It's Beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

And the stockings were hung by the chimney with care...

Hope you and your family are enjoying this special time of year!

A Doll Quilt for Ava

It's Ava's 6th birthday this Friday.  I knew I wanted to make something special for her.  I settled on a doll quilt.  I love dots and incorporated them into many of the aspects of this little quilt.  I started with the fabric.  The background fabric is little dots.  Most of the yo yos are made with different polka dot fabrics.  I sewed them to fabric in a grid pattern.  Then I sewed the grids with perle cotton.  I used a different color thread for each one.  I ended with a colorful striped binding.  I love the way it turned out.  I hope Ava likes it.  I think I need to get a new baby doll to go with it!

Our Family

This post isn't about anything crafty.  I just wanted to share some family pictures we had made at the local nature preservative.  It's not easy getting this many people together in one place.  And trying to get everyone to look at the camera at the same time is really tricky.  Just forget about getting everyone to smile.  Considering how windy the day was and that there were four little ones five or younger, I think they turned out pretty good.

Amy's Quilt Bloggers' Festival

Once again Amy at http://amyscreativeside.com/ is having her quilters blog fest.  She does this in the spring and fall every year and it is sew much fun to see all the beautiful quilts and meet new blogging friends.

The quilt I'm showing this year is my first attempt with perle cotton.  I love the look of it, but am not quite sure I have the hang of it.  It is kind of difficult to pull through the layers.  The pattern I used was adapted from one I saw using layer cakes.  This one was made using charm squares I got at a steal from Connecting Threads and some Kona cotton.  It turned out fresh and springy and although I am in love with it, I decided my sister should have it for her new house.  The great thing is, she loves it, too!

Cheese!!!

Allie is so cute.   As soon as I pick up the camera she says, "cheese!"  Love this sweet baby girl!  Grandkids are the best.

A Little Tip to Share

You know when you are laying your blocks out and you finally get the layout that really clicks for you.  You pin the blocks together one block at a time, gather them up, head to the sewing machine and sew them all together.  Now to sew the rows together.  I lay them out again and for some reason the rows don't want to line up the way they did when you first layed them out.  Some of the blocks line up with the same blocks and they just don't look right.  I came up with a solution that works for me.  I hope it works for you, too.

While you have your blocks layed out, as you are pinning them together, pin a strip of paper with the number of the row to the first block of each row.  I sew the paper into the seam allowance so I don't lose the number.  After I have all the blocks sewn together and have pressed them, it is easy to line up the rows.

It really keeps the frustration level to a minimum.  Anything to makes things easier!

It's Been a Busy Summer

It seems as though this summer has raced by.  And I'm grateful for that because this summer's heat has been out of this world.  I have been miserable.  And you know I work outside.  With the change in weather the last couple of days, I have been in heaven.  This summer's heat has drained me physically, when I get home I am spent and can't seem to get motivated.  But with this cool down, I am ready to get busy!

Thought I would share a few of my entries from the state fair this year.

There are a couple of blue ribbons in there.  I'm pretty psyched about them.  Thanks for looking!

Meet Ricky

When I envisioned Ricky in my mind, he was a cute little mouse; a pincushion i created to be sweet and fun to enter in the state fair.  Well, after I actually made him, he became a rat.  So, Ricky the Rat will sit along side all the other little pincushions crying out to get his ribbon.  "Pick me", he'll say as the judges make their way through all the pincushions begging for a ribbon.  Maybe if he slips them some cheese he'll have a chance.  Let's hope so!

A Sherbet Pips Quilt

I fell in love with the sherbet pips collection.  It is so sweet.  I bought two charm packs and added some kona solids to come up with this darling lap quilt.

My five year old granddaughter, Ava, asked if she could have this quilt and I told her I already made a quilt for her.  She said, "Grandma, when you finish it, then you'll decide who to give it to?"

I think I've decided!

Mmm, Fruit Salad

Nothing like a nice colorful fruit salad in the summer.  Unfortunately, it's already gone.

Another Lap Quilt

Remember when I was working on this http://sewingsandy.blogspot.com/2011/06/my-latest-quilt-in-progess.html?  Well, now it looks like this!

