Jayne's Attic Round Robin is home! (and a lot of other stuff)

I saw this quilt in a shop Undercover Quilts in Seattle, isn't it beautiful???

This is a view of the Olympic Mountains near Seattle, it's a 5 minute drive from my cousin's house to see this, it was gorgeous!

Mark picked the big sunflower to dry it out, look at that thing, Curren could barely hold it up!

You know after you have company over for a long period of time, when they leave it takes awhile to get your steam back? I am just exhausted! LOL! I need to have another vacation to recuperate. It was not like I did a whole lot while they were here, you just are thrown off of your normal routine. So the past couple of night I haven’t done one thing. I’ve been nursing a cold too, but that will be better soon. But that isn’t helping me get back to normal either ;)

I’d been working away on Debby’s NRR the past couple of weeks. I like this so far, it has been a challenge to find the time to sit and work on it this month, with my company and school starting and stuff. I will add a gate and some flowers to the right side of the house and a few animals in the front yard. I used a house from a Prairie Schooler chart, and the quilts and tree are from the LHN: Quilt time sampler chart. She said she wanted a country theme and what we’d like in our country house. Well quilts sound awful good to me :)

Also, I have received my Round Robin back from it’s trip across the globe. It went everywhere! Iceland, Europe, and the USA. What a lot of fun it was! It was through the Jayne’s Attic BB. Everyone over there is so sweet if you ever have the chance to meet them. I had them all stitch two Prairie Schooler charts, Autumn Leaves and Winter Winds on a piece of white linen. I think I’ll turn them both into flatfolds so I can display them easily. The stitching on them is beautiful. Thank you to all of you who stitched on this.

Dusty was who mailed to me each time. Her DH had to undergo surgery during the time she had my chart. I told her to take her time with it, and not to worry about stitching on it. She was so sweet to me, and included a beautiful chart by Keslyn’s. It is called “Smile” She even included the threads for it. I was very pleasantly surprised to find that in the package, what a sweetheart. Thank you Dusty!

My husband’s birthday was yesterday, we got him some new wetsuit boots and gloves, and a new shirt. He was happy for that! I also made him chocolate cake, yum :)

I am sorry I haven’t been doing very well about leaving comments, between work, being sick, and all of that I have just been reading your blogs (I am addicted!) I’ll be better to you all though. Thank you for taking the time to stop by and visit! This was a long post, I have so much to talk about LOL!

Remember

I have been thinking a lot about what happened today on September 11, 2001. I remember that day perfectly. I want to just say that I am sorry for those who lost friends and family to this tragic event. My heart and thoughts are with you today. I hope we can all remember to love one another, and be there for each other. <3

Keeping busy with a lot of good stuff!

Well my vacation is coming to an end, tomorrow I have to wake up and drop off my mom and sister at the airport and head back to work. I had a really nice vacation and am sad to have it end. I am glad that we had this time to hang out and catch up.

We went to Seattle all of last weekend, I had a great time! The weather was amazing, and it was fun wandering the shops at Pike Place Market. I even found a quilt shop in there LOL! It was a nice one too. I was glad we got to go there.

My sister got bit by the quilting bug, so I'll show you what she's been working on while she has been here. She is doing a log cabin out of batiks. She chose really beautiful colors, here is one block of 120. She has a lot more to go :) She's almost done cutting all of the strips out though, so just a lot of sewing and ironing ahead.

I bought her this kit for her birthday, and had her cut and piece the top of this, I quilted it and sewed the binding around it, she is in charge of finishing the binding :) It turned out pretty!

I've been working away too, I have Debby's NRR 1/2 way done, a picture will be coming soon I promise :) I also started a new Little House Needleworks chart called Berries while we were in Seattle. It is really cute. I plan on working on this at work now.

