September has come

School has started! Ignore me in this photo, I wasn't ready yet...

Grandma visited, and we had a wonderful time.Mark and I have been married for 10 years now, woohoo! We will be going on a trip next month, more details later...

Life is good. Fall is "in the air" right? I am ignoring it, and pretending it's July right now. We have more visitors coming, Mark's brother Mike and my sister Nikki with her baby Lily.

I managed to get the little red & yellow baby quilt done. I am calling this the surfing quilt, the red and yellow fabrics have little stick surfer dudes all over them. I was a good girl and used up even more stash. I pieced some left over flannels for the back, even the batting was pieced from odds and ends. Here it is out of the washer and all ready to use!

The Winter White Schnibbles has begun, and it'll be so cute. Jessie has dibs on it, she likes the snowmen. I start teaching the quilting class at church in a few weeks, and I can't wait for that. I love getting even more people addicted to quilting, it's my favorite thing to do.

On Labor Day we did a last minute trip to Indian Beach, our favorite beach around here. It was a beautiful day. We went with our awesome friends, all of the kids had a blast. Summer, I'm going to miss you!

Well, I managed to get the baby quilt top done, now I need to baste it and quilt it. Isn’t it fun? There were remnant pieces of flannel in my stash from other quilt backings, I pieced them together for the back of it, I am using up stash, check me out!
A Year of Schnibbles is beginning this month. They gave us our pattern, Winter White. I don’t have it, so it’s on order to be here soon. I dug through my stash, and found these charm packs, Let it Snow, Let it Snow. I think they’ll look adorable with this pattern. Further digging in my stash produced the white sashing (with snowflakes!), and some other yardage for binding and backing. Who needs to go to a quilt shop, when I have one in my bedroom? Sheesh. Can’t wait to get started. I found at least 5 other sets of charm packs in my stash for future Schnibbles, I am set for at least 6 of the 12 LOL!

In other news, school starts on Tuesday the 8th. When did summer end? I know many of your kids have already started. We didn’t get out of school until mid-June. It was such an awesome summer, I am in denial it’s over.
My Grandma is visiting me from Nevada, it’s just FUN having her here. She will be 80 next year, and I told her I want to grow up to be just like her when I am 80. She is wonderful! Off I go, you all have a great day.

A Year of Schnibbles

So I was innocently reading Carrie's blog La Vie en Rosie this morning, and saw her mention "A Year of Schnibbles" You all know I love all those little Schnibbles quilts, and so I clicked the link, knowing I was going to be in trouble :)

I found Sherrie at A Quilting Life, and Sinta at Pink Pincushion, which are both new to me bloggers. They decided it'd be fun to do a Schnibble pattern a month, for a year. Oh my gosh, that is so awesome! I signed up of course because September isn't going to be busy enough for me, with school starting. I couldn't not do it. It is too fun!

Here are the 4 Schnibbles I have done so far. The first one is Short Story, using a Shangri-La and Roman Holiday charm pack.
The second one I made was Gentle Art, using an April Cornell charm pack.
And the third one I made was X-Rated using the Neptune charmpack by Tula Pink.
This is the Gazebo pattern using Flutterby fabric by Tula Pink.
So, who else is in? Come on, you know you want to!

I have been loving the new patterns from Heather Mulder Peterson, of Anka's Treasures. She makes the most beautiful quilts. She is having a blogaversary giveaway, you must go and see what she is giving as the prize, Holy Guacamole!!!

Another quilt, done!

Another quilt done, alright! I just needed to add the binding to it. This quilt is for Jessie's room, and I am making another one just like it. I got the pattern from CrazyMomQuilts, she was so kind to write it out for everyone. Thank you :) I like how it turned out. I used all Heather Bailey fabrics, and it's so happy and bright.

Last week we went to a local amusement park here in Portland, called Oaks Park. Our company has a picnic here every summer. This was the most flattering photo of myself I could find!
Our pumpkins are growing big this year! We planted seeds last year to grow "giant" pumpkins, and nothing grew, but this year... I think those seeds germinated all winter, because we have a giant one now!

I made myself a sewing machine cover last night, it gets so dusty sitting out all of the time. Isn't this fabric awesome?! I think it is :)

This cute little guy is Finn, my cousin's 7 month old boy. I almost kept him, he was such a doll!

And lastly but not leastly, this is a new baby quilt I am working on for my husband's friend. Bright and cute, gotta love it!

It's baby time

I received an invite to a baby shower two weeks ago. It's a double baby shower... and last Saturday I decided that I was going to make them both a quilt. As the week went on, I realized I bit off more than I could chew, but I perservered, and finished them both! Woo!

