Needing Some Encouragement . . .

I'm sure you have heard the saying "If it weren't for the last minute, nothing would ever get done" . . . Well, that pretty much describes me and how I work!
I was asked a few weeks ago to make a baby quilt for my boss's new grandbaby. I thought, and I thought, and I thought. I looked, and I looked, and I looked (at quilting web sites for ideas). I finally decided on what to make. THEN, I got it in my head that I just HAD to make this quilt out of the Lilly and Will green and brown collection by Moda.
I just hate it when I HAVE TO HAVE A CERTAIN THING!!!! So, my search began. I checked out quiltshops.com to look for this fabric that is at least 2 years old. I found a fat quarter bundle at a shop in Oregon, so I ordered it.
I absolutely LOVE these fabrics! I have purchased them in the past as charm squares, layer cakes, and yardage. Now I have a fat quarter bundle!!!

Here are some of them. Aren't they just so Wonderful?!!!!

These are green, brown, and cream colored fabrics.
Soooo, next was what I wanted to create!
Half-square triangles are pretty easy! Let's cut some 5 inch squares and make some HSTs! But then, let's arrange them in pinwheels for added interest!
I started with the middle of my quilt (not sure how many people like to do it that way)

The pinwheel row is the center of the quilt. The row underneath has some baseball applique motifs I downloaded from a place called SWAK.  Not the best photo but the end will be worth it!
I want to but the baby's name on it so ABOVE the pinwheels will be another row with appliqued letters.
I love my sister! She listened to what I wanted and digitized letters for me. This was the first attempt:

 Cute, right?!!! BUT, I thought the satin stitching was too dense and not quite wide enough. After MANY phone calls back and forth, she re-did it and I stitched out this one:

It might be hard to see a difference in the photo, but the look and FEEL of it is far better!
The internet is wonderful, I must say! Sister Diane lives in Vermont and I am in Arizona - without the internet, it would take forever to get those files from her. 

So, the encouragement I need is. . .cheering and checking in to get me to finish this. I hope to be able to post again tomorrow evening and show a completed quilt top so that I can quilt it next weekend. BUT, work I must for I do have a job. I just need to be organized like Madame Samm from Sew We Quilt so that I can get it done!

Oh, the REAL encouragement will be needed when I pull out this project I started EIGHT years ago! I need to make this the year I complete it!  I will post photos of that project later in the week.
Well, when I get back from my next trip (I travel with my job. This week, it is off to Utah).
Hoping to hear from you soon. . .

April Showers. . .Bring May Flowers!!!

Welcome to day 4 of the April Showers Mug Rug Blog Hop!!  Many thanks to Mdm. Samm (Sew we Quilt) who thinks up these wonderful ideas, and to Erin Davis (Sew at Home Mummy), our organizing Cheerleader!  Without the hard and diligent work of these women, the blog hops most likely would not happen.

When I saw the idea of April Showers, I automatically thought of May Flowers! I just love flowers, don't you? Daisies are my absolute favorite!

Last fall, our local quilt shops had a hop and I picked up this pretty clever plastic thingy called a Clover Kanzashi Flower Maker. So I decided to try it out on this project. While watching a show called "Call the Midwife" (you gotta love Apple TV), I knocked out these two little flowers. (the one with 10 petals definitely looks better!)

Here's my mug rug:

 So, the little flower is actually attached to an elastic

to hold a spoon in place.

And who wouldn't want to use a chocolate dipped spoon in their morning coffee?!!

 I had to hurry with the photos so I could down that cup of

coffee while it was still hot!

 

Hop on over to these other blogs and check out the creativity of these wonderful ladies!
Hope your day is a good one! Thanks for stopping by!

THURSDAY, APRIL 11th

Kathy @ Kwilty Pleasures

Jill @ Apple Avenue Quilts

Cathy @ Cathy's Chatter  (you are here)

Quilter Kathy @ Kathy's Quilts

Marsha @ Quilter in Motion

Pat @ Life in the Scrapatch

Connie @ Shepody Mountain Crafter

Vickey @ Gingersnaps Quilts

Danielle @ A Geeky Crafty Life

Gwen @ Get More Done...Today

Rachel @ Sew Happily Ever After!



Getting Ready. . .

