unplugged

This past weekend I was so lucky to retreat with my sewing sisters at The Retreat at the End of the Road in Athens, TX. Such a beautiful setting where I was able to disconnect (no wifi, limited cell service!) and truly be present in each moment.

this is the spot where I was able to get the best cell service. Pretty sweet!

I'm so lucky to be part of a lovely group of ladies who quilt. We call ourselves Seams Like Sisters. We were only missing one friend this weekend. The six of us who were able to go got lots done! Here are a few of the pretty finishes that came out of our weekend...

Alice's fun mini

Carol's cute modern baby quilt

Diann's house quilt

I'll share my own finishes with you in the next few posts.

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On Monday we took a field trip into town to visit Beverly's awesome quilt shop, the Needle Niche

She was so sweet to open up for us on a Monday when her shop is normally closed.

such a cute shop, and we all found some goodies to take back with us!

Ellen, me, Alice, Joellen, Carol and Diann

Such a fun weekend! I can't wait to go back.

I also realized that yesterday was my nine year blogaversary! Nine years of blogging... I never imagined it would lead me to so many friendships and adventures. Wow!

MQG swap received

It was so much fun stalking my Modern Quilt Guild mini swap group on Instagram, watching the quilts evolve and speculating which one might be for me. Honestly, there were so many beautiful quilts and I would have been happy with any of them. But, MAN OH MAN! When my mini arrived I was over the moon excited!

These beautiful Anna Maria Horner feathers were made for me by Jane (Janequiltsslowly). And not only did she nail my likes (bright colors, Allison Glass Sun Prints, feathers...) but her workmanship is impeccable. She even put hanging corners on all four corners so I could choose which direction I wanted it to hang! Such a great idea, which I will surely copy down the road.

This lovely quilt is now hanging in my front room, right inside the front door, where I see it a million times a day. Thank you Jane! I love this.

NYC 2016

Last weekend I jaunted off to the Big Apple to visit my oldest daughter, Leigh Anne...

The main purpose of this visit was for the two of us to attend the She Is Free conference, hosted by her church, Liberty Church NYC. There's an incredible video here, if you want to see more about She Is Free. It was an incredible weekend!

We ate lots of great (gluten free!) food in NYC, of course. And on Sunday, after the conference had ended, I requested a trip to Purl Soho which Leigh Anne politely agreed to (she did not acquire the crafty gene sadly). I had been planning my purchase from Purl Soho and saving for it for quite a while. 

Isn't it beautiful? A fat eighth bundle of 56 different pieces of Liberty Lawn. OH. MY. GOODNESS. and since Liberty Lawn is 54 inches wide, a fat eighth is 9" X 27" which means even more incredible goodness! I plan to stretch this fabric and include it in many many projects. But I wasn't home long before I selected 30 prints and cut a 2 1/2" strip from each, prepping pieces for an English Paper Pieced plus quilt. 

I have dreamed of a liberty version of this quilt ever since I made my first EPP Plus quilt last year. When I finished prepping, I had a pile of tiny strips of Liberty on my cutting table and I couldn't bear to throw them away....

My friend Mahriam, the queen of "no scrap left behind" suggested I put them in a pretty jar! Brilliant. So off I went to Walmart where I got this cute, tiny jar for less than $3.

It was the perfect size! And now I will always have a little bit of Liberty making my studio a happy place...

I have added my EPP Plus Liberty quilt to my fourth quarter goals for the finish along.

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2015 - it's a wrap!

This morning, just as the sun was rising, Hubby and I stood bundled up at the finish line for a local  race watching the runners come in. And then we saw her.... 

Ally completed her first 5K this morning with a big smile on her face and a hard earned medal around her neck. Suddenly, anything I had accomplished this year totally paled in comparison. This girl had the biggest victory of all of us and I'm so proud!

If you don't know Ally's story, she shared some of it here and in other posts on The Unbroken Smile where she is a contributor. My girl is a warrior!

It seems most of my finishes were smaller items this year. I am pretty proud of my mini quilt finishes...

