Where Have I Been?

Apparently not at my sewing table, as you can see from this picture.  My sewing area has become the catch all for anything fabric.  Whether it be quilting fabric I want to use, to patches that need to be sewn onto various scout vests.  Well Scouts, and school are almost over, so I can take a break from all my volunteering duties and maybe get this table back to it's original purpose of being.

Time Sure Does Fly By.......

Eighteen years ago today,
my wonderful oldest daughter
decided to grace this world.

She was three days late,
one hour in easy labor,
and 30 minutes in hard labor after I got to the hospital,
she was placed into my arms.

Since then she has been a joy to her father and I.
It's hard to think our little 7 lb 4 ounce baby girl
is all grown up now.

Love you babe.

Blast from the Past

While I am waiting for my chicken to cool down so
I can pull it apart,
I thought I would post something from the past.

I made this quilt for my son's Kindergarden teacher 9 years ago.

I sent home the block with each child in the class and asked them to decorate them and I put them together and we presented it to her on the last day of school.

Friends Swap Package Here

I received my box from my partner Amanda http://aussiestitch.wordpress.com. She had stated that she was not going to open her package that I sent her until I received mine. I emailed her the other day to let her know that it had arrived so we could open our presents together.

I think we had the same calling on fabric during this swap, as she sent me the place mats and used colors similar to the ones I sent her. I love the Christmas fabric and am trying to decide how I am going to use it to the best advantage. She also fed my reading bug. Can't wait to sit by the fire with a warm cup of tea and do some light reading. I think the neck warmer will come in very handy, as our fall days are starting to turn colder.

Thank you Amanda, your gifts are greatly appreciated and loved and I am glad to have met a friend like you.

Friends Swap

Every year my friend Khris from Sew Prim Khris has a swap.  I of course wouldn't miss it for the world.  You really meet a lot of nice people in this swap.

So Amanda your presents are on they way, of course I had to stand on a chair to get a picture of all of them without getting the words that are on the tags.

And I can assure you that the shoes in the corner are not coming your way.  

 Although I could send the animal if you really want her.

Off to the Races

You know how you get an idea to start something and you think

" I'll have this done in no time"

But then you realise that it is taking longer for your vision to come out right.

Well that is were I am at.

I joined the friends swap again that my friend Khris (Sew Prim Khris) throws together.

And of course I tried to come up with a great idea for my swap partner Amanda http://aussiestitch.wordpress.com

Now I was trying to be creative, (maybe that was my first mistake) so I found a pattern block I thought I would work with.

I get half of the block pattern done  and realise my next mistake was this would take longer then I thought. (picture-scraps are just from this one block)

So I make adjustments to this block that I feel comfortable with and continue on my way.

Now I just have to finish it in time to send it off.  Hence the title of today's post. 

HAHAHA

Latest Project

First I started with four years of class t-shirts,

I cut them apart and used both the front and back logos

so I was sure to have enough squares,

Added a Varsity Letter for the center piece

then you add the lattice and borders in the school colors

I put it all together, and added some embroidery of sports that she played throughout her High School career, sew it and quilt it together,

(I used a follow the lines paper tear off from Quilting Made easy)

And you end up with a lovely quilt that your graduating senior

will be proud to show her friends.

This is what I have been working on since

the end of March,

and I finished it the night before the grad party.

This is WAYYYYYYYY Overdue.

Aren't these the grestest gifts in the world?

Awhile back I entered the Friends Swap that Khris at Sew Prim Khris holds each year, where I met Vanessa (The Clip Cafe). She and I really seemed to hit it off. We swapped stories of our lives with each other as well as cool gifts. And we still keep in touch. In my previous post I had stated that she must of really got me, because the things she sent me really were me.

Fast forward to two weeks ago and the doorbell rings, the postman has a package for me and who do you think it was from? Yup it was from Vanessa, that special person had sent me new things to ooh and aah over.

