Three more tops finished!

I quilted some yesterday and got three more tops finished for the Sunshine group.  I'm really starting to get my box full of tops to be sent off for quilting.  The sizes of most of these tops are about 57 X 41.  The first one is called "Dino Crumbs" and it is made up of crumb blocks with plain blocks of lizzard & dinosaur fabrics.  Tom was at work so I had to improvise with the loveseat for picture taking!

The second one is called "Yellow Bunnies Too" and it is only a top as well.  I used crumbs, yellow bunny squares and blue flower squares.

And finally, the third one is called "Sunny Days Too" and it is also only a top.  This one is made of crumbs and sunflower squares.

It really feels good to be sewing again!  I still haven't heard the results from my Holter monitor and I also have to have more blood taken this coming Saturday.  I'm feeling pretty good - I just seem to get wore out easily and I am still getting dizzy sometimes.  Please keep the prayers up for me!

Bye,

Makeover day

First off, Friday night went great with my nephew.  He is so adorable!!!  We played lots of Wii, ate at McDonalds and let him play in the play place, watched the movie Prince of Egypt, played some games, colored, played with cars and talked lots and lots.  He fell asleep around 10:30 and was up at about 7:15 the next morning.  The first thing he said was "Guess what Aunt Lisa, it's morning!!!"  I said to my husband that he says it like it is a good thing - LOL!  He kept telling me thank you and was so sweet when we took him home.

I sure was tired all day Saturday.  It's funny that a five year old little boy could wear me out so much!  Luckily, I was able to rest all day and so I took advantage of it.  Around 7:30 Saturday evening my phone rang and it was my brother calling.  I answered the phone and could hear someone crying in the background.  A couple minutes later I heard a little voice say "I miss you Aunt Lisa!!!!".  It was Dominic and he was just sobbing.  He missed me so much.  It was so cute!  I told him to color me some pictures and that would help him remember all the fun stuff we did.  I also told him that he could come again another night, which seemed to help alot.  What a sweetheart!!!  Tom told me later that I was so great with him and that he would probably never get the undivided attention I gave him from anywhere else.  That really made me feel good.

Today I have been very busy.  Some friends have been discussing new ironing boards on one of my email lists.  It made me want to make one too, so I begged Tom today to help me.  And he did, of course!!  What a guy - he loves to make me happy.  I wish I had taken a picture of my ironing board before we started but I didn't think of it.  So the first picture is of my board with the new, green, flannel cover that I made.  If you notice, the board has a metal place at the end to hold my iron.  I like it but it is sorta a problem because it holds the iron at an angle, which makes the steam come out when it's on.  Anyway, here is the picture.

Next, Tom figured out a way to make a cover for the metal thing.  He used plywood and put little pieces of wood on the bottom to hold it on.  I covered it with the same flannel and now I can sit my iron upright on there all the time.  Here is a picture.

Then Tom took a piece of plywood that Home Depot had cut down to 24" X 48".  He sanded the edges down and added pieces of wood underneath to hold it in place.  We covered it with two old beach towels and more of the green flannel.  We stretched everything tight and he stapled it all to the back.  I love it!!!  Now I'm going to have a huge area to iron on which will be great with yardage and strips.  Plus, whenever I need to iron clothes, usually just for church, then I can take the big board off and the underneath one won't be covered with threads.  Yea!  I really do love it and it only cost us about $15.00 for the wood.  I used everything else from home.  Here is a picture.

Next, we went to work on my iron.  The bottom of it had gotten so dirty!  I tried ironing a dryer sheet but that didn't make much difference.  I've heard that works but I'm guessing my iron was just too dirty.  Isn't it gross??

My husband took a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser and got it wet.  He scrubbed my iron and now it looks like new.  I can't believe how great it worked!!!  So shiny and pretty!!

Today was a busy day, but it was fun working on all these "makeovers" with my husband!  Tomorrow he starts his job.  He'll be working 6:30 - 3:00 everyday.  I sure am going to miss him!!  But I'm thankful that the Lord supplied this job just as we needed it.  God is good!!

Bye,

Make Life purse!!!

