Monday, January 27, 2014

Fabric Finds and My LIfe

I went to GR to see my dad in the hospital over the weekend.  
We thought he was going to be discharged on Sat but it is not going to happen until today.  
He is going to have to have a nurse employed when he returns to his apt.  
We brought his cat home with us. 
 I am at a crossroads, I fear.
I'm not sure how to proceed and the fear is paralyzing. 
 I feel like he gets worse with every visit to the hospital. 
 I think for now, if I can get a nurse to visit him, he can stay where he is...for now. 
 It won't last long.  
His memory is much worse than even a week ago. 
 I am looking into nursing homes while also considering taking him into my own home. 
 I am terrified of both options.  
What's wrong with me??  
This is not normally who I am!  
That's all I am going to say for now.  
Breathing deeply and spending time investigating, that's the job of the minute.

On to other things.  I picked up some of the amazing Britten Number fabric from IKEA and it is available at Crazy Quilt Girl's online fabric shop.  It is quite a large print.  It makes a fabulous back as it is 59" wide!  I LOVE this fabric so much.  If you want any you better hurry up before I buy it all up!


 I also found some older Lizzy House Red Letter Day fabrics and 
am selling them $12/yard shipped or $9/yard pick up.
I have 1 yard of this available.


I have 2 yards of this one available.


I am also selling some Innocent Crush Shattered by Anna Maria Horner $13/yard shipped
 or $10 local pick up. 
 I have 2 yards of this available.  


It was once again a blizzard while we were out of town.  
We had to dig out one of my dad's cars and get it started.  
Still couldn't move it into the garage as it was stuck to the ground.  
That's hubby doing the digging out!


Photos from the front yard at my dad's house.  
Look at the neighbor's mailbox!



We had to bring our snow blower so we could actually get into the driveway to get into the house!

Beautiful but messy!


This was how driving home was too.


~XOP~  



Thursday, January 23, 2014

Fabric Purchases

I have been trying to be good.  
Really I have, but it just is NOT working! 
 I bought a few things in #thegreatfabricdestash so thought I would share what I picked up.  
Maybe it will excuse my purchasing? 
 Probably not but it was fun!

First up these Tula Pink Full Moon Forest owls.  
They were a little pricey but I am oh so thrilled to have them!


My next purchase was some more Neptune.  
Can a girl really have too much Neptune?  
I think NOT!
I am almost finished collecting this line.  Just 2 more prints to go!


Another purchase in #thegreatdestash was this FQ bundle of Swell.  OMG I was so excited to get this!!  Now I am done purchasing Sweet and Swell.  
Can't wait to plan out a quilt or 2 using these gorgeous fabrics!


Just in case you didn't know, Pink Castle was having a skinny bolt sale.  
Again, not one to pass up a good deal, 
especially when in need of some low volume fabric for some baby quilts.

I saw this yellow with sunshine written all over it and look how cute it looks with that navy.
This one is going to be a baby quilt for sure.


I am not sure of the name of this one but it is by Art Gallery and it is PERFECT for another baby quilt.
I have a pattern in mind for both of these quilts now I just need time to work.
I also need my dad to stay out of the hospital so I can work, 
but it seems like that is just not going to happen for me. 
 He went back into the hospital again last night. 
 I don't know all the details but will have to call the hospital today and find out.
He keeps getting UTI's and that's what landed him back there.


This is that same fabric in aqua.  
I love it so much!! 
 That Luna will be perfect for what I have in mind to do with this too. 
All three quilts will be the same but I know they will all turn out so different!


The last purchase is for making more of those airplanes I have hanging around 
waiting to have additions of so they can become a quilt.  
Or maybe they will be the words.  
Who knows. 
 It will NOT be happening for awhile though.
Baby quilts must be made!

Thinking about making diaper covers too.  
Anyone out there have suggestions for a good pattern and source for the PUL?


Last but certainly NOT least I could not resist the lure of the cats!
Oh Lizzy House you have out done yourself with this line.

Cat Nap


I did limit myself to my three favorites in the line. 
 I could just eat that front one right up it is so adorable!
They are even cuter in person than they look online.

Pink Castle still has lots of these if you "need" some also.

What fabrics have caught your eye lately?

~XOP~


Monday, January 20, 2014

My Weekend and The Great Fabric Destash

I had a pretty good weekend.  
We went to Grand Rapids to see my dad and sister, as we usually do. 
 We stopped at Aunt Betty's for breakfast as we usually do.  
They had chocolate mousse birthday cake. 
 NICE!  

The drive was poor due to snow and ice, as usual. 
 We ran around as usual.  
We took my dad out and had a nice time. 
 NICE!  

We took him to Meijer for groceries and sundires and he learned how to drive the cart. 

 NICE!
GO DAD GO!!

Then we went out for an early dinner at the Crooked Goose
If you have the chance to eat there you totally should.
My hubby's was my favorite.
Fried bologna sandwich
It had coleslaw and Mrs. Dog's mustard, so amazingly yummy!
 It was really good food and my dad even ate most of his dinner!! 
 NICE!!


Brought him back to his apartment and visited for a bit then 
off to Cabela's for hubby while I met up with an Instagram friend to trade some fabric. 
Hi wwwwindylou!!! 
We met on Instagram through another friend Kritta22 (Hi Kritta!!) 
Windy and I met up at Bigby.  
Realized we have fabric and cats in common (I have 4 and she has 8)!!  
We are trading again in the very near future too.  
Love making new friends. 
 We are thinking about planning a quilt retreat/meet up for some IG friends.  
We are in MI so if you are interested please let me or Windy know!  
(Isn't she so cute??)


