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I'm aware the photos are missing, thankfully someone told me. I'm working on the problem.  Thank you for your patience, I have to re-upload all the photos to fix it and it will take some time.  I'm sorry...  :(

Trip to Virginia ~ 2012 July

Well, we had our first semi-camping trip about a week ago.  Semi meaning we were on a "camp ground" but we rented a travel trailer.  We considered bringing a tent to also rough it a bit more, but if we had we would have been flooded out by the huge thunder storms we were in the middle of.  I also managed to bring my sewing machine and work on the paper piecing for this quilt I have started and I visited two different quilt shops on one of our rainy days!  Just to warn everyone I have posted a bunch of pictures in this post. :-)

My only pic the trailer we rented :)

We made it to JellyStone Park :-)

Yes, he is doing what you think as his big brother looks on like he is crazy.

I had to go out for the sunrise!

Anyone who knows me, knows I love sunset & sunrises!

My oldest, very excited he is driving the golf cart.

We then let my youngest have a go at it!

Eerie looking sky

We had so much rain while we were there.

Hat from Colonial Williamsburg

Bathroom sign, while there :-)

VA Followers, let me know if you know the name of this please :-)

I spotted a rainbow :)

My husband, being drenched by all of the kids on the water ride LoL! He even asked the ride operator to blow her whistle! :-)

Serenity, the ship in the distance.

crepe myrtles - Pink & white :-)

Go-carts, pics of each in the lead to be fair, haha :-)

Notice he is on alone? Youngest asked to get off after 1 loop around.

Out front of the VA Living Museum

Very hungry, snapping turtle :->

The rarely seen, double headed snapping turtle! :-)

Such an actor :-)

I spy a....

Beavers grooming each other :-)

Jellyfish :-)

Keep going, almost done....zzzzzzzzzzz....sorry about all of these pictures :-)

Lobster, he had no fear he would be dinner :)

Black Snake shedding :)

I had heard this before, very cool!

Took this pic while in a bathroom, I had to do it! haha

Last morning, view from trailer.

Sunrise view from a puddle :-)

Washington Monument from a truck going 65mph+ hah

Ice Anyone? Read below haha

Okay, the story of the ice goes like this, I walk in from the garage and notice that the ice tray catcher thing (technical term) is sitting in the sink, hmmmmmm, I wonder if possibly?  So I grabbed a towel, thankfully and laid it out on the floor under the freezer door.  I then opened it up and surprise, the ice maker was making ice while we were away!  I know what you are thinking, but I can not take credit for this one, I will not blatantly point the finger at (clears throat), my husband, because that wouldn't be fair...giggles.  He had filled the cooler before we left with some items that needed to stay cold for our trip and may have forgotten to put it back in the freezer when he was finished.  So this is my story to and from our trip to Virginia.  I hope it gave you a chuckle or two.  :-)

2012 July ~ Pokemon Card Tote Bags

I made these drawstring tote bags to hold my son's Pokemon cards, so they could take them along on our trip to Virginia (post coming up soon, bunch of pictures too).  I used scraps, if I had used regular fabric it would not have taken quite as long.  I lined and quilted both of them.  By looking at them you can see they are different sizes, obvious sign I didn't use a pattern...haha.  Plus I like the way the top turned out for the one on the left, I made it 2nd.  They were thrilled and had plenty of room for the new cards I also surprised them with for long the drive down :-)

2012 July ~ Quilt #10 Under Way!

I am soooooooo excited with how this quilt is going to look when it is finished!  In this plastic bin is 1296 triangles and 72 squares!  The color is not showing up like it does to the eye, it is much more of pretty 3 toned purple, it almost looks blue in the picture.  I can't wait to get it going!  :-)

 I will be using my brand new favorite ruler, made by Erin Underwood.  It is called the 15 Degree Ruler ! The things you can do with this ruler are endless!  :-)

PS...I still need to cut out the wedges, when I do this, I will update the count of pieces!  :-)

Quilt Along is Up & Running ~ You Can Catch Up! :-)

Hey everyone! The Christmas in July Block-A-Thon has started & you will love what you see!  Please join in for all of the fun!  Below is the amazing list of bloggers that are participating and showing you how to create some amazing blocks. So be sure to check out their sites and watch here for their block tutorial. It is a jam packed month with lots of blocks, but if you do not get them done in the short amount of time, we will be putting together an E-book that you can click through that will have all the blocks and tutorials inside. Very easy for catch up!
2 GRAND PRIZES include all the fabrics to create the Christmas in July quilt. They will be randomly selected at the end of the QAL in a comment manner.
Post your progress in our Flickr group that you can find HERE. (http://www.flickr.com/groups/2022427@N22/)

Also, if you are joining in, grab our button on the sidebar to post on your blog! 

