borders and bonfires

I now have the border idea for the 30s top I am working on for the swap and started cutting all these squares to piece it with. No clues yet but hope to be able to show a finished top by the end of next week.

Even with lots of rainy weather yesterday and last night we still had a nice bonfire - hotdogs and smores included at my brother's house. Hope today the rain holds off so little man can have fun trick-or-treating tonight.

here was the view from my drive yesterday morning, yes I need to do the leaves but the rain won't let me. Maybe we will have a couple days of pretty weather next week so I can get my yard nice and neat again.

until next time ... happy quilting and happy Fall ya'll

Halloween Fun

here are my kiddos having a bit of fun. we had candy extravaganza at church last night and this is how they went - little man was a cute puppy and DD was a red bandit! They had fun!

ups and downs of the week ...

My little man is home sick today with the flu - he will be outta school until Thursday. So I will have to work from home until Thursday. So far me and DD are not sick and do not have any sorta signs of getting the flu. Of course the down is having little man sick - he is feeling like a blob right now. Poor thing. I hope the meds they gave him kick in soon and he gets to feeling lots better soon. Working from home is an up! I have more time to fill in the gaps by doing housework and sewing and whatever I want to. With little man being sick, I will be cleaning and santizing as I find the need to. I have the bedding washed and out on the line drying in the breeze. So another up is having a clean house for most of the week at a leisurely pace.
Off I go to work on that pesky border I keep pushing to the side.
Update ... I added one border to enlarge the top and am thinking of adding another white strip to finish it all off ....
until next time ...

Peace of the Early Morning ..

I am so enjoying this peaceful early morning time. The kids are still asleep. DD had three friends to spend the night on Friday and two stayed another night last night. Needless to say we haven't gotten much sleep but my inner alarm clock wouldn't let me sleep past 7:30AM. I have been doing busy work in the kitchen and made myself some fresh coffee to open my eyes a bit.
Thought I'd pop in to say that early mornings are indeed a blessing in disquise. The silence is wonderful - I can hear myself typing ... lol.
I am hoping that after we come back from church I can sew on outter borders of that one pestiky quilt I need to complete that keeps getting pushed to the back burner. I haven't sewn on any quilting project this week. I need some quilt therapy.
until next time ....

BowTie quilt is done!!!

I got this in the mail today and couldn't wait to get the binding on it to show it off. Don't ya just love a scrappy quilt? Tirane did a wonderful job on the quilting as usual. (thanks a bunch!)

So I lack two quilts for Christmas gifts now. One is at Tirane's being quilted and the other one is in the works see other post for today. I am behind but they will still enjoy them.

I have had and still have strep and a head cold. I was feeling better but tonight I am all used up. I think I might have over-did-it today with the shopping, baking, cleaning and sewing but it had to be done. Now off I go to watch some TV and wait for my company to come in .. they are due in any minute. They called this morning and told me they were coming and it is a lovely surprise.

thoughts and blessings ... so thankful for feeling better this morning so I could get what I have done. So thankful for a wonderful boss who allowed me ot stay home today. So blessed to have the large wonderful family that I do who are always a welcome in my home. Christmas Day is at my house! I love having people over.

until next time ...

might join the stash bustin challenge for 2009

Life has been very rocky this last year and I am hoping that things will start to improve and I can get myself motivated again soon. I just have the blahs and feel just numb inside.
As some of ya'll know, I have been doing stash bustin this year but saw this post on another friend's blog about joining the 2009 stash bustin challenge with Judy with Patchwork Times I love scrappy quilts as you can tell and have been trying several patterns to use up some of my stash this year. I don't think I can be as motivated as Babs and finish 24 quilts in 2009 but I do want to think about having goals to complete several more UFOs and work on downsizing my scrap bins and continue making scrappy quilts. I will be working on a new list of goals to try and complete for 2009.
Does anyone know of a tracker-counter type thingy that will help me keep up with the amount of fabric I use per project?? I want to see what I use per project and to date. Think it would be neat to have a tracker-counter to see what damage I can do to my stash in 2009. :o)
Want to try something new at the end of my posts ... a dear family member suggested I try noting my blessings each day to help me get through everything that life is dealing me. So here goes nothing ... I am so thankful for the wonderful families that I am so proud and blessed to be a part of. I am thankful for being the mother of two wonderful loving kiddos. I am thankful for the wonderful and amazingly supportive friends to help me along with life's struggles. I am so thankful for the Fall weather we are having and the beauty of the changing scenery that goes with it.

until next time ....

