2017 is Almost Over!! Get it Before it's GONE!

I don't know if you subscribe to my newsletter, but one thing I have really enjoyed doing each year, is sending out a FREE birthday pattern to my newsletter subscribers on their birthday!! It's like a little birthday gift from me to you, and I look forward to changing out the patterns each year! (Because it's not really a gift if I keep giving you the same present each year! right?!)

 

For 2016 I sent out my Birthday Cake Mini pattern

For my birthday in 2017 I did release the pattern for one day in my shop, but otherwise it still isn't available anywhere else.

For 2017 the free birthday pattern is my Rise Above Geometric pattern!

This is my favorite pattern from my Rise Above series, and I've loved being able to save it for just my newsletter subscribers! (I LOVE to spoil my newsletter subscribers!!! ;) ;) )

Anyway, 2017 is almost over, and while I don't have any set plans for what I'll do with this pattern in 2018, I do know that time is running short for getting it as a FREE pattern!


If you want to, you can sign up for my newsletter and I'll be sending it out one last time on Dec 31st! (If you're birthday is between now and then, you'll probably get it sooner, but for everyone who has a birthday earlier in the year, you'll get it on the 31st! I don't want anyone to miss out!)

Be sure to stay tuned for the NEW birthday pattern for 2018!!

And.... if you were participating in the Rise Above QAL this past summer, due to morning sickness it has been postponed but will continue in early 2018! Stay tuned for more details!!

What's the Word??? Brainstorming for 2018

Have you ever picked a word to be your theme word for the year? I have been picking a word for the last few years and I really love it! I usually forget about it somewhere in the middle, but always come back to it again by the end. 

I find that having a word for the year helps me have something to focus on as I make goals and plans throughout the year. It gives me a foundation to base my attitude and perspective on, and anyway, I've already started to plan my word for 2018!

I haven't narrowed it down to one word yet, but here's the gist of what I want it to be...

• Beautify - make things beautiful (my life, my home, the spaces around me, relationships), but also find the beauty that is already there.
• Be positive, find the positive in everything
• Be happy

This morning I found this quote and told my husband that I need to make this my motto

I've started noticing recently that I've become really negative. I never thought of myself as a complainer or a downer, but then I started noticing how I always had something negative to say about almost everything... yuck! That is NOT how/who I want to be. So I'm determined to be more positive and stop the negativity in it's tracks. No one needs that...

I'm hoping that focusing on the beauty in my life, and adding more beauty to it, will help increase my positivity too! Since I think most of the negative talk and thoughts are based around all the things in my life that I'm not happy with. Like how much weight I've gained this pregnancy, our dumpy house that is too cramped for the number of people living in it (it's really not bad, but we are definitely noticing that we definitely are ready for something bigger! and by dumpy - it's things like the kitchen and bathroom counters detaching from the walls, or floor boards that weren't painted before we moved in - or are covered in paint splatters. We moved in to a real fixer upper, and while they did a great job cleaning it and painted the entire house, and since moving in they replaced the carpet on the main floor and the basement, so it's WAAAAAYYYY better than it was, but there's not much we can or want to do to make it nicer than it is. It really does need a lot of work, they definitely didn't take care of it, which is whatever. but we live here, and we're making do with what we have. ;))

Anyway, it's those kinds of things. So instead of complaining and/or being unhappy, I want to just change my focus and be happy with where I'm at, change the things I can, and find joy and beauty in the rest.

So now to find the perfect word that sums it all up...


What word are you choosing for 2018? Do you like having a word for the year? I'd love to hear your opinion about it!

Ps. At the beginning of this year my husband found out about having a word for the year and was really excited about it because he loved the idea! He thought I'd love it too, until I told him I'd already been doing it for years. And I KNOW I told him about my words in years past, but I guess sometimes they have to learn about it from somewhere else to realize what a great idea it is. Haha! I just have to tease him about it. ;)  His word for this year was "Thoughtful" I'm excited to see what he chooses for this coming year.

A Day in the Life...

This happened today.

(not my car. my fault.)

I'm so mad, depressed, emotional. It was nothing but dumb and I have nothing else to say.

It's just one of those days.

At least I am getting my blog post in for the day! ;)

I hope your day is going much better!!

December Goals

In an attempt to not be overly busy or overwhelmed this month, I have decided that I don't want to start on any new projects, add anything to my to-make list, or add to my WIP list in any way. Instead, my goal is to finish up the *almost finished* projects that have been sitting in a pile for months on end, which ultimately consists of quilt and minis that have been basted but not yet quilted, and I think one that is just waiting for the binding. I'd love to start the new year off with a fresh slate and not be overwhelmed with things I still need to finish.

So here's my list of quilts I'd love to finish this month...

My Taurus Gemini quilt!

