Thursday, January 26, 2012

A little love

Let's face it,
Valentine's Day was made for girls.
We love it!
(Most of us, I think!)

The flowers. The candy. The jewelry.
Its a way for our guy to really SHOW that he loves us.

Except it's so commercialized!
Yikes! The candy, the flowers, its all designed to make us SPEND SPEND SPEND!

Hubby and I love each other. ALOT.
And we don't need Valentine's Day to celebrate that love.
Some years I do get flowers. Some years we go for dinner or a movie.
Not every year, certainly.
One of our most memorable Valentine's Day was a few years ago when we went to see The Valentine's Day Massacre. In 3D.
We still laugh at that memory!

And ever since the kids were little, and I mean LITTLE, we have always done a little something for them, too.
(Insert adorable photo of above mentioned children here. I searched MANY cd's but can't find the photo I was looking for. SORRY!)
Candy, balloons, single flowers, little things.
And this year will be no exception.
But, I can't share yet, cause you never know who might stop by to browse my blog.
Yep, even my teen's aren't too cool to see what mom might be up to!
If you follow Moda Bake Shop, you might have seen my idea!
I'll show off my project when the day get's here!
Hehe, supposing I get it done on time!

As for my house...I've always had a few things. A "welcome" door hanging.
A Longaberger Valentine's Basket.
Float bowl with red and pink crystals and heart floating candles.
Last year I added a quilted table runner and table square.
This year, I've got a few things going on.
I am working on my Always and Forever quilt.
6 out of 20 squares are done, and I am hoping to double that amount tomorrow.
I finished (well, mostly! but more on that later) a new Valentine's wall hanging.
And look what I found on the web tonight:

I pinned it and within an hour I had 3 likes and 27 repins! Cool!
I plan on turning it into another wall hanging.
I think I will quilt the letters, and then hand stich on the little bows.
And instead of quilting a piece of fabric to be the string holding on the heart,
I think I will use real ribbon.
Haven't decided yet if I'll quilt it on, or let it hang.

I am really into Valentine's Day this year, and I don't know why.
Maybe just because I like the idea of my house looking festive.
Maybe because it makes my kids happy.
Maybe, its because Valentine's Day gives us a reason to show and not just tell how much we love each other.



Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Skipping Winter

Haha, now Jen has me looking to see how many blog post's I have!
And this is #100 :) Yeah!
So, yesterday I decided to skip winter and head straight to Valentine's Day!
Ever since I finished my 12 Days quilt, I've been itching to start something new.
Thinking about quilting.
Dreaming about quilting.
Planning my next "thing".
Except, I couldn't decide what my next thing was.
My options were:
a snowman wall hanging
valentine pillow
valentine wall hanging
valentine quilt
winter pillow (cover)
swoon quilt

Then I signed up for the Swoon Quilt Along.
Then I signed up for the One Thing, One Week Challenge.
And then I sat in my cave and stared. And thought.
And planned. But I could not make a decision!
Sooooo......I made the winter pillow cover that I wanted to make for my OTOW challenge.
Got that done. Quick and easy, maybe a 2 hour project :)
Then came the hard part.....everything else is fairly involved.
And I usually only have 1 quilt going at a time.
I may have other small projects, but never 2 quilts.
Except, I can't say that anymore!
I started the Valentine quilt yesterday, block 1 of 20 is done.
And I still plan to work on Swoon at the same time.
Today, I ordered the rest of what I need for the Valentine's Day quilt:
border, binding, and another jelly roll, as its going to take 2.
I am using Always and Forever by Deb Strain for Moda.
Its so sweet!
I also picked up some Kona Medium Pink for the sashing and some pink flannel for the backing.

I'm all set for block 2, I just need to go cut it out and do it :)
How about you?
Are you staying with winter? Or looking ahead to Valentine's?






