Wedding pillow and satin purse

I have a "niece" ( The bride is one of my dear friend's twins and the girls have always called me Aunt Barbara...a very endearing thing to me.  Still can not believe how fast they grew up!)  getting married this weekend and she asked me to make the ring barer's pillow and a little purse for her to use during the "money" dance at the wedding reception.

I never know where to begin these types of things so I just sat with the fabric and let it begin to speak to me.  I found a big platter that we use to eat boiled seafood with and used it as a pattern.  I needed a big circle.  For some reason I felt the purse should just be a simple draw string bag.  I will try to  put together a tutorial on how I made it.

Here is what I came up with for the bag...

For the pillow I had some satin fabric and some lace.  Not sure what to make...think- think -think-  she wanted something simple..Hmmmmm  Here are the two ideas I ended up making...

The bride picked them all up on Monday.  She is not yet sure which pillow she will use.  I think I like the one that shows a little of the satin on each side.   

These were simple to make and it was a quick project.  

The wedding is this Saturday evening..I will try to post a picture or two next week.

I would love some opinions of what you think of these items.

A few completed quilts!

I have been working on finishing quilts.  I am determined to get these UFOs out of my sewing studio.
here are a few of the quilts I finished..

piecing and quilting and binding oh my.....

this Care Bear, shades of purple, log cabin quilt needed binding.

this Wee Folks quilt needed quilting and binding.  I did stitch in the ditch and added additional lines

this black and white lap quilt with light and dark wonky stars
needed quilting and binding

this lap quilt needed binding

this lap quilt needed quilting and binding

 this tumbling block quilt needed quilting and binding

All of these quilts have been added to my Etsy store.  Check it out. I have a button for my store on the side of my blog.

Hurricane Isaac hits home

Hurricane Isaac has been blowing here at our house for about 24 hours.  Still getting some strong wind.  Thank you God for protecting us.  We did not have any damage or flooding here.  We lost power last night around 9pm and it just came back on at 7:30pm.  Ahhhh, air conditioner is back on.

here is a radar picture

we live where the circles overlap....

I sure hope this is the only hurricane this year.  One is more than enough!

Blast from the past quilt

I made this butterfly quilt for my BFF who lives in Colorado.  I had the butterflies all flying up and only one is flying down.  We grew up together here in south Louisiana and the one butterfly flying down was meant to remind her that she should fly down here and maybe even move back.    Great friends are precious to have.  
I made it about 20 years ago and she finally sent me a photo of it on her bed..LOL...she uses it as their summer quilt. It is one of my first quilts.  I embroidered the whiskers on each butterfly. It is on a queen sized bed.

Another quilt completed

I have been working on several quilt tops.  I am trying to catch up with the quilting and the binding.
Here is one I did yesterday!

                                                 Front

Back

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When I got to the end of quilting this top, I discovered that I did not have the right length of the backing material.  I had to add a strip along the side.  Looks like I had that planned all along.  No one will know it was an OOPS...

I have several more to complete...I will be posting them as I finish each one.

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Got a manicure today!

I went to get a manicure this afternoon. Instead of nail polish she uses a shellac.  It is thicker than regular polish, helps to protect the nail and it lasts a couple of weeks.  I had her cut down my nails because they were getting too long.  I can not believe I can grow my nails. I bit them for 50 years.  I quit  biting them when I retired.  My job must have been more stressful than I am willing to admit.
Aren't they pretty?    

I did not realize my fingers were so swollen.  They are like this pretty much all the time. oh well, such is life!

Here is something a little less boring.....

I did a little sewing.  I finished quilting this quilt top.  I made this using a layer cake.  I used the disappearing 9 patch for the layout.   Here is a picture of the front.  (still need to finish the binding)   

Here is the back...I just did a simple fish scale pattern.

Over the next week or so I am going to be quilting several quilt tops I have had for a while.  I have about 10 more to do.  I am determined to finish all of them before I begin anything new.... LOL...not sure I will be able to do that! but I will try...

I hope to post them once they get done.....I hope you come by again to see them.   

And now we are watching Big Bang Theory....gotta love that Sheldon!  and Leonard and Howard and Raj and Penny.

Bazinga!!!

Memory quilt completed

I just finished making a memory quilt.  I had a very sweet young lady ask me to make her memory quilt using sorority  t-shirts she collected while attending LSU.   I just had to share it with my blogging friends.

It came out to be 85 inches square!  I am very pleased with the way it came out.  Let me know what you think of it.

Grandchildren

Who knew that grandchildren would be so wonderful to have?   We have 3 boys, I have posted their photos before but this picture has all three of them together!  Just had to share it.
I love these boys more than I could ever express!

First cousins having fun at Mamae and Papae's house!

