I'm not in a Title mood

I'm dying to show pictures of the project I completed today, but since it is a surprise for one of my blog readers, Christine, (well, she's a follower, who knows if she reads my dribble) I can't show you guys just yet.  I did post pictures on facebook since my flickr life and facebook life are separate.  :)  I can show the quilt I completed for my mom.  It's from Oh Fransson's Mod Sampler pattern, slightly modified.  I never want to see this pattern again.  Not that it isn't lovely, but I've made two of these, I'm done.  I think I'm one of those people who constantly has to change it up with my sewing projects.  I'm not a fan of repeating.  I'm most happy with how the quilting on this one turned out.  I feel much more confident free motion quilting and boy is it faster than straightline quilting!  This one took me half the time of the Nicey Jane one and it's double the size.  My mom picked out the fabrics here (Joel Dewberry) and she seemed pretty happy with the outcome. 

I also finished my mini quilt for STUD (swap till you drop).  The theme this month was favorite movie.  I chose Willy Wonka and my partner made me a candy themed ticker tape quilt (sorry, no pic now) and she chose The Sound of Music.  I think it came out ok, but I'm not 100% happy.  You can't tell from this picture, but the white background fabric has white music notes on it--get it?  "The hills are alive with the sound of music."  Well, I thought it was humorous. 

  I'm also in the middle of working on my first attempt at cathedral windows for my July block of the Stitchin' Bee. This is what I have so far, but I'm going to be changing out the fabric in the top left corner to some kind of green I think.  Also, I have to add some ric rac according to Lisa's rules.  I tried to get out of it, but no such luck!  After auditioning several possibilities, I finally decided where I'm going to put it.  Tune in next time and hopefully I'll have a completed block to share.

  In family news, my mom and uncle came to visit last week and it was so wonderful to have help with the kids and around the house.  My in laws are coming this weekend so I get more free babysitters.  Hooray!  Hmmmm, maybe I'll sneak off and watch Eclipse!  It's a bit sad to go to a movie by yourself, but honestly I'll enjoy 2 hours of no one shouting "MAMA!" 

Pay It Forward Penny Pouches

Don't you just love alliteration? I began and finished this project tonight! Results are motivating! I made these for my friends who are participating in a crafty version of Pay It Forward. You make something for three people with no expectation of getting anything in return. Just make something you think they'd like. Then, those three friends each make something for three other friends, and so on. I would reference the movie by this title, but it just makes me sad. I want to talk about how happy I am with these! I used Essex linen/cotton blend in Sand and pair it with fabric I thought each girl would like. Two of them were really easy. Sarah's was harder. Funny, she is my friend in real life (not just on the computer), but I have less of a sense of her personal taste in fabric since she is always making things for her kids. I chose to make something using some of my favorite fabric and I like hers the best (duh). Sarah, if you're reading this and don't like yours--I'll take it! Wait, do you know which one it is? Hmmmmm, maybe I'll make you tell me which one you like the best and hope that it's yours. :) I have more finished projects to share, but it's late so they will have to wait for another post!

Frustration

I'm still trying to find the right template for my blog and when I finally get one that I can stand, my pictures look weird!  I hate HTML codes!  I can read and understand a tax code, but I don't get this stuff!  I'm even using blogger's own template.  Frustration!  If anyone knows how to fix my pics, please speak up!  Otherwise you will be enduring endless changes until I can find a template I like.

Update:  Thanks to my fabulous (although few) blog readers, I have found a solution.  I haven't applied it to the whole blog yet, but the most recent post is fixed!

