Remember Me?

Whew! I doubt anyone is still reading (or waiting) on my blog posts but here I am! Time has just gone by soooo fast and I feel like I'm barely hanging on. In October, I was approached with a job offer to take appointments (from home) for a Santa's Workshop and Photo Studio. Well, it turned out to be waaaaayy more involved then I was led to believe. Long story short, I have been very busy, very stressed and away from my home and family the past 2 months. I did meet some great families, make some money and I got to see the magic of Christmas through childrens eyes everyday. I enjoyed most of it and hated alot of it!

Anywho...Santa's busy season is over so today I made myself just go in my sad, lonely and cold sewing room and just sew..something..anything. I havent sewn in so long! I have been reading blogs and seeing the cute things people are working on. I have had major sewing and fabric envy! Today I just worked on some of these little cheddar bow tie blocks. I am using Bonnie Hunters tutorial for these. Have you been watching Bonnie's Orca Bay Mystery that is going on? I have and have printed out the clues. Looks like a fun quilt. I hope to put these bow ties together for a nice lap quilt for my living room....someday:)

My sweet Kelsey has been home from college and has been so helpful to me. When she wasnt working at Old Navy, she has been home to watch Cade, take him to karate, she did alot of my Christmas shopping and baked some of our favorite holiday treats and did more than her share of housework. I am so thankful for that girl! She also crocheted this blanket for her Dad.

Thanks for still reading my blog! We are headed up for a night of pizza and Krispy Kreme doughnuts! I will be back!

FNSI, a week early:)

ok. I was a week early with my FNSI. That's ok, Kelsey won't be here next Friday so I am glad that we went ahead and had our craft time together.
We saw these cute wreaths on Pinterest and really wanted to try them. We bought our supplies at Hobby Lobby and got busy! It was a fun and very inexpensive project.

Here is mine. Ignore my reflection in the door:( I really wish I knew how to take better pictures. The felt flowers really turned out pretty.


This is Kelsey's. She did her flowers in her sorority colors and plans on hanging hers on the sorority house door.

I made breakfast for supper and we had a nice night doing this craft together. Cade pretty much ignored us, rode his bike and tracked in mud on my clean floor:(

Today, Andy is home and we are going out to celebrate Kelsey turning 21!!

Friday Friday Friday

Well Folks, we made it to Friday! Always a good thing. Cade is still liking school. He hasnt had any homework yet..so that may be why:)
Kelsey left this morning to go back to school :( It really makes me sad. We had a great summer together. She did alot of knitting and crocheting while I sewed. She went along to a Saturday Sewing at church with me. We walked together, cooked together. I cleaned up after her;) and she worked very hard at Old Navy to earn spending money for this school year. I hope that she has a great year at college! Here is the pillowcase that I made to match her quilt.

I had to laugh because Kelsey has long made fun of my pillowcases. She teases me about how many I make and how when ever I buy fabric I offer to make her a pillowcase out of it. Let's just say that she has many, many pillowcases!! She has told me many times that she has enough pillowcases and doesnt need anymore! Imagine my surprise when she asked if I had enough fabric to make her a pillowcase to match her new quilt! HA!! She should listen to her old Mom!

Have you seen all the bow ties going around? Here, Here and here? Even on Facebook!
I had to join in on the fun. I have a small stash of Civil War fabrics and fabrics that may not be CW Repros but I think they "go with them" I am LOVING making these blocks. I don't want to stop! I spent a few hours cutting a little stack of fabrics (my back was screaming when I was done) It is SO nice to sit and piece some now. My husband loves Civil War quilts but for some reason he doesnt like this chedder. Who cares? cause I do;) It is a Moda Bella solid.

I have a sweet niece that is graduating May 2012. That girl has been asking for a graduation quilt for 3 years!!! I have been trying out some blocks and patterns. Still havent made my mind up yet. Here are a couple made with some scraps. This block is huge!! 21 1/2 inches.

