My newest niece, just after she was born late last night

My newest niece, just after she was born late last night, originally uploaded by nkiblueeyes.

Meet Iris Kate!

My new haircut!

My new haircut!, originally uploaded by nkiblueeyes.

Here's another view...

My New Haircut

My New Haircut, originally uploaded by nkiblueeyes.

What do you think?

I love it.

Step 1: Makeover

Step 1: makeover, originally uploaded by nkiblueeyes.

Visited Sephora.

Bought new eye shadow (plum!), blush and primer.

Time for a change

Time for a change, originally uploaded by nkiblueeyes.

I'll be honest. Most days, I look about like this. No make-up. No fuss. Cozy clothes.

I stay at home with my 3 and 4 year old. My days aren't exciting, really. I don't go anywhere most days, so I tell myself that there's no reason to make a fuss over the way I look. That comfort is most important.

But the honest truth is that I'm really tired of feeling "un-done". Tired of dressing like a slob. Tired of my hair bothering me, in my face, on my neck... Tired of the automatic pony tail each day.

Time for action! Tomorrow morning, I'm getting my hair CUT. Seriously. Maybe with a new cut, I'll find the motivation to wake up before the kids... to fix it, to put on some make-up... Not for everyone else, but for me. Time to stop overlooking me.

Bento Block

Bento Block Ready to Be Squared Up & Quartered, originally uploaded by nkiblueeyes.

I'm participating in the Bento Box Swap.

This block is ready to square up and quarter.

My boys will be starting preschool this fall and we're going to meet the teacher in a couple of weeks. They'll also have two aides in their classroom. I am thinking of making 3 Bento Box quilts for them for Christmas. I'd better get started. Will need to make 3 sets of blocks... 12 per quilt, at least...

A Change

I'm doing something drastic.

I have an appointment Saturday to cut my hair.  I'm cutting off a LOT.  I haven't had short hair since college.  It's time for a change.  I'm tired of this pony tail business.  Tired of hair on my neck.  Just tired.

Stay tuned.  I'll post some pictures.   Unless it's awful.  Then I'll post pictures with a hat.  :)

Just 3 blocks to go

Just 3 blocks to go, originally uploaded by nkiblueeyes.

These were made in my vintage sheet bee (Bee Vintage).

I'm expecting a couple more blocks, but since I've been waiting since November, I'm not holding my breath.

I've pulled 6 feed sack fabrics from my special stash. Most of this quilt is vintage sheets, but they really blend well with lighter colored feed sacks. I figure I might as well use them, instead of saving them.

For Chris in the Lovely Linen Bee

For Chris in the Lovely Linen Bee, originally uploaded by nkiblueeyes.

Aren't these fun?!? In real life, they're more yellow than orange, but my IPhone is really the only camera I use these days.

Something to Ponder

Security is mostly a superstition.
It does not exist in nature,
nor do the children of men 
as a whole experience it.

Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.

To keep our faces toward change
and behave like free spirits
in the presence of fate
is strength undefeatable.

by Helen Keller
Let Us Have Faith (1940)

Progress

Yesterday, I took some time for myself and played in the sewing room.  I caught up on all of my bees.  I wasn't really behind, but that vintage sheet block needs to get to its' owner by the end of April.  Parthena's house blocks weren't a rush job (she just handed packets with fabric and directions out on Thursday last week), but they're fun to make and she's my good friend, so I want to make extra blocks for her. :)

I also started sewing together a strip pieced necktie quilt.  All of the neckties are red silk.  It's not for me.  The blocks belong to a friend of mine who is sick.  I kidnapped these blocks from her house when I visited Little Rock last and told her she could have them back in June.  My goal is to have the quilt completed by then.  I know it will mean a lot to her that I finished it for her.

Will post pictures soon.  I don't think it will take me long to get the top pieced.  Will have to do some thinking and figuring before I'm brave enough to cut into the special silk she bought in Cairo, Egypt to become the border.  I don't want to mess it up...

But for now, I am going to take a nap.  Took the boys out for a couple of adventures this morning and I'm pretty tired this afternoon.

Bee Vintage block for Marissa (Shooksplayground)

Bee Vintage block for Marissa (Shooksplayground), originally uploaded by nkiblueeyes.

Wonky House #2 for Parthena in the KC Scrappy Bee

Wonky House #2 for Parthena in the KC Scrappy Bee, originally uploaded by nkiblueeyes.

I promise I've been quilting

Wonky house for Parthena in the KC Scrappy Bee, originally uploaded by nkiblueeyes.

I just haven't been blogging. Here's a wonky house that I made for Parthena this morning.

Last weekend, we had a big birthday party for Wyatt, my mom and step-dad came to visit from Houston and they helped me move my old kitchen table up two flights of stairs to my sewing room. I'm planning on ONLY putting my sewing machine on it. This will give me a LOT of surface area for quilting.

I'm a little swamped in the "sewing for others" category right now. I have a vintage sheet block cut out that needs to be assembled. It has a fair amount of pieces, though, so I need to concentrate when I get started. I also would like to make another house or two for Parthena.

I am putting together a red strip pieced silk necktie quilt for an ailing friend. It's a UFO of hers, but it needs to be finished. I know if she has it to love on, she will get well more quickly. I have until June to finish it. It's laid out and ready to go, but I want to use red thread, so I will probably sit down and piece all the blocks together at once while my machine is threaded with the red.

I am expecting fabric to make a bee block for someone in my linen bee. I'm needing more yellows, though. Must shop.

And my sewing room is a wreck. Half of it is, anyways. Maybe I'll be brave and take a picture tonight.

The hubs is leaving town tomorrow for work, as usual. I'm feeling like I had no time to myself today. *sigh*

I'm organizing our next round of the KC Scrappy Bee. It will start again in June. Several members have decided they're not re-joining, so I'm working on finding some replacements. Choosing carefully.

At this moment, I'm doing some embroidery to make a pouch for the "pretty little pouch swap" on Flickr. I haven't made this type of bag before, so I'm a little nervous about it... We shall see how it turns out. Stay tuned.

Letter softies

Party favors for wyatt's birthday:


O is for Owen




And w is for Wyatt

Today's sewing

Got the borders on a Qov & the backing ready. Will go to the quilter soon.




And I'm working on getting a round robin kit ready to pass around at guild next week.




Here are a couple reasons I didn't get more sewing done today:

My name in flames

My name in flames, originally uploaded by nkiblueeyes.

I'm a firey one, you know...

All I Wanna Do...

is sew.

But there's not much time for that today, I'm afraid.

Sent one kiddo with the daddy to his parents' house already... The other is pretending to nap (translate that to playing with his toys and talking about all the things that are happening outside his bedroom window) while I'm supposed to be cleaning the house.

Got sucked into watching Hoarders... You'd think that would get me off of my rear!

And also looking thru pictures on Flickr.  Love the inspiration!

I have a mess in the corner of the living room.  A sewing mess.  I want to spend some time finishing up a few projects I've brought downstairs.  Mostly Quilts of Valor stuff.  I have two quilts that need borders and ironing.  And a medallion that I need to finish assembling... And a stack of blocks that need to be squared up and made into a kit for someone else to assemble.

I also need to work on finishing some pillow covers for my grandmother's couch.  We are going to Little Rock to give my cousin a baby shower later in the week.  I'd love to have the pillow covers finished before we leave.  It's do-able... Must focus.

But I also have to clean house.  Wyatt's birthday is coming.  My mom and step-father are coming from Texas for the festivities.  I have some sewing to do for that, too.

Tonight, I'd like to get the kitchen cleaned up and swept and mopped.  It's sticky.  Needing to wipe down surfaces and polish stuff.  Might reward myself with a little sewing time if I can accomplish that.

