Quiltathon!!

I am getting kind of a late start on the Quiltathon, hosted by Judy, today. But, here is what I have planned. A table runner from Thimbleberries book, Calendar Table Toppers and a Easter wall hanging that I drew up in EQ6 last year. I will be using these fabrics from the Laura's London Lawns II by
Moda.



Ethan is in his room playing with his Kinex. So all should be good for a little while.
I plan on sewing most of this day. I am not sure about tomorrow though. I might sew a little after church. I usually try to make Sunday a special day and stay out of my sewing room. But, I shall see what tomorrow brings.

Happy Quiltathon to you all and let the sewing begin!!!!!!!!!!

Rainy Saturday

It is raining like crazy today. Look how pretty and green our grass is getting! I love the rain! Of course, living in a high plains desert we don't get tons of rain, so I enjoy these kinds of days.

I am babysitting today. Kristy is at work, so we are watching our two darling, little grandsons. Kyson loves to play with the pans and kettles. Before the day is over these will be spread all over the house. LOLI am trying to distract him with some of Ethan's toys, we'll see how long that lasts. :~)

Ethan is entertaining Kaden for me. They are downstairs playing some video games. Maybe we will read some books or play a game here in a little while. I am trying get my laundry done too. We were drowning is a sea of dirty clothes. :~)

I would love to be working on this quilt for my brother's birthday instead of doing laundry,

but there should be some time later this afternoon, after the little ones go home. I am using a couple of jelly rolls and some charm packs from two or three different Kansas Troubles lines. I love how they can all go together. This is a fun pattern to make! I love using the pre-cuts, like jelly rolls, charms, layer cakes, etc! I wouldn't want to use them all of the time, but I sure do enjoy using them once in awhile.

Uh oh, I hear a chair scooting across the dining room floor. That can only mean one thing, Kyson is getting ready to climb somewhere he shouldn't be! eep!!!

Hope that you are all having a wonderful weekend!

Hugs&Stitches, Jul♥a

30's Sampler Quilt

This is the quilt that I mentioned in my last post. As you can see, my design wall is not big enough. This is what I have so far. I think that I am going to do some applique in the setting triangles too. I am doing the applique with my embroidery machine. The basket is from a Thimbleberries book. It will be about twin size when I get it done. It is our oldest daughter's birthday on Monday, so I think that I will give it to her. Of course, I am sure that I won't have it done by then. I am babysitting my grandchildren this afternoon and evening. With my own 7 yr old and 3 grandchildren, ages 5 yrs - 2 1/2 yrs - 9 months, it gets a little crazy around here. :)

Thanks to everyone that stops for a visit and leaves a comment. You know that I love to hear from you!!!!!

Hope that you are all having a great weekend!!! Happy Quilting!!!!

Deadline Projects Finished

This is one of the the projects I had with a deadline. I finished it the day that it was to be shipped on to the next person. Nothing like waiting until the last minute. I usually don't do that, not sure what happened. Probably school starting, SuzyQ, that I want to bond with, and I got sick for about 3 weeks. This is step 2 of the online Round Robin that I joined in on. It is fun to see what comes in the mail. I can only show you a little snippet of it because they want the final reveal of each one to be a surprise.


This friendship block was my other deadline project. I did paper piecing again. I am getting to where I really like doing paper piecing more and more. I am not very fast at it. ;~) But, it is so accurate and precise. You can work with some odd shaped pieces very easily. I still want to make an entire quilt using the stars from Carol Doaks book, "Simply Sensational Nine Patch Stars". I really like her books. This is from that book.

I am working on a baby quilt for charity. I want to do a little more practice with SuzyQ before I do a "real" quilt on her. These charity quilts are good practice. I am doing well enough that I don't feel bad about the quality of them for donations. Each one that I do, I learn a little more. I have my first class for SuzyQ on Oct.2.

I have started walking again since school started. I think that it might help to keep me motivated and to stay committed, if I post my progress. I have a goal of 5 days a week, and around 2-4 miles a day, for right now. I will try to increase this as time goes on. I have been pretty close to this goal for the last 4 weeks. This week I have walked 4 days, totaling 9 miles.

Hugs&Stitches, Julia

Squishy Mail brings Summer Garden

I had to go to the dentist the other day. I hate going to the dentist, it is about like that yearly gyno visit. Not on my list of pleasant things to do. ;~)

Anyway, when I got home, on the table was this lovely little squishy package with a Royal Mail sticker on it. I knew at once that it had to be my Four Season Summer Swap quilt. Suddenly the unpleasantness of the dentist was forgotten and I squealed with glee. Inside was this beauty! I love it!!!! I am the luckiest girl on the planet! I have another beautiful creation from Andrea. She was also my Winter swap partner and made this cutie for me. Her work and creativity are outstanding. Her little, tiny, hand quilting stitches are amazing. It is now hanging in my hallway and I can see every time I go into my bedroom or into my sewing room.
She included these other little goodies too! I am so excited about the pincushion. It has taken up residence next to my sewing machine! Thanks so much Andrea!!!!

