A Day of Lessons Learned

Today was full of learning and filling my head with more knowledge!

First off, I slept in, which I knew I would need with the weekend I have ahead of me. Got up, ate breakfast, then mom came over to teach me how to hem! I figure it's about time that I learn so I don't have to keep sending things to her house to have them done. I also sewed on a couple buttons, man am I getting all domestic! Needless to say, I was always the non-functional sewer, shall we call it. It was nice to do a little project today that was useful! (Not that quilting isn't useful! Who doesn't need to let a little creativity out and have another beautiful piece of work??)


Sewing the lace on before hand-sewing a hem.


And the first of many buttons.

We finished 2 skirts, a jacket, and a few buttons on a couple jackets.

After working on some hems, it was back to the books for the rest of the day. The big test is next weekend and I've been studying my tush off lately. That is what today and tomorrow consist of... Learning all about fabric types/uses, contract documents, mechanical/electrical/structural systems, sustainable design, codes (building, ADA), professional practices, and the list goes on! Also did some of my timed hand drafting practice tests. You know, drawing floor plans, furniture plans, making sure you have correct egress, lighting plans, power/data plans, millwork details, all that fun stuff.


My life as of late...and the reason I haven't had any fun quilty/crafty pictures or stories to share! But no worries, it will all be back to normal by this time next week!

And now back to it...

Hugs & Giggles

And She's Back!

Well, it's been almost a week since I've posted...I know that may not be long for some in blogland, but I was doing really well for a while. I've been super crazy busy this week, and I can finally blog again!

I didn't get to do too much sewing this week, mainly because my little machine was in the shop. Nothing major, thankfully (!!!), just the usual tune-up, which hasn't been done on this machine since I got it...quite a few years ago! And I've done a whole lot of sewing and traveling with that machine. It has been to college and back, down to Grandma's once or twice, and back-and-forth between here and Mom's more times than I can count. I haven't sewn with it yet since I got it back (been doing a lot of hand sewing!), but I reckon I shall soon!

Speaking of handsewing, I've kind of been kicking butt lately on my batik Grandmother's Flower Garden lately. I've gotten another little push for it. It's quite addicting, I must say! So I've been working on it quite a bit here and there lately, just something I can do a little bit at night before bed without diving too much into anything. I've finished a few more flowers and done a lot of connecting onto my large piece. It's coming along! It currently measures about 28" x 36". That is currently with 29 flowers and joining pieces. I really have no idea how big it will be when I am all finished. I have a lot more flowers, and quite a few batiks left that I haven't even made flowers out of yet, and am planning to make one flower of each to beginning with. And I just have to share...here is my current pile of "flowers to attach". So needless to say, this thing will be getting quite a bit bigger! There are at least 50-75 flowers there!

Well, sorry to have been MIA for a few days, but I'm back to it now that my exam prep class that I had this weekend is over :o) Even though I'm a bit exhausted (and can't believe that I have to go back to work tomorrow already...), I'm off to do a bit more hand sewing!

Always,

The beginning of a great trip

This is going to be a quick post, but wanted to get something up quick!

Mom, a family friend, grandma, and I are on a little adventure to Nebraska to visit the International Quilt Study Center and Museum in Lincoln, and we got into town tonight. We stopped at a cute little quilt store on the way and I found these goodies:

(The three prints front the left in the right pile I previously had, I found the little fat quarters to coordinate. And the cherries are for another future project, yet to be decided.)

And...I finished this beauty in the car! My 9-Patch is complete and I couldn't love it more!


*Sorry for not the best pictures....what do you expect from not so good hotel lighting....ergh

Off to play a couple rounds of cards with the ladies!

Tuesday Night Sewing Date

Yay for Tuesday! One of my favorite days of the week...why you ask? Because (1) I get to sew, and (2) I get to spend the evening with Mom!

