Secret Stalker Mini Quilt Swap

Last week Wednesday was the Secret Stalker Mini Quilt Swap at the A2MQG meeting. 

(am I really that far behind?) 

I still can't share mine as I have submitted it to a magazine.  

Once I hear back one way or the other I will let you know.  

I will share how I wrapped it, even though I learned that we were not supposed to wrap it! 

 I made the card and used that needle minder in the center of the bow.  

I LOVED how it looked!

My person was Emily.  She loves vintage sheets and cats!  She has 2 cats Odin and Polly.

I made a label using fabric and my ink jet printer.

First I found a great vintage paper site that had free designs.

It is called Free Pretty Things for You.

They have some adorable things on this site if you love vintage designs.

Next I went to Pic Monkey to edit the image.

This is a free photo editing site and you can easily add words, which I did.

I saved the image to a jump drive.

I was able to directly insert the jump drive into my printer.

If you can't do that you can upload to your computer and print from there.

Then I had to prep for the label.  

I had to fiddle with the settings on my printer and did a few test prints on paper until it was right.

Then I ironed Kona cotton to the shiny side of a piece of freezer paper.

I was able to feed this through my printer and print the label directly onto the fabric.

I then trimmed the label and sewed it, rst, to another piece of the white fabric.

I clipped the corners and turned and pressed and voila, a great label with no raw edges!

You can even close the opening when you sew it to the quilt.

I received a BEAUTIFUL mini quilt in return from the amazing Jackie.  

We were supposed to put on our name paper what we liked and 

I forgot all about putting Cocoaland Cats but she did a fantastic job!

She even did some hand quilting on this and it is just so lovely!

I could not be more thrilled over it.  

Over the moon with both what I gave and what I received.

Also, we closed on my dad's house on Wednesday.  

I am so relieved to be done with this!

The new people have already made sweeping changes to the house.

It looks great!!

They took out all the bushes, trimmed the pine tree and took off the ramp.

BEFORE

And after (so far)

More to talk about but I am running out of time!

~XOP~

The Weekend

How was your weekend?  Mine was pretty fantastic! 

 On Saturday I got to watch my Spartans beat Michigan!  Yeah, that NEVER gets old, ever! 

 I received some awesome mail too. 

 A very good friend of mine is helping me complete Hocuspocusville (HPV not the virus), by Crabapple Hill.  She has exquisite hand work!  Wanna see?  I need to press it but isn't it fabulous?!  Thank you so much dear friend!

I was sent out to do some shopping.  They should know better then to send me out to shop!  

"Pick up a few things for me will you?" he said as he left to finish the peacock pen.  

Sure but don't blame me if other stuff follows me home!

How could I resist this amazing peacock door mat for Long Feather Lane?  Obviously I couldn't!

Bed Bath and Beyond, Marshalls, and Michaels, then on to the Salvation Army thrift shop.  

Lookie at what I scored!  

Shelby wanted one of these for the hot cider for her party on Friday, so of course I had to stop and see if I could find one.  

Luckily for me they happened to have one!  As you can see it is in the cart!

I did manage to work on this little quilt that I still can only show you sneak peeks of, 

but it is ready for gifting!  Hallie approved too!

I worked some on cleaning, laundry and such too.  

I did get my crayon challenge quilt cut out and some of it sewn too.  

More about that later.  

I just got a call and we are closing on my dad's house on Wednesday. 

 It feels good and also a little odd.  This is the house I grew up in. 

 My parents built it and we moved in when I was 5years old. 

 It is kind of bittersweet to be selling it but also a HUGE relief!  

It was the last part of "all things dad" that I needed to do to close the chapter on that part of my life.  No more being anyone's daughter. 

 It is a milestone I am sad to see come. 

 I miss my dad.

Today also marks the 2 year anniversary of Jack's passing.

  I think you have one pet in your lifetime that you have a very special bond with 

and for me that was Jack.  

I still miss him every single day. 

 It hurts less, but there is still an empty spot in my heart.  

RIP dad and Jack.  Maybe you are keeping each other company?  I hope so!

~XOP~

WIP Wednesday and Other Stuff

I am one of the charity chair people for the A2MQG.  

We are participating in the MCG charity project and making a couple of quilts. 

 I am on the "Let's make blocks" team.  

Debbie Grifka generously provided a copy of one of her Think Positive quilt patterns and 

we are all making blocks from the prescribed colors that were chosen by the national guild.  

I got the aqua and lime green ones.  

Here is my progress.

We can't add the sides/top/bottom until we get them all laid out so we can see where they need to be but I LOVE them!!

Another project that I am in the middle of is this one.  I just used pearle cotton to do a blanket stitch around the applique.  I even hand appliqued the scallopped edges down!  I NEVER do that!  One more week and it will be a gift!  So only a sneak peek for now.

The last thing I bought were some needle minders as gifts (maybe)   = )

I think you know who the one is for, but not sure if I am keeping the other or gifting it.  

Time will tell.  

If you want your own or want to see what other goodies are available check out 

Gina's Unique Boutique on ETSY

Fatty McFatty says it is getting cold here in Michigan so you should totally curl up and quilt! 

 (or nap as the case must be)

I will be linking up to Lee's WIP Wednesday.

~XOP~