Quilt #2

My nephew, Cole, loves lions and tigers - I finished the quilt top last week, put the border on Wednesday night, backing together yesterday, and I pinned it together tonight. Cole is 8, so this quilt is almost the size of a twin, rather than the crib sized quilt I made for Lila.

Catching Up

I didn't realize it had been so long..here's a quick update on what's happenin' in the Collins family while we wait for our daughter (which by the way, we're at total peace about, for now).

Let's see. Bullets are the easiest, so here we go:

• Brad came home from his ski trip in Utah, safe and sound.


• I have almost finished my first quilt for Lila. Actually, we'll be finishing up the binding tomorrow, in class. I've learned I'm not great at sewing looonnggg straight lines without some kind of special foot apparatus. Thank God for the little things ;-)


• I've finished squares for another quilt top (oh, and this happened the weekend Brad was out of town). No peeking, no pictures, tee hee.

I've learned how to make pillows with piping around the edges, and window treatments. The pillow is a surprise for someone, so no pictures for that one, either. But, here are my first panels.

We went to Tiffany and Warren's house last weekend for dinner..and we were over late enough to play with their Sugar Gliders! I need to get pictures, but they are nocturnal, so I think it might just be cruel to flash them.

And, then there was Valentine's Day. Bradley brought these beautiful flowers home that he hand picked himself from a market - but he brought them home as a surprise the night before Vday. Wasn't that sweet?

I've been very busy working with the real estate business, too.

Oh, and...my sister in law (Brad's sister, Julie), and my nephew (Julie's son), are coming into town tomorrow. They are coming to visit for a week. I'm very excited - they haven't been down to visit since we moved, and we are taking Cole to Disney, Sea World, the Lowry Park Zoo, maybe the Big Cat Rescue, and probably the beach (even if it is just to get his, not my, feet wet..bbrrr!) I bet Cole will also want to get in our pool... eek!

Sneak-a-peek #2

Class #2... we finished our blocks and sewed them all together, and started adding the borders.

Here's the quilt top... our next two classes, we will put the quilt together and add the binding.

I hope Lila loves it!!

My First Home Decorating Class

I'm tellin' ya, I will be so well prepared when Kylie Grace gets here. Just in case she wants special placemats (teehee), I will be able to make them for her...now, of course, I'm not real sure about the time factor exactly, but we'll figure it all out. Here's my first placemat and napkin...
Over the next three weeks, we'll learn pillows, window treatments, and something else I can't remember right now. Who said my machine was just going to collect dust?mmm...

Oh, a Quiltin' We Will Go!

I have our 100 Good Wishes Quilt for Kylie Grace to attribute to my new found love of quilting. Remember, dear hubby gave me a wonderous sewing machine for Christmas (of which, thank you, Anne, for your help:). And, the big joke was that either my sewing machine was going to collect dust, OR, I was going to be the Sewing Queen. Well, I wouldn't say I am the Sewing Queen just yet, but darn if I am getting close (hehe)! Anyway, I attempted a little fun project just after Christmas. I thought for sure I was doomed, and it just wasn't meant to be. But, then, I decided to take a quilting class, and my first project was going to be a quilt for Lila (our friends Jen and Scott's soon to be daughter from China..well, not SO soon, but hopefully sooner than all the nasty rumors are expecting). So, today was the day I started my class at KMIS - just around the corner from my house. Anywho, here is a sneak-a-peek to the start of Lila's nine patch quilt.
And, guess what, we have homework we must complete before our next class on Friday of next week. I asked the instructor, Linda, (just leave it to me to be the talkative one) if she had a 24 hour hotline for assistance in case of emergency.

Time flies..

Sitting Room view from the kitchen, BEFORE

and AFTER !!

(gotta go shoppin' for the walls)

when you are having fun. It's an old cliche, I know, but the wait for Gracie is a whole lot more bearable when I am busy - and, what I have found, is that it can't just be "busy", it has to be something I am passionate about. Busy work doesn't really do it for me..there is plenty of that to pass around, right? So, I really love making our house our home, and anything I can do to improve that, is so much fun to me. Since we changed the furniture out in my little sunroom/sitting room, the khaki paint didn't really work for me anymore, so Brad helped me paint the room "humble gold". I have this color in our foyer, too - I fell in love with it in our last house. It's just so cheery, but not too bright..a nice mix between cheery and warm. This project was in lieu of another I wanted to work on, which was..are you ready? Re-paint KG's room. Well, add somes wainescotting and yellow stripes, but somehow keep or add to the stenciling. But, as I really thought about it, I decided to wait to make the changes because if I do it now, and we have another 2 years to wait (eek), the room could potentially have 15 layers of different color paint on those walls. So, I acted with my head a little, instead of simply my heart, and the sitting room project was a success. (Atleast we think so!) And, by the way, we might as well call the sitting room the computer room, because between the computer and the tv/radio on for noise, that is what we (me, Josie, Casey, and Zoe) do in there!


So, I am excited to say that my new endeavor with "Precious Family Treasures" is also taking off like crazy! My website is finally set up completely (sorry to those that tried before tonight, but it is now in my favorite links section in the sidebar). The get-togethers have great take-aways for friends and family, so we are going to have a client party in Atlanta to start off with..another reason to see past and current clients for fun, and of course friends and family. MiMi wants to have one at her house with her tennis friends and co-workers, Aunt Julie wants to have one at her house for her employees/co-workers, 2 friends here in Tampa want to have them for a dinner party, and "moms during superbowl" party, respectively, and I want to have one with my closest friends/clients in Atlanta. What is so awesome, is I envision the deeper family connections and all the people we will touch in the process, while just having FUN. And, at the same time I'm building a business that is inheritable to Gracie, it relocates with me if DH gets relocated again in the future, and I get to do what I really love most, and that is to connect with people, and spend time with my family and friends. AND, all of this with perfect timing, as our company is going to be promoted with a movie that is being released called "The Ultimate Gift"... so, over 40 million people will be touched by our venture.

I just can't wait for Gracie to get here. The ideas and systems to teach values with positive reinforcement are so exciting, and simple, so we can play a lot, too!! :)

Photography is another one..

another one, meaning hobby. I was kind of playing around with depth of field and aperture yesterday at the Culture Center in our neighborhood. Brad's favorite pasttime (and present-time :) is playing soccer. He traveled to Europe to play while in school, and continues to play, now, too. I am also trying to learn how to use this Photoshop Elements 5.0 for digital scrapbooking and KG's lifebook.

I'm thinking of putting some photos together for a collage in our family room..just haven't decided on the theme, yet. I know what it will be when KG gets home!

My first quit block

Front Back

Don't laugh, but here it is. I was just dying to put my new sewing machine to work and begin to explore the world of quilting. What I learned?? That piecing is much harder than it looks. I cut the strips, sewed them together (with the help of my first quilting book that Anne helped me pick out, thank goodness), and voila, I had several pieces that didn't even come close to being the same size. So, I had to really work to get them together! A little crooked, but it's a start!