I actually finished quilting this one last night! I thought it would take me quite a while longer so I am full on celebrating the accomplishment! LOL! I am going to attach the binding today, and then I'll slowly hand stitch it on when I'm just sitting around. (uh... when does that ever happen??? haha!)

I'm super excited for this one because it's going on my bed!! This is finish is just in time for the cold winter we're quickly diving into here in North Dakota!

I'll share more about this one, and closeups on the quilting (which I'm so happy with how it turned out!) when it's actually complete. Fabric is Tucker Prairie by One Canoe Two. The light greys are by Lizzy House. I used my Taurus and Gemini patterns together and love how well they play together!

80's Geese charity quilt

This only needs the binding and then I can send it on it's way to warm someone in need. Since it's a charity quilt, I'll finish the binding by machine so it'll be sure to last a long time. Should be an easy finish. I'm going to do the binding at the same time as I do the one for my Taurus Gemini quilt.

All of these blocks were made and donated by my wonderful pattern testers!! Love how the scrapiness came together so beautifully! Pattern: 80's Geese 12 inch blocks.

Rise Above quilt

Some of the blocks still had paper on the back of them when I took this photo. Can you tell?? It's interesting how the light reflected so differently on the ones with the paper. ;)

This has been waiting to get quilted since June or July. I have some fun quilt ideas for this one, and with having some practice quilting all my other quilts recently I think I'm ready to tackle it.

The fabrics for this quilt are Mirage by Alex Anderson. I think they fit so perfectly with this quilt!!!I love how the Rise Above pattern is so great for highlighting specific prints! I used the Simple Sashing pattern for the sashing between the blocks.

Zodiac Quilt

I'm not sure how to quilt this one yet, but I'm thinking of doing something fun! We'll see what I come up with. Just needs quilting and binding!

 Fabrics are all by Sandi Henderson, pulled from my stash that I've been building for a while. Patterns are all 12 of my Zodiac BOM patterns.

My First Alphabet - Alphabet mini

I debated quilting this by hand, but I think I might do matchstick quilting in the background instead. That's going to take a while, but I think it'll be worth it!

Fabrics are all Anna Maria Horner. Pattern: My First Alphabet - 6 inch

Star Fruit baby quilt

I really want to try some graffiti quilting on this one, which I'm super intimidated by... hence the delay in finishing it. Any tips???

Fabrics are Alison Glass. Solids are Kona Cottons. Pattern: Star Fruit - I didn't piece the complete blocks so that it would look more like a border. I love that about paper piecing - how easily you can modify a block to adjust the design by simply piecing multiple sections as one piece.

Dusk

I keep going back and forth on this one too... hand quilt or machine quilt? I have another dusk mini that I'm hand quilting but I'm not really happy with it. I might just undo the stitching and quilt it by machine, and then hand quilt this one instead. I like having a hand quilting project that I can take to scouts and work on while I wait for my boys, so I don't plan on finishing this one this month, but I'd love to get started.

Fabrics are a mix from my stash. It took FOREVER to find the perfect color wheel from what I had available. ;) This one measures 18 inch square.  Pattern: Dusk

My other Dusk block I'm working on:

This was the first version of the pattern, which I really LOVE with those white parts, but it was WAY too bulky in the middle so I decided to take them out. Maybe one day I'll add them back in. ;)

That's everything in my pile for now... I also have the Rise Above charity quilt, but I still need to remove the paper and baste it, so I'm not going to count it in this batch of *quick finishes*. Though it is on my list of finishes for the new year.

haha. The only picture I could find was from before I sewed it together. ;) All blocks are made by my amazing pattern testers!!!

I hope that if I can finish this stack of projects (uh... looking back at my list I realize that it's quite the list for half a month including holidays. lol. oh boy...), I'll be able to take a deep breath and it'll be like a weight off my shoulders, and hopefully give me a more pleasant start to the new year. Crossing my fingers!! ;)


Do you have any end-of-year goals you're hoping to accomplish?? I'd love to hear what they are!

Made It: A Quilt for Mom

Well, blogging everyday hasn't been a thing, but I have a good reason for it... Last week I traveled to sunny St. George, UT to visit my sisters and my mom! It was such a wonderful trip!!! I missed out on the crazy blizzard here in North Dakota - don't worry, I didn't cry about it. lol. And my husband was absolutely amazing with the kids while I was away! I told him that they all seemed to do better without me. But he adamantly reassured me that they prefer having me home. ;) haha. 

We stayed at my sisters house, and I just love her family! Her kids are getting so big! (as is always the case when you don't see them often enough). I was also able to visit with some of our very good friends from when we lived in Iowa, as well as some of our best friends (that I served with while on my mission) and Neil got to know after we got married. My heart was so full!! I don't think anything beats being with the people you love! Although eating at my favorite restaurants and getting out and being able to hike around was also very refreshing and refueling for my soul!

