Blogger's Quilt Festival 2011

That's right it's Blogger's Quilt Festival time.  Amy has hosted this amazing festival for the past little while and if you haven't heard about it be prepared to be blown away by all the inspiration out there!  We are supposed to choose one quilt to share with everyone and tell the story behind the quilt.  I had the amazing opportunity to be the person selected to put together a very special quilt.  A group of Flickr peeps got together, virtually and everyone was assigned a color.  The block style was chosen and we all went to work.

Here is my block.

My friend Pauline made a block also.

OK I've teased you enough here is the entire quilt!

I chose the layout and put the top together, my friend Liz did the quilting and my friend Pauline embroidered the label and did the binding. Know who we sent it off in the mail to? Heather Ross!!! She was expecting her first baby and we thought it would be perfect for her. We had to use some of Heather's fabric in our block too. Here is the label and you can see the quilting better here too.

I designed the label and the saying was one of Heather's. Pauline did a great job hand embroidering the label too.

I hope you have enjoyed my quilt and the story that goes along with it. Thanks for stopping by!!

Vintage Sheet Swap

I participated in a vintage sheet swap recently.  I sent 27 of the VS FQ's I had at home and received 27 different  ones in return.  This is what I received.

I have been getting ready for our BIG Halloween party on Saturday. My sewing room has been totally picked up and everything put away. That took a long time! I will take a picture of it on the day of the party. I now have to go and finish the rest of the shopping for the party today too. I have already baked 8 dozen cookies! I hope it doesn't rain the night of the party.

A few weeks ago my DH came home with a little gift for me. I LOVE Halloween and he found the neatest Jack-o-Lantern.

It is painted pottery. Very unique, I love it!!  You put a candle inside so it will light up!!

I don't know if I will have anything to blog about until after the party so if not, have a great weekend and we will talk soon! ~XOP~

I Wish They Had This At My Gym!

I saw this video today and it made me LOL so I thought I would share it with you all.  I know that many of us are working at becoming healthier so have a good laugh and spread this around!

Having a good laugh helps your mental health!

Weekend Goings On

How was everyone's weekend?  Mine seemed to be spend doing a lot of "stuff" and not very exciting stuff at that.  I had a lot of things I needed to do and then there was the exciting MSU football game on Saturday night!!!

One of the kind of different things I did was DH and I made mozzarella cheese together.  My friend gave us some fresh goat milk and we tried making cheese with it.  Here you can see it formed and then DH stretching it.

He was having so much fun stretching it that he stretched it too much and it turned out tough. So he just grated it. I will let you know how it tastes when I use it in something. I think I would like to try it again and see if we can do a better job of it. It didn't take very long either!

I also had some swaps come in this last week too. Are you guys as happy to receive swaps as I am? I got two packages this past week.

I took this dress apart and it came out very well!!

What cool swap stuff have you received (or sent) ?

~XOP~

The Decision Has Been Made

Thank you to everyone that voted in my poll and sent me an email or left a comment.  I had another option and I was concerned about using it. I have a custom stamper that I had made with Mama Spark's Quilts on it.  I decided to try using that on this blanket.  I just didn't have it in me to take the binding apart and chance that it would come apart after repeated washings. 

I used the stamp and an ink pad with ink that, when heat set, becomes permanent. So what do you think of my solution? I'm really happy with it!

Then, after the gym yesterday, I stopped at the thrift shop and found a couple of goodies. I love the vintage Napco wear from Japan and found this wee treasure.

She is only about 2" tall and so adorable!

Of course I cruised the vintage sheet section too and lookie what I found there

Love this! I don't often find ones like this so I was super excited to find this one. I recently did a vintage sheet swap and can't wait to get my sheet FQs back in the mail. I did a couple of other swaps also and need to take some photos to show you that as well.

Time to go to Zumba! Then cleaning and finishing a top for a friend's mom are on the list of things to do today. Of course the MSU game, but that's not until tonight. What are your weekend plans? ~XOP~

And Yet More Chenille

Are you sick of looking at my chenille blankets yet?  I have one more after this that I have to make (ie baby showers)  This is the third one of the 4 I have to do.  I am in total LOVE with the chenille on this one.  It is so rich and vibrant.  I decided to go with 3 shades of pink dark, medium and light with an orange for the foundation.  I put the darkest flannel on the top, then the med and then the light.  I tried to take some photos this morning (in the dark) and they don't really do the thing justice.  It is gorgeous IRL!!  I am hoping for some better light for more pictures later.  I finished the binding last night and stayed up late to wash and dry it.  Well guess what?  I completely forgot to put my label on it!  So what I hear you say, right?  Except I usually slip the ends of the tape under the binding.  So now I have the dilemma of do I take out some stitches to put in the binding and re-sew the binding on or just leave it unlabeled.  I'm leaving it up to you guys to help me decide so please leave me a comment and let me know which you would suggest.  Vote in the poll on my side bar!

You can see the orange peeking through the layers of pink if you look close up.  Also see how the binding has shriveled up with the crinkly goodness of the chenille, which I fear will make re-doing it a pain.  OK, it's up to you to help me decide what to do.  It's like a WWMSD question! LOL

Another Chenille Finished

I have been posessed about finishing up several chenille blankets for gifts.  I showed you a sneak peek at one that used Sherbet Pips pups on the back.  It's all finished and should be in the post tomorrow or Friday to go to it's new home.  Some sweet woman I know is having a new baby in November and I hope she likes it!  Here is what it looks like all finished up.

