Refreshing blue and yellow

I change things around every so often with my quilts and I decided to put this quilt up on the wall for now because it's so refreshing to look at. There's something about blue and yellow that just makes me feel good when I look at it. Also with this quilt I was able to use so many of my scraps, another reason to feel good. I machine pieced and also machine quilted it. This is about the largest quilt I feel comfortable machine quilting on my home machine. Anything larger than this and I have to send it out to be quilted -at least until I find the funds and the space for a longarm of my own ;)

Door Prize

Look what I won at my quilt group's Material Girls Idaho meeting yesterday. It's a great pattern especially for those of us trying to use up our mounds of scraps and some very fun Halloween fabric. I am so lucky and belong to the best quilt group around. Every month my friends never cease to amaze me with their creations. It's so motivating. The week before the meeting I'm motivated to finish something so I can take it for Show and Tell. The 2 weeks after the meeting my head is so full of fun new ideas from things I saw at our meeting and I'm cutting, designing, shopping and quilting every spare minute I have. I hope everyone has a group like this in their life.

Currently on my design wall...

I've cut out these squares and have them on my design wall so I can look at them for a couple days. It helps me decide what I'll eventually do with them. I've numbered each square-thus the little pieces of paper on each.


Also on my wall is this artistic rendering of myself by my daughter Leah. She loves drawing pictures of me. I particularly like the scarf and free flowing belt that she's added to my attire on top of what looks to be a stylish pair of culottes.

Words

I went to a friend's home party for http://uppercaseliving.com/ and I couldn't resist getting a few things. There were so many fun ideas for decorating with words and letters. This frame came with 4 separate pieces of glass and your choice of words to place onto each piece. I got a saying or word in a color of my choice that would go with each season. I hung it in my kitchen so at least some of the family would notice when it changes. You can rub the letters onto practically any surface including most wall surfaces. I've had fun with it.

Tutu time

Shhhhh...While my youngest daughter was at school yesterday, I picked up some fun tulle from Joanne's and made this tutu for her 7th birthday which is next week. She loves to dress up and to dance, so I'm sure this tutu will get lots of use. I loved how easy it was to make and especially that it was a no-sew project. Since my dog doesn't like to play dress up, I had to use the chair. It's not quite as flattering, but you can get the gist of it. I'm going to add some ribbons and bows to it also. After all, this is going to a princess!

Apron Swap

So finally, here's a picture of the apron and a close up of the fabric I sent to my Fall Apron Swap partner, Jenn. I made this Flirty Skirty apron with some chocolatey delicious Marcus Brothers fabric. Jenn posted this picture on her blog and since I forgot to take a picture of it before I mailed it to her, she's graciously sharing it with me. I'm happy she liked it.

Hot Pad

Had some free moments the other night while watching a football game with the family and I managed to finish my locker hook rug hot pad. I'm pretty happy that I used so many scraps-just cut them into 1 1/4" strips, connect them together and hook away. At first I was going for an actual design on the pad as you can see with the red stripe at the top, but then I decided I didn't want to think about it that much and just went random but with harmonious colors. I like it. I didn't quite get the tension right on every loop, but it definitely looks homey and homemade. I'm using it on the kitchen table almost like a small table runner in the middle with a candle on top. Rug Maker's Homestead is a great place to see all kinds of rugs, how to make them, etc.

Fall Apron Swap

Last week I received this fun package in the mail from my Fall Apron Swap partner Megan from Maryland that Sassy Apron Swap hosted. It's reversible too which will really come in handy. Megan said this apron is her own pattern based on a vintage apron she borrowed from her neighbor. I love the handwork she did on the pocket. I forgot to take a picture of the hot pad she made to go along with it. I've already used it several times. The recipe she sent me is called Everyday Chicken Potpie and it sounds scrumptious. For my partner Jennifer in Michigan, I made a delicious chocolate Flirty Skirty apron (which I forgot to photograph. I remembered right after I got back from the post office) and I sent her my favorite pie recipe which happens to be French Chocolate Pie. Sassyapronswap always has a fun swap going on so check it out and join in some time.

Weightless and windy

Before my oldest son took off for college, he had some fun with the younger kids having a photo shoot with them on the tramp. They love seeing themselves in these gravity defying poses.














I was also so sad to come home one day after a wind storm and find our favorite willow tree looking like this. We were all so sad. After having lived in South Carolina, Georgia and Virginia for many years, we truly miss being surrounded by trees. They are a rarity here. This was our biggest tree and the kids love climbing in it. We'll have to wait and see if it will even survive.

Produce and hooking

It looks like it's salsa time again. The tomatoes are ripe and ready and plentiful. The grapes have been just so-so this year. Some of them are so tasty and others can't seem to ripen. But they're all fun to snack on throughout the day.
It's also time to clear out what seems to be a ton of scraps from projects, so after seeing a beautiful locker hook rug that my friend Diane made, I decided I would try my hand at it. I've got my fabric cut into 1 1/4" strips, have connected them to make one long continuous fabric thread and have begun my practice piece. It's a 10"x10", so it would be a rug for baby's feet only. I'll have to think of something to do with it when I finish. These pictures are some of what I got done today. It really isn't making a dent in my scrap pile but I kind of knew that it wouldn't when I started. So far it's very fun to do and a diversion from my usual quilting.

A trip without handwork...

I was just kicking myself on our trip to Oregon because I didn't take the time to take some handwork to work on in the car. I usually get so much done on our car trips, but not this time. I did manage to slip in tons of stuff to read, but it didn't feel as productive. So when I saw this pattern at Jodi's Quilt Shop in Florence, OR, I knew I had to make it. I just love it! There's no way I'm going to wait for another car trip though to start working on it. The pattern is printed in red and white and looks darling, but I may experiment with other colors, maybe blue and white or brown and cream. The pattern is called The Quilt Shop and is part of a series by Cathy Parker and her website is quiltingbeedesigns.com.

