THIS IS WHAT I AM WORKING ON TONIGHT FOR THIMBLEBERRIES SEW DAY!

Some of you have seen this quilt, I have decided to take some time tonight to quilt the middle. I will show more as the Thimbleberries days continue throughout the year.

Come back tomorrow for a wonderful giveaway!

A GUEST FOR THIMBLEBERRIES SEW DAY

You meet some really amazing people when blogging.

Carrie P from "A Passion for Applique" emailed me last month and told me about some Thimbleberries Quilts she had made.

I was so excited and asked to see pictures and here is what she sent me.





Don't you just love them??? I especially love the last one.

I asked her if I could share with all of you and she said I could.

Then I asked her to give me a little background about herself and this is what she said:

I have been quilting since 1999. My mom is a quilter who got me started by showing me the rotary cutter. I tried to make a quilt around 1977 with templates and hated it. My grandmother was a quilter too. She actually made the quilt I tried to make when I was younger and gave it back to me, finished! I still have that quilt which is a log cabin.

I think at the time I started quilting I felt like I had the time since my kids were older even though I was homeschooling them too. There was a local quilt shop that had a Thimbleberries monthly club and I joined. I think I was part of the club for about 3 years. It was a great time to get together with other quilters. I liked and still like the muted fabrics. I have stepped out of my comfort zone and I am using brighter fabrics these days.

I like working with my hands so applique is what I like to do the most.

-------------------------------

I enjoyed Carrie's quilts and so glad that she shared them with us. I also love her blog because I totally love applique. I mostly do raw edge but I also love needle turn just need to find time for it.

I hope some of you take the time to go and visit Carrie and if you are doing the Thimbleberries Sew Day....please come by and let me know so I can visit.

A DOG CHASING IT'S TAIL!!

Sometimes are you so busy that you feel like a dog chasing its tail?

While chasing the tail, I forget why I am chasing it.....and can't decide what to do next or what not to do.

Oh well.

To my utmost delight, this arrived in the mail....

Do I hear some OOOOOOOs and AHHHHHHsss

Debi sent this over to me....you can find her blog here.





She must know I love pink accents....I just love this Debi, thanks so much!!!

now to get busy....

Bridal Shower Towels

This has been without a doubt one of the busiest weeks ever. Sometimes I just wish my life was my own when this happens.

I have a double bridal shower tonight and so I personalized these towels. I used the Accuquilt Go House die.


Judy from "Sew Fun Quilt" and I were talking yesterday....this was a light bulb moment for me.

She was talking about if you have too many stitches with your embroidery machine on towels that they will shrink (bunch) up. Immediately I thought of these that I did for the shower tonight.
Oh my goodness....all that work!!!

So I got another towel and did a rooster on it, washed it, dried it, and yep.....it bunches up. Not that I questioned you Judy but a gal has to see for her self (rather, hope it is not so). I would show you but I used the towel last night and now it is in the wash. You can iron it out, that is a plus but who wants to iron their towels?

That is when I got the idea to do those personalized towels. I am still going to give these towels to them....my whole theme is relying on these towels.

Live and learn....and I like to learn the hard way. Next time my son says that to me I won't get so upset.

The winner of the rooster was posted below. Also Linny, if you are reading this, you are a no reply so I can not send you the table top pattern.

Another Embroidery Giveaway!! (winner is now posted)

Since most of you enjoyed my chicken, I am giving him away today. You will probably be able to

make a pot holder of whatever out of him. Probably will measure 9 1/2 by 9 1/2. Just leave a

comment and I will choose someone by the end of the day.

The winner is suemacFeb 22, 2012 07:12 AM

That rooster is oh so cute. It would look great as a potholder in my kitchen.

Thanks so much for coming by, the giveaway is now closed.

TODAY'S FUN

WORKING WITH FLANNEL - TINY GIVEAWAY WINNER

I decided that I do not like working with flannel.

So for the next paragraph I will be griping about flannel. As some of you know I pre-washed it, that was a no no...although preshrinking is a great idea but I have these little beads all over the quilt.

Flannel stretches,
Flannel collects any type of debris around...strings, hair, dust, lint...you name it.
Besides all of that, I don't like how it feels.

Gripe session over!

I did this for a friend of my son's. Also included are two burp cloths.

The winner of the two exra pot of gold squares is Jennifer Gail from Hoodies and Flip Flops

Here it is adorning my tank....

Here it is up close
Hope all of you had a good Saturday!

TINY GIVEAWAY!

Today while I was making these.....



I made this quilt top. The only regret I have is that I prewashed this fabric and now it has all these little beads all over them. Doesn't look new and fresh.



So...I did more than two pots of gold but today I am offering to one of you these two pots of gold embroidery squares. Just leave a message.

I know what I am going to do with mine....do you have any ideas of what you would do with yours?

PATTERN WINNERS

Mrs. Yoastie

Linny

Gill

Congrats gals!!

