Shepard Wall Hanging Completed!

Last night my mom came out to the house and we completed the shepard wall hanging. It is the one we are giving to the church in Philip in memory of my grandparents. Mom did the quilting on it and the binding and then we added the glitzers and it looks pretty cool. It only took about 2 1/2 hours to complete it.

Tonight Paul and I are going out with his mom and grandparents for supper at Outback. It is his grandpa's birthday today, so we wanted to do something special for him. I'm hoping to have a great sewing weekend and get lots of quilting done.

November BOM

On the Carol Doak site there is a block of the month going on. You can do the 12" block which is the original with all the cutting measurements or the 6" block which she just made smaller without cutting instructions. I am doing the 6" version. Even though there is more waste because I cut the fabric bigger than needed, I like the smaller blocks and can use my b/w scraps. When I am done I plan to have a wall hanging for our room to match the quilt I am making. I made this one last night. I can usually get them done in a couple hours which is nice when I want just a small one night project.

Fleece Vests

Over the past few weeks I have been making vests our of fleece. I made Paul a gray one and a purple one for myself. Monday night I finally got mine done. We like to wear them over sweatshirts or sweaters when we go shopping as it's not as hot as a coat. His is just a little big.

New PJ Pants

I always enjoy having fun PJ's, so even though these cost me an arm and a leg to make, I just had to have a pair of Hunky Carpenter PJ bottoms. Since Paul is a carpenter, they are right up my alley!

Thanksgiving Weekend

Well I love long weekends, but I hate going back to work. I got off early on Wed. and came home expecting to write a few emails, only to discover that our internet wasn't working. Thurs. morning we got up and picked up my little brother Ed and went to our brother Jim and his wife Addie's house. They were both not feeling good, but my parents were there and we got the meal on and it went well. Everyone took naps in the afternoon and I did some computer work. Then we looked through all the adds and gave mom ideas for Christmas gifts. We had supper and then came home.
Friday we got up about 9 and went shopping. We had made a list and only went where we had things we wanted to get. I got most of what I wanted. Only a few things weren't available. We were home by 2 and the only place I walked out of was Hancock's because they didn't have enough people working and there were huge lines. Fri. night I went to Sit and Sew and worked on the banner. Then mom and I did power shopping. We did really well and there weren't any lines.
Sat. we had Paul's grandparents out for dinner. We made all the fixings and had a nice time. Then Paul put together the new gas grill he got a deal on. Then we went to the Parade of Lights. It was really good and not as cold as some years. We have gone every year we have been dating. Sunday I spent cleaning. I cleaned up my sewing room and bedroom. I finished up my one UFO and got ready for the week. Last night I made a purple fleece vest for me. Tonight I made my Nov. block for the Carol Doak group.

Shepard Wall Hanging

Friday night my aunt Jane, my mom Delia, and I worked on this wall hanging at Sit and Sew. We made it to donate to my grandparents church in town in memory of them. Since it's for Advent we really wanted to get it done. I did all the sewing and they cut out and put it together. I finished up the applique stitching last night and now am waiting for my mom to bring the batting and backing to put it together and quilt this week. It turned out pretty neat although we are definately not landscape artists.

MY ONLY UFO FINISHED!!!

I finally finished my only true UFO! I still have to get the quilt markings out, but otherwise it is done. I loved it when I made it, but I couldn't get the binding to come out right. Three years ago when my grandma was at my house in Buffalo for Thanksgiving, my mom and her helped me make the bias binding. It was the first time I had made it. Well I couldn't get the corners right, my mom tried, and finally it went into a box. I was determined to get it done! The little corners aren't perfect, but it is done. Now my b/w quilt and the tablerunners aren't considered UFO's because I'm working on them. I am the finishing queen. I hate not finishing something I make.

YBR Purple quilt

I finally have a picture of the completed YBR purple baby quilt. I requilted it and put the binding on. It's not perfect, but it was a good practice piece for FMQ. I don't know who will get it, but I have a friend who loves purple and if she has a girl this may be hers.

Musical Tabletopper

This is a table topper for a musically talented friend. I royally screwed up the pattern, but I like it anyway. It was supposed to have star points instead of the diamond around the focus fabric. I was completely finished with the binding on when I noticed, but I really like it this way, so I left it.

