A Birthday for Christmas!

Or should that be a Christmas for your birthday? Anyway . . . My Mother-In-Laws birthday was on October 30, and I made her what she asked for . . . a Christmas table-runner.

She's kind of a Christmas Nut . . . but that's OK because so am I. And so is S, and his brother, and so on and so on. We LOVE Christmas around here!

The runner was really simple, I used 2 charm packs of Frosted Memories by Moda. It was already kitted up for me, but I can't remember where I bought it. It was a booth at the Plano Quilt Show, but I'm not sure of the quilt shop's name. Sorry! I have found, however, that things come together REALLY easily if they are already cut! (I HATE cutting!) I put it together during craft night one night, and it came together beautifully (AKA most of my points matched! Whoop!).

I feel kind of bad, because it wasn't a surprise, but I know she likes it because it is what she wanted, so that's good, right?

Changing channels, I found this NEW Material Shop this week! City Craft is GREAT! I have been feeling guilty lately about not really supporting my local quilt shops, because I definitely think keeping these guys around is important, but I agree with Abby in her post about this. We love local quilt shops, but we can never seem to find what we are looking for, the new, modern fabrics. I spend TONS of time (more than I should, I admit) lurking on blogs like Oh Fransson and Handmade by Alissa and Crazy Mom Quilts. They inspire me SO MUCH, but I can never find the same fabrics they use. So I order them off of the Internet, and they arrive, but it's never quite what I thought it would be. It helps to see and touch fabric (part of the joy of fabric shopping, but we'll get into that later). By the time I'm ready to start my quilt, I'm guilty about not buying the fabric locally and disappointed in the actual fabric. Not a good start! But City Craft changes that! They are small, but what they have is AWESOME! They have all the modern, hip designers and the bright colors. I've already bought some, but I'll show that off later. If you're in the Dallas area, you HAVE to go see them! They're great!

Enough rambling. :)

See ya!

Make Me Happy Monday

What makes me happy today is . . .

The view from my back yard. I love the reds.

FALL!!!!

The massive amounts of leaves. S. hates these!

I love it! Sweaters, boots, scarves. I love the colors in the trees and the crispness in the air . . .

Our walnut tree!

But I especially love the FOOD!

I'm having to hold myself back from the kitchen. I made this scrumptious Apple Upside Down cake from Paula Dean (S calls it my Ya'll Cake) . . . but it was GONE before I got pictures. I'm already craving my mom's famous pumpkin bread. Maybe this weekend will be a baking weekend . . . until then, I'll content myself with leaves and sweaters (even if it is 75 degrees out)!

Our begonias under the leaves.

See ya!

Quilt Along!

The girls at Block Party are having a quilt along! It's going to be Legend . . . (wait for it) . . . DARY! I'm super pumped! Go over and check it out!

See ya!

Make Me Happy Monday

So today, what makes me happy is . . .

YARN!

And not just any yarn, but yarn from my L.Y.S. (local yarn shop), Shabby Sheep! These ladies are wonderful! I walk in at 10AM on Saturday, almost in tears because I don't understand a pattern. Perren immediately sits down with me and walks me through it. After an hour of both of us not getting it, she enlists the other 2 ladies in a search for a comparable pattern. We find one, she gets me started, and I knit for about 1/2 an hour to make sure I get it. I'm so proud of my new project! (I wish I could go into specifics, but, you know, Christmas and all!) After I am sufficiently practiced, I pull out another pattern that I need to buy yarn for, and Leah drops everything to help me find the right type and amount (at the right price, none-the-less). I was in there for 2 1/2 hours, and the ladies made me feel right at home! Even though they were busy doing a million other things, they made time for me. That is why I take the extra time to drive further than I have to (there is a yarn shop closer to me, but they were never as helpful). I guess what makes me REALLY happy, is good customer service. I LOVE SHABBY SHEEP!

Pay It Forward . . .

I'm a little nervous, I am playing Pay It Forward with Beth! I've never done this before, but blog-land seems alive with it! Since I didn't know how to do this until recently, I will share it with you, too. Here's the dish:


1)I signed up for Beth's PIF. She's making something handmade to send to me. (She has a year in which to do it!)


2)To receive them from her, I need 3 people to play with me. Just leave me a comment, and I will send you something handmade (I have a year in which to do this!). Make sure when you leave a comment, I have some way to get in touch with you, either on your blog or by email.


3)The three people who sign up post about it on their blog, each get 3 responses, and send something handmade to their PIT peeps.


4)It goes on and on (don't you feel like breaking into a rendition of "This is the song that never ends"? Ha Ha. Now you have it in your head too, don't you?)

You can only play if you have a blog, and if you promise to post about this and send out 3 more presents. I'm totally reminded of those chain letters in high school, but in this one you get fun hand-made stuff, and you don't die in 72 hours or be doomed to never get married.

You're supposed to put a button on your blog for the PIF, and it's really cute . . . I just don't know how to do buttons. Seriously, I worked for like an hour last night on it, and I can't figure it out. If you can, see Beth's post about it. Maybe you can do it!

Post quickly! I'm itching to get started!

See ya!

Make Me Happy Monday (on Wednesday)

I can't believe it! It's only my second week, and I've already missed a MMH Monday! Ridiculous! So here it is . . . two days late!

It's our semi-annual Hot Dog Day! My in-laws (parents and siblings) come over and we cook hot-dogs and brats over our outdoor fire pit!

Anyone who knows me knows I LOVE hot-dogs. It's a tad crazy, but I can eat them anytime, anywhere, with ANY toppings!

But it's a fun day . . . hanging with the fam and eating good food. The weather was beautiful (perfect temps for a fire!) and the conversation was lively (as usual). It definitely made me happy!

See ya!

Happy Birthday!

Today is my mom's birthday! I missed her party this past weekend, and I miss her terribly! (For those of you that don't know, she lives a good 6 hours away . . . it's a BUMMER!) It's so funny, you think you know your parents growing up, but once you're out of the house, things CHANGE! I've learned so many things about her since I've "grown up". She loves Greek coffee, has an I-Phone, and watches Mad Men, to name a few. This is a completely different picture of her than what I had in my head in high-school, but I digress. For her birthday, we gave her a new Greek Coffee pot, because it's just hard to make it without the special pot. I also made her this:

(that's her, modeling!) Her favorite colors are green and blue, and I know she's constantly carrying things back and forth to work, and our house, etc. I thought she might need a pretty bag! (her old one was a beat-up canvas thing from the school she works at. This is MUCH prettier!) I used the Jane's Market Bag pattern from Posie. TOTALLY worth the 6 bucks! I was really worried about making it . . . I'm not very good at following patterns, and when people say "easy" but they are already experienced, I rarely find it easy! But Posie's instructions were simple (once I got up the nerve to start) and it came together rather quickly (in a little more than one craft-night session). It's a beautiful bag . . . I want to make myself one (or two, or three), but I need to finish Christmas stuff first. Anyway . . .

Happy Birthday Momma! I love you!

See ya!