Jessie's Horse Quilt part deux :D

I have almost finished the top of Jessie's quilt tonight, I just need to add the border to it. I don't want to tonight though. I need to go to bed now. I say this every night at 11:00 don't I? A pattern I am developing I see. I doubt it'll last too much longer :) I like how it's turned out so far. I am not a huge fan of the pre-printed panels, but Jessie just loves them, so I think I made it look nice (I am picky).

This was an easy one to put together with the big borders and panels, and nine patch blocks. I had fun cutting out the saddles and everything. They are so cute.

Good night everyone!

Need to sleep... too much sewing...

I am a zombie, I have to stop! I always stay up way too late doing these quilts, it's so fun though, I can't help it! :O

I bought more fabric today *sheepish grin*, it was so pretty. Here it is, I plan to make a yellow brick road quilt out of it.

I cut square tonight, lots of them. I was going to use the Autumn Sway quilt block, but decided I would do a pinwheel quilt instead with them. I wanted to really show off the fabric, and I think that pattern will be fun. Plus I've never done one before, and have always liked them. Better now than never! Here are my blocks...

Thank you so much for your kind comments! It keeps me motivated to keep on truckin'. Okay, goodnight everyone!

The Top of Carpenter's Star DONE!

*this is me happy dancing around* well, trying to, my back is killing me after bending over for so long pinning the borders around it, but it's DONE! I would say this quilt took me a total of 8 hours to complete. That is nothing compared to time spent on all of the others I've made (not like that's a lot) but still, I am very happy :D :D :D Okay, here are the pictures I know you all want to see.

Here it is, all done :D

Close up of center:

Close up of Border:

I really am satisfied with the fabric on this, it is all something I love, and I just can't stop looking at it... okay...

Cross stitching! In between kiddie movies this past week and weekend, I finished up the Shepherd's Bush freebie: Be happy. It still needs the buttons, so I'll need to go to the LNS.

Also, I joined a RR on the Jayne's Attic board, and here is the start of my part, before I send it off to Iceland. I have to have it done by Feb. 19th. No problem :) It is Autumn Winds by The Prairie Schooler.

Things about me :)

Snagged from Wendy’s Journal :)

Each player of the game starts with "6 Weird Things about You" People who get tagged need to write in their blog 6 weird things, as well as state the rule clearly. In the end you have to choose 6 more people to be tagged and their names.

Six weird things that you didn't know about me...

1. I always have an agenda, whenever we go somewhere, I always have somewhere else nearby I need to go to, I always have to have this pre-planned in my head. It drives my husband crazy, and me too sometimes. At least I am never bored!

2. Wendy, you and I have this in common, singing as loud as I can to loud music in my car. Me, particularly in the mornings driving to work. Usually it is my rock music, it wakes me up and puts me in a good mood. I have a very bad voice, but I like to sing :)

3. I love old cars, and hot rods. In fact, my husband painted flames on my PT Cruiser. I love it.

4. Whenever I sit down, I have to be reading something, or cross stitching. Basically something to keep my hands and mind busy. I can’t sit down to relax, it’s rather annoying.

5. I have too many hobbies, and I love starting new ones, I love learning new things. Which means I have boxes full of random, various hobby projects. My main ones now are cross stitching and quilting, but there is painting, drawing, card making, scrapbooking, jewelry making (new one!), reading, and it could go on and on. Anyway, I still love all of these things, and just can’t do them all at once. I sit at work a lot and think about doing them all, and not wanting to be at work… ah well, gotta pay the bills.

6. I want to own a horse boarding facility some day, where everyone comes to ride horses and enjoy them. I would love that.

And I'll tag whoever reads this and wants to play along. Just let me know so I can visit your blog and learn a little more about you too!

