pickles & bacon

January UFO results

2012-02-01T12:53:00.002-06:00

Here are the Dresdens!!! I didn't get them tacked down to a backing, but I'm probably going to sew them to a wide piece of fabric since I opted for a single color. So, here are the plates!

I'm so in love with these blocks it's not even funny. I often oogle them just because they're so gorgeous.

things i need to get better about

2012-01-25T12:08:00.000-06:00

Taking pictures for the blog!

My internet and cable were out all weekend (thanks to a certain asshole new neighbor who decided to unhook my line and plug his in, in the box outside) and my dresden plates are done, you'd think I would've taken a picture right? Nope. Still trying to decide on the background fabric, I think I've decided on a super pale grey, now, just to find the right one! I just don't want the pale grey to absorb the grey in the Ruby plates. I auditioned Kona Tarragon, great for Bliss, terrible for Ruby, a butter yellow quilters solid from JoAnn, ick on both Ruby and Bliss, decided against pink for Ruby and Tarragon for Bliss, to me it looked like a nauseous mess. Kona Bone, too beige, Kona White, may still have a chance, as much as I want to get away from using white or cream as a solid I think it may be perfect for this project. Going to order some 1/2 yards of grey's from Kona and see how it goes.

Also, I've noticed pretty much ZERO interest in my UFO challenge, but I've also seen quite a few others out there in bloggy land, I'll still be posting on mine to hold myself accountable for the massive pile of WIPs but I'm going to introduce a new WIP at the beginning of the month I want to tackle, post a couple updates during the month and show you how things ended up at the end of the month for that particular WIP.

I've been wanting to show you a project I finished sometime at the end of last year but I'm waiting for a good day to get outside and take photos of it, winter in Chicago doesn't always cooperate!

dresden plates

2012-01-16T10:30:00.000-06:00

Here are only some of my finished dresden plates. All the Bliss ones have been completed and I'm taking a break from working on the Ruby ones. In case you're wondering, I got 12 complete plates with some leftover petals from 2 charm packs.

stack of completed plates

so pretty!

I'm really excited to see this come together! The hard part is trying to find a suitable color for the background that matches both Bliss and Ruby, right now I'm kinda leaning toward Kona Bone, but still unsure of it since it's an off white and Bliss and Ruby have stark whites. I'm going to stop at a mega JoAnn later today to try and find a match.

UFO Challenge 2012--week 2

2012-01-15T10:41:00.001-06:00

How's it going out there? I know this is late but I ended up working Friday (which is my typical day off) so I wasn't able to post. I don't have any pictures to show you this week but I do have 5 completed plates! I just have to decide on a background color and I'll bring them to work with me to get the plates stitched to the backgrounds. I also got the Ruby petals stitched into groups of two, now just to press those and get crankin'.

Farmer's Wife

2012-01-09T17:33:00.001-06:00

I have 3 new blocks to show you! One has been done for a LONG time the others I just finished. I realize that Century of Progress isn't right but oh well, I'm not fixing it :p

#18 Century of Progress

#13 Buckwheat

#16 Calico Puzzle

I also got this is the mail today!!!!

I'm so excited!!!! I can't wait for the Twiddletails BOM to start :D :D

Happy stitching!

UFO Challenge Week 1

2012-01-06T10:01:00.001-06:00

It's the first official week of the UFO challenge! How'd you do? I've been working on my Dresden Plate and discovered that my math was off and I ended up having to cut 2 more charm packs to get my required # of blocks. Whoops. So it's now Bliss and Ruby! Should be cute right??

The box on the right is the Bliss. Currently they're stitched into groups of 4 wedges, Ruby wedges are on the left and currently just single wedges. I managed to cut, stitch, flip, and press all those Ruby wedges in one day, took me MONTHS (no joke) to do the Bliss wedges. My goal for next week is to have the plates completed.

I did have one question come up with regards to finishes. If you finish a top one month and finish quilting it another month does that count as one finish or two? I'm going to count that as TWO finishes! Good luck to all participating! Be sure to link up your progress and grab the button code in the right side bar!

Blogger's Choice Fat Quarter Bundle

2012-01-04T10:41:00.001-06:00

Wouldn't be nice to be prolific enough to have Fat Quarter Shop want you to design your own FQ bundle to be sold on their site? You have a chance to design your own bundle and if you're chosen you could win a WHOLE HALF YARD SET of the 15 fabrics you choose! 12 prints and 3 solids!

To enter to go Quokka Quilts and follow these simple rules:

1. Go to Fat Quarter Shop and choose 12 coordinating prints and 3 solids from their selection.

2. There are 2 ways to enter, a) create a blog entry about your set of fabrics; b) if you don't have a blog upload them to a site where they can be seen in one link - eg picasa, flickr, etc. You MUST include pictures of your fabrics. You can 'borrow' these from the FQS website. A photo collage would be VERY helpful to the judges ;)

3. Go back to Quokka Quilts and post your entry no later than January 15.

Here is my bundle!

I love seeing combinations of purples, oranges, and yellows, which is SO not me because I'm not really a purple person. I tossed in the grey dots from the Ruby line to kinda act as a 4th solid. I love how super tiny the dots are! Go create your bundle and enter!

Welcome 2012!

2012-01-01T22:51:00.002-06:00

Happy New Year everyone!

I'm not going to make any resolutions this year because I never keep them. From my 2011 list I only managed to get 3 out of the 11 things done I had listed. Better than nothing I suppose! And my 8 finishes? Uh, yea, only managed 2.

I just want 2012 to be the best it can be. 2011 wasn't terrible to me but it went by entirely too fast. One of my last accomplishments of 2011, which is also one I'm very proud of, is that I became a preceptor at work. This means I get to work one on one with paramedics new to the system and essentially give them the green light (or red light) to be in the system. It's mainly fresh out of school medics so I get to throw a bit of teaching in there which I love. Here's hoping I can keep climbing the ladder!

One thing I've been wanting to do lately is to have a project I can bring to work to work on. I have started a crocheted granny square afghan. I chose red, pink, green, turquoise, and white to work with, it's a TV project, I work on it while watching TV or a movie. No rush to get that one done, it's just a busy handwork project. I thought about bringing that to work but it would mean bringing at least 3 skeins of yarn, no bueno! So, I ordered a Dear Jane book. I also joined a DJ BOM from Twiddletails. Two-hundred twenty five patterns. If I can get one done each shift it'll take me 75 shifts to finish it. Now, the BOM club is 23 months, starts in February, so obviously I won't be getting all my fabric at once, it'll be 2014 before it's even close to completion. So, that'll mean even on a busy, run like crazy day, I'll still have other days to finish it. I'm not counting this as a UFO since I haven't started it yet and because I haven't given up on it, yet. I'll be adding the DJ chart to my blog soon so you can see my progress.

On the DJ note, I'm also becoming very, very interested in working on more time consuming quilts rather than quick finishes. And something totally unlike me, I'd love to do a Mariner's Compass in Batiks. Yes, I said Batiks! I guess that's my 2012 goal, step outside the box. You know what? I kinda like that!

In preparation for my UFO challenge I've listed the UFOs I want to finish in my sidebar. Hopefully I'll get to cross them off one by one this year, that would be SO exciting! There is one listed in my sidebar I'm ready to trade away. It would even include the backing and binding. Still thinking about that. I'd love to have you join up so you can share your progress!

UFO Challenge 2012 preview

2011-12-30T08:00:00.000-06:00

Welcome! As promised here is my UFO of choice for the month of January!

This would be my dresden plate quilt in Bliss. I did some work on this yesterday and am excited beyond all get out to get this baby done! My inspiration was a quilt posted on the Moda Bake Shop, I've decided to make it bigger, using 2 charm packs instead of the 1 the recipe calls for. I might even toss in some Ruby on this one too!

Link up if you're going to play along!!! Remember, the official start date is January 6th!

UFO challenge

2011-12-29T20:50:00.003-06:00

I have a new challenge for everyone out there in blog land. The 2012 UFO challenge. I came up with this after pondering my accountability post and working on some UFOs yesterday. So, here's how I'm thinking it's gonna work, every month you pick one project you will work on, preferably working it to total completion, if not, a completed top will work too, I say that because I'm running super low on batting so a complete finish for me might not happen, this way it's fair for everyone. Each week on Friday I'll post a link up for everyone to post their progress, the final Friday of the month will be the 'showcase' to show off your finished project!

Each month there will be a giveaway for all those who submit a finished quilt and/or quilt top! To be included in the giveaway you MUST have your link posted no later than 11:59pm the Sunday immediately following the final Friday of the month. For example, the final Friday in January is the 27th, entries must be submitted by the 29th at 11:59pm.

So, the requirements in list form:

-completed quilt or quilt top (this includes any borders!!)

-linked up no later than the Sunday after the last Friday of the month

Not a requirement but could be fun, make it a project that has been collecting dust in your closet for longer than you'd like. I'll unveil the UFO of my choice tomorrow, along with a Mr. Linky widget so we can start collecting participants. UFO Challenge officially begins January 6th!!!

Yes, it's that simple!! If there is enough interest I'll start a flickr group to post finishes in as well, if I do that you must link here to be entered in the giveaway. Then, come next December at the close of this UFO challenge

This is an attempt for me to get crafty again and to get back into quilty blogging :D

If you'd like to sponsor a giveaway use the contact me button at the top of the page to let me know :) Giveaway item must be quilting related and not exceed a value of $20.

Feel free to grab the graphic at the top of this post for your blog!

tis the season!

2011-12-24T10:53:00.000-06:00

Hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and that Santa brings you all that you want and more :)

freedom

2011-11-15T12:21:00.001-06:00

Bloggy and technology freedom that is.

I've enjoyed being away. I missed all the market posts and the ones I did see I wasn't wowed by. Maybe some Etchings will work it's way to my stash, maybe not. I can't say there's too much I saw that I had to have. My wallet is thankful :)

I got my phone all figured out. Apparently you have to dig to find the 'sync picasa' part then uncheck it and yay! no more picasa pics.

I didn't feel guilty for clearing 160 unread items out of my reader without looking at them.

I actually have made some progress on a couple quilts I want to get done sooner rather than later.

I unsubscribed from some blogs that weren't worth my time (read overly popular crafty recap style blogs).

I had my computer away for a week, didn't open it for anything, the last time I opened it was for my previous post.

I kinda like it.

I'll go be creative on my own, I've got plenty of fabric to keep me company :)

And my kids, my kitty, my family, and my boyfriend.

technology!

2011-11-04T22:15:00.001-05:00

Really sometimes just sucks! Everything these days is linked. Use your facebook to sign in here, link your yahoo to your google. Does is ever end?! Now my biggest beef is that I got a new cell phone, ALL of my blog photos are now in my phone AND I DON'T WANT THAT!!!! I can't figure out how the heck to get them off there because of course, it won't let me delete them. My old phone and my new are both android, my old phone didn't do this. I'm beyond frustrated right now. I want my blog photos deleted off my phone. I want to delete my yahoo account but can't because it'll delete my flickr account so I'll lose ALL my contacts, photos, favorites, groups, etc. Yahoo is the devil, now I'm stuck with it because starting over would just suck. WHY WHY WHY must everything be linked these days?!

ISO of mini charm packs

2011-10-26T09:48:00.001-05:00

First off, holy cow! Has it really been almost two months?! Sheesh. Well, obviously not much sewing or quilting going on. I did make some leg warmers once I got my serger back. Needed a tune up and now works flawlessly! Still a major PITA getting tension right and such but I think I got it figured out.

Here is where I need your help. I'm looking for mini charm packs, the 2.5" squares, of LITTLE APPLES and RUBY. I'd just like one of each and am willing to pay $5 each plus reasonable shipping. If you can help me I'd be SOOOOOO appreciative! I'm wanting them for my hexagon quilt. You can find my email in the 'contact' box above or if you're reading this in a reader my email is audreyj84 (at) gmail .

In some personal news, I have a new nephew!!! Oliver Matthew was born 9/11/11 at 11:11am, weighed 6lbs 11ozs, and was 20 inches long. I think someones lucky number is gonna be 11! I finally got to meet him this past weekend and he's just as sweet as can be. And he's got the tiniest little hands, reminds me of my daughter when she was a baby. Here he is with my son and my daughter. They finally have cousins!

My boyfriend and I are doing very well. We met each other just over a year ago, never thought I'd find someone so awesome so quickly after leaving my knucklehead ex husband. I can't say enough about how awesome he is. Such a huge difference in how a relationship works when both people involved work at it.

