A Birthday Candy Gram!

I work with a great bunch a people!

Yesterday I was greeted with this big candy gram outside my classroom door and the entire staff wearing black!  I of course, stood out like a sore thumb wearing my "You Can't Scare Me I am a Teacher" flourscent pink shirt, as THAT's what my team said they were wearing. (Friday is dress down day) Good trick huh! But, of course, a birthday in an elementary school is always happy and fun!

  (I'm totally going to "pin" this to my candy/food fun board!)

This weekend finds me with a household of family and friends celebrating my 50th. 

19 months old and 50 years old

 May has been a slow sewing month....but with only 3 1/2 more days left of school, I promise some quilty inspiration in June! Especially from some projects I picked at the HMQS.

Thank YOU!!!

 Imagine my happy dance when I recieved an email from Helen and Marly announcing thier nomination of my blog for this awesome award. "Your blog always inspires me and it had to be on my list! I enjoy every singlepost!" (Helen, thank you!)

WOW! I am so honored and flattered! Seriously, thank you Helen and Marly. I mean, I think we can all remember writing that very first post, begging our family members to comment, just to make sure "everything" works. And now, almost two years later, to not only have developed a wonderful group of friends and followers, but to find out you actually enjoy reading my posts. THANK YOU!

So, the first goal of the award is to share seven things about ourselves you may not know.

 How fun! Here are seven non-quilty things about me:

1. I have never been on Facebook! (Really!)

 

2. My nicknames in high school where fondly Olive Oyl and Big Bird!

3. I'd like to write a book someday. Thus one of the two main reason I even started a blog. (The other reason is to doucment my quilting and I find our virtual quilting guild very inspiring and motivating!)I document my writing progress under the labels: Life and Learning and Classroom Quilts. All the creative writing classes I have taken, stress, that you need to write everyday....just write. I totally find blogging a lot more fun and rewarding than talking to myself in a journal. (LOL!)

4. I haven't had a soda in years and gave up coffee after my gallbladder surgery.
 (I wish I could say the same about dark chocolate)

5. By the time I was thirty I had earned a bachelor's degree in Journalism, a Masters Degree in Elementary Education, married my DH, we had two young daughters, experienced surgical menopause after having a full hysterectomy and overcame cancer. (Hodgkins Disease)


6. With that said, yes, middle age and empty nest find me enjoying my freedom, being a grammy, quilting, wine and Life is Good t-shirts . All of these are my very favorite things right now. LOL!

7. And finally, today is the last day of my forties. Yep! Tomorrow is my:


 Oh sure, gray hairs are beginning to supplant my natural color. Gravity has begun to take its toll as I notice my neck sags (Are you kiddding me!), my stomach has a new bulge, my boobs droop, my face has wrinkles, my underarms swing like fish bellies as I write on the board at school and my skin is losing its elasticity. But on the bright side: I have osteoporosis yet I'm still 5'10", so atleast I'm not shrinking. Annndd...I don't have to worry about menopause. Well if you ask me:

: 

Life is never perfect. But if we are lucky, our obstacles are balanced with joys. I continue to live my life in gratitude and with as much grace as I can mustard. I like this age, this chapter of life. I'm content. I'm having fun! Thanks so much for being a part of it.

With that said and shared, the next rule of the award is to share some of my very favorite blogs.

(Ugh...I hate picking) I mean just check out my blogroll on the sidebar. I have all you guys there so not to miss a post. But here's a small preview of a variety of wonderful blogs you'll find there:

Kim who blogs at Sarah Lizzies

Sharon who blogs at Vroomans Quilts

Kate who blogs at Life In Pieces

Teje at Nero's Post and Patch 

Jo at ButterZ's. 

Paulette at Sweet P Quilting and Creations

Patricia at Dogwood Lane Rambles

Nita at Nita Dances

Tanya at Tanya Quilts in CO

LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color

Check them out and hopefully meet someone new!

HMQS Inspiration: FMQ

Why hello friends. Today is the final post in my HMQS Inspiration Series. 

I was completely inspired by Helen and Jenny who developed the Curve-It Up rulers and blog at Sew Kind of Wondeful.  After taking their two hour lecture class, I left with a "can do" attitiude!

They taught us to look at the negative space and not just fill it in, but to echo your peicing:

They taught about point to point quilting and 

to use repeated patterns as fillers. 

They also recommended just quilting one block at a time. 

I really liked their teaching style. Jenny would demonstate the techniques on the longarm, projected onto a big screen as Helen sketched the same elements on a large poster paper. It was so easy to follow along and learn. Boy, if ya ever get a chance to take one of their classes, I can't imagine anyone walking away disappointed. Our blog buddy Barb even won the class sample! (Hop over to see how she has already applied our lessons. Her quilting on this Christmas Quilt is beautiful!)

I know this little sampler pattern that came free with the cutting ruler is one of the first sewing/quilting projects on my summer to do list! It will be the perfect sewing machine mat.

My class lessons made my tour of the quilts much for educational. I found myself looking at others creative work with a new eye for negative space.  Here's a few of my favorites:

And who wouldn't want this one hanging in their sewing room!

I hoped you enjoyed my little series of inspiration as much as I enjoyed writing them. It was helpful for me to "process" all that was seen and learned in just a few days here on the ol' blog. Please do stay tuned as in June I'll have time to start applying my lessons learned to my own quilting. I can't wait! .

Tuesday Archives #64: Rainbows!

Welcome to the linky party that rejuvenates your old quilting/sewing posts! 

Please click here to read more about this linky party.  

This week's theme is: Rainbows

I remember Kate, who blogs at Life In Pieces, making this wonderful jigsaw rainbow last year, and after a bit of searching through her archives...I found it! This is it finished as a flimsy and I'm hoping you'll like up your finished post Kate, for if I remember correctly, you made this one for your daughter.

