Thursday, December 30, 2010

HAPPY NEW YEARS TO EVERYONE....LETS BRING IN THE NEW YEAR WITH A GIVEAWAY!!

I just wanted to have a small giveaway to say thanks and Happy New Years.

I will not have time to answer your comments, so I am sorry. I appreicate all of you that have stopped by via my blog or email to check in on me. Most of you know that I am moving and as of now am in my new home with all our storage sitting around us. Our household items have not even left the port of Pago Harbor....I won't elaborate.

Least way, when I was in Texas this summer I purchased this free motion book, it has alot of tips and advice. One thing it said was that you don't need to go fast

(I have been caught....this lead foot of mine has a need for speed). She gives alot of other wonderful advice and designs.

Then...as I was looking at some of the quilt books(everything seems so new after 3 years)....infact, my husband was out in the cold with the movers, he comes in and goes "Are you having fun"....like I should be doing something else.

Okay....caught again.

I thought this book "A Super Quilter" was pretty awesome for a beginner and for someone who would like all the wonderful patterns it includes.



Maybe you know someone who would like these, or just want them for yourself...no matter, just leave a comment, remember, I probably won't respond but sure do appreciate you coming by for a visit.



So I am leaving you with this......

They say a picture is worth a thousand words......can you see my smile?



I did so some sewing on Mr. Big while waiting for the storage items.....and I have a confession.

After I changed the needle and threaded this puppy...it now purrs..... My husband said this is the quietest machine I have (doesn't he remember Mr. Pfaff....or have I forgotten)?

So...mayabe tonight I can catch up on some desired sewing therapy. I had wanted our air shipment to come in but apparently, it is still on the docks at Pago Harbor with the household items....I say, why not just send them together now...(oh..does that sound grumpy....sorry). This air shipment were items to keep a house running until our household stuff got here...Hummmmmm


My Go cutter and about 6 tops were in this air shipment.... no need crying...JoAnns is just a car drives away (see me smiling again)....HA!!!!!


I will chose a winner January 4th...this is the day my son goes back to basic...

I

Sunday, December 26, 2010

CHRISTMAS SMORGASBORD

Most of you know that I do not have grandchildren, well...............we spent 4 days at my niece's house who has four children ranging from 3 months to 6 years. Talk about stealing our hearts...these little tykes did it.

So...one tradition my niece has is that each child makes a gift for the others. My little niece Annie who is six has her own sewing machine (Janome). She has made a few quilts. So I took it upon myself to teach her to make a tote for her little sister....

Impressive, isn't it!!!



One day my niece had a friend come over and they made these.....
What a great gift to give someone, so fast and easy, using your fabric scraps.... Here is the link to the Christmas tree. for next year.




A big thanks to Karen for this fun giveaway over at Sew Cal's...


Then a little surprise from Kelly over at I Have a Notion



On the back of the calendar shows all the quilts you can make through out the year with instructions inside...just love it Kelly...thanks a bunch.



Hope you all had an amazing Christmas!!!

Thanks Toni and Mike for making our Christmas bright and giving us a home, great food, and a fun time over the holiday season.

Saturday, December 18, 2010

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Here is a Christmas Hug for all of you.



Here is hoping that all of you have a wonderful Holiday Season and a Very Wonderful New Years!!!!

Friday, December 17, 2010

MUG RUGS......FOR A COLD COLD DAY!!!

This is the view from my hotel window!!!

MOMMMMMMMMIEEEE!!!!

You guessed it, I am squealing like a stuck pig......



Here is one mug rug, I like them long...these are scraps from the snowman quilt below.



Can't you just see a bowl of soup and crackers on one of these mug rugs?



I do have some bowls in the car that I could have staged on one of these rugs for you....but not!!!!! Not going outside...not for love or money...not even for food.....

Want to see more mug rugs, go to Pins and Needles and Inchworm Fabrics....can never see too many for different ways to make them.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

OH YES.....THERE IS ROOM IN THIS INN!!!

Look at the room in this puppy!!! I just had to show you the work space this machine provides. In fact, I did this whole quilt from one side to the next instead of flipping it over to provide more room under the throat to work.



This quilt was a breeze..... No bunching in the back, No thread messing up or breaking. My husband chose the backing fabric...notice I have one corner flipped so you can see....


This machine is alittle intimidating because of it size and newness to me but I think we are going to have a very loving relationship.



Mr. Pfaff might be a little jealous. I sold Daddy Pfaff.... You all know how much I love my Pfaff, it purrrrrrrsssss like a kitten.

Now as far as the Horizon....it is noisy....I thought it would be much quieter. Maybe I have it threaded wrong, or something. I am not saying it blast you out of the house, I am just surprised it doesn't purrrrrrrr, it meows...

