Busy Little Quilter

Charming Girls' Quilt Club

2010-02-08T19:18:00.000-06:00

It's time again to announce what I would like to finish this month for the Charming Girls' Quilt Club.

I forgot about it last month, but that's probably because I had just gotten back from our trip to Louisiana to see our families at Christmas.

I am invited to a baby shower this coming Saturday. The mother-to-be, Fallon, used to take care of my grand-babies when they stayed in a day care center while my daughter was at work. She loved the diaper bags that I made, so I decided to make her a diaper bag for her new baby girl.

Amy Butler's pattern, Nappy Bag, is roomy, has lots of pockets, and it's easy to make. Fallon likes black and pink, so I thought these fabrics were perfect.

The black and pink swirl will be the outside of the bag, and the pink polka dot will be the inside.

My next project I need to finish this month is another "Butterfly Love" designed by Elizabeth Scott of

Late Bloomer Quilts.

I taught this as a class for my Quilt Guild this past June. I posted about it here.

I have the opportunity to teach at a retreat in the Fall. I have to turn in a teacher application the first of March. Although I have already made the quilt, I want to make one again using different fabrics. I love Sandy Klop's (aka American Jane) fabric line "Snippet's" from Moda. I bought a fat quarter pack when I went to Hancocks of Paducah when I went to the AQS Quilt Show this past April. It has been sitting on my shelf just waiting for the perfect project.

The little florals, stripes, and polka dots will make pretty little butterflies.

I want my quilt to be larger, and maybe do 10" butterfly blocks. I figured it up that I would have to make 45 butterfly blocks. That's a lot of butterflies!

Another project I would like to finish ~~because it's strewn all over my sewing table after the Camping Trip with Pat Sloan~~ is my Bull's Eye quilt that I started in the year 2000. If you scroll down to the next post, you can read about it there.

I think these projects will keep me very busy this month.

To see what the other girls in the "Charming Girls' Quilt Club" are working on this month click here.

Happy Quilting!

Amanda

Happy Monday!

2010-02-08T12:47:00.000-06:00

Happy Monday, everyone!

I hope you all had a nice weekend. I spent most of it on my virtual camping trip with Pat Sloan, sewing, and watching the Saint's win the Super Bowl with my family. Way to "geaux" Saints!!!

It was the perfect weekend for our virtual camping trip. It was snowy at my house, but not as snowy as it was at Pat's house. She got 25" of snow! Looking at her photos brought back memories of when we lived in PA. Snowstorms weren't something that we experienced living in Louisiana, so you can imagine how shocked we were to see our first real snowstorm which brought 36". I think the most snow we ever saw, though, was when it snowed 48"! That's a lot of shoveling!

Pat designed this really cool block that is perfect for busting your stash. You can find the block here.Yesterday, she had a little contest and asked us to name her block. One of the campers named it "Tent Flaps". My idea was to name it "Possiblity" since there are so many different ways to lay out the blocks. "Tent Flaps" was the winner, which is perfect for the theme. You can see everyone's blocks here and their idea for laying out their blocks. I love them all, but my favorite is the Zig-Zag. I would have never thought of that idea. .

My blocks are the two circles that you see in the photos. I decided that this would be the perfect time to ~~wipe the dust off~~ pull down one of my UFO boxes that held the parts to a scrap quilt, "Bull's Eye", that I started in the year 2000. One of the women in my Quilt Guild taught it as a workshop. Evidently I was talking (imagine that!) and not paying much attention to the placement of each of my circles.

Obviously I did the "slap down and sew method", which looks okay here, but

not so much here!

This one is a little better, but not that much better!

Are you laughing? So am I.

I think this quilt will drive my kids crazy because it isn't perfect.

I'm not about to undo all of those blocks or toss them in the trash and start over. My fabrics bring back lots of memories of where I was when I bought the fabric. The black with the pink little flowers is the fabric from the last dress my mother made me before she passed away in the late 80's.

Since it's rough edge applique (where you sew 1/4" around the edges of the circles instead of satin stitching or blind hem stitching to finish the edges), I'm sure, once the quilt is put together and thrown in the wash, all of those little unfinished edges will ravel and they won't even notice that everything doesn't match.

They'll notice.

Looking at these blocks has made me realize how far I have come since I first began to quilt. I have learned about value of fabrics, variety (of my background fabrics), and, hopefully, I'm a little more accurate in my piecing.

The quilt may not hang in my Quilt Guild's quilt show this coming June, but I'm sure it will be perfect for snuggling on the couch, covering the grandbabies when they fall asleep on the floor, or, who knows, maybe it will go on a camping trip!

Thanks, Pat, for a fun weekend! I'm looking forward to another one!

Have a great Monday!

Amanda

Sew and Tell Friday

2010-02-05T23:39:00.000-06:00

It's time for another Sew and Tell Friday. I am excited to say that my finish for this week is...

(drumroll please)

TA-DA

My Valentine quilt

~~that I have talked about for the past 2 weeks that you're probably sick of seeing.~~

The little last minute changes I made before I gave it to Terry to be quilted is that I added two more rows

of ric-rac. It just sort of evened things out and made the quilt not look quite so bottom heavy. If it were only that easy in real life to make my body not look so bottom heavy. I could wrap ric rac around my head to distract from the bottom half. Hey, that may not be a bad idea! I digress.

Terry did a beautiful job quilitng it, as always. There are feathers, swirls, and who know what else that she free hands. Each little section is a different quilting design. And I love that she changes thread colors. Gone are the days of white thread all over my quilts (thanks to Judy and Terry).

