January UFO club 2013

Last Saturday a group of my quilting girls came over and we started (or really continued) our UFO club.  For those of you who don't know a UFO in quilting is an UnFinished Object. Last year I had 53 projects on my list. Mind you a few of them were my Grandmas' that she never finished.  I was able to cross off almost 2/3's of the list!  Yay!

This year I catergorized my UFO's a bit different.  I have a list of just UFO's, then projects I started in 2012 and never finished and then quilts that just need to be quilted.  Like I did on my other blog, I will post this list once a month and cross off things so you can see my progress. I will also show you pictures of the projects too!  It's all about eye candy right? :) Perhaps I'll be able to get pics of the other girls projects too!

Official UFO list
1. Vintage Valentine
2. Queen and her court
3. Circle of Friends
4. Polka dot garden
5. Hocusville
6. Farm Fresh
7. Strawberry baskets
8. Civil Chronicals
9. America yo yo's
11. Seasons of baskets stitchery
12. Holiday redwork
13. Americana Baltimore
14. Winter Wonderland
15. Christmas yo-yos

To Be Quilted projects:
1. Star Spangled Celebration
2. Round Robin (guild)
3. General Wives
4. Seasons monthly
5. Crazy Jack

Projects started in 2012 and not finished
1. Shabby fabric houses
2. Red and white stars (guild 2012-13 bom)
3. Prarie Flowers
4. Women of Courage
5. Blessings of Autumn
6. Blessings of Sprin
7. Witches Hooray
8. Mystery quilt 2012 (tuesday class)
9. Joy of Christmas stitchery
10. Halloween Cat and hat
11. Temecula 12 days of Christmas
12. Christmas blessings
13. Hearthside snowman
14. snowball snowman primitive
15. snow folks stitchery
16. Primitive snowmen (buttermilk basin)

The UFO girls and I meet every first Saturday of the month and sew and chat.  We are only allowed to sew on an UFO project and it's at that time we can cross off things on our list.  But the project needs to be finished.  Quilted and bound. (label optional)  Although having labels on quilts are really great and useful.  It's nice reading the label on a quilt that you made or a friend or loved one made.  Seeing when they made it, who made it, and what the pattern it was.

So for January, I was able to cross off the Shabby Houses and the Joy of Christmas stitchery. Next month I could have 3 or more crossed off. :)  When it's cold and rainy and you just want to stay home, there's plenty of time to just sew!

~Chrys

It's 2013!!!!

Goodness....did I just write that??  It's already 2013??  Where is the time going???  This is going to be a good year.  So far what WILL be happening this year....Mark and I will celebrate 13 years of marriage, James will turn 11, Andrew will turn 9, Mark will have his sabbatical this summer (5 weeks off!!!), we will be vacationing a few places, I will have a jr. higher this coming fall, and I will meet my weight loss goals.

Did you make any goals for this year?

I did.

I always do.  I sometimes keep them.  I most times don't.  This year....will be different!

I have just 3 things on my list.

1. To lose another 25 lbs by my birthday in May.
2. To be hired on as a permanent employee of the school district (I'm hoping for a para job aka. teachers helper)
3. To get ................  (well this one is a bit more personal) :)

My word of the year (which this is really the first time ever picking out a word) is FOCUS.

I will FOCUS on my goals, I will FOCUS on my family, I will FOCUS on my friends, I will FOCUS on the blessings I have thus been given, and mostly I will FOCUS on my walk with the Lord.

I can't wait to cross off some of my goals and tell you all about them!  Happy New Year!!!!!

This is a little snowman pillow I finished last year. Isn't he cute!?

~Chrys

More Christmas finishes

This was the year for a lot of handmade gifts.  I love making things for my friends and loved ones and I know  most if not all really love them as well. :)    Of course there are the occasional people who don't "get" homemade, but if they want that sweater from Macys...well ok then.    I so enjoy getting the homemade gifts, whether it be a holiday decoration, quilt or stitchery, or food.  I just know that a lot of thought went into the gift.

For my dear mother in-law I made this Baltimore quilt.  It took me a few years to do all the applique.  It was all done by needle-turn. I did change up one of the blocks.  My friends and I couldn't figure out how to do the flowers, so I ended up making them big yo-yo's. I like it much better than the original.  My aunt who has a long arm quilted the quilt for me and did an awesome job! I did put a sleeve on the quilt, so I wonder where she will hang this in her home. :)

I also made my sis in-law a quilt.  She is a Beatles fan, and I've had this fabric for at least 8-10 years.  I was just waiting for the right pattern to use it in.  I don't have a picture of the back, but the backing is a very gorgeous green in Asian print.   My aunt also quilted this and added music notes in the quilting.

Here's a close up of the fabric:

I also this year made quilts for my next door neighbor's granddaughters.  This is one of them.  The oldest girl loves and I mean LOVES dinosaurs. But most fabrics out there are very boy looking.  I finally found this perfect fabric so I was able to add purples, pinks and teals to this quilt.

That's all for today!   I've been working on a lot of small projects this Christmas break and will have lots to share this coming new year! 

~Chrys

Christmas joy

It's beginning to look like Christmas.....well not so much here in my neck of the woods.  I can't even tell you how many years it's been since I last saw a white Christmas. (sigh)  The boys are counting down the days til they get to open their presents.  It's getting harder and harder to shop now for James as he's turning into a pre-teen. Andrew on the other hand....get him another lego set and he's happy!

I'm enjoying the Christmas break with the boys and Mark off for the next week and a half.  We don't have much planned, just a lot of time at home, spending it together.  I have been done with all my Christmas gifts since Thanksgiving and have now been working on other sewing things.  (a few for even next few Christmas's) :)

I know fall is over with, but I needed to share this with you.  This is a candlemat I made a few months ago.  I love all the wool pumpkins at the bottom. :)

Here is a wool candlemat of holly leaves.  I whipped this up over a weekend last month.

Another candlemat but with a cute folk art snowman and tree on it.  The original pattern was done in Christmas colors, I wanted something to keep up through the month of January.

How about this adorable row of snowmen!  I just love this little quilt!  It sits on a primitive cupboard in my master bath.

A long snowman!  I loved this pattern so much that I had to make two of them!  The brighter green one is for my friend Aubri and the other one is for me.

And the last share for today is this holly tablemat/runner.  I saw this pattern on Etsy and just had to make it, especially in these colors!  It's a Chrismas project, but goes so well in a primitive home.   And this was my first challenge for myself to put a cheddar and blue together.

~Chrys

Times a changing...

It's about to be the new year and I am ready for some minor changes.  This being one of them.  For years I have had a blog on typepad called Paper Roses.  I'm ready to move on from that.  It was dedicated to my years of working in the scrapbook industry.  I have been "retired" from that for over a year now and have been doing a lot more with needle and thread I thought it was time to change the name of the blog and even the service provider.  Hey, you can't beat free!!!!

This blog will be updated when I can get to it.  I'm hoping to have at least one blog post a week.  If time allows, maybe more.  You will find here some inspiration for your quilting, for your needle arts, for your paper crafts (from time to time) and even some ramblings of a mom of two boys.  

I hope you will enjoy this new journey with me. 

If you like you can sign up to get an email when I post a new blog.  (I'm still figuring everything out here on blogspot so it may take awhile for the blog set up to be officially completed)

**These pillows I finished up a few weeks ago.  The blocks were found in some of my grandma's things and were given to her by her friends.  I think they had some sort of exchange. I thought they were cute.  My favorite is the middle one.  It says at the bottom of the block "Snowman Unconstructed" :)

~Chrys