Happy Memorial Day!

With tomorrow being Memorial Day, I wanted another Memorial Day decoration that then could be carried into the 4th of July. Here is what I came up with this weekend:

I love these blocks!

If you remember, I love the oversize blocks! I have made them for other holidays too. Here are the previous blocks:

Joy Blocks for Christmas

Love Blocks for Valentines Day

And now, for the patriotic season I have made the USA Blocks.

The blocks are about 10 inches tall and 5 inches wide.

For the "U" I added a denim flower. What's more American than Levi's? 

The embellishment for the "S" is the red/white twine.  

For the "A" I added the cute red/white/blue banner.  

I just think it turned out super cute!

And, a special thank you to ALL of the service men & women that protect my freedoms. The courage that you display by protecting our country is inspiring and I am indebted to you forever!

Linking to: Sew Many Ways  Making the World Cuter   Keeping it Simple 

Embellishing Life Everyday  Sugar Bee Crafts Todays Creative Blog  Ladybug Blessings  Cherished Bliss

Not Just a Housewife  Savvy Southern Style   My Girlish Whims  All Things Heart and Home

Women Who Do It All  Sewwoodsy

Copy Cat Pin Cushion

Last week my friend, Amy of Ameroonie Designs along with her friend, Gwen of Gwenny Penny had a birthday party where they showed off some fun crafts that they made. Well, the craft that caught my eye was the pin cushion that they made.

Here is Amy's Pin Cushion:

And here is Gwen's Pin Cushion:

Aren't they great! I knew instantly I wanted to make one for me. Here is why I wanted one so badly:

When I take pins out of the fabric while I am sewing, I just throw the pins down onto the table. Even though my pin cushion that I am currently using is on the table! 

So, when I am done sewing, I have to go back and pick up all the pins, or wipe them onto the floor and sweep them up! :) 

And, here is my new pin cushion!

I love, love, love the colors and fabrics! 

I really like the gadget part of the pin cushion for the few tools that you need more than not! 

And, the detachable thread catcher is great! 

And, of course, I had to make it to match my sewing machine cover!

Sew pretty!

The pattern is from Sew Mama Sew and the tutorial is great! The only thing I would do different is make the actual pin cushion heavier somehow. With the tools in the front, it tends to want to slide forward. But other than that, it is GREAT! Thanks Amy and Gwen for showing off your pin cushions to inspire me to make mine!

Linking to: Finding Fabulous * Stuff and Nonsense * Shabby Nest * Whipperberry

Cherished Treasures * The Creative Itch

Book Giveaway!

My friend Terry from Cherished Treasures is offering a great giveaway! Terry is going to giveaway this great book, Summer With Matthew Mead

So, head on over to Cherished Treasures and enter to win this great book! Plan on staying a while, Terry has some great posts on her blog! Makes for great reading! Good Luck!

New Floor Reveal!

About a month ago I had an overwhelming desire to rip out the carpet in our family room and put down wood floors. I get home from work at 1:30 and my husband gets home at 6:00...so had a little bit of time before he got home. So, this is what my husband came home to:

LOL! I am laughing as I look at this! I admit, I had some help...my dad was in cahoots with me!

And bright and early the next morning we ripped out and started laying the floor! 

We didn't get too far because all the kids were home and so my dad said he would come back on Monday morning and work on it while everyone was gone. A few days later, I came home to this: 

This is looking in from the front door. LOVE IT! 

I love the dark floors. The only problem is the dust! 

I like the floors with the colors I already had in the room. Thank goodness because I am not in the mood to paint! 

Behind the shutters is my workshop, so I can open them up and always see what is going on in the family room.

I have to be honest and tell you that my father did 99.4% of this for me! I am super lucky to have him live near me and that he is willing to do this for me! Thanks Dad!

Linking : My Girlish Whims All Things Heart and Home Blue Cricket Design Savvy Southern Style Finding Fabulous Stuff and Nonsense French Country Cottage 

My first quilt project...

