Dog Days of Summer

The Finished Product

I had my last quilting class and I am happy to (finally) share it with you.

This is just the quilt top and I still have to get my backing together and then have it all quilted together. I am so very happy with how it turned out and I can't wait until it is all quilted and have a nice new lap quilt. Now to just decide what my next project is going to be!

Peace out *g*

Happy 4th of July!

Hope everyone has a happy 4th of July this weekend! See ya next week!!

Peace out *g*

Your hot dog is all wet

Dallas, our miniature dachshund, loves to swim in my parents pool. Sometimes he likes to just lounge on one of the rafts and float around, but on really hot days, he likes to be right in the water swimming.

"Look! I am doing soooo good keeping my head high above the water"!

"Okay, slow down a bit. I am trying to keep up".

"Really now, stop making me swim after you".

Needless to say, after swimming after me so I could take his picture, he was happy to be picked up and get a break. After a little bit of rest though, he was ready for more.

How could I say "no" to that face? It goes without saying that at the end of the day, we were both exhausted.

Peace out *g*

A Blast from the Past

A couple of months ago, while surfing around Etsy, I stumbled across this wonderful store. I loved all of the cute IPhone holders. I had one, but I really wanted something cuter and more "me". After finding that sweet store, I then came across this one. I loved the little pouches that look like mix tapes.

Here are a few of my favorites....

(from yummypocket on Etsy)

(from Brave Moonman on Etsy)

I came across these right before Nick and I were getting ready to move back to Ohio and go from only one income down to none, so splurging on one was not an option.

Luckily, a week or so after we had moved, I decided to go and spend the day with my friends in Sugarcreek, Ohio at Scrapbook Groupies Spring Camp and I knew just what I wanted to work on.

This was on my way up. I probably shouldn't have been trying to take a picture of myself while driving my mothers car on curvy Ohio back roads, but I like to live on the edge.

So, on my crafty day out, I decided to try and make my own Mix Tape IPhone holder. I mean, I love the 80's and what is more 80's than a sweet Mix Tape, right?

Here is two of the front pieces that would make up the tape part. Doesn't look too much like a cassette yet, but it is getting there. It took sometime to get the pieces cut just right, since felt seems to stretch and move as you work with it.

Now it's starting to look more like a cassette tape.

Here it is when it was almost done. I was just sewing the front and the back together to make my little pouch.

And here is the finished product!

Not quite as pretty as my inspirations shown above, but it it is much more "me" then the plain jane pink silicon case I was using. It is looking a little worn after being used the last couple of months, so it might be time for a new one. Maybe I'll have to put my new sewing and quilting skills to use to come up with something new!

Peace out *g*

Quilting Madness

In my quest to learn quilting, I had another homework assignment to complete. This week we were learning about the Log Cabin block. There is the basic log cabin block and there are a couple variations of that.

This is a basic log cabin design. You have a square in the middle and "logs" or strips added around it.

This is a log cabin chevron. You have a sqaure either in an upper corner or lower corner and you add on the "logs" to only one side and either the top or the bottom.

For my class assignment, I decided to do the Chevron pattern. I had to do 4 12"x12" squares and then sew them together. Here is the result.

There is one place where the seams on two of the squares where one of the strips don't match up, but I'm not too worried about that. This is a quilt for me to be learning on and it is okay to make a few mistakes.

I have to go now, my husband needs the computer, but I will share more later when I finish my next assignment.

Peace out *g*

What I've been up to (Part 3)

Thought I forgot about this? Nope, not at all. The last time I was catching you up on what I was doing when I wasn't blogging, I had participated in the Race for the Cure. That same night, my friend Emily and I, along with Kelly's husband, had planned a night out for Kelly's 40th birthday.

This is all of us at dinner. We went to a local restaurant and had ridiculously good food with Kelly's friends and family and watched her open a few of her gifts.

She got a very fun license plate for her scrapbooking obsession.

This (I believe, according to her post on her birthday) is a print from an artist that she likes that a friend of ours, Cathy, got for her.

She had mentioned for quite some time how much she has wanted a Kitchen Aid mixer. I would bet she has probably entered every giveaway for one on the Pioneer Woman since she first started going there. Usually, for birthdays and Christmas, Kelly, Emily and I give each other something crafty, but Emily and I decided to go in together and get her her very own Kitchen Aid mixer. Emily's husband is still waiting on his pie.

After dinner, we headed over to one of our favorite places, the Shadowbox Cabaret, to see their show "Spring Fling". Emily and I had another bag of gifts. Some not so nice. Some that we thought she could use as she enters into her 40's. Depends, Ensure, stool softner, a giant pill container...well, you get the idea.

The band performing a song. I'm not sure what song it was, but it doesn't really matter. They are all so good.

And to top it all off, "Cher" came out to sing to Kelly for her birthday. It was pretty fantastic, to say the least.

It was a long and crazy day, but it was so much fun! I don't think I said more than three words to my husband by the time I got home that night and I pretty much was out till noon the next day, but it was totally worth it to give one of my closest friends a really special birthday.

Peace out *g*