19 Midgets done this year!

I was able to get #20 - Circular Saw done this afternoon. I made an oops.... the innermost circles should have been the dark pink. Oh well, it is not going to change now.


I still am working on #9 - the hand applique block but probably won't get that done tonight...It should be done by Tuesday for Tiny Tuesday though.

I've signed up for another year of the rainbow scrap challenge that Angela is hosting. Red will be the color for January... which ties in perfectly with one of my projects that needs to get done. I'll be working on a graduation quilt in red, orange, yellow and pink with black as the accent color. I've decided to do Star Stuck again and think it will be a nice looking quilt. That will be the on-going project for January. I've also thought of 3 different patterns this year that I'll plan to do a block a weekend for and have a few nice quilts to put together at the end of the year. Go on over to SoScrappy and see what others are planning for next year.

Other projects - the Jacobs Ladder quilt along is continuing and should be a nice quilt in the next couple of months. I'm also joining Jo over at Jo's Country Junction for her Quilt along this year. I've ordered the 3 patterns and can't wait to start that one up as soon as they arrive. Another project leftover from Jo's website is the Crumb quilt. I've still to add the final borders and then need to get that quilted before the big reveal at the end of the month.

Wishing everyone a happy and healthy 2012!

Tiny Friday....

Grandma came this morning and took the kids to the park and then to McD's...... so while they were away..... I put a few pictures up on the walls of the house with G and then played in my sewing room!

I was able to get all the paper pieced parts done for block # 20 but need to go get some pink thread so I can finish the applique parts.

I am working on block #9 as well... but need some pink and green thread to work on that one tonight.

I was able to do # 5 - The Pineapple block. I think there were 49 pieces in this block and after doing the arcs for #20... this midget block was a piece of cake!


But... the big news at our house today..... is that my big boy finally went #2 on the potty! It has been a long wait for us and we are SO happy he finally went. We had him going pee on the potty earlier this summer and he stays dry through the night.... but with all the changes in the last 5 months and us being away for training we put this part off until the last couple of weeks. To celebrate (one of his 'perks') we are going out to Wendy's for dinner tonight. His choice. He also got his present from Grandma (which has been sitting out for 2.5 months now waiting for him) which was a little Bob the Builder and 4 of his vehicles and he is out in the back yard sitting on Daddy's lap riding the mower around the yard.

Now... to get his sister to consistently go pee on the potty and then get her to go #2. She wants to go to the Rib place near Grandpa A's house where we took him for his birthday dinner. One down... one to go!

Jacobs Ladder blocks....

I made 3 this week for a total of 20 of these 12 inch JL blocks! I was thinking 30 of these blocks for a 5x6 setting (60x72). Do you think that is big enough for a raffle quilt? I was thinking a snuggle throw quilt... what do you think. Will that be big enough?

Hmmm... I'll also have to play around with the blocks and see what setting I'll put these blocks into. Lots of decisions but I have another month or two until I need to decide!

I hope to get back into the sewing room today after a break yesterday. My MIL (Grandma!) took the kids for the day so I could finish unpacking the 20 or so boxes that were still in the play room from our move a few months ago. I was able to get through them, 2 trips to the recycle place with boxes and paper and then I made a car loaded trip to Good Will while DH went to pick up the kids. Then it was home for me to start making dinner..... I needed to use up some potato's in the pantry so it was.... potato leek soup (minus the leeks.. I used onion instead) and some popovers. Yummy! I think that will be lunch for me today with a nice salad. Happy sewing to you all.

4 Patches for Hope

Over at Regina's blog you can find out about her 4 Patches for Hope. She is doing this in memory of her Mom who passed away from cancer earlier this year. These little 4 patches will be off in the mail today and she should get them sometime next week. Check out her web page and maybe make a few extra 4 patches to send her way.

Tiny Tuesday....

Another midget block crossed off! I did #18 - New Album on Monday afternoon during nap time.


I have #5, #9, #16 and #20 still to do this week. I think if I do one per day, I can be up to #20 with 20 midget blocks completed for the year. Next year I hope to get back to doing one per week with a goal of 52 for the year.

Edit: I got another one done today - #16 Christmas Tree. I know... there is a boo boo in the block. I fixed the one I saw before I put it together but didn't feel like ripping out another bunch of seams to correct the other mistake. My block will just be unique!

I also finally figured out wax paper and freezer paper are two different animals! I'll be bringing my 40% off coupon and my Joann's Fabric gift certificate with me tomorrow to pick up some freezer paper and applique needles. Then I can do block 9 and 20!

