Frustration!

These blocks are what I've been working on lately. These blocks are going to be put away for a while. Those hourglass pieces are KILLING me. UGH!

I love the bright colors of the hand dyed fabrics paired with the black. This is going to be my lap quilt... someday. Right now, I need to put them away before I really screw them up and get even MORE frustrated with them. All four of them are four different sizes. I just don't get it. The pattern tells me I should have a 12.5" square block once all the bits and pieces are put together. Not even close, sister. I think my largest is 12" and my smallest falls somewhere are 11" something. It's those hourglass pieces, I'm telling you, that's throwing me off.

But I like them because they are all cheery looking; even with the black. A friend of mine told me to try starching them before cutting on the bias. That may help. I'll give it a try. But not today and probably not next week either.

The colors in the pictures aren't quite right. The green is nice and bright. Looks a bit dull here.



Enjoy your day!
Jen

Happy Birthday Punkie!

Today is a big day. Today is Punkie's 4th birthday! We are going to take her to Build-A-Bear and out for some ice cream later on this afternoon. Sunday was the big celebration. Everyone had a great time. Weather was a bit hot and sticky so we ended up putting some water in her pool so that the kids could cool off. They enjoyed that!

Here are a few pictures from the party...

Tent before the guests arrive. I don't have a house big enough to house 50+ people. Yes. We have a LOT of people at her parties. It truly is pretty much, all extended family. Aunts, uncles, cousins, cousins kids... I have a lot of family! So we use Amelia's birthday parties as an excuse to have a family picnic too. Everybody likes to come out to the "country".

Party in full swing...

The cake. Amelia wanted a "Cars" themed party this year. I'm glad the cake bakery could make her a cake to match! It was yummy. Half chocolate, half vanilla.

The birthday girl with her cake.

Blowing out the candles...

Pinata time!

Amelia being silly with the "big" girls.

That's it. Party is over and house is clean. Amelia got a lot of stuff and she's not sure what to play with first. LOL. She told me this morning, after I wished her Happy Birthday, that she is no longer 4 years old but now 5! Looks like being 4 for 5 minutes was long enough for her! LOL.

Enjoy your day!

Jen

Tablerunner - WIP

I wanted to get this table runner totally completed for Amelia's birthday party but I only got the top pieced and then I ran out of steam. Well, I wanted to stipple it for the quilting but I got scared so I put it aside. LOL. But for Punkie's birthday party, I took out the top and put it on my table anyway. I don't think anyone noticed it to tell you the truth. They were all outside. But I know it was there!


Very appropriate for a family who loves chocolate!

So, I will take it off my table now and quilt it. Maybe this weekend if I get the time. If not, I'll save it for Labor Day weekend when I think Punkie will be going to my mom's for the long weekend.

I have other things to show you that I've been working on AND party pictures from yesterday's celebration.

Enjoy your day!
Jen

Giveaway!

I have a lot of blog reading to catch up on from the weekend but a quick post... Heather is having a blogiversary celebration. Go on over and check it out! You don't want to miss this one!!


Have a good night! More to talk about in the next couple of days!
Jen

Please don't judge me too harshly

You'll never guess what I did yesterday. Never guess. HA. I should make a contest out of it but to be fair, I won't.

I took yesterday off from work and got together with my 2 closest cousins and we went to a taping of the Jerry Springer show! I know, I know. One of the worst "talk shows" (if you can call it that) out there but we went. One of my cousins got tickets on a whim and asked if we would go with her. Why not? It was something to do together minus kids and we got to hang out for a little while. The JS show recently moved their studios to Connecticut; along with The Maury Povich show and Deal or No Deal - so we didn't have to travel far.

The show? Well, we three found it pretty lame. Jerry is a dirty old man. LOL. But it was entertaining for a couple of hours. The show may or may not air. We'll have to see. Our vote was that it won't air because it just didn't have enough "action" as most of his shows do. Some pushing, some shoving, some fists flew, some hair pulling but it was tame. VERY scripted.

It was a LOT of work being in that audience! We were told when to cheer, when to boo, when to chant Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! When we left the studio, I was parched and exhausted. LOL.

We hit some traffic heading back home so we detoured to Norwalk and found Stew Leonard's and did a little shopping and had lunch. Marsha? Did you hear me shouting for you on the streets of Norwalk? LOL!!

So like I said, don't judge me too harshly. But if the show DOES air, I'll let you know when so that you can find me in the audience! LOL!

Enjoy your day!
Jen

Another Friday Giveaway to add the the list

Check out Rachel's giveaway! It's pretty sweet!

It truly is a Friday of giveaways!

Good luck!

Jen

A Friday of Giveaways!

