Valentine's Day Quilt

Amazing bundle of fat quarters!

As I look back at these photos, I tried to remember the details.  I had to check the date of this first picture.....  It was January 2, 2017.  If I remember correctly, this bundle was bought from a cute little quilt show vendor that sold prepackaged sets along with a pattern that was created specifically for the fat quarter bundle.  I started out by cutting all of the little pieces and I do remember that I felt like I may have gotten myself into something that was above my skill level.  I was never confident in triangles!  I remember sitting at the Starbucks and sorting the fabrics into different bundles to get ready to sew.....  I just don't remember why I did this at a Starbucks and not at home like normal!

Making sure the flow will be perfect.

Getting ready to sew..... with my helper!

How it was designed to be.

The pattern was designed to have all of the squares lined up like the picture above.....  Unfortunately, my brain did not like how busy this was.  I tried moving it around, rearranged, thought about sashing, and probably many other things to make it "work" for me.  I may have even sewn some of these rows together to see if I could see it in a different way.  In the end it didn't work.....  I decided to add solid gray blocks every other block.  Then the next problem was that I felt I needed a border and I could not find one anywhere!  My local quilt shops have been disappearing and no one had the fabric that I wanted or needed.  Finally....  and I don't even remember when or where, I found the border fabric and finished up this lovely quilt!  All of these "I don't remembers" are one of the reasons that I need to post as I finish these quilts and not wait 2 years.

On the long arm.

Amazing texture!

Like always I sure wish that I could take amazing pics of my quilts....  These will have to do.

Love the final outcome!

LOVE!!!

So... I tried a new fabric for the backing.......  this is from Joann Fabrics.  It is the Luxe Fleece and it was amazing.  It is affordable, warm and my long armer said it worked great!

It took me awhile to get this one how I liked it.  I completed it in April of 2018, and I still have enough squares to make another one since I substituted the solid squares in.  Maybe someday I will make its match. 



Love is patient, love is kind.  It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.    ~1 Corinthians 13:4

Welcome 2019

There is nothing better than seeing your quilts being used and loved!!

Another year has past.....  I think this last year was a successful one.  We had a lot of difficulties that arose, from family illness and surgeries to having to say goodbye to one of our precious dogs.  Life has kept us busy.  Since the passing of my husbands uncle, we have been working on cleaning out the house and getting it ready to put on the market.  It is a big project that only a few family members can appreciate.  I just try my best to be a good support system and not get too deep into any of the decisions that need to be made.  I pray that this does not divide the family!

As far as my projects and goals from last year go.....  I think I have done pretty well.  I continue to stay excited about sewing.  I would sew all day if I didn't have to work, clean, cook, be a good mom and wife.....  I try to get time to sew here and there, that is the best I can do.  I sew more in the winter and when my husband goes on travel.  He has gotten a little better with me hiding in my sewing room, but I still have to be tricky about it sometimes.  I say, "It will be real quick, like maybe half an hour...." and then I come back in 2 hours, LOL!!!  It works sometimes!!

~ I have posted quite a bit this year..... but, I have a lot of projects that I still have not posted.  Maybe since I have this new laptop I will get even better!  Maybe someday I will even catch up!!

~ I completed 3 of the 7 UFO's that I had set out to complete.  Uncle Brian's, Auntie Mary's and my Valentine's quilt (which I have not posted yet).  That means that I still have 4 left to do!  I will add them to the list to complete in 2019.  I think that Soloman's quilt has to be a priority.  They are coming out with a second edition to the fabric line and I will definitely be adding the new prints to the project!!!  I think it will help motivate me as well.

~ As far as working out goes, I didn't do great.  Yet, I think I didn't to horrible either.  This one will stay on the list!

~ I think that I have been cooking more successfully....  We eat out less for dinner than we used to, probably only twice a weekend.  Lunches on the weekend still need to be worked on.  As far as taking my lunch to work, I am so-so.....  I'm still impressed that I didn't give up on this one!  I will keep working to do better.

~ Am I the hostess with the most-est???  Probably not!  I have gotten better though!!  When it comes to having get togethers with planning and cooking (not just pizza) my husband comes through like a champ.  He has also started doing most of the Costco shopping which I love!  We hosted our first holiday dinner this year - we did Christmas Eve and it turned out perfect!!  Maybe practice does make perfect.

A couple of new goals for the new year.....

~ I need to start working on donate quilts again.  Wild fires in California has destroyed entire towns and so many people have lost everything.  I want to get at least 3 donate quilt tops to Melanie (my long-armer).  Backs, batting and I believe binding are provided by Project Linus and the long arm quilting is done by Melanie.  I have plenty of fabric in my stash to accomplish this one! 

~ I want to finish at least one new quilt to keep in our home.  This fabric my husband got me for Christmas and is an easy finish as the panel is huge!!  I want to do a border that will make it special. 

~ I'm sure that I have a few more goals....  but I have been having some trouble gathering my thoughts and the month is flying by already!!!  I'm going to post this and just go with what I have.  I am excited to see what this new year brings.  Lets hope it's a good one!

I need to remember this!!

"Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans."   Proverbs 16:3

Christmas Quilt Number 2

Cut and ready to go.

