What I have been working on and Back to School -- Finally!

Well, Hurricane Irene has come and gone but many in our state are still feeling her effects! The teachers just went back to school today and the students will come in on Tuesday, Sept. 2., that is a week later than scheduled. That means less time quilting, sewing and blogging--but a little quilting a day is better than none at all!

I have been doing some type of quilting everyday--and that makes me feel good! I am sewing the binding on my flower quilt (earlier post) and working on my new Halloween quilt:

As well as enjoying the blooms in my garden:

and the fading butterfly bush; although it is still very active with various butterflies and bees:

So, I am still enjoying the very warm afternoons and all that is still blossoming as we move into September and fall. My cat and corgi helpers staying close at hand both in the quilt room and outside for the corgi!

Until our next visit, keep quilting!

In the Eye of Irene

Well, I better get a quick post in now because the eye of Irene is scheduled to pass over us later tonight and who knows about our power. I have to finish getting my binding on my hydrangea quilt so that I can work on that if I can't use the sewing machine! I also am making sure I have some embroidery to do also! I can continue working on my Butterfuly blocks too!

I probably won't be working on my Halloween, unless I get a few more things done before any power outage--it will be so nice NOT to have a power outage! I could sit home tomorrow and sew--we are ready to be inside!
Well, as I said, just a quick note--off to get lots of things done so I can work without power if necessary...

My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone in the path or surroundings of Hurricane Irene!! May everyone be safe and simply have more time to quilt!

Happy quilting!

Blog listing the Accuquilt GO Baby giveaways

About a week ago, I ran across a blog that listed all the Accuquilt GO Baby giveaways and now cannot find it. Does anyone out there know where I might find that blog?

Thanks,

Happy Quilting,

Gorgeous Handmade and Handpainted Buttons!

I just love buttons, who doesn't! I love looking at them and using them in my quilt projects. I have gotten back to embroidery and love the look of little buttons in embroidery also! But cute buttons are not always easy to find, I know I have looked for just the "right" button for a special project and ended up using an "ok" button because a special one was just not found. Well, did I ever run across a fantastic blog and button source!

The name of the blog is ButtonMad and they have the cutest handmade and handpainted buttons you ever want to see! Take a look at the adorable buttons available, the picture below is from their site! The best part of this company is that they employ women from South Africa to make these buttons--thus helping two groups at the same time--the individual buying buttons and the women of South Africa!

They have giveaways too--this was the latest one and yes, I was a very lucky winner of these adorable owl buttons--but that is not why I am sharing this; I want everyone to be able to find adorable handmade buttons to use in your projects!

Or, if you prefer, go to http://incomparablebuttons.blogspot.com

I know you will be seeing these buttons used in my projects in the future too! So hop over to their blog for information and browse through their wonderful selection--I am sure you will find something that you will fall in love with and use in one of your projects too! So, once again here is the link to ButtonMad!

Happy Quilting,

Pin Toppers

I have talked about my pin toppers and how much I enjoy them in my two special pin cushions but did not realize that I need to show them also! Someone asked to see them so I have taken a few pictures to show you.

I am rotating the pin cushion so that you are able to see the wonderful designs!

The last side of this pin cushion:

Now for the other pin cushion:

Thank you so much for asking to see them--they are beautiful in my quilt room, I so enjoy looking at them! If you are interested in your own pin toppers, you can purchase them at Pinks and Needles from Gigi at her Etsy store. I was lucky enough to have joined a pin topper a month club a couple of years ago.
Happy Quilting, Enjoy!

Friday Night Sew-In!

Well, it was a Friday Night Sew-In and it was great to be a part of it--even though I didn't get the entire Friday night sewing! I started after I had gone with my daughter to finish up some things for her to go back to college; for her senior year! So getting going about 9:00 p.m. was not what I had originally planned, but anytime sewing is better than no time!