I started my Thimbleberries pumpkin quilt. I've been wanting to make this forever! I am so happy to start it now. I got my pumpkins pieced together, aren't they so cute? I changed the fabric to more vibrant colors, Thimbleberry patterns are very muted colors, and I am much brighter :D

I have been doing so many things, I have quilting and stitching A.D.D. now LOL! I can't work on any one thing for too long. I hope to finish Debby's NRR next so it's ready to go by the end of the month. Thank you for your comments on my Shepherd's Bush ornaments, I had a good time stitching them. I have a visit from frogs on them at the moment, so I put them down :P I'll get them done though. So, back to reality again, I'll be back soon :)

The Shepherd's Watched & Vacation :D :D

We got to ride horses again yay!!!

I was able to finish one of my Shepherd's Bush ornaments yesterday :) I like how it turned out. Once again I didn't use the recommended silver charm for it, I just stitched another sheep. I started the next one called The Wisemen Came.

Here are all 3 together, with the 4th started. I've been helping Nikki make a tablerunner, and her log cabin quilt. We went to Holly Hill quilt shop in West Linn yesterday and I bought some fabric to finish my Halloween Exchange and my Autumn Quaker exchange. I have them both finished up tonight, they are SO cute! My mom and sister are fighting over them LOL! I told them to join the exchanges :)

My kids are both in school now, mom is sad :( They are not babies anymore! They tell me that all of the time now. It is so much fun to see them growing up.

While the kids were in school, us girls went to the Portland Zoo. We had a fun day! My husband is taking the kids to his summer company picnic on Saturday at the zoo, so I don't feel too bad not having the kids with us there.

Thank you all for such sweet comments on wishing us a happy anniversary, you are all the best! Thank you!!!!!

8 years :)

September 4, 1999

Yesterday was my 8 year wedding anniversary to Mark! It is exciting. The time has gone by so fast! I am happy to say our relationship has only become more exciting and dynamic since the day we met. We went out to dinner at Newport Bay, a nice seafood restraunt and then went and saw the Harry Potter movie. I have been wanting to see that for the past two months, I am glad we finally saw it :) He surprised me with a pair of diamond earrings, what a sweetheart! I was so surprised.

A lot happened yesterday, it was also the first day of school here, and Curren had to get ready and go. He is in first grade this year. He was excited to meet his teacher. He had a really nice day, and I just got back from walking him to school. Jessie's first day is tomorrow for kindergarten. I'll get a picture of them then :D

My sister and I have been sewing up a storm! It has been so much fun to have somebody here with me quilting. I took her to Fabric Depot and she decided she wanted to make a log cabin for her first quilt. I told her it was simple, but there are a lot of pieces. So she picked out blue/green batiks and has to make 120 blocks! She's crazy :D I love it LOL! She's been cutting and cutting for two days straight. This is her first quilt, I am glad I can help her out.

I've been working on my grandma's log cabin. Here is one block finished, I've been making 72 of these, I'm about 1/2 way done now :D I am enjoying this quilt.

I've also been stitching, I have quite a bit done on Debby's NRR, and my two fall exchanges are stitched, I'm doing the finishing on them this week. Busy busy!

August Review, September Goals

August Goals

Stitch the August Bent Creek Snapper *yes*

Stitch a Shepherd’s Bush ornament for the SAL *almost finished one*

Put stitches in the Mermaids *no*

Put stitches in the Four Seasons *yes*

Get backing/batting prepared for wave quilt, and cousin’s quilt, and mail to the quilter *yes* Work on Grandma’s log cabin *yes*

Complete teal/brown Carpenter’s Star *yes, 8-25-07*

Buy batting and thread to finish log cabin, and complete this quilt. *got backing and batting, didn't finish*

Pick out chart to stitch for NRR *yes & started it*

Make another Carpenter’s Star, and finish. *no*

Work on my Block of the month quilt. *yes*

Make 2 birthday blocks *yes, made 3*

I can't believe I thought I'd finish 3 quilts this month HAHAHAHA! I must have a very high opinion of myself to think that :D

September Goals

Work on the Four Seasons

Finish 2 Shepherd's Bush Ornaments *yes*

Work on Grandma's Log Cabin

Stitch 2 Shepherd's Bush Ornaments

Finish Debby's NRR and mail it to Von at the end of the month. *yes*

Stitch September on the Bent Creek Snappers

I would like to make more goals, but I am not feeling ambitious at the moment LOL! :D

I've been having a great time with my family here. We went to the beach on Saturday, it was a lot of fun.