Left to right...
Alden, 4 1/2, Ephraim 8 months  and Reed, 3yrs 10 months...
Alden and Ephraim are for our older son and Reed is for our younger son.  We have been blessed with two sons, two sweet daughters in law and these three precious baby boys. Thank you God for all of your gifts!  Our cup surely overflows......

Life is good!

Two more quilts completed!

Here is the quilt I made from two online bees last year.  I asked for the same thing from each group and ended up with the perfect amount of blocks to complete this quilt.  I quilted it yesterday and I finished the binding this morning.
The girls in these bees are sweethearts and I love these hearts......

just thought I would share it with you.....

Last summer I put together this little lap quilt.  I found a sweet tutorial for the blocks and just had to try it.  Today I quilted it and finished putting the binding on it.   

another one to share with you......

I have Quilt POX do you?

I took this picture of a wall hanging my aunt has in her sewing room.   She said she did not know who made it. She bought it at a flea market in Texas.   I have this illness for sure! I finally know what to call it!   LOL!

Working on a Quilting bee quilt

 I participated in an online quilting bee this year.  Each person designed a block, posted a tutorial for it and then everyone made a block and sent it to you.
These are the blocks I got this year.  There were 11 in this bee.  I did not use the block I made for my quilt. I made a wall hanging out of it.  One of the blocks I got will be made into a zippered bag.  I used the other 9 blocks to make this!
 I decided not to sash the blocks and I think I like the way it turned out.

Each of the blocks are so pretty.  Everyone did a great job on them.  I like it just like this.  I am going to try to quilt it soon.

This was a fun project.  

Outer Space quilts

I finally finished making and quilting these Outer Space quilts for my grandbabies.  They will share a room so my DIL wanted matching quilts.  I still have to put on the binding but that won't take too long.  I  need to  make a couple of pillow shams.
These quilts were a challenge to make but I am glad I went with  my original plan to make the fabric for the background.

My girlfriend and SIL were so nice to hold them up for me to take pictures.

I put one of them on my queen bed to show the size.  They are made for a regular double bed.

Loads of work but so worth it now that it is finished.

Grandbabies are the best!

We have been blessed with 3 precious grandsons.  We are able to have them over for fun visits every week.  I can not explain how much I love these boys.  I just felt the need to share them with you.

Alden is 4 years old

Reed is 3 1/2 years old

Ephraim is 8 months old

Aren't they cute?

2013 bee update

I have 11 for the bee....yea.....and I have someone who may fill the final slot if we need her.

short post today
hugs
beebee

Online bee for 2013

I am going to give this a try.
I want to host an online quilting bee.
If you are interested please visit The Bee Balm at http://thebeebalm.blogspot.com/ and leave a message.
I will contact everyone as soon as we have enough to get one started. 

I have 7 names so far....looking for 5 more! 

My plans are to wait until January to get things started.
I have to learn a little more about adjusting the site and how to allow others to post on the site.

 I am not sure of the specifics of the bee yet but we will have some time to discuss ideas of what we want to do.

Hug from South Louisiana,
beebee

Quilt blocks everywhere!

In May my DH and I went on a cruise.  Everywhere I looked I saw quilt block ideas.  I only took a few pictures.

Do you see potential quilt blocks?

This was the floor in the dining room of the ship.

There were lots of these lamp shades every where.

This was on the floor on the main deck.  

A two day "get away"

My SIL and I decided we needed a little R and R so we took off for a little vacation away from everything. A fun short 'girl' trip.  We did not travel far.  Our original idea was to go to the Gulf coast in Mississippi but we ended up in New Orleans instead.  It was a beautiful day.  We had coffee and beignets and then a nice walk around the quarter,  It was sunny and there was a cool breeze.  Very cool considering it was June in Louisiana.  We had a great lunch at my favorite place on Decatur Street just up from Jackson Square.  Mespairos (probably not spelled right)   is one of the best places to eat if you are in the area.  Great New Orleans eats with large portions and very reasonable....Cash only place...I love it.

here is a photo I took of Jackson Square...my iphone takes great pics!

We took off to the North Shore to find the "Bra Geini', a place where they really know how to fit you with the right bra. LOL we laughed so much while there!  Very nice people and a great selection of all kinds of neat underware.....(I told you it was a girl trip!)

We then went shopping in Metairie.  We found a nice inexpensive motel in Kenner.

here is a photo of the motel pool at dusk...... very quiet and relaxing place.....

If you ever need a nice place to go to relax and/or to experience loads of history, the French Quarter is the place to go to.

We had a nice two day rest and came home refreshed!
We just might have to do that again really soon!
 

Outer Space Quilt in progress

I am working on making 2 quilts with an Outer Space theme.  I finally have made some progress.  Here is a photo of what I have so far......still needs a border and quilting.  I have most of the second one ready to put together.  "Making" fabric is time consuming but I really like how it looks. The lighting does not allow the true colors to show up but you still get an idea of what it will look like.

