It's Done!!!!

I did it! I managed to get the Halloween quilt from the swap done before Halloween was gone. I finished it about 4:30 this afternoon and had it hanging in the kitchen by 5pm. Normally I would take all my Halloween stuff down tomorrow but I think this will have to stay up for awhile longer - maybe till Thanksgiving! This really has me in the mood to get the Christmas swap blocks together this year too. I had told myself I wouldn't have time before Christmas this year but I might have to try to find a couple of days to knock it out.

Have a pieceful day - and Happy Halloween!!!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween to you!



This is my youngest DD in her halloween costume last night. She wanted to be Alice in Wonderland but every costume in the stores was too "slut-y" She said you couldn't even tell they were Alice in Wonderland. So she went to Walmart, bought fabric and a pattern and asked me to help her. I've never been a clothes sewer, other than doll clothes and halloween costumes. She took 2 years of Fashion Construction in high school but kept claiming not to know how to do it. So she cut it out and I did most of the rest with her assistance. Then we got to the zipper. I said "I think we need to call Florence for help, I have no idea how to put a zipper in a dress and the pattern directions sound like Greek to me" she said "oh, its easy, you just do this, this and this..." and promptly taught me how to put a zipper in a dress.

I think I've been hoodwinked! Seriously though I am just thrilled that it came out okay (if you look closely there are a ton of flaws, but it is only a halloween costume) and more importantly that it fit! I had these horrible visions of spending all these hours on it and it not fitting when we were done and then rushing to the store to buy one of the slut-y costumes anyway!

Have a pieceful day!

Christmas block swap

If you read my blog you know I recently participated in Jane's Halloween Spooky Spectacular block swap. I made 12 owl blocks and 12 nine patches and received 12 different halloween themed blocks and 12 different 9 patches. Those blocks have been assembled into a quilt top and I still have hope of having the quilt finished before Halloween is over - even if it means I am stitching binding Saturday night!

So last month I was at our monthly-ish meeting of our firehouse quilters group and I was showing everyone my blocks and telling them about the halloween swap. Bernadette says "why don't we do something like that?" and I replied "we should - and you can organize it!" and she did! So 9 of us each made 9 Christmas themed blocks and last Saturday we swapped them. They all go together so well and everyone did such a great job! There was already talk of a Snowman themed swap in January. So without further adeiu, here are the blocks (only 8 are shown here - Mary wasn't able to make it on Saturday so I don't have one of her blocks yet - I have seen then though and they are great - a redwork candycane. If you check her blog I'm sure she will post a picture soon.



I made Christmas stockings personalized with the recipient's name:







Bernie made these adorable paper pieced Christmas presents:







Sue machine appliqued angels - this was her first time doing applique and she did an unbelievable job!







Florence did gingerbread men and as always they were perfect!







Priscilla did Christmas trees - aren't they great?







Ann chose a snowman from Art to Heart - I love that blue background!







Megan made stars that as always are pieced perfectly - front and back are perfect!







Talin made mittens - check out the ribbon and button embellishments!





Speaking of Talin - I've been meaning to post for awhile to tell you about Talin's new blog. Talin is extremely talented and blows the rest of us away with her creations. She makes beautiful handbags as well as other things.

Update**** I managed to get a pic of Mary's block - she hand embroidered a candy cane on white on white snowflake fabric - a ton of work and so pretty!

Have a pieceful day!

More mail and swap goodies!

More goodies from the mailbox! First up is a little gift I received from Nanette of Freda's Hive. I volunteered proofread (believe it or not I enjoy proofing!) her new pattern Kettles in the Kitchen (which is awesome by the way - check it out!) and she sent me some fabrics as a thank you. These fabrics are so cool! I've never seen anything like them around here. And check out the fabric covered button too!





Next up is a gift I received from my friend Florence. Florence, myself and three other ladies have been getting together for YEARS to stitch/craft/talk etc. and Florence always makes us the best stuff!!! When I asked her where she got the idea she told me it was on Kim's blog. Now I am a faithful reader of Kim's blog - I mean I read it every morning, and somehow I missed these! If i don't get to them this year I will definitely be making some for next Halloween!



Last, but certainly not least today I received my swap package from Ariane for the Placemat Swap 2 on Flickr. I am just so in love with this placemat! Of course it is way too beautiful to use as a placemat - it will get hung on the wall with my other mini quilts. She also sent a potholder, coasters and a little drawstring bag that will be perfect for small stitchery projects and the like.



