MONKEY QUILT, MY SON, AND PUPPIES

Good morning everyone, I just couldn't wait to show you the monkey quilt i have been working on. i have a new grandson coming the end of next month--Jagger Luke--. I am so excited and I just can't wait. it needs borders and i still need to decide on the backing so it's not finished but i really wanted to show you. i am so pleased at how it is turning out. I am going to make some burp cloths, bibs and washcloths too sometime between now and then.

My son was up last week to help me get the gardens cleaned out and ready for planting season. I bought 2 new rose bushes. I have no idea where they will go but I'll find perfect spots for them. The clean-up didn't go nearly as well as planned. The wind blew! and blew, it was cold, and when i was going to take him home, it started snowing!!! It snowed 3 days and rained when it wasn't snowing. It's been cold and windy on top of all that. I am so ready for some spring weather and some pretty flowers in my yard. It doesn't help that my best friend is having 70-80 degrees and keeps rubbing it in.............lol........ I know this really is winter's last hurrah but it seems the winter lasts longer every year. Do you feel that way too?







I have picked out patterns for the 2 doll quilts I'm making for christmas, one is a big kitty and the other has 9 cupcakes. The cupcakes are all appliqued of course and i haven't sat down and just played with the new sewing machine to be proficient with satin stitch so I need to make time to do that before i attempt those cupcakes.

and I have been working on a quilt for my oldest granddaughter, Hannah, in purple and green, her favorite colors. It's a simple diagonal strip block with lots of colors and patterns. I will use either solid green or purple for the sashing and probably the other for one of the borders. She has a full size bed so i am making lots and lots of blocks. Did i mention lots of blocks? lol. I sew and sew and sew and still have a pile to sew--or pin--or unpin and piles of different size strips placed strategically on the arm of my comfy chair for easy reach and that works great until a puppy decides she needs lap time,then i have a mess! But it's all good, I love my critters







Well, enough of quilting and projects for now. I thought I'd show a couple pictures of my little buddies. Tessa is almost 4 now (the tiny chihuahua) and cinder (the chihuahua mix) is just 7 months. They are such good friends and almost always sleep and nap close to each other.

And here is another one of my son, Jon. He is so good with the pups and they love him!! He makes the perfect little puppy pillow, don't you think? lol He is such a handsome guy and still single--with no grandbabies for me yet. He tells me he doesn't want any but moms can always hope, can't they?

Thanks for stopping by and reading my ramblings. I will have more pics to show you next time

I'd love to here about your projects

sara

look at what i have been working on

here is my favorite secind son (our little joke) holding the heart and butterfly quilt.

Here is the heart and butterfly doll quilt I have been working on forever. The cupcake backing goes great and what little girl doesn't like cupcakes? I used the pink with white heart print I used on the butterflies for the binding and I am almost done with the hand stitching. I think it really turned out cute and I hope Delsie will like wrapping her favorite baby doll in it. There is nothing as cute as a little girl carrying her baby. This is her Christmas present for this year. She will be about 21/2 and I think that's the perfect age for it. I hope she enjoys it.

I love this yellow rose counted x-stitch i just did! I did the center and it goes inside the paper frame below. It went pretty fast and it turned out so well. My father's favorite flower was the yellow rose so it's special to me. I need to find the perfect frame for it and I plan to hang it in my craft room.

I hope you enjoyed looking at my projects. I will more to show you tomorrow. It's getting late and morning always seems to come before I am ready to greet it.

Thanks for taking time to stop by and reading my ramblings and I"d love to see some of what you have been working on. Send me a pic and I'll be sure to get them posted

Sara

too many projects

Do you ever find yourself starting lots and lots of things while you have way too many UFOS going already? well, that's where i seem to find myself lately--i have turned into a great starter and even better "I'll get back to that later" type of person lately. And I'm not usually like that.


here is my latest project i have started- a beautiful wall hanging with wolves. it is approximately 3x4'. it came in a bunch of fabric scraps i snagged off craiglist (do you love freecycle and craiglist???? man i sure do!!!) it was already basted together with a backing of wolf heads and i have had it a few months and just couldn't wait any longer. i am using black thread and it's getting harder and harder for me to see. wish me luck !





here is my Hearts and Butterflies doll quilt top I've been working on for over a month. i am so disappointed in myself for misreading the fabric requirements on the background and having to add the second color. but i will finish it and I'm sure i can donate it somewhere--it's good practice to finish and I'm sure it will make some little girl happy. still haven't cut either of the 2 i want to make for granddaughters yet-*sigh* never enough "good" hours in the day.










