January Finishes

These are my 7 finishes for the month of January for

both the Charming Girls Club and for OPAM 2010.

A good start for the New Year, I think!

Anthony's VA Tech T-shirt quilt

"Madeline" quilt from the Schnibbles line of patterns

My Fall Swap Mini-Quilt for my secret partner

Strip Twist quilt from a "Nest" jelly roll

100 Signature Blocks for the Modern Siggy Swap

My quilted Dustcover for my new HQ 16 Sit-Down Machine

And I finished my Woven flower Basket Quilt yesterday at bee.

(Not sure why Blogger rotated this photo?)

My last project finished for January 2010, label and all! :-)

Got to get busy figuring out what projects to complete for February!!

What's on YOUR list for February?

Lookie What I Got...

I received my Fall Mini-Quilt Swap the other day.

Although it has nothing to do with fall,

I just LOVE it.

The top says "Quilt Naked".

My husband agrees.

But as you can plainly see, she's not naked.
She's wearing heels!!

But my favorite part is the little warning

stitched down the left side.

"watch out for loose safety pins..."

Fat Quarter Storage Idea

C.J. asked for fat quarter storage ideas on her blog and showed us how she likes her FQ's folded. Years ago I bought this $30.00 CD storage cabinet at Walmart. It was perfect for my folded FQ collection. I had lots back then. I used the baskets at the bottom for FQ bundles.

I just looked for it now on www.walmart.com and couldn't find it. Guess they don't sell it anymore. But I Googled "CD cabinets" and found this one. I think it would do just fine!

Back before I started quilting, I was a doll maker, and I bought this antique chest of drawers that I used for my buttons. When I rearranged my sewing room a few years ago, I removed the eight drawers and set the unit on it's side and it became a set of cubbyholes. So now I put my FQ's in there... I even set 2 of the drawers there next to it on their side to fit a few more FQ's there.

The long wooden thingy sitting on top is a very primitively made white-washed wooden box with a handle that I used to use to hold my patterns for display at craft fairs. I turned it on it's side, too and more FQ are stored there!

Just some ideas for storing those endearing fat quarters!

How do you store yours?

My 1st Blogaversary Givaway Winner!

WE HAVE A WINNER!!!! YESSSSSSSSSSS!!

A winner, but with a verrrrrrryyyyyyyy cool twist!!

The name I drew out of the bowl was Mary from Quilt Hollow!! :-)

But her comment related that she had learned of my Giveaway from Cindy at the Sew Cindy blog, and that IF her name was drawn as the winner, that she wanted Cindy to have the prize... as a RAK (Random Act of Kindness).

WOW, huh? What a selfless act!! I am so heartened that we bloggers are such kind and just wonderfully nice folk!! :-)

So, Cindy, from Sew Cindy blog- YOU ARE THE WINNER!!!!! Shoot me an email and give me your snail mail address and it will go out in the mail tomorrow!! :-)

Thank you sooooo much everyone who left a comment and posted my Blogaversary Giveaway on your blogs. I am so thrilled to now have so many more followers!! I enjoyed every single comment and hope you all will continue to follow my little quilty corner of the world! You can count on more giveaways from my blog throughout the coming year! Thank you so much!

Aaaaaachoooooo!

Can you believe I have a cold????? I can't remember the last time I was sick. I started feeling bad last night and today my nose is running like a faucet. YUCK!!! I hope to feel better tomorrow and get back to quilting. Thank goodness for Sudafed!
I'll draw the lucky name of my 1st Blogaversary Givaway winner tomorrow- sick or not!! Check back! It could be YOU!!

Really Finished!

I'm happy to say I did finish my little "Madeline" quilt today. I pinned it all together after mass this morning and then quilted it on my Bernina .

I just did a simple meander all over with an ecru thread. I was able to hand sew the binding down during the football game this afternoon.

Sigh... Jets lost! :-(

I even got the label made and sewn on! YEA! I love finishing projects! I also got the flower basket quilt top sandwiched and ready to start quilting tomorrow after work! Only one week left until the end of the month, CGC gals!! Will be a busy week for sure!! :-)

Voila! Madeline is Done!

At 6:30pm, I finished my Valentine Sew-In project. Of course, when I say finished , I mean all the piecing was finished and the quilt top completed. The quilting will come later! Maybe tomorrow?

I simply adore this little "Madeline" quilt. The fabrics are so lovely. I think it will look great on a wall in my home. Today was soooo fun... knowing a whole bunch of ladies were all sewing away in their homes all at the same time. I can't wait to start browsing everyone's links to see what all was made all over the country!! What a wonderful idea!!

What did you make today?

Valentine Sew- In

Today is the Valentine Sew-In! I'm making a beautiful red/beige/taupe Schnibbles pattern called Madeline. I bought the exact same charm packs that were used to make the one on the pattern photo.

Here's my sewing room this morning ready and waiting for me to start sewing. Love it when the sun comes in the window and shines right on me at the machine!

When I'm making a new quilt for the first time, I go very slow- always reading the pattern cover to cover to make sure I don't make mistakes.

