What I did while in the car for almost twenty hours...

This past weekend we made the trip down to New Mexico to see my new niece. It was a great trip, although very short. We spent a long time in the car to get down there. It was about a ten hour trip one way.

We left around 1 o'clock on Friday and arrived around 11. To occupy myself along the way, I took many pictures.


Most of these were taken from the window of the car as we were rolling down the highway.

The above picture is from a gas station at the Raton exit off of I-25. It is a pretty impressive view from a gas station!

My favorite part of the drive was the windmill farm we passed. All of those tall structures you see along the horizon are windmills. There must have been a hundred of them surrounding the road that meanders through them all along the edge of a mesa top.I also worked on my yo yo quilt. I have around 200 4x4 squares. Along the way, I started sewing them into 8x8 squares and then into long strips. I would guess that this is almost 1,000 yo-yo's.

It's tea time!

This past weekend we went down to New Mexico to see my brother and sister-in-law and their new baby. I painted this table and chair set and a little rocker for her to use when she is a little bit older. She is only 3 months now, so it is a little too soon for her to use right now, but it will be ready for much drawing and tea parties when she is ready!.

Here is the top of the table. Sorry for the glare on the glossy finish! It says Live, Laugh, Love, Dream, Hope, Imagine, and Create. The theme for their wedding was "Live, Laugh, Love".



Alternating sides of the table are blue with dots and green with flowers.

Each of the chairs has two colors that coordinate with the table. This is the top of the green chair. The edge of the chair's back is blue with white dots. It has hand painted flowers and vines on the green seat. I did not get a good picture of the other chair, but it has a pink seat similar to the one above and a green rimmed back with white dots.

This is the table and two chairs together ready for the tea party or for making many neat items in the future!

To go with the table and chairs, I also painted a rocking chair.

Here is a detail shot of the seat with her name and more flowers. The rungs are pink with white dots.

The back of the chair rungs are also pink with white dots and vines and flowers-which are hard to see in the photo so you will have to trust me.

I also took down the Nickel Dog Quilt I made for her a couple of months ago with some coordinating pillows!

Craftster Lap Quilt Swap Fall: Good Mail today!

I went out to the post box this morning and received my first completed block already back to me by sewhelpme. Our deadline for sending is October 1st. I can not believe she is so speedy! Plus, it is beautiful and check out the little matching notecard she made. I may have to try my hand at that.

I am horrible at squinting at the computer to see something up close, or getting within inches to try to see something. My eyes are pretty bad. I learned an awesome trick today, though. If you press ctrl on your computer, and then the plus or minus keys on the number pad, it will make everything on your screen bigger or smaller. I got a huge, well I think it is large, screen for my birthday because my husband was tired of walking by and seeing me with my face up to the screen, but I was still having trouble seeing somethings-especially if someone uses weird or small fonts on a blog. I can now see!!

Lap Quilt Swap: Fall Block for glittergirl94

Here is my newest block for the Lap Quilt Swap on craftster. It is for glittergirl94.

Lap Quilt Swap: Fall

kaishabackwards

I joined the newest round of the lap quilt swap over at Craftster.

Block for me using my fabrics

I had too much fun in the last two. It is such a neat way to see how different people interpret different fabrics and learn new techniques as well. Plus, it gives me a way to work with tons of fabrics that I might not generally choose.

Mommythemaid

I have decided to try to only use one block for everyone, that way I can see how different fabrics and color placement affects the way the block looks. Sort of a experiment in color and design that way. Here are the four blocks I have made so far.

Whoopdedoo_5

Isn't it interesting how different all the blocks look with the different color choices? I am so excited about all the blocks so far. Check out some of the ones that have been made for me!

Athenamat's block and Ritapizza's

Bathroom Remodel Update 2

Here are some recent pictures, without accessories, of the bathroom model update. It really has come a long way from where it was last month.





Still in the works is a curtain for the window, new blinds, a curtain for the top shelf, pretty linens, and a rug.

Free Fabric and a Quilt Contest

I am sure that none of the people who read this blog could possibly need beautiful fabric or a free quilt. Right? So, since you don't need it you really shouldn't go by and enter. Unless you want to give it to me. Why? Because of your undying affection for me, of course.

