Nice surprise in the mail.....

Look at this nice surprise I got in the mail today from a quilting friend ( Julie ).   She took the time to make me a mini quilt and I love it......so colorful....

and she put a little bit of "extra-special" in it by adding a piping strip of fabric just inside the binding.  (I'm not sure if you call it piping, but that's what I call it.)  If you click on the photo, I think you can see it in more detail.   I really appreciate her kindness AND her nice work.....beautifully-stitched hand-quilting on it, too.   It looks very nice hanging on my wall and I will treasure it always.   THANKS, Julie!    Click on her name at the beginning of my post to go see her quilting blog and the beautiful work she does while still working full-time as a nurse.  She is quite a special gal.

This is BEAUTIFUL.....

I have become friends with a very lovely person, Eva, from the Czech Republic. She follows my blog.  She does absolutely incredible handwork embroidery.  She sent me some very pretty postcards AND she made this wonderful embroidered piece.  Isn't it beautiful?  The photo in no way does it justice.....it is exquisite and the stitches are incredible.  It amazes me the kind of work some people can do by hand!  Thank you, Eva....I will treasure this always!  (And please, if you are a praying person, keep Eva in your prayers as she has had some significant health issues recently and I am hoping she will be much better soon.)

My hairdresser is so nice....

I love the gal that does my hair. She is so nice and goes out of her way to accommodate her customers.  She is also a very good hairdresser.  For Christmas I made her a small zippered bag.  I had no idea if she would like it.  It turns out she liked it so much (and used it so often) and felt she could use one even larger, so...I surprised her at my last appointment with this new, large one...measuring about 9" wide by 8" high...with a nice, glass-bead zipper pull and two inside pockets. She was very thrilled with it.  She said many of her friends have asked where she got the smaller one...and she offered to sell them in her shop if I wanted to make them, but....I'm not too keen on that idea right now.  Maybe I'll reconsider down the road, but for now.....I told her "Thanks, but no thanks!"

For a baby girl....

I wanted to make a gift for a baby girl who will be born in Florida in May....at the time of year where she will be in her car seat in an air conditioned car and in her stroller in air conditioned stores.  I figured a quilt sized just nice to cover her up and protect that tiny little one from the chill in the air would be nice.  I made something uncomplicated, simply quilted, and very soft.  I used the very popular (lately) Swoon block as the center (but cut it all out with my GO! cutter so a lot of time was saved in cutting and assembling).  I was going to add some fancy borders but I didn't want to take the focus away from the center of this one.  I used a fun fabric on the back and used the same one for the binding.  (I think I'll take a picture of the back of it when it comes out of the washer and dryer and post that next time.) I'm not a big fan of the look of machine-stitched binding, but I feel it is sturdier to have it machine-stitched...and sturdy is good for a quilt that will be laundered a lot...like this one will.  I hope the soon-to-be-mommy (and then the new baby) will like it.

Thanks!

Thanks to all the kind comments on my previous post!  I'm still awaiting my copy of the magazine and hope it arrives soon.

I did get something nice...and unexpected...in the mail a couple of days back.  It is this absolutely beautiful, handmade fabric postcard with gorgeous threadwork and beads forming fireworks.  It was made for me by Jan from "across the pond" and sent to wish me a happy new year.  She is a very talented gal.  Click HERE to see her blog and some of her creations.  I am lucky enough to now own two of her lovely postcards!  Thanks, Jan!

Now...so you don't think I forgot about doing some sewing, here is Spencer, my little sock monkey friend, showing you a little bag I made.  It's one of those "snappy" bags that you make using pieces of metal carpenter's measuring ruler (to keep the bag closed at the top).  It was fun to make and I think I am going to use it to hold pieces and supplies for a small English paper piecing project I might start soon.  Spencer was thinking, instead, it might make a nice, cozy little place for him to ride if he goes traveling with me sometime!  I'll think about that, Spencer, and get back to you about it!!!  (Both photos should enlarge if you click on them in order to get a better look.)

Trying to catch up....

Gosh...I have so many photos I've taken over the past several weeks with all good intentions of posting, but time just gets away from me. So....I'll try to put a few photos at a time here. They probably won't be in chronological order, but.....I don't think that matters much.

