My 8" pincushion

My Indiana retreat group decided it would be great fun to do a pincushion swap.  I have loved these since I bought the Wool Crazy book.  So I got my part (the base) which is supposed to be about an 8" diameter circle done.  I had a small oopsie in trimming and then added to one side and ended up with an oval.  I just love the oval so I added the witch's boot and off it went.  I won't get to see it again until May when I go to retreat.  If you want to see some of the others you can go to Laura's blog or Conni's blog or Peggy's blog or Michelle's blog.  I did discover that I have a lot of fall colored wool, but not very much of other colors so some wool shopping is in order.

Christmas Fun

I seem to be missing in action.  Just wanted to post a couple of Christmas photos.  When you are the only grandson and  great grandson and the only small child in the family, you tend to receive lots of toys.  This seemed to be the year for things with wheels.

It's nice to have several sets of wheels to choose from.

You Won't Believe It

Thought I'd show you my new wall of shelving in the sewing room.   Do you see the sock monkey?  Well, you won't believe what I had to buy to get that darn cardboard monkey. ROFLOL 

Thanksgiving is just Exhausting

After all the cooking, cleaning and eating you just gotta take a nap.

Red Roses for 37 Years

Poor Bill and I celebrated 37 years of marriage on November the 9th.  Aren't my flowers lovely on my new cutting table.

Red Cabinet

The other addition in my sewing room is my red cabinet.  Won't it look great with all my pincushions in it!  No that's not me and a sewing machine inside the cabinet, it's just our reflection in the glass.  If I were inside there would not be room for pincusions.  The wall with the window reflected in the cabinet is now covered with white shelves.  Soon to be filled with UFO's.

Sewing Room Additions

Slowly the new sewing room is coming into shape.  Here is my new cutting table.  Don't you love the drawers? 

Filler Photo

Since I haven't downloaded any pictures lately, I decided to put a pic of Bo up.  He is such a sweet, scaredy cat.  I found him and his sister when their eyes weren't even open.  They went with me to work so I could bottle feed them during the day.  They are now 7 years old.  My how time flies.  Yes, he is in the middle of the cutting table.  Glad I didn't want to cut anything.

Accuquilt Go Cutter Give a way

Have you wanted one of those Accuquilt Go Cutter's.  Well, if so go over to Millie's blog for a chance to win one.  I am hoping, but there is just  as good a chance that it could be you winning.

What cruel cyber friends I have

I bought the Vintage Halloween pattern when it first came out.  Today I found out that a few online friends are going to do it as a BOM starting Oct 1st.  How cruel is that.  The pattern is hidden away somewhere in my sewing room and now it is going to drive me crazy until I find it and buy the supplies to start with them.   If you have this pattern hidden away, drag it out and go crazy with us.

Sewing Room Floor

My sewing room is complete.  The only problem is it will be just a while longer before I move in.  This room was torn down and completely rebuilt. 

THEN I decided I could not live with the floor, so they poured concrete to level it and now I have Pergo flooring. 

The room has been painted 3 times.  First it was pink, then it was taupe and now it is a nice shade of aqua.   I am going to put up red tiers with aqua rick rack on them and soon I will have a new room to sew in.

So Many Things

I was gone to Long Beach area to visit with friends and go to the quilt show and when I came back the computer had serious issues, so now I am farther behind than usual in posting. Just a quickie. Here's Kathy and Stephanie from California, Kim for Oregon and myself at the quilt show. I grabbed a young man passing through the isle to snap our photo. We all met through an online block swap about 15 to 16 years ago. I have met others in the group and we still occasionally email back and forth. More photos later.

Another Great Project

I was taking a minute to surf blogland and came on a post from Angela about trying to start a Project Linus group in her area. I know she is serious about this because she talked about it at the Indiana Retreat. I was so excited because I just worked two days in training for a new job I decided not to take and I figure I earned enough extra money to help her out. So if you are so inclined, hop on over to her blog and help her out, too. Also, keep in mind she will need quilts, once she gets going.

It's been a while since I posted

Time has gotten away from me and I have missed an entire month. This is just a quick post to let everyone know I am still here. Here is a picture of a quilt I sent to Samantha for her birthday. It is another of the quilts for Margaret's Hope Chest.

Linen Dots

Just a few of the dots on linens. A couple of fruit hints in the pic on the right. There is a bookend on the top right and fruit on a canister to the left. More dots and fruit to follow.

Do I have Dots?

Decided to take a few shots at some of the dots in my dining room. Here you go Peggy. I have been at this dot thing for a while, so don't feel badly that you only have one itty bitty plate and one glass. I am sure your collection will grow. Will post a few more later and the question I leave you with is do you have fruit?

Inspiration

Inspiration comes from strange places. Last week I was at my Indiana Retreat and Peggy and I found our common love of dots. I have a lot of red in my house, but not a lot of dots. I have been thinking about this and decided to redecorate. Here is my start. Just a few more dots and it will be lovely.

Off to Retreat

Tomorrow morning I go to the airport to travel to Indiana to a quilting retreat. This is such a great group of women. We come from New York, New Jersey, Missouri, Michigan, North Carolina, California, Canada, Idaho and even Indiana. This year we will be missing a couple of the regulars, it will still be loads of fun, but we will miss them just the same.

Hopefully, the weather will cooperate. Last year, a tornado blew through and the girl from Missouri went home in a rental car after a tree fell on her car and totaled it. I see they are in for some thunderstorms, so send the rain, but please keep the tornados.

