Do you ever just have one of those days...

...or in my case weeks?  I have been so sick and then busy (because of being sick) that this past week has been a blur.  My house is in shambles partly because I have a 4 yr old and partly because I do not have a dining room table at the moment.  I just feel so discombobulated and it is driving me crazy!  I am thankful that I purchased the extra protection plan on the new dining room table so that it was able to be taken away in order to be refinished.  New furniture and small things (such as kids and pets) do not live harmoniously as I am slowly learning.  I was so hopeful for a productive weekend of sewing which I think I somewhat had but then when I woke up today I felt like I didn't have a weekend at all because I was sewing all weekend.  Ok, so maybe I'm just in a funk.  Nothing seems to be making me happy at the moment.

I did manage to finish 3 sets of blocks so that is good.   They were all for the Christmas Fabric Bee I'm in.

First up were Fairly Merry's self designed blocks:

They were a lot of work but she very kindly had done all of the cutting for us!  It was nice to be able to just dig right in!  These went out today so they should be home soon.

Next were mod mosaic blocks for Spontaneous Threads:

I have another one but I didn't have enough of the white sashing for the outer border.  Luckily, I had some of this same fabric on order so I am hoping it will come soon and I can finish up the second block too.  These are April blocks so I'm good for time.  This was a first for this type of block so I probably was not as conservative as I could have been with the white.  It was a lot of fun!

Finally, were Toerintx's blocks.  She requested pictorial blocks...uh oh, that is completely foreign to me!  I racked my brain for days trying to come up with an idea.  I drew up a few ideas and settled on a juggling elf.  GOOD NEWS: It came out exactly as I had drawn it.  BAD NEWS: I am not the best at drawing.  I have been told that it looks "folksy" which I have decided I am going with rather than "goofy" as was my word for it.  Either way, I hope it is ok.  It was so much fun to do.  I just wish I was better at drawing.

And for a second block for Erin I made a quick wonky star (something I have had lots of practice at.)

These are on their way home as well!

On Saturday I received fabrics for 2 other bees I'm in and luckily I have now had experience making both types of the blocks requested!  Hopefully, I can knock those out this week.

I should have another set of March blocks to share but unfortunately the fabric came up missing!  Very strange!  After 7 days of having not received it I contacted the sender and she said she had received a "Return to Sender" package which was the one she sent to me but the fabric wasn't in it.  I believe she sent out a replacement package last week but I still haven't gotten it.  I feel really bad.  That hasn't happened to me before.  Hopefully the second package will come soon.

How did everyone else fare this weekend?

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!!!

My little one turns 4 on Saturday!  It's amazing how quickly time flies.  This year she is getting totally spoiled...but I guess that's what happens when there's only one.  We are huge hockey fans and yesterday she had a special visit at her "school" (aka daycare) from Slapshot, the Washington Capitals Mascot. He was fantastic!

And here is her birthday dress I made.  I am so stinkin proud of this dress!  It is my first garment...ok so maybe it was an easy pattern but it was easy enough that I will totally try to make more clothes for her!  What makes it even nicer is that she LOVES it!  Normally she's "meh" about the things I make her but this was a winner from the start.  I used Fandango by Kate Spain.

I've been busy with birthday plans this week so I haven't had a chance to catch up with my bee blocks which makes me feel like a slacker but oh well.

Right now I am just enjoying having this time with my baby and relishing the nice weather!  There was enough daylight this evening when I got home that we were able to play outside for an hour.  It is so nice to see green again!  

So sweet and nice looking

 ah, that's more like the girl I know.

Sorry still new at this blogging stuff. I have no idea how to line my pictures up right.

Have a happy Friday everyone...and enjoy the weekend!

I am so smart it hurts sometimes!

Toot toot!  Did I forget to mention that being humble is not one of my traits???  Ok, so last night while I was randomly quilting a pillow top for my daughter and increasingly getting tired of changing my stitch length at the start and stop of each line - especially from doing this...



I had a light bulb go off!  I felt like I could take on Watson and win!!!  Maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration (the beating Watson part not the part about being a pure genius).  I can't believe I didn't think of this sooner! 
I programmed the stitches into my machine! Ok, so am I smart or just late to the game???  Once it hit me I couldn't contain my excitement.  I had to tell everyone who would listen which interrupted my husband watching the hockey game and my daughter who was almost asleep.  Let me tell you they were thrilled (on the inside apparently). So now I don't dread stopping and starting while quilting.  I just leave my programmed stitch menu up and tap the stitch I want once instead of hitting the stitch length button like 4 or 5 times for each stop and start!

That was my breakthrough for last night.  Are there any other smarties out there who have had a brilliant epiphany they would like to share????  I am always open to tricks & tips!

Here is the finished pillow.  It is for my LO.

Made using Miss Print's Not Your Traditional Log Cabin Pillow Tutorial

She begged me to buy her enough Hello Kitty fabric to make her a pillow...me being the crafty mom that I am had to make it with a pretty quilted top.  Her favorite part...the back.  Oh well, lesson learned.  I could have just sewed two pieces of the HK fabric together and been done with it.   

I still think this is much cuter!

I also broke out the embroidery unit for my machine.  It's been collecting some serious dust.  It has been nice to have when I want to embroider baby gifts or wedding gifts but I don't get much use out of it.  I added this little border pattern to the left side.

I also did a little free motion in the right corner but as you can see that is well hidden in these photos. It was just shameful!  That will definitely take more practice...by the looks of it we're talking YEARS of practice!  I've read all kinds of tips on how to successfully do it but it's like my brain, hands, and feet aren't connecting when it's go time.

Happy Fat Tuesday all!

Sewing Marathon

That sums up my weekend pretty well!  I didn't remember until Wednesday that in passing conversation I had told my best friends mom that I would make her a set of place mats for her birthday on March 8th.  In January when I made the offer, March seemed so far away...fast forward to last week.  So this past weekend was do or die time.  I went to my LQS on Thusday at lunch and bought 3 yards of assorted fabrics without knowing how much I would need as I didn't have a design in mind yet.  Friday after work I quickly sketched out an idea then headed to JoAnn's for backing and applique fabric...another 3 yards later I was set to sew.  However, after getting home that night my daughter had other plans for me...so bright and early Saturday morning (by this I mean 9-ish) I finally sat down to work.  By 10:30 last night I had finished 8 placemats!  That has to be some kind of record, right???  I was also very pleased to find out that I didn't buy too much material which is normally the case...I only had about a 1/2 yard of ivory left.

Sorry for the overexposure...it was 11 pm and I was beat.  The green looks way greener in the pictures than in RL which I think is also giving the backing a greenish color.  In actuality the backing is brown and tan.

Although I don't expect the dog will be dining at the table I couldn't leave her out...maybe she can use it for her dog dish.

Happy Birthday Ms. Vickie!

My binding can still use a TON of practice but it has greatly improved after using some of the tips from this post.






In other news my very smart husband came up with an idea to store my batting where I can still access it and it's out of the way...sometimes you just gotta love redneck engineering...  ;p

This week I hope to finish a pillow that my LO has been patiently waiting for and that's about it.  The hubs and I are going away for a kid-free long weekend with 3 other couples.  Friday can't come soon enough for me this week!  Does anyone else have weekend plans they can't wait for?