Good Friday Morning to you!

Looks like another Friday full of giveaways!

First off... Gran is giving away 14 FQs of 30's fabric plus a little extra. Go and check them out and leave a comment. Aren't they yummy looking!


Secondly, Vanessa at V and Co. is giving away a beautiful throw pillow courtesy of csn mattresses.

Go and check out the blogs and comment.

Good luck!

Jen

My second quilt top finished

The blue and orange Clementine fat quarters came out of hinding and I've been working on the quilt top for my SIL. It's done. The pattern I followed was from Happy Hour and the pattern name is Between Friends. I wanted a bigger block with not so many pieces and parts so that I would get this done for her 30th birthday... which has passed. Her birthday was July 31st. Oh well. She'll get it when it's completely done.


The top.... it's okay. I'm not crazy about it. I LOVE the orange but there's one orange fabric that I absolutely HATED and tried to limit its use in the top. But you can only do so much when you need 17 FQs and you have 20 to chose from. But she should be crazy about it since orange is her favorite color and she herself picked the color scheme for the quilt. The top looks better in person. I took the picture last night so we had no natural light.

I'm hoping that once it's quilted, it would look better. I am getting it ready to send to Sharon for some quilty magic! It will be in the mail to her by Saturday. I have no idea for a quilted pattern. Sharon can do whatever she pleases.

Now it's time to think of a quilt top for myself. I think I'll start working more on my pinwheels with my Darla fabrics... or do I do the hedgerow block with my pink, orange, and yellow fabrics? Or start the bright batiks and black star one...??? OH THE CHOICES!

Enjoy your day!
Jen

The fabric part of the trip

I chose one shop to go check out in New York. I picked The Calico Gals in Fayetteville, NY. It's a very cute shop. Located in an old barn which I should have taken a picture of. Sorry I didn't. There was 3 shops in the barn. A florist and stitchery store on the first floor and The Calico Gals occupied the upper levels. I should have shopped some in the stitchery place. They displayed some wonderful projects but I was so overwhelmed. I'm not a stitcher (but I can learn). They had some very cute ones for Easter and Christmas embellished with adorable buttons. Yup. I should have shopped some there too. Oh well.

Here's the few things I did get. I was hoping to get more off my list but I didn't see any of the fabric I wanted.

Cute little wallhangings in "Snap Sacks". I bought 2 of them. The cupcake one is so cute! They have about 10 different ones to chose from. Chris helped me chose the 2nd one. I was debating between 2 different ones (vase with flowers and Spring Break pictured below) and Chris found the fabrics in the flower one "too busy".

Next... A table runner. But not just ANY table runner. This one promotes CHOCOLATE! The fabric in the checkboard has mini chips on it. Perfect for a chocolate loving family!


Close up of the border fabric...

This table runner is my next project, by the way.

Other odds and ends...

They had a sample made of the Tahoe Tote in the shop. Nice size for a carry all. So of course I had to get the pattern. The "treats" green fabric and the blue swirl are going to be used for pot holders and kitchen stuff. Something cute.

Now THIS is cool. My MIL, Punkie and I went to an Amish country store to do some browsing. Their pamphlet said they had 10,000 bolts of fabric so OF COURSE I had to go! Must have been a typo. They had a little bit of fabric but not much. I did get some fat quarters but I found this really cool thing.

When flat, it can be used as a trivet on the table. Very nice star pattern.


Pull up on the handle and you get...


A really cool basket!

I really liked it so I bought it. Amelia thought it was cool and so did Chris when I showed it to him. Handmade of course and the bottom is signed and dated. There were a few different designs but we all voted on this one.

I actually got some sewing done when we got home! I finished piecing my SIL's quilt top. WOOHOO. Batting fabric needs to be pieced together and it will be going to Sharon for some quilting magic! I will show you the top tomorrow!

Enjoy your day!
Jen

Boys (and girls) and their toys!

Last week we took a family "vacation" to Canandaigua, NY for a national tractor show. I'm using the terms 'tractor show' loosely as there were antique steam engines too and the term "vacation" as I did do some work remotely in the mornings and let's face it, looking at antique equipment for 4 days is not my idea of a vacation! But it was time together so that's all that mattered.

My husband brought his newest project along, his 1932(?) CAT 25 crawler tractor. He literally finished painting it a week before we were to leave. My husband is an avid CAT crawler tractor collector. He owns about 15 of them. This one is by far the prettiest. I think he is now going to re-paint all of them as he got many compliments on it. Amelia loves them too. Loves to get rides on them.


Here she is with Daddy - going for her first ride of the day; we had just gotten there and she was ready!