First, we have one of my feet wearing the very comfy and attractive socks made for me by Margi......I've talked about this in a few posts...how she rescued me and made the socks for me after I failed at my attempt to do them.  I love them!!! Thanks, again, Margi!

Next we have a closeup of an absolutely gorgeous poinsettia plant I got yesterday.  It was given to me by my quilty friend (and blogging buddy), Michelle.  She and her hubby came to visit my husband and me.  Michelle and I had some fun time with the GO! cutter as she cut out some HST's for a project she'll be starting soon. The hubbies talked...and then we all went out for a supper at a nice Italian place we like in downtown Rehoboth Beach....Nicola's.  Then...it was home so they could see my husband's Christmas light display where the lights twinkle in time to music that you tune on your car radio.  (Sorry I don't have pictures of it, but...trust me...it's a very nice light display.)    We all had a very nice day!  This last picture below shows part of my tumbler quilt (did a close-up in hopes you could see the nice quilting on it).  Michelle quilted it for me on her long-arm and brought it back to me yesterday.  She does such nice work.  Today I went and chose binding for it. Well...actually, I let my friend, Sherry, who works a the LQS and is excellent with color choice, do the choosing for me.  She chose something I'd never have picked, but it's a fun fabric and will look great when it's done!  (I'll take another picture at that time.)  OH...and great news.......the young gal in our family who is in the Air Force and was in Iraq has come HOME safe and sound...and just in time for Christmas!!!  We are truly blessed!

Irene and Us.......

Our community, while within a mile of an inland bay in southern Delaware (the Indian River Bay) is several feet above sea level and our home is 32 feet above sea level, so we were not worried about water and were intending to stay here during the hurricane.  Our worry was wind and trees possibly coming down on the house (since we had that happen two years ago).  However, the governor issued an order that all those living within a certain area had to evacuate and we were in that area.  So......after calling several hotels and not finding one within a reasonable distance with a vacancy, we were lucky enough to find people from our church to shelter us for two nights. We then got together with a few others from our church who live near to them and we kept our minds off the storm by having a hurricane party.  I will probably post some photos of that eventually.   We had to be out of the house for 48 hours...could have come back sooner but a driving ban was in effect (and if you drive during that and have an accident, your car insurance doesn't have to pay...who knew?) 

Anyway....we came home to find NO damage, thankfully, but a messy yard strewn with branches and pine cones. But...we aren't complaining since many were much less fortunate. Also, we had no major power losses in this area, which was also wonderful. Thanks to all of you who were thinking of us and praying for us.  I truly appreciate that.

So.....after helping hubby clean up the mess yesterday and also catching up on my typing job, today I tried to get some "normalcy" back in my life and went to the local quilt shop and then made a cute little change purse with two pockets.  It is an Atkinson Design pattern and is pictured here.  It was a quick project and turned out nice.  It is to be a gift for a friend, but I think I will make more as it was fun and easy. That friend sometimes reads my blog, so if she does, she will then be surprised when this is given to her! 

A small gift for a neighbor....

A neighbor of mine who has been having some tough emotional times lately will be having her birthday at the end of this upcoming week.  She is one who really appreciates hand-crafted items as she is a crafter herself.  She loves to decorate with a beachy theme, so I made her a small topper for one of her tables or shelves.   (The shells were just put there for when I took the picture.)  She likes lighthouses, crabs, etc. and the back of the piece (which I didn't photograph...darn) has all kinds of sea creatures on it and you can see the lighthouses on the front, so she can really use it on either side.  I think she'll be surprised that I made this for her and will enjoy it. She doesn't read my blog, so it is safe to post this and not risk ruining the surprise!  (Of course, the pieces for this were cut entirely with the GO! cutter.)

What name should I give this quilt?

