Day One In NYC and I Need A Nap!

We got up early and had breakfast then DH went off to flight school. Sigh, I was on my own. I knew I needed to look up when things were open so I didn't waste my time going somewhere that wasn't open. Good thing too as some of the things I wanted to do are not open on Mondays. So first up was to go to get on the bus and go into the city. Armed with my trusty map off I went.

First place to go? The Garment district. Lots of fun fabric and trim shops. I found a shop called So Good and bought some twill tape to use for my labels. The guy told me a dollar a yard but I told her I found it online for 0.29 per yard so he undercut that and I got 30 yards!!

Please forgive the quality of the pics I am still trying to figure out DH's camera (and mourning the loss of my own). I found my way to Sew Elegant and bought some Dupioni silk pink, cross woven with green. What I hear you asking, why? Well a LONG time ago when I went to Paris I bought some beautiful velvet green cross woven with pink! I envisioned a dress with the velvet for the bodice and the silk for the skirt.

I had been to MJ Trimming before but it was a nice eye candy stop again. So much color.

I am now starving so I stopped at Ben's Deli. I had corned beef and I must say the coleslaw was amazing! Now off to Macy's and some shopping.
I rode a wooden escalator at Macy's. I had never seen one before, have you? Then I found Fiestaware as far as the eye could see!

Look at those square plates and mugs, Tervis tumblers and those new rectangular bakers. LOVE IT!!

I didn't buy anything there though. I left and ended up in the Foot Locker and got myself a pair of Zumba shoes. I turned around and saw some Converse high tops in Texas orange! I texted DS to see if he was interested and asked if they have a size 13. They did so now he has a pair of orange Texas shoes too. Check out those cute ribbon laces on the white shoes.

I spied an Old Navy and thought I would stop in there. So glad I did. I got a few cute things.

The green, gray and white are cami's, the Halloween one is a t shirt, the black one has ruffles and is like a tee shirt material and the aqua if a cotton sweater.

I am back in the hotel and am I ever tired! I think we will just eat in DH will stop on his was back to the hotel. I'm not that hungry even though I only ate half of my sandwich and no bread! So I hope you have enjoyed the trip so far. Tomorrow the American Folk Museum and City Quilter.

The Drive to NYC

We made it to NY, actually we made it to Secacus NJ! That's were we are staying. I thought I would show you some of our adventures from yesterday on the way here. First you have to know that DH figures any road trip is not complete unless you stop along the way or at least take the "scenic" route. Actually I like that about him. We had been driving quite awhile, maybe 5 hours or so and were in PA when we decided to stop for gas and a quick bite. We also decided to take the Elk Scenic Drive. We exited right behind some stopped traffic backed up at least 3 miles for an accident, perfect timing. Our drive took us through some beautiful scenery. We were going so fast so it was difficult to get too many pics but I managed to snap this one out the front window.

The trees have just begun to turn color but it was still beautiful. We followed a river the entire way. We did decide to detour to the town of Benezette as there was supposed to be an Elk viewing area. As we drove through town, we noticed some folks stopped and taking photos so we stopped and got out and this is what we saw, in town.

He was just like, "hi guys, I'm an elk and I'm just hanging out in someone's backyard." Too funny. So we kept driving. Up, up, up a huge incline to this place.

But we only saw this and this

no elk. We had passed what I thought was the visitor center that I had read about so we turned around and went back. It was the visitor center. There is viewing there too and it is an educational center. No more elk unless you count this one.

I know I look so amazing, right? It was really windy, and pretty chilly and DH was taking forever to snap a picture *and* I was looking into the sun! I know, yeah, yeah. You get the idea. We left the center and drove back through the town and saw another Elk just hanging out not too far from the first one we saw.


Then we continued on our way to NJ. We got here around 7pm so total about 12 hours but I think our little detour cost us about an hour and a half or so, but I feel it was well worth it. It's always an adventure with us!

