Halloween Table Runner...made from the Moda Bake Shop Pattern...

Today I finished the Simple Little Table Runner by Camille Roskelley from the Moda Bakeshop !!! How fitting for October 1st! The fabric is Spooktacular by Sanae for Moda.
Here is a picture of the back: The quilting was done in designs of bats, witches, ghosts, the moon, black cats, etc...all Halloween-y things!
Below is a close up of the quilting:
It was such a fun little project. I highly recommend it. I did the binding on this one all with my sewing machine. I started a table runner with this same pattern using Gobble, Gobble fabric by Sandy Gervais for Moda, but I still lack like a foot on the binding where I am hand sewing it around to the back....I just need to get on it! I will post pictures of it when I have it completed.

I Remember...

*Photo courtesy of Seth Hollady Flickr page

This morning I had the most in depth explanation thus far of what September 11, 2001 means with my 8-year-old daughter. I have always talked about it with her on this date, but this morning the conversation was more understood by her so she had plenty of appropriate well asked questions. I admit that I shed more than a few tears by the time we had ended our talk. It is not that it was laden with crying and blubbering but I find it impossible to talk about those planes that crashed into the buildings and the other that our brave 'everyday' brothers and sisters crashed into the field in order to spare other innocent lives on the ground without my emotions bubbling to the surface.

I remember exactly what I was doing on that morning. I was living the 'American Dream'. I was a first time mother, fortunate to be a stay at home mom; my 6 month old baby daughter was playing on the living room floor and I was sitting with her. We had just come in from a walk outside, me pushing her in the stroller enjoying a 'peaceful' morning. My husband had left for work. I had not even turned the TV or radio on that morning...and then my husband called. He asked if I had seen the news and that I needed to turn it on immediately and keep up with what was going on...Our Country forever changed...

We live very near a major airport so the sound of planes flying over is an hourly occurrence and a sound you really get used to...it just fades into the background, so that day, as planes around the country were grounded, the silence was truly deafening.

For some reason I have been more cognisant of this day this year. Perhaps because my innocent 6-month-old baby girl is now an 8-year-old little girl who is gaining more and more insight on the realities of life and what it is to be human and what it is to realize loss and fear and that things like 09/11 chip away at the idea that mommy and daddy can fix every single problem. Perhaps because as we spoke of 09/11 this morning before school, she asked some very adult questions and honestly, after 8 years, I still don't have the answers to give as I too ask those same questions.

We prayed for the families that were immediately affected, we prayed for our troops that are still fighting the fight, we prayed for our leaders, and we thanked God too that we live in such a great Country and that by living here we have the right to speak our minds, our fears, our thoughts, and our prayers....

We will never forget....

*Photo courtesy of The Road Here Flickr page.

First Day of Third Grade...

This week The Princess started Third Grade! I cannot believe how fast times flies...feels like a moment ago I was walking her to Kindergarten and now we are already 4 years in! I made her favorite 'special breakfast' of homemade Monkey Bread! I did all the prep work the night before and then popped it in the oven in the morning first thing. She was so excited!

Of course I had to take all the obligatory 'first day of school' pictures. She did not want me taking the camera to school so I snapped all the pictures out in front of our house. And my how things have changed...here she is in front of our house on her first day of Kindergarten:

And here she is this week on her first day of Third Grade!!!:

She came up with her own unique hairstyle for me to fix for the first day. It was a little braid to keep her hair out of her eyes and then pulled back into a pony with the rest:
My little sweetheart is growing so fast! She did want me to walk her in the first day and I was more than happy to do so. I love living so close that we can walk around the corner to school!

I have some things in the work for fall and winter quilting/needlepoint projects and hope to post some of those this week! We have just been so busy with first week of school and back to dance classes, etc., etc.!

Autumn Quilted Table Runner...

I picked up a charm pack of Autumn fabric the last time I visited our local quilt shop. It is Gobble Gobble by Sandy Gervais for Moda. It was so cute sitting there on the shelf that I could not resist!

I have been wanting to use the tutorial Camille posted at the Moda Bake Shop for quite some time now and this afternoon I thought, why not use the Gobble Gobble charm pack! I will have to go shopping for some fabric for the backing now but that should not be too hard ;-)

I pieced this together in a little over 1 hour this afternoon while my little boy talked to me and played around me in the dining room/sewing room. Now that I know how quick it goes together I think I will have to make a runner with fabric that matches my decor for every day to keep out on the table in the breakfast nook or on the island in the kitchen. I am going to practice my stippling quilting on this since it is not too big a piece.

What a fun project for a quiet Sunday afternoon. Go visit the tutorial and make your own!

Sunday Stash #1...

I was giddy with excitement last week when I FINALLY found some of the fabric Lush by Erin Michael for Moda, more specifically the paint by number deer fabric!!!! I am still awaiting the arrival of the deer in blues and greens - it should be at my doorstep no later than Tuesday. However, the other fabrics I ordered in the line arrived on Friday. I LOVE them! I am planning a special quilt with these.

Tamara over at 1/4 of an Inch hosts a 'Sunday Stash' each week. It gives peeps like me who love fabric to see what others have in their stash and to explore different color combos and projects that are planned with the fabrics. She also has a Flickr group with the pictures as well.

I thought I would play along this week since I am so excited about the newest addition to my stash!

Neapolitan Bouquet Quilt Complete!

*Photo courtesy of Corbis Stock Photos

Remember the Neapolitan Bouquet Quilt I was working on for my daughter? I blogged about it here and here. The pattern is from All Washed Up called Five and Dime. Well IT IS FINISHED! While the Princess was at her Grandmother's last week, I finally finished sewing the binding on her quilt! I am very pleased with it...and especially since it is my second quilt completed!

The back of the quilt is shown first as it illustrates why the name of the quilt:

Here is the top of the quilt:
I had it quilted in various flower patterns with dark pink thread:

Here is another shot of the backing...I just LOVE the texture the quilting gives to it:
And here is my sweetheart after I gave her the quilt all rolled up and tied with a ribbon! Now she and the Prince both have a special quilt from mommy to snuggle with while reading or watching T.V.:

Fall Quilts Sneak Peek

I am too busy having summer fun with my kiddos to blog! However, I am on today to give a sneak peek of two quilts I am making for fall. I have most of the pieces cut, enough now to get started as I am adding borders to a pattern so don't want to cut into the other fabric until I have the patterned pieces already sewn together.


And here is what my little guy was doing as I was cutting. He was finding a place for all the fabric scraps beneath the table and chairs...lil cutie!

So what do you think? I got the inspiration from Cami and the quilt she blogged about in January.

I'll let you know how it is coming along! Now back to our summer fun!!!