Anywho, back to the matters at hand here. Tonight's project was, you guessed it, the vegetable place mats! And I am soooooo close to being done, I can almost taste it! (no pun intended :o) .) I got the binding sewn onto 5 of the 8, then we realized I wouldn't have quite enough for the last three so Mom is helping with some piecing of binding for me to finish the last ones. So as for tonight, I brought home the 5 that I got the binding sewn on to finish with the hand-sewing.


*photo courtesy of my hubby from over the shoulder (sorry for the not-so-in-focus shot).

I'm working my way through these that I have here, and will probably be heading back to finish the others later this week. Trust me, they will be done by next Tuesday!! And I will be sure to post when I'm all finished, can't wait!

*Edit: Well...it was time to head up to bed, and I thought, 'okay, just 2 more pins and I'll head up." Well...I was on a roll with those 2 pins and just didn't want to stop, so 2 pins turned into 2 sides (you all know how that goes...). And I'm done with one place mat! 1 down and 7 to go...I will for sure finish by next Tuesday now. It's the final stretch! And now I'm really going to bed!*

Happy crafting!

Home again!

We are finally home after a long day of riding in the car and spending time with family.

My husband's cousin is home for a bit on leave from the Navy, so we all got together to see him up at their family farm. It was good to see family again, and turned out to be a beautiful day to sit out and enjoy the company. And as I had said in the previous post, it was quite a trip there and back, 2 hours one way. So needless to say, I got a bit of sewing done on my batik flowers for my Grandmother's Flower Garden! I finished 3 flowers with a 4th started!



And as I'm sure you all know already, I absolutely love sunrises and sunsets, and there was a gorgeous one on the way home!



Now to watch some tv, SNL, and make my popcorn!

Happy Weekend!

Finally....the weekend is here! Its been a long week, and let me tell you, I was ready for this 3-day weekend! It's Memorial Day weekend, and with this weekend comes the beginning of summer :o)

It should be a rather relaxing weekend without too much planned. Heading to my husband's family get-together today, and its a 2-hour drive to his aunt and uncle's farm. At first I was thinking....really, 2 hours each way, but then I realized, perfect time to work on my flowers!! So hopefully I'll be able to get quite a bit further on that little trip with 4 hours of sew time. I'll post tonight when I get home what all I got finished (I'm hoping its a lot!).

The rest of my mini vacation will be consisting of relaxing, some reading, some sewing, and some laying out in the sun! A bit of golfing and planting may get thrown in there as well. So all in all, it should be a rather productive, and lovely weekend, just what I've been needing!

Thursday Experiment

So I decided to do a little experiment tonight....

Since I don't have much going tonight, and the hubby and I are just hanging out watching a movie, I figured I would find out the answer to a question I've been asked many times before:

"How long does it really take you to make on of your little flowers?"

Well, I started with my 7 basted hexagons and a bit of thread....

And 55 minutes later, I ended up with this:



What do you think??

An odd one...

Today was quite the odd day. I'm sure part of it was just because it wasn't my usual schedule and threw me off a bit.

It all started with getting up and getting ready for work as usual, but then I sat here for a bit until I had to leave. I'm not used to sitting around in the morning before heading out. But today I ended up going back to my old high school to speak to the Interior Design class (a class that I took many years ago). After the presentation, I headed in to work, which meant I drove to work. I must admit, not too bad, but thats only because rush-hour was over. Then we had our monthly meeting at work with a potluck lunch. And the rest of the day was playing catch up. Once the day was over, that only meant having to walk back to my car, which was parked 15 minutes away so I got cheaper parking, and driving home. I was reminded again why I do not drive to work everyday...

All in all, it was a good day, just felt a bit off. But now I'm home, relaxing, and doing some hand sewing! Ever have one of those days?

Quote of the day:

"All seasons are beautiful for the person who carries happiness within."
~Horace Friess

Today was a productive day!