Here is a close up of the center of the quilt.   I still need to add some details to the space shuttle.  

Our Red Hat group visits local TV Station WDSU

Today was so much fun.  I am a member of the Jazzy Red Hat group in our little community.
We take turns planning outings for our group.  This month I was in charge of planning our trip.  My DH and I have our coffee every morning while watching the morning show on Channel 6, WDSU.  I feel as though they are all part of our family. We have enjoyed their company for many years. I always thought it would be nice to meet some of the broadcasters in person. SO....... Today a group of us drove into New Orleans for one of our monthly trips.  We had a great time touring Channel 6, WDSU TV.

Here are a few of the photos we took.

Ann Bell (front left) gave us a tour of the studio.  I am so sad that I did not get a picture of Ms Lu Adams, the sweet lady who set up the date and time for our tour. Everyone there was so nice to us.



Jay Galle, a meteorologist,  gave us a demonstration of how they look at maps in front of a 'green' screen.

Diane gave it a try...pointing at a screen while looking at a map on a monitor is not so easy to do!

We were aloud to watch a live news update broadcast. 

We were all able to get behind the news desk with 

Jay Galle and Sula Kim (she is new to the station)  I think she will fit in perfectly with all the others on the news team.  

The news room was a busy place!

Susan and I were able to get a picture with Randi Rousseau.  She does the news in the morning.  She is the one I contacted to get the plans of this tour started.

Here is a photo of the WDSU TV studios.

Beautiful blocks from online Bee

I am participating in an online bee over on the 15 minute site http://www.15minutesplay.com/
These are the blocks I have received so far.  I think they are so pretty.  I am waiting for a couple more to arrive so I can put it together.  Not sure how I will sash them together.  Any ideas?

Another bag completed

I posted a photo of a bag I made a while back for my DIL...I made another one today for my younger DIL...
Here is a photo of the bag.

I also added a photo of the book I used.  This is the third project I made from this book and plan to tackle a couple of the others in the book...it's great!

Something Lost Can Be Found!

I have an amazing story to tell.

About 5 weeks ago I lost my gold chain with religious medals and a special crucifix on it in the parking lot of our local mall.  At least I thought that was where I lost it.

I went back to check where I had parked just 15 minutes earlier and it was nowhere to be found.

I asked St. Anthony to help me find it.  After a few weeks I figured it was really gone for good.   I figured this time St. Anthony could't help me with this one. I really wanted to find it because the medals had special meanings but I refused to be upset about it because it really is just “stuff”

Yesterday my BFF sent me a text saying she read in the want ads of the paper that someone found a chain with medals in the mall parking lot and they included a phone number.   I figured it couldn’t be mine but I called anyway.   When the girl answered the phone I described my medals and she said, “yep, that’s what I found.”  Today I drove to her house to get it.  (she lives only 12 miles from my house!)  I was so happy to get it back.  She told me that her 10 year old daughter found it and that she knew she had to find the owner.   I am still blown away that I really did get my chain and medals back.  I am so thankful the right person found it.  This girl proved that I am right in saying that there are good people in this world.  You always hear of the bad things that happen around us but I thought I would share this amazing good story with my readers.

It is so true, if you loose something you should ask St. Anthony to help you find it.  I will never doubt that again.

A new online quilting bee..

I am going to give this a try.
I want to host an online quilting bee.
If you are interested please visit The Bee Balm at http://thebeebalm.blogspot.com/ and leave a message.
I will contact everyone as soon as we have enough to get one started.
My plans are to wait until the Fall to get things started.
I have to learn a little more about adjusting the site and how to allow others to post on the site.

 I am not sure of the specifics of the bee yet but we will have some time to discuss ideas of what we want to do.

Hug from South Louisiana,
beebee

Dinner, Louisiana style

There was a little breeze so it was not too  hot to be outdoors. My DH and I were sitting on the swing we have in our back yard oak tree when it arrived. Around 7:00P.M. my BIL walked over with a tray of boiled crabs. (He lives next door to us) The crabs were so good and they were boiled perfectly.  YUM!!

I do not drink alcohol very often but you have to have beer when you eat boiled seafood.  The Coors Light was perfect with the crabs.

He also brought me a few very large boiled shrimp... I had a feast.

oh, no photo of the shrimp, I was too busy eating, but take my word for it they were delicious!

What a great way to end a very nice weekend!!!!

I hope your weekend was a good one too.

Counted Cross Stitch completed!

I started this picture in 1983...yes you read it right....1983 ...
I was going through a closet and found it a few  years ago and my sweet 93 year old friend offered to finish it for me.  I have a hard time seeing the little squares.   Once she finished it I had it framed and it hangs in my kitchen... I think it is so pretty!

It measures about 11" by 20"...just thought I would share it with ya'll!