My First Quilt: CHECK!

I did it! I finished my very first quilt! I put the last stitches in the binding at about 1:30 Saturday morning and pulled it out of the dryer just in time to get it wrapped for LadyBug's birthday party Saturday afternoon!

Today I finally got a second to get some pictures of it to show you. I couldn't keep LadyBug off of it though. She insisted on dragging her toys on top of it and plopping her diapered butt right in the middle! Had I known she was going to want to be part of the photo op, I would have dressed her in something cuter :)

"Garden Blossoms"

Wild Thing pattern by ThimbleBlossoms
Sandi Henderson's Ginger Blossom fabric with snow Kona cotton
Finished February 12, 2010

It still needs a label, but I am calling it finished!

Hugs and happy stitchy wishes to you all! And thank you for all the sweet birthday wishes for myself and the LadyBug!

Finishing Details

I've been busy the past week. I started my Anatomy and Physiology I class on Tuesday and I've been failing miserably at keeping the house in a respectable state. However, I did manage to get some (crafty) work done despite it all!

I finished my first quilt topper on Monday afternoon when DH was home for MLK day. He was a huge help keeping the bugs out of my way so I could get this worked on. I'm almost finished with the back and then I hope to baste and quilt it this weekend. We'll see how that goes.


Cuddle Bug went to Ironton, MO with his great aunt to spend the night at a little get-away cabin they have, so I had one less bug to manage today. That meant two naptimes all to myself as LadyBug still takes a morning and an afternoon nap (it's a sad day when they start taking only one nap a day). So i got to work finishing my pieces for Lady Scarlet's Secret Garden from Just Nan. This is a very special piece indeed! I have fantasies of LadyBug wishing to take up stitching and sewing one day and passing this sweet piece off to her :)



And for the record, those are my prized Piecemakers in the needle book. Vonna has changed the way I look at needles forever!

Wonderful Catherine (who doesn't appear to have a blog of her own but is a follower of mine) asked me about my adventures in school and how that works out with the bugs. I just started back to school in the fall of 2009 so this is only my second semester back. I'm trying to get some prerequisites completed right now to hopefully get into the nursing program at my local University to get my BSN. Last semester I took two courses online and one at night that met twice a week. This semester I'm only taking one course - Anatomy and Physiology I - that meets twice a week at night. I enjoy the chance to get out of the house and have some adult conversations for a change. And DH is a true gem! He takes fantastic care of our bugs while I'm away. He's the reason it's even possible for me to go back to school! I think he treasures his alone time with the kids as much as I enjoy getting away for a while. I do most of my school work while the bugs are napping or after they've gone to bed. So far it hasn't been as big of a juggling act as I had expected it to be. But since I just started A&P, there's no telling what this semester holds for me! This class is looking intense so far! :)

Thank you all for your sweet comments and all your support and friendship! I hope you all have a blessed and beautiful weekend! Happy stitchy wishes :)

Poinsettia House and Ginger Blossom

I'm just popping in to give a little progress update on Poinsettia House. The trim has been painted, the windows installed, and some snow fell as well. I really love this piece more with every stitch I put in it!



And look what the UPS guy brought today for my quilting adventures! Some Ginger Blossom and Kona cuts from Fabric.com. And let me just say that they were very generous with these cuts!


Happy Wednesday and happy stitching to everyone!

A New Year, a Fresh Start

Welcome 2010! 2009 went by way too fast. It was a big year for us in many ways: LadyBug joined us, Cuddle Bug went off to school for the first time, I went back to school, we lost our beloved grandfather, my sister got her master's degree, and my brother got married. What a year it was. I can only hope 2010 will be filled with as many blessings and a little less heartache :)

I got started on LHN's Poinsettia House yesterday (thanks to dear Vonna who gifted this to me in our Christmas exchange). WOW I am absolutely LOVING this! Everything about it makes me happy: the fabric, the colors, the design, and oh my goodness those needles! Please indulge me for a second while I go on about the needle I am stitching this with...



Vonna included a package of Piecemaker needles with this chart (along with the fabric and the Crescent Colours...spoiled me!) and she told me that they are her very favorite needle to stitch with. In fact, I can quote her as saying "Piecemakers slip through like a hot knife in butter." Well that got me excited! I already knew I would love them. I mean I consider Vonna to be a foremost expert on all things cross stitch so if she says they're good I believe her! But I couldn't have imagined I would love them as much as I do! You know when you're expecting your first baby...humor me here... You know you are going to love that child in a way you've never loved another human being before, but you don't really understand the depth of that love until they place that baby in your arms and you hold him/her for the first time! That's how I feel about these needles! Okay, that might be a bit of a stretch, but I only mean to say that I knew I would love them, I just didn't realize just how much I would LOVE them until I crossed my first stitch with them! My poor husband had to listen to me go on and on all night about how much I was loving this project and how the needle is just perfection. I feel like I can stitch a little faster with them even (I'm a very slow stitcher). By the end of the night, DH said "aren't you finished with that yet? I mean geez the needle is so good I thought you would have finished that whole chart by now!" He thinks he's cute...

Last night I also managed to get squares cut to start work on my first quilt! I took a beginning quilting class in October and now I've gotten the big idea that I should start my first quilt. I made a table topper in the class. I guess I'm feeling adventurous... Wish me luck!


I still need to show off the dress I made LadyBug for Christmas and the library book tote I made Cuddle Bug the other day while he was napping. But those will have to wait for another day. Something to look forward to right?

I hope everyone's 2010 has started off right! Happy stitching!