A Blog Giveaway

Just wanted to let everyone know that Cathy over at http://cathyscrazybydesign.blogspot.com/ is having her 100th post celebration with a give-a-way. You should go over there and check out her blog with all the wonderfully gorgeous work that she does. Make sure you have soda, tea or a cup of coffee so you can stay awhile and browse through past posts. That way you can see all of her lovely work! Congrats Cathy on your up-coming 1ooth post!

Small Update

Just a small update to post a couple of pictures. First is the blue postcard made for me by Doreen over at http://doreeng.blogspot.com/ She is a very talented lady you should go by and visit her blog. The picture although a good one does not do this post card justice. The colors are just gorgeous, and I really love it. Thank you Doreen.The next pic is of the card that I have made for MaryLou in this months swap. The colors this month were orange, brown and green. I decided on a landscape and I did add just a touch of blue because the landscape needed water. I hope she likes it. It is now off in the post to her. I have found that I enjoy making the landscape post cards. I am thinking about making a 14x14 inch quilty of a landscape design to see how I like doing that size since I like the smaller ones so much. Will post an update as I go along.Well that is all I have for today, I did finish another dish cloth but have not taken a photo as of yet. Will do that later in the week. Happy Stitching ,

A Few Pics

Just thought I would post a few pics of some projects that are finished and swapped out. First is a blue post card I made for Doreen in my group for fabric post cards. This has been my favorite that I have made in this group so far. I think I will make another one so I can keep it.lol Thats how much I liked it. The picture does not do the colors justice. It was a total blue swap this time. I need to photograph the card that Doreen sent to me, it is gorgeous, but will have to charge the battery first.Next is a pin cushion that I made and sent with my Vintage Valentine swap. I am going to make several more as I really enjoyed making this one. I am going to do one with crazy quilting next. I think it turned out really cute. I just love pin cushions and have a few in my collection. This one however is not mine as I made it for my swap partner. This is a work in progress, and should be finished one day this week. I'm having a hard time with these colors I guess. It looks better than the photo and it seems to need something. I will think on it overnight and maybe some inspiration will hit!lol

Well thats it for today, I'm off to work some more on my projects with a hot cup of tea before bedtime. Happy Stitching,

Look What I Have Finally Learned To Do!

I am doing the big happy dance here as I have learned something new that I have tried in the past to do with much disappointment. I have finally learned to knit! And I have actually finished my first project all in one day! WOW is all I can say. Can you tell how excited I am. I have tried to knit since I was eight and could never get it! Well I have been so inspired by Kerry over at http://kerrykatiecakes2.blogspot.com/ . She has been making some of the neatest dish cloths with knitting. I have been doing the crocheted dish cloths for years, but have never been able to knit them. After reading her blog every time she posted a cloth, I decided that all those dormant needles of mine needed to be put to the try once again or gotten rid of. So, I pulled out my threads and needles along with a small book I purchased at the thrift store for 39 cents and decided it was now time that I could learn this. It took several times before I could actually get it right, but I finally did and this my friends is the end result. Now, all you proficient knitters out there that have been doing this forever I am sure you will find my mistake, please just look over it please. I was determined to fix it and go on, not that I really knew how, but I did and went on with no further mistakes. I did realize what had happened and kept that from happening again. Now I have a finished product and am so happy with it. I also decided to put a crocheted border around it. My son said it was too frilly for a dishcloth, I agree but could not resist. Anyhow, what do you think of my first try!

