Thursday, December 30, 2010

Product Review for CSN Stores

I have been asked to do a review for CSN, many of you know about them by now. They have over 200 stores, and products ranging from home bar furniture, home decor, housewares, toys, shoes, and even things for our furry pets. I have received a bag from them a while back, and I love it, it is one of those good for your back types. (and having 4 kids, I need to keep my back strong~LOL). Have any of you ordered from there? what did you get?? I am curious to know.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

My newest design


This is what I have been working on lately. I have been drawing up the design, now I need to finish writing up my pattern, and will have it for sale. I love this wall hanging. Super cute! When my pattern is up and ready for sale, I will be doing a giveaway for it. Let me know what you think, do you like it??

Friday, December 10, 2010

Monday, December 6, 2010

Update......

so, in my last post i posted pictures of my new sewing machine, well..........i was having major issues with it, so, yesterday my husband and i returned it to the sewing machine store, and paid a little extra and came home with this machine instead. it is a janome memory craft 4900QC, and it has so many features, i do not really know where to begin...a little intimidating, but i will get over that. here are some pics of her.....






Friday, November 26, 2010

An Early Christmas Present



This is my early Christmas present from my wonderful husband. My 11 year old Singer died on me the other day, and I was pretty sad, mad, etc. Of course it has to happen during a deadline. So today I went to my local quilt store (it's a 1/2 hour away), and looked at their used machines. I got this for a good deal, nothing fancy, but it does have what I wanted, blanket stitch, feed dogs that drop, auto lock stitch, love it!!! And she also gave me a lesson on how to use it, asked what I do, quilting of course, she gave me my quarter inch foot, darning foot, and walking foot for free. (Yikes!!) I saw that the walking foot was $50. So I came home and played with all the stitches, love it, they look so good. I need to finish an order before I can play for real and fun!!! I hope you all had a good day, mine was, even though I had to travel in crappy weather (snow, sleet, etc), but I went slow, and it was worth the trip :O}

So, what do ya think?

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Happy Thanksgiving!!



Just wanted to say Happy Turkey day everyone!!

I have been working on some wall hangings for Christmas presents. Super cute, very pretty!! They were designed by the wonderful Heather Mulder Peterson. Here is a picture of one of them, I will show more another day, and will have better pics when they are done being quilted.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

A Finish





This is my newest finish~I finished the binding last night. It is another original design of my own. Her name is Castles. She measures approx. 64" square. Fabric used was Daisy Chain by Amy Butler and Fusions by Robert Kaufman. She is for sale if anyone is interested. The pattern is finished and for sale also. Hope you like it.

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Blogger's Quilt Festival



Hello All~and welcome to my blog. As with all of you I am so wishing I was at Quilt Market instead of home here in Maine. My quilt that I am going to share with you this year is my favorite original design so far, and it is my largest quilt to date also. I call it Stars and Strips.

I entered it into a quilting contest for McCall's Quilting Magazine. You can see it here. I did not make it past the initial cut, but that's ok, I have this beautiful quilt to show, and it has a special story!! It measures 60" x 72". The fabric is Simple Abundance by Bonnie and Camille for Moda. I love Bonnie and Camille's fabric lines so much, they are my absolute favorites! (So I have my Cotton Blossoms Quilt, and my Simple Abundance Quilt, and soon will have me some Bliss Fabric) I am really proud of myself, doing something of this magnitude is big for me, pretty amazing!!!

I would really love to thank you for stopping by. Hope you all have a great weekend!!

Sunday, October 17, 2010

What's been going on around here....


I have been working on these little darlings~LOVE them!!
I also have finished another original quilt design, and just need to piece the backing, layer, and quilt. Then finish writing up the pattern to be able to list for sale. And, last night I started a new design on my handy dandy graph paper, more details soon~

until then....

Friday, October 8, 2010

Anyone up for a $60.00 Prize to the CSN Stores?

