Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas Everyone,

2015 is coming to an end and I still have some projects going on that I want to get finished before the year is over.
How about you? Are you rushing with last minute Christmas projects? Good job, You can do it and I know that whoever you are making them for will love them.

Hopefully I will have some pictures to blog before the year is out.

God Bless.

Feeling Good, Feeling Productive

Good Morning,
I had a great weekend - how about you?

I did a lot of cleaning, ya know, the deep kind of cleaning that we are always putting off.
It started in my bedroom, which has been feeling neglected for quite some time. Piles of clutter, books, clothes, you name it. Here there and everywhere, and me always thinking I will get to it later.

Well later came this weekend.
I made out my lists of what I wanted to get done and what I hoped to get done.

The big list for my big projects (hoping to get done) and the little list for immediate projects (wanting to get done).  I nearly finished all of my immediate projects as you can see.
The little list seems kind of simple but really there was a lot -  4 loads of laundry (laundry is all done - YAY!!!),  3 quarts of kefir made and refrigerated, vacuumed nearly the whole house (didn't do the second bedroom - and hubs did the living room) and mopped the sewing studio.  All in all I was feeling really good about myself and the house.

The big list does seem a bit overwhelming but really it is a reminder of the projects I want to keep in the fore front of my mind. I did get sidetracked a bit working on these....

Aren't they sooo cute? Those are the first 3 blocks of my Vintage Farmgirl quilt. I think I am really going to love this quilt. I have one more block in  progress. I cut these out all at one time and then just set them aside, not doing anything with them. Then this weekend I thought I would just put one of them together and next thing I knew, I had 3 done. They are quite challenging and fun to do.

OOps, sorry, I got a little sidetracked, anyways, back to the big list (which these blocks were not on),
here is the blue quilt...

I am not sure if you can really see,  but it is next in line right behind my last vintage block.
(smiley face)

Here is my binding and thread all ready to go.

BUT the one project that I can scratch off of my big list is #2 - Finally!! This quilt is a gift for someone special.

This girl is off the long arm and now needs to be trimmed and bound and then she will be ready to go to her new home.

So that was my weekend.
I hope your weekend left you feeling good and maybe a little bit productive too.

I would love to hear about it. You are welcome to leave me a comment and tell me what you worked on this weekend and maybe even post your lists.

As always,
Thanks for stopping by.

Ho Hum

Hi there,

A ho hum day it is.
I haven't been in my studio (except to do some cleaning and organizing) in over a week. I started back on 3rd shift a couple of weeks ago, so I am having to work out a new routine. My DSD Amy, started a new supervisor position so haven't heard much from her in a few weeks either.
I am just going to have to pull my socks up and get in there today and stitch something.

On the plus side, I have been exercising more consistently. I am trying to lose a few pounds and gain more energy. So far not so good but this is week two and I am determined.

I hope you are having a great week.
Thanks for stopping by.

June To Do List

It seems that quite a few bloggers make to do lists, either daily, weekly or monthly. So I decided to make a June month to do list and here it goes.

1. Quilt and bind my nieces quilt

2. Piece, quilt and bind baby quilt for my friend

3. Make 2 pillowcases for up and coming Grandson birthdays

4. Make 2 pillowcases for spare bedroom

5. Make up at least 4 blocks each week for my Farm Girl Vintage quilt for a total of 16 more blocks this month.

6. Bind the Blue quilt

That is way more than I probably will get done this month but I thought I would challenge myself, push myself really and I am totally ready to go.

What about you, do you make a to do list for tasks you want to complete? Is it daily, weekly or monthly?
I would love to hear what your June quilting/sewing plans are for this month.

Have a great day and Thanks for stopping by.

New Baby quilt and my Niece's wedding quilt

Hi there,

Blogging is such a challenge for me. It is something I really want to do and yet I constantly struggle with what to write about and how often should I post.  Then the big question - Will anyone REALLy be interested and read it?

So pushing on, I will fill you in on what I am currently working on. I have this baby quilt up on my design wall for a friend of mine at work who is due to have a baby in September.

The pattern came from Allison Harris's new book - Growing Up Modern. I love that book



What's on the long arm? I have my niece's quilt loaded and ready to quilt.

 This is going to be my project for the weekend. I bought a pantograph from Urban Elements.

 It looks contemporary and I find that using a pantograph makes the quilting go a lot faster.

My youngest daughter and her family moved back from Idaho this last week. Now the grand kiddos are closer to grandma. That is a good thing for sure. My daughter (Casey) will be able to participate in our little sewing/quilting group we have started up as well. Nice!!

My oldest daughter (Kelley) is in Florida this week for my niece's wedding. I was very sad to miss the wedding. I wasn't able to get the time off from work. The wedding pictures that I have seen look lovely and it looks like a good time was had by all.

