Seven Years and Counting

Seven years ago this Labor Day Weekend, I married the man of my dreams...that one man who is perfect for me, because God sent him to me. It is amazing to me that we learn daily from each other and have managed to get through all of our personal issues together with our marriage still intact. I shouldn't be so amazed, because I know exactly how it all happened: we allowed God to be the center of our marriage and he has brought us through every trial with much grace and ultimate victory.
I love you Kevin, with all my heart and I am thankful that God sent you to me when He knew we were both ready. I am looking forward to spending many more years with you and God.

Quilt Class at Mary Jo's Cloth Store

My first ever quilt class...and I had a blast. One of my favorite gal pals (Cathy) went with me as well as her sister and great niece. I'm pretty sure we will be attending more classes together.

Jean Funderburk was the teacher and she was great and so sweet and patient. The block she chose for our class sounded daunting, the Drunkard's Path, but she made it so simple and easy...and the layout turned out amazing. Here are a few or our blocks:

Finished example of the quilt for class

"Monkey See, Monkey Blue" by Jean ....sorry it is sideways

"Fooled You" also by Jean

Cathy's Block laid out, ready to stitch

This lovely block was made by Cathy's sister...It has me thinking about Christmas before July.

Purple Batiks....played well together in this block

Multicolored batiks make this block layout really stand out.

Tabitha's partially stitched...lovely pinks

"Dancing Through the Daisies"

These beautiful blocks are larger than the ones needed for class, but they are such awesome shades of purple.

Here's my quilt block ready to be stitched together...it is for my 1st grand baby (a girl) due in October.

My finished quilt.

And of course I have a picture of our wonderful teacher with one of her quilts:

Thank you Jean for showing us this much simpler way to do the Drunkard's Path and for making it so much fun too. Thank you to Mary Jo's Cloth Store for all you did to make the classes possible.

I was not able to get a picture of everyone's quilt block, but they were all beautiful...the blocks and the ladies.

Happy Mother's Day

I just wanted to drop in and wish everyone a very Happy Mother's day.  I am thankful to still have my mother here on earth with me. I also have my wonderful Grandmother (whom I call Granny) still here as well. My mother-in-law (Connie) is a wonderful woman too. All three of these women have had a great impact on my life. Things have not always been perfect, but we have always worked thru the tough times with God as our biggest help and we have made alot of wonderful memories together.
Thank you Mama, Granny and Connie for all the things you have done for me and for all the things you didn't do for me too. Some things I have to learn on my own, but  of because your leadership and guidance, I am the woman I am today.

My Mama

My Granny...when she was 17

My Mother-in-law

I love you all with all my heart and pray that God will continue to bless each of you with health and happiness and many more wonderful days here with me. Looking forward to strolling over heaven with each of you one day soon.

March Wedding...Sewing is

COMPLETE!!! Whew. I am so glad to have completed all the wedding garments. The Bride to be is excited too...Everything fits perfectly. I am just as excited as the bride...is that bad? Now to finish a couple of gifts for the lovely couple...a quilt that is partly their Christmas gift and the awesome cape for my son to give his beautiful bride. Off to my sewing machine...can you hear it humming?

Pics of the wedding garmentd will have to wait until after the wedding...sorry.

Have a bessed and productive day!!

Crochet Time

I know most of my previous posts have been sewing related...2 weddings and lots of baby stuff...and I thought it was about time for me to share some of my crocheted things.

I love crocheting as much as I love sewing. I have crocheted quite a few things for babies and many hats for my Grandmother and a few things for myself and my home. As with many of my sewing patterns, the patterns I use for crochet can be found for FREE here on the internet. Big shout out to all the people who share their patterns...love you and thanks for your hard work!!  I will post links to all the patterns that I have used, even the ones I had to buy (from web sites or magazine subscriptions, etc.) Hope you enjoy all the pictures and the links. Some of these patterns are .pdf downloads, most of them are not and I have them bookmarked in my browser.

 

The blog where I found the pattern for Elmo is no longer available.

I think this is where I found this pattern:

http://melpdesigns.blogspot.com/2011/01/free-crochet-headband-earwarmer-pattern.html

From Red Heart Scalloped Baby Hat and Mittens. I know there is no hat in this picture, but I made it in black sport weight and gave it as a gift to a handsome baby boy, without taking a picture of it.

I just made this flower up as I went....lots of chains and slip stitches.

I made this one up on the fly as well...my Granny wanted a unique flower for her baby doll's headband. She was tired of the plain bands and the flowers that came in her patterns.

