pincushion

I am working on hand-quilting another quilt for my mom, but wanted to get something accomplished (finished) this week, so I pulled out this little pincushion kit I had... All the little pieces were pre-cut and it came with everything you needed! I like that the thread used for the outer french knots was variegated! Fun, fun!

Back to my hand-quilting... :o) Have a great week!

Holidays At Home BOM - month 3

It is already month 3 of the Holidays at Home BOM! (This is a 6-month BOM.) This month, it was 4 Flying Geese sets, and the center block. I love, love, love these fabrics!
Hope everyone is having a good week!

hexagon - closest guess - winner!

Thanks so much for everyone that played along, trying to guess how many 1/2" hexagons are in my little tin! Here is the total number of hexagons:

878! Amazing, huh? So the winner is PatchworkRose, who guessed 888! Please send me your mailing address, PatchworkRose, and I will get your prize sent off to you right away!

Thanks again for all the visitors and nice comments! Have a great Monday!

Father's Day 2010

This is my post from Father's Day 2009, but it is just as true on Father's Day 2010, so I just thought I would re-post it. Everything is the same, just a year later.

******************************

Father's Day is an emotional day for me. On the one hand, I am a lucky lady, for my children have a wonderful Dad. I couldn't ask for anything more for my kids. Jim came into our lives when the trio were about 5 years old and anyone that didn't know, would never know that he isn't their *real* dad. (The trio are 11 now, so he has been here for most of their lives at this point.) And what is a real dad anyways? I think Jim is more of a real dad to the trio than anyone else. And then Jimmy came along... Which just added to the joy of our family!

And on the other hand, Father's Day makes me sad. I lost my Dad to a heart attack, a little over a year and half ago. I still miss him desperately. It has been harder than I ever could have imagined, and I am still not sure that *it gets better*. I was the youngest girl of three, and Dad was the one person I could always count on. He never judged, he just loved me. Jim is alot like my Dad. :o)

So Happy Father's Day to my dear husband, Jim, and Happy Father's Day to my Dad.

hexagons - and a little give-away

Way back in March, I started on these hexagons. They are 1/2 inch in size, quite small, but oh-so-fun! I used a *Sent With Love* honey bun from Moda, which the girls cut up into little rectangles for me, so I could just trim up and sew down onto the papers from Paper Pieces. (I love their papers!) It is funny, because Anna loves pink, so since she helped cut the pieces, she is like *mom, you should give this to me, when it's done!* What she doesn't know, is it will be for her! What I plan to do, is stitch all the hexagons together, in a big hexagon / flower shape, and then add strips of honey buns to make it bigger, if need be, so it will be like a lap quilt. I have NO idea how big this will be when I get all the hexagons together!

So on to the little give-away! :o) How many hexagons are in this tin?! (Recognize the tin, Shirley! Perfect for this project!!!) Take into consideration, the hexagons are 1/2 inch, so they are pretty small! And I used a whole honey bun, minus a little that the girls cut too small... :o) The tin is about 7" wide by 4" tall, and is pretty much FULL! :o) Just to get you into the right neighborhood, I will give one small hint -- it is more than 500 but less than 1000 hexagons! I will choose the person closest to the right number, on Monday morning, June 21st, and mail out a little surprise to them! :o)

P.S. How do I know the number?! We were all curious, so the girls and I sat down and counted them! I know, we are a bit crazy... :o))))

June Schnibble and Friendship Swap blocks

Here is my June Schnibble, this is the *State Fair* pattern. Another happy little quilt! The fabrics are from a *Simply Sweet* FQ bundle. Schnibbles patterns are made for charm squares, but really any fabrics will work! :o) I really like this one! Do I say that every month? :o)

And these are the Friendship Swap Blocks that I have been working on for the last week or so. We used Kona Champagne for the background, and then Civil War repros for our print. There are 24 of us exchanging these. I really love this block.
My finger is A-OK, but my arm is still fairly sore from the reaction to the tetanus shot. I still have about a 3" knot, but it is getting a little better each day. Still just putting ice on it and taking it easy... Well, as much as possible, I am NOT one to ever sit still!

Hope everyone is finding some time to stitch... :o)

Happy Birthday, Shirley!

