Guilty!

Yes. I am guilty. Lately, I've been hanging out on Instagram. I'm not very tech savvy, so Instagram is much easier for my brain and less frustrating for now. Apparently, there are only so many hours in the day. Who would have thought? I will stop in from time to time though. Come join me, you know you want to :)

Great Bouncing Icebergs!

Great bouncing icebergs! I'm posting on the blog. Sorry about the Rudolph quote, I live in a strange little world. I am just jumping back on the sewing bandwagon. Apparently, there was a key puzzle piece that was missing. You know, that S-N-O-W word. I love to sew when it snows. Oh, I also like to rhyme..... I do it all the time (really, I do. It is quite annoying). Oh, where was I? Oh yeah, that sewing thing. See? I'm getting side tracked already. My word for 2016 is FOCUS. Actually, that is quite comical since my up close vision is starting to fail.

I happened to join another sew along/monthly club. Oopsie. Sometimes that happens. Actually, it is a really good thing since these are mini quilts a.k.a. quick projects. Julie at Intrepid Thread has the best BOM clubs. I actually finished month one before month two arrived with plenty of time to spare I might add. Aren't they adorable? I just need to research a way to hang these. Look who magically appeared out of nowhere. Miss. Bratty showed up for the photos. Thanks kitty.

How many sew alongs/BOMs do you juggle? They are all so tempting. This year, I am trying to finish up my UFOs. Good luck with that, right!?!? I have one runner that just needs a trip to the washer. I sewed the binding on months ago. How pathetic is that?

Anyways, I will hopefully be back here soon to share some progress with you!

Double Throwback Thursday:)

This is my Throwback Thursday post from July that I never posted. Therefore, this is a throwback to July of a throwback to......well you get the idea. Double throwback :) It seems appropriate to post now since I am just getting around to thinking about Christmas sewing.

Back in July:

I haven't been sewing much since it summer. Once the kiddies are out of school, I have no schedule or routine at all. This year, I have been quite consumed to even think about sewing. My plan was to use July for sewing Christmas gifts! Ha! Perhaps at least plugging in the sewing machine would help. Or maybe not sitting for literally days on end at the Honda dealer would help also. The best part? I told them what was wrong with my car and how to fix it. They did not listen to me and finally came up with MY solution. Anyways, it is fixed now. Moving on.......not dwelling on that.

So, since my sew-jo (sewing mojo) is on hiatus for the time being, I though maybe visiting a few finished projects would be fun. These were supposed to be Christmas gifts. However, that whole "sewing in July" thing didn't happen that year either. I didn't start until September. Are you noticing a theme?

My good friend Brownie pointed out that we were running out of time for a Christmas deadline. I was so crushed. Once I was done sobbing over the fact that I was a complete failure we moved our deadline to Valentine's Day, which was actually a really good idea. If we gave the quilts for Christmas, they would have just ended up lost in the piles of presents. This way, they were the spotlight gift.

I let the girls choose their own fabrics for these. I used Crazy Mom's zig zag quilt pattern. Here . Funny, I buy so many patterns and then use a free one! I had fun making the backs of these too.

This next one I made for my husband (Sweet Jane French Window Panes) here. I should have made it larger for him so he stops stealing my quilt. My quilt is pink and he doesn't even care. Really? Maybe he secretly likes pink.....maybe it is just the whole colorblind thing. Maybe it's because he is a a dork. Yes, that must be it. Yes, he reads my blog too. I better start running, I'm going to be in trouble. Perhaps I should mention that he bought me my Bernina as an anniversary gift. Best present ever! Yes, he's a keeper. He bought me my longarm too. The ladies at the quilt shop point and say "that's him". True story. It is so funny.

I'd love to know when you do your Christmas sewing, one of these years I will be organized!

Happy Halloween!

It's that time of year again. My entire neighborhood stocks up on candy, turns every light on in their yard and waits. One of these years, we will have some trick-or-treaters. The problem is you have to drive from house to house. We had a trick-or-treater one time. Really. True story. Of course, it was my cousin's son so I don't know if that really counts. He was a toddler at the time and he is now in his last year of high school.

I'm not a big Halloween fan, the last time I dressed up was fifth grade. My kids have had Halloween taken away three years now. September 11th, a snowstorm, and we had a bad flu year. All cancelled. Pretty crazy.

This year, we were asked to dress like book characters and had a reading day at school on Friday. Keep in mind, we found out about this at the beginning of the month and my daughter LOVES to read. When do we decide what we are doing and start getting a costume together? On Thursday. She decided to be Annabeth from Percy Jackson. Pinterest came to my rescue once again. I found an image on the internet to use but unfortunately, the iron-on printer paper that I bought needed to sit for 24 hours before washing. Thanks for putting the instruction sheet INSIDE the package. That was really helpful. Could we maybe have the instructions of the back of the package (there was plenty of room since it was blank). As a backup, I purchased flocked letter too. Thank goodness. She was quite happy with her shirt and I of course had a Yankees hat. As a bonus, I remembered two minutes before the bus came that my other daughter had a stuffed owl (forgot that in the photo). I feel like a hero now. BTW, just for the record I know nothing about Percy Jackson so this was a challenge!