I know many of us rainbow posts, so I'm going to keep today's intro short. I'm off to search through my own archives as well and you can all start sharing. It will be great to have our rainbow inspiration collected in one spot don't ya think. PS: I'm also working on creating a page that will be a directory of all our past Tuesday Archives themes. I think it will become a quick reference tool for us to use to revisit some of  those old themes full of  linked inspiration!

Cha Cha Changes...

A three day weekend has passed and not one bit of sewing and only a minimal of stitching in the LAST week have I accomplished! See..I only stitched ONE fence post...in a week! LOL!!!

I have no idea why?? Maybe I can blame it on the rain??? It's been raining every single day for a week...not that, flooding, damaging rain, but that afternoon rain that just makes ya want to sit and have a glass of wine and enjoy it, rain. We have!! We've also watched some good movies: Taken3, Tracers, St. Vincent and The Wedding Ringer....all I would recommend btw. (We still have Paddington to watch. But Ninja Warriers starts tonight...and this is my time to pay the DH back for watching Lifetime movies with me! Ha!Ha! I actually don't mind. Those "Ninjas" are amazing!)

And today just found me playing with my blog. I wanted to clean up my sidebar. I just keep adding things and all of a sudden the darn thing is a mile long. I moved my labels to the end of my posts. I created those new follower tabs over there on the side. (Arg!! That took hours...until I figured out a shortcut! Whew! Also, thank you Lorna , Christine and Kelly for your email responses.) I also changed my header. Time for something new. What ya think??? (I mean it needed Jackson, right?!)I also like to follow all you guys by my sidebar. Haven't found another way I like as much yet.

Anyhoo, I've enjoyed seeing the quilty things you all are doing and hope to catch up soon! Tomorrow I'm off for some fabric shopping after school, at the store I shop at in the next town. I have a 25% coupon annndddd they are having a 30% ALL bolt fabric!! I need some backing material. I bet this is going to be the exact therapy needed to get me ready for summer sewing! (smiles!!) I close, off to get Tuesday Archives ready....RAINBOWS is our theme...I think it's going to be a fun linky this week!

Happy Readers!

This ALWAYS makes my day.

(Especially on a Friday afternoon!)

This teacher is ready for a three day weekend that will include some sewing therapy!

HMQS Inspiration: Flowers

Hi again! Well today's HMQS Inspiration post is all about flowers!

Perfect post for Spring don't ya think. So here we go...

What caught my eye about this quilt was the combination of traditional EPP hexagon flowers with the wonky blocks...but I like it!

When I saw this one I thought: "Oh my I have a pile of these that still need to be sewn into rows!" But oh aren't they wonderful when all sewn together like this!
Hmmm....I need to get going on this WIP of mine.

The variety of patterns here against the scrappy, neutral backing with those prairie points as the inner border totally inspired me!

And I love the idea of using large ric-rak to add dimension to a flower:

Another blooming tree:

And I couldn't resist this story quilt from an obvious coffee lover:

Don't ya just love how BIG minky flowers can add so much to a simple charms square quilt:

FInally, I think we'd all love to have a pincushion as cute as this:

I think all the inspiration from a quilt show is wonderful.

Next week my inspiration post will be all about FMQ!

Until then, here's wishing that your days are full of Spring flowers.

Tuesday Archives #63:Rabbits

Welcome to the linky party that rejuvenates your old quilting/sewing posts! 

Please click here to read more about this linky party.  

This week's theme is: Rabbits/Bunnies

I knew immedietely Michelle from Raspberry Rabbits just had to be this week's highlighted blog! Last September I won this prize for my Pets on Quilts entry from Michelle:

Yes!! That's Ghirardelli chocolate!! And I love my little rabbit scissors!!

Her book has wonderful, easy to follow directions and templates that can easily be used for more than  just fusion...but applique and wool too.

Her Bunnyville employees, as she refers to them, are Harrington and Hannah.

They are just as cute as this Wild Hare pattern of Michelle's don't ya think!

June Birdhouse Banner (before)

My new happy mail is going to be some adorable Lily Ana Stitches seasonal wool banners. They will measure 8x11 1/2 when finished and hang on a cute little stand on our fireplace when done. This little wool birdhouse is the June banner. 

Kinda perfect for June as I know the birdhouses in our yard are certainly busy with nesting birds and they are always fun to watch after the babies hatch. So that's my slow stitching for the evenings this week. Other than that, just a quiet Sunday around here filled with household chores, giving dogs baths and a long Spring day walk. How about you?

H2H Finale: Rainbow Hexagons

It's hard to believe it was almost two years ago that I emptied my buckets of scrappy strips...

...and made this rainbow of hexagons: 

It's fun to see them finally put together into a quilt!

(I like the solid centers much better too.)

This quilt has been so much fun to create and it makes my heart smile knowing it's soon to be on it's way to be part of  Sarah's H2H Charity Challenge.  

 

I think this quilt will make the perfect Happy Chemo hug with it's soft red flannel backing and        cute polka-dot binding don't ya think?!

It's also the perfect lap size quilt finishing at 40"x60". (At least that's what I thought while I got to use it while binding it this week.) And I have to say, this Daisy May Pantograph is quickly becoming one of my favorite patterns to quilt. 

 Are ya wondering where my photo bombing Jackson is? I was too actually, until I spied him nearby, but I geuss too busy with all the Spring activities in the yard today to interrupt me.
(I mean be part of the photo shoot! LOL!!)

So it's time to get this one in the wash then packed up to send to a Happy Chemo recipient.

It's a soft rainy day here and with still 13 1/2 days of school left, I geuss I better get myself ready for work.(Can ya tell I'd rather stay home and sew. LOL!) Hope your Friday is great!