National Champs!

I don't follow sports but for both the Men and Women UCONN basketball teams to bring the championships home... makes me proud!

Jen  :)

Still Surviving

Greetings!  I noticed it's been 2 weeks since I've posted on my own blog and I apologize.  Busy, busy over here.  BUT I actually got into my sewing room this past weekend after a several week hiatus and it felt GOOD!  Of course, I can't show anything that I worked on since they are for Melissa, my Santa Sack swap partner but it was nice to just decompress and be creative.  And I'm almost done with my Santa Sack gifts!  WOOHOO!  My housework took a back seat (and it SO SHOWS at home) over the last couple of weeks too.  We will be fixing that this weekend.  Let the purging begin!!  We need to let some of Amelia's toys go before Santa makes his most anticipated visit in just about a month.  I have NO ROOM for more toys.

Other than working, working and working, hanging out with my favorite short person and my husband... I'm surviving.

I HOPE to be back soon and show you something that I have been working on in between my Santa Swap stuff.  I just haven't snapped any pictures yet.

Until then...
enjoy your day!
Jen :)

Can't keep up

Did you ever feel so overwhelmed with just "stuff", you don't know where to begin?!  I need to finish up my Santa Sack swap gifts.  Christmas is around the corner practically and I'm soooo behind in my blog reading!

Working full time is for the birds!  LOL!! 

Oh... power is back on at my house.  VERY nice treat we got on Halloween night.

Back to work. 

Jen  :)

Surviving

It's been almost a full week since heading back to a full time job after 6 months and I've been a bit absent in blogland.  No sewing has happened here in a while.  I've been leaving my house at 7:15 am to get to work for 9:00 and not getting home until 7:00 pm.  Can you say loooooong day?! 

But the job... I like it!  Major adjustment to where I was to where I am now.  New processes and such but the people in my office are really nice and the team that I'm working closely with - Super!  We may be all spread out; most are on the west coast.  Only 2 of us are here on the east coast and she's in Long Island.  So I sit by my lonesome but I'm okay with it.  I spent my first couple of days just doing HR stuff and getting a feel for things.  I actually started doing actual work yesterday!  Super exciting!  Another nice thing was that my "at home" work schedule was approved so I only have to drive into the office on Mondays and Wednesdays.  Not bad, eh?

My husband has been great all week.  Pretty much holding down the fort with Amelia in the mornings.  I think the kinks are all ironed out and we'll get back to "normal" on Monday.

Since the west coasters are still asleep when I pop onto the computer, I took a quick ride to the store and bought myself a new walking foot.  FINALLY!  Mine has only been busted for 3 months!  I can now continue with my November Santa Swap item.  I got everything cut but I need a walking foot to put together.  Hmmmm, I wonder what it can be?!

That's all for now.  I'll talk to you all again soon!
Enjoy your day!
Jen

We Will Always Remember

9/11/2001 - 9/11/2011

Tuesday 9/6 by 6pm

That, my friends, is the projected estimate from the power company as to when we will have power restored at my house.  T-U-E-S-D-A-Y.  Like NEXT WEEK.

Someone please do a little voodoo dance or something to make the power come back sooner!!!

I should not complain.  Many are suffering from loss of homes that got swept away in storm surges, flooding, property damage from trees and poles.  We had none of that.  We have running water and a generator to help keep things going here but it's still tough.  I have to be careful as to what I run in the house.  I can't overload the circuit.  So it's just a major pain in the you know what.

I would never make it on Little House on the Prairie.  NEVER.

And with that said, I'm tired of not sewing so I'm going to go do just that!

Enjoy your day!
Jen

Nearing the end of day 3...

Still no power.  According to the energy outage map, 97% of my town is out of power... still.  Areas around us, close in numbers as well.  Thank you everybody for your well wishes and happy thoughts about the power being back soon.  Sorry I haven't answered emails but we lost our landline phone which is also our internet 9 a.m yesterday and we got that bit back a couple of hours ago.  Ahhhhhh, feels much better.  I wonder if I would ever survive during Little House on the Prairie time?  My guess?  NO!

So, generator is still running and we can talk on the phone again.  My husband's guess of a week without power is looking pretty close to true.  The utility people aren't even in my town yet.

