Easter Greetings

Happy Easter, everyone!

An Experiment

I finally finished this little quilt top I have been slowly sewing together and actually basted it today. This might seem odd, but I do the basting on my sewing room wall.  I'd rather do it on the floor but the only available floor space is right in the center of the kitchen, and that would necessitate washing the floor...

My LQS was hyping these new Pinmoors a few months ago. The idea sounds good, you just use long straight pins rather than safety pins which eliminates the closing of the pin part which always wrecks my finger. But the downside is they are expensive. Multiple packages would be necessary to do a decent-sized quilt. 

So about three-fourths of the way through safety pinning, I remember this...

I wish I could take credit for this idea but I read it on a forum somewhere. I think this product has a use in plumbing. It comes in a 20 foot long strip that is easily cut to size. I pinned the last quarter of my top using it and long straight pins. The foam is not as dense as the Pinmoors but hopefully it will stay in place during quilting.

And a closeup,

Hope it works as it's way cheaper (less than five dollars at Home Depot for a lot more product) than the Pinmoors.

I spent about an hour trying to get close to some white pelicans that arrived in our neighborhood recently.

This is a small flock of the total. It's been a real treat to see the white ones as they are rather rare. I am sure the other birds cannot wait for them to leave. I watched a great blue heron catch a fish and hurriedly swallow it while being mobbed by about twenty of these guys. Quite funny to see.

Thanks for visiting~

If You're Lucky Enough to be Irish ...

... You're lucky enough!  Happy St. Patrick's Day! I've been doing a wee bit of sewing on my Catnip quilt kit and have most of the blocks finished. I am trying to resist making it larger. It is supposed to finish at about 37 by 51 but to me a quilt is not a quilt unless it's a minimum of twin-sized. Quite silly, I know plus it makes the task of actually quilting the top that much more onerous. I guess that's why I have a closet full of quilt tops. I'll have to show you some time.

Enjoy the day and watch that green beer!
Talk to you later~

We Have A Winner!

First off, I hope everyone has a chance to celebrate National Quilting Day! I paid a trip to my LQS to check out the new fabric and check out the scrap bin.

I signed up again for the swap at The Curious Quilter.  I think I got a nice variety.

Unfortunately there are a lot of jelly roll strips but I can't use them as they get ragged and the size I swap is 2.5 inches. There's just no way to neaten the edges.

Came home and chose a winner for the Winter Blues Giveaway by using the Random Number Generator and #185 came up.

Erin @Sew at Home Mummy said...

Wow, what a great giveaway!!!
At the moment I'm working on a Riley Blake instructor's project and binding a queen sized quilt :)

I had so much fun hosting this and reading all the comments. I responded to everyone who I had a way of getting in contact with. The comments were just awesome! I learned about a lot of new fabric lines and reading about what projects were in the works was so inspiring. Thank you to all who took the time to comment!

I've been asked to review Jennifer Chiaverini's new Elm Creek Quilts novel, The Giving Quilt so that's coming up the beginning of April. I have 2 books to give away and some quilting pins which are kind of neat.

 I've never read any of the Elm Creek Quilts novels so I am really looking forward to it. Here are the pins,

Thanks or visiting!

A Small Project

For Beat the Winter Blues giveaway, go one post down.

 I found a little kit from Art Girlz (which now seems defunct?) I had won awhile back and decided to make it into a card.  I used to find the little bag full of goodies every so often and take it out and admire all the trinkets, especially the tiny bag of beads.  I thought it would make a great birthday card for my niece who turns 13 in July. She regards me as somewhat of a Craft Goddess so living up to the reputation factored into that decision.  Although, in passing my daughter seemed overly interested also...

I first glued the purple Batik (does that get capitalized? If not, it should!) and then sewed the piece of glittered-decorated tulle over that before sewing a green felt heart on top. Sorry about the bad pic, I tried, really tried to get a good one but man, it was cloudy here today in Florida.

Some beads and a metal heart...and I called it done. It looks better in person. Really.

Here's the inside. 
Maybe I better stick with quilting!
Thanks for visiting.

Beat the Winter Blues Giveaway

I have closed comments and will pick a winner soon! Thank you to all who commented.

 Welcome to the blog party hosted by the Quilting Gallery! I am participating in the fun to beat back those Winter Blues by offering a giveaway of the Fast-Forward book by Pat Sloan (yay, Pat!),

and along with the book the lucky winner will also get these 9 fat quarters...

I will ship internationally so the giveaway is open to all. Just leave a comment about some fabric you have your eye on, your favorite season, what project you are working on, whatever.  I'll pick a winner sometime on March 15.  Be sure I can contact you, if I cannot, I will choose another.
And be sure to check out all the other bloggers listed at the Quilter's Blog Hop Party over here.
Thanks for stopping by!

Getting My Mojo Back

I'm still tryin' to get back into the groove of sewing and what with a shelf chock full of quilt kits,

I thought I'd give this one a try.

Isn't this Laurel Burch theme fabric great?

So some serious cutting has been going on along with taking care of the ailing Queen, who my daughter gave SQ fluids to on Monday I might add!!!  She seems to think that sticking a needle into a cat feels like sticking a needle into a pile of fabric. Haha, I like how a quilter's daughter immediately thought in sewing concepts.

Now I just need to sit down and start sewing!  And just because it's so darn cute...

I think the photo is from The Cottage House, Minnesota.  It almost looks like the same kitty in the first picture.
Don't forget a giveaway starts here on Friday.
Thanks for stopping by~