Sew South Retreat

Woohoo..... A sewing retreat coming to the South - Charlotte, NC in fact - Sew South Retreat.  What a fabulous reason to reactivate this very quiet blog!  Ellison Lane Quilts is hosting, what sounds to be a wonderful retreat in March 2013.  Tickets are now on sale - SOLD OUT ... so hurry over and get yourself booked.


Really thought I was going to be able to get there - and visit a daughter too - but gotta be at the spring musical when you're the costumer!!!  Fingers crossed for next year - because you know this is going to become a yearly event :)

Looking forward to reconnecting with quilty friends - Until next time, happy sewing!

Auction Benefitting Haiti

Friends and family - as promised I am including a link to the modernjax blog where Beth is auctioning off Christmas quilts, tree skirts and a table runner with all benefits going to Haiti relief.

Also included is the tree skirt I quilted.

Please go visit and if you see it in your heart and pocketbook to help - THANK YOU!

Until next time, keep well. xo

Happy New Year

Only making one new year's resolution (that I'm admitting to!) and that is .... post much more regularly. The past six months have been filled with lots of sewing, quilting, and swaps as well as family and friends, sports, play and movie watching. Looking forward to creating way cool costumes for our local spring musical - "Scarlet Pimpernel", challenging myself through a couple new bees I joined and completing some "WIPs" (works in progress) - 3 in particular!!

Below are some pics of the tree skirt I quilted from the charity blocks donated to modernJax's Christmas Block Swap. Beth will the holding an auction of these quilts/tree skirts etc., with proceeds going to Haiti recovery. I'll definitely keep you posted.

Here are the blocks I sent off for Bee Addicted - Wonky Houses.

Until next time my friends. Keep well and warm.

Can You Guess What It Is??

Our oldest ordered herself this most fabulous gizmo plus the extended warranty that one needs for these electronic things, leaving her with not much left for a case.....

Enter the Mummy and her sewing machine ....................

A KINDLE CASE!!!

So - what do you think - might there be a market for these!!?? I'm pretty happy with how it turned out - oh and she is too!

2 down - 5 to go

Here's a quick peek at my Christmas blocks for the swap being sponsored by ModernJax.

We signed up to make 6 blocks (+ one for charity if you wanted to). 2 will go to each of your three team mates. In return (fingers crossed) you will receive 2 blocks from each of your 3 team mates..... I'm really looking forward to seeing what I receive and think i'm going to make a little wall hanging with my 6... might add a couple of my own ... depending on the spark of the moment!

I've had a quick look at a couple of my swap partners sites and OMGoodness - VERY CUTE is all I have to say! Sophia, Kristen and Nicole - can't wait to receive your blocks.

Sneak Peak

So here it is - my DQS7 project completed for my partner. I just have to make a label, wrap it up (along with a few little goodies) and off into the post it goes!!! And, shockingly, well before the deadline of September 15th!!! Yay me!

I really hope she likes it. I'm a little nervous. I love it - I'm not sure the photo does it justice. The prints are so bright against the brown. Well fingers crossed.

I've never done something like this before, but have to admit to having really enjoyed it. It took awhile for the idea to come to me but once it did, the project kind of came together itself. To view some of the fantastic quilts made by others go visit the Flickr group set up for DQS7. It truly amazing the talent that is out there. VERY inspiring.

I can't believe it, school starts tomorrow for the 2 youngest. Oldest has already been in class for a week. Where did the summer go? Off to do a couple things with the kidlets. See you soon.

Looking for a Project?

Do you ever find a couple of fat quarters, or a pack of charm squares and not sure what to do with them? Moda Bake Shop is where I go. There's a huge assortment of projects using Moda's Pre-cuts, created by fellow quilters.


Today's post was created by Kim from http://bittybitsandpieces.blogspot.com/. CUTE, CUTE little gift bags made with 4 fat quarters - you'll get three bags out of the 4 fat quarters!!! Perfect size for a charm pack, or maybe a little present.... possibilities are endless.

Well off to finish to finish making a Peach and Blackberry teacake - courtesy of Rustic Fruits Desserts. I believe it's really called "Stone Fruit Tea Cake". Will "share" with you tomorrow :)

Doll Quilt Swap plus some updates

SOOOO... today is the day we should be finding out who our swap partners are!!! I'm excited and a little nervous (never done this type of swap before). It's a secret though..... we can leave little hints but nothing too obvious. I'm looking forward to trying to figure out which one will come live with me!!

Below are the blankets I sent off to Craft Hope. Just little receiving blankets with cotton on one side and flannel on the other - and some cute stitching around to keep it all together!

And here are a couple of photos of a quilt i finished this past weekend as a wedding gift. I have to admit that it was difficult to part with it. I love those Amy Butler fabrics mixed with batiks and prints. It was the first time I had stippled a whole quilt. I've stitched in the ditch and done some straight stitch quilting and stippled a couple of small wall hangings, but not a big (well lap size!!) quilt fully stippled. I was pretty proud of myself and thought it really turned out well. Not too many "noticeable" bloops!!!

this is the "flip side" of the quilt. I backed it with a cream tone on tone and stripped in some of the extra 4-square patches and pieces of left over fabrics. I liked the overall effect.

