They arrived!

I came home tonight, and seen the mail. I seen an envelope addressed to me.. and Im thinking probably a late bday card.

To my surprise - it was my 50 petite needles!! Im so happpppy!! I took the picture, its so darn cute, and so tiny!

Thanks Missy for getting these for us!!

Best $9 Ive spent on stash in a long time.. he he Now I can thread up big time!!

Girls Quilt #1 Quilt Top Finish

Today I sat down and laid out the blocks for one of the girls quilt.

This was the result - all sewn together.

Hopefully I will have another quilt top finished soon.

Then I will need to purchase the backing fabric, batting and binding. And get started!

Winnie The Pooh Tree Skirt

As I was looking for the picture below on my computer, I found another one I wanted to share.

Last month, I was asked by a friend to help them make a tree skirt for their Christmas tree - a Winnie The Pooh premade printed tree skirt was purchased, and my job was to put it together.

The tree skirt was HUGE, and just at one half of the skirt too. But it was a little challenge to make, but I enjoyed it. I didn't use any batting as with the weight of the top and bottom fabrics was heavy enough. So I just put a detailed stitch around the ends, and I used 30 snowflake buttons to "quilt" the tree skirt. Where there was a printed snowflake, I put a button. Turned out really cute!

Pictured is only half of the quilted tree skirt. And I hope it enjoys its new home, and enjoys Christmas to come.

Another SFE reached its destination

I was blog hoppin this morning, and I noticed that my SFE was posted that it was received.

Here is the SFE I made for Mylene - her theme was Quaker 0r Summer. I went with my more favorite of the two. Its a freebie from The Workbasket, called Single Heart of Faith, Hope, and Love. I love the colors that fabric was - its from Dreams with Angels. I stitched it over 1 on 28ct. And made it into a magnet.

How I spent my Thanksgiving ...

Wow, have to say first of all. I still cant believe we just ate a whole bunch of turkey, mash potatoes, stuffing, scalloped corn, veggies, homemade apple pie. I still cant believe that Thanksgiving was celebrated today! Where are these days going... and they are going fast!!

Thanksgiving is such a deeply American holiday. It's a celebration of diversity. There are as many different "traditional Thanksgiving meals" as there are Americans.. and of hospitality. It's a day for welcoming strangers and extending kindness. Its about opening your doors and opening your hearts (and opening your mouth to wedge in that last bite of pie!).

Whatever made up your holiday meal, I hope it provided nourishment for your soul. For those who have loved ones far away, I send my hopes that you are reunited soon. For those who will be traveling home after this holiday, I wish you safe journeys. For those who cooked, I hope you had enthusiastic clean-up crews. To those who were on cleanup , I hope you had the ability to fit all the leftovers into the fridge. To Black Friday shoppers, I wish you quick reflexes and triumphant checkouts. I for one, will be spending it in bed! And for those deer hunters, I hope you found a nice rack to fill your walls, as I don't want my deer slayer on my Explorer to meet its match.

I was up alittle before 8am - I wanted to watch the Macy's Day Parade (I hope to attend it in 5 yrs - as my sister and I talked about going today - "when the girls are alittle older". I say - when Nat is 10!..LOL). I played alittle on the computer, chatted with a couple friends, and then it came on at 9am. I watched it on and off, as I was working on a quilt project.

I bet you cross stitchers that come to get inspiration, are moving on..LOL All I talk about now is quilting, quilting, quilting.... blah blah blah. Well, yep. I have started another quilt project, but get this.. its TWO quilt projects. The plan is to have them done by Dec 21st. Yesterday I ironed and cut all the strips. I worked on one quilt at a time, since its the same color fabrics for both. I didn't want to get them mixed up. Its the pattern from Atkinson Designs called Yellow Brick Road. I have used this pattern several quilts.. but this is the FIRST time I have actually followed the pattern..LOL For some reason I was always getting lost in the directions, and the sorta came out the way it should. So I'm happy to say I have it correct, this time.

