Sewing organization part 2

Sorry for the delay but been without power for 4 days due to ice storm here in southern ohio.

Okay you ladies lets start on another part of your sewing room. Hopefully you all are finished with the magazines or atleast near the end.

Books and Patterns~~~Lets's start with patterns. I go thru my patterns every 3-6 months and dish out the ones that no longer "wow" me or inspire me. I've got mine in a square basket so when it get's filled up I go and get rid of the ones that i no long have an interest in. As women you all know our taste change along with our mind, which is what is so great about us. I also have some patterns that I keep in a hanging folder(s) in a file box that is labeled quilt patterns, doll patterns, rug hooking, purse patterns, and so on. You label them to what suites your taste. another idea for those patterns that has those applique pieces that you need to use over and over. I put those in a manilla envelope with the pattern taped on the front so I know what is inside. .

Places to store your patterns:file cabinet or file box ( the plastic kind that holds hanging folders)an accordian type file box,basket, plastic container, cardboard box just the size for those patterns, Mailing boxes , Binders with the sleeves

You can put your items for sale ( here on fridays), ebay, etsy, and so on, give to a fellow quilter or do an exchange with other quilters ( trade patterns) , put on local freecycle, give to senior citizen place where they have recreation director, or give to your guild as a giveaway. The main thing is purging, asking your self how many is a good number to keep on hand & stick to it. Are you really going to make it? Do I like it that much? How long have i had this? (i mean if you haven't made it 5-10 yrs since you bought it most likely you won't)Keep it simple and fun.

Books: This is going to be the hard one. That is why I'm starting it now and you all until this coming sunday to get them done. I really don't keep a lot of books I have maybe around 50 books. The reason is because I don't buy a book unless It has 2-3 quilts or items I want to make out of it, I just can't justify the price. Go thru your books, get three piles going, one that you are definely keeping ( prying it out of your cold dead hands keeping), ones why did I spend my money on this pile, and not sure of pile. After you go thru them all, place the keeping ones back on a shelf. the ones not sure of, go thru them, figure out why do you like them, is it worth keeping, can I do without them. If there is only one project or two in there, make copies of them and put in with your binders/sleeves. No sense of keeping them and taking up space you need. I keep a few reference books, I have 4 total. I don't keep that many because most have the same information in them.

You can make a spreadsheet if you'd like on certain things you want to beable to find quickly as in a reference to making 1/2 square triangles, flying geese or something like that. books you can resale, trade, giveaway, and so on. Just get them out and make some room for new things.

Okay girls lets get to purging. Show us some before & after pictures. Love seeing them

Sewing organization Part One

Well lets get this party started on organizing your sewing/quilting room. Going to Start with magazines. 1st go around and gather up all of your quilting/sewing related magazines. Start thumbing thru them and tear out all of the patterns/quilts you want to make or articles you want to keep. Or make copies of them if you choose that route. The leftover magazines put in a recycling bin, give to senior citizen place, or give to your fellow quilters at your next guild meeting. Make sure you get rid of them no longer then one week. They have recycling bins all over you can throw them into, DON'T keep them any longer then a week. Or if all of the magazines is intact sell them & pay for your next subscription. Then take a regular 3 ring binders and some plastic sleeves (aka binder pockets), place all of the article/patterns you want to keep in those. Make sure the plastic sleeves have 3 holes to match the 3 ring binders. Now to save space use a plastic sleeve to hold 2 patterns, just put them back to back with the picture of the quilt on part facing out. If you have applique pieces or pattern parts, & they go to two different quilts, make copies for one of them. Then put them in the binders for safe keeping. My binders are sorted by, applique quilts, how to ( techniques), machine quilting, and so on. So when I need something I can find it quicker then trying to remember what magazine I saw it in, saves a ton of time. You can purchase your binders, plastic sleeves at walmart, office supply place, dollar stores, ebay or just about anywhere. They come in such fun colors now.

Now if you can't just part with those magazines, you need to get some type of storage system going on to keep it all nice and tidy. I recommend either making your own or buying Magazine files. Now I'm all for recycling if you can so here are a couple links to make your own, heck you can paint them, wallpaper them, contact paper them or glue fabric on them. http://craft-therapy.blogspot.com/2008/08/thrifty-magazine-file-tutorial.html , here is another one http://www.instructables.com/id/S4I65QLFBSYW7Z5/ or try this one http://www.ehow.com/how_4456046_magazine-file.html. none of those fit your fancy, just google making your own magazine file. After you get those ready or bought then put your magazines together by the type example: Quick quilting, mccalls patchwork, fons and porter etc. The find a spot to put them on a shelf. When organizing and not having a lot of space always look up along your walls with shelves, great way to keep stuff off the floor, looks nicer and you can always see what you have. Now the key here is limiting yourself to a certain amount of binders or magazine files. Seriously think of a number and stick to it. In our lifetime are we really going to make them all, nope didn't think so but you can always go back pull the ones that don't work for you and replace them with new ones from time to time. You need to keep it manageable size otherwise you will so overwhelmed & that is when the you get piles of stuff laying around.