Just a quick post to continue my story from my last post......  After I finished my Christmas quilt so quickly, my sister and I decided to do one for my mother-in-law as well.  We had a feeling that she would say that she just loved our quilts so much and that she had to have one.  We decided to both work on it to get it done fast so we could give it to her for Christmas.  We collected the fabrics got them cut up and organized.  I got to sewing and had it pieced and ready for the long arm quilter in no time.  We decided on a chocolate brown minky for the back.  I turned out perfect!!!

A sample of the colors.

I love Christmas fabrics!

My brain at work - getting the balance right.

Done and on the long arm machine.

Holly leaves for grandma.

So, this quilt was finished in time for 2016.  Grandma loved it!  The thing is.....  We haven't seen it since!!  We made her matching pillows this Christmas and told her that she had to put her quilt out and she could not find it.  Oh boy!!!  The pillows look great though!!!

Pillows done! (This pic was at my house before we gifted them.)

I had my son work on making the pillows from the scraps so that we could tell Grandma that the pillows were made by him.  We didn't want them to disappear too!  Hopefully the quilt will show up at some point!!!  My sister's Christmas quilt has not been made yet.  I may add it to my to do list for 2019.


Happy New Year by the way!!!  Next post will be my yearly recap..... 


"He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak."  Isaiah 40:29

Christmas Quilts

Cozy…..  exactly what quilts are for!

This Christmas quilt is one of my favorites!  It was finished in 2016, just before Christmas.  My sister and I went to a quilt show in October and fell in love with the group of fabrics.  We picked out enough fat quarters to do two of these one for me and one for her.....  we cut up all the fabric and divvied it up.  I got started right away - the pattern from MSQC called 4 Patch Lattice  used a basic four patch pattern so I started by laying all of my groups of four out.  This is where things got hard for me.  I definitely have issues with making sure that the colors are perfect and that the patterns are perfect - there must be balance.

Four patches ready to sew.

Once I got all the four patches to look perfect I had to cut them all in half diagonally and then lay it out again.  This messed with the balance again and took me forever to get right.  This next picture is half of the quilt laid out on the table - I had to stand on a chair with the phone in the air as high as I could reach!  I definitely have issues!!!

Half laid out.

Triangles ready to sew!

Sashed and ready!

Somehow I managed to keep them all straight and did not mix them up too much.  I got the balance that I wanted!

On the long arm machine!!

Snowflakes on the Minky!!!  Love love love!!

I am in love with this quilt!

Bound with minky!

My precious little squishy dog!  

How things are supposed to be!  

This last picture makes me sooooo happy!!  I am under that quilt, watching TV with a squishy little lovey dog and a fluffy kitty cuddled up and happy!

In the next post I will explain how this amazing Christmas quilt ended up stressing me out and how I got myself into trouble and ended up making a second one before Christmas.


"Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart."  Psalm 37:4

Busy busy busy

Today is Christmas day....  Things have been so busy!!  I have so many posts that I have not done!!  But.....  guess what??…..  I got a new laptop for Christmas and I am soooooo excited to be able to type away on a normal size keyboard!!  Yeahhhh!!!!!  So much more to come!  Merry Christmas to you and yours!!  I hope you get to eat LOTS of cookies!


"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.  And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."   -Isaiah 9:6

Penguin Family

Let me start by saying that this quilt was not part of my plan for 2018!  I had seen the center panel online just by chance.  Then when I went to a sort of local quilt shop I found it in person and just had to have it!  The colors are so bright and cheerful and the little penguin family reminded me of my own.

Mama, Papa, and baby.

The quilt shop only had two prints that went with this panel, and one more that I used for the binding that belongs to a similar line by the same maker. I ordered the gray snowflakes and the animals on the sides online. Funny story....  the animals on the sides were supposed to be small. The site I ordered from had a little ruler on the print that showed them at about 4 inches or so.... when they came in the mail, they were a panel piece and they were big!  I had to come up with a new pattern for this awesome panel!  I ended up using a pattern I found through Pinterest called Chillingsworth's Bicycle Ride.  It was a free pattern that you could download which is even better!  I had to make a few adjustments since the panel was not the exact size of the one used in the pattern, which means that I got to get my graph paper out like I always love to do!  I did make a few minor errors in my calculations, if you look carefully at the finished product you can see where I "made it work!"  

What does the fox say??

Hand binding like always!  I LOVE this fabric I used.

Me sitting at my son's Judo, on the floor, hand binding.

I love the texture that minky creates.

I am in love with this quilt and am so glad that I put it together when I did.  Sometimes going through a tough time (a death in the family) is made easier with some quilting therapy.  I recommend it and encourage it! 

"Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."   - Romans 12:21

Lost and Found

Oh where, oh where have you been??

Have you ever thought that you may have lost one of your favorite sewing room tools???  This beauty had been lost for years (more than 5)!!  I had another one, so I made due just fine. But... if you were close by you heard my excitement when I came across this while I was cleaning and organizing.  I did a pretty awesome happy dance too. Yippee!!!!

I did quite a bit of organizing this past weekend....  it’s amazing how an entire bowl of opened safety pins will only take up a tiny bit of room in that same bowl once you close them all!  And I found a bunch of my pins also!

There are even screws in there!

Finally organized!

They are all closed.

I also decided to clean out a bunch of fabrics that I don’t think I will use.....  now to get them to Project Linus. That made room for more folding and sorting of my stash. Again.... yippee!!

I love when my fabrics are folded nice!

Anxiety weighs down the heart, but a kind word cheers it up.  

Proverbs 12:25 NIV