Drive by posting...

that's what it feels like! Driving by to drop a post of .. "I'm still here!"

Been one busy girl! Hope to find more time to post a few things.. especially the SFE, and PIF that I'm waiting to hear about when they arrive to their destination.

Still getting ready for the quilt show that is this weekend in Iron River. I'm vending - so for the past week I have been packing up the shop, and taking it on the road this weekend to the quilt show. I'm about 80% ready, and go today to set up at the museum, where the quilt show is being held. I worked on my demo last night, but it sounds soooo choppy. But I'm going to leave it.. gives me a base to talk about. I'm "demo-ing" about the internet.. how the internet is a unlimited source of free tips. techniques and patterns.

Yesterday got all my information typed up about Quilt Pink for our shop on Sept 29th, come to find out its the weekend before! &$#@!! I'm going to hold the Quilt Pink on the 29th, so I have to go back and change all the signs with new ones I had to make again last night. ARGH!! Don't know where I got Sept 29th from, besides I cant be there anyways that weekend before, since I work at the nursing home.

Well - I suppose, get my butt in gear.. Got some things I gotta do here yet, and then its off to the quilt shop, pack and unpack.. blah.. LOL Have a great weekend!!

Kat O Plenty - CC Vickie's RR FINISHED

Saturday night I finished up on a model that I had received 16 days earlier. It was a solid stitch of 97 X 97, and it stitched up rather quickly. Even the backstitching went fast. Its now back on its way to the designer. I will post a picture once its published.

Late very early Sunday morning Saturday night, I began on Vickie's Round Robin. She selected the Kats by Kelly - the 12 month series from Calico Crossroads. I selected "Kat O Plenty" - November to stitch (reason - my birthday month). I did start the first 15 minutes of the RR, ripping it out. ARGH! I should have followed the directions better. But it turned out cute! Its stitched on 18ct white aida with DMC & Crescent Colours (Fall Leaves) for the border. Its now off to Indiana, for the next stitcher. Took less than 5 hrs to stitch it.

Breast Cancer Fob Contest

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Another contest is being held on Stitch Pink - this time for a pink and white beaded scissors fob, with a pink breast cancer charm. Too cute! If you would like a chance to win, please visit the Stitch Pink blog.

SBQ - Sept 6th

Today's SBQ is:

Would you ever stitch one of your BAPs a second time? (This does not include starting over because of mistakes, bad fabric, etc., rather stitching something from the first stitch for a second time.)

Yes, I would stitch Game Board Sampler over, and I have been offered several time to do so. But no one has come back to say that they would love for me to stitch it for them.
I have restitched a BAP twice in the past. It was a model for Moonflower Designs - it was a daffodil, stitched it in orange and brown.

A comment was left asking what a "BAP" is... it stands for Big A$$ Project.

Someone had fun

Something must have been really good to end up with a face like this. Here is Kaylee Maizer, as her sister calls her.

Check out this picture of my nephew, Conway.. looks like he had fun at our cottage over the weekend... LOL He is all boy -Play hard, sleep hard!!

While we stayed home to clean the house over the Labor Day weekend, the rest of my family went to our cottage. My brother's gf took the pictures and my sister emailed them on to me to see.

Found out from my sister - Kaylee's face shows the aftermath of S'mores. :)

Tagged - Middle Name

Carolyn posted to my comments that she tagged me. Here goes...

The rules:
1. You have to post these rules before you give the facts.
2. Players, you must list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of your middle name.
3. If you don’t have a middle name, use the middle name you would have liked to have had. When you are tagged you need to write your own blog-post containing your own middle name game facts.
4. At the end of your blog-post, you need to choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag.
5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

My middle name is Marie.

M - Melissa was going to be my first name, but my parents decided it would be too many M's, M.M.M.
A - I love being an Aunt to my nieces, Natalie, Katie, Kaylee, and nephew Conway!
R - Runaway Bride was my first movie that I went alone to see at the theater, and actually saw it again the following day with my parents.
I - Interested in going back to school - I wanna give myself a challenge. Most likely to do with computers.
E - Emails are the first thing I check when I get on the computer daily.

I tag the following bloggers - M - Michele, A - Aussie Stitcher, R - Rachel, I - Irene, E - Elaine

FAO Shutterbug

Find out why this is posted, check it out... here.

My FAVORITE Summer Salad!

