Fall Blogger's Quilt Festival

For the Fall Blogger's Quilt Festival, I am showing you one of my favorite quilts, for which I'm sorry to report, I blogged about a long time ago.  I'll explain why later in this post.

This is the quilt I did along with others at p.s.iquilt as the Pinwheel Sampler Quilt Along.  I love it.  It was my first quilt-along and  I really enjoyed the experience and hope to do this again with such a fun group!   I quilted it myself using a freeform all-over heart stipple for two purposes; quickness and to signify the love I was quilting into this piece.  I had fully intended to keep this quilt for myself as this was my very first quilt along. However, I gifted it to my neighbor lady, Carol. For a little background, we've lived here a bit over two years and this lovely lady is a true blessing for a neighbor. She is a true Southern Lady, harking from Georgia, and is such a pleasure to visit with every chance I get. She and her husband couldn't be any better neighbors if we asked for them personally. I quilted in the last border "God Bless you and may these stitches of love bring you warmth" specifically for Carol.

Carol was diagnosed with bladder cancer. Long story short, after many surgeries, treatments and chemo, we thought she had beat it.  Carol's 63 years young, the heart of her dear husband, family, and friends; all we can do is send our prayers to heaven.  At the time I was finishing my quilt, Carol was leaving for Houston to go to a "research" facility. My family and I were leaving for a trip to the coast. While I really loved this quilt, I love Carol even more and didn't want to risk missing the opportunity of wrapping her in quilted love before she went to Houston. Therefore, as I can spend time making another quilt, Carol may not have the time to wait for me to make another. Carol's trip to Houston was unsuccessful.  She's now waiting on telephone calls from insurance companies to see if she can get more chemotherapy.  I'm still glad I was able to gift my dear friend with the comfort of my new quilt.

So, here is the quilt I originally wanted to be able to post for the festival:

However, due to halloween parties, thirty tiny treat bags (see post below, which were loved, thank you very much!) and the resurgence of a nasty cold (which I really could've done without!), you can see it's still waiting for me on Gammie.  Soon.  This one's all mine. (So I say now. :) ...)  I hope you come back to see my completed quilt one of the days.

Happy hopping and enjoy the Fall Blogger's Quilt Festival Miss Amy has so generously donated her time and hard work to.

Thank you so very much for stopping by!!! Quiltastic day to ya!

Coming Soon!

Coming Soon!

November 15th thru the 20th, Sherri Falls from This and That Quilt Patterns is hosting a really neat Mistletoe Bake & Make. As she puts it on her blog, they will have a bakers' dozen of designer patterns and cookie recipes for the taking. How cool will this be!! Check it out :)

Help out by spreading the word ...

~hugs~

One little, Two little, Thirty little baggies :)

Yes, my blogging buddies, this is what thirty tiny treat bags looks like :o)  Aren't they the cutest!  I've purchased some halloween cupcake papers to place in the bottom of each and will put rice krispie treats in them topped with candy corn.  I really had fun with these.  You can find the pattern from  The Happy Zombie on her website or in the Fall 2010 Quilts and More.

  I'm thinking stockings or snowmen for Christmas time.  Any recommendations for quick easy patterns? 

I'm off to carve some pumpkins now with the girls. Thanks for taking this tiny treat bag ride with me!!

Quiltastic day to you!

~hugs~

Hobbitt's Birthday Tradition

Miss Sarah, who is a fan of The Hobbitt, is having a giveaway for her birthday over at her blog: Confessions of a Fabric Addict: It's my party........ Please stop over and help her celebrate. You'll not regret it!!

Isn't 13 a Lucky Number?

At this time of year, isn't 13 one of the luckiest numbers {big-time grin!!!}  I got one class worth of tiny treat bags knocked out today .... (remember in an earlier post I blogged regarding the pattern and designer)

Thirteen. :0)  Using what I had available in my stash, I used ric-rac plus some striped material for handles instead of the ribbon recommended.  I actually like the ric-rac after I see them finished.  I was worried at first, but now I can't stop smiling these bags are so darned cute!  Hopefully I still think so when I finish the next 17. lol  Can't wait to get a picture of all 30.  What a hoot!

Okay, I'm off to the next thing.  The girls and I went to the library today and then had to stop by the local drug store to pick up construction paper (in orange and black) for pumpkin cut-outs and styrofoam balls and cheese cloth for ghosts.  We'll be constructing our own ghouls over the next few days, I'd say.  I'm so looking forward to it!  Joy, joy!!