The stitch is beautiful. Like all machines, it will take time to discover just exactly what it can do. My main desire was to be able to quilt with ease and this machine does it......if I don't sound too excited it is because like I said above, it is intimidating....kinda scares me and as I am sewing I am too busy comparing instead of enjoying the process... I have read good reviews and a few bad about this machine so I guess I am waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Maybe it is the space I am working in...very cramped...but I will ask you this...

GOT ANY QUILT TOPS?????

I also did two mug rugs (just need binding), if my husband wasn't sleeping, I would get my camera out....you think he would notice the flash????


Wednesday, December 15, 2010

A QUILTER IS ALWAYS PREPARED!!!!

Sandy was worried that I would not have any fabric to play with on my new machine.

NO WORRIES...Sandy!!! I had all of this in my suitcase or......



IN THIS......yes...all the way from Samoa to Texas....at least I didn't have it strapped around my body when I went through the scanner....wouldn't that have been a hoot?



missing are a ruler and quilt top (gotta find them...). Beverly, you and momma don't have them?

Next are the items I left in Texas over the summer at my sons.... oh yesss...things are coming together. Now for a person who has not quilted long, don't go and buy these cheap cutting mats at Walmart, I did because I had a better one in Samoa. I would say, even if it is more and money is tight, buying a better one is worth it in the long run...the markings on this mat are coming off.



A little splurge at Accuquilt'a Deal of the Day...thinking I would have my go by now....hummmmmm



Yes, my mother, sister Beverly, and I were at Joann's clucking like a bunch of chickens and squaking over the coupons my sister had. But in the end...we each felt like we laid the golden egg from all the money we saved. Ohhhhhh yessss...grand day indeed!!


Thanks to Darlene for the coupons, another trip to Joann's got me this...



The thread came with....



this.....



So....yes...quilters know to be prepared and now the day has come to play....see you all later!!! Maybe!!!

Saturday, December 11, 2010

RECALCULATING

I feel like our GPS system....when you get thrown off course it says..."RECALCULATING"

SO.... I am recalculating and you will see why when you see what we just picked up today!!




Oh Yea Baby!!!! Smell this.....(sending you a whoof of this awesome smell of newness)!!



This is where the recalculating comes in....I want so bad to sew on it but there is no room in this hotel.

Son leaves Tuesday, Husband goes to work on Wednesday..... "RECALCULATING"....

"where there is a will, there is a way.....


So for now.....I will read the instruction book and look at the DVD that comes with it and then........come Wednesday

when everyone is gone....

the house cleaners have cleaned....

when I have finished exercising and all is quiet....

me and this baby have a date...

My husband wants to call him "Mr. Big"....HA!!! He should know, he is the one that had to bring this puppy up to the room..... This is a big machine...and comes with a metal table but the table will have to sit in the box til the 30th.

Our room is slowling getting filled up....hummmmm

Friday, December 10, 2010

KEEPING WARM!!

I don't know if any of you remember this quilt?

My mother hand pieced and hand quilted this for me. She showed it to me a few years ago but I left it with her while in Amerika Samoa.

When I recently visited my mother, I hugged her and went straight for this quilt. Had to hug her first but I was a woman on a mission.....

When those chills hit...this quilt becomes my best friend.



One problem tho....there is a mystery pin in this quilt somewhere and every once in a while it rears it's ugly head and gives me a quick jolt....

OUCH!!!!

Thursday, December 9, 2010

NEW PLACE OF RESIDENCE

Just thought I would show a picture of the home we are suppose to move into on the 17th but now it has been pushed back to the 30th.....



Trying to make lemonade out of this situation but the lemons are kinda sour right now.

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

NOT IN AMERIKA SAMOA ANY MORE!!!

Sixteen degrees outside and whinning!!! Snow is in the forcast for today!!! We are traveling to Virginia....so I guess we ain't(I can say ain't because I just left Texas) in Samoa anymore!

So....we flew in to Texas on Thursday and Friday I drove to my mother's...that night my hands started sweating, my eyes became beady.....

Hands shaking...

all I could say was "Lead me to your machine and no one will be hurt"!

My mother was afraid, very afraid....she has never seen this side of me....

No questions asked....

She was thinking, "What happened to my baby in Samoa"?

"Has anyone seen my daugher"? This for sure is not the sweet, loveable, generous, (are you sick yet) gal that I know"!

Okay, all fun aside, I have had these panels from Jeanette (Inchworm Fabrics) for a few years now and decided I would bring them with me plus the fat quarters she had given me and work up some kind of top. I had time....and well...here it is.



Oh...by the way, I was scanned at the Honolulu airport....I won't get on my soap box of how it made me feel but.....no one came out of a room with a stick gouging their eyes out... Maybe it would have been some kind of justice if they had of.