Some Gifts

I worked on some gifts the last couple of days. I made a pillowcase and blanket for my godson's birthday. He turned 11 today and I'm going to be seeing him tomorrow. He's a Yankees fan so I thought this would be appropriate for him. He has so much already and I have no idea what to get him so a blanket, pillowcase and some cash. I think he'll like it.

Next are some letter pillows for my cousin's little boy's nursery. I LOVE the animal flannel and now that I see the name put together, I would have rather done them all in the animal print versus alternating the letters with the cloud fabric. I have a feeling my cousin is going to feel the same way. Even though she is the one who picked out both fabrics. I should have prepared myself and done the 3 letters in the animal flannel. I would do them now but I'm tired.

My cousin doesn't think that "Joshua" is going to fit on the wall where these are intended to hang but I had the fabric so I made his whole name. I'm going to give them to her tomorrow.

That's all I got. Tomorrow is a busy day. I have a baby shower to attend and then dropping off gifts. I have a feeling I'll be home late. Weather dependant of course. I don't drive when the weather is lousy. One accident in my lifetime is more than enough for me!

Enjoy your night!

Jen

What's Going On Over Here?

Can you tell?


We're getting our sugar maples tapped for our very own maple syrup. My husband and father in law has been talking about getting it done for a few years now and I came home yesterday to buckets attached to our trees.

Apparently, the parents of 2 of Punkie's preschool classmates make pure maple syrup and they came and tapped our trees. There are about 25 trees tapped. Now, I want to know how this conversation came about because I had NO CLUE these people did this as a hobby.

Here's how I think the conversation happened:

- Waiting for preschool to let out -

Person 1 (my Mother In Law) - Sigh.
Person 2 (Erica - mom of classmates) - Carol? What's wrong?
Person 1 - I have a real craving for some maple syrup; that's all.
Person 2 - Really?
Person 1 - Yes. There are some sugar maple trees on my son's property but I have NO IDEA how to get the sap out and make syrup!
Person 2 - Well Carol. Today is your lucky day! My husband and I tap trees and make syrup as our hobby! We would be more than happy to come out and tap your trees and see what happens.
Person 1 - Really?! Oh that would be wonderful!...

LOL. I kid but seriously! How does she find out these things?! Leave it to my MIL to find someone to do the job. So, they are going to come out every few days, take the sap and when there is enough, they will evaporate it and make us some syrup. Pretty cool, huh? I will say this, I don't like "pure" maple syrup. I find it too sweet. I'm more of a "Log Cabin" type girl. You know, the artifical stuff. Shhhh! Don't tell! LOL.

On the quilting front, not much. Here are the two fat quarters that I'm sending off for the FQ swap I joined. They are going in the mail tomorrow. Pretty and springy. That was the criteria for the swap. I was going to add some extra stuff but I just didn't have the chance to shop for anything. So my swap partner is just going to get the FQs. I feel bad but work has been crazy.

I have started these very cute letter pillows for my cousin. I hope to have them done this weekend so that I can show them all at once. So cute! I'm going to do some for Amelia too.

Enjoy your day! Oh. Four more posts and it will be giveaway time! I'm so excited to have my very first giveaway!

Jen

Is It That Time Again?

Wow. Another week come and gone?? Where does it go? So, Loser Monday... I'm down another handful of ounces. At this rate, it will be year 2020 before I lose 10 pounds. Oh well, at least it's going in the right direction.

I do have something to share. Ready?

Dull, dirty and lifeless. BORING!

Bright, cheerful and EXCITING!! Isn't it FAB! I LOVE IT! Is it wrong that I want to hang my ironing board on the wall as art and not use it?! OR that I really want to iron something now?? Here are a couple more pics of my most beautiful ironing board cover... nope. I'm not going to be modest. I think it's gorgeous! LOL!

It was really easy to do. I mean REALLY easy. I found several tutorials online on what the process is. Everybody does it a little different from the other but the overall concept is the same. This is the tutorial I followed... kinda. I made it in shifts yesterday because I had things going on in between. Overall, I think it took me 45 minutes to do. I re-used the original batting because it was fine and the string from my old cover.

