Visiting Family, Doing a Little Stitching (Lawton, OK)

We are visiting our daughter and granddaughters this week.  So far, I have only managed to get one photo of our youngest granddaughter while she was playing a game on the computer.  Tomorrow, they are going to come out to the campground and I hope to get some good photos of all of them.

Listening to Blues Clues

While the kids are off to school - yes - all of them.  Our daughter is taking courses and working at the college.  As a single mom, she does very well with taking care of her two daughters.  They are well behaved and help Mommy around the house. We are proud of all three of them.

Okay, I got off subject - while the kids are off to school, I have been working on some UFOs.  I need to finish up the following projects and turn them in for Project Linus.

Redwork - 4 more blocks to go

Sprucing up the Dresden Plate Blocks

I also went through my bins and pulled some more fabric from my stored stash.  I felt like I went on a shopping spree and did not spend a dime. WooHoo!  Yea, the only downside - finding space to store it inside the motorhome....hmmm, I wonder what DH can do without..heh!heh!heh!

A new stack of fabric

Don't Forget! 

My Memories Scrapbook Giveaway ends on 

Sunday, Oct 2.  To enter: leave a comment on the Giveaway page.

Wordless Wednesday (Lawton, OK)

Good-bye Branson!

My Memories Scrapbook Giveaway!

If you are like me, you have hundreds of photos floating around in your computer.  This scrapbook software will make it a little more fun to organize them.  I did a select all, the program loaded them to the album pages that I selected.  I could decide afterwards if I wanted to keep the photos or take them back out or delete all together.

For more information and to enter:  just leave a comment at this link.  Drawing will be held this Sunday, Oct. 2.

Back On The Road

We will be traveling for the next two days to Lawton, OK.  Check out my last post.  I am giving away My Memories Scrapbook software.  All you have to do is leave a comment to enter.

Travel day and the cats are not happy.....

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

My Memories Free Software Giveaway!

Giveaway Ends on Sunday noon Central Time (US) Oct 2, 2011
Winner will be picked Sunday Oct 2, 2011

So, this is my first Giveaway and I am starting with a wonderful software product - My Memories Scrapbook v2.  Valued at $39.97.  I know!  It's a shock, right?  I haven’t done any scrapbooking since the kids were little and that was before there were scrapbook stores filled with every kind of embellishments you can think of for your memory keepsakes.  

I can give you two reasons why I stopped scrapbooking.  The first was storage space and the second was getting our first digital camera.  I just found it easier to store all our photos on the computer.  Then later, I started storing them on the internet with a no frills album setup.   It keeps them out of my closet and I can share them with friends and family.

This digital scrapbook takes care of all my concerns.  I don’t have to worry about it taking up space in our motorhome.  I don’t have to go to a store to buy embellishments.  The best part of all – I can share my scrapbooks either in printed or digital form with family and friends.

My Review

Now I love learning new software so I was pretty eager to check this scrapbook software out.  I have to admit I had a lot of fun playing with it.  It is very user friendly and there’s plenty of help, suggestions, and tutorials online.  I will be posting the Links in bold to My Memories’ sites.

The program comes with several designer albums or you can make your own.  There are more Digital Scrapbooking Kits  as well as some Free Digital Scrapbooking kits.  They also have a Dollar Store with many pages filled with $.99 choices.   So you can keep adding on to your scrapbook designs and embellishments. All are downloadable to your computer.

This software also does video, but I did not work with it at all since I never make videos. I should one of these days.

Okay, back to the review...I picked out a couple of different ones for this review because I could not make up my mind which one I wanted to use.  

Add or remove more pages

My favorite feature is the Fast Fill Insert Photos Automatically.  One suggestion:  have all chosen photos in one folder for the selected album.   Especially if you are like me and take way too many photos of one subject.  Yea, I do a lot of deleting....um, editing. 

Anyway, this feature is quick and easy.  Just select all and .....

TaDa! they are loaded into your new album.  Don't worry about not having enough pages, the program automatically adds more pages.  You can now add or remove or rearrange to your liking.

To learn more about this program's features please click on Full Feature List.  They have step-by-step instructions that are easy to follow.  They also have Tutorial videos on YouTube.

Oh! and if you still want a physical album, you can do that too using the Photobook Creator online.

One of the family...

first  design for the kitties

a little editing on the first design

Giveaway Rules

First: make sure your profile/account has an email or your webpage.  I will need someway to contact you - the winner.  I am using the old fashion method of names on folded paper and picking one out.  I will contact you by email and announce the winner in my next post.

