Shoveling Chicken POOP

Today was a little warmer than yesterday so I said to myself, hey you should clean out the chicken coop. For any ones information you should never say this to yourself! I'll just tell you quickly that it stinks, there are really no words to describe it that are nice. It is on the nauseating, ammonia-ish smell. You definitely have to be there to know it! It took 3 loads of Wheelbarrows to get that all gone. yikes! I think though that after all is said and done (by me,,both) it is nice. All fresh and new and smelling like straw. I think that the hens + one duck (buzz) are happy about the new environment. They will of course love breaking in the new stuff.

I got the large star quilt all loaded up and I have quilted one line. I decided to try feathers. What was I thinking?!!? I am now trapped into the feather all-over pattern so i will go for it. I had thought though that it is going on my bed and i would like something a little nicer than a meander pattern. OK. Whatever, I guess i got my way. yay for me.....

You've Got Mail

Yesterday I got some mail!! I had joined a handkerchief trade on the Mary Janes Farm Website....LOVE IT!! http://http://www.maryjanesfarm.org/

I recieved it---Look how cute. it fit's right in. i am sort of on a bird kick...weird huh?! But, then she stuck in some extra items. Some very nice gardening gloves, and 3 packets of seeds. How lovely is that. Can't wait for it be warmer to get these planted.

Speaking of the weather: take a look at what i woke up to today!!!

That is my rosemary bush growing crazy and then all of a sudden ---snow!

Hey, isn't it already Spring?

I have been extremely lazy this week. I homeschool (there are 3 currently doing work + 1 preschooler), and thought if everyone is taking it off, then i am too. So they have just played and done whatever their little hearts desired and i have played (sew) and done whatever my little heart has desired (sew some more). It has been a nice week. I have done very little home stuff, but really--- i can do that next week. :)

I have finished my extra large star blocks and they are put together and ready to get quilted. I am going to do that tonight...get it all loaded and ready at least. This baby is going on my bed and it is currently laid out and checking its position out. It looks great allready. i have plans for the "extra" 1/2 square triangles and they are all ironed and ready to go. They will make pinwheels for the quilt shams.

Easter Sunshine

Wow--- the weather is great! finally. We have really had a heavy winter this year, and it was starting to take it's toll. Everyone was going stir crazy in the house. Today, they were able to get their chalk out and have some fun outside.



I don't know if you can really see it so i will explain: oldest daughter has drawn a mermaid with a horse, and check out that fancy border aroun it all!

Littlest daughter is making suns, Middle brother is drawing a ship. He later drew two dudes sword fighting.




This little man has worked hard on his superman, and cyclops (x-men) dudes. The superman has heat rays coming from his eyes.

I am oh....so....proud!

ok. back to sewing items.





i up-cycled this scarf. I have two of them...they would be identical. My oldest is modeling them for us. They will be for sale on Etsy soon. This is really kind of fun. I have a new outlook on old items now. I look at scarves now thinking---can it be a purse? oooohhhhhhh....

I did dye some more fabric and a doll body. They are currently drying out on the back porch. Poeple aren't the only ones enjoying this good weather!

I just entered in this swap. check it out, and maybe join. i love getting things in the mail. ok. who doesn't?

here is the link: http://roxisfriends.blogspot.com/2008/03/swap-with-us.html

i am still collecting things for my exchange of vintage kitchen items. fun stuff!! i'll post pictures once i get those all together. things are still going through my mind as to what i want to put into the package. any ideas would be ever so helpful!

Garage Sale Roll Call

So i am back and got a few things done (laundry, folding, make bread) and i have a few minutes to show off my finds from this morning.

1st we have here a fuzzy picture! yikes----anyways, i picked up quite a bit of lace edging....i use those for my pocket people (girl skirts---oh so cute). There is also packages of rick-rack, snaps, some buttons, and more lace on rolls.

