A Giveaway! Happy Unbirthday to You!

I'm celebrating!

Not just because it's Fall, my favorite time of year.

The reason why I'm celebrating is

because tomorrow is my birthday!

And it's your un-birthday!

Happy unbirthday to you!!!

Do you want to help me celebrate?

All you need to do is write a comment telling me

what your favorite birthday was

and tell me which one of

 these kits you would like to win...

The little pumpkin wallhanging or the sunflower pincushion.

I will pick a winner from each group

next Friday October 7th.

Warm and Cozy

Nope, I'm not exactly talking about the weather.
Although we had one day over the weekend of perfect fall weather,
it was a teaser because we are back to hot now.

What I am talking about is my iron cozy!
Warm and cozy!
This is from a pattern by Me and My Sister.
Now, I know that it's not something we always NEED, but
isn't it fun? It does coordinate with my iron board cover... but
that was in the wash at the moment.
Yes, I do wash my iron board cover, every now and then!

I have been having fun making up these little blocks.

They are for something I saw on the Molly Flanders blog.

I just had to copy! I wanted to give you the link for the project but

I can't find it on her blog anymore. Hmmm, mysterious! I guess we will just have to wait

and see what it turns into.

Next on my list was this:

 I put out a challenge for the people attending my retreat in a few weeks.

Before coming to the retreat, they can make a sewing machine cover and

we will choose one randomly to win a gift certificate.

And even though I am not going to be entered... I thought that I at least needed one for

my little featherweight machine.  The little guy is warm and cozy now.

But then this week I saw one that I wanted to make...

it was a free pattern by Bari J. Using her fabric, which I already have, so even better!

The new one will be made for my Pfaff. And then it could be warm and cozy too.

Here is my Flowers for Nana Girl quilt from the Scrap Basket Sensation book.
Only I made it with my Yuletide Blessings fabric by Fig Tree & Co. that I have been hording.
I finally let loose of my polka dot fabric for the border... it was Mistletoe Manor by 3 Sisters.
Amazingly, I had exactly enough lengthwise yardage to fit the border! How lucky is that? I guess it was meant to be.
Thelma at Cupcake 'n Dasies showed a little Schnibbles pattern that she was working on last week.
It is a new one called Bibelot.
But for obvious reasons...

(photo from FQS)

Thelma thought it should be named for her.
Then I got to thinking....
my sons' names all start with the same letter... "T".
So I thought I needed to make one of these also...
and call it Triple T! So here is my start:

"T" not only stands for Thelma, but it stands for Teague, Tauren and Todd too!

Hmmm, I might have to triple size it.

Mosaic Monday

Today is going by so fast!


I got a lot of sewing done over the weekend but
I was running off to work this morning (late) and
didn't get a chance to take any photos.
I can tell you that I didn't get to the umbrella project like I would have liked to.
But that's ok, it will give me more time to percolate on an idea of the
fabric I would like to use for it.

So instead of showing you what I have been working on...
I thought I would put together a collage of a variety of Schnibbles
projects that were done by various AYOS bloggers and a few of my fall
projects from the past too.

Happy Autumnal Equinox

(my photo, BHG photo & picture of Paulette's quilt from my retreat)

I'm ignoring that today is 96 degrees and I'm focusing on the fact that tonight will be 53.
My favorite time of year has arrived!
Open up the paint box and get ready!
Nature's beautiful fall range of color is just around the corner.



Another friend of the season is rain.
Time to get out the umbrellas!
Oh, what do the English call them???
Is it bumbershoots???

(did you know Moda Home sells these)

The one thing I saw on my blog travels this week, that I completely loved, was

an umbrella made by Emily at Crazy Old Ladies!

This was made from her Going Coastal line of fabrics/laminated!

Don't you love it?

I think I might just have to give this a try!

Bring on the rain!
I had wanted to plan a giveaway for today...
but I just didn't get it together in time.
So, here is your "heads up"...
one is on the autumn horizon soon!
Have a great weekend!

I Even Amaze Myself!

No, this is not my wall. The photo you see is the same one I stumbled upon

when I was blog hopping and I believe that blog referenced that it was from Martha Stewart.

A picture like this

is very dangerous

to someone

like me,

who is,

at that moment anyway,

under a lot of stress.

And you all know what is the best relief for stress...

(no, not exercise)...

Retail therapy!

Do you know you can find anything on Ebay?

Normally I keep away from Ebay. I even forgot my password but when there is a will

there is a way... and within the minute of an auction item closing...

I had my new password in my inbox...

and that's where the trouble started.

It certainly didn't take long to do some damage.

