Jenniffier's Sometimes Creative Life

Phew... Nicole's Wedding blocks are done

2013-05-20T08:00:00.000-07:00

For once I didn't put things off to the last minute. I have all the center blocks sewn for my sister-in-law's wedding quilt.

I am so happy with myself. They still need some squaring up but at least I have them all put together for the guest to sign. Of course I still have the borders to do, but the most important part is finished. That is until they all get signed!

FNSI Recap

2013-05-18T20:34:00.001-07:00

I didn't accomplish as much as I wanted to last night. I had hoped to finish 3 blocks last night but instead I spent most of my time redoing the half square triangles. I went to be sometime after 10:30 pm and left most of the triangle pieces looking like this. I just didn't have the engery to add the other triangle and to be accuate enough to get the 1/4 inch above the 1/2 square triangle needed so the point doesn't get cut off.

However, I still need to finish these blocks soon. I mean she is getting married in less than a month. So this morning, after I woke up properly, I put together the three blocks.

Tonight I want to finish two more.

Then I only have the last ~~3 center blocks~~ to get done before the wedding. However, I am hoping to get them done this week. UPDATE : I so counted wrong. See that lovely stack below... it you look oh so very closely there are actually two different prints there and I still have 5 center blocks left to do.

I will still have the flying geese border to work on too, but one step at a time. Plus she wants the centers of these blocks signed by her guests so at least I don't have get a whole quilt together in a month.

Time to go Sew - It is FNSI

2013-05-17T20:37:00.002-07:00

Tonight is Friday Night Sew In.

I will be working on my blocks for my sister in laws wedding quilt. I am 2/3 of the way done with the center blocks. I am hoping to get 3 more done tonight.

Free Class Day on Craftsy

2013-05-17T20:23:00.004-07:00

I just found out about this. Craftsy is having a free class day and it is only going on for a little while longer. If you have never taken a class from Craftsy today is the day to try one for free. They are offering select classes that are valued up to S39.99 for free.

It is great offer for any who likes to create things. Not only do you get a free class but you could also help with a donation to donors choose to help fund classroom projects. I looked at the class list and there are classes for quilting, sewing, knitting, crochet, baking, cakes, chocolates and metalsmithing.

And let me tell you as a teacher who has received funding through donors choose this free class day is even more special because if they reach 10,000 new Craftsy students today and they make a donation of $5,000 to DonorsChoose.org. I know when my projects were funded it was fantastic, my kids were super excited and they have gotten so much out of the items I recieved. I am sure that if Craftsy hits thier mark by midnight MDT which is just a little bit away it will make some classrooms in need very happy.

If you miss the free classes tonight don't despair there are always some great free classes on there and once you sign up for an account you get newsletters when there are sales.

PS. Not a sponsored post I just like Craftsy and as a teacher I know how much business contributions help donors choose fund projects for classrooms.

Blogger's Quilt Festival Spring 2013

2013-05-17T05:00:00.000-07:00

It is that time of year again over at Amy's Creative Side. It is tiime to share your favorite quilts and drool over everyone else work at the Blogger's Quilt festival. It is running from May 17, 2013 - May 31, 2013, but entries are only being accepted until the 24th.

This year I am entering my Zigzagged Quilt. If you are a regular follower you may have seen this before as it was my first and thus far only finish of the year.

I made this quilt in only Blue and Green. There are a couple shades in there but it is only blue and green. Katie from Sew Katie Jean's (a local quilt shop) helped me picked the colors and I made it as a shop sample. She really like the pattern and knew how much I like zigzags so she asked me to make it. I put it off and put it off until she came up to me with a stack of lovely fat quarters saying what about these and I decided to go for it right then and there and had her cut me the yardage.

I decided to put a lot of effort into the quilting of this one. More than I ever had before.

Each size zigzag has its own type of quilting. It was a lot of fun to make. Even Suzie likes it. Actually see liked it a whole bunch.

The little stinker even put her head on it while I was binding. I think she thought it was hers.