I should have some pictures when I return. I wonder how much fellow bloggers at the retreat will pay to keep themselves off my blog? It could help pay for my trip.

Now and Later

Years ago I planted 3 Now and Later plants. I ran into someone I knew at the nursery that was buying one and she told me they bloom purple then the blooms turn lilac and then to white after a few days. Knowing nothing about plants, but wanting to make my yard pretty, I bought one and when it survived I went back and bought two more. We had really harsh weather for the Gulf Coast this past winter and what didn't freeze came back better than ever. This is one of the Now and Laters with a shade in between the purple and lilac.

Nothing to show

I am posting since I am trying to do so every week, but I have no photos to show you. What have I been doing? Friends have been showing their prototype pincushions for an upcoming retreat. Some are showing their quilts they are taking for the charity. Still others have shown what they are taking to work on. Well, I have zip, nada, nothing to show ya. Am I discouraged? NO! I always work better under pressure. LOL I will try to get something done so the next post will have pictures.

Family Photo

Finally, a picture of Jake, my grandson and Bill my DH. Jake loves his pawpaw very much. He even resembles him, but he has my red hair. Now that is funny if you know me and if you don't know me, well you can figure it out.

A Tale of Two Kits

I am kit poor, but once in a while you just have to buy another one regardless. I found the first one at a local quilt store, Painted Pony & Quilts. I love the colors in the quilt and just had to have it. It is using the Oz fabric line and is called Bohemian Rhapsody.

The second kit (on the right) I purchased was only because it is filled with polka dots and red fabric, which I love. Well that's really not the only reason I purchased it. A friend, Cindy sent an email that she was going to buy it and you know it is the whole, she can't have it if I don't have it syndrome. It is Whimsical Garden from Piece O Cake.

Now, no more kits, until the next one I can't live without comes along.

Birthday Quilt

I wrote about Margaret's Hope Chest and the wonderful idea of providing a quilt for a child for their birthday. Here is my first finish (well, almost finish, it needs binding) for a boy that will turn 9 in April. He likes frogs, cars and soccer. The back of the quilt is soccer balls and flaming sport balls of every type. Hope he likes it.

Abundance BOM

On the way to the Dallas Quilt Show a group of us stopped at Common Threads quilt shop and I saw the Abundance quilt on their floor. They were pulling fabrics for more blocks. Well, of course I had to have it and so did 2 other people I was with. I sent an email to other friends that were coming up a day later. Sure enough they signed up for the BOM, too. Common Threads is only on block 2 so if you love fall quilts, go to their site and sign up. They specialize in reproduction fabrics and have a great store located in historic Waxahachie, Texas. No affiliation, just love their store.

Snuggle Quilt-Oops, It's Downy

If you haven't gone to the Downy site, will have to get the link later go sign up to make a quilt. They send you everything you need and it is cut ready to start sewing. Here is the one that I made. Happy Trails to you. Get it, it's Cowboy fabric.

Run don't Walk

If you are inclined to make a quilt to brighten a child's birthday, then run over to Margaret's Hope Chest's Blog. What a wonderful charity. They are taking the names of children who have a parent in prison and quilters get to choose a child to make a quilt for. Currently the problem is the program has become so popular that there are names on the list and quilters are needed. So Bloggers let's get busy and snatch up all these children and make their birthday's happy ones. WARNING: It's like potato chips, you can't choose just one.

My Basket Quilt

I haven't posted my original basket quilt so when I saw a picture on Laurie's blog I decided to grab the picture for my blog. Laurie quilted it for me and I love her quilting. She was fairly new to machine quilting when she did mine and she did a fantastic job. This quilt, which I named Bountiful Baskets was made for a quilt shop I work at. It just seemed to come together so easily, that it was meant to be.

January is the month for the Blues

I'm not really blue, but I have 2 finished tops and 1 quilt that are all Blue. One is a result of a local Guild Scrap Bee swap. The other two are from swaps with a local bee. The quilted one needs a binding, the other two have to be quilted. Now I am ready to move on to another color. Let's see we are starting a red swap in the local bee. I guess that should do it.

String Quilts

I have a string quilt started and when I was surfing blogs I found a String Quilt Challenge at Loft Creations. Well, I jumped right on it because this should be what I need to finish this string quilt. I have instructions for others, but am going to finish up this one first. The pattern is from Quiltville. com, in case it inspires you, too.

Coming up Dots

I have been collecting polka dot fabrics for a while. I am also participating in a birthday fat quarter swap with an online group and will be receiving dots, but not until September, my birthday month. I was so excited to receive my Secret Santa gift from work which was polka Dots and lots of them. There were also coordinating fabrics, but this is the selection of dots. Now I have a couple of dot quilts planned and wouldn't a string quilt with dots be great for the leftovers.

A Good Start

Happy 2010 to everyone. This is going to be a year of great change. Hopefully, that doesn't mean I will be drowning in coins, but making changes. The first was today January 1st, 2010 when we sat at the table to eat our black eye peas for luck and cabbage for prosperity in the coming year. The food we ate was the same as it has been for my entire life, sitting at the table was new. DH and I tried to figure out how many years it has been since we sat at our table to eat. We think about 25 years. So if you don't usually sit at the table don't feel alone. We may be back in our comfy chairs tomorrow, but for today it was the table.