Several weeks ago Vicki from “Field Trips in Fiber” had a give away – actually she is having more than one give away hop on over and see what she has. I won one of the give away’s and my prize arrived while I was at my mom’s visiting. Look at this fabulous hand dyed fabric that I got!!! Thank you Vicki!!!
2 nice bars of hand made soap, a card designed by Vicki and this wonderful 1 yard cut of hand dyed fabric - a surprise for me because for some reason I thought it was going to be a fat quarter!! hm-mm , now what to make with it - I have a feeling it is design time coming up.
I need to get busy now, been home for a couple hours and need to get some groceries in and do a few errands – hope the storms hold off!! I have a lot of family photos to go through and will be busy I am sure for the rest of the day.
Sherry comment # 19 Here is a link to the random number generator if you have not used it – sure makes it easy no numbers in a hat to deal with. Sherry I will be sending you an e mail and send me your mailing address the package will be in the mail on Monday.
We had all kinds of bad storms come through Arkansas last night and more to come today. Luckily the bad stuff passed by us again although we were in tornado warning several times. My oldest daughter who lives in North Little Rock had been in Dallas all week attending a training workshop for assistant managers of the department store J. C. Penneys. She flew back to Little Rock yesterday evening and left the airport for home 40 minutes before a tornado was on the ground in the airport area! You better believe I was on the phone with her making sure she had gotten home alright in that heavy rain 
We had been on the phone twice, first she called to tell me they were just leaving the airport and that the flight had been alright. Then I was calling her 40 minutes later to discuss the fact that the tornado was at the airport such a short while after she had left it!
Thanks for all the comments on the pineapple squares. After reading your comment Wanda I realized yes I did not have to pay that close attention to the color selection of those tiny pieces with so many blocks making up the quilt. The focus would be on the light and dark layout not individual pieces – your comment was helpful!
Last year, I don’t remember when, I had an idea to use up some of my scraps by making scrappy 6 1/2 inch pineapple blocks. The idea is to eventually make enough of them for a queen size quilt. Only problem is I am slow at paper piecing which is the method I am using. I actually worked off and on all day on one block!! Of course the rest of the day I was blowing my nose so maybe it is possible I could have finished two blocks instead if I wasn’t grabbing Kleenex? I am estimating right now that I need about 256 blocks to make a quilt that is about 100 x 100 inches large. I have 5 finished – 4 of them from last year LOL.
my 5 blocks. Some of the color choices weren't perfect as I had several dark colors too close to the same shade next to each other, but I will be more careful in the future - none of these are getting tossed out!! and I'm not picking them apart either With so many blocks in a quilt I really don't think anyone will notice a few bad color choices here and there.
I will continue to work on this quilt for several years I bet. I had sore fingers from quilting and just didn’t feel like working on any of my other projects today so went back to this one. I used the Singer Featherweight. I thought I needed some practice with the machine as I had not used it since Bea had worked on it. The machine worked great although at first I thought I was going back to the same old problems with tension but then realized when I put it in the storage bag that I had bumped the upper tension dial. Got that back to where it should be and practiced threading and putting the bobbin in and then got started sewing.
Learning how to use my new phone has been interesting. There are aps for everything it seems but I do not want to spend money on buying them. We found one ap for the weather channel that is free and you select gps and it finds the location wherever you are and tells you what the weather will be and shows you a weather map too. That sure will come in handy when we are traveling.
I will select the winner for the give away tomorrow and then mail it out on Monday – good luck and thank you to those who participated. You still have time this evening if you want to get in on it.
Before I left for the Paducah Quilt Show I said that I would go through my basket when I got home for another give away. I have gone through the basket – decided there were a few things in there that I still might use and put them back on the shelf and tossed in a few other things – such is the life of a quilter LOL
The give away items plus I will toss in some fabric from the stash - it will be a surprise.
I am giving away two quilt patterns for Christmas. This might be a good time of the year to start working on those projects. I had bought these patterns some years ago that went in a Christmas Wall hanging that had about 12 patterns in it. I never collected all of the patterns and have no interest in doing two small wall hangings or making pillows or table toppers out of them. The quilt title was “Father Christmas” one of the blocks finishes at 18″ x 6″ and the other is 18″ x 12″. These can be done with fusible or needle turn applique. The apron pattern was given to me by a secret pal one year but I am not interested in aprons so someone else can enjoy it.
The Rules: leave me a comment and make sure I have a way to get in touch with you – either e mail address or blog address — something! The winner will be announced on May 1st – Saturday. You might be surprised at how many blogs I have read that have give aways where they can not contact the winner. This give away is open internationally.
It is such a beautiful day outside – I have been in and out of the house admiring the sun! It is so pretty outside. But even though it is pretty outside I have gotten all of my flowers cut out and glue basted in place. Now it is ready to start needle turn applique in between quilting on other quilts.