Quilt Stats:

Name: Zigzagged

Size: 50" x 70"

Fabrics: Solids, but the aren't bella or kona so I can't tell you the names.

Binding: Denyse Schmidt, Chicopee, bleeding heart in green

Pattern: Zigzagged by Empty Bobbin

Quilting: Free Motion Quilted by me, squiggles, loops, and paisley

Started : October 2012

Completed: February 2013

Special technique - Magic flying geese
Entered in the two color category of Blogger's Quilt Festival.

Quilter's Favorite

2013-05-16T14:50:00.001-07:00

I can't resist talking about my favorite things especially when those favorite things have to do with quilting. Geta over at Geta's Quilting Studio is having a link up about quilter's favorites and luckily one of my favorite blogs (s.o.t.a.k handmade) posted her favorites. So I thought why not join in and share some of my favorites. ~~I missed the link up, but since I worked so hard on this post I am still going to post it.~~ Geta was kind enough to open it back up for those of us who missed the link up.

The idea is for bloggers to share their quilting favorites as well as some tools, tips, and helpful tricks. Anyone is welcome to join in and of course I decided to join the fun. I hope you do too.

Here are my answers to some Geta's Questions

List a few of your favorite quilting notions.

Of course I had to start with this one. I do have a slight obsession with quilting tools.

My all time favorite quilting notion is the binding tool.

I hate trying over and over to make my binding match and this makes it oh so simple. Plus there is a really cool tutorial from Missouri Star Quilting if you need help figuring out exactly how to use it, which I may or may not watch quite often.

My second favorite tool is the Supreme Slider.

Free motion is just so much nicer using this. Now the question is where did I put mine. These are pricey and the last time I cleaned mine I put it some where safe to dry and can't find it. I have a quilt waiting to be quilted and I would like my supreme slider. I guess that means I am going to have to clean my sewing room.

Some thoughts about thread and needles, batting, fabrics ?

I personally love aurifil thread. I especially love it for piecing. I have gone through a few spools of this stuff and I just keep going back. I have also used it for machine quilting. But my absolute favorite colors are 2021 and 2024. They are just basic colors. The one below is 2024. It my go to when using solid white background.

I also like King Tut by Superior Threads with so fine by superior threads for my bobbin when I am machine quilting. If you haven't signed up for the Superior Threads newsletter, I do suggest it... there is a funny joke by Bob in each newsletter.

As for needles - I really like the the titanium coated ones by Superior. They last a long time and I have only had a few snap... Mostly because of my fault. You know needles just don't like pins or being pulled funny directions when machine quilting.

Wow I am starting to sound like a sales person in this post. Let's look for a question where I am not telling you something to buy :)

Do you have free tutorials on your blog? Share the link.

Oh free sounds good. You can find a few free tutorials on my blog. The link is up top or you can just click here. My most popular tutorial is for my Goose-Zag block.

However, I also have other tutorials including fusible batting, custom pillows, a table runner and hexagons Plus a tech help tutorial on how to change back from google+ to blogger to insure you aren't a no reply blogger.

The sewing machine - share a few things you love at your sewing machine; what makes it special? What features do you think are the most important to a sewing machine used for quilting?

I have 3 machines. My every day machine a Janome DC2010. It is a good little machine for the most part. It sews through lots of layers of fabric, it is easy to keep clean, and you can free motion quilt on it.

However, it is very persnickety when it comes to free motion quilting. It does not like thin threads. Some days it gets hot really easy and snaps threads. Other days I can quilt all night with out a problem.

One important tip for this machine and any drop loading bobbin Janome is if your stitching just isn't right on the bottom piece of your fabric it is probably that the bobbin thread came out of its home and you just have to reload the bobbin.

This Janome was my step up from my Pfaff. That I bought when I was 18 and my quilting journey really came to be.

This poor little Pfaff struggled with multiple layers of fabric which isn't good when you are putting blocks with lots of seems together.