The best part?  My hubby is taking BOTH kiddos to his mom's this afternoon for supper, so I can sweep and mop without my sidekicks trying to "HELP"...

I'll take a minute this afternoon to take some pictures of the products of my machine quilting class from yesterday.  So much fun!

Machine Quilting Class

Today I'm taking a machine quilting class with my mother-in-law and my sister-in-law at Harper's.  Now that I have a machine that I'm comfortable with, I'm looking forward to doing more of my own quilting.

My mom is visiting in a couple of weeks and she's giving me her dining room table and chairs.  It's actually a little smaller than the one I currently use.  My current dining room table will be moved up to the attic and my plan is to set up my machine in one corner of it.  Hopefully I can manage to keep it cleared off... and it'll give me lots of surface area for when I quilt.

More details and pictures to come!

More webs are arriving...

Bee vintage wonky log cabin

I'm making a wonky log cabin out of vintage sheets & feed sacks. Here's my progress so far:





I made these 3 blocks tonight. Don't you love em???


















For the backing I want to make a giant wonky log cabin. These are my favorite sheets, so I'll likely use one of them & maybe find another sheet to coordinate.

Smitten

I'm starting to get blocks back from the lovely linen bee & I am SO smitten with this quilt!

I could play with it for hours.

KC Scrappy Bee

Tonight I finished a top!  My friends in the KC Scrappy Bee are all members of the Kansas City Modern Quilters' Guild.  My month was last June and I'm just now getting around to finishing my quilt top...  I gave each of them the focus fabric in the center of this block with the stipulation that they could make any type block as long as this fabric was in the center of the block.



I am using only fabric from my stash to finish this quilt.  I bought a bolt of this purple and green gingham when a local quilter who has an online shop decided to downsize.  There's enough for a backing, too.  Might be a little boring with this same fabric for the backing, but it's a good way to use it up, so that's what I'm going with.  I was happy that I could tone down the pinks somewhat by using the purple/green print.  I promise those pinks aren't as obnoxious as they appear to be in this photo.  The top right corner is a solid pink block that will be a signature block for each of my bee members to sign.

Wyatt's upcoming 4th birthday party

Wyatt turns 4 in April.  My sweet and quiet thinker.  Always eager to give and receive affection.  Spends most of his time imagining and pretending.  He is really into the alphabet, sounds and counting.  I've decided to have a birthday theme of ABC's for him.  We'll use magnetic letters on his birthday cake...  I'll rent some time at the local scrapbooking shop to use their fun dye cuts for letters to put out on the table... Each child in attendance will get a softie letter that corresponds to the first letter in their name as part of their party favors.  Tonight I made two:

J is for Jackson, Wyatt's first cousin

And K is for Kyle,  our good buddy

I still have 4 or 7 more to make, depending on RSVP's.  For sure, I need to make a N for Nomto, an A for Altan, a W for Wyatt and an O for Owen.  Might have G, M and another A to make, as well...

Quake quilt

My next few new quilts are going to help me weed through my scraps. You have seen my spider web wip. This is the beginning of my quake quilt. More to come....

Pillows for Memaw

I'm making a few pillow covers for my grandmother. Here are the latest ones I'm working on:

A finish! For Jayden

My sister is in the process of trying to adopt Jayden.  He's their 3 year old foster son.  This is the quilt that I've made for him.  It's taken me longer than I'd expected to finish it.  I used some satin ribbon binding that I had.  This is a first for me.  It will make this quilt an extra soft and snuggly one.

For Hallie

My first cousin, Kristen is going to have a baby girl soon. Her name is Hallie. This is the second butterfly baby quilt I've made lately. Such a fun pattern!

I finished the binding today. Such a rewarding feeling to have a finish!

Another Picture

My entry, originally uploaded by nkiblueeyes.

Please ignore my cheesy smile.

This picture has a better view of my bag.

Kaufman Solids Challenge at KCMQG

IMG_6645, originally uploaded by nkiblueeyes.