Who in their right mind buys pie tins anyway? Old ones ta' boot!

Good grief.

I do amaze myself!

And as the days went by and a kept seeing the UPS driver

coming to my office...

even I couldn't help but shake my head in disbelief.

The main problem is...

I don't even have walls to make a display like that in

my kitchen or dining room!

What the heck! It's almost laughable...

but only because I haven't taken those darn things home yet...

and a certain somebody does not know what I had been up to.

But even he would understand and be thankful that I hadn't found

something a lot more expensive to obsess over to relieve my stress!

Although, I believe that is the same way I ended up with my little Featherweight.

Maybe I should take up drinking!

Anyway, there is another little something that is about to be going on...

Jackie at Canton Village Quilt Works is starting a Blogger's BOM.

There will be 12 different blocks made by a blogger/designer. One per month for a year. Sherri at

a Quilting Life will be the first to share a pattern... it starts Sept 25th!

Only a few days away!

Mosaic Monday

A mosaic of my weekend sewing adventures!


It looks like the "B" won out on that pumpkin.
But I really liked
the ideas you gave me! I might have to make more of
these little wall hangings...
just to use the fun ideas!
I was super A.D.D. this weekend and started several projects. The first one is
Nana's Garden from Kim's book, Scrap Basket Sensations. I am using an old
line of Christmas fabric by Fig Tree & Co.
I also made up a sample house
from the Full House  Schnibbles pattern. I have a few charm packs of
seersucker fabric that Fig Tree came out with a few years ago. So, I thought it
might make good "beach cottage" type of houses!
And my other WIP is
a MBS pattern that I have been wanting to make.
 I had a lot of the half square triangles
already made from another project that went terribly wrong (a story that I will tell you later),
and they happen
to be the right size for this project... so,
SO BE IT!

I'm Getting Ready

Next Friday is Autumn Equinox! I am so ready for
the fall weather!
I haven't done anything exciting at all this week.
(except going out to lunch with friends every day and a pedicure during my lunch time today).
But other than that,
I haven't even had anything too fun write about.
I am anticipating the new Fresh Vintage issue by Fig Tree & Co.
It should be out very soon.


Which made me remember an old Fresh Vintage issue that had a cute silhouette pumpkin in
it. So I went through my past issues and found it! And of course I pushed everything else aside
and started to work on it while I was inspired! I had some wool pieces already and gathered up some left over background pieces, so I was good to go.
 Now, if you see in the pattern on the left side, there is an
"H" on the pumpkin which stands for Halloween. I am trying to decide if I want to use the "H" or
should I use a "B", which would be the initial of my last name.
What do you think I should go with?

I'm A Little Helper!

It was a nice, much cooler, weekend.
 I got home from work on Friday
with just enough time to do a little cleaning up,
put clean sheets on the guest bed, straighten up the other guest room...
no, I mean sewing room... and slip a an air matress in there!
And I got dinner in the works before the first of the kids arrived.
The rest of the weekend was relaxing and enjoying the company of
everyone.
Although I didn't get any sewing done, I did help DDIL with trimming her quilts that came back from the
LAQ. There were 4 in all. 2 King size, 1 Queen and 1 Lap.
The poor girl's quilting days are slipping from a full speed into a small chug like
a car out of gas! She has terrible morning sickness, so I took pity on her and squared up the quilts.
We also picked out bindings for a couple of these.

Got those preped.

The blue quilt above is one of the huge ones.

She went crazy with my Material Obsessions II book.

The one below is adapted from the same book.

I really love this one (above). The centers of the blocks all have yoyo's.

She used nothing but scraps for her "summer quilt production".

So, they were virtually free quilts!

Including the one below.

This quilt was a free pattern from Piece n quilt.

I got lucky with this one... Jill cut out double the amount of fabrics she needed...

so I got to make one too! Mine isn't this far along though!

I kept two of the quilts and will be spending a few of my evening hours doing the

binding work for Jilly Bean.  The least I can do for someone with

the dreadful morning sickness!

(Better her than me)!

We finished the weekend by going over to the lake,
enjoying the hot tub, the restaurants
 and waking up to this view.
Then, it was back to work!
It is Monday after all!

Something To Share

I received an e-mail from Lois,  a new quilter friend of mine, that I met at The Vintage Spool retreat a couple of months ago.  I wanted to pass this information to anyone who might be interested.

San Marcos School of Nursing is raising money to send a select group of student nurses to Africa for 3 weeks on November. My daughter Mindy is one of them. The purpose is to provide hands on experience in nursing care/treatments and health education to the ill, homeless and impoverished families in Africa. They go to other countries as well, this year happens to be Africa.


