Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Trains!

It's been a week of doctor appointments here. Thus, no sewing! Sorry! Today was Ally's monthly visit to Children's hospital downtown. For several months she's been begging to go early & see the model train display in the lobby of the main hospital building that everyone raves about. Well, with summer break upon us, we decided to do just that today! Leigh Anne & Steve came along for the ride.... A smile would have been nice Steve! Anyways, the display is simply amazing, takes up the whole lobby & 2 stories high! With a cityscape....
loads of fun mountain scenes & tons of characters here & there...
It was fun to see! & worth the $5 to valet park the car for 30 minutes so we could go in. The doctor appointments are done for now (7 appointments in three days! Not all for the same person) & I can get back to my fun projects! More on those soon...

Thursday, June 24, 2010

a cupcake kinda day

Last weekend we saw Toy Story 3! Ally has a special fondness for the little alien guys. Yesterday she created them in fondant! It's been a rough week for her. She had some oral surgery on Tuesday & has been down for the count. I was glad she had some energy yesterday & wanted to decorate cupcakes. Check out this baby dinosaur...
and a stack of cupcakes! What fun.

While she was decorating, I stitched up the first 12 blocks for Steve's college quilt. 12 more blocks are halfway done & should be finished today. I am making the Sea Glass pattern from the latest McCalls Quick Quilts magazine. I had been looking for the perfect pattern to make for him & when I saw this one I really liked it. I think it will be the perfect guy quilt...

Oh & a note to all my local pals.... Steve will be emceeing on the second stage at Celebration park tomorrow night..... drop by & say hello!



in my mailbox.....

I love finding packages in my mailbox! Especially when they come from far off places.... like Australia! This sweet clutch arrived last week from my good friend Lisa, of The Princess and The Monkey. I've mentioned her before. If you haven't checked out her blog, you really must! She has an especially wonderful Tutorials page. I've found all kinds of ideas there. I know you'll love it too!


I have so many wonderful friends all over the world who I have met on the internet! One friend in Maryland & I play scrabble online every single day! We know just about everything about each other, yet we've never met face to face. Of course I have lots of bloggy friends, like you! & friends who go way back to the mid 90s when I was a host over at Parent Soup on AOL. The internet has made the world seem so much smaller for me. & it's fun to connect with people so quickly! But even more fun when something tangible arrives in my mailbox & I know that someone has put time & effort into a sweet gift. Thank you Lisa! I will use this often & think of you!

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Finished!

Last night I was curled up in the family room watching mindless television with my girls (yes, we do get into listening to Jillian Michaels yell at yet another dysfunctional family. & yes, we do eat fattening snacks while we watch. Now you know). I'm not one to just sit & watch, have to either be flipping through a magazine or stitching/crocheting, etc something with my hands! Well, this quilt had come back to me from the long arm quilter just in time! So I sat & hand stitched the binding on..... It makes me very happy! I created it with a charm pack, a couple of coordinating fat quarters & yardage of one of the prints.... & I think perhaps I will write up the pattern so you all can make one too! It was pretty easy & would be so cute in a kiddo print for a baby shower. Or in a holiday print for Christmas decorating. Or.... well you get the idea!


This morning I cut out the fabric for my son Steve's "going to college" quilt. I have a year to get it done.... ready, set, GO! Happy sewing everyone!

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Topsy Turvy Cake!

Ally took her last cake class at Hobby Lobby today. It was an all day class on Topsy Turvy cakes! Here's a picture of her hard at work... And the finished cake! I am blown away...


There are six (yes! SIX!) cakes in there, several pounds of fondant & about 3 batches of buttercream icing. It's a HEAVY cake! & BIG!

While she was decorating, Leigh Anne & I took three of our favorite young girls to see Toy Story 3 (the little girls were just a cover! We wanted to see it anyways & it looked better if we at least had a few short people with us!). It was fantastic! Loved it. I highly recommend you all go see it as soon as you can.


Wednesday, June 16, 2010

playing around with plastic canvas!

Sister Diane over at CraftyPod posted a great tutorial for making these little plastic canvas needlepoint charms! I am having a blast with these. Needed something new to do in waiting rooms since I finished up my quilt. You should try these out, they're fun! Each one is two sided too! I made the backs different so you get two completely different looks from each one...
I did this next one with variegated thread! Love that look... Now I just need to get some fun chains to put them on & they will be done!


Some folks have commented that it is difficult to find the small count (10 squares per inch) plastic canvas that these call for. I had no trouble at all... Hobby Lobby had it here. It's worth the hunt if you can't find it right away. I used embroidery floss (all six strands) and #20 crewel needles (thanks for the suggestion Jill!). I wonder if the chains will be on sale any time soon???

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

quilt top done!

What do you think? Steve took this wonderful picture for me this afternoon (I look great, don't I? heehee). I just love this quilt top & can't wait to get it quilted. So many hours of hand stitching in doctor's waiting rooms.... so many hours of machine stitching in my sewing room while I listened to podcasts.


Do any of you listen to podcasts? What is your favorite? Lately I have really enjoyed Quilted Cupcake, Craftsanity, and Quilting for the Rest of Us. I just find those three gals the easiest to listen to.... Oh, & Pat Sloan's Creative Talk Radio. Love that too! So many great interviews. Let me know what you are listening to so I can check it out!

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Ready for borders (and a horse in my kitchen)

My World as it Should Be quilt is all put together now & ready for borders (don't look to closely at the points!) I'm just trying to decide what colors the borders should be & it will be ready to quilt! Yay!


Oh, & the horse in my kitchen? I bet you're wondering about that, right? Well of course it's a cake!


Ally & I bought a horse shaped pan. A little friend of ours has a birthday coming up & she LOVES horses. So Ally is practicing to make her birthday cake. Her first try at it is pretty fantastic, don't you think? Ok, honestly, this is cake number 2. Cake number one stuck to the pan! Suddenly I am feeling better about my cake disasters. Seems it runs in the family. But cake number two is lovely! Well, it was. Now it has been eaten! & our little neighbor girls have full tummies tonight. They sure do love Ally. I wonder why?

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Yes, I have been sewing!

Just in case you thought all I'd been doing is watching Ally decorate cakes (& washing dishes) I wanted to assure you that I've been busy in my sewing room too! Finishing up some projects that have been waiting so patiently... like this mini quilt that I started way back in February! Finally quilted & bound... I'm not sure what that funny blur is that my camera has suddenly decided is necessary? Anyways, remember the heart blocks I made for the February swap? Well they have finally been sewn into a quilt top. Here's a sneak peak.... don't you just love ric rac?
And finally, I have the top five rows of my "World as it should be" quilt sewn together! I am loving this cheerful quilt & am so happy that I've decided to keep it for our house. Something I don't do very often! It seems like I am always giving things away.

I've also finished up a few little gifty items & been working on a new pattern that I will share with you soon....

Summertime is here for real (it was 100+ today, blech!) so I will surely be spending lots of time in the air conditioned sewing room! I'll keep you posted!