Last weekend Jeff took me thrift-storing---YEAH JEFF!!! i love you. He takes me about every 3 months and we spend most of the day going to our favorites and maybe a new one on occasion. At the first one i found this GREAT vintage singer 403a complete with cabinet, bench seat with storage and most of the original feet and accessories. it is missing one tiny screw that i will have to hit a hardware store to find but it's a great older machine and that brings my collection up to 5. isn't that awful????? one needs a new motor and could be sold and one is in pieces that was given to me. i think i will be happy with the 3 that work until i find a treadle but i won't hold my breath on that kind of a find. i did get the new tension dial for the 285 and i got it installed and ran it thru the paces and it is back up and running which makes me soooo happy. i do all my piecing on that machine.





I've been working on the round ripple today, it sure broke my heart to frog that all the way back but it will be worth it








it was great talking to all of you, let me know what you've been up to this week


thanks for stopping by to read my ramblings


sara

where does the time go?

i swear the days fly by and nothing gets done!! i have been under the weather for the last week or so but i'm feeling much better now. so let's see how much i can remember about what has been going on around here.

first off, i managed to break the tension dial on my vintage singer and was just heartsick. it fell off the machine and while trying to get it to stay back on i wrapped the metal spring around another piece of metal and while trying to put it back where it should be, i somehow messed it up and now the tension dial won't work at all and thread won't pull thru. argh!!! BUT i mentioned it on the vintagesinger group and someone found one for me and for CHEAP!!! it should be here in a few days and now i am so HAPPY!!!!

i started with that because the rest of my projects revolve around that machine. on my new machine i have had the nascar quilt that i FINALLY finished doing the quilting on( only the binding left and it will be done)so i couldn't sew anything else so i am behind on two projects. but i will be working on those this weekend since my machine is free now

i had 30 rows done on the round ripple i started--remember i had talk about that last week--not ever doing a ripple before--and i had started sewing the granny squares in and it started looking like a sombrero so i will start re-doing that this weekend in the evenings also. i read and read and re-read the instructions--which certainly could have been written better--and figured out what went wrong.
i will have pictures of different things next time i write
thanks for reading and i would love to hear how your projects are going
sara

SOCKS, DOLL QUILT AND PUPPY BLANKETS

These are the 4 blocks so far, i like how it's turning out. When Jeff took me to joann's i picked up the material for 2 more. I ran out of the background material and i want them to be nice for the grandbabies. This is good for practice, I need all of that i can get.

This is how far I have gotten on my socks. I love the colors and can't wait until i get them done but they are slow going with the small needles but so worth it! Nothing beats the feel of handknit socks on cold wood floors.

I made fleece blankets and socks for all the grandkids and i had lots of scraps left over. I've looked at the pile for weeks trying to decide if i should throw them out, or make something. I finally decided to just sew the odds and ends together for blankets for the dogs. They like to sleep on the couch--Cinder sheds horribly and Tessa is always shivering and both like to head over to the shop with jeff or both of us when i head over. They had a bed over there and toys and i thought a blanket over they would be good so i made these 2 and only had tiny bits to put in the trash. It made me feel pretty good to use those scraps and get them cleared off my cutting table!

And here is Tess all cuddled up.

One last thing, I started a new project, a round ripple in black and pink. As much as i have crocheted over lots of years, i have never made a ripple. i lose track of the increases and decreases. This is a really different pattern and i just love it.

Well, i made it all the way to row 7 before i got completely confused.

I am so lucky to have friends who know way more than i do and offered to help me keep going. So a HUGE thank you goes to my good friend, suzi. I couldn't do it without you.

I'll have a picture of that next time

thanks for stopping be and taking the time to read my random thoughts

I'd love to hear from you too

sara

c

WINTER STORM

Winter storm

Wednesday morning we woke up to snow coming down fast and furious!!! it didn't stop for more than an hour or two until sat and we ended up with almost 20 inches. it was cold,gray, dreary and depressing! Poor Jeff shoveled everyday and traded the company truck for our 4 whd pickup.Good thing too, because our country road(dirt,gravel and windy around the river) won't see a snow plow for weeks. here's a couple of pictures. it finally cleared up Monday and i told Jeff if i didn't get to Joann's and touch some material i was going to go nuts! so he took me and one other store and we got gas and came on home. it snowed a little today and then turned into freezing rain. i hope the storm moves on soon. Enough is enough already

haha, i hope your weather has been better than mine

Tessa and progress on the doll quilt

Here is a picture of tess, she is our little sweetheart. she doesn't like snow one bit and we have a series of storms headed our way over the next week. Poor baby, good thing mom keeps her supplied in little sweaters!

