Busy, busy, busy!

Wow, a month and a half since I last made time to stop by and write! It's been busy here, lots of trips and Christmas stuff; sewing time has been limited to pajama pants and uniform patches!

Since last time I wrote we've done Thanksgiving here at the house for 7, decorated the house, went on a Grownup trip to Rome, and took family trip. We headed through Austria to Munich for one night, up to the north of Germany to an Air Force Base, and finished the trip with a night in Prague. Quite the adventure! The new banner photo is from Munich; it was a beautiful city all dressed up in Christmas lights!

Munich:

(This was on the top of a food vendor, it's an entire second story! You can't really tell but it's probably 10-12 feet tall!)

Prague:

The big cities in this part of the world do Christmas markets, generally starting in mid Novemeber. They are filled with vendors selling ornaments, candies, pottery, you name it they probably have a vendor with it! Hubby was in heaven for the week; he really takes after his Germany heritage and loves nothing more then good sausage! The markets were full of folks with fresh sausage, I had to talk hard to get him to leave:)

The kids are fantasticaly great travelers (generally) and we had a great trip. They were happy, fun and sweet the whole week. Couldn't have asked for a better way to kick of the Christmas season!

Costumes this year!

I finally got the make the kids costumes! Years previous one thing or another has kept us from making costumes, but this year they were done at home!

Er... Some took more work then others:)

This is Jaina's Dorothy costume "Before". I HATED it and so I tore the straps off, made them smaller and placed in a different spot, and then sewed it all back up.

And actually that was a pain since the straps are sewn into the waist band and top stiched on. But it was much better the second time 'round.

For Brendan I made the hat (I made a hat!!), topstiched on a muslin collar, and added yarn "hay" at the hands and feet. I figured that would be tons more comfortable then actual straw.

Finally the fun part, the patches. Loved that bit!

We used corduroy pants and a fleece pullover as the base and added the elements. It was effective and meant I didn't have to do his from scratch. Whew!

My Mom always made my costumes and I always felt more special for it. It was something that was important to me, even at a young age; so important, in fact, that I've wanted to do it for my own kids. Even though the seam ripper sat at my side, I had a ton of fun.

I have to admit,

I loved the outcome.

And you know what? I think they approved:)

Grosgrain and the Queen of Hearts

There are those in the world with talent they never discover. And then there are those lucky enough to know exactly what their talent is.

Kathleen is one of those lucky enough to know where her talent lies.

And it lies here:

A-fricken-mazing. Truely. I'm not going to enter beacuse Jaina is set on being Dorothy for Halloween, and it takes 3 weeks for anything to get here by mail! But, still, even if you don't have a little girl think about taking the time to go see her work. It's fantastic!!

Quilt Festival

I planned on posting this yesterday, but with a sick 3 year old my time was spent cuddling on the couch! I did want to still play along, though, as I have such fun going through all the blogs and seeing all the quilts.


This is one of my favorite quilts, mostly because I figured out the pattern all on my own. I was new to quilting (this was all of a year ago:) and I was so amazed that I was actually able to figure out sizing, cutting, and I got the whole thing together!I did have issues with the binding, and this is actually the second binding to go on this quilt, but I sure learned a lot! It's amazing what you learn with a seam ripper in your hand. It may have taken me forever, but I finally managed to get it into the hands of a good family friend at a time when he needed the reminder of friendship. For me that is what quilting is all about, being able to wrap someone you care about in a physical reminder of love.

Thanks for stopping by!

Ah, the kids are back in school for about 3 hours a day. They are much better friends now then they were a week ago!

But since we are not keeping them in for lunch the school doesn't provide a morning snack (it's all or none), so we take a bagged snack. And, of course, I had to make a cute bag for each kid! I found a tutorial here, mostly for the dimensions. I didn't really feel like having to figure them out on my own! I'll admit to fussing with the size, and though it worked well, if I make any more I'll make them slightly deeper. What I did works well for a snack but would be too small for a lunch.

I really do love them!

Jaina's is made out of Sandi Hendersons Farmer's Market Vintage Cherries via her rocking Aunt Angie (Thanks Angie!!). Angie sent me several pieces of the line since she knows how much I love it. And look how amazing it looks for this lunch pack!

Brendan's was a stash pull; his only requirement was that it had to have green. He loves green, just ask him, he'll tell ya:)

As for other quilting news, I have to admit that I finally did it, I finally spent a 50% coupon at Joanns.com for batting. I can't really get any here that are what I normally use, and I can't buy one at a time and make it worthwile, so I bought a 45x40 yard bolt of warm and natural. Can't wait till it gets here! I can get back to actually making quilts again once I have batting. What a concept:)

Couldn't help myself

Er...

Jaina's quilt isn't done being quilted, Brendan's has yet to be basted...

And didn't I say something about finishing my WIPs?

Yeah.

So, instead I cut these! I've collected these fabrics over a bit of time, but they sat as I tried to think of a good quilt design.

I just love them all together! And I finally found a great pattern. It's from AmandaJean, from crazy mom quilts, via Bee Square Blog.

It's a zig zag made from squares and not triangles, brilliant! And I'm in love!