Summer Tote Pictures

I had a long weekend and no internet access, so I'm catching up on reading blogs and posting pictures. I finished two summer totes for gifts, so I'll post the pictures of those first. Each friend has very different tastes. The first is the same front and back. The other one has different pockets. I hope they both like their new bags. They really aren't very big, but would work well to take as an overnight bag with one set of clothes.

Another summer tote!

I finished another summer tote tonight. It took me right at 3 hours to complete it. It is for a friend for Christmas. I'm hoping she will like it. My co-workers were giving me a bad time that I haven't made anything for them and they are friends. I said well Christmas is coming. I can't show you something if it's for you. I hope they got the hint. I have a couple table runners I am making them and a wall hanging for another coworker. I have big plans to quilt my b/w quilt this weekend. We'll see if that happens. It'll depend on how much company we have. I finally got Yahoo to accept more RSS today, so I added a bunch more blogs to my daily reading. Today was boring at work. Everyone has to be registered tomorrow, so I am done with most of my work. Next week with the start may be busy with last minute ones, but I usually slow down for a couple weeks now. I haven't heard much today, so I'm guessing everyone was sewing up a storm or having other fun.

Shop Hop Flop

This weekend my aunt and I planned to go to Edgemont, SD to visit their quilt shop. It's a podunk town about an hour and a half from us. They mostly just had kits and patterns. I did find a cute panel and matching fabric, but that was about it. They just didn't have much for fabrics I liked. Then we came back through Custer and wanted to stop at that shop, but it was closed for lunch. We didn't want to wait so we went on to Mistletoe Ranch, the Quilt Corral. It is the ultimate quilt shop in the area. I picked up some more hunky carpenter fabric. When I got home Paul was putting doors on the house. I went and worked on my purple baby quilt and finally got it quilted again. When he got the front door put on, we went to Menards for more supplies. It was after 10 when we got home from shopping. Sunday morning I went to church and then we went and got food for t-day. When we got home Paul took a nap and I put the binding on the baby quilt. Then I made a pair of PJ pants out of the hunky carpenter fabric on my serger. I love them! They are just so fun! Then I took my 2 hour midterm. I got done with it and still had time to work on a bag for a friend for Christmas. I messed up one side because I applied the steam a seam 2 the wrong way.
Tonight I finished it and it looks great and I'm really impressed with how it turned out. Then I made a tabletopper for a gift. I really like how it turned out, although I didn't exactly follow the pattern, accidentally. Oh well at least it is done. I plan to finish another bag tomorrow night and then work on my b/w quilt this weekend.

Sew and Sews

Wed. night I had really good intentions of going to sit and sew and getting a bag made for my friend. Well everyone else cancelled, so we didn't have it. My mom and I went shopping instead which was fun.
Last night was Sew and Sews. This is a club where everyone has a variety of interests. Some embroider, some quilt, some do garments, and others do quicky projects. It's an interesting group, but definately the older ladies. Very few take classes, so I don't see them other than every other month. Last night we had an ornament exchange. I made a postcard and put a hanger on it as my exchange ornament. I won a Marie Osmond embroidered ornament. We also learned about a lot of the new products that they picked up at Market a few weeks ago. My favorite is a new olfa rotary cutter that one side of the other comes uncovered, depending on if you are right or left handed and it had a snap on snap off blade changing system. It is a little bigger, so it fits better in the hand too. I LOVE it and put it on my wish list for christmas. We also learned how to fold fabrics with a 8 1/2x24" ruler, so it fits better and is more organized. They also brought home the new frosted rulers. I had seen them before, but now they are going to carry them. Plus there were tons of new books to look at! It's always fun to go and see the show and tell that everyone has too. I didn't see any ideas that I just had to make, but there were some nice projects finished. Hopefully tonight I can go home and relax and maybe sew a bit. I'm exhausted from being out every night this week.