We went over next door for our Thanksgiving dinner. My BIL, SIL, and their children, my MIL, Brian, and I enjoyed a nice dinner. I just brought a veggie plate, and the dressings for the lettuce salad. We had two turkeys. LOTS of food to fill the bellies, and a nice conversation around.

I was starting to fall asleep on the inlaws couch.. and I knew it was time to come home. So we came home, and I immediately got in my sweats, and I hit the sewing machine hard. I finished up on the 120 blocks (60 blocks per quilt) just alittle while ago. Now on the agenda is something I haven't done for a loooonnnnggg time. I'm going to get out Cabin in the Woods and put in a few stitches, as that is what I was thinking about as I was sewing away - and that was my reward for finishing up the blocks tonight.

Plan for tomorrow is to get the quilt blocks made into 2 Twin size quilt tops. Then.. I will work some on Cabin in the Woods. I think I can handle that.

Two finishies, and a weekend update

I'm participating in a Round Robin with a few SIQ members. For this month, I had Vickie's Mother's Wisdom RR visiting.

I selected to stitch "Dress Warm" & "Say Your Prayers".

They both were fast stitching. And I totally enjoyed stitching on them.

Here is a picture of what it looks like so far. It will be put in the mail on Wednesday and in transit to its next destination.

What else did I do this weekend ....

Well this weekend, I was ACTUALLY off for the whole weekend with nothing on the agenda. So, yesterday I finished up on the binding on the Bistro quilt, and I have to say ... DANG! It looks so awesome, and I can't wait to hear the reaction of the person receiving it. I have received word that they loved it so far.. now I cant wait to see it posted on their blog. (Cause I want to a pic once its on display in its new home... hint hint!!)

Last night, about 5:30ish - Brian and I were invited over to my inlaws. Just to fill you in - Brian's dad is 80, and is suffering from dementia ... BAD. I work in an Alzheimer's wing where I work, and there is no one there that is as bad as he is. Well, they live in a 3 bedroom home, and my FIL doesn't like to be at his home alone while he and my MIL sleep. So he likes to have us sleeping in the other room. So on an occasion - we get a phone call asking us to spend the night. Well last night, Brian had gone over earlier than I had. So I packed up some stitching and some movies. I get over there.. got my stitching out, and stitched away. We were sitting there, and Brian's dad goes.. "So where's your woman?"

I looked at his Dad, and then I looked at Brian.. and I just rolled my eyes. I said - "Im right here.. remember me, you are always calling me cutey!? And his dad goes, "Oh, I thought you were someone else". We are thinking that he thought Brian was another brother.

So, we are sitting there, all this time FIL was complaining, as he was complaining about the furnace running. It got to the point where my MIL had to go down stairs and close the vents to the registers. And it got on our nerves.

At 6:15pm - Brian's dad announces - he is going to bed. Brian and I both looked at each other, and our faces read, "We are going home!"

The plan was to spend the night. We weren't going to be doing that. There is no way that Brian and I were going to bed that early. As his parents are laying in bed, Brian could hear them talking. And three times, Brian's dad asked his mom... "They are not sleeping in the same bed are they?" The look on Brian's face was PRICELESS!! Brian's mom goes "They are married, they can do that sorta thing."

At about 6:45, both Brian and I were home (we live about 50 steps from his parents house), Brian called his mom to announce that we were home. And told her why we couldn't spend the night. God Bless that lady's heart, as she has been with his for 62 years on the 30th.

So then, last night, I finished up on "Say Your Prayers". This morning I slept in alittle, made lunch, and started playing around on the computer. I hope you noticed that I couldn't take it any longer. And I have to say - it wasn't that bad! Yep, I converted my blog from Template to Layout. I think I have it the way I like.. but I'm still playing with it.

Well I suppose its time to relax for the evening, and watch a couple movies - I have Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 1 & 2 to watch... and I think I'm going to just veg and enjoy the evening.

How I spent my birthday

Well I managed to roll out a bed at 11am this morning. Thought.. wait a minute - if I don't get up now, I'm going to spend my bday in bed..LOL

So, I got up, and played alittle on the computer - deleted over 1200 emails from last week when we were down state. Then we headed up to Iron River for a few things. Stopped at the drug store, to drop off a prescription . Then it was off to my favorite store in IR - Wardo's, and I picked up the fabric, batting, and thread I needed to finish the Bistro table runner.

