Another Finish!

Another pattern finish: "Be Merry", this new runner is fast to make and Christmas is less than 60 days away. I know you don't want to hear that, and neither do I because these days are flying by way too fast! Button eyes, carrot noses, gingerbread men and candy canes tucked under their little twig arms, these snowmen really make me smile. Brenda quilted this cutie for me, she worked her usual magic adding that finishing quilty touch to my design. You can now find the pattern on my website.

While I'm waiting on the Reindeers, (runner#3) to arrive in the mail from Brenda, I tackled some baking. Pumpkin cookie cut outs. Oh my, these cookies are a lot of work and make a TON, but so cute and yummy! I'll be taking most of them to my "Pumpkin" at KU this weekend (I just know he loves to hear he's my little pumpkin" but for a batch of these cookies I know he'll deal with it :)

And I hope to spend a little time drawing, sketching up February Annie, I know some of you are waiting on her. Speaking of Annie, check out my Annies that Kelly at Cotton Charm Quilts stitched up..... so cute!

Getting Back In The Groove

The 1st part of October was a busy month for me. Decorating for Fall, preparing for company and my turn to host Bunco at my home. Wednesday was super hectic, a day in the kitchen preparing my Bunco goodies, we girls love to eat! And..... our dear friends of 30 plus years were flying in from Buffalo that same evening! My excitement level was very high!

Our friends arrived safe and sound, here we are off gallivanting, this picture shows a portion of Kansas City in the background on a beautiful sunny day! The weather could not have been more perfect during their visit, blue skies and high 70s.

Our friends came bearing gifts, little bits of Buffalo we crave and still miss, a Bocce pizza,

SPONGE CANDY for Barbie Jo :)

Webers mustard and Canadian jam for Jerrys toast, how sweet is that!

We spent our days together cramming in a little bit of everything. Golf for the boys, a little shopping, some lovely dinners out.

We visited the Kemper Museum Of Modern Art and the National WW1 Museum in KC. This museum is a must see, beautifully done inside and out.

And now our friends have come and gone, we sure are going to miss them! It's time to get back in the groove for me. I finished writing the pattern for this lovely table runner which will be available on my web site this weekend. Brenda added her special quilting touches to my runner, you may be able to see them by clicking on the picture. Little loopy loos inside the jumbo rick rack, wavy lines inside the bells flow with their movement, I am always excited by the lovely way she finishes my projects. This pretty runner is fast to make, simple piecing and applique, rick rack and button embellishments, it looks beautiful on my antique sideboard. A nice gift, the Christmas countdown is on!

I will be at the computer most of this week writing up the directions for runner #2, pictures to come soon! Runner #3 is now in Brendas hands for quilting, I can't wait to see what she does to this one :)

Back away from the computer!

Seems I've been on a little blogging break and here it is October already! Annie and I have been busy working on several projects and sometimes the only way I can truly focus is by trying to stay away from the computer! Unless I'm writing patterns of course. A new Annie has arrived and as promised here she is. What else would Annie be doing in January but ice skating! She is all bundled up in her fleece scarf and hat with the long tassel. She wears wooly long striped stockings and the mittens her Grandma knitted for Christmas. I did forget to snap a picture of the floss colors I used but the DMC color palette is as follows: #817, #3807, #598, #597, #581, #702, #938, #3607, #317 and #758.

Today was an absolutely beautiful Fall day here in Kansas. Bright sunny skies and in the 60's. Jerry and I drove to Lawrence to visit our son at KU. It seemed everyone was on the road today. Our leaves have not turned yet but the frost warning for tonight will probably start that process.

Jon had his room all spanking clean for our visit :)

Thats my boy, hmmm, I think we need a bigger desk. Cozy huh! I think I mentioned before, Jon lives in an old house on campus, over 100 years old. It is subdivided into 6 apartments. When we left Jerry turned the door knob to leave and it came off in his hand... we all looked at each other and laughed LOL! College life, gotta love it!

After visiting an antique store in downtown Lawrence we had an early dinner at "The Burger Stand At The Casbah"- WONDERFUL! Great food. Hugged my boy good bye and headed home.


Cause we have work to do! I got a new lap top that needs to be set up... so excited!

The Better To See You With My Dearies!

Are these not the sweetest!! New glasses and a new look for Barbie Jo. Getting all spiffed up and updated for my big birthday this weekend, and I do mean big, like it has a zero in it LOL!

Seriously, I have been long overdue for new glasses, this weekend Hubby led me by the hand to the Eye Dr's for my exam and then patiently waited while I made my decision for frames. That is the hard part isn't it! So many choices. As you can see I chose a deep purple, my favorite color, my eyes are now back to 20/20 and gone are the granny glasses YAY!

