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Christmas is over and it isn't quite January yet.  It's that in between time when you could take down the decorations and the tree or just leave them be for another few more days.  I am choosing the latter this year.  It has been a nice and quiet Christmas this year.  My little family and I spent some much needed time with one another; since last Christmas he was deployed a million miles away. 

Cookies were made one day and eaten the next.  Pecan fingers from a recipe over at mamacjt's.  (these were the 2nd batch made in a week!  Hubby really likes them!)

 My little scientist, Ayden was hard at work with his scientist kit Christmas gift experimenting with colors.

Before Christmas Day, hubby was busy building this LEGO table for his son.  Isn't he talented?!  Ayden approves and all the LEGOS on the table are from daddy's collection when he was little.

 I gifted my hubby a waffle iron.  You know the kind that rotates.  This was his request.  After opening gifts Christmas Day, we made chocolate chip and powdered sugar topped waffles and then later in the day went to go see Parental Guidance which was a hoot!  OOOh and the hubby melted my heart with some FQ's for Christmas!  Yippee!!

The last couple of days have been carefree and quiet as well.  I think I will show you a quilt I finished in time for Ayden as a Christmas gift.

Pebbles for miles and miles.  Very tiring.  It took 2 days to complete.  After a quick spin in the washer and toss in the dryer this quilt was golden.  Textured bliss!

It goes well with this blonde kid that lives at my house too!!! ;)

This back worked out wonderfully for the back and it really qualifies as awesome in my book!!  Those letters I added on each side which are from the Summersville line by Lucie Summers.  Very educationally inclined here;)

Look at what Ayden and I made and then daddy decorated and Ayden signed for the Grandparents this year.  They were well received!!

The countdown begins until the New Year.  Hope you are able to celebrate with family and/or friends.  Be thankful for all your blessings throughout this year.  Enjoy the moments as they come in the New Year!!

Thank you for checking in on my blog once in awhile to say hi!  I love having each and every one of you in my life.

Sewing into the New Year,

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!

Sara

How Could I forget??!!

I didn't really forget about to tell ya'll about this "Event" that occurred in my quilting life.  Did I?  This,that and the other got in the way.  Before you know it, Quilt Market in Houston has been here and gone.  What does that have to do with it?  What am I talking about?  Remember when I had mentioned that a certain quilt of mine was sold in my shop.

You say well that is nice and GREAT and ALL,but yeah......Welll....that quilt went to a very sweet lady by the name of Helen.  OK so who is she?  She is...here.  Helen works for a large button company in New Jersey AND she was going to be attending Houston's Quilt Market this year.  MY quilt was going with her to BE EXACT!!

She personally embellished it with some of her company's fabulous buttons, made it look stunning for its debut (you have to look through this blog post to find my cut in the post) and away it went to TX!!!

THERE it is on the far left side of the table shining proudly!!!!!!!!!!!  So my quilt MADE IT TO THE BIG LEAGUES so to speak!!!!!!  One day I will tread on Quilt Market ground too.  I reallly hope!

It really humbles me though.  Helen picked my quilt out of 1000's on Etsy!!  There are some top of the line quilting gurus on there as you know!!!   Coincidentally,the quilt is called "Color Me Happy!"  OH I think that rings true again and again;)

 Feeling quite blessed to have this experience.

~Yet another reason to be a quilter.~`

Get that rotary cutter moving!!!!!

Sara

Feeling a little like an elf....

Yeah so a month has gone by now.  I was having problems with Blogger not accepting my pictures.  I had a chance to come on here again today and guess what?!  All of a sudden I can post pics again.  Not doing a happy dance yet,but one can hope:)  Plus I have lots of Christmas cookies and hot cocoa with marshmallows to make up for what is lacking;)  *Thanks Carol for your cookies that are so divine.*

Christmas is right around the corner as you know.  This elf has been occupied.

all the tiny tree trunks ready for assembly...

the borders sewn on cheerfully....Do I sound like a good little elf?  hehehe

This is not the same quilt I did for the raffle at MOPS.  You are not experiencing de ja vu I promise.  Same pattern, same fabrics.  I changed the border up a bit with the gingerbread print and the binding is a dark green.

The aim here was to frame out the prints from the top and let them shine.  It took a couple days in between
the day to day activities to knock it out.

I am all tree-D out now!  OR so I thought....

Lookie....MORE trees;)  Perfect potholders for my Secret Sister friend at MOPS.  She liked them:)

Once upon a time I had to order all that Kona Raffia that was in the Christmas tree quilt and so I was naughty and started another quilt.  Only a table topper.  *innocence entering in*

Paper piecing heaven.

to me;)

oooh love her to pieces:)  *love puns*

It can be a real joy to pick out fabrics sometimes for the backs and this one fit like a glove.  The dots made
 it even more fun!

