Bye bye Mom-in-law

Wah Wah Wah! Call the Wahmbulance! I miss my Mom-in-law. Can you believe she was here for 2 weeks and I wish she could stay longer?

I suggested that I take a picture of her with the new motorcycle and she hopped up there and struck a pose.  And that's my DH (her son) behind her.  I took very few pictures while she was here.  (darn - what's wrong with me?)

So it's back to Alburqueque, New Mexico for her.  I bet she'll be happy to be home. After all there's no place like home.

CGQC Finish and Amy's One Week Challenge

I finished piecing my Peace and Patience quilt made with Bunny Hill's Lilly and Will fabric. I just wanted to make a simple 9-patch to act as a throw for my living room.  We'll be needing it this winter. Amy's One Week Challenge helped me to get it done.

I'm really happy with it, although the colors in these pictures don't show as bright and clear as it is in real life.  Oh and I thought this picture above was a bit boring.  So I called Neptune to come take a picture with the quilt.  No Dice!!  Ever since I called her and gave her a bath, made her soak to get rid of the skunk smell there's no way she'll take a chance that's what I have in store for her and she wouldn't come.

I thought Bunny Hill fabric and no Neptunee - How about a bunny?

The little white bunny doesn't show up to well.  How about KitKat?  Oh dear she's brown and white and doesn't show up to well either!

Okay how about the Bunny, KitKat and Sugar?

Cute.  Too bad they messed up the quit (a dozen times!!!)

Finally Neptune couldn't stand it any longer and came to be my model!  Whoopie! Not only did she mess up the quilt - but she's tan and white and blends in also!  LOL!!  Oh well.  

Linda

Luv 2 Create  posted about this new website:  Sew Picture Perfect.

I checked it out and it's pretty cool.  I really enjoyed it - no words just pictures.  Jodi lists the websites she has gotten the pictures from.  AND she is even having a give-a-way on her original site Pleasant Home (Sorry I couldn't get the link to connect to the icon.

Linda

Massage/Self-Care and KitKat

While we are on the subject of self-care this month, I have a little story to tell you.

It starts with a gift I received for my birthday. My friend gave me a gift certificate for a full body massage. And said it’s because “You need to learn to do things just for yourself.” I have never done anything like that and thought it was a good idea.

So that was 2 months ago and was finding it VERY hard to find the time to redeem my gift.

I finally went last night. The lady was nice; the lights were low, the room very calm, soft music playing. She told me just close my eyes and relax.

As I’m laying there I begin to realize something. Me and my dog are just alike. What a funny thing to start thinking about.

This is my KitKat the day she was born. Look how little and cute she is!!

KitKat is just like me; up at the crack of dawn, ready to go. Always happy. Oh she’ll sit on the couch when we watch a movie, well for a while, then she’s down chewing a bone or jumping into the pool. I’m thinking this massage feels good, but I would rather be up moving around doing something. I was good and stayed for the full massage. I’m glad I did and I’ll go back; just not once a week or even once a month. More like once a year. My way of relaxing is by doing something. I am doing my self-care by sewing or cutting fabric, planning my quilts and yes, shopping for my next project!


Linda

Today is the day

Today is the day that my mother-in-law will be showing up. (Yippee!!) She lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  It's hot where she is from, so our heat 98 degrees and the prediction of 105 degrees for Saturday hopefully will not wilt her.  Wouldn't that be the pits to have a wilted mother-in-law?

Albuquerque Balloon Festival

So the house is all clean, even the windows are washed.  I want her to be able to see the heat rising off the sidewalks when she sitting under the A/C. (lol)  We have a nice dinner planned and her bed is all made up.  

(sorry the pic is strange, the walls are not really weirdly variegated like that.)

I decided to put her in the coolest room in the house, my daughter's room.  You can tell this is a teen's room just by looking at the color it's been painted. I just hope she can sleep with those walls!!

Linda

Friendship Club

My daughter laughed at me when I told I was going to join the friendship club at our local quilt guild.  She thinks the name is rather..well, for lack of a better word, silly.  But be that as it may, I did go and the ladies were all very nice.  It was the first meeting, so we were just getting to know each other and we will be deciding on another name.  (I bet that's a big relief for my daughter!  LOL!!)

