Yes, I'm Thankful!

So thankful for my wonderful family!
I had a great time at Julie & Jim's on Thanksgiving Day, enjoyed a wonderful meal with my children, their families, my ex-husband, his wife, brother and sister. I got to meet my grandson's lovely girlfriend, Kelsey. I think she's a keeper, Tony!

Yes, we slept for a couple of hours Thursday evening before heading out to Toys R Us along with the hundreds of others who thought the Greenwood store was the only one to shop at. NO, we did not get into that long, long line, but instead headed to Walmart to use their price match guarantee.

After some breakfast at Denny's, we headed to Old Navy. The rumor was, they were to open at 3AM. It was cold outside and I for one didn't want to stand outside for 30+ minutes in the 30 degree weather. Unfortunately for the hundreds standing in line at Old Navy, that store didn't open until 5 AM.

We decided to go to Penny's for their 4 AM opening. We got some fantastic deals and I think we were out the door with our packages before 4:30. Back to Walmart for their 5 AM sales. I bought myself a new Kodak Printer so I don't have to keep buyiing cartridges every 2 months for my Epson. This printer is supposed to be the easiest on the pocketbook when it comes to ink refills. Lots of other great deals too, like a Cabbage Patch Doll for Elizabeth. Then, of course, I went to Joanns on Saturday to buy some doll clothes patterns. Speaking of Joanns, I wasn't able to get to Joanns on Friday to pick up the rowenta iron on sale before they ran out. I was pretty sad about that, but as luck would have it, their website was down and they are honoring doorbuster prices through today, and maybe even tomorrow. So, I called last night and was able to order it and got free shipping too.

Andrew is very much into trains, Thomas the train to be exact, but most any train catches his eye. When I saw that Target had gingerbread trains last week, I knew that I had to buy one. Friday night while we were waiting for our pizza to arrive, Matt, Andrew and I assembled this oh-so-cute gingerbread train.



Here's Andrew and Elizabeth just before I left on Saturday. I certainly did enjoy my little vacation with them, but I was very tired Saturday night and didn't to much of anything when I arrived home.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing all my family and friends in blogland a wonderful Thanksgiving Day.

The dressing is ready to bake, the eggs are deviled and the 24-hour salad is on it's 17th hour. I made a trip to Meijer and K-mart before the sun came up and I'm looking forward to driving to Julie and Jim's house for a wonderful meal and some quality family time.

Have a great day!

2 More Giraffes Quilted

Last night I loaded and quilted a giraffe quilt that Janet made for her new grandson, Krayden. She had baby shower attendees write a wish and/or a thought for the family. We printed them on Printed Treasures fabric and she placed them in the inner border. What a cute idea, huh?



Here's the back, which is actually a very pretty dark blue flannel.




I used Square spiral panto by Keryn Emmerson, white permacore thread and Hobbs poly batting on this one.

Here is my 2nd Giraffe quilt, made for my stepson Cory's soon-to-be baby boy. I loaded and quilted it this evening.



I used Warm & Natural batting, white PermaCore thread and the square Spiral also.


And the back, a Peter rabbit toile print.

Stashbusting Week #47

Fabric Added This Week - 0
Fabric Added Year to Date - 147 yards

Fabric Used This Week - 4.875 yard
Fabric Used Year to Date - 223 yards

YEAR TO DATE STASH USED: 76 yards

Another Purdue Wall Hanging & Another Bag

Here's my design wall tonight:



I got this sewn together on Saturday and did the quilting this morning. I still have to hand stitch the binding, but it should be ready to take to Julie's on Thursday, to give to Jerri.

This afternoon I made another Charm Party bag. This one is for a co-worker to give to her mom for Christmas. It's all done also, so I think this was a pretty productive weekend.




I also made 2 batches of Biscotti, which was a first for me and I think it turned out wonderful. I'm sending some to Jeff and giving some as christmas gifts. I coated about 12 dozen pretzels with chocolate yesterday also. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

Janet Came to Quilt

On Friday evening, Janet came over to quilt 4 Quilts For Kids. She had sewn the backings together and we pinned on the backing and she quilted all 4 of them, one right after the other.




She got pretty good at meandering and swirls by the last one.

What a busy week!

Not much sewing going on around here this week, but it sure has been busy. I attended a guild meeting on Tuesday evening and part of one on Wednesday evening. Last night I loaded and almost finished quilting a very old looking quilt that belongs to Kay. I'm not sure what the story is on this one, but it's turning out very nice.





There are craft shows galore this weekend to attend, so I might venture out and take a look.

Don't forget to send in your deposit for Shipshewana 2010. We have registrations and deposits from 31 quilters so far.

Blue Batik String Quilt

Gwen made this stunning blue batik quilt.


She didn't want a pantograph and suggested swirls in the center. So, swirls it is. I did straight line quilting in the solid border areas, and it was pretty hard to keep them straight. The top thread is Lava, Deep Sea thread and Hobbs 80/20 batting.

