Sew Tacey

Love Letters

2012-02-15T15:04:00.000-08:00

This post is a day late, but I wanted to go ahead with it anyway.

Recently, I came into possession of an old trunk filled with photos and memorabilia. At the bottom was a simple box, tied with a vintage ribbon. Inside were these lovingly preserved letters.

They tell the story of two young lovers separated by war, written in their own handwriting. They missed each other so much.

There is a letter for every day he was away. They are sweet and romantic.

They speak of tender love and sorrow from separation. They also talk of every day things like buying a new car (for $2000.00!) and sending money home to put in their nest egg.
That I knew and dearly loved these people make these letters a priceless treasure to me. They make me cry every time I read them. Lucky for me, they are from a time before email, texts, Facebook and Twitter.
As long as their letters survive, my loved ones will live on.

You know, I love technology as much as the next person. But, these letters make me wonder if we aren't doing ourselves a huge disservice. What are we really leaving behind to document our lives and feelings?

So, in honor of Valentines Day do yourself and your ancestors a favor. Sit down and write a letter to someone you love today. Say everything you you know you should say to that person. Don't hold anything back.

I promise you that tactile expression of your feelings will mean more to them than a hundred Twitter updates or Facebook birthday wishes. I guarantee the person who receives your letter will hold onto it for the rest of their life.

And then one day, some lucky ancestor of yours will inherit that lovingly preserved letter and it will enrich their lives just as much as these letters have enriched mine.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentines Day filled with the sweet, sincere love that was expressed in these letters.
XOXOXO

A good day

2012-01-24T21:57:00.000-08:00

My little quilt group has sewn together in the past, but last Monday we had our first "retreat".

I know that online quilting bees are all the rage now, but for me, this is what quilting is all about.

It was a day of stitching, ideas and encouragement. We even played games.

The theme of the day was "Bingo". First we played "strip bingo". Everyone paid for their Bingo cards with 2 1/2' strips. If you wanted 3 cards, you put 3 strips into the pot. The winner of each round won the strips in the pot.

Next we played "Quilt Bingo". Here are the quilt block "bingo cards" I made to play with. I downloaded the games from the Fons & Porter website. It comes complete with instructions for making your quilt blocks, rules for the game and even cards to print off on Avery Business card stock. We played several round for small prizes and the final round was played for everyone's quilt blocks. I won that round and now have several squares I can piece together into a quilt. Yay for me!!

The other game we played wasn't a Bingo game. We played Left, Center, Right but instead of passing chips, we passed fat quarters. Oh my gosh, we had so much fun! We were laughing our heads off as fat quarters were passed every which way! When the game was finally over, Kris had won the pot and went home with 20 fat quarters. Here she is happily showing off her haul.

The rest of the day was spent working on our own projects and giving demonstrations.

Kathy taught us a curve technique. Here is my attempt. It's not too bad. I played it very safe and didn't get too ambitious with my curves. I will definitely be using this technique in the near future.

I demonstrated this machine quilting technique. It is one of my all time favorites.

It was the finishing touch for the quilt I put together from the blocks I made at our last group get-together.

I'm very happy with the way it turned out.

I even had enough time to make 12 squares from a vintage, juvenile airplane print I had in my stash.

Since the retreat, I have been busy quilting a top that has been hanging in my UFO closet for a while.

Remember this drawing?

Well, that drawing turned into these squares.

And, those squares are turning into this. I'm using pink thread for the quilting and I love the look.

I can't wait to finish and share it with you.

And so, I leave you with a little eye candy. I saw this gem on Spoonflower. I have a thing for selvedges, so I just had to treat myself.

Shhhhh, don't tell Matt.

Making Merry

2012-01-01T07:01:00.000-08:00

My blogger friend, Jackie, said in a recent post, "A quiet blog means a quiet life." Not so for me. In my life, a quiet blog means a busy life. Boy, has that ever been true. Between studying (more like cramming/pulling my hair out) for my certification test (I passed, yay!!) and the celebrating the holidays it has been crazy.. but in a good, merry way.
Now that we are in to the new year, my life has quieted down. Hence, I have time again to post.
So buckle up, it's going to be a long one!

I loved how the house looked this year. Last year, since we were traveling to Utah for Christmas, I pretty much phoned in the home decorating. I got everything up, but didn't put in too much effort. This year, with the kids coming here, I did it up right.

I have two totally different styles of decorating. My front sitting room is graced with my beloved, silver tree. The pallet in that room is frosty: white, aqua and green with some glitter/metallic touches.

I love this room. It is calming and peaceful.

The great room is a different story. This room is holly, jolly. This is the room where the family tree goes. And, you know what I mean by "family tree". The family tree is the tree with all of the ornaments the kids handmade in school. This is the tree with the collection of Hallmark ornaments I bought for each child. This is the tree with the tinsel on it. Yes, I said tinsel. Martha and all the other decorating gurus may think it is tacky, but my tree would not be the same without it. God bless it, I say!

Every year, I add one or two new treasures to my decoration collection and this year I discovered a wonderful sight with the most delightful printables. Announced Design has announcements, cards and printable artwork to die for!

I even purchased this darling story that I gave out as neighbor gifts to my friends with small children. It even comes with a recipe and gift tags. If the glowing thank-you's from my friends are any indication, it was a definite hit.
She has some cute Valentines Day printables as well. Be sure to check it out.

Not all of my friends received the story as their gift. I baked up some of my favorite raisin bars and gingerbread men and whipped up some gift baskets with hot chocolate mix and games. Baking for friends is one of my favorite Christmas traditions.

With the decorating and baking done, I was ready for the kids to hit town and party!

And this year, it was all about this little guy. Not the tall, good-looking fellow on the left; the pudgy, bald little darling on the right.

There is nothing quite like Christmas as seen through the eyes of a child. He was so enthralled with the tree, we had a hard time getting him to pose for the camera.

He got some pretty cool gifts, but like most babies, he was most interested in playing with the wrapping paper.

It was pretty warm while they were here, so we were able to take Mason up to the park. He wasn't quite sure what to make of the grass.

We also got to take him for his first beach outing.

Here's Mama letting him feel the cold sand.

And of course, nothing tops off a day at the beach like a little ice cream.

Beautiful day, beautiful family. My absolute pride and joy.
Happy New Year everyone! May it be a blessed and peaceful one for us all.

The Essentials

2011-12-07T10:31:00.000-08:00

My family will tell you that at Christmas, I am all about the music. The more traditional the better. I'm sorry, but it just isn't Christmas to me until I have broken out the Nat King Cole, Johnny Mathis and Carpenter's CDs. However, I am always on the look out for new music to add to my collection, so over the years a few others have become traditions as well. Now I'm no iTunes, but I guess you could say these are my own "Essentials"

For my boys, this is the quintessential Christmas album. This album is to them, what Johnny Mathis is to me. And, it isn't just them. My Christmas would not be the same without Animal screaming, "WON'T GO!"

Next is this album. Over the years, this plucky little album earned "classic" status.

And of course, Mannheim Steamroller. Nobody does a better version of Still, Still Still.

I don't think the rest of the family feels this way, but this is the latest keeper for me. It combines my love for James Taylor with my favorite holiday, so this is a no brainer for me. I think his version of Baby, It's Cold Outside is a delight.

Love her, too. Plus, the fact that her voice is right in my range makes it doubly fun to sing along with.

Then of course, there is this fellow. That velvet voice...dreamy...sigh... Oh sorry, where was I again?

Oh yeah, okay.

So I thought I would share with you three new inductees to my favorites list. Listening to them makes me smile. I hope they do you, too. Enjoy.

(Disclaimer: Sorry about the quality of some of the videos. The last two a pretty amateurish.)

Giving thanks

2011-11-17T16:16:00.001-08:00

As I was sorting through some old photos the other day, I ran across this little gem. This is me in 6th grade, working on a sewing project for my Jr. High Home Ec. class. I was sewing an elephant pillow as a decoration for my room. We had already done straight line sewing by constructing a chef's apron. Now we were working on sewing curves. What would be a fast, easy project for me now, was quite challenging for me then.
As I recall, I got quite familiar with my seam ripper because I had a huge problem keeping the 5/8" seam allowance going around the curves of the little trunk. We were graded on accuracy and my teacher was quite a stickler, so I wanted to get it just right. The memory makes me smile.
I had no idea then what learning that skill would lead to now...

And, these few photos don't even begin to cover the clothes, toys and items for my home I have churned out over the years.

So, since this time of year is a time to show our gratitude, I wanted to say thank-you.

Thank you, Mrs. Highfield.

Thanks for your skill and dedication as you introduced a silly, giggling, home-economically-challenged, pre-teen girl to a skill that has rewarded me so much through the years.

I know it was your job, but I appreciate that while you were firm in your demand for attention to detail and accuracy, you were patient and compassionate as I learned the ropes. Because of you, I have a talent that continues to bring me great satisfaction to this day.

My only regret is that I cannot speak these words to you in person. Not that I think you would remember me or anything. I am sure you helped many, many young girls in your career. It's just that if I were able to speak to you personally, I would know my words actually reached you. I've never been a teacher, but I imagine that I would be very happy to know that something I taught someone actually changed their life for the better.

You did that for me, Mrs. Highfield. If you ever do stumble across this blog, I hope you approve of the fruit of your labors.

Remember this quilt? Wow, it's hard to believe I finished that top a year ago. Well, the week before we left for Thanksgiving, I finally got it quilted.

I love the way it turned out.

It is a little hard to see in the photos but I did something different with my stipple stitch. I used the zig-zag stitch on my machine and I am thrilled with the results. The quilting really goes with the Halloween theme of the fabric. The multi-directional zig-zags remind me of the arched back of a cat and for that reason I have named this quilt "Scaredy-Cat". It just seems to fit.

Here is a picture of the back. Although the fabric is busy, it does show off the quilting more than the front. The smokey blue thread I used just sort of blends in on the front.

You might recognize the pattern of this quilt as the same one I used for the quilt I made for my father-in-law's 95th birthday.

Well, I was finally able to give it to him at the big family celebration on the 27th. I am happy to report it was a big hit.

Here is another quilt top I whipped up before we left for Utah.

I have had this fabric in my stash for a while but was unsure of what to do with it. I didn't want to chop up the design, so I finally just decided to use the entire yard as the center and run a couple of borders around it. I think it made a fun, bright toddler quilt.

Here is the backing and binding fabric I have chosen. The multi-colored dots will be the back and the grey houndstooth will be the binding.

Of course, I can't use something from my stash without finding something to replace it. Here are a few fabrics I just couldn't resist. Lucky for me, they were all on sale!

With the holidays coming up and my training certification looming in December, I probably won't be able to spend too much time quilting. The first part of the month will be spent cramming for the test. After that I will be frantically getting the house ready for the kids Christmas visit. However, here is a sneak peek of what I am planning for my next project.

I can't wait to get started!

The big five-oh

2011-11-05T14:37:00.000-07:00

This week, I turned 50. I've never had a problem with milestone birthdays. I didn't bat an eye when I turned thirty or forty. But, turning fifty has made me stop and think a bit. If I am true to the life spans of both sides of my family, I am over half way through my life. Wow, it really makes me want to make the most of every day. Carpe diem, an all.
So, I wanted to mark the occasion with something special. What better than a trip back to Maui?

I'm here for the week, basking in the sun and warming my toes in the sand.

I marked the actual day with something totally out of character for me. I took a motorcycle ride into Lahaina. I'm not a huge fan of motorcycles, but there is something about turning fifty that brought out the daredevil in me.

The day was also filled with a wonderful reflexology massage and pedicure at the Pedi Care Center and then delicious sushi at Sansei. But of all the gifts and indulgences I received that day this one was the best...

Nothing can top a little bit of Mason.

Next week it's back to real life. I'll have more quilting photos to post. Until then, aloha!

2011-10-29T06:49:00.000-07:00

I have been feeling very swamped lately. Truthfully, it's not just lately. For the last year, I have felt like I was barely keeping my head above water. Mind you, it's not that I haven't been happy. I am happy and I feel very blessed. But along with that, I have felt this sense of being out of control and a bit desperate because of everything that pulls at me: work, family responsibilities, church/temple commitments, along with service I want to give, classes I am taking and the creative pursuits that I need, in order to keep my sanity.
So for the last few weeks, I have been taking a step back. I have been asking myself a few basic questions. How did I get this busy? How did every day become a rush to the finish line? How can I get more joy out of everything I am doing? Are there things I need to let go?
I sat down and made a list:

What must I do?
What do I want to do?
What do I merely like the idea of?

