Whirl into Winter Quilt Bloggers Giveaway

Ok, so I have a few things set aside for this giveaway and I'll post the pictures below. Some of the patterns are paper pieced, which I really don't think I'll ever get around to doing. So in your post: 1.- Please tell me which pattern you would like to recieve, and 2.- Tell me about the last quilt you finished and where it went. My last finished quilt was my daughters quilt from the book "Allegro" by Atkinson Designs. You can see the quilt in one of my earlier posts. It is now on my daughter's bed here at home. Very bright and cheerful.


Please do not post before January 1, 2009 as those posts will be deleted. You do not have to have a blog, but you must leave your email so I can contact you should you win. I will mail internationally. I will pick four winners. Good luck to everyone!

I hope I didn't forget anything.

What I've Been Working On............

Bsides cleaning my computer/sewing room, not much. I do have a picture of one of the pillowcases I made today. It took me longer than I expected, but I was trying to do applique embroidery of the Greek letters on the hem area without going thru both side of the hem. I finally figured it out and here is my finished pillowcase:



I am going to give the pillowcase to my daughter's friend who joined this sorority last fall.

I'll post my giveaway a little later. Be back soon!

Christmas Eve

A quick post to show you some of the family. We have our Christmas Eve gathering with my husband's side of the family. It's always a good time, lots of laughs and good food. My father in law who now lives in Florida, started a Christmas tradition of taking his sons picture in front of the Christmas tree each year. We are well into my husband's 59th Christmas. So since my FIL moved, I've been the designated photographer. We kid the boys (3 of them) that they are all too big and we can barely see the tree. Here's a pic of the "boys"
We have pictures of the boys since Jeff's first Christmas with the exception of one year. My FIL still can't figure out how he missed the one year.

We have started taking pictures of the cousins lately, this is the group, goofing off. Poor Mitch has had his hands full being the only boy in this group of lovely ladies.



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My little Princess ison the far right.

Squishy in the Mail

My mailman brought me the most fabulous squishy today from Terry. I signed up for her PIF (Pay It Forward). I reposted it here on my blog, so far no takers. I was thrilled with all the items in the envelope. I'll try to take a picture of everything this weekend.

We are traveling to Columbus this weekend. Sara and I are going down Saturday morning. Her roommate has already left for home and we just want to check on everything. Leaving the apartment unattended for any length of time is not a good thing in Columbus. If the plasma tv is still there (please God, let it be there), we are going to bring it home with us. Someone tried to break in at her friend's house with people still in the apartment!

Last Saturday, Sara and I tried making a cute little candy thing for my quilt group. We meet the first Sunday of the month and I was hosting with a friend. Well she had this idea to make the mini pretzels with Hershey kisses on top. You put them in the oven at 275 for about 2-3 minutes then pull them out and place an M&M on top and press down. They were looking great. We had two cookie sheets finished. Sara decided they needed to go in the refrigerator so I was balancing a cookie sheet and talking to her at the same time. I can't do two things at once, obviously, the cookie sheet tipped and I ended up with melted chocolate down the inside wall of my fridge, on the floor, and into the cracks and crevices of my fruit bin. Two and a half hours later, I have the cleanest fridge in Tuscarawas County. We did manage to not drop the other cookie sheet and I took those to the meeting. It's funny now, but if you had talked to me at 3 am, I wasn't finding any of it humorous.

Again, thank you Terry, for the wonderful package.

9 Days til Christmas!

Where has the time gone. You know how Christmas sort of sneaks up on you? We've only had 364 days to get ready for this day. I'm always running behind. Still have a few things to buy and lots of stuff I want to make before Christmas. It probably won't get done.
The kid is home from college. She drove home in a terrible ice storm last Friday night. It's great to have her home safe. It took her almost an hour longer than usual, but I was just glad to see her.
Guess I need to buy a turkey for Christmas dinner. We are having our celebration here at our house. It's been here for about the last ten years. My mom did have it at her house last year, but after my dad passed away (ten years ago), she just doesn't want to do it anymore.

Here's my great neice playing with a dollhouse that my daughter played with when she was little:

Tree's Up and Lights On!

I finally took time to take a picture of our tree. I haven't been doing much with my camera, and I can tell you, if I don't use it I lose it. It was amazing how many shots it took to get this one picture. I even had to get out the manual.

I received a lovely card and gift from my new blog friend Terry. Thank you so much Terry. It was a good day to arrive. I really appreciate it.

I still haven't started shopping yet. Well, a few things I bought online for Sara. But the bulk of shopping I have to do. I think my sister and our husbands are going to go to Canton mall on Saturday. I don't know about your husband, but my husband would rather have bamboo shoved under his fingernails than go to any mall. We are hoping to ditch them at a tool store and get the majority of our shopping without them. Then my sister wants to eat at Quaker Steak and Lube, sounds interesting. My husband won't drive across town to eat, so this trip (about 30 miles) will be interesting.

