Garage Sale

My quilt guild meets the first Tuesday of every month...and this next meeting is to be a garage sale!!

I *love* garage sales! A friend and I are going together for a table and it has prompted me to clean up and clean out the quilting space! Here is what I have to offer:



                                      (That diaper box is full of fabric!!!)
 And, unfortunately, here is what I DID put in the bag to sell, but then during the pricing process, I decided to keep. 

I promised  myself that that would not happen...but as so often happens with me and fabric...the fabric wins.  I'll keep it for a while longer.

I think the guild means for the sale to be of crafty items, so I have mostly fabric, some scrap booking things, photo albums and a few misc. items I hope to get out of the craft room!

Success!

Well, I did it...with about 10 hours to spare. I certainly did not get much sleep this past week, and I highly do NOT recommend that for the week before Christmas, but it was so rewarding (to me) to decide to make this quilt, and finish it.

 I started with the nine patch lattice quilt pattern, but at 38"x53" it seemed to much like a baby quilt size to me, so I added two more rows to finish at approximately 52" inches square.


 The flannel backing pieced together nicely looking seamless on the back and it added warmth to the quilt.


I wasn't sure how to quilt it, so I just started the process using the columns of squares as my guide, I quilted 3 lines down one column, then 2 lines, then three...etc. Once all those lines were quilted, I turned the quilt to do the horizontal lines and in an effort to save time...i alternated 1 quilted line and 2 quilted line down each column of squares. Hopefully the picture explains further what I am trying to say!


Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

Ill be back later this week to talk New Year's Resolutions!!

I'll give you a hint...2011 = year of using my stash!!!

fabric budget

In an effort to better understand why I buy so much fabric

1) i love it
2) its a great deal, on sale
3) i need it to finish a project
4) i think it will work for a future project
5) retail therapy

I'm wondering why do YOU buy fabric?

I am facing facts that I have too much fabric.  I know this.  But somehow, that doesn't seem to be enough of a reason to STOP buying fabric.  I really need to stick to a budget in the coming year, and I'm looking for methods that work for others...any feedback would be much appreciated.

And thank you for the encouragement and advice with my mom's Christmas Quilt...I should finish the top today, and high hopes that I may actually pull this off before a Christmas afternoon deadline!

HO HO HO

I finished wrapping Christmas presents today during nap time and came to the realization that I have NOTHING for my Mom for Christmas.  That cannot be! 

Well let me tell you...my Mom is not easy to shop for...if she wants something, she just buys it.  So after a wee bit of a shopping spree this morning and a few Christmas fabric acquisitions, I decided a quilt is in order.  

I have never attempted a quilt in less than a week...well maybe a doll quilt or baby quilt...but Mom deserves more than that!

Kelly suggested a 9 Patch Lattice quilt by Elizabeth Hartman.  I think this may be the ticket.  I was thinking of using a snowball block, so I might try to work that in yet, but as I type...I am pre-washing the fabrics above.  I'm already short on time...don't need any bleeding red mishaps.

Lucky #129!

Thanks everyone for stopping by my giveaway.
What fun, and thanks for all the well wishes for my delicious cake AND delicious son!

Noe is the lucky winner of the fabric and hair tie.
I sent her an email!

sorry for a post with no picture, but it is time for bed...a not so local quilt shop is having huge inventory sale tomorrow morning starting at 7am ... over 300 bolts of fabric for 50% off and early birds 40% off regular price fabrics.  How can I say no?

December 13th

Yay! Sew Mama Sew giveaway day is here!!

I know I am in the category for supplies giveaway, but I decided to share a half yard of this fabulous Alexander Henry Christmas fabric with you... 

 and a hair tie of your choice. I promise the purple one will be done should you choose that one!  These have been really fun to make, and I'm making lots for Christmas presents this year!

If you are just stopping by for the SMS giveaway, just leave a comment and Ill pick a random winner December 17th and I will ship anywhere.  Make sure I have a way to contact you!! if you are not sure, please leave an email address...

If you are a regular reader (and not feeling the pressure of 100s of great giveaways to enter!!!)...I wanted to celebrate with you my son's third birthday ...and let you know how blessed and lucky we are to have this wonderful boy!

 You see, three years ago, I had the scariest day of my life...yes, it turned out wonderful, but I will never forget the early morning hours of December 13th 2008.  I was 34 weeks pregnant and in labor...and the contractions were not the come and go type...they were a constant pain...I was scared, it didn't feel right.  The nurse would tell me that I was forgetting that the pain was coming and going, but I knew something was wrong.  Thank goodness the doctor did too.  My uterus had ruptured and the doctor suspected this I think...we were whisked into emergency C-section and v.quickly Hugo was delivered.  The nurse later told me she had never seen a rupture like mine and the child still be alive.  I thank God everyday for my children...and on his birthday, I especially thank God for Hugo.

Check out his birthday cake!!  I can tell you, I was definitely stretching my culinary gifts with this one!!

Teacher's gift

2 posts in one day?  I will chalk it up to poor planning!

I need a bit of help if any of you are teachers out there.  My daughter and I worked on some Christmas gifts for her teacher...and so that these gifts make sense, I will tell you her class is called the Frog Class...

We made a button covered hairband and two frog magnets....

 and I made my first ever tote bag.  A friend was so kind to send me some fun frog fabric, and I used Terri's tutorial for the tote.

(yes, Colette was Rudolf at school today and would prefer to reamin so the entire today...hope the ballet teachers think it's cute too!)

OK, so I have some other fabulous frog fabric I can use...should I keep crafting, or should I just include a gift certificate to someplace the teacher might like?  coffee shop? educational teacher shop? something entirely different?  I am guessing after years of teaching Mrs. Holley may have enough frog gifts to wallpaper the classroom...so I would really like to hear what you have to say!

giveaway day

Hey everyone, just wanted to let you new Sew, Mama, Sew is hosting another round of giveaway day.
Check back here Monday for my giveaway!