Details, Details...

Details, details...it's all in the details.

The Girl Loves Horses!

Yep, it's that time again...November 8th, the day my middle child was born. This year, she asked for her horse cake to be white. I am so so happy she is still way into horses and dreams of being a cowgirl. This fascination has been going on for years now.

Happy 10th Birthday Kaziah!

More birthday photos here and if you have a horse lover in need of a birthday cake, click here.

Remodel Link Love...

If you are interested in reading about my surprise remodel for Lance, click here.

Finished Twin Quilts...Photo Tutorial

The Twins quilts are finished and I am moving onto my next project...which involves boxing up Halloween decor and dipping my paint brush into some fresh yummy paint color -not on the same day mind you. My mud blades will make an appearance too. If you are keeping track, and take the hint as to me using my paint brushes/mud blades, you'll guess our prego attempts did not take last month. Which means I have a few weeks to bust out some more remodel work. Oh, that reminds me! I have not shown off my latest remodel work...oops! I'll have to do that.

I am happy with the quilts and excited to give them to the busy Mama of three. The Twins, Sadie and Sophie, were able to go home this past weekend...good job girls!

And now on to the photo tutorial.....

Imagine you have sewn the top together and then sewn the top to the bottom fleece -right sides together- leaving about 5 inches open for turning. We'll go from there. (did that make sense?) Not promising any clear instructions, just photos. Enjoy...

Quilt Tops Done...

Last Friday I finished up the Twin quilt tops...


And Sunday I finished the pink quilt. Reminded me that I do pin my cheater quilts...just not as much. I am hoping to have the time tomorrow to get the other one done. Cross your fingers for me on that one!

Happy Halloween!

This is Me...Moving Forward, Progress.

Maybe not the best picture of me, I'm not wearing any make-up and obviously have hair issues, but it's me. I feel like I am moving forward in many aspects of my life. Learning to be patient with myself and a bit more so with others. I'm sure this is every mother's concern -finding time for herself and trying not to be so hard on themselves. It seems that once you get in that happy content space, everything else falls into place. At least, I know that's true for this Mama.



On this beautifully cloudy Hallows Eve (snow in the forecast), I am working on the Twins quilts...Enjoying the time to myself, drinking some decaf pumpkin spice mocha (so festive!) and listening to some great tunes on Pandora. (Have you upgraded to Pandora One yet? It's Awesome!)


I hope your Halloween festivities are full of family fun and great friends...

Cheers until next time! (Hopefully it will involve a chat showing off two finished quilts)

A Finished "Romping Wrap"

This past Sunday I finished quilting and binding our Romping Wrap!!! I am so very happy with it! I am keeping my fingers crossed in hopes that the start of this quilt gave us some good luck and did the trick...the results from Romping -ya know? I do know the timing was right. (Still confused as to what the heck I am referring to? Read this) I should also add that this was my first real quilt. The baby blankets I have made in the past were cheater quilts. As in, I patch together a top and "pillow case sew and turn" and then quilt, always using a light fleece for the back. No binding, no quilt batting, no pins. This was most definitely my first go at a real quilt...And I did pretty well, if I do say so myself.

Felt Bat Revisited...

This past post from October 2007 seems quite popular...



Fall of '03, Felt bat. Pretty simple, just cut out the shape of your bat, stuff with stuffing, blanket stitch around edges, and then glue on the eyes. Don't forget to add ribbon to the top for hanging. This is the perfect project for older kids, blanket stitch is a great starting point for beginning crafters.

I was pregnant with Roxie when I made this. I had such creative juices flowing at that time. I made one for each of my kids, about ten bats...yes, my daycare kids.

Kinda makes me want to get out some felt and stuff something...like another "Mummy Man". Honestly though, once I finish the Twins quilts, my mind is on Christmas...




How about you, do you have Christmas on your mind as well?

Swan Papel...

