More Fabric Stash and New Siggy Arrived

OK I have more lovely fabric to add to my stash! Here are the pics I made of what I bought on today. The really bright pink is actually an organza that I will use for postcards. The tie dye fabric I was sooooooooooo..........excited to find! Remember sometime ago I posted my ocean quilt top that I was ready to start putting together, well I did not have enough of this fabric to finish the stripping. I had bought this fabric when I lived in Texas and bought all they had at the time. I was debating whether or not to use a different fabric to finish it off. Anyhow, I found this fabric yesterday and purchased the last 2yds that they had. Now I can finish my quilt and finally get it off the design wall. The fabric on the right is actually a black/white print for my black/white/pink quilt that I am making for a challenge I am in. The rest is just because I liked them.

Next I received another siggy in the mail, this one is from Ria isn't it lovely.

Next is a pic of another dishcloth that I have finished, this one is white also (trying to use up all that white cotton thread I have). This dishcloth looks like a flower. I have also purchased another dishcloth book for more patterns.Well that is all I have for today. Happy Stitching,

New Fabric and Some Goodies Recieved

This will be a long post with lots of pics so hang on. First is some fabric that I have added to my stash recently. My sweet hubby knows of my love of Batik fabrics and he bought me 23 new fq's a week ago. Here they are and are they not just luscious! I have been collecting them to make a king size quilt. Some day I will have enough to make one. Are they not wonderful!Next is my new fabric for my regular stash: This is my fabric for my Black and White quilt with a splash of color. I chose pink as the splash of color. Now to choose the pattern and get the flimsy made soon.Next up we have a small piece of fabric that has cats on it. Isn't this lovely. I will be using this in a small project for my brothers girlfriend who is crazy about cats.

Next we have this lovely floral print and soft pinks that will become a wall-hanging in the near future.

Next we have these lovely fabrics that I stumbled upon, and the best thing is they were on sale at the local fabric store for $1.00 a yard. So of course I had to get 4yds of each of the vine print only. The pink is from another store and I only have a yd of it.

Next we have this lovely floral and the green and all three of these were on sale as well and I purchased the last 6yds of the solid floral, 4yds of the green and just a yd of the striped floral. I may go back and get more of this though. I wish I had gotten more at the time as it goes so well with the other fabric. This is earmarked for a quilt for my mom.
I just love getting mail! Don't you, anyhow this is what I have received in the mail this past week. So here they are: The first is a siggy from Martine and she also sent me a couple of pieces of this wonderful fabric for my crazy quilting. Isn't this lovely! I will definitely be using this in my next project. And her siggy is wonderful also, nice deep red color.

Next is a siggy from Breda, this one is lovely also.
Next we have a siggy from Manie v.d. Berg and she used some vintage fabric on hers and it is just wonderful! Mine to them will go out in the mail on Monday. I will post pics after they have received theirs from me.

Next is my post cards that have arrived this past week! And they are wonderful: First up is the post card I received in a one to one swap with Wanda from South Africa. I just love this card, she entitled it "Winter Scene". The one I made her is on its way to her and I will post a pic of it when she receives it.The next post card is the one I received from MaryLou our monthly swap on www.FabricPostCardsForStitchers at yahoo groups. I love this card, it has lots of beads on it and the orange color is beautiful.
This next one just came yesterday and it is this months card from the same group (we do a monthly card swap with different themes and partners) this one is from Illse. I love the technique that she used and all the different scraps of fabric that she used. The little saying says "Agree with your imagination" And when you make these post cards or any other creative art you should remind yourself that your art comes from your imagination and you should just let it flow!

I told you this post was going to be a long one. I hope you have a good week-end and get to stitch a lot. Happy Stitching Everyone,

Birds and Bee's RR Block

Here is a pic of my Birds and Bees RR block that I am in over at CQI, this is the second RR that I am in. I had swapped hearts over at COH and received a gorgeous heart with a birdhouse on it. I decided I would use it as the focus center for this RR. I so love this heart. Now it no longer looks like a heart but the work is all intact and I love it. There are five of us in the group so four other ladies will be working on this block before it comes home to me. This block will be matted and framed when finished.Then I was in a fq swap and this is what I am sending my swap partner. I also enclosed two for her son in fabric that she said he would like. That way they both can have some swappy goodness! This is for her:
And this is for her son, she said he liked dragons, turtles and penguins I had two out of the three so I think I did good:
I just love the penguin fabric. I have been waiting and waiting for this yarn to go on sale so I could buy some. It was $9.99 a skein and finally my patience has paid off, it went on sale this week for $1.99. I am doing a happy dance. I am going to use it on a denim jacket that I want to use the embellisher on. I may go back and get some more over the weekend just so I can have it for more projects later.They have this same thread in pastels also, of course at the time all I could see was the bold and beautiful colors!lol. It has a velvety feel to it and is just luscious. This photo does not do the colors justice but it will have to do. I am definitely going back to get more. I have four hoodies that I could embellish with this. And of course post cards with this would be fun too.

Finished Seams on RR Block

I finally have time to post a pic of my work on Megs RR block. I am in a RR over on CQI it is called DYB Traditional RR. The first block to arrive for me to work on is Megs. She is going to be turning this into a small clutch bag. I fell in love with the colors she chose, they are blues and greens with a touch of gold in them. I did a seam treatment of fly stitch to make it look like lace, then I beaded the flowers on the patch above that and added the sequins. Next I put some lime green ric rac down. I was going to do the whole seam treatment until I recounted and realized that if I did it would not leave enough for the other ladies in the group. Therefore I just laid the ric rac and someone else will be able to finish the seam treatment. I enjoyed working on Megs block and I hope that she likes what I have done.The block is now on its way to Ati for her to work her magic. The photos I took for some reason does not really do the block justice. I guess the lighting was off.
Happy Stitching Everyone,

Dusting of Snow and Some Projects

Well we did get a small dusting of snow on Sunday morning which is a rare thing for us being so far south. You had to be up early to see it and I almost did not get any pics, because I forgot about making them at first. It was so pretty when we first got up all white and crisp looking. But it was cold also so while I made and had a few cups of coffee it had started to melt. My mom who is 73 was excited about it but disappointed that there was not more of it. So now we are left with just the cold and wind! I will be so glad when spring finally arrives! My neighbors yard is full of buttercups and they are so pretty, and my moms yellow bells are in full bloom which means spring is not far behind. Yea!!! I am so ready for bright sunny and warm days. Anyhow, here are a few pics of our dusting, nothing like those in the north experience, but again a rare sight here in the south.Although we did have a blizzard in the early 90's and we had 36" of snow! Once in a lifetime occurrence I am told. Anyhow, here are some pics of projects that I have completed in the last few weeks. I finally taught myself to knit and have made more dish cloths. They are so much fun to make. I have this really big roll of cotton thread so I have made white dish cloths and also I have made some out of the peach/cream color also. Finally I have knitted my mom a neck warmer out of Bliss by Paton's. This is the softest thread I have ever felt of. I originally bought this yarn because it has the same name as my middle daughter and we thought it was fun having a yarn with her name! This one is Bliss Mango:My mom is very cold natured so I thought this might help keep her toasty when she is just sitting around. That's all I have for today, I have more that I am working on but have not made pics and will try and do that in the next few days. I have finished Megs RR block and will be sending it on to Ati in the next day or so and I will be posting pics of it soon.
Happy Stitching Everyone,

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,