eeek! how time flies

A few weeks ago, I was unable to log onto my blog from my computer, and therefore unable to post to the blog. Since then my honey has fixed the problem. So let's catch up, shall we?



My baby has turned seven. I turned 36. And....



Easter has passed.

I have also been trying to finish my two quilts for the swap I'm having with LauraJay and Lucyellen06, two flickr pals-o-mine. Sometimes when making a quilt, I go through a love/hate relationship with it. I love the idea, hate how it's coming out, love the end product. Sometimes many love/hate cycles. But this time, since I was working on it a lot in just a short frame of time (hmm - procrastination), it was a rollercoaster of the love/hate cycles. So, now that's over, I love them. I will miss the quilts, but they are going to good homes, where I know they will be loved.



I can't show them yet, because they haven't arrived (or shipped) yet.

What? You don't like chicken fabric? Well, don't worry, that's just the backs. Just a little joke between friends. Right ladies?


*photo of Marguerite taken by Zach

in the mood...

It has been a couple of weeks since I have worked on anything quilty. I'm currently working on a swap with two friends from flickr, LauraJay and lucyellen06. I had to finish a few other sewing related items first, but now I need to buckle down and get to work on these two swap quilts. So to get in the mood, I worked for a little while out of my scrap box. And since I can't get houses out of my brain right now, here is the result:


3.5"4.25", machine pieced, machine quilted

I wanted to try making a quilted coaster, and I'm pleased with the result, but I think it just might be a little quilt for a little while. I'm not ready to cover it up with my cup.

Lazy Gal Summer 2008

I enjoy reading Tonya's blog Lazy Gal Quilting. She has a wonderful style of free piecing her quilts. On her blog, she has several tutorials for free style piecing. I used her free pieced letter tutorial to make this quilt that I swaped with LauraJay for Valentine's Day.



Here is what LauraJay made for me using Tonya's tutorial:



Tonya has also hosted a few online classes for free. She just started a class called Lazy Gal Summer 2008. I have joined and it is going to be so much fun!

Thanks Tonya for your tutorials, inspiration and putting these classes together!



**is it a blogging no no to link to someone's blog without asking?

**LauraJay, I didn't know if you wanted me posting a link to your blog

one last trip...

to see my FIL, his wife, my SIL and her family. They are heading back to Connecticut soon, and we had one last visit to see them and have a small birthday celebration for me, Marguerite and my FIL's wife. (No, it's not our birthdays yet)



We also went to Epcot one day



and to Magic Kingdom the following evening. We won't be going back to Disney for a little while, and we hadn't been at night yet. We rode a few rides.



And saw the fireworks and the light parade.



And we all went home very tired.



More pictures on flickr.

This week will be spent unpacking, getting the house back in order, schooling, and preparing for Marguerite's birthday party on Saturday. Her birthday is next Tuesday. The big Oh 7!

a great day...

We had a great day with my mom yesterday. We had breakfast, picked a few grapefruit for Mom and Chuck, and drove over to the coast with no traffic. Mom loved her bag. Yay! My Mom gave Marguerite a small quilt she made for her dollies for her birthday. I'll need to take a picture so I can post it. Then we went to McD's for lunch and a little play on the playland and then to Publix where Mom bought me my first birthday present - a pizza stone. Yay! Then we went to a fabric shop where she bought me present number two - fabric and a pattern. Yay!



Then we went to the beach. My beach/pool bag was in the car from our recent trip, so the kids put on their bathing suits. It was breezy but sunny, and the water was cold. I think they got up to their knees.



We mainly just walked on the beach and looked for beach glass (and golf balls). And Mom gave me birthday present number three - the two pieces of beach glass she found. Yay!



Then back to her house for a early dinner, then home for showers, another dinner, and bed for my little girl.

*and no....it's not our birthdays. Our birthdays are in a couple of weeks, but we wont be seeing Mom and Chuck before then.

mom's tote

I finally finished the tote I made for my mom. I'm pleased with how it turned out, but I did not like sewing with linen. It's kinda slippy slidey.



I started making a pink patchwork stripe instead of just one print, but I just didn't like it.



I used six strands of embroidery floss to do a running stitch.



I wanted to get it done, because the kids and I are going to see her and her husband tomorrow for the day. She asked me to order these books on Amazon for her, so now she has a nice little bag to tote them. It's really for her to "tote" her music for playing the piano. Well....she can use it any way she wishes.

and on another note...



we went to Disney on Sunday.

*I'm still trying to figure out how to post pictures. I see that my landscape pictures are being cut off, but I don't want to post small pictures either. Any help?

*Thanks to Textile Fetish and my husband, I was able to figure out how to change the various widths of my blog.