is this seriously August?!

Granted, it's the last day of the month but the last few days have been CHILLY! Like highs in the 60s. I'm wearing a heavy sweatshirt for crying out loud!

a great giveaway!

Heather Mulder Peterson at Trends and Traditions is having an awesome giveaway!! One winner will receive a QUILT (!) made by Heather, another winner will receive a small sized (looks perfect sized to be a doll quilt), and yet ANOTHER winner will receive a stack of charm packs and a few patterns!!

Head over to enter!!

bright sunny sunflowers

My daughter planted these sunflowers around mother's day. It was a roll out garden type thing and I'm amazed at how awesome they look. She is incredibly proud of these and some of the stalks are 7 feet tall easily.

why quilty adventures may be delayed

As you know I'm a paramedic student. I was one of about 40 selected out of 140+ who applied and it's a very well respected program and obviously a very popular choice. Anyways, here is the reason I very well could be posting sparsely:

- dispatch 4 hours
- ED 148
- 6 successful intubations in the OR with anesthesia
- respiratory 4 hours
- L&D 3 vaginal deliveries
- Various Peds 44 hours
- MICU/CCU 8 hours
- Tele 4 hours
- Surgical Intensive care & Neuro Intensive Care 4 hours
- trauma svc 8 hours
- psych & detox 4 hrs each
- nursing home 8 hours
- cardiac diagnostics 4 hours
- phlebotomy 4 hours
- MINIMUM 200 hours on the ambulance

For my EMT-B license I only had to do the following:
- ED 24 hours
- Private ambulance 8 hours
- Fire dept ambulance 8 hours
- L&D 3 deliveries OR 8 hours
- Dispatch 4 hours

Obviously some of the clinicals for paramedic could be longer than 8 hours, and the ambulance clinicals could be longer because I need specific calls and if I don't get them it means more rides.

So if I go missing don't worry, I'm either at a hospital or an ambulance somewhere.

new quilty stuff

This is a Christmas table topper I did. It's approx 28x28 inches. The backing is what you see in the post below this one. I had a really hard time finding a suitable binding. I didn't really want to drag my happy tail to the quilt store I got the top fabric at so I went to Joann's. I have to say their fabric selection is rather underwhelming. They used to have a HUGE selection of calico and it's just shrinking each and every time I go in there. Anyways, the binding fabric was terrible to work with, it was such a flimsy, poor quality fabric and the design was off grain. But here is the finished project, stippled per my usual.



This is my bag for the friendship swap. Got the fabrics in a FQ bundle from Joann's. Their fats seem to be better quality than their yardage as of late. These are so cute!!! Even if you're not part of the swap go check out the tutorial at p.s. i quilt and make one for yourself, they make an excellent purse for little girls! I'm having a hard time keeping this away from mine!

princess lasertron rocks!!!

And so does Andrea at The Creative Junkie. I got my Princess Lasertron felt flower bouquet kit today and I'm LOVING it!!! She even included 36 extra felt squares and some vintage button cards!! I have this very naked candle sconce on my wall so I'm thinking I'm going to put the completed flowers in there. Look at the goodies!!!










I cannot wait to get started playing with all this!!! And you get a sneak peek of the back of my latest quilt!!

if i go missing, send help

This is the stack of books I came home with last nite:


Yep, and there are more to come. See, we have to take 4 prehospital advanced life support courses, ACLS, PHTLS, PEPP, & PALS, and we haven't gotten those books yet. I'm very excite to get this started an underway but I'm also very overwhelmed at all the stuff there is to do. I thought that of being an EMT but that's NOTHING compared to paramedic training.

holy, freakin, cow!!!

I enter blog giveaways all the time and never won, until today that is! I won quite possibly one of the best non-quilty giveaways there could've ever been. I won a felt flower bouquet kit hosted by The Creative Junkie put together by the one and only Princess Lasertron. Holy freakin' Moses am I excited! I can't wait for the mailman to bring me that awesomeness of Princess Lasertron!