I have been a sewing fool these past 2 weeks. Completed my table topper and sent it of to my fabulous quilting friend Brenda for quilting. Now it's back, bound and ready for some pattern instructions. Table runner #2 is just about ready to mail off to Brenda and then I can begin the last runner. Phew. In the midst of my projects my "Quilters Dream" sewing machine decided to have a meltdown and became this quilters nightmare. Lucky for me I have a back up while it's off being fixed. I'm sewing on my Hello Kitty machine! It lacks many of the fancy bells and whistles but is purring right along with me :)

I finished one more Annie, this one in red work as a pillow, my collection is growing. And so is my quilt as I just finished stitching January Annie... Whoo hooo! I'll post a picture of her later this week and she will be available soon.

This fabric is sitting on my cutting mat, my choice for my next table runner. I love these candy cane stripes, pink, raspberry and green, yum!

Speaking of yum, it's time to make dinner, better run.

Happy Labor Day!

Happy Labor Day! It has been a beautiful Labor Day weekend here in Kansas. Not too hot, not too cold, bright sunny skies.... perfect weather for a fair or festival! Yesterday Hubby and I hopped over the State Line to Independence MO, they have a big festival every year called Santa-Cali-Gon Days which is always lots of fun. Huge crowds, thousands of people attending on this beautiful day, just look at that one little feather white cloud up there!

Can't go to a festival with out an artery clogging treat! This year I chose the fresh made curly potato chips and they were tasty :)

We walked through many of the arts and crafts tents, I love to see what everyone is making and found a few goodies for Christmas gifts. All the booths were crowded and people were buying which was great to see. Now this booth... I have to tell you, you couldn't help but stop. Life like new born baby dolls, everybody wanted to hold one! Not only do they look real, they felt and posed like a real baby. This vendor was nice enough to allow me to take hubbys picture with one. Awwww, I'd say he still has the touch!

We left baby behind and worked our way back to the car. On the way we passed the Truman home, also known as the Summer White House, this is the home of Harry and Bess Truman. Bess bequeathed the home to the National Park Service and you can purchase tickets to tour their home in small groups. We took the tour several years ago with friends and found it well worth the small admission price.

One last stop on the drive home. I scream, you scream, Hubby wanted Ice cream!

And now I am going to head upstairs for a little sewing time. UPS made a delivery here on Friday, the full line of Toy Box Two fat quarters. So excited, they will look darling on my Annie blocks don't you think?

BFFs, my sewing machine and me

My sewing machine and I have been best of friends this past week. I love it when we get along so well, we have good karma going on and I am feeling quite productive. One of my projects has been sewing some of the Annie stitchery blocks into pillows and I am pleased with how cute they turned out. Here is December Annie.

And little June Annie. It is so much fun choosing the fabric strips to frame her, add a little rick rack trim and how sweet is that! The beautiful chair Annie is propped up in is a family heirloom, a highchair that has been in Hubby's family since 1887. Many little Paquins have sat in this chair including my children. My Mother-In-Law took such beautiful care of it and even had an engraved plate with the 1st child's name and date made for the back of it, such a treasure.

I have several new patterns I'm working on. Here is a little teaser picture for you, but first, have you noticed how stunning the fabric collections we have to choose from lately are? They just keep getting better and better. With this project I am using three complimentary fabrics for each of three models. I tend to lean towards the brights, they make me so happy, but I can be a sucker for dreamy pastels and florals as well. One pattern, yet isn't it interesting how fabric selection can determine so many different looks.

This project is laid out on my kitchen table at the moment, some extra jumbo rick rack is involved as well. Fa, la, la la la!


Another long weekend is ahead of us, no plans here, I'll probably still be sewing with a picnic for two thrown in somewhere. Hope yours is safe and wonderful!

I feel really dumb

The 3 D words for today are dumb, dumb and REALLY dumb! I bought this darling cowboy fabric yesterday with thoughts of making pillowcases for when my Grandsons come to visit. I had a great day and felt my morning was unusually productive: after skipping through some quick house chores I cleaned my cutting table off and put everything where it belonged. Turned my music on and and then sat down to sew. I'm happy as a clam humming and sewing. My fabric is all cut for two pillowcases. I used my really cool finishing foot which folds and finishes the edge of your fabric on the ruffle. Made flat fold piping, sewed pillowcase #1 all together, turned it right side out and........ AUUUUGGGG! Nooooooooo.......
My horses are running sideways :( I just can't believe I did this. I was aware that the fabric was directional when I bought it and I even knew it when I cut it!

Pleeeeeze tell me I'm not the only person who has done this before.

As for me, I'm blaming it on I'm out of chocolate! Looks like a trip to the grocery store is in order, and fast! I guess this means you don't want to see a tutorial on making this pillowcase LOL!