This is a photo of the finished salad quilt top.  It will go to a friend in the area for long-arming soon.  Now that I've gotten to know a few long-armers, I have to spread the wealth around.   LOL   Anyway.....the photo was taken with a flash instead of natural light, so the coloring isn't perfect but it's pretty close. You can click twice on it to see it close-up.   I wanted the salad fabrics (lettuce...broccoli...carrots...red onions.....peppers...cucumber slices....tomatoes) to look like they were floating and I'm really happy with how this looks.  I cut the squares and the sashing out with my GO! cutter in a very short period of time (love that cutter!!!)   Since I was putting the blocks on point, I had to cut the setting triangles and corner triangles the regular, "old-fashioned" way with my rotary cutter, though.    I could use some suggestions for a name for this quilt.  So far, I seem to be stuck on "Balsamic Vinaigrette", but I'm not totally sold on that and am open to suggestions.  Who has some ideas?

Backing for SNACK ATTACK.....

I've decided the quilt top I showed in the previous post needs to be called "Snack Attack".  I had hoped to do chocolate chip cookies for the backing but was unable to get the fabric as quickly as I needed it.  SO...I shopped around locally.   I bought 3 more fabrics.......cupcakes, donuts, and ice cream cones.....then added them to small pieces of the snack fabrics I used on the front of the quilt.  It made for a WILD backing, but I think my granddaughter (who will be 7 when she gets the quilt) will love both sides of it.   This photo shows just one section of the back.  I have it all pressed and folded neatly and didn't want to unfold it for a full photo of it, but I think you'll get the idea of how wild it is by looking at this. (You should be able to see it enlarged if you click on it once or twice.) What a fun quilt this was to make! I think 2 of my quilting pals....Gyleen and Gene (both of whom love pieced, unique backings) will approve of the back I did on this one.  :)

Checking in......

Houseguests left today.....had a nice time while they were here and got my mind off the stressful family situation, so that was good.

Today in the mail I got a really nice surprise...sent by a blogging friend who knows how stressed I've been and why and made me something really nice so I'd know she was thinking about me.  I'll put two photos below.  I love it!!! And you can see there is a pencil next to the item she made me so you can get an idea of its size.......it will get a LOT of use, that's for sure.  THANKS, Rhonda....for the gift and the touching note you included with it.   Rhonda is a really talented gal.  If you haven't seen her blog yet, check it out by clicking HERE.

Isn't this a TERRIFIC tote?  (Sorry my camera skills weren't so good, but I hope you get the idea that it is super-sized and well-made!)

BUSY days......

First of all, thanks to those of you who voted for one of my two quilt blocks in the AccuQuilt Barn Quilt contest.  I realized after a few days that the contest seemed to turn into a popularity contest, so I laid back on it after that.  I like my blocks and might use them myself in something eventually and it was nice to be selected to be in the 100 finalists.

This is a crazy busy time of year for me.  If any of you are involved in church music, you know what I mean.  Holy Week and Easter are very hectic.  I'll be very tired come Sunday afternoon.  In the meantime, I won't have much chance to read blogs or to post on mine.

Here are two gifts I got recently.  One is a box with lots of fun goodies in it from Jean (aka Lois).  I had responded to her plea for solid scraps and she offered to trade something for them.  I told her no......I'd just be happy to see the scraps go to a good home.  She sent me this nice box of goodies anyway......it was a fun surprise.  I am especially excited about the spool of Invisifil thread as I've heard great things about that. Sorry the photo is turned sideways...guess you'll get some neck exercise when you look at it!

Then....a fairly new neighbor gave me 4 really nice-smelling (and gentle) organic, homemade soaps shaped like Easter eggs that she made. She said it was a thank-you for making her feel welcome as the "new kid on the block".  I love the soaps and think I'll be buying soaps from her now.

After Easter, I'll be sandwiching and quilting the quilt for the guest bedroom.  I showed it in progress a few posts back.  Here is is finished and below that is the crazy-pieced backing for it.  I'm happy with it and hope I can do some simple quilting on it that will look nice.

Moving right along......

Moving right along from the Blogger problem I mentioned in my previous post........We discovered by researching online that we had to set Firefox to Windows 2000 and NOT to Windows XP (which is what I have on here). After we did that, Blogger's new editor seemed to work fine with Firefox. We did also install Chrome and it works with that, too, so...the problem seems to be solved.  Of course, there are still some things I need to learn about the new editor, but.....eventually, I'll learn them.

See this pretty pincushion?  It was made for me by my friend, Michelle (click HERE for her blog).  This pincushion is so darned pretty that it's almost a shame to use it and stick holes in it, but...I'm going to do that anyway. THANKS, Michelle...I love it!

