Mikaela is 25 Weeks Old!

Time sure flies! Mikaela is already 25 weeks old. She got her first try at the swimming pool on July 14th. It was cold, but she absolutely loved it! Missy has her own pool, so they were both outside together. It was hot during the days, so in the evening in the shade it was still pretty warm.



She was really exploring in the pool. She's getting better at sitting, but not quite there yet. She liked to be by the edge.

She really enjoyed daddy making noises on her chest. I think every daddy does this, since I remember my dad doing it too.

She's been spending time in mommy's sewing room, since it's cooler there. She loves the cool hardwood laminate.

She's definitely enjoying posing for pictures.

She's such a ham when she wants to be. I just love the toothless grin.


She loves the red minkee as it's so soft and cuddly.

Sewing for Fun!

I've been doing a lot of just fun sewing, just because I want to this week! On Tues. of last week, my co-worker/friend Pat was admiring the sunflower wall hanging/table runner that I made for Jody and Adam's wedding. She's taken classes from me before and enjoys my quilty projects. She was saying something about how she'd never get one of my quilts since she's never getting married, having kids, graduating or the likes of the reasons I might give a co-worker a quilt gift. She's such a kind hearted woman and I knew she'd appreciate a quilt, so I went to the store after work Wed. looking for something that would speak to me. I found this Maxine fabric panel and knew it was perfect! I showed it to her office mate Shannon and she thought it was perfect too!
Sun. night I put the borders on, quilted it, added a sleeve and attached the binding. It took me about an hour and a half. I sewed the binding on by hand Monday morning. She about fell over, she was so excited! She moved the pictures on her wall in her office so I could hang it up right above her desk. I called it, Just Because We're Friends! I love to give quilts to totally unexpecting people when I know they will truly appreciate it.

Before I started this on Sun. night, I ended up cleaning up my ruler rack. I have a lot of rulers and just had to get a handle on it. I wrote down all the sizes I had, by brand, so I would have a list to reference. I've been replacing some with Creative Grids, so I do have quite a few.

Anyone want to take a guess as to how many rulers I have? I will say I have 6 at work, so they aren't all on this holder. This is a holder my little bro got me for Christmas one year and I love it! Yes, the clock is right i was doing this around 9 Sun. night and then did the wall hanging afterward. My quilting time now is from about 9-midnight if I last that long! I'll send out a few fun fat quarters to the person who guesses closest to the correct number.

I used the other side of the panel and quilted it on Sun. after I got done. I cut it up into 9 squares for mug rugs. I used insulbrite as the batting, so it will keep cold things cold/hot things hot or not get it on the desk. I made this one for myself. I sewed the binding on by machine and oh my gosh, I'm in LOVE with the new Wonder Clips by Clover, I think it is. Nancy's Notions if I remember correctly. They have a lip that clips onto the binding, but a flat clear back that lies flat, so no pinning, yet they hold well and secure. I can't believe how much I love them, since I am not one to use clips when I do my hand binding.

Here's the look from the back. My corners turned out perfect without having to go back and redo them!

I made this one for my co-worker friend Shannon.

This one is for Pat, the same one I made the wall hanging for. They both loved them!

Yesterday I found out about a friends baby shower on Sat. I decided I could whip out a quilt, so I pulled out this kit I had made up of a charm pack and yardage. It's similar to a coin quilt, only not all the charms are cut in half. I cut it up and sewed the blocks last night in under 45 min. I have them in the rows ready to sew tonight and should be able to get it on the frame yet tonight. See... this friend is having a baby, but her sister, who is also a good friend just had a little girl, so I feel like I should make 2 quilts. I may just make another one for the other friend. I love this pattern! It's from Moda Bake Shop and goes together so quickly without a lot of fabric. We'll see how much I can get done in the next few days. This is Dilly Dally by Me and My Sisters for Moda.


My little sewing "helper" only had patience to sew the blocks. She was ready to go to bed, so I quit for the night too! So this is the FUN sewing I've been doing this week... totally not doing any of the goals I set for the month.

Mikaela is 24 Weeks Old!

Mikaela turned 24 weeks old on July 6th. She came home from daycare one night with her hair all spiked up. It was so super cute. She's into eating everything or at least attempting to chew it.

She's got the cutest smile. It's almost as though she smiles with her eyes.

She was all smiley for me this night. The quilt in the background is from my baby shower. My friend Jenn made it for her. I just love to look at all the siggy's and remember those who were there.

I just love her cute little outfit from my mom's cousin Mary.

July 4th Weekend of Quilting

Thanks to a wonderful hubby and Mikaela's grandma, I got to spend a lot of time quilting this weekend. It felt wonderful! I haven't quilted this much in months.
Saturday night I quilted the sunflower wall hanging. I put the binding on Sunday, and the handwork got done on Tuesday. It's a wedding gift for a co-worker who is getting married this weekend.