Keeping up this blog is one of the things I have really had to mull over. On the one hand, it does put an added stress on me. Even though I don't always make it, I feel that I should blog at least once a week. When I don't meet that goal, I feel the weight of it. It sits in the back of my mind as one more of the myriad of things that I'm not getting done. On the other hand, this blog is the most success I have had at journaling since I became an adult.
To make a long story short, taking a break from it to see how it felt, I decided that while there are things in my life I need to let go of, the blog won't be one of them. I may not be able to blog as often as I would like, but whatever I can do is better than nothing.

During my little break, I did manage to get quite a bit done. I finished my father-in-laws birthday quilt. I am very pleased with the way it turned out.

The colors worked together wonderfully. The subdued tones keep are masculine, but the dusty blue and gray sashing keeps it from being too dark.

Again, to keep it masculine, I chose to go with organic, straight line quilting.

I adore the border fabric! Probably because my own father said those very things to me when I was going up.

Here is the back. You can't see it from this far away but the center fabrics repeats the word "Fix".

This closeup gives a much clearer view.
I hope Grandpa likes it. On Thanksgiving Day, he will turn the big 9-5. I hope I am still going as strong as he is when (if guess I should say "if") I get to that age.

My friend Jen, is hosting a charity craft fair in November. I already donated a quilt but I wanted to do something more, so I decided to whip up some Christmas aprons for her to sell. I used this tutorial.
This is the go-to pattern I use when I need to quickly make a cute apron. The pattern is true to it's title. It really does take under an hour to put it together.
My plan is to make ten aprons for her, but with my new goal not to over-schedule myself, I will see how many I can get done.

I've also worked on a couple more small projects around the house. I added some flowers to the spice tin magnets I made a couple of weeks ago.

While cleaning out my linen closet, I rediscovered these beach themed "day of the week" tea towels purchased while we lived on Maui.

They really add some flare to my guest bathroom. Again, small changes, but they make me smile.

I've had these old skeleton keys for quite a while now. Aunt Twila and I used to like to go to the yard sale held at her retirement community annually. She purchased these for me at the last one she was well enough to go to.
I haven't quite known what to do with them, but I finally decided to just wrap them with some ribbon I had on hand and add a couple of beads.
I was in a hurry when I took this photo and you can't see them very well. I will take some better close ups and post them in my next blog.
This simple saucer of keys makes me happy every time I see it. It makes me remember Aunt Twila and the fun we used to have. Geeez, I miss her.

If you're interested, I posted another recipe for you. Check it out on the What's cookin' page.

Hearth and home

2011-10-09T22:15:00.000-07:00

Maybe it is the cool, cozy feeling in the air, but something about The Fall puts me in full-on nesting mode. Every year I get the urge to redo and redecorate and this year is no different. So, armed with plenty of inspiration from Pinterest and several of my new favorite blogs, I have been making some subtle changes.

The hutch in my sitting room has been bothering me lately. More and more, I found myself disliking the bold colored plates that I had there. (Sorry, but for the life of me, I could not find a before picture.) So, I removed the offending dinnerware, pulled out some starfish, sand dollars and every neutral serving piece I own and here is what I came up with.

I lived with it a couple of days and then decided it needed a little more punch...

so, I took an aqua plate I had in my guest bath and used it as the center focal point. I'm still not crazy about the floral dessert plates, but it is a work in progress.

I also changed the container for my shell collection to this lovely apothecary jar with an added bit of twill tape ribbon.

I have had these vintage spice tins just sitting in a box in a closet so I decided to see what I could do with them.

When I say vintage, I mean it. Look at the price!

Anyway, with the help of a couple of magnets attached to the back, here they are now on the front of my fridge.

I love them. I'm going to find some little flowers for the other two.

And finally, I collected several of these tiny bubble shells while I lived on Maui. They have been languishing on a shelf in my hutch since we moved to California, but I decided I needed to do something a bit special with them.

So, I cut a piece of cardboard to fit inside a frame I had lying around, covered it with some linen fabric from my stash, pulled out my glue gun...

and, voila! This now sits on my night stand.

These are small changes I know, but they make me happy.

Along with all of that, I am working on a quilt for my father-in-law. He will celebrate his 95th birthday this November and we will be attending the big family party in his honor. This quilty-poo is our gift to him. I'll be sure a post picture of the finished quilt.

All in all, a very crafty, contented week for me.

I also made one of my very favorite, go-to dinners. Check it out on the "What's cookin" page.

Happy Birthday

2011-09-29T15:49:00.000-07:00

Oh yeah, and Happy Birthday (yesterday) to the love of my life. How could I not adore a man who can calm his grandchild with such tenderness. Now, that's a real man.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

2011-09-29T14:11:00.000-07:00

Well, you might have noticed a couple of changes to the design and format of my blog. This became necessary last week as I was innocently updating a couple of gadgets in my sidebar.
For some unknown reason, those small updates created havoc with the format of my entire site. Long story short, new layout.
I still can't get my followers to show up. Hey, Google Blogger, what's up with that!! I need my peeps!
You might notice that I have added a page to this blog. I'm calling it "What's cooking".
Since I have lost 30 pounds, one of the most often asked questions I get is what I am eating. People find it hard to believe that I don't have to suffer through meals of tofu and wheat grass. When I tell them I probably eat better, tastier food than they do, they scoff.
So, I thought, every once and a while, I would do a post on some of the recipes I cook on a regular basis. Many of them are fast and I think they are delicious. Please keep in mind that I am neither a food blogger nor a photographer, so these posts will not be able to compete with the professionals. But I can show you how what and how much I eat. I will also tell you if it is my own recipe and if not, where I found it.
You may have also noticed that my play list no longer starts automatically. I purposely made that change because I have read that some readers find it annoying and it also causes problems if they happen to be listening to music on their computers while they are blog surfing. So now, if you want to hear what I have been listening to, you will have to click the play button for yourself.

Last weekend was a fun one. Some members of my little bee and I spent Saturday morning at a local quilt show. I will be honest and say, I was very underwhelmed with the quality of the quilts being displayed. From what I can see, most quilters have issues with color (it's all about value, people!) and negative space. Most of the quilts I see today are too garish and way, way too busy.
Anyway, I was ready to leave when I came across a display of vintage quilts hidden at the back of the hall of which, the above quilt was a part. Now that's what I'm talkin' about, ladies. This is how it's done.

The white background gives my eye a place to rest and also focuses my attention on the hand quilting, which is phenomenal.

I love the care and attention this quilter took in her quilting design. All over quilting is nice, but her attention to pattern truly enhances the pattern of the quilt top.

You can't see it too well here, but this quilt way lovingly made in the mid-1800's, a true heirloom.

This is another quilt that makes great use of negative space. I'm not crazy about the pattern, but the colors...j'adore!

Again, I love the intricacy of the hand quilting. I mean you've just gotta love the 'lil hearts. This inspires me to be a little more adventurous in my quilting. No, I'm not going to start hand quilting. Sorry, I don't have that kind of patience. Machine quilting allows me to actually finish more quilts, which is what I really like to do.

This scrappy, utility quilt gave me the vapors. Even though there is a lot of color and pattern here, the muted color values kept it soothing. I wanted to stuff this baby in my purse and sneak out the back with it!

I did have to wonder about the correctness of the label though. It says it was made in the late 1800's. Hmmm, I don't know.

That binding looks machine stitched to me and with a pretty fine stitch at that. I don't know, did sewing machines do that kind of stitching back then?

This was another quilt that had me contemplating pulling the fire alarm and then absconding with it in all the commotion. OH. MY. GOSH. First of all, I have always wanted to attempt lone star quilt and secondly, the kaleidoscope effect of those colors! Amazing.

This label says that the lucky owner found it at a thrift store for a few dollars. Why, oh why do can't I ever make a find like that?

This quilt won me over because it's made from forgotten squares that someone's grandma stitched by hand. I also love the biblical theme and even though you can't really see it, the bottom right corner is a scene of Daniel in the lion's den and she misspelled Daniel. That little imperfection charms me.

These last two quilts made me melt. Loud? Yes. Garish? Oh, boy. Busy with a bad use of negative space? No doubt about it. A certified, irreplaceable treasure? Absolutely.

Something to make you smile.

2011-09-22T10:11:00.000-07:00

These made me giggle. I thought they might brighten your day.
Enjoy!

Pinteresting

2011-09-19T10:03:00.000-07:00

So, Pinterest is my newest discovery/addiction. It is also one of those inventions that has me smacking my forehead exclaiming, "Why didn't I think of that !?"

You see, (as my overstuffed file cabinet can attest to), I have been collecting and "pinning" images all of my life. When I was a teenager, I filled an entire bedroom wall with images, words and quotes that I loved. Even now, I have files and notebooks full!

Here's some pages from my low tech version.

Here's an oldie but a goodie I pulled from my files.

Check out that date! I clipped it from my Seventeen magazine in 1979! This article has moved with me from California, to Utah, to Texas, to Hawaii and back to California!

I'm a sick woman. I know this.

The other genius, online invention I can't believe I didn't come up with is Polyvore.

Again, I have been doing the low tech version of this forever, as well.

I'm not great at shopping. I find the amount of choice overwhelming and I get lost. To help me focus, I cut out what I like and glue pieces together on paper in a collage. When I go shopping, I take the notebook (or a single page) with me and I can then shop for what I need without getting distracted by all the other ~~crap~~, uh, stuff that's out there.

Think I'm pulling your leg?

Check this out.

This is the image that made me decide to let me hair go natural. A decision I have never regretted, by the way. I highly recommend it.

You know what is amazing to me about Pinterest and Polyvore, is how wildly popular they are! All this time, I have been thinking I was the only person out there who did this. In fact, I never mentioned it to any of my friends because truthfully, I was a bit ashamed of it. I thought I was a kind of crazy. I thought it was a strange version of hoarding or even OCD. Well, if I'm over the edge, I guess a significant amount of the population went with me.

So apparently, I am ahead of my time when coming up with ideas. I'm just two steps behind in the technology department. That my friends, is the story of my life.

As for what I have been up to for the last few weeks...a lot, but I can't fit it all in one post so I'll spread it out over the next couple of weeks.

One of the most exciting things for me is I finished the baby quilt.

I tried a bunch of new free motion techniques and am very pleased with how they turned out.

The back shows them off even better.

I still love my new labels!

What is great about this quilt is that it all began with an inspiration.

From start to finish, it is mine.

Tacey created...

Joe approved. :)

Scrappily ever after?

2011-08-30T15:44:00.000-07:00

scrap·pyAdjective/ˈskrapē/

1. Consisting of disorganized, untidy, or incomplete parts.

2. Determined, argumentative, or pugnacious.

Yeah, that about covers it. That's me. At least for today, anyway. My house is disorganized, untidy and filled with things that I can't seem to get completed. To top that off, this morning I was determined to have an argument with my husband, who finally slammed out of the house in frustration due to my pugnaciousness.
Yep, it been a pretty darn scrappy morning. I have no one to blame but myself. Sigh...

Scrappiness had a much nicer connotation last week when some quilting bee buddies and I got together for another one of our "scrapfests".

This is a fun afternoon get-together we hold on a fairly regular basis, to which we all bring our scraps and assembly line wonky blocks for everyone.

Someone trims...

Someone presses...(yes, we do have a gentleman quilter in the group. We love Rob!)

and someone sews. During which, there is a lot of gabbing, copious amounts of laughing, plenty of encouragement and just general camaraderie. I love it! For me, it is what quilting is all about.

My anal-ness finally paid off when I won the coveted prize of "most organized scraps." I have them in this nice little rolling container, sorted by color. But, I have to admit it wasn't much of a contest.

This was my competition. :)

Here are the blocks I came away with. (Sorry for the terrible photography. I was taking these pictures at 6:00 a.m. this morning without much lighting)

These two are my favorites

Look at the 'lil puppy!

My goal for putting this quilt together is to do it without buying anything. It all has to come from what I have on hand. So, this is the direction I am going.

I LOVE how the blocks go with the denim. It reminds me of the fabric patches we used to put on our jeans back in the 70's when I was a teen. However, when I checked my stash, this is all I had, so there just isn't going to be enough. But I will definitely be keeping this in mind for future scrappy quilts.

I did find these gray pieces leftover from a previous quilt. I also found a matching 3/4 yard piece so this is what I will use for the sashing.

Now I just have to decide which one of these will be the border and which one will be the backing.

I like this one. It kind of stays in line with the feel of the other scraps. It would make a very cute border.

But I'm leaning toward this one, because it picks up the colors of all the scraps and it has a nice, vintage feel to it. Which to do like? I would love it if you would leave me a comment and tell me what you think.

