3 Dog Design and "the tools"

Remember when I entered the Design Star Challenge from McCall's?  One of the great things about being a part of it was getting to know so many other quilters from across the country!

3 Dog Design was one of the designers I met through that experience.  He recently gave a review of our quilting tools.  You can check it out here.  We believe, as he does, they are great tools that every quilter could use and appreciate.

Remember the holidays are coming up.  If you have a quilter on your list you can't go wrong with a great piece of art that is also functional!

Monsters at (Almost) Midnight

Here is my latest project. I started and finished within an hour! If only all my projects were that quick.

Tough Mudder & a Commitment

Hey, I know this post isn't about quilting so if you don't stick around to read the rest I will understand.  If you have read my blog before you have heard about my super supportive husband.  He is the best!  He rarely gets upset at the time (and money!) I spend on my hobbies.  Last weekend I was able to return the favor and support him in something he loves.  He participated in an event called the Tough Mudder!  This is a race, not the extreme competitive kind of race, just one that is fun and builds camaraderie.  Here is the run down, it is 12 miles with 21 different kinds of obstacles.  They mostly consist of mud, water, ice and a little electricity.  

Here we are at the beginning of the race.

They wrote his race number on his forehead.  He was also really proud of his farmer's tan!

The start of his 12 mile journey.

The spectators were not able to see every obstacle, there were about 8 - 10 we were able to see.  His parents were there as well and we split up so we could watch and get pictures and videos of different obstacles.  

Here is the video compilation.  It isn't the best recording but you get a feel for what happened.  Each obstacle has an interesting name, a few were "Arctic Enema" (jumping into icy water), Funky Monkey (monkey bars), "Electric Eel" (crawling under live wires in puddles of water) and a few others I won't put on here.  

My favorite parts are at :58, when he gets shocked and doesn't remember how his face got in the water and 2:09 when he is helping the girl up the mud hill and he gets hit in the face with her bum and he looks over at me and smiles.  

If you can't find him just look for the black shirt, shaved head and the farmer's tan!

He finished the face in just under 3 hours, he was able to run between each obstacle and he looked like he was having fun the whole time.  

He was still smiling at the finish line!

It was so much fun to watch him!  I was also very proud of all the hard work he put into training and getting ready to take on such a challenge.  If they had one tomorrow he would do it again.  

Here comes the commitment part of the post.  When he does it again I will do it with him!  I have a looong way to go to be prepared for this but I know I can do it.  It is a scary thing to think about but I just want to say I accomplished something like this.  Alright, now that my commitment is out there I will have to stick to it.  Soon you will see me wearing the orange headband!

Halloween Cookies

We made Halloween cookies a few days ago.  Sugar cookies are one of my favorite kinds of cookies.  My mom always used this recipe when I was growing up, and of course it is the best!  I love that my girls are getting big enough to make cookie dough all by themselves.  I still help but they work together and get the job done.   

Their favorite part was the homemade frosting!  

It was a great Sunday afternoon, filled with cookies, laughing and memories!  They are growing up too fast, but I am grateful for every day I have with them.  

Quilt-a-thon Finale!

EDIT:  I linked up to Patchwork Times, Design Wall Monday!  Yes, I used the same pictures because this quilt is still sitting in the exact same position it was last night.  Darn job!  haha.  Head over to Judy's blog to see what others have been working on.  

Well the Quilt-a-thon is over!  I am so glad I participated.  It was a wild weekend, but so much was accomplished at my house.  Here is the run down

*  12 Days of Christmas top completed

*  Countdown to Christmas completed, ready to use!

*  Christmas Tree top completed (pic below)

*Christmas Tree quilting half done! (pic below)

All you machine quilters don't look (or judge) my quilting.  I know it is not perfect but I consider it a learning process, and I am in the beginning stages.  With Christmas coming around the corner I feel a little bit more prepared.  

Everything that was accomplished this weekend could not have been possible if my husband didn't help out so much.  He made dinner, washed laundry, cleaned the kitchen (including dishes), and gave me the answer "that looks great!" whenever I needed some encouragement.  He is a keeper!  All the work he did is really the norm around our house, he supports me 100%.  

If you want to see what other quilters were up to this weekend check out Patchwork Times!  The next Quilt-a-thon in in November, hope you can join in!

Saturday Progress

I missed the linky to Patchwork Times for Saturday Progress, but I am still playing along!  On Saturday I finished the 12 Days of Christmas Quilt. Well, this is as finished as it is going to get, quilting will just have to wait.  

I also finished a little Christmas Countdown.  You can't see all the pieces but there are 13 little quilt sandwiches in all.  

The progress I made takes care of #7 & #8 on my UFO list!  So far I have only finished 4 of my UFO's!  

This weekend has been great! and I still have time to get something finished today!

Friday Progress

I had high hopes of getting the 12 Days of Christmas quilt finished today.  In reality, I didn't even sit down at my machine.  We had a great day at school, but after getting dinner and the dishes taken care of I was beat!  I decided to chill out tonight, watch a movie and get a good start in the morning! 

Thursday Progress

This quilt has been hanging on my railing for about 4 months.  I had the squares pieced together.  The only progress I made today was finish the blanket stitch on the words at the top and get the borders sewn on.  But I am happy with what I have accomplished.  I hope to get a lot more done in the next three days!  

Much Needed Conversation

I hear stories all day long that are on a 5 year old level.  Stories about someone's dog or their loose tooth.  I tie a lot of shoes and try not to have a "grossed out" face when someone sneezes and boogers hang out of their nose.  Yea, that really happens, and usually when that happens they just stare at me  with the look of "well what do I do now?"  Sometimes I just need to have more adult conversation, yesterday just happened to be the day!

In my school there is a teacher that loves to quilt, in fact, she is the one who encouraged me to try applique.  We got together yesterday and talked quilt stuff for about an hour.  I felt like I was in heaven!  We looked up different quilt designers, fabric, patterns and books.  It was so refreshing to find new designers and see the wonderful quilts that are out there.  It was just what I needed!  Last night I made time to sit at my sewing machine, it was only for 15 minutes but it was wonderful.  The rejuvenation I felt last night was amazing, and it all came from an hour of conversation about quilting!  Maybe I should have an enlightening conversation about cleaning, but then again, it probably wouldn't help.

This weekend I am joining a the Quilt-a-thon with Patchwork Times.  Does anyone want to join along?  It starts today and the goal is to sew, and sew and sew as much as we can Thursday - Sunday.  Of course, I have to work but I am planning on posting every night with the progress I have made that day.    I have high hopes of getting a few pesky projects finished!