This pattern I found in a little book at Wa-lmart called Crochet Cocoons this particular one is actually on the cover in shades of orange. I also bought the little book that has hat and diaper cover set patterns...there is a chick, a giraffe, a puppy and a couple more. They are all fun and easy to make.

I found many of my patterns on the websites for each of the yarn manufacturers as well as on the labels.

1. Red Heart
2. Lily Sugar 'n Cream
3. Lion Brand
4. Coats & Clark
5. Bernat
6. Caron
7. All Free Crochet.com
8. e-Patterns Central.com

These are just a few of the free pattern places that are available...many talented people post free patterns on their blog and I have many of them bookmarked for quick and easy access.

I also use Google search to find specific patterns that I am looking for. I always type in "Free _____ crochet pattern" and then check the results to see if is what I am looking for.

Feel free to check out the various web pages and try a new pattern or learn a new craft. Most of the yarn manufacturers have a free newsletter sign up that is loaded with updates on new product info and free patterns and quick access to their website.

I almost forgot about this beautiful little girl . She is wearing a poncho I made from Bamboo yarn, but the pattern was Lily Sugar 'n Cream (I cannot find it on their site, but I did pick up the free project sheet at Hobby Lobby). Her hat is also make from Bamboo yarn, but the pattern is from a project sheet I picked up at Wal-mart called Three Tone Hat, which actually came from Red Heart. It was very quick and easy.

Sewing for Another Wedding :)

This time I am the mother of the groom. I am excited for my son and his fiance. She is a great person. I really like her.
The last 2 days have been rough...standing on my feet to iron fabric, pinning pattern pieces, cutting all those pieces out. Making myself tired just thinking about it. Sewing begins on Monday. Tommorrow I must go get new cones of thread so that I will have enough.
Haven't been by Long Creek in a while. They have lots of crafty things and I love visiting them. They have an amazing assortment of threads. Maybe I will do an entire post about them in the spring...after the wedding. Here's a picture of parts of the bride's gown:

It's Been HOW Long???

OH MY!! I can't believe it has been almost an entire year since I have posted on my blog. It's funny how sometimes you get so busy, that you forget about other people and things that you should be doing.

I ended up having to get a new laptop. The screen on the first one cracked in the middle. I was able to take off the screen and connect a monitor to it, so it is still useful as a desktop. Most of my patterns are still on it and most of my pics and music too. So grateful that I didn't loose all that again like when the laptop's hard drive gave up.

I hope that everyone had a great Christmas holiday. I also hope that everyone has a wonderful New Year in 2013.

My oldest son (T) is getting married at the end of March, to a wonderful young woman (N). I have been asked to make her wedding dress!! I feel so honored. My kids and I have known N for several years and actually lost touch with her for a little while, but it sure is great to have her become a part of our family. We will be traveling to WV for the wedding, because that's where the majority of her family is. That's OK, I'm ready for a road trip, I think. I have been a home body for so long.

I have a couple of pics a preview of fabric for the wedding dress and a sneak peek of the quilt I am making for them. The quilt is a Scrappy one, although all the fabrics were going to be made into something else when I bought them. I'm glad they are now made into a quilt top.

This will be the top of the wedding gown I am making for N.
 It is going to be absolutely awesome!

I did tell the happy couple that this quilt was partly their Christmas and partly their wedding gifts. They were OK with that, considering all they got to see was a few fabric swatches sewn together as a representation of their quilt.

Can you tell if these pics are any better than the other pics here on my pages? I hope that these last few look tons better. I got a new camera and I am learning how to use the different settings so I can take great pictures of everything. Kevin laughs at me because I am always talking picturess. I guess he thought I was bluffing all the times I said "I wish I had a good camera."  Here's a pic of the inside of the windshieild on my Grandpa's truck...it was softly raining while we were eating hot dogs at a place called "Weiner Works" after a recent short road trip we went on...

Here is what was outside the truck...

I realize it is still a bit blurry, but I was so excited about using my camera, that I didn't use the manual focus. Could have been much worse looking. At our family Christmas dinner, I took 8 or 10 pics of my youngest son D before getting one that was not blurry. He was sitting still and being a good sport about my having to take so many pics to get a good one. I sure love that baby boy of mine.

I still haven't finished redoing the inside of my house yet, but it still moving along. Maybe 2013 will be a more productive year here around the house.

Many prayers and blessings, Michelle~~Agape Stitches