Twinkling Lights

~Bright,warm feelings emerge.~

~Colors that lift the spirit.~

~Comfort~

~Joy~

~Memories to create.~ bound in Kona Tomato

~Family~
quilted in half feather wreaths, straight lines, curved lines in setting diamonds and outlining inside each "ring"

~Cuddle time!~

 ~Snowmen!!~  Aspen Frost by Basic Grey for backing

I present to you ***Twinkling Lights***

Fabric for quilt top Crazy 8 by Sandy Gervais and Kona White

Sara

In Stride

This week has gone by pretty darn quick with a meeting at Ayden's school one night, a turkey parade another and yesterday a turkey dinner at a local school that went along with the week that they celebrate their Turkey Festival here.  Now if only the upcoming week will sail by!  Next Saturday will be the BIG day for my ultrasound.  The one where I find out if Ayden will have a little brother or a little sister.  This is a very clear moment for me as I of course went through the same feeling with Ayden before we knew what sex he was going to be.  I must say it is truly one of the best feelings EVER!  Either way, boy or girl I am ready for the big reveal!  Feeling extremely blessed to be pregnant again!!

I have plenty.  Yes plenty of sewing to keep me busy and there is always Ayden to keep me moving and grooving as well. 

 I am working on my curves with my new Quick Curves ruler and there are many to be cut.  It's almost like I have my work cut out for me....hahaha  I couldn't resist;)  Once I changed my blade out for a new one, it was so much better too.

I also had to cut a whole lotta squares and then crosscut them into triangles which then are shaped with the ruler.  There are are also strips cut into rectangle sizes that need to be shaped as well.  Like I said LOTS of cutting.  Preciseness is key here.  At least Christmas is a few months away right?!  

Hey!  Where did these Christmas trees come from and why are they on my cutting table? 

This is a commission quilt for a sweet friend of mine from MOPS that I started the other day.  You may remember these guys from last year as I used them in two quilts.  One was auctioned at MOPS and the other was made for my shop.  My friend, Yvonne was really wanting one since she saw those two and so she asked me to sew one up for her home during the holidays. 

This white polka dot print is going to be the background color.  Isn't it super cute? 

That is what's keeping me busy.  What have all ya'll been up to this past week?


Sara

Home

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

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

Seasonal Quilting

The sun is out and it is 85.  After today it is supposedly dropping to 65--presto fall?  I sure hope so.  My favorite season of all.  I am looking forward to wearing pants instead of shorts and tank tops.  I think I get bored with the same old attire and want something new to look at-lol!  The trees are turning colors. Makes my heart warm.  Trick or treating is around the corner and pumpkin carving,caramel apples~does the body and soul good.  School  is gliding along smoothly for both, Ayden and I.  The hubby is enjoying lots of golf on his off days which makes me happy as well;)  He is a deserving man!! 

The umbrella quilt has been finalized and the camera was ready to be turned on for some live action!  sounded exciting to me! 

the BIZ:

33x39 1/4 ~~~~Kona turquoise,orange and Bahama blue in the binding~~~~scraps galore~~~~cone flower print on the back 

FMQ throughout with lightning bolts for the turquoise squares, umbrella for each umbrella triangle and swirly lines for the orange side borders

This was a wonderful opportunity to practice some filler quilt patterns out so I jumped at it.  So happy that I did because it taught me to slow down some and take more pride in my work.  I did a little each day.  Mind you this was a smaller quilt and I tend to do better at taking it slow on the smaller scale ones,but gotta start somewhere!  {Originally I was pondering using straight lines for the umbrella triangle areas,but then I would have to stitch a line, stop, back stitch, and then get my needle all set up again to do the next line,so on and so forth.  OR am I missing something??!  The umbrellas turned out sweet so I am glad I went in that direction instead!}

Raindrops will be in my shop quickly so take a looksie.

Christmas fabric landed gently on my cutting table last week and a few short days ago I dove into my sewing room to cut into them.   I had a tutorial from Jennifer burning urgently in my brain after  I scoured Flickr for some inspiration blocks.  Narrowed it down to a few,but those trees got me again.  Last year, Carol's trees in her Christmas tree skirt pattern begged to be made for my home and I made it AND it is dang cute!  

I got to cutting out some 3" strips and cut them on an angle into three different sizes for each area of the trees.  I did all that in one day and then started sewing them together into tree shapes.  Next day I went back to work, cutting out the tree trunks and their coordinating parts to be sewn on.  Also two triangles for each tree.

I swear it is as much fun as opening Christmas presents!!!  No joke there!  As you can see from the pic here, I have pressed the tree and cut them into their tree shape with the template and then sewed on the triangle to the left side.  

one completed fancy tree:):):):) 

After they all look like the above pic, I will be adding two more borders to the outside as in Jennifer's tutorial.

This is all donated fabric from the ladies/moms at MOPS.  Once it is complete, it will be raffled off to someone for their home at Christmas time:)  {A friend of mine that is also part of MOPS will be working on a regular quilt for the same raffle.}  Tremendously excited for this!!!!!!!!!  The raffle ticket sales will bring in money for our group which is greatly needed:)

Take care,

Sara