Sunday Sampler

Happy Sunday!

 

Hi!  Hope you are day has started on a good note today!  Did you turn you clocks back?  I did and I am ready and roaring to go today!  I did go to bed quite late, as I was watching football and sewing.  I watched the Oregon game and the Alabama/LSU game.  I love that the Oregon Ducks beat Lane Kiffin and USC!  I do love Oregon, but it was just that much sweeter that they beat Kiffin(It's a TN thing...LOL.)  I am so glad Bama pulled it off last night, because it was looking really iffy there for awhile, but it was an awesome finish!  Roll Tide!  Of course, I did watch TN earlier and thank goodness we won!  That's about all I can say, because that was iffy towards the end and it shouldn't have been!  Anyway...enough about football!  On to sewing!

 

This weekend, I am working on several projects and I didn't quite get so far yesterday due to football.  I may have that problem today since the Broncos play and the Nascar race is also on this afternoon!  I won't sit in front of the TV the whole time, but it will be back and forth between the kitchen where I sew and the living room!  Need to get a TV in the kitchen and then in my future sewing room when I get it organized!!  LOL

 

Here is a sneak peek of one of my projects I am working on.  This is going to be my pillow for the Pillow Talk Swap.  I hope my swap partner will like it!  Let me know what you think!

 

 

30 Days of Thanks:  Day 4

 

Today, I am Thankful for all God has given me in my life.  I have a wonderful son, who brings so much joy to my life.  I love him so much!  I am thankful for my family, whom I love dearly.  I am also thankful for the special, close friends I have in my life, who mean more to me than they could ever know.  You know who you are!!!  I am thankful everyday for all the blessings in my life and that God has allowed me to be surrounded by such wonderful people!

 

What are you thankful for today? 

 

Have a Super Sunday!  :)

 

 

Thankful Thursday

Happy Thursday!

 

It's time for Thankful Thursday!  Today, I am thankful for fall flowers!  I decided to plant some fall mums and pansies about two weeks ago.  I planted my flowers in the different pots I had on my front porch that had been sitting empty for some time.  I had been lazy and just never got around to planting flowers this year or last.  I was tired of no color and I wanted something I could enjoy and take care of.  Here is a photo of my Burgundy mums with some pansies scattered around!  I love pansies because they look like happy faces and these mums were just getting ready to bloom when I bought them.  These flowers make me happy and make me want to get to sewing something pretty!

 

 

"Flowers are those little colorful beacons of the sun from which

we get sunshine when dark, somber skies blanket our thoughts." 

~Dodinsky, www.dodinsky.com

 

Have a very Terrific, Thankful Thursday!

Thankful Thursday!

Welcome to Thankful Thursday!

Time for Thankfulness!

Today, I am thankful for cool, crisp air in the mornings. I love this time of year.  The mornings start out cool and then most days, progress into just beautiful, warm afternoons.  The summer heat is mostly gone, although here in East TN, you never know how hot or cold it may be from one day to the next.  Mornings like this are great times to relax for a bit and then get things done...like cleaning and sewing!  I have already been busy today doing a little cleaning and I am going to knock out a sewing project this morning!

 

Here is a beautiful image of a cool, crisp morning at Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  I love less than an hour from the park, but I do not seem to make it there very often.  This beautiful image was taken by QT Luong. 

 

 

 

"Autumn bowed to place a beautiful crown on the Queen of Morning, and her velvet robes sway merrily in the chilly breeze."

~Terri Guillemets

Have a very Thankful Thursday!

Sewing Saturday!

Happy Saturday!  

Today is the first day of Autumn!  Wow...where did the Summer go!  I love the bright blue skies and the cool, crisp mornings!  The leaves have not started to change here yet, but it won't be long!  I always love the beautiful, bold colors that the leaves bring!

Today I am going to try to get a lot of sewing done.  I have binding to do for a friend and I have charity blocks to sew together, so a quilt top can be quilted.  After I get all that done, I have a tote bag, a scrap swap project and another quilt to start.  

Here is some more juicy fabric I picked up last weekend.  They are batiks and I figure I can make some kind of cool Tennessee project out of them!  :)

Going to be a busy weekend!  Of course, there will be football involved too...Go VOLS and BRONCOS!