(Please forgive the quality of the photo. I laid it out as a test this evening without my "helpers" that, uh, "help" so much!)

Can't wait to get this all pieced together!!

It's Offical, I Can Sew

I had thought maybe I'd lost the ability to sew... But no, I have managed to find the ability again! And it's thanks to the fabric bundle my Dear Mother sent me. She sent the pattern and the fabrics, I think, to kick start my lagging quilting life. And, too, to remind me that she loves me:)

I love her too! And here's the little quilt. And notice the hands at the top! They are finally starting to pull their own weight 'round here.I really like this little quilt top. It's small so it went together quickly, and it's the first time I've done a star. It sure was a learning process for me! I only had to rip a few seams:) Basting and quilting this is on the work list for next week.

I also managed to get the borders and the backings done for the kids brick quilts. I'm gonna sit and get those basted tomorrow. Hopefully next week I can get those quilted! Wouldn't that be a nice change. I've decided to just try to get my wips done and actually get to enjoy the tops that I've put together and love so much. It's such a waste to have them sitting in a closet.

Uh, I'll let you know how it goes!

Er....

I didn't mean to fall off the face of the Earth. I just don't feel like I have anything to talk about. The closest I've come to quilting is buying some fabric and cutting borders for the kids' brick quilts. At this point all I have to share is this:

Between being at my parent's house for 7 weeks, moving houses here in Hungary, and taking the kids out of daycare to stay home with me, I haven't had time for much. We've started eating better, going to bed at 9:30 (seriously!) and doing school work with the kids (Jaina just turned 5, Kindergarten here we come); I feel like life is changing and I'm struggling to keep up with the change. There have been casualties, and my poor quilts are one of those things. My 10 wips will be wips a while longer while the dust settles.

Oh, and it got to be in the 90's here this summer. For some of you that isn't hot... For me, it was horrible! And, needless to say, quilts weren't exactly in my mind!

So, now it's turning to fall, I can feel the change in the air. School has started, and the days are getting shorter; I'm beginning to see my life settling down, at least enough to get Halloween costumes made and Christmas presents started. Life here isn't perfect (it isn't anywhere I've ever found), but I'm happy, and I have my family. I am blessed and am trying to find the little moments to stop and breath.

I thank you for still stopping by in those moments you take for yourself. It means a great deal to me that you think highly enough about my little life to care what happens!

Jenn

Mother's Day Hungarian style

Today is Mother's Day here in Hungary. I was invited to the kids Preschool/Kindergarten this week to play. The kids all sang songs and the school was nice enough to mix English and Hungarian songs. It was really was quite fun and the kids loved that I was there.

And as with any good kindergarten there were gifts to Mom: Sweet little turds. It's fun to start being on the receiving end of school projects.

So, happy Hungarian Mother's Day to all you Moms out there:)

A Momma's love for Amy's Quilt Show

I've been waiting for good weather to photograph this quilt for Amy's quilt show but it just hasn't cooperated. I finally had no choice but to click away with weird lighting. Oh well, hopefully you still get the idea!

Okay, this isn't "my" quilt, as I didn't make it. It is, however, my favorite quilt because Mom made it for me. When I left for Basic she started it and when I came home on leave for Christmas from my first base she had this for me: I've been very patriotic my whole life and loved it immediately. But wait, wait till you see it close up:

She peiced this folks. Yep, this is the kind of work Momma can do:

Yeah... I still haven't tried my hand at half-square triangles yet.

This quilt is amazing and I love it. I wish we were settled and that I had the right place to display it. This quilt should be seen all the time.

I'd actually use it but I'm terrified I'd ruin it. She even handstiched details like the stars on the outer border.

My Momma, she not only makes fab quilts, she fills them with love. Everytime I take this quilt out I think of her and what she means to me. I think that is the compliment for any quilt, that it is made through love and cherished because of that.

Thanks Momma:)

And now, if you will excuse me, I'll be spending the rest of the day at Amy's wandering through blogs. I wonder how many new links I'll be pasting into my reader today??

Sandi Henderson

I am in love with Sandi Henderson's Farmers Market fabric. Love, love, love. I bought a bit in the orange and green colors to go into quilts for my mom's house. Then I moved into a house with orange walls. Needless to say, Mom mailed that fabric back to me and this is what I did with some of it:

LOVE IT!

I stretched a bit of Playful Paisley and Petal Party over canvas (actually it was two pushed together to make it big as big as I wanted) and stapled it down with a normal stapler. I, uh, don't have a staple gun and I really wanted to do this project. The thing is that I love this fabric and I wanted to live with it every day. I adore it and I find myself buying chunks of it here and there. So it seemed very natural that I use it as art, I think of it as art after all!

Oh, and did you notice that Medallion Bloom on the widow? Yep, i still have to cut it to size and hem it but it is so going to be the curtain here and in my bathroom.

Did I mention I love Farmers Market??

When I heard Sandi was busy doing another fabric line I literally did a little dance. I can't wait!

