My first quilt

I have been wanting to attempt a real quilt for awhile. However, I have been very intimidated by it & this made it hard to get started. When i made tee shirts quilts for Christmas gifts, there was no batting or binding required, so it wasn't a true quilt in that way. So, when I was at my friend, Joye's house, and i spotted her quilt - I knew it was the one! Her mother had made this amazing circle quilt for her & i just loved it! She was gracious enough to get the pattern from her mother for me so I could give it a shot.

I had decided I would work on the quilt on the annual spring craft retreat that I go to every year with the awesome ladies from church. I usually scrapbook & I think they were all shocked that I didn't this year! :) But I knew that I wouldn't be able to get it all done in a weekend, so I did a lot of prep work before going. All in all, I think this quilt has taken me about 2 months to complete.

The first thing I did was make a short table runner from my scrap pieces in order to practice top stitching (quilting) and binding. I did this all in one Saturday & I was glad I practiced the binding in particular because it was not my forte! And quilting in the ditch (in between the seams) is not easy either!!

After I finished this up, I went ahead & worked on cutting out & attaching all the circles for the actual quilt to white muslin squares in order to be ready to piece each peice together on the first day of the retreat. I broke this into about 4 nights. On the last night, I laid them all out on my living room floor to decide where I wanted each to be in the quilt. Once i decided, I took a picture of it for reference later & then stacked each row & put each row into it's own gallon ziploc bag (labeling which row of course!) for transport to my retreat!
Having each row separated made it much easier for me to see my progress as I worked! And having the photo came in handy so that I knew which end was which of the row when it came time to piece each row together to make the top. So Day 1 of the retreat went off without a hitch! I got the top pieced together & called it quits for the day. My plan was to piece together the top on day 1, put together the top/batting/backing & quilt it all on day 2, and then work on the binding the final day. I was apparently in La La Land because things started to unravel on day 2! I got the layers all put together with a basting gun (& i thought it was pretty smooth) which took at least a couple of hours. And then after I quilted 2 rows in the ditch, I turned it over & realized there were large puckers everywhere on the back! Argh!!! Why did i wait until i sewed 2 lengths of the quilt before I checked? I have no idea. Stupid, I tell ya... stupid.

I spent the next 24 hours with my seam ripper until my eyes were crossing. Several ladies (thanks Jana & Randi!) had pity on me (I think they could tell my mood was suffering just a smidgen!) and they each took a turn ripping out the seams to give me a break. By day 3, the quilt was ready to start again. But after chatting about it, we decided that maybe the basting gun tags weren't holding the layers tight enough together. Soooo, that meant cutting all 1000 of those out (not literally, but it felt like it!) and smoothing out all three layers again & rebasting. This time, I used basting pins. They are like safety pins but they are shaped more like a jelly bean which is supossed to make it easier to get them in/out. The second time I was basting, those same ladies helped me out by smoothing & pinning with me & of course, giving me a pep talk the entire time. I was quite ready to throw it all out the window at this point!
Here they are (along with Sherri) hauling it back down the stairs again so I could get started on the quilting again.

They were so supportive & helpful. Even when they weren't down in the trenches with me working on the quilt, they were trying to brainstorm with me or keep me excited about the project! So i spent that last day getting about halfway through with the quilting in the ditches. I got about halfway through the quilt before my last, yes LAST, needle broke. Arghhh. At this point, I just packed it all up & called it quits.

It took me several days to figure out that my bobbins were the wrong bobbins which was causing a lot of needle breaks (& jammed up stitches). I broke a whole pack of needles on this trip! Once i figured out this issue after getting back home though, things were smooth sailing. I worked on finishing up the rest of the stitching in th ditch one Sunday afternoon & then debated with just binding it from there.

But after deliberation, I decided I wanted to look back & know I didn't take any shortcuts. So I finished the quilting by making diagonal lines across each block on another weekend day. Of course, then I began to procrastinate on binding it. I let it sit there for about 2 weeks before I even got started on that part! I worked for 2 separate nights on my own (while watching a movie) until my fingers were practically numb from the handstitching . Then my mama came up for the weekend & I took it over to my sisters to work on while they worked on some projects. By the time I got there, they were done with their projects already! So, my mom (being the gal that she is) got right in there with me & asked for some thread & started to stitch on the other end! Whoop! In 2 hours or less, we were done!!!
It feels soooo good to be done with this project! And so many thanks to everyone who helped me whether it was words of encouragement, getting in the trenches with me by basting & rolling it up, or even binding it with me. This quilt has a lot of memories already attached to it! And I am loving how it brings all the colors in my living room together! (Not to mention, it will be laid across Randy's late grandmothers very green chair as soon as we can haul it over here from his parent's house! I am talking 1970s green! I am so excited!) For now, the rocking chair will do...
She's done! My very first quilt! My Memaw would be so proud (regardless of all the flaws!!)

