Quilted Love Gone Wrong by a Grumpy Ole Lady :)

At the risk of sounding pathetic, I want to say the past three weeks have been very trying.  I don't want to go into all the glorious details....just know...."It's always Something!!" 

I hope all of you are having a wonderful Sunday (Monday on the other side of the globe :) and if you like Valentines Day....that you are enjoying that as well.

My goal was to make a Valentines wall hanging.  I had the nerve to "want" to do something for myself.  There have been a thousand challenges along the way.  The good news is, I have some pictures of my unfinished Valentines wall hanging and I will be hanging it up and keeping it up until after May when Rick and I celebrate our 10th Wedding Anniversary!!!

I received this free pattern from AccuQuilt and I thought it looked interesting.  Last Monday when I went shop hopping with friends I bought these fabrics.

The Heart Die for the AccuQuilt Go is on one strip with three different size hearts on it.  I only wanted to fussy cut one heart at a time so I covered the rest of the hearts with a cutting mat so my fabric would not get cut except for where I wanted it to be cut.

Then I butted another mat up against the other mat and ran it through the AccuQuilt Go.  There may be other ways to accomplish this task but it was how I decided I would do it.

 

Wahhhh Lahhhhh a beautiful fussy cut heart!!

 

I drew reference lines on my background fabric so I would not have any of my hearts out of alignment.  I used the Clover Water Soluble Marker.  I love these markers.  I've never once had a problem with them and they show up great on dark fabrics.

(backing up a bit) I had ironed some fusible on the back of my fabric and then quickly remembered why I prefer Misty Fuse.  The stuff I started with did not even stay on my fabric, it kept separating.   Misty Fuse is light and holds every time without making my applique stiff.  Live and learn....then re-learn.  I know how to frustrate myself very well.  So I re-cut my hearts using Misty Fuse :)

This is my unfinished wall hanging.  I started stitching around each heart last night and was concerned I did not have enough thread.  What else could go wrong?  After all, I had already blown a fuse and blew out the electricity in the basement, used junk fusible.....running out of thread would be par for the course.  (whine, whine, whine....forgive me please!)

These are pictures of my very first Sugar Cookies!!  I needed to make some for Zachary's Valentines Party at school.  I'd never made them before much less make icing for them. 

See, they came out pretty.  I was not too thrilled with how I had iced them.....but some were prettier than others.  Still, I had fun and was proud that I did not buy them at the store....I made them myself.

The IHAN co-workers show off their Valentines Treats from Mommy & Daddy this morning:

So, that is why I have not posted in three days.....cuz I've been kicking and screaming like a little child because things keep going haywire.  I think I have a case of the crabbies....mean ole lady syndrome.  I will emerge from this soon.....or I will keep sweeping up the dirt from the plant that I've knocked over twice already :)

Grumpy Smiles,

Kelly