Holy Cow - I was Featured!!!

I was looking through the side bar at Freemotion By The River and I saw that my Mind Jar tutorial that I posted last week was being featured on this weeks Linky Party!

OH MY GOSH - I've actually been FEATURED somewhere!! HOW COOL IS THAT?!?!?

 I've never been featured before - thats so exciting!!  Oh course I had to text my sister  Like I do every time I get a new Follower and let her know since its just just pretty darn cool (then I called her just for good measure!).


Source

You can find the Freemotion By THe River Linky Party for this week Here.

The kids are gone to their grandparents house tomorrow afternoon and for the night, I think I'll be able to get the Domestic Handbag sandwiched and I can start on my quilting by the end of the weekend!!!

I hope you all have a fantastic Friday!  See you tomorrow.

Out of Control UFO's!!

I've said it once, I've said it twice and I'll probably keep repeating it until I'm on my last breath - I love STARTING a quilt.....I love picking out fabric, desiging the quilt top, I even really like piecing it together.  Usually thats where the love stops..... it stops when its time to quilt sandwich the darn thing and I just feel this huge weight drop on my shoulders (which is sad since I would think that one should be the exact opposite - that I should be embracing and LOVING the finishing aspect of a quilt).  Thats when I usually get sidetracked with more beautiful fabric, a new pattern and go off on my merry way starting yet another project. 

I have decided to pull all my UFOs out of the bins, take picutres of them, and state what I have to accomplish on them and hopfully that will give me the kick in the butt that I need to get these projects done!  I was kind of shocked to see that I have 10  (TEN) UFOs and only two of them are small projects.  Four of them are crib/lap quilts and four are larger thow quilts.  (I had to edit that last sentence three times since I had originally only had 7 UFO's then I kept remembering that I had more WIP's stashed in the basement and one in the closet!).

• First up is the Party Monster Quilt - My SIL started this quilt for her son but fell out of love with quilting and has decided to use her incredible crochet skills more.  This quilt has been sandwhiched and MOSTLY machine quilted in the ditch.  I probably have two hours of machine quilting and then sewing on the binding.  All and all not too hard when I write it down.  Must get to work on this since Mr C would probably LOVE it (and my nephew is too big for this quilt now and its too cute to go unloved), plus its too cute to be sitting in a box! 

 

• Next up - my First Christmas Table Runner.  All I have to do is sew the binding on.  That should take me an hour and It would be good to go for this Christmas.  Time to get started!

• This is the Tumbling Rubies quilt - I started it when I was pregnant with my son but have got to the terrible 'how should I quilt it' stage and have no idea what to do so I just put it away.  I think I might do some stitching in the ditch but I was thinking some echo quilting could be very cool.  I might bring it to my next Guild meeting and see if they have any ideas for me!  

• This is my Dirty Thirties quilt -  I fell in LOVE with the sample at the quilt store and HAD to have it. I made the misake of caluclating how many small cuts/squares there are on my third day of working on it and immediately got overwhelmed and had to put it away.  I still love this quilt I think I just need to make a goal of getting one 4 block done a week. It won't be breakneck pace but it will be some sort of progress and I think thats what I need to help me move forward on this quilt without getting overwhelmed.   My goal of getting it done before I turned 31 is long gone (I just turned 32 this past September) but maybe I can get it done before I'm 35 or something!!  

• Eye Spy - this one isn't fully pieced together, I still have to sew the rows together and then put the outer boarder on the far right and bottom.  Once this gets sandwiched it will be easy peasy to stitch in the ditch and finish quick,  its just hunkering down and doing it! 

• This is the quilt that I started I was pregnant with my oldest (who is now 5). It was my second quilt that I ever made (or almost finished I guess I should say) I got all the way to having the binding finished but I never top quilted the middle section where the giraffe is and couldn't figure out what to do so I put it away.  This one makes me so sad, it was made for my first baby but was never finished and none of my kids got to enjoy it as babies.  Part of me thinks that Baby C is too big for it now,  but I would love for one of my kids to get to play on it and make some memories with something I made for them.

• My other Christmas Table Runner - this top is now complete and hanging on my design wall waiting for me to figure out how I want to quilt it.  I think I am going to FMQ this one and hope for the best.  I would love to have this one done by the middle of November so we can enjoy it for the Christmas season. 