And I will definitely be back with some Halloween pictures! My daughter is going to be a bumblebee(or bunglebee if you ask my son) and my son is going to be a horse.

accountability...aka WIPs

2011-09-04T17:41:00.001-05:00

I'm sure I'm not the only one with a bucket load of WIPs, or UFOs, or dust catchers, or space eaters. So, in my quest to be a little bit more frugal with my craft budget I've decided to face the projects that are WIPs.

So here goes!

This one I've grown to hate. I love the Plume by Tula Pink but have grown to hate the pattern, the squaring up of the edges is just tedious. I pull it out to work on it and get so bored/disgusted with it that it just goes back into it's box.

This one I still love but assembled the first block wrong and just put it away. I'd love to get working on it again. It was supposed to be last years Christmas quilt but didn't quite make it. Maybe this year?

Oh, the Dresden!! I used my 3 stashed Bliss charm packs for this one. I love it! I really need to get a Kona color card because choosing the solid backing is what has thwarted progress on this one, plus pressing all the itty bitty petals! I bought some Kona Celadon to audition, not sure if I want to do green or aqua or red or pink or white or...well, yea you get it, I'm indecisive!

Farmer's Wife, I've abandoned. I'm wanting to try Lori's rotary cutting tutorials and maybe that'll kick start my desire to finish it.

Tumbler quilt. I used Hideaway for it and my son has told me he loves it and wants it to be his. I smell a Christmas present!

Then there is this one. It's a double hourglass that I started really just to try out the pattern and I have to say I kinda like it even though I only have 2 blocks done. I used a honey bun for this so they squares are on the smallish side. This really has no priority just a fun one.

All the photos are projects in their present day state. It's embarrassing! Although, being that I have no a/c in the majority of my apartment and Chicago has been nearing the 9th circle of hell heat wise all summer sewing has been the last thing on my mind!

And please ignore my ironing board cover, I know it's just wretched!

I also tried my hands at paper piecing and these are the results.

The top is obviously the circle of geese and the bottom are mini paper pieces from Artisania. I'm going to do the gnome and mushroom again but have the gnome on the right side and make a pillow or something.

Oy vey!

2011-08-30T20:27:00.000-05:00

No blog posts because not much has been going on! I finished a quilt but it's been repossessed by my daughter so no pics just yet. I had to replace a brake caliper on my car because it seized up and started smoking. Yeah, wonderful. Just thankful it's something the boyfriend and I could do so it cost me a whopping $60 for the part. Not complaining here!

School started and my sweet daughter is now in 3rd grade!! Seems like just yesterday I was sending her to preschool :(

I have plans to do the Saltwater Taffy pattern from Fig Tree in Curio by Basic Grey for Moda. I had planned on doing it in Fandango but it just doesn't seems like the right fit. Lots of HSTs and pinwheels to start so should be relatively easy.

And I realized I don't have a Halloween quilt! I have a bunch of Halloween FQs so I'm going to do a 2x2 layout of the Swoon blocks and make a throw. Just waiting for the Kona Charcoal I ordered for the background.

My boyfriend is going to Mexico for his sisters wedding in October so I need something to do. Wish I could've gone with I just couldn't afford it :( It'll keep my occupied so that's a good thing!

I also have a little nephew on the way that can make his appearance any day now! My sister is due 9/10/11 (how awesome would that birthday be?!) and wanted me to crochet some things for her so that's the number one project on my list. Baby stuff whips up quickly so they're almost done :D

Going to finish the baby stuff up tonite so hopefully I can ship it by the end of the week. That would be absolutely awesome!

Winner!!

2011-08-30T20:18:00.000-05:00

Totally forgot to draw a winner! So sorry!!!

Random.org has chosen #3 which belongs to Deborah in Atlanta!!

Deborah was my partner in the H2H charity challenge and I couldn't think of a sweeter person to win! Congrats Deborah!

GIVEAWAY EXTENDED 1 WEEK!

2011-08-14T15:01:00.001-05:00

The wonderful people over at My Memories have graciously offered to give away a copy of their My Memories Suite v2 of digital scrapbooking software! I've loved scrapbooking for a while I just don't have the drive to do paper scrapping anymore so honestly it's been pushed by the wayside and with a couple hard drive failures, a nasty divorce, a couple moves my digi stuff just hasn't made it's way to my new awesome computer. I love my adobe CS4 don't get me wrong but there are times when you just want to quickly make a page and it photoshop is over kill.

I've had the luxury of playing with the My Memories software and I must say, it's awesome! Since I like lists when it comes to new things I'll just do it that way :p

Pros:
-Tells you areas of your page that might be cut off when bound into books
-FULLY customizable pre loaded templates
-drag and drop photo additions
-Customizable embellishments
-LOTS of preloaded goodies
-Ridiculously easy to navigate
-Previews of all changes
-COLOR PICKER!!!! I don't know about y'all but that's one of my very favorite tools in photoshop, it's not as sophisticated but it works very well for matching elements on your pages.
-You can design your own page from start to finish using all your own elements.
-'Album Check' feature checks your pages for errors, including spelling!
-You name your album from the start, no naming it at the end.
-Loads all the fonts you have in your computer to the software for use
-Has a share option, you can print, export to jpeg, print professionally, or share on a variety of multimedia devices.

Cons:
-Some of the elements are cartoonish
-You must still use a photo editing program to edit your photos before hand, this only gives you a red eye fix, any other issues such as brightness, contrast, b&w, must all be done in a photo editing program
-Can't change the sizes of photos to a specific dimension, it's a transform style box where you drag the corners and sides.
-I'm not finding a way to change the sizes, the only options are square, portrait, and landscape, for the create your own page.
-I'm not a fan of the export to .jpeg feature. Way too many steps and it saves a duplicate in it's own folder.
-Not really a con but you have to make sure your photos are rotated before you add them to your layout. You can rotate it on your work 'surface' but when you drop it into a a picture template it'll flip back to the original angle.

Overall this is great digital scrapbooking software and I'm happy I've been able to give it a try. This would also be a great way to get kids into scrapbooking, so super simple for them to create albums of their very own!

My Memories has a bunch of awesome stuff too. They have guestbooks, quick pages, dollar stuff, calendar elements, and not to mention FREEBIES! The page above was created using all pre loaded stuff and took me about 7 mins to do. The only thing I did was drag and drop my photos.

I realize this is mainly a quilting blog but this is a great way to showcase your completed projects. Create a page with all the details add a few photos and print! It can be as simple or as complex as you want.

Now for the awesome part!

You can enter to win a copy of My Memories Suite scrapbook software! You may enter up to 3 times, you must leave a comment telling me you have done each step, one comment = one entry so don't leave one comment telling me you've done all 3 things because then you'll only have one shot at entering!

So, to enter:
1) go to the kits page at My Memories and tell me your favorite kit!
2) blog about this giveaway and be sure to leave me a link!
3) tell me one hobby you have that you have neglected!

It's that simple! And, if you don't win, or don't want to wait around to win, or would just like the software they have a coupon code for all of you as well. It will save you $10 off the cost of My Memories Suite AND you will get $10 in store credit! Add the software to your cart and at checkout enter the coupon code STMMMS43707.

~~I will use the wonderful random.org to pick a winner on Wednesday night 8/17/2011, all comments *MUST* be received by NOON CST on 8/17/2011 to be eligible to win.~~

NOW OPEN UNTIL 8/24/2011 11:59pm CST

Special Thanks

2011-07-31T11:59:00.000-05:00

I have to give a very special thanks to Sharon at Vroomans Quilts for being my angel in the H2H charity quilt swap. Things got real busy real quick, with a move smack in the middle of it didn't help matters much either. When I started I just did a real simple strip quilt hoping to make it quick yet interesting. I used strips in varying widths from 1 1/2" to 6" got the main part done then life got in my way and I wasn't going to have enough time to get it all done. Sharon stepped up to be my angel. I sent her what I had done and she turned it into this beauty:

The middle part is what I sent her and she added the brown and teal prints. It turned out so beautiful and the teal just makes it really pop. I can't thank Sharon enough for bailing me out! Head on over to her blog and check out all of her beautiful quilts!

*disclaimer* I can't be held responsible if you try that amazing looking funnel cake recipe that's posted on her blog either :p

inspiration

2011-07-20T13:16:00.000-05:00

9 different quilts I want to attempt. MUST finish all UFOs though before I start making any headway on any of these desired quilts!!

1. Double Wedding Ring quilt, 2. st on park bench 2, 3. Baby desden plates!, 4. Postage Stamp Quilt Top, 5. Not available, 6. spiderweb selvedge quilt close up, 7. Swoon- one block baby quilt, 8. Figgy Pudding log cabin quilt, 9. Single Girl quilt top

To be completely fair, I've already started on the dresden plate quilt, I have all the petals made they just remain as petals though. I also printed templates for the double wedding ring as there is a quilt along going on at the plaid scottie, HOWEVER, I have only printed them, nothing else further has been done. And I also have the Swoon pattern, nothing even remotely set aside for that. And the snail trail has already been paired with my DS fabrics from Joanns. Good ideas can remain in a book :)

Oh and yes there is a Dear Jane in there, lets just say that will remain a pipe dream until the FWQAL is over!!

sheets for backings?

2011-07-17T09:34:00.000-05:00

I've seen this time and time again on quilting blogs, using bed sheets for backing. I need almost 9 yards for a quilt backing, it's about a queen size so I'd probably get a king sized flat sheet. Now I have a few questions, what thread count? All the fabric in my quilt is high quality quilting fabric, not too concerned about price because whatever thread count it'll be cheaper than spending close to $100 on backing fabric. Prewash the sheet or not? None of the fabrics in the quilt top are prewashed so I'm gonna guess that's a no.

I have a bunch of joann coupons I'd love to use and gotta get the batting (buying packaged for this monster!) so I'd love to get the sheet too and get crackin on quilting this beast!

Final Wishes

2011-07-13T19:29:00.000-05:00

It's been quiet on the blog only because I've been incredibly busy with work, losing power with a massive storm, and life. But I wanted to pop in for a minute to reflect on something that happened at work.

Most of our business is nursing homes. Patients that are too sick to stay at the nursing home but not emergent enough to require a 911 response. We had been busy all day, very little down time to be had. We took the break in action as a clue to get dinner because chances are we wouldn't be eating that day if we delayed it any longer. After eating dinner we just sat in the mall parking lot to relax and take a breather, something we hadn't been able to do all day. Just as we got comfortable enough to relax a little more our pagers went off. It was about 930pm, end of shift was midnite.

We take a look at the information our dispatch gave us, only a chief complaint, abbreviated at that. SOB, shortness of breath. No vitals. That can mean one of two things, the patient is REALLY bad, or the nursing home is lazy and didn't take any for us. Even worse was the dispatch info was abbreviated, normally that only happens when our dispatch runs out of characters to send the page because of other information.

It was a lights & sirens response, we get there my partner goes to the room and I stop at the nurses station to get the paperwork. Nurse hands me a DNR, Do Not Resuscitate order in all of our paperwork. From listening to the nurse I'm thinking nebulizer en route, then my partner, king of cool, shouts down the hallway. "We gotta go!" Crap. I know it's bad when he's telling me to hurry up. I get my signatures and sprint down the hallway to our patients room, he looks bad. He sounds bad. I catch a glimpse of our patients roommate. He looks absolutely frightened. We load up our patient and head for the ambulance. Shortly after we get there, he stops breathing.

After respiratory arrest occurs, cardiac arrest isn't far behind. That held true for our patient. I flip through my paperwork to find the DNR. Quick glance at it, it's not valid. I knew what this patients wishes were, but because the DNR wasn't valid I couldn't honor those wishes. I was able to get a pulse back rather quickly, but not for long.

Our patients final wishes went out the window all because the DNR wasn't valid. All it takes is one missing signature or one box not checked to make the DNR invalid. EMS is authorized to honor a DNR, and trust me, with what we see on the private side, we're more than willing to oblige, not because we don't want to work, but because we know what they will face if in fact they are successfully resuscitated, and it's not a good life.

If someone you love is in a nursing home or is dealing with a terminal illness and wishes to have a DNR status, please please please, make sure their DNR order is valid. Their final wishes will be honored and they won't face the indignity resuscitation efforts bring.

(events have been changed so as not to identify anyone in this post)

FWQAL update

2011-07-06T19:17:00.000-05:00

Week 2 blocks:

The one on the left still needs it's handle, these are blocks 3 & 4 in the book.

Week 3 Blocks:

These are blocks 5 & 6 in the book.

Week 4 Blocks:

Blocks 7 & 8 in the book, the one on the right needs more contrast I think. I may redo it.

Week 5 Blocks:

Blocks 9 & 10, the one on the right is completely hand pieced! The one on the left is partially hand pieced.

