A Lovely Year of Finishes - March

Happy Easter to those of you who celebrate!!

I just have a minute for a quick post

(once again, in the nick of time!!)

for my project post for 

A Lovely Year of Finishes

Here was my goal

I signed up to do the Lucky Stars BOM

by Don't Call Me Betsy

and as of the end of February, I hadn't started yet.

So my 'to do' for A Lovely Year of Finishes in March

was to complete the four blocks I was behind in making.

(a practice block, January, February & March blocks)

Here they are in all their glory!

(the purple & yellow is the practice block,

which will go on the back of the quilt.)

I needed a whole lot of work in the paper piecing department,

which is why I signed up for this BOM.

I have to say I'm pretty proud of my accomplishment!

Now it's time to run off to my mom's for Easter dinner.

Yummy!!

I look forward to seeing what you all have been up to!

xoxo

Cindy

Introducing Josie

Sorry it's been a while.

I've been working on cleaning my sewing room.

As embarrassed as I am to show you this,

I can't lie.

Here's a sneak peak before I got started

That was just part of the room.  

I'm too ashamed to show you the rest!

LOL

I can't hardly believe this is the same room now

I had to make my room

presentable for my new little girl.

As you know,

I have two sons.

Each time I was pregnant (over 20 years ago!)

we had a girl's name picked out.

Josephine Elizabeth.

Little Miss Josie Smith.

How cute, eh?

Well..............

I now have my girl

(and she doesn't mouth back)

Yep,

I did it.

Thanks to my amazing blogger friend, Elaine,

from Dashasel Sews,

(I purchased her machine)

Josie Janome arrived on my doorsteph

on Monday.

Of course,

a gal always like to show her backside

Yep...she is the bomb.

The cat's meow.

My dream come true.

It was sure funny how everything worked out,

but as Elaine said,

I was meant to have this machine..

She wasn't lying.

And I have to make a disclaimer,

that never, ever

would I trade my handsome sons.

There's something to be said about being the 

only female in the house.

And they both are so good to me.

(But I believe it's because they know what they've put me through!)

I'm excited to share all the projects my girl and I will create.

Thank you so much again, Elaine!

I promise to take care of her!

xoxo

Cindy

Peace Quilt

 

I wanted to make sure I did a post on this before

things got even more carried away.

 

A little while back

my friend Stephanie from

Peas in a Pod

hosted a giveaway.

It was the pattern for the

Peace quilt

by Rene Creates

 

Isn't it gorgeous?

 

(source)

 

I know exactly who I could make this for too.

 

If you are interested in purchasing the pattern,

you can do that

HERE

 

This just may be the first thing I create when

I get my new sewing machine.

 

Thank you so much again, Stephanie!!

And thank you, Rene, for designing such an awesome quilt!

 

xoxo

Cindy

Across the Pond Sew Along

A quick post before I head to work!

I finished my project for this month's 

Across the Pond Sew Along

This month the project was given by Amanda from The Patchsmith.

It's a charm square scarf, 

which was a recipe she did for 

Moda Bakeshop.

I would love to give that a whirl someday,

doing a recipe for the bakeshop.

That would be awesome!

Here's my scarf.

I used my a charm pack I had on hand

of Sophie by Chez Moi for Moda.

The back was some flannel I had in my stash.

It's so warm and soft.

I am very happy with how it all came out.

It's not too late to join in!

What I love about this group is there is no pressure to finish anything.

So if you have a month that is totally nuts,

it's OK!

You can always work on the project later.

I have a couple that I'll be working on as time permits

(because they are too cute not to finish!)

So head Across the Pond

and join the fun!

xoxo

Cindy

I Took the Plunge

 

I can't believe I did this.

I have been dreaming of a new sewing machine.

 

After a lot of looking around,

and reading,

and researching,

I decided on this beauty.

 

(source)

 

The Janome Horizon 7700

 

I went to my LQS yesterday,

(thanks to my sister for driving!)

 

I asked if they had any sort of layaway plan.

 

Actually, my sister asked.

My mind was so garbled that I couldn't get the words out of my mouth!

She could see I was struggling.

Spending this much money on just myself

makes me break out in a sweat.

 

So from now until July 1st,

I won't be buying any fabric.

I won't be buying any 'extras'.

