not my quilts monday

I've been meaning too add up all the customer quilts that I did in 2013 but I haven't gotten around to it yet. I do know that I worked more days this year but had more time off (it does make sense. sort of). Here are a few of my recent customer quilting jobs.

Andrea's brother in law is a big Star Wars fan so this fabric was a perfect choice. It was discovered after she gifted the quilt to him that some of the fabric glows in the dark. How cool is that?

I loved the pantograph that Andrea chose; Square Dance.

Dawn's table topper.

quilted with Folk Heart

Anita made this quilt for her husband.

quilted with Mozart

I love the detail she added in the corners.

Denise's winter quilt.

quilted with a meander

Carol's quilt for her nephew.

quilted with Popcorn

Rose's quilt

quilted with Twilight

Juanita passed away and we have been quilting her quilts as her friends get them finished.

quilted with Falling Leaves

quilted with Floral Meander

I love these blocks.

This adorable baby quilt by Marion

Quilted with Spring in Spades

Too cute!

And lastly, these fabulous quilts by Marie

Quilted with Daisies and Loops

Quilted with Bluster

And lastly, by Sharon

quilted with Alfresco

Loved how the quilting shows up on the backing.

I'll have a few more later this week.

merry christmas

christmas eve

24hours to go. Are you ready?

I got my Christmas Swoon quilted. It just might be on the wall come tomorrow morning!

I quilted two pieces of minkee for a special little girl. I love how the quilting looks textured.

I have all my Christmas presents quilted and have the binding on 3 to finish up. One will get gifted with the binding not sewn down but I can do that while relaxing with family on Christmas Day.

I may not be around much over the next two weeks while I spend time with my family.

From our family to yours, 

Merry Christmas

quilt monday

When I found out that the flower girl from our wedding was getting married (she is Jim's youngest cousin); I knew I wanted to make her a quilt. But with being away; I knew I had to do something speedy and that's when I remembered my scrappy trip along blocks(you can read about them here).

I had the top pieced on Tuesday and quilted it Wednesday. I lucked out on the backing fabric; $3/m on clearance at the quilt store. For Canada, that is an amazing price!

I started working on the binding Friday night and finished it in the car on the 90minute drive to the wedding lol.

I absolutely adore this quilt. It couldn't have turned out more perfectly.

Because the quilt is so busy, I kept the quilting simple and did just a large meander over the quilt.

I love looking at all these fabrics; they represent years of quilting and so many fabulous quilts.

I love how the spider worked out.

When we arrived at the wedding, we found out that Jen and Charlie were moving to Michigan on the 27th. Learning that made it so much more meaningful that I made this quilt for them.

snack saturday

Peppermint Bark Cheesecake

18

 chocolate sandwich cookies, finely crushed (about 1-1/2 cups)

3

Tbsp.  butter, melted

30

 starlight mints, divided

4

pkg.  (8 oz. each) Cream Cheese, softened

1

cup  sugar

4

 eggs

1

pkg.  (4 oz.) White Chocolate, melted

1/4

tsp.  peppermint extract

1

pkg.  (4 oz.)  Semi-Sweet Chocolate, divided

2

cups  thawed Whipped Topping

HEAT oven to 325°F.

MIX cookie crumbs and butter until blended; press onto bottom of 9-inch springform pan. Bake 10 min.

MEANWHILE, crush 25 mints. Beat cream cheese and sugar in large bowl with mixer until blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each just until blended. Add white chocolate, crushed mints and extract; mix just until blended. Chop half the semi-sweet chocolate; stir into batter. Pour over crust.

BAKE 55 min. to 1 hour or until center is almost set. Run knife around rim of pan to loosen cake; cool before removing rim. Refrigerate 4 hours. Meanwhile, crush remaining mints; chop remaining semi-sweet chocolate.

SPREAD cheesecake with 1 whipped topping just before serving. Drop remaining whipped topping in dollops around edge of cheesecake. Sprinkle remaining crushed mints and chopped chocolate over center of cheesecake.

card friday

twenty

Today is our wedding anniversary. Our twentieth wedding anniversary.

From this

to this

Happy anniversary Jim

secret sewing

I had decided this year that I wasn't going to do as many quilted gifties as years past and I actually had them finished back in October. So of course with a week to go, I'm busily trying to get a few things finished before Christmas. 

I made all these scrappy trip along blocks earlier this year. And yesterday I got them sewn together into a quilt top.

I finished up my Christmas Swoon top and put the leftovers right to good use.

One can never, ever have too many pinwheels.

This one is going to be hard to give away.

I finish up work for the year on Thursday; I still have my fingers crossed for tomorrow but we'll see. I need to get my Christmas gifties quilted too!

quilt monday

When I heard earlier this year that Hooty Hoot was going to make a return, I was so excited. I missed out on this fabric the first time around; I wasn't going to this time!

