Moving on

 A few edits I did today from our trip to Vicksburg

 I had a few reminders today like the stack of packages that went to the post office today (thanks so much for getting your addresses to me so promptly. All packages went out today except two that will be hand delivered on that will ship out tomorrow.) and the remnants of crafting supplies that still need to be put away, but other than that my Birthday seems like the distant past. Not just YESTERDAY!!! Crazy. I guess I have simply moved on. I really enjoyed focusing on sewing and crafting last month but all the while I was desiring to work on my new hobby. Photography. I’ve got a class lined up starting next week and I am ready to learn. During the month I snuck into my crafting time and read a wonderful photography book called Photographing Your Children. It really got my gears turning on how I want to photograph my children and document their lives.

So, I’m not sure what is going to happen with this blog. I don’t have a plan at all. I really like visiting this space so we will have to see what happens.

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and the winners are….

First of all, Thank you all so much for helping me to have such a wonderful birthday month. It was good for me to be sewing again and remember how much I love it. There is no way I would have taken the time to make any of the projects I did this month otherwise. It was a great reminder of how easy it really is to pull out the sewing machine and so I don’t need to put things off when time presents its self. I have also really enjoyed all of your comments and birthday wishes. I really wish I had a present for everyone, but thank you all so very much.

Now, the winners are…

Jessica Bush

This is such a wonderful tradition that you started. I really admire how talented you are and how generous you are to share your creations and bring some sunshine to others.

Valerie

Didn’t even know you had this blog! I must catch up!

Ashley M.

Oh how I love and miss you dear friend.  I so wish I could watch you as you prepare for the end of the month.  Have fun and above all relish the time dedicated to these crafts since it will be your last!!  LOVES!!

tiph

So exciting! I haven’t participated in this before despite following your blog for years, but as it’s the last one I think I will!

honor

Pretty!!

Sara

AMAZING!  Love the circles.

ShannonD

Happy Birthday month to you! As always this quilt is amazing!!!!

Whitney Jones

I LOVE these magnets!  They are such a bright fun way to cheery up any room!

julie h

I love the cute little magnet buttons and I think the containers you put them in are darling

Linda

I love these sweet little bits of your creativity!

jordee

These are cute.  And I love how you put them in the tins.

Cami Tate

My fire alarms went off last week. Ugh! You are inspiring me to finish my quilt!

Magnus

You’re doing better each day:-]

Trudy

Looking at it again I think the colors are more like summer fading into fall, that magical time when you get the best of both seasons.

Brandi Devericks

You still amaze me!

Jennifer Cole

I absolutely adore it! What an inspiring piece of quilt art!

Rachel

You know you love it when you can’t stop thinking about it (can apply to crafting and family)

julie lohrey

Is this the beginning of a new quilt……very nice!

Bethany Cromwell

I like the quilting.

Franna Larsen

These are AMAZING!!!  I love these!!!

Krista

Love.love.love.

****

If your name is listed here I have sent out an email requesting and address to ship your gift too. My goal is to get all gifts delivered or shipped out tomorrow so take a moment and reply to that e-mail and I’ll get your gift sent on its way.

Thank you all again for such a wonderful month.

April

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Its Birthday Time!!!

I ended up with a couple hours this morning and so I have closed the comments on all April posts so I can get started early.

Now I comes the fun part; picking names for each of these gifts. So, come by later this afternoon and I’ll have some names to announce.

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Sunshine

We are having a beautiful day here in Mississippi. I am really going to miss all this sunshine  and warmth when we move.

These next two gifts are my final presents for this years Birthday Give Away. I love how happy they are, all sunny and yellow. The first bag is Flower Sac with a zipper pocket on the inside and the second is a Library Tote with the straps sewn to the outside and an outside pocket on both the front and the back between them.

 I hope you love them.

****

Tomorrow is the big day. I am getting so excited!!. If you would like to be in the drawing for any of the items in my birthday give away, comment on any or all of my April 2013 posts. You will receive one entry for each post commented on. I will close comments tomorrow around 12:00pm and choose and announce winners as soon as I can after that. I ended up having some time this morning and  so I closed the comments so I could get started. Hooray!!!

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Two More Pouches

Two more pouches are done.

These both measure 9x5x1.5

I hope you like them.

 

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Winding Down

 

I am always surprised at how fast April flies by each year. I don’t think I have ever finished all of the projects I planned to do. This year, I suspect will be no different. So, prioritizing is a must at this point.

Some pouches made the cut. I’ve got one complete and two others prepped and ready to sew.

