Playing in Strings!

Hello, I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and are busy enjoying the weekend.  We had DS home for Thanksgiving and had a lot of fun. Our 'nest' gets a little smaller every year. :-)

Sorry I have been missing~ I finished a nice big quilt top. BUT I can't show you until December! Its my HGTV BOM.  I am really happy with how it came together.

I also finished my string swap blocks, but silly me.. I forgot to take a photo when I was swapping everyone's! Sorry. There were some great color combo's. In this swap (hosted on HGTV quilter's message board) everyone gets to choose the color of strings they'd like in their blocks, and the center string size. Then I make a master list and everyone makes four blocks for each participant. The blocks measure 8.5 inches, unfinished. They all sent them to me and I swapped them out and mailed them back yesterday.  This time we had 11 participants, including me, so here are the 10 sets I received, plus a few extra. They aren't laid out the way I would sew them together because I have each person's blocks together~ and I want to mix them up! ;-)  I'm trying to decide if I should make more, cut these and add a color to one side, or what.  I am going to put them up and do some thinking for a while...like until after the holidays. ;-)

That's all for now! Have a happy, quilty, weekend!!

Happy Birthday to...

...*giggle* ... me!  :-) I used to kind of dread birthdays. You know another year older, another gray hair! But hey, they happen every year whether we like it or not, so I might as well enjoy it! LOL :-)

This year I joined a few birthday swaps.. and wow! They did not disappoint! I am just thrilled with my birthday  'loot'! LOL ;-)

First I joined in a FQ swap. About 20 of us sent a FQ to each other on our birthday's.  We got to choose what theme we'd like for the FQ's and I chose Civil War. Granted, not everyone can find CW FQ's in their area, but I think the ladies did an awesome job!

I can't wait to play with these! :-)

Second I joined a secret sister birthday swap on HGTV. We were each given the name of someone else who joined and we sent them a b-day box. My secret sister's birthday was early in the year. I made her a sewing machine cover and sent a bunch of other goodies. I received this lovely box from another HGTV quilter.  I love everything she sent!

And then the icing on the top was this wonderful wall hanging she made and hand quilted! It is one of the blocks we presented in the BOM for the year!  I just love autumn and this was such a fun surprise!

And finally, another group of my friends is sending each other a block on their birthday. Our one rule was it did not have to arrive on time. LOL  I chose a block from Quilter's Cache called Four Squares 2 and they are making blocks for me in autumn fabrics~ won't these make a lovely lap quilt? :-)

Its been a wonderful birthday! Hubby bought me a few books and took me out for lunch. DD called. One of my besties called. :-) I am so very blessed!

I hope you are having a wonderful day too!
Next time I will show you what I've been sewing on. ;-)
Until then~
Happy Quilting!!

A Bit of Fun~

I finished all of my string swap blocks yesterday, so was looking for a little fun~ luckily i had just the project! :-)

Sue @ Larkspur Lane Designs  had a little word puzzle contest on her blog. I love word puzzles, so just had to play along. LOL  She shared her Jingle Bell pattern for getting it right.  Thank you Sue!!

 It's a paper-pieced pattern and I think it turned out really cute!  I can imagine a row of them on a table runner, or along the side of placemats. What would you do?  Any ideas for me? :-)

I am headed back to my sewing machine~ much to do. I hope you have a great weekend!
And until next time~
Happy Stitchin'!

Looking for a Sweet Little Gift?

...for a sweet someone? :-) 

Kim at Lily Patch Quilts has a new pattern called 'Sweet Little Pleats' and I am in love!  :-) It's easy. It's quick. And it would make a darling gift!  Need a small tote bag for your book when you are waiting at the Dr.'s or even a little project? Have a little girl in your life who needs a little bag? :-)  Look at this~~

Isn't it just darling?! I was on a black and red kick when I made mine and I love it!  It has a snap closure and some inside pockets too! And just think how cute it would be in polka dots!  Take a look at Kim's blog for other fabric choices and ideas. :-)  Fun! Fun! Fun! :-)

Until next time~
Happy Stitching!