I must say I feel pretty productive today! We moved into our house last summer, and we had that one room in the house that I'm sure many others have, the 'catch-all room'. There were boxes in there that I hadn't unpacked since bringing them in the house and dropping them in that room. So today, I spent 5 hours cleaning (with help from Salami. Thank you much!). It looks so much better, and now I can craft much, much more! It also has been taken over as my craft room :o) , so it was time to get it cleaned up. Then had dinner, went on the weekend grocery run, and worked on these little babies!


Since I had so many hexagons cut, I decided today would be a basting day (and found the perfect little basket to keep them in when cleaning!), and am now working to turn all the hexagons into my batik flowers! These things are so addictive! Yep, I would say I got quite a bit done today! Gotta love days like this!

* Oh, and I was just curious of how many flowers and hexies that I had done. Wow, was I ever surprised! I have finished 48 flowers, and have over 500 hexies cut and done! Guess I've been a bit more addicted than I thought...

Project of the night....

...is my Feed Sack Flower Garden! I decided to take a little break from the Batik Flower Garden (mainly because I'm running out of my hand quilting thread and haven't gotten more yet). I finished one flower tonight, and am now working on tracing and cutting a bunch, next (probably not tonight) I'll baste a whole group. After basting, I'll be off making flowers!! I must say that I love these fabrics, but am not so excited about the size of the flowers to work with. After working so long with the 2" Batik hexagons, switching to the 3" hexagons is a bit of a change!



I am still loving how this quilt is turning out!! Just wish that I was a bit further! I can get a bit impatient at times....

Well, back to the flowers with my drink and snack of choice (Dr. Pepper and popcorn, the snack of champions!), and all the fun blogs on my computer! Happy crafting!!

Tuesday Night Sewing Date

Every Tuesday I head to Mom's for our Tuesday Night Sewing Date since dad and my hubby are both busy that night. Its our chance for some girl time, and to do some crafting!

Well tonight, we didn't exactly so, but we did get a bit creative! I'm going to apologize now, the photos were taken with my phone (my new phone! how exciting!), so they aren't the best, but hey, they're something!

*

Anywho, mom's school is having a spaghetti dinner fundraiser later this week and mom volunteered to do the table decorations. She went and got 36 red geraniums, and we prettied them up a bit!

*

A table full of flowers, and a vase full of curly willow...

Plus a bit of black table cloth material, ribbon and tape...

Equals beautiful gereniums for the center of the tables!

*

And that would be our project of the evening for this Tuesday! I must say, I am getting a bit of hand sewing in here tonight while watching the news with my hubby! Need my fix of sewing!

*

Oh, I forgot!

I also joined a wonderful blog today called The Great Hexagon Quilt-Along Too! A wonderful blog for those of us that love the little hexagons and everything you can do with them! Be sure to check it out if you are a hexamaniac, or if you just need a bit of inspiration!

How many can you do at once?

I previously listed all of my WIPs (works in progress) that I currently have going, and decided that I would post a few pictures of them. These are just a few, the rest are at mom's house (no worries, I still live near home). So here are the few I have here:













Batik Grandmother's Flower Garden (my modern take on it) - I currently have 43 flowers done, and have started connecting them.
-Started: February 2009


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Vintage Feed Sack Grandmother's Flower Garden - I currently have 11 flowers done.
-Started: March 2009
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"Stars of Wonder" - Stack & Slash technique quilt. I have 1/3 of the quilting left to do, then the binding to put on and it will be done! Now to just sit down and do it...
-Started: January 2009

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A set of hand embroidered monogram pillowcases.
- Started: a couple years ago or so?




I will post some other WIPs once I get some pics of them. I'm ready to go right up and work now that I've looked at these again!!

It's WIP Time!!