While going thru your magazines keep these things in mind to help sort them: Is this something I'm really going to make? why do I like this? Do I have a duplicate pattern or article? Do i have the room to keep it all? This is cute but will I really use or make it within the next 3 years?

One gal told me she after the magazines come she keeps them less then a month, then rips out the things she wants to keep and recycles the magazine. She said the stress of all of the magazines laying around gets her stressed out, unproductive and lazy.

Okay will post another part come Monday. You have 4 days to get this part completed. After you done that sit back and relax. Remember just have fun with it~~ don't forget to post a link on your blog so you can be put in a drawing for something.

Organizing your sewing room

We started talking on ohioquilters yahoo group about our sewing rooms, which really got me to thinking a lot about mine plus organizing them. I love to go in and organize things, for some people it is overwhelming to get rid of things, organize them, fun to see what you find, plus emotional. One gal is having a hard time getting motivated to get started, which I can so understand. So I decided to have a little fun here too. I'm going to post what we are to work on for the next two days into organizing your sewing room no matter the size. If you post me a comment with a before/after picture if you can on your blog, a link to where it is at. I'll put you in a drawing for some charms, fat quarters or pattern. I'll do this weekly on here. I'm also in need of doing some straightening up myself. I'll start this tomorrow. Some things you can do in a day or some may take a couple of days. Just remember to have fun with it~~

What a life~~~ I want it!!

Don't I wish I had her life. I laid out some rows of my rag quilt I'm working on well went off to fold some laundry, put some more in the washer, came back , look what I saw~~

I guess after Miz Night Vision after messing up my layout, she decided to take a nap. What a life, just all fun & games to her. I want it, no more laundry, dishes, vacuuming, dusting, or mopping the floors. Hopefully once I get a few more things done I'll cut out some more 6" squares and do some more rows completed. I was hoping to get it done this past weekend but I got some books in the mail, so I made a pot of soup, baked a pie & yeast rolls, then laid around the living room reading a whole book. I hadn't done that for a long time, felt kinda good. So today I thought I better get caught up laundry, mopped the kitchen floor, did some dishes, and some cleaning on the bathroom. I still haven't figured out how a house with 3 guys ( two boys & one man) can't seem to keep a tolet clean, I mean it isn't like the hole is only a couple inches round to pee in, geesh. I think I'll go back to put the cleaner in the bowl so next time they have to go they can clean the darn thing, LOL.

Back to Sewing

Well I started on the blue rag quilt, I sewed 3 strips of 13. Each square is 6" wide, doing 13 squares across to get one strip. Not sure on how long just yet, going to play it by ear so to speak. I cut out 100 batting squares so far, but should go thru them pretty quickly. The weather man is calling for freezing rain, rain all this weekend so hopefully will get it completed to take to the laundry mat to wash & dry on Monday. I don't think I want to deal with all strings with my washer/dryer here at home. I don't know if I like sewing flannel yet, pretty slippery stuff. Having to pin it to keep in place is a pain in the butt. I believe I'll do a checker board style pattern. the dark blue playing off the white is pretty contrast, using variegated blue thread to sew the X in the middle. The light blue is pretty as the backing. I forgot I had that light blue paisley, found it looking in my stash of flannels. Wonder what else I've got in my stash, LOL.

Here is a picture of the fabric I'm using. I tried to find some other blue to use but couldn't find the right shade so settled on white, which does make it pop in blue color.

The Winner is~~~

Well the winner is........................Shasta!!! Congrats and thanks for the answers.

The kids are finally back in school, husband back to work after being on vacation, I've got the whole house to myself again. Yea!!! Could almost do cartwheels in celebration but hadn't done that in 20 years, if I tried I might hurt myself or someone in the process.

Had a wonderful lunch today, went to a cool Mexican place, got together with a couple girlfriends to discuss the upcoming OhioQuilters Sit & Sew Retreat. They have been wonderful helpers to me with this great quilt retreat. I know it will be here before I know it. So many things to do. We picked out a simple yet all level skill mystery quilt, a rag jacket, fat quarter bingo, and waiting on one gal to get back to me about doing a purse. These are all optional which is nice, you can do what you want there.