LOVE IT! I even went into my sewing room this morning before leaving for work to admire it some more. LOL.

My husband built Punkie's classroom an extra long, sturdy step to use at their sink so that 2 kids could wash hands. Currently, they are using 2 plastic step stools and more than once, someone slipped off... Amelia included. So Chris made a nice wooden one last night. Here's Punkie helping Daddy paint the steps. Please ignore the mess in my basement!

She loves to help. More so, she loves to paint!

Enjoy your day!

Jen

Okay, So I'm a Little Slow...

January is loooong gone. February is almost finished but I got the Bunny Hill BOM January block finally done last night.

I'm very new to applique but I just needed to try this. It's so cute and since I collect baskets, I thought the theme was very appropriate for me. I tried to machine applique (I did one star) and I like the look but didn't LOVE it. So I did a bunch of research and did a blanket stitch by hand on the rest of the block. I think that's why it took me so long to do! I backed my pieces with Steam-a-steam 2 and when they are all layered... what a PITA to get the needle all the way through the pieces! But it's done and I really like it. I really liked that Monica used a ric-rac handle on her January block. Lots of people followed her lead... me too!

My block looks very 4th of July-ish with the red, white and blue but when I think of January, I think "blue". I don't know. It works for me.

Now it's time to press my fabric and get working on February's block. Hopefully I will have that one at least STARTED before the March block is premiered!

Enjoy your day!
Jen

Valentine's Day Swap Items and a Charming Pin Cushion

My swap items finally made it across the country to Utah to my swap partner, Suzee, in the Show Some Sewing Love swap hosted by Kris. I think they went by Pony Express! But according to my delivery confirmation, they were delivered on Valentine's Day (very appropriate!). I haven't heard from Suzee yet but I'm going to show what I sent. I hope she liked what I made and included.


I found out after the fact, that Suzee is a big fan of the color green. Wish I had known that earlier because I found some very cute "hearts-y" green fabric that I could have used for her. Also that she's not a big fan of pink but more of a red/white Valentine's fan. Suzee posted all that AFTER I sent her box off. Oh well, I did a mix of everything. One thing I did read on her blog; again AFTER I made everything, was that she collected key chains. Well, luck was with me and I had made her one and didn't know that fact. I bumped into a couple of tutorials on the key fobs and wanted to try to make them. Figured I would include one for Suzee. If you're looking in the picture, it's laying above the M&Ms bag. Couple other things I included were some heart socks, some cupcake cups and sprinkles, a kitchen towel, two love birds (those are great! I made more. One of these days I will have to take their pictures and show them off). PINK hot cocoa mix and mug and some fabric covered thumb tacks and magnets. Other odds and ends too. So, I hope Suzee likes everything. Table topper NOT included of course. ;)

Charming pin cushion... Vickie posted on Moda's Bake Shop how do make one. So cute! So I made one and finished it last night. I made mine reversible and that I put buttons on both sides. I used two charm squares from "Flutterby". Cute. I did have a couple of issues... don't I always?! In making the "petals", I didn't use enough floss the first time. Tried again. Second time, I only needed another 6 inches or so to finish it! Tried AGAIN. Third time did it. But I took so much floss off the skein that I had to be careful not to get knots in the middle of everything. But it worked. Since I tried three times to make the petals, I forgot to pull my threads taught so that the petals are more defined. Half look good, half are okay. But I'm fine with it. It's a very cute pin cushion and it's just for me. I'm going to make more. I will perfect the amount of floss and petal definition.

That's all I got. Oh, one more thing. Blogger is showing that I'm very close to my 100th post! Maybe I'll do a giveaway?! Oh, I think I might! ;) Stay tuned!

Have a great day!

Jen

Quilter's Poem

I'm but a Quilter
A user of needle and thread
I create designs of color
To lay upon your bed
I know of strips and borders
Of angles, points and stars
Although I make no money
It keeps me out of bars.

