HALLELUJAH!!!!

After almost 3 years, I am finally done with my Mom's quilt! Now, of course, it did not take me that long to actually make it. Months would go by when I didn't work on it at all. I did have a baby during all of this and probably didn't touch it until she was 6 months old. No matter, she is done and tomorrow my Mom will have her new quilt on her bed. I got the pattern out of an old, probably 80's or 90's, quilting book from my library. The instructions were very minimal, so I am glad the top turned out ok. This was also the first time I have tried free motion quilting. I must say, I really love the process. Much more than using the walking foot. I find I have way more control when quilting free motion. I used the Supreme Slider and Machingers, and both of these products made things so much easier. I also watched many videos from the blog The Free Motion Quilting Project and on The Quilt Show. I know the quilt wouldn't have turned out nearly so well without both of these wonderful resources. I would really recommend the website Day Style Designs, Leah is an amazing quilter and freely shares her knowledge. She sells both the Supreme Slider and Machingers at her website.



The pictures didn't come out as well as I would have liked. It was cloudy and extremely windy today. Also, the only ones home to help me out were Samuel and Ava. Well, Sophia was home too, but she couldn't do much lol I think Sam and Ava did a great job, this quilt is HEAVY and the wind was whipping that sucker all over the place. I may try to take some better pictures when the wind dies down and the sun comes out.





The quilt is pretty big, here it is on my bed which is a king size. It should fit perfectly on my Mom's queen size bed.



A closeup of the design in each block. This isn't one of the best ones, I did improve, but it gives you an idea. I must say I thoroughly enjoyed this entire quilt from start to finish. I am not sure if I am going to start another big quilt anytime soon, but I am sure I will make more.

Morning and a little Remodeling

What I looked up and saw the other morning while enjoying my coffee : ) Please excuse the mess ; )




Sophia LOVES to draw, she especially loves to draw on the Magnadoodle, it is her favorite toy!
I am so glad I bought two of them for Christmas one year (one for Samuel and one for Ava), helps out with any fighting.

I love how she is resting her head on her hand, so cute!

Hey sissy, what are you drawing?

Oooooh, NICE!

Hey Mom, you caught us : D I love their big smiles!
(sorry some of the photos are blurry, I need to always remember to take pictures of the younger kids in sports mode, they move so fast lol)

Now for some pictures of one of our recent remodeling projects.....



Every year when we get our income tax check in our account we start our yearly remodeling. We decide ahead of time what we want to accomplish for that year. Our house was built in the early 70's, so definitely needs some updating. This year we are redoing all of the bedrooms. 3 of them have some disgusting nasty carpet in them and we are taking it OUT and putting in wood laminate. We are also repainting and adding a closet in Ava and Savannah's room. And replacing all of the hideous brown doors in the house. While we were at Home Depot looking at stuff, we came across this gorgeous glass tile for $5 a sheet!!! I have been wanting to do the backsplash in our kitchen but couldn't afford the glass tiles I wanted. Well, we couldn't pass this deal up, so we added new backsplash to our plans lol I think it came out great and looks so good with our cabinets and paint color. We replaced our stainless steel sink and faucet last year. I love our reclaimed (from a friend) porcelain sink and rubbed bronze faucet! We got the faucet for $89 at Homedepot.com! The sink is huge and deep, perfect for all of the super sized pots I have to use to cook for my super sized family lol The high faucet is great for the giant pots too : )


I love my aqua tea pot and kitchen accessories against the olive green.

I need to get pictures of the two bedrooms we have finished. Have to get the kids to pick up their mess first lol

Edited to add that I am *this* close to finishing Mom's quilt!!! I have about a foot of binding to handstitch and then she is DONE! Hopefully will have her photographed tomorrow morning and then I will share.

