Traveling Stash arrived and ready to take off....

The traveling stash arrived this week from Robin over at rsilandscrafts and what fun it was to open and see the fabrics, books, patterns and notions that were stuffed into the box.

Of course I had to take everything out, look at the patterns and books (I love them) and check out each fabric trying to figure out how I would use it.

I finally narrowed down my choices:

and put back yardage to replace what I kept and now it is sealed and ready to go:

Would you like to check out what is in this box?

Let me know in my comments section....I will leave it open until Monday, March 12th.  If more than one person wants to check it out....I will put your names in a basket and draw a winner.

Have a great day!

I am so overwhelmed.....

I am drinking my second cup of coffee....trying to wake up.  I sat up until midnight last night reading your sweet comments, checking out each blog.....there were quite a few.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart!  You are all so wonderful and talented.

Now I was too tired to figure out that thing that picks a random winner....so I wrote every name on a slip of paper, put them in a basket (with some treats) and I let Little Man and Little Girl pick the winner.  The only way I was going to get them help me was with their special treats.  Now if you own cats (excuse me, if a cat or cats own you), then you know they don't ever do what you want them to do.  After one waiting on the other to reach in the basket, they both went for it at the same time and pulled out two winners!

Who am I to argue!  So instead of one winner, I have TWO!

First up is: 
stitchinpenny said...

I love cats - from pedigreed to the feral rescues. I have owned all and loved them equally. Thanks for the cute little bag giveaway.

and winner #2 is:

SueSmilesAlot said...

Adorable bag! ((Crosses fingers))

I am e-mailing both of you....so send me your snail address and I will get your package off this weekend.  Now remember, I only have one of the little bags made with the fabric that is showing on the blog, but I have plenty made with other cute fabrics.  I promise you will both smile.

To everyone else out there who commented and those of you who joined up to follow my blog, all I can say is THANK YOU!  This was so much fun....and I am going to have another give-a-way soon...so we can do it again.

Have a wonderful day!

Ok folks....this only happens every four years....

It's Leap Year and there are going to be some great give-a-ways going on.  Visit Such a Sew and Sew to see all the linky's.  This will be my first give-a-way and I am so excited and nervous.  Hope you like it!

I have made probably 40 plus of what I call the little "Smile" bag.  I call them that because everytime I give someone one of these cute little bags they SMILE!  So since I want my winner to smile....I am giving one away.  I love cats so this is one of my favorites.  These little bags are perfect for carrying a project to work on because there are 3 little pockets on each side.

Now hidden down inside is a couple of other cute things but you will have to win to see what they are.  My give-a-way will start at 12:00 midnight, so leave me a comment and tell me what you are doing for Leap Day!  I will generate a winner Thursday morning before I go to work.  Make sure that I can reach you!

Have a great day!

I am so excited.....

This is landing at my house next!

The traveling stash is leaving Robin at rsislandcrafts full of new and old goodies and landing in my eager little hands.  Look at this stuffed box!  I will feel like a kid at Christmas...that aqua and white stripe has already caught my eye, I love beige fabrics and see that little blue with just a hint of color in the top left hand corner....got me curious.  I have been watching this stash and others floating around and wanted to get in on the fun!  It always amazes me when I see fabrics on the other blogs that I have never seen around my neck of the woods.  To see where they all are head on over to VROOMAN'S QUILTS where Sharon has been keeping track of the boxes for us.

So just as soon as it gets here (oooh...anticipation), I will rip it open, check it out and make pictures so you can see.  I already have some great items picked out to replace whatever I keep.  Watch for the reveal and then let me know if you would be interested in the box coming to your house.

Be sure and visit me tomorrow.....

It's Leap Day!

Register for my give-a-way!

Have a great day.....I know I will!

Leapin' on the bandwagon!

Elizabeth over at Such a Sew and Sew is hosting a linky party giveaway on Leap Day, February 29, 2012.

Here's how it works:• Choose something to give away on Leap Day. Keep it simple. You can make something, give away a bit of your stash, offer a service, buy your favorite gadget to give away or offer something completely non-crafty. Your blog, you choose.
• To participate in the blog hop, your giveaway must start and end on Leap Day {February 29, 2012}. You can open it at 10:00 am and close it at 10:00 pm, or go midnight to midnight, or anything in between. Your blog, your rules.
• Post your giveaway and then link up here.  The linky will open at noon MST on February 28^th and close at 10:00 am MST on March 1^st, to allow for people in different time zones to participate.

If you decide to join this Blog Hop be sure you link up to Such a Sew and Sew!  We don't want anyone to miss out on all the fun.

It's Lundi Gras....and I don't do Mardi Gras...so....

