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Friday, October 29, 2010

Fun In Blogville

Since my camera cord and I are displaced from each other today,
I thought I would share some blogville happenings with you.

Have you heard about this?
The first EVER Home for the Holidays Quilt Designer Blog Hop and Cookie Swap!

It starts next week and includes
12 fabulously talented designers that are going to share:
12 exclusive holiday projects...
12 yummy cookie swap recipes and
12 inspiring and creative holiday ideas!

Here is the line up:
Nov 2nd * Brenda Gervais from with thy needle and thread
Nov 5th * Debbie Field from granola girl designs
Nov 9th * Cheri Saffiote-Payne from quilts by cheri
Nov 12th * Kathy Schmitz from kathy schmitz studio
Nov 16th * Renee Plains from liberty star
Nov 19th * Tracy from plum cute designs
Nov 23rd * Lisa Bongean from lisa bongean primitive gatherings
Nov 26th * Lynda Hall from primitive pieces by lynda
Nov 30th * Jan Patek from jan patek's girl gang
Dec 3rd * Tara Darr from sew unique creation
Dec 7th * Debbie Busby from wooden spool designs
Dec 10th * Stacy West from buttermilk basin


This starts next week and will be every Tuesday and Friday for the next month or so.
That ought to help get me in the holiday spirit! Fun Holiday projects!
And I love making Christmas cookies!!!

But wait there's more!

Little Bits This and That blog has a list: a bakers dozen of designers too!
I'm so excited! I almost missed seeing this one!
Look who will be participating...

November 15th
Sherri K. Falls of This & That Patterns: her blog Little Bits
Monica Solorio-Snow of The Happy Zombie
November 16th
Heidi Kaisand of Chicks & Hen
Monique Dillard of Open Gate Quilts
November 17th
Celine Perkins of Perkin's Dry Goods
Patrick Lose of The Latest News from Patrick Lose
Kelly Ann Richardson of Kelly Ann's Quilting
November 18th
Lissa Alexander of Moda Lissa
Julie Stewart of Quilts 4 Julie
November 19th
Roseann Kermes of Rosebud's Cottage
Brenda Riddle of Little Acorns
November 20th
Vickie Eapen of Spun Sugar Quilts
Melisa Morrison of Sweet Home Quilt Co.

If you don't have information overload yet...
There is going to be a Christmas Quilt Show hosted by Darlene Sew Cal Gal!
Her blog is sort of new to me... she was the one who won my Fall into Fall giveaway!
(sorry your box was mailed so late Darlene!)
but right now if you have some time... you might want to check out Amy's Creative Side.
She is hosting the Blogger's Quilt Festival 2010 that started today.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010

I Have A Good Reason- Honest

I don't mean to sound like one of the political hopefuls but
The reason I have been absent from bloggyville
is this:
It was nearly time for my quilting retreat
and there were still a lot of things to get done to
make sure that these ladies had a great time: 

But once everyone arrived all my worries disappeared!
It was so good to see the people who were returning...

and I got to make new friends with first time Quilt Camp attendees!

My girl gang was there too!

But we also managed to get projects done between all
the visiting, eating and coming and goings!
(there was an after hours raid on the LQS... cookies were provided)
This was a mystery quilt.

More projects completed. This was the insulated market tote bag.

We also did a double hour glass quilt.


Lots of tops were completed.

But most of all, there was so much talent and inspiration shared!
I hope some of it rubbed off onto me!
(and about those worries.... well, there were still some...
we had a power outage due to weather).
Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Wanna Join Me In A LQS Excursion?

Nothing much going on today... but
I had to run up to the LQS during my lunch hour today.


So I thought I would share some of the eye candy there with you.



It was pretty busy and a few friends were there.
Helen was picking up a couple things she created from the
longarm quilter:


I love this pattern! It is suppose to all be one quilt but she divided it up
 and made it into a lap quilt and a wall hanging! Clever girl!

Here is another shop sample.

And Donna, the owner, just finished this wonderful embroidery!

I have always loved this wonky tree pattern.
 Kim of Kim's Big Quilting Adventures made this up last year...
or maybe it was the year before last. Anyway hers turned out really cute too.

