Hop aboard the Christmas train

 I love sales and I especially love 75% off sales! I found the panels for these aprons after Christmas a few years ago.
and I put them away.
and I forgot I had them.

 

*then* I came across them the other day whilst "bolting" my fabric. I, of course, decided *not* to follow the directions - I don't like hemming raw edges, so I made it reversible. I put a bigger pocket on the plaid side and played around with the topstitching. I think it's much more fun to have two aprons in one! For the next one, I plan on using AbbyDoo's machine- she has all sorts of fancy schmancy stitches to use. :0) I *can't* teach her to use them if I don't play with them first, right?

I'm linking up to Christmas Through the year!

Today I am celebrating my birthday (still) by taking mySweetMommie out for lunch! and of course stopping at all the quilt shops on the route. The route had a few detours to get to the quilt shoppes- i got a new pen to mark my quilt top and some fat quarters!

Granny's Domestic Bliss

I have been working on my "Granny's Domestic Bliss" quilt off and on for a while now.

If Granny could tell me the secret of domestic bliss, I know she would say FORGIVENESS.  That sends my mind to Ephesians 4:32- "Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." Wow! That verse packs a punch- how often are we kinder to strangers than we are our own family?  I wanted to illustrate that verse with this quilt, so I ventured off into the hitherto unknown (by me) world of FMQ... free motion quilting- I have this great idea in my head and if I can just get my sewing machine to go along, I think it's gonna work.

So far the biggest problem seems to be seeing where the needle is going- from everything I've read, I think I need to find a different foot for my machine? Until then I am just going slowly and picking out the bad stitiches. 



bee



Here is the top border. I may go back and add antennae to the bee and I am not sure if I like the "n" in kind.

  

kind

 The side borders will say Bee Forgiving and Bee tenderhearted. <----- I hope!   The bottom border will say Ephesians 4:32 or just a row of hearts.     I quilted an echo flower on two of the blocks and an echo heart in 2 others.  It's slowly progressing and I am learning patience. :) I haven't taken good pictures of the echoes, I will try to remember this weekend.

 I am sew excited! I get to be part of the next Blog Hop beginning July 1st! I have sew many RWB ideas running thru my little mind!

Teacup Thursday

Today's Teacup is this lovely "tea for one" cup I received from MySweetMommie for Christmas a few years ago. It is not only beautiful, but it is my favorite "tea for one" teapot because it actually holds more than one cup of tea!

And it carries a great reminder that God can do anything!

Also participating in Teacup Thursday:

Rose Chintz Cottage Antiques and Teacups The Rosemary House Lady Estelle's Tea Corner

Denise's Delights Faith Hope And Cherrytea Beautiful Clutter Martha's Favorites Breath of Fresh Air

Lady Linda Teacup Teacups In the Garden Letters from the Northwest Gracious Hospitality

A Delightsome Life Poetry in a Pot of Tea Lady B's Time for Tea

Romance of Roses From This to That Fabby's Living

Art Books Tea Tea, Friendship and the Fine Art of Card Making

The Nest at Finch Rest Rose Walk Cottage Christine's Home and Travel Adventures

Just Cats Rosewalk Cottage 

Atteatude and Chocolate and of course our wonderful Hostess Miss Spenser

Actuated by the Hop part 2

SPOILER ALERT!!!

 If your name is CAMom Please do not read any further!!! You have to wait for the mail (hopefully tomorrow's mail) before reading this post! CAMom received her package on thursday!

WORD Of THE DAYMain Entry -Actuate
Part of Speech- verb
Definition- to start a function or action, motivate, to set working
Notes: when something is activated, it is made active. When something is actuated it is moved to take action (or produce a consequence)






To celebrate CaMom's Birthday, SisterMine, MySweetMommie, Abbydoo and I were planning a surprise made by all of us. But as the best laid plans of mice and men seem to go, we were unable to complete said surprise. So I found myself with less than a week before the birthday and nothing to send my very dear CAMom. And then the Creeping Crud found me and I ended up with only 3 days to make something! But as usual- I work best under pressure and was actuated by the over 159 tabletoppers

pinterest page

in the blog hop and this little block from Christine to make my own table topper. I can't tell you how much fun I had hopping with Madame Samm on this table topper hop! So many great quilters and new friends to meet!

