Stalking the Mailman pays off!!

My cousin Kristie lives in Montana and we are over due for a visit. She's the one responsible for my bag sewing addiction.. since the first bag I fell in love with was one made by her.

Well, she called me on Friday to let me know that she put a package in the mail for me! I couldn't wait to get home and check the mail today!!

I was totally surprised at what she sent! I absolutely love this bag. She did a good job picking colors for me too. I love the vintage look.

She also printed words on some of the squares that represent my family and good memories.. Isn't that clever?!!

And - she also made me this pin cushion with a scraps bag attached. I'm going to be putting this next to my sewing machine.. and moving my old one to the ironing board.

We must have been on the same wave length last week too.. cuz when I was doing the "Shop Hop" last week, I picked up a little sewing gadget for her with plans to mail it to her. Now I have to find something to add to the box.. hmmm...

Thank you Kristie! I love them both.

Friendship Bag Swap!!!

I made my Friendship Bag for the Swap! I don't know why.. but I wanted to use Christmas fabrics.

My new Friend is Barbara and this is her blog.

It has felt strange this past month reading her blog and getting to know her without her knowing it. Kinda like spying. I knew I liked her from first glance at her blog.. she seems very down to earth and sweet. She's definitely someone I could spend a Saturday afternoon with.

I included a charm pack of Moda Glace - the same fabs I used for the bag. And I also included a coffee cup from Phoenix. I didn't get a picture the mug.. not sure why. But it was pretty..

I got a little worried last night when I went to her blog and saw she received a package from Belgium. I thought there may have a been a "swap mixup"... but after reading her post, it was from a friend. Whew... that was a relief.

She should be getting it today... maybe tomorrow... I hope she likes it. (it's going to be an exciting couple days for her!)

Christine.. Where are you...

Well, I had 3 winners in my Giveaway last weekend. Two of them contacted me and I have their prizes in the mail!

But I can't find Christine! Christine - where are you? Have you been selected for the next episode of "The Amazing Race"? Or have you been kidnapped by Aborigines? Because I can't imagine anything else would keep you from sitting at your computer waiting to read my latest posts.. just moments after they are published.

If I don't hear from Christine by Midnight Thursday night - I will be drawing a new winner on Friday morning.

Last call for Christine!!

Back to "Normal".. whatever that is.

So from the time my husband leaves for work in the morning until the time I need to get ready for work.. I have approx 2 hours to myself. Yes.. totally alone!

Sometimes I sew.. sometimes I fondle the fabric (sounds dirty.. but it's not). Other times me and the dog just watch the news.

But now.. with the worst of the Arizona summer behind us, the nights are cooling off nicely. This means the mornings are quiet and coooool. So today I sat outside on the patio with my dog and my cup of coffee.. enjoying the nice cool breeze in my jammies.

Planning my flower pots in my head.. thinking about giving the patio furniture that makeover I've wanted to do for awhile.. and listening to the birds. (all without making eye contact with the giant hole in the backyard for the sprinkler repair I mentioned yesterday)

Then suddenly.. I hear little feet coming through the house and outside. My 5 yr old hops on my lap and snuggles up.

Me: "I love you so much"
5yr old: "I love you more than Daddy"
Me: "Yeah, but let's not tell Daddy, cuz then he'll do that tickle thing 'til you change your mind"

See - this totally makes up for the day I had yesterday! All is good again.

Overwhelmed and Under-appreciated

Ever have one of those days? or weekends?

That's me right now. I can't keep up with the housework lately.. I'm slowly chipping away at the laundry pile (where did all this come from in one week?!)... kids are hungry.. homework battles... husbands watching football.. (it's that time of year again!! arrrgghh).

Oh.. and the sprinkler repair guy showed up today to fix the leak in the backyard.. you know, the one that my husband tried to fix on his own.. but quickly realized it was too much for him. Well, one big hole in the backyard and $400 later.. it will all be fixed tomorrow (including the hole).

