One Flower Wednesday

Wow this month has gone by fast! I can't believe it's been forever since I blogged! Well time to get back on track.

I'm still working on the last row of my i-spy matching quilt. I just haven't been in a sewing mood this month. I've managed to get 3 more flowers made.

Ooppss looks like I'll have 2 OSU hexies on the same row. I tried to get all my pieces spread out so they aren't next to each other. Oh well, it will be fine. :)

And I will leave you with a picture of the Christmas tree in my office.

One Flower Wednesday

Whew, I'm on a roll today! This is my 3rd blog post today. Guess I'm playing catch up for the lack of blogging in October. So, if you haven't read my other posts today, then go take a look. I have some exciting stuff happening around here!

So now for your viewing pleasure I have some different hexies to show you! I'm still working on my I-spy hexies, but I thought I'd change things up a bit and show you want I created for my partner for the Inchy Hexagon Swap.

I need to work on my photography skills. These flowers are much prettier in person! I sent these flowers to Celine in the UK.



Bloggers BOM - October 2011

We are on the 2nd month of the Blogger's BOM and Vicki at Field Trips in Fiber created the October block for us.

In keeping with my holiday of the month theme I created my block with Halloween in mind.

I think it turned out cute! If you would like to see more blocks go here.



OMG I WON!!!

I won! I won! Did I mention that I won?! I'm so exited, like you can't tell. So what did I win do you ask? Well a couple of posts back I mentioned that I haven't been sewing, blogging, or blog reading much at all this month. The reason being, I was taking a business class for the month of October. The very last class we were to present our business plan to a panel of judges that consisted of local businessmen in our community.

So I spent the whole month researching quilt shops and surveying craft people around my community. I gathered all my info, put my business plan together and created a PowerPoint presentation.

Last week I had been told that quilting was a dying art and nobody was interested in it anymore. Well that fueled my fire to get the best presentation created. I had many many statistics showing that not only is quilting thriving, it's growing!

Well long story short. The judges thought my presentation was the best and they all can see how a quilt shop could thrive in our small community. But not only was mine the best, my big incentive was the prize. I won $500 cash! Now there are rules for this money. I can't just go on a shopping spree and I can't pay bills with it or save it. So I have decided to register my business with the state of Oklahoma and get my tax ID number, I am also going to open a business checking account. Once all that is done, I'm going to set up space at our local craft/antique mall and sell some crafted items there along with opening a shop on Etsy.

My big dream is still opening a local quilt shop, but I have a few hurdles to jump over with our personal finances. So I'm going to start small right now and in a year or two I plan on growing my business.

Also, one of my 101 in 1001 items on my list is to start my own business. Well by the end of November I will be able to cross that off my list!!

I still can't believe I won!!!

One Flower Wednesday

It's One Flower Wednesday! Wow I have missed a whole month's worth of One Flower Wednesday's! Well I haven't been doing very much sewing at all. I've been in a no sewing, no blogging, no blog reading funk, but I'm slowly pulling myself out of it. Here are my hexie flowers that I've completed this month. Hopefully I can get them sewn on to my quilt this week!

I am currently away for work. I'll respond to everybody's comments in a couple of days! Have a great week everybody!

Friday Night Results & Mystery Quilt

I had intended on keeping ya'll updated on this mystery quilt step by step, but me the procrastinator didn't do it. So for this post I will give you a peek of each step all at once!

Most of these steps were completed during several Friday Night Sew In's. If you want to see what I did this past Friday night, then skip on down to Step 5 and 6.

Step 1 - make a bazillion of these! Ok maybe not that many but after awhile it seemed like it.

Step 2 - add the green triangles to 48 half square triangle units.

Step 3 - add large triangles of the focus fabric. After I did these, I really really didn't like my fabric choices. I was frustrated, but decided to keep them this way. After a few days of just staring at them, I began to like them again. Am I the only person who does this?!

Step 4 - make another bazillion of these! I really hate trimming these little buggers.

Step 5 - Thanks to this weeks Friday Night Sew In I was able to complete most of this step. Apparently in step 1 I only made half a bazillion half square triangle units. I had a few left to get this step started then I had to make more. I sewed and sewed and sewed and still didn't get this step finished, but I'm close!

That stack of squares at the top are the rest of the half square triangles. I still need to cut them apart and press and trim them, then sew them on to the side of the green and yellow ones.

Step 6 - Now I shouldn't have started this step since step 5 isn't finished, but I really wanted to see what this blocked looked like finished.

