Happy Winter

Happy Winter to all! I think it's here!

~Life Notes~

It's cold and wet here in the South. Winter has arrived. Today I needed an umbrella and coat. Tomorrow I can leave the umbrella at home and wear a short sleeve sweater and light jacket. The next day I'll probably need the umbrella again and then the next day...who knows...a snowsuit! I do like winter though....especially in the South! Warm thoughts and hot cocoa go out to all who live in a colder climate. Hoping that your furnace doesn't stop working.

Daughter is home now from college. We like having her home...we just need to re-adjust. Hubby was waiting patiently for her to finish her Wii game so that he could watch Sunday Night Football. Everyone wants to use the bigger HD TV at the same time. I'm going to leave it to them and go upstairs to finish my Christmas gift wrapping while sipping on some hot cocoa.

~Quilting Notes~

Hubby could not think of anything to get me for Christmas even though Josephine was suppose to be my Christmas gift. (New Baby-Lock sewing machine I bought in October). He wanted me to have something to open on Christmas morning. So I sent him to my LQS and told him to find Karen, the store owner. An hour later he came home with four gifts. Karen even wrapped them up for him in pretty Christmas paper she had at the store. I've shaken the boxes and lifted the gifts bags to test the weight. Can't wait to open them. Karen has such good taste. I wonder if Hubby would mind receiving a gift certificate from there for his birthday....hum?

I've joined yet another quilt club at my LQS. It's the Silver Thimble Quilt Club. It's hosted by a quilting professional/pattern designer (Pat Wys). Pat calls it the 21st century quilting bee. It's a fellowship of new and experienced quilters all doing something they enjoy. Sounds like fun. I've always liked to sew/quilt with a group.

~Crafting Notes~

I've been making my own Christmas gift labels. These were cut on my Cricut machine. I just received a new Christmas cartridge and could not wait to try it out.

I'll make pretty name labels on the computer and stick them to the back. I would love to use my Cricut die cutting machine more often, but my quilting takes up most of my spare time. The Cricut can cut fabric too. I was hoping on day to try it and cut out appliques. It would be wonderful if I could blend all my equipment to use for my two favorite hobbies...quilting and scrapbooking.

~Nursing Notes~

This segment of notes was inspired by a fellow quilter/blogger/nurse julieQ who does this on her site, which I thought was such a great idea.

A female patient on our floor (I will call her Mary) has just reached her 60th day stay with us. My unit is a short term acute care surgical stepdown unit, so when a patient has stayed as long as she has she becomes part of our family. Mary's body is trying so hard to heal itself but with every step forward towards healing there always seems to be two steps back that eventually occurs. Mary has been with us through Halloween and Thanksgiving and will probably be there with me through the Christmas Holiday. Mary doesn't and really can't come out of her room much because of all the lines and tubes and drips. Mary never has many visitors. Husband is elderly and in bad health and children live out of town. Mary is always on the lookout for someone to talk to and socialize with. Many times I've sat with Mary and chatted with her while completing my nursing charting tasks. Mary is always interested in what is happening in other people's lives and hardly turns the conversation to herself or her illness. The other day one of the nurse's bought Mary an electical candle fountain. It's the cutest thing, about 8 inches long and 6 inches high. It looks like a real candle with flowing wax. This one little gift has been like a fish hook in the water. Hospital personnel, patients and their families walking past Mary's door notice the lighted candle fountain and go in and admire it and ask about it. Mary has made so many friends that now stop by to chat with her. The little gift that was given to Mary has been like a friendship beacon that welcomes everyone to her room. Now Mary seems to know something about everyone now....staff and patients!

Hope everyone has a great week.

Merry Christmas!

Happy Quilting!

Happy Living!

I won!

I won! Givaways are so much fun! Especially if you win! Below are the goodies I received today in the mail from Sandy at http://sandyssewclever.blogspot.com/

Thank you Sandy so much for hosting. It's always fun to get something other then bills and junk mail. I love the books. They are filled with loads of inspiration and the fat quarters are the perfect color.

Hope that everyone has had a great day. Happy Quilting! Happy Living!

Recent Happenings

Remember the challenge fabric from my quilt guild. (The fabric that I tried to love but never could develop a bond with). Here are some of the quilts that were produced. We have such talented quilters in our guild. I was totally taken back.

I believe there were 12 or 13 entries and all were great and well thought out. Just about everyone thought the fabric was definitly a challenge to work with, but the quilts were beautiful. One of the entries was even an apron! Why didn't I think of that?