I don't want to be a grown up anymore! Remember back in High School? The biggest issue on a daily basis was catching the school bus on time, and talking to all your friends about who's got a crush on who.

Then.. out of the blue.. my little guy says "mom.. wanna cuddle with my coyote? He's warm and cuddly."

And I realize that I wouldn't trade the chaos for anything in the world! But ask me again tomorrow.. I may have changed my mind.

I should go sit in my quiet sewing room. I wonder how long it will take before someone comes looking for me?

To Do list item # 437... Check!

Well, I checked an item off the "To Do" list this morning. I was almost done with the binding on the Christmas quilt that I showed you here.

So I sat in the quiet of the morning.. (it was still a little dark out actually) and finished it. Then I washed and dried it this afternoon.

I love love love how the back turned out. I wasn't sure what I was going to do - I kinda decided as I went and I couldn't be happier.


Isn't it pretty?!

Friday Night Sew-in... and a quilt-a-long

Well, my Sewing Buddy (aka: crafty vegas mom) and me got into the groove and had a Friday Night Sew-in last night.

We had a great time.. as always. We had each other laughing so hard yesterday that when we tried to talk, only squeaks came out. Have you ever laughed that hard? Makes me smile again today just thinking about it. hehe

My Sewing Buddy and I have decided this week that we are going to start the 9 patch that we've seen so much about lately. These quilts are so pretty and what an awesome way to work through our scrap fabric boxes.

We both made squares this past week and last night. We will be keeping each other motivated and following our progress as go. Here is my mini stack so far... I have 5 done. Only 65 to go.

Initially, we tried to set a realistic goal for ourselves because we have soooo many projects on our lists. So we had said that we would have them complete by next Mother's Day.. so when we see each other around that time - we can have a show and share. HOWEVER... these squares are so addicting, we might be done much sooner.

And "THANK YOU" to this blog and this blog for the inspiration (and not just inspiration for the 9 patch either!).

Drum roll Please...

We have WINNERS!!!!

With the help of my gracious assistant...

The Winner of the Super Cute Apron is..... Christine

The Winner of the 'idea' journal and zipper pouch is.... Miller Racing Family

The Winner of the 2 beautiful Charm Packs is.... Karrie

Please email me your address information so I can get them in the mail to each of you!

handmadebyheidi @ cox.net

Congratulations!

Bags.. bugs.. and tiny houses

I've been trying hard not to post anything until my giveaway is over this Saturday. I wanted to keep the giveaway at the top so people would see it.

Well, I can't wait anymore.. I have too many things to talk about. It's been an eventful week at my house.

First - I got an awesome surprise in the mail from my sewing buddy. She made me this bag..

she also sent me this pin cushion...
Isn't it cute? I love it.

And she included a small moleskin journal to keep in my purse. Now I can stop carrying my big one with me. I get good ideas in the strangest places.. like sitting at the school waiting for one of the kids.. or at the dr's office.. or even in the middle of the grocery store. (Can you tell by the places I frequent that I have a very exciting life?!)


Next - One of the benefits of living in the desert is that we can have picnics in the park all winter long. We live just a block from a park and we walk there a lot when it's not 110 degrees outside.

So, I have planned to make a quilt for the park. Since we like to lay on the ground.. sometimes we bring our lunch or a good magazine. I found the pattern in the book Material Obsession. If you don't already have this book.. you should consider getting it. It's fantastic!

The pattern I selected takes 12 fat quarters and some other fabric. I want all my fat quarters to be various bug fabrics (get it.. for the park). I have 6 so far.. I will be searching for the other 6 on the shop hop that starts tomorrow. I will be visiting 10 valley quilt stores in 9 days.

And lastly - I received my fabrics in the mail today for Anna.

Anna is one of the members of the online quilter bees. Her instructions say she would like us to make a tiny house square(s). I'm excited... I've never done a block like this and look forward to learning something new. To see what they look like - you can either wait for me to make them and post em.. or you can look here and here.

