Quick Üpdate

 This will be a quick post to give an update on what's been happening here and to recognize Joan over at MooseStashQuilting. I was the lucky winner of her giveaway...$25 to Fat Quarter Shop and shop I did! 

I choose these lovelies! A fat quarter bundle of Atlas Eden by Tula Pink and a 1/2 yard cut of Amethyst Weave by Canyon. So pretty! Thanks Joan!

I also finished the quilting and binding on my Fancy Fox quilt.  I did take a picture but I will do a complete photo shoot on our trip out west next month.  

Also, worked on my Rainbow Scrap Quilt block for July! The color is bright pink! 

Link up here!

I really need to lay out all the blocks made so far (the pile is getting pretty big) and see how they go together...that will be for another day!

I started another new project! Yikes! Here is a little peek!

Other projects on the burner include my growing neighborhood (I think there are 31 homes in the neighborhood), the quilting on a baby quilt called Building Fun, and my abstract black and white I posted about here. I ended up deconstructing a portion of the top and it is back together but still waiting on a final verdict. 

What have you been working on?

Winter Blues Blog Hop Winners

The Hop is over and I hope you had fun! 

Thank you to all that visited my blog and I hope you come back to visit again for my regular scheduled Sunday 's Summary.

I enjoyed reading everyone's comments and 'meeting' a few new bloggers. 

The overwhelming majority of quilter's favorite notion is the rotary cutter! 

What would we do without that essential tool? 

I doubt that I would be quilting without it! 

For the first winner, Mr. Random Generator choose:

Stephanie who said: I have to say my favorite notion is my rotary cutter! 

                             Those pin cushions are adorable. I follow on gfc too.

And the second winner is:

Sandra Visser who said: Those are so cute. I could not live without my rotary     cutter. Am a new follower via GFC

I have sent out emails notifications. 

Thank you all for participating and a BIG thank you to Michele over at quilting gallery for making this happen.

What will you be doing to celebrate International Quilting Day?

and the winners are...

Late Sunday night, Mr. Random Generator and I chose 2 winners from my Dots on Dots comments. I apologize for not getting this posted sooner. The first winner of the Loving Hugs pattern by Geta is:

BizyStitches, who wrote: I'm in love with your blocks and they look charming all together in a quilt. Thanks for sharing your talent.

 And the second winner is:

Ellie Q, who wrote: I LOVE those blocks! What a neat pattern. And I had to chuckle at the ticker tape idea because I have the exact same thing in mind with my scraps. Great projects!

Congratulations to both of these ladies! I will email you shortly and pass on your email address to Geta. Thanks for playing!

And the winners are...

Tonight Mr. Random Generator and I pick the winners of my giveaway! The first winner is:

Hueisei: I'm a happy follower. I'm so far behind on the BOM with QuiltStory. Hope can catch up soon. Love the coaster :)

She won the Hometown coaster set.

The winner of the mugrug is:

Sandie @crazyaboutquilts: Love your projects! I love using rick rack too. :-) I'm a happy follower and I have a red mug~ either the rug or coasters would be wonderful! Thanks for the fun giveaway!

Emails have been sent to you ladies. Thanks for playing and I hope you enjoy them. Have a great weekend and...

Can I please have a few more hours in my day?

It has been tough finding time to post about what I've been doing. It seems that since I packed up my sewing room for its redo, I just haven't found enough hours in a day. 

The spring finds my work very busy which limits my free time. I love my job and summer will be here soon enough. 

Enough whining...first up I must send out some Thanks! While I was in Austin visiting by daughter, I was notified by Michele over at Quilting Gallery that I was the winner of The Cutting Edge ruler. 

Sorry about the poor picture quality.

Thank you Michele!

Then last week, I was notified by Pat Sloan at the Learning Center that I was the winner of a copy of Quilt Album! 

I have always documented my quilts by taking pictures and then on a word document, typing up a few pieces of information about the quilt. When I first starting quilting, I had hard copy pictures that I would put in an album and make a copy of the 'blurb' about the quilt and keep it with the picture. As digital photos became my method of photographing, I rarely made hard copy pictures of my quilts. I would keep them in a folder on my computer. Now the word document and picture were no longer together. 

