Finished It!

Well, this is it!

(Although, I don't think the pictures do it justice!)

I think you either love it or you hate it!

I love it!

I think it is fun for holding my current knitting project.

I think it needs some little pouches for inside for holding some of the tiny tools!

I think I should make some pillow cases first...Ahhh then I'll reward myself

by making some little bags!

Happy Hobbies!

Adventures with VINYL!

I think I'm having a wave of HOBBY A.D.D.! I'm sure of it! I have 2 quilts in progress and a stack of fabrics waiting to be made into some lovely seasonal pillow cases. Don't forget the things I'm knitting and planning to knit!

Here's the deal...

I headed out to buy some cutesy ladybug vinyl to cover my picnic table top with yesterday... Get there and cutesy ladybugs are gone and discontinued. FINE!! I'll just buy the clear! It won't be as cute, but I'm a flexible gal, right? I came home, covered the table AND there was vinyl left... (thus begins the next project) Oh MY!!! I could make something! And you see, I have been admiring some clear vinyl bags over at the Cultured Purl that obviously say "Cultured Purl" on them. Ooohhh, hhmmm, yeah... Can you machine embroider on vinyl?? OH Yeah!!! I couldn't help myself. Last night I started a bag.

Here is your preview...

(hard to really see, I know)

I can see it coming together, sort of... I'm typically a bit insecure without a pattern... I'm taking a leap here. Last night I just went with it! Some of those 30's fat quarters from my little shopping spree earlier this month. I have a stripe picked out for the handles and I'm still thinking on the bottom piece. I hope to get this bad girl finished this evening. It'll come together. I'm so loving that HobbyMommy embroidery!

I seem to be so focused (read that as obnoxiously obsessed) on bags lately...I'm knitting another one, signed up for another class, looking at all the wonderful bags on some of the other gal blogger sites, thinking about how I could make (copy) some of the fabulous bags for sale everywhere, and even trying to sketch some patterns! Yeah... I have real problems! Oh DISTRACTION, back to the project at hand...

Well, I'll see where the vinyl takes me tonight! HA!

Happy Hobbies!

Home TOO Soon!

"I'm a little sad that I'm not waking up to the paneled cottage walls..." I heard from HobbyHubby's side of the bed Sunday morning as the reality of waking up at home hit us both.

We REALLY didn't want to come home... I think a good month MIGHT have been enough. It was a wonderful vacation. So much time to relax and just enjoy each moment.

The picture above is the view from my Adirondack chair. The picture below is the view from the plane... HobbyHubby and his brother took the Georgian Bay plane tour!

Anyone who read my prevacation post might wonder how I spent my vacation... Did I finish my knitting or start my crochet project. OR, did I actually read all of those books and magazines I hauled up there? Answers to those questions are big fat NOPES! Are you kidding me? Totally unnecessary! (If you must know, I do have a theory.... In order to ward off vacation rain you must take many reading materials. By my calculations, had I taken just one more magazine we may have completely avoided Friday night's rain.)

Oh well... Instead of the hobbying... we explored a few new places, went kayaking, swam in the VERY cold but crystal clear water, ate lots of ice cream, had lovely campfires (s'mores and all) most nights, took lots of photos...

AND
The little people played in the sand and on the rock and ventured into the water.

HobbyHubby went sailing in the a small boat kindly passed on to us from my Grandpa!

We made some fun little objects from clay given to us by a fellow cottager from a nearby beach! HobbyHubby even fired it during one of our campfires.

I looked for pretty rocks to take home! Found so many....

And the red chair is where I spent lots of time reading THE YARN HARLOT- the only book I finished there!

Home again like it or not!

We're heading right into fall with preschool starting this week.

Better get back to hobbying!

Happy Hobbies!

GOING NORTH...

We're heading north to my favorite vacation spot on Georgian Bay!

This will be my 20th trip to this exact spot!

I went the first 16 years of my life and this is the 4th year out of the last 5 years since I turned 30 for HobbyHubby to take me!

