My Zig didn't Zag!

yesterday morning we babysat Waylon. We're their only babysitter and its the 2nd time in his life I've babysat him.... so he doesn't take well to momma leaving him.

So... he cried if i looked at him... he was fine if i pretended he wasn't there. That takes all the fun out of babysitting grand babies!! I pretended i didn't watch him scatter crayons all over the sewing room floor, and pretended i didn't see him scatter my embroidery floss from one end of the room to the other (but it was entertaining him for a LONG time) While i was pretending to not watch him.... I started sewing rows together on the zig zag quilt. I guess i wasn't paying attention because i sewed them together wrong! lol. My zig didn't zag!!

So... i guess we have a date with the seam ripper....

But since i didn't want to get into that today... guess what i did... I started another project!

its 1/2 a square... that's all i finished today but its from my tan and red bits bins and my string bins (the newly organized bins!!!)  The strips are 1 1/2 in wide so its a small block, but I'm making a small project... a bath mat for my bathroom. I'm going to use a towel for the batting. I am tired of using a towel as a bathmat!
I finished the borders on the "I Love Lucy Sophie" quilt. They have decided to name her Sophie Elizabeth instead of Lucille Betty Ann. (I'm glad but i think i hurt their feelings when i told them i was)

I just used scraps I had left over from the blocks. I'm happy with how it turned out. I need to buy batting and quilt it yet. She's supposedly due at the end of February but her doctor said it could be any day!


 Ive been watching "scrap attack" over at Stitched in Color and I'm going to link up there today.

WIP Wednesday - I love Lucy

I have finished piecing the hearts for I love Lucy and I just need to add a border to it. I think im just going to use left over 4" strips from the hearts. It seems a little big for a baby blanket... but i do like how its coming along.

I have also been working on the baby quilt for Jess' baby Keagan. He is due in April. I was inspired by this quilt by Red Pepper Quilts. I really like her quilts and this one spoke to me as something i haven't done, something easy and quick and would be appropriate for a little boy. I have started cutting and sewing my rails this past week. I am going to do my blocks on point so that my zigs and zags go across the quilt.

On a side note... what is up with the waking up at 2 am thing. Since thursday I have woke up at 2 am, I get up, putter around, clean house, and sew till about 5:30 when i am tired finally and I go back to sleep till about 8 am. I dont like the middle of the night time... it used to be i just got up at 4:30 or 5:30... but the middle of the night thing is weird.

But i have made progress on organizing:

This is the "blue" pile so far on top of a FULL box of ironed strings. Im going to have to work on a string quilt soon. 

I now have these nifty containers for my precut squares:

the cool thing is they are free! you get them with stamps from the grocery store (we buy some groceries for the restaurant there so i have ALOT of stamps) I have one for my 1 1/2, 2 1/2, 3 1/2 in squares. I also have one for tiny bits that im going to do something with someday and for the HST's I started for an Ocean Waves Quilt. I need about 4 more and I'll put my bigger chunks in them sorted by color.

I folded and put away all of my yardage

I have 7 boxes total... not alot but enough when needed. It was a mess though!

And current projects are in bins (where the cant can no longer get kitty snot on things! ugh, hes the snottiest cat)

Yes that is our 1964 tractor out in the back yard with the hood up because i think it has finally bit the big one and needs to go to tractor heaven. (its older than ME!)

I haven't made progress on anything else this week... Im hoping to quilt and bind I love lucy this weekend and then I can start working on the Zig Zag quilt for Keagan, finish the quilts I started for Jess and Faith and send a box of quilts to Alaska!

Be sure to check out freshly pieced and other works in progress!

Irene Update

I think one of the best parts of quilting is someone telling you how much they appreciate the quilt you gave them. I dont expect people to go gaga at how pretty like i do, or admire the quality, or even respect the time that i put into it. I do like to know they got USE from it and appreciated the gift I gave them.

The quick backstory if you werent reading back then is I started a quilt the weekend Irene hit the east coast and I knew this one was going to be a donation quilt so i called her Irene. I eventually settled on sending it to the fire victims in Texas. It was in the backseat of the truck to be mailed when I gave a woman a ride "home" from our restaurant but her "home" was a van. I ended up giving her the quilt. She needed it.

So... Ralph and I are in the grocery store and im waiting for the manager to get me something from the office, so were kinda just standing there looking stupid when the person I gave Irene to came up to me. She said... "your the lady from Zippy's, right?" (i am called the Zippy Lady or the Pizza Lady daily) I said yes and she asked if I remembered her, I had given her a quilt. Of course I did.

She then told me how much she appreciated it, it was pretty and SO warm and it has been so nice to have on these cold nights we have been having. I told her how glad I was that she was getting use out of it and that she liked it. It was one of those moments where I wish i had said more... but i really didn't say much because i was so touched!!

She left and i just kinda stood there. Thats WHY i make them and it was SO wonderful to have someone tell me that. I was on cloud 9 for the rest of the day.