At this point, I'm still not sure if I like my fabric choices. So I decide to make the other half of step 6 to see what the big block looks like.

Now I really like my fabric choices! I can't wait to finish steps 5 and 6 because on Nov 1st I get the final instructions for this quilt!

Thanks for reading my book! Haha

Friday Night Sew In

Since I haven't been blogging or reading blogs much this month, I almost missed the sign ups for tonight...





I will be working on my mystery quilt tonight. Gotta get caught up because I will get the last set of instructions on November 1st!

Bloggers BOM - September

On September 25th the Bloggers Block of the Month began. Sherri from "A Quilting Life" created our first block.  I wasn't sure what fabrics I was going to use for these blocks. I usually like all my fabrics to coordinate, but this time I have decided to use scrap fabrics related to that month.

So for September I wanted fall fabrics. I don't have a large scrap fabric collection but I did have some cute sunflower fabric.  Here is my block...

If you would like to see how other people made this block go here and visit them.

Where did the time go?!

It's been 2 weeks since my last post! Wow! October is half over! So, what have I been up to? Not much on the craft front, but I've been really busy in other aspects of my life.

At work, we lost a coworker due to budget cuts at the end of September. Yesterday, my boss just announced he's retiring at the end of this year. In two weeks, I have my annual in-service to attend out of town. I feel like I've done nothing but play catch up all month long!

At home, I've been cleaning and I don't seem to be making any dents anywhere! Softball has ended and we've already had one basketball scrimmage.

As for crafty stuff, I've done a bit of sewing on my hexagons. I have one hexie flower made for my swap partner. I'll make the other one this weekend and it get mailed next week. I've slowly been working on my mystery quilt (I'll post about that tomorrow).

I did join a local class on "How to Start Your Own Business". So every Tuesday & Thursday nights I can be found there until November 1st. For our last class we have to present a business plan to three judges. We have been told that one judge is a local banker and if he/she is impressed enough just might offer financing for the winner of the best plan. The other two judges are also local business men/women. The person with the best business plan will win $500 CASH! You cannot save this money, and you cannot pay bills with it, but you can invest in the stock market, apply it towards your new business, buy a new wardrobe, anything that goes toward your self improvement. I'm very excited and am really enjoying this class!

Now last but certainly not least. My middle daughter turned 16 yesterday! Here she is standing beside her birthday present...

She was so excited! Then last night we surprised her again with a special cake that my oldest daughter and I made...

 We loved making this cake and it was really neat to look at, but not so appetizing to eat. There were way too many M&Ms per bite! So if I made it again, I would do something else other than M&Ms for the top.

And that kinds sums up my life for the last two weeks. What have you been up too?

Thursday Think Tank

It's Thursday Think Tank with making rebecca lynne. I'm really proud of what I accomplished this past week. I really wanted more finishes, but I get distracted easily. 


Finishes!

1. The ruffle skirt for my daughter.

2.  The treasure box pouch for my coworker.

3. I have started writing down my ideas for a new quilt, but haven't gotten very far. So not quite a finish, but at least I have started.

4. Finished another row on my hexagon quilt!


Need to work on...
 
1. Equalizer quilt for my brother. He just won 1st place in the world finals in his car stereo competition for the 2nd year in a row! So I really need to get this done for Christmas.

2.Buy fabric for my father-in-laws Christmas quilt. It's going to be in all batiks, which is a bit outta my price range at the moment.

3. And don't forget about the mystery quilt and BOM I'm working on with my guild!  

Well I have many more ideas running around in my head, but I'll save those for next week!

Ruffle Skirt Finish

So last week at Creative Itch Sew Cute Tuesday I found this post to a ruffle skirt. So I decided to follow the same tutorial and make this skirt for my youngest daughter.

 She really likes it and has already gotten lots of compliments on it!

One Flower Wednesday

It's One Flower Wednesday! Last week I decided I was going to get one row finished on my quilt. Well I almost didn't make it! I was bummed out this past weekend and didn't want to sew anything! But last night I was able to add the last 2 flowers to this row! 

2 more rows to go!

I got some exciting hexie news this week! I was accepted into the Inchy Hexagon Flower Swap group! Since my matching/i-spy quilt is almost done, I wanted to continue my hexie addiction doing something different. So all the flowers I receive from this group will be going into a quilt just for ME! My 1st swap partner is Celine from the UK. I've already got my fabric chosen and cut out for her flowers. I can't wait to see what she makes for me.