This is a beautiful BOM that just started.

Oh, and I want to show you this quilt.
This is Mel, she stopped by my office the other day and this is the quilt she made from
the Dresden class I gave at my retreat last year!
 Didn't it turn out beautiful? She always does exquisite work. I really want this quilt Mel!
Speaking of retreat... it is getting very close!
I have lots of things I need to finish organizing!
Fortunately I have wonderful friends that are helping me...
thank you Rhonda!
Monday, October 18, 2010

I've Got You Covered!

But wait there's more!
Another cover up exposed!

I had an email from Viki at Sundays Quilts of her sweet ironing board cover yesterday.
(She did a little tutorial on her blog as well).
It has been so much fun to see all the beautiful covers that were made by everyone!
I hope that you are inspired to make one now too if you haven't already created
a new cover for yourself!
I know that I was inspired by seeing all the gorgeous covers.
I actually made another one for my wooden ironing board... I just need to get the ribbon pushed through!
Then I started thinking about a tabletop ironing board that I have... somewhere...
and as soon as I find it, it's going to get a cover because I'm on a roll now!

Did you see the one that Sherri at A Quilting Life made! I love that one too! She found some great fabric to use on hers!
Sherri and I thought that we would pick  a person who entered the Great Cover Up from each of our blogs
to give a little something to!

From my blog the winner is Karen S. from Badlands Quilts!
Please email me with your address so I can send you a little something!
Friday, October 15, 2010

The Great Cover Up Exposed!

Today is the reveal for the Great Cover Up.
Sherri at A Quilting Life and I thought this would be a fun project
and would prompt us who need to...
to make a new cover for our ironing boards!
This is a very used and much abused part of my sewing room and
is something that probably should be changed at least twice a year.
Well, in my case anyway.

So here is some inspiration for you
from those who took on the challenge!

Now I have to go get my little ironing board out... look what Carol did at Carol's Crafty Creations!
I love this Bliss fabric... it worked perfect for this project!

Here is one made by Jenn at Patchwork Possibilities, made in
Purple to match her sewing room! 
Laura at Quilting Fun blog.
I love her quilting on this one!

Bea from France... made her cover out of a beautiful stripe with floral fabric.
That will come in handy for lining things up won't it?!

Cathi from Shakerwood Primitives made hers out a beautiful floral...
I love the green iron board and I'm pretty sure that I have curtains that match this...
I might just have to send them to her!

This is very homespun looking and accented with flying geese... just beautiful Regena! She is
 at Quilts and Quilt Things blog, see her before picture too!

This is from Stina at Kviltstina blog, you will have to read on
her post on how she came up with her "cover fabric".
She is always so creative!



Karen from Badlandsquilts blog. Here is her photo collage of before and after!

Shannon made two, one for her ironing board and one for her portable ironing surface.
So simple but sweet... a great little thing to take to workshops, yes?

Sherri and I will be picking a name from each blog for a little gift from us... and will announce it on our next post. So, if you didn't remember to send your photo to us... do it now and
we can still add yours to the Great Cover Up unveiling!

Fall Into Fall Winner




Thank you all for entering my Fall Into Fall Giveaway that was hosted by:
Deb at Quilting With Deb blog

That was so much fun... I have been thoroughly entertained by all of the comments! Your answers to my request to tell me something quirky about yourself were hilarious, interesting.. .thank you all so much for sharing your little tidbits of information! And if you have a few extra minutes... please go read some of them for yourself! 
I really appreciated the resonse and look forward to popping over to your blogs for a visit
and I hope that you will come back and visit me again!

It is painful for me to pick a winner, even by Random Generated numbers, so I printed out all of the comments, cut them  apart, folded them in half, put them in a bag, stirred them up, and pulled out a slip of paper with the comment on it.
And the persons name that I chose was:

SEW CAL GAL

Great post. Delightful giveaway. Funny story? I made a quilt to give to a boyfriend, who had just purchased a house. But we had broken up by the time I finished the quilt. I still gave him the quilt, as we remained good friends. Years later I learned that I had left a few pins in the quilt...he evidently rolled over on them with a new girlfriend and he thought I left them there intentionally. It truly was an accident!  SewCalGal   

Thank you all for visiting me!

