what to do with these lovelies?

I have this stack of 'rainbow' charm squares.........

A lovely stack indeed..........

I just have NO plans for them!

I was in 2 different charm square swaps - and this is 10 yards worth of material!  That means 560 charm squares!  A lot!  Using 400 (20x20) I could make a 90x90 quilt.  Or make them into HST's and stretch it to enough for probably 3 quilts.

Not to mention, I have 5 yards worth of 'layer cake' rainbow pieces too.  Oye.  What was I thinking?! LOL

I honestly like to have a plan for all the fabric in my closet!  What would YOU make with these charms if they were yours?

long time

It's been a while since I've blogged, but I have an excuse!  I have been preparing for my oldest son to come home from college!  He is half way through his senior year, only ONE more semester to go!  Yipppeee!

One of the things I have been working diligently on is the main/guest bathroom.  You see, we have a mid-90's mobile home and it has tons of vinyl ''woodwork''.  TONS of it.  I am on a mission to eliminate the vinyl woodwork from my life.  And the brass.  OH, the brass, eeeep!

Anyhow, this is a shot of part of the bathroom.  It's a very small bathroom, but it sure took me a lot of time!

The bathroom has that horrid vinyl wallboard, so I gave it a vintagey feel with the wainscotting and chair rail molding.  This update started with the need for a new commode.  The old one had spots where the enamel was worn thin and wouldn't come clean anymore, so OUT it went!  New commode, new chrome towel bar/TP holders and paint paint paint.  I still need to paint the upper portion of the wallboard, but the ceiling is very tall in there and I wan't quite up to it.  The cabinet is a HUGE improvement - it was that icky vinyl 'woodwork', and it looks so much better white!  I even sided the ugly plastic tub in the wainscotting/chair rail, and it looks great!  I am so glad I did this little face-lift!  I was on a tight budget on this one, spending less than $250 total (including a new door, which is the last thing to do except the darn ugly BRASS light fixtures).

Anyhow, I was trying to come up with clever ideas for the light fixtures (on a budget) and thought about pendant lighting.....  which brought this out of my china hutch.......

Can't you see that as a pendant light?  I SO wish I had two matching ones though - there are two fixtures above the mirror, so I need two, darnit!  But, maybe I can use this one elsewhere in the house.  Which would include drilling/cutting a hole in Grandma's antique vase.  Don't know if I could bring myself to do it!  Whadda ya think?  Yay or nay?

On the quilty-front - I did work on a quilt top for a while Sunday while hubby worked on his work truck:

I have 11 blocks done, and plan to do a layout like this one here.  I love that layout!  These blocks go together pretty quickly, which makes them addicting!

a new old finish

I am FINALLY feeling good again after being sick for 3 months (in the last month having pneumonia).  Since I wasn't able to do hardly anything the last month, I have SO much on my mind I want to do!  Too much time on Pinterest, LOL.

Anyhow, I have been trying to reorganize my bedroom and master bath to do some updating......  which means going through some UFO's....

This one was lamenting in a box for a few years.  I made the embroidered blocks about 5 years ago, then cut the sashing/cornerstones from fabric from my Grandmother's stash 2-3 years ago.  VERY 80's fabrics, LOL.

It was all sewn into rows, but the rows just needed sewn together.  Easy enough project, took me about a half hour.  Yay, one less WIP box full and it goes into the flimsy/to-be-quilted pile!  I actually have enough of that 80's fabric for the backing too!  I have NO clue what I'll do with it, but the quilt makes me happy looking at all those UBER cute Sunbonnet Sue's!  Even though it's surrounded by funky not-quite-old-enough-to-be-cool-again-fabric.  I still love it 'cause it was Grandma's fabric :)  And she must have loved it too because there was a couple yards of it, hehe :)  I will just do a stipple quilting when I quilt it, and bind it in the muslin like the blocks are stitched on.  Maybe hang it in my laundry room, I dunno......