Got about 100 pieces of warm & natural batting cut out for my rag quilt, hah finally in the mood I think. Tomorrow while doing laundry ( i still wonder where all it comes from) I'll cut out the blue paisley & white, hopefully will get the back done as well. Then let the sewing begin!!! Watch out it is going to very cold in Ohio if you know what I mean, :o) I'll be sewing. I thought about using some decorative stitching in the X part of the square but once that thought came in my lil head, then it screamed are you nuts do you know how much thread that would use, let alone the time, LOL. I guess when I start you'll find out what I decided. I think it would be a pretty added touch hhhmmmmmm.................... I do have a lot of blue thread, just sitting there on my shelf.

End of the Year

Well it is finally the last day of the year. I couldn't believe I didn't post anything since I left for the beach back in October, shame on me. Well no sewing here, did quilt out 3 quilts on miz gracie and that is it!! So sad here. No motivations what so ever, sad, sad.

I did visit a couple of quilt shops in Wilmington, NC & was so disappointed. Heck one of them I felt I had more fabric in my sewing room then they carried, but they had enough Bernina sewing machines to hook up a small country. Once they figured out I wasn't there to buy a machine, needless to say, I was left completely left alone to look around. The second was the gals were very nice but not a whole lot sung to me, I did manage to buy a yard of batik that was too pretty to pass up. The rest of the trip was a bust on quilt shops. Planned on stopping on some on the way home but when you have a 11 yr old with stomach virus, nope not happening, just wanted to get home at that point.

I did manage to get to a joann fabric this past Monday with Friends. Which was so needed. We shopped, which I bought some pretty blue flannel in paisley print to do a rag quilt in. Which I've never done one before but thought my son's girlfriend would like, plus I get to use up 2 totes that are crammed full of left over scrap batting. We went to lunch at Olive Garden, which is one of my favorite spots to spend time with friends. I had the chicken parm, oh yummy, let alone the salad which I could just eat till I get sick, LOL. So now I have a project to work on, like I don't have enough to keep me busy for the next 5 years. Which I know all of us have right??????

So what quilty item(s) did you all get for Christmas?? I made out with an ott light, and a $100.00 check to buy a quilt kit of my choice, a neat cross stitch picture, kt fabric, a small vacuum and a $25.00 gift card from Joann's. Now I did make out with a new 10 piece set of rachel ray cookware, a new hand mixer with dough hooks, and I get to pick out a new kitchen aid mixer when I get around to it. Most of my stuff except cookware is sooo old i believe around 20 yrs old now, LOL. My hubby loves to buy kitchen stuff & I don't mind he is darn good at it.

Any quilty New Years Resolution??? I plan on blogging more often and with pictures. I plan to quilt up my 11 tops before March and no buying until the May Quilt Retreat in Amish Country. I want to use up my some of my stash. anyone who post their new years resolutions by January 5, I'll pick a winner and send some fat quarters to~~~~ Let see them ladies~~~~

down to the wire

We are getting down to the wire to leaving for the beach, Yea!! I've already have some quilt shops lined up while I'm down there to check out & maybe get some "memory" fabric. Bet your wondering what memory fabric is well it is fabric you get on vacation to remember the memories with. LOL. I cut out a bunch of chocolate/tan/brown fabric to make some cathedral windows lap quilt out of along with pink prints of various shades. I'm hoping this will look good plus it will keep me busy with some handwork too. hopefully I can find some fabric to go in with it. I'm also doing an "adult" i spy so I'll be on the look out for some good things too. I found some with a little playing a flute ( I played it in the band), volleyball, a sexy outdoor man one, one gal gave me a sexy fire man, plus some other awesome ones that brings up some cool childhood memories. This should be a neat looking quilt once I get completed LOL hopefully by the time I retire from life.

My goal by the end of november is to atleast complete 4 quilt tops all quilted out. hopefully i can stick with that goal. what is all you wonderful quilters goals????

Getting ready for the beach

Will be heading down to the beach before long can't wait. We are going to be staying at holden beach. Hopefully i can find some quilt shops along the way. No too far off the beaten path. I'm planning on taking some type of hand work, not sure if it will be cathedral windows i'm wanting to make a pink/ brown scrappy one, lap size. Or maybe do some redwork. Anyone else have anyother handwork that is portable??

So looking forward to a break, the boys are going with me but hubby is staying home because it is hunting season. So it will be my mom/stepdad, my sister maria, her son tommy & boyfriend, my sister lisa, my brother jimmy & his wife kelly. we are hoping my neice Brenda will go, my other niece will drop in for an overnighter & maybe my nephew will drop in as well.

I'm going to take the laptop so hopefully i'll post some pictures and updates. well off to sewing room & put some dinner in the crock pot. I'm thinking some chicken parma tonight, better get the sauce in the pot to cook all day.

For sale/cleaning out sewing room

Well I started cleaning out my stash & all of my craft stuff. Things have settled down with my mom & i'm really wanting to simplify my "stuff" so I decided to get rid of some of my stuff. Plus this is my son's senior year, we got the information for his senior trip, pictures and stuff so i'm going to start using this money towards all of that stuff.