My other machine is really my mom's Janome JEM that she left at my house for when she visits. Lucky for me I can take it to quilting classes or sew days.

Tips for organizing the sewing tools, the fabrics, the sewing studio?

My favorite organization tip is using command hooks to store your rulers.

My mom showed me this this little tip. I love it because I can space them exactly how I want them to be and I can find them so easily.

List one or two of your favorite quilting techniques and a tutorial/pattern/book where you learned about them ?

I really like square in a square quilting. It is a ruler/technique that helps with piecing. I made my mini storm at sea using this method before I took a class from Judy Barrows. It still hangs up next to my desk.

I am still working on my prairie claw quilt from that class. It is such a fun project/pattern I just have had more pressing items in the way.

Could you recommend a book to someone who just started quilting ?

I would recommend Simplify with Camille Roskelley: Quilts for the Modern Home. I have already made multiple quilts from this book at I love it.

Orange and Blue Quilt

Peaceful Green baby Quilt

Plus she is using precuts so most of the cutting is already done for you, you are really just sub-cutting the precuts. I think this is great for someone new because buying a precut and a little yardage is an inexpensive way to start. Plus Camille's instructions are great.

I am still in the process of making this quilt from her book. It just needs to be quilting and then I will have made three quilts from one book. That is kind of amazing for me as I am easily distracted.

Would you like to share one of your favorite quilts, made by you ?

Of course I would. This is my Posh Quilt. It is the quilt I use most often because it just makes me so happy.

You can see more of my quilts on my finished quilt page.

Thanks for taking the time to hear about my favorites. Go check out the link up to see other peoples favorites too.

Work in Progress Wednsday

2013-05-15T10:09:00.000-07:00

It has been so nice to be making progress again.

I finished my bee block for Make it Modern Quilt Bee. I still need to get it in the mail but it is nice to have them done. I actually have all my bee blocks done for the month. Woohoo!

I have also been working on my sister in laws wedding quilt. I am 1/2 way done.

These blocks look like they would be an intermediate level block, but let me tell you they are not. All those little triangles with their bias edges are a pain in the you know what. One block is taking 30-40 minutes to put together and I am even using chain piecing for what I can. Oh wells. It may not be perfect, but it is made with love and that is the most important part.

Linking up to

Finished some more bee blocks

2013-05-10T18:27:00.000-07:00

Phew I finished 2 more bee blocks today.

The first one is for the Make it Modern bee. Sarah requested a very fun somewhat advanced paper pieced star.

Ok since it was only my second attempted at paper piecing that may have something to do with it being advanced for me. If you want more info on it visit Sarah's blog.

I also finished the sample for my month for Sunday Morning Quilt Bee. In this bee we are all requesting blocks for the Sunday Morning Quilts book. This month is my month so I asked the ladies to make a block based off of High Five from the book. High five has two blocks little 5 inch log cabins and a big 9 1/2 inch log cabin.

I asked my bee mates to either make a 16 patch of the 5 inch log cabins.

Or make 12 5 inch log cabins and one 9 1/2 inch log cabin placed anywhere in the block. Tessophia (one of my bee mates) choose to go with the big block in the center.

This one is going to be an extra special quilt for a co-worker/friend's son Jaden, who was in a terrible accident in March. You can check out his facebook page if you want to know more/send good thoughts his way... www.facebook.com/prayforjaden?viewer_id=1617773690. He is making great progress in his recover and even started talking again this week. He gets to have a trial run home for Mother's day and I sure that makes his mamma super happy.

SHH about it though. I want it to be a surprise and I do know that a few of my co-workers / shared friends of this family occasionally read this blog so SHHH!

As for my bee mates I asked them to make the blocks say boy. Tessophia added that some fussy cut prints would probably add some interest and stimulation. I didn't have very many things that I could fussy cut, but I did add some butterflies, bees, spiders and a lion to mine. Such great ideas she had and I am so grateful for their help in making this special quilt.