Next is a pic of some new tools for my crazy quilting. As anyone who reads this blog knows by now that I love to crazy quilt. I am always on the lookout for things that will help and ease the process. I found these rulers yesterday and the dollar tree in town, you know the kind where everything in the store is a dollar. Well when I seen these I knew I had to have them for working on seams. I have a set of "hair houdini" part makers that I have used for years. (You know those plastic templates you laid where you wanted the part in your hair to be, then you chose which pattern you wanted and then you just took a rat tail comb and followed the outlines to get a hair part.) Anyhow, when I seen these rulers I just had to add them to my collection and they are well worth the cost. You never know when you will come across something you can actually use in cq, so I always stay on alert for new items that I can use in all my crazy quilting adventures. Here are some closeups of each ruler:

I just love a bargain and especially one that is so useful! And to think I just went in there for some tissue wrapping paper (again used in my cq's for motif transfer). Well back to stitching for me. I have already started another dishcloth, just plain to get more practice before I try and do anything with a pattern. But hey, at least I have finally got it! Also, Megs block arrived on yesterday for the "Anything Goes" Traditional DYB RR over on CQI and I cannot wait to start the stitching. Will post pics of before and after my work on it next week sometime. Until next time Happy Stitching,

Small Update

This is just a small update with no pics at the moment. I am so busy with projects that need to be finished that I have not had time to post. On top of my crafty items that need to be finished we just signed a contract on a house!Yea!!!!!!! Now we can stop paying rent and move into our own house. The only thing is, now I have to start packing again!uggg!! I hate packing and then unpacking, but that is part of moving!lol. My plan is to pack one room at a time with the items that we are not using the most. Then it won't be so much at one time. When we moved into this rental in June I had over 200 boxes and about twenty big tubs! I have since added things which means more to move. My lovely children will pack their own rooms this time and that will be a big help. So, I will be posting when I can to update everyone on my progress and show pics of the house soon. I am in a couple of RR and that will be fine as I use a p.o. box for the exchange, I will be keeping out what I need for those. If I have time later I will post pics of a project that I am finishing up. Happy Stitching,

Finally Finished and Mailed

Remember the adopted "Stitchers Angel" project that I was working on, well it is finally ready and heading out to its new home. I had a hard time finding the right size binding pre-made in the color that I wanted and needed. It finally came and now all three items are finished. So this project can be marked off as finished! Yeah for me. Not only that, but now this wonderful angel will get her goodies in the mail and will not have to feel as if no-one cares. I enjoyed working on this set of gifties very much. I finally made one of the armchair caddy's, as I love the one that Martine who was my swap partner made for me. I use it continually. This little project was easier to make than I thought it would be. I will definitely be making more of them in the future. There are several birthdays coming up and they will be getting a caddy from me. The one thing I am going to do since completing the caddy is to start making my own binding. I am going to get the tools this next week so I will be able to do so, plus I am going to be doing some reading up on making your own binding. If anyone has any knowledge and advice on this subject please email me at stitchduchess2@yahoo.com with all you know. It will be greatly appreciated. Anyhow, I hope to finish more projects this week and I also have another RR block to make, for a RR on CQI called "Birds and Bees", which means you have to have birds or bees or both on the block. I think I will go with birds. Probably hummers since they are my favorite. Well back to stitching, have a blessed day!

Siggy Swap Blocks

Thought I would post a couple of blocks I have made and two that I have received in my siggy swap. The first one is from Jutta over at : http://stoffundnadel.blogspot.com/ you should go by and visit with her. She has some beautiful work on her blog.This is the one I made for her:
And this is the block that Annelies sent to me you should also go visit her here: http://quiltsandsiggies.web-log.nl/quilts_and_siggies go check out her blog. She has some beautiful work also. I spent a lot of time just browsing through both of these blogs. Great eye candy.This is the one that I made Annelies:

I have no idea how this one pic got to the left side. With blogger you never know. Anyhow, I am sewing up more siggies so I will have them ready to swap out. I am so excited about this. And they are so easy to make that you can whip them out in no time at all. I have 25 cut and ready to sew, and that is what I will be doing on tonight. So if anyone who reads this wants to swap siggies with me, leave me a message and I will get back with you.

I have more items to share but blogger is acting up today grrrrrrrrrrr! So I will post again later if I can get it to work correctly. In the meantime happy stitching, and those in the cold try to stay warm and those in the warm think of all those who are freezing!