• This would be the Crazy Cat Quilt - sorry about the picture, I totally forgot about this quilt until I was writing this blog and I really didn't want to have to pull it out and assemble it so I grabbed a picture from a previous post (and it was a horribly lit picture, sorry!).  The plan for this quilt was to give it to my Mom and her husband as a housewarming gift for their new house - the problem is they moved into their house THREE years ago.  I messed up on this quilt so many times and it seemed like every time I had it out I was fixing a previous mistake and I got REALLY discouraged and put it away.  I think now that my quilting skills have gotten a little better my mistakes will be mitigated a little and the next time I bring it out I will be able to pece most of the top together which would be SO fanstic!  I know my Mom would love to have this quilt, I just need to get to work on it.  

• This is the Jungle Squares quilt that I gave to my neice last year for Christmas for us to start to work on together but we haven't had any time to make any progress on it.  This is another quilt that makes me sad, I really wanted to have this done with my neice a few months after Christmas last year but with living an hour apart and a CRAZY busy year its been forgotten about.  Part of me wants to just power through this quilt and finish it myself for her and tell her that we can work on something a little less difficult (minky is a total pain in the butt to sew with and its even harder if you are 10!!!) together as her first project. But then part of me desperately wants to spend time with my neice and teach her how to quilt. 

  

• Last but not least I have my Domestic Handbag quilt that I am working on for my SIL - the design is a surprise so I can't post pictures of it.  I was making amazing progress until I had to begin the quilt sandwich then my tape wouldn't stop breaking (to tape it to the floor) or peeling up.  I had to make a quick stop at the store to pick up some duct tape and I'm hoping to get to that quilt tonight.  This quilt is at the top of my 'to be finished' pile and I cannot wait to have it done and give it to my SIL.

So there you have it, my 10 project WIP/UFO projects. Now that I have outed myself on how many projects I have on the go I will be trying my best to get those all finished up before the new year.  That being said  I will be posting lots of "progress made" posts so hang in there because very soon I hope to have a bunch of FINISHED projects to show you!  Few things are more satisfing than a completed quilt! 

Thanks for reading!  Please help keep me accountable by asking how different projects are coming if I havent posted about them in a while!

Halloween and Day #31 of Blogtoberfest!!

I did it!!  I made it through all 31 days of Blogtoberfest and didn't miss a single day!!  I'll finish Blogtoberfest with a little Halloween Celebrating! 

 

Our Bat pumpkin - Mr. Quiltapotamus did an amazing job with this as did the girls!

 

My Two Tinkerbells!! 

 

It was FREEZING tonight - -11C with windchill but it felt even colder so the girls had their full winter outfits on this evening.  Snow pants, winter jacket, snow boots, super warm mitts, and hoodies.  That would be why their costumes look a little off!  They have LAYERS on under them but at least they both stayed rather warm and had so much fun!

 

Mr C did not enjoy his Caterpillar costume very much and he isn't a big fan of the cold so he came out with us for a few houses and we brought him back home to hand candy out with Daddy.  He quite enjoyed that!! 

 

In a little over two hours Miss S along with Miss L's hour of trick or treating - the girls managed to bring home TEN POINT TWO POUNDS of candy....!!  I brought the bathroom scale out to see how much candy they got and I was blown away!! 

 

I'll go through it over the next few days and take the remainder to a local chairty.  We do NOT need ten pounds of junk food in our house!!  I'm glad the girls got to experience Halloween and had a good time, they don't need that much candy - me either!

 

Thank you so much for sticking with me for the 31 days of Blogtoberfest!  I am still hoping to continue along with blogging every day or at least as close to that as I can.  I have a full list of blogging topics and a few projects that I still need to share.

 

Until tomorrow my friends.  ;)

Tidy it up Tuesday, Halloween Prep and Day #30 of Blogtoberfest!!

I wasn't going to do a Tidy it up Tuesday this week because frankly my house is in shambles - BUT after some self grumbling I decided to tackle our "other" Tupperware cupboard.  This one was even worse than the big one because it was such a small area that we OK ME was always resorting to the old 'toss then shut the door before everything falls out' method.  Since the first Tupperware cupboard looked SO good after I cleaned it and I'm tired of worrying that extended family members were going to open the small Tupperware cupboard and have a Ziploc tsunami I figured I had to clean the darn thing out. 

I learned a LOT from this purge - 1.  I had WAY too many Ziploc type containers, 2. holy crap did I ever have a LOT of Ziploc type containers!  3.  I am so thankful that we have blue bin recycling so I could just automatically toss all the extra containers in the recycling and not be temped to rescue them for another use and 4.  I am starting to {gasp} actually like cleaning....! 

I forgot to take a picture of the before - but trust me it would have probably scared the socks right off of you!  I did take an iPhone picture of the after and it just makes me happy looking at all that cleanness! 

