Hello World! And a Quilt!

Hello World!

Generic, huh? Yeah, I know. It seems like I keep hitting the repeat button super busy these days. I have started homeschooling my 3 school-aged children.

Would you believe I started that post March 20th? Sadly, I did, and I haven't been back. Like I mentioned already, I've been super busy. The Kids homeschooled all last semester, we started softball with J which took up 4-5 days a week for practice and ball games. Things have just started to settle down now, thankfully, just in time for school to start back at the end of the month. I still have to order curriculum for the girls and figure out a routine of some sorts to keep us all sane. I'm looking forward to it, though.

That's my update, now it's time for the good stuff, right? I FINALLY finished a quilt! This quilt was requested by L. She outgrew her original quilt (toddler sized). She picked out the design and the fabrics and all I did was assemble and quilt it. The pattern came from Ann Kelle's Christmas Trees Quilt. The fabrics were a pink bundle I bought from an online store (can't remember....been too long) and the backing fabrics came from my dear friend Jackie (jmmaxman - love you).

Front

Back

Binding

I have never done a pieced back quite like this before and I'm SO happy that I did it. I LOVE it so much!! If it wasn't for my little girl, I'd probably keep it for myself. Lol! So, here's to hoping my mojo is back and I can continue on with blogging and quilting. Oh, and if you see my sanity....send it back to me, k? Thanks!

P.S. Here's my little helper today while taking pics...can't believe he's 10 month's old already!

!

Diamond Chevron Quilt Top

I have a finished quilt top to share. I participated in Kristen's QAL at KD-Quilts using her pattern Diamond Chevrons. I made it with Tula Pink's Prince Charming fabric and Free Spirit solids. They were all a Designer Select Bundle over at FatQuarterShop. Seriously LOVE this quilt. I had sworn off HSTs after the quilt I did for J, but I enjoyed doing this one. Prep time took the longest, but the piecing didn't take long at all! I managed to do a row here and there in between caring for my spoiled sweet baby boy and before I knew it, it was done.

I ended up adding a row to the top and 2 rows to the bottom because I wanted a little extra length. I'm still trying to decide what to use as a back for this one, but I can't wait to get it quilted to cuddle up under. 

I also posted this in the Tula Pink Sew Along Flikr group. I have to say that, sadly, this is the first time I had used Tula Pink. Lets just say I'm hooked! I still have a bunch of 4" squares and plan on creating another quilt top with it. Wonder what I'll do with them? Any ideas?

Big Bundle of Joy

This little (BIG) fella has been keeping me busy lately! He will be 4 weeks old tomorrow. I cannot believe how the time has flown.

Kaiden (known as K or baby K)

Born August 30, 2012 at 7:57am

Weighing 9lbs 07oz

  Here's a more recent picture of my little man.

He's a wonderful baby. He's so calm unless he wants food and when he wants it, he WANTS it right then. LOL He is very, very spoiled. He loves for mama to hold him. It doesn't help that I love it, too. He also has reflux. Which means he gets held more than he should (is that possible). As for me, I'm managing. I've been struggling emotionally, but hopefully I'm getting back on the right track. I still have a couple more weeks before I'm off complete restriction. That hasn't stopped me from pushing my limits, of course. I'm still not used to the fact that I have a son. Nor am I used to the fact that I have 4 kids. LOL Well, baby K's waking up so it's time to go!

What's Up? (Picture Heavy)

This is me:

I deliberately hid my face because it is so swollen and I look pitiful. This was actually taken a week ago. I'm currently 31 weeks. I'm miserable and not really fun to be around right now. Lately I haven't really been spending time at my sewing machine, either. However, I do have some stuff to show you that I've done over the last few months. I could separate these out into additional blog posts, but just the thought makes me need to go take a nap. So, here goes:

First, I want to show you the last full quilt I finished. This one I finished in May for my mother. It features Java by Deb Strain. It is almost the size of a queen, but not quite. It was huge! Also, it is the largest I have quilted on my little home machine.