There are so many blogs that I love to look at during the week, many of which I have found thru Etsy. Then there is this one that my mom showed me, and I am addicted and inspired! Crazy Mom Quilts always has such cute ideas and projects that it has motivated me lately to keep working at my WIPs (Works In Progress), and create, create, create! So then I started thinking of all of my WIPs that I currently have going...and let me tell you, I almost need more than two hands to count them all. So here they are, not just quilts (I am thinking of trying to get some photos up of them as well):

• Hand embroidered tea towel sets
• Hand embroidered pillow cases
• Flannel star quilt
• Flamingo quilt
• Vegetable placemats
• Advent calendar
• Christmas wall hangings
• Batik grandmother's flower garden
• Vintage feed sack grandmother's flower garden
• Wedding quilt
• Water animals baby quilt
• Harvest table runner

That is not including all of the projects that I have the pattern and fabric/materials for, but haven't yet started! I decided I would just throw that list out there, because I figure then I am putting them all out there and will hopefully look at this, and have the drive to finish them all before starting new projects!! I know some of them will take a while to finish...but some have been going on too long and need to get done!

What is your favorite current WIP that you have going on right now??

Bit of a recap

Hey all! I'm sorry that I haven't posted in a while, and I'm a bit disappointed in myself that I didn't make it all the way through April with my posts, so I decided to do a bit of a recap of some things that were inspirational/motivating towards the end of the month:

• There has been quite a bit of quilting and sewing going on, especially on my batik Grandmother's Flower Garden (I even got my background fabric today and am staring to put some flowers together!!)
• I sold a set of my embroidered tea towels on Etsy, and I wasn't even sure people out there still used them! I now have a drive to finish other sets that I have started!
• Work is finally getting a bit busier! Things were a bit worrisome for a while without out any projects to work on, but I think we have finally jumped that hurdle and have things coming in with more on the horizon.
• I have been out golfing a bit more, and I am working my way at getting better! Seriously, pretty sure I just love being outside now that winter is officially gone!
• My hubby and I got new phones! We took that jump and have officially switched over to Blackberries...I wasn't so sure about it at first, but pretty sure I have a great understanding now of why people say they are so addictive.
• I brought all of my things in to work for the Habitat for Humanity silent auction, and it felt great to know I made things that will be helping others in the long run! (and its great to show things you've made to others, you know we all love the compliments!)
• There is a great little possible budding of a friendship/maybe more for a dear friend! I love seeing people all happy and giddy!
• The Farmer's Market is now open! An official sign that summer is coming!

So there are a few things, though I am sure there were many, many more. As for now, I'm off to continue working on my flower garden quilt! I will post a few pictures as I get a bit farther!

Happy crafting/quilting to all!!

Day 16-21:It's no fun being sick/having a migraine...

Okay all, I will say, I am sorry that I haven't kept up with this as well as I had hoped! I have had an off and on migrain the last few days, and was in bed most of Sunday, and all yesterday with the nasty virus going around. So here I am, here to update my blog with the last few days I've missed!

Day 16 (Thursday, April 16): I was determined to hop back on the horse, so I went to work early so that I could leave and make it to my yoga class. Actually its a yoga/pilates/tai chi class, and I felt so good and rejuvinated afterwards! I always have a great day the next day! Which leads us to...

Day 17 (Friday, April 17): My and my husbands 6 month anniversary! (of marriage, we really have been together much, much longer...) So we decided we would treat ourselves to a delicious dinner out to a place with a patio to enjoy the beautiful (70 degree weather!). We haven't really been on a "date" in a while, though we do try to plan a night together doing something we both enjoy at least once a week. Such a wonderful evening and such beautiful weather!

Day 18 (Saturday, April 18): We went golfing, and I did so much better than I thought I would! Not only was it another beautiful day (plus I got some sun while out!), I also got to sleep in, lounge around, then play a wonderful game of golf! Pretty sure I am totally ready to go out again, even though I may not be the best...

Day 19 (Sunday, April 19): Not such a wonderful day...the migraine and sicky stuff really set in, so I wasn't really sure if there would be much to inspire me that day. At the grocery store, though, I did some planning for a meal later this week (which really, could this be inspiring, I'm sure you are asking, but you have to understand, I'm not the cook in the family, and to know that I am planning a meal, all on my own, that I am going to do all of the preparing, pretty exciting for me!!). I am getting together with a couple friends later this week, and can't wait for the great food and time together we are going to have!