 

These are one of my favorite handmade items. I use them to organize the diaper bag, to carry pens or pencils around, feminine supplies, any thing really. This one is 8x5x1.5

I have one other must sew project for the month but am waiting for some supplies to get delivered before I can get started. Crossing my fingers it gets here today.

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One More

I had plans to make 3 Tunnel Vision pillows but didn’t plan very well when I purchased my supplies. I only had enough to barely make 2. I’m actually pretty glad it worked out this way. I am so happy with this next present. The colors and prints are so happy and cheerful. If I make pillows for my couch, mine will look like this.

Again, this pillow is 18×18 inches with a zipper in the back for easy cleaning.

I hope you love it.

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Pillows

Hooray, I have finished presents to show you.

Pillows!

When I got my hands on my copy of the book Modern Quilting I fell in love right away with both the Tunnel Visions Quilt (you can see a pic on this post) and the pebble quilting on the cover. So glad I got to try them both out. I didn’t follow any specifics from the book but used it as inspiration. I love love love these. I think the family did too. Each voiced their disappointment when they realized that they wouldn’t be on our couch. I might have to make a couple for us.

But these are for you!

They both are 18×18 with a zipper in the back for easy cleaning.

 I hope you like them.

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Something new

It’s funny how things work out. I worry and worry about not being able to get any sewing in. I finally turn things over to God and what do you know? My time consuming 7 year old gets sick and only wants to take a nap or watch a movie and my baby sleeps for 3 hours.
As soon as chores were done, I got to work and started quilting. Pebble Quilting. Loving it.

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Letting Go

I feel like I’m running in place. Working hard, sweating even. If your running like that, it’s not a waste. Your heart rate gets up, your burning calories, your taking care of that all important body of yours, but if you’re trying to do something completely different at the same time like paint a picture, something will have to give.

Don’t know if that makes any sense but what I’m trying to say is that it is hard to balance family life and sewing. Family is totally winning, and that’s the way it should be, but I really want to be sewing. I thought I had set things up so I would have plenty of sewing time but life keeps getting on the way.

So, I’ve decided to let things go and stop trying to steal time. I’m not super worried, and I bet I’ll still get some of the items on my list of projects finished this month. I even had a guilt free hour today and worked on my next project a bit.

Crossing my fingers that more time drops on my lap, but if not, I’ll make sure I’m still having a great month.

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Present #13

Hooray, I got this quilt photographed today. It took two tries since it was so windy. The top pic is still flapping a bit in the wind but at least you can see the whole front. So here you are. I hope you like it.

 I haven’t measured this one but it is about the same size as the last one. Maybe a bit longer and more narrow. I am really happy with how the front came together. I was a little nervous about “just going for it” with the sashing. I just picked up either a cream, white or parsley color for each side of the blocks and crossed my fingers that it would all work out. I do wish however that I had chosen a different color for the back. When I chose this color I hadn’t chosen my sashing color(s) yet. That  part just came together last minute.

Well, like all my gifts this month, if you would like this quilt for your very own, comment on any or all of my April 2013 blog posts and you’ll be entered into the drawing. One entry for each post commented on.

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Halfway

Happy Monday! We are halfway through the month. Crazy!

Hope you all had a good weekend. I spent Saturday cleaning and sewing. Sunday was church all day. Regular services in the morning, a session of General Conference in the afternoon, break the fast at 3:00 and then another session of conference from 5:00-7:00.
Since we were out of town last week we have been playing catch up with General Conference. Just two more sessions to go.

The second quilt is finished and is just awaiting a photo shoot. I also started my next project, a small version of this quilt.

I’m excited to get going on my other projects. Hopefully some time opens up in my scheduled week so I can work on them.

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This Stage…

I just don’t like it. I never ever seem to.

I don’t know what it is about a finished quilt top, I find it so discouraging. I have learned over the years to just trust my initial instincts in my quilt planning and to just ignore this stage. I know that as soon as I start quilting and am seeing it come together I will love it again. But for now…grrr

I am a little torn. I really want to move along on with this quilt tomorrow and get the quilting going but I also have some other projects I want to get started on. This month already seems to be zipping past and I’m afraid that if I don’t start the next project soon, I may run out of time. We’ll see what I’m up for after a good nights sleep. Crossing my fingers that that gets accomplished.

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Some Progress

After having a nice chunk of day to get some sewing in (the early start due to fire alarms going off at 4 in the morning sure helped), I think the next quilt for my Birthday Give Away is coming right along. For this second quilt I used up the rest of my stack and slash blocks and instead of squaring them off I added a border of bone, white or parsley or a mix of each and then squared them all off to 10 inches. Now, they are all ready to sew together into the top for my next quilt.