Front

Back

After I had finished this quilt, with many many tears involved I swore off quilt sandwiches until after baby K is born. Here are two quilt tops I have finished:

D9P featuring Fandago by Kate Spain

New Wave Pattern by Oh Fransson! Featuring Terrain by Kate Spain

Also, I've been doing a bit of sewing for the baby:

Burp Cloths

Bassinet Skirt

Nursing Cover

So, that's pretty much been what I've been up to since my last blog post. Most of these pictures were taken with my iphone on instagram, so they aren't the best quality. I apologize, but I just do not have the energy to dig out my good camera and stage fancy photos as I normally would. :)

Until next time (whenever that may be)... happy sewing and quilting!!

Father's Day

I'm a day late with this post because yesterday was a very difficult day for me. You see, my daddy unexpectedly passed away at the end of February and this was my 1st father's day without him. The grainy picture I posted above is my dad (forgive the graininess. it's an old pic of a pic that's been cropped).  My dad was a carpenter, a hunter, a gardener, a quiet and laid back man. He would give me his last dollar out of his pocket and do without food if he knew that I needed it. He hardly ever got mad or raised his voice. I don't know what else to say except my daddy was a good person. Holy crap, I miss him SO much. I can't write any more about him without a big tear fest, so I'm going to stop here and move on with my story.

Back in December at Christmas time I gave my daddy a lap quilt. I think he used it a couple of times before he passed away. He was always afraid to use something "nice." I threatened him though and said he'd better use it because I made it for him to use and it would hurt my feelings if he didn't. lol He did comment a couple times that it was nice and warm and that he really liked it. :) Below, again, are grainy pics of the lap quilt. I'm doing this as a tribute to my dad and I can't bear to dig out the quilt just to take new pictures with my good camera.

Front

Back

All I did was take a panel and add a border to the top and bottom (all from my mother-in-laws stash). It was very simple, just how my dad liked things. I did a very minimalistic quilting job on it as well. I followed the borders of the squares and then did a big X through the center.

Happy Father's Day to my Daddy in Heaven. You will never be forgotten but forever missed.

Getting stuff ready

Those of you who follow me on twitter know that I'm expecting my 4th child at the end of August. We are very blessed to be having a little boy to add to our mix of 3 girls. We are so excited!! Yay! :)

The one thing my husband asked earlier in the pregnancy was for me to make the baby his or her own quilt. Basically, he wanted me to make the crib bedding instead of buying it from a store. I was thrilled! It's such a huge compliment for hubby to ask me to do that. So, I started searching for my favorite fabrics hoping the "perfect" one would jump out at me. I immediately fell in love with the Backyard Baby Collection by Patty Sloniger. I mean seriously! Look at those yummy fabrics!

Moving on... once I found out the baby was a boy I ordered fabric and also ordered the tumbler Go! Baby Die. I had been sitting on a Go! Baby since October, but didn't have any dies. To cut an already long story a little shorter here's the quilt I ended up making for baby K.

Front

Back

I also decided to attempt free motion quilting on this quilt. To me, straight lines just didn't give it the character that I wanted it to have. My attempt was not perfect, but it was fun and I enjoyed it! Here's a close up of my FMQ.

FMQ close up

I'm happy with how it turned out and I love that my little man will be wrapped in a quilt that I made. :) Also, this will be my last quilt sandwich I will be making while pregnant. I will continue to make tops, but I just cannot get on the floor and waller (southern to the bone). I attempted to pin baste on a table, but the back got all messed up. I ended up taking out the pins and carrying my design board outside and (with a mask) I spray basted it. That was nice and easy, but I do not like the kind of spray I got because it was too tacky. Yuck!

Anyways, I'm off to attempt to be productive! Thanks for stopping by! Happy Quilting!

Thrifty Deal...I Think

Hiya!! I'm still alive and kickin'. (yay!) I'm starting to get back into some kind of new normalcy after everything that has happened. In fact, today I went by a Thrift store and they were having a 1/2 off everything sale. I ended up buying this-

Then, I noticed it came with this-

Supposedly works

I got to looking in the drawers and found this-

Intriguing, yes?!!

What are these? Looks like stitch selectors?

What ya think?? Pretty cool, huh? Would it make it even cooler if I said I got it for $40?! I'm mostly excited about the desk because I sew on a flimsy 4ft card table. Anyways, anyone know anything about this machine or what the donut thingies are? Eeeee!! Okay, I'm done squealing... have a great day!!