I did finish cutting out the doll quilt and got a few pieces sewn together. i took this picture saturday and i did get more done today. I haven't been up to doing any FM on the nascar crib quilt this week but hope i can get caught up on the doll quilt before wednesday and get back to it

well, good night everyone and have a great day tomorrow. i want to tell you about a couple of special friends i've met online

drop me a line and let me know what you think

Socks and dogs part 1

Sadly it hasn't been a week for many accomplishments or too much crafting time. but it seems like i was busy busy busy. i did finish this pair of socks i started before christmas and they fit perfectly. i LOVE handknit socks and never seem to have enough to match every outfit. i have started another pair in RH heart and sole in the color "faded jeans". if i can't match my top i can match my pants! ha!

Here is the newest addition to our family, cinder is a chihuahua mix. we were hoping she was going to be small like tess out full blood chihuahua. tessa is 3 years and 4 pounds. very tiny petite and calm. cinder is 5 months, 10 pounds and a ball of fire,Tasmanian devil, whirlwind, and energizer bunny rolled into one!

well i have been busy with my quilt. it's pinned, basted and i have been practicing little "sandwiches" and learning free motion. i need many many years of practice i think but i'm working on the quilt now-a little everyday. i can only sit so long and my back hollers for a break.

Tomorrow i will be cutting the pieces to make a doll quilt. well i am planning to make 2 for the 2 youngest granddaughters. they are 2 years 2 months and 22 months. you can see the doll quilt here, http://carterquilter.wordpress.com/2012/01/04/hearts-and-butterflies-week-1/
a few months ago i did one of cindy's mystery and i LOVE the top. i picked great colors and the pattern was just so great! i will get it finished soon. she has such great things on her blog. take a look, you won't be disappointed.

and another friend just worked out the details for a Stay at home robin. It's a neat idea--basically a round robin but you do every step yourself. no way it can get lost in the mail! haha. Each month she will give us the next step to complete and at the end of the year we will all have a lap sized quilt. each one will be different and unique. i haven't decided on what center i will start with yet, i'm still thinking about that but will have to decide soon. If you want to check it out, you can read all about it here http://lasarta-allegranza.blogspot.com/. You are all welcome to join in on the fun.

On a non-quilting note, my dh, Jeff almost has my workbench completed!!!! YEAH JEFF!!!!!!!! my first project is to refurbish an antique japanese made sewing machine and cabinet. it's all in pieces and needs a lot of work but i am anxious to get it started. It was given to me a few months ago by jeff's boss who found it in an outbuilding, and was left by a previous owner.

wow! all of a sudden i have a lot of projects to get busy on

have a great day/evening
and thanks for stopping by and reading for a bit
sara

this is my first quilt to ever gotten far enough along to have borders! and it is now all pinned and ready to baste tomorrow. i did this quilt for the NYE mystery by ann smith from quilttalk and beginners and beyond, the two quilting groups i belong to. ann did a great job and i had so much fun with all the great ladies who sewed all day!!!


i chose nascar colors as this is a gift for a little girl next door. her parents are the biggest fans and have decorated the nursery in nascar haha. it is too cute. this adorable bundle will be arriving the end of april to very nervous first time parents.


good night and thanks for reading! please leave a comment or note and say hi. i'd love to hear about your quilting adventure

sara

Welcome!

Good morning everyone,

Today i just want to tell you about my New Year's Resolution--This is it! HA! To start a blog/journal of my year of learning to quilt, and my knitting, sewing, crocheting projects etc.

I've wanted to quilt for at least forever and finally have the time so i started a few months ago. i have 3 completed tops, 1 with borders and another one cut out. it seems i learn a lot from every one i make but it's a slow process!

So i thought it might be fun to follow my journey and look back a year from now and see how I'm doing. I don't expect to turn out wonderful, perfect quilts by any means but i hope to make some pretty ones along the way.

i will be posting lots of pictures of all the projects I'm working on so you won't just have to read my boring meanderings. So let's get started!