Friday, July 29, 2011

{this moment}

 A New Friday ritual inspired by Soule Mama.  A single photo - no words, capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. 
A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. 


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 There had to be words this week...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is a photo of my daughters when they were little
 that
I want to pause and remember this week...
because...



My two "babies"
are having 
babies...

It's finally my turn 
to be a
G-ma.
Twice.
Isn't God good?

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Block swaps....and a little extra...

Just some blocks I have been working on
for some of my swaps...

For Heidi in Ohio
She asked for bright colors 




For Bobbie
in Queensland, Australia...
She wanted anything scrappy in either
 a card trick block
or a nine patch...
I decided to stretch myself and go for the card trick..



Bobbie's block was late...
so I added a little goodie to go with it...
This is a Pocket Hexie Pouch









It fits in your billfold ready for work 
on those hexie flowers whenever you are stuck somewhere
waiting...

I hope she likes it and can use it!





Hugs!!!

Lana

Monday, July 25, 2011

         IT'S CHRISTMAS....IN JULY!!!
PLEASE
watch this video....


 It's the 25th of July...
and I can't 
tell it yet...

but it's coming !!!!!

Friday, July 22, 2011

{this moment}

 A New Friday ritual inspired by Soule Mama.  A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. 
A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. 



The Wild Wild West of the Hidden Cross


When we headed out last week to the ranch for vacation,
I felt very confident about finishing my Hidden Cross quilt 
I had been working on for my friend Patty's daughter - Courtney...
who was getting married that at the end of the week...
After all, I had the ENTIRE WEEK...right?
Cotton says...WAIT FOR IT....WAIT FOR IT....
Sew...just to be sure we didn't forget anything - 
(the ranch is a good 5 1/2 hrs from Houston)
I started packing the night before--- EARLY in the evening.
NO procrastinating here -  I tell you!

~~~~~SUNDAY MORNING~~~~~


I was up EARLY  and surveying all my packing...
Sewing machine...check!
Quilt top...check!
Sewing notions...check!
Cutting board...check!
My little bunny Cotton's bag...check!
I am ready to go!

The suitcase was all packed and ready to go out
and all my other items were
on the table by the door. 

Bill loaded us up quickly 
(while I posted here before we left for the week)
and then we literally ran and jumped in the truck!
WE WERE OFF!

Whooo Hooooo! 
VACATION!!!

 
Nothing like having a kiss from your travel bunny!

NOTE:
Twenty minutes later - we turned around and headed home.
Bill left his wallet - so I ran into the house, into the bedroom 
grabbed it off the bed and ran back out to the truck!


Ok, so ...perhaps we weren't supposed to 
be that far ahead of schedule...
All is good! And we're OFF!

~~~~ FIVE AND A HALF HOURS LATER ~~~~~

It's almost dark when we reach the ranch, but WE HAVE ARRIVED!

I begin to unload the truck...after all, that blogging thing...
while Bill loaded the truck...
It was my turn was my thinking!

HOUSTON...WE HAVE A PROBLEM.

No suitcase.
Nada.
Nothing.
Oh, I had MY suitcase.
But the HUGE one I packed for the ranch and Bill?
It NEVER made it out of the bedroom.

nope.