 

Can ya tell I'm excited? Haha!

Sunday Stealing

A. Age: 39

B. Bed size: King

C. Chore that you hate: Washing dishes

D. Dogs: Ghosty is our dog. He's half chihuahua and half mutt. His mother was a giant chihuahua. I thought I was getting a small dog until I saw her.

E. Essential start to your day: Hugs from my youngest. She gives the best hugs.

F. Favorite color: Green

G. Gold or Silver: Depends on my mood

H. Height: 5'2"

I. Instruments you play: Played clarinet and piano in Jr High.

J. Job title: Senior Secretary, mother, wife

K. Kids: 3 girls ages 19, 15, and 5

L. Live: Oklahoma

M. Mother's name: Carol

N. Nicknames: I don't really have any, but my youngest has started calling me Mommyca Sue. It's my name Erica Sue but replaced with Mommy.

O. Overnight hospital stays: 8 different hospital visits for various reasons.

P. Pet peeve: People messing with my stuff, whether it be at work or at home.

Q. Quote from a movie: Would you stop thinking about what everyone wants? Stop thinking about what I want, what he wants, what your parents want. What do YOU want? What do you WANT? - From The Notebook

R. Right or left handed: Right

S. Siblings: a brother

T. Time you wake up: 6:30am

U. Underwear: Yes please

V. Vegetable you hate: It would be easier to list the ones I like. Haha...I really can't stand cooked carrots, I can eat them raw though.

W. What makes you run late: My husband, he calls it running on Indian time.

X. X-Rays you've had: So many I should glow in the dark according to my mother.

Y. Yummy food that you make: I really like my taco soup.

Z. Zoo animal: I like watching the lions, tigers, snakes, and alligators.

Thursday Think Tank

I have decided to join Thursday Think Tank with making rebecca lynne. I'm hoping to use these weekly posts to keep me on track for Christmas for starters. Plus, I have so many ideas running around in my head, it will be a good place to write them down.

1. I want to make a ruffle skirt for my youngest daughter.

2. I think my brother would love this equalizer quilt. He competes in car stereo competitions so I think he'll like it. Just need to find cool fabrics for him.

3. Remember this shoe fabric...it's the top right one...

Well it's perfect for my mother a quilt. I need to find coordinating fabric and a pattern. I would like to get this done in time for Christmas.

4. One of my coworkers is leaving her job soon. I would like to make this pouch for her...

 And fill it with nail supplies. She has the longest, strongest, and most gorgeous nails I have ever seen. I was a manicurist in Dallas for 10 yrs, I have seen ALL kinds of nails! I think she will love it.

5. I have a quilt pattern idea floating around in my head. I need to find the time to get it on paper. 

6. And don't forget about the mystery quilt and BOM I'm working on with my guild! So much to do, but so fun!

So now that I've shared with ya'll my to do list, I need to work on it. I'm a procrastinator so hopefully I can use this weekly post to stay on track.

One Flower Wednesday

It's One Flower Wednesday! This past week I worked on stitching up some purple stepping stones and I added 2 flowers to my garden.

I hope to add 4 more flowers this week. Then I'll only have 2 more rows to do! Yeah!

 

The Versatile Blogger Award!!!

Thank you Kasi at Thoughts from me! for awarding me the Versatile Blogger Award! 

 There are rules to this award...
1. Thank and link back to the person who gave you the award.
2. Share seven things about yourself on the post.
3. Pass the award to fifteen bloggers that you think deserve it.
4. Lastly, contact all of the bloggers that you've picked for the award.

Here are seven things about me...

1. I'm a slow reader.

2. I love the idea of being organized, but just can't get there myself.

3. I once told my friends I was moving to the middle of nowhere. A few months later I accidentally found myself in the middle of Nowhere, OK. Just a few miles from my house.

4. I'm deathly afraid of snakes! But I love watching them from a safe distance.

5. I love to sew while listening/singing to my iPod, but my family doesn't appreciate it. Haha!

6. I think Lady Gaga is cool.

7. I am extremely shy.

So, I have to pass this award on to 15 people...Here's my list of winners!

