My Neighborhood BOM

Just a quick note to let you all know that I have posted the last 2 blocks in the My Neighborhood BOM. I am going to be writing the directions for the quilt soon and will post those hopefully in the near future! I am planning on leaving them up on my website as free patterns though the end of February so if you need any and haven't downloaded them yet, "What are you waiting for??"

After that I am going to put them as a set in my ETSY shop. Yes, I broke down and made a shop. I have a quilt to photograph and list which I will be doing soon too, I hope!

Anyway, I hope you have enjoyed the Houses and will share what you have made with me so I can see your interpretation of them!

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!!

New Blogger

We all remember it, the day we decided to blog. For some of us it was a long time ago and for some of us not so long ago. One of my CL's has decided to join in on the blogging fun and has started her own blog. She doesn't have much up on her blog yet but it would be great if you have a minute if you would just stop over at her blog and say "HI" and welcome her to the wonderful world of blogging. The bonus is that she will then be able to come and visit all of your wonderful blogs too!! Her name is Sharon and her blog is Shortyz Quilts.

I am hoping that the next installment of My Neighborhood will be up after the holiday weekend. Mary is going out of town and is going to try to do it after she gets back, Thanks Mary!!

I worked on binding the Aqua and Brown quilt last night and my left shoulder is just killing me. Do any of you get that? If so do you have any suggestions to make the pain STOP!!??

WONKY HOUSES RULE!!

I know that many of you are making "My Neighborhood" which is a wonky appliqued house quilt that I have designed. Well, I found a new to me blog that has embroidered wonky houses as a BOM also a Shabby Roses BOM. Go over to see Jenny and tell her I sent you!

Now for a funny photo. Here is Jack in Kelsey's garden trying to decide if he needs to go after the gigantic black and yellow bumble bee! This is a "before" picture of Kelsey's garden. I have not planted any annuals yet. I will show you how beautiful it can be when I get it all planted and it has a chance to grow a little bit.


The same for the back of my house. Here are all the perennials waiting for the annuals to be planted for some more color!


Well, I should have some nice things to share tomorrow. I have decided to make a quilted post card to go with the baby basket quilt. I need to quilt it and finish it, hopefully tonight.

Go and check out Jenny's blog her stuff is awesome!

I'm Home...Finally

I made my way home around 10:30pm on Sunday night. I had to clean my own home and do laundry etc so I took Monday off of work. Of course we had a lacrosse game too.

The April installment of the House BOM is now posted. You *need* to go and print off your patterns!

Stash report: zero in and zero out so total remains the same (whatever that was last week).

Diet Challenge: I stayed the same. Which is a miracle since I ate crazy this last week.

Now I will bring you back to more from my dad's house. This is a photo of the garbage bags we put in the garage that were taken out from the house. It isn't all of them as my uncle Tom had taken a load to the dumpster already.


Now for the fun part. Here is the counter top once we were finished. Isn't it pretty??

And the sink area was actually clean too!

This was that awful bedroom. The stuff piled on the bed is there so we could take up the carpet. We were using those boxes for stuff for a garage sale and those bags there, full of yellowed newspapers for recycle! See that "dust" on the wood floor? It is broken down carpet pad! the carpet was so thin you could see through it. There are beautiful hardwood floor under all of that yucky carpet.

This is after we took the Dyson to it.

Look there is a floor!!


DH and I are going back there on Saturday. He will be installing new faucets in the bathrooms (one is leaky). Me? I will be back in that bedroom and here is the plan. I want to get everything from under the bed cleaned out, push the bed to the built in cupboards and finish ripping up the carpet. I then want to wash those floors so they are clean. Then I want to empty the brown metal wardrobe that's in that room. I think that's about all I will be able to get finished in a day. I am planning on making them meatloaf for dinner too (in the crock pot, so it can cook while I work).

MSU plays in the final four on Saturday night too so we need to either stay and watch the game or be on our way home so we can watch it at home. I don't want to listen to it on the radio I want to be able to see it!

The rest of this week is crazy and I doubt if I will have too much to blog about, especially not quilt related. We have another lacrosse game today and I will be leaving work early to get to the school to ride the bus with the boys to the game. They needed 3 parents since the coaches won't be on the bus. Thursday is free but I need to get to Sam's for some stuff for my dad. Friday is another away game for lacrosse and I am driving so have to be to the school around 4pm for that. Then up to dad's house on Sat. Maybe I will have time to get back to quilting on Sunday. It would be nice. I have one quilt I really need to finish (for my friend Karen) I've only had it since their wedding last June!! SLACKER!!! sheesh!

Anyway I hope you all are having a great week!

Gina's Houses

I am still woefully behind on my blogging and now the weekend is coming up so it will just be worse, sorry about that! My friend, Gina, over at Quilting in the Valleys, sent me the photos of her houses as they are fused and ready for her to finish sewing them down.