I would have never thought of fish! I need to hang around these members more. They inspire me so! Great job to all!

I really enjoyed my time when my mother and I were together, both here in Georgia and in Louisiana. We had a great time .

Here are three generations posing with World of Coke 4-D glasses on. We laughed so much taking these pictures we cryed. What a great time we had.

My mother and I sewing together for the first time ever.....as adults. In my younger days she taught me a lot about sewing and crafting, but we never really sewed together as adults. We created great memories while we were together.

Mom really liked her new sewing machine. I was so glad she bought it. She plans on doing much more sewing when she retires at the first of the year. She even bought a layer cake bundle to make a quilt once she retires.

First time ever in her 72 years using a rotary cutter. She did a great job. Way to go mom! Nothing ever holds her back. She always wants to keep learning. I hope that nothing ever holds me back when I'm 72.

Mom and her new sewing machine. She really needed a new one. This one threads the needle itself which was the selling point for her. We were both so proud walking out the store with a new machine. Christmas came early for both of us this year!

My husbands elbow surgery went well. They had him back there for 2 hours! Hopefully this will bring back some feelings for two of his fingers that have been numb since his Tommy-John surgery in January. We will see. The MD said that full feelings may not return for 2 or 3 years...those nerve endings do grow mighty slow. It will be what it is though.

I hope to get some quilting done tomorrow. It's suppose to rain. I always love to quilt in my studio while it's raining. I love to hear the rain hitting all the windows. But....A new Hobby Lobby recently opened so I might swing by there and check out the new store. Hopefully I can visit the store and quilt...if I don't get side-tracked.

Happy Quilting. Happy Living!

Back Home Again!

Then back to Louisiana. And then Back home to Georgia again! My what a traveling woman I have been this past month! My mother is back to her normal self again. Thank you so much for all of your well wishes. I was able to talk my mother into coming back to Georgia with me for the two weeks before going back to La. for my 30 year class reunion. So... one and a half weeks after surgery she traveled to Georgia with me where we had a wonderful time. She even bought a new sewing machine while visiting with me. She attended my quilt guild meeting and monthly strip club meeting. She mentioned how much she disliked her sewing machine so we sat down at one of the Baby Lock's and she fell in love! We left the store with a new sewing machine in tow....also an apron pattern and fabic to make four. She played around with her new machine and finished the four aprons in two days! We had so much fun sewing together. I will download pics shortly. At the moment I sitting in an outpatient surgery unit waiting for my husband. He is having elbow surgery this very minute (second time around).

I really enjoyed being with my mother these last few weeks. I feel we became great friends again. We have always gotten along as mother and daughter and now we have gotten along as friends. Thank you God for giving me my mother. Thank you Mom for being the mother you are. I love you dearly!

Home to Louisiana

Currently I'm back home in Louisiana. My mother had a scheduled surgery late last week with complications developing after surgery and major pain issues. I threw personal items together Saturday morning (along with quilting items), called work to scratch me off the schedule for the week, kissed my hubby, petted Harley (he is 3 years old for those who asked on previous post) gased up the car and off I went. Saturday was an absolutely beautiful day for a drive. I arrived safely in Baton Rouge 7.5 hours later. Being a nurse and having to stay at the hospital as a family member gives me an all new perspective of patient and family life at the hospital. (Those beds...both for family and patients are so uncomfortable). My mother received excellent care though. The nursing and medical staff were great.

My mother is now home and comfortable and for the most part her pain is well controlled. I'm trying to keep her from doing too much. She is 73 but acts like she is 43....always on the move which I'm sure keeps her young feeling. (Right, Mom?)

It's always good to come home. I've not been back home to Louisiana since Christmas. Work and life should not be that busy. I always have such a laid-back feeling when I'm back in La. Maybe I'll get some quilting done, maybe I won't. Have a great Tuesday. Thanks for visiting.

Happy Quilting! Happy Living!

My Dog loves quilts...for a snack

I was working diligently on my current project and failed to notice that my dog Harley was not at my feet as he usually is. This could only mean trouble. Then I remembered I had my quilt top blocks assembled on my living room floor (my current design wall). Then I heard it...that awful ripping and smacking sound of fabric being torn and eaten. I jumped up with fear in my heart and visions of torn and shredded quilts blocks that I had spend so much time and work on scattered all over the living room floor.