 Needless to say, I was excited about using Quilt Album. I can now keep everything about my quilts in one place!  Quilt Album is extremely easy to use!  I have actually been working on transferring all my quilts (nearly 80) into Quilt Album. It will take some time but I think it will be well worth it. There are other things like making cards from pictures of your quilts that I can't wait to explore. I've only touched the surface of this program.  

Thank you, Pat!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Before I left for Austin, I packed up my sewing room. This is what it looked like in our family room.

and that isn't all of it...Yikes!

Work in progress ~ the face lift....

Mostly moved back in but with a little more organizing to do.

and a few thing in progress on my design wall!

The blocks on the left are from the Craftsy BOM...I'm a little behind. Those are January and February blocks! On the top right are the first 2 blocks from the BOM with Quilt Story. And the bottom right is a baby quilt in progress. I actually finished this quilt {no pictures yet} and also this little baby rag quilt.

Baby Rag quilt is made from flannel and was inspired by this quilt. It is super soft and cuddly.

I've been up to more but it will wait for another post as this one is getting long. Thanks for reading...I really appreciate you!

And we have a winner!

The winning name for my pair of repurposed sweater mittens goes to

Deonn@Quiltscapes! Congratulations on winning. I will be emailing you soon to get your details. 

A reveal, some finishes, and the winners!

I have a bit to share today as it has been busy around here. 

First up is my reveal. I joined my first Flickr swap for a Little Quilt 

about 2 months ago. I found this great quote on Pinterest 

that I wanted to design my quilt around. 

I can now reveal my quilt since my swap partner has received it! 

It went all the way to Sweden!

And this is the cute Little Twister Quilt I received from Karen (also know as sewgentle.)

I don't have a twister ruler but I may just need to get one. Love the tessellation!

Next is a wedding gift quilt that has been WIP for quite a while. My nephew and wife got married in Sweden just 3 weeks after our daughter's wedding.  Since many family and friends (including us) couldn't go to Sweden, they were going to plan a reception/party here at a later date. Although the top and backs were pieced, without a date, it was easy for me to make this quilt a MUF. 

Two weeks ago we got the invite for the wedding party. Yikes! only 3 weeks to finish, all while the Wantobe Campaign was finishing up, the Ghastlie Blog Hop was just starting and I was participating in the Little Quilt Swap! 

This quilt is rather large and to sandwich it required some furniture removal from my living room. Thanks to my DH for doing the rearranging, I was able to sandwich the quilt and pin baste it in an evening. I decided to FMQ ribbon circles around the rings and then choose a design to go in the white middle. I also FMQ a ribbon along the border.

Now it is ready to go to the newlyweds. 

I also have been doing some knitting and finished a little throw but since this post is getting quite lengthy and you are probably wanting to know who won my giveaway, I'll leave that finish for another post. 

So without further delay the winner of the pincushion is:

Linda from Buzzing and Bumbling...

And the little zippered bag goes to:

Nancy from Coeur d'Alene! 

Congratulations Sistahs! I will be emailing you shortly.

My Birthday

Yesterday was my birthday and I spent a lovely evening with my family downtown Chicago at Millenium Park. We had a picnic dinner, some wine and enjoyed the concert.  More about it and pictures later.  

Now if you are a regular reader, you may remember that my birthday was the closing date of my giveaway.  Thank you all for visiting.  So without making you wait any further...the lucky winner is #34...Peach Rainbow...she was born in January!  Congratulations!! I will send you an email shortly but should you see this first, email me your address and I'll get your package out promptly.

I will close this post with a few pictures of things I been working on...

Finished Dresden plate pillow...read more here.

Have you tried this?  It is actually quite relaxing to do and they look pretty cool!!

   These are pretty simple designs. They can get quite complicated.

Giveaway Winner

Wow! I am overwhelmed at the response to my giveaway.  I usually respond to each comment directly but I have received over 200 comments and 56 new followers.  Do know that I read every comment and appreciate all your kindness.  Thank you!!!

So in case you are wondering, fall is the overall favorite season. The crisp air and lovely colors were the reasons for this season's love.  34 of you love summer just like me!

Here is picture of the goodies that were peeking out of the wristlet that I will be sending to the lucky winner.

So with the help of Mr. Random Number, the winner is #58 Suzanne.  Suzanne's favorite season is fall! Congratulations!

Note to Suzanne: I sent you an email and must hear back from you by Friday evening in order for me to get your prize in the mail by the deadline.  I will choose a new winner on Saturday morning if I don't hear from you.