I had minimal big quilt finishes...

I did make TWO of those blue plus quilts, so that's something, right?

And lots of "things"  and bags got made....

Bee blocks were tons of fun!

For the record, I recently completed TWO large quilt tops and sent them off to the quilter, so I'll have a good jump start on 2016, right? 

It's been fun sharing with you here. Can't wait to see what we all come up with in the coming year! Happy New Year friends.

happy mail from down under

A couple of weeks ago I got a wonderful package in the mail from my blogging friend Maria. She always spoils me at the holidays. This beautiful Christmas table runner fits perfectly on my front hall table and I love it there! The Anni Downs fabrics are perfect. Maria knows how much I love her designs.

Maria also made me a fantastic Christmas bunting. I tried to get a picture of the whole thing but

for some reason it won't load to my blog post. Here are two up-close photos of each end of the bunting. They showcase my favorite fabrics in the whole thing.... koalas & kangaroos of course!

I love it so much! Thank you Maria! You're so special to me!

Gratitude

My close friends all know that I'm a huge fan of gratitude. I preach thankfulness whenever possible and try to live my life to reflect how very thankful I am. Gratitude comes easily for me, in good times and in bad, thanking God for all of my blessings makes my life so sweet. Every day I am thankful for a husband who loves me, supports my crazy ideas, washes the dishes and is one of the finest human beings to walk the earth. And the three fabulous, ambitious, energetic, curious, intelligent children he & I made together! This year I am especially thankful for a God who heals, for doctors who restored so many in our family to good health. For my mom & dad who have shown us what true love looks like. For family and friends near and far.

I'm thankful for Crafty Tuesday, the McKinney Modern Quilt Guild & all of the wonderful, creative people who feed my soul. And for you... for going along with me on this wonderful, creative journey. May you and your family be especially blessed this Thanksgiving day.

sewing room swap received

I want to share the wonderful goodies I received in Stitched With Love's sewing room swap on Friday. Lisa made me this awesome scrap catcher/pin cushion to keep near my machine. The fabrics & colors are so perfect in my space. She even embroidered my name on the front! It's wonderful.

Look at the awesome spot to keep my scissors handy. Genius! The scissors were included in my goodies from Lisa....

In fact she included lots of goodies..... rainbow binder clips, a seam ripper, post its, handmade labels, glass head pins and these adorable decorative pins...

And this fantastic scrabble tile/ quilt block necklace. she didn't even know that I'm a big scrabble fan as well as a quilter!

Thank you for all of the wonderful treats Lisa! They're perfect!

Gratitude Quilt

I finished my fourth word-of-the-year quilt! Gratitude was my word in 2012. I chose a pumpkin to represent my word because I always think of the harvest when I think of gratitude. Also, I realized that this is ABSOLUTELY the longest word I can choose or I will have to make my paper pieced letters even smaller (and that, my friends, is NOT happening!)

For the pumpkin, I used this tutorial that I found via Pinterest (don't you just love Pinterest?) posted on the Fort Worth Studio Blog (which I love!) The finished quilt is 18x20, just like the other word quilts I have made. I can't wait to hang them all together eventually! I have one more to make before 2016 and my new word arrive. It's my 2011 word, Trust. I am totally stumped on a picture for this one. Any thoughts?

goodbye sweet friend

Yesterday our Crafty Tuesday group suffered a huge loss. Our dear friend Raquel, who has been a Crafty Tuesday girl nearly from the beginning almost three years ago, passed away following surgery to repair a broken leg. I was devastated when I learned this.

Raquel lived her life with passion and purpose. Whatever she did, whether it was quilting, scrapbooking, weight loss, Zumba or Roller Derby, she did it with her whole heart and all of her energy. She loved her husband and her children deeply. And her friends. We will miss her terribly.

A couple of years ago, Raquel brought me back a bundle of fat quarters from her native Hawaii. I used the beautiful Hawaiian prints to make a postcard quilt which hangs in my studio. From now on I will think fondly of my friend whenever I see it.