Until next time, quiltastic day all!

~hugs~

Little Bluebell: Bliss Giveaway

Little Bluebell: Bliss Giveaway

Have you quilter bloggers checked out this blog Little Bluebell? Wow! Really neat! She also hosts a forum called Talk About Fabric for which I've placed a toggle button on my side bar. Did I mention Little Bluebell is hosting a giveaway? Oh no? Well, she's giving away a fat quarter bundle of Bliss. Yes, I said BLISS!! Scoot on over ... run don't walk ... watch out for keyboard tripage, don't want any hurt fingers :)

Quiltastic day to ya!!

Okay ... Next?

I did it. What, you ask?  Well, this is my niece's birthday present.

Gorgeous pattern from Bari J. called State Street Tote.  If you've never used one of her patterns, well, I highly recommend it.  She made it very easy with pictures for help.  Well, okay. Easy for me, but I really liked the pattern.  Check her out here at Bari J.'s shop.  I started it yesterday afternoon and finished it this morning.  Not too bad.  Even had time to enjoy the movie How to Train Your Dragon with the girls last night.  Awesome, by the way!!  If you haven't seen it, grab your kids as an excuse if you need to, it's worth it!

I used Tweet Tweet by Keiki for Moda fabric.  Truly adorable!  My niece will be 14 and likes blues and greens.  This fit the bill for me.  Cute, but not too cutesy, for a teenager.

On to the Tiny Treat Bags now ... 30 total between now and next Friday ... think it can be done?  Stay tuned .... lol.  If I don't blog between now and then, I'm either sewing, or have keeled over from trying too hard to get these little bags done.  I know ... overachiever, Type-A .... Mom  .... I hear you!

Until next time, quiltastic day to ya!!

~hugs~

Little of this and a Little of that ...

So ... while all the giveaways were going on over the past couple of weeks, Charlie from Qubee Quilts was also hosting a giveaway and John from The Quilt Dad kindly donated these jelly rolls as one of the items for giveaway:

Yes :)  I won them :) {chuckle} Oh darn!

 I've been wanting to try this Schnibbles Tuffets pincushion pattern and thought this the perfect opportunity.  Since John was so generous, and seems, from his blog, to be a huge NC Tarheel fan, I chose three strips from the Moda Marbles jelly roll in the Tarheel blues and made this pincushion.  I sent it to John as a thank you for generously donating the jelly rolls.  Love them!

I also found a super cool pattern on the Moda Bakeshop for a child's scarf, called Gypsy Scarf by Joanna Figueroa.  A lot of you will recognize Joanna from Fig Tree Quilts.  Adore her fabric and patterns!

So, with a few more strips from the Moda Marble jelly roll, and some other stash contributions, I made these two scarfs for my daughters.  Minkee on the backs of both of them and I quilted their names on the end of them.  Pictures are the best, but at 12:30 in the morning ... I take what I can get :)

Super easy and worth a looksie if your mornings are like ours these days and are getting 26 degrees while waiting for the school bus and/or the school bell to ring.

Well, back to the sewing machine.  Have a niece's birthday present to make and an attempt at 28 nifty little treat bags from The Happy Zombie.  You can find the pattern free on her website or in the Fall 2010 Quilts and More.  Super cute!!

Til we next blog ... quiltastic day to ya!!

Some Finished Fun

I used this panel by  Red Rooster Fabrics designer Kelly Mueller of The Wooden Bear for a fun, quick Halloween wallhanging.  I put a back and batting on the panel, quilted it and then used additional fabric for binding.  I think it's adorable and while, yes, so much more could have been done with it ... tons of possibilities here .... It's FINISHED :) :) :) ... yay me!! lol lol lol  

I put a real quick sleeve on the back and this is now hanging next to my front door outside. 

Now that is what I call a sweet treat!

Many of you may also remember this project ... a birthday present I had in progress, the Mocha Swirls quilt from Kim Brackett's Scrap-Basket Surprises jelly roll friendly book.

Well, I got it quilted, with "swirlies" and presented it to my 15 year old sister in law as her belated birthday present.  Another accomplishment.  I do believe I need to check my Charming Chatter's Quilt Club's goals for September and October, because I may actually have accomplished a few things to check off. :) :) :)

Well .... off to the next project. What'll it be, what'll it be???? Something fun I'm sure because I'll be sewing!!!