Linking up to:

Finish it up Friday, Link a finish Friday, TGIFF, can I get a whoop whoop

There has been progress

2013-05-09T10:23:00.003-07:00

I am finally starting to feel better. After many doctors and tests I found out that "It looks like you have a wheat intolerance." I meet with the doctor tomorrow for my follow up so I haven't yet been told not to eat wheat products. However, since my brother has serious issues with gluten, I decided to go gluten free and I have been feeling much better.

It has only been 3 weeks, but I am not puffy like a chipmunk anymore and the dark circles under my eyes have faded. Not everything is back to normal, but I am feeling more and more like myself each day.

Which of course that means I actually sewed again. I was really late on all my April bee blocks, but I finished them up this last week or so.

I also got started on this month's bee blocks.

I have one more paper pieced part of the star and an x-plus block to work on. I am hoping to have them finished this week so I can get to work on Nikki's Wedding quilt.

I do have a due date of the wedding blocks next month and I am only 1/3 of the way thru. I am hoping to get them done at least a couple weeks before her wedding date. I really don't want to rush though them.

I also want to finish my woodland low value quilt this month. The top is all done. I just need to quilt the darn thing.

Still not making progress

2013-04-24T14:48:00.000-07:00

Sigh... I keep hoping to make some progress... any would be nice.

I really need to work on my sister in laws wedding quilt. I really do not have that much time before I need to give her the blocks. Yet, yesterday all I accomplished was this.

Sorry for the fuzzy picture it looked great on my phone this morning

Yep... not I wasn't even able to cut out all the pieces from the strip to finish the block and now I have to cut a new strip because I made a cutting mistake. Oh's wells.

There is another problem in my sewing room too.

The cleaning fairy really needs to come and visit. While she is at it she can visit the rest of my house too.

Linking to:

Not much progress

2013-04-10T18:40:00.000-07:00

Don't know if you may have noticed or not.... but it has been very quiet around here. I have not been feeling well and I am still not sure why. I figured it was my kidneys acting up again, but they test don't look like it, so I am being sent to a gastroenterologists. I see that doctor next Monday. Hopefully he can help me solve my issues.

Anyhow, since I am in an oh woe is me mood and I have been in a lot of pain not much quilting/sewing/anything including laundry has gotten done around here. Thank goodness for my darling husband and him making sure I get fed on a regular basis or even that may not have happened.

I did just finish a really late block for one of my bees. It was the March block for Make it Modern.

Although my not feeling well had a lot to do with not finishing on time, it also helps if you cut the pieces to the right size.

I also finished the top to my timber and leaf quilt. I have the backing, the batting and binding ready to go. Now I just need to feel well enough to put it all together and quilt it.

Ok back to the couch with a ice and then a heating pad for me. I hope this back, flank and tummy pains leave me soon.

Linking to:

Thank goodness it is spring

2013-03-23T16:29:00.000-07:00

It was one busy week last week. The week before spring break always seems to be that way. On top of it I haven't been feeling the best, so I really didn't spend much time in my sewing room. I am feeling a bit better, but by the evening my back starts hurting again and that means I don't sew.

However, yesterday was my first day of spring break (really a furlough day, but I am home so it counts) and I got some blocks done. I would have had more but I had a brown solid in with these blocks and it just did not look good so I used my trusty seam ripper and got rid of it.

Also my lovely husband picked up my camera for me.

Since I am so happy to have it back, I went out into the yard and took some picture of my square foot garden. You can see the carrots, onions, garlic, beets and some peas that I planted in the fall taking off now.

In just a few more days some little seedlings will start popping out. Hopefully that is.

I am so happy to see the tulips poking out of the garden. I can't wait for them to start blooming.

And my roses taking off.

Even the tree is starting to get leaves.

It is so green outside that the pups couldn't help but take sometime to play in the grass.

Gus was all for posing for pictures.

But he had to be on the look out because Suzie just wanted to play.

Hope everyone is doing well... I am wishing you a green spring to come soon enough if it is still white or cold where you are.