I bought my tickets to fly out to Utah a few months ago, and in the meantime my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer and moved in with my sister. When I realized that I would get to see her while I was there I knew I needed to make her a quilt!!! This was 2 weeks before I left... so from planning and designing what I would make, paper piecing 12 blocks, completing the quilt top, basting, quilting, and sewing on the binding, it was definitely a miracle that I was able to do all of that in such a short amount of time! (I attached the binding before I left and was going to sew it on the rest of the way while I was there. I got it half way finished on the flight out there, and then I didn't pick it up at all while I was there - so I brought it back home with me. duh! I did show her, but I didn't want to leave it unfinished.... now it is completely finished, so now I need to mail it out to her. good grief. lol. my husband just rolled his eyes at me when he saw it still in my bag.) 

Anyway, here it is...

I used my Taurus pattern. For the outside edges I pieced all the outer sections as single white pieces. It's hard to tell in the photo, but I have a darker and lighter grey that twists between the blocks going down the quilt.

When I think of my mom I instantly think of red, orange and yellow. Not my usual color palette, but I'm happy with how it turned out!

This was my first idea, but the more I looked at it, the less I liked it... though I do still actually like it a lot. I don't know if the border of the image shows up, but this design would have simply gone down the left third of the quilt (not right on the edge, but not centered).

Maybe I'll make it with this layout another day.

My mom started her chemo on Monday, so please keep her in your prayers if you will!

Made It: Outreach Quilt

When I first started this blog back in 2010 (hard to believe it's been that long!!) I sorted all my posts with different labels in the titles of the post, like Made It - for things that I made, Fab Finds - for things I found that were awesome and wanted to share (this was before Pinterest), Our Story - for family posts, Photography - self explanatory, Sewing Basics,  etc. Last night as I was thinking about what I would blog about this month, I decided I wanted to bring those back. I probably won't use all the same ones, but I like the concept. (So here's a little introduction to why those will be in my titles - and it'll make it easy for you to filter through the posts you want to read and know what to expect as you do. What do you think about that?!)

Today we have our quilt guild meeting (North Star Quilters Guild), and we are turning in all the quilts that we've made in the last 6 months for the Outreach program. Outreach donates the quilts to foster kids in the area. (I love this!!)

Earlier this year the satellite group that I'm in, Modern Makers, made two charity quilts to donate. I quilted and bound one of them, and just finished it just in time! - like this week. Nothing like a deadline for good motivation to get something finished. ;)

Here's the quilt we made:

For the quilting I used the book Walking Foot Quilting Designs by Melissa Marginet (I met her when our guild went up to Winnipeg in May for our guild meeting - she's super nice!!) I love the book! There are so many great quilting ideas and instructions. And I love how the quilting fit the quilt. It's a great book if you want to check it out! Lots of designs you can do with the comfort of your walking foot - no FMQ! I love the possibilities!

Now to go get ready so I don't miss the meeting!! :)

Have a wonderful Saturday!!

Happy Quilting & Happy Creating!

31 Day Blog Challenge!

I just saw this 31 Day Blog Writing Challenge in a Facebook group I'm in and I just had to jump at the opportunity to join in! I used to blog a lot. But my frequency in blog posts has definitely died down over the years. Even though it's not something I've really given a lot of time to, it is something that I really want to get back into!

This challenge is the perfect opportunity to get back into the habit of blogging...

The gist of the challenge is to blog everyday for 31 days... doing it during December, potentially the busiest time of the year, means that if I can make it happen now, I can make it happen anytime of the year. (I'm not planning on blogging on Sundays.)

I don't really have a plan about what I'll blog about, but I'm excited to explore the possibilities and hopefully find my voice again.

My first thought is that I hope that I'll be able to figure out how to finally settle in to the things I've been wanting to share but have lacked confidence in expressing. I've actually been thinking about this a lot lately, how I feel like when it comes to me and social media, it's like a roller coaster ride. At times I probably share too much of the struggle and real life experiences, and then I go for months feeling very introverted and closed off, not wanting to share anything at all. I think the problem is that I can't decide how I want to use social media as a tool. Sometimes I feel like it should be all business, but I just can't do that....It's not who I am. So then I don't know how to balance the business with real life and still be professional and not just some crazy lady. lol. I'd prefer to find a more consistent and comfortable spot, wherever that happens to be on the spectrum, so we'll see! The struggle is real!

Last night I was talking to my husband about something, telling him that I felt like a little fish in big waters. He told me the nicest thing. He said, "of all the things I know about you, one is that you are really good at adapting." It doesn't sound like a compliment, but to me it really is! It really boosted my confidence that I can tackle any challenge. So maybe *forcing* myself to blog everyday, will be just the push I need to adapt to my personal challenges that I've been facing when it comes to blogging. I'm rather excited! 

So here's to blogging!! If you want to join in, be sure to hope over to Muppin.com for all the details as well as to see who else is participating!

Now to go take a quick nap so I can hopefully get over my cold!! ;)

Have a wonderful weekend!