Week 6 Blocks:

Blocks 11 & 12, fussy cut the monkeys in the one on the right, the one on the left has more contrast in person.

I bit the bullet and got internet for my apartment. I thought I could get by without but alas, I couldn't. And of course I couldn't do the self install because that would be too easy right?! So I had to wait for Comcast to show up and figure it all out. Turns out they gave me a modem that they had screwed up in their system so the cable guy replaced it with a top of the line one. He is also a fellow paramedic I found out so he gave me the hook up. We like to take care of our own!

Freebie! Quilting Subway Art

2011-07-01T15:02:00.000-05:00

I was putzing around in photoshop and made this:

There are two colors, two sizes. The above in 8.5x11 and 5.5x8.5 as well as both sizes in black and white.

Here are the download links:
5.5x8.5 Black & White subway art
8.5x11 Black & White subway art
5.5x8.5 Bright subway art
8.5x11 Bright subway art

Enjoy! All are pdf format so they're ready to go!

a sigh of relief

2011-06-27T21:51:00.000-05:00

My car is becoming VERY unreliable. It took me 6 hrs to get it started yesterday and 1 hr to get it started today. It *HATES* starting in the hot weather, winter it LOVES. Once I get it started I can't turn it off because it might not start again for a long time. Errands have to be short and I have to park the car close to the bldg so I can peek on it. Not cool (said in my best Gru voice).

I knew I'd have a hard time getting financed because my ex didn't like to pay bills and of course ALL the bills were in my name. His drinking habit started about the time he took over the finances, he took them over because I was paying them. Imagine that!

So I knew I'd have a hard time getting financed. I thought he'd screwed me for life. I went to my bank first and got declined. Went to a buy here pay here place, declined. Frustrated I called my mom to vent. She suggested I go to a local Chevy dealer that boasts no one turned down. What did I have to lose? I got APPROVED!!!!!! Holy hell I thought I'd jump up and kiss the finance guy and the salesman. The salesman explained that I need to have a $1500 down payment and my max loan is $5000. BUT I got approved!!!!! Turns out I keep getting declined because I have insufficient history, not because of bad trade lines. You have NO idea what a relief that was to hear. It's not as good as having established credit, but definitely better than bad credit. They're even giving me $500 for my hunk of junk!!! And I do have the rest for the down payment. Oh, I'm so excited!!!! Now I'll no longer have to deal with this:

No working windows beside drivers side and sunroof
No working a/c
No working speedometer or odometer
Using a small hole my dad drilled to spray starter fluid in to get it to start
Only drivers side wiper working
No working washer fluid sprayers
No more tiny (1 bottle/yr) power steering fluid leak

Such a sigh of relief. Also don't have to replace the tail light that got busted because someone smashed into me in front of my apartment building while I was getting my mail the other day. How's that for a run on sentence??? Yea that's a post for another day. I'm still seething from that.

Life is starting to look up. I'll gladly sacrifice fabric for some wheels. I just gotta get me a bolt of Kona white and I'll be set! ;)

Farmers Wife Quilt Along Week #1

2011-06-19T17:06:00.000-05:00

I'm a little behind due to my book just getting here on Friday but last nite I whipped up the first two blocks:

#1 Attic Windows

#2 Autumn Tints

I'm going to wait to square these up til all the blocks are done. These go SO quickly it'll be easy to play catch up while working on other projects too!

the "dumbing down of quilting"

2011-06-18T19:36:00.000-05:00

I saw this post about the "dumbing down of quilting". First off, I don't particularly agree with everything that was said but in fueled enough fire within me to say something.

Please read the above linked post before reading my response. This was posted in March so I'm sure a few of you have seen it. Also I'm not really addressing anything in order.

I like simple quilts because I love the thrill of a completed project. Trust me I have PLENTY of my own UFOs that are considered simple. Traditional blocks made with traditional fabrics don't strike my fancy very much, but once put with modern fabrics it opens my eyes. Hence my desire to do a dresden plate or a snail trail. NOT patterns I'd typically choose because they're generally traditional but with the right fabrics they appeal to me. I love trendy fabrics, I love decorating trends. I'm not going to put quilts with Holly Hobby style fabrics in my home because it's not my style.

She also states that a quilter is a beginner because she "can't perfect a 1/4" seam" or because "she can't work with triangles" or because "she only makes wonky blocks because that's all she can do". I have to HIGHLY disagree with everything above. I'm not a stickler about the 1/4" seam for my own projects. I usually end up a threads width shy of it, so scant, which is ok because it gives me room to square up my blocks. As long as my blocks align and the project works out in the general size I'm happy. I don't much like triangles because I don't care for bias edges. I end up using starch to keep the stretching down to a minimum which gunks up my ironing board (and usually my cat b/c she likes to 'help' me press & she doesn't like it :p). Plus, I haven't really found a pattern that I've wanted to try that involves triangles. Julie @ Jaybird Quilts did a GREAT tutorial using jelly rolls to make hexagon blocks out of 60* triangles without Y seams and the results are very awesome, however, I'm not a triangle kinda gal! I'll probably end up making a small doll quilt sized one with scraps just to try it but it's not a project I'd love to take on, just because triangles aren't my thing. To each her/his own. As for the wonky thing. Yea I'm in the camp that that ship has sailed but some people like it and THAT'S OK!!! My brain doesn't do the whole wonky quilting thing, tried it, failed.

I used to hate making HSTs because I didn't have a good way to make them. It's MUCH easier to make them from 2 squares than to make them from 2 triangles. Beginners might not know that which is why they may have trouble with it. We were all beginners at one point, we all learn new techniques. There is NOTHING wrong with screwing it up royally then learning a much easier way. It's a LEARNING process as is everything that is new to us. For some it may click quicker than others but that's ok too, we're individuals, no two people do the same thing at the same pace.

The writer also dogs a bit on modern fabrics. I'm not one for Civil War repros. I can get on board with the 30s sugar sack prints that are bright and vibrant but I love the 'modern' prints that are out today. It's what appeals to ME. I use what makes ME happy. If something is not your style that's ok too. I absolutely love how classic patterns look with modern fabrics, makes it look like a whole new pattern. I for one never would've considered doing the Farmer's Wife Quilt Along until I started seeing it in modern fabrics. The quilt just ain't my cup of tea as the book shows it, but I'm excited to see it finished with fabrics that *I* like. Cutesy florals aren't for everyone, modern fabrics aren't for everyone.

Sure there are patterns being sold out there that are remakes of classic patterns. Parasols by Fig Tree comes to mind but the pattern uses no triangles and is layer cake friendly, every snail trail pattern I've come across boasts neither one of those. So yes, while it may be a remake of a classic, it show us how to make something using new techniques. How many times has Hollywood remade a classic? Sometimes it's better, sometimes it's worse, but either way, classic or remake will appeal to different people. Quilts are no different.

She also kinda dogs on precuts too. Sure they have cute names and I'm sure that's a reason they're huge sellers, but they also take a LOT of prep work out of a project, which for me, I don't mind one bit. The quicker I get through the boring cutting part and onto sewing, the happier I am. Again, they appeal to some and not others and that too is ok!

The writer does try 'soften' the blow by saying that you should get out of your element and try new things, and I completely agree. Just because people don't post about it doesn't mean they don't try. I don't have an unlimited quilting budget, I'm not going to take on an entire project and waste fabric for something that I may not like. I buy mostly Moda fabrics and we all know that it's not cheap.

No one is reinventing the wheel, I like to think of it as making improvements to the wheel, or adding more spokes.

So, moral of the story, do what makes YOU happy. If the quilt is a gift, do what will make the recipient happy. As the saying goes, you can only please one person per day and today isn't your day, well that's EVERYDAY in the internet. Personally, I don't think quilting is being "dumbed down" at all. This whole modern quilting craze has inspired many people to quilt that may not have before. Isn't that what this is all about? People coming together to enjoy a hobby? If you don't like the modern quilting craze, turn your head the other way, it really is just that simple. No need to knock others just because it's not your cup of tea. You do have the choice to not read the blog, buy the pattern, look at the pictures, join the flickr group, etc. Exercise that option.

Update on my weekend of sewing!

2011-06-13T22:35:00.000-05:00

So, I managed to get a LOT done in the past few days. I'm really missing the boyfriend, didn't think I'd miss him as much as I do. I didn't do a lick on Friday b/c his company was dismissed for a few hours in the evening and we went to dinner then went for a walk in the park.

Updates!

Friday 6/10
~~-Cut pieces for 2 tops, should go quickly as I'm cutting both from jelly rolls~~ DONE!
~~-Finish piecing my bee top, only 3 rows left to piece!~~ DONE!
~~-Get caught up on bee blocks~~ DONE!
~~-Start piecing my H2H quilt~~ DONE! (still have to finish piecing it, but I'm 75 % done)

Saturday 6/11 (after work)
-Work on piecing my 12 days of Christmas quilt from last year. Using KarrieLyne's charm pack quilt along. DIDN'T HAPPEN :(

Sunday 6/12
-Finish piecing at least 2 UFOs DIDN'T HAPPEN :(

Monday 6/13
-Start cutting my DS fat quarters for a snail trail quilt DIDN'T HAPPEN :( but I realized that I don't have any solid to pair with it so it was pointless cutting the FQs

And I lied about not buying any fabric. I went to a LQS while waiting for the boyfriend to meet me in the area for dinner and got a 1/2 yard of Monaluna blenders on red (have a few other pieces from this line to make potholders) and a 1/4 yard of a fabric to match a little kit I bought for the binding.

The bee quilt flimsy done! It's not the best photo but you get the general idea. This was a beast to finish! Blocks are 15 1/2" unfinished and there are 36 blocks, so yea, HUGE! Now to just have enough money for the backing. (Ignore the mess on my bedside tables, apparently I use a lot of cups for water)

This was what I had to buy binding for. My daughter and I worked on this together and she wanted the binding to match the backing so I really lucked out when I found some randomly sitting on the shelf at a different LQS than I originally purchased the kit at. It's only about 12" finished, my daughter is thrilled with it!

And I bought these two patterns. The one on the left is Swoon from Thimble Blossoms and I had to buy it after seeing all the awesome blocks made with this! Best part is it's all made from HSTs and Flying Geese, blocks are 24" too so super huge quilt (I apparently didn't learn my lesson :p ). The one on the left is Saltwater Taffy from Fig Tree Quilts. I've been loving it ever since twin fibers had been posting about it. What I really loved about it was it said no templates or specialty rulers. It kinda lies, there *IS* a template you have to trace and cut from the pattern to trim the corners, but no expensive ruler to buy.

I also decided I wanted to make the boyfriend a quilt. He has been VERY indulgent in going to the LQS lately and the shop has a sample of the Moda Quilt of Valor hanging and he loved the pattern, the fabrics not so much so we came up with a plan to alter it. There will be no rows of pieced stars, instead one of the rows is going to be replaced with an Army print from Robert Kaufman, one will be replaced with a Marine (he was active duty Marines for 4 years) print from Robert Kaufman, and one will be replaced with a strip of all the ribbons he's earned in his military career. I'm going to see if I can get his Class A from his dad while he's gone so I can match all the solids to the colors in the ribbons. Even though he knows about it I want to make it as much of a surprise as I can. Hoping to make it a Christmas gift. Also, we're going to do a red star print where the red floral stripes are in the quilt. I drew up the ribbons on graph paper and showed them to him and he was in love with how great they looked.

Enough babbling, I gotta get up at 330am for work and it's 1035pm right now.

time to use up the stash!

2011-06-09T20:47:00.000-05:00

I'm putting myself on a self imposed stash use only restriction. The boyfriend is leaving for his 2 week commitment to the National Guard this weekend so I have all that time to sew! Good thing because I *REALLY* need to use up my stash! I can't wait to get started on all the projects I have in mind.

So, who's with me?!

My Goals:
Friday 6/10
-Cut pieces for 2 tops, should go quickly as I'm cutting both from jelly rolls
-Finish piecing my bee top, only 3 rows left to piece!
-Get caught up on bee blocks
-Start piecing my H2H quilt

Saturday 6/11 (after work)
-Work on piecing my 12 days of Christmas quilt from last year. Using KarrieLyne's charm pack quilt along.

Sunday 6/12
-Finish piecing at least 2 UFOs

Monday 6/13
-Start cutting my DS fat quarters for a snail trail quilt

I'll update my progress Monday night.

happy birthday to me!

2011-06-03T21:55:00.000-05:00

I decided to spoil myself this year for my birthday. It's my first birthday free from the wrath of my ex-husband so I thought I deserved some goodies :)

So this is what I bought for myself:

2 charm packs of jovial and 2 charm packs of moda bella solid in snow. Even though I'm still working on last years Christmas quilt I bought stuff to make this years. I'm going to do HSTs with these, SO much that you can do with these blocks.