Bye Bye Google Reader

2013-03-16T20:47:00.001-07:00

I know you have probably heard this already, in many many places, but google reader is going away.

I found this very shocking and sad, but it is what it is so let's make the best of it.

I personally have been trying out Feedly. Not sure on my impression of it yet. I think it is very pretty and that they have a lot of functions to it. All those features mean I am still learning about everything it can do. The transition was super easy, I just had to login with my google account. The one thing I don't like is that they don't have an add to feedly button. Maybe that is on its way. Who knows.

via

However, there are lots of other ways to follow. I know a many of you have decided to move over to bloglovin'. In just two-three days I have received more emails than I can count saying that so and so is now following me on bloglovin', which is great and has made me super happy to know that I am at least keeping those readers. If you want you can easily follow me over there by clicking this button.

If you already use google reader and you want to transfer to bloglovin they made it really simple. Just go sign up and under settings you can import blogs. I have been using bloglovin' for awhile. I like you can set it up to send you an email ever morning with the updates from the blogs you follow. I don't like that it didn't transfer over my categories like feedly did.

I am also on networkedblogs. I follow a few blogs on it, but mostly I use it to push my blog post to twitter and facebook. There site is set up much differently than the other too. On this site you actually scroll left to right and you see a whole bunch of post by each blog you follow.

Follow this blog

Now if you prefer you could just get my posts in email by clicking Subscribe to Jenniffier's Sometimes Creative Life by Email. Then you would get my posts in your email, which isn't everyday because I do not blog that often.

Of course you could also choose to follow along with my blog on facebook. Then my posts would sporadically appear on your main page, but I am not sure how facebook decides who/what you will see. I do know I often miss when some of my favorite people posts things.

I guess everything has its good and its bad. I just hope that you choose to stick around when google reader goes bye bye.

If this isn't new news for you, what have you been trying and why/why don't you like it?

Winner for the Quilters’ Blog Hop Party giveaway!

2013-03-16T10:23:00.002-07:00

Congratulations to Tanya.

She won the Kona Charm pack from my giveaway.

Tanya please send me an email with your info within 72 hours so I can send you your prize and I won't have to pick a new winner :). I have also emailed you, posted on my facebook page so hopefully you will respond in time :)

I tried to send you a facebook message too, but since we aren't friends I would have had to pay a dollar or it gets filtered out to your other box... which I don't know if you would ever see if you didn't know it was there. So I didn't try to contact you that way too.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks all for entering and thanks to everyone who decided to follow along.

Second Finished Bee Block for March

2013-03-15T07:30:00.000-07:00

This is the second Thursday in a row that I have realized I really should finish something this week. Then the thought came to me why not a bee block. I mean they are "quick". It is only one block... Why not! And for once that didn't turn out to be a bad thing. It is actually a very lovely thing.

This block is made for my Sunday Morning Quilt bee. All the blocks we are making for this bee come from the Sunday Morning Quilts book. This particular block was super fun to make. I dug through my disaster of a scrap bin (as mentioned yesterday). Found some light to medium value colors... Added in a couple dark fabrics and called it good to go. Then you just build upon each layer until you have a 12 1/2 x 12 1/2 block. After making this block I kind of want to sit down with my scrap basket and make a whole bunch of these.

Well I hope my bee mate likes it.

Linking up to: Finish it up Friday, Link a finish Friday, TGIFF, can I get a whoop whoop

Sew Thinky Thursday: Bad Sewing Habits

2013-03-14T22:12:00.001-07:00

I have been playing along with Sew Thinky Thursday day. Each week a new question is asked.

This weeks question is:

Bad sewing habits. Do you have them? Share with us, what are your worst habits when it comes to sewing?

Shh. Don't Tell any but I have a lot of bad sewing habits.

