Busy Springtime!

Yard-work and quilting deadlines have kept me pretty busy this past month. Thought I would make a quick post to show you some of what I have been up to.

Flower gardens are looking delightful,

veggie plants are starting to pop their precious little heads out of the ground,

front porch is set up to enjoy some time relaxing,

(I do need to add re-finishing the deck to my list of summer jobs! *sigh*) Oh well, I am still going to plant my behind in one of those chairs and do some serious relaxing! :~) As soon as the weather warms up a bit more and the rain quits, that is. This has been an unseasonably wet and cool spring for us. Everything is sure pretty and green though!

I will share some pictures of the quilts that I finished for birthdays next time. Next on the quilting front is a wedding quilt for my nephew, he is getting married on July 10th.

Blogs posts will be sparse this summer, don't give up on me though. I will still pop in occasionally just to keep in touch with all of you. :~)

Hugs&Stitches, Jul♥a

This One is for Sharon Too!!

Here is my giveaway in honor and support of Sharon. A set of 6 Thimbleberries fat quarters. If you are interested, just leave a comment by midnight on Feb 7. I will draw the winner on Friday, Feb 8.
Our ever widening circle of quilting blogger friends is a joy to behold. We are meeting and becoming friends with people that we would probably never have met before. We should be able to share our quilting adventures, our daily joys and sorrows, without fear of judgment and cruelty. Sharing our little warm squishys is one of the funnest parts of our online friendships.
So this one is for you Sharon!!!!

Quilty Christmas Present

Thanks so much to all of you who shared your condolences with me concerning the passing of my aunt. It meant so very much to me. ♥ ♥ ♥

I finished up the quilt for my brother and SIL.
I used some Thimbleberries scraps and this pattern from Bonnie. I love this pattern! It is really fun to make. I used a panto called "Plumage", from Willow Leaf Studio. I think that it is my favorite one so far. Of course, I say that with every new one that I use. hehe I think that my panto stash is going to rapidly become as large as my fabric stash. ;~)

They came up from Utah for the funeral, so I was able to give it to them while they were here. Nice to give it to them in person instead of shipping it. I think that I should have made them each one though. They were teasing each other about who was going to get to use it while they watched t.v. *s* Maybe after the first of the year, I will have to make another one. I don't want to be the cause of contention. lol

I am getting a very late start to my day. We had a storm go through last night and it knocked out the power. Now I am running behind.

Hugs&Stitches, Julia

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

The Winner Is---------

Linda from All Stitched Up! Congratulations! I did the random number generator and you were the lucky one.
Email me with your snail mail address and I will get your goodies right out to you.
These give aways are a lot of fun. I will be having more of them in the future.




I found a new LQS about 30 miles from my home.
While I was there the other day, checking it out, they were having a trunk show. They let me take a few pictures. I just had to share these stunning beauties with all of you.

Sylvia's Bridal Quilt

Have any of you read the "Elm Creek Quilt" books by Jennifer Chiaverini. They are a nice, fun read. They are stories based around the lives of a group of quilter's. In the "Master Quilter" they all make a surprise sampler quilt for Sylvia's wedding gift. The pattern is posted on this webpage, Patterns by Row. The quilt consists of 140 different blocks. I am just picking out my favorite blocks and will be making a smaller quilt. I am using "Heaven on Earth" by Northcott. I will be giving it to my sister for Christmas. I know, can you believe that I am actually getting a jump on Christmas. I generally start my projects in November. Just thought I would share the first 6 blocks with you. Maybe you all can keep me on task and I will have it done before November.

Charity Quilts

I am still here!!! I have been extremely busy since I last posted. It was our baby's 7th birthday, we celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary, first month of school, and I have made 3 baby quilts, 3 twin size quilts and 1 lap size quilt. All for charity. My church has been asking for quilts to get ready for winter, they have a huge world wide humanitarian effort and this time of year there is a great need for quilts. So I have been stash busting and making string blocks like crazy. I still need to take some more pictures, but here is one of them.


Oh, I also made a baby quilt for my nephew's little girl. He is in the service, stationed in Germany. He and his little family were able to come home for a visit before he will ship out to Iraq again, for the third time.


Whew!!! I am tired just reading all of that. Hope to get back to posting a little more regularly. Even though I haven't been keeping you all up to date, I have tried to keep up with what you all have been up to. I may not always leave comments, but I do try to read everyday.

During all of this busyness, one of you wonderful blogger's sent me something that I will treasure forever. I will leave you in suspense for now, but I will post about it as soon as I get some pictures taken of this wonderful surprise.

Good nite, my friends and thanks for stopping by!!!!

Birthday's -- He's 1 and I will be old!!!!

It was my darling little grandson's birthday on the 16th. He turned 1!!! We had a party for him at my daughter's (his mommy). He reminds me so much of his Mommy when she was little. He was almost a birthday present for me but, he came 3 days to early.



