MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I hope you all have a safe and happy holiday.

JUST BEFORE THE DEADLINE!

I finally found a couple of minutes to get my entry in before the deadline! Amy, from Amy's Creative Side, is having the 4th Blogger's Quilt Festival
Please go check out all the wonderful quilts that have been posted. Great inspiration!

My entry is Andre's (my nephew) Graduation quilt. When he graduated I had not ever started on it, actually didn't even know WHAT I was going to make for him. The inspiration hadn't hit yet. Then I came across this post and BINGO, that was it. One day I sat down with his parents and sister and we all came up with words to describe Andre. They had no idea what was in the works. It is 4" squares and all of the letters are needle turned applique! It is a HUGE quilt and I loved making it. And Andre loved it!

TIME AT THE LAKE

Gary and I just spent 5 days at Toledo Bend Reservoir at his nephews' "Lake House". Don't call this place a camp in front of his nephews' wife!! LOL! What a great place! Who wouldn't love to wake up to this beautiful sight! We had a wonderful relaxing time. It was just 4 of us there. The guys went fishing early in the morning and again in the afternoon. Ended up with a 11 keepers, even a couple of 5 lb. bass.

Karen and I spent time on the deck just relaxing. I brought 2 quilting projects to work on and I will post on that later. I haven't taken pics of them yet.

We went into town, Hemphill, and found a quilt shop and a scrapbook store and a store called Misc. Cute shop with all kinds of stuff, hence the name "Misc". The woman at the shop makes all kinds of things out of brown paper. The front window is even decorated with a giant butterfly made out of the brown paper. I'll try to post pics on my next blog.

Now it's time to get back to the real world and work! See ya soon!

SPENT THE DAY SEWING YESTERDAY......

...and this is what I accomplished!! Made 2 potholders for Lea with fabric that I got on our Canada trip this summer. I had only purchased a fat quarter of each and I SHOULD have known that wasn't gonna be enough. I want to make myself a couple of potholders also, so I am using it VERY sparingly!

I wanted a special card for my sister in law's birthday, so I made it myself! I had never appliqued on paper, nor had I used the crystals before, so all in all I think it came out pretty good. I even lined the inside, but didn't take a pic of it! Since I have the whole weekend off, I am trying to make good use of it, so I've gotta get back to my sewing. See ya next time! Hopefully I won't stay away so long.

IT'S FINALLY DONE!

I can't believe it! I started on Andre's Graduation quilt in Nov. '09 and here it is finished! It's a year late but when he graduted I didn't have a clue of what pattern to make for him ( I had been looking for a whole year and came up with nothing----guess I didn't have my THINKING cap on LOL!!). I just happened to see a quilt on

"Cold Feet Quilter's" site that she had just finished quilting for someone and BINGO! that was it!!! You can see her quilt here. Her letters were all machine embroidery, but I decided that I would needleturn APPLIQUE mine! I really didn't estimate how long it would take to applique 214 - 4" letters!! But I got thru it and I LOVE the result! It's a queen size quilt and I used the Bamboo Batting from JoAnn Fabrics. I've used it on the last 3 quilts I've made and I love it! So light and soft.

I almost hate to see this one go, but it will be leaving this weekend for Houston. I know it will have a good life!!

Oh, I almost forgot the label! I named the quilt "YOUR LIFE SO FAR".

FINISHED BABY QUILT

This is the latest finished quilt. I made the top a few years ago using "fairy frost" fabric. I had to inprovise when I didn't have enough to finish one of the blue borders, so I came up with the applique hearts! It will be a gift for a baby shower this weekend for someone who is expecting a girl.

I've never done this type of label before. Hopefully the colors hold up after numerous washings!

I CAN FINALLY SEE.....

..............the light at the end of the tunnel! I have Andre's quilt basted and have started quilting it 2 days ago. But I still can't show pics yet!

I finished the baby quilt for the shower in May and will show pics after I get the label sewn on.

All the pillowcases are made and delivered to K's grandkids and I have received a couple of really nice thank you notes from them. They really brightened my day!

I promise pics in the next post!

THAT TRIP WAS WELL WORTH IT!!

And what I mean by that, is the trip Gary and I took across the river today to go to JoAnn Fabrics!!! First of all, we had seen in the paper earlier this week, that a "Blue Dog" sculpture had been erected on Veterans Blvd.

WELL, I have been in love with the "blue dog" for years, so with camera in hand, I was ready!!!!! And I wasn't disappointed!!! It is enormous!! And BRIGHT!

But it will look much better when all the "viewing stands" come down after Mardi Gras!!!

And Lea, this is just for you. A new Chick-fil-A is being built on Vets!

And when we got to JoAnn's, Katherine and Cynthia were both working (I used to work with them) and I got the Kona fabric I was looking for to finish my applique blocks that I am working on. So as you can see, the trip WAS well worth it!

I'M REALLY TRYING!!

....to get back to this blog on a regular basis! I did update my blog list yesterday, but I'm still not done. Ah, ha!! Maybe that's why I'm not posting as much as I would like.....because I am too busying reading everyone else's blogs!!! I am so hooked on quite a few of these...love the Selvage blog--never realized that I was throwing away something so valuable! LOL! So I've been busy cutting and saving them and am looking forward to making a few things with them. I'll keep you posted on that!
And I love LisaJo's "BlackBear Cabin" I met her at about.com when we were in the "Birthday Block Swap" together. I love being able to watch her daughter, Jordyn, grow up! She's such a cutie!

I'm still working on Andre's (my nephew) graduation quilt. I am beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I have half of it sewn together and it is going to be a BIG one!! I promise I am close to posting a pic, so stay tuned.

Till next time.....