30 June 2009

day two of quilt number three...


"I was also influenced by a few pages in a book called Old Patchwork Quilts and the Women Who Made Them, by Ruth Finley. It told a romantic tale of the days when people gathered to sew quilts all day, shared a delicous supper, and then danced together in the evening hours. Over and over I read the few pages about the old-time quilting bees. I daydreamed about who would share my quilts and my life one day..."
(Another favorite excerpt from my new book)
Today was my second day working on the Modified Bento Box Quilt. I cut all of the strips to do the third ring on each block, I pressed, and I sewed, and I am still loving it :) I am even enjoying the ironing part! My mom would be so proud of that :) Here are picture of the quilt blocks today....




I have one more ring to do around each block which I think I am going to wait until tomorrow to do...we shall see! I may be back with another post tonight so check back :)
love!
xoxo

29 June 2009

More quilting love

I can't help it. Like I said, I am obsessed. Before I get to quilt #3 (and it is amazing, trust me), I have to tell you about a book. This book:

If you know my dad, you know that he loves the library. He is a reader, like me, and enjoys going to the library, almost daily. In fact, when he retires, he would love to work there. The library would be soooo lucky to have him. Anyway, he has this habit of buying A LOT of the books on the for sale table. It's like the books that are wicked old or beat up looking and the library doesn't want to shelf them anymore so they sell them for 25 cents. Well, if my dad knows that you like to read, you are DOOMED. He buys any book he thinks that you would like and then you have a bazillion books. Just kidding dad, you know I love it. ha! Anyway, he knows that I am currently obsessed with quilts and so today, he brought me home this book. Most times, I "accidently" leave the books he gets me at their home but he told me that he read the introduction of this book and he KNEW this book was for me. Now when my dad says things like this, and means it, it melts my heart, like literally, I will probably keep this book forever because the fact that he said that :) So, I open the book and the first sentence had me..."A quilt is like a little diary." That is like my whole philosphy about quilting!! So much thought, patience, planning, and love goes into a quilt, and that is why I love them. That first sentence grabbed my attention so well that I read the whole book. The book is a HOT MESS, falling apart, copyrighted in 1986, but it's soooo perfect! Thanks dad :)
Well, I was so inspired by the book and by my last post that I decided to get out all of my fabric and start the Modified Bento Box quilt. I didn't have enough of what I needed to get all of the fabric cut but I couldn't wait to get sewing!! I went ahead and started all 16 squares and sewed two rings each around each block. I had to see what it was all going to look like. Here is what I got finished tonight:

My least favorite part of quilting :(



I am really excited to be doing a more complex quilt and one that is sooooo lovely! Each block still needs two more rings around them. Then the blocks will be cut into 1/4ths, mixed around with others, and then sewn together again to form new blocks! Sweet!
I did all of this work on my new baby, Betty:

Another sweet gift from the world's greatest dad <3
I will definitely post more pics as I progress on this quilt.
Adam's interview was today and it seemed to go really well so please pray that we hear some good news really soon!!
Have a super night!
xoxoxo

Monday Inspirations...

Ashley, from Film in the Fridge, is such an amazing quilter :) I have been so inspired by her quilts. I am currently working on creating a "Modified Bento Box' quilt, which she has a tutorial for over at her blog. Her tutorials are really easy to follow and her craftmanship is stunning. Here are some of my favorites that she has made :)













Man, I wonder if I will ever be that good? I hope so!! I am totally obsessed with quilting at the moment. I love having new obsessions :) My goal for this summer and technically for the whole year was to make a quilt. I started early this month and am on my third quilt so I am very happy with that accomplishment. I am excited! Have an inspiring Monday loves....
xoxo

28 June 2009

done and done :)

Tonight I completely finished my Far Far Away quilt...

I did purple binding...

a complimentary turqouise fabric for the backing...

I did the quilting with the same turquoise color and I looooooove it...

I am really happy with the finished project...



I am definitely still a beginner but I hope that with each quilt, I continue to get better :)
I can not wait to get started on my next one :)
nighty night!

National Geographic

That is what yesterday felt like :) I felt like I was in the magazine!! First, at about one in the morning, when I was heading to bed, i walked in to my bedroom and saw this!!!

This is no exaggeration....it was about the size of a dollar bill. Huge for a spider!! I have never seen anything like it and it was the first time that I was actually scared of a spider. It was sooooo big and hairy, and fangy, and ewwwww that I was positive that it had to be poisonous. It probably wasn't though. What kind of spider is it?? I am thinking maybe a Wolf Spider and all I could think about the entire night was all of the eggs that it probably laid all over my house, especially my pillow. Don't you hate that?? In the sevenish years that I have lived here, I have only seen probably 5 bugs in my house and the previous four were ants. Im freaked out. It could have eaten Catalina!! Ok, that was an exaggeration :)
Next, on my way to some garage sales, my dad announced that he just saw a groundhog on the side of the road!! Who sees a groundhog in real life? I have only seen them in movies, not even at the zoo! So, I made him turn the car around so I could see it and snap a picture:

They are actually pretty big as well. Like a giant prairie dog :) Sooo cute! It was chilling on the side of the road eating leaves :) Loved it!
Then, while my dad was in a garage sale, I sat in the car for about 10 minutes watching this momma bird fly in and out of this hole in the tree with treats to feed it's little baby birds. There were about 4 little bird heads sticking out of the hole with their mouths open....sooooo stinkin cute!! The only clear shot I got was of the mom and one of the babies...

