Another Giveaway

I just found another giveaway. It's at Camille's Place and she's celebrating
300,300 visitors. There is still time to enter until June 08. Her blog is a treat for the eyes and very interesting and informative. So please visit Ribbonwiz's blog and leave a comment.

Thimble, Handquilting, and Cell Phones

I had replied to a post on Fabricologist Anonymous and Lissa had just had a little shopping spree, including a silver thimble from www.thimblelady.com
My brother one year for Christmas had gotten me a gold thimble, I think 10K, and the next year got me a silver thimble holder. He loves to go to pawn shops, thrift shops, and garage sales, and often gets some bargains. I thought that I would just share a picture of them. I don't know if they are antiques or anything like that, but they are a couple of my treasures.
That made me think to show my so far only hand quilting start (actually, I do have 2, as I have an Eagle Scout quilt started for my son, who has been out of Scouts for many years, so I guess I should consider finishing it). It is all ready and quilted, will be queen sized when finished, and it is a sampler quilt. Not too much quilting on it, but I worked very hard on it, I thought. I need to sew the blocks together and I will have a UFO finished that I did back about 22 or 23 years ago. It has been to this point since then. The colors are much softer than in the pictures. These were made using Georgia Bonesteel's Lap Quilting technique.


My husband and I are retired now, he has been for about 5 years, and I have been for about 2 years, and since I was the caretaker for my mother, we didn't get out of the house too much. We are hoping to do some traveling, health permitting, and so for our anniversary (which isn't until the end of next month), I got a new phone with GPS. This is my first phone that wasn't black, and wasn't the free giveaway at the time, and I am enjoying playing with it. I will have the internet on it for 2 months, and then when the rebate comes back I will cancel that, but for now I can play all I want.
Unfortunately, all these things sidetrack my OC, but I have got step 5 cut out, and half the blocks stacked up and ready to assembly line sew.

Apology and Explanation

Yesterday, I changed the template on my blog, and I lost the Mystery Quilter and Stashbuster Ring links. I apologize for breaking the circles, and I have emailed the leaders to see how to get it back onto my blog. I'm working on it.

Note: With help from Suzette the Stashbuster web ring link is back on here. From what she told me, I was also able to add back the Mystery Quilters web ring link, so I am no longer the 'weakest link'.

Giveaway

Here's another great site, and a beautiful giveaway. This one unfortunately is only open to US residents. It is from Serena at Embroidery Treasures. Here's a description:

"This delicious fat quarter bundle consisting of 10 fat quarters is from Benartex. Victorian colors of burgundy, olive green and pink are evident in the Aspen collection by Marianne Elizabeth! Perfect for so many projects!"

You have until June 2nd to post a comment and enter.

Orange Crush Step 4 - Etc.

Step 4 of my Orange Crush is finally finished, and I am so excited to finally be sort of caught up, and to be cutting into my orange and blue fabric. The blocks are kind of subdued, but I don't think that the quilt will be when the other two fabrics are added. I think it will be saying, "look at me".

Also, I just wanted to confess that the missing parts to my featherweight were in the box, but at the bottom of about 2 feet of styrofoam peanuts in a baggie. I think that they were probably taped to the outside of the case and came loose. I haven't tried it with thread yet to see if it works and sews. I see from the featherweight group that I just joined that some sellers don't differentiate between the two in their ads. I guess to them works means that the motor turns on and it goes up and down, but it may not actually sew. I guess that I will find out which mine is. It does work, and I hope it sews.

Also, if you have visited my blog, you may have noticed that with the help of

Helz from Blue Shadow Pony (I love her blog and it's name) I went to:

http://www.pyzam.com/bloggertemplates and got a new template for my blog. I like the looks better, but now I need to scour around and try to find my little buttons or widgets, or whatever you call them, for the sides. It may be a day or two though, as I hope to at least do some cutting today on my OC.

Memorial Day

I have a good start to the day, but no plans. I'm not sure what my kids are up to, but my DH and I are having a quiet day. I have got Ham and Split-pea soup cooking in the crockpot, and I plan on continuing my step 4 of the OC. Yesterday, I finished 10 blocks, and have 10 more stacked up ready to assembly line sew as soon as I finish a little housework. Hope you all have a nice holiday for the ones of you who celebrate Memorial Day.
Here's the recipe for the soup, it is excellent, and an easy hearty meal.
HAM AND SPLIT PEA SOUP
1 16-ounce pkg. Publix (or any brand)Green Split Peas, sorted and rinsed - 2 cups diced cooked ham - 3 carrots - 1/2 cup diced onions - 3 ribs celery - 2 cloves minced garlic - 1 bay leave - 12 sprigs parsley - 1 tbsp. seasoned salt - 1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper - 6 cups water ( I added 3 diced potatoes after the carrots)Prepare ingredients by dicing carrots etc and layer ingredients in slow cooker in order listed. Do not stir to mix. Pour water gently over layers. Cover and cook on High 4-5 hours or Low 8-10 hours until peas are soft. Remove bay leaf; mash peas to thicken, if desired (I don't), or stir to blend soup. Top with croutons if desired. Makes 10 cups.
Sorry, there is a reflection of my kitchen and dining room lights in the lid.