I asked my daughter to bring me back some fabric from a quilt shop while she was in Florida but they were too busy with wedding stuff and family to go fabric shopping. Imagine that. :) Next time.

My Step daughter Amy started a Facebook page for our little sewing group and named it Stitched Together. We try to plan a monthly project, post what we are working on and plan sewing retreats together. Oh Yes, and we try to inspire and encourage each other in our craftiness.
We have a one day retreat planned for June and I am looking forward to that. Hopefully we will all be working on our Farm Girl Vintage blocks for the sew a long with Lori Holt at Bee in My Bonnet.

Check out her blog at http://beeinmybonnetco.blogspot.com/2015/04/im-so-excited-to-announce-my-latest.html





Thanks for stopping by. I hope you were inspired and have a wonderful weekend.

Weekend Sew-in April 2015

This past weekend was another productive sewing weekend for me. My lovely step-daughter- Amy, her wonderful husband Paul and our adorable grandson Bennett came to stay with us for the weekend.

Amy brought her sewing machine, several projects to work on and oodles of lovely fabric for me to drool over. On break times, I got to snuggle baby Bennett.
We did take one road trip to a quilt shop south of us. Amy needed some fabric to finish up the top she was working on and I entertained B while mama shopped. Amy's mom and aunt met us at the shop (they are quilters too) and a good time was had by all. I showed extraordinary restraint and didn't purchase anything - I mean ANYTHING! (crazy - right?)

Here is a picture of Amy's finished Weekender quilt top. I love the red colored border. It really frames the quilt nicely.

I was able to finish up quilting another weekender quilt top on the long arm machine. We pieced this top at our weekend retreat back in February and this one is for Amy's Grandma Virginia.

With the quilting done all that is left is the binding and hopefully we can give it to her on Mother's day since Grandparents day isn't until September.


The boys napped while we sewed.

Dad grilled.

It was a great weekend!

On Sunday, we pinned Amy's quilt and got it ready for her to machine quilt it on her new sewing machine. She was pretty excited about trying to free motion quilt on her new machine.

The blue and white quilt is quilted and now needs binding too so I guess I will be brushing up on my binding skills soon.

I started another quilt a couple of weeks ago for my niece who is getting married in May. I worked on the blocks this weekend and they are all pieced now. I have been working on the sashings a little every night after supper and will post a picture when the top is completed.

I love the longer sunshiney days. I can leave the door to my studio open and listen to the birds chirping and can even hear the trains tooting their horns at times. It is quite peaceful in my little corner of the world.
Have a great week.
Thanks for stopping by.

What's your motivation?

Hi there,
How do I start? Where have I been? What brought me back?

All good questions - I am starting here - again.

I think my last blog post was well over a year ago and maybe even two. What happened? I lost my mojo, my muse, my wherewithal. I wasn't sure if I was ever coming back. My computer crashed and the one I have been using for 2 years now is small and veery, veery slow.
I hadn't been sewing, oh once in a while I would stroll through my studio, touch some fabric, even stitched up a couple of small things, then turned out the light and walked out.

In my 2 year sabbatical, because that is what I will call it, I was blessed with 2 new grandbabies, I learned how to make soap (real soap, with the lye and everything), learned how to make bread (with yeast) and read tons of books. Started up a food coop here in our community, babysat grands and nearly every weekend took off to parts well known to visit family and friends.

Now I am back and I am thinking it is for good.

What happened? Well my step-daughter Amy McCubbin got bit by the quilting/sewing bug. Amy decided this year that she wanted to make a quilt for her son (which is how I got started, wanting to make a quilt for my grandson). She enlisted my help and I was so very happy to help her and decided to post about starting over - so here I am again. She has asked me numerous times if I am going to start blogging again and today I decided was going to be the day.

There is something about Amy, I can't really put my finger on it, that she is able to get people up and moving. She doesn't nag, or complain, she just throws her ideas out there, asks what you think, maybe uses some of your ideas and then gets right to it.
She is funny and sweet and well quite frankly, I love that girl. I have been sewing up a storm this year and in the back of my mind I am thinking, wonder what Amy and I can work up next - another retreat, a new project for our facebook group or a shopping trip to get re-inspired. Whatever it is I love her enthusiasm and determination to get us all motivated. She doesn't want to leave anyone out of her fun either, that includes skyping her step-sister in Idaho, texting her other step-sister here in Iowa or helping her cousin to pick out a sewing machine and get sewing.

So Amy - thanks for the Motivation. I got my MOJO back!!!

I hope you out there in blogland are inspired to start up again or even to start something new. Find someone that loves what you love and get going. It is good to have someone to bounce ideas off of and someone who doesn't need you to get going but loves to have you along for the ride. I feel blessed to have Amy. She has so many ideas, and she is doing it. Thanks Amy, love you girl.


Thanks for checking in. Talk to you soon.
God Bless.