New bags

I had an order for 3 bags from a sweet little lady. She is in love with her dog and wanted her pic on two of her bags. I really hope she likes how they turned out.

AND!!!!! I finally got my bag.....is it not stunning! I am in total love. You have to click on the pic to see all the bling on it.

the wallet matches perfectly.....can I say how much I love my husband....he totally rocks!

and on a final note....how hysterical is this.....its spider stickers

this boy just makes me laugh!!!

BLOG AWARD

I just got an award from Terri over at Blooming Ideas and I would like to thank her for it. What a way to great your Monday! I need to nominate 8 other blogs so here goes:

Cheryl at Quilting Memories: I love her recipes, you HAVE to try her Fried Chicken one...yummy!

Sue at Berkshire Cottage: I adore her.....her heart is as big as the ocean! Probably even bigger!

Trisha at Easy to amuse hard to offend: I got the most beautiful collages from her for my boys room. She does amazing work.

Tipper her blog is an amazing history of the applachian mountains and its people...not to mention her husband and children sing like angels!

Lori at Buttons and Lace, this lady cracks me up! I love her wit and humor.

Coach Blogger...a single dad with FOUR daughters...need I say more!

Amy at Mommy and Beyond, she's a fellow bag maker and she makes me laugh

Natalie at Natalie's Sentiments....this girl makes me laugh.....a total diva.....with a stunning daughter.

and there is my 8. I hope you enjoy this group as much as I do.

On the flip side....I am almost done with the quilt. As soon as I get all the pics taken I will post the tutorial on the binding.

And on another note I started running...I am now up to 2 miles on the treadmill. I have entered my first 5k that is at the end of May. I'm excited, I never thought I could run. As a reward my husband bought me a Kathy Van Zeeland bag. I cannot wait to get it. He's so proud of me and it makes me more motivated.

~Christina

Tennessee Waltz Quilt How-To!

Well here it is ladies....finally.....the instructions on how to make the Tennessee Waltz Quilt. If you have any problems just email me and I will help you out in any way that I can!

Once again here are the requirements:

1/4 yard for Star Point Background

1/3 yard for Star Points

1/8 yard for Star Center

1/3 yard for Four-Patch (two prints)

1/4 yard for Snowball Corners

1/2 yard for Snowball Background

Get the material that you have picked for your Star Points. You will need to cut it into 3 1/2 inch strips. Take the strips and cut again into 2 inch squares. You will then cut the squares in half on an angle like the pic below.

This next step is a little bit tricky but if you have a cutting mat and follow my directions I hope you will understand it. Take the material that you are using for your Star Points Background and cut it into 4 inch strips. Then cut it every 3 1/2 inches. Put the blocks on your cutting mat with one side on the 3 and the other on the 7. Now you will need to cut at an angle up to the 3 and up to the 7. Look at the pic below to help you.



Sew the Star Points to the Star Points Background.

Next take the material that you are using for the Four Patch Blocks and you will also need 2 strips of the Snowball Background fabric, you will then cut them into 2 inch strips.

Alternating colors sew the strips together. Lay all your strips together with the sew seems matching on your cutting board and cut into 2 inch blocks.

Sew the 2 inch blocks together to form your Four Patch Block

You will also need to cut a 3 1/2 inch block from your Star Center fabric for your Star Center.(I didn't take a pic of this)

Lay all your pieces out to form your block. Make sure you lay your Four-Patch blocks out so that the Snowball Background square is in to the center. If you look at my block below you can see that the upper right block was sewn on wrong ( don't you just hate that!!!!)

Now take a minute and admire your block....they are sew pretty.....lol!

Now measure your block and trim it up square. Mine were 9x9. Take your material for the Snowball Background block and cut a 9x9 square ( or whatever your block measures )

Now use your fabric for the Snowball Corners and cut 3 1/2 inch squares. Turn your material over and using a pen draw a diagonal line down the center of each square. Just be very careful with what you use. If you have a light fabric Do Not use a pen or a pencil as these may show through. Use a Quilting Pen that will wash away. If your fabric is dark just use any ole' pen. Just make sure its not a marker or anything to dark.

Take your block and line them up to the corners of the Snowball Background block. Sew on your drawn lines diagonally. Cut the excess off.

Now you simply sew your blocks together and "voila" a masterpiece.



You continue sewing your blocks together until you have the size you want. The fabric requirements that I gave are for a 9 block square wall hanging. I want mine to hang behind my sofa in my front living room so I wanted mine longer than taller. Comprende? I love this pattern because you can adjust it to what you want...its all up to you. When you are done you will need two coordinating prints for the sashes. I do not like to piece my sashes so I measure the length by width to get enough material to make a continuous one. On the pic below I still have one more sash to put on then I can get the batting and backing on.


I hope all this was easy to understand. This quilt goes super fast. The longest part is cutting everything out (well not really, for me it was picking the fabric) but once you start sewing it zips along. If anyone is interested I have a SUPER easy way to put on the binding. From the front it will look like its hand sewn but its actually done using the sewing machine. Let me know and I will put up a tutorial on it.

~Christina

FINALLY!!!

We are all finally feeling better (I hope like hell I didn't just jinx myself) and I can finally put up some long overdue pics.....


the first one is of the wonderful Trisha's trade......

these are the collages I traded her a bag for. They look AWESOME in the boys room. I am seriously considering getting her to do a big one for me. I love them...she even used scrabble letters to spell out the sport that went with the pics. Click on it to make it bigger and look at how cool they are. I love ya Trisha...your work is amazing!

the next one is of Brogan....and his trophy.

the weekend that everyone got sick was the Wrestling Tournament. I was there up until the little one started to do the projectile vomiting thing ( can I just tell you that a grown man that was sitting next to us got up and RAN! I mean really... can you believe it....was a wuss...oh well, we ladies know who's REALLY the stronger sex) anyway.....he won 3rd out of his whole division. Not bad for his first year!

aaannnndd.....I finally got all my material for the wall hanging. I will be putting up the first post on how to cut all your pieces on Friday. I have to cut mine first and take pics and yadayadayada!

xoxo~Christina

The flu

I knew a nasty flu bug was going around but I didn't realize how bad til my house got it. Everyone has been vomiting and having diarrhea....even the dog! When all is well (and I get more than an a hours sleep) I will pick up where I left off and start on the quilt. til then.....

Tough Boys

My boys are amazing. Twice this week they have brought me to tears. My middle one Brogan was acting up one night complaining about his chores. I got fed up so I said "I dont think you love me your always complaining when I ask you to do things" he go so upset and said "how can you say that....when you had Ean and cried....I cried with you!" he was in the room with me when I delivered Ean. What can you say to that?!

My oldest who turns 10 in April, told me today "Mom you will never have to worry about anything...because when I get old I will always take care of you and if my wife doesnt like it then I will kick her out! have you ever laughed and cried at the same time? Man I love them boys.

I have pics I will post soon. Trish sent me THE MOST amazing collages for my boys room. When I can get the time to take a pic I will. Hopefully this weekend!

WINNER!

I cant believe its over...I didn't even get the chance to sign up for everything! I got sick over the weekend and missed probably about the last 300 entries :( I think I ran to my computer this morning to see if I had won...nothing yet....maybe?

but on to the good stuff..by way of random generator....(thank you so much Natalie for showing me how to do this)....the winner is.......#183 DonnaJ. Congratulations, I hope you love and enjoy the bag as much as I did making it!


ok...now I'm off to check my email again!

xoxo~Christina