It's Friday!!! And you all know what that means...time for my give away!
First, why...because I am thankful for all my fellow bloggers who read me, that's why! And, I would like to show how much I appreciate that.
There will be TWO draws so that means TWO winners. Fun, fun!LOL! First one is this lovely book, 1/2 yard of Thimbleberries, a package of Handi Bobs and a package of Glow Tape for your rulers...I love my Glow Tape!
Second draw is the wallhanging! It's Daily Chores, hand stitched raw edge applique on really old vintage muslin(flour sack cloth), very country, very scrappy.
To enter: Now I am going to make this as easy as possible......I would love for you to become my follower but it's not a requirement, leave a comment on THIS POST ONLY! You must have your email address available to me!
Draw will be held on Mother's Day, May 9. Sorry but this contest is open only to residents of US and Canada, due to the shipping costs.
Happy Stitching and Good LUCK!
This has been one of those weeks that my creative juices have been on hyperdrive...my brain has been operating in overload with ideas that I want to make. What do you do when this happens? I keep a notebook to write it all down in so I have something to refer to later when the creative ideas slow down and I can't seem to think of anything new.
One of the things that has been on my to-do list is dyeing some wool using Kim's Kool Aid in the crockpot method. I had all kinds of people on the hunt for a used crockpot. My friend Joann found one a couple weekends ago at a yard sale for $1. $3 worth of Kool Aid later, I was ready to go!
First, you see the wool "cooking" in the slow cooker.
Then, we have the finished color, very pretty, still to be dried.
The color looks a little mottled but that is only because it was still wet. When it dried, the color was more even. This color is made from Raspberry Lemonade flavour. Yes, I know it doesn't look raspberry!
Onto the second batch....used Tropical Punch on this one and LOVE LOVE LOVE the red, of course, red being my FAVORITE color!
I have completed the cooking part and I am giving the wool it's wash and rinse. I thought there would be alot more color rinsing out but there was really not much at all.
See how yummy it is when it is done! Smells good too!LOL! I am having a wonderful time thinking up projects to use this color with.
In this batch, I decided to experiment a little....can't seem to follow the rules you know!LOL! I didn't throw out the dye bath left from the blue color...I put in back in the pot, added 1 tbsp of Cherry, thew in the wool and got this lovely deep pinky rose colored wool! It's very, very pretty. I petted it for a while:) Yep, I sure did! LOL! Sure had lots of fun for $4! Happy quilting!
I love giveaways!! I see that my counter is showing that I have had over 5000 hits on my blog which totally blows my mind! Misha and talked it over this afternoon and we think it's time to have some more fun! What do y'all think? Want to play along? Stayed tuned for more details....I have to work at the shop tomorrow and need a couple of days to get it all together...so lets aim for the announcement to be on Friday! DO NOT ENTER UNTIL I TELL YOU TO! LOL!
Ooooo, this is going to be fun! Happy quilting,
BEWARE: the following photos may be shocking and upsetting to some people........
In the past few weeks, I have read several blogs, who will remain nameless because of slander/jealousy issues LOL!, where some really strange quilters have been showing their organized sewing and creating spaces. Everything in it's place, all neat little rows, projects and fabrics all lined up, pretty displays of nifty knicky knacks, new storage cupboards, painted walls, not a thread or scrap of fabric to be seen on any surface anywhere! Truly, very Martha Stewart looking. Well, I don't know where these people (aliens?) came from, LOL, but I am here to show you reality! MY sewing/creating space!
Yes, this is what a real quilter's stash management looks like! Fabric willy nilly, some folded ..some not..no attempt at color matching, some safely on the shelf...some about to fall off.
I did try the folding and color thing once but as soon as I started to pick out fabrics for projects, several pieces of fabric told me they wanted to go play with another so I would have to place it with it's friend. :)
I have a handy little storage bag hanging there to put my cutoffs and trimmings of battings in. When the bag is full, I make a pet bed to donate to the animal shelter fund at our local quilt shop.
Ah, yes, the cutting table. I have two! Lucky me! The one closest is right beside my sewing machine, which doesn't slide down out of sight never to be seen when not sewing, unlike those Other people's. LOL! The last time I saw the complete top of this cutting table was 1994....well, maybe I exaggerate a little...1995. The funny thing is that I use everything on this table every day. And, I figure if I am going to use it everyday, why bother to store it..oops! organize it...as I would just be losing quilting time digging it out all over again! Makes sense, right!
Here's the overall quilt creation area. Notice...no lovelier than my kitchen storage cabinets, no pretty paint ( see bare insulated wall behind sewing machine), no matching carpet, thread on the floor, quilts waiting to be quilted, empty fabric boards, no pretty displays of sewing related knicky knackys.......Just the quilting room of a busy quilter creating her masterpieces day by day!
Now, I hope I haven't upset too many of the Organized Ones out there..truly, I mean no offense...your spaces and skills to maintain them are amazing...
That being said, I challenge you all to show me your REAL quilting rooms! LOL! Are you a Martha or NOT! Happy quilting,
note***photos are not "touched up" or photo-shopped LOL!
