SCHOOL HOUSE AND GIVE A WAY

On Sunday I went to one of our local quilt shops and took a class called "School House" which was given by the owner Karen Montgomery and was supposed to be from 10:00 to 3:00. Karen is not only a fabulous instructor but she also designs for Timeless Treasures. You should see her newest collection called "Abby Lane" which I bought and will take photos of tomorrow. School house was broken into 6 little mini sessions of learning some new technques, i.e., paper piecing the insert for a coffee mug, new technology, making a Valentine postcard, making a little brooch, you get the idea. We got a goodie box filled with all kinds of neat things. It was so nice of her to do and very well appreciated. It was so much fun and lunch was even included which was very yummy. Well I guess I got to the shop around 9:35 and I was looking around waiting for my friends to get there and all of a sudden I looked up and it was snowing like heck. I thought well this is great, if it keeps snowing like this I will never get home. Then the wind started whipping around. I heard reports that in places the wind was blowing at 51 mph. All of a sudden the stores when dark because of down trees from the wind. Well there was no electricity but the show must go on and everyone got use to being in the dark.

You all must go over to Karen's shop and check out her blog for the last few days regarding what are weather has been like. It is hysterical. One of the things that I love about her is her personality, she is very funny and very sarcastic (which I absolutely love). Her website is www.thequiltcompany.com and the link to her blog is in the upper right hand corner.

In early celebration of Valentine's Day and this awful weather we have had since Sunday, I am having a give-a-way. So tell all your friends and neighbors to leave a comment on this post about checking out Karen's blog and you will be enterd in the give-a-way. This is a quilt kit called "Holiday Stars" by Thimbleberries and measures 68 x 76 and comes with all the original fabrics. I will draw the lucky winners name on Monday, February 18th.

Until later---

Hugs, Cindy

SNOW DAY

Well this is what I woke up to this morning. I knew that they were calling for a snow storm last night but it started much earlier than they anticipated. I was just going upstairs to get dressed and looked outside and decided I was going to take a floating holiday. It is just a very miserable day to be out on the roads. This is looking out my bay window into the backyard.This picture was taken from my front door and I was trying to get a picture of it still snowing. It is supposed to be like this most of the day, then it is going to turn to freezing rain and then turn back to snow later on tonight. So I thought it was a good day to stay at home, do a few little chores and then sew.

Below is the package on got from Lisa on Saturday. This is the leftover fabric that Lisa used for her Valentine's Day quilt that I am going to use to make me one. It won't be for this Valentine's Day and I sure hope it will be finished for next Valentine's Day. Aren't they beautiful. Thank you so much Lisa for sending me these, I love them.

Well for some reason I am getting the blame for starting us on a new challenge, the new Web Sampler quilt. It is just beautiful. Well I guess they need someone to blame right for instigating this and I guess I am the one that they are pointing the finger at. That's fine, at least I am not alone in with project. I have one of my blocks finished but I am going to wait until next Monday to post that one. I am hoping to have another block done by that point. I am concentrating right now on getting caught up with my BOM's so I don't get way far behind so that is my goal for this week.

Well off to get some mini chores done and then sew, sew, sew.

Hugs, Cindy

FINALLY

Thanks to Nicole, Lisa and Perry for their patience in me finally being able to post my version of our challenge quilt. My husband had gall bladder surgery last Wednesday and what I week I have had. For the past 2 years I have been dealing with a sick elderly mother (God bless her) and then on top of it my husband had some complications with his surgery. I will spare you all the details but it has been very trying on my patience. The funniest was I had been gone all day on Sunday taking care of my mother and I walked into the house at 4:30 and he looked at me and said do you want to watch a movie with me. I almost lost it as I was dragging in a 35 pound box of kitty litter and said are you kidding me--I have all the laundry to do, clean the kitchen, cook dinner and take all the garbage out. He just looked at me like I was crazy. At that moment, I could have killed him because if the rolls were reversed I wouldn't have had the luxury of laying on the couch. Maybe that is why the surgeon said to me that men were big babies that go through gall bladder surgery.

So here it is--my challenge quilt. I love how it turned out and now I need to purchase my backing fabric and send it off to the quilter. I think I am going to have just an all over pattern done on this one. Does anyone have any thoughts?

Also last week I received from Nicole my package from her give-a-way for the messiest sewing table. Thank you so much Nicole for the book and jelly roll. It is from Shangri-La and I definitely love this line of fabric. Don't know what I will make from it but I will let you know when I have decide on something.

I have so much to tell you guys with so many new things that I have gotten in over the last week. I am going to try to finish my Patchwork Party quilt tonight because I want to ask you guys what I should do about the borders. Hopefully I will get that posted tomorrow.

I am so far behind on my cleaning around here so I am off to run the sweeper and start the dishwasher. Joe went to work today and I am sure he is going to crash when he gets home because he was up sick all night.

Talk to everyone soon.

Hugs, Cindy

PATCHWORK PARTY

I wanted to share with you the 4 blocks that I finished over the weekend for the fall Patchwork Party blocks. There is a total of 12 blocks and then I am going to make 8 alternate blocks with 2 borders.