And there he layed...with a quilt block between his paws and jaws...pulling and pulling and smacking and smacking as diligently as I had been working. I believe his hopes were to hurry up and finish it off before I found out.

I stood there with hands on hips, dropped jaw and tapping toe...he understood completely as he let the remainder of the quilt block fall from his mouth, rolled onto his back awaiting a stomach rub. I scolded him briefly and remembered I was the one who put the blocks on His living room floor in the first place.

Luckly, the damage was not too bad....just one block with one green piece almost gone as you can see from the complete block. Wasn't too bad to fix....I just didn't have anymore long pieces of the green left and had to use a different fabric. This will be my humility block for this quilt.

Harley knew he had displeased me, then I felt bad. He is such a good natured, blue-eyed animal and likes to please. He gets his feelings hurt easily. Here is a picture of Harley with his hurt feelings.

I let about 15 minutes pass. He recovered quickly when I said "Tootsie Roll?" ....his most favorite treat.

Harley is now happy again, the damaged block fixed and sewn together with all the other blocks that were quickly removed from the floor.

I hope to have the quilt top finished tomorrow. I decided to not lay it aside once the blocks were finished to start Bethany's quilt as I posted previously. It has so many subcuts and steps I was afraid I would have forgotten where I left off.

Happy Quilting! Happy Living!

Current project

This is the quilt that I am working on...at the moment. These are the first blocks I've pieced with Josephine, my new sewing machine. We are working quite well together and she is showing me a lot. Not a single argument yet. This is a strip club pattern called Southern Comfort that is set on-point that I thought was very complicated but is sewing up very easily. My Strip Club gets it's patterns from http://www.cozyquilt.com/ They have some very interesting designs and run about $8 or $9 each. This quilt will be approx. 73 x 73 consisting of 21 blocks. I'm going to piece the blocks then put it aside because my daughter's dorm-mate (a friend from high school) has been begging for a quilt since Brittani took the "Midnight Cactus Flower" quilt back to school with her. Bethany likes browns and oranges. Below are the fabrics I've choosen:


The cream on the end will be the border and setting fabric. This pattern is Blue Lagoon from the book Jelly Roll Quilts and looks fairly simple and quick to do. Simple and quick is a good thing .
I guess I will name Bethany's quilt....just Bethany...simple like I hope the quilt will be.

Hope everyone has a great day. I can really get into this not working thing. I've enjoyed being off this week. I have felt rested and my body has not ached quite as much. At least I only work 3 days a week - 12 hour days. I get 5 weeks off a year and this is the first full week I have taken. Work should not be so busy that I have to wait this long to be off. At least I don't lose my weeks at the end of the year.

Happy Quilting! Happy Living!

My new Baby Lock is here!

They called me yesterday morning and informed me of it's arrival. I kinda had a feeling it would come...you know how you get those feelings? I even had my bug-man come out early just in case. The bug-man had just left when I got my call from the LQS.

I ran some errands (so I would not have to be disturbed later)...which took about 2 hours then picked up the machine. It weighed 45 pounds! Heavy little thing.

Most of the accessories were on top. I love opening up little packages and there were quite a few filled with all kinda fun stuff I don't know what to do with....but I will learn!

And here is my new baby, all wrapped up and snug just waiting to be played with.

Finally...out of the box after it's long journey from where? Possibly over-seas or cross-country? Wherever it's from, it's glad to have a home.

Here are it's traveling companions. A soft cover case and it's extension table which is waiting patiently, as it poses for this picture, to be attached to it's long separated companion.

Together at last! Safe and sound in a loving home ready to help it's new owner create all kinds of beautiful things. (Distorted somewhat by the camera angle. Table does not come out at you so much).

It offers a telescoping spool pin holder that holds two spools of thread I had forgotten about. Plus it has two other spool pins on the machine itself. Lots of thread holders! It also has an LED dome light to light up the work area..nice feature. Maybe I will not need my lamp anymore.

Things I have learned thus far:

I can fill a bobbin while still sewing without having to unthread the machine....not like my other machine. And get this...it's a purely lazy thing but I love it....it will sew a reverse stitch at the end of stitching and cut the thread at the same time with a push of a button. No more looking for my little scissors or using the thread cutter. Lets see....this is cool...it has multi-directional sewing....like sewing a square patch on a sleeve. Put the sleeve on the free-arm, tap down...it sews and moves the fabric down, tap left...it sews and moves the fabric left, tap up...it sews and moves the fabric up and so on....thought that was pretty neat, especially when Brian just ordered some sleeve patches for his Harley-Davidson jacket...just what I need to test it on. What else have I discovered ....it has a 1/4 inch quilting foot with all these wonderful guide lines on the foot itself...I sewed about 12 inches down my test fabric and it was the most perfect 1/4 inch seam all the way down that I've ever sewn! I've not even begun to get into the decorative stitches and creating and storing stitching patterns. It has lots of other goodies I can't wait to get into deeper.