I also added to my central park collection. I don't want to reveal exactly what I'm planning on doing with this one but it is something you have seen before. I had the charm pack for a while and added a jelly roll, half yard of the flowers, and 3 yards of the zoo print on white.

I also got a jelly roll of modern workshop. I need to get a jelly roll of moda bella solid in white for my project in mind on this one. Revamping a project I've already showed y'all once before.

The prints in this one are definitely something I'm going to have to get used to. The colors aren't something I'd typically put together so this will be fun to work with. Also ordered a yard of one of the prints for a binding, going to attempt a bias binding on this project, who knows, maybe I'll like it!

Overall it was a good day! The boyfriend treated me to not only lunch, but dinner and ice cream too! Very sweet of him since money is tight for him. Tomorrow my daughter and I are going to work on a cute little rainbow 12" quilt. I'll show finished pics when it's done, I'm so excited to do this with her!

17 days?!

2011-05-20T16:51:00.000-05:00

Can't believe it's been that long!

I've been SUPER busy moving and getting my apartment all set up, work has been crazy, kids have been wonderful, and the boyfriend, yea, I'll admit he's pretty awesome too!

I've finished painting my dining/sewing room and as soon as all the boxes are out of it I'll post pics, it looks so awesome. Next up is the kids room, so I'm going to hit up Lowe's and see if I can find a nice neutral color for their room. I do have a bit of a paint review, Behr's all in one paint and primer SUCKS. Waste of money truly. Definitely doesn't cover as well as some other brands I've used. My top two favorites being Valspar by Lowe's and Glidden. I've never been a real fan of Behr so I'm not shocked I hate it.

Work? Oh, you mean the job I love that just sucks all my energy out of me? Yea. I'm FINALLY cleared on the ventilator so I get to run vent calls now which is awesome. Bit more into the quilting budget. I was also asked recently if I was interested in becoming a preceptor for my EMS system. In our system you have to work with a preceptor for a minimum of 7 days to show your competency with skills and standing orders before you're given the OK to function with others already in the system. I feel completely blown away by this! I'll most likely accept because it's not often they come to you asking to become a preceptor. And I've also been busy doing paramedic students practicals, evaluating them and basically making sure they know there stuff. I have to say I kinda like the teaching aspect! Never will you pull me off the streets to teach full time but I'm loving it as a side gig!

My kids are just awesome. There isn't much more to say other than they're 2 of the best kids ever (I'm totally biased tho!). They're so sweet and SO incredibly helpful. They helped me unpack their toys and stuff without even arguing with me and were so eager to help. I'm pretty sure they love the new apartment. My daughter is in softball now and isn't liking it very much. She says it's boring. Such is being 7 I guess! My son is a total chatter box! All he does is talk, and he's getting so good at it too. I love holding conversations with him, nothing like a 3 year old mind! He loves trains, and trucks, and puzzles, and cars. But he hates the potty! I may just have to scream if this child isn't out of diapers soon. And him being with his dad most of the time is an absolute disaster. I had him *thisclose* to being potty trained when the judge gave him custody (all because I have a job).

The boyfriend is great! He has some good news on the job front so keep your fingers crossed for him. He's been unemployed for almost 18 mos and he's starting to get down in the dumps so I'm hoping and praying that everything works out. Right now he's about 6 hrs away playing Army boy, can't wait to see him when he gets back :) We have season 3 of Army Wives to get crackin' on!

So that's my update, Sunday is going to be dedicated to sewing. GOTTA get bee blocks done! I'm slackin!

Hands 2 Help Charity Quilt

2011-05-03T22:37:00.016-05:00

Didn't get around to updating on Easter weekend so here goes! My partner and I decided to just pick out fabrics and make a quilt with them to save $$ on postage and she arranged for a wonderful woman to long arm quilt our quilts! I'm so stoked! All of this came from my stash and is such a random group of fabrics that work surprisingly well together.

Check out Hands 2 Help!

This is what I picked out:

So partner what do you think????

Oh and don't mind my kitty, Petunia, she's recovering from getting spayed, she was rather ticked at me for a while but is now stuck at my side. Love that girl!

wait, what's that I see there?!

2011-05-02T22:35:00.000-05:00

Yep! I got my own digs! Now, it's not spectacular, needs a bunch of paint, carpets are blue, but guess what, it's mine, all mine! No more tip toeing around my mother not knowing if she'll blow up at me for breathing wrong, no more being stuck in my room, and I *finally* have a permanent spot for my sewing machine! Oh I'm so stoked you have no idea!

This is the first apartment I've had on my own. I've never lived alone, I moved straight in with my ex husband at 18 from my parents house. It scares me to death but guess what, I have NO one to answer to, no one to consult about decorating issues, and no one to share with. I also don't have to worry about my food being eaten. I can't wait to get all my stuff in and show y'all pictures!

Oh and things I've learned so far:
-People are lazy morons to not take outlet covers and switch plates off when they paint.
-People are lazy morons who don't remove old caulk before putting down new stuff.
-People are cheap lazy morons who use flat paint in the kitchen. Behind the stove.
-People are lazy slobs when they don't clean the carpets.
-People are lazy slobs when they don't vacuum said carpets.

I started painting the dining/sewing room today, it's a gorgeous color! It's taking more than I expected but that's because the paint that was on the walls was flat and is sucking up the paint. I cleaned the walls VERY well but that's whatcha get for putting eggshell over a flat I suppose.

fabric shopping is wonderful!

2011-04-27T23:10:00.001-05:00

It's a REAL good thing I'm not doing the stash report!

I tried getting all the Denyse Schmidt prints from Joann's but was only successful in getting 3 yards of the pink dots and a yard and a half of one of the blues so I bought a FQ bundle on Etsy:

It was only $55 for all 21 prints which works out to $2.62 per FQ, which was worth it for me, I didn't have to hunt down Joann's to go find it all, I checked 3 stores and only found 3 bolts of the stuff total.

Next, I got some cute fabric to make potholders and such from my LQS, I've been eying it for a while so I went ahead and 3 FQs and a 1/2 yard of the toasters:

Fabric is from Robert Kaufmann and is from the Metro Cafe line. It's all super cute! I plan on pairing it with some red and aqua solids from my stash.

This little gem came straight from the Basic Grey website itself. I want to think it was mis-priced because it was only $6.80 and most of the honey buns on their site are around $16.

This is a Sultry honey bun and this line is no longer available. Thinking of doing Mini Jelly Filled from Thimbleblossoms. We shall see!

And I got a yard of Bliss tulips in the red colorway for my bee quilt. My LQS still has some yardage available so I pounced before it's gone forever, it seems to be nowhere online.

This will be the binding. I was going to go lighter on the binding but it seemed to need something strong to box it all in.

So if my math is right just over 13.5 yards in! Stash busting time MUST begin yesterday! The only thing I'm going to allow myself to buy is backing for my bee quilt. I don't have large enough quantities to do the back for that.

changes are good, right??

2011-04-27T12:29:00.000-05:00

I've decided to change things up round these parts just a teensy smidge. It's a little name change, not for the blog, but for patterns. I realize I only have one created thus far so maybe I'm putting the cart before the horse but I have a bunch more in progress, part of the reason I'm not around much. So, now I'm introducing:

It's just got a more professional feel than pickles & bacon and seems more timeless. Why seventeen-ten? It's the date of each of my kiddos births. My daughter being born on the 17th of the month and my son the 10th. Not sure if I'm going to do a separate website or blog just yet, I'm going to hold off on that until I get more out there.

Its hard...

2011-04-23T15:02:00.001-05:00

To hate your job when this is the view from your 'office'. Just sayin!

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such a klutz!

2011-04-17T08:54:00.000-05:00

Wish I could've been doing more sewing. I REALLY need to get my March bee blocks out and haven't had much time to work on it. Now I have April bee blocks to do too!

Sadly, I won't get much sewing time in. Why? My dingleberry klutzy self managed to sprain my ankle closing a door. I was standing at the back of my ambulance, just loaded the stretcher into the back went to step to the left to grab the door to close it, stepped wrong and twisted my ankle and felt a bunch of popping. I hobbled back to the passenger seat (it was my partners turn to drive) and I could already feel my ankle swelling in my boot. I had my partner grab me an ice pack and when I went to take off my boot it was just intense pain over the top of my ankle. I hemmed and hawed over going to the ER, yanno, because us medical field types HATE being the patient, we really suck at it. After about 15 mins my partner told me we were going so we called up our supervisor and went out of service. Three hours in the ER later, no breaks just a sprain.

My ankle didn't turn any pretty colors or swell too awful much later on and I think that has a lot to do with the fact I put ice on it right away, plus, I'm not an easy bruiser, it takes a LOT to get me to bruise. Apparently the new treatment for sprains is to resume normal activity ASAP so I got sent back to work, didn't run any calls after it happened but I did yesterday and it was challenging, my ankle is still a little tender and even with the air cast they gave me. I have two days off lets hope I can recuperate some more before having to go back!

10 quilting habits

2011-04-08T17:50:00.000-05:00

As I've evolved as a quilter I've noticed things about my 'style'. How I choose fabrics, how I do my backs, how I shop, etc. So, here is what I've learned about my creative process:

1. I love pre-cuts, hands down these are my go to items. Charm packs, jelly rolls, honey buns, layer cakes, Oh My! They make things SO much easier in the cutting department.

2. I prefer Kona solids over Bella solids. I find Kona tends to be softer and sturdier than Bella solids. I still adore Moda print fabrics though.

3. I tend to stick to fabrics from all one line. I love that it's all matched and color coordinated for me. Takes a lot of the matchy matchy work out of it.

4. I'm not a fan of traditional blocks or all over repeat patterns. Basket blocks? No thanks. Some blocks, however, can be made with modern fabrics and look AMAZING!

5. Applique is beginning to intrigue me but only because I'd love to make a Dear Jane quilt, not too sure that it's something I'd like to tackle had I not seen that quilt.

6. Most of the time I piece my backs. Usually by the time I get around to using a certain fabric line yardage is becoming scarce for backing options. Typically I won't piece a back if I can easily fit a quilt on a single piece of yardage. Or I buy it all at one time and miscalculate how much yardage I'll need especially if I make up the pattern as I go along.

7. I make my binding strips at 2 1/4" wide. I love how tightly it hugs the edges of the quilt. I also tend to do my bindings on the straight grain, me and bias edges are NOT good friends.

8. I hate cutting, see #1.

9. I buy yardage because I like it. That stuff doesn't get used readily.

10. I have a quilt I've been working on for almost a year now. I love the fabric, hate the process of making this quilt. It's tedious and I hate the technique.

What are some of your habits??

inspiration

2011-04-02T15:10:00.000-05:00

1. Another Dresden, 2. Dresden Quilt, 3. CRAZY Dresden Plate Block, 4. Dresden Plate 2, 5. DSC_0957, 6. Hoot Dresden by Poppyprint, 7. Desden Plates, 8. dresden plates in progress, 9. bliss dresden pillow (02-16-11), 10. Baby desden plates!, 11. Dresden Plate Bee Block, 12. DQS8 Preview, 13. dresden stack, 14. Dresden plate mini quilt, 15. Dresden for Jessica, 16. Dresden Plate Two

Caught the Dresden bug! My LQS ordered the EZ Dresden ruler for me so I'm just waiting on that to come in. Going to be using a wee bit of this:

photo credit: amy gunson

origins finish

2011-03-31T22:47:00.000-05:00

So I finally got another quilt finished! This is A Ritzy Cracker Quilt from the moda bake shop. I used Origins from Basic Grey, this pattern calls for 2 charm packs. I'm so addicted to that company's stuff it's not even funny. I absolutely LOVE it, both fabric and paper. I've made quilts using Figgy Pudding and Blush already. I have ONE tiny charm pack of Fruitcake I'm saving for something. But on to pics!

This is the front, I quilted it in a dark brown and left the white parts untouched except for the triangles around the edges, I quilted those just for stability while binding.