Required for 1 entry:   just leave a comment

The following is optional and not required: 

1 site = 1 entry  

If you want to have a better chance for this prize, you can follow each site listed below. 

Let me know if you are already following me and I will add an entry for each of my sites that you are following.  (oh, and if you have a blog, etc. - let me know I am more than happy to follow you too)

After you have joined the sites, please come back and tell me which sites you are now following.

    example:  I am now following My Memories FB, Twitter and blog or I am following all the sites listed.

My Memories Scrapbook Sites:

1. Blog

2. Facebook

3. Twitter

QuiltinCats Sites:

1. Blog

2. Facebook

3. Twitter

** The winner will receive a code to download this program for free.  Thanks for stopping by to participate and good luck!

for http://donnasartisandesigns.blogspot.com/2011/09/jet-team-blogs.html

New Mug Rugs

I listed four mug rugs for the Fall season yesterday.  Here are a couple of pumpkins ready to harvest with Autumn colors.

Pumpkin Mug Rug

Pumpkin Mug Rug

All the designs are by  Nancy Halvorsen from Art to Heart.  I love the whimsical folk look of the black cat sitting in the pumpkin patch.

This whimsical Black Cat sits in the pumpkin patch
while holding your hot drink on long winter evenings. No jinx here!

I used fabric with spider webs on this mug rug to give it more of a Halloween look.  I also added a couple of small bats to fly around kitty's head.

Black Cat Mug Rug with Spider Webs

Back to the two quilts - I made binding for both quilts and got  the binding on yesterday.  I make a bias-cut and doubled binding for better strength and endurance.

Dusty decided to be my inspector to make up for his attitude the other day.  While I trimmed the edges before hand-sewing the binding to the back, he gave it a good inspection from above.......

I don't know I think I might need a closer look.

and below..........Yep, he's a helper...........

Feels good here...Check!

This is my favorite part: sitting in my chair, watching a good TV show or movie, a cup of tea, and hand sewing - quietly for at least a couple of hours.  It feels good to be almost finished with these two quilts and a little sad to see it end.

 I need to start thinking about my next project.  I do have a lot of UFOs(UnFinished Objects) to consider....

Treasury Tuesday and Sneak Peek

I hope my Treasury makes you smile.  I love browsing through all the different Etsy shops.  I feel like I am at an art festival.  

To see more Treasuries.
I finished four more mug rugs just in time for autumn.  Here's a sneak peek of one of them.

It's Raining Cats and Dogs!

Dude! What is that stuff?

I woke up to rain yesterday morning.  A perfect day to spend indoors quilting guilt-free!  I finished quilting one top and I am half way through the second one.

I did a meandering with some leaves scattered across the quilt.

One leaf upclose

 A distant view of the quilted top

We are starting out today with a "raining cats and dogs" thunderstorm.  Very big booms and our cats - sleeping right through them!  

I thought I would show you my indoor work space.  It's a little cramped, but it is functional with my captain's chair and a sturdy folding table.  During the day, I can open the blind on the other side of me and get the a nice view through our front window. Setting up and breaking down each time is a pain, but what am I going to do?  Yea, climbing over the table is not an option.  To tell you the truth, I wouldn't want it any other way.    

So, my cats did a compromise with helping me on the first night. Hitch and Dusty were suppose to be supervising.  hmmm... I'm not quite sure what they thought they were doing, but they did expect their snacks when I was finished for the night.

Hitch (left) & Dusty (right) no they are not brothers.

Mad Max showed up later.  He slept through most of his shift. 

photos by Dan..:0)

 Hitch abandoned me half way through the evening and Squirrel never showed up until I served snacks.  What a moocher!

Snack??

Quilting Day!

I see pins every where!

I spent last night pinning my two tops and watching last season's Castle.  TNT did a marathon, so I'm all caught up now and ready to start the new season on Monday.  I'm sort of glad I did not see Castle when it ended with its cliffhanger and what a cliffhanger it is!  Whew!

Fields of pins!

Okay, I'm off my subject.  It's raining today and I'm glad.  I can spend all day indoors working on my quilt tops and I won't feel guilty about it.

Ready to quilt

Kitties will just have to wait for another day to go outside for a walk.  I wonder if I can get my kitties to do this.  I can give them snack pay fur labor.  ooo!  did I hear a hiss and a yawn?

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

Time to quilt! Quilt! QUILT!

