N' Stitches Christmas Party

Like everything this year I ran late on making a gift for my N' Stitches Group. I was literaly down to the wire on this project! I am hoping for better time management skills for 2010. I did manage to get this project finished for the party even though the glue was still a little wet!

Every year one of my local groups has a great Christmas party! We do a Chinese gift exchange. This year I made one of my tins with a pinkeeper inside. It was one of the gifts that had got stolen for the limit. Of course Debbie H. just had to steal my snow globe! Wendy just had to steal my homemade toffee. I could go on but no need. I wound up stealing something that was better. I got hand dyed silk velvet, in purples, pink and purple beads and some fluffy stuff for my imagination!

I always enjoy the Christmas party! I also enjoy the group through out the year! like my cyber groups this one has great people and support in it! I would like to thank all my groups and wish them a Happy New Year!

Now the eye candy:



Here is the top of the tin.

A picture of the side.

The inside of the top with the front of the pinkeeper.

The back of the pin keeper.

The inside of the bottom of the tin.


Now for the construction of many more!

TTFN

The Lion

Crazy Pal Gift

I have to show y'all my stocking! One of my yahoo groups Victorian CQ ers has a "Crazy Pal" program. This is the first month that we sent out our items. For my first gift from my Crazy Pal I got this really neat stocking full of things! I have them pictured here.

Well nearly all. She also sent me a 2 year planner and I am at this point using it! Thank you, Crazy Pal for all the awesome stuff!

TTFN

The Lion

Another Christmas........................

Another Christmas has come and gone! Here we are the day after Christmas. The December meeting of the Lost Pines CQ Group has ended. We had a great meeting with the few members who had shown up today! Next Christmas we are doing something different! Whoo-Hoo!!

This New Year there will be some changes in the way that I am doing somethings. I have made a priority list and will stick to it! I know, I know many people have done this and about two or three months into the New Year the list gets lost or ignored. That is why we all have UFO's!

Well, I want to stick to it! So I guess we will see what happens. On the top of this list is my blog I want everyone to see what I am doing and get helpful information from my blog and I have in store many more tutorials!

The next thing on my list is FINISHING a full size CQ quilt! That is my UTS quilt called "Seanes". That is why there is all the under the sea things surrounding me! It keeps me focused!(I hope!)

The rest of the list will come out in the New Year!!!

TTFN
The Lion

A Merry Christmas

It is Christmas day and it is a cold 29 degrees in central Texas! I am wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas today. May everyone have all their family around them and may y'all get everything that y'all want for Christmas!

Big Texas Hugs!

The Lion

Here I Am Again!

Well, here I am again! I have tons of things to do and tons of things to show everyone but have not quite got to it yet! It just seems like the old daily grind has gotten in the way of my "play" for way too, long! One day I will be able to balance my work life to my CQ life!

This week I had planned to play "catch up"! We were not able to go to Florida to spread a little cheer to my husbands side of the family so............................."catch up" it was!!! I had planned on making two or three posts a day but life has got in the way of that again!

Sunday, it was over to my mothers. HO, HO, HO Merry Christmas-ing!! Then Monday after my husband and I got back from Wal-Mart getting tires for my daughters car, the girls begged to go to the mall. DH said yes we could go.............................. Into Austin for the rest of the day. Really it did take the rest of the day. Funny thing the mall was not as crowded as I thought that it would be........

Yesterday................yesterday morning was spent doing errands and then when I got home and settled down to work on my Christmas Stocking I wanted a color of ribbon that needed to be ironed. Yesterday afternoon was spent ironing out all my silk ribbon. I did not know that I had that much of a build up on silk ribbon that needed to be ironed! Well, at least it got done!

Of course in between getting ALL that ribbon ironed I also walked my blind dog, fixed lunch and dinner, yelled at the teenage girls for spilling a coke on my brAND NEW TWO MONTH OLD COUCH! Did I happen to mention that THE COUCH IS ULTRA SUEDE?

Yes, that last part still upsets me! OH! This part is going to make ALL of y'all giggle! I had to take the spare key to my son for his truck. He locked his keys in the truck again!

Those are just the highlights of my last three "vacation" days I just did not get to the details of EVERYthing that I did! But everyone can imagine what those consisted of!

SIGH...........................................

I should have taken two weeks off!

TTFN

The Lion

Middle Of December????????

Here it is the middle of December, almost Christmas really. Where has the month flown?? I have not been able to accomplish anything that I should have done with this month! Have y'all ever had one of those months??? Well, this is mine! I have the week off so I am going to try to get allot of things done! I have tons of images of things I have done to show y'all so hang on to your chairs and get ready for a eye candy week!

