Connecting Threads Wist List Giveaway

Yes they are at it again, the Connecting Threads Christmas Wish List Giveaway.  You should go and enter.  Even if you've just been eyeballing a new cutting mat, or would adore an entirely new studio.  Keep in mind the winner gets a $50 gift card, and who couldn't use a little of that this Christmas?

Want to peak at my wist list?  Well here it is.  Just keep in mind that I had a hard time restraining myself.  I'm actually very interested in their laminated fabrics as I recently decided that my Grandmother's Sunbeam Mixer should live on my kitchen counter.  The cover is an old 1970's sad quilted laminate.  I'm sure you'd know the pattern.  Yellow, and Orange with Garlic on it.  Personally I'd like to remake it with their Pitter Patter Laminate.  Then there could be fluffy cloud curtains for the window - and oh I could tie in their Mirage  Patriot Blue...  Wouldn't that be wonderful?

CQAL: My Pincushion Winners!

Okay well we only have two entries for the orange pin cushion and two for the blue.  Really.  So my winner for the blue is Joanna, and my winner for the orange is Reenie.  Gals if you can pass along your mailing information I will get these in the mail to you.

A special thanks to everyone who joined us yesterday.  I had a good time, but only carved away at my to do list, by working on some alterations for a neighbor.  The good thing is I got them done so I can work on something else today!

Quilt Sue was a busy lady as always and headed out early to to teach a workshop (so fancy!) and then came home and sewed a slew of blocks together to make a Christmas quilt top.

Donna was busy terrorizing her cat, not sure what became of her Jacob's ladder quilt she was planning to work on, likely she ended up having her fabric stolen and it's under the bed now with the cat!

Reenie had a very productive day taking bags and bags of scraps ironing and cutting them into beautiful piles, that look like expensive bundles that you'd find at your LQS.

Joanna is a busy woman working on a deadline, she made amazingly beautiful sleeves for her newest Granddaughter's Christening Gown.

Mrs. Pickles had big plans for sewing with us. when her DH said he would be arriving home early, so she did all sorts of other things, and yet somehow found time to get all of her Mystery Christmas Quilt-a-long blocks sewn together and they look great.

October's Christmas Quilt-a-long

Good afternoon everyone!  I am Miss October and my month has finally arrived!  Of course it arrived when I am covered up in projects but that will just make our day together that much more fun don't you think?!?

That said in honor of being the hostess for the CQAL this month I have made some goodies for you and unlike candy, these will be good all year.  I made wonky pincushions!  Who doesn't need another pin cushion, especially one painstakingly made by a non-crafter like your's truly?

Now the rules are going to be simple.

1. Say if you want the orange one or the blue one.  Any "I don't cares" will be awarded into the pincushion with the lowest entries to increase your chance to win.

2.  It doesn't matter where you live, anywhere on Earth is okay, but it you live someplace else you'll have to pay for your own shipping and provide detailed shipping directions.

3.  Who can enter?  Any of my blog regulars, these would be the ones who know who they are and so do I, as well as anyone who has done at least one month previously of the Christmas Quilt-a-long.  Everyone else is just out of luck and if I'm not sure if you qualify I will be checking with Sue our Supreme CQAL hostess, because this isn't about a giveaway it's about having a little fun with the gals I spend so much PC time with!

Do not enter now.  Pop back in tomorrow (regulars need not attend the party, simply stopping by is good enough) and enter then by leaving a comment on the post with the Mr. Linky (I will mention it in that post too).  Clearly at that time if you don't leave a comment I will not know you wanted to be in the draw so no comment = no count.  The giveaway will be open all day long and I'll be pulling out the winner on Sunday.

See you tomorrow!

Free Fabric for Life!

Lots of thinking not much doing today, at least until I found the latest Keepsake Quilting Fabric giveaway.  Have you seen their catalog?  It is filled with beautiful expensive fabrics that I'm sure we'd all love to own, and I have often daydreamed of being one of their gold members.  Anyway all that aside they are giving away A Lifetime of Fabric.  Yes, that's what I said.  Now if you follow this link when you register I'll get an extra entry for each person that enters the contest through my link.  http://ck.upickem.net/r/6xPaDr7TAZp?r=102073  On the odd chance that I win, I clearly will have some formerly fabric ear marked funds for giving back to a little to my followers, and if you win of course you can just dance around and be happy and I will applaud you.

