Ugh

cooking mishap = third degree burns... yuck!

Merry Christmas Every One!

Thank you Tiny Tim. Just a quick post to say the have the happiest of Merry Christmases ever. It is 5:30 am here and in about an hour I will start cooking. Other than brief breaks for eating, candlelight service, sleeping and opening presents, cooking is all I will be doing for the next 3 days. Hugs to you all. See you soon.

Brown Bag Challenge

Hi Everyone,

Over at Stash Manicure what seems like a year ago (but wasn't) a brown bag chalenge was issued. My partner is a wonderful lady in Australia and she sent me some challenge fabrics to make a quilt from... I have to use 90% of what she sent in one quilt. I took the challenge to mean they all had to be in the top of the quilt but it doesn't say that anywhere in the rules, I don't think. Anyway, here is a picture of the fabrics and postcards she sent, as well as my Material Obsessions 2 book:

It is quite a mix of colors and styles as you can see. The chartreuse batik was the one that really had me stumped. The book is a great inspiration tool. The way those two take challenges and make them their own is wonderful. I took this picture way back when the fabric first came I don't know why it never made it into a post. All of the fabrics are cut up and ready to be sewn together... actually the center (about 30" square) is sewn together already. The quilt will be a mixture of piecing and applique. It will be completely different from almost anything I have done and I think that was what this challenge was about. I got to use my Sizzix cutter for the applique pieces. I am enjoying it more and more as I use it. This challenge is a great way t o make me step out of my comfort zone as far as technique and color choices. Even the different styles of fabrics are a challenge... I never would have thought to put batiks with the other prints here. I just hope the quilt comes out presentable :)

Talk Soon!

Still looking for one more Round Robin participant

Hi Everyone,

I am still looking for one (maybe two) more round robin participants. It doesn't start until late January or early February so it won't interfere with the holidays at all. I am thinking carefully about what I want to make for the center of mine already. What I know for sure is it has to come from my stash. Check out this post for info Round Robin.

My 2011 Crafting Resolutions..

I probably will not have any time in the next two weeks to post... I might up until Thursday of this week but then family and our son get here and all bets are off... so if I don't make it back... Merry Christmas, dear friends.

Here are my crafting resolutions for the new year month by month (including UFO finishing). The biggest one is not to buy a ton more fabric. I have enough to last the year. I know I will buy a little, especially since I have already seen some spring lines that I can't pass up. I want to use up a lot of my fabric this year.

1. Finish Tic Tac Toe quilt donate to girl's home in Sacramento. Finish Charity quilt for BAMQG. One new thing for Quilt Hope In. Work on hand quilting Erin's hope chest quilt. Work on mom's quilt.

2. Finish Pinwheel quilt donate to girl's home in Sacramento. One new thing for Quilt Hope In. Work on hand quilting Erin's hope chest quilt. Work on Mom's quilt.

3. Finish basket quilt. One new thing for Quilt Hope In. Finish Mom's quilt for her b-day on the 20th. Finish Erin's hope chest quilt.
 
4. Finish Layer Cake quilt for MIL's B-day. Finish pumpkin quilt and donate to Quilt Hope In.
 
5. Finish Plume Quilt. Finish fall quilt. One new thing for Quilt Hope In.
 
6. Finish tea party quilt. One new thing for Quilt Hope In.
 
7. Start Christmas presents. One new thing for Quilt Hope In.
 
8. Finish tesselating stars and houses quilt. Work on Christmas presents. One new thing for Quilt Hope In.

9. Finish Jell Roll quilt. Work on Christmas Presents. One new thing for Quilt Hope In.

10. Finish hexagon quilt. Work on Christmas presents. One new thing for Quilt Hope In.

11. Finish Christmas presents and ship Canadian ones. One new thing for Quilt Hope In.

12. Work on last minute Christmas gifts (there are never enough) One new thing for Quilt Hope In.


I also just got my swap pillow from my partner for the Pillow Talk Swap Round 4

Isn't it cute?

Going Green or else....

My city is making news today. Last night the city council voted to outlaw plastic bags. Here is the article from the local Newspaper http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_16859889?source=most_emailed . We are a large city (more than a million resedents) so I guess that is big news. You know what you will be seeing once a month on the blog from me now? A new grocery bag a month is my goal for 2011 then we won't be caught un-prepared in 2012.

Last of the Christmas Sewing

Hi Everyone,

I am done! I have been almost done for a week or two.... I just had to get motivated to do the hand work on the last of it.

Did you notice anything different around here? I changed my name to match  my etsy shop name...and it really fits me better anyway. On with the show....
Some scarves I started a while ago... I call them infinity scarves but Anna Maria Horner is selling kits that make the same thing and she calls them figure eight scarves... same thing different name. Wouldn't you know it I bought the fabric to make them from her as well...voile and flannel.