The first of the pictures that I am going to show everyone is of the altered cabinet card swap that I had entered. This is the one from "A Swap For All Seasons". The top card is the one that I had received. The bottom card is the one that I made.

Great for decorating the Christmas tree!

I had really enjoyed doing this swap. Actually both swaps that I participated in for this lady were fun! These swaps are giving me a chance to explore other art forms and help with inspiration for mine.

I am hoping that in this way I can keep my ideas fresh.

TTFN

The Lion

My Dolphin

This next block for "Mini-Seanes" is embellished by Laurie. I was so excited when I saw that she had beaded me a dolphin. What under the sea world would be complete whit out a dolphin! as you can see that this very talented lady beaded the whole of the dolphin. She stated in my book that she had used a new to her stabilizer, so that the backing of the beaded dolphin would not buckle. She does not state which kind that she used as I am curious to which kind that it is.

The lace that she chose to put on the bottom of the block is just perfect for the bottom of the "sea floor".

Here is the beautiful block:


"Mini-Seanes" is going to be just beautiful when I get finished with it! My next post will have a special request so keep your eyes open!

TTFN
The Lion

A Block By Karrin

Here is another block for "Mini-Seanes". This one is done by Karrin. Karrin is a very talented lady that I have had the privilege of being in a couple of RR's with. On this block as you can see she gave me a treasure chest. Also another jellyfish. At the bottom the really cool "fluffy" plant she made is from a piece of upholstery trim that had unravelled. It just goes to show you that you can really add anything to a CQ block!

Here is the picture of the block:

I cannot wait to see both my under the sea quilts finished! I hope that y'all enjoyed this block!

TTFN

The Lion

Another Under The Sea Block

The joys of the Internet are many! Among the joys you get to "meet" so many people you would not get to in the course of your life! One of the many reasons that I joined the Crazy Quilting groups on yahoo. I have learned so much in the years that I have been in contact with the many ladies that I have met around the world!
That is one of the reasons that I chose to do the "Mini-Seanes". This next block was embellished by a really good Internet friend of mine. Pam. Pam lives in England. The talents that she has are many but the one that I most admire is her beading! She does BEAUTIFUL bead work!
Here it is the block that Pam did for me in the Under The Sea RR from CQI:


I hope to maybe one day to go to England. I would dearly love to meet Pam! I am so sure that we would tear up the town, so to speak!

TTFN

The Lion

Small "Seanes"

Here it is! The post that everyone has been waiting for! Really I am not procrastinating again! I am trying to work out a "happy balance" between my "play" and my work! I might have to give up that promotion! I am tired of not having time to "play"!

I thought that I would start out by showing you my blocks for "Mini-Seanes". Here is the first one. This one my friend Rose Anne embellished for me.


The reason for "Mini-Seanes" is this will be a wall hanging for my wall. I thought that since I was in a UTS RR through CQI that I would make it out of blocks done all by my cyber friends. Y'all know all the talented ladies that I know through my online groups. It is going to be something that I will treasure for the rest of my life! That is because the large "Seanes" after it has made a show circuit I will be gifting that one to my sister Kara.

Kara is the "Tom Boy" of us three sisters. She was also a steel worker in the Sea Bees. Right now she is in Oklahoma working as a prison guard. So "Seanes" will make a great gift for her!

I hope that y'all will enjoy the up coming under the sea posts!

TTFN
The Lion

My New Background

I have to tell y'all why I have a new background up! My new background is to motivate me to finish my "Seanes" quilt! I am almost finished with all prior obligations and am wanting to get this new quilt done. Well..............it is not really a new quilt as I have been working on it off and on for about a year and a half now!
I AM TIRED OF PUTTING IT ON THE BACK BURNER!
I will now in the next few months be solely working on my "Seanes" quilt! I am hoping that everyone will enjoy watching me refuse to have another UFO in my closet! In the next few days I will start posting the blocks that I have already done for this quilt.

In the meantime I will surround myself with all things "sea like"! I hope that y'all will enjoy this journey!

TTFN

The Lion

They Have Come And Gone

The 2009 Lion's Christmas Stocking Swap is officially over! I received the last three stockings and have sent them out. My beautiful Stephanie hand picked the swappers and I mailed them all off on Monday!

Here are pictures of the last three stockings.

I hope that all the ladies are as thrilled with their swap stockings as I am with mine! We had a GREAT bunch of stockings this year! All were very BEAUTIFUL! As y'all can tell by the pictures!

