The music has stopped and our game of bedroom bingo is officially over!

The cast is off and I can sort of type again! The good news is sewing doesn't hurt much! So in honor of my fingers freedom, a quick blog post!

Remember the game of musical chairs from childhood? We have been playing that game for the last three plus years at our house and I think either we are going to move into a house that is just one huge bedroom and put two king sized beds together or finally declare a game over! Max was so excited when Ellie and Sam were finally born and each brought home from the hospital after our years of infertility struggles and adoption hurdles that he wanted all three of them to share a room or at least he and Sam could be roomies. From there for various reasons over the past three years we have worked through all the combinations from all three together to all three apart and everything in between. They have also been in all three of the rooms, including taking over a guest room and making another room for our guests.

Finally everyone is happy and in their own rooms. A few months ago this included saying good-bye to the cribs and purchasing big girl bed for Ellie, Sam inheriting Max's bunk bed's and Max getting a new larger bed. We are also starting to decorate each space and for me that includes making them each a quilt or in Sam's case a set for their beds. The boys bed's have bedding that will work for a bit, but Ellie has only random blankets, so I started with hers. For now the walls are a spring green from when we didn't now whether we would be blessed with a boy or a girl (it worked great when we found ourselves parents to one of each!) I plan to paint it a aqua blue perhaps someday soon, but made a fun quilt that will work with anything. I must say I love paper piecing a string quilt, but it does seem to take forever!

It was so fun working with all my favorite scraps and gathering a few new ones! Here is a closer look

Using Ashley's wonderful String Block tutorial found here. Also lots of fun examples of string quilts on flickr here and here.

I am almost done with the back and it will be off to Courtney at KC to be quilted. After the new year I will start on quilts for Max and Sam. Next up for me on the quilt list should really be a quilt for my mom for Christmas, but before starting that I think I am going to take on a quick one for my brother-in-law for the holidays. Along with my husband and their mom, they have had a hard few months since their dad unexpectedly passed away this summer. I thought maybe a special quilt would keep him warm and cozy. He is a big guy and needs a manly quilt. I feel in love by this awesome quilt from Cara and since she is nice enough to start a quilt along . . .

Check it out and join in the fun. I love the thought of this one and think it will come together pretty quick. At this time of year a quick check off the list is a good thing! I hope to get started a bit today!

Note to my children if they ever read this later in life . . . I love you all so much, but please stay in your beds all night. Last night dad and I ended up getting out of bed and going downstairs to the guest room when you all ended up in our bed around 2 am. Is it really that lonely in your own rooms?

Pillow Talk Swap Mosaics

I thought it would be fun to look at the photos I have put into mosaics for this swap the past four times. It shows that yes I tend to love the same pillows and the same styles, but also that I just am so inspired by everything made by this fun group.

Round 4 Mosaic

Round 3 Inspiration

I love all these pillows!

Round 2

Round 1

As I add these photo to the post I LOVE all these, especially the two in the bottom row corners. The fresh white gets me every time!

Thanks Heather and Kerri for this swap . . . it has been a fun one to take part in. The inspiration is fantastic and really makes this whole sewing/flickr addiction FUN!

Short and Sweet

Three weeks into my cast on arm induced blogging, sewing and creative break . . . missing everyone! Since I am typing with one finger, I will keep this short . . . here is what I was able to finish with the help of my kids and a friend . . .

Tree skirt for the Savvy Seasons swap using the new Moda Bliss. It is a great line and a understated take on the holidays . . . my partner suggested she would love this for holiday decor and I think it will be right up her alley. I plan to use this fabric on some upcoming projects myself.

I had plans to make a bunch of little items and had an stitching project half done . . . so switching gears I decided to let the fabrics help me make a bold statement and I must say I love the outcome . . . I hope my partner will like it, with little kids in her life I think it will be great. My kids wanted to keep it and love all things holiday.

I even cut into my favorite Shinzi Katoh holiday prints . . .

I will have to write a much longer post about how much I have come to appreciate on-line friends both new and old. Two great swap packages came my way in the last couple weeks.

A mug rug and fun goodies from Sue -

How can someone read your blog and look at your flickr photos and just know what you will love. This is such a fun and perfect mug rug for me! The stitching is fab and the whole thing is so fun! Thanks again Sue!

Then I was lucky to matched with a online friend who has been so wonderful to get to know over the last year. She was partnered with me and was supposed to make a couple of potholders . . . well lets just say the potholders brought friends! LOOK at this package, I am still fondling everything and making sure no one spills on the potholder or coasters!

Thanks Linda, I am crazy for everything and just LOVE the farmdale prints!

Okay I want to try and add links to this, but I am off to take a pain killer . . . perhaps trying this wasn't such a great idea, just wanted to say thanks and I am still around and miss everyone!

Have a great rest of October! We are getting ready for a visit from some dear friends from the UK and then my college roomate and her son. It will be fun having guests the rest of the month, I love a full house!

Tina Given's Sent me a little package!

Look what arrived on my doorstop a few days ago . . . a wonderful package from Tina Givens. No, not just her fabric from a store, but an actual package from Tina with a note to me! I was planning on participating again in the Kids Clothing Week Challenge (check out all the great kids clothing items people made) this fall, it was awesome all the stuff I made the kids during the Spring. I had seven full days of projects ready to go, pattern and fabrics . . . when I injured myself (more on that later). Tina had a post on her blog about the challenge and she generously offered a pattern and fabric to people who were taking it on and sewing one hour a day making clothing for their kids.

I think the hand written note from Tina was my fav! By the way I have got to get some of her stationary, it is so fresh and fun!

I have pre-ordered her new book, Sew Tina, and was anxious to give the zigzag girl dress a try. I love the crossover bodice and have been looking for a pattern. I mentioned in the note on her blog and it showed up with fabric to make one!

With a little help from my eight year old son . . . he did the cutting for me! Here is the fruits of our labor in just about an hour. It is a great pattern and a fun little dress. I can't wait until Ellie wakes up to try it on her and finish up the sleeves and hem!

The reasons I haven't been on flickr much, sewing or taking part in the kids clothing challenge-

(sorry for the patching style of this post, but I had to cut and paste parts of this because my hand is starting to swell and throb from typing)

For a couple of months I noticed when waking up that my hands were still asleep. Then it got worse last week and I started to feel tingling, burning, and numbness in my hands and sometimes up my arms. I freaked out. Tons of things ran through my mind - heart attack, stroke, MS, etc. I moved up my yearly dr's appointment and found out . . . I have a bad case of carpal tunnel in my right hand and moderate case in my left.

Without realizing it, I have had a mild case for years, finally have started working out every day lifting weights stressed it to the breaking point. I had no idea carpal tunnel could be this painful- the brace is helping and most of the numbness, etc is gone.

So . . . for six weeks I am not to type, sew or really do anything I enjoy. Hope to finish little projects, but hand work will be out! Ughhhh. Typing is out, but I can use the touchscreen on the ipad to keep up with my flickr and fb obsessions. Guessing not a lot of blog posts, but hey what else is new.

I promise lots to show the next time I post!