Working in the Yard

I was able to play in the dirt today! :~) This little flower bed is along our driveway and is sort of the focal point of that part of the yard. I have some tulips, irises, and asiatic lilys planted in here. I cleaned out the leaves and dead foliage. While cleaning it out, I decided that it is going to get a major overhaul this year. I want to build it up a bit, put some sort of border around it and replant stuff. The irises are getting pretty thick and I need some more summer color after the tulips and irises are done blooming. But, I will wait until the tulips are spent for the year. I don't want to disturb them until I have been able to enjoy their beautiful spring beauty. I helped Randy do some tree trimming. We then enjoyed a little picnic on the lawn. Sandwiches just taste better sitting outside! :~)

I am doing some laundry today too. I have been able to hang some of it out to dry. I love to dry my laundry outside. The smell is heavenly!


Ethan has baseball practice in a little while. I think I will take some knitting to do while I wait for him. It will be nice to sit for a minute, I have been going pretty steady since my feet hit the floor this morning. A very good day indeed!

Hugs&Stitches, Jul♥a

Happy Thanksgiving!

I've been doing some more stitchery. This stuff is addicting! Nice to sit and do while relaxing, visiting with family or while watching t.v., which by the way I don't do much of, seems to be such a waste of time. Of course, if I am stitching then it is okay! :~) I found this fun little quilt stand at Wooden Bear. I am going to make a different little quilt for each month. Well, that is my plan anyway. It might take awhile to get that accomplished, but it is good to have a goal, right! The cute little turkey stitchery can be found here. I added the color with chalk, the kind that is used in scrapbooking.

I have been busy sewing and quilting. I started taking on a few quilting for hire projects. I just finished up these three for someone.


I haven't been feeling real well the past few days. I am having a battle with some sort of cold/flu bug. The way I feel tonight, I think that it might be winning. But, I don't have time to be sick, so it had better just go away!

Hugs&Stitches, Jul♥a

Take Me Out to the Ball Game!!!

Wow, time sure is flying! I didn't realize that it had been so long since I talked to you all.

I have recovered from falling in the ditch. lol Sadly, my flip flops did not. I had to make a trip to the store and get some new ones. I would show you a picture of them, but I need a pedicure first. ;~)

I have been busy keeping Ethan entertained and working on some floral machine embroidery designs that I will be selling in my ebay store. It is a very long process, from designing to digitizing to test stitching. Now I am in the process of writing the instructions and designing the cd label. I am very pleased with the way that they turned out. When I get some pictures taken, I will show you a couple of them.

I took Ethan to a baseball game last night. His first pro game.! We have a minor league team close to us. The Idaho Falls Chukars, rookie affiliates of the Kansas City Royals. They won the game 6 to 5 in the tenth inning. Of course, they were losing at the top of the ninth and Ethan was getting sleepy, so we left. Then things got exciting and I missed it. Nuts, nuts, nuts!!! Next time he's taking a nap in the afternoon so we can stay for the entire game!

We arrived in town a little to early for the game, so my car found it's way to the quilt shop. ;~)I am not to sure that the lady was happy to see my slowly browsing around the store just 30 minutes till closing though. ;~) I did find some treasures to come home with me. These were on the sale rack at 50% off. Can't beat that. A couple of older Jo Morton prints and a cute little stitchery pattern.

Hugs & Stitches, Julia

More Blocks Finished!

I have two more blocks for the Designer Mystery BOM finished. Isn't this star block just incredible. I love it! An entire quilt with this block would be really beautiful. That might be something to think about. Like I don't have enough ideas running around in this little brain of mine. hehe

I didn't get as much sewing time in yesterday as I would have liked. I have one more block to go, to be all caught up. I don't have anywhere to go today, except to go pick up Ethan after school. I made a big pot of soup for dinner last night, so there should be plenty of leftovers for tonight. Therefore, I hope to spend most of the day in my sewing sanctuary. Well, maybe I better throw a couple of loads of laundry in. I want to try CJ's bread recipe too!

My beautiful, little granddaughter bought me this for Christmas,

with money that she earned I might add. As she is only 6 years old, it really impressed me that she would spend her own money on getting her Gramee a present. It is an oil warmer. Oh my goodness, does it make my house smell good. One little tea light candle goes in the bottom, 18 drops of scented oil and it makes the entire house smell delicious. Today I am using a Sandalwood Vanilla oil. Wow, it smells fantastic! She bought it at Bath & Body Works, if you are interested in getting one.