List of Bloggers!

July 2^th - Heather at Fiberosity   http://www.fiberosity.com/
July 5^nd - Pat Sloan http://blog.patsloan.com/
July 6^th – Melanie at Melanie Dramatic http://melaniedramatic.com/
July 9^th - Pam at Pam Kitty Morning http://pamkittymorning.blogspot.com/
July 11^th - Kelsey Creates  http://www.kelseycreates.com/
July 13^th - Katie @ Swim Bike Quilt  http://www.swimbikequilt.com/
July 16^th - Kim at Persimon Dreams http://www.persimondreams.com/
July 18^th - Amanda at Sasikirana http://amandasasikirana.wordpress.com/
July 20^th - Jane at QuiltJane http://www.quiltjane.blogspot.com/
July 23^th - Kristy at St Louis Folk Victorian http://stlouisfolkvictorian.blogspot.com/
July 25^th – Kimberly at Fat Quarter Shop  http://fatquartershop.blogspot.com/
*July 27^rd - Lee at Freshly Pieced freshlypieced.blogspot.com
*July 30^th - Jennifer at MJandCo http://mjandco-quilting.blogspot.com/
*August 1^st – Mishka at Quilting Gallery http://quiltinggallery.com/blog-posts/
*August 3^rd - Tiffiny at www.freepatchworkquiltinfo.com <------ ME
*August 6^th - Tacha at Fat Quarterly http://www.fatquarterly.com
*August 8^th – Megan at Canoe Ridge Creations http://canoeridgecreations.com
*August 10^th – Jocelyn at It’s Sew Emma http://fatquartershop.blogspot.com/
August 13^th – Final Quilt Reveal!

2012 July ~ Lunch Bag & Link to an Awesome FREE Tutorial!

Full view of the lunch bag, I used his favorite football team as the main fabric, pizza print for the rim, musical notes and pebbles on the handles and if you see penguins popping out of the top, that is the special cover to keep things from falling out.  I love love love this design!

I finally made my first bag over the last couple days, it is a lunch bag for my oldest son, the fabrics I chose are all things that he loves, so it is unique for him.  I got this FREE pattern from my new friend's, Ayumi's wonderful craft Blog, she has soooooo many great tutorials with fantastic pictures to go along with it, you must check her stuff out! 

A peek inside of the lunch bag, you can see the carrots waiting inside as the liner :-) See the signed tag inside also? :-)

Here is my son, proudly holding his new lunch bag, he gives it a thumbs up :-p

Pic of me with my oldest baby, this pic was taken June 24, 2012 :-)

***If you want to see the lunch bag I made for my youngest baby, go ahead and click here, this is the link to the newer post.  =)

When you visit Ayumi's site, leave her a comment, tell her Tiffiny sent you :-)  She is a real Sweet Heart!  :-)

DIY - Bobbin Mates Tutorial - No More Loose Ends!

I love the fact that my bobbins are no longer hooking up with each other in one tangled mess.  Everything I had seen before seemed like a huge hassle or you couldn't see the color of the thread at a glance like you can with these.  I saw this idea on Pinterest a while back, but I can not find it anywhere on my boards to give credit.  So, I took pictures along the way as I recreated what I could remember and probably changed it a bit since I am sure I missed some details or added some.  I hope you love it as much as I do.  Let me know what you think :-)

Things you will need:  
1.   Clear Vinyl Tubing (I found it in the plumbing section @ Home Depot) The 1/2"x3/8" size worked perfectly for my size bobbins.
2.  A sharp utility knife (I borrowed my hubby's Husky...shhh), I tried with scissors at first, my hands hurt after one.
3.  A cutting board.
4.  A measuring tape (mine is a Dritz), which I ended up not needing since I was eye balling it, and worked out just fine.
5.  A Sharpie Marker if you are going to use the measuring tape.
6.  And the most important thing you need is a tangled mess of bobbins.  :-)
(Amazon Affiliate links above, if you click and shop at Amazon I would then make a tiny profit from the sale.  Thanks in advance for your support)

Things you will need :-)

Close up of the tubing label

I cut the tubing approximately 5/8' wide.  I didn't mark many of them, I started to eyeball it :-)

Now cut the small O shape tubes into a C shape by cutting down one side.

 

Some of my completed bobbins with their clear shields on them, No more loose ends!

Now they stack so nicely, I wonder if I can make something similar to go on the big spools of thread...haha :p

Now, I just need to figure out how to make these for my large spools of thread.  :-p   I am in the transition of moving my sewing area to a different room in the house.  I will post those pics soon also.  Any questions about this, feel free to ask me :-)

Hugs & Smiles, Tiffiny ~ Smilie Mommy