Can we say how wonderful my sweet man is here?
With just what he had on his back...
he sat back and just laughed!
I ran RIGHT BY THAT DUMB THING 
when I went into the bedroom to get his wallet!

~~~~~MONDAY~~~~~

The next morning, after coffee and a trip to Wally World for a 
few clothes for Mr. Bill...I was home and sewing!



In NO TIME...I had the final two sashings on the quilt.


Again...I couldn't resist taking all the photos...
Patting myself on the back  for how
good I was doing on time...
It was just MONDAY.


Nope.

I went to my trusted fabric bag, 
you know...the one with all the supplies
that I had checked off?

Yeah.
No.

The backing for the quilt was in 
HOUSTON.
Safely tucked in my sewing closet...
for the day when I would need it.

At that moment there was silence..

and then.....

this thought:
(where is that rat poison?? )

followed by:
BAAAAHHHHHAAAAAWWWWWLLLLLLL!
sob sob sob sob 
snot snot snot
gnashing of teeth, pulling of hair 
and collapsed in a fetal position
after rolling in the floor 
kicking my legs in the air like a 
dying cockroach.

(ok, maybe a little dramatic...)

Bill loaded my wadded mess of a self
up in the truck and drove me to 
Fredricksburg, TX  to the nearest fabric store
and I came out with a very suitable backing fabric in no time!
(Remember that phone call Linda....Thanks!)

I am calm again.
:)



Isn't that golden tan fabric beautiful?

Again, I was sewing...
Man, this is a HUGE quilt for my little
Wally world Brother Quilting series
sewing machine...
hmmmm.


and then continued to sew...


Lana: Honey, what time is it???

 Bill: TUESDAY...


I was not to be BEATEN!
By the time we left the ranch on Wednesday
to head to Patty's house in Denison,
I had the quilt all quilted and had the 
binding attached.

I saved the hand stitching of the binding for the car...
and another SIX HOUR drive.


Tired yet?
WELL, Hang on Nellie...
this horse is headed to the barn!

In the end...
the quilt was lovely...



and I learned a LOT 
(my muscles were jello
from wrangling that big ole quilt in my 
little ole machine...)



 And Patty's home showcased it beautifully....
 

And the gorgeous bride and her handsome groom
along with her parents were very happy!

Cutter, Courtney, Patty and Butch

Is it dumb that I am going to miss that 
little, sweet, wonderful and adorable quilt???

!!!!YES!!!!

Thank you for hanging in there with me...
This was so fun!!!

***HUGS***
Lana



Wednesday, July 20, 2011

In SEARCH of the Hidden Cross...


Today I wanted to continue on our journey of the
Hidden Cross Quilt that I began telling you about 
last week here...

I said then that this would be a bit of a challenge
for me since it was my first full size quilt...
OH, and it WAS!



I originally cut all my pieces out and proceeded to make 12 squares
in a chain, thinking it would go quicker. 
AND...if you remember...
I discovered after I counted out all my pieces, that
there were some left over...
I wasn't sure why, but I had FAITH.

The directions said to make 12 blocks just like the first
layout...so I did.

 And then I laid them all out on the floor of the studio and 
they looked like this.
So far so good...



 But wait...in the picture on the pattern,
those middle blocks weren't made of four blocks...
they were made of just one little 3 inch block...
hmmm....

The directions said make the 12 blocks alike..
and they all looked
like the photo...
BUT what it DID NOT say or SHOW in the pictures
was that I was supposed to be adding sashing...
AND
a ROW OF FOUR MORE BLOCKS!!!

?????WHAT?????
let's have some composure here....
Paper bag please....
OK...

Sew...I laid it all back out and ended up ripping out some of the sashing
and moving it to fill it in correctly!!!!




See the difference??? now all the blocks were single
3 inch blocks like they were supposed to be.
and here are the four more blocks I was 
supposed to have made with all those
left over cuts...
(I know...I said I had SOME left over..
perhaps it was more than just SOME...)


Whew! 
Crisis 
AVERTED!

yeah. 
No. 
But I am getting ahead of myself...



I laid it out again and it looked perfect! WhOO HOOO!


Just for kicks, I laid the the last two layers out to see what it
would look like...
I took pictures...I admired it..
LOOOOVVVVVED IT...


Then, 
I saw it.
Do you?
Look at the first four square block at the bottom of the picture...
Now...look above it...
Where in the 
WORLD IS THE OTHER FOUR SQUARE???

I'll tell you where it is!!! 

It's WAY UP IN THE CENTER!!!!

Just 
GAG ME WITH A SPOON!!!

At this point...
you gotta laugh.

Go ahead...
I did.
but then I had to think...
what. am. I. going. to. do.?



I will tell you what I did!!!
I took a moment
to have a silent talk 
with JESUS!

That's right folks, 
I went STRAIGHT  to the THRONE OF GOD!!!

He didn't mind... He was very nice about it all...
:)

Call it lazy, or genius...but I ripped out
