Happy Halloween!

I am just taking a minute to wish you all a Happy Halloween. Mine would have been happier but MSU is losing to Minnisota, bummer, and all 3 kids are not home. To top it all off, we hardly had any trick or treaters tonight too. I guess that means lots of left over candy, eh?

I spent the entire day cleaning, laundry and at the grocery store. YUCK. DH made chicken and dumplings for dinner so that was good. He will be leaving for the next 3 days so I am planning on lots of sewing. I have a laundry list of things I want to get done.

Stay tuned and I will share some pictures soon.

The Pathology quilt raffle is going on right now at the University of Michigan. Tickets are $1 each or 6 for $5. There are 30 quilts you can choose from. Follow the link and let me know if you are interested in any tickets.


Happy Haunting and have a Spooktacular evening!

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

That's right, you know you heard me. I said Christmas Tree. As in this is the fabulous quilt the CL's have made for the raffle at our church. The photo does NOT do this quilt justice. (Plus it isn't even trimmed this was right after I got it back from LTW)



I was really excited about how I had LTW quilt this one and once again, photos aren't the same as the quilt but I am going to walk you though it, k?

Let's start at the top and work our way down the lovely tree, shall we? First thing to notice is the star in the star. You may also see the snowflakes surrounding the entire tree. These are done in silver.



The next thing is all the ornaments all over the tree done in a sparkly gold.


In this next one you will see quite a lot. Notice the candle on the end of the branch. LTW free handed the scrolls out from the ornaments to reach the candles. Next to the candle you will see more snowflakes, followed by an old fashioned icecicle
kind of thing in that first border. The squares got a neat line treatment and the entire outer border is filled with golden jingle bells!

The view from under the tree is spectacular too. There are several different sized presents all tied up with bows. I think you should be able to see that the ornaments are actually hanging down off the bottom of the tree too.

Regretfully, the one thing I don't have a photo of is the tree trunk. No big deal you say,right? Well no detail was too small for LTW and she gave our tree trunk some free hand bark!! Yes she did!!

There are a few more photos on my Flickr account too if you want to see more/

I hope you have enjoyed your visit through our Christmas tree quilt. The pattern was designed by one of the ladies in our group and it is fabulous, isn't it? Then all the CL's made blocks for the quilt and the pattern designer put the whole thing together. Then we sent it to LTW for her magnificent quilting and now another lady in the CL group will do the binding (in the cream of the borders).

Anyone interested in tickets? $1 each or 6 for $5 Let me know.

Odyssea Stacked Coins Quilt

I know you are all wondering, hmmm, did she get that quilt finished last night? Why YES I sure did! Presenting another stacked coins quilt made with Odyssea fabric by MoMo. I love how this turned out! It will be going to France, so shhhh don't tell.


Here is a close up. Now it is off to LTW for some fancy schmancy quilting.


I didn't, however, manage to get the label sewn on the M string quilt. I will have to do that tonight. I left all the things I needed to mail on my sewing table though so that wasn't too good of me. I need to get some large envelopes and bring them home and then maybe go back out to the post office to mail them. I like the post office closer to where I work so it might wait until Wed since I will not be at work tomorrow (mamogram day, ew).

I hope you all had productive or at least fun weekends too!

I'm Back...

I have missed all of you but I have been really busy since I can see properly again, LOL. I did a lot of running around and some cleaning and laundry and have not been all that interested in quilting, I heard you all gasp, but I really haven't been very motivated! All that changed today for me.

I decided to ignore most of what I *needed* to do and tried to get some sewing done. I had some things hanging over my head and decided to buck up and get them finished. First thing I want to tell you about before what I did today is about my amazing CL's. Here is the main group standing behind 33 quilts we are donating to Mott Children's hospital. They contacted us and wanted to know if we could contribute to the 150 quilts they wanted for an entire floor. We sure did that, in a BIG way. They only thing bigger than the number of quilts we donated is the hearts of the ladies that made them. Way to go ladies!!

Now I can tell you about today. The first thing on the list was one of the star/lighthouse quilts. I was so close to being finished with the stars for one of them that I just finished them all up! Now I can bring them on Wed night and lay the quilt out and then I can get it sewn together. Did I tell you that the Wed night group is not going to exist after December. We meet at a theater and they need our room for a choir to practice. Bummer. Anyway, here are all the stars for the first one of these all packed up for Wed.

The next thing on the list was to pack up some things I had promised to mail (and one thing that is a surprise). Mary kindly sent me a witch for an exchange and I needed to stitch around an owl so I did that, I made the 9 patch for her too. Then another blogger send me some back patterns that she had done and so I needed to get some FQ's ready to go to her, check, that's off the list. The last bit is the surprise, old patterns going out to another friend.

I had to make a label for the M string quilt for the raffle too so that is done. I just need to sew it on. I had to write on a label for a quilt for the church too and that is done as well. So next on that list is a baby quilt to send to my French daughter that had a baby in June. (I just found out about it 2 weeks ago). So I used my Odyssea Charm packs and have all the coins done for the stacked coins baby quilt.