Somewhat Random

I have been spending quite a bit of time in my sewing room the past week. Whenever I am in there, the two littlest, Sophia and Ava are usually with me. The other night I was sewing away on the sashing for my Dresden circle when I noticed Sophia playing so sweetly and quietly. I grabbed my camera and was able to capture her before she noticed me. Once she sees the camera she wants to see the screen, so picture taking is done lol Excuse the photo editing, I have no idea what I was trying to do, they all look different and not too great LOL I swear, I could just sit and watch this child play all day. She is so cute and I want to soak her in before she becomes a big kid, then a teenager. It all happens so fast : ( I know I probably say this every post, but it is so true, they are growing up at the speed of light it seems and I am trying to hang on to every minute!



YES!!!! After 2 1/2 Y E A R S! I am almost finished!!!! All that is left is the binding, Hallelujah! Even though it took forever, I am really happy with the finished project. My Mom is going to use this as her bedspread, so I wanted it to be really nice. This was my first attempt at free motion quilting and I really enjoyed it. You can so see the blocks that I started with, very wonky and not so great lol But I improved so much, and I am hoping once it is washed, the wonky blocks won't stand out so much. My Mom says she likes the not so perfect ones, she loves that my first big quilt was for her, mistakes and all. Something a loving Mom would appreciate : ) I am sewing the binding this week, so I should have a completely finished quilt soon!!!



Ava wanted to pose with the quilt : ) Love the morning light. She is getting so big too, where are my babies going?!



My first Dresden block almost done! This is for the quilt along with Lily's Quilts. First time I have joined one and I have really enjoyed it : ) Can't wait to have it finished, this is going to hang in my sewing room and it makes me so happy to look at. Considering making a quilt with this pattern, it only takes 6 blocks for a good sized quilt. Not sure if I would use the same fabrics or do something new. I think picking fabric is one of my favorite parts of the process.



This is how I usually sew, scooted up to the edge of my chair so Miss Thang can sit with me lol Chad jokes that her umbilical cord isn't quite severed yet. That's ok though, I love that my baby wants to be by me.



More sweet eyes : D Hope everyone had a great weekend, I did!

The Big 4 0

This Friday I am going to be turning 40 years old....it almost doesn't even seem real! How can I possibly be 40? My Mom was only 41 when I got married and at the time I thought she was so old! Am I old?! I don't feel like I should be any older than maybe 31. Most days I don't really even feel like an adult lol This birthday is kinda hard for me, and I am not someone who worries overmuch about my age, but 40 IS middle age and I don't see myself as a middle age woman. Oh well, I guess I should just embrace it because next year I will be 41, then 42, 43 and before I know it I will be 50!!!! LOL I know, just take one year at a time, Tonya! I will be celebrating in the Big Easy with my 3 best girlfriends and our husbands. I know we will have a blast, we always do when we are all together. It has been one of *those* weeks, so I will definitely enjoy the break as well and the kids will enjoy being spoiled rotten by my mother.


Samuel is such a good big brother, he is always tending to his baby sister.

I know the pictures have nothing to do with me turning 40. I took them the other day and had a post all written out in my head, but I have now totally forgotten what I was going to say lol A definite sign of age, if I don't write something down the minute I think of it, it will be out of my head in 30 seconds!


My little cowgirl princess, she wears this outfit most days.


serious


Giving us her *sweet eyes*

Have I said lately how much I love this baby girl?! She is at that enchanting age where she is still a baby but can do big girl things. The fact that she has hardly any hair makes her seem even younger than her 18 months. She has started talking up a storm. She says Mama, baby, door, poo poo, kitty cat, tv, Sydney, ninny, Daddy, drink, all done, eat, nana (banana), night night, eyes, and more that I can't think of right now. Also, she will repeat most words after us. This is such a blessing because Ava has a pretty severe speech delay/impediment and I was worried that Sophia might have it too. Apparently not, thank the Lord! Ava wasn't talking at all until after 2 and didn't say much until she was 3. Ava is in speech therapy and is steadily improving, but I am glad we don't have to worry about it with Sophia.
I am enjoying every minute I can because she will be my last baby and I have to soak as much up as I can to hold me over until I have grandbabies : )

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend, I know I will !


P.S. I am almost done with the quilting on my Mom's quilt! Like seriously, only about 2 hours left!!!! I really enjoy the binding, so hopefully I will have a finished quilt to show you in a week or two! woooo hooooo!!!!!