This block was fun but alot of cutting! Pattern and inspiration found here. I could look at these quilts all day long!

Andy will be home this afternoon from helping Kelsey move. We plan on having a quiet evening, maybe take Cade out to celebrate his first week as a Middle Schooler!
Enjoy your weekend!

How I Spent My Summer

Woo Hoo! I finished my Kelsey's 3rd year of college quilt! You can see the first here

and the 2nd here

For her 3rd year quilt Kelsey picked out her own fabric. We were at a quilt store and she fell in love with the animal prints in Kate Spain's Central Park collection. I bought a layer cake bundle of the collection. I needed to find a pattern that was fast, simple but that would show off the beautiful fabrics. and I only had that 1 layer cake. I did decide to order backing instead of piecing a back or just making do with something that I already had.

I decided on "Flower Show" The pattern is from the Spring 2010 issue of Quilts and More magazine.

The quilt was soooo fast and fun. It finished at 67 x 98 1/2. I handquilted it by simply quilting an X in the blocks and sashing. I outlined the "berry" solid stripes and just did some straight line quilting on the borders.



The back is one of the animal prints front the collection. The solid is Kona cotton Berry. I loved making this quilt for my sweet girl. It is hard to believe that this time next year I will be finishing up her 4th year of college quilt!! Time sure does fly when you are having fun:)

Our summer is winding down fast. Cade starts school Monday and Kesley goes back to school next week:( I look forward to being able to post more!

Summer

We are still enjoying our Summer. I don't like the heat but I love the long days with "nothing" to do. Staying up late and the kids sleeping in:)





I am rushing to finish Kelsey's quilt. She picked out the fabric herself. It is Central Park by Kate Spain. It has some really pretty colors and some cute animal prints. I bought a layer cake of it so I had to find a pattern to showcase the animals and that would be ok without yardage. We decided on Flower Show. It is from the Spring 2010 Quilts and More Magazine. It is a very simple and quick quilt to make. I am already well into handquilting it.






We had a wonderful 4th. Cade was so happy to get to spend some time with cousin Sydney!

Spring Break

Saturday morning Andy and I got up really early to go to Kelsey's college. We went to her sorority banquet. I feel like a loser Mom cause I know nothing about her sorority. Well, I do know that the mascot is a squirrel, they wear lots of formal dresses and they all seemed very sweet. I think they are Delta Gams. Here is Kelsey and her "big sis"

This is a shot of Kelsey and the Delta Gam House. She will be living here next year. That sounds like something out of Animal House. It is beautiful inside, I didnt want to seem like a creeper though so I didnt take any inside pics.

We also took her took a very cute cupcake bakery in town. It is called Hello Cupcake. Very yummy! Someone (Andy) stole the banana chip off the cupcake in the front!

We had a very nice visit. I think she will be home at Easter then she will be home for the summer!

Today is the first day of Spring Break so I'm off to enjoy the day!

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

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!!

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.

Happy Birthday Sister!

I can't believe that my baby girl is 20!! Where did the time go?? I saw on her facebook that someone had written " Congratulations! You beat that whole teen pregnancy thing" I guess that's one way of looking at it!! Happy Birthday Kelsey!! I love you more than you will ever know!

FNSI Results

It was a stormy night here in Georgia! What a great way to spend it! Sewing! I made up 2 pillowcases to send to my daughter Kelsey who is back at college. These are so quick and easy, but with the french seams they look like you really put some time into them! I don't really follow a pattern so much on these but this is the one that I go back to if I get stuck!

Here is the pink one in action! I had planned on taking these outside to get some bright shots of this gorgeous fabric but it is very dreary here this morning so I gave up!

Here is the quilt that I made this summer. Kelsey loved it and I was proud that she wanted to take it with her to school! I think the pillowcases will look so pretty with the quilt!