I have the sashing cut and the back cut but don't know if I will get to it tonight. I still need to sew on the M string quilt label and finish the laundry and go to the store and pay the bills, whew, but maybe I will.

Last but not least PTM gave me the mother load of peppers. So I got DH to cut them all up and put them in the dehydrator before he left for work today. He is not home tonight so I can stay up later and do what I want to as long as I can get up for work tomorrow! Don't they look yummy?? Now I can keep them and use them all winter.

Last but not least, yesterday I went to JAF to use my 50% off coupon. Could I find anything that wasn't already on sale? But of course! I found this adorable, retro, sewing basket. Too cute, eh?


What were you guys up to all weekend??

Just a quick update, I just finished the baby quilt and is it ever cute. Photos tomorrow, too dark tonight! = )

Another Give Away

Kellie over at Don't Look Now is having a spectacular give away. If you have not been to her blog you really need to go and see her work. It is awe inspiring! I don't know if I will live long enough to make one of her things but they are stunning. Again...why are you still reading?? GO NOW!!

Giveaway

Just a brief moment to tell you to pop over to Brenda's blog at Pumpkin Patch Primitives Quilt Shoppe for a fantastic give away. It is an amazing FQ bundle. You have to post a link on your blog and for everyone that goes from my blog and tells her that you came from here I get an extra entry.

Go on...what are you waiting for??

Kim's Baby Shower

Last night was Kim's (from the CL quilt group) baby shower at the church. We had a lot of fun.

All the photos are on my Flickr account. This way all the CL's can use the link and view all the pictures.

So let me just say that Kim is probably the youngest woman in our group. Such a sweetie too. Everyone was thrilled to be able to buy some things for her and the baby! Ruth Ann bought these beautiful flowers for the party. And Sharon had the cake made. It was so adorable! Pilar was in charge of the games and she had lots of them that made us all laugh. Shirley, William and Kenneth are not in the Bible!

I was taking a lot of pictures, as usual, and she was near the end of the gifts when I took this one. You can see how red she was, I think she was very grateful for all the gifts but a little embarassed over all of the attention. She was trying to show us all how "BIG" (NOT) her belly is. Can you believe she is due in January??


This is the quilt I made for her. I have shown it before but thought you might like to see it again with her. Sorry that the pic isn't that great though.

When it was all over, she handed out these little "diapers" filled with mints and this cute poem as a thank you. What a clever idea! I haven't taken mine apart but I think it is a FQ! (I just went and opened it and yep, it's a FQ)

Little does she know that the CHV quilters wanted to have a shower for her too and so that one is a surprise and it will be tonight!!

In case you are wondering, the eye is good and the cold is hanging on, BAH!

This week off

Well, hello there. Sorry I haven't been blogging all week but I've been busy. I met up with my friend Cori and we went out for lunch. She brought me some new treasures that I asked her for. Isn't that owl in the blue just to die for? I think he will make a great border for the Hushabye FQ stack I bought last week. She didn't have much left so I thought I should get it while I could. Then I was thinking that I love the Odyssea but what to make, what to make? Of course, another stacked coins baby quilt so 2 charm packs were mine. This way I can get my fix of using it and it will all be used up and in a beautiful quilt. Our girls were in an exchange program in France when they were in the fifth grade. Well we got a French girl and then a boy in return. Well, our French daughter just had a baby so I will send the coin quilt to her once it is finished.

I am still up to my eyeballs in Thangles so I can't work on the Odyssea quilt until I get those done and those 2 quilts finished either. That's OK, just motivation, right? Wow get a new eye and look at all I want to do. I'm not bionic just the eye!

Well on Friday I met up with Pauline (PTM) and she had the binding sewn on the baby quilt I need to give away today at the baby shower. Thank you PTM!! And thank you LTW for quilting it so quickly too. PTM and I met up with LTW and went to Checker to pick up some stuff we had ordered. I forgot to take a picture. I'll do that later if anyone wants to know what we picked up.

So on Saturday do you think I got to watch my MSU Spartans beat Illinois? NO!! We had our annual quilter's garage sale. Here you can see all the "goods". Every year we take what is in our room at the church and stuff we have from home and sell it to each other! We also sell it to anyone else that wants to come. We typically have a low turn out and this year was no exception. It does give us a reason to go through the room and reorganize. There were some books that ended up coming home with me. Some will be given to a certain someone that I can't name for Christmas and I know she will be thrilled!! They were all about a specific kind of quilting she wanted to learn more about. Best part is that they were one dollar each!!


Here you can see all the ladies that came. Sharon made lunch for all of us and we were taking a well deserved break. See, PTM? You look loads thinner already. Keep up the good work! (She is the one in the orange) Then around the table are Shirley Ruth Ann, Sharon and Charlotte. Hi Ladies!!

Well, I have to get going now. I need to get ready to go to a baby shower and do some odds and ends around the house before I leave. I hope you all have a productive Sunday!!

I can see!!

So I am home and you were all right. The surgery was a breeze! They gave me the twilight drugs and the next thing I knew they were asking me if I wanted anything to drink? Diet Coke, yes please! My eye is a little scratchy but otherwise I feel fine. I came and slept until around 7 when they fam woke me up for some Chinese food and then DD took me to quilting. I knew the CL's would be worried about me so I wanted to show them I was OK. Oh aren't these flowers adorable? DD2 (the one at MSU) sent them to me so they were here when I got home! She is a sweetie!