It's all ready to be snuggled up by the kids. It looks sweet in it's wooden quilt holder.

I was trying to figure out what to name the quilt. I thought about Love Notes, but then I thought about

"Text Messages" since that's the reason for the "love u!". What do you think?

Be sure to check out Amy's blog to see what everyone else has finished this week for "Sew and Tell Friday". I'm always amazed at how much people get finished. To be honest, I really should start something called

"Say It Ain't Sewn Wednesday". I would have something every week to show for sure!

I'll be back this weekend with my "hope I get them finished this month" projects for the Charming Girls' Quilt Club.

I'm late to Camp Sloanie. I could say that the 1-2feet (can you imagine!?) of snow that Pat is getting is the reason, but

she will blow the whistle at me on that one!

Have a great weekend, everyone. Go Saints!! or as us Louisianian's would write Geaux Saints!

Amanda

Happy Groundhog's Day!

2010-02-02T18:35:00.000-06:00

Thank you for all the sweet comments about the Valentine quilt I made. I made a couple of little last minute changes and gave it to Terry (BFF) for her to put her "pizzaz" on it with her quitling machine. It will be a surprise for you and me, both, to see it quilted and finished!

Happy Groundhog's Day!

I can't believe this, but I forgot all about it being Groundhog's Day until I heard the weather on the Today Show. Back in the early 90's we lived about 20 miles away from Punxy (as the locals call it) in another little town in the snowbelt of Pennsylvania. We have lots of fun memories of getting up early, drinking hot chocolate, and watching on TV to see whether or not "Phil" (the groundhog) saw his shadow. Julia came home from school today and told me that I forgot it was Groundhog's Day. I told her I remembered it later on. Then she said, "Why aren't you wearing your sweatshirt?"

I forgot about it, too!

According to Phil it looks like we're going to have six more weeks of this:

It snowed 6 inches on Saturday.

Julia and I say, "Yay!!" We love snow days!

********************************

Have you heard about Pat Sloan's "Camp Sloanie"? It's a winter stashbuster and it's this weekend. Pat has gone through her stash and shot pictures of all of her cute, polka dotted storage bins. It's nice to know I'm not alone (not that I have polka dot storage bins, but I do have an overflowing stash). If you start reading her blog posts from the 26th of January until today, you will see how she is organizing her sewing room and clearing out spaces.

Over the next few days I will be going through my stash and unfinished projects trying to decide what I am going to work on during Camp Sloanie and for the Charming Girls' Quilt Club.

I think I overheard the weatherman say that another snowstorm is heading here this weekend. That's perfect stashbusting weather! Thanks, Phil!

Have a great day!

Amanda

Valentine Sewing Party II

2010-01-24T23:00:00.002-06:00

Even though I didn't get to sew as much for Kelly's Valentine Sewing Party as I would have liked to, I did, however, manage to get one finished! Woo Hoo!

I stayed up unitl 2:30 this morning sewing the peiced borders on the Valentine quilt I started last weekend.

This quilt is so easy and perfect for using holiday fabrics that you don't want to cut up into tiny little pieces. It's a lap sized quilt which will be perfect for cuddling on the couch watching chick-flicks.

After I looked at it for a while I decided it needed something a little fun added to it. Last week Natalia posted a quilt in the Moda Bakeshop, which I l.o.v.e.d!!! So, I decided to tweek this quilt a little and do this:

It's amazing what a little ric-rac and some fun lettering will do to add some pizzazz.

My kids will probably be the ones to use this the most. And, since I'm getting really good at texting both of them these days, I thought I would applique them the perfect message: Love U! (or is it supposed to be Luv U ?)

Thanks, Kelly, and the rest of the girls, for a fun weekend of Valentine sewing.

Amanda

Edited: I have linked this post to Amy's "Sew and Tell" Friday link on her blog amylouwho.com. You can go there, too, and see what everyone else has sewn this week!

Valentine Sewing Party

2010-01-23T11:46:00.000-06:00

Today is the day for the Valentine Sewing Party at Kelly's. There are several of us joining in on the fun.

I am having a party at my house today (an Open House, so you know what that means: lots of cleaning!!). I won't be able to start sewing until later on tonight. I can't wait!

How You Can Help

2010-01-20T12:01:00.002-06:00

My thoughts and prayers go out to the people of Haiti and to the many people that have gone there to help.

Here's how we can help, too!

Go here to find The Fat Quarter Shop's silent auction, Helping Haiti, and click here to go to Craft Hope for Haiti.

Amanda

Valentine Quilts on the Brain!

2010-01-18T07:23:00.000-06:00

I've got Valentine quilts on the brain and I can see a lot of other people do, too!

Kelly, is hosting a Valentine Sewing Party on Saturday, January 23. It's another "virtual" sewing party, so you don't have to go anywhere! All you have to do is gather your Valentine fabrics, find an easy pattern, and start sewing.

I nearly fell off my chair this morning when I clicked to see what was baking in the Moda Bakeshop. I know a lot of you have probably already seen it, but just in case you haven't it's an amazing Valentine quilt that you can put together in an afternoon!!!!! It's perfect for the Valentine Sewing Party. And you just have to visit the designer, Nalalia at her blog. There are lots of pretty quilts and great tutorials .

Have a fun day!

Amanda

More Sewing for the Friday Night Sew In

2010-01-17T13:15:00.001-06:00

Do you remember the Valentine fabric kit that I put together for a quick quilt? Well, here it is. I changed the fabrics, though. After looking at the photo I showed you I could see that there wasn't enough contrast going on there. It's that "value thing" again.

