Little Boy's Dreams Quilt

 It was hard coming up with the right fabrics and colors. I knew it had to have blue. I also tried to go to the color wheel and find what went with blue. I did not want it just blues though. So I chose orange too. Then I decided it needed red and yellow too. When I started coloring the drawings I started with just red and blue and white, but it was just too Patriotic to be a little baby boy's quilt. That is when I added the orange and yellow too. Then I played with where to place the colors. That took a while too. I like scrappy looking so I finally had to place them in random areas but not too close together. Finally I got the right combination. Then I had to figure out how much material I needed. Turns out I needed about 1/2 yard of each color and 3 yards of background.

I then had to figure out what I wanted in the center. I played around with several different things but kept coming back to a train.

It took several drawings before I finally got the look of the train I wanted. I think I researched several different ways to draw a train but I knew it had to be very simple in order to get it to the fabric.

So here are the final drawings of the train.

These were the hardest to get to the right size I needed to be without being too big or so small you really loose them in the quilt.

Then I started cutting out the fabrics. I wanted to have my blocks be about 6" finished or a little bigger. Turns out I really liked the 8" finished size the best. That size block looked the best with the size of train I wanted.

I then started cutting and sewing. It was an interesting process, and I learned a lot about figuring the size I needed to be able to cut half square triangles. I found a wonderful website that was a tremendous help. www.patchwork-and-quilting.com is where I finally decided I would go and use their most helpful directions.

Here are my half-square triangles after I squared them up and pressed them.

Hope everyone enjoys lots of Turkey and all the sides and has a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving. I will continue with my adventure of "Little boy's Dreams Quilt" after the holiday.

New Quilt

I recently finished a quilt for a baby shower this past weekend. I found out that the baby was a boy and decided I wanted to make a quilt for the new bundle of joy. Now this quilt I wanted to design and make myself and not from a pattern I bought. So the first thing I did was make a few drawings.

I tried out a few block designs first, but decided I wanted to make blocks that looked like pinwheels. I also wanted to make sure they all were not going in the same direction. Then I had to decide on what colors I wanted. I know she wanted bright colors but did not settle on any one color scheme, this was good for me since I love scrappy looks. I then decided on what I wanted in the center. As you can tell I am not a terrific drawer but I thought I wanted a hobby horse in the center.

After a while I thought about a few other different things in the center.

I finally settled on a train. Perfect, just what every little boy loves, trains!!

Now I thought that this process was going to be easy right, wrong. I have never designed and created a pattern and directions for a quilt before. This was going to be an interesting project.

By the time all was said and done, it took several weeks to come up with all of it and to then test the directions. But eventually it was a wonderful gift.

Here it is as the top is complete. I will post the more on the quilt as the week progresses.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving and stay safe.

Homecoming Dance

Well I never thought this day would come. Not to mention I was not ready yet for it to come. My daughter and her first year of High School was invited to Homecoming. She was so excited. We went to store after store to find a dress, she did not like any of them.



We happened to be in Good Will one afternoon dropping off some clothes for donation and she asked if we could go in. She found the fancy dress section right away. She found 4 dresses she absolutely loved. We went through trying them on one by one. First one was too tight, second one too loose, third one she decided she did not like it on.

 Finally we get to the last one and she loved it. We get to the counter and find out that it was half off due to Halloween. Right on!!

Here she is ready to go. We spent about an hour on her hair. We also spent about an hour on her makeup. It was the first time I spent that much time putting her makeup on and explaining to her how to apply it and why we apply it lightly, not like a hussy. hehe.


She had a blast spending the time with me and learning the fun things about starting to grow up.

I tried to get a close up but she did not want to smile.

So I kept taking the picture until finally she smiled.

She tried to get me to stop but she finally gave in.

I dropped her off and wanted to get more photo's with her friends but she said I was embarrassing her so I only took one and said my goodbye's and when I would be there to pick her up.

Oh and on the way there she said she felt like she was going to throw up because she had never gone to a formal dance before and did not really want to go now. We talked for a few minutes and once we got there she was much better. Now it is all she can talk about.

I hate that she is growing up too fast for me. But I know she is going to, I just have to deal with it. Hope you all enjoy the photo's.