hey yall

i'm bacccckkkkk, did you miss me?? i missed you guys! honestly, the break was much enjoyed and needed. Davis made it safely back to Afghan, and now i'm working on getting back to a 'normal' routine...

i mentioned that i hadn't blogged before cause nothing interesting was happening....well, Novemeber has changed all that....let's see-

i meet my grandkids for the first time...now i see what all the fuss is about *grin*
there's Emmalin, the youngest
check out Davis and his goatee

Liam, the middle one
we went for a walk in the fields, and he would not let go of my pinky finger *heart melt*

and Kyra, the oldest and my newest little buddy :)
i took her to meet Hanna for the first time

i finished the wedding quilt the other night. it's is officially a quilt. thanks again to all who participated.

with no flash showing some of the marvelous quilting

most of my time with davis was spent hunting...  we both have had dreams to hunt the entire month of November (the rut) and we finally got the opportunity....

i was fortunate enough to put some meat in the freezer!! i shot a big bodied 8pointer the Friday before thanksgiving. 17 inch inside spread- 140 yard shot. meat's already in the freezer and i can't wait to throw the roast in the crock pot!!! if you want to see more pictures, check out my facebook album here. the last buck i shot was back in 2005!

i like this picture. i call it "Little Truck, Big Buck"

oh and the big news- we bought a house.....our dream home!! we had a 'home' checklist, and it hits everything on our lists except one (little) thing- it's all electric. i'll have to learn to cook on an electric stove...

it's in Sharpsburg, so we will be moving to the other side of ATL.

so we're in the process and hopefully will close just after christmas *merry christmas to us*

so that's what i did during my Thanksgiving holiday.
 

lookie-

guess what!!   GUESS WHAT!!!

GUESS WHAT!!!

i quilted the 9inch wedding quilt!!! i had a couple of days sans davis *frowny face* so i used the opportunity...

it was soooooo much fun to quilt. i custom quilted each block. i lost count of the thread changes....

now to sew on the binding....


 

stupid headache

i hate migraines!! i have better things to do, ya'know? these last two weeks have been the second worst one i've had....put a big kink in my ponytail, let me tell ya...

i had plans on getting the wedding quilt quilted, but all that i got around to was (at least) hanging the flimsy where the quilt will hang....as you can see, i added a lime green inner border and an orange outer border *perfect* i did follow the suggestions and auditioned a dark blue or green border, but they were too dark and heavy...

i'm way behind on customer quilts and my headache still hasn't gone away

*shrug* maybe i can get it quilted before our second anniversary....

viva la amour

i got the 9inch wedding blocks sewn together today...now it just needs a border. suggestions? i was thinking a dark skinny inner border and a 4inch finished outer border, but what color???

i'm wanting to get it done before our *first* anniversary next month....i think i'll be able to handle that :)

thanks to all that participated and made blocks!!

i have backing fabric- pears. i'll need a strip down the center, so that what's the darker green pears will be. i'll also piece the label into the backing and quilt over it (i'm loving doing that!!)





(i haven't forgot about the 12inch blocks)

i did it!!

i guess i just needed validation that my idea wasn't crazy and just might work.

so here is the finished block!!! thanks for sharing your opinions!!!

i wrote the vows in a pale pink and put little red hearts between the sentences....there is a small grammar error, but i won't be pointing it out :)

i'm tickled that it came out pretty darn close to what i saw in my head :)

now i can get those blocks sewn into a flimsy!!

solicating opinions

so with the finish of the charmed star, i need a 'new' UFO to finish.....i grabbed the box with all the 9" wedding blocks that were sent this year and i've decided to work on getting it finished...i want to hang it at the top of the steps during August (our anniversary month)

at this point, without borders, it will measure 81inches square....i'm going to call it "A Love Story" cause the first block in the first row is the proposal and the last block is our wedding date....every block has a story that is part of our story....

as you can see i have a hole for the block that will represent  the shoes i wore (turquoise chucks with tie dyed laces, my something blue) after thinking on it for a day or two, i realized that i'd lose alot of needed detail if i tried to applique them, so i drew and colored them onto fabric...

this is where the conundrum starts...i have all that white background...

so i have two options and i want to see what yourall's feedback will be:

should i cut them out and applique them onto this wedding fabric i have






OR

write our elvis themed vows behind them, and if i do what color should i write them in??? i plan on putting little red hearts between the sentences.

sorry for the weird photo, but it's the shoes on top of the printed vows on top of my lightbox for demonstration reasons...

so whatcha think?

i want the block to be 'busy' cause the quilt is 'busy' and it will play well with the others that way...

then all i have to worry about is how to quilt it and in what thread color :)

i have this fabric.....

this drawing....

to represent these for the wedding quilt.

i have gotten to almost the last applique block i have planned to make for our wedding quilt....The Shoes.

i'm debating raw edge to needle turn....

stay tuned

mail call!!!

i got a mini squishy in the mail today!

carol sent me two blocks for the wedding quilt!!


one is in tribute to my granny

the other is embroidered with our anniversary (i like the sound of that)

she also sent me some of the left over fabric...