Wrapping up 2011.

A lot of other bloggers do a show and tell of things they have completed in the year. I love looking at them and wanted to see what I have accomplished in the sewing room this year. My sewing room has changed a few times this year - it started out in Georgia Vermont, moved to my parents house in Central Vermont for about 6 weeks (thanks for letting us use the house Mom and Dad) and then the 3 day driving car trip with 2 toddlers and 2 cats in mid September to our new home in central Florida! It has been quite a year for my little family. I'm happy to say everyone has adjusted well and we are very happy in our new house while embarking upon a 'new' life with opening a business early next year.

Between the UFO challenge at my guild in Vermont and the Scrap Happy Rainbow Challenge I was able to get a few things finished over the year. Not including being chair to a quilt show in April where I made over a dozen little maple sugar houses for prize ribbons. This is a picture of the display of all the ribbons at the show... the others were made by guild members.


Scrappy Pinwheel - which lives on my couch for me to cuddle up under at night.


Vermont Challenge Quilt - lives at my parents summer camp on one of the beds.

as seen at the quilt show..


Easter Eggs quilt. I think this was part of the purple challenge.

Big Blue triangle quilt - I gave to Bonnie E to quilt and donate to the hospital. It seems I don't have a picture of this one. It used the leftover big 8 inch HST's from making my parents anniversary quilt in blue and white.

Red/Black BOM stars quilt - donated to my friend Kelly for a Lacing up for Cancer raffle in June.


Kitty challenge blocks - from a block swap back in the late 90's. I guess I don't have a picture of the completed little quilt... and I'm too lazy to go take it out of the box and take a picture. Yes, I still don't have things up on the walls yet in the majority of the house. That is this weeks mission.


Yellow Brick Road quilt in purple and yellow for my niece Kristin who graduated from high school in June and is now at college in Boston.


Log Cabin Scrappy in blue and yellow (yellow monthly challenge)- donated to the Friends of the Milton Library for their end of year raffle.


Scrappy Star Struck - given to Miss Chrystal - the day care person at our gym in Vermont. She was with Aidan since he was 6 months old and had Emily from 8 weeks - for about an hour and a half 2-3 times a week while I got a bit of a workout.


Pumpkin wall hanging from the October scrap challenge for orange - hand quilted, no less. Finished last night!

Those were the completed things.....

I also have a few completed tops that I hope to get quilted in 2012.

The firecracker quilt from the July rainbow challenge. I will be pulling this from the closet to begin the hand quilting on it... now that I've convinced myself I can do it after the little pumpkin quilt.


The pink scrappy quilt from the rainbow challenge.


I'm sure I have worked on other things this year as well, but these are the completed ones. I do hope to finish my crumb quilt by the end of the year... we'll see if I can meet that goal or not. The other parts of quilts that were worked on this year may just turn up in the coming months...

Hope you all had a great 2011 and a happy and healthy 2012.

Alphabet done!

I was able to finish the alphabet letters yesterday.... but I think I'll redo the Y...it's a little small. I still have to make the Emily and the 2011.... I think I can even get this completed this year!

I also did 2 more of the Jacobs ladder blocks and did some lne's of the green and cream 4 patches. Today I was able to cut a bunch more of the 2 inch squares in lots of green shades to refill that basket and a few of the creams to top off that basket. I should be set making four patches for the JL blocks for a bit now.

I also made #19 Crows nest for the midget blocks. This was an easy block to do and another block checked off my list.

Tomorrow will be a wrap up of the year of quilts. I just need to add all the pictures to the post... maybe tonight after everyone goes to bed.

Alphabet progress....

I've been playing with letters. I'm working my way through Tonya R's Unruly Letters book for the border of my crumb quilt.

Sorry about the sideways.....it keeps doing that to me. As you can see, I've got about 6 or 7 letters left to do. I think I'll also do an Emily and a 2011 since there should be enough room for it on the border. This is about 4 hours worth of time in the sewing room the last two days. Do you think I can steal away for another couple of hours tomorrow and get my alphabet completed? I hope so, I'd like to get this top completed and quilted before Jo starts a new quilt along.

Tiny Tuesday

I was able to make two of the midget blocks yesterday.
# 15 - The String Block

And # 17 - Airplane.


I skipped #16 and will try to do it later this week when I have lots of time and can concentrate. Lots of little pieces in that one that I was not in the mood to do right now.

Here are the 14 blocks that I have done so far.