Old Style Christmas Cards

Merry Christmas!  I love this time of year.  Here in Florida we don't often have snow or even cold weather for that matter but this most recent cold front has me thinking of Christmases gone by.  Year after year my mother would dig out boxes of Christmas cards.  Different themes for different people and then she would sit down with them all in this lid+box system and hand write each and everyone on her list.  Before I could write cursive myself I recall letters arriving to the house filled with cursive.  Each letter from one of her dear friends or relative.   A good part of the time the cards were so filled with writing it went well onto the back of the card.  

I knew that when I grew up I wanted garlands filled with notes from friends and sure enough when I set out off on my own they came.  A trickle at first but then more and I discovered even more came when I sent my own cards out as well.  So I bought boxes of Christmas cards jimmy rigged a lid and box writing system and wrote my Christmas cards. Each card I wrote something different that I thought the person I was sending it to might like to hear about. Years have gone by and the response cards have gotten shorter and shorter I have understood each time and even sent found wishes and prayers to that busy person.  Sometimes the notes changed into those dreaded newsletters.  You know the ones, they're fine and all but in world where everything in the mailbox is mass printed junk and bills there is just something a little lack luster about it all.  But still I cherish each card.  I happily hang them on my garland and even as my own hand aches with tendonitis from writing I still try to send cards out each year.  This year I'm half done and have come up against the harsh reality of having not purchased enough cards last year.  Now would you believe I ran out of return address labels on my very last card?

Enter Shutterfly.  They had the best deal going on some custom mugs I made that I can't show you yet.  Now I know what you're thinking something custom will never get here in time much less to write all that I do and get them sent back out but I think you'd be wrong.  My mugs were ordered Black Friday and where shipped out the very following Monday.  I'm still amazed that my custom order arrived before the prints that I also ordered.

So now I can order my holiday cards and my labels and have everything sent out in time to keep my in-laws happy.  Who knows I might even do something kookie and make them match!

And the Winner is:

The winner is #8 Liz!  I bet right about now she's really glad to find our little corner of blog land.  Happy holiday spending Liz we'll be looking forward hearing from you again.

Gift Certificate Giveaway ~ Happy Holidays

Yes, you read that correctly, thanks to our sponsor CSN I'm hosting my first giveaway.  It is a $35 gift code good on anything at their 200+ sites.

Here the Rules:

• Leave a Comment to this post for a chance to win.

• Go to any of the CSN Websites and find something you'd like to buy from them could be anything from TV stands for flat screens, cookware, or even something you forgot to buy this past weekend. Return here and tell me about it for a second chance to win.

• If you blog about this giveaway on your own blog you'll have third chance to win.

That's all there is to it.  Their website is already decked out with snowflakes, each one indicating items that can arrive in time for Christmas.  The giveaway ends next week Wednesday on the 8th so our lucky winner will have enough time to spend their gift certificate on Christmas presents if they'd desire.

Best of Luck to Everyone.

Christmas Quilt-a-long Wrap Up

Sue's Christmas Quilt-a-long ended on the 13th which was a little sad, but what you don't know is that I won something!  Sharon at Daisy Cottage Quilting Donated a Lollipop Oopsie Daisy Kit and she is the sponsor of my win.  How wonderful is that?  Beautiful Moda Fabrics make up this charming little quilt.

I'm not all together certain why the pattern picture of this quilt don't like to be photographed.  I noticed the same trouble when I looked at the kit online, but as you can see below the colors are quilt bright.  While it is a lollipop theme the reds and greens remind me of Christmas.

Yes I already made the little buttons that are the flower centers.  I couldn't resist, aren't they they cutest little things?  Warm Thanks to Sue and Sharon and while I will miss the Christmas Quilt-a-long I heard through the grapevine Sue might be doing something after the first of the year.  Perhaps a Mystery Quilt or another quilt-a-long?  Only time will tell!

They're Here!

I was thrilled when I won the giveaway Aunt Spicy was holding for a friend last week.  I was able to pick one item from Erica's Etsy Shop and of course I selected the rose studs, they are just the right size and I can't get over how fast they arrived, I wasn't expecting them today at all.

As a bit of an extra perk Wednesday is my birthday so the earrings will be something special I can wear while I celebrate.  I was torn between these earrings and her hair pins, so I might very well be back to her store before you know it.  Erica also has many beautiful photographic prints so why not head over to her store and take a look?  When I checked she has three different rose hairpins still, as well as the Coral Ruffle Rose Earrings that are like mine (except mine are pink)  Of course if you'd like to get to know her better pop in to her blog. 

Another Go Go Going...