Tonight I decided to make burgers on the grill, and I was pondering what to make, besides. Checked the fridge, found the tomato, the green pepper, the cucumber. And prayed I still had an onion. Yep, I did.

I LOVE this salad. And its sooo simple to make. If you can measure and cut, you got yourself a salad!!

My Mom taught me how to make it. We just call it the Green Pepper, Onion, Cucumber, Tomato salad (in no practical order.. LOL)

What you need is a -

Medium cucumber

Medium Green Pepper

Medium Onion

Medium Tomato

Cut those all up, over the top pour equal amounts of Oil, Vinegar, and sugar. Stir up, and serve!

Mmm that was good!

Sampler Game Board - FRAMED

Yes, you read that right! Sampler Game Board, from Drawn Thread is finally FRAMED!! I have no idea while it took me this long!!

I chose a black block style frame with the aged (sanded) edges. It turned out AWESOME! Its going to be hung on the wall this weekend. Thanks to all that gave motivation and a little enabling during this SAL.

When, Brian and I were picking out the frame for this design - I wanted something that was very similar to the picture of the mode. Well I think, we did well.


Here is a picture of the edge of the frame, you can see that sanded look.










Here I am with the framed Sampler Game Board. Its so exciting!!

Where did August go!?!

.Yep, still here. Busy is a light word to say. With working more days a week, I have to cram everything else into a day off. :) I had one today, and I was busy from the time I woke up, till the time I took a 2 hr nap.. LOL

Last night, I finished up a finish, but I cant post pictures - as the recipient of the finish reads this blog, so no peaking! Clue, its a Snowman!!

Yesterday I received a model job in the mail, and started on it once I got the finish done. Its stitching up really fast! Lots of stitching to be done, that's for sure. But I'm enjoying every stitch!

What else did I do today. Well besides stitching on the model, I worked on a Wildlife panel that we have at work, and I wanted to make it into a display. Today I quilted it with my sewing machine - I found that if I talked nice to the machine it let me do what I wanted to do with it. It turned out really nice!! I just have to hand stitch the binding on, and it will be finished. I'm going to put a branch on the top for a hanger. So I should be taking a walk out in the woods one of these days. :)

Yesterday, while at work at the quilt shop, I had a rep from Blank Quilting stop by and I got to pick out some new fabric selections. :) That was fun!! But I find that some of those fabrics, are like, 'what were they thinking when they designed that'. I have come to realize (which I have known all along) people have different taste. Enough said. The rep left me a freebie for fat quarters. And inside there was this pattern for a travel bag. Ive been wanting to make a bag for so long! Prefect opportunity! We have this print that has been selling good, but I thought, what the heck, that would make an awesome bag! So I picked out the fabric, and the marble prints to go with the fabric.

This afternoon, I started on the bag. I got the layers sewn together, but Ive gotten to the pocket. And I have an issue with it. The directions tell me to "(the pocket) Place on top of lining side of bag, overlapping the raw edge to the center seam by 1/2". Sew through the center seam of the bag. Trim; press towards other side of lining, enclosing the seam. Top stitch 1" from center seam through one outer layer, batting, lining, and pocket on end of the bag." Ok, does that sound confusing to you, cause it does to me.. LOL I'm a picture kind of person, and reading directions, sometimes doesn't do it for me. I would rather have someone show me, or have it illustrated for me. Oh well, I will tackle this bag again, another day.

What else - umm did 3 loads of laundry, and hung on the line.. Like I said, took a 2 hr nap. Made chicken in the crock pot, which was yummy.

Couple days ago, I got all the flying geese blocks all sewn together - all 80 of them! Now its off to make the opposite block, which is just a square with borders. So those should go fast, just need to cut out the fabric, and I can get started on them. :)

Oh yeah!! I got a call today from the framer - the Game Board Sampler is DONE!!! YAHOO!! Its been a long month.. he he. I will post pictures when I get it home tomorrow night!

Thanks to those that left anniversary wishes! (Our 5th anniversary was on Friday). We just spent the day at home. I wanted it that way. :)

Hey Guess What!

I now have a EASIER site for the QSnap Huggers!! I got it it's own domain name - so, change you bookmarks to www.qsnaphuggers.com How cool is that! 'Bout time I did it!!

I have all the fabric selections shown on the site - no need to click off the site, its all right there.

If you have purchased a QSnap Hugger from me, Im looking to show it off. :) Would love to display it on the site. Please email me your pictures to upnorthxstitching @gmail.com. THANKS!

Win a QSnap Hugger!!

