A Finish and A New Beginning

I have been participating in Freckled Whimsy's Charm Pack Quilt Along. I actually have kept up with this one and got my retro-looking blocks together last week.

Over the weekend I was able to to play with the setting

and then put the blocks all together.

I am planning on having a "wave" border after it's quilted.

I have one of those wave rulers... a way to do a

scallop look without the pain of binding a scallop.

And since I got this and a few other things (which I can't show you just yet) accomplished...

I pulled this pattern out (from my purse, where it has been for a couple of weeks getting rather tattered)

 and thought I would look at my stash and see what would come together!

I had seen this made up at Cottage Quilts a few weeks ago and thought it was really fun.

The trees are 3D!

The Courthouse Steps block measures 15". The tall trees are 23".

It's another one that calls for 5/8 yardages for the large trees. *g* Hard to pull that out of ones stash... but I got creative and it worked.

(You can google this number: PS30180 and get a free PDF of the pattern.)

And The Giveaway Winner Is...

A couple of my sweet friends came over last evening to make turtles.

We usually get together once a month to do embroidery.

Well, they do embroidery... I just attempt it.

Last weekend when I made my turtles for my swap partner I just had too much fun with them...

 so I had to make more.

 

And this guy is going to get sent away to a new home...

but first let me tell you who the winner of my giveaway is...

but, before that, I wanted to thank everyone for their lunch time

hints, suggestions, recipes and ideas. I have lots of new things to try

that sounded fun to me. Thanks so much!

Now for our winner... picked by random.org. (which always surprises me,

I know that sounds funny but it's true)

The giveaway goes to: Carol of Carol's Crafty Creations!

but wait... that's not all!

I picked another name... and this little turtle pincushion goes to:

Call Me Crazy!

Please email me your address and I will get your giveaway gifts out in the mail to you!

I thought I would show you my small collection of vintage toy sewing machines...

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend planned.

I'm A Winner & You Could Be Next!

(photo borrowed from Farm Chicks)

I was looking over my list of projects for the July/August Charming Girls Club

 and I think I have all but 2 things checked off!

I still need to work on writing my recipes (I will have to take an actual picture of my red tin next time) and my Fat Quarter Shop Designer Mystery BOM.  The Kate Spain Christmas one. I see... a certain person

(or two), who shall remain nameless

 putting their finished blocks up...

and I get this little competitive thing going on/I hate to get left out or lag behind.

So be on the lookout, there are three blocks to do now,

 so I really need to hop to it- August is almost over!

Did you realize that it is exactly 4 months 'til Christmas today???

I thought that I could share a couple of giveaway items that I have won in the past few weeks!

 I am on a lucky streak! woohoo!

Most recently, I won this beautiful brand spankin' new pattern from Dawn at Linen Closet Quilts.

She also has a great book out: Geese in the Rose Garden.

This wonderful group of patterns is from Mary at Marys Cottage Quilts. I love her patterns also.

I had her Boston Cream Pie quilt on my to do list since last year.

I am embarrassed to admit that I somehow lost track of  Mary's blog and this giveaway (I'm going to blame it on the wedding)... anyway I was catching up on her blog

 and saw that I had been a winner!

This was very very late- after it ended but she was sweet enough to send me the patterns anyway. 

Thank you so much Mary!

 Don't they look sweet? 

and then I also won this little bundle...

from Polly & Laurie.  A charm pack and bonuses! Do you

see that apron pattern??? How fun is that!

Thank you! 

I am a big fan of Minick & Simpson's. I have a bit of every fabric line,

 books, patterns and even magazines where their homes are featured,

like Coastal Living and I Country Home.

 My confession is that I love their style and would love to

 decorate my home red, white and blue some day.

Right now I decorate in a patriotic theme each summer-

 Memorial Day through Labor Day.

I get to pick a winner for my 200th post giveaway on Friday!

I hope you are entered!

You could be a winner!

A Weekend To Play

...and play I did!

I got this pattern a few weeks ago and I have been anxious to try it out.

I saw it in the catalog at Pine Needle Quilt Shop in Lake Oswego Oregon and then

I some time back I saw Pam Kitty Morning working on one.

I thought is was to cute not to do! So here is the start of mine.