I've also been busy finishing up the quilting on this.

I'm working on the small filler quilting. It's quite time consuming

I love the way the swirls turned out. They really pop the inside of the pinwheels.
I was hoping to have this quilt finished and ready for binding by the time we headed out to Mason's blessing in Utah this weekend, but I don't know if I'll have enough time to finish before we leave.
Then again, if Matt still isn't speaking to me tonight (and I wouldn't really blame him), I may have plenty of alone time to get 'er dun.
So I guess the moral of this post is this.
Scrappiness in quilting...good.

Scrappiness in the marital relationship...bad. Very. Very. Bad

Bliss

2011-08-23T15:19:00.000-07:00

I have heard it said that a good blogger never blogs about the same thing twice. Well then, I guess I'm just not a very good blogger because I'm about to break that rule in a big way.

I mean, how can I not blog about this little guy! Just seeing these pictures, taken while I was in Utah visiting, makes my heart fill up. I feel so much love I just cannot contain it, so I'm sharing with you, my friends and family, because I know you will understand.

I had a wonderful time in Utah with my mom and Kade (son #2). We had so much fun redecorating Kade's apartment, talking, eating out, talking, shopping, more talking, going to the movies (btw, if you haven't yet seen The Help, go. Go NOW. RUN! It is the best movie I have seen in years...sorry Harry), even more talking, and just hanging out in general.

I've said it before and it will always be true, I never laugh more than whenmom and I are together. Everything from breaking down in Kade's car, gettingstuck in Sardine Canyon and having to wait two hours for the tow truck, totrying to kill the giant spider racing across the living room floor wasabsolutely, hysterically funny. I'm giggling just thinking aboutit. Man, good times.

The trip was made even better when Damen and Christy came and spent a couple of days. I could NOT get enough Mason time. In fact, I think about the only time I relinquished hold of him was during feeding time.

Look at that little face! He seems to have discovered his tongue.

He has officially started smiling and cooing. You can't hear it, but in this picture he was just cooing up a storm. I don't know what, but he was trying hard to tell me something. I like to believe it was, "I love you, Gramma."

Kade is quite excited about being an uncle. Here he is helping Mason learn to dance. I mean, even a little guy has got to be able to dazzle the ladies with some smooth moves and good Uncles are always ready to show 'em the ropes!

Being with my family is always a little piece of heaven.
I've also heard it said that we all have to find our bliss. Well, you're looking at mine. Thanks for letting me share it with you.

Iconic

2011-08-09T16:36:00.000-07:00

I once told my mother that as I aged I wanted to become a woman of style and substance. It's still true, I do. Truthfully, I strive to be a woman who shows younger woman that aging is nothing to be feared and show an example of aging well.
As I make that statement, I have several role models in mind. Women whom I have admired. Some of them friends, some of them as icons from afar.
One of whom I want to highlight today. Why today? Because I've got nothing else to post. I've been busy getting ready for a vacation and haven't been had time to quilt.
So here's to Audrey Hepburn. A woman whose authenticity, style and wisdom are an inspiration to me.

Interesting and if you think about it, surprisingly true.

I once made a belief box with the theme of beauty through virtue. That was one of the quotes I used.

Me, too!

I especially like them if they are pop-up books. I still love pop-up books!

Style and substance... and that my dear ladies, is how it's done.

Finally, I leave you with one last image.

I'll be gone for a while. I'm off to try to live those words.

Photo credit: Lauren Fair Photography
www.laurenfairphotography.com
http://laurenfair.wordpress.com
Text - Holstee Manifesto http://shop.holstee.com/pages/about.

Inspiration

2011-07-28T15:06:00.000-07:00

The Shabby Nest is one of my new favorite blogs and while checking it out yesterday, I came across this great entry. It captured my fancy because lately, I have really been trying to pay attention to the world around me as a source for quilting inspiration.

So now, occasionally in my blog I'm going to play my own version of that post and call it:

If This (fill in the blank) Were A Quilt

I'm sure Matt (and everyone else who saw me) thought I was crazy when, during our last drive back from Utah, I jumped out of the car during one of our gas stops, to take umpteen pictures of this weathered, old bowling alley sign. But, I was absolutely inspired by the colors and the retro look of the diamonds.

I couldn't wait to get home to interpret what I saw into a quilt.

So here is my version...

First, I shopped my stash and found these little lovelies.

Which I then turned into these flying geese.

Which I pieced together into these Dutchman's Puzzle Blocks.

Which came together like a dream into this baby quilt.

I think I captured the diamond shapes of the sign letters with the pinwheel triangles.

And, the whimsical colors make it perfect for a baby girl, without making it too cutsie.

As soon as I get it quilted, there is a certain little sweetie, who shall remain nameless (no literally, after three weeks, her parents have yet to pick out a name for her), who will be getting this.

Welcome to the world, Baby Girl Garrett.

Along with the baby quilt, I've been working furiously on my wall hanging.

I practiced more pebble quilting on the background and did straight stitching to mimic thread, on the spools.

Around the triangles, I stitched in the ditch.

The quilting really shines through on the back. I love how textured it is.

Now, I just need to finish the binding and it is ready to go.

And lastly,

Remember these?

As promised, here are the pictures of my sister and me in the costumes Aunt Twila sewed us from those patterns.

Yes, that is chubby-cheeked, little me in the red lion suit. I guess you can see why the kids in elementary school used to call me Chipmunk. I guess as nicknames go, it could have been worse.

When I saw these pictures again, I was filled with a rush of love and warmth for a woman who was a huge influence to me throughout my life. She was a skilled homemaker and believed it was an art. When she was younger, she cooked, knitted, sewed and made decorations for her home.

She encouraged me in those same pursuits, as well.

I believe she is one of the reasons I love homemaking so much.

Now that I think about it, I guess I've never really had to look too far for inspiration.

It's been a while

2011-07-14T12:16:00.000-07:00

Grief is a funny thing. It is sneaky and hits you from behind when you least expect it. With my Dad, it didn't hit me right away. Yes, I was sad and I cried but, I think I was a bit in denial at first. It just didn't seem like he was really gone forever. As time has gone on and the finality of it settled on me, my grief has gotten worse and the loneliness of it more pronounced. Photos of him that used to make me smile, now bring an ache inside that I have to physically shake off.
This time, perhaps because I lost Dad first, the grief hit immediately. I mean, I'm losing my posse! I'm losing the people who have helped me feel anchored in this crazy, ever changing world. What can I say? I feel like an orphan! It's not rational, I know. I still have plenty of friends and family in my life. Never the less, it is how I have felt.
Things have seemed pretty darn bleak to me and I have been sooooooooooo tired. Sometimes, it has taken all my effort not to fall asleep during the day. This can be a bit of a problem at work, let me tell you.
I have also been in a kind of fog for the last few weeks. It seems like I can't hold a thought in my head or concentrate for very long. Oh, I've managed the basics to get through the days, but that's about it. Poor, Matt. He's had to deal with the brunt of it.
So, I did what I always do when the darkness closes in on me. I took it to my Heavenly Father and asked him to help me...to heal me.
He did. I am better. Not a 100% yet, but better. I know he will help me the rest of the way in time.
All that to explain why I haven't blogged in a while. I just haven't been up to it. I meant to but I couldn't seem to concentrate long enough to get it done.
But, I'm back. Nice to be here.
I have managed to do a bit of quilting through all of this. I know it sounds weird, but sewing helps me process. For me, it is a form of meditation. The room is totally quiet, except for the ambient noises outside the open window, my hands are busy doing something I don't really have to think about, which thus frees my mind to ponder on whatever I need to.
So here is what I have been up to...

First of all, I finished the quilt for my nephew's new son, Declan. I can't tell you how pleased I am with it and how happy I was to be able to give it to him. I LOVE it! It is cute, with out being "cutsie". I found the tutorial here at Moda Bake Shop.

I used a solid green Kona cotton I found at Joanne's for the backing. I love the way it highlights the quilting.

Can I just tell you how excited I am about my new quilt labels designed for me by my friend, Anelieze Castrejon? She is an up and coming graphic artist who was gracious enough to design these in her spare time. She did a great job.

I also found these tiny "P.S. I love you" labels when I was organizing (another thing I tend to do a lot of when I am depressed and the world seems out of my control) some drawers in my sewing room. I don't know where or when I bought them, but I adore them and am now putting them on all my projects.

After I finished I wanted to do a project for myself. I have given away my last several projects, so I thought I would make something just for me.

When I get this finished, it will hang on a wall in my studio (aka, my sewing room. Studio just sounds so much more professional, don't you think?)

My favorite block is this paper pieced sewing machine. Oh, that my real sewing machine looked so mod. I even used the memory feature to engrave my name on it. Love. It.
That's all the sewing I did. But I wanted to show you something else.
As we were going through my Aunt's estate, we came across some boxes filled with vintage sewing items. These were generously given to me. They are a treasure trove of wonders!

There were boxes of vintage patterns in pristine condition. How do I love thee...let me count the ways, baby!

These four patterns are my favorites and according to the measurements, they should be about my size.

Here are some patterns that she sewed for us nieces. The two at the bottom are Halloween costumes she made for my sister and me. Denise was the Fairy Princess, I was the lion. Hey, I think I got jipped on that deal!
I actually have pictures of us wearing them. I will have to dig those out and post them.
And here's the amazing thing

Look at the price...45 cents! Last time I checked patterns were up to $15.00...$20.00 for Vogue. As Aunt Twila used to say, "It's highway robbery, if you ask me."

Introducing...

2011-06-29T14:51:00.000-07:00

Sorry, honey but I have a new man in my life and I have to admit...

I am one smitten kitten.

Mason Clayton Burnham made his entrance on June 17th, 2011. Yes, while I was paying my final respects to my beloved Aunt Twila, Mason was pushing his way into this world. I know there are huge cosmic implications in all of that, but I haven't been able to focus enough to sit down and understand what it all means. All I know is that Mason's blessed arrival has helped lessen the pain of her loss.
But, I just can't talk more about it right now. It is too big and the hole she left is too gaping. Later, later...
Today I will focus on joy.

Look at those cute little fingers...

Don't you just love those piggies? Couldn't you just eat them up?

He had a bit of jaundice, so he had to have the "light" treatment. We started calling him our little, radio-active man.

Can I tell you how much fun I had helping to bath him?

This little piggy went to market...

Love, love, love those cheeks!

It's been a while since I've had to test water temp. You test with your elbow, Right?

Trying hard to keep water from getting in those precious eyes.

Oops, looks like this little buck-a-roo is plum tuckered out.

Sleep well, my darling Mason. Here is the lullaby I used to sing your father to sleep with. I adore you.

P.S.-Check out the quilt he's sleeping on.

I got the low down, no where, freeze dried, fat fried repair shop ba-loooes!

2011-06-07T16:47:00.000-07:00

There's not much quilting going on here lately. My beloved Bernina is in the shop for a tune up and a minor repair. And, since the local dealer is retiring and forever closing his doors, everyone in town has their machine in for a tune up. The turn around time is going to be three to four weeks. Arrgh!
My quilting has come to an abrupt halt and I am definitely suffering some separation anxiety!

To ease the pain, I pulled out my old Kenmore, but it's a bit like going back to a horse and buggy when you have been speeding along in a sleek, red Ferrari.

Don't you just love the stylish piece of painters tape I use as a 1/4 " seam allowance guide?

And, what about that state of the art control panel? Wow.

Actually I feel a little guilty poking fun at my trusty, old machine. I bought it years ago, to sew these costumes for my little tikes.

Well, these are my "tikes" today and that Kenmore is still going strong. I have never, no never, taken it in for a service or repair. I have never oiled it. In fact, until I got the Bernina, I didn't even know you were supposed to regularly oil your machine.
I have carted that Kenmore from Utah to Texas, across the Pacific to the humid, dusty island of Maui for three years, and then back across that same ocean in the hold of a damp cargo ship, when we moved back to the mainland. Through it all that baby is still going strong. I guess you could say I have gotten my $350.00 worth out of it. Don't you think?

While I can't do any quilting and my nephew's new son is going to have to wait a bit for his quilt, at least I can sew quilt tops and some other crafty projects I have been wanting to work on.

I made these to help entertain my friend Emily's daughter during church.

They are the cutest finger puppets with a fun little carry case.

Aren't they awesome? They were not at all hard to make. It took me less than an afternoon to complete the entire project from start to finish.

This fashionable piggy is by far my favorite. I mean who can resist that kicky, little skirt? A definite must have for this spring seaon.

