Monday, April 30, 2012

The "S" is done!

Well, I had a couple of goals this weekend and one of them was to complete the "S" on the MSU quilt!  And I did it!  I'm SO happy that I actually spent time on it! 



I did a huge stack all at once so it went pretty quickly {kind of} rather than doing it in 10's like I had been and this is what I got to at the end of the weekend :)

I also puttered around the yard a bit and decided to start my rain barrel.  I got a big barrel from work and have been waiting for a Lowe's coupon to get all of the attachments.  I painted it this weekend and hopefully I can construct it next weekend and start getting some water!


Before

After

I wish I would have gotten to it sooner sine the weather this week here is going to be pretty dreary.  It's storming right now as a matter of fact!

I hope you all had a lovely weekend!

Saturday, April 28, 2012

Busy, Busy, Busy!

I've made two more NY Beauty blocks and I may have finally decided on 4 to put together to give to my sister for Christmas as a wall hanging.  Hopefully I will get them sewed together this weekend but have actually picked up my MSU quilt this weekend and am chugging away on that instead!

Another block 8
Block 7
I like the all white but...
I just can't decide if I like this combo better!

Last weekend my mom came down and helped me prime my upstairs bathroom.  It's a room that I had previously ripped off the wallpaper and left for dead but with the nice weather I thought I should revive it.  Plus, Sherwin Williams had a fantastic sale this weekend with 40% off!  Incentive enough!  It doesn't look like much yet but you better believe that when I have time to actually paint, it will be stunning!

No more sea creatures!
I hope you are all having a lovely weekend!

I'm a Liebster!

MB from MB in MI nominated me for a Liebster Blog Award!  Thank you bunches for having me as a favorite :)


I have five "little" blogs that I follow and that I think deserve a Liebster {I know MB nominated me but she is my top "small blog" stalking spot so I just had to put her on my list :) }

MB at MB in MI
Terri at UFOs & UBIs- my crafty blog
Tami at Tami's Tiki Hut
Leah at Quilted Delights
Jenna at Sew Happy Geek

{two of them I have saved in my favorites tab so you may have never seen them on my activity and I'm not sure if Jenna has more than 200 followers since I have no idea how her blog works, but she is great anyways!}

Here's some more info about the Liebster;
The Liebster Award (Liebster means favorite in German) is for bloggers with 200 followers or less. As a recipient of the award, you have the chance to thank and link back to the blogger who gave it to you as well as pass it along to five other deserving blogs.

The Liebster Conventions say:
1. Thank your award presenter on your blog and link back to him/her
2. Copy and paste the award to your blog
3. Present the Liebster Award to 5 blogs that you think deserve to be recognized
4. Let them know by leaving a comment on their blog
5. Have faith that your follower will spread the love too !
Thank you again for reading my blog!

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Sliced Apples QAL!

I've joined a new QAL that Mama Spark and Cori have put up.  It uses the Little Apples line from Moda.  If you don't have this fabric (or any fabric really) and want to play along with the little apples line you can buy the fabric from Cori herself at her wonderful shop!  I'm not sure if I'll be able to keep up since I am behind on all of my other projects, but why not :)



Stop on over to either Mama Spark or Cori's blog for more info and let them know you are playing along!  And don't forget to join the Flickr group {Sliced Apples QAL} and post pictures of your progress.  You might be the one to win the prize!

Saturday, April 21, 2012

FNSI -- April 2012

This Friday Night Sew In was dedicated to ConKerr cancer.  I made two pillow cases for it and sent them off to WI to be distributed.  I really wanted to make some for older kids because I feel like many of us get sucked into the "OMG, this fabric is so adorable" vortex-- which is fine, of course, but I really wanted to NOT do that.  I failed.

I made one for a girl and one for a boy {in theory} and I had the hardest time finding something that would fit a teenage boy.  I settled on trains for a younger audience because I just could not sew ugly male-orientated fabrics together.  It probably would have destroyed me.  I did find this fantastic bird print for a female audience that I am happy to say should suit everyone since I wanted to keep the pillow case for myself and I'll be 25 next month!














I hope you are all having a lovely weekend!

Sunday, April 15, 2012

I'm Beat!

Last weekend I did NOT got a lot done.  That stack of green squares from before was abandoned and has stayed that way.  I started a stack of white ones and those too are sadly ignored.  I did manage to make another NY Beauty block though {Block 8}.  It's not my favorite but I can always put that one in with my gift version and no one will be the wiser... except you all... so don't tell.

Please excuse the non-pressed nature!

In other news, field season this year is going to put me under- I just know it.  So far it's been four weeks and I'm already dragging!  I think that the weather isn't helping much since I'd so much rather be outside putzing around than inside doing anything :)


 I finally dug up a bush stump in the front of our house and planted some lily of the valley.  I also wanted to plant some hostas there but couldn't find bulbs anywhere!  I checked three stores and no one had them!  Lowes only has annual seeds and a ton of nursery plants, Home Depot has some bulbs but no seeds, and meijer only has seeds!  I know I'm squeaky cheap when I can't bring myself to buy two hostas for $4 each.  I told my mom about it and she said that she has some I can dig up and bring to my house since she doesn't really want them.  Perfect!  DH did let me buy these pretty things though {already had the pots} since I am currently hosta-less.

Porch Planters!

This weekend the only sewing I did was to patch my pair of work jeans, but I did organize my shelves of fabric!

o.m.g.

Behold, the beauty of the mini-bolt!  I got the idea here.  It is fantastic!  I didn't use comic book boards though because I didn't want to spend money on it so I sliced up about 4 cardboard boxes we had around the house of various sizes.  I used 8"x11" for 1+ yds, 6.5-7"x11" for 1/2 yds, and 6"x9" for my 1/4 yds (I did these flipped from the others) and it turned out really well.  I didn't need them to be perfect so this worked just fine for me and I got to use the most out of each box :)

I have no idea how I lived before
When I was going through all of that fantastic fabric, I came across a bunch that Mama Spark gifted me so I can create my own Noah's ark quilt since she made one that I adore so much!  She really is amazing and I'm so lucky to have her as my teacher!!

Thank you again!
Hope you all had a lovely weekend!

Sunday, April 1, 2012

My Beauties!

I am loving this NY Beauty QAL!  I'm behind but I'm getting better at sewing curves and one of the tuts in the series had great advice for making sure the block is square in the end which I am benefiting from.  I made two blocks this weekend, one sister to block 5 that I already had made and then block 1.  I really, really love my sister blocks.  I may make 2 more of the same just because I like them so much!

NY Beauty Block 1

NY Beauty Block 5- Sister

NY Beauties so far :)

I am also trying to make progress on the MSU quilt for my dad.  My stack of completed blocks is pitifully small so I think I'm going to try to make 20 each weekend and see where that takes me.  I made one round of 10 yesterday and am still working on my second round of 10 today.  I will soon be playing out in my yard though, weeding and what-not.  Because our winter was so mild I have some snap dragons that survived as well as some pansies and another random flower I don't really know what it is..  I'm super happy about the pansies though, they are adorable :)

Baby stack
finish, finish, finish!
I hope you all had a lovely weekend!