I made these mittens for gift card holders. You can get the fabric (quilters cotten) from Connecting Threads as well as the free mitten pattern. I love how it looks just like knitted mittens. Even close up.

And here are some improv trees for the Block Lotto . I was happy that I got my "have to(s)" done so I could get some "want to(s)" done

So I think the Christmas sewing is done unless I decide I need to make some Dalliance Gloves too :) I might... I just might!

Talk Soon!

PS... sorry for the kitchen table pics... my sewing space was invaded by the Christmas tree.

PPS still looking for one or two more people to do a round robin in Jan/Feb see older posts for info.

Sometimes I wish....

I owned more than this little scrap of the net. Sometimes something comes along that I want to throw my whole world into and I want others to come along and do the same. I wish I could get the word out to a million people.

Some of you may know Traceyjay she has introduced me to The Hendricks family and Heartline Ministries . I want to do so much for this organization but I am not rich. I wish I could give them everything they need for the Teen Mom Home but I can't. What can I do? I can make things for the Quilt Hope In etsy shop (check). I can adopt a room, taking it on faith that God will help me find the funds (I am trying to adopt the pink bathroom) (didn't get a bathroom am sending funds instead).  I can tell you all about it, and hope that you get involved too (check).

Still need some round robins... and some things I have been working on.

Hi Everyone,

We are still in need of a couple of people to participate in the round robin I posted about here. It doesn't start until January or early February so it won't interfere with your Holidays :)

Go check out Quilt Hope In to see a post about the women and children we will be helping.

Here are a few of the Christmas presents I have been making:

For my Niece a Cosmo Bag from Amy Butler's new book Style Stitches ( I design my own most of the time but I couldn't resist this book)

I love how this turned out and the covered button! I will never make one again. It has 50 or more pieces ... took forever to cut out :)

Another Amy bag... they were special requests. This one for my Aunt:

And this one for my cousin:

Here is a gratuitous picture of my animals... just because.

Aren't they cute? Doesn't it look like they love each other? This is really what they are thinking:

Let's have some fun and do some good

Hi Everyone,

I have been thinking on this for a while. First of all have you all met TraceyJay? Tracey is heading up a campaign, Quilt Hope In, to help orphan children in Haiti by making quilts to auction to raise funds for Heartline Ministries there. I have already donated fabric and have pledged to make items for the etsy shop. Here is my idea for us:

1. Let's do a round robin quilt swap (a few more details below)
2. Let's make an item for the etsy shop of Quilt Hope In (this can be your round robin quilt or another item I am not picky :) )

Whaddya think?

More about the Round Robin to start in January/February:
 FYI: It is early in the morning and I don't know (or can't think straight with half a cup of coffee) all of the details but the bare bones are:
1. Make a center square for your quilt any size you like
2. Choose some co-ordinating fabrics 1/4 yds or 1/2 yds depending on how big your center square is.
3. Get a list of swappers (I will keep it to 4 members per group, hopefully we will have at least one full group)
4. Send your center and co-ordinating fabrics to the person in the list after you.
5. Each swapper adds at least 5 inches to the height and width of the center block. This can be done in a variety of ways. Adding at least 2 1/2 inch borders, five to the top and one side... etc... But be creative, plain strip borders would be a little boring...
6. Expect to use some of your stash to supliment whatever the owner sent.
7. You have one month between switches (super important to be on time) then you send it to the next person in the list.
8. When you receive your quilt back you can either finish it and donate it to Quilt Hope In or make another item for their shop (Or you can make an item anytime the more the better)

Please let me know if you would like to join. I would like to have at least one reference from another swap if possible only because this is a bit of an outlay for us all and it would not be good to have things go missing.

I am going to post on flickr about it too.

PS: Tracey is giving away a Go cutter on her blog check it out :)

Winner and winner... chicken dinner...

Hi Everyone,

Today we have the winners of my scrap giveaway. I put you all in order by time that you sent a comment and which stack you chose. Then I used random.org to pick the numbers.

For Gobble Gobble:

 

Peaceful Piecer who said: what fun! I'm a huge fan of Sandy Gervais so that's my pick. Thanks for a chance to win

For the Authentic:

Duff who said: The authentic has my vote! I do not know of a specific charity, but the church by me takes fabric to make quilts that will be sent overseas. Perhaps a church in your area does the same?

Thanks to everyne who entered. I will get these in the mail as soon as you send me your mailing info.

A question and the giveaway...

Hi Everyone,

This is going to be a short and sweet post.

Question:

Do you know of a charity that takes quilting fabric? If so can you send me the info?