For me, picked out by me (this what you do when you find yourself alone on your Birthday) for our newly finished bedroom wall... Swan Papel canvas prints. I loved these as soon as I spied them displayed at Target. They instantly reminded me of Geninne's bird art...art that I have loved and wanted for myself a while now. Be sure to visit her blog, Geninne's Art Blog. She is an amazing artist with an amazing eye for beauty. I am especially in love with her Journal entries and can only wish I had the talent to replicate such a fabulous idea. Who knows, maybe someday I'll get my act together.....

Here, Right Now...

This is where I am right now...quilting and removing the pins.....Kinda looks like it could snow, think I 'll have a cup of coffee and get back at it.

Keeping Up...Book List

Before I elaborate on progress of the "Romping Wrap" or the surprise remodel...I better keep up and posted with the times, even if they may have already passed. Like this book list, it too has passed on to something else, another stack of books - another set of objects that bring me joy resting on the sewing desk. None the less, I am sharing.

Since I finished the remodel and moved our bedroom out of the sewing room, the looks of the sewing desk has changed. And this is a good thing. There is room to spread out...even if at this point it's just boxes full of sewing stash, organized sewing stash that is! Lots of excitement to come as I slowing unbox and spread out in this space set aside for sewing. Oh how I relish the thought of this space and what it represents...

On to my book list...

Funny how, at this particular time on the sewing desk in the sewing room...not a sewing book rests, but these:

Awakening, A Daily Guide to Conscious Living by, Shakti Gawain

Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy by, Sarah Ban Breathnach

Philosophy Dog: The Art Of Living With Man's Best Friend by, Breon O' Farrell

Yoga For Pregnancy by, Sandra Jordan

Kind of an odd mixture of books, huh? If you are a dog lover, you'll love Philosophy Dog. The yoga book speaks for itself and the daily read books are a great day by day page read...a little inspiration to start your day.

The little sewing desk that once displayed these books has moved on to housing what it knows best, a sewing machine. My white sewing hutch is my go-to cabinet. It holds my day to day sewing machine, threads, patterns and whatnot. I love that it holds so much, keeping it all at ready, yet so nice and clean looking when the doors are closed. Most of my sewing books rest in the top cubby shelf. But that is a book list for another day.....

And now, on this wet and beautiful Monday, I return to quilting the "Romping Wrap". At some point soon I need to make my way back to the Twins baby quilts -the Twins were born last Thursday! Sadie and Sophie both weighed in impressively, each around 5 pounds -way to go Mama!

Happy Monday to you!

Anna Maria Horner..."Romping Wrap"...Birthday Wishes

My husband is on to me, so I can share my current project with you. All I did was ask him to stay away from my blogs until after he returned home, that I didn't want him to spoil his surprise. Of course, he knows me too well and guessed straight away saying:

"You're working on our quilt, huh? I'm on to you more than you know"

"Fine then Lance" I say "If you're such a smarty pants, go ahead and take a look"

He said No, he wouldn't. He wanted to wait until he was home to see the finished product. What he doesn't know is that also part of his surprise is having our new bedroom textured and painted and moved into. That is the real surprise...and he may very well have a clue to that as well, but he didn't say as much.

So, with the surprise remodel complete (another reason my blogs have been a tad quiet lately. Gosh that was a lot of work!) and my Birthday TODAY! (and yes, Lance is gone until Friday) I am planning a quiet evening all-to-myself, full of machine quilting, some wine and fine Jazz...

Now, on to the "Romping Wrap".....


Why do I call it our Romping Wrap? Well, if you haven't already guessed, after losing my pregnancy at three months, and having already ordered the baby quilt fabric (over-ordering it I should say) this was part of my healing process, a step-stone you could say. With a doctor's note of approval, we are at a green-light to try again...I think the name sums up its meaning for me pretty well.

Also wanting it to encompass our future baby's quilt, I pieced together a top large enough to cut both quilts from. I like the thought of both blankets being "Cut from the same cloth".

Kaziah was a HUGE help with putting this project together. I wouldn't be nearly as far along without her. Thank you Kaziah... The baby's blanket has yet to be finished, but there will be plenty of time for that...I want to leave it for when I actually get pregnant. Can you tell I believe that is only a matter of time?

