How on earth..

Somebody please tell me how this is made. It amazes me to no end! I'm tempted to get the pattern, but seriously... where would you begin! i found it here at Picture Quilts by Sharon Malec. It's dimensions are 18"W x 24"L... Mom, anything thoughts?? Want to attempt it?

2-D Zoo Puzzle Piece Quilt

I never really got to take good pics of Owen's quilt, bag, and blocks. Well I take that back, I took them, just not with my camera. I don't know if Brian's dad has had a chance to get them off his camera or not.

Anyway, Owen was born last Sunday - Jan 18, the same day as his Papaw (Brian's Dad) and Colby's b-day, kinda neat! I made a quilt from the 2-D Zoo fabric in Sage for Mike and Becky because they were waiting to find out what the baby was. Well when it was all said in done, the quilt and bag in my opinion actually turned out more "boy-ish", so that worked out! Mike has been posting picks of Owen on a site for everyone to see and as I was looking at it last week, I came across this. A great shot of Owen with his new blankie and bag, leaving the hospital. I would have to say it might be one of my favorite quilts. No trouble at all. I'm glad they will actually use the quilt! I hate when one isn't used and it's stored to "keep". I say USE IT! I can always make another one when it's been drug through the mud for teh last time!

Quick Update - Gypsy Rose Quilt

Here is a quick shot of the Gypsy Rose lap quilt. I should have the entire top complete by the end of the day-HOPEFULLY.. I'm actually way behind where I wanted to be. I'll probably spend most of tomorrow cutting the other 2 quilt's pieces out. But, until I can manage to find the time to finish this top, here is a brief view..




When I bought these Fabrics, Sandra from Tennessee Quilts immediately said " those are VERY different from what you normally buy" she must have known it was a gift for someone else, because she was right. Although, I'm beginning to like it more every time I look at it. It's pretty, but not fru-fru pretty at Brian would put it.

_____________________________________________________________________

I'm spending this morning cleaning the house... I HATE cleaning. When I was in college, everything was always clean, now... I can't keep anything clean. I'm convinced it's because we live on a farm and let's face it, I'll never be a housewife, nor would I want to! I can deal with dirt, it's the clutter in such a small place that drives me CRAZY! Oh, that and the mountain of laundry that continues to pile up in the chair in our room.

After Laura's lesson this morning, she and I are going to run errands. Well they are my errands. I have to get a few things for a swap that I'm in - Sewing Swap with a Twist. Rebecca has me hooked on swaps, particularly Swap-Bot. Anyway, I need to find 3 sewing related items - a yard of rick-rack, couple spools of thread, buttons, fat quarters, safety pins, etc. - to send to someone else in the swap.

I just received a package in the mail yesterday from my partner in Wedding Day Mini Survival Kit swap. I was very surprised at ALL the stuff in the box. It all came packed in a neat little zipper bag. Brian and I went through it last night and there is a ton of cool stuff. I had to pack it away for the wedding or else Ill end up using it now!

Speaking of swaps, Rebecca has sent me a possible swap for a purse/bag using Amy Butler fabric. I really like Amy Butler fabric, but am finding it very hard to find the time to do it. I don't have very much longer to decide whether or not I'm doing it. I think the deadline is the end of the month and then the bag has to be sent out by Feb 15. Mom, you may want to do this, maybe? Oh - or Sandra.. you read my blog, right? ;)



____________________________________________________________________

And, because this cracks me... he's taking up fishing with Jim evidently... I promise it will make you chuckle!

We've been hit

We've been hit with snow... Yes Kelly, let your boys know we received lots of snow Tuesday and it's still around. Duke on the other hand is not so happy that I have forced him to wear his jacket.
Its still around and will probably be at least until tomorrow. As for quilts, I will have one to show this weekend.

Eight Degrees

So, what does eight degrees really feel like? It's hard to explain what it feels like, but this is what it looks like...



This is the outcome of a leaky faucet and eight degrees. Hard to tell in the pic, but the ice has managed to run not only all the way around the pipe on the ground, but also to give itself at least four to five inches think. I'm from TEXAS, this does not happen in SOUTH TEXAS! Ya, there was that time in 2004 when we got 13 inches of now for xmas, but it all melted away by the end of the day and it was 70 again.

Thursday afternoon the temp started to drop, and it just kept going. It's been so cold here that we have canceled most lesson because we don't need anymore sick snotty nose kids running around here. This morning wasn't too bad though, a long as you were in the sun and out of the wind! I'm sure all the animal are happy because since it's been cold, they get extra extra food to keep them warm at night.