I looked carefully at the tiny pattern photo and tried to choose the charms as the author did...using stickies to denote what each pile is for! Yes, I'm anal! :-)

Some of the gals participating in the Sew-In showed their refreshments and movies they would be playing in their sewing rooms during the day. I keep all my chick flicks right there in my sewing room... so I've got LOTS to choose from!! Think I will start with "Sense and Sensibility".

So, here are my piles of each component all cut out and ready to sew! After days of ice and rain, I am soooooooo enjoying the sun shining in my window. Yogi is too!!

OK, took a bit longer than it will from now on, but took my time to make the first block. I've never used the method being shown in this pattern to make the flying geese units. It's pretty quick and seems very precise....and precise is good!!



OK, one block done and eight more to go! I came downstairs to download these photos and do this quick post and eat some lunch. Time to go back up and get back to work in my sewing room! Gosh, I LOVEEEEEEE weekends!! :-) Be back later!!

Enchante'

OK, so how many of you have watched the movie "Julie & Julia"? My friend Susan told me to see it at the last quilt guild meeting, so I did. I LOVED IT!! Doesn't get better than Meryl Streep, of course. But, boy did it make me want to learn to cook the dishes she made! Of course, all that butter would look great on my butt! :-(

So, what did I do??????

I immediately went to my Literary Guild book club website and ordered the books!! Both the novel and Julia Child's cookbook. So, when it gets here and I make one of her recipes, I can't wait to say "Bon Appetit!" I wonder how many Weight Watcher points one of those recipes has...

OK, so who wants to share a favorite recipe???? If you've never been to CJ Tinkle's blog, you should definitely go read it. Not only is she an awesome seamstress with her quilts and home decor items, she is a real gourmet cook! She has a recipe for German Rouladen on her blog today. YUM! Go check it out!! http://tinkletimes.com/

Tomorrow is the Valentine Sewing Party. I don't really have any Valentine fabric or project to do, but DO have this awesome Schnibbles pattern to make in the same red/taupe/beige fabrics on the pattern photo! I love this little quilt, so can't wait to get started tomorrow morning!!

OK, so what are YOU sewing on this weekend???

My 1st Blogaversary Givaway!!

My one year anniversary of my blog is in a week! So, help me celebrate one year of blogging by participating in my GIVEAWAY!!

I'm giving away a gorgeous

lap sized quilt kit.

It includes this pattern called

"Quilt by Number".



And all these gorgeous fabrics in blues, greens and creams,

including some gorgeous hydrangea fabric from Lakehouse.

So, if you want a chance or two to win this quilt kit,

here's what you need to do-

1. For one chance to win, click on the button on the side and become a follower of my blog, then leave me a comment to let me know! :-)
2. For a second chance to win, write about my giveaway on your blog, then leave me a comment and let me know! :-)

I have sooooooo enjoyed getting to know you all through your comments and your own blogs. You are all such an inspiration to me! Thank you so much for allowing me to share my tiny corner of the quilting world with you. It is SUCH an honor!

On January 26th, I'll draw a random name out of a hat from all who enter my GIVEAWAY. Maybe you'll be the winner!! Thanks again for all your support this past year!! :-)

Mid Month Project Progress

I finished my "Nest" jelly roll quilt today! It is made from the "Strip Twist" pattern, so I named it "Let's Twist". I used a teal and green muted floral for the backing. I quilted it on my new HQ 16 sit-down machine. It only took me about 3 hours to quilt! Love my HQ 16! :-)

I free-motion quilted a meandering leaf design. I love doing leaves! I sewed the binding down during the Jets vs Chargers wild card game. I even made a label and sewed that on during the game, too. So it is ALL done!! Yessssssss! :-)




The Charming Girls Club moderator asked us to show some of the ways we use quilts for decorating in our home. That's sure an easy question to answer!! First off, every comfy chair and couch in my house has quilts draped on them... to be actually used for snuggling and naps!




I hang a small quilt over my fireplace mantle and change them out seasonally. This little snowguy was made of charm squares with button embellishments.

The large poppies quilt on the wall stays put there all the time. It is my husband's favorite quilt. I used a photo of it on my blog header for a long time! This photo shows a wrought iron quilt rack behind the chair which has about 4 quilts on it, an antique ladder with about 4 quilts on it and, my Kaffe quilt that is currently on my blog header, draped on the chair.




Then in another corner of my family room, I have a pie safe with tin punched doors FULL of quilts...about 25 or so in there! And my cozy blue flannel snowman quilt draped on my red chair where I do my hand-sewing and check my email and post to this blog on my laptop.

This oak quilt rack has 8 quilts on it right now...

shows six but a few are doubled up!

This little snowguy is hanging in my kitchen.

I use a quilt on my dining room table all the time.

This little watercolor quilt hangs over my living room couch. Thank goodness no one can see the pleats on the back. This was my second quilt and it was made before I learned about a walking foot. YIKES!



This rail fence from Alex Anderson's book was my first quilt. I planned to use it as a tablecloth, so it has no batting inside. It's on the sofa table in the living room. If you've read my blog for a while, you've seen lots of my quilts around the house that get changed out for the different holidays and seasons. Do you do that, too? Where do you use quilts to decorate your house?