Until today, while I worked our remodel, the "Romping Wrap" quilt sat folded up on my bed, all pinned and awaiting the quilting process. And today is the day, my Birthday! With my husband out of town on my Bday, what else could I ask but for a day/evening full of sewing....Oh Yeah, right up my alley.

So now, with tea cup in hand, I start my Birthday celebration...just me and my sewing machine...and if that doesn't sound fun to you...we'll also throw in a lunch date with my Mom and a dance class too...

Happy Birthday to me!

Quilt top made using Anna Maria Horner's Good Folks Collection

Dusting Off The Machine...

After months of storage, I dusted off my sewing machine and got to work. I shouldn't say work. Work doesn't sound fun, I should say "I got to playing" ...and playing, I did. And after my full weekend of sewing, I determined that I have been creatively repressed, for sure.

Having basically finished up our move from the townhouse (minus a few chores we have left when Lance returns home, before the renters move in the 1st of Nov) I rewarded myself with a much needed weekend full of sewing.

First we, Kaziah -my little sewing helper, and I started with a Memory Match Game. Seeing how I cut out and readied 552 game pieces last December, completing this project was simple. We just had to pick out our game pieces, fuse the flannel to our game pieces and then sew/cut each game piece with a pinking blade. The fully lined game bag was a breeze as well.


Next, we started playing with our quilt charm squares for the Twins blankets. We could only get so far on this project as we were awaiting the rest of the blanket fabric in the mail.

Happy to move forward with my next project, we started ironing. And that is all I can say about that project. You see, it is a surprise for my dear hubby...and he has made it a habit to read my blogs when he is out of town.

I'll leave you with this tease picture and be back with more on that fun project next week.

Simply Unheard Of...Just Ask My Husband!

Something completely unheard of happened yesterday. I walked into my local fabric store and asked where the Amy Butler fabric was kept. The clerk informed me, "Oh, we don't carry her fabric." like it was something crazy of me to even ask. I was blown away! "Are you serious!?" I asked her. Amy Butler is extremely popular, how is this possible? Not only that, I had my heart set on a few of her designs for the Twins quilts I am making in October. So, feeling a bit defeated, I looked over almost every bolt of fabric they had. Even carried a few of them to the cutting counter thinking, I guess this will work. But in the end, right before it was my turn at the cutting table, I put them back and walked out of the store empty handed. Empty handed! Do you understand what that really means here? That has never happened before. Never.

I searched around online and found a great source for fabric: Imagine Fabric. They carry many of the designers I like and at great prices too. Funny enough, the fabric I did settle on is not what I had originally planned. And seeing how it is pre-cut, it may not work for the Amy Butler baby quilt I had decided to make. But -it's all good. A more simple quilt design may be better for me at this point anyhow. Simplicity is something I am craving right now...who isn't really?

I am excited to receive this order and play with all the pretty colors and possible lay-outs. The quilts will be made using Amy Butler's Daisy Chain collection. One in Aquatic/Basil and the other with her Blush series. Pretty huh?


I also ordered this awesomely orange and teal (I am sooo into these colors right now!) collection of Amy Butler quilt squares. This set includes: Acanthus Duck Egg, Royal Garden Clay, Kashmir Olive and French Wallpaper Orange. Not sure where this fabric is headed...it'll either land as a throw blanket in our family room or another baby blanket for a friend due in April -I know she'll dig these colors as much as I do. I am so over traditional baby blanket color palettes. And at such a great price, I ordered two of the orange floral quilt square sets. Giving me 64 yummy squares to play with.

Today, I am taking a break from working at the townhouse and breaking out my lonely sewing machine. You see, the baby twin girls are due in November and they happen to have a 3 year old big sister. Big sister Syd can't go without a little gift as well! Becoming a big sister is a big deal you know. And I happen to know the perfect gift: A Memory Match Game. Oh Yah, I am looking forward to starting this project for those sweet little girls.