Gotta learn to proofread!

I was talking to my sister yesterday on the phone. We talked about the little floral quilt I was working on. I told her that it's quite obvious that all those late nights had affected me. All the nice comments I got from my few little blog readers said nice things about making that quilt for charity. It's really not that important but I thought I would "attempt" to clear the air.

This is one of the charity quilts I sewed together the other night using the leftover 10" squares from a pieced back I made.

This is charity quilt #2. This is the one that I had charms up on the design wall and wanted to clear it so I could work on my storm at sea.

This is quilt top #3. This one I had sewed up already but since these last two quilts are so small, I think I can add a border and still not have to piece a back for it. I hope that cleared up my confusing novel I wrote the other day. :o)

I did get the borders added to the little floral quilt today. I probably made the borders too big but I wanted the quilt to be just a bit bigger and figured if somebody calls the quilt police on my, so be it. I have a clean record and could use a little scandal in my life. LOL

It measures approximately 43 x 56. That bigger border probably means I'll have to piece a back for this one. I can't make things too easy on myself. I wouldn't know how to handle it.

Now onto that storm at sea. I'll quilt these later. After I have a sandwiching party!!

And it's not even my birthday....

Yesterday I went over to Cozy Cottage in hopes they would have fabric to coordinate with my little charm top I blogged about yesterday. It took a while but with the help of one of the employees, I got two pretty little fabrics for borders. I'll try and get those sewed on today but I have some "chores" to do. I'm glad to say at least I have the name of the fabric line (in case you're curious). It's Darla by Tanya Whelan for Free Spirit. Whew, what a mouth full, huh? :o) Look what I got!

They had an adorable cherry apron panel that I got, some light fabrics for backgrounds and a cute little nursery rhyme print with a cow jumping over the moon. :o)

Then, my hubby got home yesterday from going to MO for work. He went to St. Charles and found a quilt shop. Whatta guy huh? He bought me these little treasures....

Woohoo, I'm telling ya, he's a keeper!! In case you need an explanation of what everything is, here's the breakdown: A little country picture, a Tulip of black and white fat quarters, a little flower pincushion (on a golf tee), a redwork pattern of the shop, a historic building, a red and white block, looks like a BOM because it has the fabric in there too. I think It'll make a nice pillow. La La La Laaaaa, I love goodies! :o)

How does it happen??

I've got a kajillion projects started, ufo's out the kazoo and yet, I started a little quilt top but I had to do it. It kind of just happened.....

I cleaned up my sewing room this week. My hubby is out of town so I had plenty of time to stay in my room into the wee hours of the morning. It kind of makes it hard to get up in the morning for work but I just pretend like I'm awake at my desk. I'm pretty sure the boss didn't notice. lol

So, while cleaning I fould a little charm pack that I bought from Cozy Cottage at Road to CA. It was pretty and flowery so I put it up on the design wall and just fiddled with it, moving fabrics around until I liked them. It was only around 35 charms so the top wasn't very big. Maybe baby quilt size. I decided if I put it on point, I could make it just a tiny bit bigger. Also on the design wall were two rows of 30's charms for a charity quilt.

I finished sorting and cleaning on Tuesday night. Wednesday night I sewed the 30's charms together and finished the little charity top. I had found some other 10" fabric squares that were leftover from a backing so I sewed those together too. Now I just have to quilt these and I think I'll donate them to CHOC hospital, where my daughter works.

Okay, so now....... I felt like I couldn't function in my sewing room. It was too clean. LOL I should've pulled fabric out of the closet and thrown it on the floor so I could work! :o) I thought I would start working on the Storm at Sea quilt that I worked on at the retreat so I could get that quilted and mark it off my ufo list. But, I needed to put it on the design wall. The floral charms were still there and I knew if I took them down, it would take me too long to get them all "right" again. So I pulled out a white dot tone on tone fabric and put the top together. The good news is went together quick and it looks cute. Guess I better get back over to Cozy Cottage and see if they have a coordinating print for a border!!

All that for this little tiny quilt. It measures 33 x 45 so it definitely needs a border. Oh, and the bad news is it's 1:25 a.m. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Blake & Ashley's Wedding

My nephew got married this weekend to a very sweet young lady named Ashley. The wedding was just wonderful and I think a good time was had by everyone. They got married at a beautiful winery in Temecula, CA called South Coast Winery.

