OTOW Challenge, January

So last week I joined in on the One Thing One Week Challenge.  I decided to finish 1 wall hanging that I've been working on for years.  And guess what?!  I did it!!  I finished it!  Just like I wanted to!  I'm so proud of myself.  Usually I set goals and never get anything done, but I end up starting 5 other projects.  This year, I want to finish something every week.  And it doesn't even have to be a big something.  It could just be a block for a QAL or something small like that.  As long as I'm finishing 1 thing a week, I think I'll be okay.

So here it is, my January wall hanging for my calendar at work.  Finally finished.  And hanging up.  (Yes, the fact that it is hanging up is that big of a deal). :)

22 More February OPAM finishes!

I am totally on a roll!  I have gotten so much done this weekend.  Of course, most of it doesn't count as a finish, yet, but it will soon!  I quilted the Cherry House Quilt Along quilt I made (pics to come soon).

There was a quilt top that was abandoned at the shop over 6 years ago.  I've tried to contact the piecer, but she hasn't come to get it in 6 years, so  took it home yesterday to finish.  It just needed to be squared up and have the 3 remaining borders attached, so I did so.  I also seamed the back.  I need a little bit more of the binding fabric, and then it will be ready to be quilted.  We are going to donate it to Colton's Angels for the hospital.

I also pieced a quilt top together for the local high school.  They commissioned me to make a t-shirt quilt for their principal, who left the school for a district job.  It turned out really great, and I can't wait to share pictures with you all when it's finished!

I've also been working on some blocks for Blockapalooza.  I have 3 of the 10 blocks finished, so far.

So, like I said, none of them really count as finishes....yet.

BUT THEN!  I have had a giant IKEA blue bag full of fleece blankets sitting on my living room floor for the past 3 weeks.  At Colton's Angels we cut out and fused little heart appliques onto the blankets.  All they needed before they were finished was to be zig-zagged around.  I volunteered, and took the bag home.  Today, I finished zig-zagging around 22 of the blankets!  It's only about half the bag, but at least they're ready to go back to the shop!

Aren't they cute?  We did blue for boys and white for the girls.  They are going to go in newborn kits with a onesie and pair of socks that the hospital can give to indigent mothers of newborns.

I'm hoping to get the rest of the blankets (12 more, I just counted) done sometime this week.

Baby Steps

So, I've decided on some goals for this year....finally!

1) I'm going to diet and work out.  Tried HCG for about 20 days, and it didn't really work.  Sure, I lost 10 lbs, but I plateaued and caved in to some cravings, and cheated a little....okay, a lot.

2)  I've decided that little by little I will declutter and organize and deep-clean our tiny little apartment.  I've already decluttered surfaces (and the inside of the desk) in the kitchen/dining/living room areas, put away all the clean laundry, reorganized the kitchen cabintes (the ones that hold food, at least), and cleared off the top of the wash stand at the end of our bed upstairs.  My goals for the coming week?  The upstairs hall closet, Marshy's room/closet, the rest of the kitchen cupboards, and our bedroom closet.

3)  I want to read 75 books this year.  Last year I read around 50, starting in July, so.....yeah. 75 isn't too bad, is it?

4)  I'm participating in OPAM 2011 again.  What does this mean?  I plan on finishing at least 1 crafty-related item a month....at least 11 this year (OPAM didn't start until the end of January).

5)  I plan on finishing the first 2 parts of my 3 part series.  I started writing it for NaNoWriMo last November, and got 3/4 of the way through the first part, and 1/8 of the way through part 2.

I've decided to stay small with my list of goals.  The more goals you make, the harder it is too keep them.  And right now, I'm planning on keeping these 5.     :-D

I made it!!

So, you know that never ending list I thought there was no way in HELL I'd finish?  Yeah, I finished it!!!!!

Living room clean?  CHECK
Presents wrapped?  CHECK
Mom's present made?  CHECK
Quilted 3 quilts for clients?  CHECK
Bound 3 other quilts for clients?  CHECK
Quilted 2 quilts for SIL?  CHECK
Camera/Camcorder charged & ready?  CHECK

So the only things that didn't get done were the friend presents (They will be "New Year's" cards instead of Christmas cards, probably!) and I didn't quilt/bind the Christmas quilt I made....which is no big deal, because I hadn't planned on them getting done anyway. ;)

This weekend should be fun!  Christmas officially in 5 mins (but present unwrapping happens in T-5 hrs 35 mins).  Breakfast at Lola's house at 7.  Presents with Grandma & Grandpa P at 10.  Lunch & presents with Nana & Pop-pop at 1.