On the Sara front, her roommate told her this week that she was not going to resign the lease for the next school year. Sara is on the hunt for a new roommate. The new lease is suppose to be signed by January 15,2009. It's crazy the way they make these kids decide 9 months early if they want to retain their lease.\

I really should go to bed. I'll try to post more quilty pictures. I just need to transfer them to this lap top. Night to all!

It's Done Finally

I stayed up late and put all the decorations on my tree last night. Then I slept in this morning. Yeah me.

I took a small road trip to Berlin, Ohio today. My local quilt group had a weekend retreat. They were having a great time. Lots of beautiful quilts being created and lots of good food. They had fried a turkey! Several friends from out of state were there and it was great to catch up with them.

Time for bed now.

Naked Tree!

My tree still stands in the family room devoid of any decorations. Do you think my family would notice if I don't put anything on it but the lights. Jeff finally fixed the fuse on the plug, but I've been under the weather. My sinuses are so stuffed and swollen, the glands in my neck hurt when you touch them, and my throat is sore. I guess would we call that a triple threat. I called my doctor early this morning, but of course he wasn't in the office. If I can get up enough energy to get off the couch, I'm really going to try to get it decorated tonight. I'm falling so far behind.

Yesterday I helped a friend put a red/white/blue/ rail fence top together for a a young man who is serving his country in Korea. It was originally a project for the teens of her church to do, but there wasn't a lot of interest, so my friend decided to finish herself. We took out more than we sewed. Right now it's 7 blocks by 10 blocks. The blocks are 6" finished. We will and two more borders, so I think it will be an ok size. I don't want it so big that it becomes hard to store for him.



My friend Terry has nominated me for the Kreativ Blogger award. She must be reading someone else's blog gggg! Thank you Terry. I know I need to do a better job of blogging, maybe in the New Year!


1. The rules are to place the logo on your blog (I did that)
2. Link back to the person who nominated you (I did that too!)
3. Nominate 5 people and link back to their blog (see below)
4. Leave a message on the nominee's blog (I'm off to do that now!)

And my five nominees are

1. Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts
2. Terry's Treasures
3. Kim's Big Quilting Adventure
4. Hugs From Helen
5. Oh, fransson

Not A Good Evening

Why is that when you think you have everything planned, and all your ducks in a row, something goes wrong. My husband, Jeff, was gone all day today. My plan was to either clean or sew. I know the sewing would have won, but I never even turned my sewing machine on today. I had to deliver seven more of the crib sheets I had made for my mom's church, then of course I had to have lunch with my friend. By then it was too late to start sewing, so I stop at the LQS. I managed to stay there the rest of the day.
Things should have gotten better this evening, yeah, right. I decided to put up our Christmas tree (this is really early for me). We have an artificial three that takes me a little over on hour to assemble. I started putting the lights on the tree at 8 pm and finished at 10 pm. I went downstairs to gather up the ornaments and when I got back upstairs, all the lights were off. If I remember correctly, this happened last year too. I think I put too many light strings (12) all together. Jeff says he thinks I blew the fuse at the plug. Of course he has gone to bed and will look at it tomorrow. I can't put ornaments on a tree without lights, so all the boxes are now sitting in my living room till tomorrow. I'll
post a pic of my tree if I ever get it finished!!!

Happy Thanksgiving Day!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving day. We had a great time with family today. My niece even came home from Columbus. It's always great to see her.

I thought I'd post a picture of a needle keep notebook that I made about a week ago. There are several things I will do differently next time, but that's not going to be for awhile.

Black and White Quilt

I had a very nice email from Paula over at http://alattequilts.blogspot.com/ asking about black and white quilts, so I thought I'd post a picture of the one I did for my daughter. She has this one on her bed right now.



I've seen several blogs with "Trees Up, Lights On" wallhanging, but I haven't seen one done like my friend, Sharon. This is just too cute in person.

Giveaway!

There's a new giveaway at Little Blue Cottage. She is giving away two yards of beautiful fabric. You can sign up here:

Finally A New Post

Sorry about the picture, it's not the best I've ever taken, but it will give you an idea of how I spent my day. My snowman is from the same company as the Santa. He's pretty cute too.

Just talked to my daughter, and she confirmed that she did indeed jump into Mirror Lake last night. Makes you wonder if their brain cells die as they go off to college.

Still no progress on my PDG blocks. I'm looking like a slouch.

