Adam's Request

I got a text from my 10 month old grand son asking for something special for his 1 year old birthday photo shoot.  Well, actually, the text was from his mom, my daughter Amy, but I think my girls have figured out that if the text sent to me starts out "Gigi, will you..." I will do it if at all possible.  Here is the picture I got. She had seen it from the photographers website. So, I got on Etsy and sent her a link to one and she said, "yeah, I saw that, but they can't have it done by the time it was needed for Adam's pictures.  Well, then, I guess it's Gigi to the rescue.  I had a class yesterday at a quilt shop and just happened to find the perfect red and white polka dot fabric needed for this project and found the pattern on Etsy which I could download the .pdf.  So it took about an hour to complete, and then I had to hunt up a suitable model.  So, I got another project out of the way.  

Bella B-Day Present

My granddaughter's 2nd birthday was coming up and I didn't know what I was gonna get her until I ran across this playhouse idea on Pinterest from Parties and Patterns.

Then I thought, do I dare start something like this. Well, yeah!!!!!  Might as well go for it. I worked on it off and on, gathering fabrics and supplies a little at a time. I tried using a lot of what I already had on hand, but really didn't have a lot. Anyway, I got it finished.  Here are my final pictures before delivery.  As soon as her mom can get her still enough to take pictures of her with it , I'll post them.

This was one of the bigger projects I have tackled lately, but really loved doing it.  There was a variety of techniques I had to use on it, so it wasn't boring.  That's all this time, but I have started a new project and will post soon.

My how time is flying by....

Christmas is a little over a week away.  I can't believe it already.  I have been so busy around here trying to finalize gifts, getting shopping lists together for Christmas Eve dinner and Christmas morning breakfast.  I am so excited this year.  My kids have decided they wanted to bring back the Christmas tradition and all of us being together on Christmas Eve and waking up to Santa on Christmas morning with a big family Christmas like we used to do years ago before things changed.

Thank goodness I have been able to take a little time between jobs to enjoy this holiday season.  I hope to start my new job after the 1st of the year.  I really don't know how I would have been able to complete all of these projects I start.  I used to be able to move a little faster and get more done, but now I find myself stressing because I can't move and get as much done as I used to.  Hummmm, is this a sign of aging??  Yes, I think so.  But I push and push and always get it done.

I'll have some pictures of the projects I have been working on after Christmas.  Can't spoil the surprises.

But, I do have a picture of the newest stocking to join the fleet.  This is my granddaughter Bella's first Christmas, so I (Gigi) had to get busy and get her special stocking made.  It was so fun doing a girly stocking this time.  It has PINK on it.  !!!  Here is a picture of the completed stocking.







Now, what's been going on around the farm since my last post:

Miss Palyn celebrated her 4th birthday.  She got to blow out a candle (really I think she sniffed it and singed the end of her nose).  Sorry Palyn.  We sung Happy Birthday and she got a new squeaky toy.  And, no she didn't get to eat the chocolate cupcake.  That was just for the picture.

I realized I had never posted pictures of the finished bedrooms after the remodel earlier this year.  Remember, this is an old farmhouse that we gutted mostly the interior and added insulation and new electrical and carpet.

The first 3 pictures are of Bill's "game" room/office.  One goal of mine, was to get all of his mounts into one room.  It took the biggest part of one day, but I did it.  I really like the way they look too, especially now that they are all in one room. :)  The next two pictures are of the two other bedrooms.  Bring on the company.

I'll end this post for now, but I do have a few more things that I will post about later.  Have a good day!!!!

Update

You ask?  Where my blog are updates?  Yeah, I’m still trying to find them too.  I know I put them somewhere.  I can’t find them, so guess I better rewrite, right?  NOT!!  I have just not been able to get my stuff together around here since starting work.  There is just so much always going on here at the farm that I have to prioritize and my blog has definitely been put on the bottom of the list.

Me

As I’m sitting (at least I’m not laying now) here trying to get my strength built back up from my long week of this illness I have had, I thought I would reflect over the last couple of months.  I took off work last Wednesday with sore throat and fever, plus I couldn't talk, therefore, you can't answer phone if you can't talk.  I went to Dr. De Leon on Thursday because I wasn't feeling any better, but worse, and he said that it was upper respiratory and sinus infection and gave me drugs and told me to rest.  Well I didn't feel like doing much else, anyway.  It just seemed to gradually get worse.  I tried to start moving more on Saturday morning, but my body said no, not yet.  As I tried to get up and do somethings around here, I got dizzy, light headed and nauseous.  I called my sister, 'the nurse', and she could tell that I was hyperventilating.  I think I was scared being here alone and feeling this way.  So, I did what I was told and got the paperbag out and breathed in it and slowed my breathing down.  I finally gave in and called Bill to come home.  I thought I might need to go to emergency room.  We called and Dr. Holloway was still in the office so he rushed me up there. They took blood and flu test.  Good news, I don't have the flu, but was very dehydrated.  He threatened me with drinking LOTs clear liquids vs hospital stay and IVs.  He gave me a shot of phenergan and told me to go home and do nothing but drink clear water.  I was ready to just tell Bill to just shoot me.  But I didnt' say it too loud, he might of if there had been a gun close.

