I'm Swapping...again!

I found another great swap! If you love pincushions there's still time to sign up for the Patchwork Pincushion Swap . It's open until March 7th (next Friday!) I personally LOVE pincushions so I just had to sign up. It have two blocks from a little quilt I made last year so I am sewing them together and adding some pollypellets, and WHALA! Done! Then it's just a matter of waiting for mine to come ...Oh I just love swaps. LOL!

I'm freezin' here!

I don't know if anyone has noticed this counter I added to my blog as soon as I started feeling like Winter was never going to end. But even if no one else noticed, I'll have you all know that I am REALLY counting down to Spring. Not for bunnies, not for chocolates...but I just know this cold weather will stop. It just has to, I can't take it much longer! ARGH! That's all I had to say...now back to my igloo... Can someone pass me the cheese??? Thanks!

Table Warmer, Done!

A few months ago Joanna came over with some of her projects for an impromptu show and tell and she had made two little Xmas quilt tops. One in the light and bright that she is so fond of ( you can see her completed mini here!), and one in darker muted shades that she knows I like. Needless to say, I was in love. A pieced top with loads of little blocks that would take me so long to piece I would never even start it. Well, I traded her two charm packs and got myself a pieced top, woo-hoo! I had it tucked away somewhere and today while looking for something else, I found it and I just couldn't put it down until I finished it. Isn't it the cutest little table warmer? I added the tan border and the gorgeous (Ok, so maybe it's just gorgeous to me...but I can say that, even if you don't "get" what's so gorgeous about it, right?) floral binding and backing from some REALLY old fabric I had been stashing away for something special...it read 2003 on the "label"/bottom of the fabric. I didn't even quilt back then, but I did collect fabric (just one of my many quirks, LOL!) and it was so perfect. Anyway, I just had to share my little treasure. It only measures 15.5" x 10.75". Now to find a special place for it....HMMM

Petals & Feathers I, Done!

One down, two to go! The applique pieces are flannels and wools and I even embellished with my favorite hand dyed buttons by Hillcreek Designs (Itsy-Bitsy, Shades of Scarlet) I like my berries dimensional, if you know what I mean... I was "posing" it all over the place and I can think of way too many places for it to go, so I'm shipping it off to a new home. It's just too cute to keep it all to myself. I'll just have to make a new one.
Once you get past the piecing, it just comes together in no time. Even the little embroidery was fast and easy.
I have kits available for this pattern on my website, I only have two left though so don't procrastinate!
Hope your weekend is full of Petals & Feathers, or other quilting pleasures... anything but shoveling snow! LOL!
PS. Maybe I should have used a lint remover before I took the pic, eh? oh, well....

I'm Working Here!

Yes, I did say I was "moving on" to the next project but I bet you thought I meant "later". Well, I'll have you know that I am on a piecing roll ...see that pieced border right there? "How'd ya' like them apples? " Pretty spiffy , if I should say so myself, LOL! But NO, I will not divulge how long it took me to make that little quilt because I am not your average quilter. I have special piecing disabilities. I shall call myself, "piecing impaired", LOL! I included the scissor in the picture so you could see the actual size of that baby....yes, it really is that small.... and I still wont say how many HOURS it took me to piece that border. But I shall continue on my piecing mission; one down, two to go; and yes, I WILL hang these by the weekend, even if I have to express mail them to Sandy in TX so she can finish piecing the freakin' borders, LOL!
Hope you're all having fun.... I'm sure trying! B=)

Posy, Done!

It's DONE! I finished the binding and I love it...the colors are true, although the pic is crappy. I think it's either the photographer or my glasses. Does this image look fuzzy? Can someone put me out of my misery and tell me. I need new glasses! UGH! Anyway, remember to ignore the wonky lines ladies...that is not a distortion of the pic...that's really the way they look, LOL! Hey, I never said I was good at piecing! Plus, you're not going to stand there and stare at it... it's going to have some "stuff" on it so it'll just give the table a little color and warmth. Can you appreciate the lovin'?

Now onto the next project...after homeschool that is... no rest for the weary!Hope everyone is having a fun President's Day! B=)

Pretty Posies

I'm teasing you! This is my Posy Quilt . My long time readers will remember it from WAY Back... in June, but those who know me will tell you that if there is piecing to be done, it is not going to come easy. My applique blocks were done in a weekend of bliss. The piecing? Not so much. More like a blur of moaning and groaning, and lots of cheese for the whine I had going. But I did in fact, finish it last night, and it is soooo cute! I'm not beating myself up about the wonky lines, the curvy stitches and the "not so in the ditch" machine quilting. I did my best and it will have to do. >>wink<<>
I skipped the sleeve as it would have been to easy to focus on the imperfections rather than the
finished "masterpiece" (LOL!) and I have decided it would be better suited as a warmer for the Homeschooling table. I'll share a pic as soon as I finish that last strip of binding, it's just getting dark and I wanted to take the picture to share today's accomplishment. Stay tuned for the great "reveal", LOL! B=)

Wooly, Done!