Just finished piecing Plan C. I made it using Astor Manor by Three Sisters. I love this fabric line. Pink and chocolate...always a favorite combo! I just love getting to call these new browns on the market chocolate. Because I love chocolate, of course, and it just makes it so much more yummier to say chocolate instead of brown. Brown is boring, chocolate is good!:)
I was a little pickier about fabric placement in this one setting aside chocolate for the outside stars and the dark pinks for the inside stars. I like how it turned out although it slowed down the piecing process a bit.
This will go in my living room for the summer. I need the new Schnibbles book to come soon so I can make this in the large size for one wall.
I changed my blog design.......AGAIN....I am having a hard time finding the right fit for me. I love the colors in my last template but found the small space alotted for pictures and writing too small and choppy. I like how this space is wider but then I lose the pretty sides. What to do?!
Have a great stitching day!
Misha enjoying the sunlight this afternoon.Working at a quilt shop, you meet all sorts of nice, interesting, unique people...mostly quilter's, some not. You just never know who might pop in or from where! Yesterday, I met Sharon from Down Under..that's right, Australia and she had her hubby with her! What wonderful people they are, absolutely lovely to meet them! They had found their way to the shop with another funny gal, Nancy, who I had met at quilt retreat in Feb. While Sharon was there, we got to talking about blogging, after we talked quilting, of course, and she mentions her daughter blogs too. I says, really, what's her blog called because I lurk around the Aussie blogs quite a bit, admiring all their lovely applique. Well, come to find out, I had visited her daughter's blog a couple of times before! Go check out Shontelle at Sugarplum Quilts and Sharon! Sharon is a machine quilter extraordinaire!! As in Award Winning! Blogging sure makes the quilting world smaller, eh? I love meeting quilters....they make the bestest friends!LOL
Okay, here it is in a nutshell....I've been crazy busy! Even my busy was busy!LOL! I know, that does not excuse my not blogging.
I did so many things this past week that my head is spinning around in circles, picture a Linda Blair kind of thing! On the weekend, I took a class in which I learned how to to make these blocks, the pink and blue ones, don't know the name of them, but they were fun to make.
I, also, learned how to make this easy pineapple block in scrappy colors. This is not my quilt here but the instructors. I love the colors and hope to make one for myself before the year is out. Look at me, here I am talking about projects to do before year end, and it's only April! My sister says I have an illness.....she says she's going to start a blog about it....my sister has an illness, she sits and quilts all day, every day, day after day! LOL! I told her I'm in therapy for it...what else can she expect!
I finished my Tag Along Schnibbles last week too. I love how it looks in Blessings by Brannock and Patek. I have the centre done on Schnibbles Plan C and hope to get the borders done Wedsnesday. I have also hand pieced 36 of these miniature fans in the last three weeks, just working on them at night.
I made my mom this table quilt last week for her birthday. It is from Aviary fabric and is much prettier than the photo. I must learn to remember to take a closeup picture of the quilting I do on these things. The weather is going to warm up later this week so hoping to see more buds and maybe some irises blooming.
Got to go and try to shut my brain down and get some sleep. Tuesday's my day to work at the quilt shop! Happy quilting...
Isn't it great when you meet you people, especially people with whom you share common interests. I have met so many beautiful people since I started blogging this year. Mostly people with quilting blogs but there have been others, too. I have had the wonderful opportunity to enter many giveaways, leave lots of comments, have lots of laughs, enjoy daily show and tell, get valuable advice, learn from many tutorials, pick up a few tasty recipies, share in the adventures of some very amusing pets, encourage new steps in quilting, be inspired to start new projects and finish old ones......and all this is the result of wonderful people who blog.
I was recently over to enter a giveaway Gayle Bong's blog. I bought her book Twin Peaks last year and love her piecing method. Now, run on over like good little chickies and enter for your chance to win this book! Tell her I sent you!!!
This is my friend Janet, on the right, holding up a completed 3 year project, a pattern that was 24 pages long, designed by Derek Lockwood. Imagine!!! 3 years and 24 pages! Now that's a true quilter!
Wow! What a weekend! The weather was fantastic for April-shorts weather has never happened this early! Friday we traveled to DS's and cooked Easter dinner there. He invited a few friends and we ended up feeding 8!, which was great fun! We cooked, we ate, we laughed, we watched a movie, groaned because we ate too much!, LOL, and finally headed back home. I did finish my Spring quilt>
Saturday was a celebration for my Sister's 38th! birthday and we were lucky enough to have a BBQ and eat outside on the porch. More seriously warm weather!
Here's the Birthday Girl trying to determine if these are trick candles or not!
Next, we have all BAD boys! Hanging out and feelin' groovy! LOL
Matthew and Mira, waiting for the food to COOK! The oven doesn't seem to heat properly.... See that "I want apple pie!" look in Mira's face! LOL Yep, life can sure give us wonderful things! Happy stitching!
It's Friday!!! And you all know what that means...time for my give away! 