This is Tillamook Head Lighthouse, it is no longer in use, it looks kind of creepy huh? Anyway, it's pretty far out in the ocean, I really had to zoom in on it.
This is my little sister Nikki and I :D

I've been working on my grandma's log cabin quilt, and helping Nikki make a table runner. We have been enjoying our time together. Tomorrow we are making a trip to Fabric Depot, everything is 50% off! I need to get some fabric to finish my grandma's quilt top :) yay!

My last stash... for a long time! :P

Thank you all for your nice comments on my Grandma’s quilt. I am really excited to mail it to her. I think I will next week. Why wait any longer? I was going to give to her for Christmas, but I want her to enjoy it as long as she can. Plus I couldn’t wait that long anyway LOL!

I got my last stash for quite awhile now. I bought some charts from a lady named Wendy that I found on the Shepherd’s Bush BB. She doesn’t have a blog, so I emailed her asking what she had that she’d like to sell. Imagine how happy I was when her list was full of all of my favorite designers! :D I bought quite a few charts from her. She wanted some of my charts too, so we did a trade. I have so many charts anyway, I have really liked the small designs lately, and all of these are small :) I did this before I even thought about my cut back on stash buying, so I am officially not getting any more stash for quite awhile, I swear LOL!

Hinzeit: Americana, HIH: Liberty House Sampler, HIH: Pumpkins, HIH: Star Spangled Summer, HIH: A Pocket Full of Posies

HIH: Red House Sampler, HIH: Tall Tree Sampler, Shepherd’s bush: Spring Fob, HIH: Liberty, Ewe and Eye and Friends: Pumpkin Companion.

Wendy was so sweet, and made me a beaded fob! We both found out we love Americana charts, and she was so thoughtful. Doesn’t it match my scissors perfectly? I love it. Thank you again Wendy!

I went over to Colleen’s house to return her quilting frame. She is in charge of the quilting group at church and wanted me to help her come up with ideas for the quilt group in making seasonal items. We need to keep it very simple, most of the people are still pretty new to quilting. It was funny because I brought one of my Thimbleberries books with me, and she had the same one out and we picked the same things! You know, I don’t think I was much help because we thought of the exact same stuff LOL! We had fun talking and looking at all of her pretty stash. Tonight I go to the church for quilt group and will work on my block of the month quilt some more. I need to add the extra borders to it now.

I am about half way done with my Autumn Quaker exchange. I also have started Debby’s NRR. I don’t take that to work with me though, so I have been working on it for a bit at home in the evenings. I have found a good assortment of charts and am pulling designs from 3 of them for the block. I’ll take a picture when I get further along.

I have more visitors coming, my Grandma is here tomorrow and my sister on Friday. My posting will be sparse I think for a few weeks. I am taking all of next week off to spend time with them and to take my kids to school. I can’t wait!

Grandma Wagner's quilt is done :)

I hope you all had a nice weekend. It sure went by fast for me though :) What else is new though right? Weekends are never long enough. My husband was out of town to Connecticut for 3 days this week, luckily I had mom here to keep me company. I got quite a few things done this weekend, which was really great. I was happy that I did. I have felt like I've fallen behind since I was sick for a week this month. I gotta keep up my momentum!

This is Grandma W. with Jessie taken in 2005.

My Grandma W.'s quilt is completed as of last night! I am so proud of this quilt, because of who I am making it for. My Grandma is an amazing woman. She has worked hard her whole life. She has always sewn, and I grew up with her jumpers on, and her pillows and blankets. I was thinking of making quilts for my family and immediatley my Grandma W. came into my mind. I picked up the phone and called her sister, my Great Aunt Phyllis (who's next in line for a quilt) and started talking about Grandma. She said that she adores the teal color. I had already kitted up a Carpenter's Star quilt in the new Teal/Brown fabric lines you see out now. And knew that was to be for Grandma. I am so excited to be able to make her a nice quilt that I know she will appreciate and enjoy.

I used a nice flannel backing, and thick batting so it will keep her nice and warm.