2nd I grabbed some bigger pieces, maybe fat quarter sized fabric. There was a blue pack with cut diamonds and a red pack with diamonds cut and co-ordinating fabric. Not a whole lot of fabric, but ok for me. She had a ton and i mean a ton of pre-cut diamonds. what a crazy lamoyne star gal! not for me

3rd i got a finished top (25X25 or so) of blue and cream drunkards path. This has a matching back. i haven't decided if i should just quilt it for a table topper, or use it for a large center block for a different quilt.

I also got (not pictured) around 20 doilies. They are around 3-4 inch round and cute. A group i belong to is going to be dying these and making round pin cushions. They are very vintage and cute. I have enough now for everyone + do some for my etsy shop. I'll of course announce when they get finished.

i keep hearing the bread timer-- i must go and eat some hot, steaming, yummy homemade stuff!

Quilting Princess Story Teller

Last night was soooo fun! I went to a group that gets together once a month at the store "Quilter's Haven" in Bountiful. I had told the president...sure i'll help, whatever you would like!

I had absolutely no idea what she had in mind. i was thinking to myself, ok maybe i'll teach a class, show a technique...etc. NO, of course it would be to dress up in a princess dress + the big insert under the dress, crown, wand, and sparkly glitter gel all over! Why didn't i think of that!
So off i went to help out before everyone showed up. The ladies were all given crowns from Burger King and wands with dangling ribbons. They were told there was a special guest coming to join thier group for the evening. That would be me (waiting in the wings for my cue).

I stood in the front with all the get up and read "The Quiltmakers Gift". They all waved their wands and wore their crowns and fun i think was had by all. If there are any pictures out there that might be shared with me i will post them. The dress was fluffier than my wedding one. I think that i should put on a black tie party for friends just so i can wear it again. it was quite fun. a travel back into time when in high school you wore those frilly things.

Because of the preperation of the evening and other obligations i haven't finished or worked on anything else.

I am working on my second easter dress. The one for the youngest 4dd. I am attempting a pillow case dress with pantaloons for her. i have it started, need to do a few more things. I will definitly be posting those pictures when finished. I will also add some links for the pattern. It is really fairly easy (the arms are a little tricky- but doable).

oooooooooo...... there is a fabric garage sale tomarrow. How exciting. First because it is a garage sale (almost warm enough for the season to start!! Hooooorrraahhhh) and second because it said $ a yard, many bolts, books, quilt blocks....etc in the description. It is a 2 dayer and boy i am going 15 minutes early to catch the goods first. i will of course report on my findings over the next few days.

watch out----here i come!

keeping up

After girl scouts and soccer, i am back. here is the completed top with all the sashing strips in place. i took a smaller picture so you can see the cute fabric.

I can't believe how quick this goes. + take a look at the 1/2 square triangle blocks that you g

et as a bonus. So really it is 1 quilt and little one from the pattern. i love bonusus!!

This is from the previous post on what to do with the block? Here we have a little pin cushion. It turned out pretty ok. I backed the front stitching with fusable web and fabric to make sure it didn't go anywhere, or unravel. Then i stuffed it with walnut shells. They are supposed to keep pins sharp and they are a little heavy so it could even be used for a paper pattern weight!

The racoon guy is soooo cute. i might list this on my etsy shop. haven't decided yet.

It keeps going, and going, and going,...

I will catch you all up on the weekend later. For right now i am posting what i have finished so far for the days quiltathon with http://www.patchworktimes.com/ . Check it out and jump on in if you would like!

After the weekend of sewing you would think that i would be sick of it! Nay i say! I have found a little bit of a kick in the pants (maybe it's a spring thing) and i'm excited about working on things and getting them done.

The first is a little (take a look at that ruler next to it) stitching. i saw this here http://www.lynetteandersondesigns.typepad.com/ scroll all the way to the bottom--on the left, it is the free noah's ark block of the month. I thought about it, and then moved on and it wouldn't leave me alone! So last night while watching t.v. i stitched a little and this morning finished it up. So here we have it. I think it is very cute and pretty dainty!