Time to get back to stitching! I love January!

Hugs&Stitches, Julia

Trunk Show --- My Favorites

This is the last of the pictures from the trunk show. I saved my favorites for the last. I love everyone of these. Look at the edges on these. Each one is unique and different!

This one looks like a postage stamp.

Each one of the little cut out circles in this edge, she used a facing to finish them with.

She carried the star points out into the edge of this one. How cute!

This one is made from flannels. I have several men in my family that would love this one.

The black scrolling on this one represents a wrought iron garden gate. How does she think of these things. :~)

And my favorite one of the bunch, "76 Trombones". That is the actual music for the song in the borders! Amazing!!! Makes me want to get up and march! lol

I sure wish that she would publish her patterns. She is a very talented and creative lady.

Oh, by the way, these are all made using a pre-printed panel. She cut them up and used the pre-printed blocks in the piecing. Sure makes those pre-printed panels seem way more appealing to me. I might just have to look more closely at them in the future.

Hugs&Stitches, Julia

Thanksgiving & Slothful Blogger

My goodness, I am a slothful blogger. Where does the time go??? I am not sure how I let so much time pass between my posts. Maybe that will be my New Year's resolution. (lol--we'll see, I usually am not very good at resolutions)

I still have 2 spots open on my Pay it Forward. Come on, join up!!!!

I hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Mine was really nice. We had all of our children here with us. My DD had to go to work around 2:00 and as I am her babysitter, the baby stayed with me and Grampy. That was a little strange to have her leave before the day was over. But, all in all, it was a wonderful day. For a change I didn't over eat!!! YAY!!!

Are you all busy, stitching away for Christmas? I have made a quilt for my DGD, my youngest son and for my Sis. I haven't taken all of the pics yet, but I do have a pic of my Sis's quilt to share with you. The blocks are from the Sylvia's Bridal Sampler pattern. I did the quilting in the alternate squares with my embroidery machine. I did just a simple meander in the rest of it. The embroidery is in the corner squares on the outer border also. You can click on the picture to see some of the detail. I actually took the picture in October, so I was still able to hang it on the clothesline for the picture. It is sooooooo cold here now, no snow though. I sure wish it would snow. Not only do I love snow for Christmas, but we desperately need the moisture.

I received an email with my Winter Four Season Quilt Swap partner. Yippeeeee!! I am so excited. I missed the Autumn swap. Does anyone know how I can get the logo for my sidebar?

Well, I had better get busy before it is time to go and pick up my little man from school.
Have a great quilty day everyone!!!!!!

Round Robin Spring Fling Session #2

We went out to get our Christmas tree on Saturday, upon my arrival back home, I found this wonderful, squishy, surprise, tucked into my front door. I sure wish that I had been home to meet Colene. *sigh* Isn't it wonderful! This was made by four wonderfully talented quilters. Solidia made the center, Kathy added the first border, Lisa added the last border, and Colene did the wonderful quilting. This journey has been a fun and interesting one. So much fun to meet and work with all of these talented quilters. Thanks to Margaret for organizing these fun swaps. Speaking of swaps she is doing another Four Season swap, but a little bit differently. Check it out and join in on the fun!

I hope that you all had a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving weekend! Now I need to stay in my sewing room and get some Christmas quilting done! :~)

Hugs&Stitches, Julia

Walking report was only 2 miles last week. But, I am not giving up. I will fit in what I can during December and hit it strong after the new year. :~)

4SQS5 Monochromatic

This beautiful little table runner was in my mailbox this week.

It came all the way from Australia! Isn't it wonderful! Lily did a great job! It certainly brought a smile to my face! Thanks, Lily! I needed a nice surprise like this. She had it all wrapped in this pretty little FQ.

She even remembered Ethan and sent these fun little stickers.

He was pretty excited to get these all the way from Australia! These little swaps have been fun!

This little beauty will look wonderful on my table next winter! Well, maybe I will leave it out now, as winter doesn't seem to want to let go just yet! No worry though, I have faith that Spring will soon push ol' Man Winter out of here! Then I can play in the dirt!!