Here you can see the back and binding better. I was able to find just enough yardage for the back at Burgundy Buttons. The binding I bought at a LQS and managed to freak out the staff there when I went in to buy it, story is after the last picture :p

And who doesn't love a rolled up quilt?? My daughter LOVED this quilt and was so happy to work on it with me yesterday, she stayed awake until it came out of the dryer so she could sleep with it. None of my quilts get used until their washed :)

So about the LQS, I was working one day and got a call to a nursing home that ended up being canceled as we were arriving so when we got told to go post at a different hospital I decided to hit up this shop on the way there to see what they had left of Origins since they had a bunch of yardage a few months back. You would NEVER know this quilt shop exists unless you pay close attention, it's a non-descript house with a small sign that says Quilters Heaven. My partner and I pull up, in the ambulance of course, walk inside and all the ladies inside started asking if everything was ok! It sure was, just doing some shopping on shift :) It was on the way to where we were going to we just popped in. They quickly recovered from their scare. **disclaimer: we're allowed to shop on shift, as long as we answer our calls and do what we gotta do they're ok with it. all they ask is we conduct ourselves in a way that shows the company in a positive way, which we do**

I also entered this quilt in the MBS contest of the month. Got in in just the nick of time, finished it yesterday, photographed it this morning, uploaded the pics in between calls today and got it posted to flickr. Talk about waiting til the last minute!

Winner :)

2011-03-23T16:59:00.000-05:00

Random.org chose lucky number 3!!!

That comment belongs to:
Sarah Craig!!

Giveaway!!!

2011-03-16T16:39:00.001-05:00

Ok, not anything huge but something interesting.

Last summer I made 2 quilts from Hushabye and ended up with a bunch of HST pieces from that a kona bone.

Now theyre gonna go to a lucky winner! Just leave a comment saying what you would make with them! There are 2 sandwich sized bags, one print and one solid. Ill draw a winner Monday!

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Playing with this...

2011-03-15T20:48:00.001-05:00

When this line came out I wasn't wowed to be honest but a couple chopped up charm packs into tumbler shapes and I am really liking this line! My LQS has yardage of some prints and thats what sold me.

Picture is crappy bc I have poor lighting and it wad taken with my cell phone :)

Ill have the giveaway posted tomorrow!

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Giveaway coming soon

2011-03-07T15:25:00.001-06:00

I was hoping to have a giveaway posted today but seeing as I'm being KO'd by an end of winter cold its being postponed until later this week. Stay tuned!

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html hell

2011-03-02T21:16:00.001-06:00

I'm slowly trying to get my poor blog back the way I want and like. Luckily I had an old blog and a test blog with templates I can fiddle with. The new template designer on blogger plain sucks.

When I get my blog back to normal I will post a basic watered down easily customizeable version for others to use if I can.

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a question and a sneak peek

2011-02-25T10:41:00.000-06:00

First off, who else is having problems updating their blogger template? I finally have the time and energy to put into fixing it and it's causing more problems than you can imagine. I can't upload templates nor can I change any HTML. I'm getting perdy ticked...a switch to wordpress may be in order...

Anyways! Here's a sneak peek of something I'm working on!

The top picture is pretty much all of the awesomeness contained in the picture above.

That's all for now!

Show & Tell

2011-02-23T19:58:00.000-06:00

So, I decided to do KarrieLyne's Charm Pack Quilt Along even though it's been LONG over :p I had a layer cake of 12 days of Christmas by the awesome Kate Spain so I sliced that up and used it. I have to get more of white, I'm seriously considering just buying a bolt of Kona White, it's my go to solid and I buy anywhere from 3-5 yards at a time and it's gone just as soon as I buy it. I did a version of these blocks in the Bee Splendid quilt along she is hosting so I'm excited to see how this turns out!

These are all the blocks in their container. I made the decision long ago to not make start any quilts that don't have a container. I bought more containers.

This is the pile left after trimming about half the HSTs to 4 1/2" square.

And lastly, two spiderweb blocks for this months Bee Splendid gal! LOVED doing these blocks.

to all my wonderful readers

2011-02-14T14:22:00.000-06:00

WIP Wednesday

2011-02-09T19:11:00.001-06:00

Ok, so my first ever WIP Wednesday! I *finally* have photos of stuff to show y'all!

First up is my hexagon siggy piece from my Bee Splendid ladies. I asked each of them to do a hexi in a fabric that they thought represented them and this was the end result! I'll show the quilt once I get it finished. It's gonna rawk!

I also won a charm pack of Fandango from KarrieLyne!

I've been meaning to show this to y'all for a LONG time! I was inspired by Texas Freckles hexagon quilt piece along and decided to make one of my own. I work on it when I have time or when I'm bored. It's really neat to see it coming together! Not sure if I'll get to the 1152 needed for the 50x60 size, I'm only sitting at 300 something hexies basted right now :/

I also made myself a bag on Sunday. I had the Flea Market bag pattern from Grand Revival beckoning me ever since I bought it a few months ago and finally bit the bullet and made it. I'm not too impressed with the size, thought it was going to be much larger but over all it I like it! I used Sew Why? Sew Wow! and Apples and Pears by Alexander Henry. I didn't put any pockets or closures on it because I'm only using it to carry around my laptop, charger, and a couple files I need right now.


not going to try to rotate this ;)

I just used a lightweight fusible interfacing and it gave it some decent body to it, I might use something a bit heavier if I make it again.

SnowMG

2011-02-02T02:05:00.001-06:00

Holy heck is this blizzard awful!

I had to work before the storm hit, im now at hour 23 of being awake. I stayed over night because my company deployed extra crews and is covering call offs.

Right now were rescuing one of our crews stuck in snow drifts half way up the side of the ambulance. There is a city of chicago plow stuck behind them.

I probably wont get home until friday sometime.

Ive been driving with my emergency lights on for visibility bc our ambulances are mostly white.

I saw an abandoned CTA bus.

People, its BAD!

Please stay safe and for the love of sanity, DO NOT DRIVE!!!! Its way too dangerous for us to be out here, so its definitely not good for you.

Nothing is worth risking your life over in this storm.

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For Sale!

2011-01-29T08:39:00.000-06:00

For sale is a Moda Half Moon Jelly roll. It's $25 plus $5 for priority shipping. I will also include a free copy of my pattern Peaks and Valleys. If you're interested use the contact me button above and I will get back to you. I do accept paypal!

have you discovered swagbucks??

2011-01-26T10:27:00.000-06:00

This site is awesome! You can earn points just by searching, purchasing, having SBTV (swagbucks TV) on in the background, and by essentially just clicking a mouse. Every search doesn't yield points but I've averaged about 8-10 pts when I get points on a search. You can get 4 points every day just by using your tool bar, clicking through the NOSO offers, doing a survey, and participating in the daily poll. There are a bunch of things that you can save up for, the best deal though is an amazon.com $5 gift card. You can redeem points for up to 5 of each thing per month, so essentially you could make $125 per month just by using swagbucks!

Between swagbucks and my banks own rewards points I'm trying to save up money to replace my photography equipment I sold to pay for paramedic school. With my bank, I can get $100 amazon gift cards, and I'm already halfway to earning my first $100 and I've only been banking with this particular bank since December!

And just remember, you can use amazon gift cards to purchase quilting books, fabric (yes amazon has fabric!), and a bunch of other goodies! This is also great to earn some extra Christmas money too!

If you're interested CLICK HERE to go on over to swagbucks and start earning some amazon cash (or other goodies)! You will also get 30 points just for signing up! **in the interest of full disclosure, registering through my referral link above will earn me 30 points per person that signs up. promote it on your blog and start reaping the rewards!!**

finishes of 2010

2011-01-25T10:45:00.000-06:00

So, with the exception of one quilt, these are all my finishes for 2010! Missing is a charity quilt that I just didn't have the thought to take pics of before sending it off.

Those two that are hanging on the bulletin board, those did become pillows that lived on my bed for Christmas however, I didn't get pics of them because my computer was down at the time.

11 goals for 2011

2011-01-17T18:09:00.001-06:00

I don't know why but I've got a good feeling about 2011 being a great year. This isn't a resolution list by any means but more of a list that I'd like to be able to check things off one by one saying I accomplished them. So, in no particular order, here goes:

1. Lose 6-10lbs each month for a total of up to 120 lbs by the end of the year. Also, use my gym membership 3-4 times a week.

2. Get back to being quilty! My aim for finishes this year is going to be 8. Less than last year but still a good number.

3. Move into my own apartment. Gotta get away from my mother. Must do this for my own sanity!

4. Buy a bigger computer than this netbook. It's great, gets me online for the things I want and need but I'm DESPERATELY missing my photoshop. I just can't get into the groove of other less stellar photo editing programs.

5. Put the remainder of my paychecks into my savings acct. at the end of 2 wks. I realize you should do this as soon as you get paid but, knowing me, I'd only put $20 into savings and I typically have much more than that at the end of a pay period so it makes sense to do it backwards.

6. Get divorced. 'Nuff said there.

7. Buy a better car. Mine is 20 years old, the radiator hose just completely obliterated itself yesterday and while it was a cheap ($20) fix that I did all by myself (thank.you.very.much.) it's not something I want to make a habit of by any means.

8. Bring my babies home!

9. Get more quilt patterns designed and printed (working on this one right now!)

10. Spend more time with my extended family.

11. Make time for friends. I don't do this nearly enough as I should!

I'll try to revisit this list each month to update y'all on how things are going.

screwed up my blog

2011-01-12T13:34:00.001-06:00

Ok I jacked up my blog, hopefully I can get it back to where it was soon!

Back in the computer age!

2011-01-05T08:09:00.001-06:00

I got myself a new little netbook so once I get back online at home I can bombard you with my projects!

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Farewell 2010!

2011-01-01T22:26:00.001-06:00

So 2010 came and went in a hurry!

January-May was a blur, finishing up paramedic school left time for nothing but school.

June saw me graduating medic school then celebrating a birthday the next day. Later that month I finally kicked the ex out of my life and the divorce began.

July had my sweet baby girl turn 7! Seems like just yesterday she was a newborn. I landed my first job as a paramedic before I had my license in hand.

August was quiet, packed stuff to move, working the new job, and getting ready for school to start for my daughter.

September I moved 60 miles from the place I called home for 6 years. Ended up making the wrong move when I moved into a house with my mother. I also lost custody of my babies to my ex for reasons I will never fully comprehend, all I can say is thank God its temporary!

October was rough, I worked A LOT, fought with my mother and watched my ex pretty much get off the hook on a dui. The one good thing? I met the new man in my life this month :)

November is when my baby boy turned 3! Always has been and will be a mommas boy, I love that boy! Thanksgiving I worked so nothing exciting there.

December, oh joy! Holidays were low key, fought with my mom some more and gave up on keeping the cat out of the tree. Worked Christmas day when id rather be spending it with my family.

So, thats my 2010 in a nutshell. Im hoping 2011 brings me a divorce and some stability in life. Next time I get around a computer I hope to have a quilty recap. I think my goal was 10 quilts done and I think I finished 12 plus some pillows.

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Prayers for fallen and injured firefighters

2010-12-22T17:28:00.001-06:00

Today on the 100th anniversary of the Chicago stockyard that killed 21 firefighters we lost 2 in a building collapse.

It's never easy when you hear someone passes, it's especially hard when it's someone risking their lives to save others. These 2 men died searching for squatters that may or may not have been in the building.

Lt. Edward Stringer was a relief lieutenant whos job was to fill in for those on furlough, sick leave, vacation, etc.

Corey Ankum is a former police officer who leaves behind a wife and one year old baby who was only on the department for two years.

Along with the men who passed there were several injures, a few who still remain hospitalized at this time. Please say a prayer for the fallen and their families. Please also pray for the members of the CFD as they mourn the loss of two of their own.

God speed gentlemen.

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life

2010-12-06T19:34:00.001-06:00

So thanks to a soon to be ex my computer is on its last legs and I'm just babying it until I can get a new one. In the mean time I have figured out how to post on my phone.

Work is still work, still loving it and still having fun. Quilty stuff has been on the back burner for a few reasons. There is the divorce, a nasty mother, my wonderful kids, and a new person of the male kind in my life.

We've known each other a few months so and just taking it slowly as we both just ended serious relationships at the start of summer. We get along great, have alot of the same views (well we will ignore the fact he's a cubs fan), and he gets me and understands my job. I'm just enjoying the company of a good friend and someone who listens to me. Oh, and he's not a drinker which is awesome.

Life is good right now. Certain things could be better but I'm content with things right now so I can focus on enjoying the holidays.

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getting back into the swing of things

2010-10-28T21:50:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone!

I want to extend a special thank you to my readers for their kind comments. I also want to thank each person who has purchased a pattern, I appreciate it more than you know :) I still don't have my kids but each day is getting slightly better. Felt good to take a break from blogging and just focusing on life, having some fun with friends, and busting my tail at work taking any available shifts I can.

As for quilty news, I've been working on my bee blocks, and began work on an overdue baby quilt (isn't that always the case?!). I also have a few more patterns in the works so hopefully I can get some samples made and get some new ones out there!