I won a give away on Jackie’s blog Canton Village Quiltworks. “Quilts from the Salvage Edge” by Karen Griska. I have never made one of these quilts it will be interesting to see how it is made.
I thought I would share how I do my flowers for those that have asked.
First I pick out the general area that I want the flower to go - I am not following a strict pattern and none of these are exact in placement - I just look and kind of eyeball it.
Now that I know the general area I want the flower, I move the pieces out of my way and start with the first piece - I use Roxanne Glue Baste It (available at most on line quilt shops) using the needle nose applicator I put generally about 3 or 4 dots on these small pieces and press in place. I leave the freezer paper on the pieces until it has sat a couple minutes letting the glue dry. ( Around each piece depending on the color of the fabric I use either the Mark Be Gone pen (blue wash out) or white chalk. I draw around each piece of freezer paper before I cut the pieces out. This will be my stitch line. You do not have to do this step if you don't want to - it is just how I do it, I generally have about an 1/8th of an inch for turn under purposes although I do not measure so they are not all the same, I've done it for so long though that they are probably pretty close). I cut all my shapes out with scissors not a rotary cutter - someone asked that in an e mail. I suppose you could use a rotary cutter but I like using scissors for this step.
After the glue has dried for several minutes I lift off the freezer paper with the help of a siletto. You could just do it with your fingernails if you want but I find this little tool helpful and kind of just slide it under and lift off.
Then I glue the center of the flower in place just because I feel like it the center will be lifted off as I do the applique to get all the ends under right and then placed back on - I just think they look cute with the centers on so put them on the for the photos! For the applique I will start with the smallest piece on the top part of the flower the small rounded shape, then I will do the two light color petals then the larger ones. This will have everything tucked under where it needs to go. Not all the flowers are identical. Like I say I do not use a placement sheet. I try to have them all close to the same but I do not care if the petals are not in the exact same placement.
The overall look. I'm not sure what kind of border I will do - it might be just a three inch border or so or maybe nothing. If I do put a border it will be thin and I think wavy edge. I am still thinking of embroidering little tendrils out of each petal in a green color of some sort - I will try it around one flower and see how I like it and decide from there and show you what I decide later. Also with the border I will wait until I am done with the applique and decide then what I want.
As a thank you from Teri for hosting the give away she sent me a thank you present – look what wonderful goodies arrived in the mail today for me!
2 Packages of charms - she wanted to make sure I had plenty to make a quilt with! Thank you Teri! In the give away one of the packages of charms is this same kind I had mentioned how much I liked it. I'm sure whoever wins the give away will enjoy it too.
Quite a few of you have asked who is Teri? Teri and I have never met and didn’t even start to correspond until recently so I really do not know her well. That is the way it is with a lot of us “internet friends” . We exchange e mail and chat about quilting but a lot of times we do not actually know each other as I’m sure is the case with a lot of us. Sometimes for me it is hard to even keep everyone straight in my mind as I have begun to correspond with so many quilters – I am almost ready to print out a list of names and where you are all from to keep it straight in my head!! LOL
I asked her some questions so I could write up a little of her. Teri is from Alabama a little north of Montgomery. She is a self-taught quilter and taught herself how to quilt about 18 years ago. She quilts mostly by hand. Right now she is making a Redwork embroidery quilt. BOM’s and kits are some of the kinds of quilting that she likes. She says she doesn’t have the eye for picking out all the fabric involved and that is why she likes the kits. Teri’s first love is cooking — I think a lot of us quilters love to cook too as I have seen many good recipes on quilting blogs! She also loves reading and traveling and she use to spend time making clothes for her kids and has made a wonderful French hand sewn Christening gown for her grandchildren and made her oldest daughter’s wedding gown. Now that is a talent I do not have — I really do not like clothes sewing. Teri and her family moved to the country on an acre of land about 3 years after her mother died – Teri was her mother’s caregiver in the last three years of her life and she didn’t have time for quilting or anything as that took a lot of time. Teri is really not interesting in beginning a blog right now as she doesn’t know her way around computers really well.
(Edited at 7:20 PM – I forgot to mentioned that Teri is reading all the comments left by everyone and is having a good time checking out all of the blogs from you all that have blogs = I have been too — keep them coming)
I have already been pulling books off of the shelves to get ideas on how to use these two charm packs and I have a couple that I am going to be giving a second look at. And now I know some people are going to say “OMG she is going to start another quilt” LOL probably you are right – somehow the two large applique quilts (Little Brown Bird and the traditional Red/Green Applique ) that I have talked about for the past year keep getting put aside – I wonder if that means I really do not want to make them or if it means just not right now? I have made one block for each of those quilts so at least that is a start!
There are still 4 more days until the give away – if you want to participate leave a comment at this link. Right now we are at 91 comments!!! a few more than the last give away I gave for sure.