There are 6 1/2" squares of each of the fabrics that are used for the borders, but I don't have time to put them on today. I am going to a baby shower, and my daughter and my grand-babies are coming over for dinner. We'll probably pull out my Wii (I'm such a cool "Mom-Mom") and dance with the new game that just came out. I've been wanting to try to dance to "Who Let the Dogs Out". I'm sure there will be lots and lots of belly laughs.

Thanks to Heidi for the weekend of sewing fun.

Amanda

Friday Night Sew-In

2010-01-16T22:51:00.001-06:00

My Friday Night Sew In got started kinda late. It was 11:30pm. I didn't plan it that way. It just happened.

Long story short, and it's a long one (I just deleted 7 paragraphs of my explanation), a puddle of water in the family room led to a huge investigation by two plumbers, Steve, and a probe with a little camera on the end (when did plumbers get so high tech?) only to find (after removing part of the wall in my bathroom) that there was a leak where two pipes connect. Thank God they found it because it could have been bad. Real bad.

We were tired and hungry after all of this investigating, so we went out to eat and went to Target. And that's the reason why I didn't start sewing until 11:30.

I started sewing on my little snowmen. I kept falling asleep while I was machine blanket stitching my little snowmen, stars, and trees. As I was dozing off it occured to me that this quilt looks a little bland (which could be the reason I was sewing myself to sleep). Then I realized that I started making this quilt probably 9 years ago. That was before I learned "Terry's (Bff) Theory of Color Relativity". It's all about value, and this quilt needs some value. Besides that, it looks a little Christmasy, so I put it away. Maybe I will finish it in July.

I didn't have anything else prepared to sew. I looked over and saw a couple of charm packs (Love is in the Air by Deb Strain for Moda) that I had bought last year for Valentine's Day sewing, so I took them and made a disappearing 9 patch tablerunner.

This is as far as I got on any sewing this weekend, so far.

I put a little kit together for a fast Valentine quilt.

I have a lot of Valentine fabrics and wasn't sure what I was going to do with them. I decided to search Flickr to see if anyone had made a Valentine quilt and uploaded it to their flickr account. There are lots of Valentine quilts on Flickr.

I had to laugh because the quilt I liked the best belonged to Jody at Pleasant-Home. She made a Happy Hour (a Terry Atkinson design) out of her Valentine stash.

I think I have enough for several Happy Hour quilts, and then some.

Be sure to check out all the other people who linked up for the Friday Night Sew In over at Heidi's blog. There was a lot of sewing going on in Blogland this weekend!

Amanda

Snowbound

2010-01-11T20:55:00.003-06:00

Free Block of the Month from Anne Sutton of Bunny Hill Designs

The teenage girls were all happily snowbound together at my house Thursday and Friday.

Photo from News 25

Okay, so you can stop laughing now.

(Remember...we live in the south; not too far south, but still.)

Frigid temperatures made it dangerous to drive, or so they say. I didn't go anywhere. I didn't even go outside. I stayed inside and hibernated in my sewing room while the girls slept, ate, watched movies, colored their hair, baked chocolate chip cookies, baked brownies, drank hot cocoa, and invited boys over (I came out of the sewing room for that).

Do you remember the song, "I Shaved My Legs for This?". They need to write a song titled "I Cleaned My House for This?" Did you know that 5 girls can use an entire closet of towels in a day? And they are messy! At one point I said to my daughter, "I hope when you go to other people's homes that you pick up after yourself." She just looked at me, rolled her eyes, made a hummppph sound and walked away. I guess that means that she does; at least I hope so.

As I said before though, I wouldn't have it any other way. I really mean that. I will miss them all when they move away to go to college in a year or so. They're sweet girls; messy, but sweet.

So, you may be wondering what I was doing while I was hibernating in my sewing room. I may not have been outside building a snowman (I don't think I could have! The grass was still showing!), but I was inside finishing up some snowmen that I had started a few years ago.

Here is a snowman table runner that I started 6 years ago, put it away, and forgot about it. ( Excuse my coffee table. I can see that my grandsons have been using it as a race car track for their Hot Wheels. Hmmmm. Messy Teenagers and Grandkids. It's a wonder my house is still standing!) All I had to do was turn it inside out, sew the seam shut, and handstitch the little stars. It was a huge surprize to me when I opened it up to see what fabrics I used for their scarves!

And this little cutie, Seymore (designed by Pat Sloan for Indygo Junction)

was started several years ago. (I bought the pattern in 1998. I don't think it's published anymore.) All I had left to do for him is to sew on the binding and hand stitch the little snowflakes.

I'm sure this won't be the only time that we're snowbound for a few days. Maybe then I will finish a couple of other snowmen UFO's.

Everyone needs a snowman quilt, and the one Anne has designed is perfect! Be sure to check her blog or her website the 5th of every month for the free block. Just think... this time next year you could have your own snowman quilt! Fun!!!

Be sure to check out what everyone else made this week for Sew and Tell Friday!

Amanda

Valentine Quilt Idea Search (with links so you can find them, too!)

2010-01-14T20:47:00.003-06:00

I've been trying to decide what I want to work on during the Friday Night Sew In, and I think I've got it figured out. I'm still debating on whether or not to do something with a Valentine theme or snowman theme.

I think I might work on a quilt I started several years ago: Snow Cabin. It's designed by Meme's Quilts, and it's adorable.

In the meantime, I was over at Cherry Hill Cottage and Tina is making a Valentine wreath out of a heart shaped styrofoam form and some red polka dot fabric squares. Talk about cute!! She has a link with the tutorial, too!