Off to create some more.....

Happy Birthday Tasha

 

Wow!  17!  

Wishing for you many wonderful adventures girlie.  

Oodles of fun; wonderful friendships; your dreams come true.

We are so proud of your accomplishments, your big heart and sense of fairness, your dedication to your passions, but most of all - your love of family. 

Have a glorious year girlie.  We love you so very much.

Christmas in July?

Helen from Hugs 'n Kisses has a new Christmas BOM. It's beautiful. Some lovely red and white fabrics along with some precious stitchery - all in red - no switching colours!!! Go quickly and look - and even purchase if you like.

Love this lady's creativity and her work. I follow her blog regularly. Oh - and she shares - lots of lovely projects, and her talents with others... Off you go - and enjoy.

Fast & Fabulous

I was a winner of a blog contest, around Spring Market time, that Gudrun from G.E. Designs had promoting her new pattern book - Fast & Furious. (follow the link above to her blog - VERY talented lady) Again - THANK YOU Gudrun - love the book.





Yesterday morning I decided that I wanted to make the beach bag from Fast & Furious for a friend who is moving away. She was coming over last night for book club and we wanted to fill it with a few "momentos" - things we had laughed about throughout the past year - and a few things she would hopefully enjoy in her new house on the beach! By the time I came home from the fabric store to buy some 2 1/2" strips ('cause my stash is mostly made up of fat quarters at the moment and you need 42" strips) I didn't get started until lunch time. A couple of breaks, lunch, pick ups from camp and it was completed by 5:30! It's a quilt as you go pattern - sewing directly onto the batting and lining. FABULOUS. I have to admit to cheating a little and machine sewing the binding on the top down as I had run out of time and I still had dinner to make before my guests arrived. My only little "comment" is that there isn't an inside pocket - kinda hard to do when you're quilting as you go, i know - but next time (and there will be one very shortly!) I will hand sew one in.


Cannot wait to try some of the other projects along with Gudrun's "Anytime Placemats" which she posted last week as part of the Minnesota Blog Hop. Go check it out, if you haven't already. Lots of fun and some prizes too!

Craft Hope

I happened upon this site recently and signed up right away - blankets, beanies and booties for babies living in an orphanage in India. Click on the icon and find out more.

I know that I have some super soft flannel, just waiting for a little binding - enough for three or four. Maybe even a couple of tiny little slippers too. Gotta get working on them though - have to be in Texas by the 25 of July!!!

Quilt Along Continues

I'm all caught up. Week 5 starts tomorrow and I'm ready! Here's my quilt top - ready for "sandwiching" and then quilting. Think I might have to go out and buy some varigated thread for the quilting - what do you think?
Now I need to go catch up on the one-a-day nine patch square challenge that I signed-up for.

This is what 12 looks like!

Our youngest.  Can't believe it's been 12 years.  He is a truly delightful little man.  Celebrations included going to the ACC semi-finals and finals a couple of weeks ago - with the Daddy (much as I love him - sitting through 3 baseball games is just not something I can do!!); a breakfast feast, topped off with ribs and Jello poke cupcakes for dinner.  It was a good day.  Next year ....  we'll have 3 teenagers in our house.... YIKES.

Off to high school and quilt-along

I can't believe it - one senior , one freshman and one 7th grader.... where does it go? K had her 8th grade award ceremony (we're not allowed to call it a graduation here on the coast of NC) - graduation is reserved for high school. A couple of awards, tears (that she had saved up for a week!! a long story), lots of photos and a little cake. Altogether a great day. So here's a pic of her dress. K is the one in the blue dress (for those that don't know her!). She wore it with a cute white shrug as it was strapless (as per her instructions) and therefore not appropriate for school! Unfortunately, you can't see the pleats - to me that what made it a little different. The way it laid because of them.

I've also been working on Old Red Barn's Quilt-Along. My fabric is picked, strips cut and i've sewn two sets together. I'm a "little" behind as we're supposed to be at the point where sets have been sewn & cut and blocks are being sewn together! that's okay though 'cause I have all week to catch-up!!

Here are my 12 fabrics -

... now cut into strips... for the life of me I couldn't get the cat out of the way - i'd put him down, he'd get right back up.... quirky!

.... tomorrow the strip sets!

Back into the Swing of It

Nothing like a Quilt-Along to get me back into blogging. The reality is that i have a couple of other priorities (like an 8th grade graduation dress) to complete before week's end but hey - nothing like a little pressure to get i all done :)

It's just the third week (out of six), strips are just being sewn together.... I have to go into town tomorrow - hope the little man doesn't mind a quick trip to the fabric store as my stash is in very sad shape at the moment... so it's feeling very doable.

I can't believe school is over in just a few days - a senior, a freshman and a 7th grader in the fall - where does the time go?

I'll be back tomorrow with a few updates - some photos - but REALLY - that dress has to get done and the girlie picked a Vogue pattern - an advanced sewer one, with funky pleats....

So Thankful For So Much

On this Thanksgiving Day I am so thankful for -

• Funny, wonderful children;
• A fabulous husband with a great sense of humour;
• GREAT friends;
• The opportunity to spend time with great friends and family;
• Plenty of good food to cook with;
• Piles of books to read;
• Piles of fabric to play with;
• the gift to sew and create;
• the great blessings bestowed upon us... for all these things and more - I am truly thankful.
  

Cool Critters

These three "Magoo" monkeys along with "Tweet & Hooty" and "Dudley" the dodo are what I have been spending the last month working on. Are they not the cutest softies EVER!!!?

They were created from Melly & Me patterns - a wonderful Australian line of patterns created by two sisters. Treasured Threads is one of their American distributor. Definitely a place to browse through. Shannon carries a variety of different lines - everything from quilt patterns that include gorgeous stitchery, fabulous softie patterns, oodles of books etc. etc.

This is where you can also go to get your hands on Australian Homespun magazine. WOW - love it!! glossy, variety of projects from quilting to stitchery, to softies. Lovely articles accompany the projects. Oh and beautiful photographs.

You may also want to add this Absent-Minded Santa to your Christmas craft list. I know I will be. He comes together quickly and it WAY CUTE. Sshh - don't you think he would make a great Christmas present!!??? I made him from a Natalie Ross In Stitches pattern - again Australian designer.

I also made a lovely purse - Ginger & Spice by Cinderberry Stitches. Unfortunately I don't have a photograph of the purse. If you have an opportunity to look through her patterns

and blog I know you'll enjoy the time spent.

Now until mid-November all my sewing is likely to be focused on the local high school play, though I really have to finish my projects for my stitching angel swap. My swap angel lives in Australia so I think i'm going to send one package - but i know how much fun it is to receive a little package here and there - so i'll see..... maybe i'll split it into two!!

Until next time my friends - enjoy the day and this absolutely stunning fall season.

Stitcher Angel swap

Before posting about anything else I wanted to share this really cool photo that I took of our flowering cactus. This plant resides on our front porch - it gets a fair amount of sun - but it's protected. It used to live out in the garden - and never produced anything. A friend replanted it in a pot a couple of years ago and placed it on the porch to add a little decoration to it. Lo and behold - 2 years later the thing blooms!! Now for those who know me - a green thumb I do not have. My plants are lucky if I remember to water them - so this is huge!!! I'd love to take credit - but alas it truly had nothing to do with me and my meticulous attention to it. Just a lovely gift that made me smile every time I walked by it for a couple of weeks.

Okay now onto the reason for this post. I recently signed up to take part in the Stitcher's Angel Swap and have been eagerly anticipating its start. Well this morning i received my swap partner's info from Helen . The whole identity thing is a secret - we can identify ourselves only at the end. Of course we can leave little clues on our blogs.... hmmm that sounds like fun --- and all i'm saying is that mine doesn't live here in the US where we do!!!! Not even on the North American continent!! I'm wondering who got my name.... ??? Every week for the next 7 a new stitchery pattern will be made available from a number of different designers - our "responsibility" is to send a minimum of 3 to our swap partner. Of course we can send more!! I hope she likes what i make and send....

I can't wait to start receiving a little surprise in the mail over the next couple of months.... I promise I'll share! This is my first swap of this kind - I hope it all goes well.

On a totally different note - this was the weekend that we took Miss T to school. I think it's going to be okay!!! She got there first and got to pick her bed (very important to her!) and she's thrilled with her roommates (she's in a triple). There are 31 girls on her dorm - with a good mix of juniors and seniors. We were so thankful that the Student Life Instructor (Dorm Mom you could say) has been there some 20 years!!! YEAHHHH - she knows what to expect and how to support. I'm feeling better already! Today she gets her schedule and textbooks and her day is filled with more meetings. School actually starts tomorrow - yikes..... Already they're being told to expect 20-24 hours of homework a week!!! She'll do wonderfully well and we'll miss her but we'll be fine too!

Okay off to see what week 1 project will be for the swap - then school shopping for Special K and the little man - can't believe it - off to grades 8 & 6 - where it the time going :(

Enjoy your day.

Sssshhh.....Fabulous Giveaway

So here I am posting about a fabulous giveaway being done by Lila Tueller. I really don't want to post about it because that means more people will know about it, enter, and lessen the chances of my winning!!! But truthfully this is beautiful fabric that she created and should be shared by many.... and isn't that purse very cute?!!

I came across Lila's blog through Fat Quarter Shop and she has some lovely postings - cute patterns, gorgeous fabric line and some VERY cute little dresses that she created using onesies (free pattern). I have to admit to being a little jealous of all that creativity - but from her creativity I will be inspired and look forward to posting the results.

So go browse her blog - enter if you must - and most importantly enjoy the day and all the beauty it has to offer.