I love this kid

my sweet nephew Garrett, born 1 year ago today....love you little buddy...love Auntie :)

wobbowee teef

Our little guy last night, 1 month from being 5 lost his first tooth. I can't believe he is losing teeth already! It just seems like yesterday those little bottom teeth were starting to poke up through his gums.....Here he is, so proud holding up his "toof".



I LOVE this picture, so excited! He called Grandma and Grandpa to tell them the news!!!

I will be registering this little guy for kindergarten (KINDERGARTEN!?!?!?) next month. I can't believe that either. I am speechless about him going to school, and believe me, I am not speechless very often. I know people tell me time flies but it really has with this little dude. He has been my little buddy all these years, me and him while daddy is at work and big sister has been in school....2 days a week it is just he and I, no pre-k for those days, just hanging with dear ol mom, or MUDDER as he calls me, or Grandmudder sometimes too....don't ask...ok...my husband's "term of endearment" for me is Mother...yep...my family calls me Mother...so do some of my friends, but really I like it. :)

A Queen sized finish

Last year (February 8th) was my parents 40th Wedding Anniversary. In 2008 I joined a block of the month club and ended up using those blocks to put together this quilt for my parents. I was at a loss of what to do to tie them all together (hmmm word to the wise, spend the money and buy the finishing kit next time, duh!) Because there were so many stars and points in the blocks I made a big ol' Ohio Star for the center, framed all the blocks, then sashed all the blocks and this is what I came up with. It still drives me crazy that after measuring, adding, subtracting, all of the things I don't like in quilting (yet another reason I don't make patterns, I buy them!) I set 2 of the rows a bit off, uhg.......

But I don't think my parents cared. :) (or noticed for that matter!)

Happy 41st Anniversary Mom and Dad, enjoy your Queen sized quilt, I am never making one that big again. :) Love your daughter :)

first finishes of 2011

When I want something, I want it bad and I want it right now.....I wanted to get some stuff off my plate I guess you would say and have a clean craft area, no more unfinished projects, things I felt like I had to get done. So what I wanted I got, I am finished with all of the projects I wanted to make out of my SIL's Aunt's clothing, this was the last of the projects.....I think this might be the brightest baby quilt ever, YIKES, it is crazy busy and crazy bright!



I got the free pattern here. This is for a little girl coming this Spring, using once again bits and pieces of her Grandma's clothing and a little from my stash. I like how the back turned out...had some larger pieces of some pants left and were able to use them all up.

And then another baby quilt....this one is for my husband's co-workers Grandson...I don't even know the new baby's name but I just love my husband's co-worker so I wanted to make something special for them.

I am a wee bit burned out in the quilting department right now....I was thinking the other day I think for the last 3 years I have been working on at least 1 quilt or another....yikes, I am tired! Might also be why I have gained and kept on 15lbs in the last 3 years. Why can't sewing be considered an aerobic activity? If it was I would be a skinny minny! I am going to work on some smaller simpler things for the time being, a bag here or there, a few quilt blocks that I have always admired but been too scared to try and do and then just some stuff that I have had on the back burner for a while some fun pin cushions, pillow covers stuff like that. Maybe I will start moving a little bit more too, that is a good idea, maybe I can lose a few of those 15lbs by short season, not to mention swim suit season, ACK!

future quilter in training

Emily got a little sewing machine for Christmas, she was so, sew excited! She has been begging me to show her how to quilt/sew for a long time. Here she is for her first "session" of sewing. I don't think she had sewed yet because once she pushed the petal and everything started doing it's thing, she got really scared about how fast the needle was moving.


This picture I only took because of blogging and scrap booking because I normally would NOT have had my eye off the needle/7 year old hands! But here we are mother and daughter, me helping her make a blanket for her other favorite Christmas gift, an American Girl doll.

Concentrating! I wanted her first project to be really simple so we sandwiched some chenille, batting and fabric together to make a little blanket then turned it inside out and sewed the hole shut so we (as in ME) did not have to do any binding.

Here she is turning the blanket inside out, note the tongue, concentrating very hard.

Emily was very proud of herself and promptly covered her doll in the fuzzy, warm blanket. I on the other hand do not think I make a good "teacher." :/ it was totally stressing me out! Hopefully the next project both she and I will be a bit more comfortable behind the peddle!

last big project of 2010

Everyone in our home has a quilt on their bed made by me. :) Several people now in my extended family also have quilts from me now too. :) Last spring our 15 year old nephew came to live with us. It was a VERY hard transition for ME, not him but ME. Greg lived with us from March until mid June then moved back to his dad's. My husband and I knew it was a matter of time when Greg came back, not if Greg came back. Greg came back to live with us at the beginning of October and will be staying with us until he graduates in 2 1/2 years unless things really change at his former home. With all of this being said, I knew if Greg was going to be living in our house, he too needed his own quilt made by me.

This is what I came up with.
He loves it, I love it, I am so happy with how this turned out. I backed the quilt with fleece to make it extra snuggly and warm and it does. :)

I went through all of my stash and started pulling out fabrics with oranges and blues, I think it turned out really well. What I was most happy about with this quilt is my quilting, I made sure to use my walking foot this time and TAKE MY TIME. I have a tendency to rush myself at the end of a project, just want to get it done and zip through the quilting part and have had some big ol' puckers on the front and back for doing so. Not this one, I was so, so happy with it.

Greg's mom passed away last Thanksgiving, he has had for a 16 year old kid a really rough road, but the best thing about Greg? He is a GREAT kid and he is now one of my kids too, I always wanted 3 kids, now I do. :)

(Tutorial for quilt found here)

Happy Birthday to my MOM!

My mom said growing up having a birthday so close to Christmas was a pain, I though find it even more special because in addition to celebrating Jesus's birth this time of year we also get to celebrate the birth of my mom!

Happy 66th Birthday Mom!