I was more excited about watching them then trying to get a picture. It was so neat.
How cool are all of God's creatures...even the spiders really. I mean a spider's web is such an amazingly stunning work of art. SOooo, cool.
Then to finish my day of photographing animals :) I took some pics of my favorite little animal, Catalina, taking a bath :)



I love her soooo much!!
Today, church was amazing, as usual....I love it.
And this afternoon I am going to my cousin's 21 birthday bar-b-q where there will be a washer's tournament!!! Nicole and I's men are THE BOMB at washers so I am sure they will win :) We shall see. I know it will be a good time and the weather is gorgeous here!! After a week of 90-100 degrees we have a beautiful sunny day in the 80's! perfect! I am going to take lots of Polaroids today....have a blessed Sunday!
Oh and the needle in one of my sewing machines broke last night at about midnight when I attempted to finish the binding so as soon as I get it fixed or switch over to the other machine, I will post pictures of the finished quilt. It is way more beautiful than I thought it was going to be. I am pleased with it :)
Ok, peace out!
xoxo

27 June 2009

Photobooth Friday <3

Wow, maybe I should start calling this, Photobooth Saturday :) lol! Here is a photo of my sweet $1.00 garage sale find...

Eeeek! I am super excited about it!! My only other score for the day was an Egyptian hieroglyphic alphabet stamp set that I can use when we do our Egyptian Art study at school!!
Today, I also went to the fabric store with my dad and got everything to finish up my "Far Far Away" quilt. And three hours later, I have it sewn together with the batting and backing and I also did ALL of the quiliting...OMG, I love it! I am way to 'over it' right now to do the binding though :) The idea of cutting strips and even changing the thread color and bobbin color makes me want to scream. SOOOO I will save the rest for tomorrow :)
Dear God,
Thank you for this amazing day and my amazing friends and family!
What a blessing...
Love,
Janel
Have an awesome Saturday night friends!
loveeeeee

26 June 2009

Sparkle Sparkle Sparkle

I hope, by now, all of you are familiar with THE SPARK!! Well, The Spark has a super fun 3-day blog party scheduled for July 3-5!! I could not be more excited to be part of this!! Here is the information (taken off The Spark page):



That's right! We're going to have a blog party right here on the spark - and you're invited!

Who: The Spark
What: A Blog Party!
When: July 3rd - 5th
Where: Right Here!
Why: Because, duh, we can! :)

There'll be guest-bloggers, giveaways, inspiration posts and much more!

We also need guest bloggers for our blog party!
If you're interested, please email us at:

sparkjournal@gmail.com

Can't wait to see you there!
xoxo

Again, I am soooo excited!!  If you aren't a follower of The Spark yet, you better get to it!!  The challenges are awesome and the prizes are even more awesome :)  Jump over there, become a follower and promote the Blog Party on your blog :)  Who wants to party with me?  I will be having a give-a-way over there where I am giving an original piece of Elsie art work that I bought at the last RVA update!!  Be excited!!  Leave me a comment and let me know if you will be there!

IDSS+Wonderland+new couch =<3

I have been doing so much creating these last few days.  It has been entirely too hot to do fun outdoorsy things so Adam and I have been having fun indoors; Scrabble, Boggle, mini book making, quilting, pillow making, picture taking, movie watching and couch lounging.  It has been nice :)  First, here is the very close to finished produce of my I Do Solemnly Swear Art Journal.  A few pages are still without pictures but will have pictures soon!








The flash is making the silver table cloth on that last page look black but it is a very shiny silver :) I love that journal. Rachel Denbow, your art journaling classes rock!
Now, onto my "Wonderland" mini book. This book is going to be all about my sister and I. I have yet to add any pictures because I want to print some of my faves :) I am calling it complete because all of the pages are ready and all I have to do is slip in some pictures.












I actually love how busy it is. Some books are made to be simple, this one was meant to be busy and colorful! I think it is so cute and I can't wait to finish up my Neverland mini book next!!
Finally, a picture of the new couch!! Yay! I will still take some more living room pics later but for now, here is our couch!!

sleek design, neutral color, comfortable...loves <3
Also, on another exciting note, I am finally a Flickr "Pro." I get to have one of those cutie Flickr widgets over there on the side bar!! I also can see all of the old pictures that vanished off of my profile because I wasn't a pro!....now I am :) Check it out!
Later, I am going to post about some seriously exciting SPARK news!!
xoxo