Another Project Done

It's  been so long since I've written anything here, but it feels good to be back!  I haven't completely dropped off the face of the earth and stopped sewing altogether, but I did take a few breaks.  It feels like a lot has happened but I'm sure it's just called life. 😁
Enough of that - my goal is to post here more frequently and connect with the blogging world like I used to.
And so.....here is one of the projects I started probably a couple years ago that I have finally finished!!!! Yay!!!!!

More pics to come...

What makes me want to laugh, cry and scream all at the same time is this one little baby post has taken me soooo long to do because so much has changed since I've been on blogger. Ugghhh!!!

And she's 13!!!

My baby turned 13 this month!   She has been begging me to change her age on my blog (she's a bit proud of turning another year and needless to say I've been slacking on updating her age). 

So anyway.....this is simply a Happy Birthday to my one and only....

 

Oh so cool

I had to tackle her to get a picture with her - that's what happens when they become teenagers I guess :(

 

T-Shirt Quilt Adventure

So I started another project. 
Shocker huh?

My sister did a t-shirt quilt for her husband as a Christmas gift this past year and I thought it was a great idea.  What a wonderful way to keep memories and turn it into something you can use and keep for years to come. 

I didn't really think I'd be doing a t-shirt quilt anytime soon, but I thought it would be perfect in this particular situation.  It's a gift so I don't want to post too much about it, but of course it's never as easy as you think!  Why is that?  Mistakes are made, takes longer than you think, blah, blah.

Messy, Messy

 

I found this wonderful tutorial from Bunkhouse Quilts here.  It's a huge help and I have referenced it MANY times, and I'm not finished yet!

Anyway.........More to come. 

Dr Seuss Finished!!!

Another Finish....Yay! 

Even though this wasn't a biggin', It's still a finish and deserves a pat on the back.  Right?  Right.

 

This little puppy gave me some fits believe it or not.  I thought I would quilt the chevron print and didn't bother to mark anything before basting.  BAD, BAD IDEA! 

Lesson learned......Always have a concrete plan when it comes to quilting the top.  I ended up taking a bunch of stuff out that I didn't like, went back and forth numerous times between my walking foot and my other thingy for free motion quilting :) 

I ended up marking the top AFTER all my pins were in.  Not cool.  I don't want to do that again.  Like I said, lesson learned. 

When all was said and done I marked a chevron pattern on the panel and just did straight lines in the border. 

I made this quilt to donate as an auction item for my mother in laws cancer benefit next month.  Hoping there are some Dr. Seuss and/or quilt lovers in attendance!

 

And this time I remembered to get LOTS of pictures beforehand. 

 

 

Baby Quilts, Baby Quilts

 

 So it seems I'm surrounded by baby quilts lately!  This one was a gift for my cousin who's having a baby girl probably sometime this week.  It was a collaborative effort between my sister, mom and myself.  My dad drew the pattern, which was a combination of a baby quilt we saw on etsy here and also a very cute lamp my cousin had registered for. 

 

It was a lot of work with all the applique piecing, but worth it because it turned out pretty stinking cute! I wish I had some more pictures that showed the quilting and fabrics a bit better, but I waited until the last minute and a lot of them didn't turn out.  So, lesson learned - take the time to get good pics!!! 

My favorite part is the flappy ear on the elephant......

and the ric rac on the giraffe......

And that it's FINISHED!!!!

Cat in the Hat

This is a work in progress but I like it so far!
 

 

I'm pretty sure I'm not going to add anything to the quilt top, but if I do it would be to even out the sides.  I'm not so sure I love the wonky size.......

Because of my minky obsession I bought red minky for the back (what else would I do, right?!)

This shows the weird sizing - I don't know if it'll matter - it's for a baby/toddler.  Would they really care?  Probably not. 

 I have some more Dr. Seuss fabric so I might do some piecing on the back as well.  Something to think about.....

Still Here.....

Ok I never meant to take THAT long of a break from blogging!!!   Hopefully people are still out there!

I do have a few projects to post.  Here's a few pictures of my first completion....

and excuse my pictures - they aren't the best.  I'll have to take some better ones later (when it's not such a rainy/snowy day)



This one I'm pretty proud of. I used my walking foot (for the first time) for all of the straight line stitching and because of the minky back I pinned the heck out of it!!

I kept going back and forth on the quilting - did it need more?  I don't know - I might go back to it and add something.  Probably not because I'm lazy, but you never know. :) 

Do I Look Familiar?

Then I got really ambitious and decided to try some hand stitching for the first time as well.  I borrowed my mom's basket of perle cotton threads and looked up some tutorials and went to town.  I would definitely do it again, but my fingers were quite sore!

And of course I had helpers......

It was a quilt I started thinking it would be a quick little project. Not so much.

But I love it.

Did I mention I love it?  I LOVE it!!!

Sorry - I'm still here

I know it's been awhile and I don't even have a good excuse!  I could say I was on vacation (I was, but have been back for a week).  I could say I'm in the process of moving (not currently, but I will be soon).  Either way I know I've got to get back to business!!!!
I will say I've been very short on motivation lately!  I don't know what it is - first a sewing slump, then a blogging siesta!  I have been doing a bit of sewing - not a ton, but I've turned the machine on so we're making progress!  Hopefully I'll have something to share sooner rather than later!
In the meantime, here's a pic to cheer everyone up because it's FRIDAY!!!  YAY!

