Goodbye 2013 - Checking In

I hope you all had wonderful holidays!  

We sure did. All of our daughters and their families and my mom were here for Christmas and all but one for Thanksgiving. It's always wonderful to get together and just "be."

The festivities are over and believe it or not, I'm still trying to catch up on the dishes, laundry and such. Seems once I get behind, it takes a bit of effort to catch up. 

The Christmas season is always busy, but our family had a bit of extra busyness.  

The beginning of  December these two got engaged 

Congratulations you two!!!

Doesn't our youngest daughter look happy?

Then if that wasn't exciting enough, we were blessed with our 

fourth grandchild, our third granddaughter. 

Meet sweet Quinn and her mommy, our daughter, Emili.

Big sister is very happy. 

She sang to her as soon as she saw her, it was so sweet.

We topped the month off with a Christmas day filled with love and family. 

This year, 2013 has been one of blessing for our family. 

Difficulties and struggles have all been a part of this year, 

but in the end we see blessing.

We ALL feel so very blessed.

See you in 2014

The Real Meaning of Christmas

Thankful

            

Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name; 

make known among the nations what he has done.

Sing to him, sing praises to him;

tell of all his wonderful acts.

Psalm 105:1 & 2

Paper Piecing

Recently my Father-In-Law and quilting Sister-In-Law came for a visit.  

Since we live on opposite coasts we don't get to visit often, but when we do, 

we ladies spend some time quilting. 

Our styles are different, but we don't let that get in our way, 

it just adds to the appreciation and admiration I have for her work. 

She specializes in hand quilting and does it both beautifully and fast. 

I can hand quilt, but rarely do. 

As I'm thinking about it, 

I realize I have a quilt half quilted from eight years ago. 

Yes, eight years ago!! 

My oh my!  

I'm embarrassed! 

Enough of that, I'll just pretend I didn't just realized that and move on.  

While she was here she wanted to learn to paper piece.  

I am not an expert. In fact I've not done that much and although 

I love the results of paper piecing I don't like to do it. 

I keep a large three ring notebook of patterns and ideas. 

We went through and picked a Lone Starburst from Anna at Six White Horses.

She picked a few fabrics from my stash and we got started.  

It was the perfect pattern to learn on. 

Not too many pieces and not too few. 

The repetition helped to get the concept, because we all know 

paper piecing can be confusing. 

It didn't take long before we had all the pieces.

I think it turned out great!  

This isn't the best photo, but the light ring around the star is a nice mellow yellow. 

It's just beautiful in person.  

Thanks Anna for a perfectly wonderful and lovely pattern 

and thank you Diana for bring dad and visiting with us for awhile. 

Have a wonderful week  : ) 

I Must Conquer....

I've always admired nicely knit items. I learned very basic knitting 

as a young girl and didn't remember much of it. 

For my birthday, a few years ago, my mom retaught me to knit.

When she wasn't near by and I needed help, I turned to the internet.  

There is so much great knitting info available!  

I'm still learning, but I fell in LOVE with knitting!  

I 'm giving socks a try. 

Well, I've started them about seven times, 

even changed yarn for a mental fresh start. 

These are now looking pretty good. 

I've gotten past the gusset, the heel turn, the heel and .......really? 

One sock is looking a bit large. 

Seems I have too many stitched on the needle after the heel. 

Oh No!  Upon checking the other sock I have too few?  

UGH!  

How did that happen?!  

I WILL succeed, I WILL conquer these socks! 

I guess I'll start over, but meanwhile, I'll go back to some quilting for awhile. 

Here are a few Bee blocks

This is just to claim my blog on bloglovin, I guess I forgot.
Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Have a great week everyone ; )

Got One, But Not The Other

It's been a busy month and I just realized that sadly 

I forgot to post a September goal for A Lovely Year of Finishes. 

Ugh!  

I was on a great roll up until then.  

I got in a minor car accident on the first of the month and 

I guess my mind was preoccupied. I thought I posted something. 

Oh well, I'll focus on October's goal and 

be ready to post.

Have you been over to Happy Quilting? 

Melissa has done a great job with our Quilt Along and

tomorrow is the parade of finished quilts.

There are so many participants and lovely quilts being finished, 

you won't want to miss it. 

