Blue Bird Quilts-Lyn is Having a Giveaway

Blue Bird Quilts
I love her blog and you will too!  
She is celebrating her second year anniversary of being in blogland. 
Congratulations Lyn!!!


Thanks for stopping by for a moment on this special holiday weekend.  It is my hope you are at peace and doing something nice for yourself.  I am trying to take my own advice and rest a bit.  I fell yesterday, no broken bones, but today I am feeling like a truck has run over me.  Got my book, reading "Quilt As You Go" by Arlene Sachitano, my embroidery and a sweet husband home this weekend.  I am good to go, well Tylenol is helping too.  Take care.

Country Mouse Couldn’t Get Out of Dodge Without….

Yesterday at Bearpaws and Hollyhocks the last thing I heard Lindy (Grand Dame) say was she would call me when they were leaving their home.  Her DH had volunteered to  be our chauffeur to and from the airport.  Well, she did call me before they picked me up but she was one block from my home.  Lucky for me I was packed and ready to go, but I did miss doing a tradition of mine, rolling my “luggage” down to the bottom of the drive way. Kim you will be happy to know I am traveling very light.  (We each packed our small suitcases inside of each of our large suitcase…..  I think we are going to be doing some shopping. :o)

Our fun began before we left Sacramento.  First off, we were in major lines just to go through security.  It was so busy that we had to scramble around to find empty bins to put out items into before they went through the scanner.  After disrobing etc. we made it through with out having to be pulled aside.  (That means that all the cutting notions that we took were not confiscated :o)

We headed to our gate to make sure all was well with our flight – it was, so we were in search for something to eat on the plane.  

Here is Lindy heading off singing to herself about walking down the river.  Well the tiles are to represent a river and you know Lindy…  I pretended I did not know her….

We bought a sandwich to split and then went on the hunt for chocolate for dessert.  Hey, we are on a sort of vacation so what the heck.  We scored – See’s!  Right across from the See’s Chocolatier is the Details Shop that features Brighton and we both looked at each other and thought we heard our names being called.  

We figured, “Why Not!” and since we had time to “comb” the store and what do you know we found something that we just had to have to make our trip a success.

These little purses were the best idea!  We both ended up buying one just a little different, so we would not mix them up.  Just enough room for our cell phones, cards, lip balm, stick of gum, pen and we were good to go.   You can see the writing on the wall - these two should not shop together....  Well, Kim is a bad influence on me too.....

We headed on back to our loading dock just in time to load her up.  Working our way through the plane and spotting our assigned seats, who should be sitting in the third seat with us – LAUREL ANDERSON!  

Laurel Anderson the author who is having a book released at Q Market, called Applique Workshop,  published by C&T.  Laurel Anderson, who has been a special guest teacher at Bearpaws and Hollyhocks and I have loved taking her classes!!!!  You can read all about her at  http://whispercolor.com

Well, I did tell you we had not made it out of Dodge without some fun.  In hind site it was only the beginning.

The Winner is Teresa

Teresa

She wrote, "I love the giveaway ~ cute bag ~ can't wait to see what you have for market."

I know I am a day or two late (well six days late in posting the winner of the giveaway.)  Blogging got put away until I came home from the International Quilt Market in Minneapolis.  We got home in the wee hours of Monday morning and I taught a class Monday and Tuesday.  Teresa I will email you with the news.  There will be some small surprises in the box too.  Thank you for participating!

One More Sleep Until the Country Mouse Goes to Market

There is a cute button that I have over on the sidebar, yup the one with the little red radio.  It is designed for you to tune in to "radio" reports from the Spring Quilt Market in Minneapolis that starts this Thursday.  Lindy has invited me to go with her because I don't get out much and she needs someone to take notes, carry stuff, and in general be her gofer....  Someone was telling me that she is the Quilt Shop owner who has gone to Quilt Market the longest, and she really does not look that old....  Everyone who is anyone knows Lindy Munday, she is the Grand Dame of the Quilt World.  I am feeling like the country mouse hence the name of this post "The Country Mouse Goes to Market."

It will be fun sharing the experience of Quilt Market with you.  Stay tuned.