A QAL with Lily's Quilts

I recently came across a new to me quilting blog and it just so happens that she was starting a Quilt Along. I have never done anything like this before, because I am always pretty sure that I won't be able to keep up. However, this one seems doable. You don't have to make a full size quilt, one block gives you a 30" by 30" wall hanging or mini quilt. I can do this! Also, I have always wanted to learn how to piece a dresden block, so here's my chance. I chose all of my fabrics from my stash, I love aqua and orange together. I still need to print my templates and cut my fabrics. I am really looking forward to this!

child prodigy?

Sophia has taken a liking to our piano and in my opinion she is very good for a 17 month old LOL Now let me say that nobody in my house is an accomplished pianist. I took lessons when I was in third grade and quit after a year (really wish I wouldn't have). My 14 year old Sydney teaches herself popular songs off of the internet. She does well, but there is no formal training. Mainly we all just play around on it. Before Sophia could pull herself up on the bench, she would reach that fat little hand up and softly touch the keys, but as soon as girlfriend could haul herself up there, she was playing away! And the funny thing is, she doesn't pound on the keys like I assume a baby would. She carefully touches the keys individually. I am just kidding about the whole prodigy bit, but I do wonder if maybe she has some natural talent. My piano teacher did beg my parents not to let me quit, because in his opinion I was very good. So who knows, maybe she got it from me ; ) LOL


Just pretend you don't see the dust and fingerprints all over the piano lol

Oh, and in case you are wondering why we have such a nice piano when no one takes lessons? Well, we were blessed by some friends of ours (thank you Guidrys!) Their oldest daughter decided she didn't want to play anymore and they hated to see the piano not being used. Sydney would always play on it when she would go to their home. So, we traded an unused treadmill that we had for their piano. We definitely came out on the sweet end of that deal!


Baby in motion!

On the quilting/sewing front, I have been sadly out of it. I am determined to get back into it, I think it really helps my emotional well being. And I am double determined to get my Mom's quilt finished. I know, I know, it is still not finished. I think we are going on 2 1/2 years now...pathetic, I know. Sooooooo, this morning I cleared off my cutting table (which is where I machine quilt). It was so bad, I had to dust everything LOL It is now ready to go, my goal is to have it done for Mother's Day. Really, there isn't much left, I don't know why I didn't finish it months ago.



Now to show you the sad state of the rest of my sewing room. Crap is everywhere! My husband is painting some shelves that will help a lot with getting things organized, but let's be honest, not having extra shelving is not the problem lol



It doesn't help that this room also doubles as the laundry room and my kids have their presence there as well. My daughter Sydney has taken over my chair in the corner to do her homework in the afternoons.


Please don't call hoarders on me!

The stack of books on the stool is for her research paper. My stack of books is in my room on the bedside table where it belongs LOL

relaxing

I picked up cross stitching again. Yeeears ago, when I was pregnant with Austin I had my first experience with needle and thread. I was instantly in love. For years, cross stitching was the only fiber hobby I had. Years later I picked up sewing and then knitting and quilting and crocheting, etc. LOL I made 5 of these Shepherd's Bush Christmas Stockings for my first 5 children and have been needing to make the youngest 3 children theirs for several years now. So, I visited my local needlework shop and bought the linen and pearle cotton for this project. This will be Samuel's stocking. I forgot how relaxing and enjoyable it was to paint a picture with thread. I am not making any lofty goals. I just want to get Sam's stocking done for this Christmas and will work on Ava's next year. I hope these become family heirlooms one day.



The pictures were taken by Savannah the other day. The minute I sat down to stitch a bit, Sophia climbed in my lap and Ava curled up beside me on the bed lol They are in Sepia because that is what the camera was set to when she snapped the pics. I am trying to make sure there are more pictures of me with the children. Since I am usually the one taking pictures, there are not very many pictures of me. I want my children to be able to look back one day at pictures of their mom LOL Even though I really don't love having pictures taken of me....