The Traveling Stash moves on

In my low tech but effective manner, I've chosen the winner of the Traveling Stash--it's BERNIE of SewBernie http://sewbernie.blogspot.com/!  Congratulations, Bernie. I hope you find something you like in the Stash.  When you email me your mailing address, the Stash will be on it's way to YOU!! 

Paying It Forward

I've never done pay it forward but today I found this at Angie's blog here
http://sfquilts.blogspot.com/ and decided to give it a try. Pay It Forward is simple: For the first 3 people who comment on this entry, I promise to send them something handmade within the next year. Now that's my kind of deadline! Here are the rules:
1. I will make a little something for the first 3 people that comment on this post. It will be a surprise and may arrive at any time in the next 365 days (yes, a year).
2. To sign up to receive a gift from me you must play along too. Share the giving love on your blog by promising to send a handmade goodie to the first three people that comment on your blog post.
3. You must have a blog.
4. After commenting on my post, you have to post this (or similar) on your blog to spread the love.

And what a great way to connect with people, by sharing a little love-ly gift at an unexpected time. I think this sounds like a simple and fun thing to do!

Appearing Disappearing 4-Patch

I've been working on Lily's new quilt--putting the blocks into rows and making the center. I have 2 more rows to go and the center will be finished. This is what I've got so far:

It looks quite busy to me and I have no more of the flowered white fabric to use for a border. I picked up some white on white fabric today and will use that for the border. I plan to applique some flowers on the border using the colored fabrics and will use the blue fabric for the binding.
I really like working on this quilt, but it's quite time consuming. Each block had to be sewn and cut twice--takes time!--and stitching the blocks and rows together requires lots of pinning to get the seams to match up properly--takes more time! But it's such a colorful quilt that I'm feeling good about taking all that time to do it right. And why make a quilt if you don't take the time to do it right, right?
Tomorrow I'll draw the name of the lucky winner of the Traveling Stash. I can't wait to find out who gets it next! Others on this blogging site who have giveaways use what sounds like complicated electronic name drawing programs but not me! I'm low tech most of the time and I'll just draw a name out of a hat. Trust me, I'll have on a blindfold so I can't cheat. LOL
You have until tomorrow at 8 PM Central Daylight Time to leave a comment on my blog to be entered in the drawing. I hope you win!

Design Seeds

I found a great website that I'll share with you here: http://www.design-seeds.com/p/palette-search.html. It's a place to figure out palettes of color for quilts as well as other design challenges. Like decorating a room. Since I'm very design challenged, I thought this was a greatly needed solution! The only problem I think I'll have with it is deciding on which palette to choose for my next quilt which might be this: http://lilysquilts.blogspot.com/2011/08/interested-in-dead-simple-qal.html Lily is doing a "Dead Simple Quiltalong." I'm interested in the Simple part of this project!

Speaking of simple, please leave a simple commment (or complex if you like) on my blog before Saturday the 24th if you want a chance to win the Traveling Stash. I've decided to add a couple of additional things to the box, but will leave that as a surprise for the winner to discover.

Autumn Rains

Yesterday it was gloomy and cloudy with a gentle drizzle for most of the day. Generally a blah kind of day for many things, but a good day for the trees and bushes which need water before going into their winter dormancy. It was also a great day for sewing! Don's been gone for a few days on a golf trip and I only had Lily for a few hours in the morning so I spent my afternoon and evening at the machine.

Lily said she doesn't like her Nemo quilt anymore :( and wants another one. I found the white with colored flowers fabric in my stash and decided to make "Disappearing Four Patch" blocks for her. I got the idea here: http://sewwonderful.blogspot.com/2010/02/disappearing-4-patch-or-4-to-9-patch.html They are a little time consuming to make since you have to cut, sew, cut again and sew again, but I like how they come out. I also like working with these brights--especially on a gloomy, rainy day. :)

Don't forget to leave a comment here if you want a chance to win the Traveling Stash. I doubt that you'll be disappointed if you win it! It's got some very good stuff in it. You can leave your comment anytime before Saturday, the 24th if you want to be in the drawing. You simply have to have an active blog, be willing to replace what you take with comparable goods, and be willing to send the box along to the next winner. EASY!