Everything is on my webshots the prices is under the picture in the caption part. I'm selling a bunch of 1930's charms ( the pictures are just samples, you'd get an assortment), fat quarters and doll making stuff. i'm going to be doing this off and on this week so be sure to keep checking to see what i might put up. the webshot link is on the left side of my blog~~

Have a great day.

were have the days gone

Geesh were have all of the days gone by? I mean seems like the boys have just gotten off to school now September has slipped right by me. time is sure flying by. I haven't been quilting much, besides making some bags to take on vacation next month. Well we are leaving on October 17th. Looking so forward to it, need a break. I have been going thru my stash to reduce it, since there are some gorgeous lines coming out. Got to make some room!! On a sad note, we got our garage/storage shed broken into last week, ( I have a feeling it will get worse) but the blessing was nothing was taken. Yea!! The shed didn't have a whole lot in there but the lil garage is my sewing room converted over. The door lock was busted off but nothing was taken or damaged, thank God. I don't know if they just didn't want my 3 sewing machines, fabric, patterns etc, they didn't even want the chocolate stash in my lil frig. I praise God he was watching over us. The big garage they couldn't get in. So I don't know if it sad they didn't want my stuff or sad they broke in. LOL

My goal for the rest of the year is to finally get those tops all quilted out, don't know what I'll do with them, where to put them but I really want to get them done. heck I might give out some for christmas presents.

Back to School & More

Well School has finally started here in the hills, Thank You God!!! I mean I love my boys but boy I do love having my routine plus my time. Josh has starting his senior year, so one of my babies will be leaving the nest before long. So far he is enjoying it, dealing with a new girlfriend, yearbook club and going to every school function. Caleb has started his 5th grade year, last year of elementary school. They grow up so quickly. He is plannng on joining band this year instead chorus. He loves to sing. Hopefully I will be back to quilting soon.

Well God likes to throw you a curve just when you think you have it all planned out. :) Here I thought finally time to myself, maybe get caught up on some reading, get those quilt kits sewn up, well Nope nada not now.

Last sunday my mom fell in her yard, yep seperated her shoulder. The Blessing is that it wasn't broken and she doesn't have to have surgery, so I give God Thanks for that. Then my sister broke her hip soooo................ So much for quiet life right now, LOL.

What is that saying " Want a laugh, Tell God your plans " Boy that is so true. ONe good thing is I've been catching up on some reading. One book I've been reading is The Facts of Life & other lessons my father taught me by Lisa Whelchel. I use to love watching The Facts of Life on TV while growing up. So far the book is pretty good, she shares parts of her life & how much God is in control. Very good read~~~

Well Time to get caught up on my housework.

Cleaning Day

Well I started "fall" cleaning, LOL on the sewing room. I haven't done any primitive folkart dollmaking in such a long time, I figured it was time to go thru that whole wall of stuff I've collected over the years. So I'm downsizing it considerable. Not sure what I'm going to do with all of the stuff quite yet. Wiped everything off, vacuumed the floor and rearranged things too. Spent over 2 hours doing that, but boy do I feel so much better. Now i'm going to work on the cabinets that hold all of my fabric. Have you ever bought some fabric then after a year or longer, and wonder what the heck was I thinking when I bought that??? Was I nuts?? Must have been on sale.... or maybe I was in deep dark depression was hoping shopping made me feel better. Atleast looking at it, it better have made me feel better cause it sure doesn't now. I'm hoping to rearrage things there & also do some downsizing on some of it. Are you Shock?!!! I know a quilter getting rid of fabric, is almost a sin.... hehehe. Well I want to make some room for maybe some new fabric. I know when I'm heading down to holden beach come october I'll be driving by Mary Jo's in north carolina, plus a couple other shops so who knows what I may come home with this time. I better get this done this weekend so I can get started on a pink/brown block swap that i'm hosting come october. I hope to make a nice lap quilt out of the blocks. I love that combination. well off to the sewing room.....................

Inspiration Winner is.......

Well I finally got some sewing/quilting done over the weekend. I've had a quilt I've been sewing over a year, I've taken it to any quilt retreat I attended. I mean geesh it had 90 light snowball blocks and 74 dark snowball blocks that used 5" squares and 1 3/4" corner squares . So it is finally put together, I just need to put a border on it. Once that is done I'll post a picture. It was done with charm packs I bought and scraps I had on hand.

There was some great comments from some fabulous quilters out there with lots of different ways to get inspiration to jump start quilting again. I hope I'm not the only one that gets something from this then me.

The winner is Regina~~~~ yea, congratulations!!! Here is her comment she wrote.