And here's a peek at the backing fabric....
Thanks for hanging in there with me if you have endured this very long post! Randy told me that this blog has turned into a craft blog. :( Sorry if that bores you! I hope not because if you are here then that means you must be interested in what I am up to, whether that is tending to the kids or neglecting them in my crafts! Lol! The blog is for all of that- the good, bad, & the ugly!

This past week, the kids had a teacher workday. It was a nasty, rainy day too. So, we invited Emma & Leah (& Sara Beth of course) over for a playdate.

The girls brought the movie Andre & it was a great movie! So cute & you can't help but love that seal! And it was based on a true story which of course made it even better. The only downer was that there were a few bad words in it. Really?! I get so tired of kids movies with language. It was rated PG, but even so, the movie would have been just as great without the language. Rebecca had seen it ahead of time so thankfully, she coughed when the words were coming out! lol!

Anyway, after the movie, the kids played a little Wii together before the girls headed out. Although, they didn't play long enough for everyone to have a turn. So Aunt Becca graciously offered for us to borrow Mario Kart for a few days. In return, they took our original Super Mario Bros home. And this is what my kids have been doing ever since! (Can you tell Randy is stressed!? lol! You may not even notice him in the picture!) They love this game & it is the only game other than bowling (wii sports) that they have played together & not about killed each other! Today, I decided to video Eli because he can NOT sit still when he plays this game. His whole body drives, not just the wheel! (It gets better around the 56sec mark). And this video also shows the differences in my two boys. Jackson is totally relaxed while playing & Eli is totally uptight the whole time!

Project: Garden

Those of you who live near us (or have been to my house), know that we have an incredibly sloped back yard. This really was the only downer to this house when we bought it. We loved the house in every way, but knew the yard was going to be tricky. But we decided that the house was worth the headache of the yard. It has been two years this summer since we moved in & after 2 attempts at planting grass, we still have a very patchy yard! Think: more red clay & less grass! And we hadn't even attempted the back yard yet (because of that tricky slope!) Last year though, we did create a small garden area in the back, remember? But next to the garden is our trouble area- all red clay (not even any weeds!) and a lot of erosion each time it rained. Boo!

Well, my friend, Theresa has an awesome garden! She is a fantastic gardener & it is a hobby of hers. I will be honest & say i wish it were my hobby. Pretty much everything I know about plants & gardens I learned from her & my father in law. And what i know is nothing to write home about! But i digress! Here is her garden area:

Beautiful, right? Well she also has a sloped back yard & she has made a great yard despite that slope! Randy & I had been talking about making a garden area similar to theirs for about a year now, specifically, THIS part of their garden:

So, when it came time to plant the grass in the back yard, I decided it was time to make the garden official! Why plant grass before you define your garden area? You will just be digging it right back up! Randy obliged me, even though he knew it was going to be a lot of work for himself! Red clay is killer to dig in, trust us!

Here is garden side of our yard the morning before getting started:

We took the end off of the fence & added our first row to the end of the raised garden bed, so we didn't have to pull that back up.

The second row is parallel with the first, so we will just add another raised bed to the second row to make them match.

Oh, the digging! To make matters worse, the weather was horrible. The first day was cold & overcast, & then the second day, Randy went out on a Sunday afternoon after a big rain to complete the next row! It was wet, soggy, & in the 40s. Brrr!

We still have to cut off the tips of the posts in the second line & then add the last row of timbers to make two rows of garden. (As Randy explained, we used the "cut" method rather than "fill" which meant we had to make an extra row from the landscaping timbers!) But you get the idea! Hopefully by this weekend we will be done with the digging & creating! (Who am i kidding, RANDY will be done. I just barely helped)

A little of the everyday...

I have taken so many random shots with my camera phone that I decided to share them with you. This is a little of the everyday around the Moss house:

Eli has totally begun to get imaginative with action figures. I should video him without him knowing because he drums up these really elaborate stories & changes his voice for each character! It is really fun to listen to & watch. Here he is lost in the world of transformers one morning while Jackson was at school.

{Is it scary that i actually know the names of all these transformers?? Whoa, has my life changed since having boys!!}

He also loves to read. He has always loved to read. A few of his favorites are the Llama, Llama books (especially Llama, Llama Misses Mama and Llama, Llama Mad at Mama. Sound familiar??) Anyway, he also loves I Spy books & he is really good at them! In fact, Nanny bought Jackson an I Spy game for a birthday one year & Eli totally rocks on this game. Beats Jackson every time (which Jackson hates, of course!). Since he loves these so much, I bought a set from Scholastic at the beginning of the year that had two titles: 1001 Pirate Things to Spot and 1001 Bugs to Spot. They were a hit! Check out the concentration: (and i just love to watch his feet when he reads! They constantly rub together!