I did quite a bit of quilting with swirls in the flowers.

I just love the flower centers.

I also quilted this tablerunner Sat. night for the same wedding gift. It's a 60* tablerunner. It turned out huge! The binding was put on Sunday.


A close up of the quilting.


I also quilted this wall hanging/chair quilt. I'm not sure who will get it yet, but I know someone in my family will love it.


I was still in a quilting mood, so I loaded this wall hanging and quilted it up pretty quickly Sat. night.


I didn't have the "right" purple, so I ended up with cream thread, which actually looks pretty good.


In my effort to avoid working on a sample I need to do for the store, I worked on this vestment for the priest of my parents church. He's 7 foot tall and needs a longer one. I got it done on Monday.

Here's my model, but he's not nearly as tall!


This was a bit of a challenge, but I think it turned out well.


Monday night I decided to do something for me. I put the borders on this wranglers fabric. I made it to fit the 60"x78" piece of minkee I had for the backing. I ended up making it approximately 60"x75"


Tuesday night I quilted up the wrangler quilt.


I love how the quilting turned out.


I used a red thread and I'm pleased with it.


It feels great to have gotten so much done. Wed. night I got the binding on the wranglers quilt. I have been cutting out hst's out of my pink/brown buggy barn fabric to make a new quilt. I'm looking forward to it. For someone who hates HST's, it's funny that I have 4 different HST quilts going at this time! I'm doing them all different, drawn lines, thangles, triangulations, and already cut triangles, so the variety of methods, makes them all a little different.

Slowly Sewing

The last few weeks of June I hardly got any sewing time in because I spent the last two weekends at my dad's. I found time on Wed. night to make Gaila's block for the Friendship Block Swap. I love how this one turned out and it was easy. I should have just done it at the beginning of the month instead of putting it off.
Today Paul was going to work on cleaning the garage and I was going to work on my storage shed. He loaded up a full pickup load from the garage and took it to the dump. I cleaned all my totes out of the storage shed and had a full load for him to take to the dump when he got back. It felt great to get rid of a lot of stuff. I had stuff from grade school, high school, college, and teaching and I needed to part with it. I also had a bunch of junk pots and pans that just needed to go. I guess when that's all you've got, you hold on to them. After 6 years, it was time to say adios! I kept my trophies, special plaques, and framed pictures. I ended up with 2 large and 2 small rubbermaid totes of stuff. I emptied 8 other large ones! Woohoo! It feels so good to have that done. Now I need to work on the stuff I have in the crawl space. Same deal... after 6 years of storing it, I'm guessing I don't need a lot of it! I also got all the laundry done while I was cleaning away. It was 80+ outside, so I kept coming in for breaks.
While hubby and his mom watched the race from Daytona tonight, I got a bit of sewing time in. I made this wall hanging for a wedding we're going to next weekend. She said her kitchen has sunflowers and she'd like a wall hanging for it.

I just love making the 60* tablerunners from borders, so I decided to make one for her too. I got both done and hope to get them quilted tomorrow. It feels great to have accomplished so much sewing. I have a few other projects that need done soon, so I've kind of made a priority list and hope to get some things checked off yet this weekend.

We don't have plans for the next two days, so I'm looking forward to getting some more sewing done. I'd like to get the priest's vestment done that I've been working on, since ordinary time starts soon. I'd also like to make the minkee blanket I have for myself and get more done on the blush quilt. I have a sample to finish yet this weekend, so that's got to be the priority. So many projects, so little time!
While I was sewing, Mikaela was hanging out with grandma Leslie watching the Daytona racee. She's loving her frozen teething rings.

Here's to hoping the rest of the weekend is just as productive!

June Quilting Accomplishments

This month wasn't nearly as productive as I would have liked, but I still got some sewing done. I really enjoyed my first project of making a friendship quilt to our friend Regina.



I finished this UFO of mom's for Molly's 3rd birthday.

I made this friendship block for our swap. It turned out really cool and I love it. This is for Jen. I also got my other one done, but haven't gotten the picture taken yet.


I sewed all my strip sets for my Blush Hexagon quilt.


I made this Nancy Halvorsen sample for the store.


I was practicing using the Creative Grids rulers.

Practiced what the Blush quilt should look like.

I made a wall hanging for Graham, son of my friend Mikal.

I made this book cover for my MIL's co-worker Steph.


I accomplished most of my goals for June. I still need to finish up the other store sample. A Beach Ball quilt using the Lazy Angle ruler.
I was able to quilt for 65 hours.
My goals for July include:
2 Friendship Blocks
1 Store Sample
Finish Vestment
Blush Quilt