Since this is nice and puffy, I knew it couldn't be quilted. So I borrowed Colleen's quilting frame to tie it. I fussed with the frame for a good hour and couldn't get my quilt tight enough. My mom kept commenting that a dime should be bounced off of it, and I couldn't bounce a cat off of it, so whatever :P I called Colleen, and she took a break from cleaning her garage to come and help me set it up. Within 20 minutes it was "like a trampoline!" in Jessie's words.

I finished tying it on Saturday night, and it's ready to mail off to Grandma in good old Wyoming!

I got some secret stitching done, my USEBB Halloween Exchange is completed now :) It turned out very cute.

Also I finished my Bent Creek August Snapper today. I liked this one... well of course I did it's red/white/blue and has a lighthouse! So cute.

It's getting too long to photograph all at once :)

Next in the stitching front will be Debby's NRR I got her pattern picked out, and my Autumn USEBB Quaker Exchange. I have some good ideas for the latter, can't wait to do it.

Welcome Colleen!

I want to welcome one of my good friends Colleen to the blogging world! She is such a sweetheart. I hope that you can go over and meet her, you’ll love her! She is a fellow quilter, and has taught me a lot. She has been teaching all of us at church every month how to make our blocks, and special tips and tricks she’s learned. I owe a lot to her for helping me along.

I had one last stash binge late last week, I did some chart trading with someone I met online, and so, I am looking forward to a package in the mail from her early next week. I cannot wait to get them. A lot of patriotic charts that I’ve been eyeing for awhile are in there. It worked out she wanted some of the charts I had already, so I didn’t have to pay much for the large bunch of them she sent me. Also Cindy, I received your charts in the mail yesterday, thank you for trading with me, I am loving the charts you sent :) And thanks for the bonus freebies, awesome!

Thank you everyone for your encouragement on my declaration of cutting back and being more reasonable. There has to be some point to where you have to stop and come to grips that you can’t buy everything. :) I like the idea of maybe getting a reward when I have 5 or 10 done, then maybe it won’t feel like it is so long. What about spending the money to get some of my big ones framed nicely when I finish them? I might do that. It’d be worth it for sure. Especially the Four Seasons. I know I can do this, and you helping me along is so wonderful.

Can you all see my new counter on the right side of my blog? You should all be able to see it now. I think it is really cool. I had to pay for it of course, but I like it! I can change it to show cities, states, towns… it can get really detailed. I like the countries though. I might change it from time to time just for fun.

Also, I changed my settings so that anybody can leave a comment here, not just blogger users. So if you are visiting without a blogger account, feel free to drop a line! I’d love to meet you :)

I’ll leave you with a picture of Curren, who was posing like a model for me at the beach on Saturday!

And here is Jessie getting cheesy for us all too :)

A post of purpose!

I have been doing pretty good lately about not buying a lot of stash. I say pretty good, that means I have only bought a small amount of stuff in the past month or so. I have plans to do better about not buying so much. I have been cleaning house, and in doing that realized how much I really have. I know that I can go through my stash and be happy for a long long time with things to do, and never have to buy more :P I know a lot of you out there are the same as me too! I saw awhile back the challenges to use up stash before you could buy anything else. I have decided I am going to do this. I have also thought ahead and will say I’ll buy items I need to finish something, like if I need a thread color or button, I can get that. I have enough charts to do any kind of exchange under the sun, so I don’t even need to buy a chart for exchanges either LOL! :D So, I am going to do a big challenge for myself, one list will be for quilting, and the other for cross stitching.

Finish 20 cross stitch projects before I can buy any more stash! I can’t believe I just typed that. These are projects for me, not exchanges or round robins.

