A Birthday Give-away

Quick, there are only a few more days! Run over to Debi's blog and enter her give-away for her Birthday. Aren't birthdays fun??!!!

Just In Time

Tomorrow morning I will attend my BOM meeting. And just in time, I have completed this month's block! Later I will have to show you all the blocks, but I'm pretty happy with the way this one went together, and want to show you. I took two pictures, one with flash, and one without. This is the one without flash, it is a little dark, but the flash washed out the green plaid fabric. I thought my corners all came out very nicely, and the block is just shy of the 12 1/2 in that it is supposed to be. Yippeeee! And tomorrow (or Sunday) I can go back to finishing the placemats!

Have a great day tomorrow!

A little more progress

The placemats and napkins are getting a little closer to done. Actually the napkins are done, and I'm pretty pleased with them. I now need to bind the placemats, and think I'd like to do a piped binding. Of course, the instructions from the class I took must still be in a box somewhere in the garage, so I'm trying to wing it. I found some instructions using google, but they are not quite the same. I'm trying to figure out if the piping and binding have to be bias, or can they be on-grain. Sure would be easier on-grain, and the placemats are square, so I think it should work... Hmm, maybe I should just do one first, and see how I like it. OK, that is what I will do. So maybe tomorrow I'll get that done.

Have a good night all.

Too many miles!

OK, I thought when we moved from Phoenix and got rid of our 20 mile commute each direction that we would put less miles on the vehicles. It does not look that way. 2 months and 4 days ago, I had my car serviced, and today the maintenance needed light came on. Sure enough, we have put more than 5000 miles on the car in that length of time. Good Grief! Of course, the car is getting a lot more miles on it than the truck is, so maybe we are still traveling less. Seems like a lot though. How about the rest of you? Are you cutting back driving because of oil prices?

I thought I would get some sewing done today on the napkins, but I spent this morning covering the office while my DH was in a training session, and then this afternoon we ran to Phoenix, had our camp staff meeting, and then just got home a little while ago. It is a long trip. Glad we are home.

Here's to getting a few hours to sew tomorrow. Take care all, and have a great day tomorrow.

Satisfaction in Progress

There really is satisfaction in progress! This afternoon I finally settled down to work on my mom's placemats and napkins. Actually I just worked on the napkins tonight. I have one completely done, and the other five are ready for their final top-stitching. I may finish these tomorrow morning. Then I need to make the binding for the placemats, and get it put together. thinking also that I should make a hot pad that matches to put under hot pans that are set on the table. (OK, scope creep just crept in! But it will be worth it.)

Also talking about my mom, I'm so happy for her. She recently ordered, and will soon receive one of the fairly large sewing table by Koala! She found a good sale, and bought it for herself. I think she will love it, and she deserves to have a great sewing room.

Take care, and have a great day sewing tomorrow.

And the Winner is...

Karen at my local quilt shop was nice enough to be my "official" selector of the give-away entries. We were having so much fun, we drew not just one, but two names for this give-away.

In first place, the winner of the 4 fat quarters and the porcupine quill stiletto is: da-da-da-dum:

Nadine!

And the second name drawn is: Miniature Quilter! I will be sending a porcupine quill and a mystery FQ your way.

I will need addresses for each of you. I'll send you a private email shortly.

Congratulations to you both. (This was so fun, I'm sure I'll do another give-away again.)

I'm not a flake today!!

The give-away that was posted on March 10 is now closed. (I actually set a timer so I would not miss the noon deadline for entries into the drawing!) There are 18 names that I have put on slips of paper, and will take to town to have some "Official" draw the winner. I'll post the drawn winner this afternoon.

So when is the drawing??? Inquiring minds want to know!

Hmm, I was reading back through my posting for my give-away, to make sure I do what I promised. And, oops, I never stated when the entries will be closed, just that I would do the drawing sometime tomorrow. I think my thought was that I would close today, but because I did not state that, I will close the entries to the contest at noon tomorrow, and make the drawing shortly after that. (OK, This will be a challenge for me, as I'm not the least little bit conscious of time passing.) So I will do my best, but I will make the after noon tomorrow, March 24.

