SNOW PICTURES AND A FUN SUMMER DRESS

I said the snow would not last but it did. The ground was covered (sort of) when I got up on Sunday morning but, alas, it was gone by the time we got out of church. They are late but these pictures will document the great snowfall of March 1, 2009.
































I have finished Avery's dress except for hem and handwork. I decided to wait on the hem til I go to Michael's and I'll be able to have her put it on and get the length just right.

I thought it turned out really cute.




























Tomorrow and Thursday, I plan to spend my sewing time finishing the handsewing of the binding on the log cabin quilt and making a label for that quilt and quite possibly the Take 5 red quilt that I've posted pics of before and plan to try to quilt this weekend. Wish me luck.

ANOTHER FINISHED QUILT TOP AND ....... SNOW!!!!

I had let Toby out and when I went to let him back in --- it was snowing. I think it has already stopped but it sure is cold outside. I think any snow accumulation in our area is to the east. We are not in the predicted "snow zone" anyway. The white dots are not dust on the lens, they are real snowflakes:)


































My modified yellow brick road turned out better than I expected. I must say though that I didn't really have a picture in my mind of how it was supposed to look. But I do like what I see. I'm going to back it with one of the blue's in the blocks --you can see it with the arrow below.










































Of course Toby -- who was dozing behind the chair immediately got up and came and sat on the quilt top when I started taking pictures.

















Have a nice week everybody.

YELLOW BRICK ROAD PART 2 , OSCAR FASHION REVIEW AND A LINK TO A LETTER TO MINNIE (must read)

Here are pictures of the first two rows aka 12 squares of the quilt top. I must say, I'm not agonizing over placement of the squares. I laid them all out on the top of my bed and then stacked them in rows. I am laying each new row next to the one before it and then turning squares if I think they need it. Other than that I'm not worrying too much about the blues and yellows.

















































Oh, and Toby gave it his seal of approval (He was actually laying on it but when I pointed the camera at him he got up walked around and then came back and sat down).













Here's the coolest letter to Minnie Mouse written by "Antique Mommy" on her blog. You need to read it. And don't forget to read Saucy's review of the Oscar fashions -- it was better than watching the red carpet!!

The Yellow Brick Road -- Not for Dorothy!

A month or two At least two maybe three years ago I bought a stack of blue and yellow fat quarters that included a pattern with them. It was all tied up with a pretty yellow bow. Several months ago, I finally got around to starting the quilt. I read the directions very carefully - honest. I began making the cuts for the blocks. Then I started putting the blocks together. Anyway, to make a long story short, I took a wrong turn somewhere -- I thought -- and ended up with a bunch of rectangles that I couldn't figure out what to do with. I reread the directions two or three more times and still missed what I needed to do. I ended up cutting the rectangles one more time and THEN I saw what they were supposed to be -- bigger than what I was left with. Sooooooo I'm not making the Yellow Brick Road pattern. I'm making the MODIFIED Yellow Brick Road. On top of all that, I figured out how I would (re)make the blocks, put the material and all back in the basket -- until this afternoon. Got it out and had no idea what solution I had come up with before because I neglected to write it down. So, I looked at what I had already done and came up some new squares and I'm willing to bet if you look in the photos you won't know which squares follow the pattern and which don't!! Tomorrow I'll lay them out and hopefully stitch up another quilt top. The last picture shows all that was left when I got finished.

IT'S RED AND I'M CROSSING THE FINISH LINE

My Christmas amarylis has bloomed and it is beautiful.


















































I finished quilting my log cabin today and got the binding attached. The only thing left is the hand sewing and adding a label. You can't really see the binding but it is that dark green check fabric that you see it some of the squares. I really am pleased with how it turned out. I just wish I was better at stippling. But I know that just takes practice. Next the Take 5 red, yellow, white and some green too quilt top. It will be stippled too.

GO FIGURE.....

So how come I'm the one with a crick in my neck???

A PRESENT FOR ME FROM "ME"!

Since WallyWorld has recently gotten rid of their fabric department, I can't even get piping or buttons or anything dealing with sewing except for a few notions like rulers and rotatry blades --which if they keep them in stock I may need at some point -- so, Farmhouse Fabrics was having a sale -- no shipping for orders over $50 and I took advantage of it to get myself a present! They even wrapped it in ribbon! Seriously. They always put ribbon around your fabric and make it look so inviting. Don't you just love it. I hope "Peanut" Ensor likes butterflies:) Just kidding. He might like sailboats though.



















This picture shows all the stuff included in my self-present -- some white piping I often use with baby stuff, some buttons for dresses, a nice pair of scissors and all three fabrics that I got. Yummy Yummy!


















Gotta run. Time to eat and get to church. Have a great rest of the week. Hope to have a sewing update this weekend.

A GIVEAWAY AND -- WHY I GAVE UP LOVE USING PIPING

Superior Threads is having a giveaway. Go here and sign up for a really nice gift.

Why do I always have to go through this on at least one part of the collar -- and I had pinned it. It looked fine on the top side but then I turned it over.


















But then I settle down and end up with this .....

