Love the Holidays!

I love the holiday season and all it represents.  It's amazing to me to just sit and watch our family and loved ones share their love for one another and reminish on old times and the fond memories they have of growing up. We are truly blessed with so much to be grateful for.  I am definitely thankful for all our blessings and for a family that enjoys spending time together.  It's the little things that make the season special and that bring joy to my heart.  May your Christmas holiday be bright, cheerful and filled with love.



God Bless.

Hello Fellow Bloggers

I hope you all had a great 4th of July.  Gosh how time flies...I've been MIA for so long I don't even know where to start.  First, I must say that most of all I've missed having the time to visit everyone's blog and keep up on all your latest projects.  So in the next few days I plan to visit and see what everyone's up to.

Though I wasn't keeping up with my blogging I did manage to get some sewing done.  I made a puzzle quilt for my grand-daughter who graduated from High School a couple of weeks ago.  When I decided on this pattern I had no idea it would be such a tidious task with so much planning.  In the end it turned out beautiful.  My grand-daughter was so pleased.  I also made a charity quilt for one of our local adult care centers.  Myself and a number of other ladies were able to make about 15 quilts for them...they were so appreciative.

Take care and God Bless!

February Comes to an End

All I got done this month was finishing the Elephant Mini and making a tote for myself. I missed two of my classes due to illness and again found myself with little time to do what I love....sew.

I spent two days in the hospital running tests due to an irregularity with my heart. Turns out I have a defect in my left ventricular branch. I'm working on bringing my blood pressure down and changing my diet to help with this and of course trying to fit in a little exercise. The weather has been either too cold or too windy and the fact that my back has also been killing me hasn't helped much. The "stress" of all the lay-offs and pink slips being handed out because of our poor education budget has made us all tense. Somehow, slowly taking it's toll on me and all those I work with over the last few months.

Some of us escaped being pink slipped for this first round, me included. However, those of us who were spared are feeling a bit of survivors guilt. We're just sick over the the number of staff (15) we'll be losing, especially the fact that they are really talented educators. There is so little we feel we can do when they say there is no money to fund the necessities of education. What a sad state we are in.

Anyway, back to sewing projects and a not so bitter subject. I plan to work on a puzzle quilt for my grandaughter who will be graduating this June. She like brights, like yellow, green, blue and orange. I looked through my stash and didn't find many suitable brights so I'll have to the fabric store (yippee) and look for a dozen or so fat quarters for this project. I'm looking forward to it and just getting back to my sewing machine.

Valentine Mini

I Need your vote. I entered my Valentine mini "Sweet Love" in the Quilting Gallery Valentine Contest. Please take a minute to hop on over and vote for me. I sure would appreciate your support. Click on the link and scroll down to Valentine Contest bar to post your vote.

(It's the mini in the Feb 6th post below. For some reason the photo won't upload right now.)

Have a great Valentine's Day!

Cora

Blue Elephant

The "Blue Elephant" is finished!! First project down on my CGGQC list of things I need to finish in February. Making these mini quilts is so much fun. You might remember that I made a pink one for one of my instructors and then decided to make one for myself because I liked it so much. I think it's really cute. I plan to hang it in my guest bedroom.

Next project to tackle is the purple Half-pint quilt top. Just need to add the batting, back fabric and then machine quilt.

Enjoy your week!!

Sew Day Today

So excited to have a three day weekend. Having an extra day gives me the time to do a little extra sewing. Last night and this morning I worked on this small Valentine table topper for my buffet table. The hearts are appliqued on and machine quilted. I just love it; the bright pinks look so cute!

The rain is coming down really hard today and the news says that by tonight we should have snow at 4000 ft (we'll see). I just love the rain. Today, I'll stay in and sew with the company of two of my grandson's who didn't want to go home last night after dinner. One is 5 and the other 4 yrs old and they enjoy playing in my sewing room and hoping that everything I make is for them.

I've got to work on those February CGandGQC projects. I hope to do some blog hopping too!

February Projects for the CG&GQC

One of my February projects will be to complete the purple Half-Pint quilt. I'm embarrassed to admit that I put the top aside and didn't finish it. I really liked it but didn't know who I'd give it to so I just put it away for a while. Now I know just who I'll complete it for. That special little girl loves purple and she'll be excited to receive it.

I'd also like to finish the blue elephant mini and a sampler quilt top that I'll be starting in my class next week. I've also been working on some paper piecing crazy quilt blocks from fabric in my scrap bag and plan to get several more of them done (I've got four blocks complete now).

Just typing this list sounds pretty ambitious to me since I haven't been sewing much. I really need a jump start again after the Valentine Sewing Party. Visiting your blogs and seeing your projects is something I look forward too

Valentine "Sewing Party"

Yay!! It's finished. I couldn't relax until it was complete. I decided to machine stitch the binding on and it turned out great. It was a long day, but worth the fun. I also was able to finish 4 treat bags. The rest are cut out and just need to be sewn. I'll save that for later or maybe tomorrow. Good Nite ladies. It sure was a great bash!!