I forget to close my rotary cutter way too often.
I often just throw my scraps to the side and then maybe shove them in one of my scrap containers.
I leave piles of fabric laying on my table until it becomes such a big pile that I have to clean up before I cut anything else. I may even move it to the scrap pile just not to deal with it right now.
I drop pins all the time. I try to pick them up but often I find them when they poke me in the foot, I may curse just a bit when that happens.
My seam ripper is a good friend of mine.
I don't have a perfect quarter inch. I try but it isn't always exactly how I want it to be.
I have project ADD. I start something get distracted, try something new... oh but wait there was this... what honey I was cleaning the kitchen.... oh yeah but I just want to finish this one thing...

I am sure there is more, but this is good enough for now. How about you do you have any bad sewing habits?

Work in Progress Wednesday + a trip to So Cal

2013-03-13T10:43:00.001-07:00

I did make some progress this week. Not much but some is better than none.

I was able to make one of my bee blocks.

and I was able to cut out a new quilt.

The lack of progress this week was due to going to a wedding in Southern California.

We left Sacramento on Friday afternoon to drive to LA. Well Valencia, as that is our home town where our families still lives. We stayed at his parents house the first couple nights.

Silly me forgot to bring any embroidery to work on in the car. However I did get some lovely pictures of the drive.

Then on Saturday we attended a LA Kings game. My husband is a huge hockey fan - well a huge fan of the LA Kings to be specific.

The best part was they wore their vintage jersey, which just happen to be my favorite color. Well that and they won :)

Then on Sunday we attended the wedding.

On Monday we had a moment of recover before driving the 9 hours home.

I really wanted to take this exit to Disneyland - but you know that whole work thing.

I may have even had a slight tantrum... a foot stomp may have been involved, but luckily at that point Randall was driving and he kept us on our way. Plus we did get have lunch with my parents back in Valencia before making the rest of the drive up to Sacramento. We even picked up the dogs last night and reality is back to normal again.

Hopefully I will get some sewing done this week. Maybe even tonight. We will see :)

Linking to:

Beat the Winter Blues Giveaway – Quilters’ Blog Hop Party

2013-03-08T09:47:00.001-08:00

Once again I am participating in the the Quilters' Blog Hop Giveaway.

If you haven't been here before here this is my little space where I share my sometimes creative life and here are some of my favorite projects I have completed. To see more check out my quilts page, tutorial page, sewing projects, and recipe page.

For the blog hop party I will be giving away one Kona charm pack.

It looks so innocent until you open it up.

I shared one of these a couple years ago and it was such a big hit I decided to give another away. This giveaway is open to any one just enter using the rafflecopter app below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Sunday Morning Quilts Bee block

2013-03-08T09:23:00.001-08:00

I only finished one thing this week and that was one of my Sunday Morning Quilts bee block. This is a flickr bee group where each month we have two hosts and each host gets to ask for a block inspired by the book Sunday Morning Quilts: 16 Modern Scrap Projects Sort, Store, and Use Every Last Bit of Your Treasured Fabrics

It is Christine's month asked and she for The Missing U block. However, instead of doing it Rainbow colors like in the book, she is going with more masculine colors inspired by the pattern fortune teller in the book. She asked each beemate to make a block in either browns, creams, black or grays.

We each got assigned a color and I was assigned black. However, I have no black fabrics in my stash. This is actually the first time I have ever worked with black fabrics. Luckily I knew some one who has lots in her stash. So I called up my mom and she sent me a package of black scraps and some cuts off of her black fabric stash. So thanks to my mom I was able to make this block and now I think I like working with black and white fabric too :)

Never thought I would. That is my favorite thing about joining bees, you try things that you probably wouldn't have done on your own. And sometimes you find you really like them. Other times people ask you to do something you think you would like and it turns out not to be your favorite, but luckily you only have to do it once, maybe twice. It is fun to try new things and grow as a quilter without having to make a whole quilt.

PS - Don't forget to enter my giveaway

Linking up to: Finish it up Friday, Link a finish Friday, TGIFF, can I get a whoop whoop

Sew Thinky Thrusday - Favorite Kona

2013-03-07T21:30:00.002-08:00

I have been playing along with Sew Thinky Thursday day. Each week a new question is asked.