Just wanted to wish a big Happy Birthday to Shirley! Although we have never met in person, I have known Shirley for probably 10 years or so, we met on a PaintShopPro yahoo group when the trio were really little, and have been great friends ever since! She has been there for me thru raising triplets, divorce, remarriage, another baby and when my Dad passed away. But more than that, she has been there for me every day. :o)

If you have a minute, go visit Shirley at her Bits and Pieces blog and tell her Happy Birthday! :o)

Boy Scouts Quilt

Lucky me! Well, actually, Lucky David! :o) I received David's Boy Scout quilt back from Carol, all quilted BEAUTIFULLY! Remember, Carol and I have been *trading*, I pieced three quilt kits for her, and she quilted my trio's birthday quilts, that I will give them for their 13th birthday, this November. I definitely got the good end of this deal! :o) Here is David's quilt:
The binding is not on it yet, because they are on summer break, and I haven't had a chance to get it done. The binding is the red in that middle border. The trio went to a friend's house for just a little while this afternoon, and that is how I got time to get the pics taken without him seeing! (As long as Jimmy doesn't tell on me!)

In these blocks, Carol quilted the Fleur De Lis:

Here is the back of that block:

And then super-cool, in these full blocks, Carol quilted the words *Boy Scouts* -- see it there?! How cool is that?! :o)))

Here is the back of that block:

David is going to be THRILLED with this quilt! And I know the girls will love theirs too. In case you missed theirs, you can find Anna's HERE, and Elizabeth's HERE. Thank you again, Carol, from the bottom of my heart! I don't want my babies to be teenagers already, but I can't wait til November! :o)

Bread and Butter

Carol received her *Bread and Butter* quilt top, so I can show it to you all now! (I borrowed your photo, Carol, I hope that is ok, it is a better photo than mine!)

Carol is such a sweet friend, and has been doing the custom quilting on the trio's birthday quilts, in exchange for me piecing a couple of quilt tops for her, including this one... :o) I definitely got the good end of this deal! Actually, I received the third quilt back from her just today, David's Boy Scout quilt, and I *CANNOT* wait to show it to you all! But I can't do that, until the kids go to a friends house or something, so I can get the binding on and get some photos of it! It is amazing!

Thanks so much for everyones concern about my finger! It is much better! Barely hurts, unless you really put pressure on it. Unfortunately, where they gave me the tetanus shot is STILL really bugging me tho. I go back to the doctor for it tomorrow. I have about a 4" knot in my upper arm from it. The nurse gave the shot to me way back on the back side of my arm, and I am wondering if that is part of the problem, like it didn't go into the muscle like it should?! I went to the doctor yesterday to have it checked and she said wait a few more days. The doctor said it probably isn't an allergic reaction to the shot, since I was on antibiotics to prevent infection in my finger, for the first five days. But it is really quite sore -- can't touch it without wincing! (And of course, it seems like every time I turn around, I am bumping into something, or someone is bumping into me!!!) Tomorrow will be a full week since I got the shot, and this knot is getting bigger not smaller, so I am going to go back to the doctor tomorrow! I will keep you posted! :o) Hope everyone is having a good week!

putting yourself into your work... :o)

I am working on blocks for a quilt top for Carol. (Carol is the friend doing the custom quilting on the trio's birthday quilts, in exchange for me piecing some quilt kits of hers.) This quilt is called *Bread and Butter* -- the block is called *Squirrel In A Cage*. I really like these fabrics and the blocks! There are triangle 4-patch blocks still to make, and then I can get it all put together... :o)

Ok, so on to putting yourself into your work... :o) There have been numerous times I have gotten my fingers too close to the needle while sewing... Who hasn't?!?! Well, today, I did the BIG boo-boo! Yep, the needle went THRU my finger and nail! ACK! After I got the machine turned off, I was standing there thinking, OK, how do I get my finger out?!?! I had to get the little screwdriver and undo the screw that holds the needle in! Then get Jimmy to go potty and wake Jim up, to take me to the ER. I probably could've taken myself, but... :o) So if you aren't squeamish, go ahead and scroll down and learn from my boo-boo... :o) If you don't want to see the pics, I understand! :o)

*
*
*
*
*
*
*

In the pic below, you can kinda see that the THREAD is still in the needle, THRU my finger!

All is well now... Antibiotics and pain pills... :o) They did take x-rays and luckily, the needle did not chip the bone... Lesson learned! But oh, how I want to get back to sewing! Maybe tomorrow when my finger isn't so tender! :o) And maybe I should remember, you don't have to put yourself into your work quite that much! :o)

P.S. Carol -- no blood on the block I was sewing! Shew! :o)))