Giveaway!

I'm having a giveaway through All Things Vintage Sheets.  Go here: http://vintagesheets.blogspot.com/2011/03/vintage-sheet-fat-quarter-giveaway_28.html to see what the goods are if you'd like a chance to win and to see the "rules."  Good luck and have a blessed day!

Hexagons, you say?

So many of you, it seems, are making beautiful hexagons, and I've been thinking, 'I should try some of those.'  Well, I dug these out of the closet the other day and worked on making some for a little while, then it dawned on me, duh, THESE are hexagons!  Maybe not as modern as what I've seen on blogs lately, but pretty nonetheless. 

I learned how to make these over a year ago when I started down this path of hoarding fabric and drooling over textiles.  These are made from scraps with a piece of batting in the middle and then muslin for the backing.  So it's actually a QAUG (quilt-as-you-go) project.  I STILL don't have my sewing machine back and I needed something to stitch somehow, some way, and then I remembered these little lovelies just waiting to be brought back out into the light of day, and I'm glad I did.  This quilt is very portable.  Its traveled with me to FL, to doctor's offices, cookouts, coffee shops, etc.  Who knows how long it will take to be bed-sized (I used to know how many it would take to fit on a twin, but that info is long gone from my pea brain).  The hexies are approximately 6 inches across.

So hopefully my sewing machine will be back home soon!  I'm using my sweet niece's Pfaff (sp?) and it's not too swift, let me tell you!  (Or maybe it's the user)  But it's driving me nuts.  Then again, on the Gardens of India quilt, I sewed the entire binding on before I realized that it was on the wrong side!  So out came Jack (the ripper) and he had a ball riiiiiiiping that right off.  So a lot of my frustration is my own doing, I will admit. 

I hope you are having some sewing fun and progress this week - whatcha all been up to?

Alive and safe!

Kim's family is safe!  Her brother called her yesterday from Sendai.  He also reported that he heard that their sister, who lives an hour away, is safe, also, along with her husband and pregnant daughter and son-in-law.  Kim is SO RELIEVED!  Thank you, God!  Their houses are in bad shape and may have to be torn down, but they are alive and well.  While she was talking to her brother on the phone, he had to hang up quick and run out of the house because of another strong aftershock.
Now Kim is very much looking forward to talking with her sister and hearing her voice.  That may still be a while till phone service is restored.  Many thanks to all of you for your kind thoughts and prayers.  Kim also appreciates it greatly!  Happy Friday!

St. Patrick's Day

It wouldn't be St. Patrick's Day if I didn't make Irish Bread.  And it must be made in a cast iron pan, too, according to my mom.  St. Patrick's Day was probably her favorite holiday, Danny Boy probably her favorite Irish song, which I still can't listen to today without tearing up.  Hard to believe she's been gone over a year now!  Anyway, we will be having corned beef and cabbage tomorrow which is when my daughter, son-in-law , and grandson can come over to eat with us.  We will only be truly celebrating if Kim's family is found by then!  Thank you to all of you who are praying for her! 

Here's what you've been waiting for!

"GARDENS OF INDIA"

The pattern I've been "reviewing."  I must say that I loved it so much that I just had to do it up, step by step.  Plus, I'm really a hands' on kinda person, so for me to figure out if the pattern was doable, I needed to do it up!  I used fabric from my stash.  The pattern is called "Gardens of India" written by Shruti Dandekar .  She has an Etsy site where you can purchase the pattern and it's only $5.00!  It was really simple to do and relatively quick.  It took me half an hour to do two blocks.  It's made up of eight blocks total, plus two borders.  The finished size is 48 x 78.  I will definitely make this quilt again.  Included in the pattern is a design for the back which I kind of did my own thing, that's why I don't have a pic to show you.  I was trying not to buy more fabric, and I ended up having to piece it so it's not the gorgeous design that Shruti gave, which I love.  So go see Shruti.  Here's her Etsy site: http://www.etsy.com/listing/69105030/gardens-of-india.  

I will be sandwiching my quilt SOON, and will show a finished picture. Any suggestions on the quilting I should do?

In case you're wondering about Kim's family, she came over to my house last night so we could search on the internet.  Ayumi from The Pink Penguin, (check out her blog, it's fantastic) she's also from Japan, gave a person finder link that we used, but no luck.  Poor Kim!  I'm afraid I got her hopes up all for naught.  But we had to try.  Please keep praying!  Even if she is not giving up hope, I feel that I am!  Such utter destruction and such horror stories!  She has satellite TV which allows her access to all the Japanese stations, and that's all she's doing is watching all the coverage day and night.  And you know how that can be, overwhelming and depressing!  But God is good and He will give her peace and strength no matter what, if she will just ask Him to!

I hope you all have a wonderful day, wherever you are, whatever you do! 

Prayer, and progress

on my pay-it-forward gift, which I just realized I did not take a picture of :-(
And progress on a pattern I'm "reviewing" for a friend:

Windy day!  Just as soon as I got it situated, the wind picked up.

Anyway, it should be complete by March 17, my deadline, when I'll show you the whole thing.  More to come later.
I had to make a trip, poor me, to Franklin Mills, my all-time favorite LQS, to buy a more suitable border fabric.  I had a gray but it was too dark.  I settled on the Kona solid you see in the above picture which I think is lavender?  It matched the color in the Kaffe Fassett perfectly.
So, of course, while I was there I had to wait for some help on an unrelated matter and I made the mistake of browsing around.  These lovelies were calling out to me.  The store was closing in 10 minutes and they did not want to be left there all alone all night long in the dark, so I took pity on them and brought them home where they could snuggle up against my other lovelies.  Feast your eyes on these babies:

And I won a $10 gift certificate from ABCs of Quilting through the Fabshophop and it only cost me an additional $11 to obtain these Batik's which were 20% off:

Now to the most important part of my post, if you remember my dear Japanese friend, Kim, who I posted pictures of back on January 11, her family, i.e., sister, BIL, brother, pregnant niece, have not been heard from.  They live in Sendai, Japan, one of the hardest hit areas.  Please pray for them and her!  Of course, Kim is distraught with worry.  Another friend who lives in Tokyo is going to see if he can locate their whereabouts.  Many thoughts and prayers to all of Japan...        

Side tracked again...

but having fun just the same.  This is a sneak peak at what I've been working on, or I should say playing with.  It's loads of fun and easy peasy!  More to come by the end of next week.  What have you been working on?  Or playing with?
 

Vignette in Stitches gorgeous giveaway!

This is being given away, can you imagine?  Such beauty all in one generous bundle!  I hate to tell you this because then it lessens my chances, but go to http://vignetteinstitches.blogspot.com/2011/03/guess-what.html to win this FQ bundle.  (Toes and fingers crossed!)

Oh, brother...

my Brother is under the weather, so I'll share a pic of myself and my darling grandson, Ezra, with you.  He's four months old today!  

Last night I was trying my hand at some free-motion quilting.  I had my feed dogs down, finished one side of the quilt border, experienced how tiring it is in the shoulder area, went to bed and fell right to sleep.  At 1:30 a.m. I was wide awake again.  As per my usual, I went to sew.  I was going to work on a Pay-it-Forward gift.  When I tried to lift the feed dogs with the little lever on the back of the Brother, it would not raise them.  I removed the plates and cleaned all the dust and lint out, but nothing doing. So my hubby took it to be repaired today and now I'm without a sewing machine!  Arghghghgh!  So I should be using this time to organize my kinda messy sewing room, but I'm blogging instead.   Hopefully I'll have my machine back soon and I'll have some finishes to show you.