Really Random Thursdays

I feel like my last couple of months has been nothing but randomness so I have a few pictures to share today!  Miss Z went to a fall festival and spent half the time trying to get the Jewels off the other girls' gown, that does not bode well...other things happening:

So We Got New neighbors

They really like to hang out there...

This is a little scary...

My Friend, J and her friend dress up for Halloween, they make good twins from a movie...

I am still IN-LOVE with this chair from IKEA:

I spent a lot of time knitting and doing cross-stitch while I was on bedrest:

Miss Z Loves her new-to-her kitchen which has given me a whole extra hour (what shall I do?): 

I am linking up to Really random Thursdays @Live A Colorful Life

*\o/* Cheers

Shanna

PS** It turns out I have had very good luck recently, so I am having a drawing for FOUR more traveling stash boxes!!!  Please consider letting it visit your house.  Check out my post (with pictures) HERE, leave a comment on that post to be entered in to win it (US Residents only, sorry).  There are 2 more delicious boxes being given away, to find out more about those boxes click over HERE, and to read about the guidelines go HERE.

***For International followers I will be having a giveaway specifically for you starting November 18th. So please be looking for it!***

What's In Progress Wednesday?

It's Getting Easier Street...

So I told you a few months back that I went to the local Quilt Shop to pick up the Easy Angle ruler to work on Bonnie Hunter's Easy Street mystery Quilt.  Well, what I ended up buying was the Easy Angle 2 ruler which the shop person assured me was the two rulers combined...let me tell you, they are not.  Since this was my first experience in making flying geese this way, it was not instinctive on how to make the flaps.  Looking back on other projects I had realized that I had incorporated flying geese in other projects, but just didn't know it!  Most patterns have you make it with one rectangle and two small squares with the pencil line on the back.  Needless to say I am feeling like an expert after this mystery quilt!!  I had this idea of just completing half of the required blocks but I wasn't paying attention and ended up cutting and sewing the total amount of flying geese...

As You can see the colors I chose to do at first was neutrals with a cream background, with highlights of taupe and several brown fabrics in place of the purple she chose.  It may come as a surprise, but I have been waiting to check out each step until the mystery quilt calls for it.  I have glanced at finished quilts, but the picture is in no way solidified in my mind so I am not quite sure how this quilt will turn out.

I am going to get this quilt completed; hopefully soon because I have 1 month until Bonnie Hunter releases her new mystery quilt for this year (Check it out HERE).  My Hope is that this year I can follow along and keep up...I have already picked out some fabrics, though I am substituting teal/turquoise for the green she is calling for because I need all the greens I can get my hands on for a surprise quilt I have been making for a friend.

I am linking up to:  WIP Wednesday with Lee @Freshly Pieced

*\o/* Cheers

Shanna 

PS** It turns out I have had very good luck recently, so I am having a drawing for Four more traveling stash boxes!!!  Please consider letting it visit your house.  Check out my post (with pictures) HERE, leave a comment on that post to be entered in to win it (US Residents only, sorry).  There are 2 more delicious boxes being given away, to find out more about those boxes click over HERE, and to read about the guidelines go HERE.

***For International followers I will be having a giveaway specifically for you starting November 17th. So please be looking for it!***

Update to come: Stash Box #6

Greetings all those who are waiting to find out what just might be in Stash box #6!

I received the box this afternoon, but I have been away all evening.  I shall go through the box tomorrow, take pictures and update the post tomorrow.  Thank you all for your patience!

*\o/*Cheers,
Shanna

Updated 11/06/2013:
The post has been updated!  You can go here to check out the contents of the additional box HERE.

"I'm Just a Little Black Rain Cloud..."

Source

If you have ever watched The Many Adventures of Winnie The Pooh, you might remember Pooh Bear singing the title song of this post.  I assure you, I have seen this DVD far too many times so whilest I was working on this month's BOM for my LQS, It was all that rolled through my head.  Over...and over..and over again.  You see, I like to make tester blocks as to not mess up the very precise amount of fabric they give you to complete the block.  This past week I fell so in-love with the block that I plan to make the tester blocks into a mini-quilt wall hanging for our bedroom/super crafting area.  I am determined to make some items for our home this next year; I often find myself giving things away just after I roll the lint brush over a project.

BOM BLOCK:

TESTER BLOCK:

No, I have not yet trimmed up the blocks because I like to wait to trim my BOM blocks until I have all of the blocks completed, just in case I need to fudge here or there.  As far as the tester blocks go, I am am almost done with 3 more of the same block and then we shall see how to arrange them!  I am thinking of going with using some of the other scraps from making THIS quilt, they are fabrics all from the same line from Connecting Threads.  In fact they are currently having a super sale on all their basics so I am mulling the idea of grabbing more yardage of the Gray print in this project.