3 Giveaways to Enter

I have run across 3 giveaways in the past couple of days. One is on Home Sweet Home Jo Jo's site, and she has 2 giveaway's "first prize on offer will be your choice of any 2 of the ‘Bling for Pins’ that appear in the picture on her blog and the second…..well the second is a mystery????". I think I would like the 'Bling for Pins'. The second is Go Doodles N Quilt, which I had mentioned in my post on May 18, and she is giving away an adorable doll from her new business. The third is from Doxies on My Quilt. Rhonda is celebrating her 100th post. She gave a hint of what she's giving. It sure is pretty fabric.

I think there is still time to leave a comment and enter on all three.

Happy Long Weekend.

Featherweight

When the doorbell rang this afternoon, I wasn't expecting anyone, and was surprised when it was the mailman at my door with a big box. (Also, a baby lizard that my husband got with a paper toweled hand and sent back outside.) I only ordered my featherweight a couple of days ago, but there it was. It had to come less than 150 miles, but it was still a surprise.
As you can see, it is a bit scratched up, but I hooked it up, the light worked, and it purred along. I couldn't try any actual stitching, as the bobbin case that was supposed to have come with it wasn't there. I have already emailed the seller, so hopefully it will be coming soon. The part that holds the thread on top was broken, and that was supposed to have been included also, but wasn't. Hopefully, this lady is a reputable person and will make sure that I receive the missing parts.

I have looked on line and found a place that has all kinds of parts including the part that I am missing on the top, and it looked to be reasonable. It does look like a toy, even my Janome Jem looks like a big bully in comparison. I am anxious to see the famous featherweight straight stitch.
I was glad to have a pleasant surprise, as this morning was fairly unpleasant. I tried for hours to order some collage prints online, and finally called the company. She did the best she could, and then checked with the supervisor who told her to check with the technical people. I am waiting on them now, so I guess we'll see how they do. At least, it wasn't me.

ALS ASSOCIATION

I emailed the ALS Association and requested permission to put the image of their stamp, and the calendar that they sell on their site on my blog, and they were kind enough to give it to me. I just wanted to post the information that they have about the artist, Peggy Chun, on their site:

"This beautiful calendar chronicles the vivid work of artist Peggy Chun, whose painting methods have evolved during the past several years since she was diagnosed with ALS in 2002. Peggy began painting with her right hand, then she switched to using her left hand. When Peggy could no longer use her hands, she began painting with her teeth. Eventually, she lost the use of her teeth, and began using an eye response computer system. She then lost the ability to use an eye response computer system, and now uses her nose with the help of an assistant to create her unique paintings."

http://alsaestore.compet.com/product.asp?product_id=272

Orange Crush Step 4 and Moment of Insanity

After all the work, I finally have a block. I am including steps 1 and 2 of the CC in that work. Only 100 more triangle sets to sew together, and 29 more blocks to piece, and I will be done with step 4 of the OC. I can see I need to mix things up a bit more, but I was so excited to put a block together that I guess I didn't really look that hard. As careful as I tried to be, I had to do a little ripping. I had my red where the black should be, and my black where the red should be. Luckily, I only had to undo 3 little seams. As usual, my angle is bad. I don't have a design wall, but I'm thinking that I will make myself a small flannel board so I can at least put up a block or two.

Now for the moment of insanity. I don't need a machine. I have my 18 year old Bernina, and my Janome Jem, and even a little blue Sears machine that I bought for an uninterested granddaughter. So why when I saw conversations about featherweights did I look on Ebay, just out of curiousity? I don't know, but when I did, I got the impulse to put in a bid, and then another bid and another. Finally, I reached my absolute limit, and was waiting in anticipation, half hoping to win, and half hoping to lose. As you have probably surmised, the win half won. I had always liked them, even before I knew what they were. I used to sew with my friend in Massachusetts about 35 years ago, and she had a cute little black machine. I'm not positive, but I would bet that it was a featherweight, and as you can see, it stuck in my mind. Then when I started quilting and learned what they were, I wished that I had one, mostly because they are so cute. According to the information, it is in good condition and works. I am hoping to study up, and get it in really good condition, but I also am wanting just to display it in my sewing room. Again, it's so cute.