Wild and wonderful! (giveaway)

I am on the road...

AGAIN!

But it is my last trip of the fall, and one of my favorites - Wild and Wonderful West Virginia.  The foliage in the mountains this time of year is breathtaking, the people are friendly, the air is crisp and clean - it is a nice trip.  Plus, there are lots of QUILT SHOPS on my driving routes!

I stopped at one today, and there was a sale table with $4/yard fabric.  I snapped up two that caught my eye, as well as a baggie of orange and yellow solid scraps that I thought went well with one of the prints plus a quilting stencil for quilt borders.

I think this fabric will end up being an apron and matching potholders as a Christmas gift.

Not sure what I'm going to do with this fabric yet.

Gotta support the LQS, even if it isn't MY Local Quilt Shop!

And a blog reader bought one of my fabric composition books from my ETSY shop today.  THANK YOU!

To celebrate the ETSY sale and my sale purchases, I'm going to give away half a yard of each of these fabrics, plus some of whatever I pick up from tomorrow's quilt shop stop (yeah, I plan a quilt shop stop every day of my driving trips).

To get your name in the drawing, how about you leave a comment with a suggestion for what I can be for Halloween this year.  In recent years, I have been a nun,

Halloween 2011

a cowgirl bandit,

Halloween 2009

a witch,

Halloween 2008

a basketball player and Pocahontas.  I'm looking for ideas of something easy to throw together on a budget (my disposable income goes towards FABRIC, not costumes!).  I'll draw a winner on Monday morning, October 15.

In the meantime, I have finished putting the binding on my Orange Creamsicle quilt, and now just need to finish quilting the border.

Lousy cell phone photo, so you can't see the quilting, but you can see that there is a pale yellow binding on it.

One good thing about road trips - I get lots of hand sewing done in my hotel rooms in the evening.

New Inventory

What a weekend!  I had to work on Saturday morning and Sunday evening.  We had cub scout activities all day on Saturday and a camp out on Saturday night.  And I had a booth at a small festival in town on Saturday.  I needed to clone myself!!

Since the booth was in the same town as last month's booth, I felt like I should have some new inventory in case some people wandered by who had seen my stuff before.  I hung new/different quilts to form my booth walls, and added fabric composition book covers to my inventory.  I made one for my sister two years ago, and she loves it and encouraged me to make more.  

These are the ones I made a couple of years ago.  The one in the middle went to my sister.  The other two sold at other booths last year and earlier this year.

Of course, I couldn't remember how I made hers!  Figures!  Back to the drawing board.  First, I made two using some orphan blocks and this tutorial.  I love how her covers turned out, but I was dissatisfied with mine, partially because I wanted a thicker, softer cover.  I ended up inserting some batting into these, which worked out OK, but I went looking for another tutorial after making these two.

This one sold  before I even finished setting up my booth!

The next tutorial that caught my eye was this one.  Rather than use fusible pellon, I used batting.  I love the way there is a lining AND no need to topstitch around the outside.  That is really what I wanted to avoid because topstitching through many layers never seems to turn out looking neat for me.  First, I made this one using some more orphans - scrappy 4-patches this time.  I liked my modified construction method, so then I moved on to other fabrics.

First, I used some lettered fabric and the crown and British fabric that I got from a scrap bin from a store in Atlanta.  I've been dying to use this fabric, and I like how the journal turned out.  If nothing else, it lets people know what these books are or can be!

Then, I pulled out a little panel that I've been wanting to use, surrounded it by black, and embellished it with some embroidery in orange.  It wasn't my intention, but it seems rather seasonal to me, don't you think?

Is that a crow or a blackbird?  How can you tell the difference?

I thought the day was going to be a great success because one of the top two journals sold before I even finished setting up my booth, and within 15 minutes, I had also sold two of my flannel travel neck pillows.  However, it turns out that the event wasn't publicized at all (!?!) and hardly anyone even passed by.  Oh well.  It was a free event for me, so I came out with a profit, and I still have plenty of inventory for THIS WEEKEND'S event, which I KNOW has been publicized extensively.  Live and learn!