Over on the Stitch Pink blog - Im hosting a contest. Win a 8" QSnap Hugger! Click the Stitch Pink logo for more info. Thanks!

New Fabric for QSnap Huggers

This past weekend - I had the opportunity to go fabric shopping!! I have added 13 new fabric selections for QSnap Huggers. Check out the QSnap Hugger site --- and find the fabric selections in the fabric link.

SBQ - August 15 (yeah Im late)

Last week's (LOL) SBQ was suggested by Jennifer and is:

How did you get started stitching? Was there a person that inspired you?

When my cousin was working at a magazine distrubitor when I was in middle school, my aunt would pass on the magazines that my cousin picked from the excess magazines that weren't sold. So that started my love of cross stitch! I still have some of those magazines. There wasn't really a person that inspired me - my mom is a knitter, and no one else in the family did cross stitch.

Gosh - they grow up so fast!!

Check out this picture taken January 22, 2006

And then look at this picture taken today - August 19, 2007

Gosh, where has time gone - they grew up too cute!!

How I spent my weekend

My sister and her hubby had plans to go the Nascar race in Michigan this past weekend. Well the deal of it all was to have my sister's MIL watch the girls part of the weekend, and my Mom to watch them the rest of the weekend. I thought - what weekend is that!?! Yep, I have off - I volunteered Brian and myself to watch the girls, while they went to the race.

Friday night - I had made arrangements for a coworker to cover the rest of my evening shift, so I could get on the road early enough to surprise my oldest niece, who had no idea that her Aunt Kim and Uncle Brian were going to be staying with them for the weekend. We headed out from home about 5:30p, and made it to our destination around 8:40p. My parents were there as I had invited them over to watch the reaction of Natalie (who will be 4 in Oct) as we made our entrance. The main door to the apartment was open, so we walked back to their apartment door. I knocked, and my Mom answered. Kaylee (who is 20 months) came out to investigate, but took off like she was shot out of a pistol. LOL it was really cute! I couldn't get close enough to her as she clung to my sister. I found out that Natalie was playing upstairs with a friend. Nat was aware of a surprise coming, but she had no idea it was us.

We (my sis, Kaylee, my parents, Brian and I) went upstairs to see Natalie's reaction. My sister knocked on the door, and said to Nat, "come here, someone is here to see you". Nat came out, and we were kinda hiding around the corner of the door. The look on her face, was the look of about to cry. It was too cute! It happen so fast, but it sure felt good to get a hug from her!

We told her that Brian and I would be staying with her and Kaylee while Mom and Dad went to the races. She was one happy girl! We headed down to their apartment and got our stuff from the truck. We had brought our bikes along and we have one of those bike trailers that the kids can ride in. Brian was soon giving bike rides around the parking lot. The girls really enjoyed it. It was after 11p when we got back inside and settled into bed.

I was up at 8:30a - when my sister got up. We kinda hung around the house, and made arrangement for Brian, Nat, Kaylee, and myself to meet up with my parents for the day. It was kinda funny, as Brian had asked how long we were to be gone, well I said, maybe 3 - 4 hrs. Well I was wrong, 10 hrs later, we made it home. We had gone to Appleton and did some shopping @ Fleet Farm, JoAnn's, Hancock Fabrics, and WalMart. We even took the time to eat.. LOL We had a nice lunch at Ponderosa. I have to share - when Natalie and I were shopping at Hancock Fabrics - Nat said to me "you are my best friend" what a great feeling to be told that by a 3 yr old - when you only get to see her every other month. And besides, while talking with my sister's MIL, she commented to me, that "Natalie just adores you!"

We headed back to my parent's house for a little relaxing time - we ended up taking a ride towards Oshkosh, as my dad had seen an Explorer (which I really liked) at a dealer and wanted to show it to me. We ended up having dinner at Brian's favorite restaurant when we are down visiting with my family at the Wedgewood in Omro.

We finally made it home after 10pm. Gave the girls a bath, and finally got them asleep at midnight. Guess what time I was up with them the next morning - well I knew it was going to happen and it did. Kaylee had gotten up, and well, she wanted, Mom. We ended up getting up to watch some tv at 5:30am! Nat joined us, but we had to be quiet as Uncle Brian was asleep on the couch. We had brought our air mattress along, and after a pop tart and something to drink. The girls and I laid down and watch cartoons - finally we all fell asleep about 8am, and I was back up about 8:45am. So working on little sleep - I made us scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast.