•   Handmade by Heidi
• Seriously..I think it needs stitches
• It's Sew Stinkin Cute
• Stray Stitches
• Grey Cat Quilts
• Chasing Cottons
• Bolo Heads
• JW Heldermon Photography: Happy Little Thoughts
• In Color Order
• Journey of a Quilter
• Creative Itch
• The Purple Quiltapotamus
• Why Knot?
• Hilachas
• Quilting Stitching and Sew On 

Make sure you check out all these wonderful blogs! Thanks Kasi for my award!

Maddie's Quilt

Ok, I've been dying to show ya'll this baby quilt. It's a gift for my best friend, Kasi, and her 1st baby. She knew I was making her a quilt, but that was all she knew, until yesterday! She opened it at her baby shower.

 And here is the back...

And this is Kasi at her shower with Maddie's new quilt!

Oh and this quilt also won 2nd place at our county fair! I hope Kasi and Maddie enjoy it for years to come. I love you both!

I'm linking this post to:

Friday Night Sew In

I worked hard last night, but sure didn't seem to accomplish much. I cut, marked, sewed, cut, pressed, and trimmed 50 of these...

 This is step 1 of my mystery quilt that I've had instructions for since JULY! I didn't get my fabrics until August and right after I got those is when I got really sick. Besides sewing on binding, I haven't touched my sewing machine since the last FNSI! Sad thing is, I'm still not finished with step 1. I have 22 more to make still! 

Now today is a very busy day for me. We are taking the kids to the Oklahoma State Fair and go see...

As of right now, the kids are clueless! They think we are going to have lunch with my mother. After lunch with Mom we will tell them the big surprise. I know my 5 yr old will love it, just not sure what the 15 yr old will do when I tell her we aren't going shopping at the Outlet Mall.

I also have some other exciting news. My best friend, Kasi, is having her baby shower today in North Carolina. I'm excited because the baby quilt I made her arrived at her doorstep yesterday! I have given her strict instructions not to open it until the shower today. I just wish I could be there to see her face. Hopefully, her mom will take pictures and send me one. So, stay tuned until tomorrow and I will post some pictures of the quilt I sent her.

New BOM...Come Join Me

One Flower Wednesday

I almost didn't get this done. Last week was our county fair and I haven't done much of anything.

Are ya'll getting tired of seeing my scrappy flowers? They are all starting to look alike to me. LOL

Giveaway Winner!

I would like to thank everybody who stopped by and took the time to enter into my 1st giveaway. A very warm welcome to my new readers also.

This program is very versatile. You can create all kinds of things with it. Today I created a label for my quilt for my friend Kasey's 1st daughter. She has no idea what the quilt looks like or even what colors I used. So the only sneak peek she will get is the label. This was created using the My Memories scrapbook software.

Names and locations have been censored for their protection. Hehe

I hope it looks this pretty when I print it out on fabric!
 
Now on to what you've all been waiting for. The winner of the My Memories Suite giveaway is....

Comment #4

Congratulations Melody! You have won the My Memories Suite digital scrapbook software! Keep an eye on your email for information on how to download your software.

Now the rest of you aren't going to be left out.

As a bonus My Memories Suite has given me a special coupon code for my readers! This code provides a $10 discount off the purchase of the My Memories Suite Scrapbook software and a $10 coupon for the MyMemories.com store - $20 value!) Use this code upon checkout for your savings...STMMMS26843

I Just Signed Up For....

Friday Night Sew-In!




  
Don't forget about my giveaway today! I will post the winner later tonight! Good Luck!

Five Question Friday

My friend Kasi participates in Five Question Friday quite often, so I have decided to give it a try.

1. What ringtone do you have on your cell phone?

     ~ Well I had to grab my cell phone and figure this one out. Turns out that I have Fur Elise as my current ring tone. You see my kids tend to change my default ring tone when I'm not looking. This makes life interesting, because if I'm out in public and it rings, I usually stand there looking at somebody else wondering why they aren't answering their phone. Then I realize it's ME!

2. What is your favorite memory from this summer?

     ~ Dancing at Fair Park in Dallas, Texas of course! You can read about it here.

3. Paper books or ebooks?

     ~ Paper books, I've never tried ebooks before.

4. If you could have one home upgrade what would it be and why?

     ~ A bigger and better bathroom! My house is 91 yrs old and it has 1 small bathroom. It currently needs LOTS of help right now!

5. When was your first serious boyfriend/girlfriend?

     ~  My freshman year of high school.

Fabric Designing

On Wednesday I showed you this picture of some fabric. 

Many years ago, I used to make web page graphics as a hobby. This fabric was made with one of my graphics! I decided to give Spoonflower a try and see how some of my graphics look as fabric. I've uploaded a few graphics, but wanted to test this swatch first. 