We had a very nice Easter. My eldest Jeff was here, and we went for Easter pancake breakfast the youth at church put on, and then to service. Our minister keeps things lively (would you believe he threw a softball during service a few weeks ago, and it hit the back wall of the sanctuary? Yes, really!!) Jeff left after lunch, and made it home safely. To the right you can see a picture of Jeff with George (lower left, Australian Shepard) and KD (upper right, Australian Cattle Dog) They are each almost a year old, and full of energy. George is Jeff's newest dog, and he is definitely calming KD down. He has one brown eye, and one blue eye, even tho it does not show in the photo. He is very sweet. KD is an imp, and likes to pull all the stuffing out of the dog toys. She never tears them up, just pops the stitches in the seams, and pulls all the stuffing out. She is also deaf, but compensates by watching EVERYTHING! Our Jenny is 9, and about twice as big as these two. She had a great time playing with them, but is very tired tonight.

Now changing subject, I'm working on my UFO, hoping to have a finish before I become Queen. There are only 2 ladies-in-waiting ahead of me, so I need to make some progress! I cut the fabric tonight for the napkins that go with my Mom's placemats, so there is that progress, and I need to make the final decisions on the placemat bindings. (Hmm, piping or not??) I also realized that this next Saturday is my BOM meeting. And I have not even cut the fabric for this months block!! Wow, I've got sewing to do this week. Guess I better head into the sewing room, and sew for an hour or so before I head to bed.

See you all tomorrow, and good luck with the contest.

Happy Dance, Time to Party!!

Happy, Happy. Woooo Hooo. An what has brought on this case of extremely happy-itis you ask? Is it a UFO finished? a new quilt pattern?

Well no, but those things can come next. No, it is Happy time because, I have completed the Tax work booklet for the accountant. It and the backup of the company books goes to the accountant tomorrow. I've been dreading the paperwork, but have finally pushed through it, and it is finally ready. Now I can start dreading the results of the accountant's work, but hey, I think I'll wait until next week to worry about that!!

What's that? oh, yea. A pic of the green checkerboard quilt. Well, really it is nothing very special, and not all that big. Lap size. OK, OK. I'll go take a picture!

OK, so now does that make you happy? Don't look too close at the corners. A couple are off a bit.

And on to my UFO finish so I can skip being Queen... the fabric for the binding is in the washer as I type. So cool. OH, I can hear my mom saying "Well darn, I need to get busy on my chair cushions. LOL.

And one more Happy Day, my eldest (Jeff) will be pulling into our driveway any minute now. He'd be here already, but I forgot to tell him our main road in is closed, and the tunnel is flooded from melting snow. (Well my husband didn't think to tell him either. And we will have fun. Jeff is bringing his two dogs. This will be our first meeting with George. We have already met KD. Jenny (our dog) can hardly wait.

Take care. Join me in sewing tomorrow, OK?

Time is Getting Short! Have you entered the give-away?

Check out March 10 to enter in my give-away. There are only a few more days to enter.

And several people who have entered have left very nice comments about the "cowboy quilt". I want to tell all of you that this quilt has found a home. At our last quilt group meeting, the final stitches were put into the binding of this quilt, and one of the quilters looked over and saw the quilt. Seems she has just started working part time for Meals on Wheels, and one of the elderly gentlemen she delivers meals to use to be an active cowboy. She thought he would really like the quilt and offered to the group that she would buy it for him. But that is not what our group is about. We told her, no, she could not buy it - But we wanted her to take it to him. Our quilts are given to those who need them, and we all were pleased that a real cowboy would get the cowboy quilt! It makes what we do, worth doing!! I can't wait to hear her report next week on when she delivered it to him.

Tomorrow I will try to post a pic of the next quilt top I just finished. It is a green solid, and green print checkerboard. I need to do the final pressing, but it will be ready for our next meeting.