I've been on the lookout for Valentine quilt ideas for a quilt that would be large enough to hang behind my couch. I always do that in January when I really should be doing it in October, but then I'm thinking about Halloween . Maybe since we should think about Christmas in July, Snowmen should be in June, and Valentines should be in May especially since I'm not thinking about too much during that time of year (except maybe how I should have exercised more during the winter months so I could wear a swimsuit without having to wear shorts to cover my bottom). I digress.

Check out this Valentine quilt pattern, "Heart Attack", that I just ordered from Crazy Old Ladies. I ordered mine the other day, so it should be here soon. She has a blog, too, and you can find it here.

Kim, at Bitty Bits and Pieces, has some really fun Valentine tutorials. There is a heart shaped pillow called Love Notes, a quilt called Hugs and Kisses that has X's and O's, and she has a tutorial for a quilt she calls Holiday Squared where she used Halloween fabrics, but you could use Valentines' Day fabrics, too, or any fabric you choose.

The Happy Zombie has her Penny Pocket tutorial over at the Moda Bakeshop.

I made these last year for my grandkid's teachers and daycare workers. They loved them!

I really need to do something quick because I'm having a party at my house next weekend, so I need something that won't take much time to put together (also known as a "UFO", "work in progress" ~~whatever it is you call those projects sitting in cute containers that are collecting dust~~). I'm thinking Snow Cabin has snowmen and hearts, so I could get a two-fer there: winter and Valentines. Terry (BFF with a long-arm) said she would quilt it for me next week, and it will be ready to be hung behind my couch whenever I have my party! I still have plenty of time, and tons of Valentine fabric, to make all the Valentine quilts my busy little heart (no pun intended) desires after the party is over.

Do you see the Valentine quilt in the header that Terry and I are holding? I forgot about it. It's nowhere near done, so I've given up on that ~~monster~~ until I have more time to focus on it.

So, what are you sewing on at the Sew In?

Amanda

Friday Night Sew In

2010-01-13T21:20:00.024-06:00

I'm so excited!

See, the other night Kim and I were e-mailing each other back and forth and she mentioned that she was pulling fabrics for a project that she was going to take to the Sew-In on Friday night. I just figured it was another one of those fun quilting parties that she and her friends do at their favorite quilt shop, Bear Paws and Hollyhocks.

I'm always wishing that Kim and I lived closer. (Come to think of it, wouldn't it be great if we all lived on the same street? ) She teaches these fun quilting classes, she decorates for all the holidays, she loves to shop at thriftstores, she's creative, funny, and she's smart!

After I read her post about going to the Sew In, her friend Eileen posted a comment and said that she would be there, too. Now I'm really wishing I lived closer because that would just be fun! I'm ready for a little quilting getaway.

After I posted my comment I started looking around at her feet, and some of her other little buttons on her sidebar, then I see the button for the Friday Night Sew In. I clicked on it thinking it was going to take me to Bearpaws and Hollyhocks, but instead it took me to Heidi's blog. It was then that I realized through the magic of blogland, I can go on a virtual sew- in with Kim. And you can join us, too!

That's right! You can join us, too! It's not too late to get a project together and join us for some Friday night sewing fun! All you have to to is sign up on Heidi's Mr. Linky list. On Saturday we'll all get together for our virtual show and tell. And on Sunday( I hear Al Roker saying SUNDAY,SUNDAY,SUNDAY) there are prizes!

I'll "see" you there! I'll be the one in the pink leopard pj's with a red and white polka dotted cup of coffee and a plate full of chocolate chip cookies. Now that I've figured out what I'm going to wear and snack on (I'll share; I promise!), I need to pick out a project to finish.

Amanda

Banana Split Pie

2010-01-12T21:10:00.005-06:00

Banana Split Pie

Ingredients:

Edited: When I posted this I forgot about the main ingredient: Bananas!! You will need 4-5 bananas (depending on how big your bananas are) cut up into little round circles.

1 box of Graham Crackers

2 small boxes of instant sugar free/fat free vanilla pudding

3 cups of skim milk

2 packages of 1/3 less fat cream cheese

4-5 bananas (all depending on how large they are) sliced into circles

2 cans of crushed pineapple (in it's own juice)

1 large container of lite Cool Whip

chocolate fudge ice cream topping

marichino cherries

Mix the pudding and the milk according to the package instructions. Mix in the 2 packages of cream cheese until well blended.

Line the bottom of a 9x13 glass dish with graham cracker squares. Layer the pudding/cream cheese mixture, a layer of bananas, crushed pineapple, and the cool whip. Garnish with chocolate fugde topping and cherries.

Whoever thought of mixing cream cheese and vanilla pudding together was a genius!

Refrigerate (if there is any left).

Enjoy!

Amanda

Pumpkin Gobs

2009-11-06T08:36:00.013-06:00

It's been busy around here, as usual. Steve's parents and his Aunt and Uncle are still visiting. Although we've had a fun week, I haven't had time to blog or sew.

I just looked at the heading of my last post, "Sew and Tell" Friday. I don't have anything to post about sewing this week, but be sure to check out everyone's sewing accomplishments this week at Amy's blog here.

Today they are wanting me to make Pumpkin Gobs, little cookies that I discovered when I lived in PA while visiting a pumpkin farm one day. It's become a fall favorite around here, so I thought I would share the recipe with you!

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Ingredients:

Two cups of brown sugar

1 cup of shortening

2 eggs

2 cups of canned pumpkin

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups of flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the brown sugar, eggs, and the shortening. Add in pumpkin and vanilla. To the mixture add the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and pumpkin pie spice. Blend well.