I am linking up today to:
Design Wall Monday with Judy@ Patchwork Times
BOM's Away with Lyn @ What a Hoot Quilts


I am also linking up, for the second time: 
Anything Goes Mondays with Marelze @ Stitch By Stitch.
*\o/* Cheers
Shanna

PS** It turns out I have had very good luck recently, so I am having a drawing for FOUR more traveling stash boxes!!!  Please consider letting it visit your house.  Check out my post (with pictures) HERE, leave a comment on that post to be entered in to win it (US Residents only, sorry).  There are 2 more delicious boxes being given away, to find out more about those boxes click over HERE, and to read about the guidelines go HERE.

***For International followers I will be having a giveaway specifically for you starting November 18th. So please be looking for it!***

Miss Z has a Little Lamb...

Today I dragged the large stroller downstairs to take a walk with Miss Z.  It also happens to be Rent payment day so the apartment office always has fresh cookies out to perhaps soften the financial blow each month, lol.  I think that is Miss Z's favorite thing about me going to pay the Rent, the soft warm cookies, which today I allowed her to have two as she missed out last month.  She is getting to be a big girl my darling child and so soon you shall start seeing my garment sewing again.  My friend is coming over in a couple weeks to allow me to cast her daughter for a dressform, I will share how that goes afterwards!

While Miss Z and I were out of the apartment we went to go check on the mail and see if perhaps I had received a Traveling Stash Box and instead I received three boxes!!  Which actually means I have won 4 of the 6 boxes this month, haha!  It kind of reminds me of the time I "won" a bunch of items on Ebay because I was hoping to won a couple of the items, thankfully my husband is happier about this winning streak that than those ones!!

I opened the boxes to take a little peek and I have no idea how they each got all those items in the box!!  The boxes are literally bursting with goodies which you might see a little bit from the picture to the side, however, today I shall only tease you as I am not ready to post the giveaway until tomorrow night.  We have All Saints Day Services at Church tonight and then I have a long day of running around tomorrow, so I am sorry for the delay, but you shall all simply LOVE the boxes I share with you guys and perhaps you will already consider if you might be tempted to temporarily adopt one yourself!  I have even decided to offer up a few of my treasured pieces of fabric into the collections!

 *\o/* Cheers
Shanna

Are We There Yet?

So I made some progress on organizing my sewing area.  Well, its not quite perfect yet, but I am still getting there.  So I am going to show you the really terrible before pictures, I promise you that I didn't add the extra clutter just for the photos.  I am really embarrassed at the mess so just bare with me as I will get it all prettied up soon (with Awesome Hubby's help of course!).

The Shelf Area--Master bedroom

The Hutch area--Master Bedroom

The Desk Area--Master Bedroom

Storgae Bins area--Miss Z's Room

As you can see, I have let the clutter overrun all areas of our Master bedroom as well as parts of Miss Z's Bedroom, oh how naughty Mommy's been.  I saw several posts this past summer where people cleaned-up their craft rooms and that is what inspired me, well that and that I like things organized!  My goal is to get as much of my crafting stuff all in one place as I can possible make it.  Well, I have stayed up too late tonight, I must be off to bed!

*\o/* Cheers
Shanna

PS** I am having a drawing for passing on traveling stash box #2!  Please take a look HERE, leave a comment on that post to be entered in to win it (US Residents only, sorry).  There are so many other delicious boxes being given away, to find out more about those boxes click over HERE, and to read about the guidelines go HERE.

What's in Progress Wednesday?

Greetings!  I have more orange to show you today, as it is my husband's favorite color it should come as no surprise that he suggested this fabric for the border.  I know that right now the border perhaps seems a bit big for the center bit, but I have some plans to trim here and there, but I just could not start sculpting my plans with out first making this orange canvas.  This should come out big enough for a really large baby quilt or a wall hanging perhaps. I don't have very many pieces of batting left right now, so I am saving them for the smaller projects.  In the mean time I plan to get tops completed, then their backings if I come up with the right fabric, and then I plan to pile them up for now. My goal right now is to slow down, enjoy the creative process and perhaps get life back to normal again.

Random Triangles--WIP

*\o/* Cheers
Shanna

PS** I am having a drawing for passing on traveling stash box #2!  Please take a look HERE, leave a comment on that post to be entered in to win it (US Residents only, sorry).  There are so many other delicious boxes being given away, to find out more about those boxes click over HERE, and to read about the guidelines go HERE.

Orange You Glad For the Color Orange?

On Saturday the whole family including my in-laws who were in for the weekend, drove over to IKEA to find a crib or toddler bed for Miss Z.  At 20 months she is just shy of 3 feet tall and her little play yard bed was not working for her any longer.  We quickly made our way over to the little kids' section upstairs to see what we could find.  Within 15 seconds of my husband putting Miss Z (too fast for me even to take a picture) she was already figuring out how to break out!  As we turned the corner we came upon rows of junior beds which are slightly smaller than a twin but longer than a crib/toddler bed.  Miss Z's little eyes went wide and her mouth made the perfect "O" as she literally ran to jump on the tester beds.  My heart was a little gooey puddle as she looked up at me hopefully, padding the bed and petting the bedding.

