Christmas gift

I sent this quilt to my sister in law Terri for Christmas...it was a beautiful quilt but

 a bit fancy for me.  She is from the south and her house is beautifully decorated, it fits her perfect! 

She and Yogi really love it!!

Yay!

Happy New Year everyone!

Yee Haw!

My sister came to visit me in 2014 and brought along a 

pile of western rodeo cowboy themed fabrics.  She said she 

wanted to make a quilt for a very good friend and wanted my help.  I figured, sure no problem, shes been sewing all her life, this should be fun to teach her how to piece a quilt. 

NOT!

We looked though several pattern books and decided on a pattern.  We added some other fabrics, some solids etc.  I set her all up with instructions for four patches, thought it would be an easy assignment for her, a breeze and off to work I went.

Big Mistake. Big. HUGE.

She made the worlds biggest mess of those blocks, OMG.

After letting the mess sit for about 9 months and after giving up on correcting said mess, I just started again from scratch!

Behold, the Cowboy quilt...

In this last picture you can really see how big the quilt became, I used a king size batting and had very little left over.  I longarmed it with my "go to" loopy loops, I figured that

they look like rope on a cowboy quilt.  The Kona Navy and burnt pumpkin orange that I used for some of the blocks really added richness to the quilt.  It needed a pop of color and that worked great. It all came together great in the end and it has been mailed to my sister just in time to present it to her friend for Christmas.   

WHEW!!

P.S.  I told my sister to stick to costumes and clothes, quilting isn't her gig! She agreed!

Sorry I dont have a full size photo of the quilt, I was so 
busy this Christmas season and just getting it in the mail to my sister on time was a Christmas miracle itself! 
I asked my sister if she had delivered the quilt and she said yes and that he was so pleased with it, put it right on his bed and that it kept him warm all night...he loves it and it makes him think of his mother who used to quilt....I couldnt be more happy about that!  This is exactly why i make quilts!

Jayden and her quilt

Some of you may remember the quilt that I made

 for my Grandaughters 4th Birthday last year.

She picked out all the bright fabrics at the quilt store, telling the owner Doug every time that she would toss a bolt up on the counter that she wanted 

"just a sliver"...this is the quilt

that I made for her.....a modern log cabin.

I'm happy to report that it is still in use and she 

loves it....check out these pictures!!

A quilty lump....

and my sweet girl just waking up....nothing better!

Happy Thursday!!!

Cades Quilt for Dad

This is Cade...Hes the son of one of my sons dearest friends.  Cade was born with a heart defect, the doctors didn't think he would live very long but he showed them!

Cade was 16 when he went into the hospital to have a brain tumor removed....he didn't survive the surgery.  It broke 

all of our hearts to say goodbye to him...he was such a sweet boy!!  Hes dearly missed.

 Cade and his beautiful sister Mia...

This is my son Justin in the middle with Cades Dad 

Chris on the right....They are the best of friends, like brothers...they did softball fundraisers to help with

Cades care.

After Cades death, I asked for a bunch of his tshirts

to make his dad a quilt.  Heres the result..

You can just barely see that I longarmed "Cade Strong" 

all over the quilt, that was their motto!

The backing for the quilt is the "Family Guy" fabric, 

it was one of Cades favorite TV shows...

My son gifted this quilt to his friend Chris just a few days ago, he was in tears.  He misses his boy so much and he said that getting that quilt with all of  Cades shirts was like a big ole hug from his boy.  He was so moved.  He loves it...

Mission Accomplished!!

Cade is still with us, in our hearts and our thoughts 

and our memories...he always "Lived life with a Smile!"  We all miss him so much.....

CADE STRONG!!!

Another finish...yippee!

I've been finishing up quilts left and right for a few weeks now.  Most of them

are simple scrappy ones that have been either sitting in the pile waiting for quilting

or some that were already quilted and just sitting and waiting for the hand sewing on the binding.  

This is one of two of the tumbler quilts that I pieced....

I finished this one while at work so I ran outside and snapped

this last picture, I like it the best.  It was nice and bright and sunny outside, but chilly!

Linking up with Richard & Tanya Quilts 

&

Oh Scrap!

       

Grand Illusion is DONE!

Ya baby!!!  Happy Dance!!!

Grand Illusion is done!!

My Bonnie Hunter 2014 Mystery is DONE, just in

time to start the new mystery Allietare!!!!

Here I am finishing up the hand stitching on the 

 binding at our annual employee craft fair....

And its done....here it is!!  Its HUGE!!!

Spare parts (blocks) were used up on the back!!