just the block that was wrong, with the surrounding sashing... 
I turned the block around and


 began to sew it all back into place...
Hoping and still praying that it would all lay
correctly and not come apart later...
because I missed something...
But it worked!!!

Choruses in HEAVEN were ringing out !!!!
seriously...I heard them.
(it was about 2:30 a.m.though...)

That's ok...SHAKE IT OFF GIRL!!



Now that is where it is supposed to go!

CEL-E-BRA-TION 
NOW!
COME ON!!!
(everybody SING!!!)
ok, if you were a part of the 80s...

Now, tomorrow, ya'll will want to come back...

I am gonna show you the final installment of
how the quilt was
TAMED
out in the 
WILD WILD WEST!

Stayed tuned!!!

*hugs*
Lana

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

200...Sew sad to see you go...

Sew...as it is with some seasons and some giveaways...
my newest followers say goodbye.
I just wanted to say, I will miss you...and perhaps sometime
in the future you will come back and stay a little longer...

For those of you that stay in there day after day with me...
have walked with me through this past spring, and now even this summer...
even in the midst of my fight to keep moving in what has become a very tough year at times... 

Thank you.


Lana
:)

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Finding the time...

Last weekend, My adorable little friend Linda from Buzzing and Bumbling  
came out to the ranch to visit...
and look at the sweet pin cushion she brought to me!!!
Let me tell you, it has been a lifesaver this week working on quilts...
Just looking at it makes me smile...



It was soooo hot...so I really thought it was wonderful
of her and her sweet man to come out to the ranch
and spend some time with us...
** Hugs** to Linda~



As for the Hidden Cross Quilt, things are still plugging along ...
 Wait til you see how I had to fix a mistake after I noticed 
it when the quilt was nearly finished!!!!



This coming week, my sweet man and I are actually
going to get to VACATE!!!!
Even with this TEXAS heat, we are headed back
out west for the first part of this week,
and then off to Denison up in north TX 
for my friend Patty's daughter's wedding...
The little quilt will make the trip with us!


I will try to log on later this next week with some more
new pictures of my new babies...I only have pics of 
my new gray moo moo...but there's a chocolate one too!
Hey, I am looking to name these...so if you have any ideas,
PLEASE SEND THEM MY WAY!!!



But before I go...
yesterday, I went to East Texas to meet my newest
nephew...He makes # 7 overall and # 3 on the Great Nephew count...
Meet Nathan Maxwell Hamilton...he's one week old.

He was soooo excited to meet me since he had heard
so much about me from his parents in his first week of 
life...He just couldn't contain his excitement!!!
LOL!



I know baby...I felt the same way!


awwhh....Gia...(short for Great Aunt Lana...)
this is heaven...


Just wanted to wish you all a great week!!!
Love,
Lana

Friday, July 8, 2011




A New Friday ritual inspired by Soule Mama. A single photo - no words -
capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment.
A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.
If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment'
in the comments for all to find and see.



Tuesday, July 5, 2011

KATE SPAIN WINNERS


And the WINNERS ARE...
(chosen by Random.Org)

p.s. I apologize for no picture...but my computer has been terrible this morning...


 # 178 ~~~ Connie ~~~ 
I'm a fan of Kate Spain, love the great patterns in her fabrics! Thanks for a great giveaway.
June 23, 2011 10:57 AM


# 169
~~~ Kelsey ~~~
I love Kate Spain because I think she is brilliant with color.
June 22, 2011 7:35 PM


Congratulations!!!!

Each of you will receive TWO CHARM PACKS FROM KATE SPAIN'S LINE TERRAIN!
I will be emailing you shortly to get your addresses!!!


Thank you EVERYONE for stopping by and entering -
I wish I could just send EACH and EVERYONE of you this
wonderful fabric...
I have enjoyed reading all your comments and hope you will
come back often and even stop in and say hello!!!!

xoxoxox

Lana


Friday, July 1, 2011

{this moment}

 A New Friday ritual inspired by Soule Mama.  A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. 
A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. 

 





 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Just one last reminder...The deadline is Midnight on July 4th!!!
I will post a winner the next Morning on the 5th ...

For all those that have entered...GET EXCITED!
For those of you that haven't...I DARE YOU NOT TO!

Two LUCKY winners will receive TWO charm packs of her newest
line called TERRAIN.

Go HERE to enter!!! 
GOOD LUCK!!!

xoxoxoxox

Lana

A few years back...3 maybe?

 A little over 3 years ago, our little quilt shop grew up. We moved to a larger space and hired more employees. So much has happened in thos...