**Giveaway now closed~The winner is Kathleen Grace from Kathy's Cottage. Congrats Kathy, I will be emailing you your information.**


If so, then here is your chance, if you win you get a one-time use gift certificate to the CSN Stores. You have option of shopping at one of their 200+ stores.
You could check out an ottoman coffee table, their cookware, their children's toys and games, and the list goes on. So, in order to enter for this giveaway, you need to become a follower, and post a comment.
**Open to US and Canadian reader's only**
**Please note that when shopping with your prize, you need to know that not all items ship for free, so if you are only spending the $60.00 then you need to incorporate your shipping costs into that.**

So, what are you waiting for, become a follower and enter this giveaway! Make sure you spread the word around. Giveaway is open for two weeks, so it will end on October 21st. Also make sure you leave your email so I can contact you if you are the winner.

Hope you have a great day!!

Thursday, October 7, 2010

~12


~12

Holy cow~12 years have gone by. Amazing... Well, Happy Birthday Abby!! I love you! and please try to NOT grow up so fast, just slow it down a little, OK?



~Mom

Monday, October 4, 2010

New Quilt Pattern.






So, here is my new quilt pattern, up and running!!! It is called Stars and Strips. It is my biggest quilt to date measuring 60" x 72". I used Simple Abundance by Bonnie and Camille for Moda. Super easy! And great for using up that stash!!

Monday, September 13, 2010

Sorry Guys!

Sorry I have not been around for a while. I did not make it into the finalist selection for the quilt contest I was in, but that is ok! I still have a beautiful quilt that I am now using every single day!! Also my husband and I have been working on relocating his business, and renovating the new location, he ended up getting hurt one day, and was rushed in an ambulance to the ER. He broke two ribs on his back side. It took a good few weeks of constant care and help (plus taking care of the kiddos) but he is now doing and feeling better. He will be sore for a while, but he is back to working (or shall I say fixing up still).
On the quilting front, I am finishing writing my pattern for my quilt that I did enter into that contest. I hope to have that done this week. I also have a cute skirt that is almost complete. I will post some pictures soon. Now that things are getting better, and the kids routine in school is getting somewhat smoother, I am hoping to start quilting and sewing a lot more, so keep checking back!!
Thanks for reading, and I am going to have a giveaway when my pattern is ready to sell!!

I will leave you with some pictures of the sunsets here out in my yard these past few weeks!

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

It's Voting Time!!!



Contest here

when you click this link above, then you click vote when the page loads. i then click view gallery in the top left of the page, then click from the drop down menu jump to 21-25, click page 22 and it is the third one down on the left. click vote and save your vote!! and that is all she wrote
I was just let know that my entry is number 131. There are only 15 quilts moving on to the next round!!!

This is the most important thing I have ever done, I am hoping to win the sewing machine (mine is an old Singer Sewing Machine I bought at Walmart over 10 years ago, and she now gets real hot and smells funny when I sew.) , as it is amazing, and honestly, I will never own one unless something like this happens. The added bonus of the pattern getting published is pretty amazing also, but for me, is trying to win the machine. I normally do not ask people for help like this, but this is important!! I really appreciate your time, and I believe you can go back each day and vote again, so if you do, I will forever be in your debt!!! Thank you all~really!!! THANK YOU

If you go and vote, come back and let me know, maybe I will put together something special for one of the people who votes and comes back to let me know. Not a giveaway, but a special gift, from me to you!!!
I really do appreciate this, you do not know how important this is for me!!!

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Quilt finished


I just finished this quilt. I made it with the leftover fabric scraps from the quilt I made my son. I figured seems that he loves his quilt so much, and I had plenty of scraps left, I made one for sale and listed it in my shop.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

My First Quilt Design




I just finished this quilt today. I am super excited!!! I entered it into a quilting contest for McCall's Quilting Magazine. You can see it here. It measures 60" x 72". The fabric is Simple Abundance by Bonnie and Camille for Moda. (So I have my Cotton Blossoms Quilt, and my Simple Abundance Quilt, and soon will have me some Bliss Fabric) I am really proud of myself, doing something of this magnatude is big for me, pretty amazing!!! I hope that I makes it into the first cut. Well, let me know what you think, I am hoping to write up a pattern for it, is this something that any of you would be interested in??