So the gal hosting the meeting had lots of scraps and let each of us dig through and pick three.  Wasn't that nice of her?  And so much fun!  So here are my three:

My oldest daughter HATES spiders - so of course when I saw this spiderweb fabric complete with spiders, (click on it and check them out!  they are so neat!) I had to get it. I'm in the process of making her a nice quilt with a black background and somehow I have to include this!

And of course I thought the fabric with the little irons, scissors and sewing accessories was too cute.  Any ideas of a little project I can use it for?  It's about the size of a fat 8th.  And the stripe would be cute as a binding or something. I'm not sure but I'll use it. 

Linda

July and August Goal and Projects

Okay it's time to list my goals for July and August for the Charming Girls. Now I've been thinking about this because it's easy for me to list the sewing projects each month - but not so easy with the other goals. Although I think this is a great idea so here goes.

1. Join a Friendship Group at the quilt guild. (Oh and pay the guild dues too! LOL)   Done! Yea!

2. Read the book Emma by Jane Austen with my family. (Still waiting for one daughter to finish reading Gone with the Wind.)  As of 7/26 stilling waiting on Miss Slow Reader.

3. Sign up for a Biology Class at College. (YUCK! Actually Double YUCK!)  Signed up for two other ones. But I'm on the list for Biology.

4. Treat my Mother-in-law like Gold for the two weeks she is visiting.  She is such a sweetie I want to treat her extra special.

5. Take one more mini camping trip with the family before school starts.

6.  Buy a walking foot and start quilting those tops!  On Order - just waiting for it to come in.

7. Enjoy shopping with my youngest daughter for school clothes.

Okay now on to the easy goals - well easy to list.

Yep - those Val Laird's BOMs.  They are still waiting for me.

And Check this out from LollyChops!  She has the coolest Blog.

I would love to get my act together and make something like this as a house warming present for my daughter. Only in her colors of Lavender and blue.  I described it to her and she is totally unexcited.  But wait till she sees it.  Then she'll love it.

And on my list I would love to make something for the Christmas Challenge.  She has some cute placemats and that would be a good Christmas gift.

And as for the quilts I would like to work on:

My Lilly & Will 9-patch   Done!  Finished piecing it.

And then I need to make another I-Spy quilt for my grandson, Troy. But no picture of that. (Yet!)

Oh Geez, I'm tired just thinking about all that! LOL 

At least I have the two months to think and work on them.   And of course my last goal is to continue checking out everyone else's blogs.

Linda

Another July Finish & Christmas Challenge Finish

Here I am with another July and Christmas Challenge Finish for my hubby and I haven't really set my July/August goals for the Charming Girls and Guys Club yet.

A while ago I made my daughter a set of pillowcases, switching up the fabrics so they would be different yet go together.  I've wanted to do that for my husband (and myself) so when I found fabric with turquoise which we have in our bedroom, I just knew I had to have it.   I cut this top strip 9 1/2 inches and them it's folded over.

.

The main body of the pillowcase I cut at 27 inches. 

 

I used my coffee cup to hold down my measuring tape.

And then I usually cut 2 inches for the trim.  Only this time I cut 4 inches as I wanted to horses to show up better.

 So the light color one will be for me, and the dark for him.  This way I know which pillow is mine and which is his.  I like a flat pillow and he like a puffier one.  Pillowcases always make good presents.

Linda

I'm so happy; I have a July Finish!

Well what you think?  This really wasn't that much to finish up.  I need to trim up the last white border.  I was really wondering if it that last border was wide enough. 

Here's a close up of the the last border. I think this will be a nice size lap quilt.  It measures 52 inches.  Now to get it sandwiched and quilted.  (I need to buy a walking foot first.)

This is the binding material that I picked up at a local quilt shop.  Lovely isn't it?  It's going to make a real cute binding.

Remember this fabric? 

It's just crying out to be cut and made into pillowcases.  I'm hoping I can at least cut it up tonight while we are watching the movie we rented, The Tooth Fairy. 

Linda