Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Look at what I won!!!!

On the Minick and Simpson blog(http://minickandsimpson.blogspot.com/), they were hosting a giveaway if you had a story about airport security or one of your favorite treasures, so I wrote a little blurb about one trip I took coming back from a quilt retreat with a group of online quilters. For this retreat a couple of the gals' husbands made wood products as door prizes and I was the winner of a toy horse.

Well, I am not a good flyer and I find going through security quite nerve wracking as you are putting your stuff in baskets, purse in one, cameras, anything that you are carrying on, taking off your shoes, trying to rush and get this all done and get through in a short period of time. Well, I had put the horse through first and proceeded to take care of everything else when one of the security people came up to me and asks me a question and in my panic thinking I have done something wrong or look guilty or like I am a blue-eyed, blonde terrorist or something like that, I look doe-eyed at her and say "what?" and she repeats it again and I am sensing all my things are going through security before I am; and I am starting to worry about my purse....she repeats it and she is asking me if I had checked a horse. I said "yes" and looked down the line to see that the guy ahead of me is wrapping the straps of his bag around my horse. I grabbed my horse, all my belongings and take off in a huff for my flight. If she hadn't been paying attention, I would have gone home without my horse and my little grandson would not have gotten his present.



Anyways, this little blurb won me a pre-cut Moda fabric, a surprise off their prize table and a pattern from them.....AND this is what came in the mail today! What fun!!! It's a charm packet from Moda called Harmony; Minick and Simpson's pattern called Brrrr Park and a pie bird. I love them all!!! If you would like to see all the other stories submitted for this giveaway you can check their blog and look at their March 24 submission.


I feel so lucky lately!!!!

Monday, March 30, 2009

Crows in the Corner quilt top....

is complete. This was my attempt at a pink and brown quilt (scraps) with just a dash of green thrown in. Just have to put the backing together and it is being sent off to the quilter. I could have had this done in no time (it really was an easy pattern), but there just aren't enough hours in a day to do all the things I have to and/or want to; but I am sure glad to see an end to this one so that I can move on to some new things. Yeah!

Friday, March 27, 2009

Lake Street Mercantile....

Spent the day with the quilty chicks heading out to South Lyon, MI to peruse the aisles of one of the best quilt shops http://www.lakestmercantile.com/1/180/index.asp. They are well known for their pattern kits. If you haven't heard of this quilt shop, this is where Minick and Simpson http://minickandsimpson.blogspot.com/ originated from, I believe. They have the cutest shop which is in an old bank and you can even shop in the vault; AND they were one of the Better Homes and Garden Quilt Sampler featured shops. Their quilt was the cover quilt. Love them!




Anyways, I so wanted to go there today to find a "civil war" backing for my Crows in the Corner. I wanted something different....something big and splashy....and ended up coming away with something totally different, but fun. Not sure the color is great in the picture, but it is a great pink and tan stripe.



Also, found a few black and tan prints for my circle blocks that I am making for another quilt and got a 20% discount on anything that you bought the end of the bolt....that's the tan fabric.



Of course, I couldnt' get out of there without buying everything I needed to make this cute shopping bag. They had it made up in these red/check/stars fabrics. Really! I needed another bag. Wouldn't you talk yourself into that one?!!



Sharon and Nancy did some damage, too, today. I have to say, we really did the economy some good and we need to do all we can to keep the stores that we love in business. We were there for a couple hours making our decisions, but it all ended up with all of us leaving very happy. :D

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Eagle takes flight....

.....via FedEx.

Well, it's time for the American Quilter's Society Quilt Show. I am packing up the eagle quilt and sending it off to Paducah, KY. It will be hanging in all its glory for all the quilt world to see; AND, I get to go, too! So, there will be plenty of pictures sometime after the show which takes place April 22-25.




Right now, I am saying bye bye to my quilt hoping it gets there in one piece and flies back home with no detours after the show is all over.

Friday, March 20, 2009

Thanks to Google...

I have tried and tried making this NICU cap with the little eyelets, but it has been so long since I have knitted that I finally had to Google how to "knit a yarn over". Since I had ripped out this cap "several" times, I just had to find out what I was doing wrong. I was determined, because this is one of the cuter caps. Anyways...without Google, I wouldn't have known that I was doing my yarn over clockwise instead of what I should have been doing ....counterclockwise. That was the answer and this is the result.
Now "I AM" putting away the yarn for a little while. I have the Crows in the Corner that I want to finish, but there are still two different patterns I want to try for the NICU caps and then it will be on to something new (or something unfinished) knitwise. Have a glorious 1st day of Spring today!!!

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Another NICU cap

I know...I said I was going to put my knitting away so that I could get to some of my quilting. Well, I did....just not for long. I threw together this little striped job and was so proud of myself until Gail over at Quite-Quilted (http://quite-quilted.blogspot.com/) showed off her array of adorable caps. I have some catching up to do, but it will be a pleasure since they are so fun and easy to make and they are going to bring joy to some new mom and dad.




Now to decide which one I want to do next. Hmmmm......

Monday, March 16, 2009

Stitch by stitch....

I will get the Crows in the Corner done eventually. I now have one of the corners done. It may not be perfect, but done is better than perfect. You would roll your eyes if you knew me. I am only telling myself that so that I don't fret over the fact that it is not perfect. So, one more corner to do and then I can go on the hunt for a really great civil war backing and then it is off to the quilter.