My life in bullet points

• Won two quilt patterns from Fat Quarter Shop
• Was told my dog has to have surgery (wave bye-bye to $1000)
• Received a black eye from my dog on the way to the vet who now has $1000 of our money.
• Almost had my military ID taken away on the way to my son's doctor's appointment because it was expired
• Begged and pleaded to keep the ID so I could get a new one (it worked)
• Told my son's head is really big (duh, genetics) but that they want a CAT scan (um, no thanks)
• Went to get a new ID card and told my husband has to be there--HE'S IN IRAQ PEOPLE
• Told I need a power of attorney to get a new ID card--only have medical power of attorney--if I leave base they won't let me back on again to even show them a power of attorney since my ID is expired!
• Burst into tears in the ID office
• Was taken pity on by the man in the office and issued a temporary ID
• My kids won't sleep these days

• Received my super awesome giveaway win from Jennifer at Sugarstitches

• Still selling Neptune/Wee Play/Wonderland/Arcadia  at this point I just want the stuff out of my house so I can work on my own projects
• Paid a crazy amount of money on postage to send a swap package to the UK--who knew postage was that expensive?!?!?
• Is heartbroken for my Flickr friend, Christine, who just lost her dearly loved grandmother (hugs Christine!)
• Met an evil partner-in-fabric-crime on Flickr--Amy you are trouble!  Check out Amy's blog
• Signed up for another bee (bad, bad Amy!)  It's a Christmas themed bee--I have no Christmas fabric!
• Received the most beautiful mini quilt ever in my Charming Mini swap (we send our partner the fabric we want a quilt made from and they come up with a design).  Also got a terrific "thank-you" from Julie at jaybirdquilts.  AND my good friend Sarah sent me two potholder and a dish towel just because she's awesome like that and I have really ugly potholders!  Aren't my friends the best?

• My mom is in town--hooray for help!
• Hubby sent me a present (from Sephora!!!!!) and a card, just because.  Isn't he sweet?
• Dragging my feet on my STUD mini quilt swap. I'm just not loving my mini, but I don't have time to start over.  I hope my partner doesn't hate it!
• I'm probably forgetting a lot of stuff that happened.....
• Oh!  I still have black eye (a week later) courtesy of my dog.

So, how was your last 7 days?

One more!

I still need one more person to pay it forward--the crafty version! :)  Please comment or email me if you'd like to participate.  My poor teeny tiny slice of blog world doesn't get much traffic so someone needs to step up!  Also, if anyone reading this wants a Wonderland, Arcadia, or Wee Play charm pack let me know, I still have some available!

Update:  I got my last participant for my crafy swap!  Thanks Sarah, Jenny, and Christine for paying it forward!

Pay It Forward

I ran across a post from Crafty Chops about random acts of kindness:  "The idea is that random acts of kindness are given without expecting anything in return. Just passing on the kindness, hoping that your recipients will do the same and forming a never-ending chain of kindness."  She, following the idea from two other blogs, is making 3 gifts to send out into the world.  Since I was one of the first three people to comment on her post, she'll be sending me a prize!  I, in return, will be paying it forward to the first three people to comment on this post who promise to pay it forward to three more people.  I would be nice if you had a blog, but it's not really necessary, so long as you're serious about paying it forward.  So who wants to get a cute crafty prize from me?  Who is going to pay it forward?

In other crafty news, my mini quilt partner received her quilt today so I can finally post pics!  In this swap (Charming Mini Swap on Flickr), we all sent our partner around 30 charm squares and a fat quarter.  That was all the input we got into our mini.  My partner and I have very different fabric tastes, but we were up for the challenge.  I made her a tree since her fabrics reminded me of fall.  I can't wait to see what she created for me!

Who loves me the most?

Yep, I found more hard-to-find stuff. Isn't it pretty? I don't think I need to say more.

I'm the Luckiest Person EVER!

This  is just a quick post to tell you that I'm the luckiest person ever when it comes to giveaways this year!  I've won SIX this year.  This is my biggest win yet, courtesy of Jennifer at http://sugarstitches.com/blog/  I really can't believe I won this--there were almost 600 entries and only 2 winners.  Truly, I'm amazed and so very grateful.  I won 20 fat quarters of Heather Ross' Far Far Away II!!!!!!  I completely ripped off Jennifer's picture of my prize so I really hope she doesn't mind.  Jennifer has a fantastic blog---everyone should check it out!  She's just started a beautiful quilt-a-long too!  This was a super duper generous giveaway and I want Jennifer to know how very happy this has made me and how thankful I am.  Thank you Jennifer!!!!!! ♥♥♥♥

Bath time! Neptune tutorial? Neptune giveaway? More Neptune!