Total subject jump but tomorrow is Halloween!!  The girls are each going out as Tinkerbell and Mr C is going out as a Caterpillar.  Little Man hates his costume so it should be interesting if he screams the whole time or if he gets into it this year like his sisters did at this age. 

We hit the store and stocked up on Candy - I hope its enough.....!  I heard from a neighbor last year that there were a TON of kids and they ran out of candy.  Plus since Mr. Quiltapotamus is working tonight I foresee a bit of candy snacking by myself while I get some UFOs worked on......but I didn't say that out loud!

Thanks for stopping by - Day #30 of Blogtoberfest is done and there is only one more day to go!  And on a totally awesome unrelated note, Christmas is only 55 days away!!! 

The Tooth Fairy Came to Visit Us - and Day #29 of Blogtoberfest

My dear sweet Miss S lost her FOURTH tooth yesterday - she only turned 5 in September and has already lost FOUR teeth (again, who said she could grow up so fast?!?!).

She and I were at a birthday party yesterday for one of her school friends and I kept getting her to wiggle her tooth since I really wanted it out today rather than it coming out tomorrow or the next day at school and having the possibility of it getting lost.  Yes I am one of those Moms that keep my kids teeth (or should I say that the tooth fairy lets me keep them) and I put them in her Memory Box.  My Mom did this with our teeth and I used to love looking at how tiny my teeth used to be.

Miss S managed to keep her tooth for the birthday party but on the way out to Grandma and Grandpas I asked her how her tooth was and she said it was wiggly - then right after she said that she got all excited and said 'my tooth is in my hand!!!'.

I didn't get a picture of her tooth in her hand since we were driving but I did take a picture of it in my hand - its SO tiny!!

Now my beautiful little girl gets to embark upon the 'gap smile' phase!

The Tooth Fairy made her rounds last night and brought Miss S a shiny new Toonie (our Canadian two dollar coin) in exchange for her tooth.  She was SO EXCITED when she woke up to find tooth gone and her money in her tooth fairy house.  So in her piggy bank the money goes and her tooth is safely with the Tooth Fairy (aka in moms jewllery box until I put it in her memory box with the others).

Day #29 of Blogtoberfest is done!  Only two more months and its done until next year!

Sewing, Bowling and Family Dinner Sunday - and Day #28 of Blogtoberfest

Its a busy Sunday around here today! I'm trying to get the top of my Christmas Table Runner done before Miss S and I have to run out the door for her friends bowling birthday party.  Then after the birthday party we are heading out to the grandparents house for dinner and to pick up Miss L after spending last night hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa last night and today. 

That being said I have my machine set up in the nook, Miss S is waiting to help me sew and I'm off to spend some quality sewing time with my special little helper! 

 

Thanks for stopping by - have a great Sunday everyone!

Friday Night Sew-In 'Progress' and Day #27 of Blogtoberfest!

Wow - its October 27th already - and I've managed to stick with Blogtoberfest almost all the way to the end - only 4 more days until the end of this years Blogtobefest. 

Last night was the Friday Night Sew-In hosted by Crafty Vegas Mom and Handmade by Heidi and I was able to get a large majority of my Christmas table runner pieced together while texting back and forth with my step-sister, Sherry who lives a few provinces away.  Sherry has a Blog and does some pretty amazing stitching, her Etsy store has some super cute stuff, I'm really partial to the Owl Pillow Case.  She promised that she would teach me how to stitch (its not like I need another hobby, but I really want to learn how!!) and I will help her as much as I can learn how to quilt. 

Getting back to my table runner - I managed to hack up my charm square, piece it all together and I've got almost all the squares squared up - that's tonight's project.  Then tomorrow it will be more sewing and hopefully I'll have the top done in a night.  I think I might try my hand at some free motion quilting on this runner - its small enough that it should be easy to maneuver and I figure I gotta start somewhere!

 

 

I haven't laid the squares out in any kind of order to take the pictures, I was just lining them up to see how they are all going to look together - its super cute!  I used the Flurry by Moda Charm pack - and WOW is sewing ever easier when you don't have to cut a ton of fabric up to get your little squares that you have to cut up more! 

 

My cheat sheet to make sure that I was sewing the right rectangles and squares together.  Its amazing how easily it is to forget what I need to sew if I don't have a guide of some kind in front of me - or am I the only one that does this?!!

 

Friday Night Sew-In is over for October and I'm looking forward to Novembers Sew-in.

 

Tonight Miss S has been invited to her very first friend Halloween Party that she is super excited to go to - pretty quick the princess dress will be donned and I will be whisking Cinderella away in her Chariot (the van) to the party.  I hope she has a good time, its just for the kids and I will be dropping her off at the door and heading home for a few hours - shes growing up so much and so fast - I'm not sure I'm ready for this!!!  ;)

Whats in the Bag...?!?! And Day #26 of Blogtoberfest!