I love...

the wind...

the water...

the rock...

the cottage...

Seven glorious days with HobbyHubby and the little people!

We will swim!

We will sail!

I will knit on the way and finish the red bag.

I will finish my crocheted fingerless gloves.

I will wear my new hat!

I will read, read, read...

two issues of Rachael Ray magazine,

Artful Blogging,

Cloth Paper Scissors

YARN HARLOT & KNITTING RULES by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee

Amy Butler's IN STITCHES

&

Karen Kingsbury's HALFWAY TO FOREVER & A MOMENT OF WEAKNESS

I will eat s'mores every night by the fire until I run out of chocolate and then I will just eat the toasted marshmallows!

I will RELAX!

I will watch Little Mr. I'm 5 and Little Miss Almost 4 play in the water and walk on the rock in bare feet and tan so brown! I will hear their giggles and giggle right back.

I will take too many pictures and video segments that are so long and all the same.

And I will laugh!

I will see the sun come up (probably just the first morning) and see it set every night!

I will stare out at the glorious water and look at the lighthouse!

Happy Hobbies!

Happy Early Birthday to my Hobby Gal Pal!

KATHY

She'll be 39, eh-um, (again)

in just a few weeks!

I asked if she wanted a sneak peak of her birthday gift via email yesterday and she did not respond in her reply. AVOIDANCE! And since I'm so excited, I told myself I would at least wait to post until after I mailed her package! Guess what? I mailed it this morning!! I'm legal...in my mind anyway!

Shall we look?

This was a quick and easy project. I chose the panel and just added the borders. The pictures below are just close ups of the machine quilting. I free motioned the sunflowers and outermost border with variegated thread and then just stitched in the ditch on the rest of it.

So, Happy Birthday NC Gal Pal!! You'll have to get the rod to hang it with. It wouldn't fit in the box! HA! It should be down south by Thursday!!

Happy Hobbies!

Quilt Tour, Part 5- Back at HobbyHouse

Oh Happy Saturday!

We had a fun evening at the beach! The sun was setting as we drove away!

Ahhh the weekend! I should be sewing...

but, well, blogging is on my mind!

Maybe you'd like to see the first pieced quilt I ever made? This is it! I bravely signed up for a beginning quilting class at Woodstock Quilts when we lived out in Illinois in 2001! During the 2 week class we made each of the 4 blocks and then were instructed to configure them to our own liking. Most of the gals made table runners, but I was in a new house and needed to fill up some wall space! HA... I even cut the points off of the squares along the border. At the time, I couldn't grasp the how and why of how not to lose the points! It was a big fat duhhh moment that eventually turned into an Ah-Ha moment. I scare myself at times! You live and you learn! This hangs happily in the entry of my current home! (I think it will soon be replaced with the Debbie Mumm one I'm currently working on...oh...guilt!)

And here you'll find why I'm still sane. I love THERAPY IN SESSION. This fun black and white panel was a gift from my Hobby Gal Pal, Kathy in North Carolina and it blocks the view to the shelves beneath my cutting table in my sewing space.

Auntie B. had given me the bright fabrics as a fat quarter bundle for Christmas the same year and I used fabric markers to pull in the outer fabric colors! Fun!! Who doesn't love a bit of coloring now and then?

Happy Hobbies!

Secret Santa Christmas Swap

Christmas is coming! I just joined a swap over at Chookyblue. Looks like fun! Head on over there to participate. You must sign up by August 31 and your swap partner will be emailed out in early September! Plan to send gift by December 1! Get over to Chookyblue fast!

Happy Hobbies!

Quilt Tour, Part 4

The tour moves to my grandmother's house!

This is another Spring Fever quilt using the same pattern as I used for

Little Miss Almost 4's quilts! My grandmother told me last fall that she'd love to have one of my quilts. She followed that up by telling me she was too old for me to bother making her a quilt! Can you believe that? I mean do you think 84 is too old? So, I accepted the challenge and surprised her on Christmas! She loves it! I used lots of fat quarters from the Calico Patch...all flowery since she loves to garden!