Art Nouveau Flower - Done! (Branson, MO)

It's done!  Well, the top is done.  I spent almost all of yesterday appliqueing.  I am very happy with the results.  This will be a small lap quilt around 40x50.  I thought about adding a border...okay! That's as far as I got on the border.

Art Nouveau Garden

I took some close-up photos this morning.  Of course, I picked a very overcast day for taking photos.  I don't want to wait for another sunny day so these will have to do for now.  I want to spend most of tomorrow getting this top and the Kokopeli top ready for quilting.

Butterfly

 The wings are all from the same purple batik.  The same with the body - all from one green batik.

whole flower

Flower up close

I did not have a backing that matched the top, so you know what that means....Fabric Shopping!  I went back to Quilts and Quilts Country Store.  I did a lot of browsing, listening to other shoppers, and husbands losing their wives in the many rooms filled with fabrics.  They have such a wonderful shop.  Aisles and aisles of books, patterns...oh, sorry, I probably told you this already.

I was beginning to think I would not find a match for my top when I wandered into the discount room.  Now I don't know about you, but I rarely have any luck with the discounted fabric.  Not today!  Not only did I find a great match and on sale, it is also a batik!  The shade is almost a perfect match to the butterfly's dots.  What a day!

Backing for the top

All The Little Things Add UP! (Branson, MO)

The cats are loving the change in the weather.  They want to spend more time sitting outside and I can't blame them.  I would put out the screen house, but our site is not very level.  In the meantime, a couple of hours a day should keep them happy.  I hope....

Dusty and Max

My turn to go outside!

I got some great news last Friday.  I won the American Quilter's Society "Blog of the Week"!  All this work on the blog and other social media sites are starting to pay off!  Thank you AQS!

When I am not on the computer or quilting or walking cats, we have been spending some time in Branson. So here are some photos I got recently while walking along the river front.

I got this picture of a duck with its own beehive feathered-doo.

Having a good hair day!

This dog owner had his spurs on while walking his puppy around.  

Cowboy without his horse.

Sunday evening, Branson prepared for a 9-11 Memorial.  We did not stay.  I would have needed a lot of tissues to make it through the memorial.

One of the water fountains.  When I took this picture, I did not see the waves of water until after I loaded the photos.  I think I'll try to take some more if the fountain is running.  They don't seem to run it all the time.

Well, back to my quilting ...and photos.......and FB fan page ..........and Etsy .............and cats............hmmm, I thought I was retired. BUT!.. I would not change a thing!  

Happy Quilting!

United We Remember 9-11

Tomorrow is the 10^th anniversary of 9-11.  A day that I am sure everyone (young excluded) remembers what they were doing at the moment they heard the news of the second plane flying into the second tower.   It is still fresh in my mind and the feelings….. surprise, confusion, fear, and vulnerability.   And the questions!   Why?  Who? Will there be more?   Our morning….our world was shattered.

While remembering those we lost with their families left behind, and the Heroes, I am also remembering how we have changed our own lives as well.   Over the years, I have heard of many life-changing decisions that were started from remembering 9-11.  It is interesting to hear how 9-11 has changed people’s lives.  Some took classes; others changed jobs, many took up a new hobby or traveled.  Did 9-11 change your life?

Remembering changed our life and our lifestyle.  Dan and I decided we did not want to keep working until our retirement age.   That’s when we started planning our 5-to-10-year plan to retire early.   We retired and started full-time traveling in our motorhome over 2 years ago.

I don’t have any photos today, but I found some wonderful artwork in Etsy.  This is just one of the many ways we are remembering.

Art Nouveau Flower (Branson, MO)

I'm going to call this a flower even though it looks more like a Caladium.  Like a flower in my garden, this one is starting to grow and blossom.  The more I stitch the more I am loving the results.

Finished stems

I am taking my time since this is the largest appliqué project that I have ever done.  I was a little afraid the flower would overpower the quilt top.  So far, I think the flower is melting into the background just the way I had hoped it would.

ready to be added

Usually, I do all the appliqué work on the quilt top, but this time I added the veins to the centers before adding them to the top.  This was a lot easier.

in place

With bigger pieces, I am pinning them into place so they don't slip while I am basting.  I prefer basting since the pins are always catching my threads or they slip out.  And of course, it is a whole lot easier on my hands.

pinning first

1 down - 3 to go

 

close up of my stitches

This is as far as I got last night.

Second one is basted and ready

To be continued!