I used this pattern ordered from Pink Chalk Fabric. If you are looking for a quiet, low-tech toy to spark the imagination, this is great. They were a huge hit. Little Naomi was enthralled.

And sew, I mean so, I leave you with this, just because I found it when I was looking for the old picture of the Halloween costumes and it is my favorite photo of all time.
Love. These. Boys.

The Best 16 Minutes Of Your Day

2011-05-25T12:01:00.000-07:00

Because you are awesome!

Quilting A.D.D.

2011-05-18T12:21:00.000-07:00

I can never seem to do just one thing at a time. Seriously, I never read just one book at a time. Currently, I am reading Atlas Shrugged, The Atonement and Lord of Misrule.
Also, I never just watch television. I always do something else along with it. It might be planning the monthly menu, perusing a magazine or one of my current books, binding a quilt, or any one of a myriad of other tasks. It's so bad, my son Kade once accused me of listening to (as opposed to watching) T.V. He's right. I usually miss the important parts of every show because I am focusing on my other project. Then I drive everyone crazy asking, "What happened?! What happened!?"
I think the kinder, gentler term for this behavior is "multi-tasking" but I tend to label it a.d.d.
I'm always telling people, I have (fill in the blank) a.d.d. I hope that's not too politically incorrect.

Lately, my "quilting a.d.d." is in overdrive. So much so, that I haven't had time to blog.
So, buckle up baby, this is going to be a looooooooooong post.

TA DA! I finally put the final touches on Joe's car quilt.

He loves it so much, we had a hard time keeping him off for the pictures.

Here he is giving me his version of the high 5 for a job well done.

Because I think it turned out so cool, I wanted to get some shots of the back. However, getting Joe to clear out was a challenge.

This is the best I could do.
I love how this quilt turned out. However, I did get bored with the seemingly endless pebble quilting. So, right in the middle of that project, I started working on a couple of others.

It all started when I saw this Flickr photo and remembered that I had a bunch of these strips left over from a previous quilt.

Pretty soon, I had pieced six, lovely blocks.

I only made one big boo-boo. I didn't quite have enough of the border fabric and ended up having to piece the last block. I'm not too upset about it, though. Once it is quilted no one will even notice.

With the blocks made, I got out my design journal and got to work. This is what I came up with...

...and, this is how it turned out. I think it looks like door panels, so that is what I named it.

For months now, I have had this bag of scraps sitting on a shelf waiting. I finally pulled it out and came up with this wonky log cabin block. I like it, but I'm not crazy about it. In fact, now that I see it, I'm thinking I want to do wonky stars instead. I think it will make a nice "boy" quilt.

My nephew and his wife are due to have their third child next month, so I began work on a baby quilt for them. A while back, I found the pattern at the Moda Bake Shop site and I've been dying for an excuse to make it.

It is a pretty straightforward, easy pattern, except for the applique. I haven't done much machine applique so it is slow going. But, if you don't look too awfully close, it's not turning out half bad.

Using published patterns is something I do regularly. However, I really want to improve my own design skills. So, while I have been working on all these other projects, I have also been working on a couple of ideas.
My inspiration came via a couple of magazine photos I clipped.

I spotted this pretty, little rug in an old Pottery Barn Kids catalog.

Here's my re-do. I think it will make a sleek, modern baby girl quilt.

The October 2010 Living magazine had a spread on creative floor tiling. This one gave me the inspiration for my next Halloween quilt. I'm thinking of grey, lime green and purple.
Well, that's what I've been up to lately. Now, I'm off to read one of my books and listen to the television.

Missing Person

2011-05-03T15:00:00.000-07:00

I'm sure you've noticed I haven't been around for a while. I've had a lot going on, just no time to post about it. First the bad news...

3 weeks ago, my beloved Aunt collapsed and was rushed to the hospital. We have all had to come to grips with the fact that she will probably never go home again. At the very least, she will never be able to live on her own again.

You know, there is no more helpless feeling than watching someone make the long, slow descent to death. There is nothing to do but sit by the bed and act like it really isn't happening. You talk as if it's all going to work out. You make small talk, perhaps crack a couple of jokes and maybe even make plans for the future. We humans cling to life and hope, until the bitter end. But, somewhere inside, there is the knowledge that those plans will never come to fruition.

I can't even comprehend what life will be like without her.

Of course, it is one of God's tender mercies that even in the midst of a dreadful situation, there are always those good things we can focus on.

My Mom made a trip here to offer help and comfort to Aunt Twila. Afterward, she stayed with me for a few days. It was wonderful to just hang out together for a while. I never laugh more than when Mom and I get together. I don't know what it is, but we seem to always be giggling like a couple of school girls. Don't ask me why but when we are together, absolutely EVERYTHING is hysterically funny.
Her visit was very therapeutic for me. And, not just me. As you can see, The Joe enjoyed her visit as much or more than I did. She flew home last Friday and he moped around the entire day. He definitely misses her soft, comforting lap. Come to think of it, so do I.

On the quilting front, I am still working on Joe's car quilt.

I really like the texture the pebble quilting is giving it, but I don't think I will use this technique on another quilt. It takes too long and uses a ton of thread. In my opinion, this type of quilting is better suited to a small project like a pillow or wall hanging. Lesson learned.

If you love Denyse Schmidt fabrics like I do, the big fabric news is that she is offering a line of fabric through JoAnn Fabric stores. When I heard about the news, I made a bee line for it. Not surprisingly, the stuff is selling like hotcakes! I was almost sold out in my local store. I ended up going to all the stores in my area to find what I did. It is gorgeous fabric. I heard someone say their shipments come in on Thursday. I'll give you three guesses as to who will be making another trip to JoAnne's on Thursday morning??

Of course, you have to know what you are looking for. Her full name is no where to found in the store. The closest you get is the "DS quilts" label on the end of the bolt and this lovely selvage. I'm sure she wanted to make sure that true collectors would be able to distinguish between the fabric she offers through independent shops and what is offering through the mass retailer. Hey, I'm not a LQS snob like some shoppers. I don't care where I buy it from. If it is beautiful fabric, I'm going to buy it.

And, while I'm on the subject, can I get a shout out for JoAnn's. They seem to be stepping up their game when it comes to fabric design and quality. I could hardly believe it when I found these lovely Alexander Henry prints peeking out at me from amongst the other, less appealing bolts.
Now, I have heard that JoAnn's buys his seconds, but I could not see or feel anything wrong with them. I also found some very modern prints in their "Designed Exclusively for JoAnn" fabrics line. I'm just sayin'.

Here is my other great find. I have had wanted one of these Kona cotton color cards for a long time, but they aren't that easy to come by. When I say that Tammy over at Marmalade Fabrics (one of my new, favorite online shops)had them for sale, I snapped one up. Pop over and check out what she else she has. She has a great selection of modern prints.

Here are a couple of projects I have been mulling over. How cute is the Dandelion baby quilt?!

I'm also mulling over these fabrics. These colors have been calling to me lately. I'm thinking something with pinwheels...

The Bright Side

2011-04-13T12:32:00.000-07:00

To steal line from one of my favorite childrens books, last week was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week. This week isn't shaping up to be much better. With various family problems, Matt suffering an extremely painful injury and my beloved Aunt in the hospital, I'm stressed.
But, I believe that no matter what problems are surrounding me at the moment there is also plenty of good, if only I will choose to focus on it.
I have not always felt this way. My dear friend, Cassie, taught me how. Cassie has not had an easy life. She has had to deal with monumental family and health issues and yet, she is still happy, open and adventurous.
Her example has taught me to compartmentalize just as she does. Now, when one part of my life isn't going so well, I can acknowledge it but not let it overwhelm and over-shadow all the good that surrounds me.

When I started this blog, I decided that regardless of the negative things that might be going on in my life, here in this place, I would choose to focus on what is happy and positive. So here is me, trying to look on the bright side.

When I'm stressed, I don't sleep very well. I'm not one to lie awake in my bed. When I can't sleep, I get up and do something. Since quilting is such a stress reliever for me, I usually head for the quilting room. All the extra quilting time has allowed me to finish this little cutie.

I used zigzag and straight stitches to raw edge applique the blocks.

I also did a raw edge binding again. I love the vintage, frayed look washing it created.

Once that was done, I started on Joe's car quilt.

You can't see it well from the front, but I decided to do pebble quilting on it.

You can see it much better on the plain chambray backing.

Since this was a quilt for my dog, I felt like I could relax and experiment a bit, so I decided to play around with the Stitch Regulator that came with my Bernina 440. When I first got the machine, I was a bit intimidated by it and haven't really used it. Wow! Have I ever been doing it the hard way! I love it! My stitches are smooth and uniform and the quilting time is seriously reduced. I'm never going back to the old way again.

So those are just a couple of the positive parts of my week. Silly maybe, but they helped me cope.
Of course, there are much deeper things that I always have to be positive about. I have a husband who adores me and literally thinks I can to no wrong. I have two sons who aren't just my children, they ( along with my husband) are my best friends. I have a wonderful, supportive network of friends. I am healthy and strong. I have an abiding knowledge that God is my Father and Jesus Christ is my Redeemer. They love me and have a plan. Nothing is too great for them. All I have to do is remember Phillipians 4:13.
Now really, what was I ever stressed about??

Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without...

2011-04-05T12:21:00.000-07:00

I don't know when or where I first heard this saying but, ever since I reorganized my stash, it seems to be my new quilting motto. I am really trying to use up what I already have rather than always buying new.
To that end, last week, I channeled my inner Dr. Frankenstein and sewed this monster together out of all my left over batting pieces.

I don't know about you, but I have tons odd sized batting pieces left over from previous projects going to waste in a huge bin. Well, no more! For the next while, I will be toiling in my lab until I have stitched it all together. Can I just admit that all this thriftiness has me feeling ridiculously pleased with myself? Okay, I'm a nerd. Don't judge.

My Frankenbatting really didn't take all that long to sew together and I got enough to use in my next two projects. Here they are waiting their turn to be quilted. You might recognized the blue, brown and white quilt. I'm furiously trying to get it done before I head to Utah next week for the baby shower. I love the way it is turning out so far. I think it will look great with the straight-line grid quilting I have planned for it.
The other quilt behind it is a car quilt I am making for The Joe. We love to take him on car trips but, that boy can shed! I know they say that Boxers don't but, don't you believe it! Previously, we have put beach towels for him all over the back seat but then I found the cutest doggie print in my stash and well...you know the rest. Quilts do find their owners. Even if they are of the four legged variety.

Here is my latest finish. I started the blocks a couple of months ago and finally got around to putting them together. It turned out even cuter than I had hoped.

I sewed a raw edged binding on it.

I love way it frayed out after I washed it.

Here is the back.

I think the blast of color against all the white on the front makes the quilt very dynamic.

I have a lot of left over squares. I see several more of these in my future.

Peaceable Things.

2011-03-24T13:15:00.000-07:00

The older I get, the more I come to love and appreciate the serenity of normalcy. I find that when I experience too much turmoil or change within a given period of time, I begin to lose my grip a bit.
This week has been a good week, calm and normal but never boring.

Sunday, I went to visit my beloved Aunty. She is one of the foundation stones of my life. I try to visit her every 6 weeks or so.

Because she really isn't well enough to go out and about, I usually bring a quilt to bind while we sit and chat the day away.

I finished this quilt during the visit. As I finished up, Matt asked me who I was going to give it to. Hmmm, I didn't really have anyone in mind but I have a firm belief that quilts find their owners, so I knew that it would come to me. Then I looked over at Aunt Twila and I new it was for her. She kept refusing, saying it was too beautiful and she couldn't accept something I had worked on so hard.

But, in the end I prevailed. What can I say, she has always given me my way.

Remember this little beauty from my last trip to Pine Needles?

This week I started to work on my interpretation.

I love these colors! I think this one is meant for our little peanut.

This week is my third week training solo. I feel like I am doing pretty well but I miss Kyle. When he trained me, I definitely didn't have to wonder if I had worked hard enough. My mantra while I am working out is, "Push yourself like Kyle pushed you! Don't give up! You got this!"

And finally, with all the cold and rain we have had lately, there is nothing like a big pot of my favorite Pumpkin Black Bean Soup to make me feel warm and content. I know the ingredients sound odd but trust me, it is delicious; very spicy and hearty. I found the recipe on the Closet Cooking blog and it, along with several others from this sumptuous site, have quickly become staples in my recipe repertoire.
All in all a homey, peaceful, "normal" week. What a blessing.
On Monday, as I was dusting, I again noticed the print I have hanging on my family room wall.

I have followed that advice this week and it has made all the difference.

