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Friday, May 27, 2011

Time for FUN - Vegas Fun!!


After working week after week and every single weekend for several months - Hubby said he needed a break - and there's nothing like running to Vegas for a little chillaxin'!  We had major Chillaxin' the past couple days.

On a whim - we ran off to Vegas on a Tuesday morning.  We spent some time at South Point Hotel.  It's so pretty the way it's all gold and shinny and bright.  (This hotel is at the very end of Vegas - and since we have a car we can easily drive to the strip.)  It's a lovely hotel and the staff treats us so nicely.

And they have beautiful decor - even the hallways are wide, bright and beautiful.


They have a great pool - it circles around and it was not crowded.


Main pool area - nice cool water for swimming.

We stayed near this heated pool because it was so pretty and so relaxing. That's not me and that's not my husband's head.
The first day we ran around having fun.  We went by the quilt store - but it had gone out of business.  So no quilty news in this post other than to say - no quilting was done this week!  hehehe!!!

The second day we stayed at South Point and just enjoyed the pool.  Would you believe I forgot my swimsuit?  I tried to buy one at the little hotel shop - they even had reasonable prices but...no luck.  They didn't fit.  So I ended up with some men's trunks and a t-shirt.  They were so comfortable.  And they had pockets!!!  Great for your keys and ID and credit cards.  Ladies, we are being jipped!!  We should have swimsuits with pockets.  Okay I will admit that the swim trunks are not as sexy.  I suppose sexy will have to win out over the pockets.  Darn. 




Monday, May 23, 2011

Sewing Sum Up

Oh my gosh, I stayed up to watch Celebrity Apprentice and now I'm pooped!!  Why or Why did I think that would be a good idea?

I did work on my Watercolor Star.  This is really such a pretty quilt.  I'm going to try to quilt it without screwing it up.  Not today though, I'll work on it a different day when my head isn't hurting.

This is the center of the quilt - so far so good. 

And I also cut out the pieces for the next two CW Blocks.  These should be enjoyable to stitch up.  I can do these with my head hurting.  hehehe


Check out our new little guy.   We found him outside our house.  Earlier that day we were at the pet shop and my daughter was wanting a new pet.  When I found this little guy I told her her this was her new pet.  She can have him but he has to stay outside. 


He agreed.  He plans to just hang out with us and eat bugs. 


I guess that about sums up my sewing for the weekend. How was yours? Did you get more sewing done than I did?

Friday, May 20, 2011

FNSI, Cupcakes, Hello Kitty, Blocks and more Blocks

Serena made these cupcakes as a gift for her friend. I asked her why was she making pink cupcakes if he's a guy? She said he really liked Hello Kitty and pink goes with Hello Kitty. Well, you can't argue with that reasoning. She found this cute marshmallow Hello Kitty. He was thrilled with them. I think it so nice she was able to make someone else happy.  I had a leftover one - one of the duds and oh my was it ever good!! Yum Yum!!!

Okay block time.  I've been working on those Civil War blocks so and steady.  First up is
the basket block.  I'm so happy with this one.  I really thought it would look nice to make the top row of triangles from a different fabric and it does!  (excuse me while I toot my own horn)  And then I just had to add the handle to make it look more complete. 

And second up, is the Seven Sisters block.  You can't really tell but I machine aapplique stitched in red around the stars.


And third up is the cotton boll block.  What you might not know is that Bakersfield is also known for it's cotton, beside oil and produce.  Yep, that's right.  We have lots of quality cotton here and manufacturers like our good cotton a lot.  We ship it all over and they mix with the lesser cotton.  So I really like the cotton boll block.  This was the first time I had made the block.  It was a little different to make with those center angles.


And my lastly blocks are the pineapple blossoms.

With all these blocks that I did throughout the week I almost don't need a Friday Night Sew-in, but I want to do it anyway.  


Maybe you'll join and I'll see you there. If not, that's ok. Just have a great weekend!!

Monday, May 16, 2011

Pineapple Blossom Block


Woohoo!  My first block is ready for Block Lotto!  I got up early on Sunday and washed and dried my fabrics to make this pineapple blossom block.  This is the first time I've made the block.  It was fun - and easy.  I hope to get a couple more made up tonight. 

I also worked on this:


I got the border sewn and put on.  Whew!  I'm caught up on this mystery quilt until Pat Sloan posts the next part, which will not be until next month.

I also worked on the Star block.  I have it mostly done just need to machine applique around the stars.  And I have the flower basket pieces cut out.

 All in all I think that was good sewing for the weekend.  One of the things we did this weekend was go see the movie "Priest".  Why??? Because my husband thinks I like vampire movies.  I tell him no, I don't, I'm scared and then we go anyway.  Maybe I really do like them...or maybe I should since I'm going to end up seeing them anyway.   I didn't think Priest was scary - but then I had my eyes closed through some of it so I can't really say.   :-)

Linda

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Another block done - Yay!!! & Block Lotto

Another block done!  Okay I think this makes 13 blocks finished and 6 left to catch up.