Projects I’d like to finish (and believe me, I have everything to finish all of these):

1. The Four Seasons (currently WIP)
2. Mermaids of the Deep Blue – Mirabilia *done 10-10-07*
3. Old McMary’s Farm: The Workbasket (currently WIP)
4. Forest Snowfall: Little House Needleworks
5. Plum Threadpack: LHN
6. Berries Threadpack: LHN *done 10-6-07*
7. Pineapple Threadpack: LHN
8. Acorns Threadpack: LHN
9. Christmas Mosaic Ornament: M Designs
10. Bent Creek Snappers (currently WIP)
11. Shepherds Bush: Sail
12. Shepherd’s Bush: Christmas Ornament *done 9-7-07*
13. Shepherd’s Bush: Christmas Ornament *done 9-23-07*
14. Shepherd’s Bush: Christmas Ornament
15. Birds of a Feather: Bloom Where You are Planted
16. Shepherd’s Bush: Americana Needleroll
17. Shepherd’s Bush: A Mother’s Heart
18. Hinzeit: Dash Away All
19. Hillside Samplings: Bittersweet Farm (currently WIP)
20. Valentine Stitchery: The Cape (currently WIP)

Who knows, some of these may change, but for now this list looks pretty accurate for what I want to do soon. All of the big ones are pretty close to being completed too, so that is great! The current WIP must be completed for sure, no exceptions. Yes, I am trying to be hard on myself.

Finish 6 quilting projects before I can buy more fabrics. I will say right now, I will have one exception, and that is for the upcoming seasonal projects I will participate in with my church group. I will allow for that! Since I have no clue what we are even up to. My stash will have to be looked through first though :)

1. Grandma S. Log Cabin quilt (current WIP)
2. Grandma W. Carpenter’s Star Quilt *finished!!! 8-25-07*
3. My blue/yellow log cabin quilt (current WIP)
4. Cowboy Carpenter’s Star quilt
5. Aunt Phyllis Carpenter’s Star quilt
6. Thimbleberries Pumpkin Quilt (currently WIP)

Two of these are almost done, just have to tie them and bind them up!

I am so bad about being an impulse buyer. The internet has made it 300 times worse for me too! You just click and buy, you don’t even have to leave the house. I know I am not that bad either, some of you are worse than me LOL! And I am not trying to make anyone feel bad because most of the time when I see others get their lovely charts and fabrics, I want to do that too! :D Anyway, is anybody else doing this at all? If so, I’d like some good advice on how you do it, and how you stay motivated to do it. Other than saving enough money for retirement!

Thanks for your comments on my sunflowers! And my mom coming, you are all too sweet :) I don’t know what I ever did to earn such nice friends through this blogging world. My mom made it safe and sound and is home with the kids being a grandma! I talked to her today (I am at work) and she said the neighbor kids have been over playing and she is having fun with them all.

I was asked what kind of camera I have, it is a Kodak Z740. I’ve had it for over 3 years now and am still in love with it. It has been the best camera, it can take really nice photos, and long video too. I have been trying harder lately to take nice photographs of my work, and of the flowers in my yard. I have fun experimenting with the close up feature. I don’t know much about lighting and all of that, but I just kind of wing it you know? Photoshop helps me lighten photos too :P So sometimes I cheat a bit.

Well if you actually read all of that, kudos to you! I was in a writing mood today! LOL! I just had it in my mind to start this task of getting things completed.

Mom is almost here, and Sunflowers :)

Hello everyone! I have been prepping my house for the arrival of my fabulous mother. I can’t wait for her to get here. We will be picking her up from the airport tonight. The past two nights have consisted of cleaning. A lot of my old fashioned elbow grease was used! My house looks like new. I love that feeling. So, I am giving it about 3 days to stay that way, then it’ll be back to normal, and my mom can see how we all really live. Isn’t that the truth of it huh?

I have been de-cluttering the house for the past few weeks too, so there is a big improvement. My increasing amount of cross stitch and quilting stash has left me in a pickle though! What to do with it all? I have been trying to fold all of the fabric nice, so it isn’t a huge mess, but I have quite a bit of it now, and not really any place to store it together. I have a few Rubbermaid Tubs, and drawers stuffed with it! So, what do I do? Suggestions please! I have a closet in the spare bedroom I could use, just need to come up with a good plan for it all. I have been good and put all of my upcoming projects in individual ziplock bags, so that is handy. I have organized my quilting/stitching bits and pieces in a plastic storage dresser. It’s the fabric….