I did get some sewing in today.  I just couldn't take it anymore.  I hope to have a finished top to show you soon.  Need to hit the fabric store for my border piece.  I didn't get a chance to do that before the storm and now they have no power either.  Oh well.

That's all for now!
Jen

Phew! It's over!

Hurricane Irene is now gone from my house.  Headed north.  It wasn't too bad.  Actually, by the time it hit in New England, it was down-graded to a tropical storm.  Still.  60 mile an hour winds are nothing to mess with.  We are living off of artificially generated power right now.  Power left my house just about 6 am.  I had JUST gotten up to hop into the shower and POOF.  No power.  My husband wasn't going to fire up the generator until most of wind died down but I pleaded with him to turn it on so that I can at least shower.  He needed coffee so it was a win/win for both of us.

The winds never got that bad for him to turn off the generator so we had power all day long.  But it will be off for the night.  I'm losing my lovely power at 8:30 tonight and it will get turned back on in the morning if the "real" power isn't back by then.  By my husband estimates, as he drove around the area after Irene left, it will be a week at least before power is restored to our area.  Lots of down trees, power lines and poles.  We just have lots of raking to do in the yard.  Only a few big limbs and one tree top fell.  But nothing on the out buildings, house, cars or equipment.  Chris and his dad spent some time earlier in the week cutting down all the dead trees that could fall in a big wind and do damage.  Good thing that they did.  I'm sure if they didn't, we would have it much worse.  My neighbor has a few trees that were uprooted and leaning but nothing near her house.

I didn't do any sewing though.  Didn't want to put the extra strain on the generator.  So I worked on my June birdie block.  Almost done.  Other than that, nothing.

I'm glad the weather is calmer and COOLER.  Ahhhhh, no need for the AC for the next week.  That the only good thing with this hurricane.  It brought some much cooler weather with it.

I hope that others that were in Irene's path faired as well or better than we did.

Enjoy your day!
Jen

Wow

Hello there!  Miss me?  Sorry.  I didn't mean to take a 3 week bloggy break on my own blog.  I just have nothing to show you right now.  My sewing mojo has gone out the window.  Nothing creative being done over here.  Nada.  Zip.  I DID get my April Birdie Stitches block done.  I know... April!  I am so behind with that one.  But I will finish out the year because I just think those birdies are super cute.  I'm working on May's block right now.  Almost finished.  But that's about it.

I've started a quilt for Amelia out of "Amelia" layer cakes.  I think I have 16 blocks completed.  I could show you that.  Or I can show you the pillow cases that I started 3 weeks ago.  I'm making 6 of them.  3 are only half done.  The other 3 are just waiting to get started.  But I'm not feeling it.  On top of all that, my Ottlite bulb burnt itself out and I have to get another one.  The corner where I sew and cut in my sewing room can get dark and shadowy.  If I don't do anything first thing in the morning, I have a hard time seeing what I'm doing.  Never mind doing anything at night.  I did find that Lowe's carries the bulbs for a super CHEAP price.  Much less than Joann's or even Amazon.  But the Lowe's in my area is out of stock.  The one near my mom's has 2 of them (according to the computer).  I'm headed that way tomorrow so I'll stop and get one if they have it.

That's it here.  I hope to get some sewing done next week.  Amelia is headed north for most of the week with her grandparents for one last hurrah before school starts.  I'll have the week to myself.

Until then...

Enjoy your day!
Jen

Old Glory

Hello Friends.  How's things?  Things here are good.  I haven't been doing much in the sewing room, I'm afraid.  It's just been too dang HOT and I don't have AC in the room.  But I did get in there today for about an hour.  I got these two pillowcases done that I'm donated to Carol.  I'm happy that they are done and I'm not last minute with them.  Speaking of last minute, I still have to get my Santa sack made.  I only have 2 weeks to get it into the mail to my swap partner along with my first gift (that's all done) and I'm being really lazy about it.  I finally picked out the fabric for it so I'm a little ahead of the game.

Here are my pillowcases for Carol.

I have a feeling that I'll be making a variation for Amelia for her bed.  I REALLY like the flag with the white cuff.  I didn't think I would like it that much because the flag fabric is a bit busy but in a pillowcase?  Yup.  I like it.

We celebrated big yesterday.  My baby graduated Kindergarten.  She's now an unofficial 1st grader.  They had a very nice ceremony at the school last night.  Here are a few pictures.

pillowcase dress I bought off Etsy.  I love that Michael Miller fabric!

