Cool Giveaway!

One of my favorite Etsy sellers, FabricSupplies, has launched their own website, http://www.hawthornethreads.com! They are having an awesome giveaway to celebrate... go here to sign up to win!!

Then check out the fabrics they sell... fantastic selection at great prices! I think half the fabric I've bought in the last 6 months has been from them :)

Retreat Fun And One UFO In The Bag!

This past weekend I was at a quilting retreat that's organized by my friend Vicki! I LOVE this retreat, we always have so much fun- and this time was no exception!

I was really productive at this retreat, too!!

First off, for the Tallgrass Prairie Studio "Joy In the New Year" UFO challenge, I got one (out of ten) done!!


These grocery bags were designed by the same Vicki who organized the retreat! These six have been cut out and ready to put together since May 2009. I got a bit of work done on them at a retreat in September, but they were STILL unfinished! My first priority at the retreat was to put those suckers together... and I did! Now I have six fabulous grocery bags to do my shopping with- maybe I'll actually enjoy grocery shopping :)

Vicki has a pattern almost ready to go for these bags. I'll let you know when you can get your hands on it!


This super amazingly fast pattern is by Terry Atkinson, and it's called "Pie Crust Pile Up". I made mine with fabrics from the "Eva" collection by BasicGrey. The background is a really pale green that Vicki and I found in the shop to go along with the Eva fabrics.

I think this is my new favorite pattern! I started cutting it out at 3pm, and was showing off the finished top at 10pm. And that was with a break for dinner!


And lastly I made myself a thread catcher like the one for the giveaway, since I liked it so much I almost considered NOT giving it away :) I had enough fabrics left over to squeak another one out, so I did!

I also worked on those owl blocks, and made a lot of progress on my zig-zag Old Red Barn Co. Quilt Along top (which is also on the UFO list!).

The blogiversary giveaway is going until Wednesday, so make sure to leave a comment on that post to get entered to win! I've had a blast reading comments and visiting new blogs, and I thank all of you for coming to my blog and leaving me such lovely comments!

Re: Tutorial Request

Some people have asked for a tutorial for the threadcatcher. It is a published pattern, so unfortunately I can't do that.

You can go to http://www.tammytadddesigns.com/ and order a copy of the pattern!

A Quick Check-In!

Hi everyone! I'm having a BLAST at my quilt retreat! I've also been reading all your comments- thanks!

Make sure to comment on the giveaway post to enter to win!

My First "Blogiversary" And A Giveaway!

One year ago today I started my quilt blog! I started it for a couple reasons: to meet other quilting bloggers, and to give myself a place to show off my projects. I have met so many amazingly wonderful people through this blog- I am inspired each and every day by the blogs I read, and I am so thankful for all my creative bloggy friends!

To show how much I love you all, I'm doing a giveaway!!!

Isn't this just the cutest thing? It's a pincushion/thread catcher that was designed by Nan, a woman who works at Tammy Tadd Designs. If you have the fall 2009 Quilt Sampler magazine, look on page 6- they featured it along with several other cute pincushion patterns!!

I made this one with "Flutterby" fabrics by Tula Pink for Moda. The pincushion has waterproof sterile sand in it.

Also for the giveaway, charm packs and "Taddles"! There are charm packs from "Birdie", "Love U" and "Wonderland", all from Moda. The box contains 13 "Taddles" of "Be Merry" by Riley Blake- "Taddles" are 11" squares that they cut and sell down at Tammy Tadd Designs.

One person gets all this!!

How to enter:

Leave me a comment! Tell me where you're from! Wish me a happy blogiversary :) That gets you one entry into the giveaway.

Become a follower! Leave me a separate comment that you've become a follower, and that gets you another entry! If you are already a follower, leave that in a separate comment so you get a second entry too.

Blog about my blog/giveaway! Leave another (separate) comment that you've done this, and you get a third entry :)

I'll be picking from the total number of comments, so be sure to leave separate comments about following and blogging to get your extra entries!

I will pick a winner on Wednesday, November 11 at 12pm (noon) Central Standard Time (US).