The Big Reveal

2011-03-15T13:21:00.000-07:00

Well, here is the finished project. I decided to go with organic, straight-line quilting with no guide. I just let the lines waver a bit. Then I did some across and diagonal lines just to balance it all out. I bound it with a large polka dot fabric in exactly the right colors I found at JoAnne Fabric.
Overall, the quilt turned out very funky and masculine. It was a big hit. Matt loved it so much he wanted to keep it. He ran a good campaign, but in the end, the quilt left with Kade.
Just before the kids arrived, I took a day trip to Santa Barbara with my friends Rob and Kathy to shop at The Fabric Quarter. They are a wonderful fabric shop that sells mostly on the internet and by appointment. However, once every few months, they open the doors to their warehouse and have a huge sale. They have great taste in the fabric they choose to sell. If you are ever passing through Santa Barbara, give them a call and set up an appointment. You will be glad you did.

At least half of the fabric was $5.00 a yard. I mean how could I pass that up?!

Here is my haul after the first pass through. Did I go back for more?? Does a bear you-know-what in the you-know where??

Notice how the pile has grown? At least I am not as bad as Kathy. That's her behind me.

That stack in the forefront is part (only part) of her haul.

Here are her three, count 'em, three stacks ready to be cut.

What can I say?

Fabric makes me happy!

A little giggle for you

2011-03-08T15:11:00.000-08:00

I'm working my fingers to the bone getting Kade's quilt finished before he arrives tomorrow. I only have three more sides to bind, then I'm done-a-mundo. I can't wait to post pictures so you all can see it. I'll probably have something posted by tomorrow evening or Thursday morning.
Until then, I thought you might enjoy a little jocularity [that was for you, Matt :-)]
Enjoy!

Snapshots of Snapshot

2011-03-01T12:53:00.000-08:00

I am moving right along getting Kade's quilt finished and I have really enjoyed the process. The pattern has been easy to work with and the blocks have gone together like a dream. When it came time to sew the blocks together, I have very little squaring up to do.
If I do say so myself, I LOVE IT! It is colorful yet still masculine.

Here is the back. I can't get too much of that ukulele fabric.

I finished quilting my "scrappy girl" quilt.

I used a cream/pink/taupe variegated thread. I really like the texture and pattern it created.
I still haven't decided to whom I'm going to give this but seems like every married woman in my ward between the ages of 25 & 40 is expecting so I am sure I'll find a home for it soon.

P.S-The newest addition to my playlist is in honor of my Father.

David Huckaby-Feb 25, 1937-May 31, 2010

2011-02-27T16:19:00.000-08:00

Friday would have been my Dad's 74th birthday and I have really been struggling with how to honor it. I thought about sending flowers to his grave, but Dad wasn't really into that sort of thing. Besides, that really doesn't speak to what is in my heart. In the end, I decided to commemorate him here, because this is my place and I can say what is in my heart.

However, this has not been an easy task. I meant to have this posted on the day of his birthday but it just didn't happen. I have written and re-written, almost posted and then decided at the last minute I needed to revise. It has been hard for me to find my voice.

In the end, all I came up with is to go from my gut, even if it doesn't make sense to anyone but me.

I miss you, Dad. Life has not been the same without you in it. Without you, there isn't anyone to tell those same, old family jokes and stories. We try, but it just isn't the same. They were your jokes and stories, and only you could tell them with the right kind of flair.

I miss that rare, goofy side of you; that you aren't around to do your funny worm face or stage laugh on command.

I will forever mourn that you aren't here to share with all that I am learning and how I am growing in my new experience as a temple worker. You were one of the few that I felt safe sharing my spiritual side with.

I am deeply sad that you won't be around to see our new little peanut come into the world. You never even got to hear the news.

Your legacy is growing, Dad. I know you would have been so proud and happy.

I just plain miss you. We have gone through the inevitable "firsts" without you. Christmas was still a celebration, but your absence was sorely felt.

I regret that I don't have more photos of you. I never realized how camera shy you were. But here are a few of my favorites:

There are some days when I suddenly realize that I feel a certain heaviness. I don't automatically recognize what has caused it until I remember, "oh yeah, Dad's not here anymore." It still breaks my heart that I never really got to say good-bye.
But, I am doing my best. We all are.

We go on; we three girls that you left behind. Sometimes, it has been a weird and messy process as we try to define our family relationships without you. But, we do all we can to care for each other and all of our family.

But, we are a man down and we feel it. I guess we always will.

Productivity

2011-02-24T11:37:00.000-08:00

It is amazing how much you can get done in four days. That's how long my husband had to stay down after last Friday's shoulder surgery. So with him confined to the house and my needing stay around to help him (which I loved, by the way), I made the most of it.

Remember me telling you that my quilting buddy, Kathy and her husband were coming over for a "scrapfest"?
Well, here is the result of that marathon session.

A wonky, little baby quilt for the next person I know who has a girl.

Once I started going through my scraps, I couldn't believe how many I had that seemed to naturally go together. I love this soft, muted color palette. This is my favorite square out of the twelve I ended up making.

And, look at this wonderful piece I found for the back! Thanks to my new found organization, I am easily able to find something I can use from the fabric I already own.
Speaking of which....

I also finished the major re-org of my sewing room. Isn't it amazing?! Every piece of fabric I own is now neatly wrapped around a "mini-bolt", (otherwise known as the common comic book board) and catagorized by color or theme. The larger shelf unit hold those sorted by color.

One smaller shelf holds all those the fabric stored by theme. Somehow, I seemed to have emassed a bit of Christmas and Halloween fabric. (Not much of a shocker, there.)

Another smaller unit holds fabric pieces 3 yards and longer which I purchased for backs and such. I went down to my local JoAnne's and they were nice enough to load me up with a bunch of empty bolts.

These bins, and a plastic storage unit in my closet (not pictured), are filled with fabrics that were too small or awkward to go around a bolt. I also purchased jumbo size hefty bags to store scraps that are cut, sorted into color palettes and ready to be used when I am ready to put together more scrap quilts.

I found some fun containers for my pins, tape, ribbon, charms packs and such.

I even busted out my little collection of thimbles.
All in all, I love my new space so much I almost never want to leave it! I find myself drawn into it, even when I know I need to spend my time elsewhere. And while this might not be the best thing for my own personal time management, Kade will indeed be very pleased with some of the results.

TA-DA! All your quilt blocks are finished and ready to be sashed and sewn together. I should be able to finish that part this weekend. Then all that is left isto make the quilt sandwich and quilt it all together.
Kade, your Momma is smokin' on this little baby! If I can keep up this pace, I will definitely have it done by the time you visit for Spring Break.

Coming right along

2011-02-15T16:55:00.000-08:00

So that he could follow along, I made a promise to Kade to blog the process of his quilt construction.
But first...

Here are the last blocks for my online quilting bee. Can I just admit how glad I am to be done with this? In all honesty, I don't think I will ever do anything like this again. Here is why:
1. A year is a darn long time.
When I decided to do this, it really didn't sound like a big deal to have to sew two quilt blocks a month for twelve months. However, over the course of the year my father suffered a terminal illness and passed away, we had to move suddenly, my son graduated from college, I began taking classes, I accepted a call to work every Saturday in the temple, and my Aunt (who has no children of her own) began to suffer health problems.
All of that doesn't even count the myriad of smaller issues that came up and needed to be resolved. through all of that, was the constant nagging that I was getting behind in sewing my blocks. This turned what should have been something fun into just one more thing I had to get done.
2. It wasn't all that it was cracked up to be.
I became interested in signing up for an online bee because I ws having trouble connecting with other quilters. Then, I kept seeing other bloggers posting about the bees they were in and how much fun it was to meet new people. Many of them reported meeting some of their closest friends through their bees. It seemed like just what I was looking for.
Well, I don't know why, but that just didn't happen in my group. I tried my best. I followed proper blogging etiquette and made sure to comment on everyone's postings and on comments that others made on my postings. I sent praises on jobs well done, etc. But honestly, my group wasn't all that dynamic. With the exception of a few, it just didn't seem that the other members were all that interested in getting to know anyone. In fact, there were some that never posted or commented at all..ever. I mean, even the woman who put the bee together didn't really didn't contribute to our blog. She had another bee that she was much more involved in.
So eventually I just gave up. I did my duty and sewed my blocks like a good little bee member but that is all it ended up being. Just another duty to be fulfilled.
A lesson learned; online quilting bees just aren't for me. It's not a total loss, though.
During this last year, a group of quilters at the campus I work for have found each other. Every couple of weeks we get together during our lunch hour to share our current projects, cut out new projects and help each other. This is definitely more up my alley, real connections with live people. As a matter of fact, my friend Kathy, her husband (who is also a quilter) and I are getting together this Friday for a "scrap fest". Stay tuned to see the blocks we make.
Okay, Kade. Here we go.

I have been anxious to make a quilt from this new book and I found a pattern in it that I think will work great with your fabric selections.

I think this quilt has a very masculine, modern feel to it.

Here are the fabrics all cut up and sorted, ready to be sewn into blocks. The author of the book recommends using index cards to sort your fabrics onto. They will keep your fabrics organized and act as dividers to keep your blocks from getting mixed up.

Here they are all lined up and ready to be stacked.

Here they are stacked and ready to be sewn.

This method worked like a charm.

Ta Dah! Looks great, no?
One block down, eleven more to go.

First Finish of 2011

2011-02-10T13:15:00.000-08:00

I finished binding it while I was in Maui. I am quite pleased with how it turned out.

I decided to fill in the white spaces with a small stipple stitch. It really makes the floral print pop.
This one is going in my sitting room. Perhaps that will help me to actually sit in there now.

Lately, I have been reading about "mini bolts" as the latest rage for organizing your stash. I have read about them here, here, and here just to cite a few. So, I decided to give it a try.

Doesn't it look amazing! I am completely sold on the idea. Using the comic book inserts works great. They are inexpensive and easy to find. I went down to the local comic shop and bought two packages of 100 for $7.99 each. And, not only does this take up much less space than the bins I previously used, having the fabric displayed in this way makes it much easier for me to "shop" my own stash. My quilting room has become my own personal fabric store and I am finding that I use fabric I already have rather than running out to buy more.

Don't get me wrong, though. I still add to my stash. Here are two fabrics I picked up from The Maui Quilt Shop while I was on-island last week. I saw them and just had to have them. I could have bought much more, but had to restrain myself because I knew I would be purchasing these...

Remember this post where I promised to make Kade a quilt as soon as Circa 60 came out? Well, it's out and it came in the yesterday's mail! YAY!

Isn't it gorgeous (she asked with breathless awe)??
I was so excited to get it, I practically ripped the package open with my teeth! Once I got it open, I spent the next 15 minutes fondling each separate piece, even rubbing them against my cheek.

Ooooo, lil' seagulls!

Since his newest hobby is learning to play the ukulele, I think Kade will be most excited about this fabric. Of course, there is one thing I'm not sure I like. Can you see it? The selvage is HUGE!

It is a full two inches! While I am not one of them, I know there are many quilters out there who like to collect and sew with selvages, which might be why they did it. That would be fine, if they compensated by making their fabric a bit wider, but they didn't. Once the selvage is cut off, there is only 43 inches of usable fabric left. Normally, I wouldn't make an issue of it. However, this fabric is from a manufacturer that makes "organic cotton" quilting fabric for which they charge twice as much. This fabric costs a full $16.50 yard. (Yes Kade, your mother loves you enough to blow her entire monthly quilting budget on fabric for you.) For $16.50, I expect the entire 44-45 " of fabric. I mean really, is that asking too much?

Sand in my toes

2011-02-04T08:39:00.000-08:00

So this week, my gal-pals and I are enjoying a bit of a vay-kay and I wanted to share the bliss...

A morning shell hunt on Sugar Beach...

Nothing comes close to a Maui skyline...

or sunset...

Sending you all some island love :)

My favorite blog

2011-01-25T15:36:00.000-08:00

I read a lot of blogs, many...many (too many?)...blogs.
In fact, I have book marked so many blogs, I have category folders on my bookmarks bar for each different type.
I have one folder for quilting blogs, one for cooking blogs, and another for crafting blogs. I have a folders for news/information blogs as well as one for entertaining/lifestyle blogs. And, so I don't miss something, I have a folder for miscellaneous blogs.
With so many blogs dedicated to so many topics, you might think I would have a hard time pinpointing my favorite. Not so. There is one blog that is hands down my absolute favorite: Dirt Just Flies Up And Hits Me!
This blog never fails me. It inspires, delights and just plain cracks me up with every post. She breaks my heart and makes me laugh, sometimes at the same time.
The author, Ali Brinkerhoff, is witty, wry, and insightful. Take for example her post on how she would cook more if she could do it in an Easy Bake Oven: brilliant. Or, her post in January 2010 about her resolutions for the year: a scream. Then there is today's post on her fairly tale life: wonderful, just wonderful. She is a gifted writer whom, I personally think, should write a book. If she did, I would buy copies for everyone I know.
I have been privileged to know Ali since she was in college. Even back then, I loved her take on life and how she expressed it. She was as quirky and funny then as she is now. She was and still is one of my favorite people.
So my friends, if you need to laugh, cry or if you just want a slightly off-kilter view of life; do yourself a favor and check out Dirt Just Flies Up And Hits Me! You'll thank me.