The fabric I used was in my stash, and you guys, the more I dug around in it, the more I realized I have so much, and don't need more. Even though that doesn't stop me :)

Hailey is having a boy, and I found these bright prints. The lighthouses are by Jim Shore, they are so cute! They look like they have quilt patterns on them. I like this quilt, it's pretty big, but that means they can use it for a long time. I pieced the back with all of the leftover fabric, yay!

I did a meandering stipple quilting on it.
And Lisa is having a girl. I found lots of baby print fat quarters in my fat quarter tub, and ironed them out. I think I've had some of them for four years or more, it's about time I used them. I made a coin quilt, by strip piecing. It went really fast. The white fabric strips are flannel.

I also used the left over strips to make the binding :) Gotta love it.

I've been busy getting school supplies, clothes, having fun with my cousin and his family, sewing, and everything in between. I really love summer, but I'm getting pretty exhausted :D Tonight I am having several girlfriends over for a sewing party, I can't wait.

Now, off to the baby shower.

Another block done :)

Hi everyone, how are you doing on this hot sweltering day of July?? In case you couldn't tell, I am hot, the weather here has reached record highs, as in 107 degrees plus some humidity. We Oregonians are not used to such hot weather, and so we are confused. Anyway, our week has been great because we have been outdoors in water and staying cool. We have been to the rivers, oceans and our pool to stay cool, and boy, I love it!

I managed to finish another block on Shores of Hawk Run, awesome right?! I did the moon block. The moon is cool, it's like a patchwork moon, I love it. And I love the saying on it too.

Look how honkin' huge this piece is! I can't believe how big it's turning out.

Well, no sewing has been happening due to my house being a furnace, I bet I could make brownie batter, set it on the counter and it'd bake. Holy cow! So, my sewing machine is put away for now. I did get the blocks cut out for Jessie's second quilt, so there was a bit of progress.

I did read the book Cold Mountain (it helped me cool off in this heat) and I really enjoyed it, and will never complain about how hard my life is again, seriously! The hard lives people had in the 1800's is stunning, I can't even imagine living back then... I am going to see the movie now.

I must go, friends are coming over to swim, and tomorrow my cousin and his family are visiting for a week! I gotta get my house clean for them :) Enjoy your week my friends!!

Decorating Jessie's room

Quilt #1 is done being quilted as of last weekend (yes!). I need to bind it and start on the next quilt, which will be pretty much the exact same thing. I've got lots of things bouncing around my head right now, so I'm going to write them out here, your help is needed :)

Question: How in the heck do I paint furniture... the correct way?

Answer: I Googled it of couse!

Here was my favorite tutorial I found, and look at her blog, so pretty! RomanticHome

And another good one: YoungHouseLove

Now, I need to get to the store this weekend for supplies. It's going to be a lot of work, there are several pieces of furniture to paint. Work does not scare me! :) I have decided to paint the furniture a soft white.

Question: What COLOR do I paint the bedroom? I am thinking a soft butter yellow. I can't get on board with a tan/nuetral beige color for the room. The ceilings are vaulted, and so anything dark or vibrant it out. What do you think?

Question: I want lots of pillows, for her bunk beds and for the floor, for a reading corner.

Answer: I plan on making some, but I found these two cute ones on Overstock.com this weekend, what do you think?

Hello, peacock pillow, yes please!You guys, this is way too much fun!! Why didn't I start sooner??? Feel free to send me ideas, I'd love to hear them. Any cute wall art you can think of? Light fixtures? Throw Pillows? Wall Colors? Help!

Shores of Hawk Run Hollow Progresses

I did it, the big ship block in the middle is done. *Happy Dance!* I am happy with how Shores of Hawk Run Hollow is turning out. I still have 6 more squares to stitch, but I am okay with that. I am stitching this on a 32 count linen using DMC threads. I am glad I am using DMC because it seems I have to go to JoAnn’s a lot to pick up extra skeins of one color or another. This uses a lot of thread!
The Sisters Quilt show in Sisters, Oregon was going on last week. Sisters is about 3 hours from my house. For the past few years I have been really wanting to go, but could never make it work. Well, next year I am going. My boss has a vacation home close to Sisters and I reserved it for a long weekend next year! I am so excited about it. My friend Colleen was able to go this year, and she really enjoyed it. We are going to make sure we get up there next year.

The reason why I didn’t go this weekend was because my son Curren was baptized! He is such a good kid, I am proud of him. After his baptism we had close friends come to our house to have dinner and swim. Saturday was a great day for us.

Vonna, the awesome stitching fiend, recently posted a tutorial on how to frame a cross stitch. She is so awesome at tutorials. Thanks Vonna! I went to Michaels the other day and acquired all of the materials to do this, and will re-frame my Sunflower House finish. It’s embarrassingly bad, I will now correct that big mistake. I have a few more I’d like to frame sometime too, this is great!