I am really loving how these blocks are turning out. Don't you just loves these fabrics. I do. Love the blacks and reds in this line. I just have to square them up but I will do that once I have all the blocks done. I guess it is time for me to take my Xmas table cloth off but I think if it didn't have the Santas on it it would be so appropriate for what our weather has been like since the weekend. I need to do some birthday shopping for my hubby this weekend so hopefully I can find a Valentine/spring table cloth. Hubby's BD is on February 6th and then have to turn around and get him something for VD. It is so hard trying to think of something to get him so close together.

Hubby is having his gall bladder removed next Wednesday. I am hoping this goes smoothly since this is his second stomach area surgery since November. I am so hoping that his fixes his problems that he has been having.

Tonight I am working on my challenge quilt. I am going to start to put that border on. I know, you are saying it's about time and I so agree. I off to measure it right now.

Hope you all have a good evening and if you are in a place where the weather has been cold, keep warm.

Hugs~~

CHALLENGE WEEK #7

Well I have one more week to get my borders on. I am under pressure now. LOL. Have you checked with Perry, Nicole and Lisa, they sure did make a lot of progress this week and are catching up with me. The pressure is on now. I must get my qult finished this week.

It was so cold here over the weekend and I started to straighten my sewing table. Can you believe it. Yes I did. You wouldn't believe the things that I started to uncover. One of the projects was the winter Patchwork Party blocks. Well since Spring is right around the corner and will probably bring a new Patchwork Party I decided I better finish the 2 I have. I only have the borders to put on the spring one and now I am working on the winter one. I must say, I love the fabrics chosen for the fall/winter party. Has anyone else participated in these. I must say I am addicted and am looking forward to the ones that will be offerd in 2008. IStay turned. I will post pictures of the blocks I finished over the weekend tomorrow.

The weather here has been dreadful. It has been so cold. This morning when I went to work it was 6 degrees. Yes that was 6 degrees above zero. Yes you heard it right, even though the court house was closed my firm was still open. I hated it. I should have been home keeping warm and sewing. Temperatures are supposed to remain the same tomorrow but now they are saying it is supposed to start snowing tomorrow afternoon. Great, just want I wanted to hear.

Well until tomorrow, keep warm.

Hugs~~

RECESSION AND THE FAT QUARTER SHOP

All I have been hearing on the news lately is how we are heading into a recession and in some ways I really think we are. Here in NE PA we really haven't had much of the crisis that the rest of the country has been having with these mortgages but when I went to the grocery store and starting receiving the gas and electric bills I have started to notice it. The week before I bought a gallon of 2% milk and it was $2.58. This Sunday when I went shopping for my mom at Walmart I paid $4.58 for a gallon for 2% milk. I almost had a heart attack. My grocery bill has almost doubled and it is very preplexing to me. Where do we cut expenses at because our salaries haven't increased to coincide with the cost of living.

One of the things that I might have to cut back on is fabric shopping and that really breaks my heart. One of my favorite places to shop is The Fat Quarter Shop. I have received 3 packages this week from Kimberly and 2 of them are BOM's.

The one thing I love about shopping there is the customer service and the other thing is the way they package all the fabrics before shipping. Usually, my backing fabrics are separate from the fabrics I am going to use for the inside of my quilt. I just love that because then I can just pack the backing away somewhere until I piece my quilt. For that reason, I give Kimberly and her staff a 2 thumbs up.

I have only done one mysteryquilt from Glad Creations andI liked how they packaged the original fabrics also along with the initial instructions. It was all nice and tidy and I will definitely do another mystery quilt from them. They gave plenty of fabric so in case you might have made a cutting error you would have had enough. I am doing some other BOM's from another quilt shop and I am not so happy with them right now. They never give you enough fabric at all so if you don't do the BOM as soon as it comes in your running around to try to find the fabric.

Do any of you have a favorite quilt shop and if so, what are your reasons I would love to hear about them.

Haven't heard from any of the gals that are participating in the Road to California. Hope they are having a good time.

The weather here has been terrible today. It snowed all day, then turned to rain. Then it is supposed to get colder tonight and turn to snow again. I didn't want to go to work but just stay home.

Well off to get something done.

Hugs

CHALLENGE WEEK #6

As you know, this is Challenge Week #6 and I have nothing to report. I only have one border to get on and I am so hoping to get that done this week. You probaby have already checked with Nicole, Lisa and Perry and saw that they have had more progress than I did.

On another note, Nicole challenged us to show pictures of our sewing room table so here are pictures of mine. I am really ashamed to show them and now you know why I can't find anything. See Nicole and Lisa, I told you it was bad. Do I win a prize for disorganization? LOL.

Just forget about 15 items, I might just have about 15 unfinished projects on this table. I am slowly working my way through these BOM and just when I thought I had finished with these churn dash blocks this weekend, I found that I have to make 12 more. URGH. This will have to wait until after I put my borders on my challenge quilt.

Also received today in the mail my first package of the week from The Fat Quarter Shop. I will probably be getting 2 packages this week. I sure love getting packages from Kimberly just for the packaging she does. This is the first block of the BOM called "Butterfly Kisses". I ordered the backing too so I would already have that. Isn't it pretty. Can't wait to start on this one. I am not going to fall behind on this one.

Well need to get off and run the sweeper and throw some more laundry in. Have some potatoes in the oven for dinner and have to figure out what else I am going to make. I think my camera needs new batteries. It keeps on going dead everytime I turn it on. I thought I had put new ones in but these must have been older batteries too. Then it will be off to the sewing room.

Talk to everyone soon.