Home and Garden Party

Last night after work I went home and changed and Paul and I went back to town to my brothers. There we met his mom Leslie (who had just gotten off work) and my mom. I went with them to a Home and Garden Party hosted by Leslie's stepmother. It was an interesting party. You got party dollars for finding things in a magazine and the lady showed all the different products. I did like a few things, that were completely out of my budget, but for the most part, none of the stuff would fit in with my decore. I guess I found it to be kind of old ladyish and expensive. My mom and Leslie got a couple things, we had a snack and left. We dropped my mom off and were home by 9 or so. Paul went with my brother and two of his friends to the movie 310 to Yuma. He said it was really good and he had a good time being out with the guys.
I am in need of some much deserved relaxing sewing time. I planned to go to Sit and Sew tonight, but the others cancelled, so it was cancelled. Now I guess I'll just have to go home and sew by myself. Oh well, at least I have a plan to make some Lazy Girl Summer Totes.

Woven Tubes Bag Class and other quilt related things

This month is going to fly by I can tell already. Even though I was trying to catch up from being gone last weekend, I really wanted to take mom's woven tube bag class. So Wed. night I spent the entire night, 3 hours making 32 tubes for the class. Thurs. night we wove them together and sewed around the edge. This is the same process as when I did the b/w with pink one back a couple months ago. We left our stuff and on Friday night were back to finish up the bag. I worked really hard and tried to get it done, but I still had to hand sew the lining in after class was over. Oh well, it turned out really neat and I am pleased with it. The front and the back are exactly the same. I bought the fabric at Mills End in SF when we were there and I wasn't pleased with it at all. But when I got it done I really love how it turned out. I wanted a little more sophisticated bag for taking to work.



As I forgot to take pictures of the back of the tablerunners, I decided I better get that done right away or I would forget. The picture didn't turn out well, but you can kind of tell what it says. My mom spent all of Sat. and Sun. morning doing the embroidery on 20 backs of the tablerunners. These will be given to those who help with the wedding and to those who traveled great distances to be with us. They are going to be part of the center pieces for the tables at the reception too.
By sharing our lives
and our love, you have
been a special part of
our wedding day.
Thank you,
Paul & Moneik Stephens
June 7, 2008


Last week I mentioned that I had bought the fabric for the bridesmaids dresses. We found a great deal on Halloween costume satin and lining, so ended up getting it. We will probably have enough to do the groommens vests too. The bottom left is the fabric with glitter/sparkly and the top is of the purple. It didn't photograph well, but that's what it looks like. We bought all they had of the sparkly which was only 1 1/2 yards thinking of doing the dress bodices in it, but the more I am contemplating it, we may do the front of the guys vests in it. We'll just have to see what works out when the time comes. We are going to make them in early spring.

And finally... Hancock's had a 50% off notions Sun. and Mon. sale, so I got a little something for me! I'm going to put it in the back window of my pickup.

Quilting Retreat Day 2

Our quilting retreat day 2 was really awesome. Mom and I went to church early and then we came back and sewed. We got the tops done and then went to lunch and the fabric store. We all spent quite a bit, but Hancock's was having all their notions, fleece. and batting on sale for 50% off. By last night about 5:30 I had put on two bindings as seen in the photos below of our finished table runners. Each tablerunner is made up of a strada A and a strada B. We made 5 sets of A & B, then we mixed them up so no two A's would go with the same B's. So each tablerunner is completely different then the next. They have a really cool saying my mom embroidered on the back too. Leslie and I quilted them as mom basted. We got 8 basted and quilted, two with bindings, and 10 that need to be basted and quilted, but we had to clean up as my mom needed to head home.


This is Paul's mom Leslie and Missy the dog in our sewing arrangement. We were in the living room and my mom was on the kitchen table.



We had the ironing board set up on one end of the kitchen and the cutting mat on the kitchen counter. My mom is at the table working on embroidery for the backs of the table runners.

It was a long couple days, but we got a lot accomplished.

Quilting Retreat Day 1

Well today was the first day my mom, Leslie - Paul's mom, and I planned to sew the tablerunners for our wedding. Last night, Paul, my dad, and my little brother Ed, headed home to the ranch as it was opening weekend of deer season. I slept in this morning and then finished up the bag I made at class the last two nights. It is really cool, but you'll have to wait to see pictures as Paul took the camera. Leslie and I had lunch together and then did some shopping. We moved the furniture and brought sewing tables into the living room. We set up the ironing board, our machines, and about 4 started sewing. We got the stratta's done in about 2 hours. Mom came after she got off work, so it was about 5:30. She set up her embroidery machine and started working on the backs. We did take a break for supper, but otherwise we worked straight through. We got 5 tops completely done, 15 more that the main part is done, but they need borders, and there are 6 backs that still need to be done. Then we have to put the batting in and quilt and put the binding on. The project is coming along pretty well, so I'm excited. Hopefully when Paul gets home I can take pictures and show our progress.