Stuff~

LOL, sorry I just couldn't come up with a snappy title! :-)  I know you are all wondering who the winner of my giveaway is, so I'll tell you first. But I hope you do read on when you find out it wasn't you! :-/ I wish I could give things away to every one of you who took the time to comment and suffer through the word verification!  BTW, did you know that you don't have to capitalize the letters for them to work? At least that is the way it works for me~ as long as I list the right letters, it works. ;-)  Thank you all so much for your visits!

Ok, the random number generator thing picked~~

Clara! from Clover and Violet  :-) Congratulations!!!  I hope you enjoy my little bag and the tape measure. I gotta say, I feel a little funny sending something I made to a pattern designer! :-o  But on the other hand~ do you make things for yourself? I usually make for everyone but me, so hopefully you will find a use for my little bag. :-)

Now for 'stuff'~ :-)

I have been sewing!  I am in a string block swap where everyone chooses what colors they would like their blocks to be. We had a lot of interest in 'ocean colored' batiks, so I have this pile to trim up. I enjoy sewing string blocks, and making string quilts~ they always surprise me because the fabrics available to me are so different to some of the other swappers fabrics. Do you find that different areas of the country seem to have different selections? When I was in Missouri, I didn't see a single fabric that I have locally~ weird, huh?

I love to sit and stitch in the evenings. And with it getting darker so much sooner, the evening seems longer!  I just finished Santa. I need to rinse out the Sticky Solvy and get borders on him. And then I am thinking about aging him a bit~ have you done that? Any tips for me?  ;-)

I guess that is all the 'stuff' for now. :-)  I hope you are keeping warm and safe. I feel so bad for those on the east coast who are suffering so! I sincerely hope the weather changes directions for them and they don't get another storm!

Until next time~
Happy Stitchin'!

Bounce! And CTTY

It's the end of the month already! Is anyone else wondering~ How did that happen?! ;-)

For Another Year of Schnibbles we had the choice of making Hubble or Bounce from Miss Rosie's Quilt Co. Of course, we were told in September so everyone would have plenty of time since these are bigger quilts.  Well........ :-/   I was gone in September and when I got home in October I needed a little rest.  And the next thing I knew, the month was half over and I hadn't even started! :-o Yikes!  So with the pedal to the metal, I got busy!  I made Bounce~

Bounce by Carrie Nelson of Miss Rosie's Quilt Co done in 'Its a Hoot' by Momo for Moda

 Oh my stars! I love stars!! :-) It looks a little washed out in my photo~ sorry. :-/
Tomorrow Sherri and Sinta will have the parade. I don't think you will want to miss it! ;-)

I've also been stitching by night~ but not on my machine. For Christmas Through the Year, I've been making scarves.  This one will be for DD. Shhh! 

I also made myself a few. ;-) They are fast and easy. :-)

If you are still with me, you are a very loyal follower! Thank you!! This is my 700th post!  So in honor of my being such a chatterbox LOL   ;-)  Ok, really, in honor of you being such a wonderful blog friend! I am having a little giveaway...

 Leave me a comment if you'd like to win this little zipper pouch and 120 inch tape measure. I recently got one of these tape measures for myself and had no idea what I have been missing all these years! It is wonderful!  You don't have to be a follower to enter, but if you are :-) leave me a second comment telling me you are and you will get a second chance!  I will draw next week. Make sure your email is hooked to your comment so I can contact you!  Good luck!

Have a wonderful weekend~
and a very Happy Halloween! (did you think I forgot?) LOL ;-)

A Bit More Stitching~

It isn't as finished as I hoped it would be by today, but i thought you'd like to see it anyway. :-)

This is a Sherri K Falls pattern called Berries and Boughs.  It should be a really quick little quilt. ;-) But I had to be different. LOL I did the twilling stitch around the cardinal. I saw this stitch a lot when I was in Kansas and Missouri and just had to play. :-)  I really like how it turned out.

 This is a little closer look at the stitch~

Hopefully, if you click on the photo's they will enlarge a bit more.

Hope you are finding a little stitchin' time too!
Until next time!
Stitch Happy. :-)