A week in pictures

It's New Year's Eve- do you have anything fun planned? We used to play games and stay up late to ring in the new year but for the last 5 or 6 years we've fallen asleep early only to be awakened by the celebratory sounds outside. Believe me, sleep is much more fun. I'm way too grouchy without it.

 

Since the kids have been home I thought I'd just share a few pics from our past week with you. Sorry, Santa forgot a new hookup for my camera so I'm still working with phone pics. Blech!

 

 

The kids each got new electronics for Christmas. On this particular day they were all sitting together playing on their respective devices. A quiet moment. :o)

 

This is the view from my porch (hello neighbors!) We've had snow, snow, and more snow. Lots of shovelling and friggid temps. Definitely winter here.

 

We had some over ripe bananas so the hubs attempted banana bread. We have a joke in our home because whenever my husband cooks and I question what he's doing he says "I know what I'm doing. My Daddy was a baker!" In his defense his Dad did work in a bakery for some time- but I don't think much rubbed off on my hubs. :o)

 

Last night we had a cooking lesson. This was our joint effort. Very tasty. I like to sprinkle brown sugar on top before it bakes. It adds a sweet crunchy crust. YUM!

 

I had a goal to finish this top before the end of the year. As you can tell it's not going to happen. I intentionally gave myself an extension. After I laid all the pieces out on the floor I realized I wanted it BIGGER. So I ordered more fabric and it should show up today. That means more prepping hexies and forming snowflakes. My new goal is Valentine's Day.

 

In the meantimeI need to get this quilted. My nephew made this quilt for a friend and asked me to quilt it. I'm not sure how many quilts he's made- I'm sure this is one of his firsts. But he did a dang good job! He's going to be here in a couple of hours to pick it up so I better get started. Thankfully it's not too big and I'm just going to stipple it.

 

Ok folks. That's it for now. Hope you have a HAPPY and SAFE New Year's celebration!!!

CABIN FEVER!!!

Hello Friends!
I am so excited to announce my first ever “Cabin Fever” quilt retreat. It has never been on my bucket list to host a retreat (I'm more of an attendee gal) but I found out about this place and couldn't shake the idea. When an opportunity like this presents itself you just can't pass it up! The other thing you want to do- share it! And that's where YOU come in.

Utah winter’s get long and dreary. Today it's snowing like crazy and beautiful but by the end of February I’ve just had it! Come chase away the winter blues with 3 full days (and 2 NIGHTS!) of sewing bliss: Thursday Feb. 21 thru Saturday Feb. 23. Enjoy the comforts of home in a gorgeous mountain lodge up Hobble Creek Canyon in Springville, UT. All you need to bring is your machine and fabric to sew.

Take a look at this place- it's heaven!

When I walked through this home I just about fainted. I could picture it whiring with machines and covered in fabric scraps and thread. Don't you want to join us!?

I have opened an account at EVENTBRITE to handle the ticket sales. Here's what you can expect when you come to "Cabin Fever":

I wanted to create a very relaxed event that would be enjoyable for everyone. I have decided on an open-sew format. All you need to do is bring your machine and a few projects to work on and come sew. Don't worry I still have a few fun things planned including a trunk show each day from talented local designers (see below), a mini class each day with make-n-takes for you, and fun fabric filled games each night. Your lodging is included as well as all of your meals. And every attendee will recieve a swag bag stuffed with goodies!

For 3 days and 2 nights of "Cabin Fever" sewing fun: $200
For 1 full day (come as early and stay as late as you want): $100

Visit the EVENTBRITE link for all the details. Space is limited so tell your friends and don't wait too long! You're not going to want to miss out out this. :o)

I have asked some of Utah's most talented designers to come and do a trunk show to fill you with inspiration:

Natalia Bonner from Piece and Quilt

 

and best-selling author of "Beginner's Guide to Free-Motion Quilting"

Amber Johnson of A Little Bit Biased

and designer of Gigi's Thimble quilt patterns.

Kati Spencer- From the Blue Chair

accomplished quilter and pattern designer

 

 

I hope you'll be able to join us at "Cabin Fever"

Please feel free to contact me with any question you might have. I'll be posting all of this information under the 'Events' page for easier access.

 

See you soon!!!

A wish

I hope your holidays are filled with all of these things!

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Off the grid

We lost our Internet and cable connection last Sunday and have been without until this morning. At first it is such a pain. All my shows that I can't watch and the kids saying "I'm bored" every 5 seconds. But after a day we all learn to get by. They kids start being creative again. And we started watching some of the hundreds of DVD's we've collected over the years. By last night we were gathering together as a whole family to watch the latest redbox rental and I realized that not having Internet and TV isn't so bad.