 

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Presents 2-12 :: Button Magnets

These may not be new and exciting for this years Birthday Give Away but I sure do love making them. They are just so simple to put together and yet add so much to the refrigerator or other magnetic surface. I did all the fabric covered buttons on the way home from Vicksburg and had the paper circles cut out and magnets glued on in no time at all. A quick easy project. I love these little tins too. They are just perfect for showcasing the magnets as well as keeping them from sticking to each other.

Remember, you are entered to win one of these magnet sets along or any of my gifts for this months Birthday Give Away by commenting on any of my April 2013 posts. My goal is to post every day this month and so you could be entered up to 30 times if you comment on each of the posts this month.

I hope you like them

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We’re Home

Well, we’ve made it home. It seems like every April we take at least one trip and I always worry about how it will cut into my Birthday Give Away crafting time for the month. This April, I’m glad we did our traveling at the beginning of the month. Dave’s schedule seems pretty full and so I suspect that I have the rest of the month to focus on getting some things made. I did slip in a bit of craft time on my way home, but I’ll show you that tomorrow. Right now I want to focus on remembering what a wonderful time we had. I love that we are all on the same page. The kids and I didn’t know what to expect but shortly after arriving we all knew that this was going to be a great little get away. While we all love the outdoors, we also can feel right at home in the city. Especially if it is chock full of history and charm.

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Having a great day in Vicksburg

Today has been wonderful. It’s amazing how a little family time with the whole family can make everything seem ok. Life just feels good today.

Here are a few panoramas from this afternoon.

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In the City

Hello from Vicksburg. Hollis and I are enjoying a bit of down time while everyone else is swimming. I didn’t bring my computer so I can’t show you how wonderful and beautiful it is here. I fell in love the moment we left the freeway. I’ll try and snap a few pics on my phone so I can show you tomorrow. For now here is a pic of Hollis enjoying his new favorite past time. This and opening and closing all the drawers.

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Present #1

I’m so excited to show you this quilt that I wont wait until I get some better pictures.

   54 x 66 inches

I wish I wrote down all the colors of Kona solids I used. For the prints I used a layered cake (10×10 in squares) of Wonderland fabric by Momo. This is one of my favorite collections and I with it wasn’t out of print. I found my layered cake on Etsy.  For the piecing I used the stack and slash method as demonstrated by s.o.t.a.k handmade.  My squared were 10 x 10 inches and I used 3 solids and 3 prints with each of my stacks. When finished, I had 70 something blocks and I divided them in half and used one half to make this quilt. The other half will be used on the second quilt. For these blocks, I squared them each off to measure 7 inches and made an off center 5 x 5 square on the front and a line of the extra squares on the back.

So….

If you would like this quilt for your very own, comment on any of my April 2013 posts and you will be entered in my Birthday Give Away drawing.

I hope you like it.

****

Dave’s schedule opened up a bit and so we are going to take advantage of spring break and have a little family vacations. I don’t know if I’ll be able to but I do hope to bring an easy project with me, if I get organized. We shall see.

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In the woods

It’s spring break here. The kids and I are at a cabin with some friends. Everyone is in heaven.

This morning I got up early and finished sewing the quilt and brought it along to weave in all those loose ends.

I think I may just have this ready to show you tomorrow.

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The first peek

Well, this wasn’t what I was planning working on this morning but I’m pretty excited about how it is coming together. This is my first quilt for the Birthday Give Away. No, I did not put this all together today. I had finished the top and back last week so I’d have a head start going into this month. One of the commenters of the blog said that my stack of solids for this quilt look like fruit salad and I can’t agree more. I’ve been calling it my fruit salad quilt all day.

Pretty fun, huh? I’m a little nervous about the how the quilting is going. I have a hard enough time sewing straight lines let alone ones that curve. There are a couple of rings I’m going to have to take out and redo. Oh well. I think it will be worth it though, this is such a fun quilt. Cant wait to show you the whole thing.

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It’s April…

Time for the 2013 Birthday Give Away

This is MY month. My name AND my birth month.

As I’m sure you have all noticed I have taken a step away from this blog. Since the birth of my son last July, I have noticed  a definite shift in how I like to spend my time and sewing and general crafting has taken a back seat. With that shift, this blog has been set aside as I pursue other interests and have a greater focus on family. (Come check out some of my pics on my photography blog. I still have my 365 photography project underway.) With the shift in my interests, I am sad to say that this will be my last Birthday Give Away. I say sad but really I’m feeling very mixed about it still. My last 5 birthdays have been wonderful and it breaks my heart to think that I wont be doing this again. On the other hand I am excited to move forward with some other interests and eager to find new ways to enjoy my birthday month. Thank you all for making these last birthdays of mine so wonderful.