 

Bill had his 50 year class reunion going on Saturday and I hated calling him home in the middle of it, but you do what you have to do.  Once he got me back home and settled back in my bed, he went back up to reunion.  I think he still had a good time.  I hate I had to call him away though.  How many times do you actually make it to your 50 year High School Reunion.?
 

My plan today is to gradually get myself moving again and getting my strength back.  I’ve GOT to get back to work tomorrow.  I’m sure I have been greatly missed.  Well, probably not, but just hoping.  I know it causes my boss to have to juggle others schedules and I hate having to cause more problems for her.  She has enough on her plate.

 

Here We Go!

Now, onto reflecting back over the last few months.  I say a lot has happened around here, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I took a lot of pictures.  I’ll see what I can scare up since July.   

New Water Well

On July 22^nd, Bill had a new water well put in on the back part for the cows.  With the lack of rain we get around here in the summer months, the creek doesn’t run, therefore the cows have to make their way all the way back up to the front for water.  So now they have a fresh new tank to drink from.  I was amazed at how clear the water was.  I think the cows are probably drinking better than I am now.  Here are a few pics of the process.

Here is the drill rig and when they actually hit the water.  Bill took these pictures because I was at work.  He got some pretty good ones I think.

He took me down to see the whole set up after they put in the tank and solar panel.  Pretty impressive I might say. 

 

 

We are high class here now.  I asked Bill what happens to the solar panels when a hail storm is coming , he showed 'me' how to get a BIG wrench and unloosen the screws and tilt the panel straight up and down.  Yeah, right, let me get right on that.  Let's hope he is here when it hails.

 

Painting the Living Room

Rene so graciously offered to come help and paint the living room.  We had grown so tired of the green and yellow that we had put up back in 2003 when we did the first remodel here at the farm.  She came down on August 8-9 and Bill and her got with it and got the new color up while I was at work.  I only hope she knows just how much I appreciate her help.  I'm loving the colors we chose. 

 

 

Bella Visits

Actually, the whole Duncan clan came down the next weekend to visit, but the only pictures I took were of Bella.  Mandy was showing me how she was turning herself over now.  She is just growing too fast.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

School Starts

I love iPhones.  The kids send me cute pictures off and on of the grandkids.  It makes it so nice since I live so far away and don't get to see them near enough.  
Jordan and Luke both started on August 27th and Patrick and Will started on August 28th.  So here they are.

Jordan is going into the 4th Grade (just happens to be the grade that Amy is teaching for her first year of teaching, and Lucas in starting Pre-K.  Wow, how time flies.

Patrick is starting his first year in High School (9th Grade) and Will is going into the 2nd Grade.

 

One Last Topic

I haven't been doing alot of sewing, but have been getting a few things done here and there, a little at time. 

First off, I had volunteered to make a quilt for the new Sunset Retreat place that is opening in Sunset.  I got a free weekend for it.  It was one of the tougher quilts I have made.  I'm really not for sure why, but it just seemed to take me alot longer and caused me a lot more frustration.  But I finally finshed it.

Something else I did, was took a class on making Snap Happy Bags at the Denton Sewing Center. I learn so much when I take these classes. I just wish more of them were on the weekend. I would probably take a class every weekend if I could. I learn how to use my machine and all kinds of helpful ways to do things. As you will notice, it is made out of some of the scraps I had left over from the quilt.

 

  

Then, while watching TV at night I finished up this wall hanging I purchased the kit for at the Alford Inn Quilt Shop in Van Alstyne when I went on the bus trip with the quilt guild a few months ago.  It was made by making yo-yos and inserting a bottle cap in the center before closing up.  Then I glued the caps to the black felt provided.  Bill cut me a board to attach it all to.  I used some of the Quilt Across Texas fabric I had left over from Jordan's quilt to make the hanger.

 And the last thing I have got to complete is my Block of the Month from the July quilt guild series.  I owed this to Phillis since then.  So I finally finished and get to give it to her at the October meeting.  Better late than never I guess.  Hope she likes it!!!

 

So, this is as much getting caught up as I'm going to do today.  Time to sit back and watch the Cowboys do their 'thang'.  Whatever it is that their "thang" is nowadays.  Take care, and I'll catch you next time.