We were given a charm pack of solids a couple months ago (donated by Robert Kaufman- Thanks a bunch!) and challenged to make something with no prints.

I made a bag to store those big sheets of paper that my kids use on their easel for painting. I also keep completed "work" inside it.

I cannot tell you how many FABULOUS quilts people made for this challenge. SERIOUSLY.

I took a bunch of pictures. Check out my Flickr photostream. You will be so inspired.

Cleaning

I've been busy organizing my stash. It was upside down before yesterday and today's work.

Check out this

I've been meaning to share this with you guys.  A few months ago it was shown at Blue Valley Quilters' Guild.  Hand pieced, hand quilted TINY perfect hexagons.  A serious work of art.  Antique, too!  I wish I'd gotten a better picture.  It was the most spectacular quilt I've ever seen... or maybe the second most spectacular.  Really well-done!



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Shopping

Went to Sarah's Fabrics in Lawrence again today.  An expensive habit.  Needed some quality time with my best friend so the hubbies kept the kids while we had a day out.

I've been picking up a spool of King Tut thread every time I am at a fabric store that sells it.  I have quite a collection now. :)  Tomorrow I'm going to put some satin binding on a quilt for my nephew.  He's actually my foster nephew, but I think my sister will be able to adopt him soon.  Good news!

The brown polka dot fabric is flannel.  I'll use it to bind Owen's big boy quilt.  I'm about to take it to the quilter.

The primary colored fabrics are so much fun.  I don't have any particular plans for them yet, but I'm thinking on it.

The blue Fandango print will be used to finish my grandmother's pillow covers.

And the gray Denise Schmidt is a print I've been coveting for some time now.  I don't have much gray in my stash, so I justified getting some today.

$71 later, I left the store.  Bad habit, I tell you!

Asian fans

A couple weeks ago, I bought some fabric to use to (hopefully) complete the blocks for my Asian fan quilt.  Isn't this rich!?!
Now I have to try to make templates for the two pieces.  Am nervous.  I'm using a pattern, but I've modified it enough that I'll have to wing it.  Worried I'll mess it up & waste fabric. :(
I'll be brave. Just not today.

KC Scrappy Bee

Back in June, my fellow bee members in the KC Scrappy Bee helped me to create these blocks.  I bought some gray fabric to use with them, but it wasn't working for me, so I put them on a shelf.

Tonight I dusted them off and decided to use what I had in my stash to finish this quilt.  I have almost a whole bolt of the green checked fabric that I bought for $1.00 (!) per yard about a year ago.  I have plenty for the backing, too.  What do you think?

I might put a light pink border around the quilt (I'd have to buy the fabric) to frame it.  I'll probably use more of the green fabric to bind it, too.  In the dark pink block at the top, I'll have all of my bee members sign it.  Here's a closeup of the fabric:

Yellow & orange vintage sheet summer quilt

I participated in a vintage sheet fat quarter exchange last summer and I got a huge assortment of vintage sheets.  I decided to chop up the yellows and oranges to create myself a summer quilt.  I'm finally getting around to finishing the top.  I did half of this quilt (cutting and all) tonight.

This is one of my very favorite vintage sheets.  It will be the backing.

I may even be brave enough to quilt it myself!  We'll see...

Early Morning Sewing

My helper, Wyatt. He threw up in the night and decided we'd better go downstairs. He likes to help me quilt., originally uploaded by nkiblueeyes.

My helper, Wyatt. He threw up in the night and decided we'd better go downstairs. He likes to help me quilt.

Spider!

Spider!, originally uploaded by nkiblueeyes.

Spending time in the cafe at the gym. Not working out. Kids in childcare. Embroidering spiders on Wyatt's spider web quilt blocks.

Doesn't this one look real?

A pillow cover

For my grandmother's birthday, I'm making new pillow covers for her couch. This is the first time I've attempted anything like this. I like it so far...

The front

The back (a pity this won't show)

Central park by Kate Spain. Moda