Monday, August 31, 2009

Friendship bags... & a giveaway!

I finished my friendship bag for the swap! I used Moda's Gobble Gobble fabrics, which are absolutely adorable! Don't you think?Oh wait, you say, there are two of them? hmmm indeed there are! This one is for my secret buddy! I will mail it to her, filled with goodies, by the end of the week! Just a hint, it's going north... (yes I know that's not much of a hint! Lots of places are north of Texas!)
This one is my very first giveaway! All you have to do is leave me a comment here on this post & let me know you're reading along (sometimes I do feel like I am talking to myself you know!). I will tuck some goodies inside & mail it off to one lucky person! I'll leave the comments open on this until September 10 & then I will use a random number generator (gosh that Blogging for Bliss book is coming in handy! It even told me where to find a random number generator!) & choose a lucky winner! Thanks for checking in...

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Sidetracked Saturday

So I started out cleaning the sewing room...... and then I started finding projects I had forgotten about! Like a sweet little pink afghan for baby Mackenzie who will arrive at my brother & sister-in-laws house any day now! Yikes! I better get moving on that one! I put my hexagons away for now & will focus on the baby blanket...


Then I found this little bag I had bought at the quilt store when we went for Market Review. Gosh that was months ago! Anyways, it was a kit for a tablerunner that I just adored. And next thing you know I was sewing (how does that happen anyways? I am so easily distracted!)

Here is the table runner, start to finish in one day! Even the binding is all done. It's Mary Engelbreit fabrics which I just love & it fits so nicely in my house!




Now off I go to get ready for my girls night with Ally! The boys are going to the Roughriders game tonight, so I promised Ally a night out. She chose dinner & shopping (no surprise!)


Happy weekend!


friendship bag

I've been working on ideas for the friendship bag swap. I have the fabric that I want to use for the actual swap, now I need to decide on a design. Here's the first attempt at a mini version of my nantucket bag. I think next one I will make the prairie points a tad bit smaller.
The bags are just big enough to hold a charm pack! I have one of those & some other goodies to send to my surprise partner. I also put a little hook on the inside of the bag for a tiny pair of embroidery scissors. I'll show you the final product when it's finished! Maybe I'll even make 2 & have my first give-a-way here! Great idea!

You might wonder why I have been playing around so much with my blog.... I bought Tara Frey's book "Blogging for Bliss". It's a wonderful book with so many inspirational ideas. Ally told me that I am jealous of everyone else's beautiful blogs & I think she might be right. Is Blog Envy such a terrible thing? So this version of my blog is very busy but I think I like it... for now. Who knows what the future might hold?

Off to the craft room...

Thursday, August 27, 2009

messing with my blog...

I do like the cherry banner but now my blog looks so boring! HELP!

(Ally just came in here with a spanish flashcard that said "Como se llama?" & she's all excited about the LLAMAs.... no Ally, they don't mean the animals here. Gonna be a long year!)

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

A granny a day.... in May.... and August

What began in May as this...... is now this! I began grannying in May, following along with Meet Me at Mike's "Granny a day" & finally finished Ally's afghan last night. It's 100 grannys!

I decided to do 2 rows of border all the way around to finish it, a double crochet pink & single crochet of orange & it was just the right touch. I'm going to miss my grannying every day! Of course I still have my hexagon afghan to finish & I just printed off these instructions from Sarah London to try..... not like I will be bored or anything!


