This and That

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!  My house is still a disaster from it all, boxes everywhere!

Speaking of boxes, I still have some I need to mail to family in Washington State.  We got lots and lots of snow out here on the ranch and I never made the 30 minute drive to the nearest post office. But after talking and explaining to everyone on Christmas day, we all decided that why celebrate Christmas on just one day?  Wouldn't it be best to celebrate 12th night?  So technically, I have until January 5.  Right?

That does mean, though, that there are several things I can not show here.  :(

So the ones I can show....

These are the finished tea caddy's I made for my son's preschool teachers.  As I mentioned before, they love their tea!  I was a little shy when they decided to open them right then and there; sometimes you never know how someone will react to a homemade gift.  I should have known though - they LOVED them!

Another gift (which I haven't finished yet - yikes!) is the Princess Pea quilt for my 16 month old daughter.  It's almost complete, I realized I didn't have batting (not even enough to piece together, thanks to using the majority of it in this quilt!)  So, I am at a standstill until I run into town next and can buy some (which will be later today!)

And here is little Miss Princess Pea, crawling all over her quilt while I was trying to get the measurements so I could piece the back together.

Of course, then big brother had to stop by to check on it as well.  Sheesh.  I finally just folded it all up and waited until they went to bed.

More on this quilt when I have it complete, which (keep your fingers crossed) should be in the next few days.

Photo Friday

Christmas Quilts

For someone (me) who loves the holidays - and I'm not just talking about Christmas - I have never wanted to make a holiday quilt - any holiday quilt.  I guess I always thought if I were going to make a quilt, I would want something that I could have out and use all year long. 

Perhaps it's because I was looking around my house thinking I needed more Christmas-y decorations.  Or perhaps I am just feeling more inspired and giddy over this season, whatever it is I have been itching to make a Christmas - something.

And how could I not be with these cheery finds?

I really like the candy cane stripe binding on this one.



Photo: Empty Bobbin


Who could resist this classic?

Oh, and the fabric...

Isn't that windmill just the sweetest thing?  I saw that fabric and fell in l.o.v.e! 

I think I will be making a holiday quilt.  And a tree skirt.  And some bunting.  And...

Sleeping Angels

I interrupt our regurlaly scheduled program to give you this....

The picture didn't turn out so well, but you get the idea.

Here are my two little munchkins, curled up on the couch next to our Christmas tree.  {See the quilt they are under?  That's the first quilt I ever made, a Spiderman quilt for my husband.}  There is just something magical about sleeping next to the glow of a Christmas tree!

And the Winner Is...

Thank you all so much for sharing your traditions.  I enjoyed reading them immensely and discover just a bit on how each of you capture this time of year. 

And now without further ado; the winner of the Sew, Mama, Sew giveaway is:

True Random Number GeneratorMin:Max:Result:281Powered by RANDOM.ORG

  

#281 - Miss Mary - - I have sent you an e-mail!

Congratulations! 

 

WIP

Here I was, all my projects photo ready, perfect light, perfect setting, and my camera beeps at me "Memory Card Locked!" 

What?!

So I looked online for what this meant.  And from what I found, it means that somehow my memory card got corrupted.  Out of the three different ways this could happen, I am guilty of one.

So my little WIP post today has no photos.  It looks so empty.  :(

In progress:
 Just waiting on some eyelets to finish the tea caddy up.

I still have quite the list of projects yet for Christmas, some I need to get on, others were just little ones I was hoping to have time for.  Not rushing it though, will give me the ability to figure out exactly what I am doing on one of them and then - perhaps - post a tutorial for it!!  (hint, hint)

Kaleidoscope quilt (behind)
Skill Builder Sampler (same)
Daisy chain ABC's sampler (on the letter 'J' - still)
Christmas gifts
Princess Pea quilt (working on the applique)
Felt Christmas ornaments

No progress:Bottled Rainbow quilt (sorting scraps)
Husband's shirt

Quilt/Bind:Log cabin quilt

Currently on hold:
Beatrix Potter quilt (working up design)
Barn quilt

Sew, Mama, Sew Giveaway Day!