Sunday, church (but who really wants to go to church the day after Christmas?  Yeah, us neither....but we'll probably drag ourselves there for the first hour).

Monday, a little work, then pre-wedding party with the whole fam-damily at my mom's house in SLC.  Dinner at 5.

Tuesday, a little more work, then wedding reception for my cousin at 7:30 at her parents' house in SLC.

Anyone noticing how frequently I'll be driving from Spanish Fork to SLC?  Yeah.....not looking forward to the freeway this weekend, since it's totally ripped up and under construction, but it should be fun once we make it there!

I promise to take lots of pictures and post them!! :)


MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

Christmas Readiness Update

Remember the list from my last post?  Well, I've actually finished a few things from it!  (I know, you're all gasping in surprise, and then laughing, that I've actually finished something. Go ahead and laugh. It won't hurt my feelings.  I'm laughing too! haha)

So, here's what I've finished:

Quilted 2 quilts for clients (1 quilt left!!!)
Bound 3 quilts for clients
Halfway finished making my mom's present (hoping to finish tonight)

I did clean the kitchen, which isn't quite the living room, but it's close.... hoping to get the living room tomorrow

I also found the camcorder, and all it's charging components.  Haven't plugged it all in yet....will do so tomorrow.  Same with the camera (charging cables are at work, instead of home)

Tomorrow I'm hoping to finish the last client quilt before Christmas, and do both of my SIL's quilts.  I also have a small quilt for my MIL, which shouldn't take more than a few minutes to do. This would leave me with OOOOOODLES of time on Friday to wrap presents, quilt and bind the quilt for my family (well.....at least quilt it! haha) and possibly even get our Christmas cards out in the mail this week (although I honestly wouldn't hold my breath on that one...sorry peeps!)

Not sure if any of you who read my last post actually were wishing me luck, but it sure does feel like it, because I am feeling like I've gotten a lot completed....although my list still looks like it came from Hades....

I'm so not ready!

I am so not ready for Saturday.  For those of you who may have forgotten, Saturday is Christmas.  yep, It's in just a few days.

I still have to:

Clean the living room
Wrap all the presents
Make my mom's present
Quilt 3 quilts for clients
Bind 3 other quilts for clients
Quilt 2 quilts for my SIL
Quilt & bind a quilt for my family's Christmas (new tradition I madly decided to start)
Find the charging cable for the camera and video camera and charge said electronics
Buy and ship our friend gifts (they so won't get there on time...sorry guys!)

Yeah, the list is daunting.

But, I have managed to send off 1 present already in the mail.  I'm really hoping I can finish everything else without having to spend the next three days without any sleep.  Wish me luck!

Christmas is Coming!

Oh my gosh, I'm crazy!

I just bought Jo-Ann's completely out of cute little Christmas stitching kits.  And my goal?  Yeah, to have it all done by Christmas.  I'm insane.


Also, I'm working on a really cute pattern (coming soon....eventually someday when I figure out how to format it using Photoshop and Illustrator!) for a customizeable calendar.  Oh yeah, it's cute.  Can't wait to share some sneak peaks with everyone.

Also, I bought a pattern by Melly & Me for Ruddy (a reindeer with a red nose).  He's A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E!  I want to make him ASAP.

PLUS, I've decided to make a quilt for my cousin who is getting married.  Yep.  That's right.  And her shower is in a few weeks.  Yeah.  I know, I'm crazy.

I'd also like to make a lot of the gifts that I will be giving this year.  Of course, I do have several already made that were leftovers from last year, but I still have a lot to do.

I thought I was all prepared and ahead of things, but no!  Christmas has crept up on me faster than I thought it would.  YIKES!  Wish me luck!  More updates to follow, I hope!

Bad Things Come in 3's

I don't know who said it, but whoever said it deserves to be shot.

"Bad things come in 3's" 

Yeah, let's see how many bad things we can have happen to us.  Why not say "Bad things come in 1's", huh?  That would be so much better!