Happy Autumn!
"Autumn mornings: sunshine and crisp air, birds and calmness, 
year's end and day's beginnings." 
~Terri Guillemets

Have a great day!

Fun Friday!

TGIF---It's Friday!  

Hello and welcome to Friday!  I thought this was going to be a productive week and in some ways it was, but as far as sewing goes, it was not.  I did, however, finish the table runner last night and I will post pics at the first of the week.  I want to get it into the mail first, so I will be doing that today!

Here are a couple of fun fat quarters I bought at a nice little quilt shop in Georgia last weekend.  These are just fun and so pretty!  Not sure what I am going to do with them, but I love them.  I bought some other fabric that I will share as we go!

Don't forget to check out the QuiltCon Block Challenge post today!

Hope you have a Fantastic Friday!

Thankful Thursday

Happy Thursday!

Today is Thankful Thursday!  

I am very thankful today for family and friends who support me in sewing and quilting endeavors.  I love to sew and quilt so much that I have become very passionate about it.  I am hoping one day soon to start a business, but first I want to learn more and become really good with my techniques.  I have come a long way from when I started  three years ago.  I love the modern techniques of quilting tied into the traditions of old.  I have learned so much, but one thing I definitely want to get better at is free motion quilting.  I have got to start practicing, so that I can learn some patterns other than stippling.  Now, I love stippling, but I am still not great with it and need more practice with it also!  

Below are two projects that I did with free motion stippling.  They turned out pretty good and the good thing with stippling is that it is very forgiving.  I am going to keep practicing this and also try to learn a couple of new patterns to try along the way!

"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them."  

~John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Saturday Fun!

Happy Saturday!

 

Hope today is a great day for you!

 

I have several things going on today and I will tell you more later!  I am going to try to sew later this afternoon and of course, there is Tennessee Football on tap tonight! 

Go Vols...Beat those Florida Gators!

 

 

This a beautiful pic of Neyland Stadium during a game!

Can't wait til tonight!

 

I'll keep you in the loop about my sewing adventures tomorrow!

For now.....

 

GO VOLS!!!!

Sewing Saturday!

Sew Saturday!

 

Hope you all are having a super Saturday so far!

 

Today is going to be a day of football sewinf and more sewing!  I am working on my table runner for my swap today.  I am excited to finally get to working on this project.  I started cutting out fabric last night and I am going to finish that up and get to it!  I finally figured out a design, so now I am ready to get it started and done!  I will keep you informed on the progress and have pics for you soon!

As far as football goes, Yes, I am a University of Tennessee Volunteers Fan.  I sometimes have to clarify, because of the other UT with the burnt orange colors!  As I say, they may do football bigger in Texas, but we do it a lot brighter here in Tennessee---Go Vols!  LOL  I also be watching some Nascar tonight at Richmond, as my driver, #88 Dale Jr, is starting on the pole!  WooHoo!  And, of course, Sunday will be another day of sewing and Broncos football! 
WooHoo...Go Peyton..Can't wait!

Check back tomorrow for my table runner progress and other good things!

Have a Spectacular Saturday!

 

 

 

Fun Friday!

It's Friday!!

 

Time to have some fun!  I have finally been able to get back to sewing!  Last night I made a mug rug for a gift and I will post it soon.  It has to go to it's recipient first!  Then, I was able to get the binding on a quilt and that will be posted soon!

 

Today has started off with a great walk of three miles on a greenway and I am going to be working on my table runner.  I am so excited to finally get this started.  I will take pics and update you on it's progress.  It's going to be fun!

 

As summer is about to officially end soon, I was thinking about our beach trip and all the fun we had.  I took this picture of all the colorful beach umbrellas and it's just a fun and happy reminder of why I love the beach!  Such bright and colorful fun...It makes me happy!

 

Have a Fantastic Friday!!

Thankful Thursday!

It's Thursday! 

Time for some thankfulness!

