Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Liebster Award! What??



OMGoodness! I am so honored to have been given the Liebster Award by Heidi at Red Letter Quilts. I had seen this on other crafty blogs, but never dreamed that anyone would ever nominate me.  I never win anything, and I mean anything.  So let me share with you the bases of this award.

The Liebster Award, otherwise known as the Love Blog Award, is given by a blogger to a new blogger to promote appreciation and recognition in the blog-o-sphere. The blog must have less that 200 followers or be less than 6 months old.  The nominated blogger must write a post with the following:

11 Random things about themselves
Answer 11 questions posed to them by the blogger that nominated them
Choose 11  blogs to pass on the award to
Post 11 question for nominated bloggers to answer

I would like to follow in Heidi's footsteps by first listing my 11 nominees:

1. Wasn't Quilt In A Day
2. Berlin Quilter
3. Way Up North Sweden
4. Sew Simple Life
5. Miss Marker's Quilts
6. Late To Create
7. Joy For Grace
8. Down The Avenue
9. Walking Life's Path Again
10. My Quilts And Other Stories
11. Pretty Lady Baby

Now to answer Heidi's questions:

Q.  Cats or Dogs?
A.  DOGS.  I am so allergic to cats that I can hardly be around them at all.

Q.  AM or PM person?
A.  PM if I don't have to work the next day, but right now I'm working 6 days a week between two jobs while waiting for my dear hubby's disability case to go through our wonderfully slow court system.

Q.  Sand or Snow?
A.  Sand for sure.  I live 20 minutes from the beach and I love it that way. I do wish it was Hawaii instead of Galveston. : )

Q.  Floral or Plaid?
A.  Floral.  I love anything shabby chic.  You can't go wrong gifting me anything pink and floral.

Q.  Warm or Cool colors?
A.  Warm colors for my clothing, I am a ginger.  Cool for home decor.

Q. Favorite Flower?
A.  Star Lily for my table, and Daffodils for the garden.  My dad always had a daffodil garden when I was growing up.  He even chased down a young man one time because he had cut and taken some from his flower bed.  Yes he did take them back and put them in a vase for my mom on the kitchen table. Love.

Q. Who would you like to have lunch with if you could?
A.  My mom.  I miss her so much.  She passed away of breast cancer when I was 13.  Did I say how much I miss her?

Q.  Hotel or tent?
A.  Hotel or no-tel.  That is all I have to say about that.

Q. Your first quilt pattern?
A.  Rag quilt was my first quilt, but my first actual pattern was Royal Squares Quilt by Emily

Q.  How many UFO's do you have stashed?
A.  Two, only because I finished one today.  If you count the ones I have bought fabric for, but not started on then 5.

Q.  What is missing in your fabric stash?
A.  Solids and modern prints.  Most of my stash, 90%, is older prints given to me by my MIL.

11 Random things about me:

1.  I love to bake, but hate to clean up the kitchen.
2.  I have 2 beautiful grand-kids  but am dying for my daughter to finish college, get married, and have me a whole batch of grand-babies   LOL.  I know, I know, don't rush her.
3.  I had my daughter 1 month after turning 17. I am determined that my daughter and son will not have children before they are finished with college and hopefully happily married.  But college is a must hands down.
4.  I am learning to play Chess with my son as I write this.  He is awesome.  And so handsome.  And so smart.  And I love him so much.  (I love my baby girl, 21, also so much)
5.  I am a breast cancer survivor of 2 1/2 years now.  I found one out of three lumps when a coworker turned around and caught me on the breast with a fingertip while she was flailing her arms around.  Thank God for down time and messing around on the clock at work! Two were stage 0 and the other was stage 1.
6.  My husband was my boss when I first met him.  I know, I'm so naughty.
7.  I am an only child and always wished I had siblings.  Being an only child can be very lonely at times.
8.  I love the show Sons of Anarchy and secretly, or not so secretly, am IN LOVE WITH Jacs.  SWOON
9.  I want to go see Bruno Mars at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo so bad.  That is one sexy little Hawaiian.  Or maybe it's just his songs.  Hmm
10.  I am married to the biggest Adele addict on the planet.
11.  This is the first time I have actually stuck with blogging for any length of time.

11 Questions for my nominees: 

1.  What is your favorite meal to make at home?
2.  What is your favorite color?
3.  Mountains or Ocean?
4.  What would be the first thing you would buy if you won the lottery?
5.  What is the name of your favorite teach in school and what made them special?
6.  If your house was threatened by a wild fire, what would be the first thing you would pack in your car besides your family and pets?
7. Rock or Country?
8. What is your biggest accomplishment?
9. What is your favorite song from the 1980's?
10.  What was the name of your first pet?
11.  Bungie jumping or Sky diving?

And now on to my finish for this week. I went in to work today and was sent home within 6 minutes due to the lab only having 1 stress test scheduled.  Yay! An unexpected day to play with my sewing machine.  So I decided to pull out one of my UFO's and make something with it.

My first disappearing 9 patch squares and pieces had been sitting in a drawer since before I started this blog.  I originally pulled it out today thinking I would make a table runner with it.  But then as I was quilting it, I kept seeing it as a bag.  And that is exactly what it became.  I didn't have a pattern, so I just winged it using ideas that I had seen in different tutorials around the web.  I incorporated zigzag quilting I had seen done by AmandaJean at Crazy Mom Quilts.  My machines zigzag doesn't stretch out like hers does so I did a zigzag over the seams of the disappearing 9 patch blocks. Second, I added binding to the inside of the top edge of the bag. Next, I used the quilt as you go method to close up the side seam of the bag so as not to have an unfinished seam inside the bag.  I then seamed the bottom of the bag and added 45 degree corners. I finished the binding and added some quilted straps.  I made sure the straps were wide enough and attached firmly to the bag so that it won't fall apart while carrying something heavy.  It's not perfect, but I made it and I am very proud of it.  Please leave me a comment letting me know what you think.