Unfortunately, I have been a bad friend (I should have to sit in the time out corner) I received these wonderful items two weeks ago, just as Girl Scout Cookie season was getting into full steam. I have been so busy with my duties as the Booth Coordinator as well as the cookie mom for my troop, that I spend the day making sure stores are happy with the scouts that visit them and making sure that I have enough product for my troops booths, and then I get to go work them. I only have to survive until March 20th, but it seems to be creeping up on me very fast.

So Vanessa, I am SO SORRY I did not get this on until now. I love everything and of course you shouldn't have.

Do You Always Go with your first Instincts?

I walked into the pet store yesterday to exchange my puppies harness, and walked out with a new puppy. The local Pet Smart was hosting the Whiskers Cat and Canine Rescue Adoption Event. As soon as I saw this one I knew it was for us. I also knew my husband would just fall in love with her. So now she has a new home and name (Missy) and a big sister in Peaches. Of course just as I get one puppy house broke, what do I do, but get a new puppy. Missy is a 9 week old Retriever/Lab mix and is just so loving. She loves to be passed around by everyone in the family and she is giving Peaches every inch of what she receives.

X-mas Season

Ok, I know it may seem to early to have the big man's graphic's up, after all we don't have Mr. Turkey to dinner for four more days.

However,

it has been decided that we will make the 2,500 (one way) mile journey to the sunny state of California for the holiday season.

I am of mixed reaction,

I will love seeing my friends that I made when we lived there for seven years, but I will also miss home for the holidays. You know the one where I do not have to do anything but stay in my jammies all day if I want. (HAHAHA)

Also, my DH has decided that the drive would be too much for his bones,

(wait it is his family we need to see in California)

So it looks like just myself and the three youngest will go alone, of course one of those youngest will share in the driving with me, so that should help.

Postal Delivery

Today I received this

My New Friend and partner from across the Deep Blue Sea

She thought so much of me to send me things I could really use well. I can't wait to use the fabric. I have been thinking I needed more solid christmas fabric to combine with my old and come up with a new christmas project to work on.

I had told Vanessa that I would love to have something unique to her country and she more then came through with the book The Red Centre by Steve Parish. A collection of beautiful images celebrating Australia's Red Centre.

Friends Swap

( Peaches)

Once again I am entering into the Friends Swap hosted by Sew Prim Khris. This will be my second time participating and am looking forward to making a new friend.

I have still not been doing any thing in the sewing category, except for picking up fabric now and then, so I thought I would show everyone how I have really gone off the deep end.

Peaches is five months old and we got her at four. I am still trying to get her to understand that my house is not her toilet. She is just like one of the kids, she will do really well all day with her training and then just when you think she gets it, she will potty inside.

July 4th

I spent the weekend at my brother's place in Port Hope Michigan, for the Annual Antique Tractor Pull. We decided to campout in the backyard of the farm. Every year they have the wonderful Antique Tractor Pull, along with a flea market. This year they also had a quilt showing. It was very small, maybe 2 dozen in all, but they did have a quiting frame up and there was some hand quilting going on. I wish I had pictures to show, as most of the quilts were very old, but we were not allowed to use the camera in that area.

New Additions

I finally did some retail therapy.
And came home with all of the above. The top picture is of fabric that I bought for quilting, and the second picture is fabric that I bought for bags.
I have yet to work with it and was thinking of getting to it after cookie season, but that of course coincided with spring house cleaning and the kids school break, so it is still sitting in a pile waiting for me to make something fabulous with it.
I hope I am up to the challenge. HAHAHA

The Time Just Goes By Without Me......

Good

Better

Best

I have not been sewing lately, because I have been working on these little hats.

My Girl Scouts and I have been taking lessons on Knitting so that we may earn our Junior Bronze Award (the highest award you can achieve as a Junior Girl Scout). The first of three awards that you can achieve in your Girl Scout Career as you get older. I had read an article about another troop out West that had done this and so I put it to the girls and they agreed that this would be a great project. So since October 19th we have used our meetings to learn how to knit. Lately we have also been having Sit N Knit sessions at my home during the week. This helped the girls when they would get stuck or mess up.

