Happy New Year!

I pray 2014 will be a wonderful year for everyone.

Merry Christmas

I found this picture on line.  I think it is beautiful and shows us what Christmas is really all about!

Merry Christmas from our home to yours. 

I think I need to make a tree skirt in 2014. 

Hat Hat Hat

I finally got our oldest grandson here to model a hat for me. I made this one yesterday. This one is made for his aunt so it is a little big for him.  I think the grandies will get lots of use out of their hats this winter.


Is he cute or what!?!

Still another hat!!!!!

We have our precious Reed over for a visit and to spend the night.  He loves his Angry Bird hat.
He is such a cutie!

another hat

I finished making hats for the boys. E was here today for a few minutes so I had him model for me so I could get a picture for my blog

He is so funny!

My favorite Christmas song!

I have read on several blogs that people are asking their readers to indicate their favorite Christmas song.  My favorite is "Walking in the woods with my Paran"
It is sung to the tune of Walking in a Winter Wonderland.
You can hear it here.  What is your favorite Christmas song?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOu7R_QJmGU

Bear on a quilt!

My friend Jan has done it again.  She made this adorable quilt for her grandson.
Beautiful paper piecing.

Christmas program time

Our two older grandies were both in school Christmas performances.  They were so sweet and did a  great job.

On Thursday evening, Alden's kindergarten class sang some cute Christmas songs.

We brought Reed with us to see the show.  I love these precious boys.

Today, Reed's preschool class performed a little Christmas play and he was a reindeer.  Cutie pie!

My DH and I love being able to spend so much time with our grandsons.

cute hat

I found this idea on this blog http://lovelaughquilt.blogspot.com/  She always has the best ideas and she does beautiful work.
These little hats are easy to make and you get the tutorial here..http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNMPT_brigA
  I have learned so much from the Crafty Gemini.  Her tutorials are great.

I made this little hat for my youngest grandbaby
Quick and easy to make.

Birds on a quilt...angry ones....

My grandson is obsessed with the game Angry Birds on my phone and Ipad.  He has lots of the toys.  I finally found some fabric and made this for him.

This is the front of the quilt.  It is about 48 inches square.

This is the back of the quilt.  I decided to use the left over half square triangles on the back.

Since we moved I no longer have my quilt frame in my sewing room. Not enough room in there so we put it in the garage.  Today my DH helped me get it set up and I quilted the Angry Birds quilt.  It was a little cold to be out in the garage but not really that bad.  

I plan to finish several quilts this winter. It really is not too cold out there.  Today it was in the low 50's

2 Christmas quilt tops

Several months ago I made a few blocks with some Christmas fabric I had.  I put them in a bin and found them a couple of days ago.   I decided it was time to use these blocks and finish putting together 2 quilt tops.

To make the blocks I sewed some strips from a jelly roll together then made them into half square triangles.  Sometimes I just pull out fabric pieces and precut strips and just start sewing.  The fabric usually leads me to what it wants to look like.

Here is what I came up with.

This one measures about 45 inches square.  I plan to add a couple of borders.

This one is about 60 inches square.  I don't think I will add a border.

Christmas stockings

I decided it was time to make some new stocking for my DH and me.He likes them and I kinda do too.
I have never tried this quilt as you go method and that's what I did to make these. I made these last night. It only took a couple of hours to complete them.

They were fun to make.

Two more quilts finished!

I finally quilted the green and yellow quilt top.
  I tried to take a few close ups of the quilting.

This is the back of the quilt.  I used all the scraps to make the back.

I also finished this quilt of brights (pastels?).

I tried to take a few close ups of the quilting.

I am trying to get better at doing feathers so I did them all

around the border of this one!

I used scraps of the solids to make the back.  
Can you tell I am trying to use up some of my stash?

Another finished top of half square triangles

I have been going though some bins in my sewing room as I am organizing things.  I found these half square triangles that I made with a charm pack of white and a pack of spring prints  a couple of months ago.
I am thinking of quilting it by stitching in the ditch and maybe some feathers in the boarders.
I kinda like the orange.  I am going to use pieces of the orange, pink and green for the back.

completed quilt top ready to be quilted

I finished the green and yellow chevron quilt I started with half square triangles.
It measures about 40" by 42".  I think it will make a sweet baby quilt. I am thinking of binding it with the blue.

fun with half square triangles!