If I could just get three evenings in a row free and clear, I am thinking I could finish the last corner in that amount of time. Well, I can dream, can't I?

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Pink = Hearts

I couldn't resist. I have so much sewing that I need to get to. In fact, of the three quilts that I took to the quilter yesterday, one of my backings wasn't big enough (what was I thinking?), so I need to get that done and over to her and I really need to get back to my Crows in the Corner (which won't take me long if I would just devote some time to it), but after another very hectic day, I needed some instant gratification. Sooooo.....I made another NICU knit cap.




I started this last night and stayed up late to get through the heart pattern (didn't want to forget where I left off) and then this morning did the decrease rows for the crown. It's so adorable. I am anxious to get to some more, but I NEED TO SEW!!!

Friday, March 13, 2009

Friday the 13th....

Not all bad....hopefully. (the date, that is)

I am leaving shortly to take three quilts to the quilter, so that makes me happy. I have a shop hop quilt, the Strawberries and Lemonade quilt and a lap quilt made with blocks made by my sister-in-law and me that we exchanged (years ago) that I threw together.

Also, to show that I DO complete some of my knitting projects, I just finished one of my NICU baby caps with the yarn that I bought the other day.


Well, need to get busy for the day. Hope you all have an uneventful "Friday the 13th". :D

Monday, March 9, 2009

Shhhh......don't tell.....

but there was still some $$$ on my account at a local yarn shop called Skeins on Main in Rochester from a Christmas gift certificate that I had not totally used up and I have just been itching to make something that would give me some quick gratification (since I seem to be running into problems with all my other projects). There was some talk on a message board that I frequent about making some NICU preemie hats and I thought this would be a great idea. Of course, I had NO baby yarn in the house and I just couldn't settle on "one" skein, so I bought four. Anyways, here is the site with the patterns and I am posting a picture of my new purchase along with the double pointed needles that I needed, too.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Happy Birthday to me.....

Yes, it is my birthday and my dear husband surprised me with a little cake to celebrate with my family and grandsons.






This weekend was supposed to be a girl's weekend for quilting back out at the farm with my mini group and one of the gals' sister-in-law who makes jewelry, but it turned into a crazy weekend.

I have mentioned in the past that my life has been very hectic, but haven't said why. What's happening is that I am taking care of my first mother-in-law who was just put in assisted living in January because of a fall and subsequent concussion which seemed to progress her dementia, and the fact that my husband takes care of his father who has suffered a stroke and now I have my mom in the hospital with congestive heart failure and we are looking at her getting an ICD tomorrow and worrying about my dad who is worrying about her AND recently moving the two of them in an apartment, and the fact that this weekend was my husband's birthday and mine.


So, this is how I spent my weekend which I had hoped would be a quilting get away. On Friday morning we had a meeting at the hospital to meet my mom's electrophysiologist for a family meeting and then I took off for the farm to sew, but left late that night so that the two of us, the kids and the grandkids could go to the Detroit Autorama early on Saturday and from there to visit my mom in the hospital and then back to the farm to sew until late that night. Got up early Sunday to get home and go to a wedding shower for my nephew. Like I said ....life has been crazy for a couple months and I sure would like it to settle down. There just doesn't seem to be enough hours in a day or enough days in a week.

Anyways, here is a picture of my two grandsons standing next to a car with "dummy" legs sticking out from underneath a car at the Autorama. They just love cars ....just like their papa (grandpa).





But I have to show you what we accomplished this weekend at our sewing marathon. I finished the Strawberries and Lemondae quilt. Just need to buy some batting and it is ready for the quilter. I even made the binding for this quilt.





I pieced some batting for the black and white baby quilt and worked on some more applique for the Crows in the Corner.


Sharon finished her flower basket quilt and put together a beautiful table topper.




Alyson, Sharon's sister-in-law, made several pieces of jewelry and she just loved the idea of having so much free time to get to work on her hobby.






Nancy made several blocks for a new red and yellow quilt. It is sashed with white. Doesn't she have the best taste in fabrics? Love this one Nancy!


Thank heaven for friends and some free time to get me out of the house to do something I love....quilting and being with my friends. Hopefully, life will settle down soon and I will have a whole lot more to share with you .

Anyways! Happy Birthday to me!!!

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

What would you think?

It's been a very hectic existence around here lately, but whenever I have had a spare moment, I sit and pick up my needles and try to make some progress on some of my knitting.


There is one problem though...and maybe it is my own compulsive fault....since I can't just work on "one" project at a time, but if you bought yarn (4 skeins at that!) and they were all the same yarn, same dye lot, same everything....as you will see by the two labels here....you would expect your project to "look" right......right?






Well, because I am jumping from project to project, purse, to sock, to sweater, to a quilt project, back to another sock and then again to the other side of my sweater, I didn't notice THIS until I put the sweater front and back side by side.





So what would you think?

I have two more skeins and I think I am going to have to do a sample from each to see what "look" I am going to get before proceeding with this sweater. I am thinking I will have to rip out the one on the left as I love the look of the one on the right......BUT just look at all that work I did and now for naught!!!! arghhhhh!!!!

Michigan quilters, take note

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