WiP and Black Friday Happiness...

I have done some sewing but I've mostly done some crocheting. I tend to be a bit OCD and I have shifted back into crochet which quickly eats up my time, so I have to MAKE myself carve out time to sew. Of course, when you're not paying close attention things happen like this.

Something's really not looking right there on the sides. I'll be fixing that in a bit.
As far as the crocheting goes, some I can't show cause they're gifts but here are a few.

Ruffle scarf number 1...

ruffle scarf number 2 (love this yarn; hard to see but it has pink, brown, and orange in it and it's very soft!)...

and a basket weave scarf. I may add some fringe to this one.

Did you come across any cool deals for Black Friday? I hit my local LQS and picked up some Thomas Knauer Pear Tree and some Amy Butler Soul Blossoms for $5 a yard. I'm doing well for backing fabric right now.

Love that Pear Tree; it has a pretty sheen to the fabric. I also picked up some yarn and some Simply Color charm packs from Craftsy but those aren't here yet. Can't wait! As far as Christmas items go, I picked up a few things from Amazon only to get them here and realize I ordered the wrong thing on one of them. So that one will have to be exchanged for the correct thing (video game for the kids).

And how sweet is this? Kelly over at Live.Love.Create had a giveaway on different pins used for fabric. I didn't actually win the pack she was giving away but she dug around and found a few duplicate pens to give me and another follower.  Bloggy friends are great! Speaking of bloggy friends, I'm linking up!

Did You Do It? Did You Dare?

Did you brave the insanity of Black Friday? It was crazy out there people! I was completely happy and comfortable sitting here in my home in front of the computer doing my shopping, thank you very much! Caught a couple of deals on Amazon's lightning deals so I did okay. We went to my MIL's for Thanksgiving and I thought I would throw a picture out there of how she decorated her bedroom with my Bottled Rainbows quilt. I'm always interested to see how people use their quilts in real situations. I love how this looks at her house!

The kids decorated the tree and I did the house tonight so it has officially changed from Thanksgiving to the Christmas season! I have actually done some sewing as crocheting as well but I'll post that later.

Hope you're starting the season off right!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone...

And remember you are blessed...

WiP and a Winner!

And the winner of my Traveling Stash is...

Number 4, Ella from ThrowAWenchInTheWorks!!! Congrats to Ella! I have sent you an email to get your deets!

Now, as far as WiP goes....I've been doing a little crochet , working on completing my Mystery Mini Round Robin...

Working on my Quilt U Be Mine block for the month (only hints here!).

and I desperately need to hit the store for some Kona white to finish up my Carpenter's Wheel blocks. It's going to start getting cold down here and we desperately need a quilt for our bed. I had made the Bottled Rainbows for that but when I washed it, shrinkage was just enough that it was no longer wide enough for my bed. My MIL really wanted it anyway so it now resides on her bed. So we are now without any top bedding because I got rid of the old one when I put the Bottled Rainbows on it. Sigh.... oh, what it would be like to finish something!

The kids are out for the week so we hit the new skating rink yesterday as a source of fun. My daughter asked if I ever skated when I was her age. After I picked myself up off the floor from laughing I told her that I skated EVERY DAY. I had my own skates and my neighbor had a paved driveway he let my sister and I skate on all the time. When we went to the rink it was fabulous cause we had a huge area to skate in! But I want to know one thing: where were these things when we were learning to skate?

That PVC pipe is some fab stuff, is it not?

What am I thankful for this holiday season? That my family is safe and healthy (BIL is responding well to his chemo), and for friends like you who come visit me and inspire me not only craft better but to be a better person!
Linking up at Lee's!

Last Day for Traveling Stash!

Today is the last day to enter for my Traveling Stash giveaway so head over there and get your entries in now. I'll post the winner in the morning.

I actually have been getting a little bit done, though it hasn't been a lot of quilting. I have been whipping out some crochet items for gifts, so I can't really tell you what everything is yet.

I'll be sending a few things off in the mail soon. Hopefully I'll have a few more things to report in tomorrow's WiP as well! Stay tuned!

Modern Mini Mystery Round Robin Reveal!!!

Wow, that's a mouthful and almost a tongue twister! I'm so excited you're here and that I get to show you my Mystery Round Robin! I love how it turned out. This event started back in March and went til November. My piece did some traveling; of the participants in my group, one was from France, one from Australia, and the rest from the good ole' U.S. The fellow bloggers who participated in my group were Jane from Jane's Fabrics, Deonn from Quiltscapes, Wendy from Why-Knot-Quilt, Pippa from Pippa's Patch, Kylie from My Addiction to Quilting, Bea from Beaquilter, and the Mystery creator herself, Michele from Quilts From My Crayon Box.

