Mug Rug Swap and winnings!

Beautiful mug rugs from Carla who lives in Venice, FL (same city as my Dad!)

 I participated in a mug rug swap hosted by Michele from the Quilting Gallery.  Carla sent me a great coffee mug along with two rugs.  The above rug is so cleverly made with coffee bean fabric in three different colors .    The other one, below, is so pretty.  It has dragonflies on it - (my sis, Diane, loves dragonflies, too).  And Carla used her favorite fabric, the yellow with little flowers!  I feel honored that she would do that, and used the last from her stash, too!

Here's a close-up, but the colors are not true.  They're much brighter and prettier in person.

 And the back:

 She did some fun stitching on it.  I wonder what kind of sewing machine she has.  Thank you so much, Carla!  I love them both, and the coffee mug, too!

 And I won a giveaway:  Yippee!  From Sue Naughton http://zzyzx-and-sue.blogspot.com/.  It was her first giveaway, and I am the lucky one who won!  I love black and white fabrics, and the yellow flower-type fabric is wonderful!   Thank you, Sue!  I will definitely be finding a great use for them soon!  And she sent me some note cards with my initial on them.  I frequently write thank-you, get well, or encouragement notes to my friends and family, and these will come in very handy.  Thanks, Sue!  
Have a great week, everyone!

Very little meetings...

of points on this "Jazzy Jewels" quilt (designed by Jody Beck).  And it's supposed to be like that, really, I kid you not!  Good thing, too, or I'd be in deep doodoo!  Yes, I was quilting my "Coming Together" mod bento box, but I signed up to take a class to make the Jazzy Jewels quilt at the Arnold Mills Community House and had to divert my attention (I needed a break from quilting  anyway).  I won't bore you with my screw-ups on the Jazzy Jewels - I am calling it quits for the night before I tear it all off the design wall and stuff it in the wastebasket!  I have to have all the blocks done for Thursday night, too!!!  Good thing I have tomorrow off - going for my annual physical - whoopie!
So have a good night - till you tarry again, bless and be blessed ~ Jodi

Moving right along...

on the mod bento box quilt, but I'm going to name it "Coming Together."

These blocks are from all over the US and a few other countries, now the blocks are all together in Rhode Island, at least the ones I received from the swap.  There are some beautiful examples on Flickr, and I love seeing my blocks pop up in other people's quilts all over the world - I think I made 70 or 80 in the two rounds.

 Basted.

And a visit with Ezra this afternoon:

Just can't resist showing him off!  He loves chewing on those fingers!

Till next time, take care!

Beauty and the Oops!

While ironing the borders for this quilt (yes, I'm all over the place, haven't really finished ANYTHING, but I'm working on various and sundry projects), I had an accident:

This iron mark is on the seat of our recliner!!!  I only placed the iron there for about four seconds, count them,  one, two, three, four, and it wasn't even fully heated up yet!  Yikes!  What did my husband have to say?  "Good thing it's Valentine's Day!"  Well, this chair is ONLY about 25 years old, mind you!  And while I'm thinking, way past time for a new chair anyway, he says, "Now you'll have to make a chair cover for it."  Huh???  An upholsterer I am not, thank you very much!

My house block quilt, (previous post), that Michele and Pokey have been "helping" me on is finished.  At least the top.  And I've decided on a gold-flowered kind of vintage fabric for the back.  I want to save the birds for something else.  And I want to buy a high-loft batting for it so it's nice and cozy to watch t.v. under (on my now iron-burned recliner  :-) 

I hope you are all having a wonderful Valentine's Day!

Back again so soon...

Went to bed 2 1/2 hours ago.  Slept one hour, woke up with heartburn, or something!  So what else to do but finish my lap quilt, or at least the top!  So here is one more picture of it -- no, two. 

And I like it!  I think I've decided what backing to use, also.  

Here it is - more birds, and random color blobs.  I don't have much yardage in my stash at all, and I only have a yard each of these.  Both are from IKEA which I bought probably eight or nine months ago.  (I AM on a fabric diet, after all!)  And why, oh, why, did I only buy one yard of each???  Probably because my darling husband was hovering :-).  (Note to self:  leave him home next time I go to IKEA!)

 Here's a proper picture of the birds:

?  

P.S.  Michele, thanks for becoming a follower of my blog!  Now I can see your English Springer every time I log onto my blog - the pic always makes me smile.  And thanks for your kind remarks.  I HAVE heard of Gwen Marston somewhere along the line.  I will look her up again.  

Now to do some ironing of my recently-sewn log cabin blocks, and maybe cut some 10" squares for a Jazzy Jewels class I'm going to with sister Mary this Thursday night.  More stash-busting!

Must get back to bed soon, too, hopefully to SLEEP, and not toss and turn!  Church tomorrow!

G'night and take care!

My idea of...

... a CRAZY quilt!

