pillows

I have been sewing and finally working on the doll beds for my girls' birthdays in MARCH!

6 pillows.

Now to make 6 pillow covers, 3 quilts, and 3 'body pillows'......should be fun.

A Christmas Fabric Giveaway.

************COMMENTS NOW CLOSED**********
winner to be announced soon....


Yep it's giveaway time, continue reading to find out how to enter.
**********

I adore making Christmas gifts. I know, I know, how on earth could I be thinking of Christmas right now? Well with all the newest Christmas fabrics being released lately it's got my wheels spinning.

Have you seen them?

Here are a few that caught my eye.

 O'Tinset Tree by Robert Kaufmann.

 Ready Set Snow by Me and My Sister (they are a fine couple of ladies...love them!)

and Lynette Anderson Scandinavian Christmas.

And let's see.....

 not pictured fabric lines, Flurry, Jovial, Countdown to Christmas and well I lost track....

There are THAT many that I'd like to use.

All will be available at the Christmas Cloth Store soon.

I've got to hand it to the 'buyers' of Fat Quarter Shop because they have quite an extensive collection of prints. It ranges from batiks to novelty. I have never seen so many Christmas prints available on one site.

I'm mind boggled.

Anyhow, I know that with the price of fabric, our gas and ecomony...money is tight for many.

In the spirit of giving I thought that one of you would like some Christmas cheer to boost your handmade holiday.

I'm giving away (psst with the help of Fat Quarter Shop elves)
 a bundle of MY favorite Christmas fabric line this year.

Now how could you win a bundle too?

I knew you'd ask.

All you need to do is visit the Christmas Cloth Store, look at ALL the fat quarter bundles,

 and guess which one is my favorite.

I will compile all the correct guesses and draw a name for the bundle.

You HAVE to guess which bundle exactly.

How well do you know me?

I will close the giveaway on the morning of May 2, 2011.

And draw within a few days

 (I have prior commitments that week so blogging may be delayed, but fear not, a winner will be chosen).

DS Fabric winners!!

DS fabric winners are:

#260 Just One More Thing

#160 Cal

I will be requesting your mailing information today.

Thank you for all the comments.
 I was able to read over 250 of them.
 I didn't quite get them all read. I hope to today :)

been busy

rubbing these lil feet.

We're visiting family and my new nephew this Easter weekend.

HaPpy EAsTer!

AC rant and a giveaway of Denyse Schmidt fabric..

*Note* Comments are now closed. Winners announced on 4/24/11 post.

Cal and Just One More Thing

Last week I received an interesting Anonymous comment.

Originally I was going to write up a post thanking my anonymous commenter {aka AC} for their comment.

It certainly opened a can of worms in my mind. I read flickr and twitter on the topic.

But first here's the comment:

"The quality of Joann's is just not the quality of Moda. The fabric designs are cute, but your local quilt shop has great fabrics by great designers too! Check out Denyse's fabrics at your LQS!! "

There are several thoughtful issues.

 First of all, Why did Denyse Schmidt choose to release her designs with JoAnn's?

 I'd say "to make a living".

 IDK, I like the prints. I will buy them where ever they are sold!

{Do you see anyone getting up in arms that April Cornell (formerally/currently with Moda) and

 Debbie Mumm are found at JoAnn's now? nope}

AC also suggested I look for Denyse Schmidt at my local quilt shop...

Hmm....

 I traveled 72 miles one way on Friday to a local quilt shop (JEllen's House of Fabric),

which then begs the questions...

How local is local?

Shouldn't it be "within driving distance quilt shop" aka WDDQS?

Wouldn't it have been more cost efficient to buy online and pay shipping?

With gas being $3.88 a gallon here...

It cost me at least $23 to drive round trip to one of my WDDQS's !!

It was worth my time and money.

{Joyce, thanks for the lovely fabric and Kate Spain sneak peek...you rock!}

But honestly, 72 miles one way....I just can't do that every week.

Third AC, the quality of this fabric is near the same as Moda (sorry it just is).

My suspicion is that JoAnn's, having been bought by venture capitalists that own Whole Foods, is trying to gain a market share in the premuim quality fabrics, and keep with the overall concept of the companies that represent the venture capitalists. {whew that's complicated}

I could really go on and on and on.

Instead, I decided to share my Denyse Schmidt loot.

It occurred to me from reading the threads on flickr that there are many that don't have LJS's (local JoAnn store) or their JoAnn simply didn't get the fabric.

Would you like to win a  fat 16th bundle of Denyse Schmidt's 21 new JoAnn fabrics?

A fat 16th is 9" X 11".

If you leave me a comment I will stop using all these acronyms like LQS, LJS, WDDQS, IDK or AC.

Promise.

Just leave me a comment....

What's your favorite website for quilt fabric or favorite "within driving distance quilt shop".

If you shop online, give me your fave website.

 I'll randomly select 2 winners on April 24th.

First block of my Dotty Dresden is shaping up nicely.

I have to applique the center into place and it's done.

I just placed it there to see what it will look like finished.

I NEEDED to see this happy block.

For me work is always changing and always a challenge and this week is no exception. It's stuff that is too complicated to write all about. It hasn't been "cancer" bad or anything, it's not great either. Unfortunately it affects the quilting mojo, the energy level and all that jazz. So blogging might get pushed to the back burner...then again maybe not as it is a creative outlet for me.