And, actually, now that I think about it, for me, at least, bad things have come in 4's lately.

First there is my car:  I need a new muffler.  Never mind that I replaced it 2 years ago.  And that the one I replaced was the FACTORY muffler that was was 12 years old.  Don't you think the new muffler should have lasted more than, oh, 2 years?  Yeah.  Me too.

Then there is my computer:  I've had issues with the corner of the screen case and the hinge for about a year.  The screw that holds the case together was stripped, so it's been missing for a while.  The hinge has slowly been breaking.  But I have't had any trouble with it for months, so I didn't worry too much.  Besides, I don't have "droppage" coverage at Best Buy, so I couldn't really take it in to get it fixed because, even though the damage wasn't caused by a drop, they would not have believed me.  Thursday night I closed my laptop, took it home from work, and then couldn't open it back up.  Wanna know why?  The hinge was totally broken.  The metal frame inside the plastic case had snapped and twisted in half, breaking, and making it impossible to hold the right lower side of the screen together.  I was so depressed.  Laptops are expensive!  And I can't afford to not have my work computer right now, when it's my busiest time of the year.  UGH.

Hubs fixed my laptop so that it's at least functioning, but I can't close it. Ever.  It now has to live at the shop.  I'm going through some serious computer withdrawls at home.  My phone is great, but you can only look at certain things online with it.  :(

So, once the computer was permanently installed at the shop, I went home, determined to sew since I couldn't do my normal computing stuff.  Well, I recently got my machine fixed and the old man who fixed it totally screwed up the tension on it.  I didn't ask him to fix the tension.  I asked him to fix the broken hand wheel.  Yet, he seemed to think that he needed to adjust my perfect tension to something less than perfect.  OH I was pissed to say the least.  I had to loosen my tension significantly, and hope that I don't have any more issues with it.  I have seriously never sewn with my tension set to 1.25, but that is where it currently is.  Factory setting was at a 3.0.  He had it set to a 5.25!! 

Lastly:  The Munchkin woke up this morning sad.  He opened his DS up and discovered that it was broken.  Oh, he can still use the touch screen, but the upper screen is cracked.  Sad day.  Luckily Hubs knows where to purchase replacement parts online.  In addition to purchasing a new upper screen, he also bought a new housing unit for him (it will be blue instead of silver now).  My DS Lite has had a broken hinge for about a year, so we also bought me a new housing unit.  Munchkin is so excited to have a "new" blue DS.  He was all smiles when we showed it to him.

Now I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that bad things really don't just happen in 3's, and that there are 2 more electronics-related bad things coming my way.  That would not be cool!

Just a Little Stressed

I don't know why I do this to myself, but it seems that I always take on a little more than I can handle every few months.

Like, we're having our Annual Christmas Open House at Sweetbriar on November 4th.  So of course I would like to have some festive projects done in time to display.  Like my Fat Quarterly quilt-along quilt.  It's Christmas fabrics, so it would go perfectly, yes?  That's what I thought! :)

I also want to have my calendar protoype made up.  Yeah, so not going to happen, but I can dream, can't I?  I really would love to have it done.  I've only been working on it for, oh, over a year. 

I've also signed up for NaNoWriMo again.  It starts Nov. 1st.  You're supposed to start working on a new project.  So what does this mean?  That I have 100 pgs written on another project already, with a hopeful 150 pgs or so to go, and I would like to have it finished by the end of this month.

Also, I have 14 quilts at the shop waiting to be quilted, which I would like to have quilted by the end of the month.  1 of them belongs to me.  It's the cable quilt I started earlier this year for a class I took.  I really would like to have it finished by the end of the year.

At least I got my laundry (mostly) folded, and my kitchen cleaned up.  I feel like I'm in a little less of a mess now that the kitchen is clean and the laundry is folded. 

More October Finishes for OPAM 2010

*The following is the story of a quilt that has taken me FOREVER to complete.  Sorry it's a little long, but the quilt took me a lot of time to make, and I wanted to document it for posterity's sake :)  *


I am happy to finally report that this MASSIVE quilt project is finally completed.  Yes, it took me over a year (just barely) to finish it, but it was a lot of work and I am really, really pleased with the end result.