Let's start with the fabric collection:

You can see that I am working on a Halloween quilt. The name of it is, The Big EZ, by Cottonwood patterns; I absolutely love it for big prints! The Halloween cats are too cute to cut into small pieces! As you can also see, I have a furry "helper" in the far right corner. He will definitely become more obvious as time goes on. I should have entered him in Pets on Quilts!
Next, I have chosen the two fabrics for the four-patch and cut and pieced them all together:

I also cut all of the strips and corner squares--way too many of them (120 of each).
Now to cut the large 7 1/2" squares of three different fabrics, here comes the helper:

I will be continuing this tonight (Saturday) and tomorrow--hopefully being able to show you a finished top in a day or two. This top goes together so easily--look at my previous post with the flower quilt!
While looking at fabrics here are some other pictures of my cat hard at work helping me decide which fabrics should stay and which should go:

It really is amazing I get anything completed with all the "help" I get! Sometimes, he rearranges pieces at night if they haven't been sewn together yet--that is always fun!
Well, I had a fantastic Friday Night Sew--can't wait for next month! I really accomplished alot more than it seems to show!
Sew, Quilt and Enjoy!

Wantobe Quilter's Fantastic Giveaway!

Hi to all my friends and followers!
I would like to welcome you to a Wantobe Quilters Campaign over at www.sewwequilt.com
They are having quilting supplies to giveaway 5 x a week for the next 11 weeks! The campaign began Aug 1st and runs till Oct 29th.
Supplies that will have you quilting before you know it…From sewing machines to irons, to die cutters,to mats, to rotary cutters, sewing baskets, scissors, batting, needles,rolled sewing machine bags, patterns, books, magazines…everything you could imagine to assist you in being a NEW Quilter.

A Wantobe Quilter is someone who has no quilting tools, has never quilted.
They can enter on M-W-F to win...they leave a comment and the name of my blog...over at Sew We Quilt. ( Check their Saturday posts for recaps of the week, the giveaways are FABULOUS)
http://www.sewwequilt.com/2011/08/saturdays-are-our-sponsor-daysrecap-of.html
http://www.sewwequilt.com/2011/08/wantobe-quilter-sponsor-day-recap-of.html

Even if you are already part of the quilting community, you can win
quilting stuff too on Tuesdays and Thursdays those are days for us
quilters who have supplies but we can win more and better ones..

All you have to do is email me your name and phone number
and email, sew I can submit this to the organizer, because if you win
anything I can win something too.

All you have to do is be my follower and a follower
over at www.sewwequilt.com That is all! There are over 53 Sponsors involved.
I am pretty excited to be part of this, sew should you.
I love being a QUILTER!
P.S. You will not be eligible to win anything if you do not register
with me (or with any blogger where you see this message)


What do you have to do to be eligible to win:

There are 3 steps you need to take:

1. just send me (or any other blogger who has the button you see on my sidebar on their blog) your name, address and email
2. be(come) a follower of the blog where you have registered
3. be(come) a follower of Sew We Quilt.
How can you win?
1. If you are a Wantobe quilter, you can go to Sew We Quilt every Monday, Wednesday or Friday and leave a comment but please also say Barb from A Corgi to Quilt By sent me That way, if you win, I win a prize too.

2. If you are an Experienced quilter, you can go to Sew We Quilt on Tuesdays and Thursdays to leave your comment, also saying who sent you.

Easy Peasy--Let's have some fun and win some prizes! Thanks!

Some more sewing, embroidering that is in progress

I have not been idle at all this summer! In between working, yes, I have had to go in to work a few times this summer; I have been getting some wonderful times to piece or embroider on items that I have been wanting to accomplish or like the previous post try a new pattern that fits the fabric!

The first piece to show you is the sunflower that I have started, put down and come back to. This is completed in the embroidery hoop and is a combination of applique and embroidery. I still have a lot to go, but this is one block to show for now:

Next, is a tablerunner that I have wanted to do for quite some time--it is fish and I really do love the fabric from my stash that I used in this table runner--next get it sandwiched and quilted! I do quilt the smaller ones!

On another note, I want to share a great blog with you, and she is having a giveaway for long arm quilting also! Her name is Joanne and she is from New Hampshire--her work is wonderful, so stop by and see her work and take a look at the giveaway too! Here is the link: Splitting Stitches

Here's to many hours of sewing and quilting! Love being back in the blogging world--there is just so much going on here, to see and learn!
Until later, quilt and sew every spare minute!

Images not showing!

Ok, I know that I haven't blogged in a while, but blogger is not saving my images! The images show on my preview and then disappear.

