Felted Wool

I must admit to being enamoured of late with felted wool. This post on The Purl Bee blog is gorgeous and I would dearly love to make one of these! Just look at this! The textures, the colors, swoon......

Giveaway-LAST Day to Enter!

Woohoo! My Dear Readers, you far exceeded the 50 entries that I'd hoped to have for my Etsy Shop opening giveaway! Because of YOU, I'm giving away both the nursing apron and the table runner (previewed here in it's unfinished state). If you haven't entered, click here to get all the information you need. Don't forget, this giveaway closes at 7:00 EST tonight!

The winner will be announced tomorrow in my Pink Saturday post.
Happy Weekend!
Leslie

A Quilter's Giveaway

Judi over at Green Fairy Quilts has a fantastic giveaway going on. It includes her new pattern, seen here, and the fabric needed to make it. You'll just have to supply your own background & binding. Head on over there to enter!

Hugs, Leslie

You'll Get Your Quilt!

One Sunday after church, a Mother asked her very young daughter what the lesson was about. Her daughter answered, "Don't be scared, you'll get your quilt." Needless to say, the Mother was perplexed.
Later in the day, the pastor stopped by for tea and the Mother asked him what her daughter's Sunday school lesson was about. His answer: "'Be not afraid, thy Comforter is coming!"

Giveaway!

Over at http://candlelitequilter.blogspot.com/2009/06/100th-post-giveaway.html, Lisa is celebrating her 100th post with a great giveaway for us quilters! Click on the link to go there & enter yourself!

Friday Favorites

I start today with a picture for all you quilt and/or baby lovers. Here's my grandnephew on the first quilt I made. I think he's exactly the finishing touch it needed!
I finally got tired of Charlie looking like a bumblebee (there's no shadow, that's all hair!):
And took him for a haircut. I'm going to have to stay more of top of this when school starts back in the fall!
Finally, I snapped a few pictures of Miss B as she headed out for dress rehearsal for her summer theatre class (she gets 3 credits for this!). The title of the musical is "Back to the 80's". Personally, I think her hair needs to be bigger!

Happy Friday!

Quilt Top

Here's my quilt top. Originally I planned it as a lap quilt and it would be done at this point but looking at it spread out last night and conferring with Dr. Love, I decided to add a red border. Now, seeing it laid across my bed to take this picture, I'm thinking it wouldn't take much more after the red border to get it to queen-size. Maybe a strip all the way around of the chinese coin adaptation and then another border of....? I've planned the backing & binding to be one of the red on cream prints from the top. I might need more backing fabric if I make it bigger. Hmmmmmm, what to do?

One week down...

three more to go. Miss B is taking two summer school classes, PE & Theatre. So I'm spending quite a bit of time in my car these days and our daily schedule changes from day to day (and if you know me, you know I abhor change!) I've been able to hang out with Charlie one-on-one and that's been pretty cool. And watching Miss B mature a bit is fun too.

Here's the quilt I'm working on. It's not coming together as quickly as I'd like....having to run Miss B here & there twice a day on top of overseeing Charlie along with keeping up with the house doesn't leave me much quilting time. Plus I've done two other projects and have a dress in the works.

This is the fabric for Miss B's dress. I wish I'd seen it first because I love it too!

I ordered four swim components off the clearance page ($35.00 total) at Land's End.com and received free shipping. I had to mix & match tops & bottoms but I think they look alright for backyard swimming. I love the "swim mini" bottoms. I don't feel exposed if I walk around to the front of the house or out to the mailbox.

Miss B needs 3 costumes for her summer theatre class so we scouted our 3 local Goodw.ill stores on Saturday. We may have found the dress she needs for the prom scene; she took it to class with her this afternoon see if it gets approval. I found these sweet little silver pieces and they look great nestled in among the silver candlesticks on my table.


We noticed on Saturday that Charlie continues to get taller. Miss B thought it would be fun to be the Veri.zon bars. Hence this picture.

This bag is probably my best sewing accomplishment this year. Miss B couldn't find an E.lmo backpack for her baby brother's 1st birthday and so we set out to make one from scratch. She purchased the canvas fabric and the zipper and we downloaded the photo from a free internet site and printed it onto heat transfer paper. Miss B added baby bro's name and then I found the red webbing for the back straps. We even sewed pieces of plastic canvas into the large sides & bottom to give it stability. And the whole thing can be thrown in the wash machine!

My First Quilt

I finally finished my first quilt! It's a lap quilt done on the machine using a Moda Layer Cake called "Miss Jump's Scrap Bag" for the top and a Thumbleberries print for the back and hand-sewn binding. I started it back in October (I think!) and finished it last week. At first I just sewed together the blocks but after seeing how a nine-patch can be re-arranged, I took it apart and stitched it back together in what I think is called the disappearing nine patch pattern. I wish I would have used a Moda coordinate for the backing. The biggest reason that it took so long to complete is that I was scared of putting together the "sandwich" for the first time and of doing the quilting. My dear (and quilting-experienced) friend Connie visited a month ago and showed me how to do both of those and then I was on my way! I have some other decorating/sewing projects to complete first but I already have plans and material for my next quilt!

Thanksgiving Surprise

If you know me at all, you know 2 things about me: that I have been "best friends" with Connie since we were in kindergarten and that Thanksgiving dinner is my absolute favorite meal to prepare and share with family & friends.
As I see it, one of the beauties of the friendship is our flexibility. At times we talk more than once a week and at others we'll go several weeks without communicating. We might send a birthday card a whole month early so that we won't forget to send it, another year we might call a few days late. We both moved away from the small town where we grew up and currently we're a 3-hour drive from each other. The only tradition that is constant between us is that we usually spend Thanksgiving Day together along with our families and whomever else Dr. Love & I invite for the day.
This year, for the first time ever, we opted for her home instead of mine. I made some changes to the logistics of cooking....I prepared the turkey the day before and had Dr. Love do his carving thing so that it could be taken ready to be warmed up in a pan of gravy. Connie baked pies as she always does (hers is the absolute BEST crust you will ever taste!) and we worked on the rest together. We ate leisurely, played cards, discussed her daughter's upcoming wedding plans, spent the night and the next day baked Christmas cookies and did just a small bit of shopping. On Friday evening our men took us for dinner and then Dr. Love & I made our way home. It turned out to be one of our most memorable Thanksgiving days ever and we're thinking of starting a new tradition.
The surprise of the entire day is pictured above. Isn't it gorgeous?!!! Since we've never been much into presents, I was shocked when she brought out a beautiful gift bag complete with tissue paper and inside was this lap quilt that she made for me. I love quilts, especially pieced ones with soft, muted colors surrounded by cream or white. I have never made a quilt myself nor have I ever been willing to purchase one. I love handmade things....the idea that someone uses their creativity and time to make something with me in mind. I love tulips....they are my favorite flowers. And I love my dearest, bestest friend. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!