And I'm getting awfully close to the top of the Queen's list in the Stashbusters UFO group. For those of you who do not know, you DO NOT want to be Queen. You get moved to the bottom of the list by finishing a UFO. Several posts ago, I determined I would work on my quilted jacket. I've made progress, but I don't want to rush the decisions on how to put it together. So I'm putting it on a short hold, and will finish the quilted placemats I started over a year ago for my mother. Basically, they need binding, and I will make matching napkins to go with them. I already have all the fabric to do this. All the colors in the fabrics match the colors in the painting behind my mom's dining table. It is an oil her step-dad did years ago. (Hear this Mom?? Are you working on recovering your chairs so they will match the new placemats and the picture?? Which one of us will get done first?? LOL)

It is late, and I need to get some sleep. Have a great day tomorrow!

Today was a camp day!

I don't think I've mentioned yet that last summer was the first summer I was able to join my DH at summer camp. He has been on staff since 2001 in various positions. Last year they asked him to be the camp director, and I was finally able to join him. I served as the office staff. Well, this summer we are doing it again, with a few changes. First I will not be the entire office staff, I will have a wonderful lady joining me. Plus this year I will know what the job is (last year was "on the job training") LOL

Today we held interviews for prospective staff. Found some wonderful young men that we will love to have at camp. oh, When is this? you ask... for 7 weeks in June and July. After the interviews, the Directors had lunch together, and then visited camp, and then had pie together. This activity took all day, so no chance to do any sewing. Tomorrow is paperwork for taxes (UGH!!) so I don't know how much time I will have for sewing tomorrow.

So someone please... do some sewing for me, OK?
Thanks so much.
Vicki

Old Red Barn is giving away a quilt!

Old Red Barn is giving away a quilt to celebrate her 200th blog. You can get to her site by clicking here: http://www.oldredbarnco.blogspot.com/ Good Luck (but hoping I win!) :-) And don't forget to enter my give-away by replying to my March 10 post.

The quilt top

This is a picture of the quilt top I finished yesterday. I'm don't think the picture is very good. The color of the strips between the flower panels is a soft mint green. In our group, we work with the fabric we have. Let's see if a close up is any better at the color. I guess it is a little better, if you click on the picture. Anyway, the solid and striped mint green someone had cut up to use as wide bindings. I used the pieces that had not been folded up yet. And the flower fabric you see, I used every bit of what was available. So, good use of scraps that were up in the attic (where we keep the material). The next top I'm going to sew are blocks that were already cut, in a dark green, and a green print. It will be very different from this one.

Oh, and Brenda let me know I had a setting wrong, and no one could post to my give-away. All fixed now, or at least I think so. If any experienced bloggers have any suggestions for me, they will be accepted with gratitude!!

Thanks everyone.

Another charity quilt top finished!

I'm supposed to be finishing my existing projects, but what did I do today? At my NSPQ meeting, I checked out the fabric stash, and came home with fabric to make 4 new tops. UGH! But these are totally different from the cowboy fabric I have been using, so I'm looking forward to making them. In fact, I finished one tonight. Just strips of fabric sewn together. I'll post a pic of it tomorrow. And don't forget to respond to my March 10 blog entry to enter yourself into my give-away!

Have a great time sewing!

Give-away on this posting!

Lots to tell, and some pictures to show... First I just finished the NSPQ Cowboy quilt #3. NSPQ is a group out of my church that makes quilts for different groups. I took some fabric that had cowboy applique's that were intended to go on shirts. There was YARDS of this fabric. I chose to cut the appliques up into 4 inch squares and make pieced tops out of them. The first two did not have the vertical stripes in the top. YIKES!! I have enough squares left to make another top, maybe two!

I also finished the fabric weaving for the quilt jacket, and made fabric out of fibers. (I know this has a name, but it escapes me at the moment. ) I really like how the weaving turned out. This was my first attempt at sewing fibers together... I'm not sure what I think about the outcome.

Now for the part you have all been waiting for...

On March 23, it will be our one year anniversary in this house. As that day is Easter, I will draw the winner on March 24. To enter the drawing, all you need to do is leave a comment on this post. I will put each name on a slip of paper, and draw the winner. So what will the lucky winner receive? 4 fat quarters as shown to the right. OK, you see the fabric, very nice don't you think? But what is that, that, thing? It's not a pencil... You are right. That is a porcupine quill. It makes a great stiletto, and it will be included with the fat quarters for the lucky winner!