Work is going well. I'm out of my probationary period so I feel more solidified in my job now and feel like I can breathe a little easier. It's amazing to have a job where you can go to work everyday and love what you do and look forward to doing it.

So for now that's my update! Hope to be around these parts a little more :)

quasi update on me

2010-09-30T20:36:00.000-05:00

Things haven't been going well at all. Found out my mother completely used me and my money to get into this house we're in now. She's losing her house to foreclosure and/or the taxman because she bought a house she knew she couldn't afford so she fed me this sob story on how her husband was cheating on her and she wanted to leave him. So we got this house based on the fact she wanted to leave him.

She took over the house. She's treating me like I'm a teenager. I'm not the destitute daughter that can't pay her bills, in fact it's quite the opposite. I can't have ANYTHING of mine outside my bedroom. If I do she throws a hissy fit. Shoes, jackets, camera, cell phone, iron, whatever, you name it, I can't have it anywhere outside my room. She put my dogs crate in my room, I had no room with it in there and she flipped out when I brought it into the living room.

Long story short, turns out she completely lied to me. Used me and my money, now she's trying to kick me out claiming the landlord doesn't want me here and that I'm a royal slob. What mother uses their own child for money then immediately tells them to get out? We weren't here 2 weeks before she started attempting to kick me out. And of course, the money I had is gone so I have no where to go and because of that a judge gave temporary custody of my two sweet babies to my loser, unemployed, alcoholic, ex without a driver's license. My own mother caused me to lose custody of my kids to a completely unfit individual.

So instead of my mother having my back she's got a knife in it. Once I can get out of here and cut my losses I no longer want to see or speak to her again. I couldn't imagine doing that to my children, EVER! So, here's hoping I can get find a place, get my kids back, and cut her out of my life for good. I'm thinking of putting my shit in storage and renting a room somewhere to save some money to get my own place. And want to know the double whammy? My ex TRASHED my credit so of course no one wants to rent to me.

need some time to clear my head

2010-09-14T20:20:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm finally in my new house but I'm taking a bit of a blogging break. Something happened today that needs my full 100% attention. To all my fellow Star Sampler gals, I'll be picking up where we left off in a couple months. I deeply apologize for having to take a break but my family and kids need to come first.

My fellow Bee members....I'll still be doing the blocks and all but my communication in the flickr group will be limited.

I'm truly sorry.

ay yi yi

2010-08-30T20:36:00.000-05:00

Good Lord where has time gone?! It's darn near September! Just a little update post on life.

Found a new house! Yay! I love it! Comes with a pool table(!), a jacuzzi style bath tub with a TV in the basement bathroom, 120" projection screen theater, full size wet bar, massive back yard, 3 bedrooms, 3 full baths, and the best part? Landlord pays ALL utilities (except cable & net) and pays for the lawn service! Been busy packing, moving, and working. Leaves me NO time for fun :( Oh, and best part? Basement is red, very easy to convert it to my red/aqua room!

Lost my camera somewhere. Brought it to work because we see some interesting characters passing by on the streets. Just so you know, I would *NEVER* take pics of my patients, just the goof balls on the street. Kinda like the dude bustin' some mad moves and rockin' it out as he walked down the street. Or the random lady sitting on a garbage can yelling at random people for random stuff. Or funny license plates (I DOOBIE anyone??). Or the 7 rigs we had posted at the same hospital, still trying to figure that out. Might have fallen out in the ambulance, might have fallen out in my car (which is a pit right now due to the move), might have fallen out somewhere random. Don't know, I'm a sad panda.

My iPod won't sync with my computer thanks to the damage the ex did to it when he threw his tantrum. Double sad panda.

Got my little quiltie from DQS9 today!!! yay! But can't take pics of it's awesomeness due to the above. Made a different one for my partner because I ended up buying fabrics that totally fit her better than my original.

My cat scratched the crap outta my pooch :( She got him real good on 2 spots on his back, he's a hurtin' dude, I feel so bad for him. Thank God they're pretty superficial.

I decided to do a hexi quilt. I swapped for some awesome fabrics, I need to do about 952 more for a 50x60 quilt. Guess what I do when waiting for a call?? Yep, get paid to sew hexies!!! How can my job not rock?

My car hates me I'm convinced of it.

I nearly burned my frozen pizza writing this blog post.

Went to see my friend @ his treatment facility where he's getting help for his alcohol problem yesterday and I must say that I'm so proud of him. He looks SO much better than when I saw him last and he's on the path to a new life. He's one of my best friends and I love him to pieces. He's a fireman and used to be a paramedic and he is the one responsible for giving me the kick in the pants to follow a life long (well, since about 6th grade) dream of mine to become a paramedic. He let his license lapse but one of his goals is to get it back. Right now he lives close to me, but once I move I'll be about 90 mins away and that makes me cry, I'll miss being able to just go over to his house on a whim. His face absolutely lit up when he saw me yesterday and I hope he realizes I'm totally on his side. I met him working at the nursing home a couple years ago. I never thought I'd meet such a great person at work.

Realized my ex is, and always will be, an ass bag. That's all I'm sayin' about that one.

Well, if you don't hear from me for a little while you'll know I'm still alive! Now I'm off to Home Depot to get more keys cut before they close!

i guess we need a winner, huh?

2010-08-21T18:30:00.001-05:00

And random.org gave us:

which belongs to:

Please email me using the contact me button at the top! Congrats!

oh how I love my job!

2010-08-19T01:17:00.000-05:00

***if you're looking for the giveaway click here!***

I got a job as a paramedic about a month ago, and finally now, after jumping through all the legal hoops and orientations, and stuff like that I'm now doing precepted shifts to change my license to a different system. Well, even though I'm doing patient care I cannot be in the back of the ambulance during transport due to the systems rules & regs so I drive.

Driving lights & sirens isn't as easy as it looks but man oh man do I *LOVE* the dirty looks I get from pedestrians trying to have a phone conversation and I pass by and just ruin their chats! Or from other motorists when I have to drive into oncoming traffic, and yes, that happens A LOT! Or the puzzled looks I get when I stop at a red light (company policy plus some people are plain idiots and think they don't have to stop) then continue.

But I have to say I absolutely LOVE the construction worker today that dropped everything to direct traffic and move the cars in front of me out of my way that were stopped b/c of a red light. Mr. Construction Worker--thank you! you made my day a little better & got me to my patient a little quicker.

So, a little note from your friendly paramedic quilter--always pull to the right when you see/hear lights and sirens. If you're in a left turn lane STAY there! I'll go around you, please do not make a left turn in front of me. And if you're a pedestrian on foot please stay on the street corner, if you're on a bicycle and riding on the street please act like a car and pull to the right.

modern fabrics--a list

2010-08-17T13:09:00.018-05:00

How often do you see swaps or projects out there that require modern fabrics? What exactly constitutes a modern fabric? is it a designer? is it a color scheme? is it certain pattern? style? trend?! Your head, probably like mine was spinning when I first heard the term 'modern fabric'.

Typically when I think of 'modern' fabric the first thing that pops into my head is not your gramma's typical fabric! No more drab muted colors (mauve and seafoam anyone?!), dainty flowery prints, intricate detailing, or limited choices. Modern, to me, entails bold colors, contrast, daring color combinations, clean lines, simple detailing, and trendy. Birds and owls are hot trends right now, therefore I would consider that more modern. Polka dots are timeless but I would consider an organized polka dot pattern modern, or a polka dot pattern with more than 2 colors. Big polka dots are also hot right now.

Color combinations is another thing that I think dictates modern. A fabric with lime green, red, pink, and grey is not exactly something that sounds pretty on paper but when you see it, it looks stunning. Red and aqua is another hot color combination. Anything turquoise is hot too. Colors are bright and vibrant.

Certainly when you hear a designer's name it automatically sets off that lightbulb that it's a modern fabric. Other designers that might not set off that 'modern lightbulb' can most definitely be considered modern, I think there are some designers that can create both modern and traditional fabrics. And one thing to remember is that what's considered modern today might not be considered modern 5 years from now.

I also think that when you pair modern fabrics with some very traditional style patterns you can create a gorgeous masterpiece and we're finding more and more of that happening. My own Star Sampler Quilt Along is made using some very traditional patterns but as I'm putting together the tutorials along with the fabrics (I'm using Tula Pink's Plume) I'm stunned at how fabric choices can really up the ante so to speak.

When trying to decide if something is a modern fabric or not ask yourself a couple questions. How would I classify this color? is it bright, muted, drab? What about the print on the fabric itself? is it fresh? timeless? crisp? unique? Is it trendy?

And remember this, not all modern fabric has to break the bank. I have found some great quality fabric that fits all the modern 'standards' at Hobby Lobby for less than $5 a yard. You can also have fabric that looks modern and is of a crappy quality. Just remember, when swapping, use high quality fabrics!

I hope this has helped to de-mystify modern fabrics for you!

Pattern Giveaway!

2010-08-16T14:50:00.001-05:00

To make up for my lame blogging attempts I'm going to do a giveaway!

Up for grabs is a copy of my pattern Peaks and Valleys and 18 jelly roll strips from Moda Half Moon, there is only 1 black strip in the mini roll so it's mostly whites.

All you have to do to enter is leave a comment!

No need to become a follower, but if you do leave a comment and get an extra entry. If you're already a follower you can leave a comment for an extra entry. I'll pick a winner sometime on Saturday 8/21!

And if you don't win you can always purchase a pattern in my etsy shop for just $6! Price lowered by $2!

keep your eyes peeled

2010-08-16T09:55:00.000-05:00

Giveaway coming later today!

star sampler block 9

2010-08-14T17:23:00.000-05:00

Block 9 is here!

Here is what you will need:

From your SOLID (mine is brown):

8 - 2 1/2" squares
8 - 2 7/8" squares
2 - 3 1/4" squares

From PRINT 1 (mine is lime green fleur de lis):

4 - 2 7/8" squares cut diagonally to make 8 triangles
4 - 2 7/8" squares NOT cut diagonally

From PRINT 2 (mine is a combo of 3 prints, hot pink, pink feathers and lime green floral print)

4 - 2 7/8" squares (mine are the hot pink)
2 - 3 1/4" squares (mine are the pink feathers)
4 - 2 1/2" squares (mine are the lime green floral print)

Now, start by marking a diagonal line on the back of all 8 of your solid 2 7/8" squares. I don't have a photo of this since my line wasn't very noticeable on the back of my brown.

Pair one solid 2 7/8" square with the 2 7/8" squares from Print 1 and Print 2. Stitch a SCANT 1/4" seam on each side of the diagonal line.

It's very important that this is a SCANT seam!!! Each square in this block should measure 2 1/2", you can always trim them down if they're slightly too big, better too big than too small!

Now trim each of those blocks on the drawn line and press your HSTs open.

Now, repeat the above 2 steps with your 3 1/4" squares.

Next take the blocks you made with your 3 1/4" squares and cut them in half diagonally like this, do this to all the triangles so it will yield 8 total solid/print triangles:

Take your 8 triangles of Print 1 and pair it with the above pieces.

These blocks should resemble something like this:

Now lay out your entire block so it looks like this, your center pieces are the 2 1/2 inch squares from your Print 2!:

Note: each of row has 6 - 2 1/2" squares and there are 6 rows. You should have 36 pieces total.

(pssst....mine isn't sewn together yet! i laid it out on my desk right where my sewing machine goes to take the pic, and whoops I was too freakin' lazy to move them all to sew them!)

swap update

2010-08-10T10:21:00.000-05:00

I've decided to cancel the swap. With a very pathetic turn out it only makes sense. Hopefully in the future we can revisit the idea but for now, I have to say it's over.

Thanks to those who signed up, I appreciate it.

Star sampler block 9 will be posted later today.

star sampler block 8

2010-07-31T14:16:00.000-05:00

As promised here is block 8! This one is super simple but a little tedious. Here is the cutting list for this block:

From your SOLID:

4 - 4 1/2" squares
8 - 2 1/2" squares

From PRINT 1 (mine is the yellow w/ green feathers):

1 - 4 1/2" square

From PRINT 2 (mine is the white-ish color):

8 - 2 1/2" squares

From PRINT 3 (mine is the green w/ pink feathers):

4 - 4 1/2" squares

Start by drawing a diagonal line on the back of each of your 2 1/2" squares. I'm only showing you my white because you can barely see the black line on the back of my brown solid.

Now, take one of your PRINT 3 and add a square of your PRINT 2 to one of the corners and sew on the drawn line, **repeat the next 4 steps for each of the four print 3 squares**:

Now, cut 1/4" away from your sewn line to create your seam allowance.