I value my online quilting buddies -and their blogs -they really help keep the momentum going for me. When I find a slump, I pick an evening and say "well, I will just sew for an hour tonight" and go from there -sometimes that one hour kick starts me again, and sometimes I stay in the slump a bit longer.

Thanks for all that had posted, was fun reading them. Happy Quilting.

Summer Gone, Need Inspiration!!

Summer is just about over, school will be starting soon ( august 19th, Yippe), and hopefully things will be back to "normal". This summer has been so busy with doing things with the boys, keeping up with daily house crap, church things, but no sewing. :( I just can't seem to get in the mood these past few months. Don't know what the deal is hadn't been in a quilt shop for awhile, went into joanns last week first time since may!! I didn't even get to go to the NQA show this past June. You'd think I was having withdrawels by now, but none.

What do you do for inspiration?? What keeps you motivated? Do you go shopping? Hook up with other quilters? Retreat? Leave me a comment & I'll send someone 4 fat quarters in their color choice. I'll do this for a couple of weeks, say the end date is August 4th. I'll do a random number poll for the winner. Please leave your blog address so I can get in touch with the winner & post a link to my blog on your blog as well. If you leave your blog address & a link ( because I'll be checking, LOL) you might get an additional gift. :)

wow June is almost over~~

Where is the time going to?? Geesh~~~ Time is sure flying here in Ohio. I haven't quilted much at all seems like this whole month running the boys here and there. Caleb joined an after school program for the first two weeks, well the boy went up to cosi, the aquarium is Cincinnati, paints baseball game, swimming, Tecumseh, and lots of other places. He sure had fun those two weeks.

We made it thru vacation bible school which was fun over 100 kids showed up this year. What a blessing that is.

Josh starts his summer job at school next week, yea~~~ He got his four wisdom teeth pulled yesterday which he seems to be doing fine so far. Fingers crossed here. We've been planting the garden, and flowers. Have all of that done. We had a heck of a rain storm a couple weeks ago which flooded my sewing room in half of it. thank God it was the half that wasn't the cabinets with my fabric. The rest was fine cause they were all in totes on the floor which kept them water free. :) yea!!

Hoping to start quilting next week, on Miz gracie I really want to get these tops completed. Missed NQA show this year, so happy to hear they are keeping it in Columbus another three years. They were discussing it going to st. Louis cause Columbus hadn't signed a renewal contract with them.

I've posted some pictures of my flowers and finally my dad's fish quilt which is sooo green!! but he loved it and wanted it that way. LOL.

Hope your having a great summer.

Wow End of the Month

Hard to believe it is end of the month already, this year is flying by. Before long Christmas will be here & then singing in the new year.

Hadn't done too much quilting this past week or so, this darn weather is havoc on my fibro. Been sleeping a lot, plus body been hurting. I'm going to have make an appointment with a massage therapist, I've been reading that is does help with fibro so going to give it a shot.

The boys last day is this Friday so been trying to get them all finished up, report done & handed in, studying for finals, plus other "fun" things going on for them. It is fun for the kids but not the parents I think sometimes.

Been cleaning out my sewing room in between everything else, so got a huge pile of things to sell on ebay or somewhere. Trying to save up some cash when I go down to Holden beach this October, gotta hit Mary Jo's on the way, wouldn't be a trip without that. But that darn gas keeps creeping up which takes some of my fun money away, darn those oil guys don't they realize they are messing with mama's fabric cash, shame on them.

Hope everyone is sewing for me, the orange crush mystery is sitting nicely in it's container waiting for me to put it together, along with the other 18 kits i have waiting on me, LOL.

The Winner is~~~

Well we've gotten a winner~~this has been so much fun. I used a random number picker to be fair.

Simply put, this script will generate a random integer between 0 and the number you enter.
Enter an integer here
63

Here is the result

25

So the person that was the 25th seperate posting is the winner, which is Pat, from Wisconsin. I'll email you pat. This was so much fun.

I know if I would happen to have $50,000.00 just laying around I would build me the perfect studio with lots of storage space, then a nice long arm then me and a friend would head to some quilt shows & load it up & move the fabric/notions etc out. I would stock up on kits, I love kits, moda especially kt fabric.

thanks for all that posted a comment I had so much fun reading them. I hope you all did too.