I woke up early this morning and couldn't fall back asleep.  I was up at 6:00, which is extremely early for me!!!  Anyhow, I came downstairs and ate a bowl of cereal.  I decided to sew some and ended up sewing for almost two hours.  I got my Make Life purse finished too!  It is so pretty, if I do say so myself - lol!! Thanks again to Sherry in IL for the Make Life charm pack and to Dorthy in UK for the Love fat quarter.  They go so well together and were a joy to use!!  Here are some pictures.

I also used my darning foot and did free motion quilting on both the lining and the bag.  I think it turned out pretty good for my very first attempt!  I tried to do a meandering style on the lining and loops on the bag.  I'm sure I'll get better as I go too.  Of course, a purse sized "sandwich" is alot easier to maneuver around my sewing machine than a big sized quilt!  Anyhow, here are a couple closeup pictures to try to show you the quilting.

Oh, I also got another package delivered today.  This one was from Jan in TN and it is awesome!  She sent me lots and lots of little scraps as well as some bigger pieces of kids prints.  And she sent me a note thanking me for taking these off her hands, isn't she sweet?  Thanks again Jan!!  Here is a picture.

My nephew, Dominic, is staying the night tonight.  He's five and it'll be the first time he's stayed all night with us.  He is so excited!!  I sure hope he does alright.  He's awful cute and such a joy to be around.  He loves playing Wii and is pretty good for his age.  Tonight I promised him we'd play the new Super Mario Brothers game for as long as he wants to.  What have I gotten myself into? LOL!

Bye,

Another package

I got another delivery today from a fabric company.  This box came from Blank Quilting Co. and they were very generous!!  I got a big box and it was full of really cute fabric samples.  There were lots of "boy" stuff too which is good.  I love playing with the girly stuff & I've received lots of it but there are a great deal of little boys out there that need warm quilts too.  Here are some of the pieces, which are called "Heavy Metal" and include airplanes, firetrucks and tools.  Also, here is a picture of some of the other pieces, which are called "Circus Critters" and include animals all dressed up and lots of bright colors.  I'm thinking I could use the circus ones for both boys or girls depending on if I use the dark background one or light background one.  I am truly touched and inspired by the generousity of fabric companies and quilters in general!  And as always, the next time you are in the market for some fabric remember to support Blank Quilting Co!!!

 

My husband went to an orientation for a job today.  He's been off work for almost two weeks so this is going to be a HUGE adjustment!  This job is in a factory through a temporary agency.  It isn't ideal but atleast there will be money coming in.  He's going to keep looking for something better too so please keep us in your prayers.  Plus, pray for us that we are able to adjust to him working again and the tiredness that comes with it!

Bye,

Lisa

Nineteen years and counting!!

Today is our wedding anniversary!!  We've been married nineteen years but it sure doesn't feel that way.  I have to say that he is the greatest man on Earth.  I'm so proud of him.  We were both young when we got married and we've basically grown up together.  He has become the best man I know.  He's so strong and loving and kind and patient.  He loves me more than anything at all.  I'm a very lucky girl and I make sure he knows that I feel that way.  It is amazing to me that we can be closer and more in love now after nineteen years.  That makes me so happy!!

We spent the day together in the Amish Country.  I just love visiting there.  We got lots of great treats - cheese from Pearl Valley, candy, dinner rolls.  We ate lunch at Der Dutchman, which was delicious.  And he got me some quilting stencils.  I'm trying to learn how to free motion quilt and I thought these might help me.  It might make it alittle easier to follow the lines for awhile.  Anyhow, we had a wonderful day together.  I took a nap on the way home and he took one in his chair after we got here.  Later I'm sure they'll be "celebrating" and cuddling!! :)  I sure do love that man!!!!

Bye,

Happy quilting day!!

I hope everyone out there has been enjoying today.  And since it is National Quilting Day I hope you were able to fit in atleast alittle quilting!!!  I did!  I am finally feeling up to sewing some and it feels so great.  I decided to make a purse out of the Make Life charm pack that Sherry sent me for my birthday.  I'm also going to use the fabric Dorothy sent for the lining.  So pretty!!!!  Here is a picture of what I've completed so far!

We went shopping on Thursday after I got the heart monitor off.  By the way, I survived but it sure was annoying!  I haven't gotten the results yet so please keep up the prayers.  Anyhow, we went shopping with my birthday money and I got lots of great stuff.  I got a new cutting mat, a rotary cutter, flower head pins, glass head pins, curved safety pins and a pin cushion.  Oh, I also got a new pillow but that isn't in the picture because it went immediately on my bed! LOL!