With that said, I am very excited to be having my Birthday Give Away again this year and can’t wait to get going.

If you want to see how and why things got started check out my first Birthday Give Away post back in 2008

Here are the opening posts for 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 if you want to see how things have gone over the years.

Basically I take the time (because time is so precious) during the month of April to work on some projects in order to try something new, work on a specific skill, or just to make something I love to make again and again. Than at the end of the month (the 30th, MY BIRTHDAY), I give them all away.

In January 2011 I dedicated my etsy shop to be used exclusively to fund these Birthday Give Aways. This has worked wonderfully, thank you all so much for your support. All your kindness has again funded this years give away. I couldn’t do it with out you.

Over the years I have had little twists to how things work but this year I will do things the same way I did last year.

Here’s How It Will Work

My Part – I will make some gifts and post about them as much as I can this month. On the 30th (my birthday) I will hold a drawing and give away all the gifts posted during the month.

Your Part – To be eligible for my Birthday Give Away drawing, comment on any of my April 2013 posts. You will receive one entry for each post commented on.

On My Birthday – I will organize all the comments on each of my April posts and use the Random Number Generator  to choose one name for each gift. Once all the gifts have a name attached to them I will post the winners (NOT the corresponding gift. I want this part to be a surprise) and send out e-mails to let the winners know they have won and find out where to ship the gift to. If I don’t here from a winner within a week I will choose another. Hopefully I will hear from everyone in a timely manner and all gifts will be shipped out the next day.

If you have any questions leave them in comments of this post and I’ll answer them there.

It’s going to be a great month.

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Fun Colors

Hi everyone.

I’m happy to back here in this space and am getting very excited for this years, my very last, birthday give away.

Today I headed out to Gautier, MS to visit a new to me quilt shop, Block Therapy. After walking around a  few minutes I came across a beautiful wall of colorful solids. After inquiry, I found out that this little gem of a shop carries the entire collection of Kona solids.

All of them!

Needless to say, I was thrilled. I may or may not have hugged the shop owner.

I picked out this pretty stack to coordinate with some of the prints I’ll be using this year. Isn’t it pretty?

So, don’t go too far, April is just around the corner. I’ll have my official announcement on April 1st about how things are going to work this year.

If your new to this blog check out last years April 1st post to see what this is all about.

P.S. Everything in the Etsy Shop is half off for the month of March and all income will be used to support this years birthday give away. On April 1st the shop will closed for a while and will reopen with a new project to support. 

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Gifts for 2012

Well, here they all are; all 17 presents for this years Birthday Give Away. Every year I wish that I had completed more and this year is the same. It seems like every year life kind of creeps into my sewing time. This year there was a couple of family trips but mostly I spent my free time resting. Rest is such a huge part of my life right now.

However…

Looking at this mosaic makes me happy. Every time I took an hour or two to work on these projects I really enjoyed myself. For each of the projects that were made this month, I tried something new whether it was a new technic, style, pattern or project.

1. Present Number One, 2. Chevron Quilt, 3. Joel Dewberry Covered Notebook, 4. Joel Dewberry – Flour Sack, 5. Lark – Library Tote with Zipper, 6. Amy Bulter Tote- Lark, 7. Fabric Note Cards – Amy Butler, 8. Button Magnets, 9. Good Fortune Quilt, 10. Crochet Stone, 11. Fabric Note Cards – Amy Butler, 12. Fabric Note Cards – Amy Butler, 13. Fabric Note Cards – Amy Butler, 14. Button Magnets, 15. Lark – Fabric Notecards, 16. Fabric Note Cards – Amy Butler, 17. Linen Dish Towel and Hot Pad

Now onto my favorite part of the whole month.

I have closed all comments on all posts eligible for the 2012 Birthday Give Away. I’m going to get things organized, spend some time with friends, and then announce the winners of this years give away just as soon as I get the names all picked.

I have had a wonderful birthday month.

All of your comments have been so wonderful and they mean so much to me. It was so wonderful to hear from friends and family that I see so rarely and miss dearly. It was also nice to hear from friends that I’ve met over the years here on my blog and to hear from some people who are new to the blog this year.

Thank you all so much.

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Two Final Presents

These are my final two presents for this month.

