My Baby's 17th Birthday

Today is my baby's 17th birthday.

He was born 17 years ago today and it was Memorial Day the day he was born too.

My husband's aunt and cousins, from Oklahoma, were down the street staying with my husband's grandma for the three day weekend.

I woke in the morning thinking that I was in labor but didn't have the tell tale signs.

Just a little dribbling and no contractions.

Later that morning my husband was outside mowing grass.

And his grandma called wanting to know when we would be down.

I told her during the conversation that I thought my water had broke.

She told the rest of the family that was there.

Mike, my husband's cousin, was willing to come over and help...

fix our........plumbing.

Needless to say, we did go to the hospital and at 12:05 a.m. May 31, 1993, we had a beautiful 8 lb. 10 oz. baby boy,  Ryan Christopher.

I love, love, love my baby.

And he loves his Mommy.

Happy Birthday!!!

Today is my dear friend's 40th birthday.

This is the Disappearing Nine Patch quilt I've been working on for her birthday gift.

It's made out of a cut up layer cake and several charm packs of the Nostalgia  fabric line by Moda.

I finished it this past Monday with time to spare which is very unusual for me.

Using a monthly project list helps me stay focused on getting projects done on time.

And boy!, it's such a relief not to be in a panic to get a project done.

I love the backing fabric. It's part of the Nostalgia fabric line too.

I longarm quilted it at our local quilt shop with a meander pantograph.  

Hmmm....maybe I should of chosen a simple floral pattern.

I never can decide.  Choosing the quilting pattern is the hardest part for me.

I made the quilt label on my Brother 4000D embroidery machine.

I can't wait to see this quilt after she washes it a few times.

It will be a great cuddle quilt.

Happy Birthday Shaleen.  Love ya!

Bra Shopping

I went bra shopping today.

It was depressing.

I've lost about 15 pounds the last several months just by not eating as much, parking in the "back 40", and stepping up the speed when I walk places.

Yes, this is a good thing.

Thus the need for some new bras.

I needed some support...and now a support group.

You know how you don't really pay attention to yourself until you're starting at yourself in that mirror (you know what mirror) under that terrible lighting?

"Hi, I'm Paula and I'm 42.

I have to hike my girls up and into their place."

I'm slowly becoming....

OLD!

Feelin the "Comment Love"

Wow!

My name was drawn in the daily drawing and my blog was featured on the In Stitches blog for the Spring Fever Bingo.

I'm a new blogger and pretty much have been in my own little blog world until now.

I feel the "comment love" and it feels great.

Thank you.

How About That?!?

Today has started out as a good day.

My name was drawn on the first drawing for Spring Fever online BINGO game hosted by the Quilt Shoppe.

Quilt Shoppe Bingo drawing day 2

Thank you!!!

I won a Fairy Frost charm pack from Michael Miller.

Thank you again!

Spring Fever Bingo!

Ooooooo! Online BINGO!

Sounds like fun.

Scoot on over to The Quilt Shoppe by May 23rd to join in.

These are my words:

applique

barbecue

blossoms

blueberries

breeze

daffodil

dogwood

freesia

graduation

grass

hummingbird

jelly beans

kid

lily

May

peony

pink lemonade

porch

quilts

seeds

sky

spring break

sweater

thunderstorm

water hose

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!!!

BINGO!  --  I'm just practicing : )

Bloggers Quilt Festival

Sounds fun to me.

 

I'm still new to quilting and love, love, love! looking at all the different quilts.

I probably would have twice the quilts made if I spent more time quilting than looking at different quilts on the internet.

I've never been to a quilt festival. Any quilt festival, show, etc.

I have no friends that are interested in quilts.

And you know, Arkansas does not seem to be that into quilts as the other states.

What's up with that?

Memory Block--Is That It?

What's up with this memory thing as I get older?

I used to think my Mom was crazy for not remembering who gave her the beautiful casserole dish she uses only for lasagna.

Not remember who gave you the casserole dish? Really?

I am slowly becoming....my Mother.

I loaned out our hedge trimmers.

