't have either one of these and I got them for cheap!  We then went to my son's and DIL's house for dinner.  It was a fun day but we were gone all day! 

Tuesday, we got up and went to the golf course but they were having a tournament and we couldn't play. We went to breakfast instead.  I do not play golf but watch it alot and my husband has always wanted me to go with him. I told him I would. He is so supportive of my hobbies, I have to do the same for him. I started to say, reciprocate but was afraid I couldn't spell it right!  Hah, fooled you, didn't I?  After breakfast, we came home and I did get to sew.  I finished quilting this little wallhanging and started quilting a little placemat too.  I bound both and finished both on Tuesday night.  Oh boy, if I can do two projects every day, maybe I'll get alot done on my vacation.


I made this little wallhanging at the end of last year but didn't get it quilted to hang at Christmas.   The border fabric is holly fabric and I quilted little holly leaves in the border. I quilted this on my sewing machine and I'm still not a great free motion quilter so you won't be seeing a close up!  They say to practice, practice, practice so you will get better. Well, I thought I would finish all my small projects on my machine and tackle my larger projects on my quilting machine.  Anyway, I won this little kit at my small group last year and really like it.

 

I made this cute little pumpkin placemat. I quilted the pumpkin like a pumpking and I put maple leaves in the brown squares.  This was fun to do.

Wednesday came and we got up and went to the golf course.  It was so nice on the course.  We got there early and it was breezy and cool.   I took a book, my knitting and some tatting along just in case I got bored.  I didn't.  I drove the golf cart and enjoyed the course, the scenery and looking at the beautiful homes or backs of the homes on the course.  It was actually alot of fun. 

My dh comtemplating his shot...

 

It was nice and breezy (almost too breezy) and there were butterflies and bugs everywhere.  Squirrels too. I don't think I've ever seen so many butterflies before.  They kept landing on me. I think they were resting their wings.  Well, one of them must have told the others that I was ok, I think 10 or twelve of them landed on me during the day. Is that supposed to be good luck?  I hope so. It was fun to see all of them flying around. 

The wind never died down.  We finally came off the course before it got too hot.

 

We stopped for lunch and then went to Hobby Lobby to see if they had another skein of yarn I needed. I bought some fabric to put on the borders of my Bento Box quilt. I got these blocks back last

 week and was thrilled with the exchange. These are the blocks on my design wall. I was auditioning fabric for the edges.  I liked it but it was too busy.  I bought triangle fabric and border fabric too.

  We came home and laid down to rest for just  a few minutes.  A few hours later, I got up and went and sewed on my Bento Box quilt.  I decided on the layout and sewed all the blocks together. Then, cut up the fabric I bought for the triangles and outside borders.

This morning I got up early. My number one son called and woke me up...He called to let me know traffic was bad and to tell me happy birthday.  Yes, today is famous, it is my birthday. Anyway, I got up and finished putting the bento block quilt together.  Now, shield your eyes....are you ready, maybe you should put some sun glasses on first...Now, are you ready?  This is a little out of my comfort zone but I think it turned out ok.  The yellow is a little bright but I kept seeing it in the quilt and the green too so I wanted to bring both of them out.   I don't think it glows in the dark but I guess I'll find out. 

 

Well, now I'm going to break for lunch then go upstairs and see if I can get my quilt machine working.  Til next time, happy sewing!

FNSI with Heidi and Bobbi and friends!

Last night, I went to the church to "sew" with my friends.  Some of us sew, some knit, crochet, tat, eat and of course, just talk....
Last night, I knitted for awhile, ate, talked and tatted. I am teaching a friend of mine to tat at this little group and she's helping me with my knitting.  She's a knitter, crocheter, sewer and now she wants to tat too. She's doing great.  She's picking it up really quickly. It took me forever to learn to "flip" my thread but she's already got it. She'll be showing me tricks before long!  Anyway, I worked on my knitting project for awhile and here's what I worked on!  It's called Wingspan and is a free pattern off of Ravelry... I am onto the second triangle in the shawl and it's coming along slowly.  I am not a fast knitter but I enjoy the process. Now, I have to get busy and work on my projects for today. I'll post more later.  Have a great day!