First up…

Library Tote with a zipper. It took a few tries but I figured out how to put in a zipper on top. Not in a way I previously imagined but functional and cute none the less. In the process I had to give up the idea of having piping on the top as well but I still love it and will have to make one like this for my own.

Next up…

Another set of Fabric Notecards. Again with Amy Butler fabric but this time with two decor weight Lark prints. With this heavier weight fabric attached to the cards they feel even more glorious than the last bunch of cards.

Well, I hope you’ll enjoy these last two gifts. Now it is time for me to squeeze in one last camping trip before it gets too hot. This time just the moms in charge. I can’t wait.

***Just a heads up, incase I don’t get in another post before Monday. I will be closing comments on all April 2012 posts as soon as I wake up on my birthday. (Monday morning if you haven’t been keeping track)***

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Only One

I am grateful and relieved that time is moving fast as I move though this pregnancy but sheesh, I didn’t expect April to fly by so fast. Only one more week!

I have a couple of projects that I’m hoping to get finished so, I hope things slow down a bit, at least for this week.

Today, I have the second set of linen hand towels and pot holder to show you. For these I actually remembered to attach a little hanging piece of fabric thingy.

I don’t know for sure what it is for but some of my hand towels have them and I suspect you use it to hang your towels on a peg or something.  I personally don’t have any pegs for hanging towels but maybe someone else might appreciate  it.

I hope you like it.

 

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Another Bag

I didn’t intend of having things so slow around here this week but that’s just how my days have played out. Gratefully today my schedule was clear and I had time to get to work on one of the bags I had all cut out and ready to go.

I’ve made totes similar to this one for a few of my Birthday Give Aways now. The plan for this one and the other that I have cut out was to add in a recess zipper along the top. I’ve wanted to try this for a while but sadly my first attempt failed. Gratefully, with a ton of seam ripping, and patience as I pull out all those little strings,  I was able to salvage the bag and make it using the same technics and pattern as used in this tote last year.

Tonight I hope to do some research and find out the correct technic for adding a recess zipper. Hopefully I will have better success with the next one.

As things are I really do love this bag and hope you like to too.

FYI – I have updated this post with information about my technics and the pattern used on the Joel Dewberry bag. Thanks for all your interest. 

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Quilt number 2

Hurray! I am so happy to have this quilt done. I am really loving the back too.

Finished measurements are a touch bigger than 76  x 62 in.

Here is the front ( I love the blondie blue peeking out)

The Back ( oh look, I caught her back side on this one. And someone’s toes too. )

And a few more pics.

If you’d like to have this quilt for your own, leave a comment on this or any of my April 2012 posts. Both quilts are part of my random drawing this year.

I hope you like it.

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Joel Dewberry

Anyone interested in some Joel Dewberry? I know I would be.

In my younger years I was never drawn to pink. Over the years, however, with two girls that have loved the color, I find myself grabbing for it on the fabric shelves more and more. So, I guess I’m not surprised that I reached for the Berry version of this Joel Dewberry line.  I sure love it.

So how many gifts do we have so far? I think these two will bring us to five.

First up I have a fully reversible market tote with a zipper pocket both on the inside and the outside. . This bag was reinforced with heavy duty interfacing so it feels pretty heavy duty.

*** Update April 20 – Thanks for the bag love. In answer to questions or comments about a pattern, this bag was made following this pattern. I pretty much followed the instructions adding interfacing to both the outside fabric and the lining. I also added a zippered pocket both inside and out using a method similar to this. Finally, to give the bag a more finished look, I topstitched around the inside and outside of the handles. Thanks for your interest. 

Next up I have a covered spiral bound notebook.

Both of these items were made prior to this month but I am happy to be adding them as gifts for my Birthday Give Away.

I hope you like them.

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Good Fortune

by Kate Spain

I really appreciate all your thoughtful comments on my maternity pics. It means a lot to me, so thank you. I’ve also enjoyed all the love on my Chevron Quilt. I’m sad I only have one to give away.

But… I did start my next quilt.

Here is the finished top of the second quilt for my Birthday Give Away, all ready for quilting lines. It’s made from my February delivery of Pink Chalk’s Charming Solids Club, adding in more yardage of the solids and some gray and snow as well.

Nothing too exciting but I really do love patchwork these days. I’ve drawn on lines in a chevron pattern and think it will make it a little more interesting to look at. The back is pretty simple too but has more of a modern feel to it.

****

We are getting ready to head out of town for a few days. So, I’ll have to put things on hold for a bit as I get ready for and then enjoy a small vacation. See you soon.

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