OXOXOX

Happy Valentine’s Day! Once again Madam Samm and her cheerleading squad deserve lotsa Hugs and Kisses for putting together a fabulous hop for us! Jane has done a great job of keeping us organized!
        Before I share my block, I have a short story. My Sunshine Boy, Nehemiah was about 6 years old and just learning to read. It was close to Valentine’s Day and we were all at Nana’s (Nana also loves Valentine’s Day and always has great decorations,) Miah looks up at me and says “Aunt Bobbie, why do all the Valentine’s decorations say Ox Ox on them?”   I had no idea what he was talking about “Ox, Ox?” Then he pointed at Nana’s tablecloth which had hearts and hugs and kisses (XOXO) on it. He was looking at it upside down and sure enough, XOXO upside down is OXOX.

 As I was thinking on Hugs and Kisses for this hop, I knew I had to incorporate this story into my project. So here is my OXOX block- which I will turn into a pillow case for My Sunshine Boy.

 

I used the pattern from Debbie Mumm’s

Quick Country Quilting to make the Ox (ok ok he really is a cow)

and CaMom had sent me the longhorns fabric in

one of her moo-velous stash enhancing boxes.

I was going to make just one thing for this hop but- when we went shopping I asked EmmaBean to pick out some fabric for St Patty’s Day and she picked the ladybugs- I just had to make something for her and then Jayme over at finding sweetland reminded me of  Rachel's ( ps i quilt)  cute little friendship bag- I used some of my gazillion 2 inch squares and tweaked the pattern a bit – her strips were a different size and I wanted a two tone handle.  I made EmmaBean this cute little bag- it worked up in less than two hours (not counting the fabric choosing.)

I added a fussy cut laddy bug and some rickrack too

the back

inside

EmmaBean loves her new bag!

Then Amanda over at Jedi Craft Girl used her Jedi bloggy tricks and *forced* me to make this little guy- He took less than 10 minutes! I will be making more for sure!

I didn’t even have to add eyes-
 my fabric just happened to have O’s in
just the right places!  

Be sure to check out all the fun hugs and kisses over at

Thursday February 14th

Dachsies with Moxie

From This to That 

Sew at Home Mummy 

Everyone Deserves a Quilt 

A Geeky Crafty Life 

Charlottes Creations

The German Mom

Debby Kratovil Quilts

NorthHills Quilter

The whole schedule can be found over at Jane's

 

Wishing you a Valentine’s Day
                           with lots of OXOX!!

hodge podge

I was hoping to be able to show you a finish from the squares I cut out on Wednesday. However, I left them in the car and decided it was too much work to go back out and get them. So I decided to go a different direction with Aunt Sukey- I am really loving the name Sukey- such fun to say.  I looked up Sukey and it is a diminuative of Susan, means lily and was popular in the 18th century.  The Kalona Quilt Block Walking Tour pamphlet  states that Aunt Sukey's Choice was featured in the Ladies Art Company mail order catalog in the 30's and 40's. I decided to make my block red, black and white. Of course, after working both jobs, my brain was rather deadish so I couldn't remember how many extra inches to add to the block to do the easy four patch or the 4 in one half square triangle. I looked up the four patch in my book - no problem! got those all cut out. Went to look up the easy 4 HST's and totally forgot where I had found it, couldn't even remember which quilt block I had been looking up when I stumbled across it (I switched phones and had bookmarked it on the old phone- that was dead and waaay in the other room) so I searched for "HST 4 at a time" and discovered how to make 8 at a time! Way too cool! After straining my over tired brain to do the calculations (that were actually already done for me- I just could not get my poor noggin wrapped around it)  I managed to get those squares cut. After all that brain overuse, I didn't have enough oomph left to actually make the HST's. BUT if my calculations are correct- I should have those babies whipped up by the time supper is ready tonight! (MySweetMommie cooks yummy food for me on Quilt Class Nights- that's her class fee!) I will let you know how they turn out!

I found this V.I.P.  Snow White Doll panel at the thrift store the other day, while looking for the batting- it was only 99cents. She is much larger than I originally thought. She's about 18 inches tall and has movable arms and legs. I believe AbbyDoo will enjoy making her. 





SunshineBoy was unusually adventurous! He even held a frog!



As promised here are some pictures from the Memorial Day Picnic. The park that we like to go to is amazing! Great trails, a fabulous spring fed creek, fishing lake, and playgrounds. There are also poles for a volleyball net- We played quite a Crazy game of volleyball.  I love Volleyball- we used to play EVERY Tuesday night when I was a teenager, in the church parking lot, on the asphalt. NOT a good place to dive for the ball. Playing in the grass is much better for the knees! Of course, my favorite place to play would be the beach, but the beaches in Illinois are few and far between. :)




Determination

  One of the highlights of the park is the pump. The kids would play around it all day, or at least until someone is ready to take them down the trail to the creek. EmmaBean was so determined that she could make it work! "The desire accomplished is sweet to the soul!" I love the look of pure joy when she finally gets the water to pump!

and success!





I told the boys to make their scariest faces





and then their happiest faces



MySweetMommie will be putting all of her blocks together to finish the quilt top tonight- we may even get to the borders.... maybe!

More on that next week! Have a Great Weekend!

whoops and a win

WHOOPS!!

Here it is Friday and I have been having way too much fun entering over 300 giveaways over at Sew Mama Sew! (I didn't even get to two of the giveaway pages)- I had my teapot all ready to be photographed and got caught up in the fun. So sorry!

I did win the May for Me "Charming GiveAway" from Marcia's Crafty Sewing & Quilting! I got to choose my colors for a charm pack- I picked Ocean Blue and Cream- I wasn't expecting to receive my package until the weekend but I actually got it on Wednesday! Marcia also included  postcards which are sew utterly cool!  



This teapot came from my pattyfriend who moved way to far away!



The ocean blue is Perfect for my "Ocean View" quilt that I am working on! I needed the cream just because but it may end up in Ocean View- I don't know yet!

Marcia has some great stuff in her shop be sure to check it out!

the front squares are for Ocean Blue- I just love these colors!

In other news- Sunshine Boy has been drawing a Cinderella Mural- I just love the hoity toity horse and the driver's funny face! Can you see the magic sparkles around the coach?

I will be posting more of this mural next week as well as the Photo Scavenger Hunt results.

Have a Great Memorial Day Weekend- Thank you to all who have served so that I can be free!

Teacup Thursday/ Friday Finish

 Teacup Thursday  FRIDAY
and a FINISH!!!!

It is finished and on the road to California and my cream and sugar bowl are also "on"  the Road to California block :)



Can You see the Sunshine in the purple square?



Here is a sneak peek.   Of course I can't show you the entire thing just yet because it's a Mother's Day gift and probably won't arrive until Tuesday. I will post it on Wednesday for sure!

There is a Give Away over at It's Sew Kiki

and at Maureen's    There are a few more giveaways on the sidebar -be sure check them out!

Have a pulchritudinous Mother's Day Weekend!

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!