I will be posting the winners of the Giveaway on Saturday afternoon.. so come back this weekend and see who the lucky ducks are!!

50 things.. and a Giveaway!

Well, I finally made it. Does this mean I'm a legitimate blogger now? I haven't given this up and moved on to something else yet. I made it to my 50th post.

In honor of my 50th post - here are 50 things about me.

1. I grew up in Fargo North Dakota. (And I’m proud of that.. no matter what my Minnesota born husband says)
2. My husband is from Minnesota (Detroit Lakes actually) and is always telling me “Just tell people you’re from Minnesota”
3. I have two kids – both boys.
4. I love being a Mom and my kids make me laugh a lot!
5. When I imagined myself having kids – I never thought I’d have boys.
6. I am the middle child. I have an older sister and a younger brother.
7. My sister is named Carmen – she lives in Fargo and she also has two kids. A boy and a girl.
8. My sister was born in Germany.
9. My brother is named Lawrence – but we still call him Punky even though he’s a grown man with a wife and kids.
10. My brother lives in Minnesota, well his wife and kids live there. He’s actually in Afghanistan. He’s not in the Military – he’s a contractor. We wish he’d come home.
11. My Mom was a stay at home mom and I’m happy about that.
12. My Mom is from Germany – she still has a little accent after all these years. And she’s never become an American Citizen either.
13. My Dad was in the Army when he met and married my Mom.
14. I love to cook – but I don’t like doing it everyday.
15. If I could have one of my motherly chores magically done – it would be laundry.
16. My house is rarely totally clean. Life is too short!
17. I have always liked creative things.
18. I think homemade gifts are the best kind.
19. When I had my 2nd child – a coworker made me some beautiful gifts for him. A quilt, an embroidered blanked and she crocheted a sweater and afghan for him. I don’t keep in contact with her anymore – but I will cherish those gifts forever.
20. I love to decorate my house at Christmas. I take down pictures and put up Christmas pictures and the whole process usually takes me at least a day – sometimes 2 depending on how active the kids are.
21. When Christmas is over, I want my decorations down almost before the gifts are open. I think I love putting it all away as much as putting it all out.
22. My sewing buddy is actually my cousin. We grew up together in Fargo.. actually went to the same High School and everything. Our Dads are brothers. We have a pretty big family.
23. We didn’t hang in the same circle in HS. I graduated the year before she did. She moved away to Las Vegas a couple years after graduation.
24. We didn’t talk for years… not for any reason.. just life I guess. Then I came to Vegas for Thanksgiving 10 years ago and it was like we had never lost touch. We talk or ‘communicate’ every single day.
25. Her parents are my God Parents. They are awesome and I love them dearly. They also live in Vegas.
26. She has an older sister like I do. She lives in Missoula MT. I want to go visit her someday. I wish I lived in MT.
27. I don’t like living in the Desert! We didn’t choose Phoenix – it was chosen for us.
28. My husband was in the Air Force – his last 4 years we were stationed here.
29. We never wanted to stay here – and still don’t want to. Someday we will move. Hopefully soon!
30. My husband was set to retire from the Air Force when 9/11 happened. The Government issued a “stop loss” and he missed the cutoff by 19 days. He had a job lined up and everything. So he ended up staying in 9 more months.
31. He spent 21 years in the Air Force and was only 38 when he retired. He still works though.
32. We both really want to move to Colorado. We’ve been trying to get a transfer there with his job. Someday it will happen.
33. I worked at Burger King in High School – that was the funnest job ever!
34. I am a very lucky person – I have won a lot of things in my life.
35. Someday I know I will win the lottery! Lol – confidence is a key ingredient to luck.
36. I drive a Honda Pilot. I’ve had a lot of cars – but so far this is my favorite. I have no desire to get a new car at all! And if you know me.. that says it all.
37. I have a thing for Honda’s – my husband drives one too. His is the Ridgeline. He’s never been happier either! We will have these cars for awhile.
38. I have naturally curly hair – it happened sometime in my late 20’s. Not sure when or how.. but I swear it was straight before that.
39. I met one of my best friends in Beauty School over 20 years ago.
40. Her name is Tavia, she lives in Fargo and I miss her dearly. She’s married with 3 girls.
41. I have a cosmetology license – I was going to change the world.. one hairdo at a time.
42. I realized fast that I didn’t like doing other peoples hair as much as I thought. I think it was the small talk with strangers that got to me.
43. I worked as a cosmetologist for 8 years part time. I had a full time job too.
44. I think I want to live in the country – but not the ‘real country’. I want the scenery but I want to be able to get to the city in 15 minutes max.
45. I hate musicals – except Grease, I liked that. Maybe it’s because John Travolta was in it.
46. My nephew is an actor – he’s on a real sitcom and everything. He’s had parts in a lot of movies too. We are proud of him.
47. I panic in emergency situations. And I’m not so sure if panic is the right word.. it’s more like freeze. I freeze in emergency situations.
48. I choked as a kid. I was probably 11 or 12. Chocked on Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes. Can’t eat them to this day. My Mom had to give me the heimlich.
49. I don’t have a favorite color.
50. I pray every day.