I will be sending all my extra pennies

to my LQS so I can have this beauty paid for by July 1st.

 

If you're interesting in knowing why I picked this machine,

you can read about it

HERE

 

I'd love to hear what machine you have.

 

If you'll excuse me,

I have to take another shower.

Thinking about the $$$ again

is making me break out is a sweat.

 

xoxo

Cindy

 



Beautiful Day!!

It was 5 degrees when I went to work this morning.

An absolute beautiful day!

It was a tad bit foggy

and the trees and shrubs were glistening with frost.

Everything was so beautiful I decided to

 take the back roads to work.

I wish I would have taken my camera with me.

During one part of my drive

I was going up a steep hill.

The road and ditches were 

covered with snow,

so all  you could see was white.

As I was driving up the hill,

the only color I saw was the light blue sky 

peaking through the fog.

The low fog level, with the snow white ditches & road,

made it seem like I was driving right into heaven.

No wonder I love white & blue combinations in my sewing projects!

So I will leave you with some pictures I took around our house this morning before I left

for the most beautiful drive I've ever had going to work.

What did you find good in your day?

xoxo

Cindy

Crafty Cooks Apron Swap

 

 

If you are in the mood for a little apron swaping

and sharing one of your favorite recipes

there's a new swap going on.

 

It's the Crafty Cooks and Apron Swap

on Flickr.

You can read all the details

HERE.

 

I wasn't going to join another swap,

but when I heard about it from my blogger friend

Sam

it just sounded too fun not to sign up!

 

There's a lot of fun ladies signed up already,

so I hope you can too!

 

xoxo

Cindy

 

 

I

A Lovely Year of Finishes - March Goal

I'm excited to be blogging a little more this month.

 

I  needed to get signed up for the next project for

A Lovely Year of Finishes.

 

I am still in shock that it's March already.

I cannot let this year get away from me yet again!

Guess it's time for me to grab my lasso,

hop on my horse,

and pull the reigns on the year

to slow it down a bit.

Yeah.

I have control like that.

LOL

 

So my project for this month is to start and finish

the 4 blocks assigned so far for the BOM I signed up for

on Don't Call Me Betsy's blog.

It's a foundation paper piece block of the month
(and for those of you not familiar with BOM,

BOM = Block Of the Month).

I need a lot of practice with paper piecing,

which is why I signed up for this,

which is why I haven't started it.

LOL

 

It's called Lucky Stars.

You can read about it

HERE

 

 

So, there ya go.

My goal.

My project.

My out on a limb,

make me grow

kinda thingy.

 

Wish me luck

and wish that I keep all the hair in my head

and the chocolate out of my mouth.

 

:o)

 

xoxo

Cindy

Just a Bunch of Fun Stuff

I tried to blog yesterday, but my internet was giving me a bit of grief.

I'm sharing a few updates on

some projects and a swap I participated in.

First up is the tabletop I finished.

I used Melissa's tutorial found

HERE

This is now sitting on our conference table at work.

This way I get to see a little bit of quilty love during the day.

Of course, in the center of it sits a candy dish.

What office isn't complete without a candy dish?

Next is the goodie I received in the mail from the Sew Sew Modern swap.

I had a sewing machine cover on my list,

and that's what I got!

And I REALLY needed one.

And I also received some awesome gnome fabric

(Love Happy Zombie!)

a a pin cushion, zipper and more pretty fabric.

Did I make out or what?

Thank you again, Krista!

For this same swap a call came out for angels.

So I volunteered.

This partner needed grocery bags

as their local market was going to start banning 

plastic bags

(good for them!)

She had the Jane Market Bag

in her mosaic,

so I made her one.

I love this bag and think I just may make a couple for myself.

And of course you can never go wrong using Flea Market Fancy in any of your projects!

For this Sew Modern swap your project was to be pretty amazing

(we originally had 3 months to create something)

but since I had to rush to get mine done so my angel partner didn't have to wait long,

I thought I better make her two bags,

just so she would know she was being taken care of properly.

So I made her my favorite grocery bag from Michelle Patterns.

I used Seed Catalog fabric purchased from sewmeasong on Esty.

You can find it

HERE

(by the way...if you want great, fun fabric, I highly recommend this shop!)

I received a very nice email when she received her package,

so that made my day!

Here's to more creative days!

xoxo

Cindy