Wow slightly over 50 comments already on the give away I am hosting for Teri – keep them coming!! Leave a comment on the post from yesterday. Some people have asked me how this give away came about and who is Teri? Teri is from Alabama and was one of the winners of my last give away. Teri says she is not computer literate enough to have a blog I think a lot of us feel that way. It took me sometime to get it figured out and I have my computer master in the same room with me most of the time and I am still bugging him with questions of how do I do such and such! It comes hard for some of us. I have asked Teri some questions and will try to post a little bio on her this week. I really do not know her real well and we can find out together. We have not met in person – just through e mails as so many of us do.
Sometimes when I have a giveaway I try to thank everyone with a e mail of thanks when I get the message – in this case so many having been coming in at the same time I have not had the chance to do so. Let me say thank you to all of you now for stopping by my blog and visiting. Such nice comments everyone leaves. Good luck to all of you. I am looking at blogs every chance I get to see all the new ones that I have not seen before.
I have a new photo of my Christmas Quilt which is coming along slowly as I am working on so many other projects all the time.
Christmas Baltimore Album in the works
You see this block in the center with the white flowers? When I get to the middle of it I will be half way done with this quilt. Like I say it is moving slowly - I'm not rushing it and in fact have been neglecting it - I have been working on so many other quilts but this is a Christmas quilt I figure I have until the middle of November before I need it - hopefully I will be finished with it before then!
Yes I need to straighten out under the frame once again – somehow things constantly get tossed under the frame – out of the way you know
Before I forget Jackie is having a give away on her blog Canton Village Quilt Works - go on over and see what she has.
COMMENTS ARE NOW CLOSED ON THIS POST – WINNER TO BE ANNOUNCED.
As I mentioned the other day I am hosting a giveaway for another quilter who does not have a blog. Teri Dingler from Alabama has these gifts for one lucky winner!
The Gifts
THE RULES!!
1. Leave a comment – one chance
2. Blog about it – two chances
3. Tell someone and they mention your name and you will get an extra chance for each person that mentions your name.
The winner will be announced in 1 week – on Monday the 22nd of March
AND I CAN NOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH – MAKE SURE YOU HAVE AN E MAIL ADDRESS WHERE I CAN GET IN TOUCH WITH YOU!!!! — LAST TIME I HAD A GIVE AWAY I HAD NO VALID E MAIL TO CONTACT A WINNER AND HAD TO GIVE IT TO THE NEXT PERSON ON THE LIST.
One of my winners from the give away prizes announced last week never claimed her prize and did not have a e mail address where I could contact her. I said I would wait about five days or so before picking another winner in case she stopped by and saw that she was a winner. She never stopped by and contacted me so I used the random number generator this morning to choose a new winner. #5 Sophie from Sophie Junction in Dallas, Texas is the winner of the first set of prizes from that give away. Sophie please contact me with your mailing address, I sent you an email also.
Now I need to get off of the computer and start sewing my borders on to the quilt top. Maybe I will have a photo for you later today.
It was nice to have so many people drop by this week and participate in my give away. So many have contacted me during the week with e mails and it is very interesting to hear about what everyone is working on and to find out where you are all from. The only problem with a give away though is that not everyone leaves an e mail address for contacting you back. When you leave a comment if you want an answer you need to have your settings right. So far I have not heard back from Rebbecca Potts Baker one of the winners from my give away. Rebbecca I have no way to get in touch with you as you didn’t leave a e mail address. Hopefully you will come back to check who the winners of the give away are and claim your prize. Contact me at k@pddoc.com If I don’t hear from Rebbecca in five days or so I will go through the random number selector and pick someone else.
I took a day off from working on my patches and circles yesterday and got back to it today. Making progress but anything to do with me and sewing machines moves slowly because I keep taking so many breaks here is what I have so far:
this is 25 blocks across right now and nine rows finished. I have another 3 rows in the process of as you can see. The total body of the quilt will be 25 rows by 25 and then some kind of border around that. I plan to get a little more work done on it this weekend and hopefully get the main part of this quilt done next week and then start on a border.
Here is the progress on the Little Brown Bird block that I started working on the other day. It will have some flower blossoms scattered on it over the wreath and a little embroidery. Right now the brown background shows through the light side a bit but I don't think this will be noticeable when I get the flowers on it too. Once it is quilted for sure I think it will be fine. This is a 9 1/2 inch block.
I’m not sure what we are doing this weekend. Sounds like we might have more rain tomorrow – I hope it waits until evening and the day will be pleasant. I need to start looking for a new microwave oven. Ours technically is not really all that old but it has not been working well recently and last night burned a hole through the bag of popcorn on the same setting it is always set at!! That shouldn’t have happened. Also some other things have not been cooking at the normal amount of time and I have been having to constantly adjust the time. I looked briefly at some a month or so ago but held off. I think this weekend we will find a new one. I don’t need anything fancy – we only use the microwave for reheating leftovers and making popcorn, defrosting frozen items and things like that. This is only the second microwave we have had! The first one lasted forever it seems, much longer than this second one did.
