Sunday, September 29, 2013

barn quilt done

The barn quilt is finished and has gone home to live with a sweet family expecting their first baby (a boy) in the next few days! Baby's mommy, Laura, was my kids favorite babysitter years ago when we lived in Ohio. Now she and her hubby live near us in Texas! They are going to be awesome parents.

 Here's a close up of one block. I wanted you to see the awesome quilting my pal Diann did. Jigsaw puzzle shapes!
I hope baby arrives soon, healthy and happy!

Saturday, September 28, 2013

football in Texas

We're having a fun weekend here in Texas! Yesterday, Ally wore here homecoming mum to school. I warned you that she was going a little crazy this year. Here it is!
I know some of you (who don't live in Texas!) are going "HUH?" about now! In fact, before we moved here I had no idea this was even a "thing".  Homecoming mums in Texas are pretty amazing. Ally's senior mum is actually three mums, lots of ribbons and bobbles and a feather boa. She made it herself & had a lot of fun doing it. I've read some blog posts going on and on about how horrible this tradition is, blah blah blah. Well, my kids have had fun with it so why not? 

Guess who else is home for Homecoming weekend? My oldest, Leigh Anne!


Last night, hubby and the girls and I went to the High School football game. You might have read about our new 60 million dollar stadium last year. It was pretty well talked up nationally. Well this was our first trip to the stadium.
 I must say, we had a blast! Allen, Texas does football up big! We are the 2012 (and 2008) state champs after all!
In case you are wondering, we won the game last night. Undefeated so far this year.

Tonight is the dance.... more pictures later!

Sunday, September 22, 2013

what a weekend!

Congratulations to my handsome nephew Brett and his beautiful bride Brittany who were married on Saturday! It was a wonderful weekend full of family and laughter! Thank you for including me!

Saturday, September 21, 2013

a wedding quilt

Happy wedding day to my handsome nephew, Brett and his lovely bride, Brittany! Every good wedding demands a quilt in celebration. Here's the one I made to give to them today....

 It's from the book "We Love Color". I added extra cross blocks to make it bigger.
 And look at that backing! Could it coordinate any more perfectly?

Here's to many many years together, snuggling under a happy quilt.


Thursday, September 19, 2013

it arrived!

I was so happy when Jennifer let me know her pouch had arrived! Want to see what I sent her?

 I had been playing with some fussy cut hexies and I decided to use 2 of them to make her pouch. What do you think?
 I had fun choosing goodies for her. First off, I made her a coordinating fat quarter bundle of the pouch fabrics (they are the Cloud 9 fabrics for Joann's). Some other little goodies, like one of the Villa Rosa patterns, some stickers and buttons....
 I also made her a couple of bracelets that somehow didn't make it into the photo. It all tucked neatly inside.....
And off it went to England! I hope you enjoy it Jennifer, I sure had fun making it for you.

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

treats from far away

Kim, at Lily Patch Quilts, is hosting  the Pretty Pouch Swap. I was excited to sign up, and very excited to be paired with Jennifer who lives in Northern England! Even though Jennifer and I mailed our pouches on the exact same day, mine has not arrived at her house yet, so I cannot show it to you.

But yesterday, this beauty arrived at my house from Jennifer! Such gorgeous fabrics and beautifully made...


 And when I opened it up.... oh the goodies!
 Jennifer definitely caught on to my passion for polka dots! I adore the sweet bracelet that matches my pouch. And two pretty fat quarters of dots too! A beautiful thimble (which is very similar to the one hubby bought me in Germany last year. So now I collect them, right? Two is a collection surely!). Postcards, tissues (20 and 50 pound notes with the queen on them!) and, oh my goodness, Kendal Mint Cakes, which I had never heard of but I can now declare to be my favorite food, hands down! They are gluten free (thank you Jennifer!) and basically pure sugar that melts on your tongue! I have been eating a tiny bite each day so they will last me a long long time!

As if that wasn't enough, my friend Raquel was in Hawaii last week and brought me home these beautiful fat quarters....
2 of each, so 12 bright, gorgeous fat quarters! 

I am feeling very spoiled about now!