Hugs&Stitches, Jul♥a

Design Wall

I have been doing some spring cleaning and rearranging of furniture in my sewing room the past few weeks. I have always wanted a design wall, but could never really figure out where to put one. Well, the door was in my way as I was doing the rearranging, so I decided who needs a door anyway! Off it came! After carrying it out of the room, I came back in and there was this nice blank area on the wall! My perfect design wall space has been hiding behind my door all of this time! :~)While running some errands the other day, I went into Lowe's and picked up a sheet of that insulation stuff, it is used for the outside of houses underneath siding. My sweet, handy-man Pappy (Dad) helped me to put it up. We located the studs in the walls, used some wood screws with larger washers, so that the screws wouldn't pull thru. I covered it with thin batting, using T-pins to hold it on. I love it!!!!! Would be nice if it could be bigger, but I am grateful for what I have!

I made another friendship block for a member of my guild. I always do paper-piecing for these. One of these days I am going to make an entire quilt with this method. I really like doing it. It doesn't go as fast for me as regular piecing. But, oh the results, precision points and the fun designs are so worth!



I am going to spend the day at the quilt show with my two dearest friends today! The sun is shining, birds are singing. It is going to be a wonderful day!

Hugs&Stitches, Jul♥a

Celtic Woman

Have you heard of this group? They are absolutely divine! Their beautiful, crisp, clear voices are absolutely heavenly! I am enjoying their angelic sounds while I am busily stitching away. I have lots left to do before I can say that I am ready for Christmas day. I enjoy making my Christmas gifts, though. So I am having lots of fun!

Just thought I would check in and let you know that I am still around. It is VERY COLD here! The thermometer in the car this morning registered a frigid -10! Yikes! So very thankful for my warm, cozy home and my fireplace. Hope that you are all enjoying the holiday season!

Hugs&Stitches, Jul♥a

New Wallhanging

I was able to finish my new wallhanging that I mentioned buying the fabric for. I think that this is my favorite one so far. The colors in the close up photo are a little more accurate. I used the Thimbleberries Fancy Free collection. The colors are so rich and warm, perfect for the end of summer. In the close up photo you can see the detail of the design I did with my embroidery machine. I did this in all of the light squares, using a variegated cotton quilting thread. I do this through the top and the batting, then I put the back on and stitched in the ditch. The designs I used are from Embroidery Library "Vintage Sunflowers"

I am babysitting my baby grandson today, so I probably won't get the dress pictures posted that I promised. Maybe if he takes a good nap this afternoon.

All those involved with the horrible weather in the Midwest, are in my thoughts and prayers. May God be with you all!!!

Birthday Daisys

I received the best surprise this morning. These beautiful flowers arrived at my door, filling my senses with their delightful fragrance and my heart with a warm, fuzzy feeling. :~) A birthday gift from CJ. She puts a smile on my face, inspires me with her work ethic, her gardening, her quilting, her cooking and she has the most fun sense of humor! How grateful I am that our paths have crossed! Thank you so very much CJ ---- not only for these beautiful flowers, but for your sweet friendship! You hold a very special place in my heart!

Hugs&Stitches, Jul♥a

Summer Storms and Garden Friends

I was out checking on my garden and noticed this beautiful little friend that had come for a visit. Isn't it pretty!

My garden is doing excellent this year, despite the fact that I planted it all way to close together. ;~) I can't wait for my tomatoes to ripen and my cucumbers to be big enough to eat. I have the cutest little butternut squash right now. So fun to go out and check on it everyday. I love home grown food. We are going to increase the size of our garden next year. I am wanting to try my hand at canning some tomatoes and making some salsa for canning.

Friday evening we were sitting outside enjoying a nice summer afternoon in the shade of our trees, when we noticed a nice summer storm developing. I love clouds! About 15 minutes after I took this picture, the sky opened and rains came down pretty hard for about 30 minutes. There was some pretty good rumbles of thunder too. I also love the sound of thunder! We stood in our garage and enjoyed the beauty and power of nature.


I'll leave you with a picture of this beautiful pink lily growing in my flower garden.



Not to much quilty going on right now. I have been helping my daughter paint her kitchen this week. I am having withdrawals! :~)

Hugs & Stitches, Julia

Simply Sophisticated Month 2

I just finished up month 2 of the Simply Sophisticated BOM that I am doing through the Fat Quarter Shop. I just love Kimberly's BOM's. Her packaging is wonderful and she is always so generous with the amount of fabric that she sends. This one is a mystery, so I don't know what it is going to look like. A fun little surprise each time I open the envelope. I love the fabrics (Harvest Home by Blackbird Designs). They are so yummy!