Monday, January 9, 2012

One Thing, One Week Challenge

You know Amy, right?
Amy, from Amy's Creative Side?
I started following her blog sometime last year.
She's a nice gal, has lots of kids, like me.
She does, and post's about, some really fun things.
And one thing she does is the One Week, One Thing Challenge.

I always have more then one thing going on, but sometimes this help's me get motivated.
And, she always has prizes :)
My one thing this week is to make another pillow cover for my couch.
Or two.
Plus, cut out at least one Swoon block.
But my One Thing, One Week is to get that pillow cover done.
I did one over christmas, but I think I forgot to show you, sorry!
I'll definitely have pics for you this week!


Sunday, January 8, 2012

Swoon Quilt A Long

Darn, my blogging friends!
They always get me sucked into things.
NOT that that is a bad thing, it just is a thing! LOL

So, thanks to Camille, over at Simplify,
I am now signed up for a Swoon Quilt A Long.
But its SWOON!
I already have the pattern.
I already have the fabric.
Heck, I already the first block done!

And, I already have border fabric, a charm pack for throw pillows, and some additional yardage to make valances!
This Quilt A Long is just what I need to get going on this quilt!

If you are interested, you can find the details here, at Katy's blog.
I can't wait to get started!


Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Let's Exchange

Many thanks to Beverly for the Let's Exchange package I recieved right before Christmas

Monday, January 2, 2012

11 in '11

Presenting......
my 11 in 2011

It's an Animal World
Hearts Around the World
A Very Hungry Caterpillar
Cherry on Top
Midnight Dreams
Streak of Lightening
Waiting for Spring
Trick or Treat
ISpy
Easter Roses
12 Days of Christmas




Photographic Monday

Quilted Make up bag


Various Folded Star Pot Holders
Table Square for my in law's

Runner for my grandparents

Towels with toppers

This was for friends of our's that got married this year, I cut and spiraled their wedding invitation and then put it into the ornamenet

Candy sleighs.....I made about 60 of these, plus did them for the 5th grade holiday party craft


Teacher gifts

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Its hard to believe that another year has flown by!
Did you make any resolutions? Goals?
How about for this year?

2011 was a good one for me.
I really can't believe that its over!

My goals were simple:
Personally, I wanted to lose 15-20 pounds and keep it off.
Well, I mostly did that. It took me until July, but before we left for Hawaii, I was down 20 pounds.
I've put 5 back on since then, but I am comfortable and happy with where I'm at, so that's good.
I really don't want to see the scale next week when the kids go back to school, but the holiday's only come once a year and I was not going to deprive myself! LOL

My quilting goal was also simple, although it took me much longer to acheive.
Make and finish 11 quilts.
I had 7 done by July,
but then it took me 5 months to do 4 more.
12 days of Christmas got finished on Dec 29th!
2 were sent out to be quilted, one was twin size and the other was king size.
All the rest were done by me, all in various sizes.
12 days is also twin size so that is my biggest quilt, to date,
that I have quilted myself.
I don't have a full pic of 12 days yet, so you'll have to settle for this one, taken this morning,
when the boy first got up. He told me last night that 12 days is now tied with Cherry on Top for his favorite quilt. The fleece backing makes it a dream to cuddle with!



My 2012 goal is also simple, but less goal oriented.
Finish what you start.
Finish some tops that need layered and quilted, even if they are small projects.
Put my family first.
I do that every day, but several personal sewing projects (aprons, pajama's, pillow cases) got put off as I worked to reach my quilt goal.
And last, make my sewing room into the room I need it to be!
I finally convinced hubby to move Allie's bed out of there and into her's and Nick's room.
She had been using Nick's spare bunk bed, but now he has those back and she is in her bed.
AND the sewing room is ready to be 100% converted. Before, I had tables and shelves, now I have the whole room!
Mom and I (Did I mention my mom is here visiting? She is and I love spending time with her) moved an unused desk in there yesterday, so now it just needs reorganzed. I'll tackle it later this week when the kids are back in school and Mom goes back home.