Oh no! What's this?? Grandpa giving Daddy a TOW?? Yup. Daddy's tractor didn't like the 300+ mile ride on the trailer and it wasn't working quite right. See Amelia peeking out there on the left on the tractor?

We saw some other cool machines there. This is a CAT D9. Don't ask me the year. But this isn't the biggest tractor I've seen. I stood next to a CAT D11 6 years ago. That one is a monster. I wanted to take a picture of Amelia in the cab of the tractor but Chris didn't know who owned it.


Okay! We made it to the green! Chris looks very proud of his work.

Amelia next to an antique steam fire engine...

Enjoying some ice cream...

We stayed at the Ramada Inn Lakefront in Geneva, NY. We had an awesome view of the Finger Lakes. It was our "backyard" for the week. I want to go back there and explore some more. It's a beautiful area.

We had wonderful weather on vacation. Sunny but cool. Got a bit hot if you stood in the sun for too long but there was always a breeze.

Chris and I drove up ourselves on Tuesday. Amelia went up Tuesday morning with my in-laws since Chris and I both had to work before leaving. Chris and I stayed overnight in Utica and on Wednesday, he took me to do some fabric shopping. Come back tomorrow and I'll show you what I got!

Enjoy your day!

Jen

Another Blog Giveaway!

Today, blogland is full of giveaways! Stacy at GoldenBirdKnits is celebrating her 100th post! She has a couple of prizes to give away. Fat quarters and some yarn. Your pick!

Here's a pic of the FQs...

Enjoy your day!

Jen

A Blogiversary Giveaway!

Terry at Terry's Treasures is having a 1 year blogiversary celebration giveaway. Go over and leave a comment and see if you're the lucky one! The prize is pretty awesome. Here's just a glimpse.

Enjoy your day!

Jen

Going to the top of my TO DO list!

Vickie at Mid-Ohio Quilter (Knitter) created the CUTEST Moda Bake Shop tutorial. Just the cutest! I can't wait to make a few. Going on my TO DO list for kids christmas gifts. Yup. I am.

Enjoy your day!

Jen

For Abbey

I've been trying to get some sewing time in these days but it's been a challenge. I did get a fleece blanket and coordinating pillowcase made for my niece's upcoming 2nd birthday. Her party is this coming Sunday. I still have to slipstitch my opening closed. I HOPE I can get that done Saturday, once we are home from our trip.

I picked up the fleece months ago for the blanket. I just put it together Monday afternoon. Cutting it close! I love the happy colors and the pretty images on it. I wouldn't mind one for myself just like it! I backed it in a pretty butter yellow fleece.

I pulled out the yellow and orange from the fleece and did a colorful star and moon cuff on the pillowcase.

I hope she likes the gift!

Enjoy your day!

Jen

BEACH DAY!

We made it to the beach this year! On Sunday. It was cloudy and overcast but we had a good time. Amelia wanted to play in the water despite the COLD water and big waves. Her lips were turning blue at one point so no more water play. She dug in the sand with Daddy and her friends Jake and Lucas.

Here's her sorry attempt at a smile. She wanted to go back into the water.

My uncle and family rent a cottage a block away from the beach in Rhode Island for a week. We take a drive and enjoy the day with them every year. This year was extra special because it was Josh's first time at the beach. He enjoyed the sand but not the water. Too cold.

Baby Josh with his Mommy (my cousin).

And back at the cottage, relaxing. Amelia with my uncle (Josh's Grandpa and Amelia's great uncle, I guess) and Josh.

We had a great time. Can't wait for next year!

I am getting ready to go on another mini vacation. Last one for a while. We are all headed up to Canindaigua, NY for a tractor/antique construction show. Our hotel is right on one of the Finger Lakes so we'll have some fun. But I do have to bring my work laptop with me so that I can log in a couple of times and check my email and make sure things are being addressed. So part vacation/part work time. But we'll have some fun.

Enjoy your week!

Jen

To be a cat.

Look at him. Mr. LazyBones a.k.a Buddy the cat. Look where he decided to nap and enjoy some sunshine. On my suitcase. And he's a light gray/white cat. On my BLACK suitcase. I'll have to vacuum it before I use it again. Teaches me to leave it on the bedroom floor.



Look at that face. How can you get angry with him? He is such a sweet cat and I didn't want to adopt him as a kitten. I think as I get older, my love for pets is diminishing. I like animals... just would rather not have them in my house. But my husband wanted him and we got Buddy when Amelia was just over a year old so they have both grown up together. She loves him dearly and he is so patient with her.

He ADORES my husband. Follows Chris around the house like he's a dog. Everywhere Chris goes, Buddy follows. I make a decent substitute when Chris isn't home. LOL.

Enjoy your day!

Jen