Amelia's teacher

Official Kindergarten Graduate!

Sigh.  Punkie is growing up way too fast.  I also have plans to make her another pillowcase dress.  I bought the fabric for it.  I just need to wash it and get it done.  I also have another summer dress to show you.  I hope to get Punk to model it next week when she is officially done with school (her last day is Monday).  Then it will be just Summertime fun!  This will be the first time I've been home with her for a whole summer.  It's going to be very interesting.  LOL!!

Have a great weekend!
Jen

7 things you don't know about me...

Michele at IslandLife Quilts awarded me the Versatile Blogger Award.  Thanks Michele!  Now I need to tell you 7 things about myself that you don't already know.  Hmmm, I'm not sure what to tell you and some of this may be a repeat but here goes...

My husband and I met on a blind-date.  Someone that I worked with (she is now my neighbor), her Dad and my now husband worked on the same firehouse crew once upon a time.  She told me that she had someone she would like me to meet.  I told her NO (Chris had NO IDEA he was being set up.  LOL!).  8 months later, I told her that I would be willing to meet him.  We had dinner, he tells me it was love at first sight and here we are, 9 years later.  Happy as clams.

Chris and I honeymooned 3 months before we got married.  Seriously.  We did.  We could not agree on a honeymoon destination.  I wanted something tropical, he didn't know what he wanted but he didn't want to hang out on the beach.  We both liked the idea of visiting Alaska.  So the Alaskan honeymoon was born.  BUT Alaska has a very short tourist window - Memorial Day to Labor Day.  And guess when we got married?  Labor Day weekend.  In order to visit Alaska and not put our honeymoon off, we went beforehand.  2 weeks in Alaska and it was heaven.  One week on land, one week at sea and it was perfect!  We even got bumped up to 1st class on our way to Alaska.  And a good thing we didn't put off the honeymoon because when we hit our 1st wedding anniversary, we had a week old baby girl!  We're quick movers.  ;)   LOL!

I don't like spaghetti.  Shaped pasta (elbows, ziti and the like) are okay.  Spaghetti?  Not so much.

I am a closet country music fan.  Shhh!  Don't tell!  I am a child of the big hair 80s and LOVED glam "heavy" metal music.  You know.... Poison, Def Leppard, Motley Crue (my #1) and have been to many concerts over the years.  But now?  Country is what I find myself listening to a lot more.  My 17 year old self just shuttered at the thought!  But who can resist a hunky cowboy like Toby Keith?!

At one point in my life I wanted to be a Kindergarten teacher.  For many years actually.  I thought how hard could it be?  Then I realized just how much schooling was involved and changed my mind.  I also don't like public speaking so talking in front of a class, even a class of 5 year olds, wasn't for me.

I also wanted to be a forensic scientist.  But alas, blood and guts are involved.  GROSS! 

And more to the fact above, I love watching "whodunit" shows and reading murder mysteries.  Law and Order, CSI, NCIS, Monk, Psych.... those kind of shows.  I can watch them all day long and since I've been home, out of job... that's what I've been doing.  I can solve any crime out there now!

So there you go.  7 things you didn't know about me.

I would love to hear random things about you!  Won't you tell us?

Have a great weekend!
Jen

Danger, Will Robinson!

Oh boy.  I'm in trouble now.

There is a family owned sewing and vac business in my area.  They have a few locations spread throughout the state and they do carry fabric.  A smallish selection but it's there.  What I like about the shops is that they carry more of the fabrics that I like (Riley Blake, Heather Mulder Peterson...) but they are out of my way so I don't go to them very often.  If I go, it's a "special" trip.

I got their newsletter/ad pamphlet in the mail yesterday.  One of their locations is moving in June.  Moving RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER from my mom's house!  Seriously.  I would drive by it every time I went to visit my mom!

I didn't know it was literally at the stop light where I turn to get to my mom's until this morning.  The address was bugging me.  It sounded familiar so this morning I did some searching.  I googled a bunch of the big business along the route to figure out their address and once I hit it, I realized just where this new shop is going to be.

When I visit my mom, I will have to leave my credit cards at home!  Too tempting!

On another note, looks like my 12 Days of Christmas BOM post has been restored from the whole Blogger mess.  If you missed it, it's a few posts down.

