Whirl Into Winter Giveaway

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Find the winner on this post.

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Happy New Year! I signed up for the Whirl Into Winter Giveaway, although it sure feels like winter has been 'in' for some time. I have a pattern for a spool wallhanging called "folksy spools" and will include one yard of fabric with spools on it that you may choose to use for the borders. The quilt finishes at 39" square and would look really cute in your sewing room. You must have an email where I can reach you and the sign-up will begin at my midnight, EST, January 1, 2009. On January 15th, someone in the comment section who has an email will be chosen to receive the pattern and fabric. There are no mailing restrictions. Debi, who is organizing this event, reports at least 60 bloggers participating. Be sure to visit them and leave a comment.

SSCS Gift Sent

The clock is ticking down and soon 2008 will be a memory. It flew by so quickly! I need to step up my game for next year or I'll never get those UFOs into a finished pile.

This is the gift I sent to Peg from Happy in Quilting. It was one of the first patterns I purchased years ago when I began quilting, but I had never made it. How many can relate to that statement? After making the mini log cabins for the Broken Star top, I was in the mood for more. This pattern has always remained in my favorite pile 'to do someday' so I began. I really enjoyed making this and maybe the next one will be for me. Thanks to Peg for letting me borrow her pics as they turned out better than mine did.

When all of the presents were opened and the tree skirt was clear again, Jasper couldn't wait to claim it as his holiday bed. Annie didn't really pay much attention to the tree, but was always looking for attention.




This afternoon I have a dental appointment for a crown prep. Not my idea of a fun time.

The raffle quilt for our guild is at my house and I will quilt on that when I get home. I signed up for the Whirl into Winter give-away. I will post more about that on January 1st.

I'm enjoying seeing all of the wonderful gifts that were sent for Chooky's SSCS this year. She is featuring them in several posts on her blog.

And the Lions made history yesterday going 0-16 for the season! What a sad year for the team and the fans. I heard that Marinelli is now history as the coach, also.

SSCS Gift

I made it this year! I set my package aside when it arrived all the way from Australia and didn't open the gifts until Christmas. Look what was inside! Kris of Life at Rosemary Hill sent lots of Cadbury Chocolates to accompany this wonderful striped bag with an inside zipper. Kris also made lovely co-ordinates - a zippered pouch bag, an eyeglass holder and a little drawstring bag. The fabrics are wonderful and everything is so well made. Thank you, Kris and thank you, again, to Donna for hosting and coordinating this swap. It's a huge undertaking and she does a terrific job of it!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all my family and friends!

BOM, Snow & Christmas

I really enjoyed the cute stitchery BOM that Bea at Capricorn Quilts so generously shared on her blog during the year. This is my block for December. I have stitched each month, but have two bonus blocks yet to do.


Last Saturday I made this bag and tag at my LQS, based on Abby's Treasure Bag pattern. What a fun afternoon and I came home with a finished project! I will definitely make more of these.

Today was a snow day for many workers in the area and almost all of the school children. It snowed and blowed and more is expected. Our neighbor came home from work early and couldn't find her driveway. She did unfortunately, find the ditch between our driveways. Thankfully, she wasn't hurt, but her new car has some bumper damage. This picture was taken inside my house looking through the window as the wrecker driver worked to get her car out.


My SSCS package is still tucked safely away, but the days are getting fewer until I can open it. Wonder if we will get our tree up tomorrow? Will the presents get wrapped? How about some cookies in the oven? Yes, there's still plenty to do, but I'm trying not to stress about it.

Christmas gifts & Ian Update

Yesterday was our Bee day at Jane's house. We always have a fun afternoon when we get together. Jane made a delicious chocolate pudding cake that she served still warm from the oven (we had seconds) and a cute little purse for carrying credit cards using fabric with little bees on it. Connie gave us each a card with Santa busily finishing a quilt while using Rudolph's antlers to organize his tools, and a Snowman box that held a set of Snowman salt and pepper shakers. Mary finished the cross stitching on Aunt Ruth's last project for us. Aunt Ruth never had UFOs and was working on these gifts when she died in May. She would be so happy to know that Mary not only completed the pieces, but also made us Aunt Ruth's delicious molasses cookies in the shape of thread spools. I made cross stitch ornaments for each of the girls and gave them a Quilter's Chocolate tin (dark chocolate).