The next quilt is a challange one. I had bought some fabric while at Houston Market in the fall and i hadn't done anything with it. Lo and behold at a quilt meeting last month they handed out fabric for a quilt challenge. I took it home and kept thinking --that looks familiar?--- why? well because i had the part of the rest of the line at home. that is what i had bought there in Houston. What kind of luck is that? Soooooo i came to the conclusion that they of course should meet and be stick together. I found this pattern in a recent quilt magazine. This was really pretty easy and quick. I had the blocks done, but now i am sewing them into the larger strips and putting sashing in them. I will update with the finished top later, when finished.



















That's it for now. off i go to get some more sashing strips on! Happy sewing day!

YEEEEE HAAA!!

I finished my mini aprons for my swap at http://www.maryjanesfarm.org/farmgirl-connection/ . this is the first time i have ever made anything like this. Kind of fun!! The theme was Farmgirl/cowgirl. I will be getting 17 back in the mail. I love to get those kind of packages.

I had participated in a spring 81/2" square block earlier this month and i am waiting patiently for them to show up. Can't wait for those. i had done mine redwork. They turned out pretty cute. I will be getting 16 different ones (one being mine) pretty soon. How fun is that!! I love trades.

When i recieve those i will post pictures for everyone to see.

Last night i went to a quilt class with a friend. Boy was it fun! i had all the pieces allready cut (i know, i know class nerd) and so the block went together pretty quick. It turned out to be 36" square ----Huge here is a pic below. Nice huh? i was able to get 2 done. She did show how to do flying geese the easy way and with nooooo waste!! Can you believe? who was the gal that thought that up? must be a math major or something----not for me! but very thankful someone has the time, patience, and energy to figure that one out.

There is a total of 9 for the quilt. So i have 7 more to go!! They are so large you could use the pattern for just a baby quilt with one block. Just border it a little and wholah! finished!

Tomorrow night i will be staying up at my mom's and sewing with a few of my good friends. we all decided to tackle Buggy Barn (here are some books)http://www.msquilting.com/Books%20&%20Patterns.htm I have got my fat quarters ready! i have chosen to do it in blue and white in the churndash pattern. We'll see how that one goes! Right now it seems like i have been doing a lot of sewing. That is kind of fun!

Oh- i also picked up some pillow cases at the thrift store to try out a pillow case dress for my 4 year old dd Eliza. It has a 6 inch lace at the bottom. My friend has a embroidery machine and i am going to see if i can find a pattern that her machine will stitch at the bottom. Very excited to try that. plus i got two of them, so i can use the other one for pantaloons! Yay! how cute is that.

i just hit onto this and need to add it. of course i put comments in so i could win! help yourself and check it out! http://oldredbarnco.blogspot.com/2008/03/giving-away-quilt.html you have until next wed. to comment.

Fabric "Food" Storage

i was speaking with a good friend who lives back in Maine this morning. We were talking about fabric and stashes and all. She had met with her group the other day and they were talking about how one day it might not be easy or even possible to go to walmart and grab some clothes and that we should have some knowledge of clothes making. They said well, what about if we know how, where do we get the fabric? She says from your supply of fabric of course!

So how about that, i think that according to our type of gals that fabric is just as important as food!!!

In my group the other day i showed off the pink quilt and had said that it was made by using the scraps and leftovers. ( i have drawers of fabric, each being a group of color or whatever). so i opened up the pink/red drawer and used up some scraps. Basically a free quilt. anyways. So i had said that it becomes a little more difficult after awhile to keep using the same fabric over and over, and when do the pieces stop being in the drawer? So this quilt or scrap quilts are great becuase it uses these up.

Then it dawned on me: In the end it comes down to Rotation!!! We need to Rotate our fabric! isn't that just pure revelation right there?

Because i had used up some (i thought most, until i look in the drawer again), i think that this Fabric "food" storage will allow me to purchase a few "fresh" pinks. What do you think the hubby will say to that one? Can he really go against such good principles? I would think not!

So in the good spirit of fabric storage i might just take off and check out what new things i might be able to use for my stash..... I mean "storage".

__________________________________________________________________

Here is what i did yesterday. I had taken some fabric that had white backgrounds and dyed them. I used the TAN rit dye from joannes and gave these gals a dip. I think they turned out just right. I loved to use it. if i need it darker i just added more liquid dye. I have tried the tea and the coffee in the past and i like that, but really this gives you a more predictable result. you don't have to keep soaking it trying to get it darker or anything like that.