Have a great weekend!
Jen

Goodies Received

Hello again.  Happy Friday!!  Is it a happy Friday for you?  It kind of is for me.  Today, I'm going to be officially laid off from my company.  The last two weeks, I have been "on the bench" - meaning I got paid for 2 weeks for hanging around at home, sewing and cleaning while they looked for another assignment for me.  I could have taken a 4 week extension to this time but it is unpaid.  I opted not to and requested to be laid off.  I can now start with a clean slate and find work elsewhere.  Now that my work fate has been determined, I'm in better spirits.

Enough work talk.  I would like to show you what goodies I've received in the mail this week.  Thelma was hosting an Eventide quilt along.  I didn't participate in the quilt along but she was giving away prizes to people who commented along the way.  I happen to be one of the lucky winners!

I won a fat 1/8 bundle of Charlevoix!  How cool is that??  Thank you Thelma!!

Next up, there was a book tour for Pat Sloan's "Tour Ireland with Pat Sloan" book and I was one of the lucky winners from AmandaJean's post.  Super cool!  I haven't read it yet but I'm planning to this weekend.  Thank you AJ!

Well, my husband needs the computer and I have errands to run.

Enjoy your day!
Jen  :)

Charming Girls Pincushion Swap - Received!

Michelle and I were partners for the Charming Girls pin cushion swap and we exchanged and received.  I've showed you what I sent her and this is what she sent me.

Lucky, lucky, lucky me!  3 pin cushions to add to my ever-growing collection.  AND some chocolate.  YUM YUM.  Let me tell you, that chocolate bar has been staring at me for 2 days but I didn't want to eat it until I took its picture.  Yes, I'm a dork like that.  So now I can have some chocolate for dessert today.

I LOVE that mason jar pin cushion!!  I LOVE IT!  Punkie loves the flower on the golf tee.  She asked me if she could have it.  I told her it can be hers but it needs to stay in my sewing room.  :)  And I forgot... Michelle snuck a very pretty pin topper in the mason jar.  I forgot to take it out for the first picture.  So here's another shot.

I have plans to make a couple of these mason jar pin cushions for gifts.  But I'm all out of poly-fill so I need to hit Joann's. Thank you Michelle.  I love it all!

Since finishing Vintage Summertime, I haven't been in my sewing room at all.  I needed a break to figure out what I want to work on next.  I've decided to make myself a tote using a charm pack of Darla that I have been hoarding holding on to.  After that, I want to get my jelly roll blocks sashed and pieced into a top.  And I have fabric that I started cutting for a top last year and I quit cutting because you know, cutting is B-O-R-I-N-G.  I have to look at the patten again and figure out where I left off.

I'll have plenty of time to work on all kinds of projects.  I haven't said anything but as of this Friday, I'm out of a job; kind-of.  My contract at my client site wasn't renewed (they've implemented a new policy a few years ago and while I did skate by 3 times, a 4th wasn't in the cards) so I'm done there on Friday.  I have been at this client site for 12 years.  I am waiting to find out what my next steps are with my company.  I have mixed feelings about this whole thing.  On one hand, I'm excited to have some time off to work on de-cluttering my house and Amelia's toys and it's Spring!  On the other, this is the first time I will be potentially out of a job in 21 years.  It's weird.

All I know is that I will be sticking to shopping in my stash for a while.  I have plenty there to keep me occupied.

Enjoy your day!
Jen

What I've been doing

I started this post last week and just found some time today to get my pictures uploaded and posted.

I have been working in the sewing room.  I got these candlemats pieced for my hairdresser for Christmas.  I just need to sandwich and quilt them.  I made several last year using Julie's tutorial.  My hairdresser loved hers and requested some more "everyday" ones for her kitchen.

Another thing I'm working on is a Christmas wallhanging for me using the same pattern as the Secret Santa swap.  I know.  I complained and complained about the HSTs.  But some of you bloggy friends gave me some great tips and I put a couple to good use and they worked!  One being - skip the 7/8" initial trim down and just trim and square the block once the HST is complete.  I debated that when I started the first one and I wish I did that to begin with.  The other tip was from Jill who commented and told me that:
1.  she LOVES HSTs
2.  press the HST seam OPEN

WOW.  This is a total new to me tip and it WORKED.  I worked on 4 of the 6 rows last night and I didn't swear once!  Everything is lining up so nicely.  Okay, I lost a point here and there but for the most part, it's coming out awesome.  And I'm really happy with my results. 