The day it was released, I picked up some yardage and a layer cake; I knew exactly what I wanted to make.

Just too adorable if I may say so.

I love this fabric. Those owls!!!

quilted with Laurie

I splurged and bought some of the matching flannel for the backing; it finishes off the quilt perfectly.

card friday

the naughty list

Remember that stack of fat quarters that followed me home last week?

Well, I figured what to do with some of it.

A Christmas swoon!!

Somehow I goofed and cut the two red ones out the same but I can't let it bother me(much lol). Fingers crossed I can get the top finished up this week(I'm not making it bigger) and that I can get it quilted on the weekend.

wordless wednesday

quilt monday

Finally got some time carved out to get this quilt done for my friend. And it was only a week late lol.

I had a horrible time figuring out how to quilt it so I went ahead and did straight lines.

I'll admit, piecing this quilt was a nightmare. I thought it was okay until I loaded it for quilting and it was so out of whack. So frustrating!

But I was able to hide what needed hidden in the quilting(pretty sure I did lol) and my friend loves it.

Now time to get back to Christmas quilts!

card friday

wordless wednesday

gifties

Another friend turned 40 on the weekend(it's a great club!). I wanted to make her something and I tried really hard to get it made before we went away but it just didn't happen. Her party was on Saturday night, I completed the top Thursday night.. And she got it unfinished lol.

I did stop by the quilt store to pick up some backing for the quilt and this followed me home.

I've already pulled some of the fat quarters for a project and fingers crossed I can squeak two more projects out of the remainder. I'll keep you posted.

quilt monday

Seems like a very long time since we've had one of these *grin*. I was getting all the Christmas stuff out and realized I hadn't blogged my finished fall quilt yet.

I really like how this quilt turned out. So much so that I just might make it again in some Christmas fabrics. There's still time right? lol

quilted with Blowing in the Wind

I did a fun scrappy backing using up bits of fall themed fabrics.

Now, the winner of my quilt giveaway! And the winner is...

Linda T!! 

Linda, please email me your mailing info and I will get your quilt off to you.

Thanks to those that entered!!

card friday

sea legs and jet lag

Hello again! We arrived home Sunday night and been trying to get back into the swing of  'real' life; the jet lag is killing us lol. I wanted to blog last night(Tuesday) but after I came home from work, made dinner and went to watch TV with the boys, I was asleep by 8pm and slept right through until this morning. Today I fueled up with some Starbucks on my way home from work and it's after 8pm now so fingers crossed I don't konk out in the next half hour lol.

I have a few pictures to show you. I took just over 3000 so it was hard to narrow them down!

We flew from Vancouver into London. We ended up sitting for 90minutes on the tarmac in Vancouver; the plane fuel was put into the wrong tank apparently(eek!) The flight was long(9.5hours) and for the first time ever, I flew without having to medicate lol. It was awesome. And flying into the sunrise? Amazing!

We flew from London into Istanbul, Turkey and talk about a culture shock. There was next to no English; we had no idea where we were going and we were exhausted. After some stressful moments, we ended up finding where our hotel shuttle was and we were on our way.

I woke up the next morning with the 5am prayer call in Istanbul. The sun was just coming up and was stunning.

Now time to get to our ship!

And what a beauty she is.

Our first day was exploring Istanbul.

First day at sea on day two.

Day three, Ephesus.

Standing where the apostle Paul preached? Surreal.

I took so many pictures of our ship. This was in Bodrum, Turkey on day four.

Day five, the rock tombs in Marmaris, Turkey.

And swimming in the Mediterranean Ocean.

Day 6 brought us to Rhodes, Greece.

Santorini, Greece on Day 7.

I loved this town so very, very much! 

The blue roofs; stunning.

It was also the only tendered stop on our cruise; so neat.

Off to Athens on Day 8.

We got into port and were greeted with a thunder and lightening storm. And wow, did it ever rain!

Day 9, Mykonos 

And the windmills. Loved the windmills.

Day ten was our second and last day at sea.

Day eleven, we landed in Naples Italy to another storm. And a storm it was.

That it is hail. Cars were literally stopping on the freeway; they don't get snow in Italy this close to sea level lol.

Pompeii

See the water spots on my lens? It was POURING. So hard that at one point, our guide pulled us all into a roofed house for protection. And the lightening; crazy!

Once leaving Pompeii, we went on a drive up the Italian coast; the Amalfi coast. 

Stunning.

Our #dreamtrip ended in Rome. Sadly there was no time to see the city; we were off the ship before the sun to make our flights home.

As I said earlier, we had a fantastic time. The trip was so much more than either of us imagined it being. And the cruise? Already planning our next one!

Don't forget, I have a giveaway going right now; I'll draw the winner on Saturday. You can still enter here.