Stopped at the store and got a few other things.. batteries were on the list. Brian treated me to McD's (drive thru of course). We got home, and I got busy!

I finished up on the Bistro table runner - I LOVE how it turned out! All I have left to do hand stitch the binding around the table runner. I used two charm packs on this table runner, and only have about 4 squares left. It measures 20" by 76".

Snapfish Addict

My sister and I share our account.. and we did up a photo book for our dad, with pictures from his benefit. OH WOW, the photo book turned out wonderful! It was so good, that our Dad requested we get another photo book. My sister is getting another photo book for a Christmas present. The quality is so good! We have received several of our printed photo's from Snapfish. We find that they are better than WalMart and the Kodak picture maker. (And cheaper) So have a look around Snapfish, you wont be disappointed! I'm off to place another order!

You can check out Snapfish by using their 20 FREE print offer. Well worth it!

~Kim~

Visit Snapfish today!

If the invite doesnt work - email me at upnorthxstitching@gmail.com and I will get your the invite.

And - today (Nov 18th) they are offering FREE shipping - 20 free prints + free shipping = FREE PICTURES!!

WIP of Quilt Alphabet Sampler

While waiting to go to the post office (as I have a couple things to mail out), I thought I would post a WIP picture of QAS.

Im halfway finished with it now! Love how its turning out!!

Some pictures..

I was going thru my pictures from last week, while down by the family - and I just love how this one turned out!!

Here are the girls - Kaylee and Natalie while at the hospital.

My sister Amy, enjoying herself. (Heck we all enjoyed playing with the Mr. Potatohead!)

Brian - He got a nerve the night before to shave off his beard.

Home

I wanted to post that my dad came home yesterday from the hospital. He is back to normal. We went out for lunch today for my Mom's, Dad's and my birthdays.

He sure gave us a scare!

Thanks again for all those that showed their care by leaving a message, and emailing me. It means alot!

Dad Update.

Dad is doing good, but his memory is really bad. Just to describe something he had a hard time. He couldn't even remember, what he had to for lunch. The nurse asked him some questions, and he couldn't answer a couple - example the month, but he knew it was the day after my Mom's birthday. We spent a few hours in the hospital with Dad & Mom. The girls had their Mr Potato Head toys, and Wizard of Oz dolls, and we passed the time playing a question game.

He had some tests today, and he will be hopefully discharged tomorrow.

I just wanna say a thank you to those that commeted to the other post, and for those emailing me with their prayers, and concerns. It means so much, and it actually warms my heart. THANK YOU!

What a day..

Brian and I are down at my sister's. My dad had a stroke this afternoon.

We came down, as it was a really bad stroke. As of right now, he is doing good. Got his speech back, grasp, and is moving his arms. Im not sure how long we will be down. He will have to have additional test tomorrow to see how extent the damage is.

Its my Mom's bday today - my sister, her girls, my brother and his fiancee, his son, my parents went out for lunch. They were all sitting down at the resturant, and it happen.

They watched him have the stroke. He was transported to the hospital in the ambulance. My sister called me at work, and her first words were, "You have to come now.

Will post more when we know more.

Noooooooooooooooooooooooo!!

This is our second snowfall of the year, and this time it stuck. All I can say is .. MELT!!

Prefect weather for spending time with the sewing machine, today.

WIP Picture of QAS

Here is a WIP picture of the Quilt Alphabet Sampler. I love it!

I've been slowly stitching away on it. Try to stitch on it, when I can. But since I've been working on other projects.. its slowly coming along.

Gosh she's 1 already!

Yesterday, my youngest niece turned 1. This proud Godmother had to work this weekend, and couldn't make the trip down.

But I had this picture waiting for me when I got home. I think she enjoyed her cake!!

Happy 1st Birthday Lindsey!! (Winzee, as her cousin calls her...LOL)

Bistro Charm Packs

Gosh, I'm craving coffee since opening these charm packs, that arrived in the mail today.