And then I also got 27 plastic containers that are 30 quart size!!!  Yep, 27!!!!!!!  It cost me almost $100.00 but it was worth it.  I am so happy with how organized I am now.  I have spent the last few days sorting and sorting.  I even conned my husband into helping me some - isn't he the greatest?!?!  It is all finished now and I am really happy with how it turned out.  I used all the containers to sort out fabric and strings.  I decided not to cut the fabric down at all until I'm ready to use it.  All that cutting would have really overwhelmed me!  I also have two big containers full of all the kits I've been sent and that I've made up on my own.  Just the kits alone will keep me busy for quite some time!!  Here are a couple pictures of all my containers - I love them!!!

Time to cook some dinner!  If you haven't quilted any today, I highly recommend fitting alittle bit in!  You'll be glad you did, I promise!!

Bye,

It's my birthday!! :)

Yea!!!  Today is my birthday!  My husband and daughter got me a cake from the most delicious bakery on the planet!!!!  It's a white cake with white icing and it'll probably be gone pretty soon - lol!  They also gave me $100.00 to spend however I want.  Plus my mom & daddy sent me a check for $50.00.  Oh and my inlaws even sent me a gift card to JC Penny's for $30.00.  I'm loaded!!!  I know this is probably crazy to alot of people, especially if you aren't all into being organized, but I think I'm going to spend the bulk of the money of plastic containers to organize all the donation fabric I've been sent.  Then I'm going to blow alittle bit of it at JoAnn's Fabric on some nicer pins, maybe a new rotary cutter, more safety pins and stuff like that.  I'm thinking about getting a Boston Celtics tee shirt and a Pittsburgh Steelers tee shirt with the gift certificate.  Fun, fun!

Unfortunately, I had to get the heart monitor put on this afternoon so I didn't feel like going shopping today.  I only have to wear it 24 hours though so maybe we'll go out tomorrow afternoon.  It doesn't hurt or anything, it's just sorta annoying.  I'm praying that everything comes back normal and I can just move on with my life!!

I got a package this past weekend and haven't gotten a chance to blog about it yet.  It was a whole bunch of Heartstring blocks from Sue in MN.  They are so great!  I'm using them for baby quilts so I don't need as many as other Heartstring quilters do.  That makes it nice for batches of blocks that aren't as big.  Here is a picture.

And then today, while I was on the phone with my mom for my birthday, I got a delivery from UPS.  I love when they come because it is usually some fabric!!  It was!!!  I got a delivery from Fabri-quilt, Inc.  I can't believe how generous some of these fabric manufacturers have been!!!!  This was a pretty good sized box and it was completely full - I mean crammed full - of wonderful kids print fabrics!!  So awesome!!!!  Again, when you are looking to spend some cash on the stash, please be sure to support Fabri-quilt as well as all the other great companies that have helped me.  Here are some pictures of all the great fabric they sent me.

I am so blessed in my life!  And I am very ready to get healthy again and start working on baby quilts with all this awesome fabric.  My mind is about to explode it is so full of plans and ideas!

Bye for now,

I'm blue today

I'm feeling pretty down in the dumps today.  I've been stressing out over my "episode" the last few days.  Logically, I really think it is probably just that I am way too dehydrated.  I have been drinking tons of water and resting so I'd imagine I'll be just fine.  But emotionally I'm still a wreck!  I've still been battling with being dizzy somewhat and I get wore out really easily.  Plus, I'm just so scared that I'm going to pass out again especially if I'm out somewhere.  I don't want to be away from the house for longer than 20 minutes or so.  If I do pass out again I'd really rather be here at home and not in front of strangers.  I just really wish this hadn't happened!

Another thing is the heart monitor.  The last thing in the world I want to do on my birthday is go and get a stupid heart monitor put on for 24 - 48 hours!  Yuck!  Between me worrying and stressing, I'm not even enjoying my birthday at all.  Our anniversary is the following Tuesday and I doubt if things will be cleared up by then so I'll still be stressing.  My poor husband and daughter are feeling the effects too - they are still stressed over thinking they were going to lose me plus they are watching me so closely that it must be exhausting. 