 Now, I realize some people might be holding their nose or running for the toilet, but I like it!  And I want to thank Pokey and Michele for their suggestions - I truly appreciate them!  I used the red and white fabric that Michele liked, and I fully intended to make some log cabins because they go with the house theme, but once I started ad libbing, it soon became a lap-size and I decided that's the size I want it to be.  It's a mix of modern,  the red and white is 30s repro, the flower pots are feed sacks. 
 The blue and white above the birds is African.  I do want to put a border of some sort on it, and I still need to figure out the backing, but I'm having fun.

The narrow red trim has a navy blue line running through it and is actually a selvage that says "Guaranteed Wax" with a number.  

So that's what I've come up with, for better or worse.  I hope you're having a great weekend!

Looking for suggestions...

This is a house block, 4 1/2" square, that I received from participating in a Blogland Neighborhood thingy that was hosted by Beth at www.lovelaughquilt.blogspot.com.  She sent this block to all who participated.  (Isn't it adorable?)  I would like to make a bed-sized quilt out of it but this is as far as I got.  Any suggestions as to where to go from here?  Right now it's 20" square.   

Here's some fabrics I have that I'm debating on, but what should I do???  I love the little bird fabric and was thinking about making corner blocks with that, but that's as far as I can get my muddled brain to go.  Am I being too narrow-minded in sticking to all these same colors?  I do have a pretty substantial stash, but I'm open to all kinds of suggestions.   

Victoria from www.bumblebeans.blogspot.com made a fantastic quilt out of her little block.  Check her blog out - it's a few posts back but well worth the effort of finding it.  (I would link it here if I could figure it out!) (At this point while my daughter, www.thetinyhummingbird.blogspot.com, reads this I can imagine her rolling her eyes, or sighing in frustration :-)  Good thing she loves me!

So, I would greatly appreciate some input from all you creative geniuses out there!  And thanks in advance!

Presents!

My darling sis made me go to Joann's with her last night in the frigid windy cold!  BUT I was able to use a gift certificate she gave me for my birthday which more than made up for it.  I got these fabrics to make a table runner or topper for St. Patrick's Day.  I purchased two more half yards of fabric with my gift certificate, too, for a machine quilting class we're taking at Ryco on February 19.  The photo came out very dark, but I'll show it to you anyway. 

The top left fabric is a gorgeous purple to match the color in the coleus - I love this coleus fabric!  I guess I cut off part of the fabric in the photo - oh, well.  I am striving to be an accomplished quilter, not a photographer  :-)  And now that I look at this picture, maybe that orange is too bright?  Hmmm...
For the class we are required to make a 15" Amish Basket block with two contrasting fabrics.  I've made one so far and I'll show you the blocks when I have the other stitched up.
Thanks for tarrying with me - have a wonderful day!

I finished...

my top for the Postage Stamp quilt-along hosted by Rachel at http://www.psiquilt.com/!

I ironed the last seam at 11:36 p.m. and my husband was in bed sleeping so I couldn't put it on my bed for pics, which was my original plan.  And then today I was going to take some pics outside with it laying on top of a (clean) snowbank, but it was too wet out today, so forget that.  And here's a closeup:

At least the top is finished, but I want to make it larger, a queen-size, so I have some more work to do.  Any suggestions for borders, solid or prints?  Although maybe Rachel is going to address that when we get to the completion part.  I guess I'll find out.  The fabric I used is Sugar Pop by Liz Scott, just as a reminder if anyone is interested.  That's all for now, folks!  XO

My Liebster Award choices!

Finally, I am getting around to posting my choices for the Liebster Award!  Shruti from http://www.13woodhouseroad.com/ awarded me the Liebster, now I get to award three of my favorite bloggers.  I think the only criterion is they can't have more than 300 followers, and of course they have to be bloggers who are inspirational and fun to read.

My first choice, naturally, is my daughter, Tara, whose blog is http://www.thetinyhummingbird.blogspot.com/.  Not only does she inspire and entertain with her blog posts, but she's an incredible mom to my grandson.  So she wins the Liebster Award, along with  my admiration.

My second choice has to be my son-in-law, Matt.  His lively rants on his blog/web site, http://blueflashphotography.com/ have caused me to laugh many times at some of his photography dilemmas/situations and challenges.  He always figures out a way to make his brides and grooms, and other clients, happy, sometimes to his own detriment. AND he's a super dad to Ezra!

My third choice is to Nadine at http://quiltedbliss.blogspot.com. She's incredibly talented, and until recently when she got a sewing machine, sewed everything all by hand!  And beautifully!!!  And I know firsthand because I received some wonderful placemats from her in a Pay it Forward which my family enjoys frequently at our dining room table. (And, Keri, if you're reading this, please know I haven't forgotten you!)
Now go and check out these talented people, please, and just say hi!
And even though it's nighttime and the lighting is horrible, I just can't post without a picture or two.  Here's where I stand on my Postage Stamp quilt:  just two rows sewn together!

 I hope to finish tonight as this is the deadline to be entered into the giveaway!  (Although Rachel did say it was a "tentative" date - are you reading this, Rachel?  hint-hint!)
Thanks for tarrying with me!