Jessie's Horse Quilt

I LOVE horses, and have passed this onto my 4 year old daughter Jessie, who is just as obsessed as I am :D Yay! So, while I was visiting my husband's family in September I got to go to a lot of quilt shops, because my MIL loves to quilt like me. Well, I found horse fabric, so I bought... a lot of it. How could I not? Anyway, I came up with a simple quilt design for this fabric. It'll be a twin size for Jessie's bed, and it will be chalk full of horses!

Here is the design: It'll use 6 solid blocks (I have 12" panels with a horse on them), and 6 nine patch blocks.

Here is the 9 patch block:

And here are the solid panels, there are two designs.

This is the border, the blue and brown, the brown horse fabric will be the back of the quilt.

Isn't it so cute? Jessie will just adore it. If I don't steal it that is :D I plan on giving it to her for her birthday in April.

Exchange Received!

I found out today the exchange I am in for Valentine’s Day on the USEBB was received by Marie! So, here it is:

F is for Friend by The Prairie Schooler, finished as a wall hanging (I am on a roll with these)


She loved it, and said it matches her home too, woohoo! I am so glad to hear that she liked it so much.

Carpenter's Star, 1/2 way there :D

Well, I must say my family is going to all leave me if I don't knock off this ridiculous amount of work I have been doing lately. I bought this fabric back in I think September... because I love Americana, nautical, boats, and this was all of that! So, I got the pattern Carpenter's Star, bought 8 fat quarters, and the border fabrics and it sat in my closet until now...

Here is the fabric:

The pattern:


I got all of my blocks cut, sewn, and cut into triangles, and then laid them all out. I did this in about 3 hours, it wasn't bad at all, I was impressed with how fast it came together. Here it is laid out:


Close up of star:


And this will be the border... I am thinking this will be a good wall hanging, it'll only be 70" x 70". I have a big wall it'll go on, that is if I decide it won't make a nice lap quilt. We'll see...

Here is my messy kitchen table... it has been taken over this past week. Do you like Spike? He's my cactus and keeps all hands off of my stuff :P My husband had him on his desk at work forever, now he's home and we don't know what to do with him. So he's my centerpiece for now.

The top is completely done :D

I completed the top of the quilt tonight! I added the borders to it, and now it's ready to be quilted. I think I am shipping it off to Virginia to a lady I've met online who quilts. We'll see if my parents are willing to pay to get that done. If not, I will "stitch in the ditch" on it. I hope they want it quilted, it's look so much nicer :)

Multnomah Falls & a few finishes...

Today was a nice day, we drove out to Hood River to visit some friends and stopped at Multnomah Falls on the way there, it's in the Columbia River Gorge, and it's just a beautiful HUGE waterfall. I didn't have any pictures of it in the winter time, so it was good photo op :)

The mist from the lower falls was getting my camera all wet, so I couldn't take as many shots as I wanted :P

Jessie wasn't too thrilled with getting her picture taken, we had to wake her from her nap. Poor princess! LOL :D

And as for cross stitching, I hear Carol got my biscornu for a PIF gift :D I am so glad she likes it! I have never made one before. I used a free pattern from Ink Circles, I had a lot of fun making it.

This is for the ornament SAL, it's the one by Country Cottage Needleworks, it turned out cute... now to make it into an ornament. That is for another day.

I am *almost* done with my quilt top, I have a little more border to add! Woohoo!

Oh me, Oh my

I have signed up for so many things, but I am just thrilled about it. I love doing exchanges. I just mailed off my Valentine exchange yesterday for the USEBB board. I also signed up to do the Spring Quaker Exchange on the USEBB as well. I have my design all picked out too… it will be cute. I haven’t really done anything too quaker-y :)

Let me see… I have been invited to join in a Neighborhood Round Robin, and I am really excited, but kind of nervous. After seeing the photos of previous RR’s, I don’t know how I can be so creative in coming up with these houses/gardens etc. I know I can do it, it’s just a little intimidating!