Hug your friends and tell them that you love them. I will miss you Raquel. You were a blessing to me.

bluebonnet hugs quilt

My fabulous photography assistant, Super Ally, and I would like to share my latest quilt finish with you....

I'm calling it Bluebonnet Hugs. The colors remind me of the Texas Bluebonnets we enjoy every spring. And this quilt is meant to offer special hugs to my sweet sister, Diane, and her husband Dave who have been so welcoming and kind, letting Ally & I stay with them for almost 2 months this winter while we were in Ohio.....

In case you've never seen bluebonnets before, here's what they look like. So pretty!

The bluebonnets were so beautiful this year because we've had a ton of rain! But that also means there was lots of mud. It was also very windy the day we went. Didn't make for a wonderful photo shoot unfortunately.

  The pattern is from Love Patchwork and Quilting magazine & was fun to make! I did the whole thing from my stash. Well, except for the back. When I asked Ally to turn around so I could photograph the back, this is what she did.....

 Can you hear her giggling in that photo? What a silly girl. Anyways, I do love the strip of patchwork I added to the back....

 My friend, Sandy, did the fabulous quilting for me (and very quickly, I might add! Thanks Sandy!)

It took some doing to get Miss Ally to give this quilt up....

 I may have promised to make another one like it, for her. maybe.

my first major creation....

ah that bow! 

Although I have been making things my whole life, 25 years ago today my first major creation made her appearance......

She's still my tiny one (not as tiny as the photo above, but still tiny!) but she has become a woman of strong faith, big adventures, love of travel, curiosity about the world around her and wonderful kindness to her family and friends. I encourage you to read about her adventures here.

exploring the Cleveland Art Museum during our most recent time together

 I wish you a very happy birthday Leigh Anne! You have brought me so much joy and I can't wait to see what the future holds for you.

Petunia Peacock

Allow me to introduce you to Petunia Peacock!

Isn't she adorable? Petunia is one of the new patterns recently introduced by Jennifer Heynen at Jennifer Jangles. I was lucky Jennifer allowed me to take this pattern for a spin for her. The first part of the pattern is lots of appliqué on the feathers. Not too long ago, I would have done this all by hand. However, through lots of practice, my confidence with machine appliqué has soared. I did this with a machine buttonhole stitch & I am really happy with the results.

 I would call this pattern a confident to advanced beginner level. The maker needs both machine and hand sewing basic skills. Oh, and a tiny bit of embroidery. It's a great pattern, well written and so much fun to watch Petunia come together. I stitched her up in an afternoon.

 Thanks again, Jennifer, for the opportunity to sew for you.

goodies in the mail

Returning home after nearly six weeks away meant piles of mail waiting to be opened! Some of it was really really FUN mail! In fact, there was an abundance of fabric.

This last year I participated in a birthday fat quarter swap. There were fifteen of us in the swap, and we each sent a fat quarter to each other member on her birthday. We put in requests for favorite fabrics. My request was for aquas/reds and polka dots. What fun it was to open up all of these goodies!

 Another fabric bundle waited for me from Pink Castle Fabrics. I had seen Ayumi's new Lighthearted fabrics and fallen head over heals in love! I had to have some. It was hard to choose, but in the end I selected these four....

Another swap I had joined was the Instagram Snacking with a mug swap. This gorgeous bundle arrived from Linda while I was away. The instructions were to include a mug, mug rug, and a book in our swap package. (yes, my book is missing from this photo! Linda included a devotion book which I am already reading and forgot to go retrieve for the photo shoot.) Linda also embroidered me a pretty tea towel and included some hot chocolate! I'm a lucky lucky girl.

It turns out partners were paired up and gave to each other in this swap, which I didn't realize! Here's the bundle I sent to Linda:

 One more surprise I received in the mail this week. My blogging friend Debbie from A Quilter's Table made me a lovely patchwork covered journal from Cotton & Steel fabrics. The journal is graph paper which is PERFECT! I just love this Debbie! Thank you! Here's the front....

 and the equally fabulous back...

wow! I'm feeling very spoiled right now.