I spend my husband's money
On fabric and supplies
He once thought it was funny
But now he only cries
My stash it just keeps growing
All the colors I must own
My credit card I'm owing
I think I need a loan.

My quilts and table runners
Wall hangings and the rest
Are stored in all the closets
So they always look their best

I bring them out for show and tell
Then put them back just so
I would like to keep this going
But shopping I must go
For I'm just a quilter
And hooked I will always be
As I just live for fabric

And fabric lives for me.

Author Unknown - at least I have no idea who wrote this poem.

Loser Monday and Paper Piecing

Nothing lost, nothing gained. That's where I am. I had a sweet filled weekend - that could be part of my issue too. I ate a LOT of sugar cookies over the weekend. Amelia and I made "sprinkle" cookies on Friday night for Valentine's Day and I can't stay out of them. I finally put them away - they were on the counter. Out of sight, out of mind. Hopefully.

Now to paper piecing... I got together with my friend's mom and a friend of hers to do paper piecing. Mrs. D has taken a class on paper piecing with Carol Doak and has done a few quilts using the technique so I wanted to learn. Mary - follow quilter and blogger, wanted to learn too so the three of us got together yesterday afternoon and had a "class". It was fun. I got two paper pieced blocks done while I was there and did two more and put it all together when I got home. Here's my end result...

Cute, springy tulips. I had to piece together the bottom border because I was running low on the pink polka dot fabric. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it yet. I'm tempted just to frame it and hang it on my wall as art. OR I'll quilt it so that I can get more quilting practice in and figure out how to do binding before I bind my first quilt and then hang it on the wall as art. Undecided at this point. But my husband liked it so I'm going to enlarge the block and I'll make a table topper for our dining table.

The technique is really easy once you get started. I borrowed a book on the process and was totally confused which is why the "class" was needed. Now I got it. Now I'm going to do more! My plan is to make a pillow for Punkie with her name paper pieced in blocks. I saw a pillow in one of my many quilt magazine ages ago but it used a fabric panel with letters on it. Mrs. D. mentioned that paper piecing would be easy to do for that. I think she's right.

Add yet another project to my ever growing list in my head! I think I need to start writing these things down!

Enjoy your day!

Jen

Pinwheel Practice

Two posts in one day. I just have so much to say! I decided that my next quilt for ME ME ME is going to be in pinwheels. Why? I have no idea. I just want to make them. When I first started quilting, I decided that I was going to stick with mostly rectangles and squares. Easy to cut and sew. I really don't like the whole Double Wedding Ring look or stars or what have you. Just a simple block is more my style. But I'm going to venture out of my comfort zone and do pinwheels for myself. And I think I'll make a pinwheel lap quilt for Amelia out of Oh-Cherry-Oh! charms.

I'm a person who will jump right in and get started on a project but I convinced myself that I should probably research and practice since I'm not one to practice. Who needs to practice?? So here are my two practice blocks.

I don't think I did half bad actually. Now I'm ready to get started on my quilt. It's going to be made from this:

LOVE IT! And I don't care that it's really girly and my husband will have to sleep under it. He'll just have to deal with. I'm throwing some Oh-Cherry-Oh! charms in it too because I just want to. I think both Darla and O-C-O go very nicely together. I have to get some solid Kona cotton for my pinwheels. I thinking a soft white, almost cream then I can get started!

That's it for today. More tomorrow.

Jen

You Got Mail

I got lots of goodies in the mail over the weekend. First from Marsha and Frannie from cutestuffinside... A guilt free cupcake "pot" of chocolate lip gloss. MMMMMMM. Chocolate! And fat free too! Thank you Marsha and Frannie for remembering me on Valentine's Day! You guys are the best.