Shiner was even happy to see me this morning. He ran from the hill down to me, I was shocked. Normally I have to walk a mile to get close to him and then he decided to run ad hide behind the other colt. I think he was trying to tell me he was sorry for all that and that he should be allowed to come in the house where it's warm. I'm all for that, it's Brian he has to convince - and that's not working out so well. Here he is getting a lot bigger, at 8 months old.


Tonight it's supposed to start snowing. Not so great, cold and snow is just too much. I've been ok with just the cold... Hopefully it won't be much and it won't stick.. as usual.

F A B R I C

I have a tendency to only buy fabric for projects that I am working on. I've never really been able to just buy a yard here or there, unless I knew what I would do with it. Yesterday I spent over an hour in Tennessee Quilts looking for these. I try to limit myself to only going once a month, which I was dig so well until they decided to take 20% off of everything in their shop for the ENTIRE month of January. My thinking was, hey buy everything you need now, and save a little. Good thinking, because I have taken on a task I may not have been prepared for.





I went ahead and bought fabric for the 3 quilts I'm doing. 2 of them were easy to pick out, the 3rd... not so much. They are definitely going to be 3 very different quilts when it's all done. I don't have a favorite one yet, but I'm sure once they are done and ready to quilt I will. Either that or I will be ready to throw them all out and let Shiner use them.


As for the twins, here are theirs! They ended up larger than I thought/wanted them to be. I still had intentions on adding a 5" border to the outside, but figured they are already so big and I will have plenty of time to make them bigger ones in the next 18 years. They won't be able to use the for a while anyway because if they come early they will probably be in the hospital for a while. So I'm not rushing to have them quilted just yet. I can't decide if I want to finish them on the way to Texas in May or finish them and mail them to Leslie soon.



I've never use a log cabin pattern before and I got the tutorial from here (She's got a lot of really neat tutorials and quilts.) It's pretty simple. I'm happy with the way they have turned out. I don't like frilly baby blue and pink baby blankets.

____________________________________________________________________

If you're wondering, in the past week I was able to not only book a DJ for the wedding, but also a Photographer. It was a really long week and all I can say is some people really value their photography, probably more than they should! We ended up barely over our budget, but I'm satisfied and won't have to worry about it. :)

No Panicking ... Yet

So I was sitting at my desk this morning trying to get caught up on a few things, when it dawned on me... There is basically 4 1/2 months until the wedding... Here I was thinking I had at least 6 months. I think I totally forgot about it from the time in was in Texas back in November all the way through X-mas and New Year's. No wonder Laura asked me what else I needed to do the other day. I will say that, for the most part, all the major things are taken care of. I do however have to add back to my list

1. find a photographer - sore subject, I just need some pictures, not a lot to ask.
2. do something about reception music

Those are the only major issues, not too bad, right?!

I will have to dig out my trusty agenda tonight and begin thinking/doing what's left. Which reminds me, I should probably order invitations now. Or else it will be nearly April until I remember again. And I'd really rather not address 200 invitations in one weekend. Please Mandy if you're reading this have mercy on me, I really think you should live closer in order to keep me in line. You have your work cut out for you come May 23. Ok, might as well block off May 22-23.

if you're interested.. check this out. Our Knot Page

This is my soon to be new nephew's quilt. It still needs it's borders and to be finished. As for my soon to be niece's quilt, it could be at this stage tomorrow.

A New Vue

In my short lifetime as a licesnsed driver, I have never experienced a "new" car. I've had 2 Dodge Neons, both of which were red, go figure. The first one I got my first year in college, the second came my last year in college. Since I'm grown up now, I suppose I need a grown-up car, or one in which Brian can at least fit in. Being 6'4 and then some, it's hard for him to fit in the neon, much less ride for hours on end.

All of this started at Christmas with Brian's family. His mom bought a brand new Saturn Outlook (i think that's what it's called) Really, really super nice! Heated seats, remote start (so when it's freezing outside, all she has to do is push a button and bam it's started. Something Texans know nothing about.) She said I should drive it, and I did. And I realized I needed one. It didn't take much talking into for Brian, because well he hates my car and is in no way going to let me drive it to Texas for the wedding for (20+ hrs).

As of yesterday we are the new owners of this:


It's a 2008 Saturn Vue, not the really awesome Outlook his mom got, but think of it as the baby version. I really like it and it has so much room, so Brian likes it. Now we will be able to make it to Texas for the wedding in May, in one piece! Since the back seats fold down, Brian suggested we save money and sleep in the car on the way. I'm still not so sure about that!

Oh and today there was lots of ice on the road and I was sooooo nervous about driving it to work. Took me 45 min instead of the normal 25.

As for quilting, I have the babies quilts and mostly cut out and the log cabin pieces sewn together. I should be able to post some pics tomorrow.