I am really looking forward to another year with all my bloggy friends!!

11/13/09 Edit: The prize was awarded on 11/11/09- thank you so much for stopping by my blog!!

Life's A Hoot!

Especially with these cute little guys hanging around!!



These are some of the owls I have cut out and fused to make a pattern called "Hooterville" by Brandywine Designs. I saw it in a quilt shop the other day, and I HAD to get it... and the fabrics to make it with :) Fortunately this was before the car issues!

I'm packing for my quilt retreat tomorrow- I can hardly wait! I am having trouble deciding what all I want to take with me... I don't want to take too much, because then I'll be unhappy if I don't get it all done. I'll only be 20 miles from home, so I guess I could come back and get some more stuff to work on if I needed to!

My blogiversary is tomorrow!! Be sure to stop over and sign up for the giveaway!

There Is No Great Loss...

...without some small gain! Remember that old saying? Well, that's pretty much been my life the past week!

I have my car back... again. $900 later. OUCH! But it has new serpentine and timing belts and a new water pump! And in the past 2 months it's also gotten a new catalytic converter, a new thermostat, a new ignition coil, and a new driver's side window. We've had to put a lot of money into the car, unfortunately... but hopefully that's all, and my little Jetta will be a happy car again!

The "great loss": I was supposed to go to my sister's this weekend, but money issues have made that not possible. I'm super bummed- I really like La Crosse, WI and my sister and I always have fun when we're together! We will see each other at Thanksgiving, though.

The "small gain": well, this is not so small... I had been signed up for a quilting retreat that my friend Vicki puts together, but I cancelled because I was going to see my sister. Well, it turns out there was still room in the retreat! So I get to go to that this weekend instead! It's close to home and doesn't cost a whole lot- and it's 3 days of fun, food, and inside jokes! I'm excited- we always have a TON of fun at this retreat :)

The "great loss": Hubby's uncle passed away at the age of 74 (Hubby was adopted when his parents were older, and his family is a lot older than a typical 31-year-old would have) after a long battle with diabetes and renal failure. He passed away very suddenly, and it's been hard on Aunt Carol and his children and grandchildren.

The "small gain": the funeral service was lovely, there were so many funny stories shared about Uncle Martin that most people laughed more than they cried! We got to visit with family afterwards, and the ladies of the church gave an AMAZING luncheon after the funeral. Also, the weather was lovely, sunny and not too cold, which made everything (including our 3 hour drive) much nicer.

I'm off to start sorting my projects for the retreat, and to get some laundry done. Then I'm going to quilt the mini I made for the STUD swap... it's SO cute! I hardly know how I'm going to mail it off this weekend!

Oh, yes... another "small gain" this week: I got a new chair for my sewing room! No more chair that doesn't move up or down and has screws sticking through the padding. YAY! Giving up that old chair is no "great loss", believe me :)

My blogiversary is on Friday! I have a giveaway planned, so be sure to stop by on Friday to check it out!

Creative Therapy

It's been a really, really good thing to have my sewing mojo back... they say bad stuff comes in 3's, right? Well, I can tell you, it's true!

First off, Hubby's uncle passed away last Thursday night. He'd been very sick for a very long time, so it wasn't that much of a surprise, but I really feel sad for his aunt- they'd been married for 53 years.

Our cat is sick, too, and I think I'm going to have to take her in to the vet.

But, wait! How am I going to take her to the vet? My car is broken- AGAIN! I was coming home from a quilt shop yesterday when the temperature gauge suddenly went WAY up, lights and beeps came from everywhere, and there was a gurgling sound, coupled with the smell of antifreeze! Fortunately I was pretty much on my street and able to get home. Hubby thinks something is wrong in the cooling system or with the *brand new* thermostat... so the car gets to go to the doctor tomorrow too :)

So instead of freaking out (or running the errands I need to run...) I spent the day making things again! I made November blocks for my 3 quilting bees, and I made a mini quilt that I've had in my mind for a while. I may use it for the November STUD swap on Flickr... I'll have to see who my partner is and what they like!

Here are the bee blocks!