No, you don't get to see the full thing laid out because I don't have a clean floor space large enough to do that!  It ended up about 101 x 121.  Yeah, it was HUGE.

I can't even believe how overwhelming the project had seemed at first.  When she had brought it to me, with all of the plastic storage boxes filled with ziploc baggies containing the triangles of fabric and their coordinating ties, I was very overwhelmed.  It took me about 27 hrs just to unpick the ties. (There were a lot of ties!)

Piecing it was a challenge, as I had never worked with ties before (most of them silks) and I didn't want to interface the backs because I wasn't sure how the fabrics would work together, if at all.  I did end up interfacing most of the fabrics used in the Sisters' blocks, pieces from shirts and skirts and dresses, and they turned out nicely, I thought.

My biggest mistake was picking such a weird size for the blocks:  9.75 inches square.  What was I thinking??  Apparently I was not.  I had to square up each block, then add pieces to the edge to both stabilize and enlarge them to the proper size.  Yeah, like I said: I was a little stupid.

But, the end look is really nice, and I can't imagine trying to sash all of those blocks without having the cotton quilting fabric as a small border around them.  It definitely would have been much harder to keep everything square.

I was really pleased that I had purchased enough fabric, too, as the project took me so long to complete.  I was worried, toward the end, that I didn't have enough of the sashing of sashing post fabric to finish, but I had just enough.

As far as fabric selection went, my client left it all up to me.  I wanted to keep the fabrics I used for the sashing, posts, and border very neutral and not too distracting from the blocks.  Since the quilt itself was so colorful, I opted to use neutral creams/tans/beiges for the sashing/posts.  The border I knew needed to be darker, because she wanted words quilted in it, and darker fabric with a light thread would work so well, I thought. 

Now, I have to add that I am old-school when it comes to mixing brown and black.  I abhor it.  Seriously.  I do.  My husband is not allowed to wear a black belt and brown shoes.  I even have a hard time liking couches that are black leather with brown upholstered cushions (even though, I admit, they do look nice).  I just have a hard time with it.  It makes me cringe a little inside.  But, I am getting better, obviously, because the border fabric is black and brown!  I know, so bold of me, huh? haha

For the backing fabric I wanted something close to the sashing fabric I had used on the front.  I had also hoped to purchase some 108" wide fabric to use.  Unfortunately, that was not to be.  Instead, though, I found this really great 58" wide fabric in a soft, crinkly neutral color.  I think it is in the Kona Crush line (is that even a line?  I don't remember the name of the fabric, sorry!) 

As I got everything onto the machine and ready to quilt, I had an epiphany of sorts.  I had recently quilted a quilt of my own, and had done words on all 4 borders, turning the quilt 2 times to get the text the direction I had wanted it.  To avoid having to unpick basting stitches, I quilted the border area with monofilament thread.  It worked like a charm.

So, why not use that technique here?  After all, I was going to quilt the center of the quilt in an all-over meander in monofilament thread anyway.   Why not just quilt the entire quilt that way?  So I did.  :)

The meander is fairly tight, and it was amazing how nicely all the extra fullness from some of the tie blocks (I had been seriously stressing about it for days, to be honest) worked its way out.  There weren't any puckers or tucks.  Everything was fabulous.  I was very pleased with it.

I added the binding using my longarm.  I knew that there was NO WAY I was going to be able to feed all 442 inches of binding through my tiny little domestic machine.  There was NO WAY.  It went on really nicely, and then my client took it for their mission reunion.

I've had it back in my possession for a few weeks.  I finally finished binding it.  It took forever.  My poor living room was dwarfed by the sheer size of the project as I sat on the couch and watched Amazing Race while I bound it.

But now, it is FINISHED.  And I am so proud of it.  It looks so great, and my client was really happy with it when she took it to the reunion.  It's the best possible outcome I never would have imagined when I first saw how much time and effort would be needed.  (Seriously, you don't know how daunting it is be staring at 2 rubbermaid tupperware storage boxes, 2 large bags, and a couple of grocery sacks full of ziploc bags with ties in them.  Ties that all needed to be unpicked and kept with their coordinating triangles.)  But now it is done, and I am happy, and a little bit relieved, to not have to worry about it anymore :)

I haven't posted a lot lately, and I'm sorry.

I'm currently trying to re-organize my life.