Scrappy Tennessee Block Quilt Done

November has not been a good month for us. It has been a sad one to say the least. We lost my dear mother in-law early Thursday morning. She was a dear sweet lady. She will be missed. With my situation being as it is ... I have to wait until he is not there to be with the rest of the family. It has been really hard to stay away when I want to be there. But ... I can't change this so I am staying busy here when I can't be there. The services are tonight with the funeral Sunday afternoon.
I took some of this time and finished the binding on my Tennessee Block Quilt. I wanted to do something simple to not mess up. I used the backing, which was a sheet and pulled it forward to do the binding. Not alot of thinking for that so I was able to complete this one today and wanted to try and post something since I was told it has been too long since I've done so. ;o)
Here is the picture - Tirane - a dear friend of mine did the lovely quilting on it. Ya'll need to let her do your quilting - she is amazingly talented lady!


so until next time ... now please go hug your family and tell them how much you love them ... as we are not promised tomorrow.

Camping in October - What Were We Thinking???

Here it is the middle of October and we decided to go tent camping with some friends of ours. What were we thinking? This is a last minute throw whatever you can grab into the car along with the tent and get there as quickly as we can to set up before dark. lol
Me and the kids grab clothing - jeans and pullovers mostly, enough food for the weekend, the air mattress, pillows and TONS of quilts to stay warm. I had to stop at the Dollar General to pick up a flashlight (I know everyone should own a working flashlight but I didn't) and decided to buy a little heater just in case.
We get to the campsite area about 7:30 or so and our friends help us unpack the car and set up the tent they let us borrow. We got everything set up and then sat around the campfire for awhile before calling it a night. I thought it might get cool enough during the night so I turned the little heater on before we went to bed.
We woke up Saturday morning to temps in the low 40s. BRRRRR!!! That little heater had worked so well I didn't realize it was that cold until I got outta the tent. We got breakfast ready and ate. It was so cold you could see your breathe the whole time. I thought to myself, I wish we were at home in the nice warm house. But .... to make the best of it after breakfast was ate and we clear everything up I took all the kids on a walk around the campsite to get our blood a pumping and warm us up. We spent the rest of the day walking, hiking in the woods, looking for shells by the river and playing at the park. That evening it warmed up quite a bit. It still felt so nice to come in after supper and sit by a nice warm campfire. Me and the kids all made outdoor s'mores. YUMMY!!! We went off to bed a bit later and again I was tickled to have that trusty little heat to turn on .
Sunday morning we got up to warmer temps mid 50s maybe but still chilly. We got our stuff packed up and ate breakfast and left by 10AM to be able to go to church and visit family the rest of the day.
Our lesson for this weekend ... no matter what the temps are (lol) - make the best of your time together. We had such fun. The kids enjoyed being there with me and the others - it was a nice time to unwind and to re-bond. I love my kids to pieces and life has been crazy busy lately. This last minute decision was just what we needed. Time away from everything and time to just enjoy being together. And that trusty little heater was a lifesaver.
I'll upload photos later of some of the fun we had.
until next time ....

just an update

I have been super busy with life in general and trying to keep up around the house and the kids changed schools this week so we are all adjusting to the new schedule too. They really are liking the new school and making lots of new friends. DD said that she is so glad they changed schools. It is so rough being a teenager, I wanted to ensure that she had a good group of friends and enjoyed going to school. Where she was she said she didn't fit in and the kids were really mean to her. I couldn't and wouldn't accept that. Changing schools is proving to be a positive change all the way around. I am so glad too :)
I have made some progress on decluttering. I am going through stages of trying to go through stuff for awhile and then working on keeping the rest of the house clean too. It is a work in progress and I will continue as I find the extra time and energy to do so. The house is looking so much nicer and is easier to clean.
I have made some progress on my UFOs as well. I have a top at my friend's house to be quilted. It is the Tennesse Quilt. I am leaving it up to her to quilt - she did my Four Patch Ladder and I love it. She is so talented and creative. I trust her to do what will look best. Here is the preview of the top. Gonna do a scrappy strip binding.



Got to figure out how to add pictures soon to show you what I have been working on. Lately I have been making string blocks to make another scrappy quilt with. They are turning out nicely if I do say so myself. I got part of them from a swap and the rest I made. I have lots more to make to have a full size top but it is a great way to use up those strips and strings. Here are the blocks I have made so far. Whatcha think? Neat for just strips and strings.


I have gotten all the Bow-Tie blocks into a top only to find that I am in need of lots more of those blocks too. That will have to wait until I get another top together though. Here are the blocks I have done - I sewed them together to see what they would look like. I like the way it is coming along.


I have the Jacobs Ladder blocks sewn together in pairs so that one will be my next one to get together and off to my friend to be quilted. I still lack FIVE quilts to complete by Christmas. One is at my friend's house ready to be quilted, the rest are in various stages. I am just trying to do them as I can. I have quilter's ADHD - I can't stay focused on one project for that long anymore. I know I am terrible.

so goes on the life and times of a mother and scrap quilter .... until next time ...