Log Cabin Leaves

This quilt was made by Carol and I just love it. I have such a hard time with making scrap quilts, over thinking where each piece should go, but obviously Carol doesn't have that problem as this is one pretty quilt.



I used the Leaf Litter Panto from Keryn Emerson, Camel PermaCore thread and Hobbs 80/20 batting.



Here's the back.


Hope she likes it!

Stashbusting Weeks #45 & 46

November 2-15, 2009

Fabric Added This Week - 5.75
Fabric Added Year to Date - 147 yards

Fabric Used This Week - 2 yard
Fabric Used Year to Date - 218.125 yards

YEAR TO DATE STASH USED: 71.125 yards

You would have thought that in 2 weeks, I could have used more than that, but I guess I've been busy. I sure would like to make it to 100 this year!

I bought April Cornell fabric at Rossville Quilts to make a Charm Party Bag for a co-worker, but haven't started it yet.

Sue's Disappearing 9-Patch

This quilt of Sue's turned out so very cute. She came over on Tuesday and quilted it herself. This is the third time she's quilted and she does a very nice job.



Here's a better photo of the fabrics:


When she took the batting out of the bag, I had my doubts, as we had to unfold it very carefully and it seemed a lot like fiberfill to me. But it did lay there nice and neat and quilted up nicely.

Quilts for Ft Hood Soldiers and Families

When I read that Cherri was collecting quilts for the woulded soldiers at Ft. Hood, of course I emailed her to say that I could help. I sent her 3 quilts of valor that I had here that hadn't been sent off yet.

See, there's a reason for everything.

Here is an article about her project.

Vicci's Scrappy Star Blocks

Continuous curves should be the name of this post.... How many are there? I have no idea, but there's a lot. It's kind of like those optical illusion games you see where you are asked, "How many triangles do you see?"

Anyway, I got ahead of myself with Mary's quilt post earlier because I actually finished this one early this morning.

One of the main reasons I have my blog is to keep track of quilts that I do and patterns that I use. I almost always have labels on my posts and that makes searching pretty easy. When Vicci brought this quilt, she said she would like it done like one I did a while back for her friend Patty. So, I searched my blog and found this post. Continuous curves it is! I'm not sure what the sashing design is called, but it's one I can do so there you have it.



The batting is Hobbs 80/20 and the thread is So Fine



I really like how the back looks!

Giraffes are multiplying...

Here is Mary's oh-so-cute giraffe quilt. She saw the giraffe quilt on my blog and downloaded the pattern to make one just in time for a baby shower next Sunday.



I quilted it with Popcorn by Jodi Beamish, Permacore gold thread and Hobbs 80/20 batting.



I just love all of her colorful fabrics.



Janet came over to sew this afternoon and we both worked on giraffe quilts. So, I guess that I'm making another one very similar to the last one that I made. And, then I'm going to make a pink and brown one. She is making one for her new grandson and it will contain messages from the baby shower in the border.

Stockings for Soldiers

8 wonderful helpers + 1- 3/4 hours +



tables full of goodies +



116 stockings =



31 large boxes and 23 small boxes for deployed troops.



Just look how well Randy can pack a box of goodies:

Mary's Placemats

These are the CUTEST placemats that Mary made.



I quilted them with the Maple Dance Panto, by Karen thompson, in Egypt Topaz PermaCore thread, and used some Warm & Natural narrow pieces of batting.




What a great way to use up some of those fall colored scraps. I'll have to ask her for the name of the pattern.

Pillowcases

I bought some fabric at Cheryl's on Saturday to make pillowcases to go with the quilt on our bed.

I love how they turned out. The green is really not that shade of green!


However,

They do not go with the quilt at all.



I may have to make another quilt to match them.

Last night I packaged up the first 12 stockings in flat rate boxes.....just 108 more to go. We are filling the remaining stockings on Saturday afternoon.

Stashbusting Week #44

October 26-November 1, 2009

Fabric Added This Week - 3
Fabric Added Year to Date - 141.25 yards

Fabric Used This Week - 4.25 yard
Fabric Used Year to Date - 216.125 yards

YEAR TO DATE STASH USED: 74.875 yards

The Giraffe is Quilted!

This one is a free pattern from Red Rooster called, "Folk Tale Friends."

Now, I just have to decide who it's for and if I want to make another one just like it. I need 2 baby boy quilts soon, so here's one of them.



The batting is Hobbs 80/20 and the thread is PermaCore Dyed Natural. I pondered over what to do in the center of this quilt for days and finally decided that straight line quilting and SID around the applique would look good. And I really like it! Swirls in the narrow border and terry twists in the outer border squares.



Oops, looks like some of them got cut off. Oh well, I'm sure it won't be that noticable after it's washed and dried.

Stuffing Stockings

At our guild day camp on Saturday, we spent some time filling about 40 stockings. It was great fun and I felt such a sense of accomplishment. Now, we still have 70+ to do and they all have to go into boxes and have forms filled out, but at least it's a start.