Okay time to go play some more. Have a great day.

Happy Quilting! Happy Living!

Cleaning and more cleaning

In getting ready for my new baby (lock) I am cleaning, cleaning, cleaning because when my new machine arrives I know all I'm going to want to do is play, play and play. So far I've gotten half-way through my computer room and I have 6 garbage bags worth of shredded paper. The rest of the room is just straightening up books and such. My computer lives on a large old wood teacher's desk with huge drawers that have been stuffed throughout the years. Do you know I had tax returns from 1985...why? I think the rule is to keep tax papers for 5 years. I had a user's manual for a Curtis Mathis VHS recorder....that thing as been gone for years...why do I still have the manual? I did find some cute pictures of my child and some papers she wrote when very young...that was fun to find. Okay, enough of a break. I'm going to finish the computer room tonight, then start on the kitchen tomorrow which should not take too long if I can keep myself focused on the job at hand and not play with any gadgets. Then tomorrow afternoon I plan to start in my bedroom and closet.

Happy Quilting. Happy Living. Happy Cleaning.

Popped Balloon and No Santa?

When I received my phone call this morning from LQS I was all ready to hop into my car, committ no traffic violations and go pick up my new sewing machine. The news was that my machine is on backorder til October 24! Boy...Highs and lows always abound! For a brief moment it was like seeing my very favorite balloon pop and first realizing that Santa is not who you thought he was. Oh well...God knows best. At least I DO have a sewing machine to continue to sew on and..well..maybe this will give me time to straighten up my sewing room and house before the new arrival gets here. I'm taking a home vacation next week (10 days total) and my original plan was to tackle each room in the house with boxes and garbage bags. It would have been hard to carry out my original plan if I had a new toy waiting to be played with.

Happy Quilting, Happy Living!

New Sewing Machine!!!!

I've been thinking of upgrading for some time now from my little frills (just a little better than no-frills), very inexpensive minimal quilting functions/sewing machine (that still works really, really well). So...today..during our massive rain storms...I went out and did it.


Since my LQS is a Baby Lock dealer I've been looking at the Baby Lock brand. You would all just die if I said I bought the $9,636 Ellissimo. Well...you're lucky... you all can just keep on living. I bought the Espire. I looked at both the Quest Plus and the Espire and knew when I sat down at the Espire and started playing that was the machine I wanted. (Of course it was way more expensive then the Quest). I played and played and when it was time to go...I wavered...said "Thank You, I'll have to think about it". I got into my car, drove about 3/4 miles down the road thinking how much I really wanted the machine and reminding myself that I've been saving for a new one. I turned around in the middle of the road...while being honked at by 2 cars (possibly by the traffice violation I committed) that I did not see because of the rain or because my mind was on buying that machine and went back to the store, walked in and said "I am not going to waver like Brett Farve. Lets do it!"


They said they had just put out the floor model that morning and I could take that one if I wanted or wait until tomorrow morning for the one that would be FedExed. I didn't want to seem too excited so I told the store owner that I did not want her to go through the trouble of reboxing everything up and that I would just wait till the morning...stupid, stupid me. Now instead of playing with my new baby on my only night off this week until Friday, I'm playing on the blogger site. Not that you all don't mean the world to me....but I know you all understand! Check out my new machine at: http://babylock.com/sewing/espire/ and watch the video. I will post pics soon. I'm really so very excited. I can't wait til tomorrow!

Happy Quilting, Happy Living!

A Quilt that will never be.

These are from my local quilt guild's Challenge Quilt....."Walk on the Wild Side". Boy what a challenge in making me go wild and crazy and disliking every minute that I spent on it. My challenge was trying to like it! They never made it to be a quilt. We were suppose to use a technique that challenged us or one we had been wanting to try. We had to use three particular fabrics that were pre-picked by the powers that be.

First strike against....I did not like the wedge technique that I chose to use and second strike... I did not like the choice of fabric...just not me. I really, really really tried to like it, but we just never did meld together!