Drop on lightly greased cookie sheet whatever size cookie you desire. Smooth and flaten slightly. It's important to make the cookies all the same size and that the bottoms are flat. You will be sandwiching them together with the cream cheese filling after they have finished cooling.

Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. Cool on wire racks.

Filling:

8 ounces of cream cheese

1/2 stick of butter

2 tsp vanilla

1 pound of powdered sugar

Mix together and spread between two cookies.

Let me know if you bake these. Hopefully you will love them as much as we do!

By the way, the article in the paper about the postal worker retiring was in the paper on Wednesday. My name was in bold lettering, so everyone at Quilt Guild yesterday was calling me a celebrity. It says

"Amanda (then my last name), who was mailing quilting squares, said she's been using the downtown postal station for 13 years. Unable to get all the squares in the cardboard mailer, (my last name) handed it over to Abney who shoved and squished the material until it fit in the package. 'He's always so helpful,' she (that's me) said.

(My last name) belongs to an online quilt swap. When the quilter receives her package, she will mail 100 squares to (my last name). "

I don't think the reporter fully understood what I was doing, but the article was great. It's funny, but, even though that particular postman has been sending my packages and selling me stamps for the past 13 years, I never knew his name. I do know, however, that Jane received my Red and Aqua Disappearing 9-patch blocks, so I guess all of his shoving and squishing were okay. I do remember asking him if that was "legal"! :)

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Edit: My thoughts and prayers go out to the soilders and their families who were either killed or injured in the attack at Fort Hood. My dear blogging friend, Cherri House, has a son, Luke, who is stationed at Fort Hood. Luke wasn't killed nor was he injured, but Cherri has a special request on her blog I thought I would share with you. May God bless all the families affected and everyone at Fort Hood.

Cross Country Christmas Quilt Designer Blog Hop

2009-11-08T17:23:00.000-06:00

If you're like me, you love blog hops and this one is going to be fun!!! (Aren't they all?)

It's called the Cross Country Christmas Designer Blog Hop. It includes all of my favorite quilt designers, plus a few that I have heard of, but have never visited their blogs!

Each designer has a particular day where they will share a free pattern that will be perfect for gift giving or making for yourself. To find out more information, visit Gudrun. She's the designer who came up with this great idea! To add to the fun, all of the designers will be sharing a Christmas memory of long ago and more! (You will find a list of the designers and links to their blogs at Gudrun's.)

The blog hop starts tomorrow (Monday, November 9) and ends on November 20. Terry Atkinson said that she is going to make a Christmas quilt during the blog hop. That sounds like fun! I may do that, too!!!

Have a great evening!

Amanda

Sew and Tell Friday

2009-11-14T00:28:00.001-06:00

So, have you had a chance to make the pumpkin gob cookies yet? (Click on the link for the recipe!) I made a batch for our company that was visiting. They look so pretty on my pumpkin platter (that I found at Walmart for $4.50) on top of my new table runner for my kitchen table.

I found these leaf place mats on sale at Walmart, too, for $2 each. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with them, but I bought them anyway. Then I thought about how cute my leaf tablerunner that I bought from K-mart looked on my dining room table, and I got busy! First, I laid out my leaves (I really like them kind of turned a little. It makes it look like they fell off the tree and landed on my table.) on the table until I arranged them how I wanted them. Then I pinned them together and took them to the sewing machine where I tacked them down. Easy Peasy!!! See those gourds in my little basket? I found those for a penny a piece!!! Yes 1 penny! Here's a few more that I gave to my daughter for her to decorate with in her home.

*********************************************************************************

Are you enjoying the Cross Country Quilt Designer Blog Hop? I am. It has gotten me in the Christmas Spirit like you wouldn't believe. The projects are wonderful, and the stories that each of them share every day brings back memories of my childhood I had forgotten about.

It's perfect timing, the blog hop and the fact that Kim has a Christmas Countdown on her blog. Who knew it was a little more than 40 days away until Christmas??? I sure didn't! Oh well. Tomorrow Terry and I are leaving for our annual Christmas Sewing Retreat. This year we're going back to the Lakehouse. Hopefully I will have lots of "Sew and Tell " Friday projects for you to see next Friday. (Be sure to check at Amy's blog to see what everyone else finished for Friday.)

Until then, keep visiting the designers on the blog hop. I have a list of them on my sidebar, so you can click on their link and it will take you to their blog. I'll be blog hopping from my I-phone.

Have a great week!

Amanda

Sew and Tell Friday and a Giveaway!

2009-12-04T15:22:00.003-06:00

Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!! I've missed you!!! (Here's where if I saw you in real life I would give you a huge hug cause I really have missed you!)

It's been crazy busy around here, as always. There's so much to tell, but I'll start with my Sew and Tell Friday.

Marsha standing in front of all the challenge projects

So, several months ago Marsha issued our Quilt Guild a challenge. She gave us each a Christmas fat quarter and challenged us to make something (anything we wanted) that included the fat quarter. At the December business meeting/Christmas party (which was yesterday) we would bring our finished projects for a little gift exchange.

I'll have to be honest. The fat quarter fabric isn't something that I would have chosen, but maybe that was part of the challenge. I don't know. Either way, it was a challenge for me to try to figure out something to make.

I was looking around in my sewing room holding my little fat quarter up against my fabric stash. Hmm. Those red polka dots look cute. Afterall, red polka dots make anything look adorable. Then I went to my flickr groups to ~~clear my head and get away from the stress of trying to figure out what in the world to make~~ to get some inspiration and I just happened to check in to see if any more aprons had been made in Jona's "Apron in an Hour" group. Then it hit me! I could make an apron!!! All it takes is a fat quarter and a half yard of fabric. Woo Hoo!!!