 

Here is a table topper I started at our Lancaster retreat in the fall...finally finished it but I'm not crazy about it.  I love the floral fabric, but I'm not happy with the other two fabrics.  Since it's just for me, I also experimented and did the binding all by machine and don't like that, either. (Ooops...still need to tack down those mitered corners.)  Good thing I wasn't making it for a gift, huh?  LOL

The red/white/blue candle mat....

A couple of posts back, I showed this red/white/blue candle mat I made at my daughter's request for a friend of hers. The recipient of this was a friend of my daughter and her husband who was turning 40 and they were having a surprise party for him. (His name is Joe.) He has teased me for months and been asking when I was going to make him a quilt. He would tell me it was fine if I even made him a teeny tiny quilt....but he requested it be red/white/blue. SO I made this candle mat. I wasn't at the party but he called me when he opened it and he was very happy with it. (See photo of him below holding it.) What I didn't know is that Joe can sew and has done a good bit of upholstery. He is actually thinking he might turn this into a pillowtop....which is fine by me. I'm very glad he liked it!

Purchases and gifts.....

Several of you have asked what I bought in the fabric shops when I was with Pat and Gene on Thursday. Below I have put photos of the purchases as well as gifts from both of them and another fabric purchase made earlier in the week in Florida.

Gifts from Pat W........a traveling quilter's kit, triangles on a roll, a Jim Shore kitty, a quilted tree skirt pattern of hers that I've been coveting and was planning to buy AND a bag of Cheetos. (What is funny is that she gave a bag of them to Gene, also, along with some gifts AND I'd given her a box with two bags of Cheetos in there! (They are her favorite quilting snack...of course, chocolate is another favorite....and I gave chocolate to Gene.) Check out Pat's Silver Thimble store for her patterns and she has a book that is in the works...to be published by Martingale in the fall.
Gifts from Gene.......my flash washed the photo out so it doesn't do justice to these....but you should go to his website and look for his artwork. These notecards are beautiful and they are reproductions of some of his paintings. He is one super-talented guy.......paints beautifully, makes nice jewelry, and does wonderful quilting!Flannels purchased (on clearance) in Florida for a collection I'm building (mostly greens) to make a rag quilt with my GO rag die.Some Christmas fabrics that will be added to ones I have already at home and will be used to make one of the tree skirts in the pattern Pat W gave to me.A 10 degree wedge ruler that is needed to make the tree skirt.Some "dotted" fabrics to be added to my ever-growing collection at home of polka-dot fabrics. SOMEDAY I will decide what I'm going to do with all these dots!!!I did buy 4 other items, but since they are gifts for the gals in my little quilting group (and some of them read my blog), I'm not going to picture them here.

Not much sewing, but......SOMETHING done....

I broke away from my Kindle reader long enough to make 3 quick and simple pillowcases for gifts. The two for my granddaughters don't even have contrasting cuffs (which is fine for them and faster for me...LOL). One is a snowman fabric and the other is a Girl Scout cookie fabric (as that granddaughter just joined Scouts). The middle one with the contrasting cuff is Air Force fabric for the main fabric and is for hubby, who was in the Air Force some years back during the Vietnam era. I am trying to get my sewing "mojo" back but it's hard with this fun Kindle reader hogging my attention. :-) Yesterday we had a little Christmas luncheon with our Lakeside Ladies' quilt group (minus one) at a nice restaurant on the boardwalk which was beautifully decorated, but none of us remembered to bring our cameras! *sigh* Can you believe it?

Isn't this nice???

Look at this quilt...and then read about it below the picture......
About 3 -4 months back, AQS asked on their Facebook page for their FB friends to tell about a special quilt that was given to them. Many told about quilts made for them by relatives (as wedding gifts, housewarming gifts, etc.) I mentioned that up to that time, I'd never received a quilt as a gift. Within 10 minutes, I got a message from Renee (in Louisiana....I don't think she has a blog) and she said she'd like to make me a quilt and give it to me. THIS is the quilt I got from her in the mail late last week. I am so touched that she would do that for a complete stranger. It is very snuggly, too, as it has fleece on the back...and she even quilted some butterfly shapes into it. If you look closely, you can see one on the back where I folded it so you could see the butterfly fleece backing fabric. I really appreciate this gift from the heart. Thanks, Renee!