After I took these pictures this morning I realized I needed to clip a few errant threads on the back. Please excuse those!

I have another one with the lines all sewn and all cut. I squared it up last night and put the binding on. I managed to sew it halfway down by hand. Still need to finish that up, but I have time before the baby shower. Just a few more to go and I can be done with these! It is kind of addicting to see how they are going to turn out. So far some of the ones I wasn't too sure about have ended up being my favorite! I have two Halloween-ish ones (just for fun) and one more that I need to actually buy the flannel for and make for a co-worker who is having a baby in February. The fun never stops around my house, haha. ~XOP~

And The Winner of The Traveling Stash Is...

True Random Number Generator Min: 1 Max: 23 Result: 2 Powered by RANDOM.ORG

Stray Stitches who said "I would love to be able to add to the Traveling Stash. I have been following both boxes from the beginning. Something about me? I'm an avid blog reader! "

Congratulations Linda!!!  I will email you later today or if you see this please email me !!

Thanks everyone for commenting and for visiting!! ~XOP~

 

Farmer's Market and Second Star

I went to the farmer's market with my DH on Sunday.  I got the biggest cauliflower and head of cabbage I have ever seen, just one dollar each!! 

The purple and yellow ones were just amazing!

The colorful eye candy was everywhere.  I love fall in the midwest!

There was this man carving a gigantic pumpkin too, fascinating!

This market is realtively small but it was fun to get some great deals on some amazing produce!

So backing up to Saturday, I got up and went to Zumba, came home, showered and watched the MSU vs U of M game. A HUGE rivalry, which MSU won yet again!! It was a good game too. Then it was time to put up my Halloween decorations and clean up the sewing room. Done. I also managed to sew my second star from the FQ Star QAL hosted by Moose on the Porch. I'm happy with it.

I managed to sew all the lines on yet another chenille blanket, now for the cutting part! UGH that makes my hands hurt already!! 2 more to do and then done with that. I wanted to work on a top for my friend's mom but just could not get to it. Hopefully I will be able to work on it this upcoming weekend as it is one I need to have done before Thanksgiving.  I did talk with a friend and have another pattern to test for her, yeah!  Looking forward to working with her again.  So I guess that brings you up to date with what I have going on.  How was your weekend?  ~XOP~

Destash

I have been cleaning up the old sewing space (you should see how good it looks at the moment!)  I took 4 plastic bins of fabric out of my room.  I can't believe how much fabric I have amassed over the last year!  YIKES.  I found some things I need to get rid of, so if you are interested in any of my stash, please let me know.

Little Blessings  $4.00 per FQ or $15 for all 4

Natural Effects Each of these is 1 yard. $7.00 each piece

Frolic, 2 yard piece $14.00

I also have some fabric sample cards but would prefer to swap something for them. I have an ISO list in my Flickr profile if you are interested.  I hope you are having a great weekend.  I will get some photos of my cleaned up sewing room.   ~XOP~

Surprise In the Mail

I was home from work yesterday.  I did NOT feel well at all.  Headache, fever, and exhausted!  UGH.  I really didn't want to be coming down with something.  I decided since I felt crappy anyway, I would go outside in the cool air and pull out plants and weeds.  I could sweat freely, look like I felt and everyone that saw me would just think I was working hard, LOL.  A neighbor I haven't seen in a long time was walking by (of course) and she stopped and we chatted and then she asked if she could help!  Apparently she likes pulling out dead stuff and weeds!!  What a blessing that was.  She didn't stay long but long enough to do some real damage with me on the front garden.  It's not very often someone offers to actually help weed!  Thanks Tracey!

I finally stopped after about 4 hours of plant pulling/weeding.  I went inside and changed my clothes.  I was going to go out to Target and get a few plastic bins to clear up the sewing room.  Just as I was about to step outside the doorbell rand.  It was my UPS boyfriend, Tom!  We talk politics all the time, it's fun.  He is a great guy.  So we were talking and he handed me a small box.  It was from United Notions.  HUH?  United Notions?  I didn't order anything from them.  So I went inside and opened it up and here is what was inside.

No Note just this beautiful Pezzy Prints Jelly Roll!! I think I know who sent it so I sent an email this morning and we will see. I am so excited to have this Pezzy goodness ahead of time! Thanks to my secret friend at United Notions!

I'm back at work today and feeling MUCH better. Whatever it was, I guess I needed sleep! I hope you are all well!!

MSU plays U of M this weekend so you know where I will be right? Parked in front of my TV!!! GO STATE!!!

Halloween Goings On

I love Halloween.  If you have read my blog for any length of time you probably know that already.  I made a Jack-O-Lantern wall hanging several years ago now but I still love it and I hang it up every October.  I'm not sure if I have shown it before but I thought you might like to see it.  I still love it as much as when I first made it!

Each of the "Jacks" were stitched around using glow in the dark thread too!

I love the crazy outside border fabrics too.

I used a cool spider web batik for one of the borders and for the back.

If you happen to be looking for a great Fall table runner, hop over to my friend Kaelin's blog (The Plaid Scottie) for a super cute pumpkin table runner. It is seriously the cutest one I have seen in a long time! If you are like me and want to turn it into a Halloween one I bet you can figure out a way to applique some Jack-o-Lantern faces on it too! If you do, please let me know, as I would love to see it!!

~XOP~