Owl Mini and Monthly Challenge

              Happy New Year Everyone!!! I hope you all had a safe and Happy New Year's Eve and Day! I had a pretty good one myself.  I have been so ready for 2016 to be over! I've had a really good start to 2017 and hope it'll continue that way.
          I'm not big on the whole "New Years Resolutions" thing because it just never works out for me. So this year I thought I would do something different, I'm sure that this is not a new by any means but it's something I thought might work for me. And I'm telling you all so you can help hold me accountable. I am going to do monthly goals, each month a new goal based on the previous one. Kind of looking at it as challenging myself to do the things I already want to do or should be doing.
        So my goal/challenge for January is to SEW EVERY SINGLE DAY!!!! Whether it be just 5 minutes or hours, I want to be at my machine EVERY DAY! And I will document my sewing through pictures here on my blog and also on my Instagram and probably on my Facebook, so make sure you are following me on IG and "like" my Facebook page!!!! I would really appreciate it! I'm going to start a hashtag incase any of you would like to challenge yourselves as well or would just like to follow my progress. Since this is an effort to get my "sew-jo" back, I'm going to use the hashtag "#mysewjoback"

    And I've sewn the past few days and actually have my first FINISH of the New Year!!! I'm so happy with the way it turned out too! I decided since Elizabeth Hartman is one of my quilting Idols, I would make something from her Fancy Forest pattern. I chose to make the owl!!!!


Here is a progress picture of me quilting it. I chose to do an allover random square design. I really love the way it turned out!

   I'll show you a close up of the quilting from the front and back too.

The quilting lines are not straight by any means but I'm super happy with the result. I am tired of just stippling all of my projects just because it's easy which is why I chose to do this design.

Here is the finished owl, of course this picture was taken at night in the sewing room so the lighting isn't great. But don't worry, I have daylight pictures too!!!

My daughter helped me with holding it up. The fabrics I used are from Leah Duncan's Arizona line for Art Gallery fabrics. I LOOOOVE this line! And I just had to use Essex Linen in black for the background. It's one of my favorites! I love the texture!

I couldn't be happier with the way it turned out. But to be honest, I like the back just as much as I do the front.

This is right before I finished sewing the binding on. Again, at night in the sewing room.

Here is the back with better light. I used the same fabric line for the back and for the borders/background I wanted to use something different than the front so I chose Essex Linen in Ivory.

Here it is a little closer. Don't you love it?!?!?

And I had to get an up close of the quilting and of my little tag too!!! You can really see the details of the quilting in this picture.

  Again, I am really happy with the way this owl turned out. Not sure what my next project will be....I think maybe use some more of this fabric and make a cute drawstring bag tonight...hmmmm....make sure u follow me on Instagram to find out!!!!

And I would love for you guys to sew along with me....challenge yourself as well, sew EVERY SINGLE DAY, even if its just for 5 minutes. Let's see what we can make!!! If you do remember to use to hashtag #mysewjoback

Linking up for Finish It Up Friday at CrazyMomQuilts
I will talk to y'all soon!

So far, it's a good start....

To the New Year!!! I've had a lot go on in such a short time this year! Most importantly, I'd like to introduce everyone to...

Miss Abby who is my newest niece! She was born Jan. 4, 2013 weighing 8lbs 5.7 oz and was 21 1/4 in. long! She's perfect!!! Had a rough first week but is home now and doing great! She's such a good baby so far too! I just want to eat her! LOL! That's been the most exciting news!

On another note, I lost my job! :( But the only reason that happened is because I found a new one, the new job called the old job, and the old job....well.... let's just say got a little mad. But it's for the best, really! I'll be working dayshift (THANK GOD!) instead of nights, pay is better, and I'll get to spend more time with my babies! Hopefully, this will work out the way I have planned! *fingers crossed*

I've been sewing quite a bit this year too! If anyone follows me on IG (craftnursequilt) then you guys already know! Let me show ya a little bit of what I've got going on!

I started on the Lucky Stars BOM last night! This is the practice block, I decided to do this quilt out of all solids! Hopefully I'll get to use up a lot of those charms from my Kona Rainbow swap! I'm going with a grayish background too....I don't think I'm going to stick to a specific gray, just different grays that I have on hand. I think it'll look pretty good!

I've got Miss Abby's quilt top all sewn together (no pic of the completed top! Sorry!) and am working on the backing.

I finished my Bee block, which I love!!!! I think Samantha did a FANTASTIC job designing this quilt block, she calls it "Momma Goose" and I can NOT wait to see the finished product! You can find the tutorial here and she's also got a drawing of what she wants the finished quilt to look like!

I am enrolled in Vanessa Christenson's Craftsy class called Sewing Texture and I absolutely LOVE her ideas!!!!

I've gotten this far on my pillow top! It's super easy!!! And I love her ideas of using texture so much that I've designed a mini quilt top for the DQS13 using pleats!

The rainbow of color in the center will be pleats, I'm hoping I can figure out how to pull this off! I think it'll be really cool looking if I can do it! So wish me luck!!!!


Also, this year...my baby girl turned 5!!!!!!! I can't believe how big she is getting! Where has all the time went??????

I finished this lovely for her baby doll and gave it to her as a b-day gift! I love how it turned out! The colors are so much brighter than this pic shows! And she LOVES it!!!
So this year so far, has been pretty good!!! I'm hoping everything works out the way I want it to! I know it's gonna be a lot to adjust to, but I've got a good support system backing me 100% so I think it'll all work out!
Now, I'm off to sew, not sure what, but it will involve me & my machine!!!!!
~Hope y'all are having a great day!!~