I planned on doing just four blocks since each block was 20 inches with the corners added. I thought of using it as a wall hanging. But then....I don't have any of these colors in my home decor scheme...which made me dislike the blocks even more. Actually I know no-one that has this color scheme. (Family..you are safe). I kept asking myself "What was I going to do with it and why was I wasting my precious quilting time on it?


But...because I don't like to having half-finished blocks lying around and I thought maybe I would grow to love them.... I kept on sewing and sewing and really trying to develop of bond.

Never did develop that bond! I still dislike them as much as when I realized how much I disliked them. The Guild challenge quilts were secretly turned in at our October meeting. Mine never made it since I secretly kept them at home. It will be interesting to see some of the quilts that were made. I will post pics after they are displayed at the November meeting.

But all is not lost. I thought about removing the corners and making round pillows for a teenagers room..(Family....you may not be safe after all). That center circle reminds me of a big button. Maybe with some embellishments they may turn out okay.....as pillows. (Future pillow pics to follow.)

On a non-quilty note... I've been drying herbs in my food dryer...Taragon and Basil this morning. The smell is wonderful and is making me want chicken salad for lunch. The weather here in Georgia has been beautiful after our flooding rains of a couple of weeks ago. Fall has finally arrived by the actions of my 14 year old cats getting frisky and of course the cooler weather. Even my dog's fur seems to have gotten thicker this past week. Life continues on.

Happy quilting and Happy living to all.

Sick and Tired!

No really....I have really been sick and tired. For the past week all I've been doing is coughing and sleeping...and that's hard to do together. But...it's not the Flu...either one...just the change in the weather (I think) even though the Swine Flu in rampant right now in the Southeast US. No fever, just mild congestion, lots of coughing and fatigue. Not quite bad enough to miss work though. I'm also finding out as a woman approaching 50 that things don't stay as dry as they use to during a coughing fit! I hope to think that the Echinacea-Goldenseal and Zinc I started taking when I felt my first "tickle" in my throat has kept whatever it is on the mild side. On my days off from work instead of quilting, crafting, cleaning and cooking I've been sleeping.

I've felt much better today with less fatigue....probably because my body can't take anymore sleep! I actually cleaned my house some and THOUGHT about going into my sewing room. Would not have been so bad if not for the tiredness and the guilty feelings it created about not getting anything done. You know us...we have to do EVERYTHING...only because WE THINK we have to and no one else can do it!...Stupid us! My hubby never minds doing anything for me! So....if you get sick this winter, please get your rest and don't feel guilty. Our loved ones don't mind taking care of us!

Remember to wash those hands and keep antibacterial gel in the car for those times when pumping gas, going to the ATM, handling a shopping cart, etc!

Stay Healthy and Happy Living!

Here's a link to a quilt blogger give-a-way. It's always fun to enter...and too win. Not sure when the entry deadline is, but it's a September give-a-way. Good luck.

http://welovequilting.com/blog/

Midnight Cactus Flower

DONE! And with a few days to spare. The club meets this Saturday and that's when I will show the quilt. It wasn't that difficult to make. I quilted in the ditch around the design to try to help bring out the design since it's such a busy quilt. Below are the corner flowers.

This is one of the center flowers. You can really see the bright stars shinning!

I had a hard time trying to find a place to hang it for the picture. I just bought some room dividers to separate my quilting room from the living room so I used those. I've decided I like the quilt even though it's quite busy. I used leftover strips from the quilt to make the binding. That worked well.

It will be fun to see what others at the club have come up with for their quilts. I'll post pics of those after the meeting on Saturday. Happy quilting to all. Thanks for visiting.

Almost done with the Midnight Cactus Flower quilt. I have it labeled and only one more side to bind. For the binding, I used leftover strips from the quilt. I had enough to complete about 2/3 of the binding so I added other green and red pieces I had at home....stashes are wonderful things to have. I will post pics tonight hopefully when I'm finished binding that last side. Happy quilting to all.

I am getting ready to quilt my "Midnight Cactus Flower" quilt. I put the quilt sandwich together this afternoon and plan to start and finish quilting it tonight. It's a very busy quilt like I thought it would be. Not sure how much I like it. I know I like it, but not sure on what scale. Once I get it quilted and binded and can look at it from a far I will be able to make a better "likeable" decision. I will post a picture whether I like it or not. Just don't have the camera right now. Brian took it with him on his annual week-long Florida/Doral golfing trip. (This is why is does not say anything about my fabric shopping).