If anyone has any answers, ideas, please let me know! I will give it a rest for now because I am hating blogger right now! I will try again later or tomorrow to get the images to post.

Just wanted to let you know!

It's been a long time.....

I know that it has been a long time since my last post--so I will briefly say why.  First and foremost has been work.  I accepted additional responsibilities this year and that meant a great deal more time, unfortunately, the time had to come from somewhere and it was my quilting and blogging time!  Even though I teach high school, I have been busy at work even this summer. 

However, I have made time for quilting!  It has been so wonderful to relax, create and sew once again!  So without further waiting, I will show you what I have been working on--I have spent a lot of time lately on sewing/applique/embroidery for the past month and love every single minute/second of it!  I have also been to a few quilt shows, but will save some of that for later! 

This quilt was a joy to work on!  The pattern is called, The Big EZ, and it certainly was!  I have started another one with Halloween fabric.  Right now it is shown on my daughter's bed, she hopes it stays there when it is quilted too--we will see; she will be off to college in two weeks for her senior year.  Where did that time go; that is another story for sure!

This is a close up of the large block--which is the reason I used the pattern that I did--it allows me to showcase the fabric I did not want to cut up! 



While I may not post daily, I will at least try to post much more often than before--my goal will be weekly, however if it is every other week when I return to school that would be better than what it has been!  I have a few more things to show you and another post to make about a new blog that I fell in love with etc.  That will be tomorrow (for sure)!

Well, it is wonderful to be back, thank you to everyone who stood by me while I was so involved with work, family etc. and thank you so much to Joanne who has prompted and urged me back to my blog!  She will be the next post!

Great to be back, it feels like a renewal with friends, now here's to keeping it up!  Happy in quilting and blogging!

A Quick Post--I won the buttons!

Just a quick post to say thank you to Barb and Gene!  Barb for hosting the button giveaway and Gene for pulling my name with nine others!  This is such a great way to come back to blogging! 

It is suppose to be Spring, however we are expecting snow tomorrow into Thursday--up to six inches!  The 70 degrees we had on Friday was such a tease!  Well, maybe I will be able to work on my Sunflower quilt in the hoop!  That would be fantastic!  I will have to show a sneak peak of it tomorrow!

Have a great night and until tomorrow -- enjoy your time quilting and sewing!

A Blog Link and a quilt with a story!

I am starting off this evening with a link to a new blogger for me!  I visited Bejeweled by Barb and while there discovered a new blog!  I hopped over to Susan's Texas Quilting Adventures and had a wonderful time going through so many wonderful posts!  She is also offering a giveaway for her blogaversary, but you have to hurry--it ends today!

Return to Blogging

It has been a very long time and a long snowy, hard winter.  Today is the first day of Spring, and I can't think of a better day to return to my very neglected blog!  I am hoping that with Spring, I am renewed and can bring about an informative and fun blog!  While I have not started out this year in the same quilting manner as last year--which was such a wonderful beginning of sewing or quilting every day regardless of how long; I have still been involved with some quilting, a quilt show in Somerset, New Jersey already and a couple of quilt classes! 

I have also come back to reading my favorite blogs and one that I visited, Bejeweled by Barb, is having a fantastic giveaway for some very special buttons!  A company called:  ButtonMad which originated in South Africa and empowering women by offering them a craft and employment to better themselves.  Check out their website and see the incredible buttons they are making!  Absolutely awesome! 

An update on the tiny kitty--not so tiny any more:

Until tomorrow then.....quilt more....Barb

More from the Guild!

Thank you Cheryl for setting me straight on Kelly's mother's name, it is Donitta!  Well, with that cleared up, I have a few more pictures to show from that wonderful evening!

Janet thrilled us with this original design!  Janet has several published patterns, and this will also become one added to her original pattern list!  It is stunning!

Karen, who has a blog which many of us enjoy:  http://selvageblog.blogspot.com/ created this raw edge quilt block quilt.  Karen and I met this summer in person, as we discovered we do not live far from one another.  She came to quilt guild on Friday evening with me and we were delighted with this quilt and her asterisk quilt.  I am truly so lucky to have made such a wonderful new friend and such a great author and quilter.  As some of you may know, Karen has authored the book, "Quilts from the Selvage Edge".  You never know who you will meet or who lives close to you until you open your eyes, ears, mind and heart and take a look!  This was a great guild meeting--a great way to kick off the new year!