I need to go back and do #5 - which also has tons of pieces and #9 which I have all cut out and just need to attempt to do that one by hand. So, I do think I can get 6 of these done by the 31st.... maybe I'll plan a MIL kid day so I can just sit and sew.........

Jacobs Ladder blocks....

I think I forgot to do one last week.... so I made 2 so far this week. I might make a few more later this week... they are nice quick little blocks to make and I love seeing progress. I believe I have 14 blocks completed and that fifteenth one still needs some picking out and fixing. I think I can make a few more blocks before I need to cut some more green fabrics and make more HST's. I've got the 4 patches working as leaders and enders. Works great except when I am working on the midget blocks... which tend to be paper pieced.

Crumb quilt progress....

Since I got the shopping done on Friday..... I decided to take a me break during nap time on Saturday and got to sew! Yippee.
First, I grabbed the pastel solids and cut them up for the sashing. Then I took the extras of the 30's prints and some new ones and cut some little 2 inch squares.... Then....I got to sew!
This is what I have so far after a couple of hours of sewing.

Then I got to sew again this afternoon and was able to get this middle part all sewn together.... and yes, the log cabins did not end up turned the way I had planned...... but I'm going to leave it as it is.

Em won't care. Maybe I can add the solid blue borders on tonight after they are in bed.... then I get to start making the letters! Right now the quilt measures 44 x 50 inches. It needs to be a bit bigger for a nice lap quilt for her to grow into.

Scrap Happy Saturday....

I've been trying to finish some things up this month from the scrap happy challenge. I finally picked up the needle and started hand quilting this little pumpkin wall hanging from back in October. It is completely free hand - no pre drawn lines for me.


the hand quilting.


I need to add the green leaf to this still and figure out how I want to hand quilt the two borders.... this is one of my first attempts at hand quilting. The stitches are long and uneven... but without practice you'll never get to where you want to be. I do need to pick a better needle than what I was using.... I think I was using a millners needle so will dig and find the smaller hand quilting ones today.

I also want to get this pink quilt finished... which will involve pinning and machine quilting and getting that binding put on. The goal is before the end of the year on this one....for at least getting it quilted.


Go on over to Angela's blog and see what everyone else is working on this Saturday for the scrappy challenge. A big Thanks to Angela for hosting this challenge this year. I had a great time playing with colors and making some pretty quilts. Anyone up for doing this again next year? Count me in.... I still have lots of colors to play with in my closet.

Christmas snakes.....

Years ago when my nieces and nephews were little, I made them xmas snakes one year with 25 little gifts in each. This was a little countdown to Christmas for them. There were 4 of them at the time. I had a great time all that year picking up little things for them everywhere I went. They are now teenagers and 2 are in college. Their parents are in charge of filling their 'snakes'... and yes they do ask for them every year still. I've since made another 3 for the other kids that came along.
This year, I decided to do a shortened version for my little ones....their first year of them! They will have a 10 day count down to Christmas that needs to start this morning! Yikes! How did Christmas get so close so fast? This past weekend Em and I went to the local quilt shop but they did not have cute kid Christmas fabric. The sales person mentioned the sale section...... As it was my second time there I didn't know of it! Well, I put Emily in there and told her to pick out some fabric for her and her brother. She initially grabbed a butterfly one..... until she saw this purple peace fabric. She did not put it down and brought it up to the cutting counter and told the nice lady this is mine and this is Aidan's.... he has a blue fabric with squirrels and ducks on it.
Yesterday during nap time, I was able to sew these two up and then got the little gifts out last night around 9PM and wrapped them up and filled up the snakes. Bright and early this morning (6:13AM to be exact) a little boy came and woke me up asking if his snake was ready and when can he open a present.
Day 1 - they soon found out was play doh! Em has a red one and Aidan a dark blue. Hmmmmm what will tomorrow's present be?

Emily's.

Aidan's curled up under the tree.

Tiny Tuesday on Wednesday...

I got to sew yesterday! I made this cute little midget block - #14 Gem Block. This one was very easy to do. I did modify the color scheme and did pink and brown instead of the green and blue from the directions.

Check out how others are doing over at Jill's blog.

Home sweet Home...

It is so nice to be able to be home this week! Being away for 4 of the last 5 weeks has been difficult but we made it through. The kids were great with Grandma and they had some great memories with her. A big thanks to my MIL for staying by herself with the 2 kids for us. She even took them to a movie! I don't think I would have dared to do that.
The good news... I get to pull things out in my sewing room and not worry about putting things away right off! Yippee.

