Table toppers or wall hangings, whichever!

I made these for some very dear friends.  One lent me her sewing machine when mine was on the fritz, and the others, husband and wife, lent us their bed!  Okay, not really, just one of the beds in their gorgeous home (I wish I took some pics) in Silver Spring, FL. On our road trip back home to RI they invited us to stay overnight.  They spoiled us something fierce!  It was like staying in a ritzy B&B (bed and breakfast), but it was free!  So I wanted to do something to show our appreciation. I made this:

And this for the wonderful sewing machine lender friend:  (I let her pick which one she would like, and she picked good, too, because the FL dining room/kitchen has brown in it and I thought it would work well there).

And one more, in case you haven't seen enough (smile)!  This is the back and my machine quilting.  I love the fruit fabric and the Hope Valley backing.  

I had a blast making these!  You might remember I made a black/white/red one a little while ago and now they're my go-to handmade gift when I need one in a hurry.  The pattern is super easy.  I got it from Linda at www.thistledownquilts.com where she gives a tutorial.

That's all for now, folks!

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Some cases I bought this weekend, etc.

Pillow cases, to be exact, from Target.  I love the solids and my stash was solid-challenged.  Three of them were on clearance, $9.08 for king-sized 250-thread count, and $8.74 for king-sized 600-thread count, a nice buttery color.  The plum-colored set is queen-sized, 325-thread count, and was on sale, not clearance, for $13.99, still a good price.  So check out Target if you can.  The sheets are on sale, too!

Bad flash!  Let me try it again:

Better!  Aren't they pretty?
And also, I'm slowly moving forward on the quilt for my husband's 91-yr-old aunt (I hope she doesn't mind being referred to by her age!  Her name is Cecile)  Putting together all these squares gets a little tedious, but I have five done now and four more to go.

The sashing is called Robin's Egg - not the blue I had picked out but I took a survey of two sisters, a daughter, and a niece, and I lost.  But I'm liking it now. 

Maybe by the end of the week I'll have a finish, or at least a finished top!  How about you, what did you do over the weekend?    

Winners!

Good morning, my friends!  It's the big day when I announce the winners of my first giveaway!  I wish I could give to all of you, but alas, just three lucky people this time.  I asked my daughter to pick three numbers randomly and she asked her husband to do it.  I took a pic of the text message she sent but it came out too blurry, try as I might.  But she wrote:  "Matt picked 7, 13, and 17 because they're all prime numbers."

So there were 19 comments.  Number 7 is Pokey, who asked for the Henry Glass; Number 13 was Mary who asked for anything, likes it all; and Number 17 is Liz, who asked for Hope Valley!  So there you have it!   Thanks so much, everyone, for taking the time to comment and become friends/followers with me.  For my hundredth post I will probably have another giveaway to celebrate so please stay with me!   

Twinkle: The Whole Enchilada

Twinkle: The Whole Enchilada
Originally uploaded by stitchindye

Wow! This woman's designs are incredible, don't you think? (Malka Dubrawsky)  I found this pic on a link to her blog, stitchindye.  Check it out on Flickr, too, to see a closeup.  And I couldn't resist - I just ordered a copy of her new book, "Fresh Quilting:  Fearless Color, Design and Inspiration" from Amazon, although it hasn't been released yet.
Just wanted to share this beauty with you all!
Don't forget to check back regarding my giveaway (deadline is 11:30 p.m. tonight, 9/24)  The winners will be announced tomorrow morning!  Good luck, everyone!

A giveaway!

Okay! FINALLY, I'm ready to post about my giveaway that I have been planning on doing to celebrate Autumn, the season in which my grandson (first grandbaby) is going to make his arrival into this world!  So who would like to win some fat quarters?  There will be three different winners.  It's raining out so please forgive the poor color quality of these pics.  Plus I had to take them in a hurry because my nephew wants to borrow my camera (Nikon D40) for the weekend, starting NOW, which also means I won't be able to take pics or post all weekend!  (I'm praying it comes back to me in one piece.  His is broken and being repaired, and the loaner they gave him also got broken!  Yikes!)
I have a FQ of Masquerade by Henry Glass (and another FQ of a black and white that I haven't decided on yet):

Another winner will snag these Hope Valley fabrics, one FQ of each (yes, Hope Valley!):

One more lucky person will win these four FQ Kona Bay Asian prints. (The colors are really very striking in these, in case you're not familiar.  The one on the right has peach, lavender or violet, salmon, and gold (filigree?) throughout - really pretty!  Then the two fabrics in the middle are the same, one mainly reds and blues, the other purple and blues, (both have the gold running through it), and the one on the far left is like a navy blue.