And this

















I haven't trimmed and pressed yet but they did turn out well. I love the way it looks after I'm done --it's the "doing". I often feel like I'm all thumbs if you know what I mean




Here is a sample of a package I got today. Don't know who all those folks are but they sure are cute/pretty/handsome :) (This is a picture of the picture -- so it doesn't look as good as in person)

EENIE, MEENIE, MINEY, MO

I can't find a background I'm crazy about but I'll try to keep this one for at least a week. I really would like to create my own but at this point I'm fairly clueless as to how to go about it.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DDIL STACEY
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!

Hope you have had a wonderful day.

I came across this blog entry. It is about organizing a child's room but I think it could easily apply to any room. Check it out.

Donna cooked a great dinner tonight. Some yummy hamburger steaks, twice baked potatoes, green beans, slaw and the pioneer woman's chocolate pie. Needless to say I ate too much, but it was sure good.

The Closer was awesome tonight. The bad guy was pure evil and walked out at the end. But I have faith -- Brenda always gets her man. He may not be back next week but he'll be back and she will get him in the end.

Now I'm saving the world with Jack Bauer as I update my blog and straighten up my room so I can relax when I go to bed.

Hope everybody has a great rest of the week. And I hope I will get some sewing done tomorrow after school :)

STASHING MY STASH

Okay - in my ongoing effort to put off sitting down at the sewing machine, I spent a good part of the afternoon (after watching RETURN TO ME - one of my all time fav movies) cleaning out the "part" of my stash in the front bedroom chest of drawers. I couldn't believe how much stuff was in that dresser.

First is this 3+ yards of minkee that I will use on various baby blankets/burp cloths.

















Then there are 3 plastic (actually 2.5) shoe boxes of fat quarters. Although the beigey-brown section of this one is already a planned quilt project -hopefully to be completed in 2009.

















The next picture is mostly fabric I bought at JoAnne's when in Nashvegas a couple of weeks ago. I love the monkey fabric and will be using some of it for a quilt for Baby BOY Ensor. The other fabrics will be used for other baby quilts and kid projects.

















These are pieces of 1-3 yards --some are several years old.

















Then there is a Christmas tree skirt that I cut out a couple of long, long time ago and never sewed together. Seems to be in good shape so I'm going to do my best to finish it before next Christmas and give it to Michael so he and Avery can have a skirt for their tree.

















Finally there is all this Christmas fabric. Most of it I got at Walmart several years ago to make Christmas napkins and table cloths. Guess I'm still going to try to do that.
































Of course, this is just some of my stuff. There is another dresser bigger than this one that has more cotton pieces - 1-3 yards each, some fleecey fabrics and who knows what else. And of course my three big bins of SCRAPS and craft fabrics like the Halloween stuff I got and made pumpkin candy bags from for the grands. I'll need to do two more of those for next Halloween.
All this makes me tired just thinking about it. Think I'll go to bed and think about it tomorrow. It will give me something to do at school -- Just kidding!

PUZZLES AND MORE PUZZLES

Here is a picture of the first jigsaw puzzle I did. I finished it a couple of weeks ago. I really like the picture but I have so many pictures here and in storage, I'm not going to spend the time mod podging (sp) and framing it. Tomorrow it will go back in the box and I'll send it to the retirement home.


















This is the first of the two Christmas puzzles I'm going to complete. It has 550 "little" pieces. It's going to take awhile -- especially in between sewing and work. My goal is to have it completed by the end of Spring Break. It is spread out on my grandmother's game table. The top actually turns 90 degrees and then you can fold it in half and it sits against the wall. Or, you can "unfold" the top so that the top half rests against the wall. That's how Granny usually had it and that's how I usually use it. But right now it's making a great puzzle table. The lamp came from her attic too. I call it the original 3-way bulb lamp because it has 3 bulbs and each one is turned on by pulling a chain. So, you can have as much light as you need by pulling one, two or three chains.

















And this puzzle -- well, I'm not saying what it will be when its done. You'll have to wait and see.

FOR ALL YOU MOMS

If you are a mom with young children or know one -- read this blog entry (you'll need to read past the first couple of paragraphs). It's good. Stacey - you've written similar words -- nice to know that others feel the same. Love to each of you.

OH MY JOE ....... and -- It;s a girl!!

It's not bad enough that I check The Pioneer Woman's blog twice a day and CJ's "Have You Tinkled Today, to see what neat things they are doing. And I check family blogs and Crazy Mom Quilts and those others on my side bar. Today I discovered "Quilt Blogs.com" -- a list of 200+ quilt/crafter blogs. Some of those quilt pictures are soooo delicious looking like this, this, or this or even this!! How am I supposed to find time to sew, let alone run a computer lab between 8 and 3 every day when there are so many beautiful quilts to look at for inspiration?? I may need an intervention in the near future!!

Billy and Stacey found out they are having another girl. I just love pink. I've already planned a quilt and no minkee is involved. Just some gorgeous shades of pink and of course -- embroidery. I can't wait. Thank goodness I have till June though because my list is getting longer and for some reason I'm not marking things off the list nearly as fast as I'm adding them on. Wonder why?

One more thing. Need some storage ideas? Click here and scroll down a little.

Well, I need to get some things done before I go to bed. So g'night all.