Spring Swap

I have just about finished my Spring Swap quilt. Here is just a peek of it. I won't show the whole thing until it has arrived safely at it's new home. I hope to get the binding on today. I should be able to pack it up and ship it by Friday. That is my goal anyway. Brights are kind of out of my comfort zone but, I had fun making it. I used my own design and fabrics from the Strawberry Lemonade collection.

I haven't been able to spend as much time in my sewing room as I would like. My illness has really kicked my butt! :) It has left my soooooo tired. Other than the tiredness, I am feeling much better though.
I am not sure what my next project will be yet. Maybe a purse, or another scrub top for my RN daughter, or catch up on my BOM, hmmmmmmmmm, decisions, decisions best synthetic urine. A new dress for church might be nice too.

Hugs & Stitches, Julia

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to everyone!!!!!!! I have been blessed with the best "Pappy" any girl could ask for. He is my hero!!! 12 years ago Mom and Dad sold their home with plans of going full time in their RV. But they discovered after a couple of years that it was not for them. My DH's parents had both passed away by then and we inherited their small home, which is right next door to our home. It was empty at the time and needed lots of TLC. Mom and Dad moved into it and have given it the TLC that it needed. They have been right next to me ever since. I am so grateful to have them right next door to me.

My Dad is a great handyman. A week or so ago, I was just walking out of the bathroom and suddenly I heard water running onto the floor. I turned and there was water shooting out from under the cabinet, I had no idea what to do. I am not a good emergency type person, I tend to panic. DH works 12 hour days, so I ran to Dad's for help, screaming, "Pappy I have hot water spewing all over my floor!!!!" He came to my rescue and shut the water off. The little hose under the sink that connects the water, had burst. When hubby got home that night, he said, "Why didn't you just shut the valve off right under the sink?" Well DUH, that takes a calm person to think of that.

Yesterday hubby and youngest son went to an air-show. They had a great time. Our children have been blessed with a Dad as fantastic as mine!!!!!

While they were gone, I spent the day doing laundry. Which is actually one of my favorite household chores. I love to hang it out on the clothesline to dry. The smell of laundry dried outside is one of the best fragrances in the world.

When they got home, I gave DH and Dad their Father's Day present. Since we live right next to each other, we share tools and such, so I got them a power washer. I had ulterior motives though, now DH can clean the outside of the house. LOL
We had a great time trying it out on various things. DS decided to turn the box it came in, into an airplane and was making the flying noises that little boys seem to be born with.

Tote

After making the cute little totes for my granddaughters, I decided to make me a big one for hauling various stuff in. I had a Chez Moi charm pack and one yard of fabric from the line, so from the stash it came and a fun tote was born. I didn't have a pattern, I just started stitching and this is what I came up with. It has a large pocket on the inside for carrying little things, like rotary cutters, pins, scissors, rulers, etc. It would make a pretty good shopping tote too!

Here it is all loaded and ready to go to a class at my guild yesterday. We worked with 2 1/2" strips or Jelly Rolls. There were some really fun ideas, but of course, my camera was languishing here on my desk, instead of in the cute tote. :~) I didn't get a whole lot done, mostly just talking, laughing and playing with my 2 1/2" scraps. I made up a couple of blocks from some of the ideas, finally settling on what I wanted to do. I will show you what I am making when I get a little further along on it.

I am hoping to get the final border on "Blackberry Twilight" (aka, purple stars), today. Maybe even get the back made and loaded onto SuzyQ!

Have a great day, filled with things and people that you love!

Hugs&Stitches, Jul♥a

Menopause, BLECH!!

Menopause or something, is kicking my rear-end the past couple of days. I can't seem to focus on anything and tears are so close to the surface all of the time. I hate it! I am not a happy girl right now! All I want to do is eat, especially sweets! ARGH!!!! Oh, the wonderful stages of womanhood. *sigh*

Thanks to all of you for your suggestions about my fabric bleed. I ordered some Synthropol and I found an extra large capacity washers at one of the local laundry mats. If I can quit crying and eating long enough to get there, I will give it a try. Wish me luck! I will let you all know how it turns out.

Hugs&Stitches, Jul♥a

Quilt Retreat

I had a wonderful time at my quilt retreat. The house was wonderful! Filled with lots of quilts and all of the comforts of home. It was very secluded and so quiet. Just what I needed to recharge my batteries. Such a cute and cozy home.