We took the girls for a bike ride before my parents came to pick us up for the day. It had stopped raining - so we thought we better get a ride in now before it started to rain again. Well we managed to do a lap around Marble Park to come home cause of the rain. Darn rain - it rained from Saturday morning till Sunday afternoon.






Sunday afternoon, my parents took us on a little ride around the area. We made a stop at our cottage to drop something off (haven't been to our cottage in almost a year) . While we were at dinner, my sister called to say that the Nascar race was postponed till Monday cause of the rain. So it was funny as the babysitter (me) had to make arrangements with another babysitter (my Mom) to watch the girls, but since she had a meeting Monday night, she had to make arrangements with another babysitter (my brother's gf) to watch the girls.. LOL
We got back to the apartment about 5, and decided to take a bike ride, since Nat was begging to go for one again, and besides it wasn't raining. We (Brian and I) rode our bikes, which Brian towed the girls in the trailer to The Well two miles away. My parents followed us in their vehicle. We had a treat of ice cream and a soda. Brian, Nat, Kaylee, and I headed back to their house. When we got back, I took the girls for a walk around the park, of course it was again raining. We got back we put our pjs on to have a slumber party. We just hung out and relaxed. I took advantage of some stitching time. Well Kaylee now likes to stitch!! She had fun watching me stitch and was tickled to help pull on the needle to make the stitch.


The girls were fast asleep about 10p, so I put them to bed in their beds, came back to do some more stitching - but that didn't last long, as I thought I would just close my eyes and relax. Well I fell fast asleep on the couch, and woke up when Brian sat down on the couch 30 minutes later. I then put myself to bed. I slept in the bed with Natalie, and Kaylee was in her crib. We all got out of bed at 9:30am - and I had to wake Kaylee up!

We got dressed and decided to take our last bike ride. We ended up riding to the post office, and then took another ride around Marble Park. We loaded up our bikes on to the truck, and then headed inside to begin to pack. After our lunch of grilled cheese sandwiches, chicken noodle soup, and grapes - Nat and Brian had tattoos put on their arms. It was too cute!

We made alot of memories over the weekend, and having that special bonding time with the girls was well worth it. Nat only had one time out (she wasn't naughty - but it was for something that she said. We had to put an end to what she was talking about).... its amazing what those little ears will pick up, and what comes out of their mouths. Kaylee - well her favorite word was "No" She earned the nickname - "Fawn" those little feet can move. She is soo cute when she runs - she seems so grown up for her age.

I had asked on Saturday night, if they were having fun - I said:
Brian did you enjoy your day - Yes
Natalie did you enjoy your day - Yes
I enjoyed my day
Kaylee, did you enjoy your day - No LOL


I miss them already - and told Natalie that Mom and Dad need to go away more often over night.. LOL


The only sad thing about this weekend, my sister and her hubby never got to see the race, as it was rained out on Monday also. So they were heading home, when we left.

I was informed that Mare has received her SFE (Small Finish Exchange that we are doing on ILCS).

She said she loved it, and said it was sooo cute! Im happy with her reaction! As I loved it myself. I had a "ball" making it. Yep, there is alittle ball of yarn hanging off the bottom. The design is from Stitchy Kitty - and was a freebie, called "Meow Spoken Here" - I did stitch the cat black, as the theme for Mare's SFE was black cats/stitchy humor.

Stitch Pink

I have created a new blog - Ive been thinking about doing this for some time now. If you would like to check it out, please do.

If you would like to be a member of the site, please post a comment with your details, and I will get back to you. :)

Click here to go to the other blog -

http://www.stitchpink.blogspot.com/

Thanks! ~Kim~

Garden Pleasures LHN - FINISHED

Yes you read that right. I have finished "Garden Pleasures" from Little House Needleworks. Stitched it over one on 28ct evenweave - not sure of the color of the fabric as it was a remnant. It was slow going, but that was my fault.

I stitched it with the DMC #'s it called for - and I'm thankful that the designer included the DMC #s with this design rather than just having the dyed fibers - which I really don't care for. Yep, I'm cheap.. LOL

I did make some more progress on my quilt project - made 80 complete flying geese blocks, only have 80 more to go! Just wanted to share the first 80 with you! he he

Have today off, have it jammed packed already with things to do. Going to go and hang my first load of laundry up for the day. Thanks to my clothes line that DH made for me a few years back, I don't have to hang my clothes out like Cathey does.. he he She made a funny comparison to our internet satellite dish being on our outhouse. Which it actually is.. LOL

Yes.... Im still alive!!