Happy Hobbies!

THESE, THOSE & the OTHERS!

Whew! It's been a busy 10 days here! I was lucky enough to have my mom come and stay for a great visit! We dreamt big and thought we'd finish two quilts and get another two started.

Let's say that was a practical plan, had we been locked in a room with our sewing machines.

Think: no interruptions from the little people or HobbyHubby or the phone...

Think: no shopping trips, no trip to the zoo, no lunches out, no vacation bible school...

Think: no chores (laundry, meal prep, tidying up)...

Think: no sleeping, resting, napping, chatting, checking email, blogging...

Think: no Saturday night date with HobbyHubby (1st since our anniversary last December) while mom babysits!

THINK of what we'd have missed had we had that practical plan!!!

So here we go...

THESE...

are the quilts we worked on. (mine above, hers below) It is a fun Debbie Mumm pattern called Seasons. The middle panel swaps out to show each different season. That one is the beginning of spring. We still have to completely applique the other three seasons and finish this one, bind the whole base and little panels, and applique a vine on the main base!

Saturday Mom, Auntie B and I went shopping!

THOSE...

are the purchase we made at the quilt shop.

Here are the fabrics and patterns Mom bought! Below are fabrics needed to make one fun gift for a dear friend's upcoming birthday? Do you know who you are? Can I get it finished in time?
Here is a happy little elf that I couldn't pass up... Part of a larger Christmas panel. Do you think I could walk by the panel and not get two charm packs or enough border and binding fabrics? Are you kidding me? I'm going to make this Jolly Elf quilt and then it will be the official Christmas cuddle on the couch quilt! HA! Or, should I say HO HO HO?
Oh, and here is another charm pack that will become something lovely!
This is happy fat quarter stack of thirties prints that can't wait to be joined!
We stopped by the yarn shop.

AND THE OTHERS...

Are the supplies purchased to take the Lucy Bag class at the Cultured Purl in September!

And the yarn Auntie B picked for me to knit her Christmas gift!

As if I didn't have enough to do already?
Time to get to work!

Happy Hobbies!

Quilt Tour, Part 3

We're peeking in Little Miss Almost 4's room today!

SPRING FEVER!

This is another Buggy Barn http://www.buggybarnquilts.com/ pattern I made using a fat quarter pack of Moda flannels. This was completed in 2005 and spent a year on Little Miss Almost 4's wall while she was still in her crib!

On the wall is TINY SPRING FEVER, also completed in 2005, and served as her crib quilt for a year! I reduced the pattern from above by 50% to get these tiny blocks. Another stack of Moda fat quarters was used, but not flannels this time.

This pattern is really fun! On the large quilt the flower centers were pieced, but on the smaller one, the center of the block was lost because it was so small. I just added wool felt after construction and it adds a bit of dimension!

Happy Hobbies!

Quilt Tour, Part 2

It's time for a quick little stroll into Little Mr. I'm 5's room.

There's Teddy! Hi Teddy! He's been with us since Little Mr. I'm 5 was 5 weeks old. He was a $3 teddy that Grandmama bought for him. He is so loved! Oh, wait... we're talking about quilts. Teddy is cute though, isn't he? Don't you love his little quilt, too? Okay, right... the main quilt. This is Crazy Log Cabin from the Buggy Barn pattern Log Cabin Crazies. I really enjoy Buggy Barn patterns because you just pick fat quarters, stack them, cut on the lines, rearrange the pieces, sew together and viola. A quilt is born! You really don't have to be so precise while you're sewing these patterns since you whack extra fabric off as you go and just square up the squares at the end. You can check the Buggy Barn way out at http://www.buggybarnquilts.com/ .

I believe I started this quilt before Christmas in 2005 and finished in early spring of 2006.

Little Mr. I'm 5 loves to snuggle under it!

I guess we'll be visiting Little Miss Almost 4's quilt next time! Until then...

Happy Hobbies!