Today the mail brought a wonderful surprise all the way from Brazil. Beth made me a wonderful tea cozy. She also sent several fabrics and a bracelet made from the leaf of a palm tree called 'Buriti' from the Amazon. Isn't it beautiful? Beth was one of people who signed up for my PIF last year. She also has a gorgeous cat, named Bilbo, that could be Jasper's twin.

Ian saw the eye doctor and trauma specialist yesterday. He was given good reports from both doctors. He does have some nerve damage, but it shouldn't be permanent. He can now sing, play his trombone and practice free throw shots for basketball. No scrimmages, though. Thank you to all who sent good wishes for Ian.

SSCS Package & Bee Sew Whimsical Swap

My Christmas card and ornament package from the Bee Sew Whimsical Honeypot Christmas swap has arrived. Isn't this a cute angel? It has wonderful blanket stitching all around. Thank you very much, Sharon (no blog).

My card and ornament were mailed without me taking a photo. I hope the recipient will share one when she gets it.

This morning a package with a SSCS Alert came all the way from Australia. I haven't opened it and will try to be good.

Kari called this morning to tell us that our 11 year old grandson, Ian, fell at school yesterday and broke three bones in his face (tripod fracture). He can't sing in choir, play sports, play his trombone, or even blow his nose. He needs to see a pediatric facial trauma specialist next week and the eye doctor. He also has one good black eye. Being a trooper, he commented to his mom, "I can still use the computer!"

Swaps

My first two swaps have been sent out with one being received. Lorraine was my recipient for the Polka Dot & Rick Rack swap. I made her a project bag with pet screen and made the rick rack with polka dot fabric. Lorraine loves to stitch so I sent a collection of DMC variegated floss and a thimble note pad.
My package for the SSCS was mailed on November 26th, but it has a long way to go. I hope it has a safe trip.

The last two pictures are the DNP tops that I made at the DJ Retreat in Shipshewana. Wednesday I will take them to UGRR sewing and they will be layered, birthed and tied.

Stuffed Like a Turkey

Here it is two days after Thanksgiving and I still feel like a stuffed turkey! We won't even discuss the physical comparison. Jim, JJ and I enjoyed a wonderful turkey dinner with all the trimmings at Mike and Simone's house. They were kind enough to send home leftovers for yesterday, too. The food is now gone, JJ is back home and I am on chapter 30 of "Breaking Dawn", the fourth book in the Twilight series. It is so difficult to put it down. I keep saying, "I'll just finish this chapter"...

Just before we left for the Retreat, my package arrived from the Polka Dot & Rick Rack Swap. The return address said it was from May Britt. I couldn't tear into it fast enough. I love everything she sent, especially the little bag with stitchery. I promptly packed that for the trip with my Dear Jane mug inside of it. In addition to the beautifully made pink and brown polka dot bag, May sent polka dot napkins, tissues, buttons, and ribbons. She also included two wonderful stitcheries for me to do, floss, rick rack and a lovely card. As I have mentioned before, May was the person who encouraged me to start my own blog so that makes this all extra special for me.

The Dear Jane Retreat in Indiana was just terrific, despite the weather. It was cooooold and windy the first couple of days, so we didn't go out. It helped that there were plenty of buying opportunities in the sewing room from fellow quilters. The entire line of the Dear Jane fabric was there on bolts. I had been waiting for the retreat to get some even though my top has been finished for some time now.