An update to the above - I have finished quilting my Secret Santa table topper.  It's now ready for binding; which I wanted to get done tonight but I don't think that's going to happen.  I also finished mine and it's sandwiched and ready for quilting.

With that said, I'm SO going to finish my pinwheel sampler!


Enjoy your day!
Jen

Trip to NYC....

Well, ONE person guessed right!  Not that it was a guessing game but she mentioned it in her comment...

I went here...

MARTHA!  My cousin got tickets to see the Martha Stewart Show.

Eh.  It was okay.   The show wasn't very exciting and we walked away empty-handed.  I've been watching her show the last week or so and every show... free stuff.  Our show?  NOTHING.  Even today, the audience got the October issue of Everyday Food, a Martha glue gun, a 20% off coupon for the UPS store, a calendar AND they got samples of apple cookies. 

BOO Martha!  But it was cool to be in her studio.  Wanna see?  The pictures are crappy due to all the high voltage lighting.

The cool part?  The show was live.  So if you happen to be watching the Martha Stewart show on Tuesday morning at 10:00.... that was the show I was seeing in person. 

This handsome guy was the guest...

Victor Garber

And here are a couple pics of the Queen of Crafts herself... OH!  And my cousin got her question answered by Martha!

All and all, it was a nice morning/early afternoon in the city.  We didn't hang around for too long.  We went to the show, had lunch and caught the 1:30 train home.  We were all exhausted from getting up at 4:00 a.m. to catch the super early train.

Now we are going to try for Rachael Ray tickets.  I can't stand Rachael Ray but hey, it's something to do!

Enjoy your day!
Jen

Doing something fun tomorrow...

Today was a disastrous day at work.  My laptop crashed when I got into the office - it was working fine when I was home.  I opened a high priority ticket to get it looked at and fixed at 9:00 and when I left at 3:00 because I was SO TIRED of sitting, waiting and staring at the 4 walls in my office... they still hadn't shown up. GRRRR.  Waste of a day.

But tomorrow?  Tomorrow I am taking the day off.  And I'm getting up REALLY EARLY.  Actually, I'm not sleeping at home tonight.  I'm spending the night at my cousins' house instead of getting up extra, EXTRA early tomorrow morning.

AND we're taking the 5:56 a.m train into NYC.

Curious now?  Well you'll have to tune in later and I'll tell you what I'm doing in the big city later this week.  :)

Jen

I've been M.I.A.

Hello there.  I hope all is well with everyone.  I haven't posted anything in almost a week.  I haven't had much going on in the sewing/quilting world, really.  I went back to cutting and prepping fabric for a quilt top that I started months ago but again, I have put it aside for other things.  Cutting is B.O.R.I.N.G. 

I started a pinwheel tablerunner for my cousin for her 40th birthday.  I'm making it out of Blush.  I have one pinwheel made.  I had big plans to sew some yesterday but Amelia and I had a very late night out on Saturday.  She and I didn't get home until almost 1 a.m. on Sunday morning so we were both tired and just plain lazy yesterday.  I walked into my sewing room yesterday about 4 times and each time walked out.  I just couldn't concentrate.

What I do have is a new "To Do" list for the rest of the year.  I'm sure you don't want to hear about it but I'm going to list things here so I don't forget.

• blogiversary/birthday giveaway items
• work on Amelia's Halloween costume
• embroidered wall hanging for me
• pinwheel tablerunner
• finish cutting fabric for B/W/G quilt top
• Dandy Bag for Abby
• Basket for Katrina (order fabric)
• throw pillows for Amelia's bed
• cut Yellow Brick Road kit for Amelia
• make a Nifty Notes for me (Carol has made several and they are too cute.  I have the pattern, just haven't use it yet)

Sorry for the most boring blog post but I felt I should post something.  Hopefully by the end of the week, I'll have something with pictures to show you.

Enjoy your day!
Jen

To Do List Recap

I thought I would show my progress from my post about a week ago.

So here was my list.  Let's see how much of it I got done while Punkie was at my Mom's for a week.