How can this NOT put a smile on your face?

Quote for the Week

"The best things in life are free. 

The second best are Very Expensive"

                                                                                                   -Coco Chanel

A little bit of Progress

Ok, so I was finally able to get in the sewing mood - and did a couple more of my dachshund (spelling?)  blocks.
I love them, but they aren't perfect.  Which leads me to my favorite question when quilting....."does it have to be perfect?"  I'm scared to ask Mom - she usually tells me what I don't want to hear :)

Here are my concerns....

Are they too big?
Do the stripes have to line up?  I tried to line them up and was successful on a couple.....but not all.
On the text fabric they are puckering a bit.  I seem to have this problem a lot - any suggestions?

Hope everyone has a good weekend!!  I have to work, so this is probably the extent of my sewing for a few days.

Wedding Shower Glitz

Still no sewing going on here, but I thought I'd share some photos from the wedding shower I helped plan for my cousin.  She is having a small destination wedding the beginning of May (Vegas - I am pretty excited)
I can't take all the credit for this event - it was a callaborative effort between my mom, sister and myself. 
The theme is peacocks - peacock feathers and the varying colors of course.  We almost went with an Elvis theme (which would have been FUN), but this turned out very nice and my cousin was happy. 
I put myself in charge of decorations and made several trips to Joann's.  All last week was consumed by this event, so here's another excuse I use for not being productive in the sewing department.

We had a couple different centerpieces

 Cake Table

And I also made chocolate covered pretzels for the tables

And just for fun - here is a pic of my niece - she was making sure the punch turned out ok ;)

Quote for the Week

"Friends don't let friends stay home on a Saturday night"

                                                                  -Shahs of Sunset

sewing slump

I feel like I'm in a sewing slump.  There has been NO sewing going on here lately.  Are there others that fall into this?  I don't know if it's a combination of factors or what, but I'm getting worried. 
I have been busy with the fabric swaps and of course there's always work that I can use as an excuse - but I'm hoping I'll snap out of it soon!

Let me know if I'm not alone in this!!!

My goal is to get downstairs and make some progress on something - anything really, by Tuesday.  Tomorrow's Monday and I always have a hard time being motivated on Mondays. 
So, my goal is Tuesday - I'll let you know. 
In the meantime I do have some pics from the fabric swap - wrapping everything up and just waiting on one package.  Then it's off to the USPS!!!  I'm excited - I hope everyone enjoys their fabrics and posts soms pics of their final projects!

I convinced my husband to take a break from the red wings game to help me sort so it went a little quicker.....needless to say he doesn't enjoy fabric as much as I do :)

 little stacks of rainbow goodness

The Liebster Award

Holey Toledo - I won an award!

I was totally shocked to get a very nice email from Vicki over at Mommy Made It!.  She said she's a follower of my blog and was passing on the Liebster Award. 
Now, of course I headed straight to her blog to get some more det's (details - I picked this up from my daughter).  Here is what I learned:

Someone - not sure who, started this award for bloggers.  It is awarded to your "favorite" blogs.  Here is where Liebster comes in - it is actually the German word for "favorite".  It is passed on to up and coming bloggers with less than 200 followers.  Yup, that's right, an award for us small timers!!!  Yay!

I've always wondered if anyone was listening or paying any attention.  Now I know there are people listening AND there are others out there like me that are newbies to the blogging world. 

So, now for the fun part........

I get to pass this on!!!!  Here are the rules:

1. Thank the person who gave me the award and link back to their blog.

2. Choose 3-5 blogs with less than 200 followers and pass this award onto them.
3. Display the Liebster Award somewhere on my blog site!
4. Let them know you awarded them by sending an e-mail or posting a comment on their blog.
5. Have faith that your followers will spread the love too!

My picks are:

Steph from Hope Sewing is Genetic - love the name because I come from a long line of quilters and if I have half of their talents I'm in good shape :)  And I love seeing the home improvements ;)  I can relate....

Diane from the One Stop giveaway Shop - need I say more?  Why didn't I think of this?  Brilliant!!!  My go-to every day.

The Belle & Bee - adventures in everyday life - kids, family, home....it's something we can all relate to.

So anyway, a few of my favorite smallish blogs and my first award - telling me there are people out there that might be paying attention :)

My First Giveaway!!!

Giveaway Closed - Thanks everyone for the comments!

And the winner is............
#10:  AJ, who said:
 oooh fun - thanks for the chance to win!  I will be sending an email to you shortly!

I don't really have anything to celebrate, but wanted to have a giveaway!

Up for grabs is this jelly roll:

sorry - the pics aren't great.  couldn't get my camera to work with me!

Enter to win two ways:

1.  Leave a comment below
2.  Become a follower and comment that you are

If you are a no-reply blogger, please leave an email in your comment otherwise I have no way to contact you!

EASY PEASY LEMON SQUEEZY!!!

Giveaway will end Sunday, April 15 2012.