Thanks to all of you for coming by and entering.

Moda Bake Shop Contest

I thought I took a picture of the trash can before it was covered. It was a dull gray can...uuuuuggggglllllyyyy!!!

So from Drab to Fab!!

The competition is called SLICED and you can find the rules at Moda Bake Shop. For this round, you have to use a Moda Precut, batting and a buckle. It has to be an office or studio Accessory.

I made a pillow for the back or bum. The buckle is in the back, it attaches the pillow to the back of the chair or bottom. I can not tell you how many times my butt pillow has fallen when I have gotten up. Really irritating, now it won't.

My bum will not know what to do sitting in such comfort.

The deadline is February 29th, let your creative juices flow and go on over and enter!!

Don't forget about my pattern giveaway below....

IT ALWAYS STARTS WITH A "WHAT IF" (Giveaway)

Some of you remember these little runners. They are made with the "Sunkissed" by Moda.


I had left over strips (a lot), they were sitting on my table for a while staring at me, more like me staring at them.

Once again my fabric was speaking to me, (does that mean I am crazy)?

This is where the "What if" comes in.

I couldn't help but stare back every time I would pass by them.

Then the "if" went into action.

I sewed three strips together, got my tumbler die out and started cutting. Then I thought, what if again....and started sewing the tumblers together. I am sure you have seen the smaller ones sewn together in a ring, well, here is the large tumbler die.

This is the end result from the Jelly Roll excluding the ruffle.

Then I started to think.....what if you could make this table topper with all Accuquilt Go dies....

and you can!!! The only difference is the weave in the middle is bigger (I will confess easier). The fabric for the blue topper I got at Inchworm Fabrics.
So.............. I am offering this pattern to 3 people, it will include the pattern for "non" Accuquilt Go owners as well as Accuquilt Go owners.

Here it is on my table.

So if you would like a chance at winning the pattern, just leave a comment. You will be able to find this pattern at Inchworm Fabrics as well. This giveaway will be open until Friday.

HOW ABOUT SOME VALENTINE'S INSPIRATION

First of all, I have carried this pouch around for 4 years as a small purse.

So I went from this:

To This: I purchased this from Terri here

Cute little topper for my kitchen table

Cute pen
Cute towel from towel swap (my niece Toni made this)

Cute topper
Another cute topper
Valentines quilt
Why leave the bathroom out?

Little mat (made by sister)
There is a lot of Valentines inspiration around my house.

Hope your day is filled with love and laughter....and maybe a little sewing inspiration!!!

THREAD HOLDER

I was visiting "Walks in the Woods", she showed her thread holder and I had to laugh.

Now I am going to show you mine.

This is what it looks like now.... this is my thread in waiting. A sweet sweet friend made this pin cushion (did I say how much I love it???).
It usually sits beside my machine but I was too lazy to clean to take this picture. I do not have a large cone holder for either one of my machines and well....a gal has gotta do what a gal's gotta do.

This works perfectly and after seeing "Walks in the Woods" post, I think I am going to use this for my embroidery threads because sometimes they get tangled up on the spindle that holds the spool and the thread breaks.....thanks Freida....

Now all of you scoot on over to her blog, she does some amazing thread work!

WE HAVE A WINNER BUT NO CHICKEN DINNER!!

Today I just had fun doing whatever came to mind. I put borders on this little tumbler quilt, did a meandering stitch and called it GOOD!

I sandwiched these four quilts plus the one above. I had fixed the borders on two of the them the day before.
Then I wanted to play with Marjorie's embroidery design for the snowflake from the Accuquilt Go Medley die. Oh my gosh....those pink scissors just couldn't resist being in this picture....

What a fun embroidery design, I did find that I had to be so precise in getting the arms in just the right spots or my embroidery would not cover then...second time was a charm. I had a friend come over and we blanket stitched around some of these snowflakes for two pillows she was making. I just had to show her how the embroidery machine worked. This was Thursday, don't want you all to think I did all of this in one day.

Now I am kicking myself....yes....I have a boot on the caboose. BAd Barb...Bad Barb.

When my husband and I were at JoAnn's last Saturday the batting was half off but I resisted. I got in the car and told my husband and he said we could turn around. I said, no.....(with a whine)...now I am regretting it. After sandwiching these five quilts, one medium sized....I need more batting.....Oh....that boot sure hurts!!

THE WINNER OF THE VALENTINES RUNNER IS:::::::

JULIE FROM "HAVING FUN QUILTING"

I didn't know this until I went to check her blog but she just recently made a few quilts with Hawaiian fabrics....and I say OHHHHH La La to that one.

She has one follower, and that is me, so if you have a chance, go check her out!!

Stay tuned....next week (hopefully) I will present a new round topper and will be giving 3 patterns away. So you say, but Barb, why round??? I say, round because I have a round table, and it is mostly for me and we all know that the universe revolves around me....HA!!! (I know, I am kidding myself).