Giveaway and Sand Cranes

Jo from 'Home Sweet Home' is having a 100th post giveaway, and her question is, "what are three crafty things you can't live without". Very thought provoking and hard to narrow down three, but I came up with my machines, my iron, and my rotary cutting tools. What are yours? If you go to Jo's blog and let her know and post it on your blog, you'll be entered in her giveaway and you'll also be able to congratulate her on her wonderful blog.



If you follow my blog you probably already are aware that I love the Sand Cranes. I was very excited yesterday to have five in the field behind my house, and it was like they waited for me to get my camera, and then they stayed there as long as I liked to have their pictures taken. Notice the cow watching in the background, that can give you an idea of how big the birds are, they are really tall, and I think that they are beautiful with their red heads.
I got to spend the afternoon yesterday with my DD, we went to Ikea, it was her first time, and she couldn't believe how big the store is. I told her it was like 2 Targets. We didn't make any major purchases, but got a few little good deals. I got a new chair for my sewing room and after I get it put together I'll take a picture of old and new, and you'll see why I needed a new one. After we walked and walked for about 2 hours or so we went to Bahama Breeze, my favorite restaurant and had a really nice splurge. We had the Roasted Cuban bread, which is toasty bread with sweet tomatoes and basil on top, then a fruit cup with I believe mango sorbet, and shared the lobster, shrimp pasta. It was more than enough for both of us, and truly did have shrimp and big pieces of lobster in every bite. It was a very nice day with my daughter and we both enjoyed the time together.

Preperation for Pay it Forward

If you read my blog, you probably have noticed that I stick pretty much to easy, and that's ok, but for Pay it Forward I would like to try something a little different. The little quilt below is about 13 inches by 15 inches, and is from a book that I got by Debbie Mumms. It is appliqued Easter eggs, and is the only applique that I have done to this point (except for a little heart on the back of a quilt that I accidently made a hole in). I think it's kind of cute, but I decided that I needed a little more knowledge.

Today I checked out the website for our LQS and they were having several classes, one of which is for the little block below. It is part of a quilt that they are doing a block a month, but I only have to do the one block if I want to. I think that if it turns out nicely, it might be an idea for the Pay it Forward, if not, at least I will have a little more knowledge and hopefully will have enjoyed my class.

We bloggers sacrifice for our blogs. My DH is always getting onto me about climbing on stools and chairs and such, and I'm glad he wasn't home tonight. I have a little ladder about 2 feet high, and when I was trying to get the Easter egg quilt off the top shelf of the closet I took a tumble and things were flying everywhere. I broke the bottom shelf on one of my bookcases, but luckily not any bones. I'm dreading what might ache tomorrow though.

Pay it forward

Here I am, out of my comfort zone, but "when we're green we're growing, and when we're ripe we're rotting". That's one of my favorite quotes, and I guess that now's one of the times to grow. Amy is taking part in the Pay it forward, and while I was thinking about it her's filled up, and one of the participants is Amanda. I thought awhile, but Amanda still had a slot, so I gathered my courage and signed up. ***Correction, I just went to Amy's blog to get her link, and she only has Amanda so far, so I'm asking for Amy and Me***
The rules for the Pay it Forward are like this:
1) Three people will be chosen to participate when they leave a comment on this post asking to join (I'll obviously choose the first three)
2) You then agree to post a similar announcement to this on your blog, asking three more people to join in, etc
3) You will create a hand-made item for your three people sometime over the next 12 months.
If you are like me and have been a bit afraid to participate in things in blogland due to lack of confidence in your skills, you have a whole year on this one and only have to make 3 gifts. It seems a good way to jump in and get your feet wet without a quick deadline or any rules except to make 3 gifts and send them to people that you like and who like you well enough to follow your blog and sign up with you. It seems like a fun way to get started.

Kolbie's Quilt and DD Fabric

Kolbie's quilt top is finished, and now I need to get it basted and quilted. First step will be to watch the video on basting with the boards again, and then when I get that done, I have 6 tops to baste including this one and the one that I made for my 3 year old granddaughter. After that, I will need to watch the DVD that I bought on machine quilting and see if I can do better than last time on my FMQ'ing.

Isn't Kolbie a cutie. My favorites are the one where she looks like she's about to cry, and the one after it where she is asleep on her mama's hands.

My daughter called this morning, she Tabitha and Micah were out doing errands and wanted to know if DH and I would like to meet them for lunch. We did, I had a very good salad with grilled chicken, cranberries, pecans and feta cheese, and we enjoyed the outing and the company. When we got home I was a little disappointed not to see my package for the DD fabrics for Bonnie Hunter's latest mystery, and then when I opened the screen door the package tumbled out. DH and I liked them all, his favorite is the dark blue in the top corner, and I think that they, along with some scraps that I will probably add in, will look nice together. I hope so anyway. I'm not a patient mystery doer, so even though I haven't started yet, I have looked at all the clues, and I must say, I think it is a pretty one. I wasn't so sure about my Orange Crush, and now I love it, so I think this one will be a favorite right away.

I have a full sized laptop computer, but I have been very tempted to get one of the little 9.8 inch, 2 pound Acer's. It seems like it would be nice to have to carry around the house and to take anywhere that I might go. I was wondering if anyone has one and if they like it. It's hard being a gadget person, and being enticed by technology. The one I am interested in is here.

Happy New Year

This morning I have been busy and a little productive. Long story, but due to a bit of drama between x-wives etc., I decided that I wanted to make DD's fiance's DD a quilt. I had some prequilted fabric, so I did a little machine embroidery with her name, and used some assorted leftover binding, and now it is out of the washer and dryer and ready to be delivered. Not fancy, but she is in kidergarten and probably not too hard to please.
I also took a few pictures of my more organized stash (and I use the term loosely as it isn't a very impressive one) The top is my batiks and some smaller mostly half yard pieces. The middle is assorted colored and neutral larger pieces, and the bottom is children and baby fabrics.

Below is my backing stash, I bought several oxford cloth sheets and some flannel sheets from Land's End and am going to see how they work out for backings. I had one done with a sheet at the LA'er with her permission, and it turned out nicely, I'm hoping that I can do it, too.

The still a bit messy picture below is actually the shelf above my backings, and it is my scraps. I always thought that I had mostly pinks, but it seems that I have more blues and purples than pinks. I never would have known if I hadn't tried to make some order from the chaos.

This is just the side view looking in from the closet door. I still have a lot of organizing to do, and that will be done as I put away Christmas decorations. I think that I also need to get rid of some things, but that won't be easy. I can't stand the mess though.

This is a not very good picture of the fabrics that I have ordered from Thousands of Bolts. They are for Bonnie Hunter's mystery, and I'm anxious for them to get here. The email says January 6th, and I'm sure I'll survive.

I am supposed to do the Shakespeare in the Park with an internet friend, and these are the fabrics that I purchased for it about 4 or 5 years ago. They are still intact except for one piece of fabric that I robbed and replaced with another similar one. I just need to take Nike's advice and 'just do it', as for some reason it scares me. She has already started hers and has a couple of snail's trail blocks. done.

Sorry to have gone on and on, if anyone is still with me, I can imagine that your eyes have glazed over.

I wish all a Happy New Year.