PIF Received!

I arrived home from work today and my Pay it Forward gift from Linda is in the mailbox! She sent this beautiful stitching organizer.


Just to see how it would look with the 3 ring binder, I put my Quilting Journal in it - doesn't it look great???



I was just thinking last week that I have to get started on my Pay it Forward gifts. If I remember correctly I still need a third person to sign up - any volunteers????

Lots of great giveaways lately - May Britt is having a giveaway to celebrate her 2 year blogging anniversary. She is giving away a beautiful stitchery book.

Swaps!

I realized I never posted a picture of the pincushion I made for Linda's pincushion swap.






The pattern is from Crabapple Hill Studios - I love their stuff! I really need to make myself one of these. This one went off to Karol-Ann in England. I love that Linda paired everyone with someone from another country. The swap was so much fun that as much as I tried to resist and spend all my time working on some of these UFOs, I caved and signed up for Linda's bag swap. Oh well, this IS a hobby and it IS supposed to be fun right? I'll save the guilt trips for work!

Speaking of bags, there is a FABULOUS bag being given way on this blog. So stop by and enter to win - but also leave a comment asking for a pattern!

Have a pieceful day!

A little help from my friends...

What would we do without (quilting) friends??? A few weeks ago I received this package from Takako She was so sweet to bring me some items from her trip to Japan!



And tonight I was working on the Oldest UFO and having a bit of an issue. I was talking to a quilting friend on the phone and she suggested something that should have been so obvious but I just wasn't seeing. Her suggestion saved me a ton of time and possibly saved me fabric - which is good because I only have a limited amount of this fabric left.

Oh and last but not least...Quilty threads and Ohio quilter are both having giveaways - go check them out!

Have a pieceful day!

A very productive day!

Well, so far I'm off to a good start. I did way more than 30 minutes of stitching today - but it was rainy Sunday that was no good for going to the lake, which made it a lot easier to get meet my goal of at least 30 minutes of stitching. First I finished a cross stitch I finished earlier in the month into a mattress pincushion. I think I made it a little too "high" but that's what I get for following the directions instead of my instincts!


After that I worked a little on my oldest UFO. I cut the setting triangles and alternating blocks and started sewing rows together. I only got one done when DH got up from his nap and we went food shopping. But now it is ready for some 30 minute sessions after work this week.

All in all it was a very productive day. Other than stitching I got some cleaning and laundry done and a few other items on the to do list as well. And last but not least - I'm two for two on my goal to blog every day!

Have a pieceful day!

It's been how long since I last posted?

Ahhhh! I can't believe I haven't posted since July 7! I was reading another blog yesterday where the author hadn't posted in over a month. She said that every day she had blog posts in her head - somehow she just never got them from her head to her blog. Same with me. Its not for lack of wanting to post -- and it doesn't take that much actual time to post. I think I just need to make it a habit, a part of my day. So I am challenging myself to post every day from today until Labor Day - Sept. 1. They might not all be long, or interesting - LOL! or have pictures (but I'll try my best) but I will post.

By my calculations, if I post every day between now and Sept. 1, that should bring me to my 75th post right around the same time. So I'm planning a little giveaway for my 75th post - don't know what yet but I'll keep you updated. Every comment between now and then will get entered - I figure your comments will help keep me motivated to post! So those of you that read but don't post - take the plunge and leave a comment! You don't need to have a blog to leave a comment. There is a tutorial out there on how to leave a comment - I will find it and post it later or tomorrow - or if someone knows where it is - leave a comment here with the blog address please!

I am also going to try my best to spend even 15-30 minutes a day stitching. My UFO list is not getting any smaller and in the summer I typically get a lot less quilting done - so even small snippets of time should help. If find myself not wanting to start new projects because of the guilt of the unfinished ones. So its time to get them done - or at least some of them - LOL!

I Got Mail!

I called DS on the way home from work and he told me I got a package in the mail from Portugal! It was my pincushion from my swap partner from Linda's pincushion swap. I couldn't wait to get home and open it!

Noeima sent me not one but TWO beautiful pincushions as well as a cross stitched sachet bag, a cross stitch kit and a Portugal potholder as well as a lovely note. Thank you Noeima, they are beautiful!



I mailed my swap to my partner on Saturday but I won't show it here until she receives it. I really hope she likes it!

The really odd thing about my package today was the cross stitch kit. I used to do cross stitch YEARS ago before I started quilting. After I became more involved in quilting the cross stitch got left by the wayside. Just last week while on vacation I stumbled across some cross stitch blogs and decided I needed a change of pace. I twisted Mary's arm to meet me at a cross stitch store near her house and we both bought a few patterns and fabrics. Isn't it such a weird coincidence that Noiema sent me a cross stitch kit in the package? do do do do...do do do do.. twilight zone-ish, don't you think?

So today was my first day back to work after vacation - yuck! Tons of work waiting and a really busy week ahead but DH and I had a nice vacation - or stay-cation- we stayed home, went out to lunch a few times, went the lake, attended a great bbq on the 4th and basically just relaxed.

Have a pieceful day!