Wedding Dress Shopping!

So the big weekend to go wedding dress shopping arrived quicker than I expected. This will probably be a long post about the weekend, but I offer an incentive at the end to those who make it through. Friday I met my mom and we headed down the road. I dropped my pickup off at my brother and sister in law's place, so I would have a way home on Mon. We met my dad in Philip (the nearest town) so he could take some stuff home and we were on our way. We stopped a couple times to eat, visit my aunt, and were to my friends house by 9PM Friday night. Jon and Nichole have been married 2 years and we planned to spend the weekend with with them and Nich is one of my bridesmaids, so she was going to take us to the dress shops.
Sat. morning we were up early and headed to a quilt shop in another small town. It was pretty cool and had Lazy Girl bags made up, so I got the towne purse and summer tote patterns. Then we were off to the first store Interlude. It was a nice shop with huge private rooms. I really enjoyed trying on dresses there, but didn't find anything I remotely liked. My friend Angie (the other bridesmaid) and her one year old son Carter joined us. They live in Albert Lea MN, so had about a 3 hour drive to meet us. We went to the second store, Ido2 which was in the same strip mall. It had dresses that were no longer being made and couldn't be ordered. I had my heart set on a white dress with straps. Those were my only two qualifiers, and reasonable priced. My friends brought me lots of dresses and I finally tried on an ivory one and although I wasn't crazy about it, it looked really nice on me. It was a little tight, but could be altered. Angie loved it and I called it the rope dress. It had big loops of cording that reminded me of rope. She even made me realize I look like a ghost in white and ivory was a lot better color on me. I tried on a few more and was tired. Since it was noon their time (we had changed time zones so were an hour ahead), we decided to go eat. We had requested a place that we don't have in Rapid. They have Panera bread which was awesome. My mom's cousin Sue and her mom Vi met us there and ate. Since I was kind of disappointed in what I had seen all morning, I decided I needed a break. We went to the mall and walked around, looked at the western store, and went to places like Yonkers and Macy's that we don't have. My mom looked at the fancy dress section of Yonkers and found a dress she loved, but it was 2 sizes too big. It was on clearance, so I said well it doesn't hurt to ask if they have it in your size. She did and they had one in Omaha. She didn't know if she should get the first dress she found, but she loved it, so I told her go for it. Purple is the color, that won't change and it won't matter what shade compared to the girls dresses. It is on order and should be shipped to my parents this week. After we left the mall we went to a place called Kathryn and Co. When we walked in they asked if we had an appointment. I didn't, because Nich called to check if we needed one and they said no, so I didn't make one. Well they might be able to find time for us, but they did close at 5. It was like 3:15! I think I tried on 3 dresses there and was ready to leave. I was not impressed. I mean seriously, we just wanted to look and try a few on, not take over. This was the only place they wouldn't let us take pictures. By this point my mom was looking at dresses on the clearance rack that we could use the train and make a new top to go with them! We ended up having enough time to go to the Dutch Rose quilt shop. It was an interesting little shop, but not many samples and not real welcoming. We only had 15 min. so we went through fast. Then we went to David's Bridal. I had a 4:15pm appointment and we spent a good hour and a half trying on dresses. Lots of them were neat, but didn't have all the elements I really wanted. We finally ended up leaving. My mom went to spend the night with her cousin Sue who had come out from SF and Nich, Angie, Carter, and I went back to Nich's. She had made supper for us and we all relaxed and caught up on our lives. It's been a year and a half since we were all together. I emailed pictures of the rope dress to my dad to see what he thought and later called and he liked it as did Jim. My friends met Paul at Nich and Jon's wedding and then they came out last summer and spent a weekend here with us which was fun, but that was before Carter. He is such a cutie and was so good while I was trying on dresses! We played with him and just had a relaxing night. Angie is a very well prepared, great parent and I have so much respect for all her mothering skills. Nich and I met in college our sophomore year at SDSU and lived together our Junior year, Angie and I met our freshman year in 4-H and she ended up getting an apartment with Nich and I and her roommate Sarah our senior year. Since we graduated 5 years ago, you can tell we've been friends a long time. Angie even set Nich up with her husband Jon and Nich tried to tell me he was interested in me when we were living together and he would come over all the time. So anyway, we stayed over and because of the time change were up at 6 the next morning.