CAMom if you are still reading this you are in BIG Trouble! No Peeking! She did good and didn't peek!

From this

Years ago CaMom sent Sistermine and me a bunch of vest and jumpstart panels. I made most of them and put some away for gifts but saved these  to make *someday* for myself, but never did. I also had  fabrics from the same line that I thought about using for curtains in my sewing room but decided not to use. The designs on these panels were sew cute that I decided to make the improv log cabin block with them. It was a very fun block to make! No measuring allowed! In fact, it was so much fun, I made two!



to that!     This one is for My tabletopper



"Cut, Sew and Enjoy" 
I stole the title from the instructions fabric  I used in the quilt

I played around a bit with the quilting - these mini quilt's are great for practicing! I used the sewing basket from the vest as my label and some pink checked fabric from my "supplier" (AKA CaMom) for the backing. I really like the way both blocks turned out and had a hard time choosing which one to send!

I hope CaMom enjoys her mini quilt and knows how much I love her! Happy Belated Birthday!





Actuated by the Hop

WORD Of THE DAY
Main Entry -Actuate
Part of Speech- verb
Definition- to start a function or action, motivate, to set working
Notes: when something is activated, it is made active. When something is actuated it is moved to take action (or produce a consequence)

I have been "bolting" my fabric and in the midst of going through totes, I have rediscovered fabric I had forgotten about. PHD's, UFO's and WIP's have been lurking in these boxes for so long that I do not remember what Iwas making, or in some cases what in the world I was thinking. I unearthed a chain of 4 inch squares, stitched to become HST's - I thought " Cool, I can just cut them and woo hoo! half square triangles." I grabbed my handy dandy cutter and WHOA Nellie- I realized why this chain had been relegated to the bottom of the tote- The person (ahem that would be me) who stitched these cute squares together did a beautiful straight stitch 1/4 inch from each line. Unfortunately she stitched them wrong sides together and since I *know* she didn't possess the knowledge to make a raggy edge quilt at the time- they were not supposed to be that way! I was able to unstitch them and will be restitching them in the near future. I had thought that I might use them for a table topper but wasn't really "feeling" it. I also discovered a few Daisy Kingdom panels that I had always *planned* to make but never did.  The other day, I found this block that Christine over at Quilt Monster in my Closet did and she was so kind to send me the link to the tutorial. As I had the bee block and all these lovely table toppers floating in my noggin, I started playing.... (insert dramatic music here)    I *was* going to show you what I did with my Daisy Kingdom vest and jumpstart, but since my camera battery has decided it needs recharged, and somebody left the charger at home- I can't take pictures!  Grrr Snarl Spit! I will tell you that I ended up making a tabletopper ( hence the title of this post) and if you check back on Wednesday- I will have pictures of my tabletopper quilt!



Until then enjoy the tabletoppers that the Hop Participants have shared!






click here to see all the toppers
in one spot

Thank you for all the get well wishes! I can talk again- my voice came back Saturday afternoon. I am still not feeling up to par, but hopefully the antibiotic will help soon!



All is Quiet

I woke up on Sunday Morning unable to talk and feeling generally blah. I have been home in bed dreaming about quilting but lacking the energy to actually get to my sewing machine - it is less than a foot from my bed. It is now Friday and I feel like I have wasted a whole week of my life! I am at work today but still can't talk - which is quite interesting since I'm the one answering the phones! Almost like a reverse prank call. I really would like to just crawl under my desk and take a nap!

Since I haven't been doing anything crafty, except in my dreams, I'm going to send you on a blog hop - Madame Samm over at !Sew We Quilt! is having a  Blog Hop and alot of my favorite Bloggers are sharing table toppers and give aways!






Join the fun!

more birthday and Cherry Blossoms!

For my birthday, I received a Giant Teacup planter with Gerbera Daisies  a small teapot, Victoria Magazine subscription. (For Christmas I received  a subscription to Tea Time!) * giggles* 

earrings and bracelet handmade by Eah!

