A Finish on WIP Wednesday!

Happy in Cali is done! Unfortunately, its late and the pics did not come out well so I will post a pic of the full piece when I get some outdoor shots of it.  In the meantime, check out the quilting and the binding:



At first, as I was making the binding, I was thinking that I had made the wrong choice. But when I started stitching it on with my walking foot, I knew I had a winner.  I really love this quilt.  Its backed with yellow flannel.  I really like the way flannel feels on skin so I choose it more often than not to back my quilts.  I usually stock up on it at Joann's on Black Friday because its always on sale then. : )





 

 I quilted the entire thing myself. I decided to free hand some flowers in the borders. I heard an interview over on  Craftsanity and the artist was speaking about how doodling helped her come up with some of her fabulous embroidery designs.  I also reviewed some videos on free motion quilting and they talked a lot about practicing by drawing out the design on paper so that your brain can get used to what you want your hands to do. Well, I have been doodling this same flower since I was in elementary school so my figured my brain should be pretty familiar with it by now, since I am now over 40! I made some booboos but I am overall very pleased with my first attempt. I am so happy I dove in because now I feel energized to finish my other projects!


And go on over to Freshly Pieced  to check out some more fabulous work from  the WIP Wednesday Participants!:

OC County Fair, Quilting and more cuteness!

I think I may have said before that the one thing that I have always been sure of is that I wanted a family of my own. When I think about my life now, I just smile. I mean, life is not perfect, we have debt, we live in a small apartment, we are not working at our dream jobs and I have been battling infections all year. But even with all that, I am very happy because of my family! I am sort of shocked when I say that I am happy. Its because what matters most is family and good solid friendships and I am rich in both. I have a fantastic husband, a wonderful baby boy who is growing up way too fast, a fantastic extended family who love us all and who have completely fallen in love with my son ( although, who could blame them, he is so precious!), wonderful wonderful friends all over the world who have rejoiced with us and mourned with us. I feel so very very rich! I finally have the right perspective on life (at least, right now I do!). I could not ask for more.

This weekend, was all about family, even my crafting! DH and I took our little one to the Orange County fair. We had a blast. The little guys clapped the whole time as we walked through the rides, exhibits and games. He could not do much, but he seem to really enjoy just being there adn seeing everything. This was my first time at the fair. It was truly like an old fashioned fair. There was a working farm, there were pie eating contests and arts and crafts exhibits. Beautiful quilts, woodworking projects, knitting and crocheting. I was inpired to enter one day ( not sure when though!). Then there was the food. Why is it that they fry everything at fairs? Check out some pics:

So this was a great family day for us. So cool to watch our son experience life.

In crafting, I have a finished object! I actually worked on this all week to try to finish is. It was supposed to be done in feb for our anniversary. Of course, it just did not work out. But I managed to get it done. Its sort of an art quilt, totally improvised by me. I think it came out great. Its so not perfect but I love it!



We ended the weekend by teaching Sunday School to the 3rd and 4th graders and I thoroughly enjoyed the kids!

So, you see, a fantastic, fun filled, family weekend!

cooking and quilting

Today, I spent most of the day with my little family. We enjoyed going to the local farmers market this morning because we had an evening service today at Church. After the market we came home and while I cooked for the week, my husband watched the baby and washed 3 loads of clothes.

I had a marathon cooking event in my kitchen. I try to cook a few things we can eat throughout the week on the weekend so I don't have to worry about it through the week. This weekend I made:

beef stew
rice
pasta sauce
beans from scratch
squash/potato soup and

this:
Cookie Sheet Chocolate Bars

I am planning on taking a nice portion of these to my bible study group this week. The turned out great! See:







I love the Mennonite Girls Can Cook site. They really can! I have made 3 of their recipes so far. All have been hits!

I have not quilted this weekend but I did a lot before I left for my vacation. Here is a sneek peek of my next crazy shortcut quilt:





Here are some closeup shots of the decorative stitches I am using for the quilting.




I love the little hearts!

Finally, I will leave you with some cuteness!

Its been a while!

I have not posted in while but I am happy to say that things have been going well. My son turned 1 in April and we had a great party to celebrate. Tons of people came including my mother and sister all the way from Chicago. Its so hard to craft with a toddler in the house( Yes, he is walking! He started walking about a week after his 1st birthday.) So as far as projects go, I have 1 crochet UFO, 1 knitting ufo, and two quilting ufos. I can only craft every so often and most of the time its late at night. I did find and join this great crafting group and I did manage to finish one of my 3 quilting. The women in this group are so fantastic! People do all kinds of crafts. There were quilters, crocheters, knitters, scrapbookers, one cross stitcher and an embroiderer and a papercrafter! Wow, all I can say is wow. 24 people came to this meeting and I am so encouraged to have found these like minded women. I brought the quilt that I have been making for my son. It is not perfect, but with the help a fantastic quilter in attendence, I got it done!



The pattern is from this Book:

Crazy Shortcut Quilts.



It was very doable for a beginner like me.

I am so dang proud of myself and I am looking forward to making more of these.

I met so many great women, one of whom is the author of this Blog:

The Quilt Engineer

This lady is a true artist. Check out her work on her blog.

I think I am getting better at mothering and balancing all the things in my life (who am I kidding?!) I am hoping to find time to blog more and craft more, even if I have to stay up until midnight to do it!

I am still working full time and going to school. Hopefully, things will slow down a tad once i complete my masters!