The idea is that each girl makes twenty hats and we donate them to the local hospital nursery unit. Now this is a large project for 4th and 5th graders, so the Mom's and I have also been learning so that we can help the girls along the way and also make up the difference if a girl is short and if not then we will have more hats to donate.

The first two hats I had to make using the pattern of knit a row, purl a row, knit a row. I just couldn't get my hands to change the direction of the yarn to do it the way the pattern said too. I also figured if I was having trouble the girls would too, so this method seemed the way to go to start. As you can see my hats turned out OK (no holes).

After that I followed the pattern that was knit 2, purl 2, until you decreased to close the top. I got better and better and told the Mom's and Girls that they can switch to this method after they had made two hats the other way.

I have now made fourteen hats and figured out that I can make a row in 4 minutes, and a hat in 6 hours. Of course this means that I don't get time to be on the computer as much and I have to put any sewing on hold until this project is finished. I am hoping that we can deliver A nice assortment sometime in June.

It really does seem that time just keeps passing me by, but I know that I am making progress on these hats.

Little Known Secret

Ok, I know this has nothing to do with quilting, but while I was looking throught the templates from the cutestblogontheblock.com, I came across a neat background design.
It is called the Candy Cane. Now most people know that my name is Candace, it's in my header, but what you don't know is that my maiden name was Caines. As a teenager I was called Candy and only started using Candace when I was working in an office and my business cards looked better using Candace instead of Candy. So I have added the new candy cane background in my blog for the time being.

Waiting for Ideas to Jump Out at Me

Ok, I have not been sewing for the last couple years like I had or would like to be. As in past posts I have mentioned that the well has run dry for me and I can't seem to find a fill up tank. But for the last six weeks I have been on medical leave from work due to a neck problem which is probably turning out to be a pinched nerve. I will be seeing the neck specialist on the sixth. Anyway, one of the problems was numbness in my thumb and hand. So even if I wanted to sew, this was really putting the breaks on any sewing work I might like to do. Lately, through physical therapy I am feeling better and so I decided to try by sewing the most recent patches my kids have earned through scouts on their vests. After finishing that I was looking at a pile of scraps from my two projects made in my serger class and started cutting up 3 1/2 inch squares of the above fabric. Now I am waiting for ideas to come to me. I sure wish they would hurry and come to me as I will have to go back to work soon and then who knows when I will have time to sew again.

Class #2

In yesterdays Serger class, Lizzy and I made tote bags. Lizzy used a sea animal pattern, and the tote will end up being a gift for her swim sister at the end of the swim season in November.

I used a cute penguin pattern and do not have a person in

mind for this tote. Also, I put corners on mine and Lizzy left hers square.

Our next class was not decided yet by the teacher, she was too busy and over extended, so she did not have time to come up with an item. She is however, thinking of doing a two month project that would use both September and October.

Serger Club

Lizzy and I had our first class of the Serger Club. I got to use the store machine and Lizzy use mine. The first item was a table runner, that was actually so easy to make, that you could make several before you would get bored.

I did mine with Christmas fabric and since the backing was purple flannel, I just picked purple for the top.

Lizzy used Halloween fabric with a purple flannel backing. The backing is flannel to make the top heavier. Our next class is on the 12th and we will be making a tote bag. So now I am sewing again, however it is just during these classes. I need to find time to spend sewing, but I seem to spend my free time cleaning, weeding, lawn work, reading and playing on the computer. Oh well, one day at a time will see what happens that way.

Friends Swap

Today my gifts came from Mary, my partner in the Friends Swap. Don't they look cute in the wrapping paper? As you can see my partner really got my sweet tooth going with the boxes of Mike and Ike's, but I love the cute little green frogs. They are so sweet. I have been noticing that I was not as good a swap partner as I could have been. I did spend lots of time to give just the right grifts to my partner and I wrapped each present separately, but I never even thought to label each gift with the letter to spell friends. Since this is the first swap I have ever been in, I hope that my partner and Khris can caulk it up to inexperience and will let me join in another swap in the future.