Jackson has made me very proud lately with his homework. He usually grumbles with homework, but in the last couple of weeks he has been doing awesome. He hopped in the car last Monday & casually said, "Mama, I think I want to do most of my homework today." I replied, "That sounds great! That means that the rest of the week you will have more time to play outside." Of course, he already knew that because that was what i had been preaching for months! And it finally sunk in! So he got busy....

And then he entertained himself outside, right by himself until his Daddy got home from work. This is definitely an area that Jackson is so different than Eli. Because Eli doesn't like to play alone so much. He prefers company!

With the nice weather we have been having (excluding the last week of course!), it has been great to see everyone outside having a great time. I think Zack would agree!

Boys rooms projects

Several weeks ago (maybe even close to a month ago!), I decided I would surprise Jackson with a few new pillows for his room. This was when I was in the throws of making pillowcases for ConKerr, so I decided to make one for Jackson as well. Especially since some of the fabric I used for them was fabric that I had scored at the thrift store for a little over a buck back in the fall. It was about 2 yards or more of baseball print. Jackson has been into baseball stuff ever since he played coach pitch last summer. So, when I saw the fabric, I knew I had to get it & save it for a special project for him. I had been thinking of re-doing his bedroom in a baseball theme since the colors would all pretty much remain the same. So, I got busy & made him a pillowcase out of the baseball print & then made a small sham out of a small remnant piece my mom had handed me down out of her stash. Here's how they turned out:

Here is a closer look at the smaller one (that is a removable sham)...

This was all done while Jackson was at school so he would be surprised when he came home. But Eli was of course with me all along while i was working on these. He was supposed to be napping! But things don't always work like we plan, right?

And so he wouldn't feel left out, I made him a removable sham too for his room. His room will not be redone right now, so I stuck with the car theme... (I tried to make it look like a "punch buggie" since that is all i hear these days from him when we are riding in the car...."

I just used up some old curtain fabric that seems to be multiplying in my stash. I didn't have the heart to give them to Goodwill when they wouldn't fit our windows (after buying them off craigslist!), so i just hung onto them forever! But this was the perfect project for it since the blue would match so well in Eli's room. So, i took some scrap cotton & cut out a car & topstitched around it to raw-edge applique it onto the top. This way it will fray a bit in the wash for a nice effect!

And i think, maybe....just maybe.... he loved it!

Jackson was also pretty excited to find his stash in his room that afternoon! We have a few more projects up our sleeve for Jackson's room soon, so I will keep you all updated. One of them is already waiting for my attention in the garage (thanks, Uncle Jeff!), so it will probably be the next on the list....

Loved Much??

Eli has really begun loving all over Zack lately. The poor dog has a lot to endure as you can see...

He may look miserable, but i can guarantee you that he is equally in love with Eli!

Sometimes you just need to lounge around together....

...and contemplate life a bit. Can't you tell it's rough? ha!

Baby Projects

I have been up to my nose in projects!

Surprised? Surely not!

I had a baby shower to go to this past weekend for a friend in Wilmington. It was just the excuse I needed to get behind the sewing machine! But before I got behind the machine, I scrapped an entire 8 x 8 album for a baby book. Then, I forgot to take a picture of it before I wrapped it all up & handed it off! Whoops! But it wasn't my best work, so I am okay with that! I tried to get the basics in there of what would need to be incorporated in a baby's first year- home from the hospital, first family pics, brothers page, visitors page, 1,3,6,9 & 12 mo old pages... you get the idea! The scrapbook was my main gift, but I also had fun sewing up these fun projects for Shannon & baby Landon... most of which were "upcycled!"

Here is a taggie toy I made (thanks to Rebecca for the awesome idea!). This was super easy & now that I know how to make one - I would never recommend buying one. They are incredibly overpriced, yet easy & inexpensive to put together yourself. This one was made from that "minky" fabric which is super soft! I love how this turned out...

I also made a couple of onesie shirts .. Another tie onesie like I did at Christmas time... (this time i did not dye the shirt- i happened to find it for $1.20 on clearance at Target!!)

And a pirate onesie. I had a lot of fun with this one. I used my "Paper Doll Dress Up" Cricut cartridge to cut out a pirate flag out of freezer paper. Then i ironed it down to some scrap gray knit fabric i had from all those tee shirt quilts! Then I used some black fabric paint to fill in the stenciled area. Once it dried, I sewed it onto a black scrap of knit with a large zigzag stitch. Then used some yellow thread to accent a little when i sewed the whole thing to a white onesie with a smaller zigzag stitch...