Here are the charm packs from Moda, and Deb Strain's new fabric line - Bistro. I love the colors!!

Look forward to see what becomes of these squares.

Preview of a finish

I have a finish I need to keep hidden. Its for someone, and I dont want to ruin the surprise.

Look at it this way, its two men. And its finished into an ornament.

Will be able to share next month.

Timber Creek Charm Quilt

Well, its finished. The quilt top, made with the charm packs of fabrics from the Timber Creek (Moda), is finished!

I finished it up this afternoon. I actually had to frog off a row, as it was too long. Would have been longer if I had added the borders, so off it went. Its all flannels, so its going to be nice and warm. I had to use additional cuts from the solid flannels I had on hand here. So that's why you see just solid blocks.

How I made the quilt is, I took the 5" squares, and I sewed them into a 9 patch. Then I cut the big square in half, both ways. Then sewed them back together, in an arranged pattern.

The border was Brian's selection. The more I was thinking on it - we have orange carpet..LOL No wonder he picked the orange for the border, to coordinate the carpet. I will be picking up the batting and backing material soon. Then I will be either tying, or machine quilting. I'm not sure yet.

I have a few more quilt projects I need work on. And I'm waiting on another arrival of charm packs. Cant wait to play with them, and see what I can come up with.. he he.

Grr!!

We have a local radio station that hosts a call in show, and they have trivia contests.

Well the prize for the question was a $160 package to the Mall of America.

The question was.. "On the Sun-Maid Raisin box, what year did the model, Lorraine Petersen pose for the painting that is showcased on the box?"

I immediately Googled for the answer, found the Sun-Maid website with all the info, and I did a quick read, and dialed the phone.

My first (correct) response was ... "1915." "Nope." Was told to keep trying. (1915 was the year she was discovered and asked to do the painting, which was done)

Called back - said "1916." "Not right, but close." (In 1916, the original version of the Sun-Maid trademark was put on the product.)

So I gave up. I waited to hear the question again. Someone else beat me to the incorrect answer. GRRR She said "1914, and figured since she (I) was wrong twice, that she would go down in years" and won the $160 package to the Mall of America.

That ruined my day!!

I have since researched the answer, and no where I have found 1914 to be the correct year.

So, some useless trivia I know the answer too.

One vote from me!

Just returned from our town hall, where Brian and MIL were handed paper ballots, and I went to the voting machine.

I have to say it was faster for them to mark their X's, compared to me touching the screen.

All I have to say is..

Wizard of Oz - Halloween 2008

If you have been following my blog.. you may have see that my niece is a HUGE Wizard of Oz movie watcher. She has seen it more than I have in my lifetime - and she is only 5.

Well, a little over a month ago, we put on Freecycle that we were looking for a Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. I did get a couple replies, and two dresses. The first dress just fit. And I had the fortunate chance to be contacted again and we were able to get a homemade dress. My sister picked up the dress, and had alterations done to it so Natalie would be comfortable in it.

The alterations were made this past week, and my sister was able to pick up a pair of red glitter shoes for Natalie. And was able to buy a basket to complete her costume. So here she is as Dorothy. (BTW, thats my Mom on the steps, infront of the house I grew up in.)

My future sister inlaw Jenny made Conway's Scarecrow costume. Isnt he cute!!

And Wicked Witch of the West (a.k.a Kaylee), had a great time! My sister picked up the costume at a rummage sale, and also had the costume altered to make it more Kaylee sized.

Everyone thought the costumes were cute, and really loved Kaylee's green face..LOL

They arrived!!

My charm packs arrived on Thursday, and by Thursday evening I was sewing them into 9 patch blocks.

I had purchased 5 charm packs, and I had additional fabric here to work with. So the solids on the left I had cut out into 5" squares. I had 145 blocks from the charm packs, and 110 with the solids, so I will have way more than I need.

So far I have the blocks sewn in strips of three, and need to sew them all together, and then I will go from there. Im really excited to work with flannels, as I LOVE working with them!!