Iowa Football

Our home opener is Saturday! We are anticipating another spectacular year. Go Hawks!

Happy Birthday, Chance!

A year ago we welcomed our little red headed grandson Chance into the world.

We celebrated his birthday with a party yesterday.

He wasn't too sure about digging into the cake.

He got a few tractors.

He loved the balloons!

Happy Birthday, Chance!  We love you!

3 Down 178 to go!!

Yes, school started this week.  Unless I can change some behaviors SOON, it's going to be a LOOOONG year!!  No sewing, no crafting, no cooking( I had casseroles in the freezer).  It's all I can do to go to school, go to CURVES, and come home to collapse.  Hopefully I can get into the routine and get those troublesome students on the right track next week.  Think of me!!

The Princess

I had the princess for a short time this weekend.  Finally they brought the bows for her hair!

School started today, so I've been busy with that.  I did do a little sewing tonight and hope to have something to share in a day or two.

Stack and Whack

Last fall at Piecemakers' Club we started a quilt that used the stack and whack method.  I picked out fabrics that would look good hanging in my family room--tans and a maroon.  To do the stack and whack you first cut out squares of each fabric, stack them up and then cut the shapes out of the squares.  Then you take shapes from different fabrics to sew back together until you have a square again.  (Not sure if that makes sense?)

Anyway, I had all of my squares and sashing done and began piecing it together.  It just didn't fit well.  I took it to school to have a friend look at it and she pointed out that the squares were 1/4 inch too big.  (Thanks, Jenny)  But it was November and I had Christmas things to make.  So, I put it away until last week.  It was then that I spent time with my seam ripper ripping apart two rows of squares and sashing. :(

It was my goal to finish it before I went back to school.  I finished it Wednesday night and went back to school Thursday!  Here it is ready to go off to be quilted.

A closer look at the colors.

This is one of the few things I've made just for myself.  I can't wait to get it back from the quilter and hang it on my wall!

Meandering

 * Meandering: quilting done 'freehand' in random curved lines and swirls. This quilting does not follow any pattern but depends completely on the quilter's whim. Lines should not cross or touch each other:

After practicing and practicing on a whiteboard and practice  fabrics this was my first attempt at meandering on something I had made.  

                                           
Looks more like a bunch of snakes, doesn't it???   I tried to cover too large of an area at a time and sewed way to far apart and too uniform.  I took it in to my sewing gurus at Willowcreek and they made suggestions.  I practiced some more and then quilted this:

This looks much better and I am happy with it.  Again the sewing gurus that I count on for help looked at it and they think I've got it!  There are definitely things to improve, but I think I can do this.  Now I want to learn to do more than just meandering.

The two projects?  Well, I'll show you those when the bindings are sewn on!

Free Motion Quilting

I've been working on learning to do some free motion quilting. I think I've figured out meandering which I'll show in a post soon. I decided to join a Free Motion Quilt Along to try to learn how to do more. You can check it out by clicking on the button.

Usually a quilt along focuses on the piecing of the quilt and not on the quilting as Christina from A Few Scraps explains. For this one she is doing the opposite. I'm excited to acquire this skill!

My Sewing BFF!

Do you have a best friend that you really DON'T want to see? No???? Well, I do--when I'm sewing that is. I was introduced to this bff when I first started to sew. I knew she could be very helpful, but she usually only showed up when I was frustrated. I've had many over the years. You may know my bff as a..................

seam ripper!!

I've had Ms. Scarlet for MANY years. So many that I can no longer find the lid. Mrs. White is a new bff as she came with my new sewing machine.

Unfortunately I've spent waaaaaaay too much time with these two lately. The squares they are laying on are part of a quilt that I ripped apart! More on that another time.

After spending so much time together I'm hoping for a break. I don't need to be up close and personal with these two for a while.

Fort Lauderdale

I spent a few days in Fort Lauderdale, FL at the Dual Language Symposium in July. I learned a lot, and we had a great time!

A Recent Shopping Trip

A little fabric and pattern shopping!







Hopefully you'll see these turn into projects in the near future!

Pink & Brown

I have a new great niece--Dakota Joy--who is six weeks old.  So, that means a new quilt for her!

I used pink and brown.

The pattern is loosely based on this one.

I love the extra large ric-rac at the top.

I used the pink and white polka dot on the back.

I used a curvy stitch for the quilting.

I hope she enjoys it!  

A Win for Me!

I won a Needle Book from Laurie at Buttons and Lace.  I love the colors!

Daisies are my favorite flowers and there they are right on the front!  

The inside is ready for me to fill with my needles and hand sewing supplies.

Laurie did beautiful work, and I'm lucky to have this needle book.  Thanks, Laurie!

Little Visitors

We were lucky enough to spend some time with two grandchildren today!

Chance's parents did a little shopping while he stayed with us.  He lives a couple of  hours away so we don't get to see him often enough.

We had Clara for the  first time away from her mom and dad as they went out to supper to celebrate Tasha's birthday.

CJ really wanted to play with Clara, but he didn't quite know what to do!

We had a great time! 

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

We have had a LOT of rain this summer as had most of Iowa.  Monday night we had 6-8 inches in Wellman.  Officially, the meteorologist says 3-6, but many rain gauges showed more than that. We had quite the light show with booming thunder to go with it in the middle of the night.  We are unaffected except that our telephone was hit by lightning and didn't work for several days.  The south side of town was a different story.

The building on the left is our fire department. All fire trucks had to be moved out as it was flooded.  They're still out today.  The water you see in the background covers a road out of town.

Some people had to be rescued from their homes by the fire department using a boat since the water came up so quickly.

The south part of downtown saw quite a bit of water.

This photo looks out onto part of the soccer fields.  There won't be any games there for a while!

As you can see by the 7 day forecast, we have chances of rain Sun-Thur next week!

I think I can speak for all of us when I say, "Enough already!!"

Baby Boy Quilt

If you remember this post where I won some flannel from Heidi at handmade by Heidi, you will recognize this fabric!

 In this box of flannel Heidi had some squares already cut out, so I took advantage of that and used them for this quilt. I don't have a "quilt holder" here today, so this is the best I could do!

I straight line quilted it on the diagonal as you can see from the photo.  This was a quick and inexpensive finish thanks to Heidi!

A Week in Texas!

(Payton is clearly in pain!  Cael-the poser.  Nate was asleep.)

Just got home from a week in Texas visiting Mom, my brother & sister-in-law, my aunts, nieces and nephew, cousins, etc. And, no, I'm not really from Texas, it's just that most of them are transplants to Texas from Iowa!!

Some of us swam in my brother's pool.

Some of us went to Ute Lake in New Mexico and went on the pontoon and some went tubing.

There may have  been some drinks during the week--fruity and otherwise!

We ingested much great food--grilled ribeyes, chicken, sausage, ribs, brisket, cheesey potatoes, homemade fries, salads, pies, desserts, and of course, wedding cake!

We got in a day of shopping in Amarillo.  This time it included two quilt/fabric stores.  I managed to purchase a layer cake, several patterns, a few fat quarters, thread, and magnet enclosures for purses.  I also helped Gay buy some fabric!  It's always fun to help spend someone else's money!!

I did some sewing for Mom.  I made her a quilt top out of her vacation t-shirts, but alas, no photo.  I'm hoping she'll send one when she gets it put together.

Then we had the big event--the wedding--on Saturday.  

We left Texas late yesterday afternoon. Spent the night in Witchita, KS, and got home today--tired!  We had a great time.  Thanks, Dean & Gay, Mom, & Ruthie!