Giveaway~~

Okay since I've past 3000 people have checked out my blog since I started I'm celebrating a giveaway. Plus it is raining once again in Ohio, sooo we need a pick me up. I've got 4 fat quarters, patterns and something else that will be a surprise. I'm planning on going thru my quilting room this sunday soooo who knows what I may throw in the giveaway blog. Okay here is the rules: ( isn't there rules to everything in life, hopefully these won't be too bad. )

1) If you were given $50,000.00 to spend on yourself Plus your very bestest friend ( only one) . You have to spend all of it on yourself & bestest friend Only!!!! Because your family, kids, pets ect have everything in the world they could possible need/want. It could be anything you would do /buy, plus include atleast ONE quilt related thing in there. Sky is the limit, well atleast $50,000.00 worth. Post in the comment section

2) Place a link from my blog on your blog, plus include your blog link in the comment section with your above answer.

that is it, wasn't so bad was it. I'll be pulling a winner come Monday May 19th~~~~

Retreat Raffle Quilt

Here is a picture of the Raffle Quilt at the OhioQuilter's Retreat. Kathie Crabtree is the winner of it, she is on the left & on the right is me. Isn't it just beautiful!!! Congratulations to Kathie!! I know she will treasure it, for a very long time!!! Don't you love the binding which is done in Prairie Points, so pretty.

A Quilting Day

Well today spending the whole day out in the quilting room in between loads of laundry. There is always something going on in the house. I've got my dad's fish quilt done, he wanted something simple well he got it. :) So today I'll be loading it on the frame & quilting it out today. Not sure how i'm going to quilt it but will think of something i'm sure. He is not picky at all but I still want it too look nice. Going to give it to him for his birthday on Friday he will be 64~~~ I made him a quilt about a year or so ago, well come to think of it was about 2 christmas ago when I gave it to him, but he said he was too short didn't cover his feet, LOL. I made a lap, but he was using it in his camper when he stayed down at fish camp. So he wanted to just to sew along the bottom a 10" piece of quilted flannel, now how tacky would that be!!!!! I"m surprised he didn't do it himself. I told him nope wasn't going to do that I'd make him a longer one. So I pieced a simple design, made it 86" long and 66" wide. He didn't want a too big of one cause it was for the camper, getting kinda picky in his old age, but I guess he has lived long enough he can. I'll post a picture once I get it quilted out today.

Miranda Day Bag Done

Well this is the bag I done at the Retreat last weekend. I thought it turned out so pretty. I can't wait to do another one, now that I know what I'm doing, hehehe. There was quite a few of us doing it at the retreat around 10 or so of us bought the patterns & worked on them. There were some pretty ones. So here is mine. I think the next one I'll do with straps instead.

a neat blog to read~~

Well I'm usually reading a blog or two while eating breakfast, during chatting, or when I'm bored. This is one I love to read~~~ http://quiltingcowgirl.blogspot.com/ a very nice site, and fun to read. She has posted she has had her 300th post, way to go!!! that is so awesome. Congratulations to her. Be sure to check it out.

Retreat is done Yippee~~

Well Retreat is finally over, what a weekend. I laugh so much~~ it was such a great atmosphere this year, lots of laughter, renewed friendships, some new friendships, there was such comfort 7 joy being passed around it was amazing. There was no stress/drama at all which is such a blessing. Lot of stuff being sewed and lots of talking.

I got my dad his fish quilt done except for the borders, a miranda day purse, and binding put on a quilt. That was a lot for me cause I'm usually yacking my head off trying to catch up with everyone's life. We had some bad news on some of the gal's lives but we all rallied around them, showed comfort to them & said many prayers. Isn't God good~~~ I know it was a comfort to a few of them.

I posted some pictures, I have a lot more to post in my webshots album at http://community.webshots.com/user/ohioquilter2.

So today i'm going to put everything back into it's place in the sewing room, that might take me all day. Have to make up some mushroom bags for my FIL to take mushroom hunting next week too.

I'll post some pictures of my miranda bag today too. Now I can get back to "normal" LOL. Hopefully I can get some things quilted on the frame this month that I keep putting off, then I need to decide what to do with them after they are quilted~~~~ Have any ideas???

Staying busy

Well right now I'm working on stuff for the retreat so staying super busy with that. I'm making the nametag badges out of some beautiful fabric which I'd love to show you all BUT that would spoil the fun for the gals coming to retreat, sorry~~~~ will post a finish picture after the retreat. Also working on a giveaway which are turning out so cute, they will match the nametags as well. Oh then I have to work on my Miranda Day Bag by Lazygirl designs. A bunch of us bought the pattern to work on up there, I voluntered like a crazy person to make a sample pieces for us to follow, what was I thinking.

Now I have to go thru all of my stuff to figure out what I'm taking, that part I believe is the hardest. hhmmm how many projects to take, what to take.

Then I've got to decide on what kind of snack to bring. I know I'm bringing the fixins for some taco soup to put in a crock pot, love that soup. hhmm should i bring some chocolate surprise cupcakes, or maybe some pineapple upside down muffins. Heck I might stop at an amish bakery & pick something up there, take the easy route. LOL.