My sister in law Stephanie is in town this week with her two boys Brigham and Porter. They are so much fun. Not a lot will be getting done this week, except playing! We are going to the Portland Zoo on Wednesday.

I have not sewed in about 3 weeks! I am having some serious withdrawls here. Due to having company, and being away for long weekends I’ve had no time. I have big plans in the upcoming weeks. Jessie’s room will have a makeover! I’ve slowly been buying new decorations, and figuring out how I want to paint her furniture (I think all white). Curtains have been purchased so I can re-make them into something I want, a quilt has been basted and needs quilting now. And so on and so forth :)

Lots going on over here, life is good!

My first quilt.

I have been reading several blogs over the past few days, and they are posting their very first quilt. Camille and Carrie are doing a little giveaway for those who are posting, so I thought I’d join in. I want to add I made a baby quilt before I did this one, but don’t have a photo of it. I made this for my sister when she got married. I had fun making it, and as always, I make everything big the first time I try anything.
And the latest “big” quilt I finished was American Pie, all red and white fabrics. By the way, I am in love with this quilt.
I have learned many things in the 5 years I’ve been quilting. A ¼” seam is crucial, take your time choosing your fabrics, buy GOOD quality fabrics that you know will stand the test of time (and kids). I love quilting, it’s good therapy for me, plus I love giving people quilts I make, they always love them, and it makes me feel good to give them something so heartfelt.

Also… Judi over at Green Fairy Quilts is having a very awesome giveaway. Go see her beautiful quilting!

4th of July Weekend

I hope you all had a great weekend! We did, but we are still trying to recover. It was just way too much fun. We left our house on Thursday afternoon to go see our friends in Anacortes, Washington. On Friday we got on the ferry to the San Juan Islands. The island we visited was Orcas Island. Have any of you been up there? It was just beautiful. We had a good time driving around and seeing the view. It was incredible. We didn’t see any whales, but a dolphin popped his head up to check us out. Friday night we stayed up late to catch shrimp. We headed down to the boat docks loaded up with nets and flash lights. The kids had so much fun shining the lights along the water and looking for shrimp. Saturday we went to a really fun parade in the downtown of Anacortes. We did some shopping, and then went over to go on our friend’s boat for some tubing and crabbing. Mark and Matthew had to jump off of the boat of course :) The fireworks that night were really pretty, they put a big barge out in the harbor and shoot them off, the house our friends have overlooks the harbor, so we had a good view. This is why I love the 4th of July! It’s always such a great day.

I promised pictures of Shores of Hawk Run Hollow. I finished that big ship! It is looking so pretty. I enjoy this one. Now to stitch a dolphin, anchor and compass. Well, back to reality. Curren has cub scout day camp all week, and we have more family coming next week. The fun continues at our house! Thank you all for visiting my little blog, it means a lot to me. See you again soon.

I heart Oregon

It’s July?!? What?! What are you all up to? I hope you are having lots of fun this summer. The weather has turned warmer here, and I am happy. It was 95 yesterday, and it is supposed to remain that way through the weekend. I can’t wait for the 4th of July, it is my favorite holiday.

We had a wonderful week, Mark’s mom, dad and sister came to visit us for 5 days. We showed them all around our beautiful state of Oregon. There is so much to see and do here, it is hard to pick just a few things. They have been here before, so they knew what they wanted to see. We took them to the Columbia River Gorge, beautiful scenic drive looking over the huge Columbia river.
Jessie is confused, she can't see out of the telescope!!We took them to the Tillamook Cheese Factory. Yum!
Of course the beach had to be visited, so we drove up through Cannon Beach to have some lunch and then went to Astoria. By the way, you Goonie movie fans… we stopped at the Goonie house and Curren even did the Truffle Shuffle! Love it!
And the Rose Gardens were a must see for us girls. The boys stayed home and hung out in the garage. Too bad for them. Don’t they know you are supposed to slow down and smell the roses?? My sister in law Emily and I made a flag cake, we used the recipe from Pioneer Woman. It was divine, you must make it. Though, you’ll gain a few pounds just by looking at it. The frosting was pure butter and cream cheese. Go and make one right now!
There was so much to do, and so much to talk about. Mark’s mom was in the car with me during the drives and it was great to catch up and talk to her. I get along with her so well. She is doing so much better. Last year at this time she suffered a very bad heart attack. We are so happy to have her with us. She is a cross stitcher and quilter too, so we got to go shopping! I love having shopping buddies.
I don’t have much to show you for quilting or stitching. I have been working on Shores of Hawk Run Hollow again though. I am about half way done with the big center block with the ship. I hope to work on it more this weekend. I’ll post photos next week of it.

So, when are you all coming to visit? I hope I’ve convinced you that Portland is a fun place to see. My fellow Americans, enjoy Saturday and celebrate our freedoms, we are so blessed to live in the United States of America. Love to all!