Sewing and winning

What a great week I've had. I won a blog giveaway at Karen Gray Design, 34 fat eighths of Katie Jump Rope fabrics! I hadn't jumped on the Katie Jump Rope bandwagon, at least I didn't think I had, until I looked through my stash last night and found 5 fat quarters. I suppose I had jumped on it, only I didn't know it!
So last night I was sewing my little heart out in my quilt room. It was about 10pm and the thought came to me to go check the mail. Yes at 10pm. So out I go, in the rain, and it was well worth the trip in the rain. Karen had sent the fabrics and they had arrived!! I can't tell you how excited I was. I clutched that package and ran to my quilt room, opened it and took photos of the whole process of course! Karen's packaging was just so lovely and it was truly like opening a present at Christmas! I love her stickers and business cards. Thank you SO MUCH Karen!





I have grand plans for these fabrics. I've been inspired by this and this. Thanks girls!

Now, I must tell you that the day after I won Karen's giveaway, I won another one! Yes when it rains it pours :) Elizabeth, The Late Bloomer, had a giveaway, and thanks to a lucky guinea pig, I won!! I had so much fun choosing a pattern. Elizabeth has some beautiful ones.
I decided to go with something I might actually get done in a day. I'll show you what I chose when it arrives...

Now, onto actual sewing. I have actually dusted off my machine, and as you saw in my before and after photos in previous posts, even swept away the literal cobwebs from my poor machine. She is much happier now. Well you would be too if you had cobwebs swept off you! These are some (mostly unfinished)things I'm working on for our school's craft fair coming up in December...
Ornaments will be cut out of this...

No the girl won't be for sale, but the craft apron with pockets will be...


Our PTO president, who happens to be my neighbor, asked me if I wanted a table. I said sure, why not. So now I have to think of things to sell. I have a few ideas in my head and if I buckle down I might actually have things to sell. It's a fine line between making quality things that take a lot of time to make, hence needing a higher price-tag, and making faster things that can be sold cheaply. We don't live in the poor part of town, but we definitely don't live in the rich part either! The customers will be normal average Moms looking for something lovely but affordable. Just like me! If you have any great ideas, PLEASE feel free to let me know!

The best part of all this is that I KNOW I will have quilty things to blog about for the next few weeks:)

Oh, before I go, I must show you a couple of pics from Halloween. It was a perfect night here in New Hampshire. People were sitting on lawn chairs in their front yards handing out the candy. Most had tables with food and drinks - it was just a big party around here! We have the best neighbors - don't you wish your neighbors looked like this? As for me, we had a Halloween party at church the night before Halloween and this was my costume. I was dressed in red head to toe - even my shoes and bag. Can you guess what I was?! And no, I didn't go as myself when I wake up in the morning....

Blogging guilt

Do you ever have blogging guilt? I have a massive dose of it right now. I know it's been far too long since I blogged. I wanted to, but then a few days turned into a couple of weeks and the guilt started, and a couple of weeks turned into more, and so the cycle goes.

I have also been feeling guilty when I blog about anything other than quilting and applique, as that is the title of my blog! And since I haven't done either of the above for a few weeks, the guilt piled on. Sigh... I have even considered making another blog with just family stuff on it and having this one purely for quilting. But then I'm afraid there would be even less to blog about on here. I think I'm rambling now - just telling you all my thoughts.

I think I should get a 'Blogging Without Obligation' button like Jackie from Tallgrass Praire Studio has on her blog...she talks about it here.

OK enough of the pity party. I have actually been sewing the last couple of days, so I will finish this photo-less post and do another happy one with photos above!

CLEAN quilt room!

I did it - I cleaned it!
Much better, yes?! It took about 1.5 hours, but I also did a few loads of laundry and stopped to read magazines and books as I put them away in that time. Now it feels much better and there and I don't dread going in. However I think I should start putting the cover on my sewing machine - look what I found...