Need a reminder of my original 6" block? Here is what it looked like to start with.

I'm not sure which way I would have gone with it if I had done it all myself, but I had no idea it would look like this with a little help from my friends!

I love it! I didn't have any of these colors so I'm not sure I would have come up with this combination, but that's funny because the combination is pulled right out of my original block! I messed around and took pictures late so the lighting could be better but I really love it. I've already started quilting it so there are a few pins in it as well.

From my list, it appears that the first border (the tape measures) were done by Jane, the brown with polka dots by Wendy, and the red/yellow blocks with the four patch corners was Bea.

The aqua with the red spool corners was done by Deonn, the mixed row by Michele, the orange by Kylie, and Pippa finished it off with the bird houses!

If you come by here very often you might remember my visit to one of our LQS's where they had encouraged their employees to clean out their own stashes and had a sidewalk sale with the results. I picked up this orange and red floral fabric without any real use for it, but when I saw my block I knew ex-ACTLy what I wanted to back it in. Having never done this type of thing, I also didn't realize that it would make sense to create a signature block for everyone to sign, so I decided to add them after the fact as applique. I just did basic rectangles this time.

I'm just doing basic straight line stitching that echos some of the rectangles and outlines some of the borders. I did add some FMQ to the original block so it looked like the sewing machine had a needle and thread on it. If I'd thought of it, I would have stitched the word 'Singer' across it but I may still be able to handstitch that later.I know the yellow is a little hard to see.

Overall I am very pleased with how it turned out and mine will definitely be a wall hanging.
Make sure you go check out everyone else on the list to see how their blocks turned out!

Melinda - Tilda's Twisted Life (that's me so you're one down!)

Deonn - Quiltscapes

Kylie - My Addiction to Quilting

Wendy - Why-Not-Kwilt

Bea - Beaquilter

Jane - Jane's Fabrics, though her reveal will be posted here on my blog

Pippa - Pippa's Patch

Madame Samm - Sew We Quilt (hasn't received her quilt back home yet, so stay tuned)

Annie - Annie's Musings

Diane - The Cheshire Quilter

Vicki - Sew On and Sew Forth

Lisa M- A Day In The Life of Raising Six Munchkins

Renae - revealing here on my blog

Kathy - New2Quilting

Charlotte - revealing here on my blog 

Celine - Espritpatch

Lisa C-revealing here on my blog

Edy - revealing here on my blog

Ella - Throw a Wrench in the Works

Rachel - Suz Made Me Do It

Samantha - Sami's Quilts & Crafts

Karen - K's Quilting Korner

Leslie - Les Quilts

Ann - Orange Crumpled Napkin

Sharon - Dancing Through Threads

Doris - Made By a Brunette

Margaret - (also hasn't received her block back yet, will be posted on QuiltsfromMyCrayonBox)

Tiffany - Pink Sweet Treats

Janet - Caribou Crossing Chronicles

Michele - Quilts From My Crayon Box

Tomorrow is the last day to enter my Traveling Stash giveaway so make sure to get your name in the hat!

It's Ba-a-ack!

Guess what's coming back on Dec. 3? Giveaway Day at Sew Mama Sew! Love it! Put it on your calendar and get some goodies ready if you're going to do a giveaway on your blog!

And speaking of giveaways, don't forget to enter my Traveling Stash Giveaway. Only a few more days left as it closes on Tuesday so get your entries in!

Stay tuned tomorrow for the Mystery Round Robin Reveal as well! I'm headed back into the sewing room to get a little more work done on it before tomorrow's reveal!

Hey You! You're a No Reply Blogger and You Don't Even Know It!

I get very upset about no reply bloggers. Primarily because a lot of them don't even realize it (my own soon to be sister in law was commenting on my blog and didn't realize she was one until I told her that I couldn't reply to her). And then these individuals enter contests and wonder why they're never picked. It's because we can't get in touch with you! I hate drawing a name for a giveaway and seeing the name is a no reply blogger. It means I have to draw again because there is no way to contact that winner! So far this time I've only caught two on my Traveling Stash giveaway (deadline is Tuesday if you want to play!) but I wanted to give you guys a heads up so you can do something about it. So here goes:

Crafty Chrissy

Cindy Sharp

You are both "no-reply bloggers"! Please check out one of the following instructional posts on how to change it. There are tons of them on the internet but I wanted to post links to a few so you'd have a direct route!