Thanks in advance!

Now the giveaway. This is not an elegant giveaway. I have a ton of fabric I will never use again. I wish I knew a place locally that would take it but I don't. So I didn't fold it nicely and put a bow on it but it is a ton of fabric for free. There are two bundles so two winners will be drawn. All you have to do is tell me which one you like best. Please pick just one.. then I will put the names in seperate lists and draw winners for each.

1. Gobble Gobble by Sandy Gervais... a 1 gallon bag full of strips (for wonky log cabins but think of the spiderwebs etc that could be made) plus yardage... I haven't measured the yardage and I won't but it stacks up high as you can see compared to the gallon bag:

2. Authentic a small bag of large scraps and some yardage. There is a little there of all the fabrics in the line. It is the remnant of a fat quarter pack (some are full pieces that were too girlie for my son's quilt) There is one piece larger than a fat quarter as well. This is pre-washed.

Giveaway ends Thursday night at midnight PDT.

Back to our regularly scheduled program...

Hi Everyone,

I had a hard October... which put me behind for my commitments in November..which made me too busy to post on this here blog. Everything seems to be evening out here so let's get back to some fun times. Whaddya say?

Sweet sweet Meghan made me this adorable Mug Rug...and it came on my birthday... how perfect is that?



As usual I am going to do a little giveaway this week. I will post about it tomorrow.

In the mean time here are some things I have been up to...

It was Pillow Talk Swap time again and my partner wanted a beachy pillow in Tiffany Blue and Tan with a lot of White. She had a lot of shell pillows in her inspiration photos so I made her this:



It is 20" and the center is pebbled (a first) around faux trapunto (another first). The rest of the pillow is quilted in a bubble pattern. It was my first snail trail set of blocks as well.

I also was part of the Scrappy Mug Rug Swap here is what I made:



The front and...



the back.

Here is the lovely package I received from my partner Yarntini :


I feel so spoiled... look at all the great stuff :)

I finished this for my MIL for Christmas:



I joined the Layer Cake Quilt Along and these are the first two blocks:





My birthday was last week and my husband bought me a whole wall of Guterman thread and a 35" x 70" cutting mat (I have been making do with an 18" x 24" all this time) what a great guy :)

Hope everyone had a great Holiday! See ya tomorrow!


Talk soon!

Let's all eat... pie!

I don't mind making my own birthday cake er pie (much) ... going shopping now!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I will be back with blogging in about a week. It has been crazy busy here. Have a lovely day!

Gratuitous photo....

Finished and Stella Approved.

My Dream on quilt from the Fat Quarterly Quilt Along

.... and the winner's are!

Thanks for the lovely comments you all warmed my heart this week. I wish I had something to send to everyone.

Winner of the Fat Quarters is:

Sarah Craig said...




I'll read you not being profound, if you'll read me not being profound! Actually, I really enjoy your blog - keep up the good work and congratulations on your 100th post!



The winner of the Sizzix Sidekick is:

scottylover said...

Wow congrats on 100 posts! I haven't had the guts to start a blog. Not sure what I would write about anyway! I sure do love reading them, though and have added yours to my reader.

Thanks for the chance to win these goodies!

Sandy A

Thanks to everyone for playing. They will be going in the mail as soon as I get your addresses :)

Happy Day... and the number 100

Hi Everyone,

I do not know what was wrong with me yesterday but... phew I am glad it is over. If you didn't read it DON'T. I still think that the Sizzix is a great deal. Especially if you get the new one becuase all kinds of dies fit in it. I just bought the older one so of course it didn't work perfectly with the new fangled stuff :) Silly me. I am still super excited about it and having a great time playing with it.

Today is my 100th post ... it took me long enough huh? Well, I can't always think of interesting things to say and I hate to drone on and bore everyone. I have two fun prizes to give away for my happy 100th.

First as hinted at before:

Six fat quarters of this lovely Anna Maria fabric. One of each of the fabrics you see here.

Second in an attempt to share my joy of all things Sizzix:

This Sizzix Sidekick (Hello Kitty dontcha love it?) some adhesive

shantung textured papers (to make stickers), and the snowflake die I

demonstrated before (you could make snowflake stickers for your Chritmas card

 seals). I don't think the little one will cut fabric but

you are welcome to try.

We will have two winners and the first winner will get the fabric, the second the Sidekick.

The only rule for this is that you leave a comment on this post (you will want to give me a way to contact you too). You don't have to follow me or do anything else. I wanted this to be for just those who like me enough to hang around even when I am not being profound :) I will pick a winner on Saturday morning. Comments are open until midnight Pacific Time on Friday 10-15.