And I made a quick little wet bag to hold any messy clothes that need to be changed on the go. This was made with some scrap material that i had saved when i cut the elastic out of the boys' old crib sheets. I couldn't part with all that fabric, remember? Well, it came in handy! Because the outside is a cream fabric with green elephants, zebras, giraffes, etc & the inside is a coordinating fabric of soft green, cream, & blue check. Of course, there is a clear vinyl liner in there as well to keep the wet from seeping through! I wish i had one of these when mine were having blowouts in diapers & potty training accidents too!

The last project that i made was a simple pillow. I had a pillowform in my craft closet & I have been trying to find projects to use up some blue gingham material (again, from old pottery barn curtains that I couldn't part with because of the serious amount of fabric!) So, pillow it was going to be! To jazz it up, I freezer paper stenciled Landon's initials to the front with fabric paint. And if you are interested, I always use the basic pillow construction method that is in this tutorial- (kind of like a pillow sham). Then it is always available to remove & wash or change up whenever you get the urge!

After making all these gifts, I couldn't just throw it into a bag! Especially since i had bought some really cute doggie bone fabric out of the remnant bin at JoAnns just to make something for this shower. (Meaning, the fabric was a little over a dollar & some change!) The problem was though that I had no plans of the actual project! So, I looked through my bookmarked ideas & decided to make a larger version of this fabric basket. I already had enough canvas scraps for the bottom & some coordinating brown polka dot as well... so a few hours later (only because I had dinner to make & a dog under my feet), I cranked this out to hold all the aforementioned projects! And it is the perfect size to hold a container of wipes & some extra diapers wherever Shannon will need them!

See? That dog bone/ paw print fabric was too cute to pass up!!
I hope Shannon truly likes homemade gifts because I had such fun making all these things! I am not sure I will ever go out & just buy a gift again. Sewing is too much fun!

Basketball

We signed Jackson up to play winter basketball through the YMCA this season & the season just flew by! Maybe because it was such a busy few months overall? I don't know, but the season came & went in a flash. Luckily, I asked Grandaddy to come & take some pictures of him on the court during the last game of the season. I had been trying to get some decent pictures but my camera kept blurring each shot, no matter what setting i used. So i gave up & called in reinforcements! A reinforcement with a much nicer camera (can i just admit that i covet his camera???)

Here are some pictures of our boy on the basketball court. And can i just say- he is ADORABLE out there. He could NOT look more like his daddy when he is out there because he walks, runs, moves just like him. It is crazy! This season, he tended to do best defensively, but only because he didn't get as much opportunity to play offensively. He has great aim at shooting/passing the ball when we play at home & at both Grandaddy's houses, but he was a little meek & didn't really want to get aggressive to get the ball. So the only real opportunities he had to shoot & pass were when the ball was passed to him. And lets face it- there were ten 7-year-olds out there on the team- it was more like an every man for himself scenario! But i will say that he was the best kid on the team at guarding & that is because he is quick on his feet like his Daddy! I think by next season, we will have our own goal at home & he will feel more confident to get in there & get that ball!

All the pillowcases!

As you already know, I had a goal to make 10 pillowcases for ConKerr Cancer Case for Smiles Program in the month of February. I am pleased to let you know that I met that goal & thanks to 3 others joining me in this effort, we were all able to collectively donate 45 pillowcases! It was very gratifying experience for me & I loved the freedom of picking out lots of fun fabrics for each case. I used some remnants that I already had in my bin to make 4 cases & then got to hit JoAnns for more! Fun! Here are 2 of the 4 I made with scraps- they were the first two I made. And by the end of pillowcase making, I had the dimensions & steps memorized! I was pumping them out like a machine! Ha!
Here is my favorite fabric combo that I put together for a boy. I absolutely LOVE this monster fabric! In fact, I still have 2/3 yd left of it that I think I will make Eli some pj shorts for this summer!
And here is my favorite combo for a girl. I splurged on this cat fabric because I loved it so much. It wasn't on sale, but I just had to get it!
Thanks so much to Rebecca, Mom, & Lisa Griffin for joining me in this effort! I hope you benefited as much from it as I did. Rebecca & I definitely want to do it again & the next time we are going to focus solely on older teenage kids. When we dropped off the pillowcases, the woman at the drop site was overly excited over the several ones that could be for older kids (we had a mixture of some camo, football, baseball, peace fabric, paisley, etc) because she said they have a harder time getting those in. So next time- older kids, for sure!