Give Away Monday May 17, 2010

Hey it is Give Away Monday!  Woo-Hoo!

I have rather and eclectic offering for your enjoyment....  
2 quilt labels by Hatch and Patch, 7 skeins of DMC floss, a little notions carry bag with a matching pin cushion.

The bag has a hidden pocket on each side with a flap that comes down and things will not fall out.  I bought the bag and pin cushion from a friend.  I will fill the rest of the box with little surprises....

You know the drill, leave a comment with a way to be able to contact you.  I am following the give away guidelines at  - 

Sew Mama Sew and will post a winner on May 21st.  I will ship internationally.

This should be fun seeing all the give aways and who enters.

APB or "This Little Piggy Goes To Market"

This little piggy is going to market - I was writing up a little ditty for my blog and what do I find this morning while drinking my tea?  Kim of Kim's Big Quilting Adventure, surprised me so much that I just about drenched my keyboard with tea.  Since she wrote about it I am scratching my entry and spending my time plotting how to kill her.  My comment back to her this morning was, "I AM GOING TO HAVE TO KILL YOU!"

"FRIDAY, MAY 14, 2010

APB!

Alert! Be on the lookout for a pair of suspicious looking characters! Two of the women in the photos below are expected to flee California jurisdiction next week. They are believed to be traveling to Minnesota where they have contacts--quilting contacts, that is! And I'm darn jealous.

That's Lindy, the owner of Bearpaws & Hollyhocks. Isn't she cute? This photo was taken at the time of the last class I taught, which just happened to be on her birthday. Yeah, she doesn't always wear the tiara--it was a special day. Anyway, Lindy's heading off to Quilt Market next week and Gran gets to go with her. That's Gran on the left in the photo below, with our friend Eileen of My Quilting Porch.

If it wasn't for all the extra luggage charges these days, I'd stow away in their luggage. I know they're going to have a wonderful time while I sit here in Sacramento, left behind to read the blogs of all the quilt people who are sharing that heady Minnesota air and having a wonderful time right along with them. So sad. Of course, if I look long and hard enough, I just might find them. After all, last year I spotted Lindy on someone's blog, wandering through the Bunny Hill booth:

(That blonde woman on the far right is Lindy.)

If YOU'RE going to Quilt Market, be on the lookout for these two, and if you see them, please take a photo and send it to me, especially if you catch them doing anything of a compromising nature. Or at least say "Hi" and tell them it wasn't very nice of them to leave me at home, crying in my keyboard. In fact, now that I think about it, I think we need to have a game of "Where's Lindy and Gran?" Kind of like "Where's Waldo" but different. If you go to market and are able to spot them there, email me a photo or tell me when you saw them, where they were, and what they were doing. Points will be given for each spotting and there may well be a prize for the most spottings. Hey, I gotta have SOME fun, don't I?!"

With friends like Kim, 
                          who needs enemies!!!?!

Give Away Monday May 17, 2010

Sew Mama Sew - hostess of Give Away Monday

I guess I will blame it on "Peer Pressure" from my blogette friends....

Check out the fun giveaway happening.

I know that it will not be anything homemade coming from me - the biggest non-finisher ever, however, I have fabric and embroidery supplies that I think someone just might enjoy having....  Check back Monday, May 17th, 2010 at 9 am est.

I hope you are having a great Wednesday.

Embroidery Stuff and A Couple of Resources

Tea Towels finished on the East Coast for our dear family minus the cute chicken ribbon.  Tinker Bell played with the cute chicken ribbon she found in my embroidery things - well what was I going to do, it was not breakable and I could iron it..... When she put the ribbon down and went on to other things, I gathered it up and put it way.  End of the story I never could figure out where I put it, looked high and low, finally found it when we returned home and I was emptying my suitcases.  It was way down in the front deep pocket of my carry on. 

Pin Cushion I made for my daughter in heart while we were on the East Coast.  I love working with wool and need to photograph some of the fun things I am making with wool.

Penny Rug Flag and the February Penny Rug.

I love and use Judith Baker Montano's books Elegant Stitches and Embroidery & Crazy Quilt Stitch Tool.