So many projects and so little time. I've decided to make some progress on the midget blocks over the next couple of weeks and made this cute log cabin block yesterday.

I printed off the next few and have pulled the fabrics for the next paper pieced block on my list. I plan to do that one on Tuesday.

I also was low on the HST's in green and cream so I was busy on Saturday pulling my green fabrics and doing some cutting to restock the HST's and while I was doing that I cut some more 2.5 inch squares for the 4 patches. These are for the Jacobs ladder quilt along - doing 1-2 blocks per week. So far I have 12 blocks made including the 2 I made yesterday.

I am leaving the pile of greens out on the floor (where Sophie has decided to sleep while I am in the sewing room!) since I am sure I will be needing more in a couple of weeks. So nice to be able to leave things out!!!! (Yup, I work best in clutter.)

The next project I want to concentrate on... the crumb quilt. I have 42 6 inch (unfinished) squares from the quilt along with Jo last month. I have decided to use sashing and will do a mix of the pastel colors as a scrappy sashing and will do some cornerstones of various 30's prints. I need to cut these out and sew the middle parts together. Then I plan on a blue inner border followed by the alphabet letters along the side. I think I may do those in different colors..... I'll have to see how the middle comes out and then decide. Just in case... I ordered 2 more yards of the blue pastel from Keepsake quilting and it arrived last week. I may do the letters all in the blue around the outside...... time will tell. I believe Jo has a second reveal sometime mid January... so I hope to have this quilt top completed and quilted and bound by that time.

I also have a graduation quilt that needs to get done by June and shipped to it's recipient. I have the fabrics....I just need to find the black background somewhere in the closet. I am going to do a star struck pattern by Bonnie Hunter over at Quiltville.com. I made a scrappy one a few months ago and think this one will be really striking in M's chosen colors of brights - orange, yellow, pink and red . I think the black will really make them pop. I started cutting some orange for the 2.5 inch squares but need to cut the rest out and start the sewing. I'm thinking the week of Christmas for cutting and sewing the blocks on this one... which means I really need to get the crumb one done in the next 2 week. Yikes.... 2 weeks until Christmas.

On that note... I need to get a good picture of the kids for sending out to family in the Christmas cards. I've got the cards ready to go... just waiting for a picture.

Then... it will be off to the usual holiday baking and cookie decorating over the next week. I think the freezer will be stocked with cookies for the warm months to come down here in Florida when I won't want to warm up the house with the oven. The kids are great little helpers with measuring and stirring... I just know to plan on it taking twice the time it normally would.

Enjoy making some memories with your families. I know I plan to.

Jacobs Ladder blocks....

I am doing pretty good on these blocks and soon will have enough for the quilt I'll donate to my friend next June. I noticed my HST's are getting low so I'll need to make some more next weekend..... when I can really dig into that closet and not have to worry about putting the room back together for company the next day. Here are the two I made last weekend. Do you notice something different?



Yup, I have one HST turned the wrong way... something to fix this weekend.

I just love seeing the progress with little bits of time taken here and there. This is what I have so far....

A midget block....

I was able to sew a bit last Sunday and got this cute little midget block completed.


I started the midget log cabin block as well.... and got 2 parts done. Then the fabrics started to have a mind of their own and I gave up for the day. I hope they are more cooperative today so I can get another one of these midget blocks checked off the list. Slowly but surely I will make some better progress on these through the end of the year. I'd like to be up to #20 by the end of the year.

I have one that I am taking with me that can be done by hand..... if only I remember to take it out and work on it in the evenings.

Have a great week everyone! We're off to do some walking on the nature trails this morning once everyone gets dressed. Some quick shopping for me to restock the house for Grandma for the week and then hopefully an hour or two in the sewing room before I repack (after laundry is done of course!) and head back to Clearwater for the week.

A week off and no progress in the sewing room!

Yikes.... where did the week go? Another Sunday morning and packing up the suitcase for the week away again. Last week just flew by and not much sewing went on. Bummer.

I did do a few crumbs in the last post. Decided to go with a scrappy solid sashing and cornerstones for the crumb quilt... but have not done the cutting out yet.

I made a label for the star struck quilt and attached that and popped it into the mail yesterday. That should arrive to it's new home Monday or Tuesday.

I hope to do a little sewing this afternoon (fingers crossed) but it depends on the kids and how quickly I can mop all the floors and vacuum the sewing room and get it back ready for company.