(I will be back later today with the Big Cover Up)
Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Birthday Books

Who doesn't love a good read?
Something uplifting, inspirational... happily ever afters?
A book that you can read over and over again and never get tired of?
Here are some books that I received for my birthday that are
"all of the above" and recipes too!
Stitched Together by Jill Finley is filled with fun projects and the setting of the book revolves around her annual family retreat of women. Her style is so fresh and her projects are so sweet...
like this little pincushion above! Here is a little You Tube video, actually two, that her family did. Evidently this is an annual event as well. The second video is better than the first, but you can see that they are all
so fun and creative!
And this project... do you see the ric rac used in it?
 
and Sew Serendipity by Kay Whitt.
I love the clothes she has designed. The dress I wore this summer at my son's wedding was one of her designs. Her patterns flatter women of all sizes. Her instructions are super clear...
so that even I can understand them! Seriously!

I usually just wear jeans these days. But I love the skirts and dresses that are in this book.
Casual enough but can be made into dressy too. Throw on some leggings and you could get some extra mileage out of the season with this skirt. Maybe?
Anyway, her blog shows her latest T.V. stint, here is the YouTube link for viewing it and a
great camera case pattern that is in her new book that she is about to release at market!

This is a really awful picture, sorry, but I wanted to show you this pincushion out of Country Inn by Blackbird Designs.
I showed a few other pictures from this book a week or so ago. (when it was somebody else's book)  
But this little hexie pincushion
was a cute idea... for all you hexagon makers out there.

This Friday will be a little showing of iron board covers from people who took on the Great Cover Up Challenge. If you want to enter in... make your cover (there was a tutorial last month) and send  a link to me or to Sherri, at A Quilting Life, with your post that shows your before and after pictures!
You have until Friday!

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Friday, October 8, 2010

The Color of the Season

It's time to get ready for the season...
and dress things up a bit.

I am never ready to make a fall quilt until it IS fall.

Consequently, this pattern never gets made...
but at least this year I got it cut! You can probably tell by the fabrics,
how long this project has been waiting to get done.


I got Spooky's Pumpkin Seeds done... well, at least done enough to put in a frame.
After I hung it I noticed that I forgot to add the ric rac that I was going to put on his hat!
It's a Late Bloomer pattern and on Elizabeth's blog, the Late Bloomer, right now she has an adorable
Halloween dishtowel idea!

 
Now I just need to find my Autumn quilts and hang them around inside.
That should add a little warmth.
These have a nice little pumpkin spice smell.
But maybe I should make some pumpkin bread over
the weekend. And make one of those dishtowels too. Doesn't that sound good?
By the way, I am LOVING all the true confessions on my Fall into Fall giveaway post!
I will be reading that over and over for it's entertainment value!
Oh, and it's not to late for you to enter... the winner will be picked next Friday.

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Wednesday, October 6, 2010

All Work And No Play

or is it all play and no work???
Well, in my case I had taken Friday off from work
(because I just think it's wrong to work on your birthday)
so it was play, play, play over the weekend for me!

I was making my Picnic Roll-up by Thimble Blossoms
out of Verna... and now I'm ready for borders...
but since I bought the fabric before I knew what I was
going to use it for...
I didn't purchase any border fabric...
so now the hunt is on!


I also made this insulated tote bag for grocery cold items.
It is going to be one of my projects to teach at the retreat.

The problem with the change of seasons is that I am up early, very early, and
my picture taking isn't so good with the flash and light options.
But I thought I would show you my new toys!

 
I already shared that I love vintage children's sewing machines. 
(this one is from the UK)
Right before my birthday I got a call, which led to a call...
which led to me scooping up on six, that's 6, vintage machines!
The one above is a reproduction... but still cute.

 
I have to try to get another shot of this one... but here it is for now.
It is from Germany pre-WWII.


This one is from Australia, I think.


This little guy is from 1970's USSR.

Ok, I have to share what I paid for them... you won't believe it!
The lady just wanted to get rid of them and sold them to me, the lot, for $30!
Happy birthday to me!
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