I made hubby stop at Field's Fabrics too before we got to dad's and 
picked up some fabric for my friend Robin and some of this cool ostrich print for me.


I also picked up some Detroit sports fabric for a quilt for my DD's BFF, 
Andy who is serving right now.  
He is an Appache helicopter pilot and asked for a quilt featuring 
all the professional sports teams of Detroit. 
I managed to find the Pistons and the Lions but the Tigers and Red Wings were eluding me.  
No licensed fabric for those teams. 
 I did find some scrubs with Tiger fabric on them for a reasonable price so bought those to cut up.


Now I need to search for some Red Wings.  
If you have a source please hook me up!

Did you participate in #thegreatfabricdestash this past week? 
 It was super crazy but awesome.  
The UK quilters just did one and the Aussies are going to do one too.  
There is also a new IG #ISOfabric.  
If you are In Search Of (ISO) you can put what you are ISO in that # and 
LOTS of people will be able to see it and maybe help you out. 
 Loving IG.  
I wasn't so sure at first but it is a lot of fun!!

OK more later.  
I hope you had a great weekend too.  
(I managed to sneak in a little sewing in between the laundry and grocery shopping on Sunday too)

~XOP~


Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Some Fabric Finds

On Sunday I decided to run some errands.  
One was to stop at JAF just to look around.
  I was thinking about getting some pictures framed and took those with me.
  I didn't end up doing it though because they didn't really have what I wanted as far as framing.  
I may end up painting my own frames, but time will tell.  

I thought well, it wouldn't hurt to look around. 
 I had some gift cards from Christmas. 
 YIKES, I should have exited the store right then!  
But I didn't.  
Instead I bought fabric I did not need. 
 It was so cute I just could not leave without it! 
 Most of it I will make chenille blankest with as it is too cute to cut up. 
 I did buy a little extra so I could fussy cut some of the things out of it though.  
Want to see what I bought?

This one is flannel and I will use for the back of a quilt...eventually, LOL.


I have no idea what I will use this for but it is flannel also so probably the back of a cat quilt. 
 It is sparkly!!!


These two I will use for chenille blanket backs.  
The top one is all forest animals and the bottom one is Red Riding Hood kitties!! 


This one and the next one were in juvenile fabrics and are 100% cotton but a heavier weight.  
Also will use for chenille backs.  
That gray fox is so cute!


This print is my favorite from the whole group.  
That fox is quite large, maybe 5 inches or so.  
I fell in love with her though!



I also bought some artist canvas to try out Amanda Jeans Modge Podge Ticker Tape wall quilt idea.
Just one more way to use up scraps!

I took the dog out yesterday and thought I would share a video of her enjoying our snow. 
 It's good someone loves it!



~XOP~


Friday, January 10, 2014

Finish It Up Friday

I have had a few projects that I needed to finish up, and some that needed started!
Why is it the starting up is always so much more fun than the finishing it up?

I did finish up a few things at the end of the year and did not link up.  
One was a gift so I could not link up and one was for the MBS and 
I didn't want to share until that was posted.  
Here they are again just in case you didn't see them.

This was the MBS project.  
You can find the directions on how to make this quilt here.


This one was a gift for my daughter for Christmas.  
A fuzzy quilt for her couch.  
You can read all about it here


These were supposed to be Christmas gifts, but, well, sometimes that just doesn't happen!
I bought these great dish towels last summer with the intent of making them into MSU dish towels.
One set for my daughter and one set for me!


As you can see I managed to get both sets done this week!!!  GO me!


I am working on a wedding quilt for a friend's daughter. 
 I am thinking of submitting the quilt to a magazine so you may not see it for awhile.  

What have you been working on so far this new year??

~XOP~


Tuesday, January 07, 2014

I Love Cats

I'm really certain you did not know this about me, but now you do! 
 I have 4 cats and one dog.  
The cats are getting elderly but I love all of them.  
When I saw Oh Fransson's Catvent QAL how could I resist those adorable cat faces?
  Truth is I couldn't!  
I had very little time to sew before Christmas but have since made a few more of them. 
I now have 8 of the 25 finished.

Cats on Parade


Cat number 3




Cat number 4



Cat number 5




Cat number 6



Cat number 7



Cat number 8



I know you are all sad that this is as many cat faces as I have done.  
Never fear, I have loads more to make!

Considering making one with all turquoise cats later on too.
Maybe one with all black cats for Halloween?
OMGosh so many possibilities. 

Or the attention span of a goldfish will lure me away to finish some UFO's.
*sigh*
Never enough time!

~XOP~


Sunday, January 05, 2014

A Year Of Lovely Finishes

I think I am going to try to participate in A Year Of Lovely Finishes this year.
  If you want to participate also, you can go here and join the linky party!
  You need to choose one project each month, define what "finish" means to you and 
then work toward your goal.  


I, like many of you have loads of unfinished projects.  
I am making a quilt right now that needs to be done ASAP.

I have all the main blocks made 


It's a quilt that I designed.
I need to lay it out before I can progress on it. 
We are in the middle of a snow storm right now so not sure if Wed night quilting will be open for me to do it.


The sashing is a little intricate, but it should be really cool once I get it figured out.
Hi Autumn!


So, since I have no control over my LAQ's schedule, I will say the finish for me is to get the entire top finished, the back made and the binding made and ready to bind.
IF I get it back from the LAQ so much the better!

So there you have it.
My finish for January is that.
Do you have a goal for January?
Consider joining the Year of Lovely Finishes.
Deadline to link up is Tuesday (I think)

Stay warm and safe in this Snowmageddon!!!

~XOP~