This is the view from the front porch. The view was just this gorgeous in every direction. The house sits on top of a little hill, you can see for miles in every direction, when the clouds aren't sitting on top of you anyway. :~) It is the perfect place for a retreat. We are already planning for next year. We laughed, sewed, ate lots of delicious food and laughed some more. It was the best!

Hugs&Stitches, Jul♥a

St. Patrick's Day Wall Quilt

Thanks so very much to all of you for your encouragement and kind words regarding the menopause thing. I am feeling much better this week. I think part of my problem is, that I am stressing way to much over things that I can't do anything about!

Ethan's illness came back with a vengeance. I had to take him to the Dr. yesterday, turns out he had an inner ear infection. He has stayed home from school the past two days. He is doing better this afternoon. He should be able to go back to school tomorrow. Poor little thing was sure miserable yesterday. I don't take him to the Dr. very often, but I am sure grateful for antibiotics. He needed them this time.

I spent the morning cleaning house. Yuck! Don't like to do it, but sure do love the results. :~)

I made this little wall quilt last week.

Finished quilting it last night. I think that I might be a convert to hand stitching the binding. I love how it looks! Just a little tricky with my aging eyes. You know another one of those problems of time marching on, the arms just don't seem to be long enough anymore. :~)

I decided it was time to let all of my snowmen have a rest and be put away. It is looking more like early spring here now. Rain instead of snow. It might be the official beginning of mud season! :~)

I found the pattern here. Thanks for sharing this, Kim!! I changed it up a bit. The little nine patches finish at 1 1/2 inches. Aren't they just the cutest, little things! I used this panto.

It was fun, but certainly the most challenging panto that I have used to date. A little tricky to keep track of where you are.

Now that my house is sparkly clean, I think that I will spend some time in the sewing room to finish off my day. I want to make a new ironing board cover. Cindy shared a great idea for making them. I have a couple of aprons that I want to make and a couple more scrub tops for Kristy too.

Hugs&Stitches, Jul♥a

Fall Quilt

I hope that you all had a safe and Happy Halloween. I am glad that it is over. Not really a favorite holiday of mine. Seems kind of weird to teach our children to not talk to strangers and then go out, in the dark, door to door, begging for candy. lol The kids enjoy it though.

I finished this quilt Saturday.

I really wanted to get it done to enjoy for the rest of fall, so I pushed myself last week and finished it in one week. I love this line of fabric, it is "Fall Back in Time" by Sandy Gervais. Her stuff is so fun! I adapted a pattern from Bonnie. I don't think that I ever make a quilt exactly like the pattern, I always have to change it just a little to add my own flair. :~) I used "Just Leaves" panto from Willow Leaf Studio. This was a fun panto to use. It quilted up quite fast.

I don't have a label on this quilt yet, because I don't have a name for it. I really struggle with naming my quilts. Do any of you have any suggestions for me? :~)

Walking report for last week -- 10.3 miles.

Hugs&Stitches, Julia

I Try to be Good!!

I decided that I needed a new wall hanging in my dining room, the one I have in their has been hanging for about 3 months. Spent the day looking at patterns and adapting them in EQ6. Finally had something I liked, went to the stash, found what I wanted. Wouldn't you know it, I didn't have enough. This is what I chose, most of it is from the Thimbleberries Fancy Free line. Then I had to spend lots of time on the Internet searching for more of it. I finally found what I needed and of course, some more fabric that I didn't really need, but it was such a good price. I'll bet you have used that line before too!! *G* Well needless to say, I probably bought more for the stash than what I will be using. I really did try to be good and use what was in my stash first. Oh well, such is the life of a fabricaholic. I don't plan on reforming to much, any time soon. *VBS*

I did make me 4 summer dresses this past week though. All from my stash of dressmaker fabrics, that have been properly aging for the past decade and half. *VBS* I made 2 dressier ones for church and 2 everyday ones. I love dresses when it is hot!!! Nice loose, lightweight ones.

Have a good night my quilting buddies!!!

Cystic Firbrosis Quilt

Stop in at Perry's blog and check out the quilt that she is raffling away. It is a beautiful quilt made by Cindy. She is raising money for CF. Hurry over there and donate, the drawing will be on May 9 so you still have plenty of time. Let's all join together and help out a dear friend and fellow quilter.

Hugs&Stitches, Julia