We are having a huge sale tomorrow at the local quilt shop. I usually make samples for the owner and stay in the background, but looks like I'll be helping her sell and bag fabric. She is giving 38% off on clearance fabric since it's her 38th birthday. Lots of it I hope. We just ordered 72 bolts of fabric and 41 of them should be at the store by next Tuesday. I told the owner I could only work til noon, so on that note, I'll say "GO BUCKS" Beat that other school up north!

Awe, He's Cute

Isn't he cute? I made this small wallhanging for a local quilt shop. I started it on Monday afternoon. Stopped and did the home and hearth thing for awhile. Then I started the blanket stitch portion around 1 am. Finished that at 3 am. Unfortunately, I had to get up at 8 am, so not a lot of sleep that night. The pattern is Straddling Santa from http://thewoodenbear.com

Ohio State Quilt / Pay It Forward

This quilt is one I made for a Charlotte's Garden receipient. I had seen a picture similar to this, but added my own twist to it. I sure hope the little boy that received it is enjoying it. I almost had to pry my daughter's hands off of it to mail it to the little guy.

I should be working on Christmas gifts and such but I am procrastinating again. I seem to do my best work under the gun so to speak.

Does anyone else think that Thanksgiving is really late this year? Maybe I just miss my daughter more than I thought. She hasn't been home since the middle of September.

I was one of the first three people to respond to Terry's blog for the PIF (Pay It Forward). So in the PIF spirit, I will be sending a handmade gift to the first three people to leave a comment on my blog. This might take awhile to get, since I think there are only three people reading this thing, one of them is Terry.

Here's how it works:

Pay It Forward Exchange is based on the concept of the movie "Pay it forward".
I will send a hand made gift to the first three people who leave a comment to this post on my blog requesting to join the PIF exchange.
Due to the time frame, with Christmas looming, the gifts will be made and posted out in the New Year.The time frame is within a year.
What you need to do in return, is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog. This is only possible for those who have a blog.The time frame is within a year.First three people to respond.
Would love for you to join me? Other comments are also welcome.

Today was busy. I finally managed to get my hair cut. Took me three days to track my friend down. I really like the way she cuts my hair. You have to be careful, if you tell her to cut it short, you end up looking like a peeled onion. Oh well, it will grow.

I spent several hours at the local quilt shop. The owner was really busy, so I stayed long enough to put a few bolts of fabric away. We were going to discuss what I had seen at the recent shop hop, but the door just kept opening and she kept cutting fabric. That's a good thing. She is our only "quilt store". You can't really count Joanne's as a quilt store. Especially ours, it's so full of flowers, scrapbooking stuff, and home decor. So I guess I'll try again on Monday.

The picture of the quilt is the one I finished for my daughter. I bought the fabric on the way home from taking her to college her first year. That was September 2007. I just got it back from my longarm quilter September 2008. On a recent trip to Columbus, I took it with me so she could put it on her bed in her apartment. I was met with "That's not the one I want". So now it sits very nicely on her bed here at home. Now I get to make the one she really wants. It's called Exclamation. Then there's the lap quilt made from Moda's S'mores collection that she would like to have for her couch. Hope I can get all this done soon.
I spent the evening making huge pillowcase style sheets for the church nursery. I just finished those and will deliver them tomorrow.

Halloween Quilt/Amish Shop Hop

I know it's been a long time since I've updated. My life has been spinning faster and faster each day. It's almost time to take down the "13 Lucky Cats" quilt and I'm just now getting a picture of it posted.

The last two days were spent going on a shop hop. We went to 12 shops in two days. We are just getting too old to do it all in one day. The fabric line is The New Year's Quilt Collection. It's from the Elm Creek series of books. The fabric is beautful!

The only bad thing about shop hopping is the amount of money you drop at the stores in addition to buying the quilt block kits.

Last week I received an email from a lady that I met on the hop two years ago. She had graciously sent me the last two blocks of that year's hop when I was unable to make it to the last two shops. This year, she and her friend were unable to make the hop (they come from Indiana) and asked me if I would mind picking up two extra sets of blocks. Of course I did! I am happy to say that we are finished with the hop for this year and I now have possession of three sets of blocks. I'll hand them off to the ladies from Indiana in November. I've never met a quilter that hasn't been willing to help another quilter.

This weekend, I hope to start another quilt for my daughter. This one she has requested and was a big help in tracking down the fabric online. The fabric was from last year so we had to go online and do a bit of detective work.

My Latest Quilt

Today was uneventful, if you don't count the phone call from my sophomore college student, asking me how to make a grilled cheese sandwich. Honestly, how hard can that be? We got thru that crisis and she is on her merry way this evening.