Happy Sunday wishes to all of you fine friends in blogland.  As always, quiltastic day to ya!

WWWWWWOOOOOOOOOWHOOOOOOO ....... Fall Into Fall WINNERS!!!!!

 

RANDOM.ORG says comment # 127 is my Grand Prize winner ... and that is ........ Brittainy Barnes who said...

YAY! Thanks for offering this giveaway - VERY excited! 

My favorite treat is those peanut-butter filled toffees!!! Am I the only one? 

Didn't know there was a grand prize becuase you didn't know there was a runner-up prize, did you? :):):)  Me neither, til 1:00 a.m. this morning when I got this baby done:

Front of Runner-Up Prize Pillow

Backside of Runner-Up Pillow

And again going back to RANDOM.ORG for the winning number.... #73 wins this pillow.  #73 is Micki Butler who said: 

I always have loved Thimbleberries! I love pumpkin pie!

Please send me your snail mail addresses as soon as possible so I may mail to you your goodies. 

Congrats to each of you and my sincerest appreciation for each and every one of you that took the time to leave a comment and/or became blog followers.  I believe I will have to have another drawing next month to show my "thankfulness" for my supporters, so please stay tuned!

Best of luck to everyone in the rest of the Fall Into Fall drawings and this is so cool of Debi to be hosting this.  I owe her a huge thank you for my new found friends.  Thank you to everyone!

Happy October and Quiltastic Day to Ya!!

My Tuesday Tallies.

Okay. I'm starting here with these adorable little bags.  They're cute, aren't they?  Yes, I did make them. I finished them myself, tonight.  There were four of them, however, one of them escaped into an envelope filled with candy corn and thinks it belongs in the Netherlands somewhere.  What's up with that, I ask?!?!  Well, maybe in a week or so, we can find out the results of the escapee and it's envelope mates.

As for my other project today, besides paying bills, going to the post office, driving children to and from school, cleaning house, ironing husband's work shirts, .... I won't go on here ... I actually found time to quilt this little number on Gammie.  Granted, I believe the table runner was mucho gorgeous before I ever touched it with the quilt machine.  I sincerely hope the lady I quilted it for really did mean she didn't mind how I quilted it as this is how it turned out:

I was pretty pleased with it, all the while reminding myself that every longarm guru had to start somewhere.  While I may be a bit embarrassed over my mistakes and wobbly endeavors, I too, I remind myself, am just beginning this longarm process and maybe, someday, I can look back and think "holy buckets ... that's where I began and people still believed in me!" 

So, to all my supporters and all those who came before me in this gigantous-ly huge quilting world, my undying gratitude!  One of these days, I'll get my 10,000 hours in!  Just in time to learn something more to do :o)

Blessings to all and until next time, quiltastic day to ya!



~hugs~

Well, dang.... !!!

Well, shoot.  Get stymied on writing a post because you can't think of a catchy post title.  Well, duh! :)  Just post it and hope you all are interested enough to stop by anyway. :)

HI!  Remember me?  I'm sure you've caught a few hints in my last couple of posts that life has been getting in the way of my blogging.  Well...yessirreebob! Whew.  Where to start, where to start?  How about this?

Stop a moment and smell the flowers in my yard with me.

More flowers in my yard.

Believe it or not, this client's quilt is for a wedding her niece(?) is having on Halloween.  She thought what better use for most of her Halloween prints that she found in her stash.

Client's quilt for a Halloween-day wedding.  White squares not quilted for signature blocks.

One of the large squares in which I free-handed a pumpkin.

Remember the Scarecrow parade I mentioned in an earlier blog?  Here are a couple of the entries and what a gorgeous day!  Fun pictures :)

I really thought this Scarecrow Parade entry was cool.  Wings are held up with chicken wire.  Neat looking.

My daughters' favorite Scarecrow Parade entry -- "Do You See Me Now?"  Pretty clever.

Scarecrow parade winner ... local vet's entry.  Don't you City-People just love this? lol

 No, this is not one of the dorky entries at the scarecrow parade.  This is me.  Yes, I know .... I need to be on the bike, not next to it.  However, preserverance pays off.  I pulled the last entry form for this bike giveaway.  My daughters and I were just bemoaning the fact that my older bicycle needed so many repairs before I could join them for rides that my daughter wanted me to come home with this one.  Well, I'll be darned.  I came home with this one :).  Mikes Hard Lemonaide must know I'm an avid supporter :) .... lol

See me.  See my new Mike's Hard Lemonaide bike I recently won :).  See helmet.  See me not drinking and biking!