I have been looking up things to do today while I wait to hear from Victoria and Heather. Looks like it will be Wed to meet Victoria. I think I am going to check out the garment district and some shopping today. DH is done with school around 5:30 tonight so I will come back then. Most things open at 9 or 10 so I am just getting ready to head out. I found some good info at Paula Nadelstern's website so will have lots of great places to look, even if I don't buy anything it should be an interesting day. I think I will be near Macy's too so will stop in if I have time too.

I guess I should stop typing and get going right? More later!!

Prelude to NYC

I have lots to share before I leave for the week. First, I ordered some fabric from Hawthorne Threads and from Sew Mama Sew. It is the Peacock line by Allison Jane Smith and I am sooo in love with it. Here you will see the lovely Aiden modeling my package from SMS.


I just fell in love with this and it is so much prettier in person.

But I bought one piece of Farmdale too. Love it.

Not sure why I find this so appealing but I sure do. This is the FQ bundle I bought from Hawthorne. Just GORGEOUS!!

I especially love the actual peacock fabric.

Then I received a package from McCall's Quilts. Remember me entering my quilt and not making it to the second challenge? Well there were only 3 quilts that did not advance and mine was one of the three. You know how when you are looking at all the entries and you choose "the ugly" ones? It was kind of a shock to realize that my quilt was "one of those". I really didn't/don't think so but obviously it was. Is that like having a child only a mother can love too? Now before you all tell me something different, just realize that no matter what anyone says, it still stings just a little bit. My ego is a little bruised. Maybe that's what I needed? I'm over the contest and think things are working out in a different direction so no worries about me! All that being said, here is what they sent to me.

Quite the haul wouldn't you agree?? I have shared some of it with my BFF, PTM too because she is soooo good to me.

Speaking of that my other BFF LTW, and I went to Checker again and picked up our order. That was a fun morning on Friday. I drove PTM's stuff to her and there were tea towels in the box. We were talking about making something for us to give Heather Ross when I see her and when I got to PTM's she had made these darling bags (using HR fabric). One for her, one for Heather and one for me. I don't have pics of the bags but I will. Then she took the tea towels and washed them and traced a little something on mine for me to embroider. I finished mine and here it is:

It is a free pattern from Bird Brain Designs. I am also giving her some homemade salsa.

This brings you up to date on my comings and goings. I need to finish the laundry, go to the grocery and pack, we are leaving early tomorrow. If I can get internet I will post while I am gone otherwise I will see you all on the 25th.

And the Winner Is...

I did the random.org thing but can't figure out how to post the result. It was comment 203 which is Kathleen from Churchville Lane!! OK, Kathleen, I have emailed you and now await your response so I can pop your prize in the mail. If I receive it before noon today it can go out today otherwise Oct 25th.

Thank you to everyone that stopped by and participated in the contest. I have more to share but I have to put in laundry, go to the gym, the post office and do the things I need to do for getting ready to leave tomorrow for NYC. I will post after I get home from the gym.
XOP

Heather Ross

Really, need I say more? Let me set the scene for you. I was busy baking brownies in muffin pans last night to thank someone at work for all their help and I had just popped them into the over and my cell phone rang. I looked at the number, hmmm 917 area code? Maybe it is DH since he is out of town, using someone's phone? I pick up and say hello? I hear, "Hi, is this Pam?" of course I say "yes" and then I hear, "This is Heather Ross"!!!!!! You have to be kidding me right? No it really was her!!!! I had bought some stuff via her studio sale and she was calling to ask me a few questions about what I might like. Really? I LOVE all her stuff. So we discussed a few things and then she says that she found some BOLTS of Flea Market Fancy (Denise Schmidt) in her storage unit and maybe I might like some of that too? Umm YESSSSS. She got it when she did some work for a book I think she said, but what was funny was that she told me it was in the back of the storage unit and she forgot about it. She told me the unit is so big you could hide a body in it and probably never find it!! HAHAHA Then she told me they just bought a house. First house? No, country house, they have a flat in Manhattan. Funny you should say that as I will be in NYC next week. She asked me if I know the Purl? Of course I do, I follow their blog. Well, she has to go there next week to pick up a few things and if I can fit it into my schedule maybe we can meet up at the Purl!!!!!!! I almost fainted. Fit it into my schedule? It will be the first thing to be scheduled!!!!! Everything else can work around that.