One block is 20" and you can either make six for a lap quilt or 15 for a monster size.

The pattern calls for 5/8 yd for each fabric used but I was getting away with 1/2 yd cuts. I had my fingers crossed because I don't have 5/8 yd cuts of much in my stash.

The pattern is called Victory Garden. It's by Busy Bee Quilt Designs.

But before I did that I made a small herd of turtles.

I just love these guys...

and although I am not one to do "fussy" things, I was getting a kick out of seeing how they each turned out.

Two of these guys/gals are now in the mail to my pincushion swap partner. I hope they arrive safe and sound... I included a little bit of turtle food to hold them over:) on their journey!

 It seems that I spent the whole weekend with KarrieLyne at Freckled Whimsey... first making the turtles, which were for her and

then working on my Charm Pack Quilt Along that she is hosting.

We are almost on the final part, so I got all 25 of my blocks completed! 

I loved working with these fabrics so much. That's why I picked another dozen of them

for my 200th post giveaway (along with the Lunch Bag book). It's not to late to enter!

I actually think I am about caught up! What an odd thing!?! No more swaps or anything due...

I must be missing something...

I've Made It! My 200th Post!

Did I get your attention?

Go ahead and skip to the bottom of the post if

you want to know more now!

A couple of evenings ago I had a class at the LQS.

I got to "guide"  a wonderful group of women in making Due South.

I don't really like to say that I teach a class. Because I didn't make the quilt up and because most of the women in the classes are usually very experienced quilters themselves.

I kind of consider myself a guide, just because I have already made the quilt, I can give some shortcut advise and walk the women through the process so they can think less and have fun more and concentrate on the creative part of the journey.

'Cause girls just wanna have fun!

I had a lot of fun myself and enjoyed the evening a lot. I haven't been doing many classes this year...

sidetracked by the wedding mostly I suppose. I had a class a couple of weeks ago and now this one... and that's all there have been since early spring.

So, the picture at the top of the post is my bouquet of fat quarters to you!

This is my 200th post and since I do a lot of my posting during my "lunch hour", 

I wanted to celebrate with flowers (the non perishable kind) and this really fun book that I am loving!

Lunch Bags by Stash Books (C & T). It has patterns for 25 different lunch bags or "green" packaging items.

So here's what you do if you want to be entered into the giveaway:

Leave a comment and tell me your favorite way to spend your lunch time...

or share the name of a favorite lunch recipe.

I will pick a winner on Friday August 27th.

My goal is to make lunch time more fun and start packing my lunch too!

P.S. an extra entry if you can tell me what I refer to myself as in my class.

Shhh! I Have An Obsession

Yes, of course you know about the fabric obsession... that is no secret.

But I don't think I have told you about my weakness for toy sewing machines.

The ones I have to show you are just a sample of some that you can find on the

Internet. Ebay.

I not only enjoy looking at them but I love learning about them.

And in places like Ebay you can read about these little gems

and get an idea on where they were made and what year they were made in.

They range in price from $ to $$$.

I personally like the cute ones! They don't have to be the

most rare. I do prefer the hand crank time period.

But one of the other things that interests me

is knowing the time period- linking that to what was going on in that country at that time and thinking about the children who owned these little sweetie pies originally.

Bebarette is the Australian version of American Girl

toy sewing machine. One of my favorites.

Bakelite Crank sewing machine with tin box.

German Casige  metal sewing machine

Junior Miss from the UK.

USSR 70's orange sewing machine.

Kay and EE Sew Master, pretty common and affordable.

Little Betty. Love this one.

Stitchwell. I have not seen this one before. I wonder if it is a chain stitch???

Vulcan free arm/crank machine.

Vulcan free arm/crank with the attaching table.

I have a small collection started and any one of these would be a great addition to it.

I'm not sure why I am so charmed by these "toys"... maybe it was something that I missed out on when Barbie came along.

There Is Always Time To Play

You know what they say... you can't win if you don't play!

Dawn at Linen Closet Quilts blog is having a little giveaway to 

introduce you to her newest pattern called Selene.

Her designs are so sweet! So go on over and put my name  your name in to win!

Anne Sutton of Bunny Hill is having a fun little contest this past week also.