Aren't they the cutest?
She is doing each one with a different theme.
I like the house of sewing!
Thanks for sharing your houses with us all, Gina!!

Now I just have to share something with you all. I am *trying* so hard to be a good girl. After all the spending I did recently on my trip, but then the wonderful Anne Sutton at Bunny Hill Designs comes out with Rabbits Prefer Embroidery and, well...go see for yourself what the Fat Quarter Shop has. I need to be good, I need to be good.

Just one more thing, if any of you are done with your Baltimore Bunnies pattern and would lend it to me (or let me buy it from you) please email me.

Have a great weekend!!

My Neighborhood and TOMORROW!!

Woo Hoo!! Carol from Attic Windows Quilt Shop in Grand Rapids sent me these 2 finished houses from her neighborhood. Aren't they too cute?? Check out the lady bug in the chimney on this first one.

I love the bright colors she is using for her neighborhood.
If you are participating let me know and send me a picture of your houses so I can share with everyone!!

I leave tomorrow EARLY to make my way down to Bloomington IN with LTW. She has our route all mapped out with a few quilt shop stops thrown in so we don't get bored with the 5 and a half hour drive! If any of you will be at the Indiana Heritage quilt show email me tonight and we can try to meet up. If you miss this deadline email me anyway, it goes to my Blackberry but include a contact phone number so we can talk! I have class all day on Thursday but am free Friday and Sat.

One more sleep, one more sleep...

Monday, Monday

Only 2 more sleeps and then LTW and I are winging our way to Indiana for the quilt show and classes with Marsha McCloskey!!!

In the mean time, my stash report is small since my excel file is on my computer at owrk. I used an additional 3.5 yards this past week but can't give you any more info than that!! Sorry if you are dying you can figure it out from my last post!

As for the Weight Loss Challenge, I did lose this week, YEAH! I lost 1.6 so I lost the 1.4 I had gained and an additional little bit. Still not a great week but I broke a major milestone (for me). Unfortunately since there are some people in my "real life" that read this (you know who you are) I won't reveal my weight. Let's just say I was pretty happy to see the scale! Now it will probably not be too good after traveling with LTW but who knows. Maybe I'll be good. If I do well with my eating I probably won't do well about adding to the stash, LOL

Oh well, on to My Neighborhood BOM. Someone new has joined in, Kathy over at Imabaglady has these cuties to show for her work. Her daughter is having fun helping her choose the fabric and to add things as they go along. I love them! Thanks for sharing, Kathy!

Remember, if you are playing along, don't forget to send me the pics or tell me to go to your blog and copy them so everyone can see them!!

My Neighborhood BOM

I don't have any new photos but I do have some photos I borrowed from a couple of people who have joined in on the "My Neighborhood" BOM that I have posted.

First up is Faith at Nutbud Quilter. She has the first 2 blocks finished and here they are:

Great job Faith!!
This one came from Carol at Attic Windows in Grand Rapids. (I can't post the link as google is being difficult righ now) Isn't it so cute??
So when are you going to join in the fun and make a global community with us??

Oh Happy Day!!

Maybe I should have said Happy Night? (Not whatever YOU are thinking either, DH was out of town). The shop I had DH take my Bernina to (Bits-N-Pieces) called last night and she was ready for me to go and pick her up. *Insert Happy Dance Here* YEAH!! So what was wrong? I hear you ask? The plastic hook inside where you insert the bobbin and case broke. Yep that's right it BROKE!! Now these machines are not cheap so how come they put a plastic part that could break in a spot where a sharp object would be hitting it?? Who knows. I do know that I had Jay (my favorite repair guy) replace it with a steel one. It cost a little bit more but I don't think it will need to be replaced for awhile either.

I brought Kara's quilt and my Texas quilt to show the shop owner, Julie. She has taken some of LTW's business cards but had not seen any of her custom work. So that was fun to show and tell. Then we 3 (me, Julie and Jay) began talking politics. They already know my political viewpoint so it was safe to talk with them. I ended up there talking with them for over an hour!! Then Jay, bless his heart, carried my machine out to the car and asked me where I got my
"nobama" bumper sticker and if I ever see another one would I get it for him. I said "sure" and we laughed. Since DH was overnight in NC it was a fun way to spend some time.

Speaking of fun...Mary will soon be posting the next installment of MY Neighborhood. So hurry right over there and get the next patterns!! If you click on the house link it will take you directly to her website with the patterns. Go on now, get going!!

I also found a cool Ric Rac site from Very Mary's Blog. You may *need* t0 go there and check it out. Who knew there were so many colors?? Now they just need to work on a search and the different widths!

Ok so I also held a quilt hostage last night. kind of exciting, right? My friend Charlotte, was coming over to pick up a quilt that I had gotten back from LTW for her. Well, Charlotte had my last 2 chicks that I needed to have to be able to put that whole quilt together. Well, what's a gal to do? "They don't have their feet and legs yet." She said. "I'll put them on", I said. "but you can't have your quilt until you bring them to me", I said. So she did! Now I should be able to put that quilt together this weekend.