Thanks for all the comments. Thanks for the friendship. Thanks for the inspiration.

Hugs!

Julie

Ps: I am now a follower of all my followers...duh...why didn't I think of that before. Those who's personal blogs I couldn't find I am not following. let me know what your blogs are and I will add you.

I take it all back.... post #99

Ugh... it is hard to admit when you are wrong... I was wrong. I got the Sizzix... I got the dies...

The newer Sizzix is slightly wider than the one I bought, and the Go! dies do fit in it (I have seen it with my own eyes). They don't fit in the older version that I bought. Luckily hubby has a band saw and he knows how to use it :)  So don't believe Accuquilt when they say the die is 6" it is actually 6 3/8th



See it is such a small amount over you can hardly see it in the picture.


so that extra 32nd of an inch that my machine is narrower makes it impossible to use without cutting it down.



The Sizzix dies do work fine, of course. I bought the 2 1/2 half square triangle die thinking that it meant 2 1/2 inch sewn square or 2 inch finished... I was wrong it is 1 1/2 finished.

Oops started pulling it off before I took a picture.

The funny thing is neither Sizzix or Go! make a 2 inch finished HST and that is the size I use most.

Edit: Pat says "Actually, the Go! has a die that makes the 2" finished HSTs -- it's the die that comes with the cutter. The die has a 4" (finished) square, 2" (finished) squares), and HSTs that make a 2" (finished) square." Yay! So now we know.

So now I am trying to decide if I want to tough it out with the Sizzix or ask for a GO! Baby for my birthday. I think I want both... the Sizzix for all of the amazing shapes it cuts and the Go! for just the geometric stuff.... hmmm decisions decisions.

Keep a look out tomorrow is my 100th post and a give away. I have a couple of fun things for you.

Talk soon!



Are you ready for "quite a tale"?

Hi Everyone...

Jumping right in here... you know how everyone is hosting give aways of Go! Cutters? You may or may not know I haven't won one :) I really have been trying ever so hard. So on Friday, when they announced the Go Baby, I promptly told my hubby I wanted one for my birthday. I can't afford a Go! I know lots of people can and I am really happy for them. I just can't and I understand that. My frugal little heart still hopes...

PS: I Have a Notion has Go Baby pre-orders for a super price. (oops sorry about the youtube video I was trying to show someone how to make a wig, no it isn't me in the video) link is fixed.

Sunday rolled around and I got an email from Joann's (yay coupons) and there is a sale for Sizzix die cutters. I don't scrap book. No, seriously, since the digital age came we don't even have printed pictures. I have done some stamping, but if I got a new hobby there would be no place to house it :) .... but I digress. I always wondered if those dies would cut fabric. Guess what, you might already know, they do!!! Now Joann's has the Big Shot and the Big Kick on sale for $69.99  frugal little heart beats faster... but will they have dies that I as a quilter will want to use on fabric? Oh joy of joys, YES! They have teamed up with Westmister Fibers to offer quilter's dies. Now I know they are new to the market and don't have a lot of dies available for quilting yet but they have thousands of other dies to choose from and some of them are perfectly well suited to applique shapes. But guess what else??? Promise not to send the Accu Police after me? The Go dies work in the Sizzix machines (at least the ones that are a size the fit into the platform) probably the ones that the Go Baby can use, but I will have to check so don't quote me. Unfortunately the Sizzix don't go in the Go machines because they are thicker.

So today I got out my Joann's coupon (just in case there was something else there I couldn't live without) and went with my little pocket book to pick up a Big Shot... they only had the Big Kick but they are the same as far as I can tell and the dies I want to use work in both... this is an older version but again the only difference is the color, and I like red anyway... ta da!

Ain't she cute?

Comes with a multi purpose platform (for use with different thicknesses of dies) and two cutting mats/boards.

Aren't these adorable? (used my coupon on the reindeer he wasn't on sale) Can't you just see a cute little Christmas wall hanging.

This little tiny thin die is called a Sizzlit it is not recommended for fabric. Did that stop me? I figured one thickness of fabric was no worse than a piece of card stock. It worked fine, I might not do it all the time... just sayin'. Above you see the die on one of the cutting mats and the platform.

With the fabric on the die. When cutting fabric with the thinner dies putting a piece of paper on top is supposed to help... so I used some junk mail (Joann's is good for lots of things).

With junk mail on top.

with top cutting mat on

ready to go

cranking

Yay! Junkmail snowflakes!

Yay! Fabric snowflakes. Just iron on some fusible before you cut and they are ready to go.

So now I need to order some quilting dies when I save up a few dollars. As soon as I get some I will be back for a review...with the Go ones too :) 

PS: one more post until the big 100

Talk soon!