{It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like,... }

We managed to get our Christmas tree up during the long holiday weekend and this year is one of my favorites! I have a lot of Hallmark and handmade ornaments, but not enough to fill a whole tree, so I like to add the traditional balls that are festive, but match the living room decor. This tree is red silver and aqua, SO pretty!!

This ornament below was on my parents first Christmas tree and I LOVE it!

What do you think of the antique effect I used on the pictures above? (below is the tree in its original beauty) Does anyone else have their trees up?? Do share, I love to see how other families like to spread the holiday cheer in their homes!

{Turkey Day Football}

This was the first Thanksgiving in my twenty errrrr nine years that I haven't been in the Dodt home for dinner and wonderful kid-o craziness. My husband and I decided to stay in Maryland for our first Thanksgiving as a married couple and one of their newer traditions is a family football game.

We met up with some of Tom's brothers and sisters (and some nephews were present) at the park in the morning, scarfed some uber nutritious breakfast:

and hit the field:

Well..... I hit the sideline and played the position of team photog. I am all for watching a rainy, muddy really cold game but I am really not a sporty kind of girl (probably better for the people who DID play that I wasn't on their team).

After the game, eating commenced,.... hours of eating.

Later my husband and I and some of my brothers and sisters in law curled up next to a warm crackly Yule Log,... On Demand, while we prepared for a double feature of Planes, Trains & Automobiles followed by Home Alone. What a Thanksgiving!!

I am definitely thankful to have TWO awesome families!

{Neptune Whirligigs}

MORE squares??? Yes, Yes,... more squares. At the moment, I am still waiting for the fabric I ordered for the backing on the Simply-A-Bloom quilt, so, I started another quilt top. (*chuckle*) These are super fun to make!

Here's the kicker.... the pattern called for two charm packs with 42 squares each. I used two charm packs with 32(ish) squares. You guessed it,... I am waiting on fabric. I think I'm really bad at timing my fabric purchases!! At the moment I have 32 whirligigs and am waiting on two more Neptune charm packs (which, BTW is not easy to find anymore).

So what do I do?? I did.... I totally did. I started ANOTHER quilt top. This one is proving to be a little more difficult that the last two, so no pictures yet, and I have a feeling this one might take a while. I'll try to get pictures when I have a few good looking squares.

On a totally UNrelated note, I saw New Moon today and loved it! Here is my opinion on this.... Twilight=great book, not-so-great-movie. New Moon=least fav book in the saga, GREAT movie. How many fans do I have with me??

{Simply-A-Bloom Quilt Top}

Thank you for all of your nice suggestions for fixing the Braid Quilt! I think I have some ideas for using the CrOoKeD braids. In the heat of the moment, when I was so upset for ruining the initial design, I bought another jelly roll and I will probably still make another attempt at the original braid quilt.

For now, I have stepped away from the braids and bring you.....

Simply-A-Bloom

I made this using the Simply-A-Bloom tutorial over at Moda Bake Shop created by Roslyn Mirrington of Bloom. Thanks Miss Bloom! I love how this turned out! Now, it's just a waiting game for the backing fabric that I ordered... tick... tock.

The fabric is Simple Abundance by Bonnie & Camille for Moda. (This is one of TWO quilts I am making with this AWESOME fabric line). Thanks Camille & Bonnie for gracing my home with this beautiful fabric! (My husband thanks you too)

As we speak, my husband is sighing of annoyance at me,... it IS Dexter night after all. Night everyone!

{In My Backyard}

Just playing with the Canon around the Harbor.

It was beautiful out today! :)

{I Messed It Up!!!}

So,.... here is THE braid quilt that I started a couple weeks ago. I made a few of the braids while I was still working on the MHC quilt. I spent the weekend finishing up the braids and got to the trimming stage last night. As you can see in the following picture, MY BRAIDS ARE ALL CROOKED!!!!!!! I am SO mad!! This bothered me ALL day since I couldn't work on fixing it. These aren't the greatest quality pictures, but I am desperate,... sorry.

If you look above, the bottom of the picture, the braids are all straight. At the top of the picture, they all "sway" to the right.

When I fold it in half with the top matched,.....

The bottom does not......

I have looked at this from every angle, measured, measured, measured, folded, matched, unmatched,.... I have no solution on how to fix this. Does anyone have any ideas??? I LOVE this quilt pattern and the nest fabric and I am at a point where I am ready to click "buy" on a new Nest Jelly Roll and start this one all over,...........

{Bloggers Block}

I have a case of bloggers block right now!! There isn't really a whole lot going on in our household. 2009 has been super busy up until now! My husband and I have been spending our time relaxing and doing things at home. This means movies, sewing, sports,... for the most part. During the week, its hard to get any fun pictures since its dark by the time we both get home :(

I realized I never did post a picture of the completed Pocahontas costume. It turned out totally cute (especially since I couldn't find an actual Disney Pocahontas costume pattern!). My suspicions were correct and it was a little too small, but Grammy came to the rescue and fixed it up!! Here is a camera phone picture I took before sending it to Texas.

Hopefully tomorrow is as beautiful in Baltimore as it is today, I am going to try to get outside during my lunch break and maybe take some fun pictures for you!

{Michigan Bound}

Well here it is! The completed Hope Squared quilt I have donated to the latest Craft Hope/Margaret's Hope Chest project. I finished up the binding late last night and ran outside on my lunch break with a co-worker to take pictures. It was a little dreary out, but how NOT dreary is the bright chartreuse binding!?

I quilted this with straight lines, just 1/4 inch on either side of the seams between the squares. This was my first attempt at this kind of quilting and I knew nothing about a "walking" foot. Psshhh....

I did order one, and it arrived AFTER this quilting was finished. SO, you can see that center row of squares that is extremely lopsided, yup. The good news is that I'm pretty sure the recipient of this quilt won't be quite as critical about it as I am. :) The back and border is a solid white sheet.

Knowing that a child is going to find warmth and comfort and love in this quilt during the holiday season both breaks my heart and warms it. I will be thinking about them and praying for them this winter.

{Emergency Card Making}

I am not in denial, I am fully aware that I am a total jerk when it comes to remembering birthdays! Actually it isn't really the remembering part that I am bad at, but more the mailing-cards-in-time-to-arrive-on-the-birthday part! It is really no surprise to receive my cards/gifts several weeks late.

When I realized I needed a card and had NONE, I got out the few Tula Pink Nest scraps from the Braid Quilt and whipped up this quick little card. It turned out OKAY, clearly very rushed with glue spots and uneven stitching, but I think it will work just fine.