Project Improv

I've been swept up in the excitement surrounding Jacquie's Project Improv. I've long admired stuff like this online but haven't done much of anything like it. So here was my reason to start cutting fabric at random and see what happens.

Here's my first block.

And the 4 that followed.

this and this were floating around in my brain for inspiration as I started. Aren't those pretty? My blocks don't really look like either of theirs, but I'm quite happy with how mine ended up too.

If you haven't already, give this improv stuff a try. It's fun!

Just one more post about 2008

I finally caught on to how to make one of those nifty Mosaics.

So here in all their quilty splendor are my 2008 completed quilts.

Top L-R 1. Joseph Smith Quilt 2. Candy Pinwheels 3. Buttercream Quilt
Middle L-R 1. Blackberry Pie 2. Austin's Wedding Quilt 3. Little Boy Blue
Bottom L-R 1. Squares 2. Hurricane Ike Scrap Quilt 3. Zig-Zaggy 9 patch

I know there are lots of more prolific quilters out there. I only quilt when its fun. And unfortunately, I do try to stay out of the poor house.

I can't decide on my favorite. It's either the Candy Pinwheels or the ZigZaggy 9 patch. What do you think?

Thanks for stopping by! I can't wait to get busy and see what 2009 brings!

What I did between Christmas and New Years

I love those lazy days between Christmas and New Years.

Here's how I spent my holiday:

I got this one quilted over Thanksgiving and bound before New Years. Nothing like squeezing in one more finished project before the end of the year!

I L-O-V-E, Love how this one turned out. I've never said this before but I think I'd actually like to make this one again in a different colorway. It was so fun to see it come together.

The 9 patches were from an exchange my friends and I had in 2007. I let them sit for a long time, mulling over the possibilities of what to do with them. This is finally what I came up with.

2009 Goals

So I've had several days now to really think about my New Years Resolutions. (It's still early enough to make them!) And here's what I've come up with in regards to my quilting, crafting and homemaking.

1. More Color! This was something that I've been thinking about for a long time. I talked about this several times in 2008 but I'm determined that in 2009 I'll make adding color to my life and my quilts the highest priority.

2. Be frugal. I don't really have a problem with this. Atleast I don't think so. My husband might disagree, though. I don't buy fabric that often and I usually buy it on sale. My problem is that I often buy on impulse and then my pretty fabric just gets added to my stash instead of incorporated into a great project. So in 2009 I want to buy with a purpose or at the very least not let my pretty fabric sit and collect dust for long.

3. Experiment with Etsy. I've thought about how I could get involved in etsy and want 2009 to be the year I dive in.

4. Get organized. My fabric stash is pretty neatly organized. But other than that (projects, tools, other crafts, etc) I'm a mess.

5. Get Creative with my kids. Crafting and being creative is such a great outlet for me. I want to make sure that I'm including my kids in the fun and helping them explore new ways and new mediums to be creative with (fabric, paint, yarn, etc.).

How's that for a start?

Holiday Recap

I guess I fell off the blogging bandwagon this past month.

December started and I found all these cute crafts for me and for my little ones to work on.

And then life got crazy.

We had a big health scare with our little guy involving falling off the couch, a concussion, something worrisome showing up on his CAT scan, an MRI of his brain and finally after a week and a half of stress, a clean bill of health.

As quickly as this major scare popped up, it was gone again. Thank goodness. But it left us feeling more gratitude for what we have. We spent the holidays the way we should have anyway. We spent the holidays counting our blessings, loving and appreciating our family and remembering our Savior and His love and blessings.

It was nice.

I did get some crafting and sewing done but I'm just gonna have to wait until next year to post pictures of the Christmasy stuff!

I will post a picture of my finished Blackberry Pie quilt that I gave to my mom for Christmas, though.

Since my mom is also a quilter and since she's the one with the big quilting machine, I gave it to her as an unfinished top. I hated to do that but.... I did. I LOVE how it turned out.

As far as presents go, my hubbie spoiled me. He stuck to my wish list. :) Usually he likes to take my suggestions and then use his own creativity to get me different stuff. That's fine and I always appreciate his thought. But it was fun that he actually got me what I asked for this year.

I got some GREAT books. This one is my favorite so far. Amanda Soule has a great blog too. This book has already given me some great ideas for playing with my kids, encouraging their imagination and being inspired by their natural creativity. I'd definitly reccommend this book to any mother of young children.

I also got these two books which I've begun to devour also. Fun stuff.


I hope you all had wonderful holidays. I've enjoyed seeing how others spent the holidays and reading about all the resolutions out there. I LOVE New Years and am formulating my own resolutions as we speak. I'll post about them soon.

And the winner is.....

Doesn't Mr. Impartial Judge look cute in his pjs?



And the winner is.....

That's Jacquie, of Tallgrass Prairie Studio! (in case you can't read upside down)

Thanks to everyone that played along! This was really fun for me to read all the comments, hear about what decorations you love and see that I do indeed have a few lurkers out there. :) Nice to meet you, friendly lurkers!

Jacquie, I'll be emailing you to get your mailing info. Congrats!

Holiday Cheer and a Giveaway

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving. I did. Atleast my bathroom scale says I did. I gained 2 whole pounds of Thanksgiving goodness.

And now I'm ready for Christmas. Down here in Houston we don't get the "dashing through the snow" or "walking through a winter wonderland" type weather. So we have to work harder to create that Christmas mood.

We learned that lesson after our first Christmas here came and went. We cleaned up the wrapping paper, looked around and wondered what went wrong and why we never really felt that same Christmas excitement. We decided that we hadn't had those first wintery clues that the holidays were coming and so we didn't give ourselves enough time to really let the holiday merriment sink in. Sure, we still enjoyed Christmas, but it just came and went way too fast without us realizing it.

This year, we hurried to get our decorations out. In fact, we got out some of them before Thanksgiving. Christmas isn't going to get away from us again this year!

And even though it still feels like it could be September or October or maybe even early spring outside, we are starting to feel the holiday spirit indoors with our tree trimmed, our banisters overflowing with fake pine garland and red and green all throughout the house. It's finally 'beginning to look a lot like Christmas' even in Houston.

Here is my one and only Christmas quilt (I need to get busy on another). I made it in 2007 from the Moda Roman Holiday collection of fabrics. I really like this quilt (even though it isn't hanging very straight at the moment- sorry about that). It makes me feel festive. And I think its really quite beautiful. In general, I don't buy quilt kits. Picking out the fabric is half the fun! But this one was so pretty and fun that I had to have it.



HAve you heard about the Give-away Day hosted by Sew-Mama-Sew?
Well, I'm not a part of it. I only heard about it last night.

But still, since I'm getting all into the Christmas mood, in honor of my Roman Holiday quilt and since it sounds fun, I thought I'd have a little giveaway too. The kit for this quilt had quite a bit of leftover fabric.



We're not talking yards and yards but if you like scraps, like I do, there is plenty here to play with. Some pieces are large and some are just little snippets. This is my give-away offering, some Roman Holiday scraps to help you make a cheery Christmas quilt or something else fun if you'd like.

Leave a comment and tell me about your favorite Christmas decoration- the one that makes you feel giddy and excited for the the holidays, and I'll enter your name into my little drawing. And your chances should be pretty good since I think I've only got about 5 readers. :)

Since I'm not officially a part of the Sew-Mama-Sew Give-away Day I'll give you more than one day. I'll draw a name on Friday morning at about 8 am Central time.