I also finished my block for the February Simply Solids Modern Bee.  Dorrylu from Be Crafted had us make an improv log cabin.  I was not crazy about this block at first, but as I started working on it I fell in love.  It is based on a painting she loves. 


Isn't it beautiful? I think it is just luscious.

Thanks for stopping by my blog, come back soon.  Better yet follow me! : )







Thursday, January 24, 2013

Visit Your Local Quilt Shop Day & More


Today is Visit Your Local Quilt Shop Day and I did just that! I first headed over to Fabric Etcetera, which  my daughter had given me a gift certificate to for my birthday.  It's a nice little shop that carries Riley Blake Designs and lots of Batiks.  They also have the 2013 Hoffman Challenge fabrics.  Have you seen these? They are amazing.


I picked up some yardage from Lakehouse Itty Pritty Polka Ditty in Celery, and Riley Blake Designs The Sweetest Thing and Seaside collections with my gift certificate. The other day I added some Kona Grass Green and Turquoise, Baby Birds by Studio E, Piccadilly Circle by Northcott, and a nice green and blue print from JoAnn's to add in with the Isabelle fabrics I have previously purchased at Sew Contempo.  Still trying to decide what pattern I will use.  Please share any ideas you have with me.

But I have to say my favorite stop of the day was Painted Pony N' Quilts in La Porte, TX.   I have never been there before today. I was directed there by a sweet employee over at Hancocks when I could not find a 45 degree angle diamond ruler anywhere.  So on to Google I went, and low and behold of course they had exactly what I was looking for.  So my dear hubby (who had tagged along with me on my adventure today) and I jumped into the car and headed right over there.  Let me just say that Painted Pony N' Quilts is like going to quilting fabric and notions HEAVEN! I was totally taken aback by the selection they carry.  I pledge from this day forward that I will take the short little jaunt over to La Porte to shop at Painted Pony N' Quilts for ALL of my quilting needs.  It is worth the little extra gas to be able to get exactly what you are looking for.  The customer service is exceptional and the flow of the shop is extraordinary.  I have to say they were also sweethearts to let me take some photos of the shop to share with you.  So enjoy and don't drool to much.  





This is just a sampling of the shop.  Now to win the lottery, at least a small one so I can shop my heart out.  One last thing.  If you get the chance to make it down to Galveston any time soon you will need to visit this showing. My dear hubby and I are going this coming Thursday, my next day off. Yay!


No WIP or Finishes this week, but hopefully something more next week.  Thanks for visiting and as always I would love to hear from you.  


  
 Linking up to:

Live A Colorful Life
Thursday Think Tank
Fresh Poppy Design

Monday, January 14, 2013

Some Finishes and Progress

Now that the holidays are over, I have finally been able to get back to my WIPs.  Working two jobs has not left me much time for my love, sewing.  I really try hard to make time to work on my projects even if it only 15 minutes here and there.  Luckily, lately we have not had lots of errands to run so my days off have been very enjoyable.

To start, this month began the Sugar Block Club for 2013. I have been so blessed to see all the beautiful block the members have made. My January Block:

Snow Blossom
I love these colors and the plaids.  The off white print was a little pain to work with as it is not cotton.  Thinking it is polyester.  I'm not sure.

Next up I hit the inventory sale at Sew Contempo. This has quickly become my favorite local quilt shop in my area.  They have lots of Moda fabrics, pretty much all the Kona cottons, and beautiful samples of the patterns they sell.  I pick up a half yard bundle of  these fabrics, Isabelle by Free Spirit.  They were on sale at $5.99 a yard and I could not pass them up.


And today I bought 4 1/4 yards of Kona White to use with them.  I can't wait to cut in to them, but my dear husband reminded me today that I have not even started on the quilt that I said I was going to make for my dear FIL for Christmas.  I am still trying to decide on what pattern I want to use for it.  I have thought about making it for next Christmas and using the fabulous fabrics for my Farmer's Wife Quilt.  They would be perfect for it and that would really be a work of love.

I did get three rows of quilting done on my dear daughter's quilt today.  I decided to go with navy blue anti pill fleece for the back.  She requested a darker shade on the back as to help keep from staining the quilt. This sucker is so heavy it is making it hard to quilt on my home machine.  Next time we are going with a cotton backing.  


Then tonight I finished up two more projects.  A pillow and a new pin cushion.  So happy with both. 







Plum and June WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Tips & Tricks Day!

Good afternoon everyone and Happy New Year!!! In my last post I shared with you that I had learned how to make the perfect scant 1/4 inch seam every time.  Today, I want to share with you my tip & trick.

As you might know, while I was working on my last quilt top I was having trouble with losing size on my blocks as I squared them up.  I realized after doing some research that I was using a true 1/4 inch seam instead of a scant 1/4 inch seam (used for quilting).  I saw lots of blogs giving different ways to fix this, but they weren't working for me.  So I made a stack of painters masking tape with about 5 layers of thickness and cut it straight across at one end.  I lowered my needle down on the 1/4 inch mark of my ruler and then laid my tape down on my machine butted up against the ruler's edge.  Now every time I get a perfect scant 1/4 inch and a perfectly straight seam.  Love it! And the great thing is you can do this for any size seam you need for your projects, it doesn't leave a sticky residue and it comes off easily.

Linking up to:

Sew at Home Mummy