Psst! Pass it on...

2011-01-24T06:18:00.000-08:00

I always like to pass along great news, so make sure you hop on over to Moda Bake Shop and check out the "progressive dinner" going on over there. If you stop by every blog listed you are entered to win their new, drool-inducing book and several other great prizes.
Also, make sure you stop by The Polka Dot Chair because she is having a great give away in conjunction with the progressive dinner. You don't want to miss it!

I want it, I want it, I want it!

2011-01-19T10:06:00.000-08:00

Like many other modern quilters, I am totally in love with designer Heather Ross' fabrics. It is so bad that I regularly scour the internet to buy used pajamas from her Munki-Munki line. I have a whole bin filled with PJ arms, legs and front/back panels. Not to mention the bin I have with her Spoonflower and Kokka fabrics.

Far, Far Away II is one of my favorites.

I mean who can resist The Owl and The Pussycat!
I rationalize that I will fussy cut them to make the most adorable quilt ever but the reality is I love the fabric so much, I haven't yet been able to bring myself to chop it up.

So today I was stalking her blog and found out about these...

I am not a surfer and they are crazy, expensive but, I.WANT.ONE!!!

Umm...wow.

2011-01-18T09:40:00.000-08:00

Well, I either have the shyest readers ever or it is as I originally suspected, no one but my few friends and family really care about what I have to say. Even then, my own mother and sister didn't even sign up to follow. That is too funny!
This does, however, make the give-away a no-brainer. Congratulations to my friend Margie! Because you were my one and only new follower, you win the fabric Woo-Hoo for you! I would love to see some photos of what you make. Would you please email me your mailing address again, just to make sure I have the right one in my address book? I would hate for those four beautiful fat quarters to wind up in the wrong hands.

so this week, I started quilting my first cheater quilt.

I decided to just to outline the beautiful floral print.

I think it is turning out nicely. And I have the perfect spot in my sitting room just waiting for it.

I am trying to decide if, once I am done with the outlining, I should fill in the rest with a tight stipple.
Leave a comment and give me your opinion. That is, if you're not too shy :)

New Projects, the give-away and a thank-you...

2011-01-11T13:33:00.000-08:00

I finally finished putting away the Christmas decorations! Yay! I love the holidays but I have to admit I also feel relieved when it all goes back into storage and my life goes back to normal.
And by back to normal, I mean I actually have time to work on my own quilting projects. So last week, that is exactly what I did.
First, let me introduce you to my new best friend, "The Cheater Quilt." I frequently purchase large patterned fabric and then it sits in my stash because I don't want to chop up beautiful print. This is a wonderful way to utilize those large prints.
My friend, Kathy, introduced me to this concept right before the holidays, but I didn't have a chance to try it out before now. Here is her version.

You can quilt them any way you desire but it gives great texture if you quilt around the print as Kathy did here.

Here are my versions.

Cheater quilts are fast and easy to put together. I cut and pieced these in two hours.
You will need a one yard piece of 44"-45" fabric for the center. A half yard for the inner border of which you will cut four, 2" strips. You will need need to cut five, 5" strips for the outer border. Piece these together in order to make them go completely around the perimeter. That's it! How simple is that? I think these are a great idea not only to showcase large print fabrics, but for when we need a quick quilt for a baby shower or other gift.

I also started assembling these blocks. I don't have a particular reason for putting this quilt together. I just like to have a couple of quilt tops at the ready for unexpected baby gifts, etc. I love the way these fabrics are going together.
I also promised, in my last entry, to show what I got at the big 40% off sale at Pine Needles:

Lately, I seem to be stuck on the color lime and anything with daisies. So, of course, I couldn't pass up this little beauty.

I mean, come on, 'lil birds! Awww.

This will make a beautiful back to one of my cheater quilts.

Again, awww! These will definitely find a home in kitchen in the near future. What do you think, apron or hot pads??

What's a girl to do when she loved every single print in a line of fabric?? Buy the layer cake, that's what.
And now (drum roll please) for the give away.
Remember this post? Well, I promised to have a give away as soon as I could fix some problems with my blog. Well, I have done everything I know how to do, to make sure that everyone who wants to can comment. I have even allowed anonymous comments. So, if you find that you still can't comment, you will have to check the security settings on your own computer to see if that is the problem.

Here is what I am giving away.
The basic concept for the give-away is outlined in my previous post but here it is again in a nutshell. I am curious to see how many people actually check out my little blog so if you are a reader but, haven't yet signed up to be a follower, sign up to follow me. Then, leave a comment to let me know that you did and why you haven't before. I mean, are you a bit shy like me or just too busy? If you have already signed up, get someone else to sign up and leave a comment giving you credit. You can then leave a comment saying who you got to sign up and you will both be entered. I will select a winner in a random drawing and announce the winner on January 18th. Make sure I have some way to contact you for your mailing address. I want to make sure the winner gets her bundle without delay.
So let the experiment begin. Good Luck!
And last but not least...

For Christmas, my fabulous and talented friend Kathy gave me this beautiful quilt. I was absolutely thrilled and just had to show it off. Kathy, I know I have said it a hundred times but, thank-you, thank-you, thank-you. You're the best!

Happy New Year!

2011-01-04T13:01:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm back from the frozen north. And when I say frozen, I mean frozen.

See that -13 reading? That is the outside temperature as we headed out for our drive home. It was brutal. To say that I am glad to be back in sunny, warm California is an understatement.
After 9 days I got a bit of cabin fever and needed bit of exercise, so I decided to brave it and take a walk.

Despite the cold, it really was quite peaceful.

These forlorn spring toys sat waiting for warmer weather.

And yet, holiday cheer was still to be found.

...and just for ironies sake. Frankly, I really think the maintenance people are going to need a bigger bucket.

The day after this big storm, my favorite quilt store, Pine Needles, had a huge sale. My husband thought I was crazy for getting up early, to make the drive on ice-packed roads, just so I could make it there right as the store opened. I know he thought no one else would go out in that weather but I knew I wasn't the only
fabric-aholic unable to pass up 40% off. And boy, I was so right.
While the rest of Gardner's Village was a ghost town, Pine Needles was packed. There were women everywhere and bolts flying off the shelves. Not to mention, more than one bewildered husband standing in a corner holding someone's purse.
As I wrangled my way through the crowd, I caught the eye of several other women. We gave each other wry smiles as we recognized our mutual addiction. It was worth it, though. I got some great fabric, including 4 beautiful fat quarters for my give-away, but I will wait to show you my haul until the next post.
I have had a couple of people ask me where Pine Needles is and why I love it so much. So, while I was there, I asked Holly if she would mind me taking pictures of the shop to post on my blog. She graciously allowed me to take as many shots as I wanted. Sorry for the quality, but I had to take these with my phone.

Pine Needles is the type of shop I daydream of one day owning myself. It is warm and inviting. The shop has a decidedly country feel with a nod to the funky. They have tons of fun, modern fabric...

And, great ideas of how to use it. Unfortunately, I was only able to capture a few of them, but they have everything from quilting and embroidery patterns and supplies to patterns for handbags and children's clothing. Everywhere you turn there is something to delight and inspire.

Their staff is SO friendly and they treat you like family. Since I live in California, I only get to go there when I make my visits to my family, which are only about once every 3 months, if I'm lucky. Yet, the ladies there recognize and say Hi to me every time I shop there. That really means something to me.

They also have my absolute favorite sign. One of these days I will buy that lovely sign, but so far, every time I have been there, my car has been so full, I have no way to fit it in. I just hope it doesn't sell before I can find a way to get it home.

If you are ever in the area, take my advise and stop by Pine Needles. If you do, I promise you that you will go back again and again.
They are located in Gardner's Village at:
1100 West 7800 South
West Jordan, UT 84088-3500

Of course, Gardner's Village itself is a delightful place to spend the day.

I mean, who can resist atmosphere like this?

While I was browsing in the other shops there, I had my mind on the coming new year. I thought about my personal resolutions and wondered what I should focus on. Gradually, I began to notice messages everywhere and realized that perhaps someone, somewhere was giving me some guidance. I thought it would be nice to share with you. Again, pardon the quality, iPhones aren't the most professional cameras.

As we go through this new year together, I hope we will see all of these messages unfold in our lives.

Semi-Famous 2

2010-12-24T16:42:00.000-08:00

I had an amazing and eye opening experience the other day. I was walking across campus to a meeting, when a very sweet woman whom I did not know approached me. She said she was a regular reader and that she loved my blog. We ended up having a lovely conversation during which I invited her to come to a lunch-time quilting bee that two co-workers and I hold about once a month. It was a very fun, unexpected encounter which ended up creating a connection with someone I probably would never have had the priviledge to know had it not been for this blog. Thank you Yasi, for being brave enough to stop me. I'm really glad to know you!
You know, until Yasi introduced herself, I believed my little band of twenty followers, most of whom are family and friends, were the only ones who checked out my corner of the blogosphere. I assumed that anyone who was a regular reader would sign up to be a follower and make a comment now and then. Of course, I don't know why I thought that since I am a regular reader of several blogs to which I don't follow or make comments.
I call it lurking and now that I think about it, I wonder why I do it. Truthfully, I do it because I am intimidated and just plain shy. I think it is hard to just jump on to the blog of someone I don't know and start commenting. I mean it isn't really something I do in the real world. For instance, I would never just jump into a conversation I overheard while sitting next to two people in a restaurant or on an airplane.
But, blogging and social networking encourages us to do just that.
So here is what I propose. When I get back from my holiday vacation, I am going to host a give-away! YAY!
Here are the rules. If you read my blog, but haven't yet signed up to be a follower, sign up to follow me. Then, leave a comment to let me know that you did and why you haven't before. I mean, are you a bit shy like me or just too busy? If you have already signed up, get someone else to sign up and leave a comment giving you credit. They will then be entered and you will be too.
DON'T SIGN UP YET. Several people have said they have problems leaving comments on my blog. I need to research what the problem is and get it fixed. Also,. I don't yet have what I am going to give away. Next week, while I am in Salt Lake, I am going to go to my favorite quilt shop, Pine Needles and pick up a fat quarter bundle for the give away. When I have everything ready, I will post a photo of the bundle and then, let the sign up's begin!
Until then, I ho-ho-hope you all have a wonderful holiday season.

Still here

2010-12-14T11:39:00.000-08:00

I know it may seem like it, but I have not abandoned my blog. I have just had a huge family drama to deal with since I got back from our Thanksgiving trip.
As we drove back from Utah, I received a call that my beloved Aunt had collapsed and was in the hospital. She ended up being there for a week. After that she suffered every elderly persons nightmare as she was transferred to "The Nursing Home From Hell". Don't even get me started! The stories I could tell you would turn your hair white! I am simply appalled that, here in America, this is how we treat our elderly.
I have spent the last two weeks working to get her released into home health care with full-time caretaker in her home and wow, it has been a trial by fire but, yesterday I was able to get her released and settle her back in her own home. I am worried about whether it is the right move, but it is what she wanted.
Yesterday, as I was driving her home, I voiced my concern that this might not be the best thing for her health. She took my hand and with tears in her eyes told me not to doubt myself. She said,"Tacey, if I die tomorrow, I will be forever grateful to you for getting me out of that place." She is one of the most special people in my life. I am praying every day that this will work for her. I am asking my friends to do the same.
Of course, that isn't the only thing that has been going on. Amid all the turmoil and stress, the Lord did bless me with some special moments...

First, may I introduce the newest little peanut to come into our family. That's right, I'm going to be a Grandma! My son, Damen and his wonderful, wife Christy are expecting their first child. To say I am elated is the understatement of the year.
It will be the first grandchild on either side of the family. My friend Jeff says this fact makes him/her "The Golden Grandchild" or "The Anointed One." I can get behind that statement. After all, I did spontaneously break out singing the Hallelujah Chorus when I heard the news.
We will find out the baby's sex sometime in January and as soon as that happens...let the quilting begin!
Speaking of baby quilts, my wonderful, niece Amy sent me some photos of her new son Jack wrapped in the quilt I made for him.

I thought the quilt was cute before but it looks so much better with baby Jack and his proud papa on top of it. Congratulations Amy and Zack! I know it was a long, hard battle to get him here, but he is worth it.
And, just because I want to, here is a little eye candy from my favorite Utah quilt shop, Pine Needles.

I love this little quilt made with raw edged squares sewn on white fabric. As luck would have it, I happen to have a charm pack of "Charmed" fabric in my stash. I'm thinking that if my little grand baby turns out to be a boy, this would be perfect for him.

Look at the awesome quilting on this little number. I have an unfinished, heart patchwork, quilt top hanging in my UFO closet. I am thinking this quilting would look great on it.

And last but not least, quilting inspiration can indeed be found everywhere. Here is the front of the wine list from a local restaurant in Ogden. I see another wonky quilt somewhere in my future...

Picky, Picky, Picky

2010-11-16T16:01:00.000-08:00

Remember how happy I was last week to be making progress on my quilt for Kyle? Well, what a difference a week makes. The more I quilted, the more I hated the design I had decided on. That's what I get for trying something new on an important project without auditioning it on a practice piece first. The worst part is, I had gotten about 2/3 of the way through before I decided it just wasn't working.
My husband assured me that, as a guy, Kyle will not really care about the quilting but that really isn't the point. I just can not, in all good conscience, give a gift that I don't think is top quality.
So anyway, I have been spending my evening picking out all my stitching. TORTURE! Ugh!

To keep myself from going completely insane, I took a break and sewed the current block for my bee. It was fast and very therapeutic. I loved the fabrics Debbie picked out. I have some of this fabric in my stash. I am definitely going to get it out and start using it.
And by way of correction, last week it showed a photo of what I said was our next Christmas gingerbread project. Well, after I posted it I realized I made a mistake. Kade and I were deciding between the tugboat and something else and I forgot we had actually decided to go with the other project.

Here is what we actually decided on. Believe it or not, we chose it because it was more complicated and would take more time than the tugboat. We wanted it to take the whole day. After looking at it again, I'm starting to think we will be lucky to finish in one day. Wish us luck!

Say hello to my little friend

2010-11-10T11:22:00.000-08:00

(Cue heavenly choir singing Hallelujah chorus)

After 20 years with my old Babylock (the last five of which were a miserable struggle), my wonderful husband gifted me with this.

To say I was surprised is the understatement of the year. Oh, in my heart of heart, I hoped one day to be able to get a new serger. My Babylock ran so rough that while using it I was forced to completely clear the sewing table or whatever was there would bounce off. Plus, toward the end it only ran for about a minute before it died. Then I would have to stop, let it cool off, sew again for a minute until it died again, etc., etc. This process made for very tedious and frustrating sewing.
I'm sure I casually mentioned these facts once or twice in passing (she said sheepishly) but, we never buy expensive gifts for our birthdays and there are about a million other more important ways to use our money, so I had resigned myself to the idea that it wouldn't be coming anytime soon.
On Monday, for her maiden voyage, I whipped out a Christmas apron. She runs like a dream, smooth as butter. I am in heaven. Thank you, thoughtful husband, for once again reminding me why you're my lobster.
Speaking of Christmas aprons. I am making them so that everyone in the family (even the guys...theirs are called "maprons") will have one for our annual Christmas Eve gingerbread fest.
The tradition of putting together a gingerbread house came about when the boys were young and needed something to occupy them during the endless hours preceding Christmas morning. Over the years, as we got more skilled at it, our houses became more elaborate. Here are some photos from last years creation, "Santa's Barn".

Kade and I were discussing what we should make this year and here is what we decided on:

First a tricked out sleigh with it's own barn and now a tugboat, I guess Santa is a typical man who has to have his toys. Stay tuned to see how it turns out.
I can't believe it's already time to be thinking about Christmas, but here we are. I have already started on the Christmas sewing.

This is the quilt I am finishing for Kyle, aka The Best Trainer Ever. His uniform at the gym is black and red. I incorporated in some gray and pink because those are the colors of my gym outfits. I hope he likes it.

Here are my three new favorite quilting books. Material Obsessions 2 is amazing but since the quilts in there look like they would take a lifetime to finish, I think it will serve more as inspiration for color, texture, pattern, etc.
The other two are filled with modern, simple block quilts that better fit with the time constraints of my life. I have already picked out a pattern from The Practical Guide To Patchwork for my next quilt. I promised Kade I would make him a quilt from Circa 60 when it comes out in December.

Hang in there, Kade! It's coming. It's coming.

So, let me 'splain. No there's too much. Let me sum up...

2010-11-03T14:13:00.000-07:00

It's been a whirlwind around here, lots to talk about.

Believe it or not, even with all the decorating, Halloween managed to sneak up on me. I don't know. There is just something out of whack when Halloween falls on a Sunday. It seems a bit of an oxymoron. Never the less, we managed to have fun with it.
The Friday before, I hosted a yummy "Groan-up's" Halloween dinner party complete with pasta bar for the main course and cream puffs with pumpkin pie ice cream for dessert. I bought the most delicious butternut squash ravioli from Costco and topped it with a browned butter/sage sauce...2D4!!
After dinner we played Werewolves of Millers Hollow, a fun party game similar to Mafia but more appropriately themed for a Halloween gathering. I even threw on a CD with Halloween sound effects, such as screaming women and chomping zombies, to make the atmosphere down right creepy at times.
Halloween night I broke out the pumpkin carving kit and proceeded to give a lobotomous makeover to my unsuspecting pumpkins.

No Halloween would be complete without a bit of The Joe, so a pumpkin with his face on it was definitely in order. However, I don't think anyone got my Emoticon pumpkin. Matt thought it might have helped if I had carved it horizontally instead of vertically. I'll have to remember that for next year.

This warty fellow caused quite a stir.

But the favorite, hands down, was The Pumpkin King, Jack.

Here they are, my quartet of wacko Jacko-s ready to haunt the night.
In between all the revelry I've been getting my quilt on as well.

I bought Camille Roskelly's new quilt book, Simplify. What a great book! Wonderful, modern quilts that go together in a snap from pre-cuts.

I had some Halloween fabric from several years ago in my stash and I decided her "Little Man" quilt would be a perfect fit for it.

The top went together very quickly and turned out great. Now all I have to do is quilt it.
And, speaking of quilting...

Remember this little baby? Well, I made two of them at the same time. I finished the one for my Mom and will give it to her when I see her at Thanksgiving. This is the extra one.

My friend Kathy, showed me a cool, over-all quilting technique I have been dying to try so I thought I would give it a go on this quilt.

It turned out great. I love it!
So now it is on to Thanksgiving and then Christmas. Yay! It most definitely is the most wonderful time of the year.

It's the most wonderful time of the year

2010-10-20T12:09:00.000-07:00

It's been rainy around here lately. Most people might be a little depressed about this but I love it. It's the signal that my favorite season of the year is here.
I absolutely love autumn. Granted, each season has it's charm. Winter is quiet, Spring is fresh and Summer is laid back and relaxed. But there is something about Fall that inspires me. I am sure that part of the thrill is because it is the gateway season to the holidays but it is also the cooler, crisp days and cozier nights. It just makes me feel "homey", like all I want to do is bake treats and feather my little nest.
Speaking of feathering my nest...

This is the time of year when my digs get transformed into my own version of a haunted house. I guess you could call the decor "Witchy Kitchy".

I just love my crystal ball. The witch hat is made out of an old cornucopia and a grape vine wreath wired together, spray painted and decorated with black and purple flowers & netting.

This is Boney. Every evening he tickles the ivories with eerie melodies to haunt our dreams.

I love masks. There is just something elegant yet creepy about them. This mask hanging from one of my guilded pumpkins is one I covered with paper punched leaves.

These photos are truly my favorite decoration. I found old black and white photos of graveyards and old houses online and printed them out and put them in all of the frames I have. I even have one of Edgar Allan Poe that is genuinely hair-raising.

I've added a bit to this mantle scene since I took this photo. I have to post a better photo later.

Moving into the kitchen, even a witch has to have a cute apron for concocting a bit of witches brew.

Recipes and a menu for the ghostess with the mostess.

And of course, we must set the proper table.

This is my little menagerie of feathered friends and furry little fiends.

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.
Double, double toil and trouble
Something wicked this way comes
Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg, and owlet's wing,—
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.
Double, double toil and trouble
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.
Something wicked this way comes

Excellence

2010-10-13T10:28:00.000-07:00

I think it was Hannibal from The A Team who always used to say, "I love it when a plan comes together!" Well, so do I, baby, so do I.
For a while now, I have been working to put together our annual Evening of Excellence program for the young women of our church youth group. The evening is basically a night to celebrate the achievements and accomplishments they have made throughout the year. Our church has a program called Personal Progress based on 8 different values. It is a wonderful program that helps the girls understand who they are and helps them gain self-esteem through setting and achieving goals.
Each value has a colored assigned to it so our theme for last nights event was Personal Progress Let's Us Color Our World.
Before I show some of the highlights, I want to give credit where credit is due. The idea for the rainbow cake and the printables of the frames for the self-portraits came from One Charming Party. A wonderful website with ideas for some of the most well, charming, parties I have ever seen. Be sure and check it out, I am sure you will be as inspired as I was.
The paint can centerpieces and self-portrait gallery ideas were something I ran across on Sugar Doodle.
Thank heaven for internet! Party planning inspiration is no more than a click away.
Here are some of the hightlights:

I labeled each paint can with the purpose statement and scripture from each value. The wording and tissue paper insert were done in the value color.

Our beehive class painted this giant palette with the color and purpose of each value.

Each girl made a funky, little self portrait which we displayed gallery style along one wall.

The hit of the evening were the cakes. I'm no Bakerella, but I was pretty happy with the way these turned out.

The best part is the surprise inside! The rainbow layers were the perfect compliment to our theme.

I made custom labels with the name and date of the event for our water bottles. I got the striped straws from Kikkerland.

I made a few cupcakes with any left over batter I had from the different colored layers and frosted them with off-center, Suessical swirls.

We had each girl and leader put together a presentation board of one project they had completed during the course of the year. Here is mine.

For my Faith value project, I decided to memorize "The Living Christ". It was no easy feat, but I finally did it. In fact, I will be giving a talk this Sunday during which I will recite it from memory. Say a prayer for me that I will be able to remember it under pressure!

Can I just show you what, out of the entire evening, I was most proud of making?! Check out the little 3D, paper Ipod I made for my display! Don't ask me why, but this tickles me. :-D

Yep, I love it when a plan comes together.

Gotta love that JibJab!

2010-10-07T08:24:00.000-07:00

Thank you, adorable, funky, funny sister for sending this to me. You combined two of my favorite things: Halloween and laughing.

It doesn't get better than that.

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Fun Finds...

2010-10-05T16:41:00.000-07:00

There isn't much quilting going on around here lately. Partly because my creative surge seems to have played out but mostly because I am busy with other things (see below) right now. However, my time is going to free up significantly after this weekend so I have plenty of projects on the horizon.
For now, I thought I would share with you some wonderful trinkets I found while pursuing the mall last weekend.

I love decorating for Halloween so I could not resist these deliciously creepy delights when I saw them at Pottery Barn. Don't you just love them? The mice are real enough to cause a double take when you first see them.

Now, I'm not a huge Anthropologie shopper ( the clothes are too expensive and to "froo-froo" for my lifestyle) but I do browse there occasionally. Well, I quickly switched from browsing to buying when I came across these.

I mean, look at these measuring spoons! To.Die.For.

This is something I recently fell in love with at Target. I think it adds a touch of class to my piano. And just in case you are wondering, my engineer husband had to find out how long it would take the sand to run out: ten minutes, just so you know.

Next, week will be a fun post because I will have photos of the Young Women's Evening of Excellence event I have been busy planning. I spent this week making the favors, planning the decorations and making a rainbow cake. Be sure to tune in next week to see how it all turns out.

Two little monkeys baking with Aunt T...

2010-09-29T13:57:00.000-07:00

I'm a bit behind on the blogging front but living life trumps blogging about living life any day, and I have been busy with some very special visitors.