This is for Lori, in the Sweet Dreams Quilting Bee... she sent some brights and the black, and asked us to add in some of our own brights for a log cabin block. I used three that she sent and three of my own to make this block.


This is for Liz in the A Piece Of Work B bee... she sent the darling bird fabric and some solid white, and asked that we use our scraps to make wonky stars!


And these are for Julie in the Buzz Cuts bee... she sent "Neptune" fabrics and asked for anything! The circle one was inspired by one of the fabrics she sent (I didn't end up using it, though). The other one I put together with scraps from the first, making it a bit wonky to look like seaweed.

I also made.... something.... for my 1 year "blogiversary" on Friday, November 6. Be on the lookout- I have a pretty nice giveaway planned :)

I MADE THINGS!!!

Oh, I'm SO happy! I finally got some time to sit down and MAKE something! A few somethings, actually! Today was the first time I sat down and sewed since October 6th. That's WAY too long!

First off, for the Sweet Dreams Quilting Bee I made these blocks for Missy:

She sent "Katie Jump Rope" Fabrics... some of my all time favorite fabrics!!

Then for the Buzz Cuts Bee I made these blocks for Andrea:

She sent Michele D'Amore fabrics- also some of my favorites!!

And finally for the day I made a laptop case for my sister!! The print is a Kaffe Fassett fabric, and the pink is a Moda, but I don't know what line it's from.


I also did the fall cleaning in the kitchen today... emptied all the cabinets and scrubbed them, washed ALL the dishes (yikes!) cleared off all the counters and scrubbed them, scrubbed the appliances, swept and scrubbed the floor... it looks so nice and clean now :)

Tomorrow I plan to make November bee blocks, make a quilted backpack that was commissioned by a friend, and finish up the set of 6 grocery bags I'm making for myself. I also have a few quilts I'd like to get quilted, so I may load one on the frame tomorrow and get going on that, too!

It feels good to have my creative mojo back :)

At Home

Wow, this has been a busy few days!! I cleaned the house like mad before we left for vacation... and I am at a loss to explain how it got so out of shape with no one in it!! I've been cleaning like crazy! I think I finally have it how I like it now.

I've also been catching up on the blogs I read, baking, prewashing and ironing the fabric I bought on vacation... the list seems endless!

I actually plugged my sewing machine in this morning... I'm making progress! I have some bee blocks to make for October/November. Then I want to get back to work on my Park Slope log cabin quilt. And I might work on the Heather Bailey wonky cabin quilt a little, too!


Finally.... I just got home from a fabulous vacation, full of scenery and beautiful autumn colors... only to find the prettiest tree I've seen yet is the maple in the back yard, just outside my kitchen window!

The Kancamagus Highway

The Kancamagus Highway is a road in New Hampshire that goes from Conway to Lincoln, through a pass of Mt. Kancamagus. It's one of the most beautiful highways in the world (in my opinion, anyway) and it offers a wide variety of scenery... and weather, as we found out!!


This is still on the lower part of the road... the fog was VERY thick in some of the higher elevations!


The fog cleared away as we went along (we went from East to West). But wait... is that SNOW on that peak in the distance?!?


Why yes, it IS snow! Lots of snow! There was about 4 inches of snow on the ground at the highest part of the mountain pass.


There was still some gorgeous fall scenery, though... I love this picture!

All in all it was a wonderful vacation! We put 3,400 miles on the car (and ourselves... that's a LOT of driving, folks!) and spent about $3,200, including gas, lodging and food on this vacation. I am so glad we went, and we have many memories and pictures to keep it fresh in our minds for a long time to come :)

Favorite Vacation Pics

We got home from vacation last night! It was such a wonderful vacation!! The only thing we would change is the length- we were gone too long. I guess Hubby and I are both homebodies :)

Today I've been unpacking and cleaning and doing laundry and making bread and getting a grocery shopping list put together. I'm also suffering the sadness and homesickness I experience every time I leave the place I consider to be home (Victor, NY)... it's so hard to leave the friends and the area I love so much. I've been praying every day for nearly 8 years that God will open up a way for me to move back there. So far, nothing. But I keep hoping!

