DWTS

Are you watching Dancing with the Stars this season? I'm loving this cast! I don't know who to vote for yet - there's so many great personalities and surprises! It was sad that Mark Ballas had to do a "show" piece instead of the basics. What a fun number that was - would have been great for a freestyle!

Who are you voting for? It's hard to pick just one!!

When in rains in California...

I had a g-r-e-a-t weekend! I actually had several pockets of sewing time (rain is nice)! Without intentionally trying to, I've been working through the items I bought on a quilt run in March. The run was 16 stores in one weekend in San Diego county. I guess I bought the correct amount of tools, patterns and (yes) fabric to work through most of what I bought... This is a pattern I bought...

I was going to order it through a catalog, but when I found it at a local store PLUS they had a great sample at the store so I knew it was EXACTLY what I wanted, I snapped it up. I had several yards but only 10" of a border print left over from another project.

Since the pattern cuts down to 8.5", it worked perfectly. Here's one runner with my lovely looking (and smelling) daffodils.

 Here's the funny thing... This runner took under an hour to make... it's sooooo easy! It took me the better part of a day to make the backing for it, and that was using a 30" pieced square of fabrics from the same project!! Needless to say, it's not complete...

Here's a close up of the corner piecing. Super easy project! LOVE love LOVE the way it's looking!

 And here's a close up of those daffodils. They are my favorite! My DH bought them for me from a fundraiser at work. They smell wonderful still (it's been almost a week too and they are still this gorgeous!)!!

More Projects...

A friend and I went on a quilt run earlier this month. I bought two sets of kitchen towel fabric. Here's one of two strawberry towels:

 Here is one of the second set....roosters. These will be finding a new home with a good friend.

 Here's a shot of my helper... He makes sure my seat is warmed up and sometimes helps test my quilts before I finish them.

 I thought it was a great picture the way he was covering his face!!

If you go to stonewingsdesign.com and read about "my sister's beads"...I'm the sister who is now the proud owner of these fabulous pieces of jewelry. I made the hanger out of a dowel and some 3M stick-on hooks. Here's the shot of the entire length of necklaces and bracelets.

 The next three are close ups of the center, left, and right sides. This is in the upstairs hallway so that my DD and I can share...

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the way they've turned out. My sis is so talented!! Love ya Laurel!

Woodland Creatures Baby Quilt

I had a request to show off this baby quilt. Made for a great young lady/mom to be that I've known since she was 13 and her husband. Their theme is Woodland Creatures and they are having a BOY!

The embroidery files came from Embroidery Library. I didn't follow their color guide, but did use the same blue for all the overalls...and used up the spool.

The backing fabric is a great batik I found during a weekend trip to Bir Bear in February.

Friday night move night

Last night, DH and I went to the movies again. We saw The King's Speech. Another two thumbs up! Great movie and Colin Firth totally deserved the Oscar. DH and DD kept waiting for "pirate" lines from Jeffrey Rush (he was awesome too).

I've been looking for a couple of photos from our trip to Brian Head in January and I finally found them.

Here's the end of the plowed portion of Hwy 148 from Brian Head. See how high the snow is? They had 100 inches before we visited in January. That's our rental Suburban for scale...

 After leaving Brian Head, we traveled down to Cedar City and then came back up that way to Cedar Breaks. So here's the same road from the opposite end and where they stopped plowing it... crazy amount of snow, huh?

 And here's my DH showing you how high the snow really was in the little parking area near the end of the road. My DH is 5ft 7in...so you know the scale.

I'm working on some projects and nothing to post yet. I've got a couple of quilt tops complete, so I'll see if I can get some photos taken of them to upload. In the meantime, here's an oldie and goodie. The quilt that started it all...my mother's Tree of Life (at least, that's what I call it).

When my mom passed away, this was just a quilt top. It took me 10 years of classes and making my own quilts to realize I couldn't finish it...but I did have access to someone who could. A great long arm quilter quilted this and I bound it and it now hangs in a spot of honor in my home. I hope my mom would be proud that it's done.

Data Night and a quilt

My DH and I had date night tonight. We went and saw the movie "The Adjustment Bureau". Two thumbs up! Dinner was popcorn...and not that great of popcorn. I realized we hadn't been to the movies in a few months so it was nice to start back with a good show.

Here's my "Peace Medallion" quilt. The pattern is in the book "Jelly Roll Inspirations" compiled by Pam and Nicki Lincott. The pattern is designed by Paula Diggle. I used a jelly roll of Simplicity plus white yardage from my stash.

For the back, I pieced the left overs and made up the layout... Almost two quilts in one.

And tonight I learned how to enable spell check! YEAH!!!! I hate sending things out with mistakes...

I love technology

Especially when I remember how to do something easier and faster. The other night, I was trying to upload photos from my digital camera. I just did this back in January...but where was the darn cord that went from the camera to the computer? I like to put things back into the same place so I never need to hunt for them. Do you lose your keys? I never do because I always put them back in the same place. So, after looking three time in the usual place for the cord, I looked...as suggested by my DH... in the box of cords by the desktop computer. Wow, there was the cord. So, I cabled up the camera and computer...and the computer kept giving me an error message. Again, I'd done this within the past two months...why was it not working! Finally, it dawned on me... those clever people at Toshiba had installed a port into the front of my laptop to plug in my memory stick from the camera. Duh!! In a flash, files were copied over AND deleted from the stick.

A couple of months ago, I started making two baby quilts for new moms-to-be. Again, technology became a stumbling block. I had an old embroidery machine and used a Magic Box to download the embroidery files to a card that then inserted into my machine. Not a problem, right? well... the box did not want to work with the new laptop running Windows 7. So yes, I had two laptops and the magic box to download files. After getting done with both quilts, I bought a new combo sewing and embroidery (and quilting of course) machine. It allows me to pop in a USB stick with files on it. I've been sewing like crazy and this weekend, I'll pop on the embroidery parts and try it out.

Here's a coworkers baby quilt at her work baby shower... (forgot to get a picture before I wrapped it up!)

It has baby zoo animals that are appliqued while embroidered. I've made this same pattern in hot pink/teal/lime and it was sooooooo cute!!

and here's the second quilt for a mom-to-be that I've know since she was a teenager. 

I love these patterns! I would make this one again - especially now that I can upload all 12 files as one time!!!

Patriotic Primitive Pinwheels

This is a little quilt top I made in a week or less. It was very easy. The pattern is Primitive Gatherings Primitive Pinwheels. I made mine square with an extra row. All of the fabric was from the scraps that I've been cutting down...

Change is good...

Couch - was (stuffing gone; fabric wearing out)

Couch - now (welll....not really what I had in mind, but the cushions are so much better!)

Sewing Machine - was (So long my good friend. You were good to me. We had a great 8+ years!)

Sewing Machine - now  (Hello gorgeous!)

Starter Blog

So..... here I am blogging...we'll see how I do...