Sorry for the whining today!  I just wish this would all go away.  I don't want to be dizzy anymore and I don't want to get tired so easily.  I miss sewing!!  Plus, with my birthday on Tuesday, I want to just have fun!  Please keep on sending prayers up for me.  I'm trying really hard to have faith that God will take care of me!!

Bye,

Scary situation and some mail

I had a scary situation happen yesterday and I'd really appreciate all your prayers!  I was eating lunch with my husband and I passed out.  That has never happened to me before!  It really freaked my husband out and he was screaming and trying to wake me up.  He said that he really thought I had died.  Our daughter was upstairs and she heard him screaming.  Of course, it really scared her too.

We went to the doctor's office and they took some blood for tests.  They called today and all the tests came back normal so that is a good sign.  I'm also scheduled to wear a heart monitor next week.  I pick it up on March 16 - my birthday, what a great present!  I think I'll have to wear it for a couple days then we'll get the results a week or so later.  I'm praying that nothing comes of that either.  We are really starting to think that it could've happened because I was dehydrated.  I've been drinking water like crazy since yesterday and I'm going to try hard to keep at it! 

Before all that happened, I had spent the morning at my first Newborns in Need meeting.  It was so great!  The ladies were all really nice and seemed happy to have me there.  I'm so excited about finding this group.  I love making charity quilts and it's great to find somewhere that donates locally.  I really like the idea of helping out my own community.  They sent a couple kits home with me too. 

I also got another delivery from a fabric manfucturer today.  This one came from Northcott Monarch Fabrics and I'm so excited about it.  They included 5 pieces of fabric, a charm pack, some patterns and a few "Quest for a Cure" pins.  So generous!!  I've put a link up for their website and please remember to support this company as well.  It is so inspiring to have fabric manufacturers see the benefit of donating to charities.  Thanks so much!!!

Please pray for me while I'm dealing with these health issues.  It's scary but eye opening too.  I need to start taking better care of myself!  If you could, add my husband and daughter to your prayer lists as well.  They are still pretty worried about me and keeping a close eye on me.  They both love me so much and I am so happy about that!!!

Bye,

I think I have a plan!

Here is my plan for right now. I've been given lots of fabric for charity quilts and there is still more that is supposed to be coming in. It has een great and a lot of it has been scraps and various sized pieces. So, instead of actually cutting up my own stash I'm thinking of starting with the donated fabric. That is where I want to focus my energy anyhow so I would love for it to be organized.

I'm thinking of cutting into four different sizes - fat quarter or 10.5 inch square (I haven't decided which yet), 2.5 inch strips, strings and crumbs.  I know I will use the three smaller sizes. I've found quite a few different patterns I like that use 2.5 inch strips, I'd use the strings for string blocks and then the crumbs for crumb blocks. Now, the biggest size is where I'm not sure about, either a fat quarter or a 10.5 inch square. I figure that I could use a fat quarter for a lot of different things and it would be a good sized chunk to cut other pieces out of if I wanted to. But yet I don't know if I could get a fat quarter our of many of the donated fabrics.  With the 10.5 inch square, I could still get other pieces out of it if I wanted and I could use them for backings like Bonnie does. Plus I think I could probably get squares out of more pieces of the donated fabrics.

My plan is to just pick a piece of donated fabric and see if I can get the biggest size out of it. Then cut 2.5 inch strips out of the rest. Whatever is left will go into the strings containers. Whenever there are little random pieces I'll put them into the crumb containers. I would never really "cut" strings or crumbs because they do sorta multiply on their own anyhow.  Basically the cutting I'd be doing would be the initial cut of a big chunk (either fat quarter or 10.5 inch square) and 2.5 inch strips. The rest would be more of just distributing the pieces to the right bin.

Now, sorting - lol! I can't decide which way to go with that either. Here is what I'm thinking, but of course it could change at any minute. I am thinking of sorting the 2.5 inch strips and the strings by both size and color. There would be times when I'd want to make a blue and yellow string quilt or whatever and it'd be nice to just grab those containers. I would leave the crumbs all together and not sort by color at all. When I make crumb blocks I always just sew them together randomly. Again, it's the fat quarters or 10.5 inch squares that I can't decide on. Either way would probably work fine. The problem I can see with sorting by color instead of just lights/darks is the amount of containers I would need. But yet the convenience would be great too.