Today, I am thankful for hobbies such as sewing and card making.  I love doing both!  Sometimes hobbies are just for fun and sometimes they turn in to a career.  I love that I can make some beautiful things when I sit down, think things out and get creative!  Hobbies really are therapy from everyday life.  They allow you to get into your own world and forget the bad in the real world, even if just for a few minutes. 

Below is an example of getting creative.  This is one of the blocks I designed for the Quiltcon Block Challenge.  I will reveal my blocks tomorrow for you to see!

Today, I am also thankful for my son, who just turn 19 years old.  It's hard to believe that he is 19 and starting his second year in college next week.  Wow....where did that 19 years go?  I remember just yesterday of him being that sweet little baby that I held in my arms.  This morning, I was thinking about high school football, which starts tomorrow night here in East TN.  He was the kicker on his football team all four years.  Although, he has been out of high school for a year, it is just hard to believe that once again, I will not be watching him play tomorrow night.  A little sad, but I am very grateful for all the memories I have up to now.  We have had some great ones! 

Here's to many more in the future!

Develop an attitude of gratitude, and give thanks for everything that happens to you,
knowing that every step forward is a step toward achieving something bigger
and better than your current situation.
-- Brian Tracy
Have a very Thankful Thursday!

Thankful Thursday!

It's Thankful Thursday!

Hi everyone! 

This has been a crazy week.  I forgot to post yesterday, but today is Thankful Thursday! 

I am very thankful today for sewing time.  I have learned to sew and quilt and it has been wonderful learning experience so far!  It is like a little escape when I get to sew.  I am doing something I love and I can be creative!  While I do not have a dedicated sewing room at the moment, I sit at my kitchen table a sew away!  I know its not the ideal place, but I am working on it.  I love it though.  I will sit and listen to Pandora radio sometimes and jam away while sewing. 

There are days where I can just sew away and then there are days that I cant seem to bring myself to work on anything at all.  That's OK, because sometimes after a big project, you just have to relax and stay away for a few days.  But then, my sewing machine and projects rope me back in!  I love it! 

I have worked on a project this week, that is now gone, but I may do a reveal on it soon.  I had fun with it and am looking forward to quilting and finishing up a few projects soon! 

Below is one of many blocks I did for a quilt this past year. 

I will show you the entire project one day soon!

 Sewing time is so relaxing to me...like some say, it's therapy! No stress, just sewing!

Let me know what you are thankful for!  Have a great day!

The Beginning of a New Adventure

Quilt Beginnings

My grandmother used to make quilts way back when.  I remember my summers growing up and going to her house in West Virginia, and it seemed that she always was sewing or quilting.  I think she made a lot of quilts and they were beautiful.  I never really thought a lot about it or really appreciated the fact that she made them...until a few years ago.  I will always have great memories of those days of visiting her house. 

Years ago, I used to work for a very well known cable tv network company whose focus is on home and garden.  I think you know the network as HGTV.  In the early beginnings of the network, there was a show called "Simply Quilts" with Alex Anderson.  One of my first jobs in the company was to watch show episodes as they came in to the library, before they aired, for any technical problems.  As one of the only girls in this department, I often had to watch all the craft shows, because the guys did not want to.  That was perfectly fine with me, because I didnt have to watch as many of the remodeling shows!  I used to watch this show and just be in total awe of all the quilts that were shown.  I thought to myself, "I would never be able to make a quilt myself!"  I never thought, all those years ago, that it would have such a profound affect on me.

  Well, that was back in about 1998.  In November of 2009, I bought a sewing machine.  My only purpose at the time was to sew on my handmade cards. LOL  Little did I know that I would soon start sewing and quilting.  I have come a long way since then and this is where you will hear all about my quilting adventures from the past few years and into the future!

Please join me on this adventure of doing something I truly love!

Quilt Ramblings Starting Tomorrow

Hello!

     I have decided to focus my blog more on my quilting and sewing adventures.  Since we start the next half of the year tomorrow, I plan to start posting pictures and quick posts about all things sewing and quilting.  Some days my posts will consist of my past projects.  Some days, you may see projects in progress and other days you may get some kind of information from the sewing/quilting world.

     Please join me on this adventure as I try to grow to be a better quilter! 

Lets have some fun with all our projects!