I got my Quilt Along Star Surround top done, 

but not completely finished, so I won't be parading.  

Since I rarely purchase anything larger than a quarter of a yard 

 this top will have to go in my to be 

layered and quilted pile until I can get a backing. 

This is Hope Valley on dark grey Kona.

 64 X 64 

I love this 16 inch quilt block. 

Now on to other projects. 

Happy Stitching.  : ) 

Lovely Finishes Goal Met

It's time for my end of the month post for 

A Lovely Year Of Finishes. 

I completed my goal for the month. 

All 384 inches of binding. 

Fingers are a wee bit sore, 

but I'm happy to be done!  

I took a couple quick photos for this post, 

but I will take some proper photos and post them soon. 

Hopefully the recipient of this quilt will get a good sneak peek

and love this quilt as much as I do.  

Hoping to get some 

stitching in this weekend. 

Finished Stars

I'm on target with these little stars. 

They are the 8.5 X 8.5 star centers for our Star Surround blocks.  

They took a little longer than anticipated, 

but all are done by the Sunday night deadline. 

Bring on Monday's assignment.  

Happily Stitching Along 

A Peek At My Week

Whew! 

I got my flying geese done for the Star Surround Quilt Along. 

It was a lot of trimming.  

Last week I decided to enlarge the quilt by seven more blocks, 

going from nine to sixteen and this week while trimming, 

I wondered what I was thinking.  

My piles are a bit messy, but overall I don't think they look too bad. 

I'm ready for tomorrow's step.  

I also finished up a couple of bee blocks. 

For me, its a bit early, but making string blocks is so messy, 

I wanted to get on it right away.

Two together, don't they look great?

I've only gotten about 15 inches of the binding done on this super large quilt. 

Its 91 3/4 X 100, so I've got a long way to go. 

I'd bettered get going!

 I have to have it done by the end of the month to meet my goal. 

Well, that's it for my week peek. 

I'm off to put a movie on and work on that binding : )

What have you been up to this week? 

Happy Quilting

Goal Setting and A Quilt Along

Ok, so its August and I must post about my August goal. 

Actually, I can't believe its August and I've linked up with 

A Lovely Year of Finishes for the past seven months, 

meeting my goal each month. 

It's been a wonderful accountability experience for me.  

So here's my August goal

Get the binding on this big, heavy quilt.  

It,s on the larger side of queen size and I anticipate some sore fingers. 

I'm thinking I'm going to have to take it slow.   

Also for August, the Star Surround QAL I joined is starting to roll. 

We've just begun making our half square triangles. 

I originally posted nine fabrics and planned on nine stars, 

but once I got started I decided I'm probably going to really love this quilt 

so I added more fabrics and went with 16 stars. 

 

Come and join the Quilt Along. 

Its not too late!

You can make one large block or several smaller ones. 

It's your choice. 

Melissa has them all planned out beautifully!

Happy Quilting : )

Back With A July Finish

That's right I'm back with my July finish.  

I started the month with my Lovely Year of Finishes goal mentioned here.

Decided it was going to turn out too small. 

Added some blocks.

Ended up with this little quilt for charity.

Here's a close up

The backside

This quilt was made with the blocks sent to me from the 

ladies of the do. Good Stitches Cheer Group

It  measures 42.5 X 51

and is going to Project Linus

I'm linking up with 

A Loverly Year of Finishes 

and Freshly Pieced

Happy Stitching Everyone  : ) 

New Quilt A Long

I'll bet you thought I was posting to show you my July finish for 

A Lovely Year of Finishes?  

I am done, 

but I'm very excited to be starting a new quilt along, 

so I'll be back with the finish later this week. 

I really don't need and shouldn't be joining in a new QAL, but I just couldn't resist.  

Usually I'm in the middle of something and can't participate, but I'm Free!  

Well, not actually, but I'm stitching down a lot of binding,

 so to break it up I thought I'd join. 

 Ok, so you want details. 

It's a starry quilt called Star Surround.

It's a real beauty!

Melissa over at Happy Quilting is running the quilt along. 

She has different sizes all planned out, 

so you can be involved as little or as much as you like. 

She even shows color schemes.

I'm stalled on a couple of my current projects, 

but this one is drawn completely from my stash.

Woo Whoo! A stash buster!

Here's my fabric all cut up and ready for the next step. 