My stuff, Blocks and a Challenge

Well my household goods finally got here last week; this is both good and bad. Good cause it's nice to have my own stuff back, bad because it meant that there has been no time to work on anything sewing related. I did manage to steal time to cut out Little Bs quilt rectangles:

He had been asking to "make" his quilt like Little J had done, so since my cutting mat and rulers had shown up I cut them up for him. Isn't this a cute combo? A little Katie Jumprope and a few others that are escaping me at the moment. Oh well, I'll look it up if anyone just has to know. And I finally got one PIF gift done. Sadly I'm still working on the others. Maybe I will force a little sewing time now that my house is back together and the kids are back at school after their spring break (they take Easter seriously here) and get those all done so I can put them in the mail!

Speaking of finishes I am going to commit to Jaquie's April challenge Spring to Finish. My goals are to get the remaining 2 PIF gifts done and the kids flimsys done. That's only 4 projects. I think I can handle that!

This little girl

All for the love of this little girl. Neither Heaven nor Hell could stand in my way. Course all that I was fighting was scraps of fabric, but you know, whatever!



So, I did it. I cut into the Darla fabric. It's an bunch of ugly cuts I had to do with just scissor, but it'll get the job done:)

I had Little J "help" me lay out her quilt and she had a ball. I see another quilter in the family in the future! But then I redid it. Heh. And the I saw a few mistakes and redid it again... So... Yeah.



Huh? What?



This was my first layout. I fixed a few things, but you get the idea of how it's gonna look at the end.

Now I need to go buy a 220 Volt iron so I can get this wonky bunch of rows sewed into an actual flimsy. Yea:)

I'm very excited.

And I made a skirt for Little J. I hate it, she loves it, guess who won? Yeah, she wants to wear it all the time now. Trust me when I say I didn't really lose:)
Hope you all have the same kind of love in your life that I have in mine!

PIF, and new fabrics

Firstly I blogged about part of our trip to Lake Balaton here. Enjoy:)

Okay, so here's the deal... My first year of blogging came and went on the 25th, and my Pay It Forward one year mark passed yesterday (the 27th) and I only have one done. Not mailed, mind you, just finished! So, just being honest with you all, I'm not gonna do much for my one year mark! I'm still trying to figure out how to get the second PIF gift done, and the third will have to wait till my household goods get here (hopefully like the 9th of April) as the supplies got packed up. So, yeah, basically I suck. But at least one is done and will be winging its way to Liz sometime this week.


As far as new sewing goes, I'm running into a problem... How to sew something I can't cut?? I have no mat and no rulers to cut with and though I know that women use to have to cut with mere scissors (the horror!) I'm not very good at getting the cuts straight. Maybe I should do something wonkey, eh? That way straight lines aren't important... Hmmm....


Anyway, I ordered some new fabric for two reasons. First was a new green twin sized quilt for Little J (her quilt from Grandma is a full), and second, well, cause I wanted them! Here they are:



These are Little J's fabrics. Both kids are moving to smaller beds because they are now sharing a room. A room that is very green. Very green. Anyway, this isn't a bad thing, both kids have green in their color schemes, but both quilts are full size and are ending up filthy as they drag the floor. I was surfing Esty (like you do) and I saw this bundle and fell in love:It's Darla by Tanya Whelan (and a little Farmer's Market from Sandi Henderson) and I ordered from Lanie Jane Fabric at Etsy. I love fabric bundles; I'm the type that can't buy one cut of one fabric, I always end up with a bunch of coordinating stuff. So the bundles are a fun way for me to still get a chuck of coordination without have to order a ton of different cuts.



Um. Yeah.



Anyway, I'm thinking a brick quilt like this for her. I still have a pink and green stash coming that was suppose to be for her bed and I want to do a square in a square pattern... This quilt is more because I love the fabrics, and cause I wanna. Just keeping it real folks:)



This is the kids room. Green. That's all I've got to say about that.

Actually I like the green; it changes color through the day depending on the light and talk about a happy color!

The rest of the fabric are not assigned a project as of yet. They could go in J's quilt.... Or I could save them for me:)- Haven't decided yet!

And that, ya'll, is the big update. I'm sure I'll be showing you the updates of the rooms as I go along. Curtains and all that. Mostly for Mom and Grandma, but I'm sure that someone out there will be interested. I think. Maybe? Oh well, I'll still have fun blogging it anyway:)

On the road again!

Okay, I the only sewing sort of experience I've had so far is hacking decorator fabric up for curtains and pinning them to the window and buying more quilting fabric online. Cause, you know, I don't have enough fabric:)

Anyway, we been keeping busy and I thought I would show you with what. But it's after midnight and I'm tired:) Normally I don't mention my other blog cause there's political stuff on there and, you know, whatever. I don't go there here. However, I blogged our recent trip to VENICE on there so I'm gonna link to just that post. That way you can go see it without, you know, seeing the other stuff:)-

So, here it is: Venice

I'll probably be doing this for our trips... That way I only have to blog it once. And I swear I will get sewing. I will... If only I can figure out how to cut into that cute fabric with a rotary cutter, but no rulers or mats... Hmmm.. That was, perhaps, an oversight on my part.

Note to self, for future moves, send rulers and mat with cutter.

Sigh....