Saturday, December 31, 2011

2011...a year in pictures

January 2011 started us out with snow.  The kids wanted to go play and of course my daughter had to make a snow angel.  Here is her back after she was finished.  lol
In Feb....my daughter was elected by the Seniors to be the little princess at the basketball homecoming.  She got to dress up, give the flowers to the Senior girl elected homecoming queen and got some professional pictures taken.  I think she had a lot of fun.
In March we took a family day trip to the Cosmosphere in Hutchinson KS.  Great museum....and the kids loved it.  Here is my son reading up on one of the planes at the exhibit.
In April....of course we celebrated Easter at the farm in Oklahoma.  The farm always has such wonderful sunsets and I probably have countless sunset pictures because I just can't resist them.  lol  Also the month were my Quilting addiction started and I join the Apple Patch Quilting Guild!
In May we celebrated both of my kids birthdays....my son turned 11yrs at the first of June and my daughter turned 7yrs at the end of May so usually we combine the days for one party.  They both decided on a water gun fight party....we had my daughters first, with her friends and then my son had his friends over at a later time....or that was how it was suppose to work....lol

In June and several other times throughout the summer we went to my families pond in OK to get some fishing in.  Unfortunately, the summer was soooooo dry and the pond was sooooo low, I was worried if we would even catch anything.  For us it didn't really matter however, we like to just go and explore.
In July we took a family trip to Nebraska and to Colorado.  It was such a great time, hope we can go to Colorado again this upcoming summer.  Always so beautiful and the places we went were so green and pretty.
In Aug I don't think we did a whole lot.....or at least I didnt take a whole lot of pictures.  I did however catch my very first catfish (which I was NOT actually fishing for....I like to catch bass).  I think the family pond was soooo low that I was getting close to the bottom when I would cast.  So....here is a picture of my catfish I caught.
In September we are always gearing up for school.  My husband and I both work at the same school my kids attend. It's great being together.  Here is there first day of school moment.  lol
In October we enjoy Halloween, football season, and a lot of outdoor time in the cooler weather.  Here's a pic of us at a Zoo we had never been to before....was a nice little zoo for a small town.
In November we enjoy a lot of family time.  I always realized that my son is growing up so fast.  Here he is driving the tractor all by himself and feeding cows hay with a little supervision from his dad at the farm in OK.
And finally we get to Dec. were we spend a lot of time visiting family, going to Christmas programs at the schools and gearing down at work ourselves until after the new year.  This year in our travels we visited several Christmas light displays.....they are always so pretty lit up at night.
OVERVIEW......I think this last year was wonderful, spent with lots of family time together and lots of love and laughter.  I only hope this upcoming year will be more of the same and better.
Happy New Years to You All!!!!!!!

Friday, December 30, 2011

Oh my stars....2nd star pattern

So...here it is, or should I say, here they are....the second set of star patterns. I really like the way the pinwheel colors turned out but my star points are pretty sorry looking....oh well. I just hope I improve as this quilt along progresses.

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

First set....and fat quarters

Here is my first set of stars for the Oh My Stars quilt along....join in button to the side if you want to do this too!
I am not sure I am going to survive doing all the stars required for the quilt....I finally had some progress but the little stars still are a little wonky but they will do, especially since the quilt is just for me.  lol


I also purchased some fabric today....it is fabric from walmart but it is super cute and I know a few projects I can do with them....now I just have to find time to get started.
 I plan on using this dragon fabric for a wall hanging in my kids' bathroom.....super cute and will be age appropriate for a while and will work for my daughter and my son.  It's called possibilities.
Then I found this Mary Engelbreit fabric....I bought it mainly because of the two fabrics that have owls on them.  My step sister is pregnant and she will be decorating her room with woodland animals but mainly owls I have been told.  lol.....so, owls it is!!!  Such cute fabric!!

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Frustrations....

I hate cutting out fabric....can I say that??  Is that allowed?   It never fails that I'm off just enough that it messes up my block.  Typically....because I know I have this problem...I cut out the fabric for one block at a time.  Well....I started the Oh My Stars quilt along and I thought "HEY...I will cut out all the stuff for the blocks at once to get that part out of the way because I hate that part so much!"   BAD IDEA....tried my first block and yep, it's off by just a smidge.  Enough so that it is noticeable.  Soooooo....now I have to recut the stuff for the blocks.  GRRRR!!!!  I need to say that again...GRRRRRRRRR!!!!
Any tips or tricks for this new quilter!  I am in desperate need of assistance.  How do I measure accurately each time??  I don't have a lot of gadgets and tools so the less of those types of things used the better.

HELP!!!

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Gifts

My first christmas quilted gifts were given away today....I think they both were loved!

Oh.....and here is a picture of me and my family....my daughter was being a bit of a monster and not smiling for the camera

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Oh my stars!

Cut out but not together.....poor stars :(   I have all the fabric cut for star pattern one and two....just need to find the time to put them together.
 Also....my mother's quilt is finished and ready to be wrapped.  I love it and know she will too! 

Monday, December 12, 2011

New Giveaway

Head on over to Fluffy Sheep Quilting for a wonderful giveaway!
Here is the URL
http://fluffysheepquilting.blogspot.com/2011/12/giveaway-day-giveaway-day.html

Friday, December 9, 2011

Show and tell!!!

First off I'm going to post some pictures I took while quilting the top to my mom's quilt I am making her for Christmas.  I am still a novice so please forgive my uneven stitches....I hope to keep improving.  But my motto was to just dive in and do my best.  *smile*




And another empty spool!!!  *smile*

Then I came home today to a nice squishy package.  A few months ago I won a prize from the online Fabshop hop....This gift came from Spider's Web Fabrics.  *smile*  Lovely!!!!
 **smile**  see....nice and squishy!
 A lovely package full of goodies!
 Look at all this stuff!
How did she know I was collecting greens to do a quilt for my brother!  *smile*

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Christmas with the Quilt Group


Christmas evening with the ladies in my quilt guild (Apple Patch Quilters - most of the ladies work or have worked in the school where I currently work)
Lots of good food
Lots of laughs
Lots of great conversations
And wonderful gifts for our secret sisters and for those that don't participate in secret sisters!
I really enjoyed myself and can't wait for our next meeting!!

Saturday, December 3, 2011

some fabric and a Question

First I will post some new fabric I purchased.  The creamy batik I will use as a background fabric for a quilt along or for another quilt I have planned.  The greens and blacks I purchased for my brother's quilt.

For the Oh My Stars! Quilt along I am getting ready to start, I had a question as to background material.   I can either use the creamy batik pictured above or a kona white.
Here are some picture samples....sorry the kona is so wrinkly....it was horribly stacked on my shelf.


here's a closer picture of the batik.
Soooooo.....let me know what you think.  I like either one so either choice works for me!!  *smile*
Thanks!!!

Edit:   I've decided to go with the white background material.  I was going to order in some pale grey but I'm ready to get started on this quilt and don't feel like waiting any longer (don't want to get behind on the quilt along).  I like the white and think it will look pretty.  The batik will find another quilt to go with in the future!  *smile*  Thank you for all your input!!!!

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Fat Quarters!

Well....I finally got the fat quarters required for the Oh My Stars! QA......I think they look nice together.  What do you think??