Ok.. so now on to the Giveaway. I actually have 3 prizes so there will be 3 winners.

First - this apron that I made.

Second - this journal and zipper pouch. I use a journal as my idea book. I write down my crafty ideas so I don't forget them.

Third - two charm packs.. I love charm packs.

So this is how you enter the giveaway.

1. Leave a comment

2. Blog about giveaway on your blog.

3. Follow me or add me to your blog list on your blog.

Leave a comment for each entry. I will draw winners next Saturday Sept 19th. So hurry and tell everyone you know!!! Good Luck!

Meagans Block

So my Friday Night Sewing buddy kicked me to the curb last night. She said she couldn't get her butt off the couch - we've all been there! (and I forgive her)

I worked on my block for the Quilting Bee. I had to make a block for Meagan with the fabrics she sent me. The grey is the common color that she said will tie all the blocks together - but it was the smallest piece of fabric that she sent. I hope she likes what I did. I went with a more traditional pattern.

I can't wait to see her finished quilt! Her colors have me totally intrigued. And of course, after I was about 1/2 way done.. I thought of a few different ways it could have been done.

Now I just need to get it in the mail to her!

Get your machine warmed up...

Dig that unfinished project out of the closet.. and let's get sewing.

So here I sit.. anxiously waiting and getting ready for another Friday Night Sew-In with my sewing buddy - Bobbi. We get home from work.. get the family fed... kids and husbands settled.. and then we 'meet' for our virtual sew-in.

We are doing it a little different this time. In the past, we have worked on the same project. But tonight we are just working on some projects in our queues. With the holidays coming - we have a long, growing list of things we need to complete.

As we sew - we will be sharing pictures along the way and encouraging each others creativity. We love our Friday Night Sew-In's and it's been too long. (We skipped August.. but we were busy getting kids ready for school.. totally excusable)

I will be working on my quilt block for Meagan. Can't wait to post a picture for you all. That should be coming tomorrow.

I'm also hoping to work this weekend on my Friendship Bag for the swap. So stay tuned for those pictures also.

Happy Friday!!!

A peek at my sewing space

This post is a window into my sewing space.. the room that I would spend an entire day in if my family would let me.

A. That is my passport to the upcoming Maricopa Country Shop Hop!! Can't wait!!!! Anyone wanna carpool?


B. That is my bolt of Pellon Fusible Fleece - I go through it fast when I'm making bags.. so I buy it by the bolt. Love that stuff!!



This is my stash of fat quarters and precut fabrics... Looking at it reminds me of all the projects I want to complete.

The drawers are full of yardage cuts.. packaged kits.. and the bottom drawer is batting.. and misc supplies.
A. This is a framed old quilt that I bought off ebay one day.. impulse buy.