 

Couple of things to Catch Up

Here are a couple of sewing projects I've been working on the past couple of weeks.  Not near enough though.  I need to get my sewing groove back on. 

These are the things I whipped up for Amy for her graduation.  She is doing her classroom (hopefully she gets her own "job" soon) in robots.  So I made her up this cute little Robot Pillow that she could use as her room Mascot.  I got the pattern from Fat Quarterly.com. It is called the Geared Up Robot.  I saw it and knew I had to do it for her.  I also added a little embroidery to personalize a little for her.

She also requested a camera strap for her new Canon Rebel Aaron bought her for graduation.  So of course, I made her one.  She also requested a "Wal-Mart" bag holder for her pantry, but didn't get to that yet.

And here is my Block of the Month for our May Quilt Guild meeting.  I got it finished today.  Needed to get it out of the way because I'm going to be at hospital soon, within hours to meet my new granddaughter!!!  Soooo excited.  There is one little piece that is off, but I'm fairly pleased with it.  I would love to win this months blocks.  I love these colors.

Then just a couple more pictures I took the other day of my sewing area after I cleaned it up and got it a little more organized.  This isn't all of it but the main area where I sew.

Here is where I keep most of my fabrics.  This is the armoire in my bedroom.  I cleaned out all of my stamps that I used to keep in here and now it houses my fabric bolts.  I wrap my fabric around comic book boards that are acid free.  I order these online.  I love having it where I can see exactly what I have.  I do have "alot" more, some of it under the table in the above picture and some other here and there, but this is the majority and it is mostly fat quarters.  I don't have alot of large yardage pieces.  I usually just by that when I need it.  I think I want to start concentrating on getting more solid colors.  I never have the right one when I need it.

Okay that's all for now, gotta get my hospital bag packed, oh, wait I mean my purse, iPad (charged up), camera (charged up), phone (charged up), plus plug in charger....   Ummm, what am I forgetting?????   Car is gassed up.

Gifts of Love for Bella

As most of you know, I have my first Granddaughter on the way.  She's due in about 6 weeks or so.  I'm getting so excited.  And you also know, that I have been very busy getting several things made so I would have them ready for Mandy's Baby Shower last Saturday.  Well, I was so glad to get them finished, that I wrapped and packaged them before I took pictures.  Argh!!  Anyway, I had Mandy send them back down here with Ryan this week, just so I could take pictures.  I really had fun doing all of the different outfits and projects.  I'm sure more are coming.

I'll start with the dresses first.  I got all of these patterns from websites I found via Pinterest.  This first dress called the "itty bitty dress" was really fun to make.  I got the free pattern from the made by RAE blog.  I had a little problem with the piping (first time I've worked with it, and had to make it from scratch on top of that), but it worked out okay.  I thought it needed a bonnet to go with it so back to Pinterest and I found this free pattern.

These next two little dress caught my eye the first time I saw them.  I thought what a great idea.  Very easy to make, plus they are reversible, so 4 for 2.  And the backs are open so you can see ruffles from her diaper covers (oh yeah, I need to get busy on those).  This pattern was $8, but it comes in sizes 0 to 24 months.  So I should well get my moneys worth out of it.  I ordered it from You Can Make This.com

So that's it for the dresses for now, I'm sure more to come.  Next, here is a picture of the quilt I made that Mandy requested.  She wanted it twin size so she could use it as Bella moves into a twin size bed.  I took some pictures, but Mandy took one with it in the nursery and I thought it looked much better than mine.  It also shows the painted walls that Mandy did.  She made the pattern from the backing fabric I used on the quilt.

I was prepared to make some lavis quilting blocks, but she just wanted plain and simple patchwork.  I never knew that laying out 22 different pieces of fabric would be so hard.  Once I had the 5" squares all cut and determined how many I would need horizontal then vertical, I spent I don't know how long moving them around until I figured out the pattern I wanted to go with.  I barely had enough of each pattern to do what I planned.

Also, she wanted me to make a wall hanging that looked something like a quilt she had seen at Pottery Barn kids, but matching the quilt.  So this is what I came up with.  I think it still might need Bella's name on it somewhere, but will leave that up to Mandy since she is much better at embroidery than I am.  This picture makes it look bigger than it was, but I think it was about 18" x 24", or something close to that.

So after doing all of this, I wanted to do something for Luke.  One day I got my daily email from The Missouri Star Quilt Company with the Deal of the Day.  It was perfect for Luke.  It was a layer cake, called "Welcome to Bear Country" for Moda fabrics, featuring the Berenstain 

Bears. Luke loves those books, so you guessed it, I placed an order. I had seen a video tutorial from Jenny Doan called, Double Sliced Layer Cake Quilt.  I had just seen it a couple of weeks back and thought it would be perfect for this quilt and looked like it should go pretty fast.  Well, it did and it was so much fun to make. 

Needless to say, Mandy and Luke were very surprised to see a blue package at the bottom of the gift bag.  Oh yes, one more thing.  The Gift Bag.  I saw this bag somewhere on the internet and thought, well that would make such a good tote bag for Mandy to have to tote all of the baby stuff and Luke's

things when they come to visit.  I found the blog, Gudrun's World G.E. Designs and the book, "Fast & Furious Family".  So I went to Amazon and ordered the book.  It came very fast.  It has several other good projects that I plan on making in it.  The bag was a little tedious, but fun to make.  It came out alot bigger than I expected it would.  Also, this was a first time using laminated fabric.  The only problem with it was I was unable to use my normal sewing foot.  I had to use my walking foot in order for it to go through my sewing machine.  After I figured that out, it was easy peasy.  I used fabric from Riley Blake called Woodland Tails.  It was such a fun fabric and works with both girls and boys. I packed all of these things in the bag and topped it off with lots of various shades of pink tissue paper for the shower.

Okay, that all for Miss Bella and Luke, for now anyway.  Next big project, Jordan's quilt.  I'm excited to get started on it.  I think he is really going to like it.

Happy April Fools Day,

Gaila

Garbage Bags for Vehicles

Thought I'd show you a couple of the garbage bags I've made for our vehicles.  They sure have come in handy.  I got the pattern from a site I found on Pinterest, Car Trash Bag.  Of course, you need to make sure you actually have a place to hang in your vehicle.  Mine hangs over my gear shift, and down the side of my console on the passenger side.  With Bill's we had to get a little more creative in his truck.  I opened the glove box and I was able to hang it on one of the latches to where it doesn't get in the way of closing.  Worked great!

Now don't look to close at Bill's.  His is the one on the right if you haven't figured that out yet.  If you will notice the fabric is upside down.  I made his first and didn't pay attention.  I just told him they would be right side up when he emptied it, so maybe it would motivate him to actually empty it.  I really like mine.  Love the fabric colors.

Embroidered Table Runner

As you've noticed, there hasn't been alot of sewing going on around here.  School work and remodeling has definitely push my creative flow to the back burner.  I did however get to take a couple of embrodiery classes at Denton Sewing Center a couple weeks ago.  I loved the look of this table runner and thought maybe I could learn more about my Embroidery machine.  I'm pretty much self-taught, except for what Mandy has showed me how to do.  I just love some of the things I'm able to do with it. 

The pattern was in Eileen Roche's book, "Machine Embroidered Quilting and Applique".  It has several unique projects that Here is a picture of the tablerunner from the book.

So here is my finished table runner. 

I chose Moda fabrics that I got from A & K Quilting in Bridgeport.  I just love going out there and visiting with Barbara and Carolyn K.  I have to make myself leave.  The atmosphere out there is so homey and welcoming.  I could sit and talk for hours.  Oh wait, I usually do when I go out there.

Anyway, here is a close-up of some of the embroidery work.  I know, my choice of colors was quite, well, what do I say, odd, but I was going for a double-holiday tablerunner.  The red hearts for Valentines and the green hearts (well to me they look like a 4-leaf clover), so for St. Patrick's Day.  But then trying to find a fabric that went with both.  I found this gorgeous poppy fabric and loved it and it had both of the colors of the hearts and shamrock, so with a little looking, more like a couple of hours trying to decide, this is what I came up with.  It does look somewhat better in person.

Madyson's Birthday Gift

I knew I needed to get/make Madyson something for her birthday coming up.  Just did not know what it was going to be.  So I started looking on my Pinterest account to get an idea.  Then I thought, let me go over to Brandi's Pinterest and just see what she has saved in her folders.  Well, there it was in her folder labeled "Wish I could Sew".  There was a bag that I had pinned also that is for girls to carry their pillow, blanket, stuffed animal, etc. for a sleepover in.  It was so cute with an owl on the front.  So. . .

I looked through my stash of fabric to see what I had.  Of course, never the right fabric, so off the WalMart this time, (it was close).  It didn't take me long until I found the right fabric for this project.  Back home I came and started sewing.  It took me a couple of days to complete, but I loved the way it came out.

It's hard to tell exactly what it is by this picture.  But just let me say, it's really cute.  Here is a link to where you can get the pattern and see a better picture of this overnight bag. 

 

Happy Birthday Madyson!!!

Pillowcases

I found this video on by Jenny Doan on YouTube on how to make these Easy Tube Pillowcases. I am having so much making these pillowcases. I decided to make the grandsons, Jordan and Lucas one to match their bedrooms. I just finished them and they haven't seen them yet. Love the way they turned out.