Cat's Out of the Bag

I can now let the cat out of the bag and tell you what's up! I had to take a mini hiatus from paper crafting. Shocking and hard to believe, I know. But it's true.

You see, I was gearing up to go on a road trip and go home for a quick visit after I went to Crop on the Cape (which was wicked awesome!). I had to bring Christmas presents with me.....ummmm two years worth. Yeah, I am not a huge fan of this shipping gifts to family. I like to see them open them!

There were three lap quilts on my list of things to finish before I went to New York. Thankfully I did finish them all. I finished the last one the morning I left.

I finally got to take the long arm machine quilting class at my local quilt shop. I machine quilted one of the quilts on my sewing machine and it's not fun. I quilted the other two at the end of my class and wow was it speedy! It would have taken me hours on my sewing machine and it took about 30 minutes to set up and quilt each lap quilt. Zoom zoom baby!

First up is my sister-in-law's quilt. She likes pink just a tad so I went with chocolate and pink fabrics for her quilt. All three quilts are the same pattern except I made hers larger by adding an additional row. Sure made some good times for me with math. Math and I don't get along. Oh remember, you can click on the photos and the will open in another screen much larger.

Next up is the quilt I made for my oldest nephew. He likes baseball just a little bit. His face was priceless when he unwrapped the quilt. The back of the quilt is all stars. He loves stars. Every night he looks for stars with his mom. I didn't know that and was totally taken aback by the excitement. I knew he'd be excited about baseball, but he was much more excited about the stars.

The photos we took really don't capture the excitement in his eyes. Seeing that was priceless and well worth the 15 hour 17 minute drive to his house. His reaction made the trip totally worth it. I didn't even need to go to Cape Cod after that. My trip was made.

The last quilt is for my youngest nephew who's still a toddler. The last time I saw this little guy he was only six weeks old! My goodness he is getting big. He's walking and talking now. Oh and he blows kisses. That was just adorable when I left my sister-in-law's house to go to North Carolina for my next crop.

I've called this nephew "My Little Linebacker" since he was born. He was a very big baby especially since my sister-in-law is a very tiny girl. The Linebacker was also excited about his quilt and kept pointing to the large squares and talking. I have no idea what he was saying, but he was one happy little dude!

Sorry there won't be any photos of the boys and their mom posted with their quilts. I don't post photos of children online. There are just too many crazy people out there! If you are family or a close friend, email me and I will show you the photos. Some people don't like this rule of mine, but you never know who's watching or reading and I would like to keep the kids safe. Their safety is much more important to me than complaining grown-ups.

Back to the quilts. I made two of them in two weeks. One quilt I need to complete. They all were in different stages of completedness. Completedness? Did I just make up a new word? Hmmm....it's been one of those days. The toddler quilt was started back when he was a baby. The baseball quilt took me forever to find all of the fabric. I searched for well over a year. Who knew I would have such a hard time with something as common and simple as baseball?

There will be much more to come! I have lots to tell about my very long trip. It was a wonderful trip and I was sad to go home. Leaving New York was very difficult, but I didn't cry leaving my sister-in-law's house which I am very happy to report. I won't tell you how much I cried through New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia though. It was probably a bit easier leaving her house with my nephew in school and the other one blowing me kisses. I've now lived in South Carolina for 2 years minus a week and the homesickness definitely has not gotten better. It's making me rethink this whole living in South Carolina thing!

Until next time *

Miss someone? Tell them! You never know how happy they will be to here it. They miss you, too.

PS If there are some typos, please forgive me. My one eye is swollen and feels like something bit me. Things are a tad fuzzy visually today. I tried to catch everything, but if I missed something, please go easy on me. I have ice on my eye as I type this one handed and one eyed. No easy feat I tell you!