Confession!!

When I first started quilting, about 3 years ago, I always swore that I wouldn't have more than one project going at a time. Nope, not me! I would make something from start to finish before beginning some thing else.

Well, I am here to confess to you that I am a failure! LOL

Let me explain a little about what happened to that oath. When I made that statement, I hadn't found the yummylicious goodness of BOM's, I hadn't collected many patterns yet, my stash was quite small, my mind hadn't been accustomed to thinking like a quilter. Well, all those things have changed now. :~) I have 5 BOM's going and waiting for another to begin in Febuary or March. My bookshelves are bulging with patterns and books, my stash fills the closet and several containers under my table. My mind is overflowing with ideas and projects that I want to do.

Part of it is not my fault, it is yours! ;~) The wealth of inspiration out there in the cyber world is astounding!

I am all caught up on the Designer Mystery BOM.

Kimberly has another one starting here soon. Jump on over and check it out. These are fun!!!

I took a couple of classes at my guild last week. We made this tote. It is the perfect size for carrying my scriptures in for church.

We also made this cute little table runner. This is perfect for charm squares. I can't remember the designer or the name of the pattern, right now. I will find out and let you know. I still need to blanket stitch around the applique. I am going to big stitch hand quilt this one.


Yesterday, I met with some friends from my guild and we spent the day sewing. Amid the comraderie and laughter, lots was accomplished. We met at a church house, so we had lots of room to lay out quilts on the floor. The organizer made lunch for us. Delicious homemade bread bowls with Broccoli n' Cheddar soup! And, you guessed it. I started yet another project! :~)

These fabrics are so warm and pretty. I am making this Schnibbles pattern, sort of. I am going to make it bigger and do a different border treatment. I was able to get 80, 2"x3 1/2" flying geese done. It was nice to do these tiny little flying geese while talking and enjoying the company of other quilters. I am not sure how big it will be yet. I have 6 charm pack and some yardage for the background and border. When I run out of fabric, that is how big it will be! :~)

If you ever have a chance to meet with friends and have a sewing day, do it! It is so much fun! A nice break from daily life! I feel like I can get a lot done, because I don't have the interruptions of the phone, mundane house chores and I stay off of the %$#@@%&*( computer! Which gets me into trouble, because of that inspiration thing that I mentioned earlier! LOL

Hugs&Stitches, Julia

Salt Lake City, UT Shop Hop-----

I went with 14 other fun lovin' ladies from my quilt guild on a shop hop to Salt Lake City, UT, last Thursday. Oh my goodness, what a blast we all had together, laughing, shopping and laughing some more. We left before the sun was up and traveled for 3 hours. We were able to visit 5 quilt shops. They were all so friendly and I found some great bargains in each one. My credit card has been safely tucked away in the my drawer to recover from the workout that I gave it. :~)
I found a few things to finish projects that I already have planned and some nice stuff just for my stash. I didn't buy anything unless it was on sale. Well, except for that cute kit from the S'mores fabric line. I just love the little marshmallow snowmen. Not really my colors, a little bright, but I just couldn't pass it up.




And drum roll please------------------------------------------------------------------------
I found some fun stuff to make a tote for the crayon challenge! I wasn't going to let that bright pinky/orangey/red color get the best of me. LOL This was my first shop hop and I will definitely be going on more! After I give my credit card time to recover of course. :~)

Hugs&Stitches, Julia

Thanks for checking on me, Sweet Friends!

Thanks to all of you who have checked up on me in my absence. I appreciate your kindness and concern. Your friendship warms my heart. :~)

I have been fighting a bit of depression here lately. I go through this every once in awhile, add good ol' menopause with it and watch out! Just something I have to deal with. Prayers and some down time will generally pull me through. :~)

It was Spring Break for Ethan last week. We had big plans to spend time doing some fun outdoor activities, but Mother Nature had other plans. Winter is having a hard time letting go this year. Hmm, makes me wonder, where is that global warming that I keep hearing so much about. hehe Because the weather was so icky, Ethan and I spent some quality time reading, hanging out and watching some fun movies. All while cuddling under a nice warm quilt. Some hugs and loves from my baby boy sure helps to fight the blues! A few pats on the rearend from Randy don't hurt either. ;~) That is his little affectionate habit and I love it!

I didn't even turn on the sewing machine or the computer last week. Sometimes I just need to unplug and disconnect. I am ready to get back in the sewing room again! I need to check up on all of you and see what you have been up to lately too!

Hugs&Stitches, Jul♥a