Anyway, enough of the weepy stuff! We got some AWESOME pictures on this trip! Here are my favorites from my camera- Hubby will download his camera tonight and I can show you some of those pics, too!

This is the Portland Head lighthouse in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. This is my second-favorite lighthouse (my all time favorite is the St. Simon Island lighthouse in Georgia). It's SO pretty, and we had the perfect day to be there!

There are paths along the rock shore that you can walk in the park near the lighthouse. This picture shows you why there's a lighthouse there- I'm thinking a ship would NOT win against those rocks!

The ocean was very calm and scenic that day :)

Hubby took this picture of me sitting on the rocks near the lighthouse, looking into Portland Harbor.

In Vermont. This is called the "100 mile view". It's near Hogback Mountain.

This is somewhere in Vermont. I love the contrast of the hill that has the sun shining on it and the hill that is under a cloud!

Killington Ski Resort in Killington Vermont. It was actively snowing in the higher elevations the day we drove through Vermont.

A view of the Rochester skyline from I-390. Rochester is a little city, but it has one of the prettiest skylines I have ever seen! I especially love it at night.

Blogger's Quilt Festival (Autumn 2009)

This is "So Ends A Fair Day", a mini quilt I made in January 2009. I made it to try to break my way out of a quilting rut I was in! It was so much fun to make, too!

I took a 9" x 12" piece of fusible web, and cut the pieces with my rotary cutter! I knew I wanted to make a sunset, and free cut the pieces to give me what I needed. Next, I dug into my batik stash and pulled out pieces I thought would work, fused the web to them, cut them out and re-assembled the piece of fusible web onto a muslin background with the batiks now attached. Then I covered every seam with fusbile bias tape. I then layered and basted it. Sewing the bias down became the quilting, too!

This quilt really helped me branch away from the "every quilt must have a million pieces" rule, and I had SO much fun making it :)

Maine

So, here we are in Maine!! It has been wonderful so far, the weather has been great and the town we are staying in is so cute! We're 1/8 mile from the Atlantic Ocean and have been walking down to the beach to walk before breakfast... can't do THAT in Illinois :)



I took this yesterday... I spent about 2 hours walking and sitting at the beach. It was heavenly!

Today we drove up to Cape Elizabeth and went to the Portland Head Lighthouse! We were not able to climb the tower since it's a working lighthouse and is in the custody of the Coast Guard... but we were able to go to the museum there, and walk MILES of paths and take about a million pictures!



Tomorrow we are spending the day in Boston, then heading up to Manchester, NH, where we will be staying a couple of days. I don't want to leave Maine, though! I absolutely love it here :)

Vacation!!!

Wow- it's almost hard to believe that we are leaving tomorrow for vacation! We planned it way back in June, and it seemed like it was FOREVER in the future then.... and here it is, less than 24 hours until we leave!

I'm just about ready- 2 more loads of laundry and then I can pack clothes! Most everything else is packed already. I have a couple more errands to run, including stopping by the gas station to fill up, and then we are ready! And then I can relax- I've been going nonstop the past 2 days!

Lucky has definitely figured out something's up... I pulled the suitcases out yesterday, and she gave me a look that said "Um, where exactly do you think you're going?". The real kicker was when our neighbor came to get the keys and say hi to Lucky... then she got all clingy and mopey. Now she's laying on the couch, shooting death glares at me whenever I walk past. She is an expert at the whole guilt-trip thing!

The forecast for Maine/New Hampshire/Vermont is calling for rain pretty much the whole time we are there, but I have seen 10-day forecasts change completely, so I'm not getting too upset about it- yet!

I spent 3 hours Monday morning researching places to go and things to see... including quilt and yarn shops! A couple of the yarn shops look like they are just heavenly... they are all programmed in to the GPS and I am looking forward to going to them :)

Thanks for all the comments about my last post! I think Vicki is right- I've been so wrapped up in vacation plans, and I spent a good portion of September either sick or out of town (or sick AND out of town...!) and didn't really get to do much sewing! I'm bringing my sketchbook along with, and I'm really hoping the scenery and the time away from home will bring some inspiration.

