Boo Crew Mini

Sew Lux Fabric posted a very cute mini quilt in their blog last week using the mini charm pack of Boo Crew from Sweetwater.  I thought it was adorable so I ordered a reasonably priced kit and patiently waited.  It showed up late last week and I went to town on Sunday afternoon. I got it pieced, quilted, and bound... all in one day.  Record timing for me!

Isn't it cute?  It's the size of a place mat so I'm not sure of where I'm going to use it just yet.  Probably on my breakfast bar in my kitchen with the couple of Halloween Longaberger baskets I have.

I would like more quick patterns like this for those mini charm packs.  I'm collecting quite a few but for now, they just sit.  I hate to just use them randomly.

On the memory quilt front, my threats of "no pictures, you're out of the quilt!" worked and I got a bunch.  I started weeding out and scanning and I need to weed out again.  I have an album from my aunt that I haven't even gone through and I'm up to 54 blocks if I use what I've decided on right now.  Soooo.  I will be paring down the pictures once more.  The initial thought of this project being a wallhanging is just laughable at this point.  I just can't decide on the pictures.  We were all so cute when we were younger!  I found a GREAT picture of my brother at the age of 5 or so with my Grandmother in Disney World.  They both look miserable.  THAT picture is going into the quilt!  I laugh every time I look at it.

I did get 5 more pictures printed on the fabric paper and trimmed for blocks.  Did a little sewing yesterday afternoon and managed to get 2 more blocks done before I had to go to Punk's school for her Open House.  I'm down to 1/2 yard of fabric now so I can only get a few more blocks done.  Tomorrow starts the bi-annual CT Shop Hop.  I will be hitting the fabric store this weekend and stocking up on more yardage.  Can't wait to show you more of my progress soon!

Enjoy your day!
Jen :)

Happy Halloween!

We made it through the storm.  We actually didn't lose power or have any damage.  Nice change of pace from last year.  School is still out because part of my town is without power and down trees.  I sent Punk off to Grandma's house today.  I need to get some work done and I can't do it with her home.

Today is Halloween and trick or treating is planned.  I have no idea where we are going to go.  I put my husband in charge of that detail.  Since I have no pictures of Amelia in her costume, here's one of the pumpkin her and Daddy carved together.

Happy Halloween!!

Jen

Frankenstorm 2012

Batten down the hatches! She's a-comin'!!

Crazy weather.  Last year we got hit with a hurricane/tropical storm in August and then a freak Nor'Easter winter storm in October, just in time for Halloween.  Trick or treating with a foot of snow on the ground.

This year we are going to have to deal with Hurricane Sandy.  No direct hit to CT but we're on the wind side which doesn't make things any easier.  Lots of evacuations along the shore due to major coastal flood concerns.

It is being called the "Perfect Storm" of 2012.

Schools are closed for the next couple of days.  Highways along the shore are going to be closed to traffic; at least big truck traffic.  Not fun out there.  Not fun.

Those in the path of the storm, stay safe!  I know I'm not going anywhere for a few days.  My office is closed today and may be closed tomorrow.  Since I have the capability to work from home, that's what I'm doing until we lose power or the internet.  Hopefully Halloween will go on as planned on Wednesday.  Amelia will be mighty disappointed if she can't go trick or treating.

I'll be back soon!!
Jen

As promised!

Okay.  New card reader purchased and now I can show you what I have been up to.  Well, I can't show everything since some of it is a secret for my Santa Sack swap partner, Melissa.  :)

Ellyn and I did a mini swap and she included some Halloween charms with my swap items.  Instead of sticking them on a shelf for "someday", I whipped this table topper/runner up.  Super simple patchwork.  Nothing fancy but the top is done!  Now to get it quilted... that's another story!  I'll show you what I sent Ellyn as soon as she receives the package.

And this.  It's just a sneak peek but what I'm working on... it's coming out fabulous!  I love it and thankfully have enough fabric to make myself one too!  It's my December Santa Sack swap item.  I know.  Jumping ahead.  I have September and October done and they are ready to go into the mail.  November's gifts I'm still debating but December has been started.  Melissa, here's a sneak peek for ya!

And I need to share these.  Those of you "80s girls" will appreciate my handiwork.  Amelia's school had Crazy Hate/Crazy Hair Spirit day last Friday.  Since we don't own any crazy hats, we teased and sprayed 80s Old School style.  My hair prodigy.  I had big hair and I mean BIG HAIR back in the day.  Sigh.  I miss it sometimes.

LOL!
Enjoy your day!
Jen

Happy Halloween!

