The Cutest Little Quilts!

Tracy at Imagine That...Quilts is giving away a personalized quilt. These quilts are so cute! She takes a picture of someone and uses their face in the "collage" of her quilt! Very clever! I can just see Baby Girl done up in one of these! Hop on over to her site and take a look! Go here to visit her homepage. Sign up! It's free and she offer's tutorials and will answer questions on how to do this! Very generous of her!

One Lovely Blog...

I have been nominated by Ginger over at Loves To Dream. She has the neatest blog. She posts some eye candy, a recipe and a bunch of crafty links...every day! Can you imagine! She is able to come up with all these great things every day! You really must go check out her site!

The rules of this award are simple (ha!). Pick 7 other people to send it out to. It's so hard to choose! But here are some of my picks for what I consider to be lovely blogs, in no particular order:

1. Confessions of a Pioneer Woman - I am oddly fascinated with the glimpse into Ree's life on a cattle farm and she has fantastic photographs!

2. Su at Contemplating my needle and thread always has the most beautiful cross stitch projects to share.

3. It's Daffycat - Sharon has great projects that she posts pictures of in progress.

4. Jane's Fabric and Quilts always has wonderful fabric eye candy!

5. Patty at Pip Stitch has the sweetest embroidery and other projects and lots of links!

6. Ellie's Quiltplace - Ellen is from the Netherlands and I love the work in progress pictures she posts. Also it is neat for me to see through the eyes of someone from a different place.

7. Christie at Serenity Now always posts the most interesting pictures from around the web. I love to see what she has found.

Okay...that was hard. There are so many blogs out there that I love to go to. Have fun checking these out!

Wicked

Does anyone else want to see this as much as I do??

Veranda Views BOM

This is my first embroidery block done for the Veranda Views BOM from Willowberry Designs. I really like the way it turned out. I chose my own colors based on some material I have that I will probably use to finish it...that is if I don't use it for something else by the time we get around to finishing the whole quilt. If you haven't joined in on this one, you should it was a relaxing piece to stitch.

Change...and I Don't Mean Money, Honey!

Well, it finally happened.

Things will never be the same again.

It's a changing of the guard.

The end of an era.

The fat lady is singing.

"Ain't gonna happen" finally happened.

It's not the end of the world, but close.

The bridge had to be crossed.

The dog finally barked.

The boots done walked.

You thought I was making a political statement, didn't you. Not on your life! Not on this blog! (I'm just full of platitudes today)

Here is me at 18:

Look at those eyes! Young, beautiful, clear sighted eyes. Emphasis on young.

Now here is me 26 years later:


It finally happened. My eyes started to get old on me. I now have stitching (reading) glasses. It sucks. It's the first sign that my kids are right when they tell me that I am old. I wrote off the saggy boobs, droopy butt and jiggly tummy to having 4 kids. Easily justified. I just can't seem to find a way to blame my needing reading glasses on my kids...yet...I'm sure I'll come up with something!

Do, Done, Don't Want To Do...99 things

Hawaii

I found this over at Monkey See, Monkey Do (kikimonkey) and thought it looked really neat so I decided to do it too!

Things you’ve already done: bold
Things you want to do: italicize
Things you haven’t done and don’t want to - leave in plain font

1. started your own blog
2. slept under the stars
3. played in a band
4. visited Hawaii
5. watched a meteor shower
6. given more than you can afford to charity
7. been to Disneyland/world
8. climbed a mountain
9. held a praying mantis
10. sang a solo
11. bungee jumped
12. visited Paris
13. watched a lightning storm at sea
14. taught yourself an art from scratch
15. adopted a child
16. had food poisoning
17. walked to the top of the statue of liberty
18. grown your own vegetables
19. seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. slept on an overnight train
21. had a pillow fight
22. hitch hiked
23. taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. built a snow fort
25. held a lamb
26. gone skinny dipping
27. run a marathon
28. ridden a gondola in Venice
29. seen a total eclipse
30. watched a sunrise or sunset
31. hit a home run
32. been on a cruise
33. seen Niagara Falls in person
34. visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. seen an Amish community
36. taught yourself a new language
37. had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. seen the leaning tower of Pisa in person
39. gone rock climbing
40. seen Michelangelo’s David in person
41. sung karaoke
42. seen old faithful geyser erupt
43. bought a stranger a meal in a restaurant
44. visited Africa
45. walked on a beach by moonlight
46. been transported in an ambulance
47. had your portrait painted
48. gone deep sea fishing
49. seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. kissed in the rain
53. played in the mud
54. gone to a drive-in theater
55. been in a movie
56. visited the Great Wall of China
57. started a business
58. taken a martial arts class
59. visited Russia
60. served at a soup kitchen
61. sold girl scout cookies
62. gone whale watching
63. gotten flowers for no reason
64. donated blood
65. gone sky diving
66. visited a Nazi concentration camp
67. bounced a check
68. flown in a helicopter
69. saved a favorite childhood toy
70. visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. eaten caviar
72. pieced a quilt
73. stood in times square
74. toured the everglades
75. been fired from a job
76. seen the changing of the guard in London
77. broken a bone
78. been on a speeding motorcycle
79. seen the grand canyon in person
80. published a book
81. visited the Vatican
82. bought a brand new car
83. walked in Jerusalem
84. had your picture in the newspaper
85. read the entire bible
86. visited the White House
87. killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. had chickenpox
89. saved someone’s life
90. sat on a jury
91. met someone famous
92. joined a book club
93. lost a loved one
94. had a baby
95. seen the Alamo in person
96. swum in the Great Salt Lake
97. been involved in a law suit
98. owned a cell phone
99. been stung by a bee

Not bad! I’ve done almost half the list! How about you?