It's 6:15 pm and the quilting is done. Now all that's left to do is the binding. In a couple of hours I'll be watching my grandsons and plan to get the hand stitching of the binding finished. It 's been a busy, but extremely fun day sewing with you all. I've visited alot of your blogs and have enjoyed your lovely projects. Thank you all for your comments and encouragement along the way! See you guys at the next Party!!!



It's a little after 5pm now and I've attached the border and sandwiched the batting and back fabric together. I've begun the quilting on the heart and I'm just about done with that. Still need to quilt on the white background.




Finally the top is done (it measures 19"x 17.5" right now). The pinning, pressing and lining up of each of these rows seemed to take forever, well it's complete now. It's now 2pm and I'm really hungry. Gonna have some hot dogs, pasta salad and a drink and get back to sewing. (Photo not loading right now???) Had lunch and came to try again and the photo loaded. Guess I just needed to eat something.

I did some blog hopping and you ladies have some really great projects going. This is so much fun!

It's 11:30 and this is my progress so far. I'm off to visit some blogs, socialize for a bit than return to sewing this together and designing the borders.


This Valentine "Sewing Party" with Kelly, Joan and all you gals is going to be fun. My first project for today is a heart wall hanging. Here's a photo of the fabric I'll be using. I still need to cut the background fabric and sew it together.

My second project is some small treat bags. See photo of one I've sewn together. I'm planning to make a couple of dozen of these.

I'm looking forward to visiting you all and seeing your projects.
Off to Sew!!

Resting and Reminising

Today was spend in bed with a kink in my back and my neck. I decided to try and update my Facebook and to be honest just try and figure it out. The whole thing about sharing everything with the world was a little intimidating, come to find out with a few clicks I just share what I want and with who I want. Whew!! I don't know why I was so intimidated by it. All the family is on sharing away and I was afraid to say much (who knows why).

Anyway, before long I was chating along with my niece and we started talking about music and what songs remind of us who. Boy did we go back to my Mom and her mom and my sisters and what songs reminded us of certain people, friends and events. The list of songs was getting pretty long as you can imagine.

Music from certain times in our lives is one of those things that you always remember. I'll share with you all that a song by Ray Charles "It's crying time again" reminds me of my Mom.

Mel and I got to thinking that this was a good topic for a blog post since we like music so much, we wondered what songs bought you all fond memories.

If you'd like, feel free to post a comment with the title of a song that takes you back to a fond memory. We'd like to go back with you and remember where we heard it for the first time, or for a moment think of the person that it reminds us of. And, if by chance it's a song we've never heard before, you'll be exposing us to something new. We look forward to hearing from you all. This could be quite fun and a nice way to remember some old friends in the new year!!

I hope Mel doesn't mind but she shared that "Going to the Chapel" reminded her of a wedding she was in where she and all the bridesmaids sang this song to the bride on the way to the church.

It's Snowing here!!

So much to 70 degree weather here last week. It's been raining for three days now and it finally started snowing. When I left work it was raining pretty hard and I was just hoping to make it home safely and just a mile from home it started snowing. I sure hope the snow sticks so we can have a snow day tomorrow. I can think of a few things I'd like to start sewing.

We had about a foot or two of snow last year in December and we didn't expect to have any this year but you never know. Most of the time we just get a few flurrys and not much more but it sure looks and feels like were going to get a bit more through the evening. Anyway, I'm gonna hope for a snow day.

The book I got the elephant pattern out of is called Great Little Quilts by Eleanor Levie. Click on the link if you are interested. The book has 45 Antique Crib and Doll size quilts with all the patterns and directions to make them. There are some really cute one's in the book. I think it's a good book to have in your collection for inspiration.

Creative Anticipation

Happy New Year everyone! The hectic schedule of the holidays, visiting with friends and family, cooking, shopping and baking, is slowing down for me and hopefully for all of you. I'm so looking forward to getting back to my sewing room and creating some fun projects and also getting back to blogging and visiting all of you.


In the little time I've had to sew I've been working on two Elephant wall hangings (1930 reproductions). I made the pink one for the instructor of my quilting class. She really likes elephants so I know she'll love it.


Sometime in October or November I bought this book on antiques quilts and when I saw the elephant one I thought of her and decided to make it to surprise her. She is such a sweet lady and always goes out of her way to find a pattern or technique for us to use. I can't wait till the semester starts in February to present it to her. I had fun making it for her and decided to make one for myself so I started one and hope to get it finished in the next few days.


Today a had some time to visit Kelly's blog to catch up on what the CGQC was up too since I've been out of the loop for the past month and was so excited to see all the finished projects of the club members and to learn that they will be having a Valentine sew along next weekend. So, I guess I'll be joining in and making a few Valentine projects and planning my projects for February. I'm also looking forward to visiting all of your blogs and to see what new things you all have planned for the new year.


One more thing, I just wanted to say that since I started my blog last June I've met some really nice, fun and extremely creative people on line and I want you all to know that you are one of the things I am thankful for in the new year and I look forward to sharing and learning from each of you. God Bless!!