There were lots of pretty flowers blooming so the setting was beautiful. It was a wonderful 78 degrees so we were all pretty comfortable. It can get pretty hot out there.

This is Ashley and her daddy walking her down the aisle. She looks just like him, don't you think?

That photo does no justice to her dress. It was beautiful! They got married at an area called The Rose Arbor. It overlooks a valley and right now, it was still pretty green. It really was very pretty.

Presenting Mr. & Mrs. Blake Coleman..........

And here they are having their first dance.

It was a really fun wedding. There was a photo booth in the back, like at carnivals. Everybody was lining up to take a set of pictures. It was so much fun. Me and my three sisters crammed in there and took some pictures too. At one point my little sister, Virginia, slid off of Rita's lap because we had slippery dresses on. It was so funny because in the picture, she is suddenly gone! The next photo was of all of us laughing so hard. I'm sure you had to be there! :o) One of the many highlights of the evening for me. :o)

I hope you had a nice weekend and got some relaxation time in. To all our Veterans out there, I thank you for the sacrifices you have made so that we can all have celebrations like weddings and picnics and our freedom.

See Sherrie Run....or cut! :o)

This is my friend, Sherrie. (No-blog Sherrie)

No-blog Sherrie is the girlfriend with all the "toys". Do you have one of those? She's got a APS long arm, a sewing room to die for, every ruler and toy you could think of for quilting, not to mention every other crafty contraption for scrapbooking, wool felt, needle punch, cardmaking, etc. Does it go to her head? No. She was paying very good attention in kindergarten and she shares her toys very well!! We are a lucky group to have her in our midst.

No-blog Sherrie bought the AccuQuilt GO! Fabric Cutting System on Wednesday and brought it over for TNT last night. Yes, I said "SYSTEM"! She got the "I Want It All!" package. And boy, did she get it all! We got together at my house because the bride-to-be had to make one more table sign last night (the wedding is Saturday) and the girls said they would come to my house (again) to make it easier. I should've taken a picture of the "I want it all package" before we unpacked it but I think I forgot I had a camera when I saw all the packages and boxes. My eyes glazed over. Kind of like my daughter's with shoes and purses. Whoooo-baby! LOL

So this is Sherrie cranking through some fabric to cut 2 1/2" strips. I think it does 3-6 layers of fabric, depending on the thickness.

Easy as can be! This thing is slick! Sherrie's checking out the grooves the machine made on the mat but they're not too bad. It probably cuts many, many times before needing a replacement. Can you see Neena's drool in the photo? LOL

She then tried half square triangles for a swap we're doing with cherry and black fabric. We wasted a little fabric because we were using it for the first time but I bet once you get going, the waste is minimal.

I think we should all go move in with Sherrie. She has a big house. I don't think her husand would notice. Mine might notice...when Miss Chattybox is suddenly quiet! :o)

Mall Shopping - Ack!!!

I'm telling you right now, if malls depended on people like me to make their business stay afloat, they would all go belly up real quick! I practically hyperventilate and my throat starts to close up. I get so parched, I have to pack a bottle of water. lol I like shopping at quilt shops. I don't know why malls are different but they are. Maybe it's the size. Maybe it's the prices. It is the last place I want to be.
But last night I had to bite the bullet and go get a wedding gift for my nephew and his wife-to-be. The wedding is Saturday and I needed a gift. They are registered at Macy's and I wanted to get them a place setting of their china. Cha-ching! But it is my sister's son and he and his wife are such wonderful kids, they are worth it. So this is the china..... (taken with my iphone)

The polka dot dish is the dessert plate. So cute, yet so pretty. I bought one place setting and was kind of surprised that they don't have any items in stock. Everything gets shipped to the happy couple. I guess it makes perfect sense, since the department had probably a hundred different sets of china. Unless they had a huge warehouse, there would be no way they could keep everything in one department store storage room. The woman who helped me said that most brides like it this way so they aren't lugging gifts from the reception. Well, now doesn't that make perfect sense. How many times have you gone to a wedding and they're scrambling for family members to help take presents to the mom's house? That's when I want to smack my forehead and say "Why didn't I think of that?" :o)

As I was walking around the china dept. to get to the escalator, I stumbled upon Martha. Look at these cool goodies from Martha Stewart.