I also received a can of cranberry sauce ( family joke) a watch and some beautiful handmade jewelry,

as well as the Giant Muffin pan I've been"needing."  I have been very blessed! Thank You all!




Furthermore, I was surprised with this: 

Cherry Blossoms Teacup and hand painted Egg! My first thought, after the oohs and ahs, was "I know just what I am posting for Teacup Thursday!"   Thank You Jori, for such a treasure!
Also participating in Teacup Thursday:
Rose Chintz Cottage Antiques and Teacups The Rosemary House Lady Estelle's Tea Corner
Denise's Delights Faith Hope And Cherrytea Beautiful Clutter Martha's Favorites Breath of Fresh Air

Lady Linda Teacup Teacups In the Garden Letters from the Northwest Gracious Hospitality

A Delightsome Life Poetry in a Pot of Tea Lady B's Time for Tea

Romance of Roses From This to That Fabby's Living

Art Books Tea Tea, Friendship and the Fine Art of Card Making

The Nest at Finch Rest Rose Walk Cottage Christine's Home and Travel Adventures

Just Cats Rosewalk Cottage 

Atteatude and Chocolate and of course our Hostess Miss Spenser

Easter and my birthday!

When I was a little girl, Easter was always on somebody else's birthday, or the day before or day after my birthday, but never *on* my birthday. It was on my cousin's birthday- April 7th when we were 11 and then again when we turned 22, but never on mine! {little girl sigh} Easter was finally on my birthday  in 2007! I was very excited! I looked it up and discovered that the next time it would be on my birthday would be the year 2091!  This year at Christmas, SunshineBoy and I were making a calendar with all the family birthdays and lo and behold Easter was on my birthday again! I checked two or three sources to make sure I wasn't reading the calendar wrong, but somehow I missed it when I checked  back in 2007! If you want to check yours - here is the handy dandy list I used.

Hey Vicki- your next Easter birthday will be in 2075-
We will be One Hundred and One- I mean you will be One Hundred and One- I will be 25
(for the 76th time.)  

When I was little, I wanted Easter to be my birthday because I'd get extra candy. Which, thinking back probably wouldn't have happened- I probably would have received less. Now, I am honored to share my birthday with the day we celebrate our LIVING Saviour! Resurrection Sunday awesome! Jesus proved He was the Messiah by defeating death and Hell!

O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? 

Four years ago, my sister gave me the best birthday present ever-  My nephew A.C. was born on the 10th. My gift was a little late but that's OK!  I keep asking what Sistermine is going to do to top that gift but she won't answer. :) A.C. knows that his birthday is right after Aunt Bobbie's. Last year, he told everyone "I'm Aunt Bobbie's present." It is so fun celebrating together! We got to have a pool party this year. 

Sunshine Boy made A.C. a card

For some reason, I seem to make a special cake for fourth birthdays, so A.C. got a Rainbow cake - he loves rainbows!  According to 3yo Emmabean, Dora likes rainbows so Emmabean tho't I should put Dora on the cake too! Since A.C. isn't fond of Dora, I declined. It was a fun and easy cake to make- just cool whip and candy and Sprinkles! 

EmmaBean wanted a kiss so A.C. kissed her on the forehead.
They are the best of friends as well as Cousins!

I made this funny bunny for Emmabean

For my birthday I received lots n lots of fabric and spent all day Monday sewing and playing.  I have been busily "bolting" my fabric and it has been fun rediscovering fabric I have forgotten about. My studio is going to look like a fabric shop for Cinderella's mice!  I also tried to reduce a 12 inch block pattern to a 9 inch block pattern. 


face blurred to protect the despicable



I did a test block with scrap fabric first. Now Sistermine has a very cute 8 inch Daffy block for our Scraffy Daffy quilt. I decided to keep my Cathedral star at 12 inches.  

