Work In Progress Wednesday-10

I finally got started on the Quilts for Kids quilt (click HERE to read more about this wonderful program). This is my first "real" quilt and it's really not as bad as I thought it would be.  I've been working on it here and there the past week or so and I think it's coming together nicely...don't you think?? Our living room area has awful lighting (actually it's really doesn't have any lighting except for lamps) so the pictures are a little dark.  I'm still trying to figure out the best place to take pictures inside.


Ready to Sew!

Got the rows pieced!

Blocks Pieced Together

I'll be working on the inner and outer borders here in the next few days and that will make the piecing finished!  If I'm dilligent enough, I MIGHT just be able to have this done and in the mail next week, but we shall see!

Weekly Round-Up!

Finished:

• Butterfly Faux Chenille Blanket
• Monkey Faux Chenille Blanket

In Progress:

• Quilts for Kids Quilt
• Another Green Bay  Faux Chenille Blanket
• Cow Fabric Project (half remains!)
• Test out my new KAM Snap Plier set!

Linking up to Work In Progress Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced with this week's guest host Colleen from The Busy Bean!

See-Ya Long Hair!

Well I *FINALLY* decided that it was time to give my hair the old choppy-chop!  I have been letting my hair grow out for about 3 years now and I knew I wanted to cut it again but I kept going back and forth on how I wanted it.  Did I want to go just long enough that I could still pull it into a ponytail or short enough that I wouldn't even have to worry about the ponytail issue??  (By the way, I absolutely HATE the in between hair stage when only *SOME* of your hair goes into the ponytail.  I can't stand it!).


About a week and a half ago I decided it was time and I called and scheduled an appointment.  I have been having what I like to call "hair headaches" and I was getting tired of having to pull my hair up just so I could sleep well.  Also it was so long it was hard for me to do anything style wise with it so I always either had it down, up in a ponytail, or braided for our motorcycle rides.  Also, the whole point of getting my hair cut was so I could donate my hair to Locks of Love.  So I wanted to cut it for me and I wanted to cut it for LOL.


So without further adieu here are my before and after pictures.  Sorry they are kinda crappy...we were using my little Nikon and it didn't agree with the salon lighting.

BEFORE!

My two ponytails to donate!

Me with my new cut and my hair donation :-)

I'm very happy with my decision to finally cut my hair!  And the fact that someone is going to have a killer wig made out of my hair! :-)  I can't wait to do this again someday (although right now it's not in my plans)!

TGIFF

Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday!  Beth over at Plum and June is hosting this weeks TGIFF linky party.  I'm glad I found this party...I think it's a great follow-up to WIP Wednesdays!


This week I finally finished the two Faux Chenille Blankets I have been working on.  I had a *minor* slip up with the brown binding on the Jungle Blanket (that's explained in the WIP Wednesday post) and I had to make my own binding for the Butterfly Blanket.  Despite my slip-up and trial run of homemade binding I finished both Wednesday night.  My favorite part when making these Faux Chenille blankets is taking them out of the dryer to see the back layers :-)

Those are my two finishes for the week!  Hop on over to Plum and June and check out what others have finished this week!

Mail Call!

Woo-hoo!!  I got my KAM snaps and plier set from Simplifi Fabrics today!  Check them out on Facebook HERE.  I just ordered this on Monday!

I only ordered a set of 100 white snaps to get me started and if things go well I'll buy some more colors.  I decided to get one of these so I can make bibs along with my blankets and burp cloths.  
And I MIGHT just get adventurous enough and make cloth diapers as well.  I have a friend sending me some supplies and I'm going to *attempt* to make some cloth diapers for her and she's gonna let me know how things go.


I also got this in the mail today (even though the tracking information said it was delivered two days ago!!! what the heck were they holding my Amazon package hostage at the Post Office?!)

It's a 6 piece sewing foot set that includes a binder foot, an edgestitcher, and 4 different size hemming feet.  I have NO CLUE how to use any of these feet but I can't wait to try them all out!

I also got my "All-In-One Quilter's Reference Tool" Book.  I figured this would be a really good investment as a beginner and will be great to reference quickly instead of scouring the internet (which almost ALWAYS has me sidetracked on Pinterest for WAY too long!).


I just love when I get packages in the mail :-)  Now I'm off to get started on my Quilts for Kids Quilt which is already *past due*, yikes!  I need to get moving!

