Christmas in Florida! Today I drove past a house where the couple were hanging their lights outside in t-shirts and shorts!  At my house, my poinsettia is blooming like crazy....

Do you think of a poinsettia as a plant that is neck high? That is my plant in the front yard this year :)

The blooms are so beautiful.....

....even the lizards love them!

I would like to tell you about my little sewing group at school. There are eight 5th and 6th grade girls who are learning how to sew. This is the second year we have offered this community service sewing group after school. The girls are so sweet, patient and joyous! If I could post their beautiful happy faces, I would. They learn how to sew straight lines by making log cabins. They really are crazy log cabins until they start sewing straight!

We sew the squares all together and it looks so great, of course!

The next step we do with them is a basic 5x6 block baby quilt.

At the end of the year we donate our quilts to Wolfson Children's Hospital for the babies who need blankies. I have to say, I love our girlies...they work so hard and they do it joyfully.  I have to also mention my good friend, Karen Walker.  We teach the girls together and we are such a great team!

 

Thanksgiving is gone and Christmas is just one blink away...or should I say, "blink-blink"? Once again I am practicing something new, larger text. At least I can read it while I'm typing :)

Thanksgiving was so awesome! Dearest son, Patrick, was home, the Seminoles of FSU are now in first place and the weekend was full of football and fun.

I did finish my Africa quilt. It is not quilted yet. I am saving that for my friend, Bob, at Country Crossroads. I just love the way it turned out! I think it is one of the best quilts I have ever made. It wasn't the trickiest, but one of the most pleasing.

Hello Friends!

It is Thanksgiving week and I am thankful......for family, for friends, for a week off from school! I know I should be using these days to make the perfect Christmas presents for each of my nieces and nephews, but how can I show them to you without revealing my surprises?

I am giving myself the day off from Christmas sewing today because I woke up and finally figured out how to finish my African fabrics quilt! I have so much fabric that my sisters and I purchased on trips to Africa, but it is so hard to cut it! I just want to look at it and pet it.

  

So, I cut a few strips from each piece of fabric and started sewing them together with a small black strip of fabric in-between each one. Wow, it got pretty big, very fast and now it is 60"x 70".

I couldn't figure out what kind of border I wanted to add.  I just knew it had to be a little different, since the center was striping. 

Here is what I decided! Boxes on the outside with striping on the inside! Every block is different. I will be adding another row to each block as well. Here are a few of them. I will post the finished quilt very soon.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thank you, Lynn, for telling folks about my blog. 72 people visited! I feel like a rock star!

I am still playing with headers and blog width, fonts and color. so, while I am playing with all of these things, I thought I would post this quilt.  Bob, at Country Crossroads quilted it for me. It was my first foray into art quilting. I made it my header this week. 

I bought a charm pack of 12" squares, but couldn't decide what to do since it was pretty simple. I tried attaching smaller pieces and played with primitive, random top stitching. 

Bob's challenge was quilting it while not interfering with the stitching that was already there....he did a super job. I wasn't as satisfied with my own top stitching and realized...it takes a lot of work to look primitive!

Woot! Woot! It's Friday!

Happy Friday! I am home after a super day at school. I wanted to share my latest headband. I love to make crazy headbands! My friend, Lynn, from Country Crossroads Quilt Shop, asked if I would make one for her for the Jaguar game this weekend. Of course I would!  So here is Lynn and I think she likes it!

I am taking a block of the month quilting class with my friend, Karen Walker. We are making the quilt called Eureka.

 I am learning quite a few things about myself during this process....like I'm not good at doing things a little bit at a time. First, I did all of my homework...

16 of these...

Then I did the next two months homework.....

4 of these......

Then 12 of these ......

I learned once I start, I just can't seem to stop :) so now I'm two blocks ahead and have told myself to stop and do something else! I love the colors though and all of the women I am meeting in the class and most of all the time I get to spend with my buddy, Karen!

Fall Projects

Here are a few things I have worked on in the last few months. I know I need to work on my camera technique, staging and lighting ....

This little work apron is what I wear at school. I have a bad habit of putting things down and walking away from them! I figured this might help....

A birthday present for my partner in crime at work, Christine ....

This is the graduation quilt I made for my awesome nephew who is an amazing musician ....

This is the graduation quilt I made for my dearest friend's daughter, Maddie.  Maddie is an incredible La Crosse player .....

A little boy baby quilt for my newest grand nephew, Will ....

A birthday present for my other dearest friend, Ellen. No peaking Ellen! 

Some sweet, very easy bags I made for my friend Lynn for her shop.

This first post on my new blog is so exciting. I feel as nervous as my students when they are trying something for the first time. The only thing that gives me courage is that I know no one will actually read it! Hello world...here I am! Next I will post a few a few photos to see how those will look online.