I went to goodwill today and actually spent 9.00 on shirts for fabric for one of the baby quilts im making... but... its time to go home and ill have to tell ya about that another time.

WIP Wednesday

This is week 2 of 2012. I didn't make a post last week but i am going to try to make one every Wednesday. I like to see what i accomplished from week to week!

Mostly the past week i have been organizing and cleaning my sewing room. The mad dash toward Christmas caused a chair in my room to be piled as high as i am tall with fabric.  Mostly fabrics i was auditioning for borders or backings that needed to be put away. I also have 2 big tubs of scraps that are so wrinkled, it drives me nuts to pull them out to use them (i HATE ironing) so.. i have been ironing! When i finish i will take the pretty "after" pics... I did take a before but not tiill the after!!

Projects Started:

"I Love Lucy" It is for a grand baby on the way who's name will be Lucille Betty Ann Hampton (for the majority of her life she will hate her parents for naming her this but hopefully someday will appreciate that she is a namesake baby and is named after some wonderful women who came before her)

They are very simple pink and purple hearts. The background will be white (not black) I'm using 4" squares. It will have 20 hearts and i have a different fabric for each ones (although i may use one more than once if i really like it!) . Of course all scraps.


"Orange Crush" It will be orange broken dishes with 6" blocks. This one is for me, that orange is still calling me and i cant get away from it so i figure i best hurry and get it done!

Ongoing Projects:

5642 - I finished one more 36 pc square

Lovely Little Windows - No Progress
Faith's Flowers - No Progress
Lavender Stars - No Progress
Travis Star - No Progress
Jonathan Camo - No Progress
Kisses from Paw Paw (Landon) - Attached 2 of the borders, finished flying geese for the other 2
Kisses from Paw Paw (Trevor) - No Progress
Adriana's HST's - No Progress



Be sure to visit Freshly Pieced for more WIP Wednesday posts!!

Lonesome Dove Finish

OK, as promised... better pictures of Lonesome Dove. I actually got to leave work and go up to the Square to take them. I am going to try this year to get better pictures of my creations! I love pictures of other peoples quilts that show about them as well... so... around I'm going to take pictures of them around where i live.

This is Lonesome Dove at the Gazebo on the Courthouse Square. I think our courthouse is pretty, it was restored a few years ago.

I don't know how big it is, but it fits a queen sized bed perfectly. The dogs can even lay down on top of it and not pull it off of me!! It is 6" squares cut and made into 5 1/2 inch HST's. The red and blue are scraps that have been given to me and alot of shirt material in it. I didn't purchase any fabric to make it. Making all of the grand baby quilts i used alot of red and blue and just have piles of shirts already cut up.

I used different hues of red in it on purpose. It has very orange reds and very maroon reds. I really wanted this to look scrappy and I feel the best way to do that is to not make it too matchy matchy. This is defiantly "my style" I have seen some beautiful quilts made from different fabrics in a line and very matchy... i admire them and i admire the craftsmanship of the artist who made it... but they just don't give me the oooh and ahhh that a good ole fashioned scrap quilt gives me.

The back is two twin sheets with roses on them sewn together. The tag on them actually said 1979! The binding fabric is a calico that was in Ralph's mothers fabric stash that i found this past year in the house. I never met his mother... but now i have a connection to her... quilting.

Another note... tamales. I had never had one till i moved to Texas and for the first 8 years i really wasn't impressed with them. Lately... I've been craving these little packets of goodie! Ralph and I just finished off a dozen that we got from the Liquor Store next to the restaurant... yumm... hit the spot.

No pressure this year

towards the end of last year i was feeling alot of pressure to finish up the quilts i was making for christmas (didn't QUITE make it) so this year... no pressure. Im going to make what i want when i want. Ok, i'll finish the two baby quilts for the babies that are on their way right now before they are born... but thats it, no deadlines!

What ive been working on the past few days is the Paw Paw kisses quilts for landon and trevor. Im attaching the borders now. One is flying geese, the other is broken dishes... by golly i think ive spent more time making the flying geese than i have the kisses (X's) part! But... i have one side attached to one quilt and im really happy with how its turning out.

my helper sammie cat... he really likes this one!

I have also resumed the hand peicing that i was working on before the pressure for Christmas. I have 3 of these squares done, i need 60!

It will be part of 5662 (the name of the quilt is how many 1 in squares it will be) This is what i have so far...

Im working on this during slow times at work... I will probably finish 2 or 3 squares a week this way and maybe just maybe if i feel like it i might have this one ready for quilting by next year! lol.

I am a bad girlfriend. Yesterday was ralph's birthday. Neither of us realized this until around 5 pm. We both thought it was the 3rd all day. I feel like a scmuck for that!

But i did finish "Lonesome Dove" for him for his birthday. Its named "Lonesome Dove" because i started the hand binding when we started the movie Lonesome Dove. By the time Woodrow was on his way back to Texas with Gus, I had finished it, washed and dried it and we were snuggled up underneith it! it was a wonderful way to spend New Years Day!!

I will get a better picture of the whole thing when i have time on a nice day! But i love this one!!