Let's get the kiddo pictures out of the way up front for all the grandmas and Daddy.  They don't really care about all my craftiness (well, they care, but in a we-support-what-you-do-even-though-we-don't-get-it kinda way).  It was bath time tonight and as usual, Cian was very cooperative with my picture taking.  Oh, for those of you who are curious, his name is pronounced "KEY"-"an" and rhymes with the name Ian.  It's a Celtic name meaning "ancient one."  My other son's name is Roarke,--rhymes with stork (the "e" is silent).  Roarke is also a Celtic name, it means "ruler."  Yes, they are unusual names.  No, I don't really care if anyone else likes them!  I got them both from Nora Roberts' books (this mortifies my hubby, but HE picked Cian's name from a list of names I made and it was the ONLY name on the list from one of her books.  So there!)

In crafty news, upon suggestion from one of my Flickr friends, I may be writing a tutorial for my Neptune mini seahorse quilt!  I may even make a larger version!  I may even do a Neptune giveaway if there is enough interest.  Or maybe a Neptune mini seahorse quilt kit?  We'll see.  I'm so super new to blogging and have so few followers, I'm not sure anyone would even care.  Thoughts?  Comments? 

 In other Neptune news, I purchased everything my local quilting store had of the Neptune line.......well, ok, they have two honeybuns left, but that's really it!  I'm now selling all of this Neptune for $8.99/yd. if anyone wants any, just message me.  First come, first serve.  It all goes on eBay/etsy on Friday, June 11th, but I'm giving Flickr/blogging friends first dibs. 

Funny things 3 year-olds say:

1.  My hair is up like an elevator!

2.  Mama, I want to get the blue cookies because last time we go the pink and you ate them all!

3.  Mama!  You ate all the cookies again!  :)

Here We Go Again, Matey

So I came really close to having another fabric craze like Neptune. I found another hard-to-find fabric line at my local store (shocking!) and posted some pictures on Flickr. After receiving a number of comments really quickly, I realized I had to make it clear I wasn't going to be a personal shopper this time around. I'll sell it to you, but on eBay or etsy. I hope people didn't find this rude, but I was really exhausted after buying and shipping all that Neptune! If any of you Swell lovers are reading this and thinking "She's so mean!" please understand that everytime I go to the quilt store I have to drive 40 mintues there, bring both my kids (ages 3 and 8 months), try and entertain/keep them quiet while I'm there, make sure I gather all the necessarry bolts, wait forever while they cut them and chit-chat with me, and then drive 40 minutes back home. Something similar takes place when I have to go to the post office, though with less drive time. If hubby was home, these trips would be a lot easier since I could go by myself and actually enjoy the experience! Not to mention, it would be nice to buy some fabric for myself, guilt free! There are a number of new lines coming out that I'd really like and if I can make a little money from my finds then hubby can't complain! :)

In kiddo news, after waiting patiently for me at the fabric store, I took the boys to the pirate trick-or-treat event down in Fort Walton Beach.  Roarke was a real crank the whole time we were there, but he perked up at home and enjoyed his booty!

What do you do without internet?

You quilt, of course!  My internet AND cable have been down the past 3 days.  Did I mention that both my boys and I are sick?  Did I mention one of the dogs barfed and the other pooped on the floor.  Yeah.  All in one day people.  All in one day!  I had a truly awesome mail day the day before all the bad suff happened.  This is what I got in the mail:

That's it.  No junk mail.  No bills.  I got my fabric/chocolate swap, two of my giveaway prizes, flowers from my hubby who's far, far away, and a card from my hubby to our oldest.  I knew I was going to pay for this joy later!  So while I was technology deprived, I finished two quilts.  One is homeless (the pink one) and the other is for a family friend.

I received more goodies in the mail today from the great Neptune swap, but frankly, I have a lot of catching up to do on the internet and I'm not taking more pictures! :)

For the Grandmas/Daddy out there: