Spring Bag/Purse

I hope that you all had a wonderful and blessed Easter Sunday! I love Easter! Such a time of hope and renewal. My testimony of the atonement and resurrection of my Savior gives me the strength and desire to live a better life.

I just finished up these cute bags. I made one for me-----

and one for Kristy.

I used this pattern from Indygo Junction. I had one "Sultry" jelly roll and I used up every bit of it. I used the lighter strips for the lining. With the little leftover bits and strips, I made us each a little cosmetic bag to match. These just say "Spring" to me!!! The drapery grommets were very easy to use. It did make me a little nervous to start cutting holes in a finished bag though. Just have to make sure you have it marked exactly where you want them before that first snip of the scissors! Ask me how I know, eep!!!! Kristy's has a cute little appliqued circle covering up that little boo-boo. :~)

I am going to get brave and enter my "Blackberry Twilight" quilt in a show this next week. I need to get a hanging sleeve sewed on, for displaying purposes. I don't really care if I win anything. But, it does make me a little nervous to have my work judged.

Windy and cool here today, a cold front is going to be moving through the next couple of days. So no outside work or play. I will just have to spend more time in the sewing room. I think that I might make me a couple of lightweight summer tops. While at Wal-Mart today, I browsed through the pattern books and found a couple of patterns that I liked. It has been so long since I made any clothing, other than scrub tops for Kristy. I hope that I remember how! :~)

Hugs&Stiches, Jul♥a

Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas to everyone!!! I hope that your holiday is filled with lots of love, laughter, family and warmth! This is my absolute, all time, favorite Christmas song. Warms my heart every time that I hear it.



I am so grateful for the birth and life of the Savior. I hope that each one of us will remember what we are celebrating this season. Turning our hearts and thoughts to Him.

Hugs&Stitches, Julia

SPRING!

I seen this design on Kim's blog last spring and I loved it! To my utter delight she published the pattern this spring. You can purchase it from her Etsy shop. Now this little cutie is hanging on my wall! I just had to throw in a yellow tulip! I used rick rack for the stems instead of piecing them. I did some free-motion quilting on it. I really struggled with how to quilt the tulips and after about 4 hours of stitching and unpicking, I threw my hands in the air and just did something simple. I am not all that proud of it. I have such a long, long, long, long way to go on my free-motion quilting. Except meandering and loops, I can do those. Anything else looks like a 2 year old did it! lol Pantos I can do with no trouble now, for the most part anyway. This free-motion stuff is going to take tons of practice, practice, practice! I don't mind practicing free motion stuff on my quilts, but I am a long way from ready to do it for others! I think that I need to throw some practice fabric on SuzyQ and just play!

It is raining here today, which is perfect timing, because Randy put our spring fertilizer on the lawn yesterday. The grass will be pretty and green in no time! We spent most of Saturday getting the yard cleaned up, finished trimming trees, etc. Now I have to spend some good quality time in the sewing room. I have three birthday quilts to make by the first of June!

Hugs&Stiches, Jul♥a
"Do one thing everyday that makes you happy!"

String Quilt

I finished one quilt for Judy's stash challenge. I did have lofty plans of making lots of blocks and a couple of quilts, but life got in the way and after 100 string blocks I got bored. But, I will continue this challenge for most of the winter and try to make a dent in my "old" fat quarter stash.

Thanks for the motivation Judy!!!

Christmas Wall hanging

I finished this cutie up for our daughter, Kristy, last night. I love this fabric. It is so bright and cheery! I generally don't go for bright colors, but this just makes me smile. I used this Schnibbles pattern, from Miss Rosie's. I love her patterns, easy to follow, fairly simple to make and yet look like so much more.

Kristy and I finished up our Christmas shopping for our children today. Now I can stay home, locked in my sewing room. My favorite thing to do. Well, I guess I am going to have to come out once in awhile for the mundane things, like cooking, cleaning, laundry and running Ethan's taxi service. :~) But, those are all things that I love to do for my family, so that is okay.