Everyone is sending in photos of their pets for a chance to win. There are some great pictures of some very well loved family members.

So Hannah had me enter her picture...

(I think she has her eye on a squirrel outside)!

I have until the end of the month... to make my Pincushion Pass pincushion

for Freckled Whimseys' Karrie Lyne. Yikes!

I am working on it and will be able to have it in the mail the first of the week. But in the meantime

I have been working on my Freckled Whimsey project.

 

The units are made... now I just need to choose a layout for these guys.

This is what I did before I got ready for work this morning...

 

and this is what I did during my lunch hour this afternoon...

... a little stack of these!

I have been hording this group of fabrics. I just love the Swell & Sweet lines. But I think this pattern will show off the fabrics nicely.

You Can Never Have Too Many Purses or Shoes!

There's a little giveaway goin' on!

This purse was made by Jillian...

aka darling DIL.

She is getting back to blogging and also started

a little Etsy business selling her bags. To kick off the

new business she is having a giveaway on her blog.

JRae Designs... so please go on over her and give her a warm welcome and say hello!

And of course, enter the giveaway! (do you see the little yoyo's in the top corner of the purse?- too cute)

The giveaway ends August 13th!!!

I have been on bad terms with my Pfaff. I'll admit that the machine takes a lot of abuse even though it's always there for me... it puts in long hours and I don't clean it often enough, and yet it still works hard.  

Yesterday, however it stopped. Stopped dead in it's tracks. Now, I didn't think it couldn't be revived. But I was going to have to access the brains of some wonderful man... but luckily I happen to be married to him and he was right there to rescue me. At least there was a temporary fix. A band aide on the wound.

The problem?

My foot petal connection has lost it's connection.

No gas. No go.

The hubs has me up and running now... but... keep your fingers crossed!

Because...

I have plans.

Things I want to work on.

Shop samples I get to make.

I love this pattern by Thimble Blossoms...

Picnic Roll-Up.

and this one... Marmalade!

My wheels are turning... better than my sewing machines' anyway!

A Finish & Some Winners!

A little something to show!

I got my yummy Fig Tree Club quilt  finished (Summer Criss-Cross Throw)

last night... just in time for the class this Saturday-- Not a moment to soon!

I'm glad everyone enjoyed the Joy Luck parade of Schnibbles!

I am so glad that I didn't get that one quilted yet... because after seeing

some of the other one's I decided that I want to make mine a bit larger and add a border to it.

I know, no originality... but thanks for the ideas!

We have the winners names picked, starting with the people Carrie

randomly drew:

Carrie is giving a yummy Fandango layer cake to a winner that she has chosen

from Sherri's blog... 

and she has another Fandango layer cake she is giving to a participant chosen from my blog's parade...

and those winners are:

From Sherri's parade ~ Andee of Modern Diary

                                                From Sinta's parade ~ Mary of Quilt Hollow

Carol from Cottage Quilts is giving one lucky person a $25 gift certificate.

And the winner is: Denise!

The Fat Quarter Shop is giving a $50 mini shopping spree to one of our A Year of Schnibbles winners...

and the winner is: Heather!

Bear Paw Quilts and More is offering a charm pack of Half Moon to one of our parade participants...

and the winner is: Karen K.

Kim at Lake Havasu Quilts is offering a $25, one size fits all, gift certificate

and the winner is: Polly

Quilt Taffy is offering a $10 gift certificate to use in their store...

and the winner is: Marianne!

The wonderful women from Quilters' Paradise are giving a lucky winner

a $25 gift certificate... and the winner is: Simone!

Congratulations blogettes to another great Schnibbles parade! Your quilts are wonderful!We have one more to go... and then a special parade for those participants who have completed all 12 Year of Schnibbles projects! and... in case you are wondering...

Sherri & I have new plans for new quilting fun...for another year... but with a little twist!

Stay tuned for more information!

But,

on another note...

I am getting really close to my 200th post!

I need to start thinking of somthing special,

somthing like a giveaway...

maybe even two.

Can you tell me of any giveaways that you have enjoyed? Or of any giveaways that had you do something fun... like tell a joke. Or have you had a giveaway on your blog where you did something clever?

I entered one once when I had to make up a song using the word Moda.