Fall Inspired Mini Quilt

So, I also participated in the Fall Inspired Mini Quilt Swap over at the Quilting Gallery. I received my swap yesterday and I LOVE it. I got it from Carmen at Chunky Dunk Quilts. I could not wait to put it up. My mom had given me these cool quilt racks for my birthday this weekend so I wanted to use them. I went to my hall closet where I keep my girly drill (it was a small one perfect for little things around the house) and I totally got distracted looking for it and cleaned my closet. And to make it even worse - I cleaned off a whole shelf and my first thought was "oh, I could put fabric in here." My husband would kill me since I have huge shelves in our guest room full of fabric! By the way, I never found my girly drill which means my husband used it. I wonder where it is. I guess I will clean the hall closet looking for it tonight! Or I could just get a screw driver and screw it in by hand. I'll have to take photos of them and show you. You will want the racks too! Plus my mom made me a wall hanging which I will have to show you the picture of once I hang it.

If you haven't heard yet - head over to Etsy and do some shopping in the Craft Hope section. All proceeds are going to Doctors Without Borders - Haiti. They are taking donations as well through today. But the least you could do it check it out. I ended up buying a couple of pdf patterns.

My Favorites Mosaic

As I said before I signed up for the Doll Quilt Swap 8 and incase my partner is stalking me - I thought I would put a mosiac of my flikr favorites. I have a lot so forgive me. I could just add tons more too! I apologize to all those that I didn't credit too. If you check out my favorites on flikr - samcrawley - you can find who it is. I just couldn't figure it out today. Sorry! Just one of those days.

Fall Inspired Mini Quilt

I finally finished my Fall Inspired Mini Quilt. I wasn't feeling it. I actually made two. One had trees and then this one. I wasn't feeling the other one even more. Now that this one is done I actually like it. I don't know if you can tell but the apple is similar to one in the apple fabric. I thought it would be cute. I just felt like I could have done more but I think if I did - it would have been too much. Simple is better sometimes. Now I just have to get it in the mail before Monday. I think I can, I think I can. :)

I also just signed up for the Doll Quilt Swap 8. I really like the doll quilt swaps. I feel so accomplished when I finish my little piece of artwork. If you have done quilting bees before - you should try one of these out. Its too late for these two but you can also try STUD. They do it monthly. You just have to catch it on the right day. I think I even got my mom hooked on it. Check out hers. I couldn't figure out how to steal her picture but it is pretty cool.

Have a great day!

Anna aka Grandma, GM, Nana

My grandmother passed away last week. Its been a fight for her the past 6 months so I am happy for her that she was able to pass. She hated being sick. She had never really been sick until she turned 90 so 90 years of good health, she hated not being healthy anymore. Everyone who needed to be there was there and was able to say their good byes and all the adults are doing okay. My daughter is doing better. She had a rough time to start. She was pretty close to her Nana.

To commemorate my grandma, I am going to overload you with pictures of her through the years.

This is my Grandma and Grandpa. They met on the Conney Island bumper cares when my grandma drove over his hat. When he returned from the war they wed two weeks later and the city girl who never left New York moved to the other side of the country with a man she barely knew. This is my favorite picture. I always knew my grandma as a farm girl. She never got gussied up or wore a lot of jewelry and in this she looks like a model.

My Grandma and Uncle Jerry. Poor kid wearing a dress. :)

M and her Nana. The two of them were troublemakers. I'd take them shopping and they would disappear or I would catch them running down the aisles at Costco.

More trouble making. She started my brother's addiction to chocolate.

The whole family annoying her at once. We loved annoying her. She had a great sense of humor.

Thanks for letting me share my grandma with you.

Happy New Year!!

2009 is about to end and 2010 is about to begin. An end to my early 30's and a beginning to my mid 30's. Man, time is flying. My kid will be in kindergarten this upcoming year and I have been with Quoc for 13 years. Wow!

Well, Christmas was really nice. We had it at my house this year. Its always at my mom's but since my Grandma has been ill she didn't want her to travel. It was probably a good thing. A couple of days before x-mas she had another episode and ended up in the hospital for 5 days. So, we had less people at our house and we went to the hospital a few times that day. Quoc and I ended up getting her an electronic picture frame. She really liked it. She didn't really complain which she always does. Her only complaint was that there were too many pictures of her. I have to admit there were. I used the file on my computer from her birthday and I of course used a lot of her. I'll have to create a new file for her with less of her and more of everyone else.