Only So Much

It seems as though I keep popping in here just to give more bad news. I mean, really, a human can only handle so much. My Aunt passed away in August, my grandma passed in November, and my dad a little over a week ago. I'm surviving. Of course, now there's a huge void in my life and in my heart. I spent so much time and energy worrying about my dad. However, I'm completly at peace with his passing. It's really hard to cry and be sad for someone when you're happy for them because they are no longer sick or in pain.

I have been back and forth to Arkansas more than I care to even think about.  My sweet hubby allowed me to hire someone to clean my house because I had gotten so far behind. Also, I'll be headed back to Ar next week to clean out my dad's house and get a head stone. The following week, I'll have all my girls home with me because of spring break. Meanwhile, I'm still pregnant and dealing with those issues. :)

I don't think I ever posted pics of my dad's lap quilt I had made for him. I had given it to him for Christmas. It was a hunter's dream quilt (IMO). Anyways, it was drapped over my dads casket for his grave side service. I think he would've been happy.

I hope to be back to quilting soon. I have some stuff I need to finish up within the next couple of months so I can start sewing stuff for the baby.

Happy Quilting!!!

First Finish of 2012

I realize it has been almost 2 months since I've last blogged. I'm still dealing with family changes, but I'm starting to get back into my routine again. Thanks to some nudging from my mother, I have managed to complete my first quilt of 2012! I started this quilt many months ago, but was burned out (3rd quilt with Sherbet Pips in a row). This quilt is for my middle H's twin size bed.

I ended up doing many changes to my original idea. Originally was going to do the back solid instead of pieced. This was my first attempt at a pieced back. I was not happy with it, but I continued on. After getting the quilting done on it I'm very pleased with how it turned out. Another change I made was going with  pieced binding vs solid, darker blue. I think this makes it so much more girly, too.

Next quilt up is a Java quilt for my mother! She "says" that once I finish that one for her I get to borrow her New Home 9000 Embroidery machine. Yippee!

Overload...

I just wanted to stop in and say I'm still here. My last post was back in early/mid November and since then my life has gone a bit mad. My sweet, ornery 89 year old granny passed away. I made the 4 hour trip Friday, Nov 18th, praying shed hang on until I got there. I wasn't gone from her side more than an hour and she passed on. I truly believe she waited for me to say my goodbye. I'm at peace and so is she, but I miss her terribly. Besides thanksgiving being the same week, my kids and I lived out of a suitcase and 5 different homes during the 10 days out of state. Other events transpired, but it is something I cannot go into. Also, my DD, H, has some things going on that I cannot go into. Needless to say life has been a bit overwhelming lately and I've had to put my family first. Hopefully I will be able to blog more in the near future. I have taught myself to knit and cannot wait to share photos of what I've done. I still have a ton to do before Christmas and I haven't even touched my machine since the Weds before Halloween. I'm so ashamed. I hope all of you are well! Happy quilting!

Winner: My Memories Suite Giveaway

Thank you to everyone who entered my first giveaway! According to Mr. Random, the winner of the My Memories Suite digital scrapbooking software is:

Congrats Kristen! Send me an email so I have your contact info please.

Everyone else can still get the software with a $10 discount by using the code STMMMS18789 !

Giveaway: Scrapbooking Software

I was asked to do a review on My Memories Suite digital scrapbooking software. I have been digital scrapbooking for 5 years now. I have tried many different software programs for digital scrapbooking and I have to say this one is very nice.

I was a bit overwhelmed and confused when I first opened My Memories Suite software, but that's expected with any new software. I love how the program starts out with this...

You can make an album and keep it all in one place. You can add, remove, or edit all the pages in the album in one place. It also has a film strip down at the bottom that keeps all your album pages visible. Want to work on a different page? No problem! Just click on another page and there ya go!

Below is the first page I made with My Memories Suite. As I mentioned I was a bit overwhelmed, but it was actually very simple to figure out. 

 There are menus and navigation bars on the right and left sides of the work space. It also pulls in your photos into the program so you can look through and select which ones you want! So easy! You can add single pictures or you can add multiple pictures at once. Same goes for backgrounds, elements, wordart, text, and more. The software comes with a ton of papers, picture layouts, and elements already installed. You can also add your own elements and papers!

MyMemories also has freebies on their website! Which are being added to all the time! You can also purchase kits as well. Here is the 2nd page I did with My Memory Suite:

I was also able to edit my pictures after putting them on the page. The bottom picture of my daughter was in color and I was able to make it black and white as well as brighten it. No need for additional programs to edit it.