Judith Baker Montano

You might be interested in some embroidery videos.  There are a number of them on the web and Mary does a good job.

Mary Corbets Embroidery Videos

Here's to a good Tuesday!

Red Work Quilt for Empty Bowls

Happy Mother's Day to All the Mothers in Blogland!

Once upon a time, some months ago, (and I never got around to posting about it - blushing here!!!!)

Wee embroiderer's and quilter's made a quilt.  Now, it was not any ordinary quilt.  (Of course nothing wee do is ordinary.....)

Oh, the joys of showing quilts - it's the wee, old two feet and wee, two hand tips method late one night in my wee kitchen.

Amid wee giggles and trying to be quiet... for all the house was asleep.  (Yes, wee embroiderers/quilters of the late night kind, who live a block away from each other.... get excited when a finish is in hand.)  There was a light tap on the window of my (yes, lite up kitchen-blinds were closed). I carefully peeked and who should appear with a smile on her face but another wee late night person.  With a huge red and white bundle in her arms!  (I was trying to get the person in the picture to show her face to honor her.  Slowly she unveiled her smiling eyes...)

Ta-Dah!  It's Marie Nelson!  

Creator of the idea to make a quilt for the Empty Bowl Fund Raiser. 

Empty Bowls - Sacramento

 She presented the idea at our Q Book Club in December (first Friday evening in December), and a number of us decided to make the quilt. It was a hard choice because it was during the holidays and a number of us had heavy calendars already.

Judy had been working on the Red Work blocks during the fall book club meetings, had them with her in her carrying bag and said, "Here you can use these if you want.  I was just making them and not sure how I was going to put them together."  The idea for the quilt was born and off it went.  Those of us who wanted took an unstitched block/blocks to embroider and we committed to get them back to Marie by the beginning of January 2010.  Seems to me we stretched it out a little longer to get them all done. Yes, making it tight for Marie and her friend.

Wee Marie found the fabrics and did the piecing, then sent it off to a friend of hers in Utah (a long arm quilter) to be quilted (her friend donated her time also!).  It got back here to California pronto, Marie bound it, and it was off to the auction for Empty Bowls.  Lickity Split. The Event was on March 9th, 2010.

And they (the wee people) all lived happily ever after, knowing that they had shared a wee bit of their talents to help a sister/brother in need.

Wee Embroiderers - Judy, Carol, Gran

Wee Piecer and Finisher - Marie

Wee Long Arm Quilter-  Marie's friend in Utah (Name forthcoming)

The Day After the Two Days Before

What the heck kind of title is that!?  Well, let me explain - briefly....

My DH experienced chest pains on both flights on our trip to the East Coast.  Came home, saw the doctor, the doctor ordered tests and you know the rest of the drill.  He was in the hospital for two days. The good news is it is not the plumbing (arteries), the bad news it is an electrical situation.  They will be running tests for the next three weeks and we should have more definitive information after that.  Interestingly he feels fine, looks fine, is fine!!  In fact he went to work today, happy as a clam (all wired up with a heart monitor, but feeling just fine.)  One of the reasons I choose to share this more personal information is I would like to hear from any of your via email if you have experienced your DH having electrical heart issues.  

While in the hospital being the "wife",  I had my handy dandy latest stitchery ready to go...  This is a picture of what I worked on in between things.  It helped me remain calm....

I hope to hear from some of you soon.

It's the Small Things

Yesterday on the way back home from the doctors office (yes, I am still fighting the East Coast Pre-School Crud) I stopped off at Tuesday Morning.  I found something pretty exciting - some of you are going to think I am crazy....  I found flat bottom everyday glass ware!  

This morning when I opened the dishwasher, look what I found when I pulled out the top rack!  See them there on the bottom edge.

There are some on the top edge of this picture.  No puddles to mop up, no spills onto the bottom rack when I pulled out the top rack (yes, I am still trying to train myself to do the bottom rack first...)

Ta Dah - flat bottom everyday glass ware!  It's the small things!

Another small thing is my Schnibbles - Tagalong. Completed almost at the stroke of midnight on April 30th.  I loved piecing it and sent it to Mary at Quilt Hollow to quilt for me.  She did a Great Job of quilting it.