I really needed a more antiqued or civil warish prints. These had great patterns but not the right background. so who says i can't change it?

The girls that showed me how to do this said that really if you hate the piece of fabric, block, or even the Whole quilt (can you imagine?) you can simply just give it a dip in the bucket with some tan dye. I don't have any befores of the fabric. i wish i had. The after though i am happy with.

It almost is addicting. I am thinking ?what can i do next? ?would this look better if it was dyed?

I am using the fabric this evening at a quilt class and making monster sized stars. I will post some pics of those when i get a few put together.

Embroidery bunny and pal

I occasionally go to a thrift store and find some little goodies. i love garage sales and none have started this season yet. i am getting a little antsy.

Saturday i went and picked these two things up. I kind of like embroideries, so these were keepers. i usually look over these kind of things, but everyone has been doing such cute things with theirs. i wanted to give it a try.

There is one thing though...I have a delima that i can't seem to decide on. See the little bunny one? There are some stitches missing. Sooooo do i fix them? or do i leave them? What is anyones feeling?

I haven't decided what to do with them so any suggestions would be great too. I am thinking maybe a pocket face on a bag/purse. Something of that matter. not sure. I have one little 6 year old guy who really likes Racoons. Could he have too many? What should i do with that one?

ok. enough questions. Maybe i need to sleep on it and then read all my quilt books and such to get some ideas. A stitching dream would be nice. I like those kind! I can figure out a whole lot when that happens.

The weather was beautiful today. i made the kids go out and get some excercise and fresh air....always make them....what about me? yikes!

hopefully tomorrow will be a good one too.

I got a little quilting done for my sister-in-law. It is an easy pattern and that makes my life nice. i will post it in the next couple days to show it off. She is a great peicer and everything lays flat and wonderful. no puckers, or suckers! great stuff.

let the sewing begin!

Aren't these guys oh gals so nice. they are very fresh and springy!! i needed that on my table after the last little bit. i am finding new interest in little projects and will be posting a few more later.

After feeling a bit better i can finally sit and sew for a little bit. i have finished this quilt! It took 2 days of work. pretty quick i would say, plus the bonus is it was a "free" quilt. This is one where you take your scraps, put them together, cut a block and border it. I think it turned out quite fine! The scrappy block in the center is 8X6 and is bordered by a white 2" strip all around. Then sewn together and scrappy bordered. I still need to get the binding on, but it really works up pretty quick.

This quilt if for my cousin who is in the hostipal recovering from back surgery and her favorite color is pink. It has a yummy, soft pink flannel for the back to keep cozy and snuggle with.

The inspiration came from a cute quilt here. She has great ideas and very thrifty too.

I went to see a good friend today too. They had a little party to show off their newly adopted little girl. of course i couldn't pass up the chance to give some "pocket people" away! She got a prince, princess, and a fire breathing dragon. She immedietly did the taste test. soooo cute!

Here they are:

oh sooo cute. you can find more at my etsy shop.

sick of sick

So....the last few days have been horrible. Can I extend that to the last few weeks? It started with a pinched back and not being able to stand up straight for 4 days. Then after feeling a little better, last Tuesday I fell flat on my back getting out of the car. For the rest of that week i felt like i had lifted 400 pounds of weights with my arms and everything hurt. Now I have the flu i think and i feel horrible. Hope this doesn't last. My days have been a little busy and i have to plan my 5 yrold son birthday party for Friday. I won't complain again, just had to get it out. I think i feel just a little better. I will be putting some photos on projects up the next couple of days. I am excited to share what i have been working on.

start up

ok. so far so good. Everything is in it's place.
I am excited to get this going. Check out my profile and such for interesting tid-bits going on.
This is my first chat on the blog. I am not sure what to say at this point. I will be loading some pictures and such over the next few days. I am a quilter and love to sew anything, so that will be hit upon quite a bit in here.

After a little bit of tweaking I will be adding more writing things.