Another thing that has been mentioned is the fact that our time should be spent actually quilting instead of organizing. I agree to a point with this. It isn't like I'm going to be spending every moment of my free time sorting and cutting. I have already spent a considerable amount of time on charity quilts this year. I've got 9 completions, which is huge for me!  But I do enjoy the process of cutting and sorting. I enjoy organizing everything and I really love the idea of having all my donation fabric accessible and useable. Oh and I would consider them useable because like I mentioned earlier, I already have lots of plans for each size that I'm going to be keeping.

I really think this plan is going to work for me but it's also nice to get others opinions. That is what always makes me think about my own plans and really discern whether they are going to work for me and my quilting style.

Bye,

Finishes

I finished the two more tops for the Sunshine group today!!  Unfortunately, my husband and daughter were both upstairs working in her room so I had to improvise on taking the pictures.  This first one is called "Gone Fishing" and it is just a top that I'll be sending to one of the quilters to quilt for me.

This one is called "Yellow Bunnies" and it is for the Sunshine group too.  Again, it is just a top that I'll send to be quilted and again I had to improvise with the picture taking!  LOL!
 

bye,

Another quickie post

I just got the mail and there was another package for me.  This one is from Dorothy in the UK.  She read my posts about loving the new Moda "Make Life" line and my anniversary.  It made her think of this fabric and she offered it to me.  I love it!!!  It's a whole fat quarter and there are all kinds of neat "love" sayings on there.  I'm thinking of combining it with the charm pack that Sherry sent me the other day and make it into something wonderful.  Awesome!!

bye,

I need to tame the scrap-monster!

I really need to put more time into taming this scrap-monster that has been growing in my sewing room!  Plus, it keeps adopting more scraps that arrive in the mail almost everyday! LOL!  Seriously, I have been thinking that I need to get into gear with my organizing stuff.  This morning I was surfing some of the blogs I like to read and came across one on scraps.  Mrs. Goodneedle was talking about it here.  I love her pictures of all the scraps in their containers!!  She mentioned Bonnie Hunter's scrap users system and it is a great idea.  I would just like to hear even more details about each of their processes and all of yours as well. 

For instance, do you start with a piece and cut the largest size they can from it?  Then the next largest and so on until there is only a crumb left?  What do you do with the crumb?  Do you save it or pitch it?  What about string quilts because I love making them.  Do you cut specific strings or just accumulate them as you go?  Do you leave any bigger chunks or do you cut everything up?  Now, onto sorting, do you sort by size or by color?  Or by color and size?  But then I think I'd have tons and tons of containers.  Which brings me to another question, what do you store your cut scraps in?  I had been using plastic baggies but everything is becoming a wrinkled mess.  I probably need to buy some shoebox size plastic containers and use them to store the pieces.

A few weeks ago I started working on sorting and organizing the fabric that you all have been sending me.  I sorted everything by some main colors.  I also took out all the strings and sorted them by color as well.  Oh, and I made up a few baggies of fabrics that I thought would go together in quilts - sorta like kits without the pattern or sizes decided yet.  I have bigger plastic baggies full of strings, each seperated by color in their own baggie.  Then I also have the bigger pieces seperated by color and put into plastic grocery bags. 

It's a start but I'm not satisfied yet.  Honestly, I find myself not wanting to use the fabric because it is still messy.  When I'm ready to sew I end up picking up kits that have been sent to me already combined and ready to go.  Those are great and I love using them, but I want to use everything that has been donated to me.  Plus, I'm still getting stuff in the mail all the time (and hopefully will for a long time!!) so I need to get a working system in place here.  Any advice?!?

Bye,

More mail!

I got new batteries for my camera so now I can show you some pictures of the mail I've been getting!  I already wrote about the box of strings I got from Anne in AZ.  Here is a picture.

And today I got another package in the mail.  This one was from Henry Glass & Company Fabrics!!!  They sent me a bundle of fabrics to use towards my charity quilts.  I emailed a few different fabric companies to ask for donations and they are the first to respond with a YES!!  I was so surprised to get the package in the mail today.  They sent me three fabrics and it looks like quite a few yards of each one.  They're very girly and are going to be alot of fun to work with!

Thanks again!!  And everyone out there reading this......remember this companies generosity the next time you are shopping for some stash.  Please try your best to buy some Henry Glass & Co. fabric!!!!!

Bye,