I don't remember who too and they haven't returned them.

How can I not remember that?

I remember standing in our garage and looking for them while I was talking to him.  

But....I don't remember who "him" is.

I've been trying to remember all weekend.

And...nothing.

And since I mentioned my Mother.

How did her hands get attached to my arms?

I Couldn't Resist

Oh dear.

I'm supposed to be on a fabric buying freeze saving $$$ for our summer vacation.

I couldn't resist.

A sale AND a $10 off coupon at the Fat Quarter Shop.

I picked up a jelly roll. A Sandy Gervais jelly roll.  An Essence jelly roll.

A jelly roll on S-A-L-E. Have I said that already? I'm trying to make myself feel better.  Can you tell?

It's my colors and I simply couldn't resist.

A few days ago I posted about the pattern book I have from Heather Mulder Peterson.  

A pattern book I bought specifically to make the Jelly Roll Junction quilt.

And...well...I don't have a jelly roll.

But now I do.

{whispering while hunching over with my finger over my lips} Don't tell my Hunny. Okay?

Disappearing Nine Patch (D9P)

Disappearing Nine Patch (D9P) is a simple block to make.

1.  Sew a typical 9 square block.  Choose 5 darker squares for the four corners and center.  Choose 4 lighter squares for the others.  Press the seams well to make block lay flat.

2.  Line up your ruler to cut your block in half both vertically and horizontally.

3.  Rotate 180° one set of opposite blocks and sew blocks together again.

4.  Press completed block again.

Sew blocks together for quilt, table topper, table runner, etc.

This is a 5" charm D9P lap quilt.

It is 4 blocks per row x 5 rows = 20 blocks

20 blocks x 9 charm squares per block = 180 charm squares

180 charm squares / 42 charm squares per pack = 4 charm packs + 12 additional charm squares

51" x 63" quilt top

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


You can also make a table runner from the D9P blocks.

Add as many D9P blocks to make your table runner whatever length you would like.

This is a 3 block D9P table runner.

3 D9P blocks x 9 charm squares per block = 27 charm squares

BTW -- This is my Mom's Mother's Day gift.  Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

Sew 3 D9P blocks together in 3 rows to make a square table topper.  You can always sew more D9P together to make a larger table topper to custom fit it to the size of your table.

Ideas for the D9P are endless.

Have fun with it!

Some Assembly Required

...and only Mom's are qualified.

May To Do List

2 Mother's Day table toppers - DONE!

Start a quilt - pattern TBD - Nostalgia Layer Cake - May birthday present - DONE

Finish "Old Fashioned Hospitality" a Kim Diehl quilt from her book Simple Comforts

WIP - Jaybird Quilts - Hexagon Quilt-a-Long - Moda's The Caroler

Start a lap/wall quilt that I can practice hand quilting while on vacation this summer

Quilt  and bind Nostalgia Quilt - May birthday present - DONE

It's May Already?

Time flies when you're having fun.

Guess April was a fun month because it flew by in no time.

I was able to complete a project from my April's To Do List and a part of another project.

Two table toppers/runners for Mother's Day gifts were completed. Yea!
I think that this is the first time ever (...umm...yea, ever) that I completed a project for a gift with time to spare and I'm not working until the very last minute, sweating it out, to get it done.

It's nice not being in panic mode.


The navy topper is from Heather Mulder Peterson's On A Roll pattern book. I completed it in Moda's Flag Day Farm fabric from my stash.


The other is a table runner I completed in the disappearing nine patch pattern with the charms from Moda's Nostalgia.

The charms were leftovers from another project that was on my April's To Do List.

It's a May birthday present for a very dear and cherished friend.

I completed it with a charm cut layer cake and several charm packs of Moda's Nostalgia from my stash.


I'm using the Ecru from the Nostalgia collection for the backing of the quilt and a scrappy binding from the remaining charms.


It worked out well for me to actually make a quilting to do list. It helped me stay focused on completing a project before starting another and making another UFO.

Now off to work on a May list.

Keep your sewing pedal down!