Happy New Years!

2011 is almost upon us!! Are you ready??? I would like to think I am, but I might just be kidding myself! LOL I did make my annual inventory list and have my  UFO list for the Backporch Friends UFO challenge, so I should have more fodder for my blog within a few weeks.

Do you have any New Years resolutions? I do make them, and frequently break them too! LOL One of my biggest resolutions is to keep up better with the blogging and finish more projects in 2011. Diet and exercise always seems to end up on my resolutions list as well!

I'm spending the last afternoon of 2010 in my sewing room, working on the string blocks for Bonnie Hunter's latest mystery quilt, Roll Roll Cotton Boll and watching cheesy zombie flicks on the Chiller Channel! Oh and I did put up the glitzy disco ball blog wallpaper in honor of ushering in the new year!

Wishing you and your families a very Happy and Healthy New Year for 2011! And I hope we finish all our UFOs in this coming year!!

Here I am!!

Yes, here I am :) And when I looked at the date for my previous post, I was a moment of true embarrassment! LOL I think those months have been lost in time somewhere..if you see them let me know as I'm still looking for them! LOL




Ok..enough of my poor excuses for not blogging...here is a short update on some of my most recent projects. I attended a recent baby shower and finished off the Playful baby quilt for the mom-to-be! It came out super cute!






 I also used a freebie pattern found here from Pat Sloan to make several of these flannel snowflake pillows! They use a standard bed pillow as the insert and are WONDERFUL for the sofa! I think I will have to make several different covers for this as I don't think Bill will give it up once the holidays are over! LOL

We are all decorated for the holidays over here and I am currently working on Bonnie Hunter's latest mystery quilt, Roll Roll Cotton Boll! I will post more about that later this weekend..honest I will :)

Barb's blog giveaway!!

Hey Everyone! Did you think I"d fallen off the face of the earth? LOL No, I've just been having some issues with my slowly-dying laptop! That's been resolved though...by buying a nice NEW laptop!! woohoo! So I will be able to surf, blog hop and post at lightening-speed now!

My friend Barb is celebrating her 100th blog post with a giveaway, so go check her out! She does wonderful things with beads and fabric...she is my beading hero! LOL

Click here for her blog!

Since THIS post is my own 100th, I will be having a giveaway soon to celebrate as well! So check back within the week for my own giveaway!!

Buttermilk Basin giveaway!!

Quickly, get over to Buttermilk Basin's blog and enter to win some FREE PATTERNS!! woohoo! I just love her stuff, as you can probably tell from some of my own blog entries!!

Some Mid-Week Minis!

Here's a few more of my minis that I finished recently. 

 

This one is from the Jo Morton Little Women Club 8, which took place last year. I'm also doing club 9, although at this time "doing" consists of fondling the JM fat quarters and looking at the other ladies finished projects in the email newsletter LOL. Hey, I can live vicariously through my fellow quilters, can't I? 

 And this little quilt is from a series offered by Farmhouse Woolens, one of my favorite shops!  

2010 is turning out to be the "Summer of the Mini" for me! Wonder what this next season will bring...I predict a wooly Fall ! Well we still have many weeks to go til then, so only time will tell :)

Lil' Taste of Summer

Here's a few pics of the my garden in front of our townhouse..ahhhh...I just love Summer!!

I love the macro setting on my camera..makes me look like I actually know what I'm doing! LOL 

Summer is so short..enjoy it's beauty while you can!!

A Woolie Ol' Glory

I just love Buttermilk Basin patterns! I purchased this little wall quilt kit from Karen Perry of Farmhouse Woolens and it worked up super quick! And came out just so cute! I cheated..I didn't even quilt it, just tied a few buttons on..so shhhh don't tell the "quilt police" :)

It's another scorcher of a day out there again today..hmmmm...I guess I won't feel so guilty if I stay in and sew some more then! LOL

A Bitty Finish

Yes folks, don't fall off your seats, but I finished MORE THAN ONE PROJECT TODAY!! woohoo for summer staycations! LOL

These little framed woolies are from the pattern Itty Bitty Button Pictures from All Through the Night patterns! They worked up fast and were alot of fun!  Gosh, will I be as prolific tomorrow as I was today? Is this the start of a new trend? Or more like a fluke of nature? LOL

I'd put money on the fluke...but only tomorrow will tell :)

First finish of my Summer Vacation!

I finished my first vacation project and just LOVE how it came out! The whole pillow front is wool with perle cotton buttonholing and embroidery and the back is a cotton print. 

It's been unbearably hot here for the last few days...temps in the high 90's and today is no exception! I was up super-early this morning and just couldn't stay in bed, so it was a good morning to finish this pillow up and move on to something else :) Luckily there is NO shortage of quilting projects in my house LOL

Just had to share!!

These pics are just too precious to NOT share!!! I made my youngest great-niece Susannah a cute quilt, and her mom, my niece Stephanie, posted pics on Facebook of both her kids and their "auntie robin" quilts! She has SUCH cute kids I just had to share :)

Susannah and her girlie-girl quilt!

And her big brother, Bryan with his jungle quilt!