We also talked about her designing and she is meeting with some companies trying to see where she will be designing. I really hope she chooses Moda. I don't know which companies she is meeting with but I'm sure she will tell everyone once she makes her decision.

Then she tells me to send her an email when I get to the city and we can make a plan to meet up. You betcha I sure will!!

So I of course called PTM and she was so excited too. I think she is sending some things for Heather to sign, LOL. A quilt top and back I believe. I have to be able to carry it around with me though! Her DDIL told her she should go with us and when I asked DH he said, well we have a pull out couch in our room...I think he would totally let her come with us too. Isn't that sweet? What a keeper! I don't think she will come though. How much fun would that be if she did? Can't you just see the two of us loose in NYC??? I might just swoon thinking about it!!

Well, that's the most excitement happening around here. Whoever said that after something bad happens to them something really good follows was so right. I will keep you posted. <3 XOP

Plus Origins

Remember when I said that I had several baby quilts to make? Well, I have 3! I know what I am making for 2 of them and I started on one of them last night. I found a great tutorial over at I'm Just a Guy Who Quilts for a plus baby quilt. I had about an hour to play with before Zumba and this is what I came up with.

Just by laying them out I can see that I need some more variation in the plus placement. I think there needs to be some more extreme left, right, up and down. Funny thing is that there are some very pale colors in this charm pack so I have a darker gray to use for those. So far I like how it is turning out.

Don't forget that the drawing for my giveaway closes on Friday. I will draw on Saturday morning and post when I get back from NYC.

Wow, It Really IS That Easy!

I wanted to try out making a mosaic to see how it would work. It was SO easy. I used the directions from Lily and the site pretty much walked me through it. I did link my Flickr account to the site just for ease of use, but it told me I didn't have to. One advantage is that once you have your mosaic created all the links to each photo are already done for you, huge time saver that!! I did spend sometime searching through Flickr and saving things to my favorite file. This made choosing the pics a snap. Now that I am an old pro (NOT) I advise you to give it a try. I will set up the group today for the Charming Secret Santa Christmas Swap and post the link to the group.

Oh yes, so here is my mosaic (credits for the pics are in the Flickr account photos)

Creating a New Flickr Group

I am going to create a photo sharing group on Flickr for our Charming Club Secret Santa Christmas Swap. I think most people I know have Flickr accounts. Here is how it will work. You can join the group on Flickr and then you can upload the projects you are working on for your *secret* partner. In addition, if you want to, you can also make a mosaic of photos you like and upload that to the group too. This will show your partner what you like. Now I can already hear you saying, "How do I make a mosaic?" Maybe it's just me saying that, anyway, I didn't know how to do that either so I emailed someone that knows WAY more than I do about that and here is what she had to say:

"OK, to make a mosaic is pretty easy. If you are making it from your own photos, you don't need to do anything first but, if you are making it from other people's photos, add all the photos you want to use into your faves first. Then go to:

bighugelabs.com/mosaic.php

and select how many photos you want in each row and column. You then choose the photos one by one - if you click to choose them from your own computer, it will link through to that. If you choose to make them from flickr, I think you have to give the details of your flickr account and allow access first. You can then choose from your flickr faves or you flickr photostream.

Click "create" when you are done and this will create your mosaic. You can then upload it into your flickr photostream and the credits for each photo will be included in the description below. Or you can download the photo onto your computer and use it from there.

You may find occasionally that you have blanks in your mosaic. This is because some people do not allow their photos to be used in mosaics. If I have this problem, I remember the location of those pics in the mosaic, click "back" which takes you back to the page where you make the mosaic and you can substitute the ones that weren't showing with different ones.

This sounds very long winded and involved but is all very simple to do and follow when you are doing it."

Thanks Lynne!! If you get a minute go to her blog and check her out she is amazing!! Find her at Lily's Quilts.

I have to run to a family function so I will give it a try this week. I am waiting to make the group until I hear back from Joan. Once I know what she and Kelly want me to do I will let everyone know the group's name and provide you a link. If you have any questions you can email me but I will have to ask someone else too as this is the first time I will be trying to do this myself! If you do it and it works, let me know that too!! Thanks again to Lynne!!