What could possibly be in the bag?!?!?!

 

 

It looks exciting....everyone wants to take a look! 

Could it be fabric, or pretty clothes, or a special treat....?

Oh MY!!  Its SCOCKS!!! Tonnes and Tonnes and Tonnes and Tonnes of mismatched socks! 

Enough to buid a pile and have a three year old jump on.....

(it doesn't take much to entertain my kids!!)

Time to get sorting! 

Mr C had his own idea of how he was going to sort the socks.  I kept having to tackle him, empty the bag and let him go on his merry sock hunting day.  Who needs candy at Easter, apparently all this little guys needs to be happy is random socks and a paper bag!  ;)

 

I had both the girls try to identify their own socks and I am working on teaching them to put their own clothes away.  I did wind up doing most of the sorting but I'm hoping they are learning along the way.   

Socks and clothes in general are the bane of my existence in my house (along with paper!).  With five people its amazing how quickly the mismatched sock bag/bin/bucket can get. I'm on a mission to make my house a home and with that I need to figure out better organizing ideas AND get into the purging spirit!  After I clean out the next two bedrooms I'm going to do one more sock sort and whatever is left over in the mismatched sock bag/bin/box will be getting tossed and I'll start the missmatch sock bin over again and hopfully it will be better contained.

 

On a sewing note - its the Friday Night Sew in tonight and you can sign up here for tonights sew in.  I'm hoping to get my Domestic Handbag quilt sanwiched this evening! 

Hand Warmers - and Day #25 of Blogtoberfest

I posted the other day that we had our first snow and the last few mornings its been pretty chilly walking from the van to the Kindergarten doors to drop Miss S off for school.  Its barely below 0C but the poor girls just aren't used to the chilly weather yet - Mommy either!!

 

I made some Bean Bags last year in July and it got me thinking - why don't I make tiny little hand warmers for the girls to keep in their mitts or pockets to keep their hands warm on the way to school in the morning. 

 

Enter - rice, old scraps of fabric and a microwave!! 

 

I didn't want to make the bags too big, since then it wouldn't fit in their puffy mitts (the insulated kind) but then I discovered if you make them small - they don't stay warm for very long. 

 

I decided that we could make some small ones - ones that would fit in the palms of the girls hands and they fit quite nicely. 

Thrown them in the microwave for 20 seconds and they toast up little hands pretty quickly!

 

These ones are pretty small, next go round I'll make some bigger ones out of some leftover flannel and I'll nuke those in the microwave for 40+ seconds and I'm sure they'll be more than roasty toasty for the girls in the morning - me too! 

 

Snow Day!! Day #24 of Blogtoberfest!

Old Man Winter has come to visit with a vengeance pretty early this year!  We woke up to this yesterday and got a little bit more during the day.....

...and yes we forgot to take the patio cushions in before it snowed...hopefully they'll dry out soon and we can take them into the shed before the next snow!

Miss L was quite happy with the snow after a few minutes.  It took her a bit to get used to the white stuff again after a summer of sunshine.

Miss S was SO happy to get outside and start digging.  Between sand or snow she is most happy when shes able to dig in SOMETHING!!  

I couldn't resist doing a snow angel - and when you are in super warm snow pants (that are my husbands since I couldn't find mine) and a really nice warm jacket its rather pleasant to be surrounded by so much soft fluffy snow.

Miss L and I decided to take a moment to ponder the beautiful snow whilst sitting in the kids chairs, she was amazed that I could fit in her sisters chair (and to be honest - so was I).  ;)  

Mr C was NOT impressed at all with his first snow experience.  It wasn't even that cold - only -7C or so, but he was horrified of the snow and pretty much howled the whole 10 minutes he was outside.  Perhaps we are going to have to rethink our family tobogganing plans this winter or at least make sure he gets lots of backyard practicing in before we take him to the sledding hill by our house.  

They are saying its supposed to be +10C or so by Monday of next week so this round of snow won't be sticking around for very long and for that I'm thankful!  Mr Quiltapotamus needs to put my winter tires on and clean out the garage so I can park in there again!  This whole brushing snow off my van when I have a garage is the ultimate in silliness!

Day #24 of Blogtoberfest is done - thank you for stopping by and I will see you tomorrow!

On a side note, I have changed the sizing of my pictures - is anyone having any issues with the sizing showing up on their screen?  I'd really appreciate any feedback.  Thank you so much!