It's Leap Day!

 

This is going to be short and sweet, I know you just want to get to entering for the giveaway anyway so here goes:

 

I make this starch, it is wonderful stuff! I can't claim to be the mastermind behind it because someone else gave the recipe to me. I have just embraced it with both hands and think it is sent straight from the fabric deities themselves!  So, here is a 9 oz bottle of concentrated starch.  You will need to add distilled water to it and put it in your favorite spray bottle.  I have been making it for a while and I'm pretty sure I will never use anything else.

 

 

 

In addition to the starch, I will also include a $25 gift certificate for quilting. Use it for any quilting design or size you want. Batting and thread and shipping is not included in the discount.  If you win, we can work out the details then.

 

So, leave a comment and I will pick a winner on Thursday monring.  Have fun hopping!

Yo Yo Challenge

So my FB friend Linda Posted this amazing pic of Zooey Deschanel wearing this AMAZING Yo Yo Skirt. Someday with I have truly lost all link with sanity I will take that one on...but not today. Anyway, that picture turned into this insane creative conversation about doing a yo yo challenge. I personally take NO responsibility for it! ;) So, having committed to yet another thing that I had NO idea what I was going to make. I stalled thought long and hard about it. And without really knowing what I was going to do, I just started making random yo yo's with fabric that was laying on my cutting table. They sat there for a few days with no home, I thought about making a bag, then a necklace (only my cousin makes amazing necklaces and I knew I couldn't out do those), then a scarf, then a ... well you get the idea.  I have this air freshener on my desk, you know the ones with the wood reeds that smell up a room. Some of the sticks in my oil have these really cute plaster plumeria blooms on the top and I thought 'that looks sort of like a yo yo....hmmmmm I wonder' and started rummaging around for my hot glue gun. Since I started quilting, I don't glue anything (sad I know, but true). Once I remembered where I had stashed it, I started sticking them onto the reeds. Honestly, it didn't come out as cute as it was in my head but I don't think I will throw it out. I think I need to put something under them to support them a little, I may add leaves also. Anywho, here we go....

Boy's School Raffle Quilt

I have five children in the public school system, all in elementary school. That statement alone is knee jerking enough. It conjures up phrases like snow day, school lunch, bus driver, field trip, picture day and summer break to name a few. But the most disturbing phrase to the mom of school aged children...fund raiser. I get the full body shivers when my kids bring home those giant envelopes with the photos of all the fabulous prizes they could win and the kids are all hoped up on the MLM selling vibe. Imagine that feeling you get times FIVE! Plus they all go to the same 2 schools so they all rep the same stuff at the same time. I can't buy 5 buckets of cookie dough for $20 a pop! I am more than stocked up on gift wrapping supplies and I can only use ONE Entertainment book. I will say that I am the 'coupon queen' so I do break down and buy one of those each year but don't tell which kid I get it from so as to not start a revolt. All that being said, I do understand that the schools NEED the funds and there are many parents who work very hard to raise said funds. I always donate $$ directly to the school each year {I am sure more than they would get from my kids selling any products}.  My kids are all in elementary school but go to 2 different schools. The three youngest children go to a school that offers Kindergarten through fourth grade and my 2 older boys go to a school that offers fifth and sixth grade. Last year I made a quilt for the younger kids school to be part of a raffle event for their Fall Festival. They could have easily used it as it's own drawing but instead folded it up and added it to a basket with other items. I am sure the people buying tickets had no idea there was even a quilt in there so I hope someone appreciated it. Since I did the quilt for that school last year, I offered to make one for the boy's school this year.

When I started this quilt I was on a 'fabric diet'. I hadn't planned on using it as a fund raising quilt, just wanted to make something using fabrics I already had. 'The Man' picked out the pattern (which I changed quite a bit) as well as the fabrics. I had to purchase the light colored background and the border fabric but the rest I had in my stash.

The center blocks have 2 patterns that alternate and the sashing is accent quilted. The border (isn't that border fabric tasty) has oak leaves and acorns quilted in it. I was trying to keep the fall feeling going.

I named the quilt 'Fall at North Windy Ridge'. I hope that it finds it's way to a good home where someone will love it as much as I loved making it.

If you would like information about purchasing a raffle ticket, let me know I am sure I can get my hands on some, oh wait, the boys will no doubt be bringing that 'big envelope' home for this one. ;)

3 More Finishes

I can't say much about these 3 except that they are UGLY!!! Well, this one is not too bad and I learned a lot about quilting on minky so it's not a total loser...

This was my first attempt at hand quilting was also an epic fail. So it has been in a box for about 8 years...finally just bound it so I can make it go away. I think this will be a play quilt for the kids to take outside for picnics or something.

When I first got my longarm I bought some quilt tops on ebay that are ugly as sin! I still have 2 more that are on the 'to quilt' hangers. I thought 'who cares if I ruin this mess, it's already trashed'. But it was great to practice on. I closed the binding up on this one and will donate it the charity quilts at the next guild meeting...

So even though it is embarrassing to post these picks, I will still claim them as finishes for February and I am happy to make more room on my 'to do' shelves.

Wallets

Once I make something that is cute and easy and decide that I like it, I can't make just one. I made one of these little card wallets for secret gift exchange that I do with my quilting buddies each year. I can't show you the first one because she hasn't gotten it yet and I don't want to blow the surprise. But I can show you the other 6 I made...

One of my customers spotted them on the table waiting for the snaps to be added, so I only have 5 left. Add 6 more to my February finishes. ;)

Mrs. Penny's Baby Quilt

Mo has this GREAT teacher! She is one of those people who goes out of her way to make sure your kid not only learns but learns WELL. She is also one of those amazingly gorgeous pregnant people. You know the ones, radiant glow, perfect skin, hasn't gained a pound anywhere except for that glorious giant egg that fits perfectly in her size small maternity clothes...anyway, you want to hate her but you just can't. I have made it a tradition to make small quilts for my kids teachers as end of the year gifts each year. As soon as I found out she was preggers, I decided that I would make a baby quilt instead of the usual 'teacher' quilt for this one.  I had a panel that I bought a few years back that was really cute but I never got around to doing anything with it. Once we found out the baby was a girl, I was sure this was the one to use. I joined up for Myra's PhD Challenge and this was one of the quilts I committed to finishing. I figured that since the baby is due in March I should get on this one first.

UPDATE:

Baby Emaline Likes her quilt: