So Long 2010

Just a few highlights from 2010!
Our sweet, sweet niece was born! Sydney is the answer to years of prayers!! We love her so much! It is a joy to watch her parents love this girl!


I became an addict...my drug of choice...embroidery!

My first embroidery! I have worked hard with my stitching and hope to do more in 2011. Anybody want an embroidered pillowcase??

I worked with my Mother-in-law to make this quilt for baby Sydney. Such a special project for me.

I finished this quilt last summer. Probably one of my favorites. Kelsey took it with her for her second year of college. I plan on making her another one this summer. I think it's a nice way for her to have a little bit of home while she is away......now, to make sure "boyfriend" stays far far away from it!!!!

I wish everyone a safe, healthy Happy New Year!

Libby

Flickr Stitch Along

I have enjoyed being part of the Flickr group "New Embroidery with Vintage Patterns" The group has been hosting Stitch Alongs with themed vintage patterns. I did Stitch Along 1 and the Christmas one. The theme for #4 is Saturday/Baking/Cooking. My embroidery pattern is from French Knots. I decided to make my embroidery into a little bag to use to carry my current embroidery project in. I like to have something to hand stitch on in the evenings and I keep my projects in zip-lock bags. I think this bag is much sweeter!

I used Monica's (Happy Zombie) Poochie Bag tutorial for my bag. A wonderful pattern!! I so appreciate people who share their talents with others!! I didnt do so well with my straps and had to take an ice-cream and warm brownie break.

Close up of the sweet duckie. You know she baked that cake.

My new Poochie Bag hanging on our Christmas tree that is still out in our front yard.

Poochie Bag (i love saying that) filled with my next embroidery project. A perfect fit!

Stitching in the Snow

I wanted to show the pillowcase that I have been stitching in the evenings. I finished it up yesterday while watching it snow!

White Christmas

We had a very nice, peaceful Christmas! Cade was happy...even though he did not believe in Santa this year:( Andy looks stunned and it is a VERY good thing that he doesnt read my blog! Yikes!

AND...We had a White Christmas in Georgia! We get very little snow here anyway but to get snow on Christmas was just a wonderful gift for everyone! Especially for the cousins up from Florida! These are some pictures taken at my Mother-in-laws house.

The snow was so pretty and really made this Christmas special. I really love these days after Christmas and before school starts back. The hustle and bustle is over and I can really relax and enjoy my family!

I may even get some handwork in! I gave my redwork pillowcases to my Mother-in-law for Christmas. I loved them so much but in the back of my mind while making them I kept thinking about how pretty they would look in her bedroom. I also thought about how giving she is and how much she brags about any of my sewing! SHE is a wonderful seamstress so I feel honored to give her my work! She loved the cases and they looked perfect in her bedroom! I don't miss them...I am so glad that I gave them to her! She went on and on about how pretty they were and then she said " I really appreciate the time that you spent making me a gift" That gave me such a good feeling!

Enjoy your time and stay warm!

Libby

Merry Christmas!!

I wanted to show the potholders that I made up for Christmas gifts. I kinda cheated by using some of my string blocks that I made earlier this month. I chose to use a white binding to tie in with the white string down the middle of the blocks.

I would like to wish all of you and your families a very Merry Christmas! I hope you all make wonderful memories and enjoy this special time with family and friends!

Getting Close

We finally met Kelseys "boyfriend" last night. We went to Calloway Gardens Fantasy in Lights.

We had a nice time and Andy behaved! We love going to see the Lights at Calloway. We have been going since Cade was about 2 or 3. We always ride the Jolly Trolly but I must say that there were a few years that we went that I would have liked to have thrown my teens off of it! We were a much better behaved bunch this year. I took pics but they turned out dark and blurry! Which really makes me sad, I wanted ya'll to see how skinny "boyfriend" is!

We are finally out of school! I made cookies today and Kelsey is taking some with her to go meet "boyfriends" family! Wish her luck. I am making some potholders as gifts and wanted to send his mom a set but Kelsey would not let me! She said "No! I dont even know if his Mom cooks!" I told her that even if she's not a cook she could use potholders to take stuff out of the microwave! Sigh! I guess my sister will get 2 sets! I will posts some pics of the finished ones later.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Libby

Bah!

Not much going on around here! I have been very busy at the library..and am starting to feel panicked about not being at home. Not having time to sew, not having time to shop, not having time to myself...blah blah blah! Most of you know that I am filling in for my son's schools librarian, who has cancer. I feel so mean and selfish for gripping about helping someone out!! I am glad that I can do it! I am honored that God has chosen to use me this way. and I really do love being with the students but I guess I am just grouchy!! Anyway, at school Friday, I was given several little gifts of appreciation!! and invited to the staff only luncheon! Now, I did not expect anything and they sure dont owe me anything! I was so touched though to be appreciated!

Some fool decided that our school system should go to school Monday and Tuesday of this week! Those kids were nuts on friday, they are going to be really wound up come Tuesday. We will have Polar Express Day. They all come in their pj's, have a class party and watch the movie The Polar Express. I will be in the library taking down all our Christmas themed stuff! Ready for the break.

Kelsey came home Saturday. She had the flu and final exams last week. I sure hope she doesnt bring the flu home to us.

Cade graduated to a new belt in Karate. He is a first degree Brown belt. In less than a year he will be a black belt! Here is a picture of him when the instructor set his push-ups and sit-ups to 100!

Cold Weekend

We have had some very cold weather. I think the whole country has! We even got some snow flurries on Sunday! Sunday night, we went to a Christmas concert at our church. It was so much fun for us to come out of church after hearing that beautiful music to see snow falling!! That is probably as close to a "white Christmas" as we will get in Newnan Georgia!

As you can see, I will be spending my only 2 days at home this week cleaning house! Starting with my sewing room!

Cade thinks that THIS is the perfect way to spend a cold winter's day!!

Quilting Pajama Party 2010

Today I went to my sewing class. It was lots of fun. We got to the shop at 7am, all in our pajamas. The quilt shop had made a very nice breakfast for us. Plus COFFEE!! We had our class and in between we played games (for quilty prizes) shopped, talked and ate! The quilt shop had made all of us these labels for our quilts and we all signed them. It says 2010 because they are going to do this again. I would love to attend this class again. They also gave us goody bags with bubble bath, a coaster, little sewing kit, bath scrunchy and lotion!

The project was an applique Sunbonnet Sue. Sue is in her pajamas with her fuzzy slippers and her hair in a towel. They had a little wall hanging with 4 Sue blocks, sashing and 2 borders. I wish I had taken a picture!! They had one with pink quilt with pastels and one quilt with Sue in animal striped p.j's. Here are the 2 that I made. These are fused on but not appliqued.

I did a little shopping. How cute is this Dog fabric? It is called "Hot Dogs" by Hoffman. It made me think of Jill and her sweet pups.


This was my first time using this applique pressing sheet. Have you seen these? I dont do much applique but I really enjoyed this! You could get all your pieces fused together then peel it of and apply to your background!

I"m very glad that I went to this class. Everyone was really sweet. I had to get up at 5am, shower and out the door! I still have on my pj's so I may have to take a nap!!

Happy Anniversary to Us!

I married a very sweet man!!! and I need to suck my stomach in when having my picture taken!

Redwork

Not long ago I commented to Jill that I have always wanted a set of Redwork Pillowcases for Christmas. To me, Redwork just looks like Christmas. I knew exactly which pattern that I wanted to use so I just decided to go for it! I LOVE them!! Why did I wait so long?

This pattern is from the book "Prairie Quilts" by Johanna Wilson

Catching Up

This has been a busy week! I had to go to the library everyday except for Wednesday. I had to use Wednesday for my "running around" day. Andy was off from work so that made it alot more fun! In between Kroger, Walmart and the Post Office I let him take me to the Quilt Shop! I had to pay for a class that I'm taking and found a few things to buy!;) I'm thinking of using the green with the daisys as the border for my string quilt.The class that I am taking is this Sat. It starts at 730am. It is a Pajama Day Quilt class!! I am taking it with 2 ladies from church. The quilt shop is planning a class, a fashion show and lot's of surprises! You can stay all day and sew! Andy was scheduled for the Fire Dept. that day but when I told him that I really wanted to go but needed someone to watch Cade, he took the day off!! I am very thankful to him. I told him that this could be my Christmas gift from him.

The shop is asking for everyone to come and sew in their pajamas! I usually sew in my pajamas but I had to buy a new pair to wear out in public! The bottoms that I got have snowflakes on them but the top is just a plain top. I think some embroidery will fix the top up just fine! Lucky me! I have the best SNOW embroidery pattern around! I got this from big B and it is just darling!

I have already been to church and since it's so cold today, I think that I will enjoy one of these and do a little sewing!

Have a great day!

Libby

It Was Bound To Happen!

Well! My sweet precious darling baby daughter has a boyfriend!!! Now, you all may be thinking "Hmmm..isnt her daughter 20 years old?" Yes, she is 20 years old but this is the first boyfriend!!
Kelsey has always been a sweetheart! She is SUPER smart (she dont get it from me) All through high school she was dedicated to her school work, volunteer programs and friends. In that order. She has never been a social butterfly. She spent most of her weekends home, doing homework. She didnt pay much attention to guys, she had guy friends but thought most were stupid. She graduated with high honors and got a rocking scholarship to the college that she wanted to go to. Andy and I were (and are) very proud! and yes, we probably were a tad self righteous when our friends were dealing with girl/boy friend drama!

First year of college was a dream come true for Kels. Lots of new friends and experiences. She had a blast!! We did start to hear about one boy often but only as a friend. "Friend" invited Kels. to his formal.
Second year, Kels. invites "friend" to her formal. Kelsey called me asking how to fix brownies for "friend" Kelsey calls asking how to make cookies. Her and "friend" want to make cookies. Then she's off to the movies with "friend" studying with "friend" blah blah blah!!

She called to tell us that it was facebook official..."friend" had become boyfriend ..Joey...not to be confused with our Joey.


She told us this weekend that Joey really wants to continue his education at UCLA Law School and did we know that UCLA has a GREAT Psychology Dept.?? I swear, Andy turned green and had to sit down!!

A Few Thanksgiving Pics

I thought that I would share a few of our Thanksgiving pictures. Be thankful that there arent more!

Here is Cade helping me make cupcakes.
At my Mother-in-law's house, everyone wanted to hold the new baby! Here is my Kelsey with baby Sydney.

Cade got a turn. We are big time baby hogs, so you would only get a few minutes with her.

Last, here is my elusive Joey. The one with the black hoody and jeans to hide his tattoo's:(
That is my niece Tiffany and her boyfriend Kale, who is my Joey's best friend. Joey and Kale have matching tattoo's. We are hoping that Tiffany does not!!

We had a very nice day! The weather was warm so the kids had fun playing football, basketball and stick ball. The grownup's had fun passing the baby and gossiping!!

Hope you all had a wonderful day!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing you all a wonderful time with family and friends! I am thankful for all of you!
Libby

FNSI Results

Last night, I made a few more string blocks (Film in the Fridge tutorial) I took them outside this morning to get a picture, which was dumb because 1. It was COLD! So cold that the dogs didnt come out of their house to see what I was doing. and 2. Our grass really needs cut!

I am planning a thin white sashing and a border for this little quilt so I don't think I will make it any wider but I'm planning 4 more rows length wise.

Thanks Heidi and Bobbi! Happy weekend Everyone!

How I Spent My Day

I had a whole day to myself, well, after Cade left for school and Andy left for work and until Cade got home from school! :)

I really need to finish up the handquilting on my Halloween quilt. Sometimes, though, you just want to sew. I have been thinking about scrap quilts. I saw some beautiful string quilts on flickr. I found this AWESOME tutorial on Film in the Fridge. I grabbed some of my scraps and started cutting some strips. I had so much fun with these. I will make some more, not sure how many. I would love to make a large quilt out of these cute blocks, but when I think about handquilting through all those seams......hmmmm...maybe a baby quilt!

It felt really good to do some sewing today. I don't normally work on another project while I am handquilting. Since it takes a good while to handquilt I have to be very careful to finish what I start so projects don't back up!

For now I will hang these little blocks up on my design wall and dream about them while I handquilt.......until Friday Night Sew In:)

Bliss

Don't you love Fabric stores that appreciate your business? I ordered a little Moda Bliss from Desperate Quilters. The service was great, my fabric got here quickly. Plus, they put in a little bag of cinnamon tea and a pen! How sweet is that? I have no affiliation with them, just a happy customer! I don't have tons of money to spend on fabric right now and I am sure that I am not the only one. It makes me feel good to know that my order means something to the shops that I buy from!

I bought the solid blue fabric from Hancock fabrics in Rome, Ga. I will say that the clerk there did not appreciate my business, or atleast that's how she made me feel!

and while doing my grocery shopping in a cold rain, I was feeling terribly sorry for myself!! These 2 magazines made me feel better!

Now, I think I will go fix myself a cup of cinnamon tea and look at my magazines!

Enjoy your day!

Libby

Baby Sydney

My sweet Kelsey came home friday night so I made one of her favorite meals, fried chicken strips, broccoli casserole and brownies. It was so good to see her. We got up Saturday morning and drove up to Rome Ga to let her see her new cousin Sydney.
We had alot of fun. the weather was beautiful, it is a nice drive and the trees were so pretty with their Fall colors. Cade loves that baby!

Sunday will be busy with church, lunch and a little shopping. She will be back on the road this afternoon.

I am catching up on a few blogs this morning. If you don't read Jill's blog (Ramblings of a fabric and yarn obsessor) you should!! She did a great post and asked for comments on scraps and mystery quilts. Very interesting.

I'm in Love...

Have you seen all the Cross quilts on Flickr? Here, here and here are just a few. I love these! I think they are so pretty!

I'm not much into "wonky" quilts but something about these just soothe my soul! I could look at these all day long. Now, if I can figure out how to make one without wasting too much fabric. The one time I played around, trying to make a sample Cross block, I wasted So much of the background fabric. So I just need a great tutorial and about 8 extra hours in my day!!!