I also wanted to show you these fabulous boxes.
You ladies in UT will probably have seen them. They were all over the place when I was there this Summer. All the shops there were packing their kits in them and tying them up with pretty bows. My MIL, Carmen, and I went to Xpedex and they had hundreds of them. I had to think hard about how many to get since I knew I'd have to bring them all the way back to NH. I got 3 of each of the 2 sizes. Don't ask my MIL how many she got. It might be rather embarrassing for her lol! But she loves them and is making wonderful use of them. I'd love to find a local source. They're just so handy to have around, expecially because they stack wonderfully.

I'd encourage you to read one of my MIL's blogs, Quilt Stories Become Me. She is writing about the stories behind the quilts she makes, and it's so interesting. A real treasure for our family. You should in particular read this one - I make a starring role in it! The particular project she is talking about is the cleaning out of her living room which we took on this Summer when I stayed with her. My MIL is a quilter of unparalled proportions. You have NEVER seen a stash like hers. But I swear, she knows where every little scrap lays hidden. She mostly uses it to make charity quilts. That woman has a heart of gold and I really lucked out in the Mother In Law department:)

Messy Quilt Room

A couple of weeks ago, UpstateLisa showed us her sewing area in before and after photos. She did so because she saw a challenge here at VintageChic to show the messiest room in your house and perhaps win a prize! So in the spirit of full-disclosure I show you my quilt room as it looks right now. This is looking in... and from the side looking towards my machine...And one more just because I like to torture myself with public humiliation...Now in my defense, the mess is not all mine. I had some quilting to do in here recently and I guess I just let the kids play in there while I was quilting, and well nothing has been cleaned up yet. Plus I purged things from my bedroom and bought them down here in baskets. You can see how successful I was at putting them away.

Next time you see this room, it WILL be back to normal! You can see here and here how it looked when it first became a quilt room. A sneak peek if you don't want to follow the links...
It shall look this way again! And now that I've put it out there, I have to keep my word, right?

Autumn has arrived

The kids and I went to the park to play after school today and oh boy the colors of Autumn are so impressive this year! It seems like the colors are extra bright and clear, and I couldn't help but snap a few photos. So come take a walk with us through our neighborhood, and make sure to click on the photos to get a really nice big view...
















I think it's safe to say that Autumn has arrived.

Valori Wells Fabric Challenge

Don't faint at the fact I have done TWO posts in one day. I know, I know, I nearly fainted myself.

OK folks, head on over to Nancy's blog and vote for one of the projects made with Valori Wells fabrics. A few months back, Val had a giveaway on her blog, and a bunch of us got a pack of fat quarters from her. You can read about it here. Nancy thought we should have a challenge using our free fabrics, and you can see the results on her blog. Some really creative things were made. I love the fabric and have bought almost the entire line now! I'm taking off the sneak peek of my project on a previous post, just so you don't guess which is mine, and it can be as fair as possible. If these photos whet your appetite, there are additional ones on Nancy's blog :)

Brooklyn

My niece, Desiree, just had a baby, so of course I just had to show off my brand new great-niece, Brooklyn Rachelle Reid. Only problem for me is she is all the way over in New Zealand! I used to change Brooklyn's Mum's diapers and now she has a baby of her own? Crazy! Makes me feel a little old. I am a great-aunt many times over now. Sigh.

Don't you love all the hand-made clothes on her? They look suspiciously like my Mum's handiwork....almost makes me want another baby, just for the baby clothes alone.

Now you see this picture below? That is my brother, Peter, holding his new (and first) grandbaby in the hospital. Now see that photo on the wall behind him? That is a photo the hospital took of Peter holding his youngest daughter, about 12 years ago, and which they still have on the wall in the maternity wing. Isn't that crazy? Crazy in a fantastic way!

Do you think I'm a little bit homesick??

Oh and by the way, this is Desiree when she was about 34 weeks pregnant...
And this was just a week ago...The baby was 9lb, 4oz. Need I say more?!!