I'm still behind on the orange crush mystery over at quiltville, maybe play catch up at the retreat with it. I'm thinking of doing it major scrappy or civil war reproductions just can't make up my mind.

Friendships~~

Well I was tagged by Phyllis which was so cool~~ so here is a few things about friendship some quotes I like

"A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart, and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words."

Treat people as if they were what they ought to be and you help them to become what they are capable of being."

"Give others freedom to be themselves. Appreciate the differences between their ways an yours


I have lots of girls in my circle and decided that they all needed to know that someone cares about them and appreciate the difference they make in my life. If you are here it may be because I tagged you as one of the girls in my circle! If I didn't tag you , no offense intended. Tag! You're it! Consider yourself tagged.
***Phyllis
Nancy
Ann
***
Wanna let your friends know you love them and appreciate the difference they make in your life? Go here to learn how.

A Free IPod Giveaway & Great Cooking Site

Well while surfing blogs I came across this really neat site called. Cooking By the Seat of My Pants. I love cooking so I will checking out this place off and on. Looks like it could be a keeper. She is doing a giveaway of an IPOD nano so here is all of the information. Good luck~~
http://www.cookingbytheseatofmypants.com/ipod-touch-giveaway/

A neat baby Quilt

Well I got the baby quilt for a friend of ours that is due the end of the month. they are expecting their first son, after 2 girls which the youngest is I believe 10, talking about starting over. You'd have to put me in the loney bin for sure if that happened to me, mine are 6 years apart which was bad enough. I believe God thought it would funny and me get pregnant again especially since I was planning on getting "fixed" in June ended up pregnant in January. Oh well Caleb has sure been a blessing to me. Here is a picture of him, isn't he so cute~~ You just want to pinch those cheeks dontcha?

Here is the quilt I was talking about at the beginning. It is made out of flannels and minkie style fabric for the ears & paws. This sucker is huge in size. It is rag style. So fuzzy, soft and warm. I heat & bond his nose & eyes down then buttonholed stitched them down then embroidered his mouth. I just hope their ultrasounds are right he is to be a boy, LOL. If not the lil girl will have to like doggie stuff. We are taking it over to them come this weekend after we Hopefuly, fingers & toes crossed, of picking up a new car. Well not new but new to us. A friend called and said his dad is selling off his paper route car, which is a 2001 hyundia elantra, giving us a great price on it, well kept, little high miles but hey only used in a paper route. I hope when i get his age which is in his late seventies I'll be going like him.

Ohio Quilt Retreat for May 2-4th, 2008

If anyone is interested in coming to a retreat this may in the heart of Amish Country, Berlin, Ohio please let me know.
you can find the information at the ohioquilters.com website near the bottom of the page.
we will have show & tell, raffle table, giveaways, mystery quilt, fat quarter bag class, snacks, fat quarter bingo, dinner provided by a mennonite lady which is awesome!! plus lots of laugher, fun and more.

I've got a few openings due to a couple gals had to drop out due to personal things, so come & join the fun you and a friend~~~

Have a great day

Paula Deen chinese Salad~~~

Okay I'm making this today to munch on. I love her recipes she is so good & such a hoot~~ I read her biography book it was wonderful I loved it, would be so cool to meet her. She is one of the few people on food network that I enjoy watching, some are too "who is going to fix that" stuff, I'm just a country gal so that is probable why i like her and a few other shows there.

Here is her Chinese Salad.
1 head Napa or bok choy cabbage (I'm using shredded cabbage in a bag cause I have it on hand)
3 green onions ( chopped these up pretty thin)
1 (3-ounce) package ramen noodles with seasoning pack ( using chicken flavored)
1 (6-ounce) package slivered almonds
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
1/2 cup vegetable oil ( using olive oil here)
1/4 cup sugar ( using some splenda)
3 tablespoons white vinegar
1/4 teaspoon salt
Preheat the broiler.
Tear the cabbage and slice the onions, and place in a large salad bowl. Crumble the noodles into a broiler pan, add the almonds, sesame seeds, and broil for 2 minutes, being careful not to scorch the sesame seeds. In a jar with a tight lid, combine the oil, sugar, vinegar, and salt with the contents of the seasoning pack. Cover the jar and shake well to blend the dressing. Pour the dressing over the salad, add the toasted sesame and almond, and toss to combine

Let me know what you think~~~

No March posts~~~

Well March really got away from me. Let see I celebrated my 38th birthday on the 9th with my brother who turned 43 on the same day. I was his birthday gift to him when he turned 5. He just loves that. :) Then my oldest baby finally got his driver's license which took a new girlfriend in his life to get his butt in gear. He turned 16 back in august & just now got them. So a new set of emotions have set in, so we've been car shopping for over 2 weeks now. Which hasn't turned up anything within our spending range, everyone wants to sell us a new car with low payments up to 84 months ( 7years, oh they do up to 8 years if you spend enough) or we are lied to on the car's history/problems. ( We carfax them, lol) soo good thing we aren't in any hurry. Josh is driving the jeep cherokee, clyde the truck & me the van so no biggie right now. we are just wanting something for clyde to drive with better gas then the jeep, the Ford truck has 260,000 miiles on it so we are limiting it's driving. Oh well God will set me up with exactly what I want & in our price range, I just have to be patient.