Hugs&Stitches, Julia

Little Christmas Wall Quilt

While I was putting up my Christmas decorations last week, I decided that I needed a new wall quilt for my dining room. Like I needed another project to get done right now, hehe. I had just finished up a quilt for our daughter using some Thimbleberries fabrics, I still had the scraps scattered all over my cutting table, so into this little wall hanging they went.

Not your typical Christmas colors, but I like it. I used a pattern from Lynette Jensen's book, " Collection of Classic Quilts". I love her patterns, so easy to follow, very well written and gorgeous in their simplicity. I used baby rickrack for the cord on the string of lights. My freehand placement got a little wonky in places, but that is okay. I am a little wonky in places too! :~)

I did the quilting on the HQ. I just love that machine! Every time that I use it, I love it more and more!

Oh and just FYI, you really do need to heat set those permanent markers. I was just going to use a fine line black marker to do the face of the snowman. After I drew in on, I decided to embroider the face instead. I forgot to heat set the marks under the embroidery stitches and when it came out of the washer, it had bled a little. So he has a bit of a dirty face. Makes him seem more real, right? lol

Hugs&Stitches, Julia

It's here!!!!!!!!!!

I received some wonderful Royal Mail on Thursday, from Andrea over at Welsh Quilter. It is my Four Seasons Winter Swap Quilt. Oh my goodness, Andrea it is the cutest thing that I have ever seen. It is soooo me! Did you hear my squeals all the way across the ocean? My hubby and son were there watching me open it and they were a little excited too. My hubby was very impressed, as was I, that it is hand quilted. Oh, and the little pearl necklace on Mrs. Frosty, how cute is that!!! Mr. Frosty's bow tie is so dashing. I LOVE it!!!!! It is now hanging in my sewing room where I can look at it every day and it is not coming down when winter is over!! :)


It came all wrapped up in this beautiful fabric. Which is quite serendipity in and of itself, because I am in the process of collecting purple and cream fabrics to make a quilt. In fact, Paula over at Latte Quilts is nice enough to help me in collecting some of these fabrics. So Andrea, you were quite in tune with me.

You'll notice the chocolate had to be tested before the photo was taken. Can I just say it was one of the best chocolate bars that I have ever eaten. You will notice the use of past tense wording, that it because it is now all gone. I did have some help from my family though. I just walked a couple extra miles on the ol' treadmill and didn't feel guilty at all about eating it!

The swap thing has been one of the most fun things. I will definitely be signing up for more in the future!!!!

Thanks again, Andrea!!!!!

Two Finishes!

I finished the wall hanging from the Kim Deihl class that I took. This is from her "Simple Seasons" book. I wanted to get it finished to enjoy for this Halloween, so I did some machine stippling in the background and I did the big stitch hand quilting in the details. I really like it! My fingers are a little bit sore from the hand quilting. For some reason I hate thimbles, they seem awkward to me. But, if I do much hand quilting I am going to have to get used to them.

What is your favorite thimble?

As you can see in the picture I used clothespins to hang it up. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I can hang quilts on this little shelf? The rail is attached to the sides, so it doesn't slide in and out. If I had a bigger quilt, with less detail, I could just drape it over the rail, but with this kind I am not sure what would be the best way to attach it. I am open to any ideas and suggestions. I really like the shelf and want to keep using it.


I made up this scrub top for Kristy (our RN daughter) last night. This is some of the fabric I bought on the shop hop. She wants me to make her a scrub top for each holiday. They sew up really fast! I am just not into sewing clothes as much as I used to be, so I kind of have to force myself to sit down and make them.



Hope that you all have a wonderful weekend!

Hugs&Stitches, Julia

Happy Fall Y'all!

I love fall! It could be this season for about 6 months of the year and I would be perfectly happy. I love the weather, the smells, the foods, the cozy feeling in my home, the time to quilt, the warm, earthy colors, I just love it all! I like decorating my home to fit the season. My daughter wanted to learn how to do stitchery this past summer. So we did a quick internet search for some stitchery patterns, dug out my old box of embroidery floss and the fun began! We have made several, but this is the only one that I have made into a completed project, so far.

I really enjoy doing them, nice to do some hand work once in awhile. We did a little tea-staining on these. Does anyone have any tips for tea-staining? I would like mine to be a little more splotchy, darker and a little more vintage looking. Couldn't seem to come up with the exact look that I was going for.