If you look on the table behind Bonnie, you will see Karen's asterisk quilt on the left and on the right the raw edge quilt.  Go to her blog and read all about the raw edged quilt and much more!

Well, I need to close at this point to get some other items completed.  Until tomorrow, happy quilting!

Busy Week and Quilt Guild

The first week of school has proven to be very busy--even though I feel that my family and myself is still on summer mode!  We are making the transition, kicking and screaming (figuratively speaking only) every day as we wake up at 4:45 to get ready for school and work.  The weekend has flown by so fast that I can't believe it.  Granted it started Friday evening with my monthly quilt guild meeting (such fun and I will show pictures), then on to Party with Patrick and our neighborhood block party all on Saturday!  Today was my husband's birthday--we took him out to eat and let him have a great day!  I also found time to work on Boy Scout Mother's Auxiliary, school work, posting here and working on a Halloween quilt for an exchange I am involved in with Burnt Woods Primitives--it is my first Halloween exchange and I can't wait!  I will show a picture once it is sent off to its recipient!  It has been a wonderful weekend with much cooler temperatures too--we are at 57 degrees at this time--last week we were in the 70's at night and 90's during the day; I am happy for the cooler temperatures though as it truly makes it feel like fall, which is one of my favorite times of the year!

Well, it is time to show some truly spectacular work from the very talented quilters in our quilt guild! 

Isabel pieced and quilted this adorable quilt; I just love that bottom right sheep going the opposite direction, someone is always going against the grain!

Isabel, on the right, also created this beautiful quilt!  Perri on the left is our wonderful President, who always lends a hand to all of the Show and Tell quilters!

This is another one of Isabel's quilts that she finished this summer--she is one busy lady!

This quilt was created by Kelly's mother and it is hysterical!  I have to get her name--I think it is Maggie.  This uses the "fruit" ladies fabric! 

This quilt was made by Pat--an extremely talented and prolific quilter!  Her machine quilting and quilts are all gorgeous!

Here is another photo of Pat holding another quilt.

This is just the cutest baby quilt!  Another made by Pat!

This mandela quilt was made by Pat's daughter--it is her FIRST quilt!  She designed and made this quilt as part of a college degree.  The seasons are all represented between the trees.  My first quilt did NOT look like this!  She is obviously following in her mother's footsteps!  It is so beautiful.

Bonnie creates these great quilts every month for charity!  She brings them in and leaves them with our charity chairperson!  She is such a generous lady--thank you Bonnie!

Well, I am going to stop here until tomorrow, as I have a very special person to introduce and show her work!  Until tomorrow, happy quilting!

A Quick Post

This is a very quick post, I do have a lot to catch up on with my computer being down for too long!  I want to catch up with my blog and will probably have a better oppportunity on Thursday!  Tonight was a ton of school work and Boy Scout Mother's Auxiliary work as the meeting is tomorrow evening.  I should be set to get my pictures together and my needed posts on Thursday!  Please hang in just another day

Until Thursday, Happy quilting!

Computer is Fixed! One year of Blogging!!

Yeah, my computer was fixed and up and running Saturday!  It died a quick death the end of August, just as I was going back to school and I have been lost for over a week.  I was able to read messages at various places but could not blog or answer.  It was more painful to me than my computer!

Thank you so much to Brian who was able to quickly diagnose the problem and then install the new parts even quicker!  The poor tired computer needed a new PCI video card and a battery. 

It couldn't have decided to not work at a worse time!  I needed all of my school files to start the new year, I needed my Southford Falls Quilt Guild files, which begins again this Friday evening; and my BS Mother's Auxiliary files which begins again this Wednesday evening.  As President of MA, membership chair at Guild and just teaching, I was quickly going crazy to try to get enough together in case I would not have a working computer......thankfully, I am up and running and getting everything in order! 

I am also able to be back on my blog!  Today marks the one year anniversary of my blog and I didn't even think I would be posting yet!  I am putting together something for a giveaway to mark the occassion--so stayed tuned! 

I have a few things to get in order for blogging so I will work on that today and work that needs to be completed.  I will even try to get back to this post later today!

For now--it feels so good to be back--happy quilting!