Work In Progress Wednesday #9

You see that??  Yeah that down there.  That, right there, is what happens when you buy two different colors of binding! Bahhhhh!!

I was so motivated to get this Jungle blanket finished last night...so motivated.  And then while I was sitting on the floor watching the Big Bang Theory reruns and pinning on the binding I discover that the two pieces I connected...DID NOT MATCH!  I couldn't believe I did that so I dug the packaging out of my little sewing trash bin and lo and behold!  I bought one pack in Mocha Brown and one pack in Seal Brown. *facepalm*

Sometimes I wonder about myself....haha!  But it is what it is and I'll be picking up a pack of MOCHA brown binding today, and meanwhile you can enjoy that picture of the *almost* finished Jungle Faux Chenille Blanket.


I also had a chance to work on the homemade binding I need to make for this faux chenille blanket.

I bought a quarter yard of the same pink I used for the top layer of the back of this blanket, so I was hoping that's enough to make it around the whole thing (yes I was too lazy to actually figure out how much I would need...and yes I had more then enough!).  I cut it down into 3.25 inch strips and then pressed them in half.

Then I opened them up and pressed each of the halves in half towards the inside. Then pressed them in half like I did at first.  Here is my finished piece.  I'm thinking not bad for my first time making my own binding and just going by the looks of my pre-made binding I have on hand.

I was able to get all my strips pressed and sewn together and pinned on the blanket.  So all that's left to do there is sew on the binding and give it a whirl in the wash.

And here's the round up!

In Progress:

• Butterfly Faux Chenille Blanket (in the home stretch!)
• Monkey Faux Chenille Blanket (in the home stretch!)
• Another Green Bay  Faux Chenille Blanket
• Cow Fabric Project (half remains!)
• Quilts for Kids Quilt

As always, linking up to Work In Progress Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced with guest host Taryn who blogs at from Pixels to Patchwork!

Oh Saturday!

Dylan and I went to a local Amish School Sale Benefit on Saturday and ended up scoring some good deals.  We have been to one of these before but we NEVER went for the auction items...we were always there just to eat the delicious food!  This auction was BIG!! They had 5 different auction tents going at once and they were selling almost anything you can imagine!  Home decor items, brand new tools, used tools, plants and shrubbery, brand new handmade furniture, all kinds of antiques and of course handmade Amish quilts.  We had a bite to eat when we got there and then I went over to the home decor tent to sit with Dylan's Mawmaw, Aunt Tami (woo here is your shout out!!) and cousin Ashli.  They were there bright and early and already had a pile of things (bird feeders, birdhouses and a Lightning Glider sled).  I started seeing some things that I wanted so I made Aunt Tami bid on them for me (I'll admit it, I was scared to bid! Maybe next auction I'll get my own number to bid on items).  I ended up with two of these adorable Welcome signs and this pair of little crates that I plan on painting.

What I REALLLLLLY wanted was these half barrel shelves that look like the picture below.  They sold four of them and we were bidding on each one but they just went too high for what I was willing to pay.  We ALMOST won that last one but the auctioneer was trying to get a higher bid (I think we were at $35) and someone ended up snagging it from us.  Bummer!

Google Image

Meanwhile, Dylan was over at the tool auction checking things out.  He ended up seeing some things he wanted because he went and got himself a bid number.  We were texting back and forth, asking each other if we bought anything and how much we were spending.  I was "winning" with $12 spent and then Dylan text me and told me he spent $40 on some DeWalt drill bits, jigsaw blades and (SOMETHING ELSE??).  Later on he got a nice 24 foot extension ladder for about half of what we would have paid retail for it.

When Dylan was paying for his items I saw the list of the quilts that were being auctioned off.  They had a list of 325 handmade quilts.  They were in the process of auctioning those off when we left and I was tempted to go in that tent and have a look-see at all the quilts, but we were on our way out (which was probably a good thing!).


So after that adventure we decided to just hang out at home for the rest of the night.  We shot some rounds out of Dylan's pistol, made dinner then had a small little campfire and made some s'mores.  All in all it was a good day and we can't wait until we go to another auction!!

See how far the earplugs stick out of my teeny little ears!?!

I had the better grouping the first round :-)

Dylan just had a crazy trigger finger!

In this last picture I'm trying to figure out how to shoot the gun with both eyes open.  I just couldn't figure out how to use the sights with both eyes...haha! Something to practice!