 Meet my other baby, Belle.  Two year old Belle.  Chocolate English Labrador. Adorable baby!!  We've had her since she was five weeks old.

This is Belle.  She is 2 years old.



This is Belle's new fenced yard.  Fence started and completed this weekend by DH and moi.

 Another person came by a week ago and asked me to fit her in for a rush, custom job.  Got it done today.  Her husband told me tonight she's been waiting for my phone call.

Quilt 1 of 2 I quilted today for a client.

Quilt 2 of 2 I quilted today for same client.



Now that I have shared a few pictures, will you all forgive me a little, tiny, itsy, bit for not blogging recently?

Further explanation.  How about this? My laptop which you all know I virtually slept with, (truly, DH sleeps on couch), was undergoing routine backup and unloading of some pictures.  I believe the new flash drive I purchased and installed for picture storage shared a malware virus as shortly after backing up all of my pictures (fortunately I also have Norton backup), my faithful, wonderful laptop died.  I must have worked for almost two weeks trying to bring this baby back to life, to no avail.  Including new hard drive. After many frustrating attempts, my DH decided enough was enough as I was spending more time with the laptop than withthe family.  My desktop was much, much older than the laptop and therefor slower than molasses in January, so I was down.  Literally, I was down in the dumps.  I don't cope well out of routine and my routine includes my virtual internet world.  All of you wonderful people mean the world to me.  So, DH decided to replace .... not my laptop but the slow desktop.  And, of course, the new computer does not speak to the old printer.  WHAT?  Go figure.  So, I have two keyboards, two mice, two screens and one printer on my desk.  Plus .... get this.  My trusty, dusty faithful palmpilot, which I have also had for over seven years, must have been feeling left out, as it called it quits on me.  Of course, I synced it with the laptop which is no longer in service.  Are you following me still?

Yes, I've gone through many a kleenix in frustration.  I have not gotten much sewing done because of all of my technical issues.  Aren't you glad you wondered?  Aren't you glad you can go back to your chaos now and leave me to mine? lol .... chaos it is.  Though, DD1 is happier with school now.  The crying has basically stopped.  DD2 has decided she's not quite thrilled with pre-school so has started up with the tears that DD1 stopped.  And, to top it all off, I have finally convinced DH that we need a third-party to help us communicate before a third party helps us divide our belongings.

Did I just write that?  Yes.  Yes, I truly find myself envious at times of many fortunate quilters who have supportive spouses and/or family units.  While 95% of my life cannot be complained about, actually rejoiced about and grateful for, sometimes its the 5% that weighs most heavily and hurts the most often.  So, in truth dear blogging world friends, I am grateful for each and every one of you and appreciate the moments in time you care to share with me.

You bring a smile to my heart when I need it most and I thank God for you every day.  So ... in closing ...

 God bless you and quiltastic day to ya!



Stitches by Carin: Give away ...

There is a really cool giveaway happening over at Stitches by Carin: Give away ... . While the giveaway is definitely worth the swing by, you just have to stop by this wonderful blog I just discovered tonight. Well worth the visit! Stop on over and when you do, say hello to Brumelda for me :) And yes, I would totally share with Brumelda any day of the week!! lol

Thanks for the great opportunity Carin!



P.S. I haven't been slackin' .... my computer problems are getting solved with a slight upgrade (tons more work of course), I got my Mocha Swirls quilted today (pictures to come) and right now I'm actually making a few goodie bags circa Sweetwater's Label Crew ... of course, pictures once I get off my lazy bumm and take them :) ... until later ~hugs~

600th Post Giveaway...Yes, I said 600!!!!

Okay, those who know me, know I don't like to share ;-), especially when it comes to a most wonderous giveaway opportunity. However, {eyeroll, shoulder-shrug}, I guess I have too .... LOL LOL

Go on over to Spun Sugar Quilts (click here to get there quickly) for a most spectacular giveaway opportunity ... hurry before everyone else in the quilting blogworld does and it lessens your chances!   ..... okay, okay, Just Kiddin! if you trip on your way over, it truly WASN'T my fault , geez .... :)  Thanks, Vickie!!

Blessings to you and quiltastic day!!