See, I just acquired a whole bunch of furniture from my parents, who no longer needed it. It's going to make my life a lot neater, easier, and more organized....but until I get everything sorted, put away, cleaned and organized life is a little hectic.

How hectic?

Let's just say that my husband asks me what I've done all day, and when I say "I cleaned and organized {insert room here}" he looks at me like I'm crazy. Then I quantify with "But you can only judge me on this section of the room...doesn't it look so much better?" haha He doesn't find it amusing.

So, I promise to post pictures and better posts soon.

In fact, I can guarantee a post in the near future, because I've done a lot of online shopping, and have some really great things to share when I actually get a second to sit down and upload pictures.

Oh, and did I mention that I have 30 quilts at work? 6 are mine, 1 is my MIL's, but the rest are for clients. Yeah, been working late nights again. It feels like December all over! haha

In need of a quilt pattern

I need help.


I have a wedding coming up this summer. Not mine, (I'm already married, remember?) but a friend's.

Anyway, I usually make a quilt for close friends and/or family who get married. This is the problem:

1) I can't tell what her colors are from her registry. The towels they registered for are stone colored, and the dishes are turquoise, red and gold. That's the only color in their whole registry.

2) I don't have a lot of time until the big day, so it can't be too complex.

3) I usually do a throw or wallhanging size quilt. Nothing too big.

SO! What do I do? I love color over neutrals, but are neutrals safer? And what's a fun, quick, and easy pattern that will look like it was hard but again, was really EASY?

Any help would be great :)

NOM tie quilt

I'm working on a HUGE, MASSIVE, GINORMOUS quilt for a client. If you look closely, you'll see the blocks are made up of triangles. There are 82 blocks. They measure 9 1/4 in finished, each. Each row has 8 blocks, and there are 10 rows. This is just the first 4 rows. I'm hoping to get the next 4 rows finished and added on tomorrow. There will also be a border around the outside, and then I have to quilt and bind it.

Another February OPAM - OZ

I just love "OZ" by Sanae, for Moda. LOVE it LOVE it LOVE it. So....I made a pillow.... (above: front of the pillow, below: back of the pillow)

Out of the leftover fabrics from my Patchwork Charm Pack quilt.

I'm hoping to get this baby quilt quilted up and bound pretty soon. I know the quilt doesn't count for OPAM because it isn't completely done, but the pillow does because it's finished! :)

How do you think I should quilt this baby quilt? I'm thinking flowers. Thoughts?? I'd love to hear your opinions!

Some Funny Moments

Marshy has started to dance. He does this funky thing with his arms. I wish you could see it, because it is AWESOME! He locks his fingers together and then rocks his arms up and down, back and forth in front of him while shaking awkwardly to the music. It's just further proof that he is, in fact, a white boy with no rythm whatsoever! :D
He likes to make Keisha, his cousin, dance with him. She turns the radio on at work and he loves to dance to it. So cute to watch!

As you can see, Christmas is down, and he has decided that he likes to be spun. Not just spun around in a circle, but gripped by the wrists and full on "flying" through the air in a circle. He doesn't even get dizzy!! NOT FAIR! Keisha and I took turns the other day, and we both about ran into things we were so dizzy!

This one is a little blurry....my camera wouldn't cooperate. (Ms. Kodak...if you're listening... I'm going to have to start taking Mr. Nikon to work with me instead of you if you can't behave!) P.S. - That's a roll of batting behind him, with my machine to the left of him.

Anyway, I was taking a few pictures of the Gracie Lou's monthly table runner, and Marsh came up and practically stood in front of the camera until I took a picture of him. He loves to have his picture taken, which is good, because I'm going to have to take him to get his pictures done soon.

It's only been since November 2007 since we had them done. 2 years, no big deal....except he didn't have hair then. And he couldn't walk away yet... although he was quite the crawler. :)

Don't worry, I won't be booking with Kiddie Kandids (scroll down and read the letter to employees. Can you believe companies can get away with that kind of stuff: "there is no money for payroll, past or future" SO GLAD I don't work for them, but my heart goes out to all of those employees who haven't been paid and now won't be. Really sucky way to start the new year).... I think I'll stick with good ole JC Penney Portrait Studio. They are just as good, and were half the price as KK (no wonder they went out of business!)

UPDATED!