Saturday, September 14, 2013

it's that time of year again

Two of my young sewing friends are freshmen in High School this year. That means they get to have mums for Homecoming! Today I helped them put theirs together.....


One is a garter for a date and one a mum for herself. Don't they look terrific? Ally is working on her final mum too. I'll share pictures of that soon. I'm so glad these girls are willing to let me help them out!

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

winner!

Do you remember my Pachyderm in Paisley that I shared with you? It won second prize!

Fabric designer Amanda Herring from The Quilted Fish did the judging and chose it herself! And my prize from Happiness is Quilting? This beautiful fat quarter bundle of Amanda's Madhuri line!


Isn't it scrumptious??? I can't bear to cut into it just yet.

Monday, September 9, 2013

a little dress (a pattern review)



I can't believe it was four years ago that I told you about my brand new niece Mackenzie. Four years! And now she is a darling, precocious birthday girl. I had to make her something to wear to school and church. Bright colors seem to suit her personality (ok, maybe it's just me forcing bright colors on everyone? So be it). Here's what I decided to make....
And a big bow in the back...

The pattern is Simplicity 1595. It's a darling pattern. But....
 I continue to be discouraged by the quality of the pattern writing for the major pattern companies. This dress has lots of gathers and ruffles. If you follow the pattern directions, all of the raw edges are left exposed! I can only imagine the mess this would be after one trip through the laundry, can't you. So, before I even began, I pretty much rewrote the pattern directions.

Luckily I had plenty of fabric. I created facings to cover the raw edges at the bottom ruffle and did the same at the bottom of the sleeves...

I made a facing to cover the raw edges at the waist, where the top and the bottom are both gathered into the midsection (oh the threads that little facing encases!)...
 I added a little ribbon tag so Mackenzie can tell the back from the front....

 Happy Birthday Mackie!



Friday, September 6, 2013

September stitchalong

Have you been stitching along with us? I hope so! It's time for our September stitchalong pattern. This month's theme is "professions" or "tools of the trade". Well, the tool I've been learning to use better this year is my camera. So, I decided to go with that...

What kind of camera do you use? Earlier this year, I got a Nikon D3200 and I love it! I still have a lot to learn about photography but having a great camera certainly helps, don't you think?


Here's a link to the free pattern so you can stitch one too. 

If you've been stitching every month, you should have nine little squares stitched up now....

 Won't you add your stitchery photos to our flickr group? I love to see what you've been doing!


Thursday, September 5, 2013

this and that

odds and ends that have been going on here. Like a swap pouch coming together (sneak peak!)
 A fun bundle of chevrons I won at the McKinney Modern Quilt Guild meeting on Tuesday....

 And a silly photo op of Trae and I, shop hopping the other day. September is Quilt Across Texas, a great opportunity to check out all of the awesome quilt shops, gather freebies and register for prizes...
what have you been up to lately?

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

crafty tuesday.... one year!

It's hard to believe it was a year ago that I first invited my friends over for our first crafty Tuesday. We decided to celebrate our first craftyversary with a little game of traders dice....
 We used buttons for our trading and it was lots of fun. After that we crafted....
 read crafty magazines, quilted (you should see the big stitching on Trae's mini quilt!), appliqued, traced...
 crocheted...
 Some of you have emailed saying you wish you could do something like this with your friends. My advice to you.... just do it! We've had so much fun this last year and plan to have lots more in the future. Some months there are only two or three of us, some months lots more, but it's always a good time.

Here's what I did yesterday....
it's an english paper pieced Rose Star that I did using this tutorial.  After I had it all prepped the way the tutorial teaches I did some reading and realized you can do the whole thing using kite shapes. I think I might have to make another that way!

Hope your Tuesday was a happy as mine!

Sunday, September 1, 2013

are you stitching?

Are you ready for our September stitchalong? Friday is the day! In the meantime, have you been keeping up with the other months? I know some of you have. Check out Wendi's version of the August block:


I love the buttons she added and the little hoop.... so cheerful! If you don't want to make a quilt with all of your blocks, you could do something like this too.

You can see all of the blocks in our flickr group with links back to the posts about them. Add your pretty stitcheries while you're there! I can't wait to see them.