M made out like a bandit. I try not to get her a lot of toys but she is the only child so she gets way spoiled and this and her birthday are the only time we buy toys. Don't get me wrong - she gets stuff from the dollar store but I mean like real gifts over 10 bucks. She got one of these Alive Husky's. So cute. Ahh man, I was just linking it and I could have saved money if I got it on Amazon. Darn. Oh well, she loves it. She also got a Leapster 2. That one is cheaper from the Leapfrog website. Anyway, that game system has been great especially with all the time we spend at the hospital and the nursing home. She is thoroughly entertained. And it really is educational. My mom made her x-mas dress and M got a dress for one of her dolls. She has always wanted a dress just like hers so my mom made it happen. They were both very cute. (excuse the awful picture - we weren't going out so M's hair was a mess and I took it with my phone. Quoc got a Flip video camera for his birthday so we have video of everything but I forgot to take pictures - oops) My mom also made a ton of Barbie cloths. She messed up though. She was using vintage patterns from when I was a kid and using my old Barbies as models but the Barbies of today have smaller boobs so half of the strapless dresses fell off. My poor mother. We might have to sort some out and leave some at my mom's house where my dolls are and some that won't fall off at our house where the new Barbies are.

Me, I got a jewelry box, necklace and a lamp. I think my mother was trying to tell me I need better light for sewing. She is so good with the hints. Not.

My brother cooked dinner. He is a great cook plus he makes it look pretty. My food is good but not great and its not pretty.

So, onto my new year's crafty project. I am doing the Fall Inspired Mini Quilt and so here is my idea so far. Appliqued trees. And depending on the fabric a couple of leaves on the side out of this batik I have. What do you think? It will probably change. It has like 10 times already and I haven't even picked out the fabric. Sometimes I know exactly what I want to do and other times - I have no clue. Its one of the latter this time. The fun of trying to be crafty and playing with my markers. :)

This will make you laugh. So M started drawing people this past week or so. So she was drawing a picture of grandma. She drew a circle and then she put these lines on both of the insides. I asked her what that was. She ran over to Grandma and touched her face, "These." "You mean wrinkles?" "YES." OH MY GOSH, my brother and I were laughing so hard. My poor mother. The honesty of kids.

I hope everyone has a SAFE and HAPPY new year!

Not a Very Crafty Christmas

I have been having no luck. Seriously...I am trying hard to be crafty but it is not working. First I wanted to make scarves but couldn't find fabric to match (Thanks Michelle - totally going to try grey), then I was going to make these bubble pouches and put some Govida, Frango and Lindt chocolate in it for my office mates, I cut them out, bought everything I needed but then when I was getting ready to sew them together - I can't find the hair elastics that I bought to hook on the buttons. I am getting some more today and then I am sure I will find them.

Then I was going to make these little calendars for my daughter's preschool teachers (there are 10 of them so I wanted something useful but not to expensive) but after M and I drove to 7 different stores in our town looking for the little calendar - I had to order them on line and may not get them in time (might just make as a New Year's gift).Then I was making cookies - since my Grandma is usually the Christmas Cookie Goddess, I had to step up and make them- and the spritz first were deformed but I got that fixed and then I burnt half of them. I did make her traditional Italian cookies yesterday (all 12 dozen) and they turned out so I am 4: 1 on my Christmas crafts/cookie. I should have taken pictures but I wanted to pack them up before I ate too many. :) I have never had them fresh and they are so good fresh. I had to text my brother and brag that I was eating the cookies and he had none. He is looking forward to his stale portion on Christmas.

Oh, and I lost our Christmas cards. I bought the photo cards at Costco, filled out the envelopes but I can't find the cards. Help me...please. So everyone will get those in the new years as well.

On a side note that will make you grossed out but chuckle at the same time - my 91 year old grandma shared a little secret thought she had (I know not so secret any more) - She said, "did you know I have wrinkles on my butt?!" Oh, to get old.

Oh, also you should check this out. I know of Kwanzaa but had never really read anything about it to know much more than its an "African" heritage holiday and it goes for like 7 days but that was all I knew. There was this short post you should read. I wish we all celebrated this sort of thing. All the tenants really should fit in all our lives. Anyway...a little Kwanzaa education for you.

Oh, the very top picture is M and her friends decorating cookies at a friend's house. I didn't make the cookies - thank goodness. The kids would have been so disappointed!