Anyone can decorate

Jenniffier's Sometimes Creative Life

Quilts from my Crayon Box

If you are using Google +, check here.

The Tattooed Teacher

Don't forget to check back Monday morning for the reveal post for my Mystery Round Robin!! I can't wait to share it with you all, and Michele will be hosting from her blog over at Quilts From My Crayon Box. She has a list of the participants and I will also have that list of links to all of these blogs so you can make sure to check out what everyone did and how their blocks ended up.

Look Out Foxy Loxy

If you're looking for my Traveling Stash giveaway, you can find it here. Come check it out! Deadline for entries is Tuesday, November 20th!

I was going to get some sewing done and post some more here but Little Man had different plans. Right after karate yesterday, he was complaining about his head and stomach. He ended up with a fever of 102 and got sick in the middle of the night as well. So guess who's staying home with me today? Hopefully the worst of it is over though!

Now, what is all this about Foxy Loxy? Well....
It seems that when society encroaches on the habitat of wild animals, wild animals sometimes don't pay heed to the boundaries. We have seen many a deer in our neighborhood (I've seen as many as 5 in our backyard at one time), and we've seen squirrels, rabbits, and chipmunks. You know, the usual crowd. But then there are those animals you don't usually see. Well, sometimes you might see some of them as roadkill (armadillos, raccoons, etc.) but we have started noticing a few "friends" in our neighborhood that we haven't seen before. Foxes. And I don't mean the cute kind like those that appear on Aneela Hoey's A Walk in the Woods.
These are real foxes and they have gotten really brave. They started out just being seen in the backyards around here but this is what I found when I came home today.

He was sitting in my driveway. And he really didn't offer to move until I almost ran over him. Oh joy. Now I have to be worried about more than my son getting hit by a car when he's outside playing...

You Too Can Win the Traveling Stash!

Today is the day! I won the Traveling Stash from Julie over at Distant Pickles, dug around and found what I wanted, and now it's your turn! Here's a view of all the goodies I found when I opened it up! Fabric and notions and goodies, oh my!

Now, what did I find when I went shopping in there? Well, let's just see, shall we?

I picked up 4 fat quarters (3 of which came from Julie...thanks, Julie!)... 

and a little four pack of Christmas fabrics. I already had some of that white fabric! 

And what did I put in to replace it? Well, I thought it needed some brightness since I took some away so I added some fat quarters...

and some more brightness including some Riley Blake Christmas fabric. 

And since I was feeling a bit Christmas-ey, I decided to go above and beyond and add more than I took out. I included a project book called Fresh Fabric Treats, and two more pieces of fabric.

I added a few more fat quarters and a book. So what do you have to do to win? Well, first you have to follow the rules.

Rules:

1. Be an active blogger. Post about receiving the box and the giveaway on your blog in a timely manner.

2. There's a note in the box that logs where the box has been. Please add your info and place the note back in the box.

3. There's a list of Rules and Guidelines in the box. Please read and follow these and return the list to the box.

4. You may take anything you like from the box. Just replace every item with comparable quilt shop quality items equal to the amount taken.

5. Ship the box to the next person in a reasonable amount of time.

6. Due to the amount of postage shipping is only within the USA.

Are you in? Want to play? Here's what you need to do:

1. Leave a comment on this post. What do you see in the pictures of the stash that you'd like to swipe for your very own?  Any ideas what you might do with it once you get it? I'd love to hear your ideas.

2. Followers, old and new, get a second entry. Just leave a separate comment telling me that you are.

3. For a third chance, blog, facebook or tweet about this giveaway, then leave a separate comment telling me that you have.

This giveaway is now closed

The giveaway ends at midnight EDT on Tuesday, November 20th . I will draw the winning number on Wednesday the 21st. It looks like we're home for Thanksgiving so I will try to get it to the post office by the weekend. If you are a no reply blogger, please be sure to leave an email address so that I can get in contact with you if you win.

Good luck!!!

Ending On a Positive Note

You ever had one of those days where you sit down at the end and want to cry because you're so glad it's finally over? That's how mine was when I finally made it to quilt guild! Before I get to what I came home with, here's a quick shout out.

As I mentioned I received my Mystery Round Robin Block back this week and I love it so! Thank you to all the members of my round. I will be doing a big write up for it next week. But I wanted to take an extra moment to thank Pippa! She included the sweetest little "extra" when she sent it back to me...

How cute is this key job? I haven't put my keys on it yet cause I keep admiring it! Thank you so much Pippa!