This weeks question is:

What is your favorite color of Kona Cotton*? How much of it do you keep in your stash? Is there a solid that you always find yourself running out of?

This one is an easy one for me. I really like...

kona fabric image via

Ok it may be because it just happens to be my favorite color. However, it is not the solid that I mostly have in my stash.

Mostly I have ash, med gray, pdf bleached white and white.

kona fabric images via

I also have a lot of moda bella solids. I actually like them a bit better. I just like the texture of the fabric better. It just doesn't feel as stiff to me. Especially the white and pdf bleached white which I have lots of in my stash.

I also only have a moda bella solids card. I would love a kona card too. It would make it much easier to play with my fabric with.

However, I am very lucky to have a fabric store that carries most of the Kona colors so I can just go there and try out the colors with my fabric. Where as with moda bellas I have to usually order those off line.

Work in Progress Wednesday

2013-03-06T03:00:00.000-08:00

I actually had to look back to see what I accomplished this last week. Everything seems to be blurring together. I have been pretty busy at work and my back isn't doing to well right now. I have been going to physical therapy and doing all the exercises, but it seems to be hurting worse. I am hoping and crossing my fingers that this isn't another kidney stone. I really don't want to deal with that again. However, if I have to be truthful I haven't been fantastic about drinking water recently.... which is usually when those little devils come around again.

Anyhow, on to my progress. It is more than I was think it was. I mean I did actually have a finish.

I finished my hexagon Christmas table runner.

And I have made 4 more blocks of my sister in laws wedding quilt, which I need to come up with a better name for. That is 8 blocks of the center of kiss me pattern by fig tree & co. That means I am about a 1/3 of the way done with the center blocks.

I also spent Sunday fertilizing my roses and citrus trees and cleaning out my Square foot garden beds so they are ready to plant when my seeds arrive in a couple days.

Linking up to:

Missing my camera... I mean I am grateful for

2013-03-04T20:20:00.002-08:00

Right now I am missing my camera oh so very much. I am getting really tried of not so fantastic Samsung Galaxy 3 photos.

Don't get me wrong it has a nice camera to go with it, but it isn't my camera. Plus everything seems a bit blurry. I think I move too much. Look below to see what I mean.

My broken camera is currently being repair. And it is what I really want back right now.

Not that the crack is even what is getting fixed. It is the lens and the filter screen and that needed to be repaired. I am just impatiently waiting for it to come back from the repair shop. It is probably going to be 2 - 3 more weeks. I asked for the camera back as soon as it is ready, even if the lens isn't, but we will see.

I mean I could take pictures with my Nikon CoolPix but it likes to make everything orange unless I use a flash or it is bright outside (see top photo). However, I always quilt at night so that isn't going to help me too much.

Now after sharing my sadness in missing my camera, I am feeling a bit spoiled. The last one I did get for free, but still. I do own a nice phone and a couple nice cameras and I should stop b****ing about not having the specific tech I want to play with right now.

I know when I am being spoiled I need to remember what my dad told me when I was a teen, "Be grateful for what you have, because all you really need is food to eat, a place to sleep, clothes on your back and a family to love. You my dear have all of those, and that is more than a lot of people have."

So instead of complaining. Lets go with this... I am grateful for...

Having a loving husband who often buys me all the fun tech that I want, puts up with my quilting habit, and so much more.

My two loving pups.

And probably most importantly for having a healthy happy loving family. My little family are the three above, but there is also my brothers, nephew, niece my sister-in-laws, parents, in-laws, gramps and so many more that make up "family" to me.

Of course there are all my friends, coworkers, and everyone I have connected to through this blog and the rest of the quilty blogging world. All of these people are a great support to me and are truly why I am spoiled. So thanks all. I am grateful to you!

So the question is what are you totally feeling spoiled about and what are you grateful for?

Hello March!

2013-03-03T21:19:00.000-08:00

Yep it is time to set some goals again.