Seeing these two cuties with their quilts reminds me so very much of why I love to do what I do!! Every scrap of fabric and piece of thread becomes a labor of love for those who mean the very most to me!! Oh oh..I better stop now..Auntie Robin's gonna cry :)

So tell me why do YOU do what you do?? And does it bring a tear to your eye sometimes? LOL Dang, I think the older I get the mushier I get!!

A Special Finish!

My great-niece Kristine graduated HS this year...so as the first of the "greats", I decided to make her a lap quilt in honor of her graduation! 

Here's the beautiful Graduate!

And here's her quilt! 

And a peek at her label and the quilting too :)

A 9-patch Project!

Who doesn't like a New Project!! Over at Quilting Possibilities in NJ, they are hosting a 9-patch project, and Peg, Michelle and I are going for it! Here are my scrappy little 4.5" finished ditties so far!!

We're going to shoot for 1 block a day, as per the project guidelines, and we'll see what creative settings that folks post on the project Facebook page as we go along!!

Can I cook yet?

Yes I can!!! After 7 long weeks, My kitchen is finished! (well pretty much, just a few small things more for me to do)

Here's some before and afters!

 I'm thrilled with how the kitchen and breakfast area came out! I do think I need a quilt for that big red wall though :) And it's all finished before the start of the summer season too!! woohoo!! Now to get some quilts done!

Ready for Retreat!!

Yes it's THAT time of year again!!! Quilt retreat is upon us and I'm heading out to Peg's in NJ in the wee wee WEE hours of the morning tomorrow! We'll drive to Indiana and should arrive by 6pm Tuesday night. We've got some shopping and lots of sewing and gabbing planned!!! Just can't wait to see all the girlies and get some well deserved R&R!! Be back in a week, see you then!


 

A Grouted Floor and a Challenge Finish!

Well our floor is finally finished and grouted!!! Yahooo!!

Our contractor has promised us that our kitchen will be finished, minus the countertop, by Wednsday afternoon! After 4 weeks without a kitchen, I am SO glad it's almost finished!!

Since I haven't been much in the "cooking"
department, I have taken advantage of the free time to complete a BPF UFO Challenge quilt, Fresh Traditions! This will go to the newest addition in our family, my great-niece Susannah! I just have to put a label on it and mail it on it's way up north!

I did some digging in the dirty this afternoon, it is like a mid-summer's day out there today! I will take some pics of my flowers later this season, when they all start to bloom :)

Hope you all are enjoying a fabulous Sunday!

Robin

A little finish!

And it's a VERY little finish! LOL This is my charity quilt for the BPF quilt retreat, coming up in 3.5 short weeks! I still have pincushions to finish up and a few other items as well..I'd better get crackin'!

P.S. I still have no kitchen to speak of...but I do have grouted tile in the breakfast area! I will be getting some painting done this weekend and with luck the balance of our tiles will be in! Since dinner is limited to microwavable meals, it's leaving me more time for crafting in the evenings..LOL so there IS a bright side to the tile delay after all!!

What was I thinking?

Day 3 of our kitchen renovation experience...What WAS I thinking when I said I wanted to upgrade our kitchen??? LOL

Ok..it's not all bad..you saw some of the "bad" in the previous post.
 

 Here is what's been done so far: The mud flooring has been laid as a foundation for the tile...hmm...cement on my kitchen floor? What was I thinking? LOL





And here's the beautiful tile that was laid today! now wait..what's wrong with this picture? There are gaps without tile by the right corner you say?

Lemme take a closer look at that....

My GOSH, YOU'RE RIGHT! And here's an whole gaping room!

Well our tile guy is AWESOME, but he can only lay what we've got for tile...that's the problem..we didn't buy enough of these little decorative fossils! Not enough by a LONGSHOT! But all is not lost...we went to the tile place and bought what they had in stock..which was enough to finish the breakfast area, but not enough for the kitchen...but  they have some on order...but they're not coming in for 10 days to 2 weeks...is that enough "buts" for you? LOL it sure is for me!

So everything is extended by at least 2 more weeks...no cabinets reinstalled..no appliances...no trim...BUT..we can paint the room AND we can grill out since I will have no stove or dishwasher for about the next 3 weeks or more! So there IS always a bright side :) Hey, and I don't have to clean the kitchen, 'cause there IS NONE! LOL

I'm gonna go quilt on my frame...and admire my freshly-laid tile again :) 

It really IS time to quilt!

'Cause I sure don't want to be anywhere else in the house today other than my quilting room! LOL There are lots of MEN down in my kitchen and I have NO kitchen at the moment! We are having renovations done, and this is my first official "Reno" experience! After a last minute call from our contractor late yesterday, I removed everything from the kitchen base cabinets and pantry.

Here's where it all ended up...do I look like a candidate for Hoarders? No? how about now?

He was at my door around 9 this morning and they wasted no time in stripping the kitchen to the walls and start laying our new floor!






where's my fridge and stove, you ask? Why HERE they are! Geez...I really AM a Hoarder LOL


We are hoping to have the floor finished by Friday of this week and we will call the appliance folks and the countertop folks and with some luck my kitchen will be completed before the end of the month!

 So what's a girl to do while she's got no kitchen? Why QUILT of course :) I'm going to finish up my pincushions for retreat, and my charity quilt, as well as a few other goodies! I wonder...will my sewing machine be loud enough to drown out the hammering? LOL