For many years I have wanted to make a quilt. I would go into our local quilt shop (sadly, now closed) and just drool over the quilts on display. I became friends with a few of the gals that worked there and they kept telling me to take a class. It just looked so intimidating, that I put off signing up for a year! Well, last summer I took a class for a table runner. And, in one Saturday I finished the runner, except for backing and quilting it.

As you all know, if you leave a class with an unfinished project, you never get it done!

Now meet Laurie. Laurie is a friend of mine that was over one day and saw the quilt top, unfinished. She said to me, "Let me have that and I will quilt it for you!" The angels sang! Laurie brought the quilt home and then returned it to me this past Saturday.

Can you just say LOVE!

Here it is folded on my favorite chair.  

The pattern called for using more of a solid fabric...but I love Heather Bailey fabric so much, that I didn't follow directions, and I used all her fabric. 

How lucky am I that Laurie did this for me! 

Now this chair is just calling out for me to sit and read a magazine!

Thank you Laurie!

Linking : My Girlish Whims * All Things Heart and Home * Blue Cricket Design * Finding Fabulous * Stuff and Nonsense

A little bit pretty

I am in awe of all the beautiful fabric and ribbon headbands that are all over blogland. Yesterday at the Crafty Girls workshop, a few crafty girls helped me pull off the most beautiful headband ever!

Here are the materials that we used. LOVE the brown velvet ribbon. I had never really been a "lace" person, but let me tell you, I can learn to love lace this pretty! Simple decorative brads finish off the look.

(Thanks for the donations Marsha!) 

I truly love how elegant this headband came out! 

I simply glued the flowers to felt and then used hot glue to attach the flowers to the headband. Super easy! 

Isn't it beautiful! I wore this today to church. Today happens to be my wedding anniversary to my wonderful husband...so hey, a little bit of pretty on my anniversary is a good thing! 

Happy Sunday!

Linking to Cherished Treasures  * My Girlish Whims * All Things Heart and Home

*  Blue Cricket Design * Finding Fabulous * Stuff and Nonsense * Shabby Nest * French Country Cottage

Whipperberry * Sugar Bee Crafts

Just a little change

Last night I had my dad over to help me hang blinds in the two windows in our foyer. SCARY! I borrowed my neighbors really big ladder. Made my dad climb up to install! I would have had my husband do his, but the boys had pack meeting for scouts...he went, I stayed home.

So, here is my front door wall...with the really high windows.

I have been living here for three years with those windows uncovered. The problem is that around 4 in the afternoon sun pours in. And from where I am standing to take the picture, our main family room is behind me, so the sun really hits that room.

But what I really wanted to show you is the little change I made in the door wall. I figured that since my dad was up on the really big ladder, he could hand something for me!

Here is what I added: 

Doesn't that look nice! The red tin star is made from a real barn that had a tin roof. (That is at least what the seller told me!) The star is quite bit, about four feet and I have had this star for a long time. I love the addition of the star on the wall! My dad says that the first person that slams the front door is going to be beheaded from it falling. So, new rule at our house:

DON'T SLAM THE FRONT DOOR!

Time to get ready for the Crafty Girls workshop for tomorrow!

Have a happy weekend! And, hopefully we'll all be back on Monday.... :)

Time for Father's Day!

Wow, have you ever had a few days where you just have so much going on that you can't sit down? That is exactly how it has been here for the past several days! So tonight I got to sit down and make up a Father's Day frame for my husband.

Yes, can you believe it! It is already time to start thinking about the great fathers, brothers, uncles or anyone that is a fatherly figure in our lives! Here is the frame that I made up tonight...

The frame itself is 12x12 

I know that I put a flower on the frame, but I really think it still looks manly! 

I really like the blues and browns together and I really like the vintage circus paper that is under the poem words. 

I loved this font! I also like how the two different size fonts look. 

I opted to use packing twine instead of ribbon. Maybe because I used a flower, I wanted to make sure I didn't use ribbon!  

This isn't the picture I am going to use for the frame. As you can tell, my printer is running out of ink and this picture is way to light. Once I get the right picture in the frame, it will be perfect!

Linking here: Yesterday on Tuesday