This just makes me smile. I like "cutesy" Halloween, not "evil" Halloween. This just fits the bill for "cutesy" in my book. This was a lot of fun to make. I did some freehand meandering loops for the quilting and I tried to outline the applique. That is not easy! I will definitely have to practice that some more. :~)

This table runner is another little bit of quilty, cutsey for Halloween. This picture is not real good, the colors are brighter and richer. A photographer I am not. :~)

I am getting ready to go on my first quilt retreat next week! YAY!!! I am so excited! Three days with 8 friends, doing nothing but sewing, laughing, eating and relaxing! I have big plans to get lots done. We shall see if that happens. Either way it will be a blast!

Hugs&Stitches, Jul♥a

Summer Vacation

Wow!! It has been awhile since I have posted. We went on vacation with my Sis and her family, the first week of August. We always go to Bear Lake, Idaho. We go swimming, play on the sandy beach and just relax. It has been a tradition now for about 15 years.
This year we had an interesting start to the trip, about 50 miles from home, my sister's brand new truck broke down. So my niece's DH had to turn around and go get their truck to pull the camper with. It was a long, hot, wait along side the road, waiting for the tow truck. But after about 2 hours we were back on our way. Nothing can stop us!!



My DS7, caught a little lizard. That was one excited little boy!! I talked him into letting it go, so he and the other 5 children there, decided that they wanted to build a trap and catch some more just for sport. It sure kept them busy every time we came back up to camp. All of this sage brush was gathered and piled up, with some bugs under it all to attract the lizards. No one had the heart to tell them that the bugs would just crawl away. Some future engineers in the group maybe???? LOL This is my son and my 2 year old grandson in the pic.












Most every afternoon there is a little thunder storm that rolls down out of the mountains and across the lake, isn't Mother Nature beautiful!!!









My BIL and niece's husband are the only men in a group of 4 women and 7 children, they take really good care of us, doing all of the cooking, etc!! It is truly a vacation for all of the women. Of course, we do offer to do the clean up after the meals, don't want them to get tired and quit on us. LOL My daughter nick named them the "Man Slaves". This is our view as we ate every day. All in all we had a great week!! Now it is back to our regularly scheduled life. School starts next week, so LET THE QUILTING BEGIN!!!!!!!

My Daughter, My Friend

I made this for my daughter's birthday. She truly is a wonderful friend. How blessed I was the day that she was born. I will be forever in debt to my Father in Heaven for sending this angel to me. What a gift she is!


And as beautiful on the outside as she is on the inside!

I am busy in Santa's workshop/sewing room. I am making 4 quilts for gifts. Plus some other fun holiday projects I would like to get done. There might be a few late nights in my future. But, I don't mind, stitching away for those I love is one of my favorite things to do! :~)

Hugs&Stitches, Jul♥a

Hi!

I am totally new at this. But, I think that I shall give it a try. Mostly for journaling purposes.
I am not very good with words, but maybe this will help to expand and improve in that area.

I will share a little tidbits of my life and lots about my quilting projects.
I am fairly new to quilting, but not to sewing. I have been sewing garments and home dec for about 30 years. WOW, when did I get to be that old!!! LOL I have been quilting for about 1 1/2 years. I LOVE it!!!!!! In fact, I hardly ever do any garment sewing now.

I will make this first post short. I hope that I can figure out how to add pictures and I will then post some of my projects, current and finished.

Easter/Spring Flimsy

I am feeling back to normal, whatever normal is. hehe :o)
I was able to finish my Easter/Spring flimsy. I still need to quilt it. I am not sure if I will hang it on the wall or put it on my dining room table. I have my DMIL's old treadle sewing machine in my dining room, I might put it on their too. I will just have to finish it and see where I like it the best.
Let me just say that this was some of the yummiest fabric that I have ever used. It is so soft and the hand is fantastic!!!
I am now working on another one with some applique/machine embroidery. I will show pics of it when I get a little further along.

I have been able to stay in my sewing room the past 2 days, YIPPEEE!!! I wish everyday could be like yesterday and today. But, if it was then I don't think that I would appreciate it as much. I think we need both good and bad in our lives to become all that we can be.


