Bada Bada Bling!

Yippee Ki Yay, Hooray Hooray, Awesome, Over the Moon, Wowser Wowser, Holy Mackerel, Jesus praise the Lord!… There is a God.

Dear Eldest Daughter is finally engaged. I thought this would never happen.  Dear daughter is 31 and moved back home a few years ago. She did the whole Match.com stuff with no luck and finally gave up saying “ I’m going to just let nature take it’s course” ….ya right, we’ve Weathered  84 hurricanes, 12 volcanic eruptions, 3 earthquakes and 24 wildfires since then…come on girl, to hell with nature!

So finally her girlfriend says that she may have someone that would be a good match, fixes them up on a blind date and it was love at first sight.  And the bonus is that this new son in law to be is awesome!

He even came and asked for her hand.

Wedding plans are in the works for May of 2014….praise the lord, I’ll get my sewing room back!

Can’t believe it’s a beginner

I love this quilt that Connie brought to have long armed….it is so pretty, it looks complicated but Connie says is was super simple, so much so that the pattern is called Can’t believe it’s a beginner.

Connie always makes such a fabulous job of her quilts…..absolutely square and always absolutely stunning. Another beauty Connie!  She chose Taro as the pattern to have long armed…looks great.

On a Mission

These ladies from my Mystery Table Runner Class at Kindred Spirits are on a mission….everyone of them has their head down and is intent on their tasks.  Shirley, Barb, Debbie and Cathy are all hard at work trying to anticipate what the table runner will look like…unfortunately they won’t know till the last class. Just a few bits and pieces of the pattern are given each class, but I can guarantee them it will be stunning when they are complete.

Pinwheel Pinup Girls

These ladies from my Beginner Class at Kindred Spirits Quilt Co. are absolutely the BEST! They have been so much fun and they are doing fantastic at their blocks. Karen, Gloria, Ann, Trish and Monica have completed their last pieced block called Pinwheel. These ladies are all awesome students ….gorgeous blocks ladies!

Calico Gals

Double whammy for our Syracuse road trip….what are the chances of doing a double header while with Dear Hubby. This shop is absolutely wonderful….beautifully displayed and laid out. The staff were very warm and hospitable….
It has a sort of upper loft where they display their quilt samples…it was like being a kid in a candy store!

I found a wonderful display of cool place mats to make…..these would be a great class to teach at Kindred Spirits.  I bought the pattern and the round batting templates to do samples on.  I also was able to match up fabric for the “Tractor Quilt”…..also picked up a super cute Santa Apron pattern.

Look at Dear Hubby waiting patiently in the truck….what a gem….
…the truck I mean!

Star Pupils plus a Pinwheel

These are my star pupils from my beginner class at Kindred Spirits Quilt Co.  Well 4 star pupils and a pinwheel….Monica, Gloria, Ann and Trish and my pinwheel Karen. Karen did complete the Star Pupil block, just opted to show off.  The blocks look fab…all the ladies are doing amazing as you can tell from their blocks. I can’t wait to see their quilts fully completed.

Fun Road Trip

We recently took a weekend road trip to Syracuse. The initial road trip was to visit Syracuse and watch the Syracuse Crunch AHL team compete for the Calder Cup. Dear Hubby is a huge hockey fan and of course I go along for the ride……and the shopping(I’m not totally daft). Every so often we come across a quilt shop on these road trips and if I pout and stomp my feet loud enough, Dear Hubby usually will pull over.

We were on Route 104 just past Lockport when we came across Heartland Quilt Shop. It’s an awesome shop, large, spacious and just packed full of wonderful quilt goodies. They have a wonderfully large classroom area and the fabric choices were great. Lots of books and patterns…

I did luck out and found tractor fabric for a quilt for my future son-in-law. My daughter has been asking me to make him a tractor quilt, but I had been struggling finding just the right fabric. This one looks quite manly and has enough color options in it that I should have no problem matching fabric up. I also picked up a nice book with some really cute fall projects that might work well for classes at Kindred Spirits Quilt Co.

Falling in love with quilting

These are the ladies for my beginner class at Kindred Spirits Quilt Co.
Gloria, Ann,Monica, Trish and Karen are all starting to fall in love with quilting…you can tell when they don’t mind picking out a few seams,  they are laughing at each others mistakes and no one takes a break to get a coffee.
They are doing amazing and their second blocks called Fall Leaves have turned out perfectly.
I got a good chuckle when Gloria mentioned that having your final block measured to make sure it was 12.5 X 12.5 was as stressful as going to the doctor for your annual check-up…
We all know what that’s like…

First crop of the season

This year I decided to try my hand at strawberries. I purchased 2 little plants at Walmart and put them in a planter I had lying around. Checking in on them today I found a few little goodies ready to go…awesome….I do have a green thumb.