Sorry these are a little blurry - DD took them with her phone.



That's all for today. Tomorrow I will show the blocks I got in my local quilt group's xmas block swap. There are 9 of them so they are a post in themselves!

Have a pieceful day!

Catchin Up!

Ok, I'll warn you know, this is gonna be a long one! In my last post I mentioned I've been doing a lot of stitching and got some good things in the mail - well since then I've been doing more stitching and got more stuff in the mail. Some of the stitching was for swaps so it will be a few more days to a week or so until I can show those. So let's start with the mail - both incoming and outgoing:

First is a quilt I received from a swap on Flickr - we swapped Teeny Tiny Mini Quilts - under 6 inches! I recevied this little beauty from Cindy in Texas. All of those squares are pieced - I originally thought that was one fabric!



This is the teeny tiny mini I sent to Cindy:



Another swap on Flickr that I am doing this month is the Swap Till You Drop October Woodland theme swap. Kimmie in Oregon sent me this cutie:



I can't show you the one I made for Kimmie because it was just mailed today. That will have to wait for another day!
Next is two packages from my Secret Angel in the Stitcher's Angel Swap: first I received this beautiful needlecase and then a week or so later I received the beautiful embroidered bag. I'm not really sure how my angel Drommequilten knew I've started collecting thimbles because I didn't think I had posted about it on my blog but she sent me one!





This is the Halloween Annie I made for Aunt Pitty Pat's Bumps in the Night Swap:



Here are my blocks sent to Jane for her Red and Aqua Disappearing 9 patch swap:



Seen enough yet? Believe it or not this isn't all the swaps! But I think its enough for one post. I'll post again tomorrow with more!

Have a pieceful day!

Giveaway Alert!

I've been busy quilting all day and also got GREAT stuff in yesterday's mail. I will be back to post about all that in a little while but in the meantime check out this giveaway at Sampaguitaquilts The prize is a kit for the most awesome tree quilt.

Be back soon!

Have a pieceful day!

Busy, busy, busy!

Ugh! I've been meaning to post but believe it or not couldn't get around to taking pictures of the things I wanted to post about! I hate it that it is dark so early again.

A couple of Saturday's ago we had our "almost" monthly quilty get together at the firehouse. We hadn't met since July and the attendance at that one was meager so its been quite a while since we all saw each other. A bunch of us worked on a tote bag featured on Moda Bake Shop with the Mill House Inn fabric line. Not everyone used Mill House Inn fabrics, a bunch used fabrics from their stash. It is always so cool to see the same project done in different fabrics/colors isn't it? Here is mine:

This fabric line is just awesome! While we were cutting our fabrics for this bag we decided to cut for the friendship bag tutorial on P.S. I quilt

It's hard to tell from the picture but this bag is only about 6" x 6". Not very practical but very cute!

I never showed my Halloween blocks from Jane's swap but I think I will wait - last night I bought sashing and I am REALLY going to try to have that done by Halloween. I might be quilting and/or binding it ON Halloween but hopefully it will be done! When I showed my blocks at the firehouse some of the girls were intrigued so we decided to do a similar swap amongst ourselves with Christmas blocks. It is a short turnaround - they are due on Oct. 24 so I bought fabric for that last night too and have my idea - now to make my 9 blocks.

I've been working on lots of other stuff too - swap stuff I can't show. I've become a little addicted to swaps on flickr. I never knew they existed until I did Doll Quilt Swap 7 - now I've found monthly mini quilt swaps, placemat swaps, teeny tiny quilt swaps! I'll have lots of pics of all of those as soon as I mail and my partners have received them - not to mention pics of the quilts I receive! Oh, and I did Aunt Pitty Pat's Bumps in the Night Halloween Annie Swap. I haven't received mine yet but my partner has gotten mine so I can show you. When she was sent she was holding a pumpkin in her lap but I forgot to take a final picture so the only one I have was taken before the pumpkin was added.



Last night I finished two Halloween pillows - I just LOVE these! I wish I could keep them out year round!!!!






Well, I hope that makes up for a few post-less weeks! I've got lots to finish this month and for now anyway I am on a roll. There is also a mini shop hop planned for this month. My birthday is tomorrow and a few (semi) local shops send 20% off coupons to use during your birthday month. Of course, I don't really NEED anything, but after they are nice enough to send you a birthday coupon it would be rude not to stop in and at least say hello, right?

Have a pieceful day!