Hula- Night 3!

So tonight will be my third night of Hula class... It's been fun. Learning the words to songs (which are all in Hawaiian), and all the steps and hand motions. It's crazy. This is a quick post for now, but I assure you my friends I will be back!

Another One Bites the Dust

I am so happy to report that the charm quilt I was making for J.J. is officially complete and in the mail to his parents now! Here are the wrap up pictures:

This is the quilt before I attached the backing.


These are some burp cloths I had put together to match.






Here's is the finished quilt...




Here's the presentation.... this is just before I put it in a gift bag and box for it's trip to Alabama.



Things went fairly easy except for some stupid mistakes that took a long time to fix... for example sewing out of order on the strips... lol, it ended up okay though and it's cool to see how much better I'm getting than when I first started.

Cut Up and Laid Out

Tonight I cut the fabric for J.J.'s quilt. I decided to try something new, so I used rectangles instead of squares. Yeah, it doesn't seem like an incredible discovery or one of those "light bulb" ideas... but I think it will save me some sewing.




Here's how it looks all laid out. I love it!!!





I'm thinking I can have it done by Monday. That should be perfect because that's about as late as I can wait to get the package for Andrew and Rachel in the mail. Just thinking about it... I can't wait to see them again and to meet the little guy.

Washed and Pressed

I was able to get the fabric for J.J.'s quilt ironed tonight. I had washed it a night or two ago. Here's a peek at the fabric.





The theme is bugs obviously. Lots of bright colors, and the backing is a super soft, dimpled fabric in sunny yellow. I think I need one more texture though... I must have something lying around that will work.

Goodies For My Last Day

Today is my last day of work at SVD... I am sad, but at the same time I am excited to move out of this town and really get to try life on and see how it fits.

Anyway, there is a farewell luncheon and even though I'm not supposed to bring anything you know I had to try a couple recipes from my new cook book. I tried the Banana Cream Pie and the Quintuple Chocolate Brownies. Here's how things went:

This is the topping and custard for the Banana Cream Pie... waiting to be put together.


Crust- check! Custard- check! Bananas- check! Whipped Cream- check!


These are the Quintuple Chocolate Brownies waiting to be frosted...


And here they are frosted:


I think everyone will like the goodies, and I can't wait to try them. I will actually be baking again tonight, I'm making another Banana Cream Pie and the Devil's Food White Out Cake for Meghan's birthday gathering. I'm assuming the pie will be just as simple as it was the first time... The cake however, I'm scared.

Finally!

I finally got it together and finished Abby's charm quilt!!! The first picture is just the front, then the front next to the backing.





Here's the finished masterpiece!!! I think it turned out pretty great, and I believe Abby will too!

Seriously Slacking!

I had bought the backing for Abby's quilt almost three weeks ago and I still haven't had a chance to sit down and just finish already. I'm hoping now that Regan is settled back in and the house is somewhat clean I will have a chance to just sit, sew, and finish it already!

I've also got another quilting project to start, and finish for that matter, before we move. It is for Andrew and Rachel's "on the way" little boy named J.J. (John Joseph) It has been a horrible time trying to find barnyard themed fabric to match the theme of J.J.'s room. While I was in El Paso last weekend I gave in and picked fabric that is unrelated to that theme... but, I think that they will all love it! It's bright, boyish, and fun. Hopefully it's not too bright, but I know that bright colors are stimulating for little ones so it should be just about perfect!

Time to Bake!

So, I decided that for my sisters birthday I would let her choose a cake from my new cookbook. I will hopefully get all the ingredients within the next .
couple days and get ready to bake. The cake she chose is from a book I just got called Baking From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. She chose the Devil's Food White Out Cake... In trying to pick a cake we also decided she would need a Banana Cream Pie, and some type of ice cream. What have I gotten myself into??? It's going to be a great adventure!

