charming girls goals…

I love the way that Kelly is doing the club now.  It’s awesome…don’t you think?

My goals for July and August are the following:

1.  Finish making the two pillows for my future sleeper sofa in the sewing room. :)

2.  Keep up with the Fat Quarter Shop blocks of the month.  Block 2 just arrived and I’m hoping to get it out of the way pretty soon.

3.  Go see Eclipse with girlfriends.

4.  Paint and put together the bunk beds for the boys’ room.  This will be “officially” putting the boys to sleep in the same room.

5.  Finish two sections of my cross stitching project…Sweet Treats.

New projects

For the past few weeks I've been working on a secret project. Unfortunately I still can't reveal it!

Once I got that done, I was able to finish up my BOM block 1.




A few days ago, Oh Fransson Hyacinth Quilt Designs posted a pic of a pillow that she designed fom the cover of the May Martha Stewart Living. I too had loved this pillow, & set out to create it as well. Here's my version:
edited to add: OK...big oops/egg on the face here :( I saw this not on Oh Fransson!, but rather on Hyacinth Quilt Designs blog...here. Today, she actually has posted her tutorial for the pillow here. Her dimensions are a bit different than mine. Her colored (my blue, her red) strips are 2"...mine are 2.5". Other than that...very close! Please forgive the big oops! :)



Of course it's still a flimsy, but it won't be for long!

My next project is a Fig Tree one from the Summer 2010 Quilts and More.



Can't wait to get this one going!

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I’m a winner!

I still can’t believe my good luck with this one :)

Bobbi had a giveaway, and I won.  The best part?  It’s something that she made herself!  In all my giveaways, I’ve never gotten something “made.”  And the OCD in me truly appreciates that the notepad matches the binding and quilt fabrics :)  (edited to add…I’ve never gotten a QUILTY handmade gifty!)

Let me just tell you…this MADE. MY. DAY.  I’ve got some form of laryngitis/sore throat/cold.  And, I have a kid with pink eye and another kid with vomiting and diarrhea.

Thanks Bobbi :)  I love it!

what I’ve been doing

I have been so busy, I haven’t been here!  Have you noticed?!

One thing that I finished last weekend, Memorial Day, was the transformation of the office in our house into an office/sewing room!  SO MUCH FUN!  I painted the walls a pretty aqua/turq color (Mountain Dew by Pittsburgh Paints). See this fun wall vinyl?  I won it a few months ago from Audrey’s blog.  And I believe that she’s a rep for this company…so hurry up and go get one for your sewing room, too :)

This room will still function as an office…hence the printer right next to the sewing machine.  But for the most part, it’s MINE!  I’ve even convinced my husband that I need a TV in here, too ;)  Eventually we will make a few more changes (see pic below).

Before we move any further…I must apologize for my camera.  It’s broken, which is the reason that all of these pictures have a black triangle blur in the bottom right corner and everything overall has a general haze to it.  And unfortunately I can’t blame it on the kiddos this time!  I accidently pushed it off the kitchen island onto the tile…and it’s officially totaled.  It will cost more to fix than it’s worth…  SO, I’m thinking that my SLR may be happening sooner rather than later!

On the quilting front, here’s what on my table today:My round two siggy swap blocks...well 62 out of 101.  I’ve used Jennifer Paganelli’s Nancy in Aqua from her So St. Croix collection.  It’s such a lovely bright summery fabric…and I knew that it would be perfect for this swap!  I purchased it from So Fun Fabrics on etsy.

In regards to my absence…I’ve been SO busy at home having fun with my family.  I haven’t done hardly any sewing in the last month, and I don’t regret a minute of it!  I know that we can all get so wrapped up in our crafting that our families go by the wayside.  I am guilty of that, but no more!  Yes, I have this lovely new machine, and lovely new room, but I have vowed that I will never make my family wait on me because I’m too busy quilting.  I think that Kelly summed it up SO WELL in her post here. 

And you will still see me around…but I certainly will not be making any of those crazy deadlines, or setting goals or things like that.  My “goal” is to put my husband and kiddos first, and quilt in between :)

Well, I hope this finds you all extremely happy and healthy, and most importantly doing what you love…whatever that may be!

i love my mom

I know there’s many of use out there who have often thought about our childhood and teenage years, and remembered the “hard” times with our parents…our mothers.  I often had the thought…”I’ll never do that with my kids!”  I had many years growing up that I could definitely say that I wasn’t close to my mom.

I’m so glad that last statement isn’t true anymore.  Sure, there’s still times that we don’t agree on things, but I can guarantee you there’s not a 48 hour period that I don’t talk to her.  We have so many of the same interests.  Now I can see that we’re so alike in so many ways.  My hopes and dreams for myself…and my kids…are the same that my mom had for herself and for us.  And now I find myself saying “oh that was just like my mom.”

And for that I’m grateful.

My mom is a strong woman.  She ran a business for 27 years out of our home.  She carpooled every day, made our lunches every day, always had snacks ready for us after school, and never missed a field trip, dance recital, pep rally, or any other event that was important to us.  She was an amazing example of love and strength for us, and I can only hope that 20 years from now my kiddos can look back and see the same in me.

Happy Mother’s Day, mom.  I love you.

Lots of “new”s

I have been gone for a while…and believe me I’ve missed you guys!  First thank you all so much for the continued love for this blog even in my absence.  Love you all ;)  Second I need to show you all of my “new”s!  Ready?

First new, you know about.  My New Janome!I (of course) am showing her off in her true habitat!  My messy sewing area in my dining room.  As you can see she’s been well used already.  And really…sorry about the mess in the background, but you see, I’m a realist…and this is my REAL sewing area.

Second, I have a new finish.This is the April schnibble “Tagalong” using Plume by Tula Pink for Moda.  I love this one because of all of the bright colors!

Third new…are some “new” projects at the casa.

I’m re-painting my old iron bistro set aqua…and I. LOVE. IT.  The next pic is of some paint samples I’m testing for my office/new sewing room.  Yeah, you heard me right…my plan is to kick out the old desktop computer that we NEVER use and start converting the room over to a sewing room for me!  YIPPEE!  The yellow is the existing really boring nasty flat builder grade paint.  The light splotch on the left was the color that I was so sure was right…until it was up on the wall.  The bigger blue blob is the one that is better, but maybe still a bit dark.  I think I need something in between.  Maybe I’ll take some white and mix it in with the darker one…hmmm…

And finally my last new is some news.  I have a new job, and I love it!  I have to work summers now, which will be a change, as I’ve had summers off for the last 4 years, but in exchange I’m making more money and I’m working with people that I love.  SO, the trade off is worth it, I think.

So…that’s about it for now.  I only completed one of my two April goals.  I finished the April schnibble.  I don’t think that I’m going to make goals this month.  Life is so busy…I’ll be sewing when I can.  Hope that your lives are fun and productive.  I’ll be reading :)

a new machine is on it’s way!

and I am so excited I can hardly stand it!

If you remember a while back, I was asking about machines.  In the end, price won over, and after more months and months of deliberating, I finally went with the Janome 6600.

I am so excited…and I’m going to be stalking my LQS for it to arrive :)