Day 20 (Monday, April 20): I hate to say it, but I didn't really have much inspiring or motivating that happened yesterday, I was up for a total of about 7 hours, slept the rest with the migraine and virus. I suppose the only real motivating thing was that I was feeling a bit better in the evening with not really any migraine left!

And that ends with today, Day 21: I will say, one great thing about being sick (tho I was back at work today, thank goodness!!), is that I was able to do a bit of hand sewing on my batik Grandma's Flower Garden! I don't remember how many I had last time that I posted about them, but I now have 30 done! Still many to go, but still exciting! And they are beautiful! It is so exciting to watch them all come out, and the same fabric can look so different on the petals in one flower!


What inspired you lately???

Day 12: Another project done!

I am always inspired and motivated to keep going when I finished a project! Today I finished the quilt that I am donating to my work's silent auction, and I couldn't be happier with it! Really, if I didn't already tell a couple people what it looked like...I would maybe keep this one and make a different one for them. Thankfully though, I do still have enough to make another one to put in the closet for when a little one happens to come our way. :o)

And here is the beautiful table runner that I finished earlier this week!

Two projects in one week! I'm on a roll!

What inspired you today??

Day 7: Tuesday Night Sewing Date

*Sorry I didn't get this out last night, was super busy...

My inspiration/motivation for today was nothing too big, so this may be short and sweet. Mom and I had our usual Tuesday night Sewing night, and I always get motivated those nights! We were very productive last night, and I went home and did more sewing, I just didn't want to stop! I have about 4 projects that I am working on/trying to finish right now, and I am so close to being done! I love the finishing them and that sense of accomplishment when they are all done. I will have to post a couple pics on here of them when they are done (hopefully by this weekend!).

What inspired you {yesterday}?

Day 4: Maybe in 60-some years....

...I will have enough different quilts finished to do an old fashion "bed turning" event with friends.

"You might be asking, "What is a bed turning?" "Bed Turnings" were common during the pioneer days when women would lay out all of their handmade quilts on a bed, and then invite their friends and neighbors over to see the quilts they had made. Some women also sold their quilts, just as they might have sold eggs. A bed turning was a great way to display quilts to prospective buyers as well.

Join us as Evelyn presents an “old fashioned bed turning”. Quilters and non-quilters alike will enjoy and be inspired by a presentation of some beautiful quilts that Evelyn has made over the years. Quilts will be layered on the bed in the middle of the store where Evelyn will tell you a story about each quilt; “turning” each quilt back to reveal another beautiful quilt and story. Evelyn will tell you about each of the quilts she has made, the year it was made, and the pattern she used. " -From the Fabric Town website.

And quite an event it was! Evelyn was in her mid-80's, and had to have shown at least 45 quilts to us that she had made herself, many of which were hand quilted and were absolutely exquisite! Going to see her bed turning event was definitely my inspiration and motivation of the day! She even had a "Grandmother's Flower Garden" in the mix, which made me what to go and work on mine even more! So what do you think I'm doing this evening? That's right, making little flowers!

What was your inspiration today??

Day 3: Worried I wouldn't have one.....

So I was sitting here thinking, 'what inspired me today?' I was almost afraid I wouldn't have one for today, nothing stuck out right away! How dissapointing to only be on day 3, and not be inspired... But then I started working on the quilt that I will be donating to my work, and I just wanted to keep going!! I have the back and front both done, but the batting and binding are at mom's house, so I have to wait to finish it. Then I started working on another quilt that I've been working on. I am working on machine quilting it, and got a few more stars done. Then those darn flowers were just calling my name! So here I am, working on the batik flowers, of which I stayed up a little bit too late last night working on (and may tonight as well!).

Oh, and I got a sale today!! Yay! My store only a bit over a month old, and I got my 4th sale! Got it all packed up, and ready to ship in the morning!

What inspired you today? Leave me a comment, I'd love to know!