AWOL

Yes, I went awol, but I'm going to try to get back into the groove.  I believe that my hourly daily, ahem...scrolling on facebook took a huge amount of my time. Time that I used to read blogs and post on my own. I have decided to take a break from that monster of wasted time, and maybe I can get back to where I once was in blogging land.

So, what have I been doing you ask? Well, I've been REALLY busy.  My in-laws' health has slowly been declining and the hubs and I have spent a great deal of time helping them.

In February, my beloved brother-in-law, Tim, passed away in his sleep at the ripe old age of 57. We were shocked and devastated, to put it mildly.

Tim is in the middle.

We've been spending as much time as we can with the grands as well. They are such a blessing to us. Win finished his first year of school last week. Klaire attended Mother's Day Out, and Kyndall began walking. Where does the time go????

I'm so very proud of my kids!!!

As far as sewing/quilting/craftiness is concerned, I sort of fell into something unexpectedly. A friend of mine asked me to create a paper doll quilt for her granddaughter. When people saw it, I started receiving order after order. Wow!!! I know at some point, they will cease to be a "thing" but for now, I have several orders to fill.

I also created a Star Wars quilt for Win's birthday. He is BIG into SW and needed new bedding.

I purchased a new sewing machine in the hopes it would be easier to quilt on, (not being able to purchase a long arm for more than one reason, even if that would be a dream come true).  The one I bought has more decorative stitches, and a wider throat. The automatic threader works much better than on my old machine, and I like the adjustable tension on the pressure foot. Aside from that, it's not much better than what I was using. For what I paid, it should be magical. It's not.  But, I'm trying to be thankful for it. :)

Ok, I think I've caught up for now.

Another Year's Over, A New One Has Begun

Sorry, John Lennon's song is rumbling around in my head.  But, it is true.  Christmas was great and made all the more special by grandchildren.  The gifts I made were well received and I have plans for more home made gifts for next year, so the fun never stops. *grin*

The muscle car quilt for Isaac was a huge hit. Gosh, I even got an ovation for it by family members. That's never happened before.

At one time last year, LeLe made the comment she loved a bookshelf quilt she saw. Mom couldn't let that go unanswered, so here is her quilt.

Zippered, quilted and monogrammed bags for my sisters and nieces.

I'm working on something for my little Klaire's birthday, but no hurry since it's not until April.

Here are a few recent pics.

What a blessing these children are to me!!!
I hope and pray only good things for you and yours in 2016! HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Neutral Christmas Quilt

I finished my Neutral Quilt and am pretty happy with how it turned out.

I quilted it as I went in strips and that was a challenge since there was no sashing. I'm not sure I'll do that again.

Don't look at the wrinkles, I had it folded up weird before I took the pic. I do love an Irish Chain pattern and love the softness of the palette. And I love how the embroidery made a simple square a bit special.

I also tried my hand at a design on the border, but just used my walking foot. It's not perfect, but after I washed it, you couldn't tell. Don't you just love how a quilt puffs up and hides imperfections after it's washed???

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2015 TO ALL!!

Aaaaannnndddd, We're Off!

Thanksgiving is under our belt...literally, and I turn my energies to decorating for Christmas. I'm just getting started, but have the last Christmas quilt I made on my bed. I had no idea I'd made that thing so big, but it's the perfect size.

More to do....

Christmas Quilt Progress

This is the neutral Christmas quilt I mentioned in my last post.  Row three is quilted and only two more to go. The first two rows I did are the outside edges with borders.

As you may can tell, it's an Irish Chain pattern. Here is a close up of one of the embroidered blocks.

When the rows are quilted, I will join them and then add a border strip to the top that matches the sides. I'll quilt that after I add it. I decided to try something a little different on the border and drew out a curved motif to stitch. When it's all finished, I will spray the ink to wash it out.

I'm anxious to get it finished and I know I'm going to love it. I've also decided to do a neutral tree this year. I'm interested to see how that turns out.

Finished Stuff

I've been working hard on Christmas gifts and hope I'm in the home stretch. Unfortunately, I usually add more on as I go, so...probably not. *grin*

I'm thinking it will be safe to post some of the gifts, as few of my family members actually read my blog. Doesn't hurt my feelings one bit, because I totally understand that they have other interests.

This is my "In the Garden" paper pieced quilt. I participated in Quilt Art Designs quilt along and this was my finished quilt. I quilted it in strips and then joined them. I find it's much easier to do that on my little domestic machine. Unless I have something really special for a backing, that will be my norm from now on.

This is a quilt I created for my nephew. He loves muscle cars and told his Mom he wanted a muscle car quilt. Aunt Belinda to the rescue! I love how it turned out and it too is from Quilt Art Design patterns.

Close up of some of the cars.

I created some dresses for my baby girls, but they aren't gifts. I've already given them so they can wear them now.

Right now, I'm working on a neutral Christmas quilt that incorporates some tone on tone machine embroidery in some of the squares. There are five rows and I'm now quilting the third row. Can't wait to finish that.

I have plans in the works to make a paper pieced turkey quilt. I hope to get it done by Christmas, but it's doubtful. Still, it always gets me pumped to have a new project on my mind and I can't wait to get started on it.

Back to work!!