Remember this paper pieced project?

It has been done for awhile now I just haven't posted the pic until now.  Aside from a few mismatched points, thinking it can stay with me for a long time to come.  The colors are all in harmony and that makes me a very happy quilter.

If that wasn't enough eye candy for you my bloggie friends here is another project I cranked out in a couple hrs some time last month.  The hubby and I wanted these pillowcases to really pop with the quilt as their backdrop.  I used Kona School bus and Kona Medium Grey which really paid off for us!!  Fresh,new pillowcases are the BEST!

11 more days 'til Christmas---eeeek!!!



~Sara

Being Sick and Trying to Kick it!!

Everyone is sick with something or another once in awhile especially this time of the year or so it seems.  That sick bug has hit me today with a sore throat and feeling like a train ran me over.

It could be the running hobby I have taken a liking to these past couple of months:)  It is only 2 days a week, 25 minutes a shot on the treadmill,but I think I need to keep that water/sweat ratio in check a bit more.

  It could be from all the stinkin' flower bulbs I planted in the last few days.  The temps were down quite a bit in NC at around the 50 mark.  I had a jacket on zipped and then unzipped.  Sweaty from digging 170 something holes altogether.  Spring will tell the truth.  Hoping my rewards are plenty!

 

gladiolas photo courtesy of infojardin.com

freesias photo courtesy of jungleseeds.com

oriental lilies photo courtesy of Adrienne dePitera

alliums photo courtesy Pacific Bulb Society

Very anxious to take my own snapshots of my own gardens!

As for the sewing front where things are not so Spring oriented,  I knocked out that table runner for my house this Christmas a few weeks ago.

I threw in a lot of quilting designs for this runner to get my feet extra wet and get over some fear of branching out.

I saw this design recently on Youtube and went for it the next day!  Pat on the back for me;)  There is also this blog that has been inspiring me quite a bit too. 

Practice makes perfect.  Eventually.  For now,experimenting my heart out!

All those curls are pretty exhilarating to create.

December is right around the corner.  In my wishful thinking;)

Blitzen lives with this girl now so "tis the season" folks------haha!!  25% off coupon from my LQS does the creative soul just fine.

Josh (my #1 VET!!) and Ayden went to dinner at Applebees tonight to celebrate Veteran's Day and I am here enjoying talking to ya'll and sneaking in some movies on ABC family:)  Hoping they are returning with some soup for this sick mommy.





Happy Veteran's Day!  

Have you said thank you to a Vet today or hugged one?  Be sure to recognize our great warriors in some way today!


Sara

Tree-light-ful!!

Man oh man how the month of October has vanished quickly!  We are into November??  Really??  I have not been absent from sewing though:)  This is a good note for you the reader AND me the quilter-ha!

Where to start....well if you remember on my previous post I was messing around with some Christmas trees for a MOPS raffle quilt to be raffled off on the 28th.  I completed it and being a quilter and all I have started another with all the remaining scraps:)  The same pattern and everything!  I blame it on the hubby as he said that I should do one for my shop!!  No I should.  I know,I know.

These are blocks from the raffle quilt.

I will say that this is such an easy pattern and definitely geared toward a beginner quilter in my opinion.  You get to use up some scrappy strips of fabric and it all comes out super cute in the end!!  If you don't like borders, it can be tedious,but very rewarding in the end product.

All of the fabric was donated by our mommies from MOPS and lots of Kona raffia by myself.  I can see a child spending his or her time looking at all the different Christmas fabrics displayed in this quilt.

Very high-spirited! I already brought it to a meeting and there were several smiles,ooohs and ahhs.  Enough to make this girl **blush hard!**  Some couldn't believe I had already finished it!

 One of the ladies quilts as well so she brought in yds and yds of fabric which was great for the backing!! 

 Looking around online for inspiring quilting designs to FMQ,I decided to do a tree design from my own creative thoughts;)  I used some Sulky in green that was collecting dust in my closet and it went a long way.  I still have some left.

 Each tree has a different border around it to disperse the prints evenly within the whole quilt.

There were some red and cream blocks that I had used in a baseball quilt for my brother last year  that I had leftover with no home.  This worked out lovely for the theme---love it when that happens!  There is also a collaborated bible verse that I sewed on the back in the middle of that diamond:  Luke 2:10 & 19. 

Oh and another thing, the binding skills worked themselves out for the best with this one!!    Tree Quilt measures: 50x60ish and it will be perfect to cuddle with on those cold nights watching an old Christmas movie with some popcorn.  Hopefully all the Halloween candy will be gone by then.  In my house anyway;)

Most satisfying part is trimming those tree sides down:)

Maybe after this next one for the shop,I make one for myself and family and then off to the nutty bin for me!!! lol just kidding! 

There you have it.  Now maybe you know why October zoomed by?!

Sara