DD2 is coming home tonight and we will be having her favorite thing that I make, chicken pot pie (from scratch) for dinner, then going to see "He's just not that into you". A friend of hers gave her that book when she and her long term BF broke up, before she went away to college. They were going to different colleges. It helped. We said that if it became a movie we would go see it together. So TONIGHT! Then we have Big Tens for swimming tomorrow am to watch her friend Kara swim. She is such a sweetie. I really like her mom too and will get to see her and go out for lunch with them both after the meet. I will get to give Kara her quilt on Sat too.

What are you all doing this weekend?? Hope you have fun!!

Valentines Day

I hope everyone out there had a great Valentines Day. I had quilting with the CL's for a Quilt-till-you-wilt day that got cut short by my DH. Come home at noon he says, we are going out togehter, he says. Sigh, really, I say? Where? It's a surprise he says. I still need to upload the pictures but will share that later today.

In the mean time, Faith from Nutbud Quilter is the first one I have heard from that completed block 1 in the My Neighborhood BOM. Isn't it too cute? I love the hearts for Valentines day!! Great job Faith.

If any one else out there is playing please send me a photo or a link to your blog! We all want to see how your neighborhood comes out!

FINALLY!!! My block of the Month is here!!!

I have finally figured out how to get the patterns up for the houses in "My Neighborhood". I had Leigh Anna Voigt make the button on the left sidebar. If you want to play along go ahead and grab it and put it on your blog. Please let me know if you are making the blocks. If there are enough of you I will make a list.

Mary Johnson was kind enough to allow me to share some space on her website to host the PDF's of the houses. Apparently you can't upload PDF's to Blogger...who knew? well, Mary did, that's who! So if you click on my button it will take you to Mary's website and the patterns of the first 2 houses.

The patterns are NOT reversed for fusible. I did mine in fusible web. I did mine in a free form style but I drew out the patterns exactly as they are on my quilt. If there is something you don't like about my house, please feel free to change yours and make it YOUR own neighborhood!

Hey maybe we will get a global community going!

I will post (or ask Mary nicely to post for me) 2 houses each month from February on. There are 24 total houses. The block size is 8.5 inches (8.0 finished)

So have fun and send me photos of your houses!! This could be a lot of fun!

A HUGE THANK-YOU to Mary and Leigh Anna for making this happen!!!

Question

OK...I'm trying to figure out how to make it so when I upload the house drawings you will be able to click on them and download them to your computer to print them off along with the color photo.  Anyone out there that can help me with this??

Super Bowl Weekend

I will get the business of Monday posted first and then on to the fun stuff.  

Weigh in was on Friday and I lost 2.2 more pounds for a total of 6 pounds so far.  uh...good think I don't weigh in on Mondays, LOL, the Superbowl food was too good.  Although my stomach is really upset this day from last nights food.  I need to stick to my regular diet!

Stash Busting Report.  I need to do this tomorrow.  I left my binder at home that has all the info in it!  So, I will post that info tomorrow.

I put the borders on "My Neighborhood" this weekend on Saturday.  Isn't it pretty?  I will take it to LTW on Thursday after I show the CL's on Tues and the CHV ladies on Wed.  I also drew each house for a pattern.  There are 24 houses.  I am going to get LTW to scan them and then I will post 2 each month for a BOM for all of you to do.  I will get close ups of the houses I did so you can see what I did with them too.  Sound like fun?
You can see that the cat inspector was hard at work to make sure each pattern was accurate.  I had the house on my light box and Hallie wanted to make sure I was doing it correctly!  Only the best for you guys!
I haven't talked much of the "S" quilt I wanted to make from the graduation squares I had from DD2's HS graduation (3 years ago now).  I finally decided what I wanted to make with the squares.  I designed a BIG block "S" to be done in the white squares.  I then split the quit diagonally from the upper right corner to the lower left corner through the "S".  The left side is done in all blue squares and the right is done in all green ones.  Why you ask?  Well she attended "S"alem high school and now attends "S"tate.  Salem's colors are blue and white and State's are green and white. (I hope this makes sense!)  I had laid it all out a few weeks ago and so I pulled it out on Sunday to see if I could finish it.  Done!!  Now I just need to make the back and get it to LTW.  Again, I want to show the ladies so it will go with the other one on Thursday.  

How was your weekend??

House BOM??

As I was working on my "neighborhood" quilt with all the free form houses it occurred to me that I could probably draw out my houses and make patterns that you all could use if you wanted to make houses too. You can certainly do it like I did but what do you think about me posting a pattern (or 2) every month? Is anyone interested in these as patterns?? Let me know as soon as you can so I can make a decision about making a pattern.

Have a great weekend everyone. We re expecting more snow this weekend! BRRRRR!!!!