I hope you have a great day.  As for me I plan on a great day, I think I will start out slow and gear down.

Tote Virgins

It all started in Kim's Kristmas Klass last fall.  One of the items she had on a long list for us to make for Kristmas was a tote.  She had all the bells and whistles on her cute sample tote and the pattern for us to make one in klass along with the tons of other Kristmas stuff.  Most of us just quietly sat there and wondered where the heck to begin, we were so blown away from the projects she had for us - truly some of the neatest Kristmas things I have seen.  (fyi - she had peppermint designs in everything....)  

Oh, back to the tote story - In my recollection.... 

Someone quietly said, "But, I have never made a tote."  Then another voice said, "I have never made a tote either."  Another said, "I have never made a tote either."  It was like popcorn popping all over the classroom, only instead of the popping sound it was,  "I have never made a tote."  Then someone said, "We are a bunch of tote virgins."  Well, that was all it took for us to loosen up and with our hooting and howling she lost complete control of the Klass.  We were not quiet about it all after our confessions about being tote virgins and we begged Kim to create a class for us.

She did!  Picnic Tote and Quilt Class (aka For Idiot Tote Virgins....)
on May 1st.  Who new there was so many of us....

You can check out her post for all the technical details, since it was my "maiden voyage" I do not feel confident in passing on the ins and outs of how to make a tote.  HOW EVER!  I made a tote in class.  From beginning to end!  It was so cool, and we had a blast working together.  Each tote and quilt was completely different and it was fun to see how each one progressed.  We made the basic quilt block for the quilt and brought  it  home to follow in the construction of the picnic quilt.  I am excited.  My quilt will be out of these same fabrics plus some other pieces from the same line.

Inside of my tote.

Goodies that Kim gave us in class.  Two plastic bases to go in the bottom of two totes.  She had them pre-cut for us, special, and her DH sanded off each of edges and corners to make them smooth.  I have to make a cover for mine and pop it into the bottom of my tote.  She also made up lavender sachet bags for each of us.  I have mine beside me right now and it is fresh and oh, so nice.  I do not have pictured the pattern and the cute notepad and mechanical pencil she gave each of us.  Also, I do not have a picture of the picnic luncheon that she made for us.  Fried chicken fingers, two salads (one macaroni and one fruit).  I think I forgot something...  For dessert she had ice cream bars and cones!

I made it, I made it - thanks to Kim!

It was Lindy's (Quilt Shop owner of Bearpaws and Hollyhocks) birthday.  Kim being the thoughtful and generous person that she is had a card for us all to sign for Lindy and the tiara with birthday candles on it.  Lindy could not stop laughing.  She is such a good sport she wore it around the shop for the rest of the afternoon.

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you had peace this weekend.

Drum Roll Please - The winner IS.....

Thank you blogettes for participated in my First Blogiversary Give Away.  Your interest, kind comments and the spirit of fun created excitement at my home as we read the comments each day.

DH and son #2 witnessed the neighbours next door (the couple who work in law enforcement - they actually gotten a kick out of me asking them to officiate the drawings I have had in the past) drew the following name:

Granny Loz - Australia

On April 27th - Here is what she said, "Congrats on the one year in blogland! It is an exciting place to be and I have "met" so many amazing people....the giveaway prize would look perfect in my new kitchen..LOL...looking forward to many more adventures!". 


Granny Loz (Lorraine) please email me your mailing address.


Thank you one and all for participating in this Blogiversary - Give Away.  I look forward to the next year and getting more acquainted with the ins and outs of blogging.  Thank you for teaching me more then I ever wanted to know and also that there is still so much to know!!!


Today was Kim's Picnic Tote and Quilt class.  We has a blast, she is a great teacher and made everything work well with her organization, her ability to make hard quilting "stuff" easy so that we all are successful makes taking her class wonderful.


For now, with the dust settling from the Give Away and the neighbours have gone home, I am going to put my feet up, grab my latest book, The Lost Quilter by Jennifer Chiaverini, and read until my favourite TV program comes on - yes, MI-5!! 


Over and Out.