I also joined a RR on the Jayne’s Attic Board. I can’t do the Bent Creek Signs because there are 6 of us… so I changed it to The Prairie Schooler Winter Winds and Autumn Winds. I am dividing them up into 3 parts each. I started my Autumn Winds last night and must get it shipped off by mid February to Iceland! I’ve NEVER shipped anything overseas, so I need to figure that out. Anybody have tips for shipping overseas?

These are all running through my brain constantly, and I get a little overwhelmed, but then when I think about it, it’s not bad at all. I love it! Anybody else sign up for a million exchanges/PIF/SAL??? LOL!

All 80 blocks, complete!

Well, I bit the bullet tonight I sewed the 10 rows together, all 80 blocks are done! Now, to do the border. It's neat to look at, all of those rows.... makes my eyes crossed LOL! :D

I have had these two finishes that needed to be "finished"... that's how'd you say it right? So, this is Bees Buzzing by Shepherd's Bush finished into a wall hanging:

And this just needed the "hangers" sewn onto it to complete it. Snow Catchers by Fanci That:

Now to get some dowels and hang these up! I am a tired girl, I am going to bed now :D

I got my Photobucket account rearranged how I want it, my finishes by year. So, there are new links on the side of my blog now. Some of my pictures may have disappeared because of this, so I’ll have to go back and see what links I need to fix. I also added my exchanges/RR/SAL I have joined…. Oh my, they added up fast LOL! I love it!

I like the idea of having the picture on the sidebar of “current projects” how do you do that? Email me if you feel up to helping me out on that :D oregonsurfers@gmail.com

In stitchy news, I worked another hour on my house ornament. It’s turning out cute. I think I can get it done tonight.

We have had 3” of snow today. It’s pretty unusual for here, but it is pretty! Let’s hope it doesn’t freeze up for my drive home.

Thank you SO MUCH for all of your wonderful, kind comments on my projects. It really makes me feel good to hear them. I am loving reading all of your blogs and seeing what work you do. It’s wonderful!

Sewing, sewing, sewing.... :D

My sewing machine is back, and I am a very happy girl. I got several “swaps” taken care of. I am doing a block birthday swap. Two of us are in January, so I had to get those made. I was in a mild panic not having my machine, I have never been late on a swap, I would have felt awful! I then finished the “From My Heart” Valentine exchange, it required a lot of sewing too. It looks fantastic. I’ll be mailing that this week. So I can post pictures of it soon.

I’ve been working on my mom’s quilt again. I got all 10 rows of 8 blocks completed, now to just sew the rows together and add the border. Here are 3 of the rows sewn together, isn’t it pretty? I stopped here last night, I was tired!

I have also started my ornament for the SAL group almost everyone has joined :D I wanted to get a head start, just because I felt like working on this piece. It’s from the JCS 2006 ornament magazine. It’s the little blue house with the sheep and pine tree. I can’t remember the name of it right off the bat. It’s cute though! A lot of people have done this one, and I just love it too. yes, the Canned Nuts at the cross stitch night was really nice. They gave us a small acorn kit, with a frame and everything, and lots of food. I enjoyed meeting some other stitchers and the kit is cute too. I think it was too expensive for what it was, and I don’t think I’ll be attending again. But it was a fun experience :)

My Sister Rocks!

Look at what my sister sent me for a "late" Christmas present. It's been on my wish list, so I am pretty excited :) It is a Dimensions Gold Kit called Thunder Ridge. I love horses, so I can't wait to start stitching this one! Thank you Nikki, I love you :D :D :D

My Wave Quilt Idea in Progress....