Look at this one!! This one is made by the awesome Elizabeth Hartman (Oh, Fransson!) Free Pattern for Robert Kaufman. Beautiful!!

Cade Meets the Governor

After the funeral of Andy's grandmother, we all went to The Varsity then to the State Capitol. Andy's brother, George is friends with Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue. Cade said that he wanted to meet Sonny so George took us on the behind the scenes tour. and Cade got to meet Sonny!!! He was very very nice!! He was between meetings so we had a nice little visit. I was scared to death that Cade was going to break something in the office. But nothing was broken!

In sewing news, me and a couple of ladies from church have signed up for a quilting class in December. Its a pj party starting at 7am until..whenever! Sounds like fun!

Lots of library and bake sale and t-shirt work at school this week!

Un-official Friday Night Sew In

I know Heidi and Bobbi's Official Friday Night Sew In isn't until November 19, but tonight I am planning on doing some sewing!!! That may not be wise since most of the time I make "plans" to sew something comes up!!!

Andy's Grandmother died last night. She was 94 and ready to go. It is sad to know someone's life is over but we all know she had a long good life! and other bad news, Sherry (librarian) is really having a hard time with her chemo. She is half way done but keeps winding up in the hospital. I got to see her yesterday and she has decided to take the month of December off from school. Remember there is no money for a library sub. so the other Mom and I will have to keep it open. We are bringing in 2 other volunteers since December is so busy for everyone! I will sure miss my free days at home but I am glad to help out for such a sweet, sweet lady! Another reason why I hope to spend some time sewing tonight!! This weekend will be busy with funeral stuff and not much free time after that!

I am thinking about doing Bonnie Hunter's new mystery quilt. She has listed the fabrics needed and I now that I will have to do some shopping. Awwwww. Pay no mind to the fact that last years mystery quilt is in a couple of boxes in my sewing room. All 3,896 pieces!!! A quilt shop near us (about 40-45min) is having Fat quarter Friday. Fat quarters for $1.50. Maybe I can talk my husband into us stopping by in between funeral stuff.

Here are the fabrics I have now for the mystery quilt.

Happy Friday Everyone!!!

My Biggest Fan!

It is hard to quilt with a big kitty sitting on your quilt!!! We are having a cold snap and she was trying to stay warm!!

Warty Wednesday

What a morning!! Right now (8am) it is 46 and pouring rain!! It is so dark that I made Cade wait for the bus with a flashlight! I stood on the porch freezing to make sure that he didnt drown or get ran over!! Please note that I would have been more than happy to drive him but he wanted to ride the bus in the rain!! He is also trying the school breakfast for the first time! Considering that this kid eats nothing, I doubt that he will eat the school breakfast!

In other fun news, Cade has a wart on his foot that I had hoped would go away on it's own! But my ignoring it hasnt cured it so we are off to the doctors this afternoon to have them do whatever it is that they do to a wart!! The excitement never stops!!

Andy is off from work today so even though this would be a perfect "stay in and sew" day. I have a feeling that he has other plans!

Here is a bad picture of my black featherweight. Andy bought it for me on one Mother's Day. It is perfect and sews like a dream. I keep it out in my living room so that I can look at it (and it can collect dust) I need to get some better pictures of it and the white one. They are so much fun!

Have a wonderful wednesday!

Libby

My First Quilt

Since I am still handquilting my Halloween Quilt and that would make for a very boring post, I decide to blog about my first quilt. This quilt has been well loved and except for a loose spot on the binding it has held up well.

I made this quilt in 2004 for my daughter. I had never made a quilt before but I have always loved quilts. I had tried sewing garments for years and wasnt really good at it. I knew that many of my relatives had been quilters and I didnt want the craft to die out with my generation. After I started my first quilt I knew that quilting was in my blood!

This pattern is a snowball block. I got the pattern for the block from Marica's wonderful website "The Quilters Cache"The fabric I bought at Walmart. It has really cute VW Beetle cars on it. I bought the blenders at Walmart too. It is backed in flannel from Walmart. Say what you want but even with my begining quilting skills, this quilt has held up beautifully!! Today, I am kinda shocked to see how well I matched up all my points!! At the time I didnt know that was a big thing, I just wanted it to be pretty and neat! My daughter loves this quilt and that is all that mattered to me!

I handquilted it with varigated thread...from Walmart!

What was your first quilt?

Have a great day! I'm off to vote!

Happy Halloween!

I figured out how to put pics on this computer!! Here are the fat quarters that I bought at Joann's. They have a really nice feel to them and they are pretty!

Cade decided to carve the pumpkin this year. Andy is helping him.

This being Cade's first time carving, he didnt go for anything too complicated!

and because I'm a great Mom...I forgot to take pictures of my son in his Halloween costume:(

He went as Aries the Greek God of War.