I have been stitching on my USEBB Halloween exchange, it will be very cute. Otherwise, nothing new to report, just a clean house :)

I put a counter on my blog, just to see how many visitors I have, and it has been 10 days, well I’ve had over 500 visitors! That has shocked me! Wow! So hello there everyone, don’t be shy about leaving a comment, I love to meet new people.

Just because everyone needs an extra few inches around their waste, I wanted to share this recipe I found on a blog, called The Best Chocolate Sheet Cake Ever. And you know what? IT IS! Go and make it now, you won't regret it.

My sunflowers finally bloomed. I've never grown them before, and they are magnificent, and so tall, over 10'! Here are some pictures of them. The bees love them too! This is a big ol' bumble bee enjoying it along with me.

This girl is at least 15" in diameter, awesome! :D

And my Canna Lily is so pretty, it has these bright orange flowers and striped leaves. I love it.

Stars & Stripes

Thank you so much for your kind comments on my blocks! It helps to hear those :D I have been feeling much better this weekend, finally. I have just been a bit off all of last week, it was really weird. I was not in the mood to do anything, not even stitch! That is so not good for me. Now I feel like I have a lot of catching up to do :)

My mom comes to visit on Tuesday, she'll be here for 3 weeks. I have been doing a lot of de-cluttering around here, loads of stuff in the trash, and to the Goodwill :) It feels good! I borrowed our cousin's carpet cleaner, so hopefully we can do that soon too. Yay, a clean house!

I have been working on Little House Needleworks: Stars & Stripes since the beginning of the month at work. I finally just finished it yesterday when we were coming home from the beach. I think it'll be finished as a wall hanging or a cube-it. Not sure which one yet.

I got a beautiful gift in the mail from Dawn on Friday! I love it! It is so perfect. It matches my new blue living room perfectly. So it will be displayed for all to enjoy :) Also, she was so kind and sent me a pattern and some beads. Thank you again Dawn!

Now I will work on my two exchanges coming up. I signed up for a Halloween and an Autumn Quaker exchange. I kitted them both up so I can start working on them whenever I am in the mood :D I'll also start working on the Neighborhood RR, I have Debby's! I have the chart all picked out. It should look nice :) Have a nice Sunday and I'll talk to you all soon!

Quilt Blocks galore :)

I have been feeling sick this week, I had to stay home from work on Monday, and have had a stomach ache ever since. Curren was sick today, so I stayed home from work to take care of him. He seems to be okay now though, so that is good! I haven't been doing much this week, just haven't felt that good. But today I got 3 blocks done for the birthday block exchange I am in.

Weathervane Block:

Sunlight and Shadows block:

Wyoming Valley Block:

I tried to make a few that were a bit more difficult. I think I did okay! I usually can never get my seams to be perfect, so oh well :P It was fun making different blocks though! I really liked the Wyoming Valley block, I think that'd make a great quilt top, with several of them all laid out.

Last July I started a Block of the Month with a group at church. We got all of our blocks done. I am working on putting the top together. I am going to put two more borders on this quilt, then it'll be completed.

We have had a good crop of cucumbers this year, our tomatoes are still green, I wonder why they aren't red yet? We have dozens of them on the plants. I am sure they'll all turn red at the same time so we will get sick of them really fast LOL!

Everyone have a nice weekend!

More Four Seasons, and the Airshow!

If all of you are not too tired of seeing Four Season WIP pictures... I'll oblige you with another one :) I got all of the large winter motif completed tonight! I had quite a bit of time this weekend to work on it, so I took advantage of that. So, that leaves 4 more small motifs and this will be completed!!!

I made Curren that little bag on Thursday, and Jessie needed one too of course :) So, here it is! I had purchased a bag full of 6" polk-a-dot themed sqaures a few months back, so they worked out really well to make these bags.

The airshow was really fun. We saw the US Navy Blue Angels fly. My hubby took some fanastic pictures too :) I have seen them many times before, but never tire of watching them. I think they are amazing.

Curren has his ears plugged, they are so loud the ground shakes as they fly by :D If you have not seen them before, try to at some point in life, you won't regret it.

Jessie and I waved at them a lot, though I doubt they saw us as they were flying by at 700+ miles an hour! LOL!