Back to the Chinese Auction! There were about 4 1/2 tables set up with items donated by members. Here's a shot of the tables, the Opportunity quilt in the background and our LQS owner drawing the winner which was not me. Darn!

There were also some quilts that were donated for the drawing.

And here's what I ended up with. I bought $15 worth of tickets. The first year I went, I just put a few tickets in on any item I thought I might use. I ended up with a bunch of stuff I really didn't want. So the past two years I limit how many things I try for and put a bunch of tickets in each bag. A much more rewarding method.

Two large pieces, a box of fat quarters, a traveling sewing case with a pin cushion, a large piece of black and white, three smaller pieces of aqua, a small Olfa cutter, an oiling brush to clean my machine, and a seam ripper. That wrapped box in the back had these fat quarters and panel in it.

It's a Michael Miller and it's a double with the same thing on the back. 

I also got these:

There is 3 1/2 yards of the dragonfly fabric and 6 yards of the floral. Woohoo! Backing fabric! I didn't think I did too shabby for $15 and the money goes back into the guild anyway. 

Psst!!!...Don't Tell Anyone But...

I actually sewed last night! I know that sounds crazy but I was so excited to get back behind my machine again. I finished sewing all the charm squares together for my Yule Pop. Now I just need to decide on a color for the bubbles and get those done.

This was made from 3 charm packs of Jovial I won as a door prize at my LQS last year. I my hit it with some borders to make it a bit bigger even though I plan for it to be a throw for the couch.

I also decided to get some other things sewn together that have been sitting for a while. I've got one up on the design board now, read for me to sew the blocks together for a top. I've just decided that a few things are just going to have to be donated. I will never get out from under the chaos if they aren't. I had hoped that we would have ended up with one of my nieces' names for Christmas so I could finish off a few more quilts for them (I'm trying to make one for each of them) but we got our names for Christmas this weekend and that didn't work out for me.

My quilting guild is holding their Chinese Auction tonight and I am so anxious. We're also drawing for our big quilt and I want it so badly! Think positive thoughts for me! Here it is in case you forgot what it looks like.

I found out from Julie over at Distant Pickles that I won the Traveling Stash. Yahoo! It should arrive tomorrow and I will be able to dig around and see what I can find to help my stash. I hope to have my big post about it by the end of the week so make sure to come back if you're interested in being the next person on the list for it! I got it yesterday, have already picked what I want from it and will have a post up for the giveaway tomorrow (Thursday) so come back and check it out!

I think I mentioned that I received my Mystery Round Robin block back and I LOVE IT! The reveal for that is coming up next week so stick around for that as well.

As if there's not enough going on with sewing, quilting, the play, etc., it dawned on me the other day that my speech therapy license is up for renewal this year. I usually try to take 10 hours each year and that keeps me up to date, but for some dumb reason I didn't do that last year. And now it's November and I have 20 hours to take before the end of the year. YUCK! I am taking some free online classes but they are a pain and only give you 2 or 3 hours. I have taken 3 classes in the last week in every free moment I can find but I only have 7 hours so far. ARGH!! So it's about to get frantic with that right before it gets frantic with Christmas!

Spa Party

I finally got around to throwing my daughter a party for her 11th birthday. She wanted a slumber party and invited several friends. Two got sick and couldn't come but it was still fun and crazy. We sort of did a spa theme and incorporated several of those types of activities.


The biggest hit was "Spin the Bottle." I bought enough nail polish from the dollar store that each girl could go home with one. I ended up with 5 different colors and a total of 8 bottles. I placed all of them in a bag, pulled one and spun it on the table. The girl it pointed to had to paint one fingernail that color. She would then pull the color for the next spin. I really thought the girls would bore with this but they got frustrated with me because I finally had to let them finish up the nails so we could watch the movie (The Princess Bride, of course!). They all ended up with very colorful fingernails.

We did oatmeal facials from a teaspoon each of olive oil and honey, mixed with cooked oatmeal; the exfoliate mask here. The girls thought this was hilarious. Hard to get a good picture when they're laughing!

I picked up a set of little paint pots from Hobby Lobby for $2 with a coupon and we made vaseline/kool aid lip balm.

I picked up a couple of Mad Libs from the book store, as well as a pack of Smencils. Smencils are fun if you've never heard of them. Pencils that smell. My favorites are cinnamon and black cherry. One of the Mad Libs was specifically about slumber parties so I figured that worked well.