I think it turned out rather cool! If you would like some of this cool fabric just go here and place your order. Also, your order will help me complete one of my 101 tasks in 1001 days!

Don't forget to enter my giveaway! I will draw one lucky winner tomorrow!

Have a great weekend!

One Flower Wednesday & Giveaway

I haven't done much sewing on my hexies lately. I did get the last one on the bottom right finished this weekend, the others were done a few weeks ago. I haven't been good at taking pictures as I go, so today I'm playing catch up.

The last time I participated in One Flower Wednesday, I was suffering from a really bad headache. Go HERE for the update on that. I am MUCH better!!!  Thanks for all your nice comments on my getting well.



So, tell me what you think about the design on this fabric...

I love this fabric! It didn't photograph as pretty as it is in person. Want to get some of this fabric for yourself? Stay tuned and I'll tell you where you can find it. :-)

Now on to my giveaway. A few days ago I posted about this digital scrapbook software giveaway. Now I don't do digital scrapbooking, but I had so much fun with this program that I'm going to make my daughters one. So go HERE and enter into the giveaway.

Today kick starts our county fair. I was supposed to enter 2 quilts into the fair, but as of right now, I'm still working on the binding to both quilts. My quilter didn't have them finished until today. I'm not posting pictures of them tonight for a couple reasons. One, it's late and the lighting is terrible here for pictures. Also, my baby quilt is a gift for my best friend, Kasi, and I cannot post pictures of her quilt before she receives it! If all goes well I will be mailing the quilt to her on Monday and hopefully it will win a ribbon at the county fair and I can send her that also.

Thanks for reading and I hope you have a great week!

My Memories Review & Giveaway!

I was recently asked to review some digital scrapbooking software from MyMemories. I have always loved playing with graphics and designing flyers and such, but have never thought about digital scrapbooking. I must confess, I am a terrible scrapbooker and have pictures digitally and printed that need to be put somewhere. 

MyMemories was so easy to get started. First I browsed their free kits online. I found a few to download and get started with.

I downloaded this one first...

I was going to put a picture of my daughter playing softball, but couldn't find a good picture. So after playing with the design a little bit I created this page...

I think it turned out rather cool! Don't you?

Next I decided to add a page and select from one of the blank templates MyMemories offers with the program.

I love the drag and drop feature for your pictures! I turned this template into this page...

Next I decided to go with an original background. I had some trouble with this. Several years ago I created a bunch of web page backgrounds for fun. I was so excited to be able to use my designs in my scrapbook page. So I chose this image to be used as a tiled background...

Only to discover the program just stretched out my image and didn't tile it on the page. 

It's not bad, but not what I wanted. So, if there is an option to tile your background images I couldn't find it. If there is not that option, I really think it should be added.

So, I decided to make my daughters picture the background and came up with this page...

So CUTE!!!

While I was playing with the MyMemories program, my 15 yr old daughter decided she wanted to create her own pages. Here are a few of what she did without any instructions on how to use the program...

I have really enjoyed playing with this program and am looking forward to using it to help me complete my kids scrapbook albums.

Now here is the cool part for my wonderful readers. MyMemories is going to give away the My Memories Suite to one of my lucky readers! That's a $40 software program for FREE!!!

Here is how you can win...In ONE comment let me know...

• Go to My Memories Suite and look around. Let me know which digital paper pack or layout is your favorite.
  
• Become a follower of my blog. Let me know in your comment that you are a follower.
  

Make sure that your comments can be replied to via your email address & don’t go to noreply-comment@blogger.com or post your email address in your comment.

Want a few more chances to win? Here are some optional entries for ya...

• Visit the My Memories Suite Blog and become a follower, then post another comment telling me you did.
  
• "Like" My Memories Suite on Facebook, then post another comment telling me you did.
  
• Follow My Memories Suite on Twitter, then post another comment telling me you did.

Good luck to all my wonderful readers! A winner will be chosen at random on Saturday, September 10th.

As a bonus My Memories Suite has given me a special coupon code for my readers! This code provides a $10 discount off the purchase of the My Memories Suite Scrapbook software and a $10 coupon for the MyMemories.com store - $20 value!) Use this code upon checkout for your savings...STMMMS26843

Giveaway is now closed. Thanks to all who participated! 

If you missed out, feel free to use the coupon code above for a discount on the software.