Finally! I bit the bullet and completed the embroidery on my Wooly Wall Hanging quilt. Can you believe it? I am psyched! Not that the stitching is anything to brag about but hey, it's done, looks nice and I can take it off my UFO list. Woo-Hoo! Now don't think I had this is my "waiting to be posted pile", nope, this one is hot off the ironing board, LOL! I redid the chimney smoke too. It was bugging me, if you know what I mean. You can see it here... and for those new readers that don't know why this is such a big deal, well... you can see Wooly's first appearance here. One month to the day when I can say "DONE!" I was done with the quilt; it was the embroidery that was driving me to drink! Anyway, just sharing today's accomplishment. Hope your day is going well too. =)
PS> These are the true colors, I froze my butt to take the picture, but I figured you deserved it...LOL!

I'm swapping...what else is new?

It's Lori's fault! One of the new member's on My Yahoo Group was looking for a swap (to join) and I suggested Swapdex (see it on my sidebar?). Well, along came Lori with Swap-bot.... Needless to say it sure didn't take me long to get myself into something, LOL!
I chose an effortless swap to warm my feet, so to speak... I joined Friendship Seeds, all you have to do is send two packs of seeds to your swap partner (USA only) and you receive two packs in return. I'm thinking of finally getting back to my garden this Spring and think this will be a nice incentive. I always seem to buy the same stuff for my garden...maybe this swap person will send me something I would have never thought to add.... hmmmm.

Swap is open until Saturday, JIC you want to join in! It's easy, it's inexpensive and it makes my heart happy... can't beat that.

Shoppe Talk!

Thought that if I were to post about anything this week it would have to be the reality that is my life and that is all about playing Catch-up. This weekend was about making kits and adjusting to the new schedule, my body does not like this daytime schedule! LOL!
On Saturday I received all these wonderful skeins of Hand Dyed Embroidery Floss from The Gentle Art...these are just some of the ones that came in, the Limited Edition ones. They release these in one batch, when they sell out, that's it. No reorders, they are discontinued. Needless to say, when they release new colors I'm all over them, hee-hee. They are so perfect for for those of us who love working with handyed wools, doing punchneedle and just plain ol' embroidery gets kicked up a notch with these guys. I just love them.
Now tomorrow I have to take the daylight pictures and post them. They are all set to go live as soon as I add the pics. WHEW! That took a while, and yep, that was what I did today after Homeschool! Hope your day was fun too.

New Fabric Slideshow... DONE!

I have a new slideshow "thingie" on my sidebar....Did you see it? I'm so fancy! I wanted to post about my uploading saga this weekend and share some pics of the fabrics that kept me from my crafting but I couldn't figure out how the heck to "layer" the pics so I could show the fabrics without posting a gazillion pics (well, there are only 24 bolts but that would average out to about a bolt per hour of work since it took me a full day to get them posted on the site,ugh!)

Anyway, I thought I'd make a slideshow and post it instead of a picture. Well, call me dumb but I couldn't, for the life of me, figure out how the heck to get the slideshow into the rght format to post it. DUH! I spent HOURS trying to figure it out, don't laugh! Really, I did... but it was useless. I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong and then, just as I was going to give up I came across the sidebar slideshow option. How cool is that? Now I have a permanent place to post pics of all the new fabrics as they are uploaded to the Shoppe. I'm so fancy, LOL!
Now playing: A's Bees & Dandelion Seeds by
Jacqueline Paton for Red Rooster Fabrics.

Sensorship, totally Un-cool!

Is it gossip if it is true? Well, I think it's still gossip but here goes, anyway:
Mark Lipinski's March Issue of Quilter's Home has been banned from Joanne's! OMG! I can't believe it. Have you ever read this magazine? It is freakin' hilarious! Ok, so it's not for everyone...it is not all technical and serious. It's young and funky and has never- ever had a pattern in it that I would make. Yet, I subscribed as soon as it was available by subsciption and read it cover to cover, just for kicks. It's a fun read and I would recommend it to anyone who thinks that quilting is for old ladies or those who think that quilts are for shows. This is the first magazine that openly stated that it's OK to sleep on those things...and not just the ugly ones, LOL!
You can read all about the Jo-Ann's issue on Mark's blog. and you can get your copy of this issue at Sam's Club! Oh, and you can call me Gossip Girl, but just for today! ;)