We'll see. I don't like to bring negetivity here.

 I like to keep it up beat and perky as I can. I have always felt that there should be a positive news network to counter balance CNN! That's my 2 cents. {wait maybe there already is???} 

Anyhow, will talk soon...when I have something....good grief ANYthing good to write about.

Nearly Wordless Wednesday

Denyse Schmidt's

DS Quilt Collection by Fabric Traditions.

My JoAnn's has 21 prints.

I 'might' have purchased 4 yards of pink dots...with a 50% off coupon....

It's $9.99 a yard {ouch for JoAnn's} so I had to be reasonable.

Hoppy Days

I stuffed and slipped stitch this little pillow last night during dancing with the stars.

It's going to be added to my Easter-ish decor this year.

The pattern is by Kalico Kreations called Seasonal Days Little Pillows.

I used Lily and Will by BunnyHill, an older line Emma by BunnyHill and some scraps.

Darla

This weekend was a mash up.

Not in a bad way mind you.

I just spent a great deal of time outside working on the yard with the beautiful sunny weather.

In addition to that, when it was cloudy or raining, I did some organizing in closets and my sewing area.

I took an inventory on quilts that need bindings.

15.

Yep 15. They are all sizes from baby to queen.

Binding Darla was top on my list since it is such a pretty quilt.

 When I was deciding on the backing for this quilt I couldn't find the fabric I had purchased for it.

{part of the reason I decided to organize my fabric....because I have been 'losing' fabrics}

I ended up using a stash fabric...but I didn't have quite enough, so I used the binding fabric and pieced the back.

You can see it is just a small strip.

It gives this quilt character and when a guest uses it, they will wonder why I did it ;)

Sunday Stash #7

The other side of me and my stash ....is dark.

Itsy Bits by Andover has inched there way into my stash over the last couple of years.

Just proves I love ALL fabric.

dotty dresden

I've begun an adventure.

I am sure.

Making this quilt.

Dotty Dresden.

Found in Material Obsession by Sarah Fielke and Kathy Doughty.

I purchased the red dots fabric from fabric.com about 2 months ago, bought the Nifty Notions tumbler ruler in South Carolina and just started pulling stash fabric for the dresden petals yesterday.

I intentionally chose fabrics that I wouldn't have enough of for the entire quilt. That way I will have to substitute a similar color.  Besides the background I am only using fabric on hand for this quilt.

I think it's going to be a fun challenge.

We'll see how long it will take me to finish it as well LOL...especially the way I jump projects.

I'm featured on Gen X Quilters today :)

Stop over to AnneMarie's blog Gen X Quilters and read all about me...

You never know, you might find out something new.

Next up on my design wall.....

Stars Over the Mountain

More Simply Charming.

This time I dug deeper into my scraps.

I even pulled some 1999- ish Thimbleberries I had been hoarding. 

I tried in vain to find an acrylic template for this project is but it is slightly narrower than the 60 degree rulers that I have.

 I decided to use my Marti Mitchel Strippers 60 degree template instead of making one from template plastic. That way I just cut the triangles from 2.5 inch strips or jelly roll strips.

As far as I'm concerned...it's really close enough.

Little Wallet.....

It's a small finish but a finish none the less.

Valorie Wells Little Wallet.

I picked up the pattern during a visit to Iowa.

I chose Moda's Hideaway because I had layer cake square scraps that were just big enough for this.

plus I like Hideaway.

 This pattern is very well done. It was a breeze to complete.

I may make these for Christmas gifts this year.

Oh and by the way,

I noticed an odd similarity to the wonder wallet I made last year for Spring market.

The Color.

Apparently I have a "thing" for turquoise in my purse.

On the Radio...Whoa oh oh... On the radio....

Today is the day!

 When you'll get to 'meet' me!

Plus

 Pat's giving away 2 charm packs for me.
 Leave a comment on her blog today!

Grab a cup of coffee and join Pat and I @4pm EST HERE on Creative talk radio.

Animal Stash Books

yep Animal books.

Have you seen these two?

 They are adorable and just jumped into my cart at JoAnn's last week. 

Who could resist a name like "Stitchy kitty fuzzy puppy" seriously? I couldn't. I grabbed it right up.

I love the Japanese feel of the instructions and photography. 

Then I picked up Lynette Anderson's new book It's Quilting Cats and Dogs.

I had no idea she released a book like this.

I didn't go to fall quilt market so obviously I missed out.  I have it now though... :)

a little more progress

Just made a bit more progress sewing.

Excuse the photos as the weather nor sunshine is cooperating this week.

This is one of the projects I am making with Sweet Broderie and some Moda Bella solid white.

It's a pattern from Me and My Sister called "Dora".

I think it will be in their new book 3 Times the Charm!.

I have the pattern from their 'charm tablets'.

BTW

Have I told you?

I'm going to be on Pat Sloan's radio show on Creative Talk Radio on Monday April 4th @ 4:00pm EST!!

Me on the radio?? I hope I don't sound like a total dork.

I am kind of nervous about it.

At any rate Pat will hosting a giveaway for me that includes a couple of charm packs.

Check her blog Monday the 4th!