THANK YOU CAROL!!



"mom, i'm trying to have my 18th nap of the day here"

wedding blocks- last call

here's the collection so far....i'm asking that if you are planning on making one (or more) to send, i would like to have them by the end of October, please. i'm anxious to get this one finished!!!

do you see yours??? see elvis??


i'm having way too much fun!!!










the fabric for barney's block i was looking for arrived and i got the both dogs' blocks done

barneys' block

barney is a tennis ball freak...he even sleeps with one

 lucky's turned out cool.
he's the old man of the pack. he may not be able to keep up with barney, but he sets his own pace and catches up eventually.....and doesn't miss a tree to pee on

another wedding block

i have to share the block i just finished!!!

i was thinking what else needed to be represented in the quilt and it hit me like a ton of bricks- a wedding can't happen without a proposal

davis proposed on South Beach in Miami Florida. he tied the ring to a sea shell and let me 'find' it. very, very romantic!

i wrote "will you marry me?" in the center....i think it's funny- i made the proposal block on our one month anniversary....

i found the block in the third edition of Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks. it's block #296 designed by Cindy Simms. the directions have it as a 12inch finished block, but i used EQ to re-size it to finish at 9inches...

stitch, stitch, stitchin' away

i wanted to share a couple applique blocks i did this weekend to add to our wedding quilt.

first a pair of pears (a perfect pair- hey just like davis and me *wink* get it?)

a cute little flower medallion

and our initials....

i'm really stoked about his one. i was wanting it to look like they were carved on a tree...and they do!! *sweet*

i have a bunch more planned and five cut out- ready to stitch.


(i'm not showing off- i do hand work while watching TV (and to keep me from eating) and i had some stuff i needed to watch to get it off the DVR....)

wedding blocks progress

here's all the blocks i have received so far.
i like how some of the blocks are repeated!

there's corthuse steps, steps to the alter, card tricks, nevada trail....you guys are so creative!

i love it!!! thank you to all who have sewn for us!

i made a couple (like i'd be able to sit quietly on the side lines)

i designed this block a long time and posted it on my my blog as a 12inch block....i reworked the math and made it 9inches....

for the purposes of this quilt i'm calling it 'true love star'....*ahwww*

the background fabric is almost the last yardage of one of my favorite batiks.

i made this nine patch with the vegas sign. finding the fabrics to go with it was fun...and i totally trashed my sewing room. i think i did good *grin* i swear i can here frank singing 'luck be a lady'

i also made this paper pieced star....i PAPER PIECED!!! the block is called 'desert corsage' and i found it very fitting!

i found a block named 'ball and chain'   how can i resist not adding that one *snicker* and i have a couple applique ideas to add too.

i designed a block so i can include Elvis....

this quilt is going to be the BOMB baby!

wedding blocks

two of my friends, Angela and Linda, got alot of my long arming friends together to make blocks to send to me for a quilt in celebration of my recent nuptials.

it was a nice surprise to open envelopes and find blocks. i was a little confused why i got three random blocks, then, i figured it out *smarter than the average bear* a couple phone calls and i found the culprits *grin*

i've asked both of them and they are okay with me extending the invitation to my blogland friends *clap*

if you want to participate, just send me an email (half_square (at) hotmail (dot) com) and i'll send you my snail mail address if you need it. the blocks need to finish at 9inches and you can make as many as you would like in any colors and design you find appropriate..the only thing i ask is that you don't sign your block, just attach or include a piece of paper with your info (name city state) with your block.

if you need some help finding a block, quilters cache has a lot of 9inch finished blocks here, just scroll down a little to the middle of the page...

thunkya thunkya verymuch

linda sent me some vegas fabric (with a velvet elvis card!) and angela sent me elvis fabric...i dug out my elvis fabric and was surprised how much i already had. plus VIP just released a new elvis theme collection (how's that for coincidence?) and i have bought yardage of it...this is goning to be one hunka hunka cool quilt... uhuhuhuh

ETA: #1. apparently everyone already knew about angela's 9inch block party....
#2. this post does NOT partain to vicky m's 12inch block 'secret squirrel' ...
who knew it could be so confusing....*sorry*