Fabric Weaving...

Last night I worked until after 2 am on weaving fabric for my jacket. OK, I had to cut it, and instead of sewing tubes, I used a bias maker, and made strips that way. I also ironed on some of that web stuff, so when I get the piece all woven together, I can press it, and make it stick together (I hope) LOL I generally have to do it "my way", and get some interesting results that way. I need to make a few more strips, and finish weaving it together.

Now to celebrate our move a year ago, I've decided to have a give-away. Some FQ's. And as I live in a small western town, they will have a western theme. (After all, we do have a gun fight in the downtown streets every night during the week.) So tomorrow I'll post a pic of the fabrics, and start gathering your names.

Earlier today, I was reading the stashbuster email, and heard what people use for stilettos. There were several items people used, and I was surprised to read that one of the people on the list use porcupine quills. I learned about these a couple years ago, and love using them. The little fine barbs hold the fabric but don't damage it, and it does not hurt your needle if you sew over the quill. Hmm, I think I'll add one to my give-away!

Going to go work on the weaving - maybe finish it!! See you all tomorrow.

I Promised you a Picture...

So first thing to do is show you my new earrings. So here they are:

They were a lot harder to take pictures of than I thought, but you can get the idea. And you can tell I like dangly earrings.

Back to quilting...

I've decided on the project I want to finish. It is my jacket made from a sweatshirt. I have the two arms done, and had started working on the back. I dragged the shirt and all of the fabrics out of my stash last night. I think I will tease you, and show you one of the arms. Each arm is a little different, but I used the same fabrics. What does not show up very well in the photo is that each gold flower in the floral print on the bottom has a gold bead sewn to it's center.

I plan for the back and each side of the front to be different also. (Think fabric folding, some fabric weaving, decorative fibers sewn into "fabric"). I know - I'm risking making the jacket way over the top, but I will try to refrain myself. I really enjoy the creative process in making this jacket. I'm going to go work on the back and one of the sides as soon as I finish this post.

One other piece of news that is important. Later this month will be one year of living in our new home and "new town". I'm thinking I need to celebrate that some how. I'll have to figure out how I can celebrate our 1 year anniversary. Ideas anyone?

Thanks for stopping by, I will talk to you tomorrow. I'm going to go sew.

It's good to be home!

I'm back home after a long day of driving. It is something like 500+ miles between my mom's home and mine. (No, I really don't know the exact distance, I'm thinking I DON'T WANT to know how far it is, I just know that it takes about 10 hours to make the trip, not including more than brief stops for gas and essentials. I did visit a local quilt shop while at my moms house. They must have had 30 or 40 different bolts of wide backing fabric. I picked out one that I hope will match one of the tops I have pieced. I also made a point of visiting the gift shop at the town hospital. - I know! It sounds like a weird place to make a point of shoping, but they have the BEST assortment of earings I have ever seen. And at wonderful prices! I picked out 4 very different pairs, and can't wait to wear each of them. I'll take a pic of them tomorrow, when my camera battery is recharged, and get them posted.

I am now an official member of the Stashbuster UFO Challange Group. And according to the rules, I must have a UFO finished by the end of March. Hmmm, I need to pick something that I can get done pretty quickly as I need to also get a couple big projects done for work. I'm debating between 3 different projects. The first is the quilt I'm making for the guest bed. It is Queen size, and needs the borders added, and then layered/quilted/and bound. This will probably take the most time to finish of the three options. The second item is quilted placemats for my mom. This is probably the quickest to do, but my mom has not recovered the dining room chairs yet, so it could wait a little longer. The third project is a jacket I started a year and a half ago. The kind you quilt over an X-tra large sweatshirt. To finish, this would probably be quicker than the quilt top, and then the weather would be just about right to wear it. Tonight I'm thinking the quilt jacket is the project I should choose. What do you think? And why? Wonder which one I will want to choose tomorrow? LOL!

Have a great night, Thanks for coming.