The Traveling Stash

arrived at my house last Monday, the 12th, and what a treasure it is! If you want to learn about the Traveling Stash, go here: http://www.potsandpins.com/blog/2011/01/the-traveling-stash-giveaway.html

I knew my name had been drawn by Sharon at http://vroomansquilts.blogspot.com/ a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, Sharon has been involved in a bit of flooding and cleaning up in her part of the world so it took awhile for the Stash to arrive here in Wisconsin. Believe me, it was worth the wait! I've been super busy here and I really couldn't go through it until Thursday night. Choosing what to keep was quite the challenge since it's all so good! Finally, I decided on these things:
From top right, a 4-pack of FQs in gorgeous caramely browns, 2-24 piece charm packs in bright colors, a roll of 5" polka dot strips (Can't wait to play with these dotty fabrics!), and a package of 2" squares that will convert quite nicely into 4 patch blocks.

I also chose the Moda "Hoopla" jelly roll and the pink owl flannel. I'd spent that day with my friend whose daughter is expecting her first child, a little girl, in December and who is decorating the nursery in an owl theme. We'd looked for owl fabric in the quilt shop but couldn't find anything that suited, so imagine my delight when I opened the Stash and this was right on the top! It's perfect for this new baby!

The Traveling Stash rules require that I restock the box with comparable items of comparable quality. I shopped my stash and chose these things to add to the box. In the back are 4 FQ in delicate browns and blues, and in the front left, a packet of 4 FQs in autumn golds/greens/browns/blacks, a funny Thanksgiving FQ and a cat print FQ.

I also added some pumpkin-y Halloween yardage, some geometric green/gold/rust/brown yardage, some brown with green leaves and gold berries yardage, and a packet of 14-4 1/4" squares of green and lavender flowers, dragonflies, and great blue herons.

More yardage from my stash, and I threw in a packet of quilting hardware--pins, safety pins, a couple of thimbles for hand quilters, and other stuff.

So, if you would like a chance at having the Traveling Stash come to your door, please leave a comment on my blog. To win you must have an "active" blog, and you must be willing to replenish the Stash with good quality items of value equal to what you take out, and lastly, you must be willing to send it forward to the next winner. Because of the cost of international postage, this unfortunately has to be limited to US bloggers.

I'll be drawing the next winner in a weeks' time--next Saturday, the 24th. So you have 7 days to leave your comment. To make it more exciting, feel free to share this post with your blogger friends so they will have a chance at winning it too. The more, the merrier, right?

Now, I'm going to play with polka dots. :)

Another raffle quilt

I've been working on another quilt to donate for a fundraiser. This time, it's for the volunteer services organization in the county where I work. I'm friends with the director who took over the job only a few months ago. One of the first things she realized was how impoverished the group was so we started brainstorming ways to raise money. We decided on holding a raffle and, of course, I donated the quilt shown below.

I used Kate Spain's "Flurry" pattern which is on line here:

http://www.hancocks-paducah.com/ItemFiles/PDF/MPS27080.pdf but I made it with Christmas fabrics I had left over from other projects. I like the way it turned out and the piecing was super easy. I quilted it with a holly/berry circular design in each of the presents, a triangular Christmas tree design in the sashing and long, curvy lines in the outer border. The raffle drawing will be on the 15th of December so I thought this was an appropriate quilt.

We want to have other things on the raffle like dinner theater tickets, a bus trip to somewhere, basket of locally grown and produced foods like maple syrup and pumpkinseed oil and so forth. I'm working on getting an "indoor/outdoor golf package." I want to get gift certificates for free golfing at half a dozen golf courses in the area including indoor golfing for this winter and, if I'm lucky, a certificate from a sporting goods store so the winner can get new shoes or a new golf club or something.

I'm excited to see what we end up on this raffle, and how much we get from ticket sales. Tickets go on sale on Oct 15, 2011 so if you want to get in on the action, let me know. :) (Only half kidding about this.)

Too heart-breaking for words

I'm in my living room this morning, having my second cup of coffee. Don has left for his daily golf game and I'm thinking of how I'll be spending the day. Sipping at my coffee and gazing out the front window at the beautiful September day outside--sapphire blue sky, gentle sunshine with a promise of heat later on, trees barely beginning their Autumnal color changes-and I suddenly remember a day so identical to this. Ten years ago, that day changed as I watched the planes smash into the towers in New York and later, into the Pentagon and into the ground in Pennsylvania.

My world was changed that day but not so severely as it was for the families of those killed in the attacks and the families of all those killed in the subsequent wars. There are no words to express the heartbreak I feel on this beautiful September day. Perhaps the tears flowing from my eyes as I write this, say it for me.



This is a Yahoo! picture.

Comments

I've received news from some followers that they are having difficulty posting comments on my blog. I've gone into the "comments" section and have changed some of the settings so maybe that will help. Or maybe not, since my computer savvy is minimal and I usually change things and simply hope for the best. Kind of like my gardening--I plant something and challenge it to grow despite my neglect. {:o)

Anyway, please let me know if you continue to have problems commenting. Thanks.