I appreciate all the traffic I have thru out the week! Thanks for stopping by! And to those that leave comments.. THANK YOU!!

Yes, as I said in the title... I'm still alive!! It's been a week since I last posted to my blog, and all all I can say is.. I've been B.U.S.Y.! I had worked Thursday - Saturday, had Sunday off. Worked Monday - Tuesday, and had today off.

Thursday while at the quilt shop, I had a quilting friend ask if I would like to do a demo at a quilt show in September. I'm actually going to be a vendor at the show also for the quilt shop. I was sorta put on the spot for a theme.. but I had it before she left - I thought I would spread the word about the internet being a wonderful source of free tips regarding the quilting process, and the evermore abundance of free quilting patterns online. And, also the never ending inspiration you can find looking at someone else's quilts while doing a blog search, and so on.

I really haven't focused on my whole talk... which leads into Saturday. While working at the quilt shop, I had a nice customer comment on a quilt that I made the quilt top for (its not been machine quilted yet), that is being shown as a model. Well one thing lead to another, and she kindly asked if I could make a quilt top for her, using the same material and the pattern on the quilt top. I was very honored 1) being asked to make it for this lady, a person that I had only met a few minutes, 2)making this quilt top again, as I loved making it the first time, and well I guess I can say 3) actually having a source for my demo!!

You see, the quilt's pattern was found online by my quilting mentor, and it was free! So there is the whole focus of my demo... using the quilt as the source of the internet search to find the pattern along with the matching material (which was ordered - but I'm not sure if the material was actually ordered to go with the pattern).. see its amazing what you will find online!!

Ok, so Saturday night I washed the material, and Sunday I was whacking away! I managed to get 40 of the blocks completed - which is like half of the quilt. I started with the easy block. Cause as you can see... I had to cut out 320 - 2 3/4" square blocks! And me, being me - I had to sketch 320 black lines across the square so I can stitch a straight line to make the flying geese blocks.. LOL So here is my progress so far. I wanted to get this post finished before I worked on sewing the squares on to make the flying geese.

Umm lets see, on Sunday, Bri and I went over to Iron Mountain - I had to get some things... and would you know, I had left my list at home. I did very well, but I knew I had to get buttons ... for something. Well I pondered what for.. and for the life of me, I couldn't remember! Go figure!

Well, Tuesday at the quilt shop, it dawned on me what I needed the buttons for!! I need 4 black buttons for the Witch and Santa's eyes. I'm at the point where I can start stitching on the applique. But I wanted the buttons to make it complete. So the two have been put aside for now.

What else... I've been stitching, and making little progress. I still plugging away on Garden Pleasures, but its slow going. Have too much else going on, you can say. Ive been making QSnap Huggers, and its been awesome! I'm getting to point I'm running out of material on some of the fabric selections, and I hope to get more fabrics soon!

Check this out.. I'm going to be starting on Inspirations from Rosewood Manor, on Oct 1, with a SAL with Vickie! We had talked about doing a SAL together, and she decided on a date. I ordered my material, and have received it already. I special ordered a piece of Khaki from Sassy's. The size of the fabric is 32ct Jobelan - 23" x 27" - so take 6" away from those numbers and you will get the size of the finished design!! WOWSERS!! Can I say BIG!! I picked up the floss today, well of course only got one skein of each, and since putting the link in for the chart, I see I need additional skeins.. LOL Sure did my research on this chart! I thought to myself today - gosh, that doesn't seem like its going to be enough floss.

What else can I share... umm I have to work Thursday - Sunday. Off Monday, work Tuesday - Friday, and then a week from Saturday - I get to move for the weekend!! Get to watch my nieces till Monday! Can't wait! Its going to be a surprise till we get there, as my sister can not take the excitement that her oldest gives her. Mwah, cause excitement!?! LOL (For those ladies that attended the retreat with me, you know who I'm talking about!.. LOL) We were chatting last night, and we were talking about our arrival, and I said, "well Nat can stay up till we get there", and it was decided that we will let her sleep, and she will see us in the morning, and I said "Just think of the surprise on her face then!", my sister's response - "yeah she would shit her pants!!! That I don't have to think too hard, as she would.. LOL

Well I think I have written enough to catch up on the week. Had a bday in the family - Happy 27th Birthday Scott (my youngest brother)