Since I get my machine back tomorrow, I’ve been fiddling with an idea that I’ve had in my head for a long long time. Ever since I discovered Batik fabrics. My husband and I are in love with the ocean. I saw Batik’s and just adore the greens and blues. I have slowly built up a collection of them, because I just can’t say no to them, and they are never the same. So I have this idea of an Ocean Waves quilt, not the traditional ones I have seen, though those are stunning. This will literally look like ocean waves. Since I don’t do appliqué, I drew up a block using squares and triangles that I think looks like a wave, and then I wanted to make a sun to put on top, like you are looking out at a sunrise… or sunset…

I want to make it a queen size for my bed, and have big blocks (21.5” Square) 4 wide x 4 long with strips between each block to separate them. This is so hard to explain (I am not good at explaining anyway) I did some blocks up on AutoCAD, and then printed them and traced the block pattern… I am bored at work okay? :D Tell me if I am crazy, or if the wave is ugly, or whatever. Opinions are good.

Here is the layout. Imagine a 2” strip of coordinating fabric between all of these blocks.
The sun would be on top, then two rows of waves, and then a beach/sand row on the bottom.

Here is what I picture the sun layout as, using all different kinds of yellow & orange batiks. I think a sky blue would look good as a background for this row.

Here is the wave, picture this in all different kinds of green/blue batiks.

What do you think would be a good background for this wave block? A lighter blue? A white, like waves crashing? or a deep green like the depths of the sea?

So this is my idea, I love the idea of it, but would it look good, or bad?? Hmmmm…..

Canned Nuts at the LNS :)

Well, I have been a stitching fool this month, I don’t think I’ve ever completed so many projects in one month before :) I am officially addicted, and I submit to it ^_^

Saturday night is the big night (Canned Nuts) at the LNS (local needlework shop), and I am so excited to go. I have never been to one of their gatherings before. The LNS near me is called Acorns & Threads, and they are so good to me when I go there. Anyway, it’s $48.00 to attend from 6:00 pm to Midnight. They feed you and give you a kit, and you can shop, stitch, talk, etc. the whole time. To me, this sounds so fabulous! I asked what the kit was, and was told it is a surprise, only the owner knows :) I coerced my neighbor into coming with me, she loves stitching too of course. I am so lucky to have a stitching neighbor, we are always swapping patterns and ideas and blabbing about it. It’s great.

I finished a PIF gift last night, and so when the lucky lady gets it I’ll post a picture for you. I also joined a Round Robin on the Jayne’s Attic Board, I am looking forward to that. It seems most of the ladies there are in the UK, so it’s going to be fun getting to know all of them. I’ve never done a RR before, so this will be all new to me. I think I am going to do the Bent Creek “Signs” The summer one is below, they are so cute, I saw them all stitched together at an LNS, and thought it was really nice. So... hopefully it'll work out this can be my RR.
Cindy, my poor mermaids have been very neglected. I plan on picking them up tonight to give them some love :) There are so many exchanges going on right now, I got side tracked. Those small projects are nice for instant gratification, and my 5 second attention span.

January Snows... it better not!

Yay, a finish :) Well, one block for this anyway. Here it is: January Snows. I need to find buttons for this guy. I decided I will use buttons instead of snaps. That is, if I can find ones I like :)

My pictures aren't looking the same on blogger as they do in Photoshop, is it really grainy/blotchy to you? Hmmmm....

New start...

I started another project today, this really isn't like me, but I couldn't help it :) I started the Bent Creek Snappers, I thought I could do one per month, if I can keep up with it, then I'll have a nice pretty project done at the end of the year. Here's to hoping :D I got the border done and started on the snowman. I am doing them horizontal all of the way across. The piece of linen I bought from Silverneedle is so long, I think they gave me plenty of extra. I really like this project, I think it's adorable :)

Framed it :)

Well, I am sure you are all sick of seeing this little apple, but I found the perfect frame for it, so here, you get to see it again! And this'll be the last time I promise ;) I stitched my initials in the corner, and my husband is like "uh, it's 2007"... crap! I put '06 on it, so what only by a few days! :D

I also finished the stitching for an exchange I am in, and it's fabulous! I love it. Now to make it into something. I wish I could show you :( I am never good at surprises, but I'll behave myself.