Musings on a Busy Saturday

It is a BEAUTIFUL, sunny and warm Saturday here in Michigan and football is in the air. My team (MSU) is playing our arch rival U of M at 3:30 so I just have a few minutes to blog. I was talking to PTM today after my depressing weigh in (I gained 0.2) and we were talking about the blog world. She is a new blogger. Do you remember when you first began blogging? Did you wonder if anyone would read what you had to say? Did you even care if they did? Well, PTM and I had that discussion today.

She and I were talking about the things you think about and how you feel when you first begin blogging. I was (and still am) thrilled when someone I admire leaves a comment on my blog. It's like someone famous noticed little ol' me. It is a HUGE encouragement to new bloggers when established bloggers leave comments on their blogs. It doesn't need to be anything lengthy just a small comment goes a long way. I think she is feeling a little discouraged because some people that she leaves comments for do not leave comments in return. I know we are all busy and wrapped up in our own little worlds but really, as my friend Mary says, it only takes a minute to be kind, right?

So next time someone leaves you a comment consider going to their blog and leaving a comment in return, rather than just an email back. I know it will mean a lot to the folks that are new (and maybe it will be great for use oldies too).

In my short time here on the Earth I have noticed that the people that are really the stars don't forget the little people. I have met some amazing bloggers that act like it is an honor to meet ME when in reality it is the other way around. That kind of humility is humbling.

Now go forth and comment on a newbie's blog, you will make their day and yours as well!!

GO STATE!!!

EEEEKKKKKK

That's right you hear me correctly I said EEEEKKKK. Here's the dealio. I was getting ready to eat my dinner and thought I should feed the dog so she wouldn't pester me while I was eating. I went out to the garage and scooped up some of her dog food from the plastic bin I keep it in. I dumped the cup of food into her bowl, all the while looking down to make sure the food poured into the bowl and what do I see in the bowl??? A little mousie looking up at me with that WTH just happened to me? look in it's eyes. Both of us being taken unaware, the mousie bolted into my kitchen and between 2 cupboards that have a space between them. I'm looking around for one of my FIVE cats for one of the 2 that are actual mousers. I spy one, Hallie so I snatch her up and plop her in the kitchen. Now she is giving me the WTH look as she was sound asleep on a chair in the other room when I rudely snatched her from her sleep! She spies the mousie and a chase ensues. She catches the mouse but as cats are wont to do she plays with it. It runs back into the same crack and she is staring it down. Until big dumb dog runs into the kitchen to be included in this amazingly fun activity. Get out of here you stupid dog now you have chased the cat away! *SIGH*. Now the cat is nowhere to be found. Mousie runs into my family room into various places until the second mouser, Autumn, appears for another round of cat and mouse. Only to be interrupted by the big dumb dog yet again. "Go upstairs, you stupid dog!" DS takes her to his room. OK, now there are ZERO mousers around except me and DH. He corners it and I opened the patio door and WE herd said mousie outside. WHEW!! That was WAYYYYY too much excitement for one night!

On to quilty content, ok? So I finally took a photo of some of the coins for the Halloween coin quilt. I have them pinned together in a specific order so you can just see one row. I'm kind of excited to finish it.

I plan to sash it in black and may have LTW quilt it in orange, or maybe I'll be dull and have her do black. Not sure yet.

Now on to another totally unrelated but none the less still quilty bit. I got home from Cori's yesterday ad I realized that I already had a Bliss layer cake so I emailed her asking if I could trade it for a Dream ON JR. No problem. I was hopping all around blogland yesterday when I happened upon this, over at Ryan's blog. It got my creative juices flowing. I've has a "plus" quilt on my radar for some time. I also need to make a few baby quilts, so hmmm it was a "You've got peanut butter on my chocolate." "Hey, you've got chocolate on my peanut butter" moment. Why not try this pattern? It uses only a charm pack and one yard of fabric for the top. Everyone seems to be having boys around here so what CP can I get that would work for a boy? This one.

