5 down 7 to go!

I finally got started on a quilt that I purchased a kit for oh, about 5 years ago. My cousin is very ill and they are having a fund raiser for her, so I thought this was the perfect inspiration to finally make this quilt.

I had hoped to get all 12 blocks done this weekend, but life got in the way. Oh well, at least I got a start on it. I have until early November to get it done.

Here are the first 5 blocks, it's a "sampler", I got Jan, Feb, Mar, April and September done.

Baby it's cold outside!

I can't believe it's winter already.

Here's a picture from Friday, October 9!

My poor DH has to work outside sometimes so I thought I'd make him a flannel welders cap. I used the scraps from a pair of flannel shorts I had made him several years ago.

He was on graveyard shift this weekend so sleeping during the day. He woke up and I showed him the hat, he put it on his head and slept in it! I guess I should have turned up the heat in the bedroom.

Wow! The summer is gone!

Friday's high is supposed to be 28 and the low is in the single digits-YIKE! It was just summer. The good news is that I can finally dust off the old sewing machine and get productive again.

Colt and Minnie had a great summer-Minnie spent last summer in the humane society, so she especially enjoyed her time swimming, running and hiking.



< Now there's a happy girl!!!!!!! Her first time in water that wasn't a flooding, rushing river. She loved it and has become quite the swimmer. At first she would only wade in, now she jumps right in. Sad that a dog doesn't learn to swim until she's 2 years old-but wonderful that she will be swimming all she wants for the rest of her life.

Here's Colt taking a rest on the picnic table-hmmmmmmm..........does the bird dog realize there are several birds behind him?????? LOL! In his defense he just woke up, we had taken a couple hour hike earlier that day.

That isn't a cigar hanging out of his mouth, it's a raw-hide chewy. We let that sunflower grow right in the doorway-yup, we went around it all summer. We had several around the yard, we try to let them grow wherever they come up. I can't believe I didn't take any pictures of the massive amount of them we had around here, each plant had several flowers on it.

Happy Birthday Girls!

A friend of mine's triplet girls turned 11 on Monday. Their mother got them each a Nintendo DS-they've been asking for a couple of years. Those things are amazing-they can actually text each other-crazy. Anyhow, we did get them each a game but I really wanted to make them something. I know they all like purses and bags so I made them each a purse (tutorial here) with a matching coin purse. They just happen to be the perfect size to carry their DS'! and the little one can hold the games-man those things are tiny.

Aren't they adorable? Horses for K, Princess' for T and "Hippy" for A. They LOVED them! I wish I had gotten a shot of them with them on, they each slung them over their shoulder immediately and wore them throughout most of the party.

Happy Birthday Girls!

It's finished!

Actually, it's been done for a few weeks, I just haven't gotten around to taking any pictures.

I made this quilt to raffle off for a fund raiser I'm doing for a local youth home organization. I will be walking a half marathon on Sunday. I am going to try to break 3 hours, last year I did it in 3 hrs 10 min. I feel ready, but I'm bummed that I haven't dropped any weight in training. At first I did but when I started to increase my workouts I gained-and no, I don't think it's muscle, I guess I increased my eating or something-although it didn't feel like it. I'm really bummed that I didn't lose some weight as I have my THIRTY YEAR class reunion the following weekend! ACK! How did I get this old?

So, cousin P won the quilt-even though we did the drawing at one of my clients they claim it was rigged because family won-lol-sore losers.

I won these squares at a quilt retreat I attended about 3 or 4 years ago.

Didn't it turn out nice? Here is a picture showing the back-I just love this fabric. This is the first time I followed the directions on attaching the binding. I don't trust my hand sewing but everything I've found says you have to attach the front of the binding by hand-so I did. I hope it holds! I quilted it using multicolored thread, I don't know that I would make the choice again, I probably would stick to black, but I think it turned out nice anyhow.

Congratulations P!

One thing I learned with this quilt: If you can't get the tension right on a bobbin-dump it! It is not worth the time and potential damage to your quilt to keep trying to get it right. In the end you have to pull out all that quilting you did because it looks horrible. I don't know how you can wind 4 at the same time and one just doesn't work-but it happens-let it go!

She likes monkeys!

Yup, 50+ and still crazy about monkeys. Just when I think "enough with the monkeys" I see she is wearing a pair of monkey shoes, or has given one of her grand-kids something with monkey's on it. So, for her birthday I picked up some cute monkey material, then realized I had enough for several gifts (yes, I have left overs), I don't know what I'll do with the rest of it, perhaps a fabric bowl or box.

I've been wanting to make this bed caddy for quite some time, and still plan on making one for myself, but thought it might be a nice gift. Poor sis, she got my practice one.



I based it (loosely) on a pattern purchased - cheaply- from here - sorry, I can't find the exact one, I see they now have a bed caddy pattern for free, I may try it. The one I used is called a butterfly bed caddy, but obviously I didn't do the butterfly.

One reason I haven't made one for myself is because I know the two little monsters that live with us (pictures to the right) will pull it outside and rip it up, or at the very least pull the items in it outside and tear them up. The other day I found a pair of dh's underwear in the yard, with big rips in them-good grief, after 8 months you'd think he'd learn not to leave underwear or socks on the floor-serves him right!

Anyhow, here it is, hanging on my sewing table. I think I will make the pockets bigger when I make the next one, they aren't big enough to put a magazine unless you roll it. I like the little pocket in the front, perfect for the remote on one side and reading glasses on other.




Of course I had to include a purse and coin purse in the package. I really do love these purses-I hope everyone I've sent them to does as well.

Happy Birthday Sis!

How do they do it?

I'm very impressed how bloggers are able to post a few times a week. Although I'm sewing, and taking pictures, I just can't seem to get them from the camera, to the computer, to the internet.

Anyhow, I've been making these adorable purses! See the tutorial here.

The purple and pink was my practice one. I took this to a fund raiser I attended recently and LOVED it! I didn't have to worry about a big, bulky purse bumping everyone, nor did I have to leave it at the table and worry about someone pilfering through it. It is the perfect size for a checkbook, credit card, some cash, my keys, and lip balm. I need to make one less flashy, but I think I will get a lot of use out of it-perfect for shopping.

I made this one for a niece that turned 19 recently. I also made a little coin purse to go with it. A great gift, especially with a little cash tucked inside!

This one went to a niece for her 16th birthday-also with a bit of cash. How cute is that?

These don't use much fabric 2-6X17" pieces of fabric with the same amount of batting. It's also a great way for those of us new to machine quilting to get some practice in.

If you have a serger, I'd serge the edges together. Also, the little purse didn't really seem to match the quilted, bigger purse. So the first one I used quilted pieces. That was too bulky so I just "quilted" the next ones, minus the batting. I think it looks much better that way.

I have 4 more in progress for some little gals that have birthdays coming up.