So, if you are wanting to help me out, go by these places and check it out! Of course, I will be expecting a call from you if you win.

Old Red Barn Co.


Fabric!
http://www.craftygiveaways.com/

The fabric is gorgeous!

Star Quilt A Long Week 10 and Layout

I am almost done with the Star Quilt A Long! Above is Week 10. I had a problem with the point on the left. I don't know why that one turned out so close to the edge and the rest did not.

Here it is laid out on the floor. I am missing Week 13's star (which appears next Monday) it will be yellow and blue. I am also missing parts of two of the setting blocks. If you look in the top row, you can see where I messed up! I somehow assembled that block weird, so I have to go back and finish it. Between each of the blocks will be a 12.5 inch solid border with another brown square in all the corners. Almost there!

Star Quilt A Long Weeks 11 and 12

Week 11!

Week 12!

I finished weeks 11 and 12 today of crazymomquilts' star quilt along today. I am slowly working on the setting blocks (8/12 are finished) and I have not finished week 10 yet. I am almost there!

Postage Stamp Quilt Progress!

I have been slowly working on my postage stamp quilt for a long time. I think since March. Here is my status. 2200 squares that are 1" square sewn together- 400 red, 700 blue, 400 green, 400 red, 300 purple, 300 yellow, and 100 orange. I want 5 10x10 squares of each color. I am pretty close to adding another purple, red and green-maybe yellow. Orange has been really hard collecting. I am considering not including the oranges because I still need 350 more orange squares.
They look pretty neat though!

Look who got a hair cut today....

I normally wouldn't have posted a picture of Gigi's new do, but Natalie commented on how hairy she was and I had already bathed and clipped her today! I was a little worried she couldn't see after seeing her in the photo before so she got a homemade haircut. I am not very good at it, but she is clean. Yes, the muzzle is quite necessary because she hates getting trimmed and she really hates baths and she will bite. She looks pretty funny doesn't she when she is wet.


Here is her "I am such a sweet dog" pose. She is lying but I love her anyway.

Craftster Lap Quilt Swap Top is Pieced!

For the last couple of months, I have been involved in a online quilting guild on Craftster.org. We have been making and exchanging blocks for each other using each others fabrics. I have tried to post all the different blocks I made for the other members of our group on here, but I have not been very good at posting the blocks that were made for me! Anyway, I have pieced together 20/24 of the blocks into a top! I am going to use the other 4 for a baby quilt in the future.I had some help with the piecing by Gigi...

All of the blocks I made for the swap!

I signed up for the next round and these are the fabrics that were mailed off yesterday! These were gathered in Mobile and in Denver. I sent 7 of the fabrics to each person in the swap.

Baby Quilts!

We went on vacation over the July 4th weekend to Mobile and to Birmingham. While we were in Mobile we saw Tom Waites, stayed with my husband's parents, went to Dauphin Island to see friends from New Orleans and Birmingham, and had a great 4th of July with relatives. We went to Birmingham and saw my parents and went to a wedding of a friend of mine from high school. The wedding was beautiful and it was awesome to see old friends. We also got to see Nat in her new cool house in Southside. We also went by to see a new baby, Charlie, and dropped off baby presents. I do have some pictures to share, but today I want to share the two baby quilts I made over the last couple of weeks.


The quilt above is for little baby Charlie. I used this tutorial over at the PurlBee for the front. I like how it reminds me of Charlie Brown and how the colors turned out together too. I was originally inspired by this quilt over at Tallgrass Prairie Studio and have seen other cute quilts like this one that made me want to try it too. I decided to piece the backing together instead of using a solid piece and I am really glad that I did. I think I like the back as much as the front.

I started this quilt at the beginning of June and had the top pieced together. I just managed to finish backing it and quilting it before we left for the 4th. It is going or has gone to my cousins' new little girl Mary Laslie in Birmingham. I am not sure if she has received it yet because I left it with my mom to deliver it to her. We did not, unfortunately, have time to hand deliver it.

I quilted it following the diamond shape, which I really like. The final border was my first attempt at free motion quilting which was a lot of fun. While I was at my mom's we added my initials and the date on her fancy sewing machine. I took a picture, but I can't find it now... It looks really neat.