There is a lot of joy in making blocks - well for me there is. It's a small thing that I'm able to accomplish and I think they are beautiful.  I remember when I first started quilting and I would go to my local quilt store and make a block each month.  I was a bit worried about putting them into a quilt.  One day I decided I didn't have to; I could enjoy just making blocks.  If it makes me happy I get to do it.

Although I do plan to get these made into a quilt someday! 


Since I enjoy making blocks so much I'm considering - Doing BLOCK LOTTO!! 


This month is block is pineapple blossom.  It's a way cool block when set as multiples. 


I had to buy some grey fabric because I am proud to say I do not own any grey and it's a requirement for this months block.  That and some gold.  I hope to sew up one or two blocks this weekend.

And lastly, on Mother's day I was handing my daughter a glass of milk in a cup because the dishes were in the dishwasher washing.  I realized it was the cup my other daughter, Rosanna, had given me for Mother's Day.


The cup is a little hard to read it says MOM.  She was only about 4 or 5 at the time.  What a sweetie she was.  She placed it on the counter for the clerk to ring up and I kept from looking to see what she was buying. She wanted to surprise me.  Well, I had to call her up right then and talked about that Mother's day so many years ago.  We laughed about how that cup has been around for over 20 years and how it gives us such fun memories.

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Next block in the works....

My next Civil War Block will be.....   STARS!


I also cut out the material for my other CW Block too, but forgot to snap a picture of it to show you.

When I do my blocks I try to cut out two blocks as I'm watching TV and then on the next evening I try to get both sewn up.  This system has been working well for me. 

The day after my birthday, Violet called me to tell me she had a present for me.  I couldn't understand what it was, just that it was blue.  See what she found?

Awww...I just love kitties.

Violet is too small to go to school, she has not even been to pre-school yet.  But look at what she wrote on the inside of the card. I was just amazed.

Aren't you amazed too? Like the way I used the telephone cord to prop it open?    It you only have one word this is a pretty good one!


Tuesday, May 10, 2011

More Civil War Blocks

Civil War Log Cabin - Block #11
This log cabin block was a piece of cake - so easy to complete. The funny thing is this is the first time I've made this block.  Oh, I have a log cabin quilt that I made - I took a class when I first started to quilt.  It was a Quilt in a Day from Eleanor Burn's book. We sewed strips and did some fancy cutting and ended up with a log cabin quilt - but I was so confused and didn't know how in the world it happened that all those bits and pieces turned into a log cabin design.

This Texas Tears block is a different story.  I sewed it up and just knew it was wrong! My first clue was: points should not be cut off in a block.  So I used my seam ripper and removed all those extra pieces.  I didn't take a picture of it - so I laid the incorrect piece on top so you can see what it used to look like (right side of block) the left is where I corrected it.

See that point cut off on the right hand side?  That's just NOT correct.

So I remeasured my squares, reread the cutting instructions - did a bit of wiggling, both in my head and with the fabrics.  Here's what I realized.   I was lining up the triangles to sew them.


After all isn't that one of the first things we learn to do when sewing?  Well in this case that's WRONG.



I moved the triangles over to 1/4 of an inch - because don't those little corners usually get cut off after sewing?  It seemed worth a try.

Then did it again for the other side.....


And WA LA!!

Perfect Points!  (hehehe - almost perfect points)

My completed and looking good, Texas Tears Block.
I counted and I have now completed 12 blocks.  That means 7 blocks now to catch up.  Fun, Fun, Fun!!

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Wordless Wednesday Post - NOT

I could let this be a Wordless Wednesday Post - but no way I have to say LOOK!!  I did another Civil War Block!

I was up late last night cutting little bits and sewing little pieces back together - hence the name for my blog.

There are 24 of those green triangles. (Ugh! So many! Or so it seemed last night.)

Lately, I've been loving sewing HST (Half Square Triangles). And so it was fun to sew them all up and those 24 sewed up zippy split.

I stayed up late because we went to see the movie Water for Elephants (Loved it!) and when I got home I wanted to do another Civil War Block.   And it took a while for me to cut and sew these up.  Around 11:00 at night I finally had one of these.


And around midnight...YAY!!  I finished my Kansas Trouble block.


Here's a better picture - colors are a bit more vivid.  Don't you just love it - or is it just me because I'm ditsy from not getting enough sleep.



Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Hey Kiddos!

Did you know when we went to Oregon my sister bought me a cute as a button vase with a flower frog?

The flower frog is a wire mesh top so that all you have to do is poke the flower stems in and you have a nice arrangement.  This was my birthday gift from her. 

On my birthday I came in from working with Hubby to the smell of cake in the oven. (Yum!!)  Serena was a busy little bee and baked my a cherry cake, and when Rosanna came over she decorated it while I dyed Serena's hair. 

I had a small fire to put out when it came time to blow out the candles!!  Why, I almost got a sunburn from the heat of it!! It really was quite something!  hahaha! 



Look!  I did get another Civil War block done!!

And another!! 


If I remember right this puts me at seven blocks completed - and nine that I need to complete in order to catch up.

And lastly - there should always be a lastly picture.

Here are Scarlett and Violet with their Del Taco sunglasses.  The lens are different colors  Fun is seeing the world through Red or Green sunglasses.