Merry Christmas! I hope everyone has a wonderful day off of work whether you celebrate the day or not.

I lied

Okay, only a little. I said I would be posting about the scarves I was making. Well, I made the tops then I got so frustrated I threw it to the side. Why so frustrated? Well, the top is mainly dark purples so I wanted a dark purple fleece or flannel for the back. All I could find was bright purple. Do you know where I could get some dark purple flannel or fleece? I wasn't happy with black. I would really appreciate your help and then I could really finish them. :) Thanks.

I'm Back Again and so Quickly

My brother asked me to make him so bags for gifts for x-mas. I said sure as long as he pays for the fabric. I always buy excess fabric so that is how I receive my payment. So, first is the above bag. I made two, one for him and one for myself. I ended up not liking the size of it for me so I think I will send it to my aunt in Texas after I change the button that is. I am not liking it. This bag is from Artsycraftybabe. It is a free pattern of hers called the Phoebe bag. The flowers are hers too. No creativity on my part. :)

This bag is from a vintage McCall's pattern that I acquired from my mother. Its from the late 70's. I like it. Super roomy. I made myself one too. (I have to test them out, right? And I needed a Halloween bag.) This is for my brother's friend who is going to school so she needs room for books and loves skulls. I love this fabric. I got it here at Pink Chalk Fabric. They deliver super fast. I highly recommend them. The buttons are also vintage from my great aunt Oska's collection of buttons.I made two buttercup bags designed by Made By Rae. I thought I messed up on the purply one so I made the maroon one. I put snaps on it and then I couldn't sew around the edge and it really needed it so I was super frustrated. Then the next day I realized, duh, I have a big hole in the bag still. Why not take the snaps off, sew the edge and put the snaps back. I am so dumb sometimes. The purply green one is from Amy Butler's LOVE collection. I made the handle shorter and since is was so wide I folded it in so it has a little peek a boo effect. The maroon is from Anna Maria Horner. I again used a vintage button. I really love that one. I thought about not sending it but I sent a photo of the fabrics to my brother so I kind of have too. I am sending him one extra bag with the intentions of him returning one so I hope its that one.Finally, I made an Amy Butler Swing Bag. I have so gotten my money's worth out of this pattern. I have like four of them for myself and I made one for every one of my friends. Much use. In fact, I have made 4 out of this exact fabric. Its Amy Butler's Nigella line. Love it. I get compliments still when I use mine. This is the pattern that sucked me into making bags. When I was looking at the link I was eyeing another one...hmmm....

My next project is making skinny scarves. I broke my ruler so I need get another one before I continue but maybe I can share this weekend with you. That is what everyone is getting this year. Skinny scarves made with kimono silk and fleece. Odd combo, huh? Its gonna work, really. :)

Wow - its been awhile

I have been so preoccupied with my grandma and the holidays that I haven't had a chance to blog at all. We really haven't done anything but holiday stuff. M and I saw the Nutcracker and we made gingerbread houses, had a sleep over and more. Nothing too exciting to share. But I did finish my quilt blocks for the three bees I am in. I forgot to take pictures of all of them but here are a few. Check in tomorrow for the bags I made. :) Oh, I threw in a couple of my kid too. The first one is at the Nutcracker. My mom made M's dress and the next is Gingerbread making. You can't tell but she is wearing a Grinch t-shirt. She picked it out herself. Nut.

So Much to Say

First, We went to Great Wolf Lodge for a little vacation. That place is AWESOME! If you have any in your area you should go. The only one on the west coast is here in Washington but there are a ton in the east. It has indoor water slides, a craft room for kids, a teen room, a build a bear type station, a build your own crocs station, and a game called Magi quest where you buy this wand and game and run around the 5 floors fighting dragons and collecting ruins. M and Quoc had a blast. Above is M helping a fairy.

Then, I took a class Monday from Jean Wells. It was her Intuitive Design class. She has a book on it but the class was so inspiring. She taught us how to make wavy lines and to sew without a ruler. Plus ways to inspire yourself and create ideas that you love. Then she showed us how to finish our quilts off with a technique from her book but since changed how she does it. Man, I hated to see the day end. Below are some of her quilts I wanted to run away with but thought the other 25 participants would catch me. You have to check out her book out and definitely take a class from her if you can. She is over at the Stitching Post in Oregon if you are in the area. She luckily came to Bellingham for this one though. I am so excited to get something made for myself. I hope my family likes it cus its what they will probably get for x-mas. :)