HHmmm as too quilting, I was suppose to go to a Quilt Retreat the beginning of March for my birthday well Mother Nature decided to dump 14 inches of snow the friday I was to leave, no needless to say Nope didn't happen. Here is a couple of pictures of it.

Don't this look fun~~~ LOL we went thru almost 15 lbs of bird food that weekend. My cats loved looking out at the window at them & meowing~~

I'm still working on my ufo's Getting ready for the 8th annual OhioQuilter's Quilt Retreat in Berlin, Ohio come the first week of May. We've gotten some great donations, working on a couple of giveaways, finally got the menu we'd be serving finalized ( we have a great caterer that is a mennonite lady, OMGosh she is wonderful), working on the demo's & the mystery Class. So if you think you'd be interested in coming give me a hollar I've got a couple rooms left.

Well off to work in the sewing room today. Have a great one.

"When Love and Skill work together expect a masterpiece" by John Ruskin

Favorite Friendship Quotes

The most beautiful discovery true friends make is that they can grow separately without growing apart. ~Elisabeth Foley

A true friend is one who thinks you are a good egg even if you are half-cracked. ~Author Unknown

True friends stab you in the front. ~Oscar Wilde

Good friends are like fancy chocolates - it's what's inside that makes them special.

A true friend warms you by her presence - trusts you with her secrets - remembers you in her prayers.

One good reason to only maintain a small circle of friends is that three out of four murders are committed by people who know the victim.-- George Carlin

An old friend will help you move. A good friend will help you move a dead body.-- Jim Hayes

A friend drops their plans when you're in trouble, shares joy in your accomplishments, feels sad when you're in pain. A friend encourages your dreams and offers advice--but when you don't follow it, they still respect and love you.

Great Weekend & End of month

well finally the end of the month, well tomorrow is anyway. :) Had the most wonderful time last weekend a few of us friends that got together last sept for a mini retreat decided to do it again. it was so much fun, from someone getting stuck in ditch because of the snow & Ice, to the hhmmmm handy dandy wreaker man ( we don't even go there) that needed a set of suspenders, pushing cars in the snow, fish tailing up the hill to the retreat place ( yep that was me, was fun) and once we all got there we didn't leave. Well a couple gals ventured in to town for a fabric fix & picked us up pizzas she had 4-wheel drive. We had a snow/ice storm come in on a thursday, but us quilters didn't let that slow us down, we are hard core quilters. Or maybe more like we really really wanted to get a away from home. :0) We had fabric, food, fireplace, fun and friends what more could we ask for in a weekend.


Here is the top I got put together still needs a couple borders they didn't get on that weekend cause I didnt' bring the extra fabric. It is called Indian Summer It was in a quilt sampler magazine. going to put a small navy border and then a larger red border.

One of the gals had the quilting fairy visit her and kept bringing her lint rolling brushes, those were mulipling like rabbit, then they all ran away and then showed up again before she traveled home. I leave next weekend for another retreat which I'm sure will be just as so much fun~~~ if you can ever get away to a sewing retreat do it, is lots of fun with friends. Heck just invite some friends over to just sit & sew if you got the room, you'll be so glad you did.

We do not love people because they are beautiful

They seem beautiful to us because we love them

~~~Russian Proverb~~

Where did February go??

Wow hard to believe february is almost over. This has been one wild month. Between kids having the flu along with husband, taxes done & sent in, and basic life stuff I'm ready for a weekend just for me. Well I'm hoping & praying I get that this weekend coming up. A few of us friends are getting together for a weekend of sewing, laughing, and good food to get us over this crazy Ohio weather. This Ohio Weather has been from Ice/freezing rain, snow, sleet and in temps of the 50's. never know what it is going to be.

Well i finished up another quilt on miz gracie, well actually two done. My cousin's dad quilt of deer she made for him for christmas, but she didn't get the top done until right before christmas & I didn't have time to machine quilt it until now. I also got my aunt purdy's quilted out too, just need to put the binding on it. I finished all of my embroidered bible quilt blocks now to decide on what kind of sashing or setting to use with them. here is a picture of them.

They are done on unbleached muslin, 8 1/2"x11". So thought about doing flying geese, gulp, that would be a lot to do. maybe scrappy in fabrics?? wanting something to make them go wow!!

will have to think about.