I am still painting instead of sewing. :( I needed to paint my open stairwell. My Dad helped to rig up this scaffolding. Well, I have to tell you that I was to much of a fraidy cat to go out on it. I made my Dad paint it instead. I HATE ladders and heights!!! I couldn't conquer my fear enough to go out there and do it. I still have the lower portion of the wall to do. But, I can reach that from standing on firm ground. :)

Walking

I went for a nice walk yesterday before I picked up Ethan from school. It was a beautiful Spring day. Just a small breeze and a little warmth to the air.

You can see that their is still quite a bit of ice to melt along the river's edge and lots of snow still to come down out of the foothills and the mountains. We should have plenty of water for the growing season this year.

I love the white clouds against the beautiful blue sky. Even the trees and bushes are beautiful, still waiting to wake up from their long winters nap. I would love to make a quilt using the colors from these pictures.

I just had to share these pics with you all.
Hugs & Stitches, Julia

Thank You Gift for Teacher

The school year is coming to a close, tomorrow is the last day. This has been a fantastic year for Ethan. He loves school and has progressed really well. This is in no small part to the wonderful teacher that he has had this year. I can't thank her enough for the time and effort she spends on behalf of the children in her class. I so admire teachers!!! I think that they have one of the most under appreciated jobs in this country. They are helping to shape the minds of those that are most precious and dear to us. Thanks to all teachers every where for all that you do!!!!!


I made this for Ethan's teacher as a small token of our gratitude for the excellent job that she has done.

Full Moon

I noticed the beautiful full moon when I was taking Ethan to the school bus stop on Wednesday, so I just had to grab my camera and take a picture when I returned back home.

It was so pretty and big!!!

I had some help the other night in my sewing room.

I was pinning a little wall hanging in preparation for some hand quilting and Kyson seen my gloves that I use when I do free-motion on my Bernina 630. (Which I don't do much of since I now have my SuzyQ!) He just had to put them on and pretend he was helping. Look at that smile!

I made this for Kristy from the same tutorial that I used for mine. Although I did change mine up a bit. Her's is exactly like the one that Kim made for the tutorial. Thanks again for sharing this fun pattern Kim!

These are so nice for just a little spot of St. Patty's Day fun!

Our sweet little Kaden (grandson) turned 4 years old yesterday. I think he was afraid that he was going to drop the cake. Happy Birthday precious boy! How grateful we are to have you in our family!

Hugs&Stitches, Jul♥a

Yummy Autumn Food

I made this yummy Tomato Basil Pie today for lunch. I got the recipe from Libby. Go to her Sept. 15the post and get this recipe! It is soooo good!! Randy and I both loved it. I took the leftovers over to my Mom and Dad, they really liked it too! I used basil and tomatoes from our garden. Yummo!!! Thanks for sharing this recipe, Libby!



On Tuesday the 16th, Randy and I celebrated our 31st wedding anniversary!
Randy loves homemade apple pie. Well, I do too! We are lucky enough to have an apple orchard real close to us. I stopped there yesterday, bought some apples and made this Anniversary Apple Pie today! Topped with a little vanilla ice cream, pure bliss!!! :~)That was the extent of our celebration. lol Randy is working nights this week, so we had a nice romantic lunch. Just the two of us! Kinda pathetic, huh? Yes, romance is still alive in our house! LOL Oh well, he did buy me the HQ, who needs romance! ;~)

I loaded another quick quilt on SuzyQ (HQ16, yes, I named it!) today. I used some of that cheater type quilt fabric, you know the kind that looks like it has been pieced. I added a couple of borders and Viola! a fast quilt. I still want to do some more practicing before I load a "real" quilt and I can't stand the idea of wasting time and supplies with just muslin. So I figure I can make a couple of these quick easy tops and I will donate them to charity. This one went on a lot easier. I still feel a little wobbly following the pantos. But, with practcie, practice, practice, I will get smoother. I hope! I am having lots of fun anyway!!!

I am going to a Kim Diehl class tomorrow. I'm really excited and a little nervous. This is my first real quilt class. I will take my camera and share with you all later.

Hugs&Stitches, Julia

Table Topper

When I was moving the furniture in my sewing room and doing some cleaning I found a little project that I started a year or so ago. I was going to make an entire lap quilt using a little Tumbler template. I must have been insane! Now, making quilts from little, tiny, 1 inch pieces may be alright for some of you, but not for me! I had some of them pieced together already, added a border and some applique and Voila!!!!

A cute little doll quilt was born. It is now adorning the end table next to our couch. I do want to make a tumbler quilt, but it will be with a bigger template. The tiny template was just to darn cute to resist though. :~)

I also discovered that my string/scrap bin was totally full. I have vowed that I will not quit making string/crumb blocks until it is empty. I have pieced one top, another is almost done and I have about 1/2 of the blocks pieced for another one. I think that I still have enough scraps and old, not so cute, fabric left to make two more. I have a big pot of potato soup cooking in the crock pot, so I should be free to keep at it today.

Hug&Stitches, Julia