From my little witch!

Trick or Treat!
Jen and Punkie

Happy Halloween!

The weather held out and we got to go out Trick or Treating. Since we live out in the country, we went to my grandmother's house to do our candy collecting. That's where I went as a kid. She lives in a decent sized neighborhood and it's easy to walk from house to house.

We were joined by my cousin's kids. Nicholas and Abbey. Amelia and Abbey are 2 years apart and they are becoming fast friends.

This year was another homemade costume by Mama. I convinced Amelia to be a black cat. I bought her black fleece pants and a black shirt. Added the fur boa stuff to the cuffs, ears and a tail and viola. A kitty. I'm going to take the boa stuff off the pants and shirt and she'll have clothes to put into rotation.

Unknown between my cousin and myself, Abbey too was a kitty. So she and Punkie matched somewhat.

Nicholas, my godson, is 12 and is getting into music. He decided he wanted to be Gene Simmons from KISS.

And a group shot. My aunt (Nicholas and Abbey's grandmother) dressed up as a witch and stayed home to give out candy.

I have big ideas for Amelia's costume for next year! I hope she will indulge me one more time and let me make her a costume again.

I hope everybody had a great Halloween! And now it time to get ready for Thanksgiving and Christmas!

Enjoy your day!

Jen :)

Guess Frannie's Halloween Costume Contest

Marsha is having her 2nd annual Halloween Costume contest. And you know what? My blog has a CLUE on it! Who knew?? LOL. I know what the clue is ;)

Look at Frannie last year. Glinda the Good Witch from Wizard of Oz. Beautiful! I want to know how Marsha made her crown! And secondly, I'm going to hire Marsha to make all of Punkie's future Halloween costumes. LOL!

So pop on over and give a guess! And I'm not aganist taking fabric bribes if you want to know what the clue is. LMAO!

Enjoy your day!

Jen :)

Halloween Giveaway Goodies

I got myself in gear and got all my goodies together to send to QuiltingDaisy, winner of my "Celebration" giveaway. They will be going into the mail tomorrow or this afternoon if I have time.

I wanted to make more for the giveaway but I only had time to make the embroidered towel. Taking lead from my friend Kris (dandelionquilts), I tried my hand again at machine embroidery.

Came out pretty good, I think!

Here's a close-up of the pumkin.

I got the pumpkin embroidery pattern from SWAK embroidery. I love their site. LOVE it. There are so many things I want to do off the site and their sister sites. And their instructions are very easy to follow. I'm going to be making some Christmas/winter towels too. I think with snowmen.

They have one project that has been on my mind since I found the site about 6 months ago. This one. Since I can't find a darn thing with Amelia's name on it, I would love to make her a personalized pillow. And I adore the font they used and it's all done in the hoop. On their sister site, youcanmakethis.com, they have the letter patterns for sale to make it "manually" but I like how I can set my embroidery machine up to do all the curves and stuff and I just have to sit back and watch it come alive before me!

I did a practice run with the pillow but I ran into some puckering so I put it aside. I'm taking a stablizer class/lecture in a couple of weeks. That's going to help me a lot in getting over my machine embroidery fears.

That's all I got. I'm up for a very quiet weekend. Punkie is going with my in-laws today to New Hampshire for the weekend. So I'll have Saturday and Sunday all to myself! What to do? What to do? My list is long. I have lots of sewing to get caught up on and some movie watching to do. I don't think I'll be bored at all!

Enjoy your day!

Jen :)

Freemotion Quilting...

Can't be THAT hard. Can it??! Well, for me, it is! I took a freemotion quilting workshop today with my friend's mom who has been my quilting and sewing mentor this last year. Man. I thought, COOL! That's a piece of cake. I can handle it. Nope. I am just not coordinated enough. Thankfully it was a workshop and we were working with muslin quilt sandwiches so we can see our stitching easily and not waste good fabric on our efforts and working at our own pace. I think I spent 2 hours just getting the feel of everything. I will NOT show you my handy work. It is pitiful. I have LOTS of practice in my future. But I will practice since I really want to get the hang of this freemotion quilting.

Punkie had a great time trick or treating last night. We took her to my grandmother's neighborhood where I used to trick or treat. We went with my cousin and her 2 kids. Amelia did great saying her lines "Trick or Treat!" and "Thank You!". She got a ton of candy. I'm tired of looking at it already.

That's all I got. Oh. Don't forget... Fall back tonight. Turn your clocks back 1 hour and you get an extra hour of sleep... at least that is my excuse tomorrow morning!

Enjoy your night!
Jen :)