Oregon Coast

Back to real life after a fun 10 day family vacation to the Oregon coast. We had never been there before and it was so much fun exploring. We started in Portland and worked our way down to Florence and then across the state stopping near Bend. The big hit was the wild dune buggy ride along the sand dunes near Florence. A professional driver took us on a ride that rivaled some of the best theme park rides and we'd all definitely recommend it to anyone going to Florence. There are 2 dune buggy rides-one is a site seeing tour, more sedate type ride. The other is called the wild and crazy ride which is what we opted for. Lots of laughing and screaming. I'm the screamer in our family. The coastline is gorgeous. There were lots of quilt shops along the way. While we stayed in Florence I went to Jodi's Quilt and Fabric shop and Joy of Quilting. Each quilt shop is so unique and of course I found something I couldn't live without in each. But for now, back to the laundry and school shopping. The kids start back to school next Monday and many UFO's will become FO's.

Flag Quilts

In our June meeting, my quilt group, Material Girls, Diane B. taught us how to make these cute flag wall hangings. The fabric is just torn into strips, glued onto a light background, sandwiched and then hand stitched down. Buttons are added to represent the stars, loops are added to the top (some of us made the flag so it would hang vertically and some horizontally-both look very cute). It was so easy and fast. It's hung from a stick from Diane's yard and the wire is curled by wrapping it around a dowel.
The second flag is one of those wall hangings made by pushing fabric into a styrofoam board that has a quilt design cut into it. There's a website called Quilt Graphics that sells the boards. It's fun to do and my kids have even made these. You push the fabric into the grooves with an ordinary kitchen knife. You can even use just a plastic knife. I know there are other companies that sell these too. Check into it. They make fun gifts for your non-quilting friends too.

Shoshone Falls

A few days ago we took our kids to Twin Falls to go through the Twin Falls temple open house. It's open to the public for a few more weeks. It was beautiful. On the way home we stopped at the Shoshone Falls to have a picnic dinner. The first time we ever saw the falls, there was only a dribble of water going down so it was less than spectacular. But this time, it was plentiful and so fun to just stand on the lookout and watch gallons of water pour over the rocks. Here's my 3 girls in front of the falls. It was a fun afternoon trip.

Trip to Eastern Idaho

Just returned from a quick trip to Idaho Falls, Rigby and Rexburg, Idaho. I stopped in at a friend's quilt store in Rigby called The Quilt Shoppe. She lives in the house and the front part of it is the quilt store. It's so cute and she has so many fun samples of things in each room, from aprons, to headbands, to table runners, to quilts, etc. My daughters and I had a fun time taking it all in. Now I have even more projects to do.... Amy Hamberlin is the owner and she's coming out with a new pattern line called Kati Cupcake. Here are a couple of her patterns. I'd say definitely stop by if you're in the eastern Idaho area. I also picked up a great new tool called Sewline Fabric pencil. It's a lead pencil with interchangeable colors of lead to mark your quilt tops. The other big purchase was a book of Kim Diehl's called Simple Traditions. I love Kim's work so I had to have this book. Hopefully I'll be making something from her book soon.

Placemat purse

I've had these 3 placemats for a while, so I decided to make a bag from them. I used one of the placemats, which I cut in half, to make 2 pockets-one on the outside and one on the inside of the purse. I love making placemat purses because they are fun and easy and fast. I'll use this one to carry my "stuff" to church. I usually embellish these purses, but I decided to leave this one alone. I think it turned out cute.

Favorite Things Swap

Look what fun things I received from my swap partner, Heather. She loves aprons and isn't this an adorable vintage apron? I love it. Heather loves the 4th of July too (hence the the sweet glasses, and other red, white and blue things). The chocolate rocks represent Arizona, where she lives, and the Gummy Bears are one of her favorite treats. I love the oil cloth bag she sent. It will be great to use, just wipe it clean and go. Both of us can't believe how similar our packages to each other were. You can see what I sent her on her blog - ahmikeworth.blogspot.com. This was my first swap and I really enjoyed doing it. I'll definitely look for other swaps and participate. Let me know if you read about any fun swaps out there.

Quilts and Forts

Got my latest quilt back from the long arm quilter. She's fabulous! Picking up my quilts from her is like Christmas every time. It's a gift to me. The quilt is from a pattern called Cinnamon & Ginger by Allison Designs. I bought it as a kit because it would have been a lot of work to pick out this many fabrics. The fabric is all by Kaffe Fassett and I love how it turned out.







My girls called me upstairs last night and wanted me to see their fort they built. Pretty amazing, huh? All 3 girls and their cousin slept in the fort last night. I think they used every extra sheet in the house.

Pkg to Argentina II

Got these pictures today from my son in Argentina who delivered packages for us. We sent some winter clothes for the children of this family and here they are going through the box. The next is a picture of Susana Paez getting the gift bag I sent her and also a picture of her wearing the apron I made for her. It's so fun to be able to actually see what she looks like. We've just been emailing up to this point. I have to thank my son for enlarging my world and for my new circle of friends.

Making empanadas

I love receiving fun pictures like this from my son who's currently in Argentina on a 2 year mission for our church. He's the one in the center of the group. He's making empanadas with a family he writes about often. He's grown close to so many people there and genuinely loves what he's doing and has a great love for the Argentine people. His letters and pictures he sends to us mean so much. I find myself examining every square inch of the pictures just so I can see everything I can about where he is.