A Great Giveaway!

If you love stitchery and quilting - run, don't walk - to this blog. Helen is giving away a set of patterns for her new BOM Twas the Night Before Christmas! I fell in love with this the minute I saw it.

I know I have been kind of scarce in blogland lately but as soon as DD's graduation party is over tomorrow I will be back with some quilty posts and pics!

Have a pieceful day!

Happy Easter!

Hoping you are all able to spend this Easter with family and friends as we are today! We are going to a good friend's house for dinner today. Our hostess loves marshmallow peeps so when I saw this pattern earlier this week I had to get it (thankfully it was an e-pattern!) and make it for her - I just finished it this morning.

There is another Easter doll pattern I bought that did not get made yet - plus I have my swap Annie started as well as a few others - the doll phase continues - although there will be a break for a new journal.

Have a wonderful day!

A New Obsession!

Hello Everyone! I'm back from my little blogging break. I've been lurking and keeping up with all of your blogs, just not posting on mine or commenting much.

So let me show you some of what I've been up to! On someone's blog I saw a link for an Annie Swap over at AuntPittyPat's blog. I used to make cloth dolls YEARS ago so it intrigued me. I also remembered some free Annie patterns I had downloaded awhile ago and never made so I found them, went to the website I got them from and wound up buying a few more, including a cute little bunny pattern to make for Easter. Now, today I just found out that website is having a free pattern giveway and a contest for a doll right now! Go here for details.

So right now my desk is filled with doll body parts waiting to be assembled but I did finish one doll for a co-worker who just had back surgery - here she is:


Here is a pic of the covers of two of the patterns I bought - the doll above and the bunny. Aren't they adorable?

In other exciting news, my friend Cheryl who does longarm quilting had a quilt accepted to the Quilt Fest of NJ which was the beginning of March. Her quilt won not only Best Machine Workmanship but the even greater honor of Viewer's Choice! Of course now we are all afraid she will decide to raise her prices for longarming!!! Seriously though, we are all so proud of her! Here is a picture of her quilt hanging at the show:

I've been doing a little shopping at the bookstore while I took my blogging break too - I bought these last week - the ME book has some really cute projects in it and I've always wanted to do silk ribbon embroidery and this book was the best I've ever seen on the subject.

I also have 2 books coming from Amazon tomorrow on cloth doll making - not the Annie type, the "artsy" type - like the title of the post says - a new obsession! LOL! I think I was in a rut because for the longest time it seems I would get no sewing done when I got home from work. But once I started with the journals and then the dolls all of a sudden I was excited with what I was doing and had the energy at night to work on them. I guess every now and then we all need a new project or a new artform to recharge our creative batteries.

I am working on a couple of quilts but they are both gifts so I can't show them yet. I missed my blogaversary while on my break and I haven't forgotten about a giveaway for that - just deciding how and what to do.

Have a pieceful day!

Birthday wishes!

Happy Birthday Sue!!!!

Today is my best friend Sue's birthday! So if you know Sue give her a call, email or text and wish her a happy birthday. If you don't have her info, leave a comment here and wish her a happy birthday!

In other news... well there really isn't much other news! I went back to work yesterday and that was about as exciting as you would expect - LOL! This weekend is our quilting at the firehouse day with the posse so maybe I will have some good show and tell pictures to post on Saturday night or Sunday!

Oh, and is anyone else having trouble with bloglines? Mine is still showing some blogs as new as many as three times after I've viewed them and I don't think it showed my last post as new at all. Is it me or is everyone else having the same issues?

Have a pieceful day!

A little time off...

Today is the last day of my little vacation. DH and I were off for Lincoln's Birthday last Thursday and President's Day yesterday so we both took Friday as a vacation day and I also took today. It's been a nice little 6 day break for the measly cost of only 2 vacation days! But I can't figure out how I got nothing accomplished in those 6 days! Or at least not very much. Usually when DH and I stay home together we spend too much time in the house doing nothing. This time we were out and about every day running errands. It was nice to spend some time wtih DH - when we are hanging around the house we tend to each do our own thing but when we are out and about we have fun together. We did manage to have a few meals out, go to a friend's birthday party (Happy Birthday again Roger!) and got some chores done. Unfortunately the to do list is so long it didn't make a dent!

Today was the first day I was able to get in my sewing room though. I'm enjoying my journal making class so much I decided to sign up for the sequel - More Journalmaking for the Fiber Artist. The classes overlap two weeks so this week I had lesson 4 from the first class and lesson 1 from the second! Here are my journals from this week:

Above is lesson 4 of the first class. This journal is made out of a paper bag believe it or not! I picked a civil war print for the lining and used twine as a tie (because that was all I had in the house that worked - LOL!)

This one was made with some authentic japanese fabric I got at City Quilter in NYC a few years ago. It's been sitting in my stash waiting for just the right project. The picture doesn't really show it but this is a tri-fold journal.

I haven't done much quilting lately (even though I have a couple of deadline projects - yikes!) but sometimes its nice to have a little creative diversion to get the juices flowing again, isn't it? I keep seeing fabrics and thinking - "oh, that would make a gorgeous journal" I'm not sure what I am going to do with all these journals but I'm sure they will all find good homes. Speaking of which, my one year blog-aversary is coming up in a few days. I think a custom made journal might be a great prize for a giveaway - what do you think? Stay tuned for the details...

Have a pieceful day!

More Journals

I've been working on a few more journals from the online class I've been taking. Here is the journal from last week's lesson:

And here is a journal I made for Mary over at Stitchin by the Sea

I stamped some lighthouses and inspirational quotes on the inside:

Tomorrow is lesson 4 - the journal is made out of a paper bag and has a faux leather finish. I am really anxious to get tomorrow's lesson!

Have a pieceful day!

Shopping, Stitching & Superbowl

That pretty much describes this weekend - shopping for sneakers with DD, shopping at the sale at the LQS with some of the posse and then some stitching last night and today - and of course the Superbowl tonight - the only night of the year when I go to the kitchen or bathroom during the show and run back to the tv for the commercials! Except of course during half-time - couldn't miss my baby Bruce (although he does seem to be getting older these days!). While at the LQS I picked up some goodies - this fabric is for a spring Girly Girl tote.




And this fabric is for the Flea Market bag (the pink and green) and the Ella bag (the blue floral, dots and toile) from Grand Revival Design. The taupe dots go with an extra yard of the blue floral to Mary for her Flea Market bag. This whole fabric line was gorgeous - I could have bought the whole thing!

These are the bag patterns - arent they great?

And here is my journal from my second lesson of the online class. This one is a sketchbook. I don't sketch much except for practicing machine quilting designs. I may use it for that or I may give it to DD who loves elephants - if she wants it.

And finally last night I finished the first block of the month from Bunny Tales.

Unfortunately the weekend is almost over :( But at least it has been productive and enjoyable!

Have a pieceful day!