I'm speechless!

...not really!  I'd like to thank all the little people...oh wait!  I AM the little people!  I would sincerely like to thank my friend Mary over at The Tulip Patch for awarding my humble little blog with this...

And honestly, I DO try to be stylish...I AM a hair stylist, after all!  But not on my blog.  I really didn't imagine that anyone other than maybe my mother (Hi, Mama!) would ever care to read about my adventures in quilting.  I am SO very grateful to my followers for reading and giving me feedback with your comments :)

There are a couple of rules that go along with this award.  The 1st is, I get to pass this award on to 8 of my favorite "stylish" blogs.  And 2nd is, I have to share 8 things about myself that you may, or may not, know about me.  And in the hopes that you will stop at each of these links and skip over the 8 boring facts about myself, I will start with the links...
and the awards (in no particular order) go to...

Sandy @ Sandy's Sew Clever
Victoria @ She's Crafty
Grandmama Jane @ Grandmama's Stories
Natasha @ Joy of Quilting
Andrea @ Millions of Thoughts
Miranda (and Charlie) @ Miranda and Charlie
Erin @ My Patchwork Life
Vera @ Seams to Sew and Quilt

I "follow" roughly 85 blogs (yes, I counted, and yes, I read new posts everyday!) and it was really hard to single out just 8...I love them all!  These are just SOME of my favorites and they ALL deserve this award, too!

Ok, so I guess there's just one more order of business...

1.  I've been a hair stylist for almost 18 yrs now and I absolutely LOVE my job, although, it does cramp my quilty style occassionally.

2.  I'm "mom" to 3 beautiful, talented, extraordinary, funny, etc...children...who are not exactly "children" anymore.  At 20, 18, and almost 15, they are almost grown.

3.  I am married to the "Love of my life" who has 4 kids of his own.  I call them my "bonus" kids.

4.  I have NEVER won a giveaway in blogland.  And I've entered A LOT. 

5.  I have an addictive personality (self-diagnosed, of course).  But because of this awareness, I have chosen to make my addictions of the sewing-kind.  Also, puzzles of just about any kind, but mostly numbers.  I love math and I suspect that's why quilting is SEW appealing to me...lots of math in quilting :)

6.  My very 1st job was at McDonald's.  Which I am oddly kinda proud of...not even I know why.  I encouraged each of my kids to apply there when they were old enough, but none would :(

7. Both my girls are also hair stylists.  The oldest has had her license for 2 years now and the younger will test for her license in May.

8.  I can solve a Rubik's cube.  I keep one on my station at work and will occassionally ask someone to "mess it up" for me.  I love love LOVE coming into work and finding it "messed up".  And I cannot leave work until it's "fixed".

So there you have it.  Be sure to check out the links above and to those of you who have wandered over from The Tulip Patch, WELCOME!  I would love to get to know ALL of you so leave me a comment, click on "follow" and if you have a blog, let me know so I can follow you, too...there's always room for more on my reading list ;)

I survived...

...the holidays, that is!  But just barely.  Right after Christmas, we had company.  Our sweet friends from Mexico, G and Cesia came to spend the New Year with us.  They got here on friday and by monday, I had the flu.  Boo.

BUT while I was aching and chilling, Cesia was working on her first quilt.  She wanted to learn how and I wasn't going to let a little fever keep me from helping her.  She made a baby rag quilt out of flannels and it really was the CUTEST thing and I've waited to blog about it because I didn't get a pic of it before they left on thursday morning.  She promised she would take a pic and then left it at her parent's house on her way back to San Luis.  So I'm still waiting on that pic...but I'm so proud of her, I just had to brag.  So, Cesia, now it's a lot more than just me who wants to see that pic...just saying.

Before Christmas I was working on a commissioned quilt that I hope to show pics of soon.  So, so far I guess this is the most boring blog post EVER.

Oh, wait!  Ok, so after the New Year and our company were gone, I decided to make a few handmade gifts for Christmas.  Oh, I know Christmas is over, but who's gonna say "no" to a handmade gift?  As most of you know, I'm a hair stylist in my "other" life.  I found this tute by accident one day, and just KNEW I had to make these for my girls at work.

It's a case for your flat iron! 

I have a case that I paid WAY too much for and have thought several times, "I could make that."  But I wasn't crazy about the design.  then I found this cool tutorial.   This one is different because...

...it has a flap that holds your cord, nice and secure.  Now I can pick it up anyway I want and my precious (and very expensive) CHI doesn't fall out.  Genius!
I did change it slightly, though.  I wanted the seam that is made by the pocket to land in the middle of the case, so I shortened the width of the pocket by a 1/2 in.  I also did not want to mess with trying to line up bias tape on the front AND back and just "hoping" that I'm catching both.  So I made my own bias binding and sewed it on the same way I would machine sew a binding on a quilt.  If the stitches showing on the inside of the case would bother you, you could just hand-stitch the binding down to the other side.  I also went ahead and quilted the body of each case.  It doesn't seem right to put batting inside an item (insulated or not) and then NOT quilt it.

I almost finished a Christmas gift for a very dear friend...didn't quite get it quilted, but here's the top...

I found the pattern at the Moda Bake Shop and bought a kit for it from the designer Natalia over at Piece N Quilt.  I'll post finished pics later...you know, when it's finished.

And just a little side-note...I've been wondering lately...How do you suppose God was able to create the whole world and everything in it, without making a huge mess?  My sewing room is a disaster area!