I realize it is not the best photo but I think the green and gray combo is so popular right now. I will be using a Kona gray for the plus part. I will keep you posted. I'm very excited to begin this one too. I think this combo will be stunning.

I have exercise class tonight (and DD2 may be joining me), then I hope to be able to do some sewing. Sat is weigh in, class, shower, LTW's and then the BIG game. MSU vs U of M. NOTHING will keep me from watching that game. We beat them the last 2 years. Our coach just had a heart attack at the beginning of the season, right after the Notre Dame game. Keep your fingers crossed. It's gonna be a good one!
GO STATE!!

Which are You?

Glass half empty or glass half full? Me? I am glass half full. I appreciate all your kind words but I really just needed to have a moment to re-group and I am now ready to proceed forward.

Last night at quilting, I brought some layer cakes (from my friend Cori's shop, which is fabulous and you should visit). I sold 3 and delivered a special order. All in all pretty good. Are you playing along with the Layer Cake Quilt along over at Moose on the Porch? The Jelly Roll QAL was fabulous, I have every reason to believe this one will be the same. So if you happen to have a layer cake laying around, or if you need to buy one (check out Cori's shop) and you want to play, grab the button and be ready to begin in November. I have a LC of Soiree and also a JR. I am thinking that I loved the Verna JR quilt so much I may just make another one using the Soiree JR at the same time I am making the one with the LC. I printed all the patterns. Wouldn't that be fun?

Ohh so I hear you say "What did you work on last night?" That was you asking, right? Well never fear, I had a new project to work on. I cut up the 6" squares for my giveaway and I has some left overs. I cut them up into "coins" (2.5" x 5" pieces) and made Amanda Jean's coin quilt. Well, I got all 6 strip sets sewn, my sashing and back are cut, now I need to sew the strips to the sashing and call that pretty good! I'll probably put it up on my ETSY once it is quilted. So if you need/want a baby sized Halloween quilt keep your eyes open for it to hit my ETSY shop. I forgot the camera so you will have to wait to see pictures. I'm soooo missing my PAS camera!

I keep having issues with this. When I was growing up my sister, the one that is mentally handicapped, would constantly chew with her mouth open. To this day mouth noises REALLY, REALLY, annoy me. What do you do when someone is smacking their gum? I had someone around me yesterday doing that for several hours, in a quiet room and I almost went insane. Is there some way to tactfully ask her to stop chewing her gum? There are also several LOUD gum chewers at my work. UGH, I hate mouth noises!!!

RGA does it again (No quilty content)

This pretty much sums up my feelings about what's happening to my country.


And I'm NOT happy about it!

Time to Re-focus

Ever have one of those days? That was me yesterday. I HATE this getting up at 4:30 am that I have to do for work at the moment. Then everything I did did not work yesterday, grrr. I was anticipating my crock pot dinner all day. It was HORRIBLE!!! I couldn't even eat it. Then on my way to the gym I got an email telling me I did not advance in the McCall's quilt challenge contest. WTH? I had mixed feeling about that to begin with. I didn't feel worthy, worried about the timing and so forth. Obviously God has other plans for me. *SIGH* Now I just feel slightly depressed and let down and tired, really,really, tired.

Sorry to be so down, I know it will pass but you may not hear from me for a few days while I shift my focus and see where I need to be in my life. I just need a little while to regroup and decide what I want to work on. The good thing is that I can now go to NYC and enjoy myself without worrying about the challenge. That's good right? I will be helping LTW with an open house and a Halloween party, that's good too. Baby steps.

Thanks to all of you who voted faithfully. It just wasn't what God had planned for me. I know He will reveal what's in store in His time. It just reminds me that I need to practice patience.

Meet me in NYC?

I haven't had any sewing time since last week and I am getting antsy to sew. I opted to clean the downstairs all day on Sunday and cook. I even cooked again this morning, crockpotting it up for dinner. Do you use your crockpot? I love using mine, especially in the fall and winter, or on extra busy days or ...oh heck, I just love my crockpot! I'll try to remember to photograph tonight's dinner, Asian Beef, from A Year of Slow Cooking. I love her sight and have made several dishes from there.

