Going out on a Limb

I am trying something I have never done before. I signed up online for a quilt swap. The quilt is called an I-Spy. You've heard of the I-Spy books and game.....'I spy with my little eye....' This quilt is along the same lines. Printed fabrics sewn in any pattern you want. I chose some really fun fabrics to send and can't wait to see what ones I get in return!! To see some sample I-Spy quilts, click here.

6 Years!!

It is so hard to believe that my little bitty baby boy is 6 years old today! This past year has been a whirlwind for me and I'm sure for Grady too. Especially the last 3 months!!

This year Grady has:

• Visited Florida for the first time
• Played T-Ball
• Learned to ride his bike without training wheels
• 'Graduated' Preschool
• Started Kindergarten
• Rode the big yellow school bus
• Made new friends at school
• Learned how NOT to wreck his 4 wheeler (i.e. don't speed up when turning!)
• Lost his first tooth
• Learned to spell, read and write lots of words
• Played Soccer
• Last, but certainly not least......Became a Big Brother!!!

Grady, your mommy, daddy and baby brother love you to pieces!! I sure hope your next year is as exciting as the last one has been!!

My Newest Hobby

It seems that after becoming a mother of two, I have been overly ambitious. I don't know how I am going to keep up the act, but I fully intend to.

For starters, the Christmas after I had Grady, I asked my mom and dad to buy me a sewing machine. I toyed with it, but never really did anything with it. After five years of the sewing machine being hidden in a box and me getting pregnant with Isaiah, I had an epiphany. I was going to make a quilt.

I found a pattern and some really cute fabrics at Wal-Mart for a baby quilt. Since I wanted him to have something of his own and not all hand-me-downs from Grady, I decided this is where I would begin. This is the finished quilt top for Isaiah. It is at the quilters now and will be done sometime early 2011.

Then, I signed up for a quilting class with Anthea Zumbahlen that started one month after having Isaiah. Crazy, right? Well, I thought so too, but was ambitious and knew with a little help I could do it.

I intended on keeping a secret from my mom that the quilt class project was her Christmas gift, but that didn't happen. It was actually easier knowing that she knew and liked the fabrics I chose and the pattern I was making. With Anthea's guidance, Mom's babysitting services, my Grandma Ferguson's knowledge and help on some of the cutting and binding and the grace of GOD I got the quilt done in time to be quilted and wrapped for my mom to have a finished quilt for Christmas.

To fan the flames of my ambitions, I decided with 20 days until Christmas that I would make my one and only niece a rag quilt. She is 13 and is hard for this mom of boys to buy for. She loved it and I think another rag quilt (probably for Grady) is in my future.

Next was the idea for a gift for my mother-in-law. She loves chickens. I found this fabric and couldn't really decide what I wanted to do with it. This started out a table runner, but I ran out of time with the impending holiday season and it became a pillow.

I hope to add some more quilting projects to my resume in 2011. That is if my ambitions aren't bigger than my free time slots!!