When I was organizing some little boxes of fabric I found a stack of little triangles that I cut out with my Go Cutter several months ago.  I decided I would see what I could come up with.
I made some little half square triangles and put them together, worked on a boarder and tried to blend the colors. The half square triangles are 2 1/2 inches square.  This is on my design wall right now.  the boarders are not attached and I am not sure what I will end up doing with the corners.

my three boys

My DH and I have 3 Grandsons.
We love to have the them over for visits.  They are so much fun.  This afternoon we had the three boys here.  We ran around in the back yard, played with cars, ate snacks, ran some more
 ( this time in the house), played some cards, played with cars again and raced, ate some more, etc....  Whew!  Did I tell you that they are so  much fun. Oh, yes I did and they are!!!!

This is why we moved to Houma.  We did good didn't we?  We love these boys so much!

Ephraim is 2 this month, Reed turned 5 in October and Alden will be 6 in May!  

They grow fast, way too fast!

Quilting Bee November Block

I made this block for an online quilting bee I am participating in.  Very interesting block. It is the first time I make this one. It took about 45 minutes to do this one. It took long to do because I was determined to get all my points to match up right.  It was fun to make. The block looks crooked in the photo but the sides are really straight. For some reason I can not get a good picture of it.
I will be mailing it this week. I hope Nathalie from the blog Waste Land Wollowing blog   http://wastelandwallowing.blogspot.com/  likes it.  It is called Goose in the Pond.

New house - new house cleaning routine!

I am determined to keep our new home CLEAN and in order at all times.   I have come up with a routine and for the last 2 weeks I have been able to follow it pretty easily.

Here is my schedule:

Housekeeping Routine – takes about 20-30 minutes each day!

I.               After supper and before going to bed

-       Wipe down all kitchen counter tops

-       Clear sink and drain board of any dishes

-       Run dishwasher if it is full

-       Wipe front of dishwasher, microwave, refrigerator, stove & vent

-       Pass swiffer in kitchen

Every morning

-   Empty dishwasher

-       Put a load of laundry to wash, fold and put away 

II.           In the morning

Monday:

-   Wipe inside of microwave

-       Dust blinds and breakfast table and chairs

-       Vacuum and mop utility room, kitchen and breakfast 

Tuesday

-       Clean hall bathroom

-       Dust blinds and all surfaces in guest room

-       Vacuum and mop guest room, bathroom and hall

Wednesday

-       Dust blinds and all surfaces in living room, dining room & foyer

-       Vacuum and mop living room, dining room and foyer

-       Check fridge, clean (2 shelves and a drawer) remove spoiled food

Thursday 

-       Dust blinds and all surfaces in master bedroom and bathroom

-       Vacuum and mop master bedroom and bathroom

-       Change bed sheets, wash, fold/put away sheets

Friday

-       Sweep front porch and back patio 

Saturday

 -       Pass swiffer throughout house 

Sunday 

-    Go to church and enjoy a day of rest!

I have always heard that if you do something for 6 weeks, it becomes a habit.  I am going to make this routine a habit I know I can do it!!!!

New Home pictures

Happy Halloween.  October 31, 2013.

Today marks 30 days since we bought our new home.  The time flew by this month. We have everything  in place now and it feels like we have lived here forever. ( well almost everything - we still have a couple of boxes of family photos to go through.)
Here are a couple of pictures.

Front of house

                                                           

Front door.

Kitchen with breakfast table.

Dining room

More pictures later.  

We met several of our new neighbors tonight while loads of kids were Trick or Treating on our street.

Everyone has been so friendly!

I think we are going to really like living here.

Fabric Painting

My sweet friend, Jan is working on something new.   Her projects always amaze me.   Now she is doing fabric painting.  This is her grandson.  I can not wait to see this completed!

Sewing room ready for action!

It has been busy here in our new home.

I finally got my sewing room set up. I still have a few bins to go through but for the most part I am ready to start working on some projects.  A special thank you to my friend Jean for helping me get started on getting this room in order.  It took several days to get everything in place.

I have several unfinished projects that I am determined to get done before I start anything new.

Here are some photos of how it looks  now.

I had some space for a small design wall!  And my DH installed my new TV for me.

Still need to organize a little better by color but at least I can see most of my fabric. I was able to stuff my batting into that little corner. 

I have a nice view of my front yard out of that window and it provides some great sunlight.

Another view of the fabric wall.