As you all know I am going to NYC on Oct 17th for the week. I can't say I just found Bumblebeans, but I think I re-found her. Have you visited her blog? LOTS of modern inspiration going on over there. They have a new blog too called 15 Minutes Play. Check it out. You know how much I love strings and scraps so I am in heaven here.

Victoria, of Bumblebeans and I are going to meet up when I am in NYC. She has graciously offered to spend a little time with me and give me some tips as to where to go and what will be fun to do too. I am looking forward to meeting her. Not many days left until the trip. In the mean time I am waiting to hear if I progressed on to the next challenge in the McCall's Design Star contest. Keep your fingers crossed and I'll let you know when I know.

Now if anyone else wants to meet up in NYC let me know.

The Engagement Party

Wowee, yesterday was a B-U-S-Y one!! I got up, weighed in (lost 1.6 pounds), went to Zumba. I love me some Zumba! Came home showered and had lunch. Went shopping. First to Khols for a new pair of jeans, size 12!! I can't even remember the last time I could fit into a 12. Then I met up with PTM at JAF to try to use our 50% off coupons. Bought some Kona cottons, coal, purple, lime green and a royal blue. Then I came home to watch my Spartans whomp number 11 Wisconsin!! Good job Spartans!! Also when I got home I had this waiting for me.

This is on page 22 of the latest McCall's magazine!! My first time in a magazine, even though it is basically just an ad. It's still kind of exciting!

Next up was getting ready for the engagement party. I decided to write on the back of the quilt and make it personal too. I put a Gaelic blessing on it as well. Hey, go big or go home right? But let me back up. I don't know how many of you know that PTM does all my bindings for me. I have trouble with my hands when I do too much hand work and the hand sewing of the bindings just about cripples me, so being the BFF that she is she does them for me. I have to show you how amazing they really are too just look at this,

Can you see those teenie tiny stitches? And her mitered corners are always perfect!! I am working on getting her to do a tutorial, she really is Pauline the Magnificent!! Thank you from the bottom of my heart, PTM!
I know you are all dying to see the label right? OK here it is.


Really LONG but I totally LOVE how it came out. You can really see the beautiful quilting LTW did on it in that last picture too.
"But how did they like it?" I hear you all saying, right? They loved it.

She is just adorable. What a nice girl and what a great couple they make. You should have seen her diamond, OMG knock your sox off. It was probably a carat of canary (light yellow) surrounded by white diamonds. BEAUTIFUL! And Matt? His arm is healing and he can see again. They did a cornea transplant and cleared out his eye and gave him a lens implant. He said his vision is not perfect but he can at least see out of the eye now. It was such a fun night. Matt has seen his share of rough times in his short life and he so deserves to be happy! Oh and here is a pic of me and Matt's mom, Terry.

We have been friends for a LONG time and she is so happy to have Kahli in the family.
Congratulations Matt and Kahli!

Fall Into Fall Giveaway

Are you all ready to play?? Here we go. See that Scarecrow on my side bar? That's your gateway to TONS of giveaways going up all over blogland today!! Click on it and it will take you to the master list of giveaways, including giveaways from the Fat Quarter Shop, EQ and even my friend Cori's shop, Crazy Quilt Girl. So without further ado I will post my humble giveaway. I thought long and hard about what to offer. I considered the things I like and in the end PTM came up with a brilliant idea so here goes.
You should all know how much I LOVE Halloween right? So my giveaway is a Halloween Schlep bag (made by PTM). But wait there's more, see that green and white paper inside the bag? That is the pattern Fair and Square from none other than Amanda Jean of Crazy mom quilts and wait for it...wait for it...you will get an autographed copy of her pattern!!!!! How amazing is that? But wait there's more. In the second photo you will see some Halloween fabrics on the large piece of black fabric. I cut out enough 6.5" squares to make the quilt along with 2.5 yards of black Kona Cotton for the sashing and the binding (this I did not cut). All you need to add is a back and you will have a quilt!!

I am so excited to be able to offer this as a giveaway. Thank you PTM and Amanda Jean!