These little darlings were with me for four wonderful, Mystery-Date-playing, Disneyland-going, swimming-pool-splashing days and boy, did we have fun!
The day before they left, during one of our many gab sessions, the topic of cookie baking came up and lo and behold, it came out they had never actually baked cookies from scratch before. What?!! Isn't cookie baking a rite of passage for every little girl? Well, it is in my world, and sorry Pillsbury but, buying a bag of quick frozen, preservative laden, cookie dough globs and plopping them on a cookie sheet , isn't really the same rich experience as gathering all the ingredients, measuring them out, mixing them all up (with copious amounts of spilling, giggling and finger/spatula licking thrown in), and watching them turn into delicious dough that you made yourself. Then, once the cookies come out of the oven, proudly witnessing the golden brown results of your own creative labors .
Well, what are Aunts for if not to help busy, working moms who may not have time to bake from scratch. Soooo...

Here they are all aproned up and ready to go. Joe wanted in on the action, so the girls found an apron for him as well.

The girls were excellent at taking turns and working together.

Look at all that creamy, irresistible deliciousness.

Who can blame them stealing a few pre-baked tastes?

Who ever came up with using the ice cream scoop to measure out cookies is a genius, I tell you, genius!

Perfect, uniform, golden brown and crunchewy. Real, from scratch cookies anyone would be proud of.
Take that, Dough-boy!

pillsbury giggle sound bite General Mills sound bites

A year in the life

2010-09-17T13:46:00.000-07:00

I love the song "Seasons of Love" from Rent.
It starts out:
"Five hundred twenty five thousand, six hundred minutes. How do you measure, measure a year?"
Well, here's how I measure this one.
It was about a year ago when I made the decision to get serious about my diet and begin to train. I had no idea then the journey I was under taking. All I new was that I was sick & tired of feeling sick & tired, and that this time, I was going to do whatever it took.
I committed to myself that no matter what my trainer told me to do, I would say yes. If he told me to eat more protein, less carbs; yes, sir. If he told me to do less minutes of cardio at the highest resistance I could stand; okey-dokey. If he told me to lift a weight that I previously wouldn't have thought I could, I did it.
No, it wasn't easy but a year later, here I am...

By the way, that thing I am balancing on is called a Bosu Ball. Kyle (the best trainer in the world) makes it harder by turning it upside down so the ball part is on the bottom and it creates even more of an unstable surface. It's hard!

Yes, that is a ball I am standing on while doing squats. Yikes!
A year ago, I would never believed I was capable of doing those moves but now I amaze even myself!
So here are some of the lessons this journey has taught me:

It really is all about calories. No one wants to hear that. I have multiple people every day ask me how I have done it. When I tell them that I log my food and record my calorie burn every single day, their eyes kind of glaze over as they say, "wow, that is a lot of work." Well yes, it kind of is but I ask you, when did everyone decide that we didn't really have manage that part of our life? Ask yourself, what would happen to your finances if you didn't keep track of what went into and out of your checking account? What about your car. What would happen to it if you didn't manage your fuel, oil or fluid amounts? Your body is the same. If you want to lose weight you have to consume less calories than you burn and you can't do that unless you keep track. It is as simple as that. No matter what you eat, if you eat less calories than you burn, you WILL lose weight
Having said that, what you eat does matter. I have completely changed my eating habits and it has completely transformed how I look and feel. I have adopted the Eat Clean lifestyle and it has made all the difference. I haven't felt this great in 20 years. Going back to the car analogy, if you put premium fuel in your engine, your car will perform better than if you put in cheap, watered down crap. Your body is a type of machine, the rules are the same.
You need a trainer. Yes, they are a bit expensive but they can show you how to get the most bang for your exercise buck. I now see so many people who are basically wasting their time or even hurting themselves because they don't have the right form or they aren't doing the right kind of cardio. Take my word for it, get a trainer, even for a month. It will really help.
You have to sweat...alot. I used to hate sweating. It made me feel gross and sticky. But if you aren't sweating, you aren't working very hard. If you aren't working very hard, you aren't burning many calories.
And along those same lines, you can lift more, run faster, go longer at a higher resistance than you think you can. Again, here is where a trainer is needed. They will push you harder than you will push yourself. They will get that extra 5 lbs, reps or minutes out of you that you, by yourself, would not do.
It's okay to bribe yourself(with something other than food) to get through a particularly rough workout. I can't tell you the number of times I have promised myself a trip to the mall or a full treatment pedicure to get myself through it. I have even promised myself a good cry when I got done and as soon as I have gotten in my car, I have picked up the phone, called my husband and just cried in his ear for a good 5 minutes, as I rehearsed how hard the workout was. It really helped.
The most important two lessons I have learned are these: I am worth it and I can do hard things. This knowledge has given me a new level of confidence that has helped me in every other facet of my life. I am now more willing to stick my neck out and try things because tell myself over and over, "I am worth it and I can do hard things". And, the same goes for you.

525,600 minutes. Wow, what a difference this year has made for me. I can truly say I would do it all again. How I look and feel now is worth all the blood, sweat and tears. I invested in myself and the dividends have been more than I ever imagined.

Got me under pressure...

2010-09-09T12:03:00.000-07:00

I had an epiphany of sorts this week. As I was checking in on one of my favorite blogs, the entry was about yet another quilt-along. Previously, I would have jumped right in and signed up. This time, I only felt anxiety and depression.
Can I just send a message out into this vast quilting blogosphere...UNCLE, ALREADY!!
Oh my gosh! There is just too much out there; too many quilt-alongs, sew-alongs, bees, swaps, groups and guilds. Too many give-aways, charity auctions, quilting for causes and what not. Too many designers to keep abreast of, new patterns coming out, books to buy and conventions to attend. As hard as I try, I just can not keep up with it all.
Don't get me wrong, I think the on-line quilting community is great. It has exposed me to ideas and techniques I probably wouldn't have been exposed to otherwise. And believe me, I would kill to be able to attend a Denyse Schmidt workshop, but really people, I have a real life!
I don't think I am the only person with a passion for quilting that also has to juggle a job, home, family, and friends along with work in my church and community. Yet to read all these blogs, it appears that everyone else has an ideal life with nothing else to do but whip up their newest creation and quilt 24/7. My logical mind tells me this cannot be so, but never the less the perception is enough to cause a bit of discontentment with my own situation.
So, to all you lovely, well-meaning quilt bloggers out there, can I just ask for a little mercy? Next time you want to put out a call for another quilt along, sew for a cause or swap, will you just stop a moment and consider us poor peons who are trying to keep up with it all??? Quilting is supposed to be a LEISURE activity. It isn't meant to cause pressure and anxiety. It isn't supposed to be another thing on our to-do list that we are behind on. Just think about it.
As for myself, I am going to start editing the amount of blogs I read and the groups I join. I know this will be hard. I know, in the beginning, I will feel as if I am missing out on so much. But in the end, I think this will help me feel more relaxed and content. Can I get an Amen?

Phew, I feel better now that I have vented. Moving on...
Remember this entry? Well here is the finished product.

I love the way this came together. My colleague, Kathy made six blocks and I make six blocks and I think they fit together seamlessly.

She sewed the top together and made the sandwich, then I took it and quilted it.

I choose to to organic, straight line quilting; no guide. I think that choice was a good one. It gave the quilt an "art quilt" feel.

I found some great, vintage buttons in my stash. I added them to give it a little more flair.

This is my favorite block.
What I loved about this process was that I was actually quilting-along with a real person, not women I didn't know whom I just happened to sign up with on the internet. It made the whole thing so much more "connective". Every day we would bring in the blocks we had completed and talk about how we would put them all together. We consulted together about color, placement and design. When it was all completed, we rejoiced together over our accomplishment. Now that what I have always pictured a quilting bee to be about. I can't wait to see this hanging on our lunch room. That ought to perk the place up.

I finished the quilt I was working on from Material Obsessions 1. I love it! The colors are so fresh.

For the focus panels, I used Tweet Tweet from Alexander Henry and for the squares I used coordinating fabrics I had in my stash; everything from Nicey Jane by Heather Bailey to some old Amy Butler Midwest Modern. I am now mulling over how exactly I want to quilt it. Any suggestions?

Looky, looky! I have a thing for labels so when I saw this, I immediately signed up. I got my first shipment yesterday and I LOVE IT!

Then even sent my own customized label. How exciting is that?!

Speaking of new goodies, look what came in the mail. It is called Go By Bike from Erin McMorris. 'Lil bikes! Don't they just make you swoon?

Still in the throws of my creative surge, I went through my stash again to find a new project. I totally forgot that I bought these at last year's International Quilt Festival in Long Beach. Now is the perfect time to start working on my annual Christmas quilt. Now I just need to decide which of the two patterns, pictured in the photo, I am going to use. What's your vote?

Joe and I wish you a happy, pressure free week. Live your life, enjoy where you are, quilt for leisure. :)

Domestic Diva?

2010-08-31T15:08:00.000-07:00

Last week I received a package in the mail from my sister. Inside was this little lovely with the words "domestic diva" embroidered on the front. I absolutely adore it and I must admit that last week, the title was a fitting one to bestow on me. Out of nowhere, I was seized by a wave of creative energy. So much so that I literally could not tear myself away from all my various projects long enough to sit down and blog.
This happens to me occasionally and when I does I can only describe the feeling as having "creative A.D.D." I want to do some of everything and can't seem to focus on one project long enough to complete anything.
This time, I was bound and determined to focus my energy and make the most of it.

First of all, I went through my stash. I found these two inch squares leftover from a previous project and decided to do something with them.

This little mini quilt is the result. I'm not quite sure what I am going to do with it, but I guess I have something ready for the next doll quilt swap I sign up for.

Speaking of mini quilts, here is one I made from an extra block I had left over from a Halloween quilt I made last year. I gave it to my sister.
After I finished with the mini quilt, I was on to the next project!

I just bought this fabulous book. Believe me when I say that if you are quilter of any skill level, you will love Material Obsession. It is so good, I want to complete each and every project in it. This really says something since I buy a lot of quilt books which, after the initial perusing, then languish untouched on my shelf. This book not only inspires, it motivates!
Anyway, I chose a project from the book, went through my stash again, pulled out some fresh, modern fabrics and started cutting.

I am loving the way it is turning out. I haven't finished yet, but here is a sneak peak. When it is finished, I think I am going to enter it in next years county fair.

Remember this fun fabric?

Well, this pattern uses that exact fabric, so I snatched it up when I saw it. I'm thinking it will look good in my husbands office. If he doesn't want it, I am sure I can find a spot for it somewhere. Now that I think about it, I think I will put it up in my own office.
I did many other things that I don't have photos of. I made several new recipes, straightened and reorganized the office and planted flower boxes on my front porch.
All in all, it has been a very busy and productive couple of weeks for me.
Perhaps I am a throw-back, but nothing makes me feel more contented than some good old fashioned homemaking.

Sisters then and now...

2010-08-17T10:45:00.000-07:00

To the outside world we all grow old. But not to brothers and sisters. We know each other as we always were. We know each other's hearts. We share private family jokes. We remember family feuds and secrets, family griefs and joys. We live outside the touch of time. ~Clara Ortega

Then...

Now...

Then...

Now...

Then...

Now...

Then...

Now...

Thanks for the goofiest, laughiest, talkiest, miss-you-like-craziest, visit ever. There is a saying...

In the cookies of life, sisters are the chocolate chips.

You are the chocolate chippiest!

The big reveal

2010-08-11T09:22:00.000-07:00

My partner received her quilt in the mail so I can finally show the mini quilt I made.

Inspired by her love for the Farmer's Market, I drafted a design of a wonky farm stand.

As always happens, the project took on a life of it's own and I ended up making some changes in the design, but when all was said and done it turned out pretty much the way I envisioned it.

As luck would have it, I found some fabric in my stash with fruit, vegetables, milk cans and the words "homemade" and "farm fresh" on it, so I was able to cut them out and raw edge applique them on the design.

I had some cute buttons in the shapes of watermelon, grapes and a basket so I decided to incorporate them as well.

I cut out some patchwork hills from a piece of patchwork I had left over from this project and then did a little free hand machine embroidery to finish everything off.

What I love most about this project is that it was a true stash buster for me. Other than the border fabric, I did not purchase any new fabric. This project gave me a chance to go through all my fabric and find ways to make them work for me. It was a great experience. I hope to do another doll quilt swap soon.

Thx

2010-08-07T07:42:00.000-07:00

Inspire by my complete and utter adoration of this blog, I post this:

Dear Anonymous Good Samaritan,

Thank you for finding my keys and taking them all the way to the post office, where they could look me up by the number on by mailbox key and leave them in my box. I have no idea where I dropped them, but I cried and pulled my hair out all day looking for them. You will never know the relief I felt when Matt called me the next morning to tell me he had found them while checking our mail.

I will never be able to thank you in person, but I hope you get an extra helping of God's blessings for taking time out of your busy life to do the right thing.

Tacey