I can already see small print with my new lens. It is still not as clear as the other eye but they said it will be improving over the next 3 weeks. It is pretty good now, so I hope it will just get better and better. I have lots of drops to use but that's ok. Tomorrow I can put my contact back in my left eye so it will be interesting to see how well my vision is tomorrow.

Again, thank you for all your prayers and well wishes it means a lot to me!

Surgery Day!

I am sitting around here this morning waiting for it to be time to go and get my cataract removed from my right eye so I thought I would distract myself with posting one more time before I have to go. Here are my lazy quilt inspectors. See how they warm up all my cold cold fabric. This was on Sunday when I was trying to decide what to work on.


I got this one back from LTW. I love the quilting. Rockets, stars and planets that perfectly compliment the fabrics in the quilt. PTM did her usual magnificant job on the binding too. Aren't those dots perfect for this?

I like hos the back turned out too. This pattern is Stacked Coins from the Moda Bake shop in case you are interested. I made the top and back with cutting in about 4 hours. It takes 2 charm packs or cut your own. Either way EASY!!

While I was trying to decide what to work on on Sunday DH decided we needed to go to the Chili Cook off in Plymouth. So off we went. There were so many motorcycles there. We own a Harley too but one of the smaller ones. Hey Annemiek, I took this pic for you. Pretty sweet American paint job huh?


We walked around for awhile admiring all the bikes but didn't try any of the chili. It was so crowded and there were just too many choices! We finally got home and I decided I needed to make a baby quilt for DH's cousin's wife who is having a baby (it is a surprise baby and the mom is over 40) I think this may be baby #7. Anyway, I figure the new baby will not get a lot of her own new stuff so thought I would do another of these stacked coin quilts. Well, of course I need it for the shower on Sat, yes, you heard me correctly, THIS Saturday. I left it for LTW and she (bless her heart) will have it to me by Wed and PTM told me she will bind it for me so I will have it ready by Sat. I really do have the BEST friends on the planet!



Well, I am thinking of doing at least one more of these for a baby gift that I need to send to our French daughter over in France. I'm thinking I need the new Odysea fabric by MOMO so will call Cori and see if she can bring along 2 charm packs when we meet for lunch on Thursday. This will allow me to use the fabric and get that fix without actually acquiring any for the stash, just a quick in and out!! I already cut the Kona Snow for the borders!!

I need to go and dry my hair now and be off to see the wizard surgeon. Have a great day and I will "see" you all later! LOL

On the bannks of the Red Cedar...

Saturday was the BIG game. MSU vs U of M. We are all HUGE Spartan fans at my house (even though I work at the U of M). Our DD invited us up to tailgate with her and her friends and their parents. This is what we saw all along campus on our way to her house.


The girls had the house all decorated for the game and they certainly had plenty of food and drinks too.

It was a really good game and MSU won it in overtime! Here is my family and me after the game. We were so happy! In case you can't read it my shirt says "There's no crying in football (except in Ann Arbor) HAHAHA! Go STATE!! This is the first time MSU has beaten U of M back to back in 40 years.

So I had to recover on Sunday. I actually made another baby quilt! As well as went to a chili cook off and a food co-op. How was your weekend.

Thank you for being a friend...

I just have to say I have the BEST friends ever...EVER!! LTW came by the lab yesterday and just handed me these adorable Halloween napkins (and another package of Thangles, for a continuation of my stunt sewing). Aren't the adorable? As if this was not enough she also handed over 2 of these kind of creepy, but ever fun Halloween black cat pillowcases. I bet you are all jealous and wish you had a friend like this don't you?? Thanks, LTW!!



So my day only got better. I went over to my friend, Cori's house , where she has a fabric shop in her closet, (now expanding to the entire room, LOL) to shop. She has all the latest Moda pre-cuts and is getting an ever expanding collection of yardage too. I have had my eye on the new line by Tula Pink, Hushabye. I also am totally in love with Odysea by MoMo. Well, I couldn't afford both so I bought the Hushabye. I love that there are animals hidden in the designs. The owl design is printed in kind of like 2 stripes and would make a fab border. I ended up with a FQ bundle...for now. I will most likely get some of that owl print too. *sigh* next paycheck! She had 1 jellyroll of Nouveau left too and it was on sale so I bought that too.


If you like Moda's stuff and want really reasonable pricing, go and check out her shop

Go...NOW!!!

What are you waiting for??

On top of her great prices, her customer service is outstanding. I stayed and we talked for around 2 hours!! I had to go because I was totally out of dish soap and she wanted me to stay a little longer so she gave me a brand new bottle of dish soap! I mean, really? Where would you find *that* kind of customer service??

GO! And tell her I sent you, tee hee!!

New House Blocks are Posted

I just wanted to take a minute to let you know that the new houses in the My Neighborhood BOM have been posted to my website. (See sidebar on the left of my blog for the link). Now go forth and make the newest houses!!