I just love teal and red together. I guess good ol' Martha must love it too! I almost bought a set of bowls but I fought the urge. I swear, the way I love kitchen bowls and gadgets, you would get the impression that I cooked once in a while, huh? Well, I don't. I just like kitchen stuff because they make such fun stuff.

My girls all love red and so do my sisters. Maybe I'll take a Valium to take the edge off and go back to the mall and shop the Martha section a little bit. I could put it away for our Christmas exchange and let the girls fight over it. :o)

Storm at Sea UFO

At the retreat this weekend, besides making four little baskets, I worked on my storm at sea top. The blocks are from a swap I hostessed on Sew Many Swaps, a Yahoo group. These aren't my colors so I was thinking I would give this to my oldest daughter, Kelley, for her bedroom but she advised me today that she's changing her colors from blues and greens to cream and red. Back to the drawing board for her! :o)


After talking it over with Kelley, we thought my youngest daughter, Ashley, would like it. She and her boyfriend love the beach, surfing and water. I think this will end up being about 40 x 40, so it should be a nice size for a wall hanging. I love the blocks now that they are sewn together. That wavy motion is making me sick though. LOL

Fabric Baskets

Thank you Connie W. for giving me the link to the tutorial for the fabric baskets. The blog is called Pink Penguin and she has several cute projects she's done tutorials for. Check it out. :o) The baskets are super easy, great for using up scraps and pretty quick to make.


Boy, I am still dragging from the retreat. I guess it's just the sitting around the airports and then sitting and sewing, late nights, early mornings. Today I look like this.



I came into work this morning and my boss came in shortly after. She is usually at least a half hour or more behind me coming in so it's kind of nice to have a cup of coffee an "wake up" before she gets here. Well today, she had a couple of appointments and needed me to do some quote sheets for her. She was giving me details and I'm sure I had that glazed look in my eyes. As she walked away I said, "I suppose when someone comes to work, they're supposed to be ready to work, huh?" I'm sure it was no shock to her that the lights were on but nobody was home "yet".

Home Again, Jiggity Jig

I got home from Indiana yesterday and I've got laundry to do and some unpacking to do in my sewing room. It's nice to go, go, go but it's nice to come home too.
One of the ladies at the retreat shared the pattern dimensions to make some little baskets. It's on somebody's blog but I can't remember whose. I had seen them before and thought it would be fun to make one or two but never took the time to do it. So, at the retreat, I went through a bunch of scraps a few of the girls brought and made up four of these. I'll see if I can get the link to the blog where the basket tutorial is located.

There were several swaps at the retreat, all optional - a pincushion swap, a brown bag swap, a mini quilt swap, a mini churn dash swap and lots of prizes. I only did the mini quilt and churn dash blocks. I love my mini quilt. I am the one on the far right. The person next to me, Conni, made my little quilt. Isn't it cute!

This is the group that attended this year. Most of us have retreated together for the last six years. There are some new girls but that makes it fun too.

And when we were flying home, I thought the fields we were flying over looked like some sort of pieced quilt. Kind of a cross between bullseye blocks and patchwork. :o)

The Great Outdoors

We're taking a break from quilting and crafting updates for a trip outside. Let's pretend we're having a recess! :o)))

But first, let me tell you how my day started. I woke up at 7:42 a.m. this morning. I'm supposed to be at work at 8:00!!!! Big whoppin' OOPS!!! Too much late night workin' and not enough zzzzzzzzzz's. lol That and I guess my earplugs worked better than I thought because I never heard the alarm clock until 7:42. Thank goodness the boss in out of town this week! And I hope she doesn't read my blog! LOL
So after running around like a headless chicken, I got in the car to leave and as I was driving away from my house, I noticed how pretty everything in the front yard was blooming. Gotta take time to smell the flowers........and blog! hehe

All the Lily of the Nile plants are blooming so pretty. And there "used" to be a full row of pansies down but they are looking a little scarce because all the little creatures in the dirt thought I planted them a salad bar!! We do have some survivors though. I don't play much in the garden. I have a gardener to do the dirty work, but I had to try and save what I could so I bought some stuff you mix with water and pour over the plants that kills earwigs, cutworms, and other horrible creatures!!! Everything is doing better now but I still see some "things" helping themselves to my plants. Grrrr!