3 more days

Coin Quilt
Originally uploaded by Red Pepper Quilts

Until I'm back in school. My kids have been on my nerves the last few days and I'm so ready to have a valid reason to get out of the house for at least two nites a week, I've been "forgetting" things at the store so I have an excuse to go back. Every Monday and Wednesday from 6-10pm. I. Can't. Wait. Paramedic school, here I come!

While I love being a mom it's definitely not something I was cut out to do full time. My mom and I talked about this once and we're both in the camp that we feel we appreciate our kids more when we're not with them 24/7. Do I feel horrible for that? No. I know my limits, I wish I could be that mom that has it pulled together but the truth is I'm exhausted, barely make it out of my pajamas every day, and I'm lucky to get dinner on the table most days. I need time to myself to be the person I am and the person I want to be.

I also deal with a husband who doesn't think he should lift a finger. He fully thinks that I'm supposed to do everything by myself and he can sit around after he gets home from work and do nothing so that just adds to the stress.

Whew, so with that out, the photo you see is of a quilt I want to make next. If I could get my hands on some Wonderland by Momo for Moda I want to make a stacked coin quilt. Or a Jelly Roll of Figgy Pudding plus some yardage for the sashings. I would like to make a nice sized Christmas quilt this year but with all the other stuff I've got going on it might just have to wait. I have 2 tops waiting for the quilt fairy to come for them (er, wait, that would be ME!) so I'm just taking it one project at a time right now.

swap updates

Whew! I finished one swap, now I just have to make something for one more and I'm done with my swap commitments :) These blocks are for the Scrappy Christmas Block Swap over at modernjax. There are 12 of these puppies and I can't wait to see how the rest of the swap turns out!

awesome!

The floor is finally done, I can get on to my other projects now!!! after I put everything back where it was that is. I'm so happy to have it done and over with, and you can bet we made sure the water line was snug before we moved the fridge back. The best part, I did the entire thing by myself. My husband cut a hand full of pieces so I'm even more proud of myself!

looks like i'll be busy with other things

UGH! This is my last week before I go back to school and this is what my kitchen looks like:



Why you ask?? The water line to my fridge decided it wasn't going to play nice and LEAKED all underneath the linoleum we had in our kitchen. Now, of course it was Congoleum brand and OF COURSE it had to be one full sheet. Couldn't have been just a few tiles, no now I have to rip up every inch of that linoleum and put down something else. My plans were to finish painting my daughter's room, paint my son's room and then paint the hall and the hall bath, yea that's not going to happen.

Our kitchen was a mess to begin with after because of our various projects lined up but now the fridge is in the middle of the kitchen, I have a small dresser and desk that are SUPPOSED to be in my daughters room right now in my living room, and I have the counters stacked with crap that's waiting to find it's way back to it's proper home.

I'm seriously going to start crying at any moment, and the worst part? It's only Monday!

friendship bag swap

I joined the Friendship Bag Swap on Quilting Gallery. Sign ups go to August 20th with a mailing date of October 6th. Rachel at p.s. i quilt has posted a quick (&easy!!) tutorial on how to make this cute little bag!

my first quilt is officially done!!

I've made small projects before but this is a first, a full finished quilt!! Approx. 37x46 it's perfect for a lap quilt. Fabrics in the top are Andalucia by Patty Young for Michael Miller, Michael Miller, Erin Morris, and Delhi by Valori Wells for Free Spirit. Backing is Apples and Pears by Alexander Henry and the binding is Juicy also by Alexander Henry.



I'm no longer afraid of stippling! I practiced a few times and this is far from perfect but I don't care, I have my first finished quilt!


Love that apples & pears fabric!


Close up. Don't you just love all that crinkly goodness??


Batting is Warm & White and thread is 100% mercernized cotton. 4 bobbins, done on my singer 1120 non electronic, unfancy, Walmart special!