Next up... a box filled with goodies from Sharon. She sent me a package of Thangles so that I can practice my triangles, some fabric scraps which will come in very handy for my stash, some cherished candy for Punkie, a tool for my ruler to cut fabric correctly... I NEED that... a weekly calendar, some Valentine's Day pencils and a sock monkey tote. LOVE that tote. Now, I'm not sure if that tote was meant for me or Amelia but I'm going to use it first. Punkie told me it was just the right size for her so we'll share it. Update to say: I emailed Sharon to thank her for her gifties and she clarified... the sock monkey bag was intended for Punkie. SHOOT! LOL. That's okay. We can share. Amelia is really good at sharing!

LOVE that tote! Thank you Sharon! You're the greatest!

One more. This is stuff that I bought.

Fabric from my ironing board cover project. I need to wash it first. That's going be one sharp looking ironing board once I'm done with it! I'm not going to want to iron on it. LOL.

And some happy spring fabric. I think it's called Farmer's Market? I spotted it and NEEDED it. LOL. I'm going to cut them into fat quarters. There's a half yard of each.

That's all. I hope everyone had a nice Valentine's Day and did something special with your loved ones. We spent a quiet day at home which is rare. My husband is always out and about on Saturdays but I asked him to stay around the house and spend the day with us. He did. I was also surprised to receive this for Valentine's Day...

I hinted that I really liked it (and an email to him helped too. LOL). My husband is not one to spend money on jewelry even though that is a safe bet for gifts for me so I was really surprised to get it. Better than flowers. Lasts forever.

Enjoy your day!

Jen

Happy Valentine's Day!

Any special plans? I don't have any. I hope I sleep in some; which probably won't happen. I need some time in my sewing room to work on some projects... I'll probably get that. We're having dinner home - it's cheaper. Laundry needs to get done. We did the grocery shopping Friday afternoon so that chore is done. Just an average Saturday around here.

I am getting together with a friend of mine on Sunday and she's going to show me how to do paper-piecing. I saw the cutest personalized pillow for Amelia but have no idea how to create her name in fabric. That's what I hope to learn on Sunday.

I also have been making some pinwheels. I've decided my next quilt for ME ME ME is going to be made of pinwheels. My practice pieces aren't half bad.

That's all.

Happy Valentine's Day To All of BlogLand!

Jen

Loser Monday and Other Stuff...

So, what week is this? Week 5? I'm down a couple of ounces. woo-hoo. I need to re-evaluate my weekly eating habits. I start the week of good, logging my points and by Friday... things have gone downhill. Maybe I need to wire my mouth shut for a couple of weeks?! BUT I have been going to the gym and I've been doing some light jogging on the treadmill while I do my walk... sometimes I think I'm going to DIE. LOL! So that's my story. Down a few but not giving up.

I wanted to thank everybody for the well wishes for Amelia. She is feeling much better. The only rotten day we had was Saturday. She was just pitiful. LOL. I hate when she's sick. She's just not her bubbly self. My mom came over to hang out with us whic gave me a chance to go out and run my errands. She also came with all the fixings for homemade chicken soup and made a big pot of it. It was yummy and I have 3 containers full in my freezer for later dinners.

Since Punkie was feeling better yesterday and it was such a nice day, we went outside for a little bit. Just to work off some energy. Leave it to my daughter to find the biggest puddle at the end of our driveway!

She also snacked on some snow..

And a blue raspberry lollipop..

I also realized that I never showed off the awesome table topper that Kris (dandelion quilts) sent me for the Valentine's Day swap she hosted. Isn't it great?! I love it. And I've ordered the pattern so that I can make more for my table. I love the fact that it's square and not a table runner.

That's it from me.

Enjoy your day!

Jen

It's FINISHED!

WOOHOO! I just love it! And I love the brown border. It's a girly quilt top but not little girl looking.

Here are some close-ups of the blocks.

I need to get the backing pieced together, I think. I'm not too terribly sure of that whole process. I'll have to look it up online. Then it will be off to Sharon to get quilted. Can't wait to get it sent off!