I love FNSI and always look forward to seeing what everyone else makes! Thanks Heidi and Bobbi for hosting!

Day Trippers

This week, Andy, Kelsey, Cade and I all took a day trip to the North Georgia Mountains. It is about a 2 hour drive so it's not a bad drive from here. The scenery is beautiful and the 2 kids take their ipods so it is a nice relaxing drive for us! I do have another son that is 18 years old. He went on this trip once, a couple of years ago and said that he would never go back!! He drove us crazy that trip so much that we still point out places like "Oh remember that store? That is the place that Joey got kicked out of" He decided to stay home and hang out with friends. I guess her prefers to get kicked out of places in his own hometown!!

We went to Ellijay, Blue Ridge and Dillard, Georgia. These towns are beautiful but they are really something in the fall when the leaves change! They have apple and pumpkin festivals and hayrides. We love going in the Fall but also like to visit during the summer. This is where Andy and I honeymooned and spent a second honeymoon!! We were married in December, we stayed in a cabin and got snowed in!! It is also where we "made" Kelsey, we told her this, she was disgusted at the thought, and probably won't go back with us!!!

Here are some of the pictures that I took. (they are out of order) We stopped at lots of antique shops, general stores, a quilt shop and a few holes in the wall places! We had supper at The Dillard House. A popular family style restaurant in Dillard Ga. It has a little resort, stables and a petting zoo. Lots of porches, rocking chairs and walking paths. Our last name is Dillard and my husband's family is a very very distant relation.

Here is Kelsey at one of the hole in the wall places at Tallulah Gorge. My husband remembers when these places would be so packed with visitors that you couldnt get a parking place. Sadly, the state cut a new super highway that bypassed some of these little places. Most of them have been shut down.

We thought this was pretty funny. Andy had to hold Cade up. There was a cage of bunny rabbits beside them. The owner of one of the shops looked like what my Grandma would call a "Wooly-Booger" Me and the kids stayed outside, we tried to get back in the truck but Andy had locked it. When Andy came out, Cade said "We were scared of that man" Andy said "you should have seen the one inside"

Dillard City Hall. Cade was so happy to be out in the sun!

Horses at the Dillard House.



Beautiful view!!!

Dillard House. Andy and I ate here on our honeymoon. I had just become a Dillard!

Thanks for "hearing" about our trip. I will have to take a picture of what I bought and show it later.

Have a great Day!!

Libby

Summertime!

Everyone has been showing such beautiful gardens and flowers on thier blogs! I thought I would share these flowers that are on my deck. I have 2 containers of these. Andy planted these last year for Kelsey's graduation party. I can't believe it has been a year! She will be starting her second year of college soon. I am really enjoying having that girl home for the summer. She works everyday but we are enjoying the evenings when she is home.

Tomorrow, me, Andy and Kelsey are going to hit some quilt shops. I am so excitied! I'll be back to show you what goodies I find!

Have a great summer day!

Still Here!

I'm still here and kicking! I did not mean to take a blog break. Again, I must say that my hat is off to working Moms (you know what I mean, outside the home) Working at the school is kicking my hiney! I am doing all I can to keep up with my housework, Cade and meals! I think that I did a little embroidery one night but other than that NO sewing at all!! Not a good balance for me!

The good news is that Sherry got her port in for her chemo and is feeling good! I am so happy to help her out! She is the sweetest, positive person! She plans on coming in to the library this week. Thank you so much for your prayers!

Also good news, my sweet daughter is home for Spring Break! With her mountain of laundry! Yikes! I am going to spend some time with her. Shopping and pedicures and lunch!! Just what I need. I love that girl!

I am planning to do some sewing this week. I hope to post soon with some pictures and I really need to catch up on my blog reading! I miss all of ya'll!

I am adding a picture of me and Kelsey at her graduation party from last year. I can't believe that it's been a year!! She wants to add that she does not like that picture, she didnt wear that shirt during the party and she has lost weight!!