It's here!  It's here!  Giveaway day hosted by Sew, Mama, Sew.

What do I have up for grabs?  A fat quarter bundle of Art Gallery fabrics by Patricia Bravo: Modern Affair.  There are a total of 9 fabrics in this bundle.

The winner will be chosen randomly and yes, international entries are welcomed!  Giveaway closes December 16 at 5:00 pm PST.

To win, leave me a comment telling me what holiday family tradition you favor.  Please be sure to have a way for me to contact you if you are a winner (either a visible e-mail on your profile page or leave one with your comment.)  I don't want anyone missing out just because they forgot to leave a way for me to contact them!

Good luck and thanks for stopping by!!

How's It Going?

Hope all your wonderful Christmas projects are coming along and on schedule.  I still have so much to do it's crazy!

A project I can show - my son's preschool teachers are big tea drinkers.  In fact when they visit family in Denver, they bring their own tea stuff since the family in Denver only drinks coffee.

For Christmas this year I thought I would make them both a tea caddy.  I got the tutorial for this at Moda Bakeshop.  This one is pretty much completed.  I just need to insert the eyelets, finish and attach the handle. 

Inside of caddy

Outside of caddy

The prints in the above caddy is all out of my stash.  The quilting isn't anything fancy, just stiched around the triangles. 

This second caddy, below I am (obviously) still working on. 





I am using batiks for this second one in a "wilderness" color scheme.  Both his teachers are very outdoorsy.

These (thank goodness) are coming together pretty quickly.  With Christmas just right around the corner, I need fast and easy!

Time to Get Out the Snow Boots

It's windy, causing flurry's of snow to whirl it's way across the gray sky.  Schools here in the East Mountains of New Mexico are all closed.  Thus my little guy is home today.  I love the snow!



 If it wasn't so windy, then I would bundle my little family up and we would head out and frolic in all this wonderful whiteness.

However, on these types of days; I just want to curl up in front of a fire, a piping cup of hot tea in my hand and squander the day away dreaming and sewing.

But my squandering will have to be postponed as it is Monday, and therefore I have work to do; new calves need to be inputted into the computer, e-mails to answer, statistical data to go through.

Enjoy your Monday!  

Go. Go. Go.

Do you ever have those moments where it seems you are go, go, go, do, do, do and yet nothing is getting accomplished?  My last two weeks have been this way.  I've been racing through the days trying to get everything done.

I wash the dishes, do the laundry, and yet it seems as if they are both piling up so that there is no end.  It is all a bottomless hole of dirty utensils, mugs, plates and dirty clothes.

At work, my desk has been a constant pile of things needing to be worked on.  I swear little devilish elves are coming in at night and applying some sort of paper-gro.  As I weed and dig through my piles of paperwork, they keep growing that much bigger.

Don't even get me started on my sewing.  Several of my little Christmas projects that I so lovingly have been cutting and piecing together, are slowly becoming a little pile of UFOs (unfinished objects).

I find myself getting a bit overwhelmed by it all.  There must have been something that threw my usual schedule off and I just have not been able to get it back yet. 

Thankfully the weekend is upon us and besides going to the grocery store, I have nothing else on my errand list (as of now) to do.  So I will tend to my piles and relax.  Slow and steady sometimes gets more accomplished than the race.

Photo Friday

WIP

It's been a while.
First up...

After the bustle of Halloween, I took a little hiatus for a couple of weeks from my sewing machine and began working on some felt Christmas ornaments.  My sister actually started the cross-stitching on the mitten before she had to go back to Washington. 

There is still so much more to be done on these.  I'll post completion pictures as I get there. 

When I figured my sewing machine had a good enough break, I began the Princess Pea quilt for my 15 month old daughter.

I have used fat quarters before, but not many other pre-cuts; not having to cut all those strips for mattresses on this quilt sure is saving a lot of time.  I will give more info on this as it progresses.