Here are the Sunbonnet Sue's up close:

JANUARY:

FEBRUARY:

MARCH:

APRIL:

 MAY:

 JUNE:

 JULY:

 AUGUST:

SEPTEMBER:

 OCTOBER:

NOVEMBER:

DECEMBER:

The embroidery blocks were only stabilized with a single layer of washaway stabilizer, so there are puckers. But, from past experience quilting with embroidered blocks, once it's quilted and washed, you won't be able to tell.  Then there won't be that heavy stabilizer behind the blocks making the quilt thicker/heavier in those blocks.

Anyhow, back to organizing!

not sick *again* after January doc......

Ya doc, I'm not sick AGAIN after being sick in January - I'm STILL sick SINCE January......

Yesterday I did a huge grocery run (I actually made a week-long menu, and a grocery LIST, which is amazing for me!), and now I am SO glad I did all that shopping because I am in no way feeling well enough to do it now........  I came home and unloaded those 500 bags of groceries and then hit a brick wall......

I have been dealing with bronchitis/flu/ickiness since January.  I was on antibiotics in January, but they didn't help.....  so, after the brick wall last night, I knew I had to go back to the doctor.

It's what I feared - pneumonia.  Not bad enough for a hospital stay, but bad enough for Prednisone and Doxycycline, ick.  I am not looking forward to the side effects of those......

So, I might be a bit absent from the blog for a while........

and so I don't have a post w/o any pics, this is the most recent oil painting my hubby did.  Don't you just love the colors?  It's really scrummy in person :)  The trees look a little more reddish in person and the sky a little more aqua-ish :)  He plans to let it dry and then work a piece of  'equipment' in there somehow - an old tractor or old farm truck or something :)

Moda Bake Shop quilt

It's finally time to share my latest Moda Bake Shop project!  I call the pattern ''Labyrinth'' - and it was done in the collection ''Noteworthy'', so this quilt is ''Noteworthy Labyrinth''

before it was washed

This really was a lot easier than it looks - there are a lot of seams, but it was pretty easy piecing thanks to strip set piecing :)

An interesting thing I found out about quilts - is that they do shrink more than I thought...... about 10% shrinkage with this quilt.  A lot of the shrinkage might just be the batting though - I did use cotton batting whereas I usually use Warm&Natural or Warm&White,,,,,, which is cotton, but not 100% like I used this time.  The pieced top was 87''x87'', then the quilted top was 85''x85'' - then the washed quilt was 79.5''x79x5''!  I will definitely have to remember that if I want to make a quilt a certain size - to make it 10% larger initially to allow for shrinkage :)  I will have to pay attention next time I quilt a quilt with W&N/W&W to see how much it shrinks :)

And speaking of quilting.......... WOW, was this a bear to quilt on my sewing machine!  It was basted for a month while I worked up the courage......  I could not decide how to quilt it! AND I knew it was going to be a challenge because of the size.........  In the end, I decided to go with an overall swirl quilting design.  This is the first time I've quilted a quilt with this design, and I do love the texture it gave it!  And 87''x87'' top is definitely at the TOP of the size limit for quilting on my machine though!  Anything larger and I will have to send out to be quilted on a longarm.  I am so glad to have finished it and now I am setting it aside for a wedding present :)

And now, pics of the post-washed crinkly yumminess! :)

a finish and a baby quilt

I am happy to say that I have a new finish to share -  not today, but I promise soon!
It has to do with this lovely stack of fabrics from Moda :)

I have also started a new baby quilt for a baby in the 'family'.  I say 'family' because the baby is actually my son's best friends baby.  They have been friends since they were 3, so he is like another son to me.

My son Jacob holding the tiny 5#12oz baby boy!  Isn't this such a cute pic?  The big burly redneck holding the teeny baby, hehe :)

So, I have started a pinwheel baby quilt - my favorite baby quilt pattern ever!

I have only duplicated two quilt patterns before that I can recall - one is the log cabin, and second is this pinwheel baby quilt.  I think I've made 3 of them before, so this will be the 4th.  They come together quickly.  I think this one I'll back in minky, mmmmmm......

Moda precuts stash sale

I went through my precuts stash today and have a bunch for sale in my Etsy Shop

Including some Wee Play (SOLD - I may regret that one!)

And some Hello Betty (may regret that one too!)

and a BUNCH of charm packs too.......  take a look!