WIPs With Friends and Giveaway

Hey there.  It's been awhile since I have had actual time to write one of these posts. 

Anyone out there doing any sewing?  Halloween costumes?  Halloween Quilts?  Christmas stuff? Let's share what you are working on! 

 I have some adorable fabric to give away to someone if we can get 10 pictures shared on this post!  

Me?  

I am working on getting things ready for my trip to California in a few weeks 

for the Sew Beachy retreat.  

I want to make this adorable first aid bag but I am really a bag chicken.  LOL. 

 I am not confident at all when sewing things like this.  

It is from the book Crafty Little Things to Sew.  

My friend Jaimie (@madebyjamie) 

will be there to and she has agreed to hold my hand and walk me through the process. 

She is amazing!   

I would love to make these for gifts.  Wouldn't they be great in your car? 

 I just need to learn how to make one first, HA!

I did just get my Sparty quilt back from the quilter, but it has rained every day so no photos yet.  

I made the binding and sewed in on, just need to hand stitch it down now.  

I sent the gator quilt to the quilter and made the binding for that one too.

I made another Cheddar Jack to use in a project.  

He is so cute and a free pattern here on my blog, 

in the Mama Spark's Tutorial section (link in header too)

I had LOADS of help with him along with the paper pieced word I was making one letter at a time.  

I can't show that or the person I am making this for will know who they are = )

I used the alphabet pattern from Diane Bohn.

It is a really nice one and if you need a copy you can find one right here.

I still need to show you guys the fabric I bought while on our NC trip.  

I hope to have that posted tomorrow.

I am also linking up with Sew Fresh Quilts

If you want to be in the drawing for some sweet fabric please link up what you are working on.

If we can get 10 people I will give away some fabric!!!

(and we all NEED free fabric, right?)

~XOP~

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Happy Halloween

I LOVE Halloween.  I love seeing the kids all dressed up and handing out the candy. 

 I found some of my kids old costumes.  

Hubby wanted me to get rid of them but nooooooooo, I neeeeeeed to keep them!  

HAHA

Since I don't have any littles I thought I would show you what my daughter made.  

She made dragon wings for her peacock, Stan!

Isn't he so cute as a dragon??  

She attached the wings to the "diaper" I made for his predecessor, Beep.

I hope you all have a fun and safe Halloween!

~XOP~

Our Visit To Durham

We finally arrived at our daughter's house and unloaded all the "stuff" we had brought with us.  Unfortunately most of that same stuff came home with us!

I brought my wedding dress because she wanted to try it on. 

 It was a beautiful dress but pretty dated.  

She will not be wearing it (I didn't think she would, though).  

Does anyone know a place that takes these as donations?

One of the fun things we did while we were there was to visit the venue where the wedding and reception will be taking place. 

 It's called the Cookery.

This is the room you walk into upon arrival.  

It is where the cocktail hour will be held after the wedding.

From where I was standing if I did a 180 this was the other view of the same space.

We walked through an outdoor area into the ballroom.  

This is where the dinner and dancing will be held.

See those two large doors?  

The bridal suite (for getting ready) is behind them.

Bridal suite view one. 

(windows are looking into the courtyard where the wedding will be)

Doing a 180 this is the rest of the room.

This is the courtyard where the wedding will be held.

On Saturday it was game day.  Max was all set in his MSU green and white.

We were not watching the game because we were shopping for the wedding dress!!!

This is all I am allowed to show.  It was as we first walked into David's Bridal.  

The dress is a secret.

We headed for home on Monday morning via the New River Gorge. 

 I learned that the New River is one of the oldest rivers in North America.

I believe this bridge is the largest single span in America too. 

 It was pretty spectacular.

We stopped for a photo.

As we were driving along the mountains we happened upon Cathedral Falls.  So beautiful!

We walked along the slippery rocks to get close to the falls.  So fun!

We spent the night in Marietta Ohio at the Lafayette Hotel.   

It was a beautiful old hotel right on the river.  Take a look at that ship's wheel on the ceiling!

This was the view from our room.

Isn't this a cool old hotel?

Next up will be the spoils of the trip.  Or at least most of the spoils.  

~XOP~

The Quilt Shops Ohio, Quilt Shops WV, Traveling Quilter

Hubby and I traveled to Durham, NC to visit our daughter and future SIL.  

He always plans out our road trip and all the quilt shop stops.

I take photos and spend all the money tee hee.

First up is the bridge in Ohio.

Everytime we cross it I seem to be amazed and take a photo.

This one was pretty good during sunrise.

We had a beautiful sunrise to greet us as we began our trip from Michigan to NC.

I love how the rays look in this photo.

First stop was in Berlin Ohio.  

We stopped at Helping Hands and The Plaid Sheep.  

It is always a competition to see who will see the first buggy.

A LONG stop at Troyers was a lot of fun.  

See there, hubby liked this *much* better than the quilt shops!

This row of baked goods was NOT for the diet concious!

We stopped at Bolts and Quarters in Parkersburg WV.  A cute shop.  

We were heading for a couple of other quilt shops when we realized 

we would be leaving WV and going back into Ohio, lol.

This shop, Neff's, had a lot of things besides fabric.  This day they had a lot of Halloween fabrics.

The next stop was a place called Sew Happy.  I LOVED this little shop.  

We were warned they may or may not be open so call ahead if you plan a visit. 

Lucky for me they were open!

Found a few gems in here!

Oh look, back to WV, haha.

The little town of Parkersburg had a historic district so we thought we would drive around.  

We headed down Julia street.  We were NOT disappointed!

I was totally in LOVE with all of the homes we saw. 

This beauty was for sale by owner.  I think we need to buy this and move in!  

I took so many photos but will only share a few here.

Last stop before arriving at my daughter's place was this shop. 

 Calla Lily Quilts.  It was a big beautiful shop with a LOT of things to see. (and buy!)

Next up is our arrival at our daughter's place and the things we did there. 

We did go wedding dress shopping and she did find a dress.  

Unfortunately she forbade me sharing it or any of the photos LOL.  

Suffice it to say she made us all cry!

More of the trip to follow soon.

~XOP~