Is this not just the cutest little pattern that you have ever seen? Oh my goodness, it just makes me smile! :o) It is a Schnibbles from Rosie's Quilt Company. This is the first one that I have bought and I wasn't expecting it to be so tiny. I love it!! I want to collect them all just because they are tiny!!!! It measures about 4x6 inches. (the pattern itself not the quilt that you make from it, the quilt is 33x33)

Hugs & Stitches, Julia

Gardening Adventure

It is a lovely day here today, not to hot and just a slight little breeze. I decided that I had better go out and do some work on my gardens, both veggie and flower. My tomatoes and squash are growing like crazy. I read somewhere that you should trim some of the leaves off of your tomato plants to let the light into the center of them. I have never done this before but I decided to give it a try this year. I think that I might have planted things a little to close. I always have a hard time with that. They are so small when I plant them in the spring, it seems that I have left plenty of room, but as you can see, I didn't!
After trimming them and pulling a few weeds, I went over to my flower garden. I had to trim the lower branches off of these trees. See that irrigation ditch there, well I fell in it! I just about lost my favorite comfy flip flops to the sucking mud pit. After providing a good laugh for everyone, I was getting ready to clean my feet with the hose and I thought, "No, I must take a picture and write about my adventure on my blog!" :)
So, there you have it. Go ahead you might as well join in on the laughter too!!!

We will be eating fresh yummy radishes for dinner tonight! I love home grown food. Next year we are going to make our garden bigger and better. We have so much land that we need to make better use of it.

Hugs & Stitches, Julia

Harvest Time!!

We are not farmers but, my little man sure wishes that we were. He loves machinery and tractors. We live on a dead end road, with a 180 acre field right across the road. They rotate between potatoes one year and then grain the next. This year it was a beautiful field of soft white wheat. I love wheat fields. You know, so patriotic! The whole amber waves of grain thing. ;~) The smell as it warms in the sun and ripens is just heavenly!

Anyway, harvest time has begun. Ethan was riding his bike up and down the road watching every move of the big combines. When suddenly, one stopped right next to the road where he was sitting on his bike, the guy operating climbed down and asked him if he wanted a ride. He turned to look at Dad and said, "Can I?" The next thing I knew he was riding off in this big machine, grinning from ear to ear. Here is a picture of the happiest boy on the planet!!! (If you click on the top picture you can see him sitting in the cab.)
He was able to ride for about 20 minutes. Then the next day, the driver stopped and picked him up again. He made a couple of passes across the field, then he came and took me for a ride too!!!! It was awesome!!! I want to drive one! After my ride, he let Ethan back in and he rode with him for about 3 hours. Before all of you decide that I am a horrible mother for letting him ride with a stranger, he used to be our deputy sheriff a couple of years ago and my Dad and hubby both knew him. It warms my heart when someone shows that much kindness to my children. This is something that Ethan will never forget!!!

Still no quilting going on yet! School starts on the 27th so I hope to have more time then.
I was playing with my camera last night and shot this cool picture of the sunset. All of the grain dust in the air made it such a gorgeous red! As you can tell, I love nature!!!

Hugs & Stitches, Julia

I WON!!!!!

I won the $25 gift certificate from Fat Quarter Shop, for finishing my Simply Sophisticated BOM blocks on time. When you get your blocks done on time, take a picture, post them on your blog or send an email to Vicky, she puts you name in a drawing for the gift certificate that Kimberly is offering. I can't believe that I won! I hardly ever win anything.

Of course, I had to go shopping and spend it. This is what I purchased,

"LOUISA BY TERRY THOMPSON FOR MODA FABRICS". They are just yummy! I want to make a bed size quilt for our bed. I haven't picked a pattern yet. Of course, I will have to fondle and pet the fabrics for awhile before I can actually cut into them. hehe

By the way, Kimberly is having a Christmas Countdown sale. Each day she features a different line of fabric and puts them on sale at 50% off. Go check it out.

Okay, time to get back to the sewing machine. I am making a quilt for my brother and sister-in-law for Christmas. It is snowing today, the Christmas music is playing, fire is blazing. The perfect kind of day for creating a special gift for some very special people.

