Hearts

I have said before that I am not a big holiday decorator. Christmas - there is a tree and now that I know how to sew, I've made a couple of table runners and a wallhanging or two.  Other holidays?  Not so much.  While I love seeing how others decorate for the seasons and holidays, I just don't do it.  I don't have the room for all the stuff.  And my house is cluttered with little girl toys.  Decorating around her stuff just doesn't look right.  LOL.

However, when I see cute, I need to make.  

Candy hearts.  Adorable.  I want to make 20 blocks for a lap quilt.  For now, 3 blocks will do for a wall hanging.  If I get my act together, I will make this a leader/ender project.  But I need to get some squares organized and by my machine.  I also want to beef up my low volume stash a bit.  Some of the low volume squares I used aren't very "low volume".

Close up of the hearts.  The green one stands out great.  The other two get a little lost but they are there.

On Instagram, lots of people were making some simple hearts and turns out it was a free tutorial out on Cluck Cluck Sew's blog.  I have been hoarding many charm packs and wouldn't you know?  I had a few Valentine ones.  I busted them out (stash busting 2015) and made my own.  I made 25 blocks instead of 20 as in the tutorial.

I forgot the name of the charm pack I used.  It had green in it which I didn't use.  

I have lots of hearts to decorate with for next year!

Enjoy your day!

Jen :)

Sewing for my Valentine

I did a little sewing for my little Valentine.  My big Valentine will be getting chocolates and some new socks.  Pretty romantic, huh?  LOL!!

I ordered the cutest throw pillow kit from Emily Ann's Kloset etsy shop.  The iron-on is just too adorable.

I sewed the turning hole after taking this picture.  :)

Lori Holt had shown on her blog a while ago, some cute glass jars with fancy glass knobs and it's been on my mind to make some.  I made a few for the house and of course, my little Valentine needed one for herself in her favorite color.  I filled it with her favorite chocolates - Dove Dark and some Hershey Kisses.  The kitty's name is Caramel.  She was napping on my bed when I disturbed her with my photo shoot.

Here are the jars I made for myself.  I plan on using them on the dessert/candy buffet at my in-laws 50th Wedding Anniversary party happening later this summer.  For now they are hanging out in my kitchen.  I plan on using them long term in my sewing room.

I stopped at Hobby Lobby last week and spotted super cute Valentine fabric and bought some yardage for pillowcases.  I love them and want a set for myself.

I have been trying to keep up with things.  I pulled out a few WIPs/UFOs and working on getting things done.  Need to snap a few pictures.  And I've been working on some swap items for a few new swaps I've joined.

Enjoy your day!
Jen  :)

Hugs and Kisses

Happy Valentine's Day!

Give all your loved ones an extra hug and kiss today.  :)

Enjoy your day!
Jen

Blizzard Weekend Crafts

Mother Nature has a evil sense of humor.  We got a major snowstorm over the weekend.  A blizzard actually.  At my house, 2 1/2 feet of snow.  On the shoreline, up to 40" of the white stuff was dumped.  Snow started Friday morning and ended Saturday mid-morning.  Roads were shut down.  Needless to say, we've been house bound for the last few days.  I guess Mother Nature felt that she needed to make up for the lack of snow that didn't happen last Winter.  Of course, LAST winter is when we could have used the extra $$$ for Disney.  Chris hasn't been home very much the last few days.  He's plowing again for some businesses and condo complexes so he's been off doing that.

I gave in and had to get out of the house today.  Ran some errands and took Amelia out to lunch.  We were out for a couple of hours.  It was nice.  Don't know if she will have school again tomorrow.  While the main state roads are pretty clear, the banks of snow along the roadway make it very difficult to see the traffic and the town/side roads are terrible.  Mine included.

To help pass the time on Friday, we did a Valentine's Day craft. Now you may know (because I've said it often), I don't really decorate for the "off" holidays. Christmas is pretty much it over here and that's only a decorated tree and maybe another do-dad here and there. But I thought it would be fun to do something in red and pink for Love.

Last year? Year before?  I can't remember, Melissa posted about a very fun ribbon loop wreath for Halloween.  Oh it was so cute.  I hunted down a few of the tutorials and even went out and bought loads of ribbon and a wreath.  And it still sits undecorated today.  But that will soon change!  I gathered up supplies to make one for Valentine's Day and here is our version.

Isn't it cute?? There are lots of tutorials out there and different techniques. After studying the different ways of creating the loops, I went the hot glue gun route. While sewing the loops together and then gluing them on the wreath seemed faster, I didn't care for the overall 'flat' look of the ribbons on the wreath. I really liked the more fuller, rounder feel. So out came my glue gun and much swearing. I tried not to burn myself but with hot glue it never fails not to happen.  I took my wreath one step further and made curliques out of the 3/8" ribbons and stuck them in, here and there to help fill in the holes.  I'm very happy with it and already planning my Easter ribbon wreath and then another for late Spring/Summer.  And of course a Christmas one but I have time for that.

Enjoy the rest of your day!
Jen :)

Love to Be Mine

Sweetwater's Label Crew for February; too cute!  I don't have many Valentine themed fabrics hanging around and what I do have wasn't enough so a trip to my LQS was in order.  Unfortunately, they too didn't have a big selection but I picked up 4 that coordinated and set off to work.

Over-sized mug rugs. Punk picked "Be Mine" so I'm left with "Love".  My heart has a bit of a straight edge at the top.  Not sure what happened there.  I'll be bringing it to work for the month of February. I have no idea what Punk is going to do with hers. I'm sure it will end up somewhere and I will rescue it and put it in my sewing room for safe keeping. The Label Crew project for March is another one I will be doing as soon as it comes out. It's featuring their newest line "Noteworthy". I can't wait to get it!

Enjoy your day!
Jen :)

XOXO!

Happy Valentine's Day!! 

A little sewing has been happening here.  I hope to have some completed to show you soon.

Enjoy your day!
Hugs from Jen and Punkie  :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Morning!  Happy Monday to you and Happy Valentine's Day!  We're not big celebrators of Valentine's Day.  Amelia and my husband will each get a little something (pillowcases and chocolates) and a nice dinner that is cooking in my crock pot as we speak.  Done and done.

Sewing has been happening here but I have no pictures to show you.  Forgot.  Sorry!  I got block 7 done of the FQS BOM.  I will say, THIS block was my least favorite so far.  But it is done.  And I did a bit more work on  my Chubby Charmer.  My lining fabric was in the mail on Friday so I got that all cut and ready to go but had a busy weekend.  So I'm hoping that I'll have time tonight or at least by the weekend to get this thing together.  It is a HUGE bag.  I can't wait to use it.

Now that I'm in a better spot with my FQS BOM, I'm going to move on and work on my layer cake quilt along blocks and my Birdie Stitches one.  I'm debating about taking Friday off this week so that I can play in my sewing room.  We'll see how my work week goes.

Enjoy your Valentine's Day and I'll be back soon!
Jen

Love Is In The Air....

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone out in Blog-Land!  Give everyone you care about a hug today.  I know I did!

 

Enjoy your day!
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