We took our time getting ready and I took Angie's measurements. Then Angie and Carter had to head home about 9. Nich and Jon headed another direction to visit a high school friend, and I headed back to Sioux Falls to pick up my mom and have breakfast with Vi's family. By noon we hit the ground running. Mom and I had discussed the dress situation and I wanted to look at the possibility of making it. We found patterns and looked at fabric. We started at Mills End Fabrics and found a lot of fabric, some for my table runners, some for the landscape cross banner for the church, and some for coasters for the guests. I also found the LGD pattern City Bag. Then we headed to Joann Fabrics, since we don't have one, this was major for us. They have tons of lace and stuff to put on dresses. I also found a really cool ivory fuzzy fabric to make a jacket out of. While there we found purple satin, lining, and a sparkly satin to make the dresses for the bridesmaids. It was 60% off!!! We also found more fabric for the church banner. We really looked at all the possibilities for making my dress too. Then it was on to Michaels where we found the heart shape grapevine wreaths I wanted to decorate with and the invitations. We don't have one of these either so it was fun for us. We went back to the mall and did some more looking too. Then it was back out to Jon and Nich's for the evening. We discussed the day and took Nich's measurements for the dress. Mom also installed the My Label software program on her computer so we could do the 3D model of the girls measurements. When Jon got home from Symphony, we discussed the music for the wedding. He is going to play the cello for a couple of the special parts.
Monday morning mom and I got going again early. We went back to the Dutch Rose quilt shop and found a few things we needed. Then on to Heirloom Creations. I would call it the Cabela's of quilt shops in SF. They have a ton of gorgeous fabric, but also sell Janome, Bernina, and Viking sewing machines. I found the Miranda bag pattern! I was so excited. I also got the perfect colored thread to quilt my YBR quilts. Then we had to stop at Mills End again for a few more pieces of fabric. I found the coolest fabric there, but if you want to see what it looks like you'll have to email me your snail mail address so I can send the first three people to email me a little piece of it. It's awesome!!!
Then we went on to the dress shop Ido2. I tried on the rope dress again and finally decided that with a few alterations from mom, the price was right, and I liked it, that it would be my dress, so we brought it home. Since I'm not showing Paul until the wedding, you'll have to email me if you would like to see the pictures. I'm not posting them until after the wedding. We were ready to head home by then, so we got on the road about noon. We stopped in Mitchell and went to the Pin Cushion where I found the perfect fabric for another gift for the wedding. Then over to Cabela's. I needed to pick up a gift for Paul for X-mas. I just happened to walk by the shoe section and find purple cowboy boots, on sale that were calling my name! I had to have them, so I got them. I am so pumped that I finally found them. I had been searching all weekend for them. Then on to our next stop, Chamberlain, where they have the most incredible shop for a tiny town. I got some more gorgeous purples and drooled a lot! We also stopped at the western store there, where I found two cheap pairs of jeans/dress pants that fit perfectly.
We made it back to my brothers about 6:30 and he fed us supper and we looked through their wedding pictures. I left his house about 7:30 and made it home at 9. I was completely exhausted, but Paul was asleep, so I just went to bed too.
Last night after a long day at work, I washed all my fabric and weighted it. I brought home 16 pounds of fabric! My stack was probably 2 feet high of just the quilting fabrics. I spent time rearranging my sewing studio and getting ready to sew for tonight. I also worked on taking out the quilting on the baby size YBR. Tonight I have to stop and get batting and then I need to make the tubes for the class I have tomorrow night. It's going to be a fun one, as the weaving makes a bag this time.
I'm still not adjusted to the time change since we gained an hour coming home, so I am still trying to get into the swing of things. I'll try to better at posting, so it doesn't get so long next time!