Put final borders on Amelia's big quilt and get it off to be quilted. I REALLY want to give it to her for her birthday. So that's on the top of my list. Hopefully my quilter can fit me into her schedule! ;) DONE!  And in the mail to be quilted!  WOOHOO!

Finish potholders for Stacy for our mini swap. I'm almost there. They need to be quilted and bound. DONE!  And swap received by Stacy yesterday.  I have to take a picture of my pretty scarf.  Maybe Punkie will model it for me today.

Pin cushion swap! That deadline is coming up FAST! I started my pin cushion. That's all I can say about that right now.

Attach binding to butterfly wallhanging so that I can take it to NH with me to work on. Just have to find that jelly roll that I used! It's around here somewhere. - 1/2 done.  Binding strip created.  Just need to machine it on.

Start tote for SIL birthday gift. Her birthday is on Friday. I doubt I will be done by then but I can at least get everything cut. - Started.  Ran out of fusible fleece.  Need to go to Joann's and grab more.

Personalized pillow for my niece for birthday gift. - DONE!  Need to take its picture!

Messenger bag that I was asked to make

Personalized pillow for my BFF's husband's niece. She LOVED the one that I made for Julia and wanted one for herself. I just met the girl over the weekend and she is the sweetest so I told her I would make her one. Her name is short so it will be quick to do. LOL!

I'm 2 blocks behind on the Jelly Roll Sampler quilt along. Need to get those done - block 11 pieced.  Just need to get it all into one block.

Block 2 of the FQS Mystery quilt is here and I need to get that one done as well.
 
Not bad.  Not bad at all.  I got more done than I thought I would get done.  Plus the three sets of pillowcases that I worked on as well.  I'm impressed. 
 
I have to snap a few pictures today.  I received my Summer tote swap and I love it!
 
Enjoy your day!
Jen :)

Vermont Quilt Festival

Last weekend, my husband and I took a weekend away and went to the Vermont Quilt Festival.  This was my first visit and I really enjoyed it.  I will go back again, just not every year.  Maybe every other year.  I also didn't take any classes.  I don't like going into those types of situations on my own and my husband doesn't sew.  :)  We just walked around and enjoyed the quilts and the shopping.

There were some beautiful quilts and I took some pictures but there were a lot of women getting in my way and I was getting irritated so I stopped taking pictures.  Hopefully my pictures will orient okay here on blogger.  They are fine on my camera but they downloaded to my computer all sideways.  There was also an antique quilt exhibit there but no photographing allowed.

Lots of vendor shopping too.  But I held back.  I don't know why.  Now that I'm home, there were some things that I wish I did get but I can order them online if I really want them.

On the way up, we stopped at Country Treasures in Chester, VT.  I picked up some yardage for backing and binding for a project I'm working on, some 1/2 yard ME fabrics and a handful of FQs.  I also got a scrap bag of "Happy" which made me happy!

Okay, onto the quilt festival...

First up - Best In Show.  It was very pretty and all hand quilted.  It's called Feathers Aglow by Judith Thompson.  I loved the colors she used.  Right up my alley.

Next - Budding Baskets by Linda West.  It won a 2nd place red ribbon and a button but I cut off the button in one picture and tried to zoom in on this picture to read it but I can't make it out so I'm not sure what the button was for.

This next one is cool - What to do with All Those Scraps! by Wendy Thomspon.  It's a scrap apple foundation pieced top.   The top has 4,070 pieces of scraps in it!  The pieces were so small.  AMAZING.

Here's another one with tiny little pieces - Jake by Susan Cane.  7,200 1" squares are in this bad boy.  Some people have a LOT of patience!

Now THIS one is my favorite and way too cool! - Come And Follow Me by Dominique Ehrmann.  It's 3D!  And took her 2 years to complete.  It won a 2nd place red ribbon and a Judge's Choice button.

Here are a few sideways views.

And a close-up of the quilt center. 

I wonder how she displays this quilt at home?

I didn't buy much at the show.  Some FQs and some wool.  I have NO IDEA why I bought the wool.  I don't work with wool.  Never have.  But something told me I needed to get it.  It had to have been the colors.  I've never seen the brighter colors in the wool.  Just what I like.  Happy and bright.  I'll find something to make out of them.

That was the Vermont Quilt Festival in a nutshell.  I had a good time and I will go back.

Enjoy your day!
Jen