Giveaway is open till 11:30 p.m. September 24, (my hubbie's birthday).  I will announce the winner on September 25.  So please leave a comment telling me which "prize" you would like.  The winners will be chosen randomly.  And I will possibly throw in some other little goodies with each prize. I'll give two chances to win.  1) leave a comment

2)  tell me if you're a follower, (or become one if you'd like, not required :-)

Good luck, and make sure I have a way to contact you, please.  

P.S.  This is my first giveaway so please have patience with me if I've forgotten something or there's a delay in announcing the winners!
May you bless and be blessed!
XOXO,  Jodi

South Carolina pics!

I mentioned a few posts ago that my hubbie and I flew down to Florida to see my father and then rented a car to drive home.  We stopped in South Carolina to rest over night and took a tour of the city.  Here's some pics, hopefully you'll find them interesting!

This is the Daughters of the Confederacy building - BTW, anyone voting in the primary today?  Depending on what state you live in, of course.

 Horseback riding, anyone? Or a carriage ride?

I LOVE porches!  I wish I had one on my house!  A cool breeze (hopefully), a refreshing drink, my feet up, or in a comfy rocking chair, watching the world go by, ahhhhh!

These houses I find fascinating.  It seems like this side door leads into the house - not!  It leads onto the porch.  Back in the 17 to 1800s, if the door was open, that meant you were welcome to visit.  If shut, go away!  Ha! Beautiful!

Another gorgeous house with a porch.

A rainbow - duh!  God's promise to us that he will never flood the earth again.
I do have lots more gorgeous house pictures but I don't want to bore you to death!  Have a wonderful day, my blogging friends!  And keep on posting!

Baby quilt!

We had my daughter's baby shower last night!  It was lots of fun and she got lots of nice stuff from very nice family friends!  Here's a picture of her (and my grandson, of course), her husband on her left, and my son at a Labor Day cookout:

And here's the baby quilt, or at least the unfinished quilt (gasp!)  I neglected to take a pic of the finish!  Ashley from Film in the Fridge gave me permission to use her design.  I acquired some goldfish in the bag fabric in a bidding war on Ebay (yaay) after I fell in love with her twin baby quilts. I didn't have a pattern and my math leaves much to be desired so my hubbie helped immensely in that department.  It came out pretty good, I think.  I'll have to ask Tara http://www.thetinyhummingbird.blogspot.com/ to give it back so I can get some final pictures to show you.  In these it's not sandwiched or bound.

A side view of my grandson who should be joining us in about four weeks!  

Thanks for tarrying with me a bit!  Have a great weekend!

At Last! A long-awaited project begun.

Vintage pillowcase/sheet quilt for my husband's 91-yr-old aunt!  I've been collecting some vintage items for a while and finally got enough - even won some from Anne at Green Stitch.  Check out her blog:
http://greenstitchblog.blogspot.com/, it's great! 

Can you read who the pattern is from?  It's Elizabeth Hartman of Oh Fransson who so very graciously supplied this wonderful, easy-to-follow pattern with quilt cards.  The quilt is called "Clothesline Quilt."  I hope to get a lot done on it today - at this time in my life I wish my husband was a football fan.  All these years I've been thankful I haven't been married to one of those fanatics, now it might not be so bad!  Ha!

Anyway, have a wonderful long weekend, my lovelies!  (It's Labor Day weekend here in the US, in case my friends from Cyprus, the UK, and the down under aren't aware - I imagine you guys have long weekends of your own from time to time?) 

Oh, and pay close attention over the next few days - I'm planning a giveaway to celebrate the coming of autumn which will herald my first grandbaby's entrance into the world!  So stay posted...

Time is flying - September 2 already!

Computer is still down but my son gave me permission to use his, so here's some pics I've been wanting to post:  My mom's hope chest, solid cedar, over a hundred years old, or so I'm told.  She left it to me, with its contents, which I'll post about sometime later.

And here's one with my wallhanging which is waiting to be hung - FINALLY finished!

Looks pretty good here, but I have another spot which I think will be better.  We'll see.

Then here's a table topper which I whipped up last night for a friend's birthday today.  I found out her dining room colors, so I hope she likes it! It was easy and fun.  I have to post where I got the pattern from - my mind is blank right now, but I owe some thanks.

Have a wonderful day!