Ha! I finally remembered to put out the candy corn that I made years back. Somehow, they sit in the bin every year. They look quite happy to be out, don't they? I thing this was a crochet pattern off of Lion Yarn's website. I added faces since I love making Amigurumi. Crocheting isn't very friendly for my thumbs though. I made this table runner from a LQS kit years ago. It is made from nine patch and hourglass blocks. If I remember correctly, the kit came with a project sheet of some sort. Did you ever have one of those projects that you purchase and make immediately? This was one of those projects. It doesn't happen often around here.

I should hopefully be back soon with a finish. For some reason, I just can't seem to finish up the binding on this darn quilt. I also have another on the long arm almost done, that was an adventure. I can't wait to tell you about that!

Are You Ready for Some Football?

Ok, so here is my take on football. I'm on to you men folk, I finally "get" football. How long did you think we would fall for this scam? Football is on television so men have an excuse to be couch potatoes and eat. Pretty brilliant, isn't it? Of course, sometimes the game is to boring too watch. Yes, they have that covered too. Nap time!

So, I have taken up watching the games also. It is a win win from what I can see. Gee, I 'd like to (insert whatever it is you don't want to do but were asked to) but the game is on. Interesting. Men folk are quite smart. Who would have known?

If you need me, I'll be on the couch sewing binding and watching a game or two. Actually, all joking aside, I do love sports. I don't live my life around the games, but I do enjoy them. Besides, it is always nice to have an excuse why you can't do something.

Hopefully I will be posting a finish soon. It is getting close!

Best. Day. Ever!

Did you ever have a product that you love but no matter what you do, it is nowhere to be found? Once upon a time, I had a mint chocolate chip brownie recipe that I loved. However, the chips are now impossible to find. No, not those green chips. These are mint flavored chocolate chips. Apparently, they only sell them seasonally now. Really? Why? I'm guessing they don't sell well enough year round. Of course, seasonally is only good IF a retailer wants to sell them. What happened to the local markets that would carry a product just because you asked. Ahh....the good old days. I miss those days.

Anyways, I was a bit annoyed this morning since I needed to go to the grocery store AGAIN. My family, according to way I see it at least, loves to plot against me. They seem to tell me what we need at the store after I go. Yes, I give them fair warning of my joyous trip. This week was no different. Oh gee, you just went to the store? Well, we need orange juice! If you listen closely, you can hear them snickering. I'm pretty sure they have secret meetings and plan to do this. I will find their playbook someday and sabotage it *evil laugh*

Where was I? Oh yes, the trip to the store. Ok, so I was scuffing around the store and grumbling with my "I don't want to be here face" on. Luckily, someone else that didn't want to be there either pushed their cart in front of mine causing me to stop abruptly. Grrrr.....Wait a second. What is this? All of a sudden there are rainbows, unicorns and chirping birds. No? A little to far fetched you say? But wait, in front of me is a display of these "seasonal" chips. Why what is this? Mint chocolate chips? Two. Bags. Left. Yes, I took both of them. Ha! Only took ten years to find them! Seriously. I'm not exaggerating. I would never do that. It isn't like my middle name is sarcasm or anything. Ha!

After I arrived home with my treasure and tossed the rest of the groceries into the fridge and cabinets, I searched for my recipe. It was missing. Oh. The company that had the recipe no longer makes the chips either. No product = no recipe. Luckily, Hershey had a recipe. Score! So, I grabbed the rest of the ingredients I needed out of the cabinet. What? The flour expired? I need to go back to the store because I, of all people didn't get what I needed at the store? Oh. Oops. This must be in their playbook. It certainly isn't my fault. Right? How incredibly clever of them. Evil geniuses.

Sigh. Back to the store I went. I skipped the whole way home. There is nothing like a brownie made from scratch. Delicious! Yes, I politely shared the brownies with rest of the family. I hope it made their day. It certainly made mine. Ok, not the best photo. I'm still new at this blogging thing so I never thought to take a decent photo. This was a quick iPad picture sent to my husband on his phone. I have to make sure he comes home, right?

I'm off to seach for and hoard a few more bags of those chips. They have to last until next year!

Back to School!

Greetings! Contrary to popular belief I did not fall off a cliff....even though I look and feel like I did. I am still here and my sewing machine is not even plugged in. I think it has been that way since June. It was a quick summer partially because of the numerous snow days in the winter.

Ah.....back to school kiddies. It seems like a great idea sending the kids back to school. Doesn't it? Then reality strikes. I've been stumbling around in a sleep deprived coma for the last week. Is it really necessary for a school bus to pick up kids at 6:30 in the morning? I hardly think so. Mr. Skunk wasn't too pleased either. He was still out from the night before, obviously partying. Perhaps his little skunklets went back to school too. Yes Brownie, I know that baby skunks are called kits not skunklets. I prefer skunklets. We went through a skunk phase here. Everyone and everthing has been sprayed by these guys. Even the guitar teacher, he was a good sport about it. I think.

Ok, so my "photographer" is obviously at school, I don't dare touch her camera since that would be a total disaster.

I'm off to find my sew-jo (sewing mojo). I know it has to be here somewhere, how far could it possibly go? I'm trying not to purchase any new fabric. Boo. However, I did find a loophole, imagine that? I was at the bookstore and needed a new calendar. When what to my wondering eyes did appear? Well, certainly not a miniature sleigh with eight tiny reindeer! We are not ready for that yet! I found a Kate Spain calendar. Big loophole! It is fabric goodness in paper form. Ha. Didn't break the "no fabric buying rule".

Hopefully next time I post there will be some sewing progress to show. Wish me luck!