Now for the business information. To enter, just leave me a comment telling me your favorite part of Halloween. It would be great if you would become a follower and I will give you another entry if you do that just leave a second comment. For a third chance to enter, go to PTM's blog and become a follower of hers, come back and leave me a comment telling me you did so. I am going to limit this to just USA for shipping. Things are a little tight at the Spark's house at the moment so sorry about that everyone not living in the US, I really do still love you all. Please be certain I have a valid email address for you so I can contact you if you are the winner. If I can't find you I will have to draw again.

The drawing will close at midnight (EST) on Oct 15th and I will draw the winner and post on Oct 16th. I will be going out of town on the 17th for a week but will do the shipping when I return.

Now go forth, enter all these wonderful giveaways and good luck on this one!!

Oh and can I just tell you that if you have the latest edition of the McCall's Quilting magazine...I'm in it!! On the design star page. Just wanted you all to know.

Wednesday Night Quuilting

You are NOT going to believe how much I have to tell you today. Remember I said that LTW got the Curious George quilt all quilted? Well she did. It is adorably quilted with monkeys and bananas all over it. Then I handed it off to PTM and guess what? She handed it back to me all bound last night. I just need to make a label and sew it on tonight and it will be ready to gift to Mason tomorrow (I hope).

I don't know how well you can see the quilting but trust me it is too cute!

Yesterday at work LTW handed me back the JRQAL quilt ALL FINISHED!!! I squared it up last night at home and then brought it along with the binding to quilting and handed it over to PTM. She really does do the most wonderful job with those bindings. You should see her perfect little mitered corners!! Maybe I will go over to her house in the near future and have her make a binding tutorial. I know I learned a few new things from this perfectionist!! She's the BEST!! I thought you might like to see it quilted, front and back so here ya go.

See that strip through the middle? I really needed some more length and thought, now how will I do that? So I measured the top to see how much I needed and cut the green in half. I had already made the binding so I used all the left over bits from the JR to make the strips that you see on either side of the Kona Snow strip. I love the fact that I used all but about 8" from that jelly roll to make this quilt! LOVE IT!!

Now I have a question for you all. I need some advice. I am going to give this quilt to Matt (the young Marine that was injured in the war that you all helped me make a quilt for) as he is getting married. Here comes the part I need advice for. He has been married before, so this is the second marriage. Good so far. The engagement party is this Sat, they are actually getting married in Dec in Vegas. When possible I like to label my quilts by writing directly on the quilt somewhere on the back but...what if this is called off before the wedding or they split up and the label is permanently written on the back? Would you make a label and sew it on instead? I was really excited to be able to write it in a line on the Kona just above the second strip of the Verna. What would you do? I like the look of the writing directly on the quilt over a label, but I sure would hate for the quilt to not be used if something happens. YIKES!!! I guess I should add that I am planning on giving it to them on Sat since I doubt I will be able to attend the wedding. So I need to figure it out soon. Let me know what you all think.

In addition to all this, PTM and I worked on our Fall into Fall giveaway stuff. Let me tell you that you will not be disappointed!! We have an added twist for you to win along with the "stuff", so I hope you will all check back tomorrow when all will be revealed!! Tease, I know. You are not the first ones to call me that!! Until tomorrow...XOP

Quickly

I just have a minute to blog so I have a few things to tell you all. PTM and I have decided on our giveaways. You will be amazed at what we are going to give away for the Fall into Fall Quilt Blogger's Giveaway so make sure you stop back on October 1st for a chance to win!!


(Aiden is telling me to hurry up already)

I have decided to go to NYC with my DH. We leave on Oct 17th and will be there that night. I have all week alone in the city (he has to go to flight school) so if there are any NYC bloggers (or someone wanting to venture into the city) that might want to meet up for lunch or quilt shopping or whatever, let me know as I am open to it all. I am meeting a friend that I used to work with either Tues or Wed but she is flexible and I think it is just for lunch. Anyway,I sure would love to meet some fellow bloggers so let me know!!!

I'll just be pining away waiting to hear from you guys (just like my dog Laxy) so hurry up already and put a wag in my tail, let's meet up in NYC!!!