Very simple Cathedral window tutorial from
April Mae Designs - scroll past the Hello Sun Quilt Along
( if you can- I am making it for Sunshine boy- don't tell)
The Cathedral Star tutorial is at the bottom of the page

For Teacup thursday tomorrow, I will be sharing a very special Birthday gift! See you tomorrow!

Cherry Blossoms tea cup & Mug Rug

Wow it's been a crazy month and its only the fifth! I had all sorts of plans to post last thursday and poof its next thursday already! I have been discovering lots of nifty neato peachy keen cool n stuff blogs from the lists on the sides of other blogs- I just haven't figured out how to put one of those lists on the side of *my* blog. I just figured out how to one on the side of *my* blog!  On one of these "ooh let's see what they have over here" adventures I discovered Cherry Blossoms Quilting- What made me peek at her blog? It was this:

Isn't it cute? I love all the details. Thanks to the Expo and a BOM from CaMom, I have been tinkering with applique- I played around with applique many moons ago- mostly sweatshirts using t- shirt paints instead of stitching. I did make a wall hanging for my MIL but the stitches were Faux- made with a pen. So, of course I see Cherry's adorable mug rug, and then I look at my mug rug



snazzy ain't it?


and think "I can do that, I need a cute mug rug." I printed out a picture of Cherry's rug and proceeded to copy it. I was going through some scraps at MySweetMommie's while she sewed her triangles together and came across fabric with hearts in a circle so I asked if I could have them. I got home around 11:30pm and had to play around with the mug rug. searching for the right scraps was alot of fun- except I never found the right scrap for the cat.

Notice the cup is turned around because I am left- handed!
Not because I forgot to flip my template, no no that's not it

Now I have a cute mug rug of my own- I still need to work on my stitching- everything I have read seems to indicate an open toe darning foot would expedite the stitching process because I'd be able to see where I am sewing. I have a whole box of feet (sounds psychotic, doesn't it?) but the only darning foot is a high shank and my machine is a low shank.  I guess I will have to get the right foot and make some more rugs to practice :)

  !Sew We Quilt! is hosting a month of kitchen tutorials and this morning they sent a lovely tutorial for a cup cozy- maybe I should make one to match my mug rug.....

It is Teacup Thursday and since I am sharing my rug from Cherry Blossoms I thought I would share a cherry blossoms tea cup too!

Also participating in Teacup Thursday:
Rose Chintz Cottage Antiques and Teacups The Rosemary House Lady Estelle's Tea Corner
Denise's Delights Faith Hope And Cherrytea Beautiful Clutter Martha's Favorites Breath of Fresh Air

Lady Linda Teacup Teacups In the Garden Letters from the Northwest Gracious Hospitality

A Delightsome Life Poetry in a Pot of Tea Lady B's Time for Tea

Romance of Roses From This to That Fabby's Living

Art Books Tea Tea, Friendship and the Fine Art of Card Making

The Nest at Finch Rest Rose Walk Cottage Christine's Home and Travel Adventures

Just Cats Rosewalk Cottage 

Atteatude and Chocolate and of course our Hostess Miss Spenser

I am  participating in a yesteryear challenge over at Quilt Monster in My Closet and finished a WIP on Saturday. It is not as old as some of my PHD's (projects half done) This quilt was supposed to be for my "daughter's" baby girl's shower (I am CindyLou's Mommy #2- I AM NOT M's Grandma tho') I of course was last minuting the quilting and on the day of the shower was feverishly quilting when my machine decided to rebel and I went to the shower with the quilt not finished and put it away. Since they live out of state, I forgot about the quilt- except when they visited.  M just turned one year old and we had a belated birthday party for her so I finished up her quilt and made a bunny too.




The reason my machine rebelled? my cone thread had been slit
when the box of thread was opened so I had all
sorts of short lengths of thread trying to go through my machine.



the back

I was also inspired by Quilt Monster in the Closet to organize my stash. I now have 37 mini bolts of fabric and will have many many many many many more- especially since I know that CaMom sent me more fabric for my birthday which happens to be Easter Sunday- more on that tomorrow!

the first box of fabric- all from CaMom's stash
some of this fabric pre-dates 1978!

Have a great day!
Bobbie :)