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Embroidery Mini Quilt Swap



I joined the Embroidery Mini Quilt Swap over at the Quilting Gallery. I finished mine and sent it out yesterday a day late, sorry :O(
I really enjoyed myself with this. I hope you like it, and I hope my partner likes it!! Let me know what you think

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Blogger's Quilt Festival Quilt


Hello All, and Welcome to my blog!! If you are new here, please feel free to say hello!! This quilt is called Stripes and Giggles. This is my first pattern I "designed" all by myself. And if I do say so myself, it is very special because of that. It measures approximately 48 1/2" x 48 1/2". The fabric used is Love U by Deb Strain for Moda. The pattern and the quilt are for sale in my Etsy shop, I have yet to make a sale on it though. Patience. And with having four children, I have lots of that.





Thursday, April 29, 2010

Losing Weight

Hello, I normally do not share this much personal information about myself on my blog, but I am in a good place in my life right now. I was at my personal heaviest weight a few weeks ago. I have been to the doctor's and I decided I did not want to stay that way. I was categorized in the mildly obese category. I am sad to say I was 190 lbs, my goal weight is to be at 135 lbs again. When I met my husband I weighted 128 lbs. I really do not just gain weight, but going through 4 pregancies, I gained while pregnant, and this past pregnancy (my son is now 2) I gained a lot, and did not lose it. So I decided to help myself. I did some research, and found a really cool website, that I do every single day. You can check it out here: Calorie Count.
I found that if I eat 1400 calories a day without exercise, I will lose 1-2 lbs a week. I also learned that an adult female no matter what needs to consume no less than 1200 calories a day!!
On April 14th I started counting my calories and I work out every day!! I do about 15 minutes a day of pilates, 55 minutes a day of a Walk at Home video by Leslie Sanson, it is called 3 Mile Slim & Sleek Walk plus the pilates I do every day for firm abs. I bought it at my local Walmart for $10. I do that every day!! It is not hard, just fast paced!! I love it so much! I also alternate every other day at least doing Core Rhythms. That is a lot of fun also, but to be honest, I have not moved past the kick start video. Last week I tried to do the full workout video, but it is really fast, and I am not at that point!!
So, as of April 25th 2010 I had lost 10 lbs total. (My first week I lost 8 lbs, and my second week I lost 7 lbs.) This weekend I will weigh myself again and see if I lost any more.
If any of you sign up on Calorie Count, look me up on there, my username is luv2knitnsew

Thanks for letting me share my story with you!!

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

My daughter is on the News!!!

Check this out!!!!

My daughter is on the local news today!! I am so proud of her, she is so shy, and she spoke!! I am so proud of you honey!!!

Friday, March 26, 2010

My New Bookmark





So, I have some awesome Japanese embroidery books that I seriously want to make one of everything out of. I am really new to embroidery, not much experience under my belt. I have some yummy Cosmo thread, but I do not dare to use it yet, as I might waste it. So I just completed this bookmark for myself, using pictures from a few of my Japanese embroidery books, and my yucky DMC floss (I am really not liking it getting bunched and knotted and having issues with trying to get it unstuck, is the embroidery floss brand Anchor any better? My LQS carries that, but I have yet to try it, if any of you have any insight, please do let me know, or you can tell me to just buy more Cosmo, I hear that stuff is dreamy!!!) Well, I love this bookmark, and am already using it.

Thursday, March 25, 2010

I am so proud!!

Lately I have been working on some good stuff for my husband, and by good I mean, a business website. I have never done that, but with a little help from my Adobe Dreamweaver, and a super awesome tutorial online, I have managed to finish designing his website, and it is finally live, check it out and show me some love!!! Thanks!!

Kitchen Art of Maine

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Some Bee Inspired Blocks Finished

So I am down to the last block to complete for our Bee Inspired virtual quilting bee. Once I receive the fabric in the mail I will complete it and send it back. I am still waiting on the arrival of some blocks of mine, I cannot wait to get them back, then I can make my Christmas Heirloom quilt!!!
January's block was for Natalie, and she requested small houses.

February's blocks were for Deb who wanted squares,
and for Lynn who wanted two spiderweb blocks. I rather enjoyed myself very much on the spiderman blocks, so much that I am planning on making a quilt for my brothers this year with this pattern. (They are younger than me, aged 9 and 7). And kinda at that in between age, so I think this will be perfect for them.