Well, that's about it for now.  I got a few other Christmas gifts together but can not show those until after the holidays.

Projects in progress:

Kaleidoscope quilt (behind)
Skill Builder Sampler (same)
Daisy chain ABC's sampler (on the letter 'J')
Christmas gifts
Princess Pea quilt
Felt Christmas ornaments

No progress:

Bottled Rainbow quilt (sorting scraps)
Husband's shirt
Linking up to Freshly Pieced.

Quilt/Bind:
Log cabin quilt

Currently on hold:
Beatrix Potter quilt (working up design)
Barn quilt

This week's stats:
Completed: 1 (Christmas gift)
New projects: 0
In progress: 10

Linking to other great works in progress at Freshly Pieced.

Photo Friday

Tea for Two

Since my sister was visiting, I felt it necessary to take her to tea.  Just the two of us.  It's rare that I get anytime kid free or with my sister, so this was a special treat for me too. 

Courtyard leading to the tea room





My sister LOVES Beatrix Potter, so I reserved the Hilltop Farm (the name of Beatrix Potter's home) room for the two of us.  During our tea there was much excitement, much giggling...

 



"Children of the same family, the same blood, with the same first associations and habits, have some means of enjoyment in their power, which no subsequent connections can supply..." ~Jane Austen, Mansfield Park, 1814

Happy Halloween!

A week of costume and trick-or-treat bag making, and still my sister - who came to visit - and I were up this Halloween morning putting the finishing touches on costumes.

As we were getting the costumes together, I wondered what did we do all week?  It seemed like we were working in every spare moment on it all and still we weren't done?  We went out Sunday, searching stores to purchase some pumpkins for my kiddos to carve; finally finding a few (and expensive) ones at the fourth store we drove by, a feed store close to home.  All the years before my little family has gone to the local pumpkin  patch, but somehow time got away from us this year and I realized while running errands on Sunday that we didn't have anything to carve into jack-o-lanterns.

My son's preschool party was at noon this year so we needed everything done by 11:15 am. I really think that if I didn't have my sister here visiting and willing to help with Halloween costumes, that I would not have had them done.

So thank you, thank you my little sis!!

I did get one out of two trick-or-treat bags done...

And my sister even made a Halloween dinner...

Mummys

And had Logan decorate cupcakes...

Spider cupcakes

Without further delay, this year, with a lot of duct tape, some bolts, felt, a sewing machine, cardboard boxes, paint - I present (drum roll please!)

A rancher in his John Deere Tractor and...
             

his little Wagyu calf.

Happy Halloween!!

WIP #15

First, I would like to thank all those who commented on my last WIP post.  Your comments are so nice and I appreciate them immensely.  I had every intention of replying to each of you individually, but frankly I just never got to it.

Now onto the post...

I decided {at the last minute} to make some trick-or-treat bags for my kiddos; I haven't even really dug into making their Halloween costumes yet!  (eek!) Every year thus far my son has just taken one of those cloth bags you can buy at the grocery store, and every year I watch him struggle with hauling it around.  So I thought some smaller sized ones made by mom would be a nice touch...

Obviously it is still a work in progress.  I am making two up - more details next week.

Another new project:

These little strips are going to become a coupon organizer.  I bought one years ago at the dollar store, but that didn't last long before it all fell to pieces.  Since then, all my coupons have just been shoved in a side pocket of my purse, I figure it is about time to have a new, better quality - and pretty - coupon organizer don't you think?

Projects in progress:
Kaleidoscope quilt (behind)
Skill Builder Sampler (same)
Daisy chain ABC's sampler (on the letter 'J')
Christmas gifts
Halloween bags/costumes

No progress:
Bottled Rainbow quilt (sorting scraps)
Princess Pea quilt
Husband's shirt

Quilt/Bind:
Log cabin quilt

Currently on hold:
Beatrix Potter quilt (working up design)
Barn quilt

This week's stats:
Completed: 0
New projects: 2
In progress: 9

Linking to other great works in progress at Freshly Pieced.