Hugs&Stitches, Julia

update: I did spend just a bit more than the $25 for all of this. lol It was on sale for 50% off though. :~)

Bridge Collapse

My thoughts and prayers go out to all of those involved or effected by the terrible tragedy of the Minneapolis bridge collapse. Please join your prayers with mine.

Two Color Quilt Progress

I have had to put my Two Color Quilt aside for awhile to make a couple of birthday presents. This is the center of the quilt and I have made a few of the small stars for the border. I love this pattern! These fabrics are so yummy! I might be making another one, because my dd loves it too! But, her Daddy says she can't have this one! He wants this one to go on our bed. I love it when my family fights over my creations! lol :)










This is the birthday presents. I am making 2 of these for my twin grandnieces. They will be turning 8 years old in June. I am going to add borders and do little machine embroidery motifs in the white squares. Horses for one and music notes for the other one. I did the designing for this one in EQ6. I love that program! I use it a lot. It is a great way to play with block and color placement.



We went on a walk yesterday afternoon. It was so warm and beautiful. We have had several days of rain and clouds. I love the rain!!! But, it was nice to get out for some fresh air and spend time with my DS and DH. Ethan had to stop and throw a few rocks in the river. The river is running swift and high now with the spring run-off. So good to see that there will be plenty of water for this growing season.

Have a great Memorial Day weekend and May God Bless those who have and do protect our freedom!!! May He also bless their families!!!

Hugs & Stitches, Julia

Utah Trip

On Monday, Kristy (DD) and I, with all 4 children (her 3, my 1), headed to Ogden,UT. She was going down to take her state boards for nursing. We stayed at my brother and sister-in-laws. First we had to hit a couple of our favorite stores in the area. And of course have lunch at the Olive Garden. She is just going to love me for sharing this photo with you all. LOL Just gotta love those bread sticks though!!! DGS thought he needed to wear Mommy's sunglasses.

We then went to my brother's house and spent the evening just relaxing and visiting.

Early the next morning Kristy left to take her test. She was so nervous. She had to wait 48 hours before she could get her results. So the last couple of days have been pretty stressful waiting for the results. She found out yesterday that she PASSED and will be getting her Registered Nursing license in the mail in a couple of weeks. We are so proud of her. It has been a long haul for her. She has had all 3 of her children during her schooling.



After she finished her test Tuesday morning, we loaded up the children, left my brother and SIL with hug and kisses, then headed to Salt Lake City. My DS wanted to go see the Salt Lake temple and to visit Temple Square. We are members of the LDS church and he has heard me talk of the statue of Jesus in the visitor's center and really wanted to see it. I love going there. It is so spiritual and uplifting. It was very hot that day, but the children had a good time.







We also went on a tour of the LDS Conference Center. It is the first time that I have been there. WOW, what a building. If you are ever in SLC and have a little time, I encourage you to go on the tour. It is very interesting and gorgeous architecture. Well worth your time, even if you are not Mormon.
This pic was taken from the roof with the temple in the background.

Of course, we had to finish our trip with some more shopping. lol
All in all we had a great time.

Vintage Machine

It is so quiet here now that the holidays are over. Everyone went back home, Ethan went back to school and Randy went back to work. I so enjoy being with my family! It will take me a few days to get used to the quiet.

I finally finished taking down and putting away the rest of the Christmas decorations last night. I would much rather put them up than take them down. ;~) Things seem bare and a little sad when they are put away. I did leave up a few white twinkle lights and some snowmen. I just love the little flicker of the lights on these long, winter days. Seems cozy and warm. January is one of my favorite months. Low key and quiet. I usually get lots of sewing done. Although, this year I am off to a slow start. Now that the house is clean once again, I can stay in the sewing room. That should help me adjust to the quiet, don't ya think! :~)

As I have traveled around quilting blogs this past year, there has been quite a buzz about vintage machines. Mostly Singers, but it did get me to thinking about my Mom's sewing machine. She gave it to me, when they sold their home several years ago. It has been sitting in my family room, tucked away in the original cabinet.

Here it is, in all of it's wonderful, pink glory!