I love how it turned out.  This was my first real attempt quilting with pearl cotton.  It was kind of hard to sew with.  But I love the results!



I used different colors for the different color blocks.  After I quilted around each block with the pearl cotton, I used regular quilting thread to hand quilt through the solid squares.  It turned out really nice.  The quilting went pretty quickly.

It's the perfect size to snuggle under.  Now, if I can just keep my daughters from trying to claim it! :)



I'm the Mail Ma'am!

I have worked for the Post Office for 14 and a half years.  Eleven of those years I have carried mail.  Let me say that I love my job. 

I am proud to wear the uniform.  I love being on my own everyday and talking to my customers.  I have learned so much from the people I see on my routes everyday. 

This job keeps me in shape.  I walk anywhere from 8 or 9 miles a day to only a mile, depending on the route I am on that day.  The people on my routes are wonderful.  I love getting to know them.  You can learn a lot about people from the mail they get.  From the magazines they get to the bills I deliver. 

There are some things I don't like about my job.  I'm sure everyone has some things they don't like about their job, too!  I don't mind working in the winter.  I like the cold weather.  But the summers here in Kentucky are brutal.  The humidity makes it unbearable.  There is only so much water or gatorade you can drink. 

I guess what I dislike most about my job is the supervision.  We are not allowed to make any decisions on our own as to how to do our job.  We are never asked our opinion on the best way to do the job.  Someone sitting in an office somewhere makes all the decisions as to how we carry the mail.  That probably isn't unusual but it sure makes it seem as if our experience and opinions aren't valued.  During a meeting, it was mentioned that perhaps when making changes to routes consideration be given as to which routes to add more walking to because it is hard on our bodies over time.  We were told that the P.O. didn't care about our bodies and if we were having a hard time maybe we should consider a different career.

In spite all that, I still love what I do.  Can't imagine where I could work and get the benefits and pay I get without more education.

Happy Father's Day

My dad was my hero.  He taught us right from wrong, honesty, and integrity.  He taught us to always do the right thing even when the right thing wasn't easy.  When searching for a husband of my own, I wanted someone just like my dad.  He loved our mother and devoted himself to his family.  He was father to six children and was our father, not our friend.  He would discipline us and then tell us he loved us.  He was not afraid to show affection and showed to all he loved.  I am so proud to be his daughter. 

In 1995 he was diagnosed with esaphageal cancer.  Twenty five days later he died.  He was only 67 years old.  My mother was devastated.  He was her life.  They were married when she was only 16 years old, and were married for over 44 years.  A few years later she died of a broken heart at the young age of 65.  She's happy now.

Her and dad were proud of all of their children and taught us what a good marriage is.  I miss them both and think of them every single day.  Happy Father's Day, Daddy!

My Latest Quilt in Progess

I bought some charm packs from The Connecting Thread right after Christmas on clearance.  They were a real bargain.  I thought I would sew the squares together to form a large lap quilt.  I took several of the squares and cut them into fourths.  I then took strips of white Kona cotton and added it to all four sides of these to make them into five inch sqares. 

Now, I have always considered myself relatively good at math.  (My DH may disagree, when it comes to balancing the checkbook.)  But somehow, I really screwed up my math this time.  Each block I had constructed was about a half inch too big.  Each strip I had cut was two inches wide and should have been one and three quarters inches.  So I had to trim each and everyone one of these blocks that ended up five and a half inches down to five inches.  At least, I didn't make them too small!  Other than this little hiccup, I really like how this quilt is turning out.

My New Camera Bag

I got a new camera a couple of months ago.  One of those dslr cameras.  It's not top of the line but it does great as far as I'm concerned.  I also got a macro lens to go with it.  But what I didn't get was a camera bag.  You really need a camera bag if you get a camera.  I just didn't want to spend a lot of money on one.  They can cost close to $100.  More than I wanted to spend.  So the best solution, make one.

I quilted the fabric and then made the bag.  I put a divider in it to keep the extra lens and camera seperate.  Then I made extra thick quilted padding to insert just to give the camera extra protection.  I had the perfect button to add for decoration.  The best part is, I didn't have to buy anything.  Everything was in my stash.