Last month I did pretty well. I finished a couple UFOs and made some bee blocks. You can see more here, but lets look at the details :)

So here were last month's goals:

1. ~~Quilt my zigzagged quilt.~~ - Finished!
2. ~~Finish everything for my Bees and Swaps. That will be a total of 4 blocks and 1 pretty little pouch.~~ Finished these too. I really liked the little pouch.

3. Keep working out cutting out the patchwork prism quilt. * I was able to cut out everything but the greens. Mostly because I need some more green.

This month I want to:

1. Start and finish my new quilt. I haven't named it yet but it will be from Simplify With Camille Roskelley: Quilts for the Modern Home. This particular goal is my lovely year of finishes goal.

2. Continue working on my sister-in-laws wedding quilt. I would like most of center blocks done by the end of the month.

3. Finish cutting out the patchwork prism quilt. That means ordering some green fabrics. I have lots of light greens. I just need some medium value greens.

4. Finish and mail my bee blocks on-time.

5. Make my hexagon Christmas pillowcases to go with the Hexagon Christmas Table Runner I finished last week.

On a non-sewing related notes -

5. I want to plant my garden. I amended the soil today in both all of my square foot garden boxes and I gave fertilizer to my roses, camellias, and citrus trees. Tomorrow I am hoping to get some seeds in the ground while I impatiently wait for the others to arrive :)

and

6. Continue working out

This seems like some big goals to me, but I do have spring break at the end of the month. So hopefully I can accomplish this. However, I do have a busy weekend next week so we will see.

Linking to: my lovely year of finishes goal, pigtalesandquilts, just 3

February Wrap up

2013-03-02T08:47:00.001-08:00

February was a busy sewing month for me. It was nice having a week of vacation to help get some of these projects done.

I finished all my bee blocks.

I completed two UFOs: my Zigzagged quilt and my Hexagon Table Runner. I also made a pretty little pouch.

Plus I started a new project. It for my sister-in-law. She asked me to make her a wedding quilt.Since I have only finished about 4 blocks, I better get working on that :)

Hexagon Christmas table runner

2013-03-01T09:41:00.000-08:00

The Hexagon table runner was one of those WIPs that I was so happy to be working on, that turned into a UFO really quick. I actually finished all the peices for this quilt back in Nov 2010.

I just didn't feel confident enough in my free motion quilting skills to tackle it. I mean I was going have to attach all these hexagons down.

When I bought the kit for this project, the lady who demoed that patterned used invisible thread and her machine to applique them down and that was my plan too.

Then I had to FMQ around all the hexis and the thought of that was just scary. Could I really control my FMQ that well that I didn't just run over the darn things? And what pattern to choose. After a few years practice I was ready to go. I choose to do the same "paisley" design that I used on my zigzagged quilt, which had been the plan since the pretty early on, I just didn't have the skills to do it. It didn't turn out perfect this time but at least it went well. I only ran over one hexagon in the process.

Then attach the binding and sew on some buttons.

Then my table runner was complete. And way before Christmas too.

Quilt Stats:

Name: Hexagon Christmas Table Runner

Size: 24" x 34"

Fabrics: French General Lumiere de Noel

Binding: French General Lumiere de Noel

Pattern: Flower Garden Gathering Pattern - But the pattern has changed a bit since I bought it, they added more hexis to the pattern.

Quilting: by me, paisley and a border design from a book that I enlarged to fit my space

Started : July 2010

Completed: February 2013

I bought this as a kit and their starter epp kit from Cotton and Chocolate at the Long Beach International Quilt festival. From the kit I still have enough hexagons to make a couple pillows. Luckily I thought ahead, like back in Nov 2010, when I finished all the hexis originally to buy some background fabric for the pillows :)

PS. Sorry for the not so great pictures at the end. My camera is still in the shop so I am only left with my smart phone for picture taking. I will fix the pictures as soon as I get my camera back. :)

Linking up to:

Finish it up Friday, Link a finish Friday, TGIFF, can I get a whoop whoop, Show and Tell Tuesday , sew cute tuesday,