Things I did accomplish...... Cleaned the house before company for Thanksgiving. Put on a Turkey meal with all the fixings including home made pumpkin pudding and apple pie. Went walking on a near by nature trail with the kids... and did lots of playing, reading books, crafts, pretend play and laundry and all the fun things you get to do with kids. I did brave the stores on Saturday for a bit and got the oil changed in the car and a start of my xmas shopping done. Oh... I also put the fall holiday things away and got the house decorated for Christmas. Hmmmmm I think that is what took up most of the last couple of days. Lets hope Grandma doesn't have to put it all away from too many little hands touching things they should not.
This year... it is 'my' tree with all my ornaments. The last few years we have been doing 'G''s tree with all his ornaments from the time he was born. More of a kids type of tree. Mine is a more victorian flare with the maroon/white and dainty things that can break. This is the tree as of this morning..... keep in mind the kids helped decorate so some of the ornaments are all grouped together at their height. They did a pretty good job I think.

The Christmas tree skirt is something I made many years ago with my friend Joanna. I also have a kiddie one with all kids Christmas prints that I use other years... or if we ever decide to have 2 Christmas trees.... probably next year as the kids room should have the last of the moving boxes out of there at that point.



Next weekend.... I need to make my countdown Christmas snakes for the kids. I made these all for my neices and nephews years ago and now it is their parents job to fill them. I'm just doing 10 days for mine this year... a little something to unwrap as a count down to Christmas. I've got enough things for 8 days (yesterday's shopping trip) and just need a couple more to fill the last 2. Now... lets see if I can find some Christmas fabrics so I am all set to make them next weekend.
Have a great week everyone.

Crumblies.....

I was able to do my final 4 crumb blocks to have 42 for my main part of the quilt.


Yes, I found those 30's prints that went missing a couple of weeks ago.... after I had purchased a few more FQ's while up in Vermont last month. Oh well.... gives me some extra's for the borders.
I am currently debating with myself on setting it like this or using the blue or some other solid or a mix of solids for a sashing to make this a little bit bigger. I seem to have cut them down to 5.5 inches for the unfinished..... now that is a tiny block! I want this to be a usable size.... so it does need to be bigger. I think the sashing might help there... but I'll have to play with it and see.
For the outer border......I think I will do the alphabet and little Miss Em can have this one for the end of her bed and cuddling on the couch. It will coordinate well with the log cabin one I am making her...if I ever get those creams cut for her quilt!
So, thoughts on sashings? I need all the help I can get on this one.

A weekend off....

Kind of. Back from another week away for training. Two weeks down and two to go. We do get this coming week off, so I hope to get a few things done or started on in the sewing room while I am home. I also have to work 2 days in a store as part of the training so that takes away 2 days there and there is Thanksgiving this week too. I'm hosting so a bit of time will go into cooking and cleaning as well. All in all.... a busy week at home for me.

I did manage to finish the binding for the Star Struck quilt. I just need to make the label, attach it and print out some pics of the kids and send this up to Vermont to it's new owner. I hope she likes it and thinks of the kids when she sees it.


I also did 2 more of the JL blocks last week and 2 today but didn't get a chance to write it up. I now have 8 of these blocks done and hope to make two more later this week. I have the 4 patches and HST's all set so this is easy sewing right now for the next 4 or 5 blocks I think.
These are the 2 from last week,
the two today

and all 8 of my blocks so far.

My goals this week are to get two quilts quilted and the bindings on so I can finish them while I am away at training again. I found the box of warm and natural batting and have the backings made already. Just need to pin and quilt... and maybe make one of the bindings.
I'd also like to get some of the creams cut for Em's quilt and get started on that. At least one Midget block done.... hope for two though. Of course... put out a few more of the JL blocks as well... all the parts are done so that one should be easy. I also need 4 more crumb blocks to be up to my 42 for the inside.... I think I can do that today as well. Of course... Bonnie Hunter has a mystery that started yesterday over at Quiltville.com.... I really want to do that too, but think I'll just have to print out those directions for the next couple of weeks. Maybe it will be a Christmas week mystery for me?
There. That's my goals for the week...... lets see how I do!

Jacobs Ladder Week 2

I was able to sew a bunch more of the HST's and the four patches and now have 4 of these pretty blocks put together.



I am estimating that I need 30 blocks for a set of 5x6. At 12 inches a block that should be a good sized lap quilt I think. I had enough HST's cut to make 11 blocks... so I'll need to raid the stash again and cut some more fabrics when I get home next weekend.