Tuesday, August 18, 2009

my list

borrowed from Meet me at Mikes:

Making : 2 different granny a day afghans
Cooking :
not much. but reading recipes & planning
Drinking :
diet pepsi of course
Reading:
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
Wanting: fall to come
Looking:
forward to Quilt Festival in October
Playing:
bomboozle on facebook
Wasting:
precious time playing bomboozle
Sewing:
bags, bags, bags
Wishing:
for a happy school year for all three of my kiddos
Enjoying:
a quiet house
Waiting: to hear that a new niece has arrived
Liking:
blogging
Wondering:
when the kids will wake up?
Loving: life

Hoping: it cools off soon
Marvelling: at the amount of laundry this family creates
Needing:
a shower
Smelling:
the dog, she needs a bath!
Wearing:
pjs
Following:
interesting tweeters
Noticing:
that the house needs to be picked up again
Knowing:
that life is flying by too fast
Thinking:
about my hubby & daughter in Arizona
Feeling:
lazy
Bookmarking:
interesting blogs
Opening: opening? hmmm I don't know
Giggling: when the kids toss popcorn for the dog to catch
Feeling: content

Monday, August 17, 2009

duck pond quilt is done!

you may remember this post way back in May, where I explained my design process for creating a quilt. Pretty basic! & then this post where I actually sewed my quilt top. On Thursday my longarm quilter called to say that my Duck Pond quilt was ready! & today I got to do my favorite part of making a quilt....sewing on the binding! Yup you read that right! I love the process of sewing on that final binding, knowing that every stitch brings me closer to a finished quilt! & here it is.... my Duck Pond quilt, all finished!The pillow is a disappearing nine patch. Ally & I were playing around with that one day... one piece of advice, don't use directional prints on a disappearing nine patch! If you look really closely, you'll see that half of the ducks in the pillow are upside down! You can also see Ally's "granny a day" afghan in the corner, almost finished! I've been working away on that as well.
Back to the quilt! I took it to Sue, a longarm quilter who I met on the retreat in Van Alstyne in June. She did an awesome job. I love how the quilt pattern looks like waves, perfect for my ducks to swim around in!I named the quilt Duck Pond because the sweet prints (by Lizzy House) remind me of trips we would take to feed the ducks when my kiddos were little. They used to love to take our stale breadcrumbs & throw them to the ducks (heck, I remember loving this when I was a kid! Does every family do this?)
Now I can't wait to hang this in my sewing room....
Something else I have been working on is my next bag pattern. My hairdresser, Carla, is going to Europe next month so I made her a bag she can use for her trip. The pattern needs a little tweaking, but I think it's pretty cool! The fabric is black, it doesn't really show that way in the photo...This is the back of the bag, which I think I love even more than the front!

My sewing room is getting a lot of use these days. & school starts next Monday! Which means long uninterrupted days for me (though I must say I have loved having the kids home this summer).

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

more Ally sewing & a new batch of bags

there's been a whole lot of sewing going on at our house! Yesterday I cut out 10 more Nantucket bags to sew. While I was cutting, Ally whipped up this sweet little quilt top from her Halloween Charm Pack..... It's a disappearring nine patch & she did the whole thing by herself. Even when her bobbin got jammed up, she took her machine apart, cleaned it up & redid it without getting frustrated! Amazing.....

Today I sewed up three of the Nantucket bags... I've added inside pockets to these! They will be heading to Ohio as soon as I have a few more done. I love this brown one.....
& a couple of variations on the Lizzy Dish bags.....

If you look to the right of this post (over there ------> ) you will see a button for the friendship bag swap! My very first online swap. I've always wanted to do one & when I saw the little tote bags I thought "gosh, this is right up my alley". I can't wait to find out who my swap buddy is! Ally & I are planning to go to the Plano Quilt Show on Saturday, I think I will find some fabric there to make my little bag..... & some goodies to tuck inside it! Fun!
ok, back to work I go.....


Saturday, August 8, 2009

schoolbag

Today Ally made a new bag for school. She kind of modelled it after my market bag, but the size is different & she added some of her own features. First of all, she chose very bright & colorful home dec fabric for the bag......

