Mr. Mailman's Been Good to Me!

This week has brought all kinds of goodies to my mailbox.  First, I won a contest on The Noble Wife and Jacquelynn sent me these wonderful quilty items - three of her fun patterns, some notecards, and a hand-painted quilt pin.  Thanks, Jacquelynn!  That pattern on top is saying "Make me in wool!"

For the past few months, I've been a pattern tester for the Quiltmakers 100 Blocks Volume 3, and yesterday in the mail I got my copies of the magazine AND and nifty mug with the magazine cover on it!

There are some great blocks in this magazine, and I got to test some of them.  It was great fun, although a couple of them were a real challenge.  I have a greater appreciation for what magazines go through to get a good pattern printed, and will probably be more forgiving of an occasional mistake after this experience!  Be sure to hit the blogs that are having the 100 Blocks tour this week - you'll love this magazine!

And last but not least, I got an Easter basket from my mom, but I haven't opened it yet.  Have to wait until tomorrow for that!

This weekend has mostly been spent getting to know my new dog.  Yesterday we got a 10-month old English Shepherd from another client at my vet's office.  We've spent the last 24 hours getting to know each other.  It's going as well as can be expected at this point - she needs some obedience lessons (which start next Saturday) and to meet the cat, but we're taking that part prettly slowly.  The cat is mostly hiding out upstairs or downstairs.  We left her plenty of escape routes.  She was used to our last dog, but it all has to start over again.  Last time, it took three months for the cats to be able to cope with a new dog, so I hope the process goes a little faster this time!  The dog is very keen to meet the cat, though - too bad it's not mutual!  I'll post pictures in a few days.

Hope everyone has a Happy Easter!

Off They Go!

Today is a vacation day for me, so I'm using some of the time to get some of my charity projects in the mail.  I mailed this quilt to Quilter's Newsletter to send to earthquake victims in Japan.

This quilt was made from a pattern in a Quiltmaker magazine.  I liked it because of the large pieces of fabrics that weren't cut up, and I had this cute dragon princess fabric to use.

Isn't this great fabric?  I've had it in my stash for years waiting for the perfect pattern.  Hopefully a little girl in Japan will love it.

The Just One Star blocks were finished last week and sent to guild to be mailed off to Moda.

And last but not least, the fabric for the Hands2Help quilt was sent off to my swap partner.  I had some neat dinosaur fabric for that one.

Can you tell I'm a sucker for kid's prints?  I have never met one I didn't like!  I made an I Spy quilt for my son many years ago, and just never stopped collecting fabrics for another one.  One of these days, I need to make about ten I Spy quilts.

Have you heard about the Hands2Help project?  The button on my sidebar will link you to the project.  I think it sounds like a great idea, and I had fun picking out fabric to swap with my partner.

We're in the middle of getting 6" of snow today.  (Sigh)  I thought spring was here, but I guess I have to wait for a few more days.  The daffodils always get snowed on at least once.  At least it's a nice day to stay inside and sew!

Guest Blogging

Today I'm a guest blogger at Stash Manicure.  Come on over and say hi!

Happy Birthday

Somebunny is having a birthday!  Be sure to stop by The Raspberry Rabbits and wish Shell a happy birthday tomorrow.

Happy National Quilting Day!

Tomorrow is National Quilting Day - how are you going to celebrate?  My guild is having a sew-in all day. I'm going to start a new quilt - Town Square, out of the new Scrap Basket Sensations book. 

The pieces are all cut out.  This is the Lovely line of fabric by Sandy Gervais - isn't it pretty?  It just says "spring" to me, so I thought this would be the perfect thing to make on a March day.  If the sewing goes as quickly as the cutting did, I should be able to get the top pieced in a day.

Our snow piles are almost melted, so maybe spring is on its way.  We had robins in our back yard today, so that has to be a good sign!

Whatever you're doing tomorrow, enjoy National Quilting Day!

A Finishing Frenzy

Three finishes this week - woo hoo - although I may look a little season-challenged.

The snowman clothesline is finished and packed away until next winter...

Easter eggs that were started last year were finished and put on display.

And a watermelon table mat that was started two years ago was finished.


Do you ever feel overwhelmed by your UFOs?  That is the way I've been feeling, so it feels good to get these three done.  I really like to start new projects, but sometimes (lots of times) lack the discipline to finish them.

Looking at my blog, you might think I never do much quilting, and just work with wool applique.  I do sew quite a bit, but lately I've been doing more handwork projects with wool.  I've joined a new group that meets at a church and it's just easier to take wool projects to that, so I've been getting some things done there.  It's a very nice group of ladies who meet and everyone works on their own stuff, while chatting and eating snacks.  What's not to like about that?

Winter is still hanging on here, but we are supposed to get up to 50 degrees this week.  Can't wait for that!  I'm ready for all the snow to go away for good.  Hope it's nice where you are!

Happy March!

Time to post my February finishes!  I didn't get as much finished as I would like, but then February is a short month, right?

The Strawberry Trio Table Runner is the only thing I've finished since my last post.

This was a fun little project from the Summer Gatherings book from Primitive Gatherings.  So now I'm ready for spring! 

The Scrap Basket Sensations book was all over blog-land a couple weeks ago, and my book arrived.  What a lot of great quilts in one book!  I can't wait to start one, but I don't know which one to choose.   One of them definitely has to be my next project. 

My UFO Quilt for February was a pink and brown wall hanging called Peppermint Twist from a Jo Morton book a couple years ago.  I made a lot of progress on it this month, but, alas, it's not done, so no picture yet.  I think I'm just going to ignore the fact that it's a new month now and just keep working on it until it's finished.

This is the time of year for lots of music activities for DS#2.  We had a chamber concert last weekend, and this Saturday is regional music contests.  He is in several events, so that is my plan for this weekend.   Keep your fingers crossed for some *1 ratings that go to state!