Repeat the previous 2 steps on the other corner:

Your square should now look like this:

Now, repeat the above 4 steps to the other side with your solid, once finished it should look like this and have FOUR squares like this:

Layout your blocks like the finished block below:

guess what?? the white squares and the green feathers were originally cuts I made that were wrong from earlier blocks, so this is a good way to use some scraps :)

star sampler quilt along update

2010-07-30T19:43:00.000-05:00

I haven't abandoned you, I PROMISE!!!

Life happens to everyone and I'm no exception. Still trying to strike a balance between newly single mom, new job, and doing all that comes along with it. See, being in EMS you have to be part of a certain system that your employer is in and well, I have to switch systems to one other than the one where I was put in when I graduated. That means learning new standing orders and policies and procedures.

So please bear with me as I settle into my many new roles :)

i promised pictures!

2010-07-26T20:15:00.000-05:00

And here they are! I finished my Figgy Pudding Christmas quilt, 2 pillows (well soon to be anyways) to match, a soon to be finished potholder, my quilt for Doll Quilt Swap 9, and got back 3 swaps!

We'll start with the quilt, all wonderful glorious Figgy Pudding! This pattern is from Green Fairy Quilts and is super simple!

Here is the backing on the quilt, I pieced it because I didn't buy enough of the damask which is what I wanted the entire back to be but it ended up working out well!

The next two are soon to be pillows to match the quilt. My version of a ticker tape and then one made using a turnover.

For this one instead of pinning all the pieces down because there are some really small pieces I just ironed on a piece of wonder under on the reverse side and tacked them down that way. I wanted to use every little scrap of this fabric that I could!

This is the one made with a turnover:

I didn't exactly want my pillows (well they'll be covers) to crinkle up in the wash so I pre-shrunk the batting, we shall see how it works!

This is my quilt for my doll quilt swap partner! She's been incredibly difficult to pin down because she's been super quiet! The binding is a faux piped binding using this awesome tutorial. I absolutely LOVE this quilt! I hope my partner does too.

Now onto the awesome swaps! This one arrived first and is the mod bento box swap from Jessica at give it a go, I did get a duplicate square but it's ok because I sent 17 quarters so I can stick the duplicate on the back, on the fence about joining round 2, only because I'll be in the middle of a move.

Next to arrive was the Modern Siggy Swap 2 hosted by the wonderful Julie at jaybird quilts. LOVE all the fabrics used!

And last, but not least, to arrive was Modern Siggy Swap 1 hosted by Rachel @ ps i quilt. I sent these back in February! So happy to have them home :)

So did I make up for my bad blogging? I know I have to get the next star block up and will work on that tomorrow.

i've been a bad blogger!

2010-07-19T20:37:00.000-05:00

Eee-gads! I've had very few posts recently! It's not that I don't have anything to talk about or show you because I do, I've just been SOOOOO busy lately I haven't had the time to really blog. Hopefully this week I'll get to show off a quilt and what will be a pillow. I also just started a new job so I have orientation all this week. Good thing is I only have to work 3 days a week and that's FULL time! Must have time for quilting!

star sampler block 7

2010-07-17T16:09:00.001-05:00

This week's block is very easy and a little bit different than the traditional style flying geese star block. From your SOLID (mine is brown)4 - 3 1/2 inch squares**4 - 3 1/2 x 6 1/2 inch rectangles
From PRINT 1 (mine is the green)1 - 6 1/2 inch square From PRINT 2 (mine is the hot pink)8 - 3 1/2 inch squares *this is a duplicate layer cake sq) From PRINT 3 (mine is the white fleur de lis & yellow)4 - 3 1/2 inch squares (I did 2 of each & used scraps) From PRINT 4 (mine is aqua fleur de lis in the photo)4 - 3 1/2 inch squares** **- you only need ONE set of these fabrics, these are the corners, if you scroll down further you can find the different layouts, I chose to go w/ my solid over the aqua fleur de lis.

Start by drawing a diagonal line on the back of each of your PRINT 3.

Take your PRINT 1 and start by taking one of your PRINT 3 and attach it to the corner of PRINT 1.

Sew on your drawn line, then trim 1/4" away from your sewn line. Press your seam however you choose.

You need to repeat that for each of the 4 corners. This is what your center piece should look like:

Now we're going to make the flying geese units. Take your PRINT 2 and draw a diagonal line on the back of each square. (let's pretend I have a photo :p)
Take a square of PRINT 2 and place it on top of your SOLID rectangle so the drawn line goes from top center to bottom corner. Stitch on your sewn line, do this 4 times.

Now whack off the excess by cutting 1/4" away from your seam. Do this to all four pieces then press.

Now lather, rinse, repeat to the other side. Here comes the color options for the corners. I chose the solid in my final block but here were the options.

I didn't care for the print. If you want to save a layer cake square use your solid. There is enough detail in the center block that you don't need the print in the corners.
This is my final block!

star sampler block 6

2010-07-10T09:41:00.001-05:00

I really hate doing this but I was not having good luck with my machine when I went to make this weeks block. I didn't post last week because of the holiday, but this weeks block is the maverick, or wonky, star!

I'm going to direct you to the tutorial at The Silly BooDilly for instructions. This is an EXCELLENT way to use up scraps and miss cuts you may have! Instructions are for a 12 1/2 inch block like we've been making.

Some inspiration
1. Wonky Stars, 2. Wonky stars, 3. wonky star practice run, 4. Wonky Star, 5. brown wonky star, 6. my 3rd wonky star for Blossom, 7. orange wonky star, 8. April Pretty in Pink Bee - Wonky stars, 9. pink wonky star

CSN $50 gift card winner!

2010-07-07T17:23:00.000-05:00

Random.org picked lucky 37!!! Carmen I passed your email to CSN so be on the lookout!

pickles & bacon patterns!

2010-07-04T13:53:00.000-05:00

I'm very excited to announce pickles & bacon patterns!!!!!! The first one I'm releasing is called Peaks and Valleys. This one is made using 2 jelly rolls, one print and one solid. It's very easy to make larger if you so desire. This pattern is VERY simple for beginners and after washing it is approx 47x50 inches.

As you can see I made a scrappy binding with some jelly roll strips, I think it enhances the scrappy look! All fabric is from Moda, the print is Half Moon and the white is just a white jelly roll!

Pattern is available in my Etsy shop.

$50 CSN gift card giveaway!

2010-07-02T20:00:00.000-05:00

CSN is giving away a $50 gift certificate to use at one of their 200 stores! You can find just about anything in their shops from dining room sets to great kitchen items to awesome home decor and stylish baby gear. They have some seriously awesome stuff, I doubt the lucky winner will have any difficulty spending that $50! Open to residents of the US and Canada. Here's how to enter:

Leave a comment!
Become a follower for an additional entry (or tell me you ~~stalk~~ follow me already!)

The giveaway will close on July 7, 2010 at 12:00 pm CST. Random number generator will be enslaved to choose our lucky winner! Please leave your email address in your comment so I can pass it on to the wonderful people at CSN. If you don't want to leave it be ready to claim your prize within 48 hours or I will pick another winner. Good luck and happy shopping!

2010-06-28T13:52:00.000-05:00

Yep that's me!!! I passed my state test and am now officially a Paramedic!!!!

star sampler block 5

2010-06-26T21:55:00.001-05:00

Here it is! Better late than never :p This one is super simple and cute to boot! For this block you will need:From your solid:

1 - 4 7/8" x 9 3/4" rectangle
5 - 4 1/2" squares

From Print 1 (mine is pink):

1 - 4 7/8" x 9 3/4" rectangle

From Print 2 (mine is green):

8 - 2 1/2" squares

Start by taking your solid rectangle and draw a vertical line at 4 7/8" that divides the rectangle into 2 squares.

Next, draw lines from the lower corner to the vertical line, this will make 4 triangles. I know you're thinking WTH is this all about!? Well, just trust me, you won't find this anymore difficult.

Pair this piece up with your print 1 rectangle, right sides together. DO NOT SEW on the vertical line. Just sew 1/4" on either side of the diagonal lines, when you're done press it and set aside.

Now, draw a diagonal line from corner to corner on each square of print #2.

Take 1 solid square and one print #2 square. Place it on the fabric so the ends of the line goes from center to center on the solid. Sew on this line.

Then, measure 1/4" from your sewn line and trim. Press to the dark side.

Repeat the previous 2 steps on the other side. Make 3 more of these for a total of 4.

Now we'll cut apart the rectangle. Start by cutting ON the vertical line.

Then the on the diagonal lines.

Press your seams to the dark side.
Arrange in the following manner:

Your final block should look like this!

very exciting day in my house

2010-06-25T12:19:00.001-05:00

My 2 year old son peed and pooped on the potty today!!!!! Back to your regularly scheduled programming.

a big thank to you my readers

2010-06-21T06:30:00.001-05:00

I want to thank all my readers for your support with my marriage ending, my test, and the quilt along. I'm so lucky to have such wonderful readers and commenters. I truly appreciate everything and all your sweet comments. I wish I could hug you all individually! From the bottom of my heart, thank you :)

star sampler block 4

2010-06-20T08:34:00.001-05:00

Here's block 4, a classic Ohio star with a modern twist!

You will need:
From your solid:

4 - 4 1/2 inch squares
2 - 5 1/4 inch squares each cut twice diagonally to get 8 triangles

From your print 1 (mine is yellow):

1 - 4 1/2 inch square

From your print 2 (mine is pink):

1 - 5 1/4 inch square cut twice diagonally to get 4 triangles

From your print 3 (mine is green):

1 - 5 1/4 inch square cut twice diagonally to get 4 triangles

Start by sewing each print triangle to a piece of your solid.

Once you have completed those press all seams to the darker side. Next you are going to join 2 of those larger triangles from the above step.

They should look like hour glasses when they're done, the above obviously aren't sewn but that's the look you're going for.

Do this for all your larger triangles, you should have 4 hourglass blocks total.

Now, layout your block like so:

It really helps if you press your seams to the non-pieced squares, your seams won't be as bulky and they'll nest nicely when you're done.

This is what your finished block should resemble:

There is your finished super easy peasy lemon squeezy Ohio star block!

If you're looking for other blocks you can find them at the links below:
*star sampler* block 1
*star sampler* block 2
*star sampler* block 3

block 4 update

2010-06-19T06:30:00.000-05:00

Just to let y'all know block 4 will be posted either later today or first thing tomorrow morning. I've been busy studying for my paramedic licensing exam which is today!

shopping at moms house

2010-06-17T11:22:00.000-05:00

So I went to my mom's yesterday w/ the kids for a little while and ended up shopping at her house! I came home with this:

A Huskylock 910 serger! It does need to be fixed as the needles are hitting something they're not supposed to and causing it to stop. But she hates it so I'm giving it a very loving home where it will be worked to death once it's fixed :p

I also brought home these:

A box of acrylic templates that are almost as old as I am. My mom estimates she bought them about 23-24 yrs ago. I'm very excited about the triangles in the bottom row 2nd from right, I'm hoping I can use these to make Cluck Cluck Sew's easy double hourglass blocks.

It even came with a guide so you can mark them with their appropriate sizes. Cool huh?

I also brought home some vintage linens and a really neat cork board that's outside drying, it's been spray painted aqua!

star sampler block 3

2010-06-16T19:06:00.002-05:00

Better late than never!! My memory card and computer decided to play nice finally :) Enjoy!!

Block 3 is here! And this one is super easy! You can use a duplicate square but no real need to, I only did because the Plume layer cake has plenty of duplicates. Another tip I want to pass along is to save your scraps!! There will be times you can get additional cuts out of your left overs! For this block you will need the following:

From your SOLID:

6 - 3 7/8 inch squares

From Print 1 (mine is the feathers):

4 - 3 7/8 inch squares

From Print 2 (mine is the pink):

6 - 3 7/8 inch squares

**If you decide to use 3 prints (and your solid) cut 3 - 3 7/8 inch squares from your print 2 and your print 3, you will follow all of the same cutting and sewing instructions, however, I will show you where to place each different fabric.

Once you have cut all your fabrics mark a diagonal line from corner to corner on ALL solid pieces and on 2 of your print 2 fabrics. (If using 3 prints total, you will mark a line on one of your print 2 and one of your print 3)

Once you have done that you are going to pair up all of your squares. Start off by sewing one of print 1 and one of print two, stitch 1/4" on either side of the line you drew. If using 3 prints total, you will sew one of print 1 and one of print 2 together, and one of print 1 and one of print 3 together.

Now do the same thing pairing up the rest with a solid and stitching in the same way.

Take out your rotary cutter, ruler, and mat. Cut on the line you drew on every piece.

