New Baby...Coming Soon!!

So - I haven't got a whole lot accomplished lately. My oldest son will be starting preschool next week, so we've been doing alot of preparing for that. I have also been super busy with canning. Before long here, I am never going to want to see another tomato again in my life. My dad has been picking about 5-7 five gallon pails of tomatoes every two days. I can't bear to see them go to waste, so I guess I need to keep on canning!

I have done some embroidery work for a customer, but nothing to constructive. I have also decided to start selling some of my work at a local shop in hopes of making some extra income for my family. Things are just so tight with this economy and I don't see things getting any better for awhile. Gas and food prices alone are enough to send everyone to the poor house. I guess good thing I am canning all those tomatoes and other veggies.

On a good note, my daughter had called me a few nights back and said she was having some contractions, but they were very unsteady and never closer than 10 minutes apart. Well, she had a doctor appointment yesterday and she is dilated to 1-1/2 cm. The doctor thought that another round of contractions like she had could very possibly send her to the hospital in actual labor. I am getting very excited!!!

I don't really have too much else to say as there is just not much else going on!! I will post pics soon of items I am working on to sell, and my newest blanket(s), and hopefully SOON my new grandbaby!!!

Have a safe weekend!!!

Now to try and get back into the swing of the things..

Sorry I have been MIA, I have been experiencing very frustrating computer and internet downtime. I think I finally got everything back up and running properly so now I have to get back into the groove of things.

I have been trying to get some motivation to get some digitizing done, but so far I'm just not. I did however, get my granddaughter's quilt done and even a full month before she is even due! Yea, I am so usually a procrastinator, but these designs were just so awesome to stitch up I couldn't wait to go on to the next one. The designs are from a fellow blogger. The site is not in English (French - I believe) but you can easily find the free designs she has to offer by clicking on the side links. Here is the address to her blog http://turquoise210broderiemachine.over-blog.com/

I have also decided to enter the quilt into MyCraftingChannel blogs Fabric Friday challenge. Please copy & paste the link below or use the button on the right side bar and check it out! http://www.mycraftingchannel.com/2012/07/fabric-friday-5-winner-announced.html
This is a great site to get some ideas and inspiration for new projects of your own. I have entered her challenge twice before, but haven't won, so I'm hoping the third time is charm! The quilt is made of 6" x 8" blocks and the surrounding border is made of four pieces (2 - 3 x 8, 2 - 3 x 10). For the back I used a piece of mint green flannel. I wanted to make it nice and soft for the new baby. This quilt was so much fun to make and I think the colors really look nice together. I have always liked the look of pink/green and purple/green together.

Now for my next project(s)! I had bought some minky fabric and fur fabric awhile back with intentions of making blankets and I have finally found the perfect design for them. I also have an order for a couple more embroidered towels.

So - I hope you enjoyed the quilt pics and I will be working hard at sharing my new blankies with you shortly!

Time to get back to work...

Finally back from vacation - if you could call it that! It always seems that vacations are more work then just staying home. Although it was nice to get away from home. We spent a couple days camping with my in-laws and then a couple with my dad. The boys had a great time and my oldest thought we should just stay in the camper at grandpa's and not come home. Not me - I was never more happy to take a nice hot shower and crawl into my own bed! Of all the places we camped, my dad's was probably the best. We got to sit up at night and listen to the bobcat that has been roaming around the creek around his house. It was a little nerving, but very interesting as I had never heard a bobcat and to have it in your own backyard.

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But, all vacations must end I guess, so now it's back to work. I need to get the back on the baby quilt, finish planning and setting for the boys' birthday party this weekend, and figure out what project to make for my nieces' birthday gift the weekend after, and two towels to embroider for a friends' children. So much to do, so little time! I will hopefully be able to post my baby quilt this week and I will be entering it on MyCraftingChannel.com for her fabric drawing.

Till next time!

Stitching Away... Well at least my machines have been anyway

So - I've been working all week on my "coming soon" granddaughter's baby quilt. I now have all but one of the blocks embroidered AND have it sewn together. I have been having so much fun working on it. I love to get to go through all my designs and pick out something special just for her, and going through my fabric stash to pick out colors, etc. The one remaining block is in limbo right now as I am waiting for a final name choice. My daughter and her boyfriend are having a hard time coming to a consensus when it comes to the middle name. They have only changed it three times since first telling me. I am so glad I decided to wait for that one til last and to ask before doing it. I think I may hold off for another couples weeks or so, and start some other projects in the meantime.

I am thinking another stuffed animal from www.embroidery-outlet.com When you get a chance you have to check out her site. Gerda has so... many designs including filled, applique and stuffies patterns. Her work is beautiful and they have all stitched out so wonderfully. I'm also leaning towards finger puppets from www.emblibrary.com My 4 yr old went to bible school a couple weeks back and they had puppets and ever since he has been pretending he does too, so I'm thinking he will really enjoy actually having some real ones.