Ta Da!!! Isn't it cute?!!

At the Christmas party all of the finished projects were numbered and pinned to the wall behind us. (Just in case you're wondering...the large ornament quilt behind Marsha wasn't included in the challenge. It was hung for decoration and I guess someone forgot to take it down!) Marsha had a bowl with numbers. She drew a name to see who would go first. That person drew a number and got a project. Then whoever made her project came up next. For example:

Teresa drew the number for the apron. She was so excited! Since I made the apron I was next to draw a number.

I drew a number and got a really long stocking. The little mittens are made from the challenge fat quarter.

Joyce made the stocking so (after getting a huge hug from me) she drew a number and got this:

a stuffed snowman from Terry! I forgot to shoot Terry's picture with her gift, but I think it was a casserole carrier.

The Christmas party was a lot of fun. As with any party sometimes people show up in the same outfits.

At least we all have good taste!

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Just in case you've been wondering where I have been, I've had lots of company including my dad and Sylvia (his girlfriend). I have lived here for 13 years and my Dad and Sylvia have never been to see me. They both work, so it's hard to get away especially since they live 12 hours (20 if my Dad is driving) away. He saw great grand kids he's never met ( too many babies to fit in our Suburban for our travels to Louisiana). It was fun to see him with them. He said, "Amanda. Every time you talk about those babies you always talk about how sweet they are. And you're right...they are such sweet children." They were good with all of our company here. I told them one night that I was so proud of them because they had been perfect every time they came over to see us and whoever was visiting. Alexis walked over to me, winked at me, and gave me "five".

There have also been a few little changes in our lives. Change isn't something that I do well, but change is the only constant in the world, so I deal with it as best as I can. I don't think that I have ever mentioned that my husband took an early retirement in June. It was either go to Poland or retire early. He chose to retire early since he has been traveling around the US and Canada for the past 8 years flying home every other weekend to see us.

I guess you could say that we have sort of been reinventing ourselves. Steve wasn't really ready to retire, but it was something he had to do. He has always wanted to learn Auto CAD (Computer Aided Drafting), so in January he starts back to college! Yay for him!!!

The other little change is that I have started a business where I could work from home. It isn't sewing/quilting related because I want to keep that my hobby. I teach quilting, too, whenever I can so I want to still have time for that, my family, my home, and my friends. My business hopefully will help support my hobby, which is all I really want (and to re-upholster my couch). I'll tell you more about it later. I'm excited about it. It's deffintely stepping outside of my box, but I think it will be something that I enjoy.

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Now for the Giveway! I'm going to make it easy. If you want to tell people, go ahead, or if you want to keep this to yourself that's fine, too. Just leave a comment by Tuesday, December 8 at midnight CST. Tell me if you like Santa Clauses or Candy Canes. Both of these go really well with red polka dots! I will make you an apron from Jona's "Apron in an Hour" tutorial. Oh. And you might pop over to Jona's blog and leave her a comment on how you like her apron tutorial. Check out her fabric store, too, Fabritopia!

Good luck! Thanks for stopping by! Be sure to check and see what everyone else has been sewing this week to share with Sew and Tell Friday at Amy's blog amylouwho.com.

Amanda

Charming Girls Quilt Club

2009-12-07T23:07:00.001-06:00

Wow! That's so sweet that so many people entered my apron giveaway in the last post. Just in case you didn't see it, scroll down to the next post, read it, and leave me a comment. And I'm excited that I gave you an idea for your next quilting group's Christmas party. I have another idea, too, which you will see a little further down in this post.

Most of you know that I am in the Charming Girls' Quilt Club. To keep this post from being sooo long (like the last one) you can find out about the Charming Girls' Quilt Club here. It has been a few months since I have posted any UFO's that I would like to finish, so I'm happy that I'm still in the club!

My first UFO that needs to get completed is the apron that I'm giving away. Just in case you're wondering, here are the fabrics I chose:

Both of these will look adorable with red polka dot apron strings!

On Thursday my quilting group, "The Girls", are getting together for our annual Christmas Fat Quarter Exchange. I have blogged about it here. It looks fun, huh? It's like a cookie exchange only you don't bake cookies and your hips don't get larger unless you eat too much of the good food everyone brings and my Italian Cream Cake, in which case my hips will get larger. I'm making something special for them as a little gift. I need to finish those, too, so here's a sneak peek.

As you can see it involves triangles, prarie points, little handles, and yo'yo's. Since some of my friends read my blog, I'll show you what they look like on Sew and Tell Friday.

Here's a Christmas present that I can't show you until after Christmas.

It's a surprise. Again, friends and family read my blog.

If I get those things finished it would be fun to finish these, too.

It's a design by Nancy Halvorsen of Art to Heart. It says "Kisses Under the Mistle Toad". I think I'll embroider the letters while visiting with my friends at the Christmas Fat Quarter Exchange.

I bought the kit for this tablerunner by Sandy Gervais last year and didn't get around to making it.

It would look great on my kitchen table.

Now I'm really going out on a limb here when I say that I'm going to try and finish all of this by the end of December, but I could get snowed in and not be able to go anywhere! I wish!!

Be sure to leave a comment on the previous post if you would like to win an apron. Comments close Tuesday night at midnight CST. I will draw a number Wednesday morning.

Amanda

Ho, Ho, Ho!! We Have a Winner!!