B. Here is the pretty little blanket that I won from a blog giveaway.

C. This is the Rocking Chair that I rocked both my babies to sleep every night. I miss those days sometimes.... *sigh*
A. Here is my 'design wall'.. If you sew and you don't have one.. I highly recommend it. This is just a piece of wool that I hung up. It works great to move quilting squares around and step back to see how they look. On there right now is a quilt I need to finish!!

B. These are my library books on quilting.. need to read them.

A. This is my first 'real' quilt. I pieced the top - then I took it to a longarm quilter and had her do the binding too. Big time cheating I know.. I had wanted to give it as a special gift to someone.. but when I got it back - I decided I couldn't part with it.

B. SmartWater... doesn't seem to make me smarter. But it can't hurt to try.

C. My lamp in desperate need of a lampshade.

This is my "bobbi basket".. this is where I keep things that I want to show/share with my sewing buddy next time I see her (which is never often enough).

That's it for now - come back soon though. I am very close to my 50th post and I'm planning something BIG!!!

I Survived...

Well, I survived 2 things that I was a little scared of this weekend.

First was my 10yr olds Birthday sleepover with all boys! (I wasn't really scared but you just never know). They had planned to "pull an all nighter" (that was their words.. not mine).

Here he is with his cake.. he's so darn cute!!

First we took them all for pizza and bowling - we had a great time. The 4 boys had their own lane and my husband, me and our 5 yr old had the other lane. My 5 yr old actually beat me by 10 points in our 2nd game. And boy is he a gloater.. "VICTORY IS MINE" he kept saying over and over.

When we got home, we had cake and then they were off to play Wii and other computer stuff. They made it til 2am!! I only made it til 11pm. I woke back up at 1:00 and listened to them in the playroom giggle.. and jump around playing Wii. At 2:00 I had to go 'shut it down'.

Here is a picture of them together. I am so happy with this group of friends. They are all really good boys and they have awesome parents. I feel a sense of relief knowing that these are the boys my son plays with at school everyday.

And the 2nd thing I survived - my first 'hand' binding.

I quilted and did the binding on this halloween quilt Saturday. I had tried to do hand binding before and always got frustrated and gave up. I finally figured out why... I'm LEFT HANDED!! I kept trying to do it backwards. (same thing happened when I tried to learn to crochet)

Our resident black cat.. Molly. It wouldn't be a halloween quilt without a black cat.

So after dinner and a trip to the park, we put in a movie and while my family watched - I stitched. I now know why they sell those little rubber finger tips at the register at all quilt stores. lol.

Excuses.. excuses..

I haven't posted in a week and seriously - I have a good excuse. One of the benefits of living in a city that is a hot vacation destination is that you can stay at a 5 star resort without driving or flying for hours.

So that is exactly what we had planned to do and celebrate our oldest son turning the BIG 1 0. But his little brother stole his thunder. After having a fantastic Friday night at the pool dancing and swimming, we got up on Saturday and our 5 yr old was having a really bad asthma attack. He ended up riding in an ambulance and spending the next 4 days in the Hospital.

Trust me - following an ambulance with one of your kids inside is one of the WORST experiences a Mother can have.

Anyway - he is now home and doing much better. Can't go back to school until next week - so that gives him and I days home alone to relax. Which means that I've had some time to sew.

Here is a quilt top that I finished tonight - it's a halloween quilt that I found in a quilting magazine recently. I fell in love the minute I saw it and had to have the fabrics so I could make this.

Isn't it adorable?! I need to also add some tabs to the top so I can hang it in my foyer once we bring out all the Halloween decorations in October.

So this weekend - I'm going to be quilting this and the Christmas Table Topper that I posted previously.

I will also have a house full of boys Friday night for a bowling/pizza slumber party. So say a little prayer for me and my husband.. I'm sure those boys will be up late.. playing Wii and giggling. Trust me - gigglings not just for girls.