The picture above is of the last quilt I have made. Actually it's just a top at this point, but it should be finished in the next week. This is my sixth quilt for Charlotte's Garden. It is a yahoo group that makes quilts (to the child's specifications) for seriously ill children. This little girl said she loved rubber duckies, so here is my take on that request.

My daughter called early this morning on her way to Microbiology. She was taking her first test in the class and I could tell she was nervous. Keep your fingers crossed for her and say a little prayer that she gets a great grade. I've talked to so many people about this class and they are not very encouraging. Some said they failed and had to retake the course and others said they just got by by the skin of their teeth. Below is a picture of my little darling (she's the blonde) and her new roommate for this year.

I've got bindings to do...

I have a wonderful friend who owns a longarm and has been quilting my personal quilts for me since the day she first got it up and running. Lucky Me! We have a wonderful time working together. I do all her bindings on her quilts or customer quilts in return she quilts all my quilts. Binding is one of my favorite things to do, so it's a win win for me. She always loves it when she can bury me in quilts to be bound. Well today she did a fantastic job. There are eight quilts sitting in the back seat of my car. Two of these quilts are mine, the rest are hers.

One of my quilts is from a retreat I did in 2003, the other one is a round robin quilt I did, not sure about the date on that one, but it has been awhile.

As you can see, I tend to buy fabric by the bolt. This was a special purchase and I don't think I'll ever be able to get this fabric again, so I bought the whole thing.

And the winner is.................

Hi everyone. I hope you all had a great time playing the Fall Into Fall Giveaway. I know I did. I found so many wonderful blogs thru this process.

Guess I really should get to the good part. I used a random number generator to find my winner, and she is JEAN. I have sent her an email and am just waiting to hear from her so I can send these fat quarters off to her. Jean.....where are you? gggg

Thanks again for playing.

My First Quilt

It only seems fair that I show you my first quilt. I've really enjoyed reading about everyone's first quilt. Mine was started about 30 years ago. I regret to say that it is still not finished. I began with the metal window templates, traced them, hand cut, and hand sewed them together. I should have known better. I doubt if it will ever be finished. I started it for my mom and she still asks occassionally if I have finished it.

I just finished a quilt for my daughter, Sara. I will try to post a picture of it tomorrow. I bought the fabric on the day that we took her to Ohio State University for her freshman year. This was a year ago, so considering I still have a UFO that is 30 years old, I think she did well to get it in just a little over a year.

Thank you to everyone who has entered my fall giveaway. I am amazed at the number of people that are participating.

October 1 Giveaway

Fall Into Fall Quilters Giveaway!

This is my giveaway, it is 20 fat quarters. There are 10 pinks and 10 reds. To enter my giveaway, leave a comment on October 1 (not before) telling about your very first quilt!Any comments that do not meet this requirement, will not be counted. If you do not have a blog, you will need to leave your email address.

The following link will take you to a list of bloggers that are participating in this event: http://fallintofallquilters.blogspot.com/2008/09/october-1-giveaway.html

I will draw a winner on October 15. I'm looking forward to hearing about your first quilt.

Fall Into Fall Giveaway

I've decided to join the Fall Into Fall Giveaway. This should be fun!

Moving Sara To Columbus

So we looked like Jed Clampett and family moving to Columbus. What a day! After purchasing a new mattress and boxed springs for Sara's bed, we discovered that it did not fit in the back of our little truck. The saleman helped us tie it onto the top of the truck. Poor Sara was mortified. To make matters worse, we had to find a WalMart, so we cruised around Columbus until we found a store that had the desk she wanted in stock. The good news is that she is all moved in and the apartment looks really cute. We made four trips to Columbus in two weeks, which is a record for us. Our last trip was to her "white coat" ceremony last Wednesday. They presented each of the students and had a wonderful receiption for them on the patio at the Blackwell Hotel.

TIME IS FLYING

Seems like our daughter, Sara, just got home from college yesterday. Is it possible that it is time for her to go back to Columbus? She finally received a phone call to let her know that her apartment is ready. I think we will be heading to Cbus on Monday. Guess I should start packing some of her stuff. She asked me today if I would her miss. I don't think she has a clue how much I miss her when she is away. I don't think it matters how old they are, they are still our babies.

Labor Day Weekend

Hi quilting friends....this is my first time blogging, I'm really not sure what I'm doing yet. This could be a big learning curve for me.

I've been quilting and piecing for quite some time. Right now at this stage of my life, I'm looking for simple and easy to complete quilts to make. I'm tired of starting projects and then not finishing them, so the easier the better! I have a better chance of actually getting them finished this way.

My daughter is going back to Ohio State University as a Sophomore in about two to three weeks. When I'm not making quilts for her, I am making a few samples for a local quilt shop.

I am looking forward to learning my way around the blogging community.