A friend caught a photo of me setting up my Scrabble Tile earring (while WEARING a pair, of course!)

Prepare to be amazed

I don't really have anything of my own to show today.  Life has been ridiculously hectic.  I took my Orange Creamsicle quilt on the road with me this past Wednesday as I was driving all over creation visiting schools, hoping I'd get somewhere early and have time to sit and stitch.  Didn't happen. I'm working and hanging out with Cub Scouts all weekend, PLUS having my booth tomorrow (weather permitting) so I'm thinking I might step out of work early to sit on my porch and sit in the sun for an hour or two.  Gotta slow down sometime!

But while I was visiting schools this week, I saw something I just had to share.  I was visiting St. Anne's-Belfield School in Charlottesville, VA, and I stopped short when I saw this dress made by a student out of the pages of a book.  Isn't this AMAZING?

Even the flowers are made out of paper.

And check out the little paper butterflies!

Here's the girl modeling the dress she designed when they had their runway show (the counselor emailed me the photo after she saw how taken I was with the project).

I'm in awe.  I can barely sew two pieces of fabric together in a straight line with a machine, and she made this masterpiece from the pages of a book!  Be inspired, folks!  Create something today!

Just how random is Mr. Random Number Generator?

For the second time in a row, Mr. Random Number Generator has selected #1 for my giveaways.  What are the chances?  But my first commenter, Sharon, didn't want to be added to the giveaway, so I tried again.  The second time he selected #19, Debbie.  Congratulations, Debbie!  I'll email you for your address - I already have the package ready to go.  And good news!  I found a $25 Starbucks gift card in my wallet, so I'll send that instead of the $5 one.  There is no Starbucks near me, so heaven only knows how long it would take me to spend all $25.

I will have booths at festivals for the next two weekends, so my free time will be spent finishing up projects and making sure I have enough inventory.  Once those are over, I want to start something NEW!  I feel like I haven't started a new project in a while.  Of course, that's probably because I have so many WIPs that I should be working on.  I know many of you can relate.  Happy Tuesday, everyone!

Gray day GIVEAWAY!

It was a gray day here.  Or grey.  How do YOU spell that color?  Does it matter?

Gray days aren't necessarily bad days.  They are good days to stay inside and sew.  So that's just what I did when I finally got home from work today.  I made my October Bee Blocks.

The blocks are Whirligig Blocks from a Quilt In A Day pattern

Yeah, I know it is still September, but the materials arrived and I LOVE making Bee blocks, so I always make them right away.  It is a chance to do something new and different without committing to a whole quilt.

I also made this little Gift Card Key Ring.

I used a ribbon instead of fabric to hold the ring in place.  Much easier, but I like the look of fabric better.  Live and learn.

Can you guess what is inside?

$5 Starbucks Gift Card

OK, that was easy.  But on a gray day, a steaming mug of coffee makes me smile!  You know what also makes me smile?  Comments from readers!  So, leave a comment, and this $5 Starbucks gift card and Gift Card holder could be yours.

To further brighten your day, I'm adding these 4 balls of bright #8 perle cotton to the mix.

The colors are off - after all, it is a gray day, and hard to photograph accurately indoors - pink, red, orange and purple

And, if your stash is anything like mine, you probably have little to no gray fabric.  When I made that discovery earlier this week, I set off to rectify that with some gray fabric purchases.  Little did I know that gray fabric isn't all that common.  I have only found two so far that I liked.  I bought a yard and a half of each - a yard for me, and half a yard for a reader.

half yard cuts of a DS gray dot and I don't know much about the other fabric except I thought it was pretty.

I head out on another work trip tomorrow morning - Little Rock, Arkansas this time - and I'll be back on Tuesday.  Leave a comment before I wake up on Tuesday morning, and we'll see who Mr. Random Number Generator chooses to win the coffee card and holder, the 4 balls of perle cotton and the 2 half yard cuts of gray fabric.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Much better!

Remember how I said there were some things I would do differently if I were to make those pocket potholders again?  I didn't want to forget, so I tried again.  I used an 8.5" block of pieced 1.5" scrap squares (that I already had made) for the front, a 8.5" block of "made" blue fabric for the back (that I had already made), some gold bias binding (leftover from the last potholders I made) and I piece of red binding (from my binding scraps bag, so already cut and pressed).  Gosh, it makes a project much quicker if you just use pieces you have already pieced for other projects!  All I did was quilt the top and the bottom, trim and bind. I made this potholder smaller - 8.25" compared to the 9.5" potholders I made previously.  The size works much better for my hand.  And instead of trying to attach the binding by machine, I did it by hand, and it looks so much nicer!  For some reason, I sewed onto the back and then finished by hand on the front, which is the opposite of how I usually do it, but it turned out fine anyway.

The front

The back - you slide your hand into the pocket so it doesn't fall off your hand. 

Now to make another one. I'm pretty sure potholders like to have a mate for life...

My birthday was fabulous from start to finish.  I had to rent a car for work this week, and look what they had on the lot...

Yup, I rented it.  After all, it was my birthday!

I received a letter from the President of the University passing on some positive feedback he had received about me.  He wrote it two weeks prior, but I was out of the country, so I didn't receive it until my birthday, so it was like a present to me.

My kids bought me some Swedish Fish (one of my favorite candies), and wrote a sweet card that said, "All the years we've known you and you don't look any older!"  Ha!

I bought myself some new sneakers, and my hubby and I had a great workout together on the heavy bag with our new boxing gloves.

I received some flowers and chocolate from my mom and younger sister.

I just love  the view on my porch, with or without flowers!

Everyone I know either called or emailed or Facebook'ed me.  I felt so LOVED!

The sun shone and birds sang.  It was just a FABULOUS DAY, and I felt like I was on top of the world!

OK, so this isn't the top of the world, but it is 3000 feet above Quito, which is already 10,000 feet above sea level, so it is pretty darned high!

So I decided to do a giveaway, but I don't quite have the whole prize together yet.  Stay tuned - there will be a giveaway later this week.  Until then, may your days be as wonderful as mine have been lately!

Back at it!

It was a good trip abroad, but it is even better to be home again!  Virginia welcomed me back this weekend with lovely weather, and I have taken full advantage of it.  Friday afternoon, when I got back to town, I stopped by to surprise my kids at school and bring them back home with me.  They would have been home in 3 hours anyway, but darn it, I MISSED THEM!  We spent the rest of the day at home, where I spent a good deal of time getting reacquainted with my porch!

Today, it was back to my usual  busy-ness: selling popcorn and peanuts for cub scouts outside Walmart followed by a trip to recycling, the post office, and then a karate class.  We brought one of the kids' friends home with us for the afternoon, while I reacquainted myself with my sewing room.  A friend was having an Autumn Equinox party this evening (which was SO MUCH FUN!  Great people, great food, a pool, a hot tub, a campfire, a tree fort and a raucous game of Capture the Flag - what more could a girl ask for?), and I wanted to whip up a gift to bring.  I decided on potholders, loosely based on this tutorial from Oh, Fransson!  They are huge, 9.5" square, and if I were to make them again, I would make them a little smaller.  I also tried finishing the binding by machine instead of by hand since I didn't have much time.  It turned out much messier than I prefer - I won't be doing that again.  But she liked them, so, live and learn.

Not sure why the bottom one looks warped - they actually turned out square.

See the pocket at the back to slip your hand in?  I like this!

Oh, that trip to the post office earlier?  It was to put this in the mail to Becky, who won my giveaway.

2 fat quarters of newly purchased fabric, two skeins of perle cotton and two Britt Chocolate snack pyramids, one of dark chocolate covered coffee beans and one of dark chocolate covered cashews

Who says the first commenter never wins?  Mr. Random Number Generator chose #1 of the 18 comments.  I can't tell you all how much it means to me to be able to stay connected to all of you when I am traveling.

So, my 41st birthday is the Monday, September 24.  I asked for boxing gloves for my birthday so I could work out with the heavy bag in my basement.  My husband gave them to me early (today) and we did a quick, but killer, workout tonight after putting the kids to bed.  See me all shiny with sweat!