I have almost completely updated my quilting blog! YAY! I'd stay up and finish uploading the last 5 quilts from this month, but it's 2:30 AM Christmas morning....I think I'll go get a few hours of sleep before we wake Marshy up to see what Santa brought!


So, if you have time or the chance, go visit my quilting blog and see the cute quilts people have made. I get so many ideas from the quilts I quilt because I see so many different patterns and fabrics and styles of quilts.

AND, HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

So behind!

I was going to work a lot tonight. But I wore heels to the shop today and stood from 10:30 until 5:30 with only maybe an hour break total. I'm doing the flowers for my cousin's wedding on Saturday. Only half of the flowers are done. I have to finish tomorrow.

Anyway, my feet are KILLING me so I crashed on the couch and started watching the Santa Clause on Disney. I fell asleep 30 minutes in. When I woke up I restarted it, then fell asleep in the EXACT SAME SPOT! At 10:30 PM I went upstairs to go to bed and, wouldn't you know it, couldn't. So now I'm restless. It's too late to go work. My feet are still killing me. And, Mike is watching a movie downstairs (Public Enemies) so I can't sew.


UGH! I AM SO BEHIND!!!

Quickie Post

My Droid came today. It is AWESOME!!!

Also, got my sutures out on Tuesday. Have to go back in next Tuesday for a check-up. He's still worried about my one tooth.....the one that had like no gum on it and had lost some of the bone. Yeah, the fact that he's worried worries me. Hopefully it all works out. It's looking pretty good so far, but what do I know? I'm not a periodontist (for a reason! haha)!


Also, I'm spending Friday and Saturday doing flowers for my cousin's wedding. I'm a little stressed. I hope it doesn't snow on Saturday. I have to drive up to the Salty City Saturday afternoon to deliver the wedding dinner flowers/centerpieces.

ALSO ---- I have about 7 1/2 quilts left to do BEFORE Christmas (yes, Angel, that is counting your special last-minute one that you've been going to finish for 2 years now :-) haha)

OH, yeah, and Christmas is next SATURDAY. I still have gifts to make for friends, family, etc. So much fun, let me tell you! I do this every year. Last year I stayed up all night Christmas Eve finishing quilts, wrapping presents, and putting things together for family.

Hopefully this year I finish BEFORE Christmas Eve! haha

Finally Updated....sort of...and some BIG news!!!

I finally updated my quilting blog!! Yes, I realize that it's now December and I'm just barely posting Halloween quilts.

BUT!! At least I am getting it updated, right? Right? That's what I thought :D

People have done some really great things though, so please, go check it out.




Oh, and in totally other random news.....


Are you ready for the BIG news?



I bet you are.




I bet you're just dying to hear what I'm going to say.




Can you guess??



I bet you can't.




I bet you'll guess wrong. (unless you already know the big news....)





Ready?



Here it is:





WE BOOKED THE MIDNIGHT SHOWING OF TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE TODAY!!!

Again, I realize that it isn't until June, but we figured that if we really wanted our party to be as awesome, hopefully better, than the New Moon party, we needed to jump on the opportunity to book it. :) So, it's booked. Keep checking back here and on the Colton's Angels blog for more information. If you're a blogger user (or have a gmail account) you can fan us and get updates directly to your account whenever we post something new. :)

(That's the big news. You all thought it was going to be me announcing I was pregnant or something, right? Let's be honest. I know I'm fat. When the lady at the fabric store asks you if you're expecting.....Let's just say I can take a hint.)

Updates as Promised

Okay, so I'm not done, but seeing as how it's 2:30 AM on Saturday morning, I think I'll quit while I'm ahead.

That being said, I have added some new posts to my quilting blog. You should go check out the cute quilts people have been making! And see the cute Cars quilt that I FINALLY finished for Marshy.

Okay, so it's not completely done, yet, but it will be. It's about 7/8 of the way bound. :)


ALSO! There are less than 2 weeks until the NEW MOON PARTY. I am so excited! It's going to be awesome. It's funny, but we've sold a whole bunch of tickets these last few days. It's starting to look like we might sell all of our tickets :) YAY! BUT! Tickets are still available, so if you are interested PLEASE give us a call 801-423-1876 or email me at coltonsangels@gmail.com.

More updates coming, I promise! :)