I hope that the participation for next years swap is just as wonderful! For all those early birds the theme for next years swap is Angels. Stay tuned I am thinking that another kind of swap is just around the corner!

TTFN

The Lion

Have I Shown You This Yet????

As all who have been following my blog know I am crazy about the altered tins! Absolutely, LOVE them! I think that they make a GREAT gift! I had been following a blog for a while now called A Swap For All Seasons. I enjoy seeing the multi-media art that the ladies and also the owner Linda makes. Just beautiful stuff!

Last season Linda had a altered Altoids tin swap. Seeing as how I love working these, I entered it! At the end of the season I sent my tin off to its new owner Becky. Here is a link to Becky's blog: www.whosies.blogspot.com

Becky made me this BEAUTIFUL tin! I think that it is absolutely darling! The little bird on it made me smile! It still does!


The nest that was inside of it made my day! When I need a pick-me-up I always pick this tin up and look at it again!

Becky also sent me some fodder for my CQ! These treasures have been assimilated into my stash for "Catch My Star". I am hoping to get started on "Catch My Star" here in the next year! First, I have to finish "Seanes" .

Theresa, a 19yo who goes to the N' Stitches meetings has me hooked on the multi-media art! Well.........her and Linda. Thanks Linda for letting me "play" on your blog!

I have entered into the Linda's Altered Cabinet Card Swap! I am very excited about it! I have found the card that I am going to use and inspiration is starting to hit!

For those who want to check out A Swap For All Seasons here is her link: http://aswapforallseasons.blogspot.com/

Off to stitch.......................

TTFN

The Lion

The Lion's Stockings

Here they are! My stockings for the swap! I was able to get two of them done. I had other visions for them. I have had the Santa pictures for a while. They are the cutest Victorian Santas. A friend of mine sent them to me. I really cannot call them silkies as they are a kind of hard cotton! But that is okay I figured out how to use them any way!

Here is stocking number one:


Here is stocking number two:

So................... What do y'all think??

I hope that everyone is getting ready for next years swap! The theme for next year is going to be Angels!

TTFN

The Lion

First Arrivals For The Lions 2009 Stocking Swap

Hello, everyone the fun is afoot! The first arrivals have arrived for The Lions Stocking Swap. Here are the pictures for the first three arrivals:

The first one is a picture of Gerry's wonderful Victorian boot! Gerry's boots are just Drool making!

Here is a picture of both the front and back of Karen's stocking! I wanted to show you the back as she has a beautiful picture of a Red Work Santa on it! Absolutely beautiful!

And last but not least is Ruby's cheery stocking! Just too cute! Ruby, WOW!!! How can my stockings even compare to your cool stocking???

We are still waiting on the USPS to cough up the last of the stockings! Hopefully they will do that soon!

TTFN

The Lion

Other Making Memories Quilts

The other quilts for the Making Memories Foundation where just as stunning! The exhibit was a real "show stopper"! I thought that y'all would like to see a few pictures of the quilts there! I am going to use these for inspiration!

So? What did y'all think??

TTFN

The Lion

The Big Reason

As most of y'all who follow my blog know I am part of CQI. I in the past made some blocks for the Making Memories project through this group. I am also in the process of making some for the project this year. I will have those blocks up for y'all before to long.

The big reason that I made it to this years Houston Quilt Show is to see the quilts that CQI had made for the Making Memories Foundation.

Here they are:

I am also putting up a rare picture of myself as I don't like taking pictures!

I hope that everyone at CQI is as excited about seeing these pictures as I am! Well of the quilts not me. I am surprised the camera still works!

TTFN

The Lion

The Houston International Quilt Show

I went this year! Who-Hoo!! I went with my sister Brandi, her boyfriend Alex, and my nephew Tyler. I took many pictures but here is a sample of the AWESOME quilts that you could find there:

This first quilt my nephew spotted and he said Aunt Lyn take a picture of this one! It is so cool! So I did he wants a picture sent to him.

This second picture is just on of many quilts that I took pictures of. I LOVE the Hawaiian quilts! I took a picture of every one of those. I thought that they were just stunning! Maybe one day I will attempt to make one of these.

This one is just too cool! I thought that this quilt would be great inspiration!

Here is the next one that my nephew fell in love with! He thought that this one was just a poster. When he got up next to it he was just stunned to learn that it was just another awesome quilt! So he was saying once again "Take a picture Aunt Lyn"!

Here is another great inspiration quilt.