You will now have a bunch of triangles:

Now, press 'em all to the dark side *insert evil laugh*

If using only 3 fabrics you will have 4 squares of solid and print 1, 4 squares of print 1 and print 2, and 8 squares of print 2 and solid. If you are using 4 fabrics you will have the following, 4 squares of print 2 and solid, 4 squares of print 1 and solid, 2 squares of print 2 and print 3, 4 squares of print 3 and solid, and 2 of print 2 and print 1. **Use this photo for reference if using 4 fabrics** ignore the #s sprouting from the block. The squares w/ a box around them is for 3 fabrics, and the others are for the 4 fabric variety. This is also the block layout using 4 fabrics!

If using 3 fabrics this is your block layout!

Stitch it all together alternating which way you press your seams in the rows and your finished result should resemble this:

about block 3

2010-06-16T06:28:00.000-05:00

Ok, I had planned on posting block 3 today but my computer isn't reading my memory card all of a sudden! I have all the photos done and tutorial written I just can't match photos w/ words at the moment.

hushabye quilts

2010-06-14T19:25:00.000-05:00

I finally finished my hushabye quilts! They're about 37" square and backed with Kona Chocolate. I machine stitched the binding just so they can get some good use with a sturdy edge. I have no clue what the binding fabric is, I bought it pre-made from Joanns.

I also won this purse from the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day over at Crafty Mama Creations. It is truly an awesome purse! Thank you Kelci! I love it! It's HUGE, which I adore, it's so bright and vibrant and best of all it's Nicey Jane! Go check out her Etsy shop. The quality is amazing too, it's very sturdy and well made.

when it rains, it pours

2010-06-13T12:02:00.002-05:00

Oy vey! What a day yesterday was! First it was crappy and rainy all day, then I went to leave to take back our Shrek glasses & dinner for the kids, well, my blasted car decided to vapor lock :mad: Some choice words were said then I gave up, for a few mins. Unloaded the kids went out once to try and start it no luck. Came back in for a few mins, then back out. Only this time I slipped on the stairs outside and landed square on my ass. I can't sit, or if I manage to get comfortable I can't get up. So I've been laying around on my left side because my righ hurts more. Not to mention the bruise the size of China on my ass too.

Oh and I should mention I did the same thing this time last year, same shoes, same wet stairs.

I also can't yell. Who knew that when you yelled your ass was involved. Now I know. So don't break your butt. It hurts.

star sampler block 2

2010-06-12T06:30:00.000-05:00

So because I'm a total ditz I sewed up block 3 this week instead of the block I had planned for this week. So we flop them :p This block is AWESOME! You will need the following cuts:

From your solid or another print:

-4 2 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch rectangles
-1 5 1/4 inch square cut diagonally twice
-1 4 1/2 inch square

From Print 1:

-4 2 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch rectangles
-4 2 1/2 inch squares

From Print 2:

-2 4 7/8 inch squares each cut diagonally once

From Print 3:

-1 5 1/4 inch square cut diagonally twice
-8 2 1/2 inch squares

(please ignore the white squares, I cut those by mistake :p)

On the back of each 2 1/2 inch square draw a diagonal line from corner to corner, you will be stitching on this line in the next step.

Now, take a square of print 1 and place it right sides together with a rectangle of your solid. A tip to keep it straight & consistent, put the square on the right side with the line you drew running from the bottom right corner to the center of the rectangle. Stitch on this line. Make 4 of these.

Do the same thing but putting the square of print 3 with the rectangle of print one. Stitch in the same manner as above, make 4 of these.

Just set these aside for now because we need to trim them and we'll do all the trimming at once.

Now, take your triangles of print 2 and place a square of your print 3 on the bottom corner with your drawn line on the back running parallel to the bias edge of the triangle. Make 4 of these.

Since all of our pieces that need to be trimmed are now done we'll trim them! Take your ruler and place your ruler like so:

Your ruler should have a hard line on the stitched seam with the edge of your ruler marking your cut line. Cut at the edge of the ruler and this will give you your 1/4" seam. REPEAT THIS ON ALL 12 PIECES!! Press your seams open or toward the dark side.

Now, take your triangles of solid and print 3 and stitch together. When you put them together if you have your solid on top and stitch down the right side you won't become one with your seam ripper. :) When you're done, press all seams to the dark side or open.

Now, take the rectangles from way up top and stitch together like the picture shows. For reference my print 3 is the brown fleur de lis. Make 4 of these.

In this step you will need the 2 different triangles you made. Stitch them like this and press to the dark side.

Now, arrange your rows like this, press each rows seams in opposite directions so they nest nicely when you attach the rows.

Your final product should look a little similar to this:

and I just spotted a goof of mine, the upper right hand corner is turned the wrong way

life just got a little off balance

2010-06-10T20:23:00.003-05:00

The husband and I are divorcing. We had a very ugly, ugly day yesterday and it did not end well. His alcoholism has come full circle and he now has to face the consequences of his often 1 bottle of Jack a nite habits. As of now I'm taking life day by day, moment by moment. Going to try and potty train my son (we're all prepared with an Elmo potty seat and Elmo undies), finish up all my swaps and sewing obligations, and enjoy the summer with my kiddos. My night ended up decent last nite by watching the Chicago Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup. That was pure awesome!

This is the start of a new life for me and my kids. I can't wait to see what life has is store for me now! People normally take the word divorce very hard, to me it's a sigh of relief.

Have no worries, I still plan on keeping up with all of my obligations, right now expect no changes. I will continue to keep in contact with everyone and keep y'all updated! I love my readers :) My world may have been shaken up but I'm here to stay.

lawn sculptors

2010-06-09T10:53:00.006-05:00

I did mention that I would tell the story of the riding lawn mower. Well, my dad got mad at my brother because he only cut the front yard so he started cutting it. Then my dad let my daughter help him.

Well, he failed to suggest to her that she follow the lines that he had already started. Instead she did this:

And this:

And this:

So she earned the title of lawn sculptor!

2 new tops

2010-06-08T15:48:00.004-05:00

Well, 3 really. I can't show you one just yet. Yes, yes, I know it's no fun but trust me, you'll like it! The 2 I can show you are these:

They're both made of a hushabye layer cake and the snowballed with 3 inch squares in the corners of Kona bone. I made these for my daughter's 1st grade teacher who is expecting twin girls any day now. Just need to find a suitable backing color and I'll stipple them and send them off!

wanna win an accuquilt GO!

2010-06-08T09:38:00.002-05:00

Head on over to Amy's Creative Side to find out how to enter. I'd seriously jump up and down like a fool and cry if I won this. I want one but I'm ridiculously broke at the moment.

sch-weet!!!

2010-06-05T23:16:00.003-05:00

I got accepted into Doll Quilt Swap 9! I searched flickr for some inspiration and this is what I came up with:

1. Mini Quilt from Swap, 2. Spiderweb Mini Quilt, 3. Texture mini quilt for sewdeerlyloved, 4. heather ross mini quilt, 5. Colorful Tree Mini Quilt, 6. iPhone mini quilt teaser, 7. Cherry Berry Pie Mini Quilt, 8. mini mushroom and gnome quilt, 9. Heather Ross quilt swap for Suzanne (foofanagle), 10. Toadstool and a tiny mini quilt, 11. Mini Quilt in a Bag Swap, 12. Mini Quilt in a Bag Received Round 3, 13. Winter Time Mini Quilt Swap '10, 14. dresden mini, 15. quilting , 16. red and aqua, 17. Red and Aqua Flying Geese Pillow, 18. Alobsiger's gnomlette!, 19. Gnome Approved, 20. large family of gnomes lives here, 21. LOVE LOVE LOVE, 22. Summer Cherries DQS 7, 23. finished cherry quilt 002, 24. scrap quilt block 18, 25. Euro Bee Block for MonaW

star sampler block 1

2010-06-05T06:30:00.000-05:00

It's here! The first block and it's super easy! I'm gonna give you a little hint with these, STARCH!!! You will have a bunch of bias edges in this block and it will make your life just a smidge easier and your triangles a little less distorted. All seams are 1/4" and your block should measure 12 1/2" square.

What you will need:
Solid:

4 - 4 1/2 inch squares

1 - 5 1/4 inch square cut twice diagonally

Print 1 (mine is fleur de lis):

2 - 4 7/8 inch squares cut ONCE diagonally

Print 2 (mine is the dark color):

1 - 4 1/2 inch square

1 - 5 1/4 inch square cut TWICE diagonally

You're going to start by sewing your triangles from the 2nd print to your solid triangles. Make 4 of these. Press your seams toward the darker side or open if you prefer.

Next, you're going to add the pieces from the above step to the triangles from your first print. Make 4 of these. Press seam toward the print you just added or open.

Now arrange your block like so:

Stitch your rows up and press your seams toward the solid square on each row, this will make them nest nicely when you sew them. You can also press them open if you prefer. Your finished block will look like this:

Since all 16 blocks are going to be different you only need to make one! Block 2 will need a duplicate print, just so you're aware. I would save your favorite prints for block #3, it's pure awesome and would look awesome with all prints, you will need 2 duplicate squares for this block if you choose to do all prints, if not, just one duplicate will be needed!

happy memorial day

2010-05-31T08:53:00.001-05:00

A heartfelt thank you to all the veterans who served our country. In loving memory of all who went to war and did not return. Let's remember what this day is really about when we fire up our grills this Memorial Day.

bad blogger!

2010-05-28T10:02:00.003-05:00

I've been MIA for the last few days because life suddenly got crazy! I now have 3 feline friends, all of which came to live with me on the same day. Two of them are a brother/sister duo that came from my Gramma Kay's. She passed away Christmas morning and left behind five fur babies, 3 of which were persians and found homes right away. These two were facing shelter life and being 13 years old and inseparable they would probably be put down. And since I have SUCKER written in bold print on my forehead I took them in despite wretched allergies to kitties. The third kitty is a kitten that came from a neighbors litter.

So that's what is happening at my house! I'll be back to quilty blogging shortly, I promise!

while i recover...

2010-05-24T00:15:00.003-05:00

My sister got married today! Now, I'm in recovery mode lol! My sweet daughter was a flower girl, my sister is a horrid time keeper and planner so the weekend was a bit stressful but somehow it all got done on time! I got stuck going out to their hotel room to decorate and when I went to leave to go to the church my car wouldn't start! My dad had to come rescue me while the guys were taking pictures. Thankfully, it started again after the ceremony after burping the fuel line (yea REAL attractive in tuxes and heels!)

Oh, and my next post will detail what happens to your lawn when you let a 6 & 8 year old loose on your riding mower. I'm now the proud parent of lawn sculptors!

pickles & bacon

January UFO results

things i need to get better about

dresden plates

UFO Challenge 2012--week 2

Farmer's Wife

UFO Challenge Week 1

Blogger's Choice Fat Quarter Bundle

Welcome 2012!

UFO Challenge 2012 preview

UFO challenge

tis the season!

freedom

technology!

ISO of mini charm packs

accountability...aka WIPs

Oy vey!

Winner!!

**GIVEAWAY** EXTENDED 1 WEEK!

Special Thanks

inspiration

sheets for backings?

Final Wishes

FWQAL update

Freebie! Quilting Subway Art

a sigh of relief

Farmers Wife Quilt Along Week #1

the "dumbing down of quilting"

Update on my weekend of sewing!

time to use up the stash!

happy birthday to me!

17 days?!

Hands 2 Help Charity Quilt

wait, what's that I see there?!

fabric shopping is wonderful!

changes are good, right??

Its hard...

such a klutz!

10 quilting habits

inspiration

origins finish

Winner :)

Giveaway!!!

Playing with this...

Giveaway coming soon

html hell

a question and a sneak peek

Show & Tell

to all my wonderful readers

WIP Wednesday

SnowMG

For Sale!

have you discovered swagbucks??

finishes of 2010

11 goals for 2011

screwed up my blog

Back in the computer age!

Farewell 2010!

Prayers for fallen and injured firefighters

life

getting back into the swing of things

quasi update on me

need some time to clear my head

ay yi yi

i guess we need a winner, huh?

oh how I love my job!

modern fabrics--a list

Pattern Giveaway!

keep your eyes peeled

*star sampler* block 9

swap update

*star sampler* block 8

star sampler quilt along update

i promised pictures!

i've been a bad blogger!

*star sampler* block 7

*star sampler* block 6

CSN $50 gift card winner!

pickles & bacon patterns!

$50 CSN gift card giveaway!

GIVEAWAY EXTENDED 1 WEEK!

star sampler block 9

star sampler block 8

star sampler block 7

star sampler block 6

star sampler block 5

star sampler block 4

star sampler block 3

star sampler block 2

star sampler block 1