The connection is back and while the TV is blaring behind me, no one is watching. The kids are upstairs playing together (I'm enjoying this because it usually doesn't last long) and I'm tackling my inbox.

 

I wanted to share some 'quilty' images my Dad sent me in an email. these are AMAZING!!!

 

A Frenchman by the name of Simon Beck spends hours tromping through the snow to make these beautiful designs.

I can't imagine the time and effort that it takes to make these. And then I think about paper piecing designs that I've seen similar to these and I still can't imagine the time and effort to make those!

For more info. on Simon and his story visit the link HERE.

I hope you're all enjoying this Holiday Season and cherishing the moments with your loved ones.

I'll be back soon with a HUGE announcement.  :o)

Christmas decor

Is it too late to start a few Christmas decor projects? Yesterday I was looking for pine cones at the local craft stores. They all told me they were out and that I was a month late. I should have said "No. I'm just 11 months early!"  :o)

 

So with no pine cones....YET! I started pulling fabrics.

 

In my tree garland post I mentioned I wanted to make a tree skirt. Just simple squares- nothing fancy.

 

 

 

Then today I was at Gracie Lou's and I saw this magazine. Do you see that wreath!? I think I need to make that to match my garland too.

 

 

I pulled from my reds.

 

and I pulled from my greens.

 

I didn't have many aqua's so I picked a couple of those up while I was at Gracie Lou's.

Put it all together and I have one nice looking collection.

 

If I get the urge to sew I'll go for it- but no pressure. I've given myself a different end-of-the-year deadline.

 

I really want my hexie quilt top finished by the new year. But I tell ya, if I keep gluing papers to the RIGHT side of the fabrics it's going to take me a long time. :o)

 

HAPPY SEWING!!!

As promised-

I finally put up the tree!

 

 

How do you decorate your tree? Do you have a theme where all the ornaments match or a free-for-all of collected ornaments from all years past?

 

I like to rotate between them. But this year I had to really beg my kids to let me do my tree.

 

I convinced them by promising to get matching candy cane that they could eat. :o)

My favorite part of this tree is the garland. I used fabric scraps from Kate Spain's 12 Days collection a couple years back. I simply ripped tiny pieces (roughly 1 1/2" x 8") and tied them on a piece of trim about 2 1/2" apart. Mine is about 5 yards long.

 

Now I just need to make a tree skirt to match. :o)

Improvised Quilting

 

 I have a few projects to wrap up before the year ends so that means doing a little machine quilting.

 

I got all set up yesterday and was ready to go until I realized I had a problem.

 

 

I love these gloves for quilting and I have two pair. Of course when I need them I can only find two lefties. ARGH!  After searching around for the others with no lunch (thank you 7yr old daughter) I decided to improvise a little.

 

I cut a tiny hole in the right side for my thumb to poke through and tucked the actual thumb part inside. Fits like a glove!  (Har! Har!)

 

At least I was able to get some quilting done.

 

 

I'm doing am allover boxy patten on this quilt.

 

 

This quilt was a special request from my Dad. It's a replica of an earlier quilt I made seen HERE using Au-Then-Tic by Sweetwater for Moda. I LOVE that collection and was lucky to find a couple pieces for this quilt. Some of their more recent collections used a green that was similar so I used a few of those prints too. I'm hoping to finish it later on today.

 

 

 

 

Feeling Christmasy

I've been trying to feel more Christmasy. We don't even have our tree up yet. My daughter told me as she left for school this morning that if the tree wasn't up when she got home I was going to be in trouble. I think she's right, I should be in trouble.

 

As kids we always went out as a family the Saturday after Thanksgiving to the Christmas tree farm to cut down the tree. I love that memory. I really need to stop depriving my kids of Christmas memories too.

 

Today I will put up the tree and start feeling more Christmasy. :o)

 

In honor of feeling more Christmasy I wanted to show you some fun pix I took not too long ago at the Utah Valley Quilt Guild. When I walked in I was excited to see two quilts hanging in the hall. I had a little trouble finding the owners but finally tracked them down.

 

Mary Killpack and Maureen Tuttle a Mother/Daughter duo made these gorgeous matching quilts from my Which Witch pattern. I was great visiting with them and hearing more about their quilts.

They used vintage trims from Maureen's Mother's and Grandmother's stash to adorn the elves clothing.

 



 

 

 

 

 

Every detail was thought of and trims matched up with the most perfect fabrics. Maureen was especially excited about the tiny polka-dot jingle bells she added.

 

So cute and Christmasy. Fantastic job ladies!

 

I apologize for the picture quality- my computer is still revolting against my camera so these are from my phone.

 

If you're feeling Christmasy too, you can get your Which Witch pattern HERE!.