Connie and I worked on Gingerbread potholders and Disappearing Nine Patch quilts. Our tablemates were delightful, funny and productive. There was Sandy G. from Canada, Jane and her sister, Margaret, and Nancee and Ruth, all from Michigan. Edyta Sitar did a trunk show on Friday night that was just spectacular! How she gets so much done with young children and her busy schedule is mind boggling. Each quilt was just as gorgeous as the previous one. We were able to get our picture taken with her and our Broken Star quilts/tops. Left to right (Me), Connie, Jane, Edyta and Sandy. Sandy had finished her quilt and didn't realize that Edyta was going to be there. What luck!





Edyta had her version of the Dear Jane quilt along with her other beauties.

This was the 10th year for holding retreats for the Dear Jane group in Shipshewana, so we celebrated with a delicious cake!

Since this is getting long, I'll save the rest for next time, which I promise won't be as far apart as my previous posts. I hope everyone in the US had a great holiday and is enjoying the last days of November.

Dear Jane Retreat

Well, here I am not caught up with anything, but I'm leaving in the morning for another retreat. This is the tenth year that retreats have been held in Shipshewana, Indiana for the Dear Jane group. We have Edyta Sitar as our speaker on Friday, so I had to get my Broken Star top into one piece. Jasper gave it his approval sitting. There will be many finished ones for show and tell, too.




I finished the last two stitcheries from Bea at Capricorn Quilts. Finally, a BOM where I am keeping pace.

Today the mail brought the most wonderful gift from May Britt. She had my name for the polka dot and rick rack swap. I'll have to take pictures after the retreat. Everything she sent is terrific. More on this later.....

Catching Up

There's catching up to do from the last few weeks. First on my list are the packages that have reached my mailbox. The gorgeous pincushion is from Vickie using fabrics in pinks and browns. Granny Lyn made the cute blue, crocheted bag and added three homespun fabrics. The 20 terrific fat quarters were won from Joyce during the Fall into Fall Giveaway. I prefer this kind of mail to bills any day.






While visiting our family in Wisconsin, we were able to see Ian play football. This is his first year and he's on the 6th grade team. It was a beautiful fall afternoon and Ian's team was the winner.

Yesterday Jim hit the big 60. We celebrated with Mike and Simone at Famous Dave's Barbeque enjoying a platter of ribs. Jim's mom was 42 when she discovered she was pregnant again. She had to see three different doctors because the first two thought he was a tumor. That story has been told and retold more than 60 times. She never regretted having a baby later in life and always said it kept her young.

Connie and I attended a quilting retreat in October about an hour north of here that was put on by our LQS, The Quilted Cottage. There were seventy quilters from Friday until Sunday who kept their sewing machines humming. The facility was wonderful with delicious meals served by a talented kitchen staff. The shop brought along a mini store for us to shop at in case we ran out of something or just needed something new. They had prepared several different kits for small projects and they gave each participant a kit to make a grocery bag. I made a pillowcase from the Breast Cancer Awaremess fabric. We were able to visit two Amish farms in the area, also. One makes beautiful baskets and the other sells baked goods. We filled up at both. I finished the latest top for the Clothesline Club called Best Friends and sewed the DNP blocks into a top for The Underground Railroad. The last project made at retreat was a Snap Happy bag. These are so cute and easy to make using an old metal tape measure for the 'snap' closure.

I think that's more than enough for this post. More soon....

Missing in Blogland

I'm still here! There aren't enough hours in the day to finish the things I want to do. Bloglines has almost 400 blog entries to read and my blog has been seriously neglected. We've been to Wisconsin and I've attended a quilting retreat week-end and I've had/have a cold. I hope to catch up any day now.....

In the meantime, I've been BOOED by Connie W. Does that come with Halloween candy?


I think I will boo

Kim

Pam

LuAnn

Pat

and

Gudrun

Now you can take the Boo picture and Boo more people!

Here's a sneak peek of the SSCS I've been working on today. It's been more work than I originally anticipated, but it's going well.


I'll be back soon......

Two Giveaways, er, Make That Three

Kris from Tag Along Teddies is celebrating her 100th post. Click over to congratulate her and enter her drawing.

You need to be quick for this one. You could be the new owner of this quilt from Lizzy at Pigtails and Snails. Click on the logo. Good luck.

Added Oct 18th:
There's still time to sign up at Kathy's celebrating her 2nd year anniversary. She has chocolate!

Fall into Fall Winner

Wow! There are so many new blogs to explore in my comments from the Fall into Fall Blogger's Giveaway. Thanks, again, to Debi for organizing this fun event. After all of the name were entered, Jim chose Karen at Pieces and Plenty. Congratulations, Karen. Please send me your snail mail address and what Halloween candy you'd like me to buy. Thanks to everyone who commented, also. I wish you all could have won.

We were gone over the week-end visiting the grandkids in Wisconsin. There's so much to catch up with now that we're back home. Here's a picture of the quilt kit I bought at Royce's in West Bend, Wisconsin. I love the blues and the border fabrics. More soon...

Keeping Busy

I'm having a spurt of patience and clear understanding of pattern directions lately. In trying to make the most of this all too seldom occurance, I've been sewing and quilting like a madwoman. I love the way this Catty Phone Holder turned out. The pattern was at the American Sewing Expo last week. When I saw the sample, I had to buy the pattern and try one. The directions and illustrations were very well done and you can also buy a dog and ladybug pattern.

This morning I attended Busy Hands and Carry All Chicks at The Quilted Cottage. Breakfast is included with the Busy Hands project for only $5.00. We had quiche, banana bread, donuts, grapes, melon, cider and orange juice. Today the project was a crocheted necklace. I think everyone who attended finished and wore their new accessory home. The new Minick & Simpson fabric line called American Primer had just been put on the shelves, so I had to get a bit of that, too. The shop is celebrating its first year anniversary by giving their loyal customers 20% off total purchases. How could I pass that up?


I've been mostly doing stitchery patterns in the evening while watching the playoff ballgames. I'm almost finished with Helen's wonderful armchair sewing caddy.




Jim's been spending much of his time in this apple tree. One day he was picking apples and noticed Jasper sitting in the tree watching him. So far, he has picked 16 bushels of Golden Delicious Apples from this one tree. We've never had that many in other years.

Remember to leave a comment on the Fall Into Fall Giveaway post. The deadline isn't until October 14th.

200th Post Winner

There were 51 names entered for my 200th post giveaway. I used a number generator (Jim) and he chose number 3 which is Laila L S! Congratulations, Laila L S. If you will send me your mailing address, I will have the kitty stitchery made into something and have it on its way to you. Thank you to everyone who commented.

Remember if you are entering my Fall Into Fall Giveaway, I need an email address to contact you. If you don't have your blog set to show your email, include it in your comment or email it to me.



Yesterday was sewing for the Underground Railroad at The Quilted Cottage which was also celebrating its first year anniversary. The shop is full of pink banners which were sold and decorated, then returned to the shop to hang the month of October for Breast Cancer Awareness. All of the money received from the sale of the pink banners will be donated - 100%! The banners are also hung outside in front of the shop and other businesses in the plaza.

Thank you to Beth for giving me the Creative Blogger Award. I'm late in acknowledging your kindness, but I do appreciate it very much.

Fall Into Fall Blogger's Giveaway

Are you ready? Tomorrow, October 1st, I will begin taking names for the Fall Into Fall Blogger's Giveaway. Debi from Quilting With Debi has organized a group of bloggers who will each give away a prize on October 15th. Be sure to check out the link for the list of participants. To be eligible, leave a comment between October 1 and October 14. You do not need to have a blog, but BE SURE to leave an email address so I can contact you if you are the winner. My package will contain this little orange bag filled with 5 Halloween fat quarters, Contemporary Quilts Postcards and a fall pattern called Pumpkin Harvest by Rosecrest Farms. I'll probably add some candy, too, but can't buy that ahead of time. (I'll eat it) Have fun visiting the blogs!