When I brought it up out of the cabinet, the memories that flooded my mind were almost overwhelming. My mother made all of her 5 children's clothes, curtains, aprons, mending, pillowcases, dishtowels, and tons of doll clothes for me and my older sister. I remember coming home from school and my Barbie would be all dressed up in a new outfit, sitting on my bed. I had one of those Barbie dolls with the wigs. Do you remember those? Oh, how I loved that doll.

But, the most important thing to come from this machine was that my Mother taught me to sew on it. I was twelve years old, when she finally turned me loose and let me try sewing on my own. Up until then, I had spent hours sitting on the floor next to her, playing in the buttons, and making doll clothes by hand. My first project on the machine was a jumper, from a brown, twill type fabric. I think that I made just about every mistake that could be made while making it. lol But, Mom was very patient and let my learn from my mistakes. The seam ripper and I became very good friends. She would lovingly, show me how to correct my boo-boo's. I proudly wore that dress to school after lots of hours creating it. Probably more time was spent using the seam ripper than the sewing machine. :~) It even had a zipper in it! What a challenge that was! I wish I still had that dress. It would be fun to look at it now. I am sure that is was probably pretty hideous. lol But, the door to a wonderful world of sewing and creating was opened. A satisfying, love affair began with fabric, thread, and patterns. I fell in love with the first stitch and haven't looked back!

Thanks, Mom for all that you taught me and for the chance to find my creative talent!

Hugs&Stitches, Julia

Pay It Forward

I was visiting all of my fun blogs today and I ran across this Pay It Forward idea. Basically the rules are, the first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive a handmade surprise from me within the next 3 months. All they have to do is the same thing on their blog and so on and so forth. I commented on Pat's blog over at Bits and Pieces. So please leave a comment and let the fun begin!!!

Nicole's Two Color Quilt Challenge

I have decided to join in on Nicole's Two Color Quilt Challenge. You can read all about it here. I have chosen purple and cream 1800's repos and the pattern comes from the Fall/Winter 2007 Quilt Sampler Shop Hop issue.











I have been collecting these fabrics for a couple of years now. Thanks to Nicole for giving me the incentive to make it. Isn't blogging just the funnest thing! So exciting to make new friends all over the globe. Such fun to do some quilting together through cyberspace.

I have added everyone that is going to join in on this challenge over on my sidebar. Check out their choices and their progress.

Hugs & Stitches, Julia

"Blackberry Twilight" is on our Bed!

I finished "Blackberry Twilight" yesterday. Ethan is not feeling well, so we stayed home from church and spent the day reading, watching Discovery Channel and a couple of his favorite movies. While I was spending time with him and showering some extra TLC on him, I sewed the binding on. Yes, Cindy, CJ, I sewed it on by hand! lol Well, first I machine stitched it to the front then sewed it to the back by hand. Not really my favorite thing to do, but I do really like the way it looks when done that way, as opposed to stitching it all by machine. Will I do all of my bindings this way in the future? Nope! Just on the most special projects. I still think machine stitched binding holds up to wear and tear better, and as I want most of my quilts to be used, loved and dragged about, I will stitch most of my bindings by machine. Shh, don't tell the quilt police, okay. :~)


I had a disaster though. Can you see where the purple bled onto the cream?

It just had to be in the center!! Argh!@!#%*)_*&*%#@#@ I am really mad! I never pre-wash my fabrics, I always throw in a color catcher sheet and I have never had any problems before. I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later. Does anyone have any suggestions for me as to how I can remove it? If removing it is even possible. This quilt is so big, I think that the color catcher sheet didn't work well, because it was so stuffed in the washer. I always wash my quilts, in COLD water, after they are finished. I love the soft, crinkly look. The odd thing is that, I used this same fabric in other places on the quilt and this is the only place that it bled. Any suggestions and help would be greatly appreciated! It doesn't really show up that bad, when you look at the quilt overall. But, I know it is there, so it drives me crazy! Does that Retayne or Synthropol work to remove dyes that have bled or only to prevent the problem in the first place? Randy loves it anyway and wants it to stay on our bed, so there it will stay. :~)

Hugs&Stitches, Jul♥a