2009-12-10T06:22:00.002-06:00

Thanks, again, for entering the "Apron In an Hour" giveaway! There were 39 people who entered. I did the random number generator thingy, I checked the list twice (okay 3 times) and the winner is number 19, Belinda!!!

Belinda loves Santas, so I'll be making her a Santa apron. Congratulations, Belinda! I will show it to you, along with the little gift I made each of my quilting friends for our Christmas Fat Quarter Exchange, tomorrow during Sew and Tell Friday.

Amanda

Merry Christmas

2009-12-21T10:51:00.004-06:00

I know you're all busy, just like me, so I thought instead of writing too much, I would share pictures of a little bit (just a tiny bit) of what our Christmas season has been.

I've been sewing,

Belinda's apron she won!

Three of the 12 Pennie Pockets (designed by the happiest zombie I know) I made for my quilting friends for our Christmas Fat Quarter Exchange.

Holly Table Runner from Art to Heart

Spreading Christmas cheer to my sewing room with my No Sew

Curtains.

cooking,

Banana Split Pie

(The following pictures are of me with the grandkids for our annual Christmas Cookie Baking Party.

Alexis

Cameron

Brayden

Gatlin

Caramel Pull Apart Bread (aka Monkey Bread)

Red cake stand from Target (I thought I didn't need it but after seeing Pam's, Elizabeth's and Pat's I changed my mind!)

Chocolate Spice cake for Laura's (daughter) 25th birthday!

She also requested Chicken Enchilada's. Mmmmm.

decorating,

Our new Christmas tree! Now Julia isn't taller than our tree!

Family Room (gingerbread man quilt designed by Terry Christopherson).

This is a wall in my kitchen. The stocking I received at my guild's Christmas party, the Apron that I made Belinda, and the Santa is another Art to Heart pattern.

(This isn't all the decorating I did this year; believe me!)

visiting with friends, Terry,

Bff Terry. I made her an apron, too!

and her furry kids

Jackie

and

Remshot.

I love her upside down tree!

(I also saw my quilting group "The Girls", but I forgot my camera. They loved the Pennie Pockets and my Italian Cream Cake.)

and sooooooooo much more.

This Christmas will be known as the year that "Mom got a new camera and didn't know how to focus it", (but really it should be " Mom needs to wear her bifocals when she's using her new camera". ahem...our little secret). The rest of the year will be busy visiting with family and spending time with them.

All of you are a blessing me. I cherish our friendships and I look forward to another year with you sharing ideas, laughing, and spending time with you. I love you all.

So, from our family

Steve, Amanda, and grand kids

Wade, Laura, and Julia

to yours,

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year (and Decade!)

Love,

Amanda

Happy New Year!

2010-01-06T23:32:00.003-06:00

I got a sweet comment from someone saying that she misses my blog posts, so I thought I had better write something! (Thank you!)

I went to Louisiana over the Christmas holidays and got back a few days ago. We celebrated Christmas with Laura and the grand babies this past Sunday since we couldn't be with them at Christmas (the Suburban isn't big enough for the entire family). All of the pictures are still in my new camera, which, by the way, I learned to use after my dad showed me the "A" on my camera lens. No more blurry pictures!

So instead of seeing Christmas pictures, I am showing you pictures I took of my cat when he discovered that I rearranged my sewing room. I have never seen him be so curious! I don't usually have my cutting table pulled in front of my cabinet, but I moved it around so I could cut out a quilt and watch TV at the same time. I also moved my scrap bins from the white cabinet into my closet, and part (a really small part) of my fabric stash from my closet to out in the open where I can see everything. At first, he did what he always does: climbs on my little stool to look out the window. Then when he turned around...you'll see.

The weather channel predicted a snow storm was heading this way, so I've been cleaning and getting the house ready for a snow day or two. All of the bills have been paid, the food has been bought, and my sewing room is clean and ready for me to sew up my own little storm.

In the meantime, my house is filled with teenagers (my daughter's friends) all hoping that school is cancelled tomorrow.

My house, evidently, is the "place to be" for snow storms, ice storms, and other weather related events that would cause kids to have to stay home for a few days. Heaven forbid it would snow during the night and they would be snowbound in their own homes. So they come over here, just in case, so they can be snowbound together. It must be the chocolate chip cookies.

Izzie approves of the change and says he would like some chocolate chip cookies, too!

Amanda

Sew and Tell Friday

2009-10-30T23:59:00.001-05:00

First of all, thank you to everyone who left a comment or facebooked me wishing me a happy birthday. I had tears streaming down my face as I read them!

This is my grandson, Cameron, and I sharing the birthday Sombrero at the Mexican food restaurant where our families took us to dinner to celebrate our big day. I got a Wii, a purse, a quilting book, money to shop for fabric, and a night out to the movies with my son.

I got several things accomplished this week for Sew and Tell Friday.

About three years ago I made valances for my family room and "not so formal" formal living room. I decided a few months ago that my valances needed the side panels to go with them to sort of dress things up a bit. So, I bought 10 yards of fabric and 10 yards of lining and got busy!!

All in all I made 8 panels. I really love the look and I think it makes everything look complete. This photo is how the curtains look in my family room. As you can see, I now have a large screen TV on top of my entertainment center, which can seem sort of , well, not pretty. I'm all about making things look as pretty and the curtain panels were exactly what it needed.

The other project I got completed this week were the 25 blocks for the Red and Aqua Disappearing 9-Patch Swap. Here they are as 9-patches,

but I forgot to shoot their picture once I got them all cut into their little 6 1/4" squares. They looked so cute!