But any sewing plans I had todaywill be on-hold. My Punkie Pie is sick. She's not feeling good at all. Woke me up at 6:00 this morning to tell me her tummy hurt. Since then she's vomited twice. Second time around she made it to the toilet. Good girl! Of course, WHO is off driving to Vermont to go snowmobiling?! My husband! I already called and thanked him for leaving me home alone. I sure he would have turned around but he's driving with two other guys.

Let's HOPE he would have turned around to come home to help. I'm going to think that he would have.

Enjoy your day!

Jen

Fat Quarter Swap

Darci is hosting a FQ swap. Just need to swap two fat quarters. Go on, check it out and sign up. Should be fun and painless. LOL.

Focus! I Need to Focus!

I am awful sometimes! I'm all over the place with sewing projects without finishing what I'm currently working on.

My latest sewing venture... I want to make a new ironing board cover. Mine is terrible and of course, I bought; ages ago, an extra wide ironing board from Target. From the look of all the tutorials I found online, others are having the same issue I'm running into it... you can't find a replacement cover that fits!

So, I'm going to make my own. Maybe not anytime soon (like this weekend) but within the month. Has anyone out in BlogLand made a replacement cover? Any tips? Some tutorials say to use quilters cotton. Some say use home dec weight fabric, as long as it's 100% cotton (any polyester in the fabric may melt). Any preferences to either - besides the price difference between the two...?

Enjoy your day!
Jen

My Lil Zipper Bag.... All Done!

Here it is. All done. Took me about 2 hours to make. An hour and a half of those two hours was fighting with the zipper. I never did a zipper before. I had and still do have, zipperphobia.

So my zipper challenges...

- I sewed the zipper upside down the first time. NICE JOB!

- I had the zipper closed when I stitched up the sides. Don't do that! I had a heck of a time getting the zipper undone so that I can turn the bag right side out. LOL. But I did it.
- Unsure of zipper placement - front to back - on the bag. I think I positioned it wrong and now I can't zip the bag shut all the way.

Even with all the zipper issues I had, I will make another one since I really like the bag and I'm determined on figuring out the zipper stuff . This one is going to Punkie. She really likes it!

Thank you Vickie for the tutorial! It was very easy to do. Just me the zipper novice had challenges but like I said, I'm going to make more!

Enjoy your day!

Jen

Honey Bun... Who Needs the Extra Calories?

I mean, fabric? I would! But I don't have the funds right now and my LQS doesn't have the Moda Honey Buns yet.

BUT I do have fabric in my stash that would be perfect in making Vickie's Lil Zipper bags from her tutorial on the Moda Bake Shop blog.

What do you think? Cute, no? I think so.

I'm starting it tonight. Let's see how long this lil zipper bag takes me. I'm home alone with Punkie tonight so sewing will be at a minimum until she goes down for the night. We'll see if I have the energy to sew after that. Maybe I'll at least get the fabric pressed and strips cut.

Enjoy your day!

Jen

Loser Monday? Week 4

PMS weekend. That's all I have to say about that. LOL!

Onto another subject... Do you love it?!?! I DO!

I got Punkie's quilt top all pieced together this weekend. Finished it up last night. My husband, the engineer/general contractor squared it all up for me. Told me I didn't do half bad. LOL. Still needs borders which I will be ordering the fabric for today. I was on the fence as to which fabric I wanted to pull out of the quilt for the border. I think I'm going to do one of the brown fabrics. I'm drawn to those for some reason.

So, my very first quilt top is 95% finished. Are there mistakes? There sure are but I think that's where the phrase "Made with Love" comes from. Does my Punkie Girl love it? She sure does. She jumped up and down when I told her it was for her and told me it was beautiful. Do I love it? I sure do. Only took me a month to finish. LOL.

Here's my favorite block:
Had to play with my embroidery stuff too!

Enjoy your day!
Jen

Blog Giveaway!

Go check out Vickie E over at Mid Ohio Knitter. She's having a giveaway in celebration of her January finishes. Also, super cool.. she has a very cute tutorial on the Moda Bake Shop blog.

RUN! Go check it out!