She did want the same prairie point detailing that I put on my bags so she did that.....& then she added pockets for her pens & pencils, etc, & a hook for her house key....and filled it up with her school supplies! She's all set! Two weeks from Monday & off she goes to 8th grade. No doubt she will have the fanciest bag there! & she did the whole thing herself. Very impressive! I knew that sewing machine she got for her birthday would come in handy! Next up for her is her Halloween quilt. She bought a charm pack of Halloween fabric & said she's going to do a disappearing nine patch quilt with it. I am anxious to see how that comes out! She's got a great eye for color & does a terrific job sewing.
I just thought you'd all enjoy seeing it too!




Friday, August 7, 2009

movie review

Tonight I took my two girls to see Julie & Julia. Yup, on the first night it was out! & yes, it was crowded! Mostly women with a few reluctant husbands dragged along for the ride (mine took our son bowling, I'm sure they enjoyed that more!)

This morning I read this less than flattering review in the Dallas Morning News. Written by a man. Of course. Why would they send a man to review a movie that was clearly marketed to women? Beats me.

Anyways, the three of us LOVED the movie! Meryl Streep was fantastic as Julia Child & Amy Adams as Julie Powell, the real life NYC blogger who tells her story in the book, titled, you guessed it, Julie & Julia! Both stories were inspiring, emotional & encouraging. Both women played their characters with passion & honesty. "Don't give up on your dreams" was the main message of both stories. The women, as different as they were, were the same in so many ways & their stories wove together like a beautiful tapestry.

Go see it! You will love it too. Tomorrow I am off to Sams Club to buy the book.... Ally has first dibs on it & then we'll pass it around. I hope it's as good as the movie was. Two thumbs up!

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

thirteen!

today Ally is 13! Hard to believe I have three teenagers in my house (for a few months anyways!). I must say they are three of the best teens on the planet & I enjoy them very much.

Poor Ally has had a rough week. She has a horrible sunburn, second degree burns, requiring antibiotics, creams, fluids & lots of attention. She tells me she is "full of sunshine". She's full of something, that's for sure! It is much better today, thank goodness! I couldn't bear to see her miserable on her birthday.

This morning I surprised her with a cupcake apron that I made over the weekend (while she was "sunning herself" on Lake Texoma). She immediately put it on over her pjs....

The other day she pointed out a balloon that she wanted at the grocery store. A hamburger balloon. The store was using them to promote the deli.

So today I went to that store. Went to the floral counter & told the nice lady that I needed a bouquet of balloons for my daughter's birthday. We picked out the colors of the latex balloons & she asked if I wanted a mylar balloon to go with it. "well, yes" I said. "I do. I want one of the hamburger balloons" Silence. And then, "I'm sorry maam, we don't sell the hamburger balloons. Those are to promote the deli." Sad face. You'll have to picture it, sorry, I didn't get a photo of that. And then she sold me the hamburger balloon! Yay! Ally was very excited when I brought it home (strange child!).

The table is set for company and the chickens are roasting in the oven. Yes, it's 100 degrees outside & my oven is on! She's worth it.
Oh, & if it matters to you, it's my half birthday today too! 48 1/2 to be exact. Yes, I'm old. So what? I have a houseful of great kids & an awesome husband to show for it!
Happy Birthday Ally!

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

sewing class

Today Joellen & I taught our first official teen sewing class! We had 2 brand new seamstresses & Joellen's daughter, who had sewn before. They all did a terrific job!

First, we spent some time getting familiar with the sewing machines & stitching shapes on paper. The girls got the hang of it very quickly & were anxious to make their pajama pants! So we helped them lay out their patterns....& then they all sat down to sew....We took a break for lunch & the girls finished up more than an hour early! All of them are anxious to try another project, perhaps a pillowcase? Of course we ended our day with a fashion show. We had Hot Air Balloons..... Music notes.....
and Turtles....

I think they did a wonderful job! Yay! Three more converts to the greatest hobby on earth!

Saturday, August 1, 2009

one year!

I just realized that it was one year ago today that I started my blog! Time goes by sooooo fast! I have really enjoyed doing this. Mostly I have enjoyed the community of bloggers that I have met! I look forward to developing my blog in the next year......

Happy Blogaversary to me!