Backing

So I did find fabric for the back of Abby's quilt while we were in Tucson last weekend. Now that I'm finished with Cruz's quilt I have time to finish up with Abby's. I had already cut and done layout but I took a couple pieces to use on Cruz's quilt. Just two, so I will need to cut a couple more squares then I can get down to the nitty gritty.

Finishing Up

I did it!!! I finished the quilt for Cruz. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to on the short notice I had for the shower but I did! I also made some matching burp cloths. These are the pictures leading up to and including the end of the project. The parents to be did like it by the way...

Down to the Wire...

...with posting at least. I have made decent progress the past couple of days. Truthfully I did most of it tonight! The only thing left is to attach the backing and do the binding. I have pictures of my progress, but no time to upload. I will have pictures soon. I also made some matching burp cloths! They turned out pretty good. I learned to make burp cloths this way from my mother-in-law. I do things a little differently than her. The main difference is that she can use thinner ribbon for outline. My sewing still isn't good enough, so I almost always use 3/4" - 1" ribbon. I also have pictures of those, I will post plenty of pictures this weekend so I can catch up and put the check mark next to this whole project.

Strips- check!

It was a very busy night, but I felt up to putting the strips together before I started getting ready for bed. It didn't take me too long, about an hour after I ironed all the pieces... In case you don't remember my iron had broken so I picked one up at Target tonight. HOORAY! That meant I could get to work!

Tomorrow I will iron the seams and sew the strips together. That will leave me Friday and Saturday to do the backing and binding. Here's how it's looking so far. I LOVE IT!!!

I Couldn't Help Myself

It's not an exaggeration for me to say that I had been thinking about how this quilt would turn out since the second I bought the fabric. After I got Skylar to bed, did the dishes and some laundry I decided to go ahead and cut. I will iron tomorrow before I start sewing. I ended up using some fabric I already had that I think looks pretty cute with the stuff I picked up today. Just so you know, I love using different textured fabric in all the charm quilts I do...

Here's the fabric:




Here's the layout:






I think this is just going to turn out about as close to perfect as I've done so far. I just hope the happy expectant parents love it too. The backing is going to be a light green chenille. I'm hoping to be able to pull off a binding using the backing. If not I will use either the black or brown cotton... maybe the brown flannel. I'm a work in messy progress, lol! I actually looked at the quilting book a friend/coworker gave me for tips. I think I can do it. More pics later.

The Cutest Fabric

I had been looking around for some cute fabric for the charm quilt I am going to make for Orozco's little one. They don't have a theme, so I'm sort of on my own. They are having a boy, tentatively named "Cruz." They are thinking Cruz will be
sort of a middle name, and to my knowledge they haven't figured out what the first name will be. Anyway, I found the cutest fabric today! No pictures yet but the fabric is in the washer waiting to go into the dryer. Then it will be ironed. I would've tried to iron tonight, but I dropped my iron while I was cleaning the laundry room and it broke!!! I will pick up another or borrow one tomorrow. I just found out tonight, after I got home from buying the fabric, that their baby shower is this weekend! I can do them quickly, I just hope I don't put it off until Saturday morning. Each one gets better too! Yikes! It will be fun, I can't wait to cut and do the layout!

Cutting/Layout

I just started a new project. It's a charm quilt for a friend's daughter. My friend Karen just sent her daughter Abby to spend a couple weeks with her grandma... In the meantime Karen is planning to "big girl" up Abby's room in a sort of punk rock/rock star girl theme. Karen had seen a picture of another charm quilt I did in this theme for a girlfriend of mine who was getting ready to have a baby girl. This friend of mine isn't too into the pink "girlie" things, so when I saw these prints I just ran with it. It turned out pretty well. I like to use different textured fabrics. I've got some flannel, some ultra soft, and some cotton. I'm not sure what I'm going to use for the back side yet. I will be in Tucson tomorrow so I am hoping to have time to go to Joann's. We'll see what happens.

Here's how my first day went: