Winning!

Hello!

Have you checked out the Blog Hop Party with Give-Aways or the Giveaway Day 2011 Give-Aways yet? I've somehow managed to enter all the giveaways from the Blog Hop Party already (there were over 200 of them). Today I'll start on the Giveaway Day giveaways. I love winning things, as I'm sure you do too. 

I found out this morning that I won a prize already! Can you believe it? Carole from Tuffimom's Quilts was giving away a Moda Rouenneries Deux charm pack. It's mine now! Woo Hoo!  :)

I can't believe I won! I'm so excited and can't wait to see the fabrics in person.  :)

So far this has been my lucky week as I also won a giveaway from the Friday Night Sew-In I participated in last Friday night. I won the "Ooo Rah Wallet" Pattern and fabric from Debbie of Stitches and Seams.

She offers the pattern in her Etsy shop, Made By Mother of Marine if you're interested in getting one for yourself. I hear that it's a pretty easy pattern although it looks daunting.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I win some other items this week. I'm not counting on it but am hopeful.  :)  It's always nice to get something for free! Good luck to you too! Don't forget to enter to win my Snowman Mini Quilt if you haven't already.  :)

Until next time . . .

Christmas Gifts Progression. . .

Hello!  :)

I've been a busy bee over here.  :)  On Sunday I went and got the thread I needed to finish the last pair of Jammie pants. I also put the elastic in all of them and stitched them closed. All 6 pairs are officially finished!  :)

I still have two more Christmas presents to finished in the next two weeks (actually less than that now!). I need to make two twin size quilts. Sunday after I finished the jammie pants I cut the fabric for my oldest son Jay's quilt. I can share it with you now because I haven't told my older kids I have a blog yet. I will do so at Christmas.

Anyway . . . I'm going to back up a little bit. I knew I wanted to make both of my older kids quilts for Christmas this year. They both live at their Grandfather's house (on their father's side). He doesn't have a working heater and I know they could use something to keep them warm. I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to do for my daughter Jessica's quilt but I had no idea on a theme or color scheme for Jay's quilt. Then all of the sudden it hit me. Hawaiian! He loves Hawaii and all things Hawaiian, beach themed, etc. I go to thrift stores all the time and began looking for cool Hawaiian shirts to use for his quilt. There were lots of beautiful shirts in all kinds of fabrics but I stuck with the 100% cotton ones. I forgot to take pictures of the shirts while they were still shirts (sorry). There's actually quite a bit of fabric in the shirts, especially the 5x one I found. I couldn't believe I found one so large. Anyway . . . In the picture below you can see the squares already cut from the shirts in a circle (ignore the center fabrics for now).

For the quilt I'm using Amy Smart's Lattice Quilt pattern that I got from her Bits and Bobs Etsy shop. I laid out the fabric squares in a pleasing arrangement.

Then I labeled them and stacked them up ready for sewing.

Before I continue I'll share the sashing, border and backing fabrics I chose to use.

The fabric on the bottom is a really cool sheet I found while thrift store shopping for the background. I love it! The blue fabric is a wonderful Hawaiian batik print I found to use for the second border and the cornerstones. It really ties all the fabrics together. I'm using Kona Cotton in bone for the sashing and first border. I think I'm going to use a black batik for the binding but I haven't gotten it yet.

On Monday the quilt top sewed up pretty quickly. Amy has great instructions. When I finished sewing it I laid it out on the floor to view it. I actually squealed in delight and jumped up and down. I was very happy with it! It was great satisfaction after a long day sewing.  :)  This is only the second quilt top I have ever made.

Tuesday I woke up with a sore throat.  :(  I have been pushing myself pretty hard to get these things finished up before Christmas. After I took my son to school I came home and went back to bed for a few hours. It helped. I woke up without a sore throat but now I have a cold. Oh well. Someday I'll learn to take care of myself better. :)

I did manage to get the borders on the quilt top today. I'm very happy with the results! The blue really brightens it up but not too much. I think I made the right decision in using the same blue for the cornerstones. It really carries the colors throughout the quilt to complete the look.

What do you think? Do you like it? Does it look masculine enough? Here's another view. . .

Tomorrow I will cut the fabric's for Jessica's quilt and get it started. As soon as I have both tops finished I'll sandwich them and hand quilt them. I've never hand quilted before but I think I can do it. I love embroidery. Isn't it similar? If anyone has any pointers, tips, tricks, suggestions please share them with me. I'm hoping to be able to start quilting them by this weekend. By the way, what color (or colors) would you use to quilt Jay's quilt? I just can't figure it out. I appreciate all the help and advice I can get! Thanks! :)

Until next time . . .

100 Followers!

Hello!  :)

I started this blog in August and have been so excited each time someone 'follows me'. As of last week I had 93 followers. I'd been hoping to hit 100 before the end of the year. Now that I'm participating in the Blog Hop GiveAway & the Giveaway Day 2011 I'm way over this mark! I never dreamed so many people would be interested in checking out what I'm up to! Thank you all so much! I appreciate each and every one of you!  :)  You inspire me to keep going!  :)

I'm getting a little off track . . . the reason I'm bringing this up is that I've been planning on having a giveaway when I reach 100 followers. Now since I'm already having a giveaway this month, I will not be having the 100 Followers Giveaway to celebrate until January. I just don't think I could keep up with so much this month as well as the holidays. Right now I have 145 followers! Wow! I love it! I'll tell you what . . . if I reach 200 followers before January I'll giveaway 2 prizes!

I hope you will stay tuned for the upcoming giveaways, and everything else I have going on.  :)

Merry Christmas!

Until next time . . .

I Occupied My Sewing room for the Friday Night Sew-In!

Hello!  :)

I occupied my sewing room most of the day, into the night Friday.  :)

Remember when I showed you this fabric and told you I was making something for my 23 year old son & my hunky dude with it? Did you guess what I could be making?

Here it is . . .

Still don't know what it is huh? Well it's a bandana! I made two of them. They like to wear them occasionally as do rags. Of course they were very simple and quick to make. I just measured another bandana. I then added 1/2" to the measurements for seam allowances and sewed them up. They will make great stocking stuffers for my two older men.  ;)

I almost got all the jammie pants done. All seams and hems are done on 5 out of 6 of them, but the elastic's not in them yet. I had got a deal on the elastic online at JoAnn's, with free shipping, and it hadn't come in yet. Of course it came in today so I'll be adding it tomorrow and sewing the elastic holes closed. I almost finished sewing the 6th pair up but ran out of thread. I was almost done too! Of course I used a special color. Now I have to go buy some more tomorrow. Oh well.  :)  I took pictures of them although they didn't turn out too well and you can't see much (sorry!).

Here are the one's I made for my oldest son Jay . . .

Here are the two I made for my youngest son Pete . . .

And these are the two I made for my only daughter Jess (the unfinished pair is still inside out) . . .

I have to say this was a very productive FNSI! I really wish I had got them completely finished but will do so tomorrow. It will be nice to cross these items off my to do list.  :)

Thanks to the wonderful hosts for hosting another successful FNSI!

Until Next Time . . .

Don't Miss Out on my GIVEAWAY!  :)

Quilter’s Blog Hop Party with Give-Aways!!!

Hello & Welcome!  :)

Today's the day! Please help me celebrate Quilting Gallery's 4th Birthday Celebration!

The official blog hop starts Saturday morning, shortly after midnight, eastern time. There are more than 200 bloggers registered from 20 countries . . . with each having their own give-away! Awesome! It's going to be so much FUN!!!  :)  Go to the official Blog Hop Party page to check out the list of all the bloggers participating after midnight tonight!

I am so happy to be participating in this Blog Hop Party Give-Away and the Giveaway Day 2011!

What's the Giveaway Day 2011? It's a day where many bloggers will be posting pictures of the items they're giving away with a link to the giveaway post! How awesome is that?!!! The link to this Giveaway Day 2011 will not be active until Monday, December 12. Be sure to go there then to check out all the giveaways! I'm very thankful to be participating in both of these giveaway hops! I want to take a minute to thank both the hosts! I couldn't help but participate in both of them! I also want to Thank You so much for visiting me!  :)

I couldn't decide what I wanted to give away. Should I offer some fabric or a completed piece? Hmmmmm . . .  I'm sure a lot of people will be offering fabric so I decided to offer one of my favorite pieces I completed this year . . .

Would you like to win this Snowman Mini Quilt? It's warm and comforting to help you get through all those cold winter nights.  :)  Since it's a snowman you can keep it up through January, here in the states anyway. Here's a view of the backing fabric . . .

And a close-up of the stitchery . . .

This mini quilt is approximately 17" x 17". The center redwork is loving hand-stitched. It's machine quilted and the binding's sewn on by hand. I hope you would like to add this to your holiday collection.  :)

There are two chances to win!

First chance . . . Leave me a comment telling me if you're a follower, old or new!  :)
Second chance . . . Leave me a separate comment telling me your favorite way to celebrate the Christmas holiday.  :)

The give-away is open internationally. It will remain open until midnight, eastern time, Saturday, December 17th. I will choose a winner on Sunday, December 18th with help of the random number generator, and will email the winner and post it on my blog. If you are a no-reply blogger please post your email in your comment or you will be disqualified.

Good luck!  :)  Best wishes to you and yours this holiday season! Keep warm and keep safe! Thank you so much for visiting me and sharing in all my adventures!

Happy Holidays!  :)

Until next time . . .

Getting Ready for Christmas! :)

Hello!

I've been really busy getting ready for Christmas. So much to do! Decorate . . . Trees up but only half done  :(  . . . Decorations aren't up yet  :(  but I've been making a little progress on all my projects.  :}  The 5 aprons turned into 6 aprons. The 2 for swaps are finally going out in tomorrow's mail. :) The 2 for gifts are ready. :)  And the other 2 . . . well they're for me! I know! I just had to. I loved the two colorways I made and I just had to have one of each for myself. I knew that if I didn't do them now I wouldn't ever get them done. I love them! I'll show them all to you next week after my swap buddies get theirs.  :)

Tonight is the first Friday Night Sew-In of the month!

I definitely will need both of them this month! Will you be joining me at your machine? I'm actually ready to go for a change! I know I can't believe it either!  :)  I'm making two pairs of jammie pants for each of my 3 kids for Christmas gifts. Here are the flannel fabrics I'll be using . . .

The first two are for my 22 23 year old son (he had a birthday Monday!). The next two are for my 16 year old son . . .  and the last two are for my 21 (soon to be 22 year old!) daughter.

Here they are all cut and ready to go.  :)  I occupied my sewing room Thursday and got all these cut out and ready to sew. I'm also hoping to get to this fabric tonight . . .

I'm making something for my 23 year old son with it. Yes the 23 year old! He loves pirates! What will I be making him? You'll have to wait and see! Hee hee!  :)  It'll be a really quick project. I showed the fabric to my hunky dude and he actually said to make him one too! Little does he know that I'd already planned on it!  :)  They will make great stocking stuffers! Anyone want to guess what I'm making with it?

I got a surprise in the mail today!  :)  I already knew what it was but I was shocked it got here so quickly! It was an apron I won earlier this week from the Apronista blog. The apron was donated and made by D-Lux 57. I was very impressed with the presentation. It came in a box . . .

I opened the box and it was wrapped in tissue. . .

I was surprised when I saw what looked like a fabric envelope in plastic . . .

It was a fabric envelope!  :)

And it's in the same fabrics as the apron! What an awesome surprise!  :)

Inside the envelope was the apron folded neatly and a little note . . .

Here's the apron . . .

I love it!  :)  This apron is actually a little different than the picture from the website . . . but I love it! (I actually like it better than the one on the website!)  :)  Lucky me!  :)  Here's a close up of the fabrics . . .

It's very well made and a great design! I absolutely love it and wore it the rest of the day!  :)

Don't forget I'll be having a giveaway starting on Saturday! Be sure to come back to see what I'm giving away! Maybe the mailman will deliver it to your door!  :)

Until next time . . .

Occupy Your Sewing Room + More!

Hello!

I'll be occupying my sewing room sometime (if not most of the time) between December 3 - 10 . . . How about you?

Barbara over at Cat Patches is hosting  a "blogging event for our times!" All you need to do to participate is to Occupy Your Sewing Room for a full day during that time. Then write a blog post about it and link up on December 11th to show off what you've accomplished. There's even prizes! Be sure to go check out all the details!  :)

On another note . . .

I'll be participating in a Blog Hop Party with Give-Aways December 10th. Blog Hop Party is pretty self-explanatory but 'with Give-Aways'? This means that all the Blog Hop Party participants will be having a Giveaway! Yes I will be having a giveaway too! What I'll be giving away is a surprise (even to me at this point, but I have a few ideas)! It sounds like a fun event! Go check out the details, if you'd like to participate yourself.  :)  Don't forget to come back here on December 10th to see what I'm giving away and to enter for your chance to win!  :)

This past week I've been working on five aprons. Yes five! All at the same time. Crazy I know! I'm really enjoying it but I can't show them to you because two are for swaps, two are for gifts . . . and the last one . . .  well it's for me! I'll show you when I can!  :)  I still have other gifts to make before Christmas . . . two quilts, and six pairs of jammie pants. Can I do it? Guess we'll have to wait and see. One thing I know for sure is that I'll be a busy girl!  :)

Until next time . . .

Surprise Pay it Forward... Want to Play?

Hello!  :)

I've never done this before but I saw it over at Summerfield Quilt's and I managed to get in Angie's top three so now it's my turn!  :)

What a great month to begin this! Who doesn't love a surprise package?!!! :)  Just like Angie, here's what I'm promising . . . I will send a surprise gift to the first three people to comment on this post. This gift will be made by me and I will send it sometime within the next year. Exactly when you will receive it will be a surprise!

Of course there are some rules in this game.
Here they are . . .

Rules:

1.  I will make a little something for the first 3 people that comment on this post. It will be a surprise and may arrive at any time in the next 365 days (yes, a year).

2.  To sign up to receive a gift from me, you must play along too! Share the giving love on your blog by promising to send a handmade goodie to the first three people that comment on your blog post.

3.  You must have a blog. :)

4.  After commenting on my post, you have to post this (or similar) on your blog to spread the love. :)  If you haven't posted in 48 hours then the next commenter will be chosen.

When you comment, I'll email you and get your address and then you will get something from me sometime before next December.

Thanks for playing!  :)

Until next time . . .