EOS lip balm Christmas gift

I found a great idea on Pinterest that I want to share with you :)

I can't send you to my Pinterest board, because it's a secret one!

Here is the link to Simple as That, making every day beautiful.

All teenage girls love EOS lip balm, so I thought this would be the perfect gift!

I priced lots of stores online and found that Costco had the cheapest price, and the balms come in a 5 pack.

Aren't they just the cutest?

Maybe you can make some for Christmas, they're quick and easy.

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas!

Not enough time!

To say I've been busy lately is an understatement!

I just arrived back from visiting family in Florida and Utah for three weeks, and my daughter and her two little children drove to California to visit us 2 days later.

What a wonderful time we've been having together!

We saw the sights in San Francisco :)

Saturday, my husband was scribe for 5 year old Maisie as she told him what she wanted to do for the day.

We completed everything on her checklist!

I was making the "dwell" quilt by Camille Roskelley, before all my travels and adventures.

I laid the blocks on the floor and took a black and white photo to make sure the contrast in the colors was pleasing to the eye.

I think it looks pretty good.

These are the blocks in living color!

There is sashing between all the blocks, and I added 9 extra blocks to the quilt.

I'm also working on a quilt from the magazine Love Patchwork and Quilting.

I thought it was a pretty simple pattern, but the cutting was so time consuming!

I love the low volume prints, especially the text ones :)
I really think they add a lot of interest.

I just have to sew the rows together, and will machine quilt a radiating circular pattern.

It will be my first time, but I bought one of Jacquie Gehring's Craftsy classes on machine quilting with your walking foot.

It was well worth the money, I highly recommend her classes!

Hopefully I can show you my completed "Dwell" quilt next week.

Wish me luck, I'll be sewing like one of Santa's busy elves!

Stacked Windmill quilt

I really love this book!

I made most of the blocks for the quilting bee I was in a couple of years ago.

I finally finished my quilt, it's machine quilted and bound.

Every block has the same theme, but each one is different.

I love the slate grey, I think it frames the blocks really well.

Each post has a different black and white print.

I love the little mustaches on this one!

Notice the beautiful all over swirl that my quilter/friend Cindy Paulson used when she machine quilted it.

The background is a Free Spirit purple with drops of yellow and white.

I used a different purple for the binding and I love how it contrasts against the slate and the purple back!

I made this quilt as a gift, but am going to have a very difficult time parting with it...

Farm Girl Vintage, Country Fair quilt

I posted about this "Country Fair" quilt a few weeks ago, when I finished the top.

My wonderful quilter/friend, Cindy Paulson, machine quilted it for me, and I just finished binding it.

These are my favorite blocks from the book "Farm Girl Vintage".

I love making star blocks, the one on the left is called "Autumn Star".

The "Scrappy Maple Leaf" block reminds me of Canada, my home and native land!

"Mama Hen" reminds me of two of my children who have chickens who lay eggs, but they're not golden :) Ha ha! 

"Canning Season" is a great block, I used to love canning when my children lived at home and I had a garden.

"Old Glory", because I became an American citizen seven years ago.

"Milking Day" reminds me of my daughter, because she owns a share in a cow named Patience.

She milks her once a week :)

"Scrappy Strawberry", I love a juicy red California strawberry!

"Penny Pig" is adorable, I made my granddaughter a couple of stuffed pigs for Christmas last year.

"Baking Day", I do a lot of that!

The blue bowl represents a beautiful blue Fire King bowl that my daughter Rebecca gave me for Mother's Day one year.

The green bowl represents Jadeite, my daughter Lindsay has quite a collection.

The "Simple Star" block is not that simple, I sewed a 6" postage stamp block in the middle.

I love the numbers background too :)

"Pie Cherries" is my husband's favorite pie and my favorite fruit.

"Woolly Sheep" was so cute, I just had to include him :)

See the gorgeous flower that Cindy quilted all over the quilt?

She's the best quilter!!!

I've always loved this Alexander Henry print, and it suits the Country Fair quilt perfectly!

I didn't have enough pear fabric for the back, so I added some Heather Bailey stripes which match the colors perfectly.

I really like scrappy backs too, don't you?

Happy Thanksgiving my friends!

I'm thankful for my Savior Jesus Christ, for my wonderful family, including my thoughtful husband, my darling children and their spouses, my sweet grandchildren, my health, my talents, my wonderful friends, and so much more.

Farm Girl Vintage, Silo Barn mini quilts

Have I told you how much I love this book?  LOL

I'm making some Christmas gifts for my quilty friends.

I know that this friend loves Hallowe'en!

I made her this Silo Barn with a Patchwork Pumpkin.

The birds on the silo look like crows, very sinister!

The barn window is all about a costume contest and Hallowe'en Carnival :)

I saw this skeleton fabric at a quilt shop recently but only bought a fat quarter, I should have bought more!

Don't you love the color?

It looks like a minty green but not quite, it's very different.

I machine quilted the mini with a straight matchstick design.

I backed the mini silo with the cutest purple (a rich Hallowe'en color) skeleton print, and bound it with a bright orange polka dot.

I hope my friend screeches with delight when she opens her gift!

I made another silo barn for another quilty friend, it's more modern.

I'm not sure what the block on the barn door is called, does anyone know?

I used linen for the background, I really like the look.

I stitched a running embroidery stitch around the barn, and used a wavy machine quilting stitch.

I backed the quilt in a cute bird design.

I think these birds represent happiness, especially when thinking about my friend :)

Cozy Season Mini

I think this is such a cute little mini quilt!

Lori Holt designed it and you can find the tutorial here.

This is the one I made, it's for a special friend for Christmas :)

Shhhhh......don't tell her!

I love this calendar, it's full of beautiful photos of Lori's quilts.

There is also the pattern for the quilt on the cover, and of course the cozy cottage too.

My dear friend sent it to me, she is very thoughtful :)

Three little posies, all in a row...

There is happiness in choosing scrappy :)

All the fabrics in this cozy cottage (except for the background) are Lori's because I know my friend loves Lori's creations as much as I do!

Eight flying geese high up in the sky, in my favorite aqua colors.

When choosing scrappy, I try to vary the colors and choose contrasting prints.

They have a fall theme, but the tree could also represent all the seasons.

Quilting minis is very liberating, they're so easy to work with.

I always love the look of matchstick quilting, straight lines different widths apart.

I backed the mini in "Sew Cherry", one of my favorite fabric lines of all time!

I can hardly wait to see my friend's reaction when she finds out this is for her :)

Don't tell her!!!