A close up of the amazing longarm quilting by my 

best bloggy buddy Kathy in Ohio, you can find her 

over on her blog

www.new2quilting.blogspot.com

My cute little 6'3" nephew Zane helped hold it up 

for pictures!! Hes a big fan of his Aunties quilting.

I love this kid!!

Thanks for stopping by!!  Happy Thanksgiving to all!!!

Another Finish! Boom!

Wow! Just cruising along here....cooking, baking, working, etc etc etc....always lots to do!

I recently went down to Stockton, CA to visit my 

older brother who had driven up from Orange County. 

 I hadn't seen him in over a year.  He comes up

to Stockton to do some practice Skeet Shooting with 

his team.  He competes in many different Skeet Shooting competitions.  He started shooting skeet when 

he was young because it was one of my dads hobbies.  

We kids basically grew up wandering around Winchester  Gun range in Southern California.  My mom worked in the office and my dad did the shooting. 

Anyways, I got to see my bro, hes the best and most amazing big brother ever.  Hes everyones friend, hes caring and giving, he loves his family, hes just an all around fantastic guy!  His name is Andre.

I asked Andre if he would show me how to shoot...I

 had never done it before!

Wow! Those guns are heavy! But guess what? 

I HIT A TARGET!!! Yea Baby!!

While I watched the team shoot, I kept busy with hand stitching a binding down.  Always

prepared to get just one more thing done!!

My Cheddar Arkansas Crossings quilt is done!

I'm very pleased with how this one turned out...its so BOLD!

LOVE IT!

Thanks for stopping by today!  

Linking up with Richard and Tanya for

Finish it up Friday!

&

 OH SCRAP!

                                           

RSC Saturday! Lime!

Ooooohhh Boy! 

What a busy busy couple of months it has been for me.  Bake Sales for Foothill Dog Rescue, English Toffee orders, Hospital craft fair...not to mention scrumptious Grandbabies and pets...geez!  I haven't gotten to most of my monthly 

quilty obligations...crazy!  

So, the other day I finally got to sit down and count how many of each RSC block I had done.  Turns out for my 

Scrap Jar stars that I needed another Yellow and another Pink.  Then I needed my 2 Lime. Then, to finish it off, I just need to make two of  Decembers color and I will have

 20 blocks for a quilt...Yay!

Sooooo....here  are my catch up Scrap Jar stars and my

two lime stars for November.....

Linking up with Angela over at the RSC Saturday Link up!!

A Friday Finish!

Yippee!!!

I got another quilt completed!!

Its made from flannel bits and scraps, its all girly fabrics that were leftover from numerous other projects...its very cozy!!!  This one is going to keep some lucky little girl nice and warm for sure.

Its  backed with a nice pink plaid flannel...and longarmed 

with my

 "Go to" loopy loops and flowers...

Linking up with Richard & Tanya for a Friday Finish!

&
OH SCRAP!!

Tula Modern Blocks!

Michelle over at CrayonBox Quilt Studio is holding a 

"City Sampler at sew at your own pace QAL".  

As it states, its all at our own pace so its totally chill, 

no pressure and don't forget 

FUN!

We are cruising along in Tulas book, I am making the first 5 blocks from each chapter just to keep things interesting for me.  Here are blocks 11-21, meaning thats how many I have made so far, 21 of 100.  Their numbers 

are different in the book. Sorry my pics are

upside down....I'm challenged!!

I am using my Anna Maria Horner 5" charm squares that I received in a swap and every color of Grunge in the rainbow...love Grunge!  

Of course I had to add in a couple other "modern" pieces here and there, a lot of these blocks need 6.5" pieces...so 5" charm squares aren't gonna cut it...I'm having fun though!

Thanks for stopping by!

Linking up with Michelle at

CrayonBoxQuiltStudio.com!!

Teenage Mutant NINJA TURTLES!

Its so crazy to me that Ninja Turtles and Strawberry Shortcake and Star Wars are all back!!  How awesome is that? My son loved the Ninja Turtles when he was just a boy....now his little boy will love them too!

My girlfriend Julie who I get to sew with quite often made this Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Quilt for her 5 yr old Grandson Andrew....hes gonna love it!!

She paired both a blue background Ninja Turtle fabric and a Green background Ninja Turtle fabric with bold solids in

 Green, Yellow, Orange, Blue and Purple...it turned out great!!

Julie says I am a slave driver, I MADE her put on the Piano Keys....she knows they are Awesome!  

I think they are totally Awesome!

Piano keys add so much to a quilt! Plus they use up scraps!

Heres the completed top....ready to be quilted! Yay!

I think little Mr. Andrew is going to love it!!  

Merry Christmas Andrew!