I would like to help them to get there. All my Edge to Edge quilting sales from now to October will be going towards a fund raiser for Mindy and other student nurses. I'm asking you to pass this on to other quilters and together we can help send these student nurses to help those less fortunate.


For my out of town friends/quilters - Any orders that require return shipping and are received before October 31, 2011 will get complimentary return shipping.
 

The quilt pictured is a close up of one of Lois's quilts that I took at the retreat. Although I haven't had anything quilted by her as of yet... I have seen her work, which is fabulous, and I know that she does sewing for Pearl Pereira. So if you might be interested, let me know and I would be glad to give her contact information to you.

 

Last weekend was very quite for the Labor Day holiday but this weekend will be

fun and busy. I am looking forward to it...

and sharing pictures on Monday!

Conquering the List!

What a girl can do with a 3 day weekend!
Here it is...
One, two, three! Yes... that is 3 out of 3 for the Designer Mystery BOM
project from Fat Quarter Shop!
I am caught up... but the problem is that I left off with block 4 from last year!
So even though there is some hope of staying on track...
well, the track is a bit of a slippery slope!




But what I thought I could do is starting with block 5, do last year's and this year's BOM at the
same time! One is Christmas and one is not.
Another thing that I have been wanting to do for-ever!!! is this pattern by Blackbird Designs.

Although I don't have great expectations of getting it completed by Halloween...

it will be nice to be working on it as a fall project... that might actually be ready by

next fall.

Another nemesis that I needed to conquer is Eventide.

Yes, Eventide! Do you remember that project?

There was a great group of bloggers/and some non bloggers

working on the pattern at the same time.

It was co-hosted by Thelma at Cupcakes and Daisies and Nicole at

Sisters Choice blogs.

There were lots of beautiful creations from the pattern

(by Miss Rosie's Quilt Co.) but mine

didn't thrill me. It was a bad relationship from the beginning.

But, for some reason, the LQS encouraged me to put it on the

class schedule. So I did... I obviously am easily persuaded!

I figured a two part class of a large quilt might not be for the faint of heart...

so even though it was on the class schedule... I was pretty sure it wouldn't get enough people to sign up

and make it a class.

Oh, so wrong!

So, I decided over the weekend to get out my rejected pieces and have a

review. Then I started to play with the pieces to see what I could come up with.

That's the thing about me... I hate to be defeated! And the first go round with Eventide left

me feeling like that... defeated!

So I played some more and made the star blocks, so I could be well

prepared for teaching this class.

So tonight is the night.

I will let you know how it goes!

I was given this sweet little applique center by Marby from the Wooden Gate Quilt shop.

So I decided to make a little wall hanging with it. I am waiting to add the name of

my first grandchild... and then I will put on the striped binding! Thanks Marby!

Honeycomb Winners and A Special Treasure

I saw this wonderful small quilt as I was walking down a hallway

at the VA Hospital yesterday in Palo Alto.

 Can you see that they are vintage Uncle Sam blocks. The hat and the pants are in pink stripes.

 There was nothing stating any information about the quilt...

I just love it!

I guess it's just a special treasure, so I thought I would share that with you

on this Labor Day weekend.

But what we really are anxious to see, is the Le Petite parade of winners! 



From the amazingly talented Carrie Nelson, we have a little bundle of her newest fabric line called Nine Dots! (and just a little F.Y.I., one roll can make 2 Schnibble quilts)

And to go along with it... a set of Miss Rosie's Quilt Company's new Schnibble patterns!!!

 That is a super cute group of fabrics!

And the winner from Sherrie's parade is:

Paulette!

And the winner from my parade of Honeycomb is:

Gretchen!!!

Congratulations!!!

I am willing to bribe either of you two!



Our wonderful featured quilt shops have prizes for a few of you too...

Bear Paw Quilts and More has two cute little charm packs just right for Fall from Brannick and Patek.

 This is the Together collection.

and the winner of the Together charm packs is:

May Kristin

 

A $15 gift certificate from the wonderful girls at Quilter's Paradise goes to:

Sandy F.

I want to thank Corrie from Quilt Taffy once again for making up the Free Choice sample, Summer Day

for Le Petite this month! Didn't you love it???

Quilt Taffy has a sweet little gift certificate for a winner... which goes to:

Carol and Buster!

Congratulations!!!

Congratulations to everyone in the parade too!

The links to the featured quilt shops that are offering prizes are on my sidebar.

Please feel free to contact them if you are a prize winner.

If you won Carrie's prizes... make sure I have your email addy, so I can pass it on to her!

I guess that is it! Please have a wonderful, safe holiday weekend!