I have to tell you this story. Today when I went in the post office to mail my little 100 squares I sort of had a hard time squeezing the little cuties into my $4.95 flat rate package. My favorite postal worker (big, tall, doesn't smile much, has that "oh it's you again" look on his face, but he's really sweet) squeezed them in all nice and neat. As I was writing the check to pay for everything, there was this lady standing to the side. I heard him say, "Yes. She told me you were coming in this afternoon." "Yes, this is my last day". I said, "Are you retiring?" He said he was, and I said, "Awwwwww I will miss you!!!" He got this odd look on his face and said, "Really?" I said," Who's going to take care of me when I do swaps? You're always so sweet about it!!" He just smiled. So, the lady standing to the side just so happened to be a newspaper reporter. She said, "Since you're such a fan of his do you mind if I do an interview with you?" So I did and it will be in the newspaper on Wednesday. I'll let you know how it goes. I just hope she doesn't make me sound stupid.

Thanks, again, to everyone for all the happy birthday wishes. It was a great birthday. I apologize for not responding to your e-mails, yet. On top of sewing curtains and 9-patch blocks, I was also super cleaning because Steve's parents and his Aunt and Uncle drove in from Shreveport, LA today to stay for a week.

Be sure to check out all the other Sew and Tell Friday sewers at Amy's. It's always fun to see what everyone accomplished for the week.

Have a great weekend!

Amanda

Fall Decorating Idea Tutorial

2009-10-28T01:28:00.000-05:00

This is an idea that was inspired by one of my favorite magazines, Country Living. I'm always on the lookout for something quick, affordable, and easy to create.

Here's what you'll need:

1 Hurricane Glass Candle Holder (I got mine from Dollar General for $2.)
1 orange candle
1 bag of candy corn
a piece of twine

Fill the bottom of the candle holder with candy corn.

Place the candle in the center, and add more candy corn to support the candle to keep it from leaning to the side.

Wrap the piece of twine around the candle holder and tie in a pretty bow.

For Halloween you could add a spider ring to the twine and sit it on a table runner.

Every once in a while I forget that I put the spider there and I jump when I see it. So, if you're deathly afraid of spiders, just skip that part.

For a Fall table scape you could sit them in between pumpkins as I have done here.

I found these pumpkins 50% off at Hobby Lobby. I also found the sunflower floral pick 50% off there, as well. The quilt on the table is one that I made several years ago (and wondered why in the world I made it). Last year I was looking around my house for a fall themed table cloth and I ran across this quilt (from the bottom of the stack) and it went perfect with my pumpkins. The adorable leaf table runner I found on sale at K-Mart pulls everything together.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. I love to decorate my home for the seasons/holidays and sharing my ideas with you.

Today is my birthday. This is the first time in many, many years that my husband has been home for my birthday. We usually celebrate on a weekend that he is home, and I end up spending my actual birthday alone. Tonight we're celebrating with my kids and grand-kids so it will be loud and fun!!! I can't wait!!!

Random Thoughts

2009-10-22T08:54:00.001-05:00

It's been a while since I've seen my best friend, Terry. I've been busy; she's been busy. This photo is us at a retreat that she helps coordinate. She taught this Scrappy Heart class, and I took the class from her. Remember how I made a ~~million~~ lot of red nine patches? Well, this is the reason. Terry's quilt is hanging in the background. It looks like Terry's quilt had a baby and we're both holding it. It's funny, but we

didn't share any red fabrics or background fabrics.

Julia, my youngest daughter, is on Fall Break this week. The house has been filled with teenagers, and at times, grand kids. She has a job now, so, when she isn't working we've been spending time together shopping and going to the movies. In between times I've been sewing on my red and aqua disappearing nine patches for the swap at Janes. The house is quiet today (I think), so hopefully I'll have those ready to show for my Sew and Tell Friday.

By the way, I did find the blog that inspired me to make my little table mat that I showed you in the last post. I had seen the one that Peg made at her blog, Happy in Quilting, and she gave the link to Jenny, who has the tutorial on her blog. It really does take less than an hour to make one.

The weekend and next week will be just as busy.

My youngest two grandsons, Gatlin and Brayden, will be spending the weekend with me. I'm sure there will be digging in dirt, maybe a visit to the pumpkin patch, and a whole lot of grand baby hugs. They still let me rock them. I love to rock babies.

Next week my oldest grandson, Cameron, and I will be celebrating our birthday that we share together.

Here he is in his little go-cart that he races. He's such a sweetie. He thinks it's cool that we share a birthday together. I'm sure when I'm 80 and he's 40, he'll still think it's cool. So will I.

Steve's parents, and his Aunt and Uncle, are coming to see us at the end of next week and will be spending the following week with us. My house is ready, but I still have things to do. I want to make curtain panels for some valances that I have hanging in my family room and "not so formal" formal living room. I found out the company that manufactured the fabric for my valances has gone out of business. Thankfully, Hancock Fabrics still had some of the fabric in their warehouse and I was able to buy the fabric 50% off! They had exactly the amount I needed, so it was meant to be! Now I'm trying to figure out how to hem lined curtains panels. I haven't blind hemmed stitched anything in a really long time.

I may not see Terry as much as I used to. Hopefully that will change in the next few weeks (even if I have to go play in her sewing room while she quilts on the longarm.) She doesn't have a computer, so there's no e-mail, blogging, Facebook, or Twitter. She does have a phone, though, and I'm glad that we are just a phone call away from each other. I think I'll give her a call to find out how to sew the hem on lined curtains. She'll know. She knows everything.

Have a great day!

Amanda