Kona Grey & Hope Valley

Want to join? It's not too late. 

Head on over to Happy Quilting.

The details are here.

Summer Break is Over

My summer break is over, and I'm back to work, but that hasn't stopped

 me from making progress on my sewing and quilting projects. 

I'm nearly done with a little charity quilt and

I finished a little girl's skirt and another toddler backpack.

 Sadly, I didn't get photos of either one.

Here's the little charity quilt I'm still working on.

Basting 

Quilting

 And getting ready for some binding.

I'm linking up with Lee over at Freshly Pieced

July Goals

I can't believe I'm posting a July goal.

JULY!

This year has gone by so fast.

 I have two weeks left of my six weeks off work. 

I thought I would accomplish a lot of quilting and house projects,

but family fun and events come first.

I'm always thrilled to spend time with familyso I don't mind!

I still have a bit of a holiday weekend and beach time coming up, 

but I'm ready to get some quilty projects done.  

Priority on my list and my July Year of Lovely Finishes Goal is this 

quilt for my Cheer group of do. Good Stitches

I want to layer, quilt and bind it by the end of july

Since this month is very busy it's probably all I'll get done.  

Here's a  few small finishes from the past few weeks. 

A bear/baby carrier.  

I made a proper carrier  for my granddaughter who 

puts her babies in her shirt to carry them.

Wouldn't you know, she's really not interested in it. 

Oh well, at least it looks cute hanging on the bed post. 

Maybe someday. 

A new backpack for the same granddaughter.

Pockets on the side.

Fully lined and a pocket inside.

She has one her parents have used for a diaper/toddler bag, 

but now that she's a big girl four, its all hers. 

It 'll be handy when she heads to pre-school soon, 

but for now she is excited to carry her toys in it.

Happy Stitching 

June Goal

Last day of the month. 

Are you wondering how I did on my Lovely Year of Finishes?  

I'm sure the Cheer group of do. Good Stitches is.  

Well, I put all the bee blocks together and decided it was too small, 

so I added 10 more blocks to make it a little more generous.  

It's 111 here today and just too hot outside for a quilt photo, 

so my honey sweetly volunteered to hold it up.

It's looking good. 

 I'll be back in a couple days with a recap of June. 

I got a few things done that I will share.  

Right now, I have all my grandchildren (three) here for a few days, 

and I snuck this post in during nap time. 

Happy Stitching : )

Just One Of My WIP

I'm home for the Summer, so I get to participate in WIP Wednesday. I was sewing early this morning (my favorite time to sew) when I realized it was Wednesday. I quickly snapped a couple photos and thought I would link up before heading out the door today.



This chevron is just one of the projects I have going right now.



I don't always iron my seams open, but don't they look cool?



Here's a little bit more progress. I'm using a jelly roll I had on hand and it's going together so quickly.

I'm linking up with WIP Wednesday over Freshly Pieced

Happy Piecing *

Just Two Hours To Go!

 Today was my first day off work for the summer, 

and the day just got away from me. 

I'm cutting it really close, with just two hours to go, 

I'm going to post my June goal for A Lovely Year of Finishes. 

It's my month to quilt for the Cheer group of do. Good Stitches, 

and these are the blocks sent to me. 

Aren't they beautiful? I just love them.  

I didn't do the math ahead of time and as is, 

this will be a small quilt. 

I need to add borders or more blocks. 

My June goal is to make ten more blocks and make the quilt top.

Whew, I think I made the linky deadline!

Happy Stitching : )

May Goal & A Couple Birthdays

Its the end of May and time for My Lovely Year Of Finishes post. 

My goal was a little toddler sized baseball themed backpack for a little one due in July.  

I'm happy to say I finished it AND a little newborn snuggly.  

I've used both these patterns before so I knew they were 

tried and true and would turn out wonderful. 

The backpack is fully lined and ready to use.
Next time, I think I'll add a few inside pockets

The little snuggly looks so small, but I know it will be just right.  

I made one for my granddaughter two years ago 

and her mommy and daddy loved it so much, 

I know it will be a perfect gift for these first time parents. 

We celebrated the birthdays of the youngest and oldest members 

on my side of our family. 

Happy Birthday Mom!

Happy Birthday Kinlee!

I have to end with these three fun little cuties!