I am bringing my knitting with me. I am so close to finishing my sweater! I also have a hat for Hubby to finish, and a scarf for my mother-in-law. I also brought along some sock yarn in case I felt the urge to make socks, too.

I'll be updating my Facebook status and Twittering along the way, but I don't know if I'll have access to a computer to blog. You can follow me on Twitter if you want- just send me a request! I locked my Twitter account after getting several "porno-tweets" :)

The Quilting Blues

I am in a total quilting funk! I have no inspiration, no desire to create, nothing. I look at my fabrics, and nothing happens. I look at fabrics for quilting bees, and nothing happens there, either. ARGH! What is going on with me?

Maybe vacation will inspire me? I'll be visiting some new quilts shops... maybe I'm just tired of the same old stuff in my local shops. I think the economy is hitting them- none of them seem to get new stuff in anymore.

I'm hoping to be inspired by the ocean and the mountains and the fall foliage, too. It's pretty flat and boring around here! And I am always inspired by trips home to see my dear friends.

In the meantime, though, I still do have the inspiration and desire to knit! So at least I'm still making stuff.

Have you had this problem? How did you bring yourself out of it?

Terry's Quilt Is On Flickr!!

With Laurie's (A Yankee Quilter) consent, I have set up a Flickr group to share pictures of the blocks for Terry's Quilt!! Please visit http://www.flickr.com/groups/terrysquilt/ for more information and to share pictures of your block.

This is a quote from A Yankee Quilter's blog:

"Today is going to be a huge day for Terry. Her husband will be coming out of sedation to find out what has happened. He doesn't know that he lost part of his leg :("

This totally breaks my heart. Please pray for this family!

What Quilting Is All About

Yesterday I read on Lisa's blog that Terry 's husband suffered a terrible accident at work, resulting in his leg being amputated below the knee.

Today, I read that Laurie is organizing a quilt block donation for Terry and her family! The idea is that you make a 9 1/2" block and send it to Laurie. She will put them together into a quilt, and mail it to Terry!

So I pulled some fabrics and got a block put together. Do I know any of these people? No- but that's OK! Someone needs a quilt, and I can help with that. That's all I need to know!

We were asked to use blue, red, yellow and brown, and use a "scrappy love" theme. I wasn't quite sure what that meant, but this is what I came up with:



It'll go in the mail as soon as I have an address to send it to!

Go here for more information!

Plugging Away!

September has been such a busy month for me- I'm just now catching up on so many things. Including swaps. I feel really bad that I go so far behind, and people are going to be getting stuff a little late. All I can say is, I tried my best! And I'm not going to flake on anyone. You'll get your swap- soon, I swear!!

I did get some done and ready to go. These are blocks for the "A Piece Of Work B" quilting bee on Flickr:





It's my month to send out for the bee. I'll be headed to the post office tomorrow morning with those fabric packets!

We leave for vacation in one week! I have a list about 50 miles long of stuff that needs to be done before we leave, but I'm slowly working my way through it. I can't wait to hit the road! The biggest thing on the list was getting someone to watch the cat and the house. Our neighbor (the retired state trooper) is going to do it for us. I like having a police officer next door- it makes me feel so safe!

The one thing making these preparations a little icky: I have a head cold. I think I need to have a little tete-a-tete with ye olde physician about why I am sick ALL THE TIME. I don't have time to be sick and tired, and I haven't really felt perfectly healthy since I had strep in June.

The check engine light came on in my Jetta, so we took it in. A new thermostat, ignition coil and catalytic converter later, we're ready to roll! Thank goodness the catalytic converter was still covered under warranty- that alone would have been $1200! I think in the future we won't be buying another Volkswagen. LOVE the car, but it's really expensive to maintain.

Both of Dad's eyes are doing very well, and he is able to drive and do all sorts of stuff without glasses! It's a bit weird to look at him, though. I've never really seen him without glasses in my whole life :)

Off to finish up some more of the to-do list!