Work In Progress Wednesday #8

Today is my 8th Work In Progress Wednesday post!  It's hard to believe I have been detailing my progress for two months now!  I hope I can keep this streak going :-)

We were both able to get some stuff done this weekend because sadly the Miranda Lambert concert we were supposed to go to on Saturday has been postponed because she is on vocal rest. :-(  Both Dylan and I were upset to hear this (but her vocal health comes first otherwise we won't hear her sing!) and now we are just waiting to hear the reschedule date.  I'm hoping that it's not rescheduled for the few weekends we have booked with wedding festivities we are committed too.  But we just have to wait and see.

Anywho, so I was able to get started on the Jungle Faux Chenille blanket (I keep changing what I call this blanket, so I've decided to go with the jungle name, hopefully I don't forget!).  I reallllllllly need to push myself this week to get this blanket done and to get the binding on the butterfly blanket done so I can get them delivered.

Now, totally off-topic, but last night I made my first loaf of banana bread from scratch and let me tell you it's delicious :-) 

Here's the round up!

In Progress:

• Butterfly Faux Chenille Blanket
• Monkey Faux Chenille Blanket
• Another Green Bay  Faux Chenille Blanket
• Cow Fabric Project (half remains!)
• Quilts for Kids Quilt

And linking up to Work In Progress Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced!  Today's Guest Host is Kati who blogs over at from the blue chair.

Heat Wave Effects

Just as I suspected!!  The weather sure did a number on my Fresh Herb Pallet Planter and only 2 of my herbs survived (basil..though that's not looking too good right now and oregano) the heat wave we had last week/weekend.  I was keeping an eye on the planter and making sure I watered the herbs and kept the soil and little baby herbs from drying out.  But my efforts failed and the heat won :-(

Here's what my planter looked like last week when I did the original post...

And here's what's left of it (I ended up pulling the dried up/dead ones cause they were just ugly looking).  Oh man that basil is looking decrepit!

Okay that's enough of the pity party for that.  I'll be picking up some herbs to replant to see if I can get some use out of them.  Now I have to decide if I want to start from seeds again, or if I should buy the already started ones (or however they explain those, ha!).  Guess I'll make that decision when I'm standing there in front of them.


Here's a happy picture of my  fuzzy cats and kittens that have bloomed :-)  I have no idea what those are really called...I'm just going by what Dylan's grandma told me they were when she gave them to me.

Did you have any garden/plant tragedies during the heat wave?

Work In Progress Wednesday #7

Ugh I hate to say it but I don't really have anything to report this week.  Well I guess that's not entirely true...I did get a chance to iron and pin together the fabrics for the Monkey Faux Chenille Blanket. 

But that's it...Yikes!!  I am going to try really hard to get these two blankets done so I can deliver them next week, but we will see how far I get.  I most likely won't get any sewing done this weekend since we are finally getting to go use my Anniversary present from my wonderful husband!  We are heading to Scranton, PA to see Miranda Lambert (who I like to call my wedding twin, since we got married on the same exact day!).  So that's all I have until next week!

Here's the round up...

Finished:

• Sadly, nothing again (I hope I don't make this a weekly trend! ahhh!)

In Progress:

• Butterfly Faux Chenille Blanket
• Monkey Faux Chenille Blanket
• Another Green Bay  Faux Chenille Blanket
• Cow Fabric Project (half remains!)
• Quilts for Kids Quilt

Linking up to Work In Progress Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced!

Fresh Herb Pallet Planter

I kept seeing all these images on Pinterest and on Blogs where people were using old pallets (or skids as my husband insists on calling them) and turning them into planters.  I showed Dylan some pictures and said I want one of these can you bring a skid home pretty please? :-)  And like the good husband he is, he brought me one home!  And since I'm an "okay" power tool user I made him help me accomplish this project.


So here's what it looked like when we started...

  
And here's what it looked like when Dylan was done with it :-)

Then I decided to stain it so it would be darker.

And I gave it a little paint love to label what herb was planted where.

And then I planted some seeds and prayed that my herbs would actually grow...otherwise it's just a jazzed up pallet!  Here are a few other shots of it finished!

Bella decided she wanted to help with the photoshoot

Some basil coming up

Some dill popping out

The only herb I planted that didn't grow for some reason was the mint....everything else is popping out and growing now, I'm just desperately trying to save them from the heat wave we have been experiencing the past week or so!


Let's just hope they last long enough that I can actually use some of the herbs in my cooking!

I'm linking up to Mommy by day Crafter by Night's Ta-Da Tuesday!