It's just been me and the doggie at home. It was okay for the first two days.....felt like a free woman...doing what I wanted to do...not worrying about anyone else, but now I think I'm ready for Brian to get back home. I like having another person here. Tomorrow I'm visiting Britt at college and bringing her some (a lot) of items she now feels she can't live without. Of course she has planned the visit for around lunch-time and I'm sure supper-time if we find other things that need to be taken care of....like shopping.

Hope everyone has a great weekend. Happy Quilting!

This Month's Strip Club quilt..

I was reading everyone's blogs and getting so involved....I almost forgot to post! I do so enjoy reading what everyone has going on.



I've completed the 16 flower blocks for the corners of the Cactus Wreath pattern. Here are just a few.


I'm really liking how this is turning out. I thought the star fabric would make the quilt too dark, but I'm thinking differently now. I have four flower blocks with the lighter leaves which I plan to put on each corner..surrounded by two more corner blocks with darker leaves.
Today, my plan is to work on the log cabin blocks that will create the inner circle of the wreath pattern. Hopefully that will not take as long to finish as these blocks did. I'm not a fast sew-person or quilter anyway.

I think I'm naming the quilt "Cactus Flower at Midnight" or maybe "Midnight Cactus Flower". The Strip Club design had a Christmas theme, but I decided to do something a little different.

Our next club meeting is Sept. 5th, so I have about 3 weeks to finish....or just have the quilt top completed. I don't like to have a lot of UFOs laying around, so I plan to have this thing finished and ready to show. Our LQS owner always jokes that they don't have a BOM club, because they have Strip Club which gives you an entire quilt every month instead of just one block!

Have a great Sunday. I hope everyone is doing something today that they enjoy. Happy Quilting.

Finished Baby Gifts

I FINISHED the baby blanket kit that I purchased at my LQS. It was SO easy to do..a no-brainer. It's a wonderful project for a beginner and a really quick project/gift for an experienced sew-person. It took be just a few hours to complete. It took longer for my sewing machine to do the fancy edge stitching then it did for me to complete it.

The kit (I love kits) came with fabric and pattern to make the blanket, bib and burb pad. Of course I had no orange thread (and I did not want to wait until Monday when my LQS opened to get any) so I just used red thread for the fancy stitching. The barn in the fabric is red so I said what the heck.

I plan on mailing out the gifts this week to arrive in time for the baby shower on the 23rd. I do so much better with deadlines. I should put a deadline on all my unfinished projects.

On a none-quilting note....boy has it been HOT here in Georgia! Glad I have inside projects that can keep me busy. My pretty petunias on my front porch has withered away and died and our tomato plants are well on their way to that end also. We can't seem to keep them with enough water. Next year I'm just going to the Farmer's Market and buying a case of tomatoes...much easier and less work than trying to grow my own....Oh well, it has kept my husband busy trying to keep the tomatoes going.

Britt moves back to college today. Her classes will start on Thursday I believe. She seems excited to get back to school after a summer a being employed. Today we haul stuff to her dorm and of course go shopping for dorm food. Her room has a kitchenette so this year we are hauling pots and pans....I don't have a clue why...cooking does not interest her at all. But I have to say...if it's a mix and it includes adding water, she can handle it. So all she should need to bring is a small pot, a large spoon and and 2-cup measuring cup!

Have a great day. Please remember me when I'm hauling stuff in this heat!. Happy quilting!

A project that can go onto my completed list. I just loved making this. It was so easy. It's the travel quilt and toy sac that I'm giving to my nephew's first child. I really like the fabric combinations.

The travel quilt has a nice big divided pocket.

I appliqued the letters onto the toy sac then sewed the rick rack on with one of my machine stitches. Kinda looks like a baseball stitch, but oh well. Better than just a straight stitch across the rick-rack.

I used the inner fabric as binding for around the quilt so it looks as though it wraps around the back side.

It folds out to reveal an attached pillow with the same brown rick-rack around it.

This was a very easy project to construct. Much easier then I though when I bought the pattern. Its a pattern by "Artful Offerings" Their web site is http://www.artful-offerings.com/. Haven't checked it out yet, but it's a site I plan to visit. I bought the pattern from my LQS. Now...to the other flannel baby quilt I plan to also send. Looks to be pretty simple. I hope to finish it tomorrow, then all in the mail next week! Happy quilting!