I also had an order for 6 bath towels that I finished this week. I delivered them today and the customer was so excited about them, it made my day. She had some idea of what the designs looked liked, but had no idea what they would like in person. I'm always happy when my customers are thrilled with the products I give them!

Other than that, not too much going - planning on vacationing a week from now so I've been excited about that. It's been way too long since I've been able to get away from reality so I'm really looking forward to it.

That's all for now, so 'til next time - Take Care!

On a Roll...

What an industrious week so far, I have gotten my next baby quilt started ahead of my procrastinating schedule and actually have all the squares sewn together and have been working hard to get them all embroidered. Hopefully I will soon be able to put pics up of the finished product.

I have also been hard at work to make something for the MyCraftingChannel.com Fabric Friday Challenge and I have succeeded in getting a pair of overalls done for the my granddaughter. She loves farm animals so I decided to use some designs from the Farmyard Applique pack from Bunnycup. I love Ashlea's designs and they sew out just beautifully. I used fabric my grandmother's fabric stash to add that extra sentimental factor.

Finally done and just in time to enter a challenge..

   My grandmother passed away going on 2 yrs ago and I was given all of her fabric (which is boxes and boxes)! As I was going through the boxes I found an almost complete quilt top that she had made. In another box, I found the rest of the squares for this particular quilt top. So, I had decided that I was going to finish it and then give it to my granddaughter. I just loved working on this quilt, it still has the scent of grandma's house and it just made it seem like she was right here with me as I worked away on it.

  It is a very simple quilt of 10" squares sewn together using a ½" seam on each side, alternating solid and patterned squares. You could make this as big or as small as you would like, using whatever colors you would like. The outcome is sure to be stunning. For the inside of the quilt, I usually use a polyester/acrylic blend blanket because it is easier to work with and tends to be warmer and for the backing I used just a plain pink flat sheet. Using a sheet for the backing gives me a once piece back for a fraction of the cost of what fabric that size would be and less of a pain than having to sew two fabrics together to get the size needed. The font for the quilt is made in Embird Font Engine and the embroidery designs that I used are Sock Monkey Boys and Sock Monkey Girls from Starlight Dreams. For the main part of the monkeys, I threaded two colors together to create the original sock monkey look and changed to red for the boys to light blue so that it would look better with the pink for the girls. I think the designs stitched out very nicely! You can find the patterns from Starlight Dreams through www.oregonpatchworks.com

  As for the challenge referred to... I was searching other craft blogs earlier today and came across My Crafting Channel blog (www.mycraftingchannel.com). I have not been able to take the time to fully look at all that the site has to offer, but I have seen enough to know that there are some really awesome ideas on this site (be sure to check out her site). I also noticed that she is doing challenges, one of which is called "Fabric Friday Challenge". All you need to do is enter a project that you have done using some type of fabric. It doesn't have to a quilt or anything specific, it just has to have fabric in it. So this gave me the motivation to finally get my darling granddaughter's quilt done. I am very happy with the results of this quilt and I just love that it is something that both my grandmother and I worked on. Not together face to face, but certainly in spirit.

  And now - I can move on to the next project! Another quilt, for my soon-to-be-coming granddaughter! I swear I will have this one done by the time she gets here (or at least I hope so), which gives me a little over 2 months!

Sorry the pics are not the greatest as my camera seems to be cooperating with me when IT wants to and not when I want it to! lol

 http://www.mycraftingchannel.com/2012/07/fabric-friday-3-winner-announced_13.html

A couple projects to start things off ...

 This towel I made for my 8 yr cousin's birthday! He absolutely loved it and I was just thrilled at how the designs turned out against that red background.

 My very first embroidery stuffed animal project! My youngest son carries this thing everywhere. The design is from www.embroidery-outlet.com She has tons of designs for stuffed animals, dolls, filled and applique designs.

My grandmother passed away 2 yrs ago this coming August and she absolutely loved hummingbirds, so as a tribute to her I made these towels for my aunt/godmother. The designs are from www.emblibrary.com

Starting a New Adventure

I have decided to start a new adventure in blogging. I have been doing machine embroidery projects, along with quilting, crocheting, knitting, cross stitch, etc for years and would like somewhere to show off some of these items. I recently started digitizing embroidery designs, so from time to time, I will be sharing designs with you also. I am hoping to give inspiration to others looking for crafting projects and ideas.

I am a stay at home mom of two young boys (ages 2 & 4, well almost they both have birthdays coming up in August)! I also have an 18 year old daughter who has a 2 ½ yr old daughter and another sweet granddaughter on the way (due in September)!

If you have any questions of me, please feel free to contact me and I will get back to you right away!