Big giveaway!

Here's one big one to check out - at Stray Stitches - an entire Thimbleberries BOM (minus a border or two).

More "Be Merry"

Here are a few more blocks to the Christmas BOM, Be Merry.

The rectangular blocks are supposed to be gifts but I've not fused the bows onto them yet.  Thanks to Leona (this post), I had several fabrics to choose from when putting these little guys together.  I mean little - each block is 7.5".


Calling Be Merry a BOM is a bit of a misnomer.  The first month we made one block - the church block, about 15x18.  Since then, we have made from 3 to 6 blocks per month.  While the blocks may be small, it's the cutting that takes time.  For the gift blocks we cut ribbon strips that were 1" wide by 3.5" to 5" long.   At least it uses up scraps - gotta love that!

Today...

Today was full of stuff that had to be done.  Seems like that's been happening a lot lately, hence the time between posts.  First, my 92 year old grandmother had a brief stay on the hospital this weekend that switched our plans from her coming to see us Thursday to us going to see her.  A little change in medication and she seems to be just fine.

The only thing I don't like about the change is that several quilt shops in the area are having special Friday sales that I cannot attend.

Ruby had to go to the vet.  She has some sort of tumor on her leg that is benign and the vet says is common to young dogs.  She has some ointment and it should go away in a month's time.  When I told Alec she had to go to the doctor he said to Ruby while giving her a hug, "I'm sorry Ruby. I maked you sick feeding you chocolate."  No ill effects from the chocolate, at least.

I wanted to put the final borders on the 3 quilt tops that I've managed to piece over the past week.  However, I forgot all about my guild's Christmas block exchange - tonight, so I whipped out a quickie block this morning before the vet visit. A little dizzy-ing (is that a word) but it will have to do.

And while I have been waiting for the pix to upload, I've been enjoying a little something I picked up for myself at the health food store which is by the vet's office.

YUM!!

Happy Birthday!

Not mine - my husband's.  We have plans - plans that will bring us joy and plans that will show how old we are - LOL!

We will be seeing a movie, not any movie but the long awaited new...

Harry Potter movie.  That doesn't make us seem old, does it?  Harry Potter is for kids, right?  It's which showing we are going to that makes us seem old.  We will be in the theater at 3:30PM for the 3:50 PM show.

After the movie we are off to try a new Peruvian restaurant.  The restaurant isn't new, we've not been there. We will be arriving at a normal dinner time - 6:30 or 7.  We should be back home by 9PM.  Our babysitter will earn her money for entertaining and feeding our 3 year old for about 6 hours!  (That's also part of the fun.)

Christmas BOM

My only block of the month this year has been through my sewing center (well, I did do a thangles project but that was a pick up and go, no meetings or socializing).  We sit around and sew and talk for a couple of hours and the projects aren't too complicated.  I mean, I love some of these BOM programs out there but I found myself spending about 3 hours on each block in the 12-month program that I was in last year through my LQS. No wonder with 52 pieces in a 12" block.  I have too many projects that I want to do to spend that much time on a single block. We won't even talk about the finishing kit.

The sewing center sells machines and accessories but no fabric, so we can use whatever we want to use.  It's a lot of fun to see what everyone selects.  The first half of the year we did a mystery quilt - more on that one when it's done, which, hopefully, will be soon.  The last half of the year we've been working on  "Be Merry."  It's a ton of fun to do - a little of this and a little of that: piecing and applique.

 (the above is not my finished project!)

The best part - it's all done with scraps. I like to play with fabrics and see what works best.  Guess that's why I don't buy many kits.

These are the first few blocks.  The church and snowman are pieced with no applique or embellishments added.

Here they are with the fusibles added but no stitching yet.  Author, Ann Fahl talked at our last guild meeting and provided some great ideas on embellishing with thread.

I will update the photos as the project progresses.

Blogland Giveaways

Here are two more great giveaways!

Click over to Aunt Henny's and see the bags she has up for grabs for her followers, old and new.

Then, click over to Lavender Ridge for a chance at an Acccuquilt GO!  Hurry, entries end tomorrow.

Good luck!

What my Long armer did for me

I love piecing, and I like quilting, too - it is the end of the creative process. I cannot stand sandwiching the quilt - it takes so much time and I usually have to redo it.  I've tried all kinds of tips and still the back is wrinkly.  Then there's the time issue.  With a 3 year old, almost 4, who still wants me stop everything I'm doing and play and watch cartoons, well, that doesn't leave much time after all other household chores are attended to and I need my 8 hrs/night - I am an early bird, not a night owl.

I've had a couple of quilts done by a local long-armer due to time and lack of FMQ skills on my part.  She offered to baste quilts for me!  She did these 3 lap quilts for about $10 each.  Awesome!  Two days after getting them back, two of them are ditch quilted so I can remove the basting and add some FMQ.

(sorry about the sun glare!)

Sew, this afternoon I will be sitting with my feet propped up, having been to the gym already, watching the Colts play and removing basting stitches.

Clermont Farms quilt

A few posts ago I showed you the quilt  was workimg on for my LQS.  Photography in the morning, before the sun is up too high in the sky, doesn't really capture the colors.  This is the first time I've tried to photograph a quilt outdoors.

Here's a close up of the cornerstones.

And here's a close up of the quilting by a friend with her long arm.

I get the quilt back when the shop sells all the kits.  If you like the pattern, you can find it on the Fabri-Quilt web site.

A Package!

A few days ago a package arrived.  It was filled with goodies - see what I mean?!

Thank you, Leona!  

Charming Girls goals for the rest of '10

It's time to post some goals for the remainder of the year.  Over at Charming Girls Club, Kelly keeps us engaged while we all work through our projects and rewards us at the end when we meet some our goals. 

So, here's a list of projects that I realistically may finish this year:
1. bind the Mystery quilt
2. quilt and bind my niece's "Pretty in Pink" Christmas present
3. quilt the Cranberry Wishes split decision
4. piece a lap size quilt for my mom(already cut)
5. piece 2 Bean Bag Toss Game quilts (already cut)

Okay - only the 1st three projects are realistic.  Numbers 4 and 5 are wishful thinking, esp. with my piecing machine in the shop right now.

Do any of you have a domestic machine dedicated to quilting and another to piecing?  It's a symptom of quilter's ADD, I suppose, having so many projects to choose from that you never know from one day to the next if you will be piecing or quilting.

Are you ready to win?

You are? Then you have two stops to make in blogland.  Head over to Stray Stitches for a celebratory giveaway and then on to Leona's Quilting Adventure for another great giveaway.

Another parenting first

This afternoon we went to the emergency room. While playing and rough-housing with Ruby, my son fell and hit his head on the edge of the baseboard. He had a gash in the back of his head that clotted in the short time it took us to get to the hospital about 2 miles from our house. We were quite a sight in the ER, no one else came in with a laceration. After the shock wore off he was playing and talking and being 3.

Until the procedure began. I've never had to get stitches for a laceration, knew I didn't want to, and now - oh, hope we don't ever have to do this again - I almost cried along with him.

After a doctor approved nap he's fine. Kids certainly are resilient, maybe more so than their mamas.