My sister who does not usually like to go to things with me as they really are not interesting to her, really enjoyed herself! Both her and her boy friend. I think that she just might go with me to next years. I hope so as she lives there in Houston!

TTFN

The Lion

Karrin's Summer DYB

We are coming down to the last on this RR. Karrin's block is the second to the last. I have proudly finished my block for this RR and have sent it on! I thought that you might want to see the three blocks previously done by others so that y'all can get where my inspiration went!

Here they are:

Karrin's blocks are going to go into a wall hanging called "Summer Days and Summer Nights". So she made three blue blocks and three yellow blocks. I chose to work on a yellow block. I love the color yellow it is so bright and lovely........................


I went along with the silkie theme. The silkie that I chose to put on this block reminds me of a cottage on a summer day. Of course I encrusted the block. Sorry, but that is where the inspiration led me! Roses! I had to put on roses, what is a summer day without them!

Here is my block:

Karrin, I hope that you like it! It is now off to its last stop on the way home!

TTFN

The Lion

Cobi's Landscape

Finally!! After "Stitchers Block" I have Cobi's landscape block ready to go home! I hope that Cobi likes what I have done for her. When I got this block the only thing that was not stitched on was a little corner of the block so..............I made Cobi a flower field. I "played" with some SRE flowers that I have been wanting to attempt.

Here is a close up of the corner "flower field" that I stitched for Cobi.

Here is the whole block.

I am going to mail this block out tomorrow. Thanks Cobi!

TTFN

The Lion

WOW!!

I am starting to get in blocks from the replacement wedding quilt! They are so stunning! I cannot wait to see this quilt put together!

I have blocks from Kathy(Shawkl), Amber R, Eileene G, and Angela W. Each of the ladies have done a wonderful job on them!

Here in the first picture I have four blocks put together. Kathy's, Eileene's, and Amber's.

Here is Angela's wonderful block. Angela, sorry but your beautiful shell did not make it through the mail system. I will re-attach it for you.

Thank you to all the ladies y'all have done a wonderful job! I could have not done it with out y'all!

TTFN

The Lion

Journal Winner

There is a winner! There is a winner! From the sweet fingers of my darling Stephanie comes a winner! The winner for my "Journal Giveaway" is: Karen!

Karen could you email me your snail mail address??? I will get it right out to you!

The Lion's BIG Adventures

OK, here is the post where I tell all about my week! The week started out normal, so to speak. At work where I got my promotion, we had the owner come in and stir up things there. Needless to say it was a long working week. I did manage to get two more trainees, trained and out on their routes. I also found a valued former member of the team and talked her back into working with us again! I missed Bridgett as much as I missed Sonya! It is good to have them back on board! I am hoping that things start running more smoothly!


Friday night was a big night for my Stephanie. Stephanie is a Senior in high school this year. I don't know if I had posted this but she made captain of the color guard. This past Friday was senior night for the band. I wound up having to come home from work and getting some sleep so that I could have enough rest so that I could go to the game and escort her on the Senior Walk across the field. I almost started crying. Another of my children almost out of the house! Why can they not just stop growing?!?


Saturday, now that was the fun day! I also forgot to bring my camera along or I would have had pictures! AAAHHH, well! Saturday I got to go to Warrington, with my CQ group. For those of you who don't know Warrington/Round Top, Texas once a year holds the biggest Antique fair that the world has ever seen! We spent about 8 hours there and did not get through even 1/3 of the vendors. That was just in Warrington! There is also Round Top!

You do have to be real careful when you go to the fair there though, there were ALLOT of reproductions! One of the items on my list that I was looking for was Silkies. There were not many there. The ones that were priced reasonable were not what I was looking for, the others that I found were WWAAAYYY over priced! Still other vendors had not a clue what I was talking about! Hard to believe they were antique dealers! (Right Renee??) By the way, Renee and I were a "stroll team" at Warrington. Renee, found a GREAT solid oak cabinet for stash storage! It is real nice! If y'all talk to her real sweet she might tell y'all all about her find! It came out of a 1920's hardware store.

The lace and buttons and other things were everywhere! You also had to be real careful there also. Some of those dealers were real proud of their items even though the quality was not there! The you ran into others that had more reasonable prices on their items.

Here are the pictures of the things that I did pick up:

Not too bad for an afternoon of baking out in the Texas sun! I am looking forward to this week as I am to be home early. The big boss at work has said "NO OVERTIME" WHOO-HOO! Vacation! I still have more posts but I am looking forward to getting them up this week that way all of y'all can see what I have been up to!

TTFN

The Lion