Mystery Quilt Progress and a Tag

I have been wanting to get started on Helen's Mystery Quilt ever since the first installment was posted Sunday night (Monday in Aussie land!) I had set a restriction on myself, however, of cleaning up my sewing area. Well, I can never do anything easy. I won't bore you with ALL the details, but suffice it to say I filled a couple of trash bags! One thing I haven't liked is that I just didn't have enough room to work. Soooo, I took the fold up table we weren't using, slapped it on top of my much too small sewing table and voila! I have a sewing corner! It's not perfect. The table wobbles a little when I sew too fast (note to self: slow down!). Other than that I am pretty happy with it.

Here is my progress on the Mystery Quilt:

It went together very easily. I just had a little confusion in her instructions where she will say something like 10 x 6 7/8' squares. What she means is (10) 6 7/8' squares not a square (rectangle) that is 10' x 6 7/8'. Other than that the instructions were very clear.

I was tagged by Patty over at Pip Stitch to post the 4th photo in the 4th folder on my computer. So, shhh...don't tell my boys (Baby Girl wouldn't mind) but here is a picture of my younger three hamming it up on Halloween.

I am looking foward to starting on another one of the many BOM's I want to do. What are you working on?

BOM ~ Block of the Month Goodness

There are some totally awesome FREE BOM's and free quilt alongs going on right now!

First up is "The Great Summer Holiday Mystery" quilt being hosted by Helen from Hugs from Helen. I picked up my materials yesterday:

The second is a BOM I am planning to do and is being hosted by Ellie at Ellie's Quiltplace . She has started us off with a snowman that you can either embroider or applique.

And last, but certainly not least is a 9 month long embroidery BOM offered by Gail from Gail Pan Designs.

These ladies are incredibly generous with their talents and patterns! I am really looking forward to making these up! Check out their sites and join in!

More Giveaways and Making an Oriental Pincushion

Here are a few more giveaways for you:
Feist Lang over at Maison Douce is giving away the sweetest tote made from vintage fabric.

Diane from Diane Knott's Musings is giving away the cutest little chicadee pillow that she cross stitched.

Anya at Hills Creek Quilter is giving away a gorgeous batik quilt kit - you don't need to go there - I'm going to win this one - I'm just letting you know for my extra entry - really don't go there - you'll decrease my odds of winning!


I ran across this on youtube. I think these are so cool and I want to make one! I am going to add a ribbon on mine so that I can hang it.

Would anyone like to play with me???

Resolutions...take 'em or leave 'em

Usually I don't make new years resolutions. What's the point? I won't keep them. So every year, I resolve to not make a resolution...which in itself is making a resolution! This year I have decided to make a few. I'm not telling my family though, so that if I fail, they won't throw it back at me!

1. Patience - I am going to TRY to be more patient with my children...especiall the teenagers who can't help the fact that their hormones often cause them to have major brain farts!

2. Quilt - I want to make a quilt for my bed. I got some wonderful Moda fabric in the Portabello Market line for Christmas and I want to actually start, make and finish something for ME!

3. Weight - This is a tricky one. If I say I want to lose weight, I'll instantly gain 5-10 pounds. Instead I'll say I don't want to GAIN any weight. I will try to eat more responsibly to be more healthy and hopefully in the process I'll... no... don't say it...

4. Household - I really want to get my home more organized. And cleaner. It's not that it's dirty really, just a mess all the time. I mean the floors get swept/vaccumed, dishes done in a fairly timely manner, toilets scrubbed down (well, maybe not the boy's bathroom so much - should I really have to clean up a teen's pee just because they choose not to aim well??? So I make them do it!) and laundry done. The problem is we have too much "stuff." Not necessarily important/relevant/worthwhile stuff. So I want to clean it up! I've tried fly lady before. It's a great program, but I just can't handle all the emails...talk about overwhelming!

So there you have it. I've broken my cardinal rule and actually made real resolutions this year. But I know that the few of you that read my blog won't hold it against me if I don't manage to follow through on all of them.

I'm really going to try this year. I really am. Really. Now, where did Baby Girl hide her candy bag...

Baby Girl's Birthday

Baby Girl's Princess Tea Party went very well!

The girls decorated cupcakes, hunted for treasure and got to pin the kiss on the frog...too bad he didn't turn into a prince! Prizes were handed out (one for each girl...I can't stand for someone to leave empty handed), presents opened, tea served and cake eaten.

Thankfully, I had my Mom here to help out. I really appreciated her help.


Tomorrow I'll talk about my resolutions...

Whirl Into Winter Giveaway's to go see...

There is a big giveaway going on right now! Here are a few to check out! I will be updating periodically so check back!
Keepsake Moments has a beautiful table runner and other lovely goodies
Zana's Ninis is giving away a great set of fabric and templates
One Mother of a Blog is giving away a christmas book, materials and darling tree hanger