Once again, I have managed to go a long time without writing! It's funny how life just happens - then the next thing you know, a month or more has passed.
I don't usually talk about work here. BUT, just to explain why I haven't written, I have been very busy with work. I am an RN who has worked the last 22 years in Long Term Care. (Before that, I worked for 13 years in acute care). My roles in long term care have led me from floor nurse, to staff development, to Director of Nursing, and now to compliance. I travel now and when I am not traveling, I work at home. Sometimes I think I am going to have a couple of weeks working from home and then I will be asked to go check something out! To give you an idea of how much travel I have done since the first of the year - I have already made A-list status on Southwest for 2014!!! Gotta love those frequent flyer perks!

OK, so enough of work!  I am getting ready for . . . .(drum roll please)

The April Showers Mug Rug Blog Hop!!!!

 

 

I am sew excited to start hopping through the blogs to see the creativity of a lot of women out there!

So stay tuned, I will be featured on April 11th!

 

See you then!

Catching Up

It never ceases to amaze me how quickly time flies! It has been almost 10 days since I last wrote! I have spent the last week and a half trying to get over a cold that turned into a sinus infection (Yuck). I work from home when I am not traveling so have put in some long days recently. And to top it all off, my husband and I have paid to have our pool refinished!  On Saturday, they brought over a pump to drain the pool. Said it would take about 8 hours and 14 hours later it was still being drained. Here are photos of the pool being drained:

They said we would be called before they came to do the demolition - taking off the tile and the plaster. Well, Monday morning I was getting ready to jump on a conference call when the doorbell rang, the dog started barking, and the young man at the door said they were here to demo the pool! 5 young men went into the back yard with a jackhammer, a bunch of buckets, shovels, brooms, and MASKS and got to work. It was a bit challenging to hear what was being said on my conference call due to the jackhammering!
Sooo, about 5 hours later, this is what the pool looked like:

I think it's pretty scary looking!!  BUT, I am so proud of myself for thinking how cool my little grandsons in Wyoming would think it was to see a VIDEO of someone jackhammering Nana's pool! I used my handy little iphone, took a video, and sent it to my daughter in law! She wrote back the boys thought it was cool!

I finished stitching the 9 blocks to Betsy's closet. I took photos but not impressed with  the photo quality. Here is one more block. Hopefully I will get this small quilt top put together tomorrow and post a photo of the finished project:

Well, until next time . . . Happy sewing to all!

NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

OK, I have to admit it! I have become a HUGE Downton Abby Fan. Did not even know what it was until about 6 weeks ago. My daughter bought me a subscription to Hulu Plus for Christmas and it is amazing how you can get TV episodes the day after they have aired!
With all the hoopla about Downton Abby, I decided I needed to check it out. I was hooked after the second episode! I was able to watch all the episodes starting at the beginning and was all caught up a couple of weeks ago.
Last night was the season 3 finale. Oh dear! I think I need to get in touch with the writer of this series and have a serious discussion with where he is going!!
Can't wait until the next season begins! Until then, I guess I will be sewing, sewing, sewing  :)

Hand Work

Last fall I bought a kit from Shabby Fabrics. It's called Betsy's Closet and is adorable. My friend got one too!  I haven't done hand embroidery for YEARS and it's kind of fun to get back into it - even though my fingers hurt!!!
As I was tracing out the last 5 blocks (I had previously traced 4), I got an idea for using this pattern a bit differently (if I decide to do it again).  Oh, if only I had a little girl to sew for (ahem, like a granddaughter).

hehehe  :)


                                                  Here are photos of the first three blocks.

Well, the other blocks are calling my name! Time to get a cup of coffee and start stitching!  Until next time  . . .

almost DONE!!!

It's a great day here at my house! I was able to put the final borders on this quilt top, hang it up, and take photos of it! Phew!!!! Notice I added a white inner border to break up the busyness of the original pattern!   Now to decide on how to quilt it. . .
I would like to tackle this myself BUT don't want to do anything boring. I need some ideas. Can you help me out?
My goal will be to get it totally complete by the end of February. See, I figure if I put it out there, then I will not only be disappointing myself if I don't complete it but might be disappointing you also.
Let me know your thoughts, the clock is ticking!

Cathy