Their little go home bags will consist of headbands I picked up at the grocery store to keep their hair back from the facials, 2 pots of lip balm, a bottle of fingernail polish, and a Smencil. I am not big on sending home a bag of junk so I kind of liked that it could all be used.

I had originally ordered a pack of materials from Candytiles shop on Etsy to have the girls create their own glass tile necklaces. I ordered them on Saturday the 3rd. However, I received an email on THURSDAY to say that they had only just been sent out that day. I'm not sure why it takes 5 days to send out a little pack of tiles. I was not happy because they will not arrive until this Tuesday. I don't foresee there being anything wrong with the package of goodies but I hate that they couldn't get them out in a timely manner. It may have something to do with when Paypal actually sent them their money but I find it strange that it would take 5 days. Very disappointed. Even with this setback, the party went over with a bang so all was well!

Resolutions 2.0

I was reading a few blogs yesterday and noticed Jenn over at Jenn of All Trades had struck something off her list of resolutions. Hmm...resolutions...that sounds very familiar. Didn't I come up with a list of resolutions at some point in time? So I dug around in my January posts and came across the list. I thought I'd give my own update. Then I read them. Oh my, this might get ugly. Very, very ugly.

1. Make one quilt per month  (no comment)
2. Complete at least 3 UFO's in the year. (again, no comment. Well, I completed at least one.)
3. Practice more FMQ (okay, I have done this...not a lot, but some)
4. Participate in at least one bee, swap, etc. (participated in the Rainbow Layer Cake at Distant Pickles, Mystery Round Robin & currently in Quilt U Be Mine Round Robin at Quilts from My Crayon Box, etc.)
5. Participate in at least one quilt along (I am still working on completing my Yule Pop from the Soda Pop quilt along at Sew Allegorical. Yes, the quilt along is over but I'm not done yet.)

I also wanted to learn to use a long arm quilter; I never figured out how to get access to one. I wanted to be more precise with my quilting, which I think is a daily practice. I also wanted to write my own pattern. No progress on this one.

In the process I came up with a  few personal goals.
1. To become healthier (this primarily meant weight loss and increasing exercise. Nyet on both.)
2. To maintain BALANCE in my life (there have been significant ups and downs with this goal. We've lost several family members this year, and I made two large quilts in a short amount of time which shorted out my mojo, but got back into theater which has made me a happier person!)
3. To have more confidence in myself, whether it be crafty, as a parent, etc. (This is also one that I work on daily.)

Okay, so I seemed to have done better on the quilting ones than the personal ones.

WIP Wednesday

I didn't even post a WIP last week because it was so sad. Nothing done. I'm slowly getting back into the swing. I have many UFO's to tackle but also several smaller projects to work on as well.
First I've done some more work on my gray, aqua, and yellow Granny Square quilt. Pretty sure this one is going on point with sashing between 4 blocks.

We got my daughter a Kindle Fire for her birthday and she requested a case like the one I made myself. She picked out some owl fabric and I also received my first block to work on in the Quilt U Be Mine Round Robin.

I didn't realize the block was upside down until I resized the picture!
I'm also working on some scarves from ruffled jersey I picked up from Hobby Lobby. So far I've made a purple one for me, a black one for my neighbor and this aqua blue is sitting around waiting to become one as well!

Hooking up to Lee's so I can see what you guys are working on!

Time to Vote!

It's time for voting! Yeah, sure you can do that kind of voting as well, but what I'm really talking about is voting over at Amy's for the Blogger's Quilt Festival! The nominations are in and it's time to pick winners! Don't know who to vote for? Well, I say go with your gut but I do have some buddies in there! Several of the ones I nominated made it to the final round!

Here are a few quilts nominated by me and I'm sure they'd appreciate your vote! Michele's wonderful "Tribute to Danny" quilt is in the running for Best Bee quilt (I actually have a block in it too!). Then there's Julie from Distant Pickles whose wonderful Mod Pop is in for favorite throw quilt. Elaine's lovely little owl quilt is in for applique, and Heidi's palette is in for mini quilt. I have to say though, there are a lot of beautiful quilts and you wouldn't go wrong with voting for any that you choose, so get out there and vote!

As for me, I didn't get nominated for anything. But that's okay. I got my first Quilt U Be Mine square to work on yesterday and my brain has been working on overdrive trying to come up with something cool for it. this mystery round robin is going to be a bit different because we have up to 8" to play versus the 4" we had last time. I'm also hoping my regular Mystery Round Robin  arrives today. I'm so excited! I can't wait to see what happened to my little black paper pieced Singer! It's been so long, I hardly remember what it looked like when I sent it out!