Saturday, November 17, 2012

My Namesake

So many of you may be wondering how I got my name or if it short for something.  Well, it is not short for anything.  It is Toye, just Toye.  I was told two different stories growing up on how I was named, one by my next oldest cousin and one by my parents.  Of course I believed my parents, they are the ones that gave it to me. But I will share both for fun.

My next oldest cousin, Lyna, was about three years old when I was born.  She swears to this day that when I was born my parents asked her what my name should be.  She says since I was born in January and she was soooo young, the only two words she could think of were Toys and Santa Clause.  Bahahaha.  I just crack up at this story every time she tells it.  Like anyone would trust a three year old to name their child for the rest of her natural born life. I still love her.

The real story is my dad is a classical pianist, and I was named after a piece of music written by Giles Farnaby (c. 1563 - November 1640), "A Toye".  It has always been told to me that this was a favorite piece of my parents and that my father still had the sheet music, but it was one of his many boxes of sheet music.  I had never even thought to look it up on the Internet until the other day, one of my patients asked me why I had not used the wonderful resource of the world wide web to find it.  Well today I did and I was very pleasantly surprised that I love it also.  So much so that I set it as the ring tone on my phone.  Okay, maybe that's a little overboard.  So to be a little more overboard, I thought I would share it with you.




Okay enough of that.  Onto one of my favorite tutorials I have found this week. This tutorial for making Plump Partridges for your Christmas tree by Modest Maven. Are they not adorable?  I will be taking this pattern with me this week to make some of these with my MIL and my grandbabies.  I am so excited.  Oh and my dear MIL has told my husband that she plans on sending me home at the end of the week with a very special gift.  I can't freaking wait!

And now for what I have been working on this week.  My first real quilt top.  I am currently working on my first disappearing nine block topper.  I am so in love with that fabrics and even was able to incorporate some fussy cats (I just learned this term this week, so proud lol).  I am not nearly finished with the quilt, but I did Finish two rows : ).





Thursday, November 8, 2012

Come, let's sew!

Oh, I am so excited about starting this blog.

My name is Toye, and I am a new quilting addict. There I said it. So a little about me.  I have sewn for years, 21 to be exact.  This has been an on and off love affair for me.  When my daughter was little, I would make outfits for her.  Then I would get the bug to sew and find something to make here and there.  But recently, I discovered a love for making quilts.  Well, to be honest I have only completed two rag quilts to date, but I have started on my first pieced quilt top and I am loving it!

My dear husband was so sweet to spend the day with me last Friday at the Houston International Quilt Festival.  Oh my goodness, I could have spent so much money.  I did spend some on a couple of patterns and lots of fabric. It was amazing to say the least. All those beautiful quilts.  What talent these ladies have. I could only dream to be that talented.

So I thought I would share with you my first two rag quilts first.  This one with the browns and blues is first one I made.  I loved it so much when it was finished that it went straight to my bed!



This one with pinks, yellows and blues was made to be sold, but I'm thinking of giving it to my daughter for Christmas.  She is bugging me almost everyday for her own quilt now.  Gotta love her. These fabrics were from Joann's and Hancocks.  I have just recently discovered all the designer fabrics avalible at quilt shops.


And this is my newest project.  My first few blocks for my first pieced quilt top.  I am using fabrics are from Ruby by Bonnie and Camille for Moda.




Well that's all I have for now folks.  Hopefully I will have more time next week to work on more blocks and I think I really need to get started on a quilt that my dear husband told my MIL I was making for my FIL for Christmas.  Men! 

Linking up to Finish it Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts and TGIFF at Quilt Matters and Richard and Tanya Quilts