These were so tasty…so much better than the store bought ones.

I wish I had a larger area to try a few more “crops” out….I guess I’ll just have to settle for a handful.

In Perfect Balance

I forget who once told me this…I think it was the pond guy that I get my pond stuff from…..He said that if your water hyacinth bloomed with flowers your pond was in perfect balance……..Well looky here!

Plus I have done nothing to my pond…I don’t add any chemicals or additives that they sometimes recommend, I just leave it to nature.

What I did do a few years ago was focus on making sure that the pond was 2/3 covered with plants by adding a few water lilies to the larger side of the pond.  Just threw them in and let them drop to the bottom. They have been doing amazing and the pond is at about that 2/3 covered mark. Just goes to show you…less is more!

One Rung at a Time

My daughter and her boyfriend are always searching out local antique shops and flea markets. I’ve been looking for something to display my mini quilts on and asked them to keep their eyes open for something that might work.

It wasn’t my daughter but her boyfriend that spotted this little gem and asked if it might work. He even sent me a photo to ask what I thought……what a guy….he knows how to score brownie points.

He’s a keeper.

I love it, but it’s filling up quickly…I’ll have to get him to keep a look out for another…

It’s Peony Time

It’s that time of the year when the peonies are in full bloom. I am fortunate enough to have three gorgeous bushes of these beauties and only wish the timeframe to enjoy them was longer.

They bloom so quickly, expand to these phenomenal  globes of petals, then alas, shed their blooms. I try to enjoy them while  I can.

Super Super hero quilts

I’ve been busy making not 1 but 2 Superman quilts for my grandsons. My daughter has put the boys together in one bedroom and bought bunk beds from Ikea……..you know what’s coming right…..”Hey Mom, I need matching quilts for the boys”

I’ve actually had the Superman fabric since last year when I visited Checker’s with the  Girls from Kindred Spirits Quilt Co. I was able to get the fabric samples they sell off at a discount, then purchased a bolt of the Superman fabric for the borders and backing. One of the samples was a panel of the larger Superman blocks….bonus.

I used the pattern, Just Can’t Cut It, added a 3 inch red inner border and an outer 6.5 inch Superman fabric border. These are really sweet quilts and what is perfect is that they are finished at exactly the same time the new Superman movie comes out. Can’t wait to see the boys reactions.

What's wrong with me?

Do I need my head read? What would ever possess me to start yet another BOM? I need help………

I shouldn’t look through my stash. Every time I do I find another little project that I forgot about and then get all excited to see it again.  I pull it out and start sewing! My theory…” finish one thing at a time” just went out the window yet again!
I had ordered this little pre-packaged bundle quite a while back. I think 2007 to be quite honest. It’s a Bunny Hill design called Postcard Cuties for Winter. It’s a small wall-hanging quilt that measures 38X36 so my thinking was it will go together quick…it’s tiny. WRONG…..regardless of the size of a wall-hanging…each block takes the same amount of work.  But this is so worth it as it is just adorable.

Happy Father’s Day

To my wonderful husband who is a wonderful father to our four children, Rebecca 31, Melissa, 29, Frankie 25, and last but not least, Nicholas 19. He is also a wonderful grandfather to our grandsons Ayden 4, and Owen 2.

These little Father’s Day tie wreaths have been all over Pinterest and I’ve wanted to make one for the longest time…finally got around to it. Most of the ties were from Dear Hubby archaic tie collection and quite frankly needed to be cut up into little pieces.

My daughter is always saying….”mom why didn’t you make me one” or “ mom, when you find these cool things, buy 2.”

I had leftover tie pieces, so she got a mini version as well for her front door.

Nothing Wonky about this quilt

Connie’s quilts are always amazing….perfectly finished and perfectly square…a complete joy to load onto the long arm machine.

The pattern is called Wonky Lazy Angle and is the monthly BOM quilt that was offered at Kindred Spirits Quilt Co.  The original blocks were from the book Lazy and Lovin It and this is the setting offered by the store, once all the blocks were finished.

Connie, as always, an amazing finish!