Updates on a couple of things: I am still struggling with the Curve Master foot. I do well until about the last half-inch. I am using the special tweezers I got with the foot that are to be used at the end, but I am all thumbs with them! I am hoping I can improve or else this foot might be up for grabs for a cheap price for anyone who wants it! LOL I am hoping my friend, Sherry, who bought the same foot at the show, might learn how to master it..and then she can help me. If not, I'll just go back to pinning my drunkard's path blocks when I sew them. Since they are cut on the GO cutter, they go together easily..but I was just hoping to avoid using pins (as everyone else seems to be able to do with the Curve Master foot).

A couple of weeks back I wrote about a packaging error on Kraft cheese cubes in 100-calorie packages. I did contact Kraft and have been advised that they are sending me a check for the cost of the bag of cheese....so that is nice of them. They sent an email explaining how this might have happened. I told all of you I'd let you know their response......and this is certainly a fair response on their behalf.

Soon I'll tell you about the fabric I got for the brown bag project that many of us bloggers are doing. I have big plans for my fabric, and I have already started working with it....even though our deadline isn't until sometime in March!

Monday FUN day......

On Monday, Gary (my DH) and I met up with Steph and Kevin (her DH). Steph is a blogging buddy and you can find her blog by clicking HERE. She and I met several months back at a girls' luncheon with her mom and my quilting friend, Kathy. This time we wanted the hubbies to meet. It was a great time......the two guys hit it off and found plenty to discuss while Steph and I talked quilts (what else?? LOL)

This photo was taken of the 4 of us by our waitress.Steph very kindly gifted me with a terrific cloth trash bag for the car. Here is a photo of it on my doorknob of the house. (I've been sick since yesterday morning so was unable to take a picture of it in my car yet.) It's really a great bag and she designed it herself. I told her she needs to market the pattern!!!Look at this close-up view of the wonderful detail on the front of the bag!

Isn't it great? And...if that wasn't enough, Steph also gave me a matching key fob. I really love my gifts from her!!! And...I really enjoyed our time together. They come to Ocean City, MD (not far from us) periodically, so we hope to get together again soon now that we know the hubbies had fun talking with each other, too!

Gifts from quilting friends.....

Here are photos of two recents gifts I've gotten from quilting friends. The first photo shows 4 fun fat quarters I got from Sherry (no blog). She is one of the gals in my neighborhood Lakeside Ladies quilting group. We recently had a "birthday luncheon" where we each brought a gift and we had a sort-of grab-bag gift exchange. This is what I got and also a cute notepad that is sewing-themed but I forgot to include it in the picture. I think I'm going to make two cute placemats out of the fabric. (Of course, I will cut the fabric with my GO! cutter!!!)Next is a birthday card and some really nice Christmas fabric quilt labels from Sandi. I am sorry I blurred the photo when I took it...but...trust me, the fabric labels are VERY nice and are NOT blurry!!!!

Fun gifts.....

I have gotten a few fun gifts lately and am going to show them to you. One is from Steph (click on her name for her blog). She was going to the AQS show in Paducah. She'd not been to a big quilt show and I made a few suggestions to her that she found helpful. Because of that, she was nice enough to get me this Paducah shirt! Wasn't that nice of her? I love it and now can pretend I was at that show, too. LOL The card you see in the picture is a design done by quilt artist, Lyric Kinard. Stephanie was lucky enough to take an art quilt class with Lyric and enjoyed it very much. (Sorry I didn't do such a great job with the lighting when taking this photo.)

Next you can see two very nice books. They were given to me by a gal in my handbell choir (not a quilter and no blog). She is the gal for whom I did a favor last year by piecing together some old family-made blocks into a quilt top. I blogged about those blocks HERE and her completed top HERE. She gave me a gift at that time, but she was at a museum shop book sale recently and got me the book called Making Antique Quilts, which is a lovely book. Then...a few days later, she was at a used book sale and picked up the other book for me. She is a sweetheart to think of me like that and I will certainly enjoy these books.