We went ahead and purchased her new bed with the idea that we would transition her over to the new bed over the next couple of weeks.  Grandpa and Daddy got the new bed put together this afternoon while she was supposed to be sleeping, but was singing in her room instead.  We scrapped the idea of a nap and just brought the bed into her room, which she quickly laid claim to as she sat upon it giggling.  I thought surely she could try napping in it, but she wanted to get on and off of it.  I sat her down on the bed, sitting down at the end while I explained how this was her new bed because she was going to be a big girl so the play yard was for when she was a little girl, but to be safe she needed to stay on the bed.  At bedtime that night we got her ready like normal, said prayers, brush teeth like every night, but this time she wiggled down from her Daddy's arms, ran to the new bed, climbed upon it and proudly announced "BED!"  We gathered her pillow and dollies, then she snuggled in to sleep and still was laying the same when we checked on her through out that night!

Above is a super awesome Bright Orange chair that both my husband and I are in love with that we saw at IKEA.  I would so put that in my livingroom!  We went to look at couches because we have not managed to buy a couch when we moved 1.5 years ago.  I would rather have the chair because its just so great and it would totally go with our bright green walls, right?!  For now we will continue to window shop.  Well it certainly would go with the triangle quilt I have been working on and off over the weekend.  I have to admit that I have gone slower with this project which has made it turn out better than I expected.  I was so overwhelmed by all the points meeting up that I ended up crying about it.  My husband came running in to my room when he heard my commotion.  I was crying "happy tears" I promised him as he looked at me dubiously.  This is definitely a project I plan to repeat, but perhaps with larger triangles next time.  The white fabric has a white print on it and I ironed the seams open.

I plan to slice off the edges to add a straight border of, you guessed it, Orange!  I am playing with the idea of an inner border as well.

Thanks for sticking with me during this wordy post!  I am linking up, for the first time, to Marelze's Anything Goes Mondays.  It had a lot of fun links shared so I decided to join the party!
*\o/* Cheers
Shanna

PS** I am having a drawing for passing on traveling stash box #2!  Please take a look HERE, leave a comment on that post to be entered in to win it (US Residents only, sorry).  There are so many other delicious boxes being given away, to find out more about those boxes click over HERE, and to read about the guidelines go HERE.

Traveling Stash BOX #2

I was so happy to find out that I would be getting a traveling stash box!  I have won one before and they are simply fun to receive, the hardest thing about them is deciding what one will keep and/or putting back into the box!

I would love to share this opportunity with any US residents (restrictions are because of shipping costs) who has a blog, would be willing to post the next leg of the trip on their blog and send the box onward!  Please read all of the rules HERE.  To be considered, just leave a comment below, please sure you have a profile that has a way  for me to contact you.

What a great variety of items has been included in the box!  I haven't made my final choice on what to take or put back into the box, but it will be fun to pick.  I will be selecting the winner next Saturday, October 26, 2013 before Miss Z goes to bed.

 *\o/* Cheers
Shanna

Art Therapy

I have the border complete on yesterday's project, it's been folded and put on a higher shelf for the next process.  It's so close to completion, why don't I finish it you might ask.  I simply don't feel like it today and I might not feel like it tomorrow.  

The last couple of months have been very hard for me and yet I have heard this background music before.  I really do have the most amazing and selfless Mother-in-law, who as soon as she had learned that I was pregnant and would possibly be put on bed rest she made plans to come stay with us for many weeks.  When we miscarried, I felt shaken, but to my utter amazement we were told that we still carried another babe.  A couple weeks ago we got the phone call that we would lose this babe as well.  Through it all, my MIL has cared for everything including my precious Miss Z.

Miss Z, Chicken and her Ducky in bad lighting

My husband has been encouraging me to do different forms of art to help me get through this time.  You may just see my paintwork, painful as that might be for you, lol..  Simply put, I have decided to work on whatever might interest me even if it might leave a pile of WIP's in its wake, it doesn't really matter right now.  I am not going to stress out about deadlines or linking to a party or anything like that.  Don't get me wrong, I like completing items, I love linking up a finish at a slew of sites, but I might have to delay that.  Yeah I submitting my overly massive WIP list the other day for the Fourth Quarter of the Finish along, but I figure during this process some of those items will get worked on, so it didn't hurt to put everything on the list.

The photo above is a project I started well I am not exactly sure when I started it, but it interests me so I thought I would drag it out and play with it.  I have finally connecting all the pieces so they are each rows, I will connect the rows next and then start auditions for border choices.  I was think a nice wide border, but I am being tempted by thoughts of a narrow inner border. 

We shall see where this dabbling takes me. 

*\o/* Cheers

Shanna