How Many Times

I seriously do not know how many times I will take a break from this blog. It seems that every time I commit to working hard and keeping up my posts, life throws me something, I get busy and this gets dropped. So I will NOT commit to continuous posts, but I will commit to try.

 A lack of posts does not equate to a lack of quilting, we have had lots and lots of quilting, crafting, sewing, gardening and life happening.

 It has all been beautiful and fun and so busy!

 I just love making these amazing creations.

 I cannot wait to share the details with everyone!

Over the last few years we have had no shortage of events.

 My son Liam and daughter Madelyn recently welcomed the final addition to our family Landon Jon.

 I swear she was happy about it, you just cannot tell from the picture.

 We had girls days!

 And I had my first go at a garden... it was an absolute success!

I dabbled in pillow making...

 And my precious girl turned ONE!

 Friends and family members got married, had babies and I tried to keep up with everyone.

I transitioned to a stay-at-home-mom role and still dropped into work on occassion to have some adult conversations. It has been fun, exhausting and taught me so much more about the world. Being able to stay at home has encouraged me to be more open and has taught me a profound respect for other parents. Being a Mom is HARD work!

...and I would be wise to remember that!

For the love of Purses

Wordless Wednesday

Seriously Kimberly, the holidays are over!

I know, I know, the holidays are over and I need to get back to this blogging business. It is safe to say I took a small quilting / blogging hiatus; and it felt GREAT! I completely overloaded and overwhelmed myself this holiday season! Like usual, my crafting list was far larger than necessary and completely took over every ounce of free time I had. I spent many a night up until 3:00 am just trying to finish one of the many projects occupying my work space. I finished 4 bags (like those shown below), two purses (a lot like this one), a pillow (first talked about here), 10 potholders (with this fabric), and a Puppy (quilt) for Mr. Matthew.

(Liam is getting big! The little man celebrated 6 months on December 22nd!)

I managed to get some sort of photo before everything was shipped off, but it was always rushed and the lighting wasn't the best. I will try and post about each of these projects a little over the next week or two. In addition, this lucky girl won the giveaway on Lauren's blog (mentioned here) and received a new sewing machine from Santa (aka my Dad and Stepmother). I now need to get it out of the box and make sure it actually works and wasn't damaged in shipping. Come on Kimberly, get your butt in gear.

(This is officially Liam's favorite Christmas gift from Santa, a singing rocking horse! Although his Johnny Jump Up comes in a close second!)

Speaking of butts, I'm hoping to be shrinking mine this year! ;) I know, I know, not a weight loss New Year's Resolution... I'm sorry to tell you, but that's exactly what I'm talking about. This year I feel as though I'm not completely setting myself up for failure. My mother and I are tackling it together, we're taking it day by day, and I just posted about it on my blog so there's no turning back now!!! I will keep you updated as the mood strikes.

Now back to quilting!

This first bag is one I made one of my very good friend's daughter, Leah! I made her this quilt for her Mommy's baby shower way back when before she was born and now this little darling has gone and turned ONE on us (December 8th)! I used this tutorial for the bags and it was so simple, I ended up making four of them for the Christmas season.

Here is the little Peanut... she is getting so big!!! I love you Leah!

So as noted, pretty in pink:

Isn't it just adorable? I love this honeycomb pattern!

And this next bag I made for one of my Aunt's Granddaughters for Christmas. There is nothing more fun than pink fabric!

If you're looking for a fun easy pattern that takes just minutes to make, I would highly recommend this one! The pattern is flawless and the finished product, adorable!

Thank you for visiting everyone, I hope your holidays were fabulous and fun too!

Happy Halloween

Last year I purchased some Halloween fabric and never got the chance to use it. So this year I put it to good use. Since I'm not sure I would get a lot of enjoyment out of a Halloween quilt, since it can only be used for about a week, I decided to make a bag/purse!
I absolutely LOVE the way it turned out! I love it so much, I gave it away. What can I say, it's my nature. I get more satisfaction out of something, by gifting it to someone else than keeping it! I don't mean to toot my own horn, but I really like this bag.

Complete with a Candy Corn inside, did I mention it is reversible? Upon completion Kevin and I sat around pondering what to do with a Halloween bag... to make a long story short, there isn't a lot of options aside from the obvious; using it for a week as your purse and storing it away until the following year.

However, if you happen to be taking little children Trick-or-Treating this would be a perfect (fashionable) item to carry all those necessary items around in. Like the extra hats and mittens kids so often discard while running door to door. Or the candy kids like to keep out of their candy bucket to pretend they don't have a lot (I always found people gave me more when my bucket looked more empty). Or to hold a purse which is now conveniently hidden in a festive, handcrafted bag. As I don't have any children, I thought of someone that did and shipped it off immediately to my sister-in-law! Shhhh, she doesn't know it's in the mail yet...

I'd like to think that Daisy was sad to see it go!

And Pepe too, who found it quite comfortable.

This is a process photo, I really don't use a pattern, or a guide, I just start sewing, cutting, assembling and pray for the best. It usually turns out pretty well.

I tried a new type of stipple, on the inside, just to be safe. I'm not that crazy about it. It might be because I've worked VERY hard at being fluid with my stippling and this doesn't require that technique at all, or because it reminds me of Frankenstein's bolts in his neck. Either way, I went back to traditional stippling on the outside.

Luckily this stipple wasn't that visible on the Candy Corns and actually looks kind of cute when not viewed on the batting.

I also made my first tag for this quilt, I was quite pleased with the way it turned out. It's not permanent, but at least it will get my blog out there for people to see.

And this ladies and gentlemen, is what happens when you "live" where you quilt. This folks, is "Life" not to be confused with "Neglect" (I really do love my quilting projects, I just also live with my husband, a cat, and a dog!) So perhaps, later on today, I will try to fix what Life has messed up and begin to sew these pieces together so Life cannot mess with them again.

Do your quilting projects ever get like this?