And I thought since I was pretending to be a "Gardener Extraordinaire", I would show you a picture of my tomato plants. I took this picture yesterday.

The tomato plants are in the backyard in a pot. I was afraid our untamed pooches would dig them up. After all, they think they own the backyard! But planting them in a pot (without a drip system) requires "remembering" to water them! My hubby has been doing a pretty good job of giving the plants a drink when he fills the water bucket for the pooches. I had the plants on the kitchen counter for a few weeks and finally got them planted in a mix of potting soil and compost. The must love the combination (and probably the pooches too) because they are going to town. I can see a few sprouts trying to open up. I planted a jalapeno plant in the front with the pansies. So far, the bugs have left it alone. If they start bothering it, I might transplant it with the tomatoes. Hmmm, maybe I should find some cilantro and onion plants and I could have a salsa garden.....and an avocado tree.....and a tortilla bush!!! LOL

Okay, recess is over. Back to work.

Gettin' ready for retreat

I don't know what's going on with me but I sure haven't been very enthusiastic or productive in the sewing room. Last weekend hubby and I did some shopping at Ikea for wall units for the spare bedroom so I can move all of my card making/scrapbooking stuff in there. I've run out of room for my fabric. Eeegads!!! lol I guess I've got redecorating on my mind so it's sort of had me distracted. I suppose it could be the nice Spring weather we're having too. Spring Fever??? :o)

Last night I didn't have a choice. I HAD to bite the bullet and get some sewing done. Two months ago I posted about having some little hst units leftover from some QST's I was sewing together. On the Triangulations pages I used, it was a bonus piece. I had sewed them together to make a little mini quilt but that's as far as I got. I needed the mini for an exchange we're doing at the retreat I'm leaving for on Thursday. I've known about all the things I need but you know, so many projects, so little time. So here's the finished little quilt. I think it measures 9 1/2" x 9 1/2".

I just stitched in the ditch and then did a feather border in the black border fabric. I wasn't brave enough to do it in a contrasting thread. Just used black. It doesn't show but it's probably better that way. Here's the back.

And here's the mini I won two years ago from Michelle. It hangs very nicley in my sewing room.

Okay, off to finish the baby quilt I was supposed to finish in October!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Mother's Day!!

I've got no pictures to post so I had to borrow one from the internet. Pitiful, eh? I got my camera out today but forgot to use it. DOH!
It's been a while since I posted so I wanted to make sure to stop by and say that I hope all you moms and grandmas out there had a wonderful Mother's Day. :o)

We went over to my oldest daughter's apartment for a bar-b-que. All three girls were there, some signifigant others, the food was delicious and it was a gorgeous day. Kelley made pasta and macaroni salads, we had hot dogs, hamburgers and hot links. There were veggies and chips and even a banana cake for dessert. It was so nice to be the guest and not do all the work (for a change). I hope you had a great day too.

Chip, chip away

I'm trying to put a dent in my mini churn dash blocks that I need to make for an upcoming retreat. With the nice weather we've been having in So. Cal, I've been weeding and shipping for short sleeved tops, etc. Just too much time outside and not getting enough sewing time in.

The swap is for scrappy 4 1/2" blocks with cream background. I've got a few done with the freezer paper piecing method. If you've never done paper piecing with freezer paper, you should give it a try. It's great to pull off the entire piece of paper at the end and not have to pull those itty bitty pieces of paper from the back. A few years ago I tried to do a tutorial with pictures, before I knew anything about youtube. Maybe youtube wasn't even around yet! Anyway, if you want to see how I do it, go here for pictures and some instructions.
My oldest daughter Kelley, turns 30 on Monday so Sunday we'll have a bar-b-que for her. I hope in between cleaning and cooking, I get a little time to make a few more blocks this weekend. Hope you get some sewing time too.