What are those Accuquilt-Go People thinking?  I stumbled on another blog that is giving one away free!  This time it's one of my fellow Christmas-Quilt-a-Long fellow bloggers.  Truly two thumbs up to everyone involved in these give-aways.  It really gets the word out about a blog and the AccuGo at the same time.  Personally I'm still a little on the fence.  I'm not sure if they are all the wonder that they profess to be (I saw them at Joann's on sale the other day for $299!) and that seems like a lot to still have to prep work to cut it, but hey maybe here in a month I'll have won one of these things and then I'll be the one telling you how great they are, you never know.  At least 6 months or perhaps it was 9 months ago I saw that you can use it for Scrapbooking too, so perhaps it's right up the alley for a fellow scrapbooker?

So head over there and sign up, who knows maybe this time the winner will be you.  Sweet P Quilting and Creations.

Oh My Could it be?

Tomorrow is my birthday. I was planning on painting ceramics but then Rob got sick and then I found out they changed their hours and aren't open on Tuesday's anymore at all. So today the mailman rang the doorbell. Who could that be? I'm nearly certain everything I ordered before school started I've gotten? Hmmm. A box, before the mail lady even handed it to me I spotted Vicki's name from Feline and Fiber Arts. Oh my oh my. Let me tell you if I'd known all the goodies that box contained I might have saved it till to tomorrow just because. This was from her 100th post giveaway that I mentioned. The photo doesn't contain everything the box did either.

Not pictured but in the box were some sour gummys, how she knew I can't help a bit of sour every now and then I don't know, as well as some dried cranberries. Both of these packages where thrilling for the French Translations on them. Here in Florida if we have a second language on anything it's Spanish. Jessica my daughter told me that I could have the fabric and she could have the candy. LOL! We'll see honey. Blessed be the parent that came up with "We'll see". Not as good as yes, but a far cry better than no.

That box also contained a pattern from Pacific Rim. Those of you who don't know they make all sorts of Hawaiian style quilt patterns, as well as many others. I've always wanted to try one of the patterns, but never placed an order. Well this pattern couldn't be more perfect, it's called Sea Turtles & Dolphins. I have already read every word. I'll need to do a bit of fabric hunting before I begin though as I'm already thing wouldn't it be neat to make the turtles in deep turquoise the dolphins in grey all on a hand dyed blue. Not exactly traditional. Maybe I'll start with just the turtles.

Jessica had a much better day at school. She was thrilled to have completed all of her required workbook pages. Jessica is a joy, she always tries so hard, and is so pleased with just a bit of attention as a reward for her efforts. Though in the case of getting her workbook pages done she was able to have extra free play time and what child wouldn't want that on the first day of the second week of school? In a room full still of toys they haven't touched yet?

Rob is still stuck in bed with whatever bug has hit him so hard.

Tags for the Tagless

Today I found the living room floor. It's been missing for a couple of days now, so I dug it out. I didn't bother to dust it off though. I also made these tags for my daughter's tagless t-shirts which she needs for school. I didn't know where to write her initials so I took little scraps of fabric (leftovers from a muslin backed quilt I made this time last year) and told the sewing machine to sew her initials.

For anyone looking to make their own tags (for post clothing completion)
1. grab a fabric pen and write whatever you'd like,
2. then sew it to another scrap of fabric - sew on three sides leaving one end open
3. turn right sides out and tuck in the ends.
4. Sew around and voila a fabric tag.

I won something! As a dedicated non-winner it's pretty thrilling. Thanks Vicki over at Felines and Fiber Arts no matter how it sounds it was fun just reading all the comments others made. My kudos to Vicki can be found here. I'm feeling restless with Jessica starting school on Monday. LOL! I think everyone who reads this blog or knows me gets that feeling too and would call that an understatement. I went ahead and made a tag for the butterfly jumper I'll be making for my daughter. I be using a Vintage "look" butterfly fabric, which has been in transit for 9 days! I'm so spoiled, I tell you what, it's making me batty because it's taking so long. I'm planning on the gathered hem skirt. I hope she loves this jumper right off the bat. Not like last time...

Giveaway over at Felines and Fiber Arts

Let me start by staying I love looking at quilts and kittys. A blog about both is like having homemade apple pie and pumpkin pie with your Thanksgiving Dinner. Felines and Fiber Arts has both so her blog is a joy to read. Having just started following her blog a couple of months ago, I'm amazed at what a meticulous quilter she is. I don't think I have her patience.

Vicki's giveaway says to choose one of three questions and answer it. Of course me I miss that key word "one" and answer all three. I think it was good for me to do so as I took the time to really look at the blogs I visit and consider why I visit them. Hey everyone knows I'm in it because I adore all of you! ;)