You can make dvds, movies, photo books, and calendars. I looked through tutorials and it said greeting cards could be made, too. I could not find this feature. 

Are you ready to win your own copy of My Memory Suite Scapbooking Software? There's 3 ways to enter.

1.) You must be a follower of Another Pie in the Sky.

3.) Follow me on twitter.

2.) Go to My Memories and pick your favorite scrapbooking kit/paper/quick page. It can be free or paid. 

Okay, that's it! You can also purchase the software using my code STMMMS18789  and you will instantly save $10! You can click the banner to the left to use the code or simply copy/paste the code highlighted above.

You have until 7:00 pm Tuesday, November 15th to enter the giveaway. I will draw the winner using Mr. Random and post it on Wednesday, November 16th. Please be sure to leave your email in your comment if you are a no-reply blogger or I cannot contact you if you win!

Disclaimer: I received this software free to try and review, but it does not change my review. The thoughts and opinions expressed are my own and from my own experiences.

Giveaway Coming Soon!

I have been contacted by the people at My Memory Suite to do a review and a giveaway of their digital scrapbooking software! Be sure to check back Saturday to see my review and enter for your chance to win a copy of your own!

I'm visiting again!

I'm guest blogging over at Craizee Corners today! Sha is doing a series on Breast Cancer Awareness and I was honored to be included. Wanna know what I made?? It was my first time making one of these, too! I love it!! Go see and let me know what you think!

I took the plunge

I took the plunge and gave in to try my hand at making hexies. I'm not sure that they are addictive, for me, as everyone says they are. They are fun and I do very much enjoy having something to do with my hands while watching tv. Here's what I've gotten done so far....

Hubby keeps asking me what I'm making. Honestly, I have no clue. As far as I know I'm still seeing if I enjoy it. So, this is where I need your assistance... What should I make? I have 1/2 yard of each blue and white cut into 2.5 inch hexies, but what do I make?

Nifty Blogger Tip

I learned another new thing yesterday (besides the need to clean out my sewing machine). Did you know that in blogger, if the admin has the Blogger bar tuned on in the settings, then readers can Follow the blog that way instead of searching all over for the Followers link in sidebars? Seriously, how cool is that!!  Here's a snapshot of my blog and I have drawn a pretty little circle and arrow to show you where to look.

You can click on the picture to see it bigger if you'd like. Thought I would share this nifty blogger tip so others will know, too. Do you have other tips that readers or admins might not know? Share them with us in the comments. Lets see what else we can all learn today!

I Have Learned My Lesson...

As I hold my head down in shame I show you this picture. It is the lint out of my sewing machine from the past year (pictured next to a dirty quarter). I know, I know... I pulled a big no-no. I kept putting off cleaning out my machine because I was afraid of what I would find and that I wouldn't be able to put my machine back together. 

I did it. I succeeded. I am no longer afraid! My machine runs like new again and I have learned my lesson: Clean out your machine after each project.

Guess Where I'm at Today...

Guess where I'm at today?








That's right! I'm doing my first guest post over at Craizee Corners! It's Kate Spain month over there at Sha's blog and I did a project with Kate Spain's Fandango line. So, go over to Sha's blog and see my project! 

Quilt Top

I don't generally post quilts that aren't finished, but I wanted to share this one. All I've done so far is get the top completed. I have the pieced back up on my design board, but with so many obligations right now it's been sitting there a week.

I call this quilt the book quilt because it looks like books to me. It is also done out of Sherbet Pips, yet again. This is my last quilt ever for a while out of Pips (3 is enough). So, here it is in all it's unfinished glory...

This was actually a very fast quilt top, and I honestly don't know why I don't have a completed quilt yet. My poor 7 year old DD keeps asking for it, so I have to get it finished soon! I'm such a bad mama. :)

Happy Quilting!

A Nice Surprise

While I was away this past weekend, I had a nice surprise come, and it was waiting for me when I returned. Want to know what it was?

That's right! Aurifil!! I got this nice color card and a bunch of samples!  I'm going to be trying out some Aurifil thread myself because I have never (*gasp*) tried any. Oh, and guess what that means for my awesome readers...yep, that's right! I will be having a giveaway soon!