Weekend and Giveaway Winner

I bet you are all anxious to hear who won the giveaway, right?  

It should not be a surprise that it was Kathy S!! 

 She had many of you link up.  

I will be hosting that same link up each week and 

hope you will return to link up every Wednesday with me. 

 Here is what she won.  

Two charm packs and a pattern.  

The charm packs were fabric designed by my friend in real life, Brenda.  

When RJR sent them though they were missing one fabric in the line.  

The line, One Room Schoolhouse, is so pretty though, she should still be able to make something pretty sweet with them!

I had a fun weekend.  

I met a friend and her mom for lunch on Saturday then went shopping. 

 I bought some new clothes and they were even in a smaller size.  

How fun is that?? 

 I was able to buy size 12 and it was not even tight!! 

 I then went to JAF for a visit.  

I have not stopped in there in quite some time and happened to be by a really HUGE one (two floors).  I needed to get a yard of U of M fabric and coordinating flannels

 to make a chenille blanket for someone.  

Of course I could NOT walk out of there without buying a few more things. 

 I got fabric to make 2 more chenille blankets, fabric for some Frosty the Snowman pillowcases 

and a few patterns.  

Quite the expensive trip!!

I did manage to make the binding and label for the Sea Horse quilt!  

See that mermaid?  

That is in quilting cotton but I found that same fabric in Minky and that's what I used for the back!

This is how I seem to spend quite a bit of my time when I am sitting on the couch.  

Hallie jumps up, and then lays right on me while I am doing things in this spot on the couch.

When I am sewing she has taken Autumn's place on the rag quilt.  

Not sure I could get rid of that quilt.  

It has so many memories of each cat sleeping on it while I sew.  

I have lots more to show but no more time to write. 

 I hope you had a good weekend and managed to stay cool! 

 It is supposed to be in the 90's here all week.

~XOP~

Social Weekend

It rarely happens that we have a weekend full of parties, but last weekend was one.  

I was supposed to pick up a vintage sewing machine (more on that later) on Sat morning but could not manage to hook up with the person, so on to plan B.  

We began watching the football game for while.   

In the early afternoon we had to leave for a Clam Bake on Lake Erie with some friends.  

Now mind you, I have never experienced a clam back and this was fantastic!  

They dug a pit on the beach and made a fire. 

 It doesn't look big but the pit was like 7' across!

Then they bagged up lobster tails, clams, potatoes, corn and carrots to put in the fire. 

 I think they let it become coals, put on seaweed then the food then more seaweed. 

 It was fantastic.

Unfortunately there were 40 mile an hour winds coming from the east across the lake.  

Gigantic waves, 3-4 foot!

On Sunday we were invited to a BBQ at one of my new boss's house.  

I don't usually socialize with my lab mates but the Chairman of our Dept. 

(one of the new boss's for me) 

personally invited me, so I put it on the calendar.

I managed to get some sewing done before we left, but did not manage to get any pictures!  HA!

I have been piecing a back for this most recent wedding quilt.  

Is anyone interested in seeing the process I have been using to design this back? 

 I made three large squares (16") to have at the wedding reception.  

People signed the squares and left well wishes.  

I embroidered the label, on the same gray I used on the front (which I used on the back too).  

I don't know about you, but I HATE sewing the label on after I make a quilt. 

 If I incorporate it into the back it is MUCH less painful for me.  

Bonus that the label can't be removed either!

If you are interested in seeing my dimensions and how it put the back together, 

I will take a photo of the graph and the back.  

I still need one more piece of gray (which I hope to have tonight) 

to actually finish assembling the back and then off to the quilter before I leave for NC.

Have a great Hump day everyone!

~XOP~

My Quilt Went To Market

I know some of you have been following the progress on my Pie Making Day quilt. 

 I am still going to do a tutorial/QAL if anyone is interested, I just need more hours in a day!

I did just get it finished in time to go to market and it was prominently displayed on the table in Brenda's booth at market.

This is Brenda and Jason in their Pie Making Day booth at quilt market.  

Their booth won first place for a single booth!!

You can see the quilt a little bit better here.

Brenda requested we use her fabric for the back too, so this is what I went with.  

Seriously, this fabric is so vibrant.  

The colors were just amazing!!!  I can't wait for the line to come out in July!!!

My little embroidery done with Aurifloss.  

That floss was so nice to work with also.  

It just glided right through the fabric!

I also made a few more Polaroid blocks.  

I'm not gonna lie, I'm actually kind of happy this is done now.  

I do love how they came out and participating in that swap.

I have also been embroidering some quilt labels for my friend, Robin. 

 I finished three of them. 

I like this one the best though.

Lots more to share.  Man I really need to catch up!!

~XOP~