Good morning everyone....hope you are doing well.  I try so hard to keep my promises...especially the one about posting regular...but honestly I spend an hour or more every morning reading about what all of you are doing.  You are spectacular, wonderful, creative and busy.  I now have a lot more added to my bucket list of things and believe that list was already pretty long.  But let's see what I have been up to....making twister mug rugs for my Pokeno secret pal...she is going to get a different one every month this year, along with a mug and coffee, tea or something.

I found this cute tea pot and saucer at Hobby Lobby during the after Christmas sale and it inspired me to use my Jason Yenter Christmas blues for her January mug rug.

I have joined the "Quilt Red"  third Saturday morning program at my LQS and I am embroidering one quilt and making a second quilt out of black, red and white.

I am having fun embroidering again after all these years....it is soothing.  And I love my sample block...but I may change those white corner squares out for black ones so that they will stand out more.

On the first Saturday of the month we are participating in the "Thimbleberries Pantry Party" and I have started work on the first project in the book.  Don't laugh at me....I must have been tired at the end of the day because I couldn't figure out why my center wouldn't go together right.  When I did get it out at home and really look at it....duh....

Well no one's perfect, but I think I might take that one block apart and try again...what do you think?

And of course, you know they call me the "twister queen" at the shop...I just can't stop making them.

I have been so inspired by Connie at Quilting by the River that I can't stop playing with fabrics just to see how they will come together.  I saw a table topper that looked like a Christmas wreath on her site and I just had to make it.  This is a picture of her beautiful topper,

and this is the start of mine....it is further along than this, but I am too lazy to go take another picture right now....but it turned out so cute that I made another one out of Thimbleberries winter fabric and then made side panels out of the twister.  I am really happy with how it turned out and all I need to do is add the borders and quilt.

And then I thought how cute a red/white mix would make a cute quilt or at the very least mug rugs if I decide not to make a quilt.

A friend is trying to talk me into doing the cute quilt from Sentimental Stitches and I managed to make three of the blocks (it only took me 4 hours) and then I explained to her that at 57....life is short...this is probably not going to happen.....sigh....

My LQS got in some of the cutest daschund fabric and I was just dying to try it so Saturday I whipped this little project up,

Now I have to decide what to do with it.

Oh and they are having a linky party over at the QuiltingGallery.com for pictures of your sewing room and they are giving away books on organizing your space.  I am probably a lost cause but you never know.

I feel blessed to have a spare bedroom to house all of my "stuff".  I can at least close the door so no one sees my mess.

Oh and I almost forgot my Wonky Houses....only 4 more to go and I can mail them in.

Brenda has been a godsend on this project....couldn't have done it without her...but she did make me promise not to rope her into any more of these types of swaps.

We are having fun in her sewing room.  We spend a lot of time talking and laughing.

Got to go to work....have a great day....hope you get a lot of sewing done.

Relax...

Several of the blogs I follow are talking about a word for the year and I thought that was interesting.  So I spent yesterday thinking about it and what kept coming to mind was "RELAX".  I always make all these plans of what I want to get done....and while I think that writing down goals and the steps to make them become a reality is very important....I sometimes go overboard and try to plan down to the last minute of everyday.  Then I feel bad when I look back and realize that life interrupted my list....and I didn't get to do everything I wanted to do.

So this year my word is going to be "RELAX"....translated:  "the world won't end as we know it, if I don't get it all done."  Sometimes I forget to enjoy the process because I am so intent on getting it done.

So I'm going to work on "RELAXING".  Enjoying the process....laughing at myself more, laughing more with others.

Here is my first example:

This was supposed to be Brenda's Christmas present (she is my LQS owner and friend).  One of my other friends was selling it at a garage sale.  Her father was a merchant seaman and he brought this back from India many years ago.  So I bought it and decided I would make it into a sewing box to set beside Brenda's chair.  Well....that was four or five months ago and it had this ugly red velvet on the inside.  It was dusty, the velvet was torn in several spots.

So of course I waited until a week before Christmas to start trying to get that ugly red velvet out (you know my nickname is Superwoman).  Not so easy.  Believe it or not after asking everyone I know....I found out that Spray 'n' Wash will remove old glue.  So I sprayed, cleaned, sprayed some more and guess what?  It worked.  Of course by this time it was the Thursday before Christmas and life got busy.  So I had to set it aside, right in the middle of my quilting room (which caused a new set of problems). 

So New Year's Day I woke up at 3:30 in the morning, decided I needed to work on this.  I finished the embroidery, made the new inserts for the top and drawers (her colors for the quilt shop).   I finished it last night.  Now I can go say Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

And more importantly....I can get my cutting table back!

I am so excited about a new year....it always make you feel like you can get a fresh start.  I have already found a dozen projects that I want to try this year, thanks to all of the wonderful, talented bloggers out here.  Thank you all....and....remember.....

"The world won't end as we know it, if we don't get it done."

So RELAX!