Helping a Friend in Blogland

Terry's husband had a tragic accident at work this week and lost part of his right leg because of it. Laurie from A Yankee Quilter would like to make Terry and her family a quilt. She has asked for donations of 9 1/2" block in "country" colors - reds, blues, yellows and browns. Laurie is also looking for a longarm quilter who would be willing to do the quilting.

I think this is a great cause. What do you say? Have time to make ONE block to donate?? Pass the word...

My thoughts and prayers go out to Terry and her family during this difficult time.

Jen

So? Didja see me??

Anyone out in blogland watch the Jerry Springer show? Did you watch it TODAY??? Today was the day the show that I went to see taped back in August was aired. And you know what? I made it on camera! LOL.

No. I wasn't one of Jerry's guests. LOL. The camera panned on me a couple of times. And there was one part, when MAMA stood up in the audience to address a comment from the panel that I was on camera for more than just a brief glimpse.

I'm FAMOUS! LOL!

I finished a tote bag that I've been working on. I will post a picture or two over the weekend.

Enjoy the rest of your Friday!
Jen

Found a new blog AND she's having a giveaway!

Judi at Green Fairy Quilts is having a giveaway in honor of her new patterns! Go and check it out and comment to try and win!

Good luck!

Jen

For Baby Josh

Tomorrow is a big day. Tomorrow is my cousin's little boy first birthday party. Josh doesn't officially turn 1 until the 24th but I'm all for celebrating early!

I made Josh a fleece blanket and coordinating pillowcase. I hope my cousin likes it!

Sunday is also my brother and SIL's first wedding anniversary. My Punkie Pie made such a cute flower girl. She still talks about that day!

Well, I'm off. I think I'm catching a cold so I'm going to go put Punkie to bed and I'm going to head to bed myself.

Enjoy your night!

Jen :)

Giveaway!

Our Cozy Nest is doing a great giveaway based on her Ribbon Blanket and Block tutorial on the Moda Bake Shop.

Go over and check them both out! Very cute!!

Jen :)

Clementine Quilt

It's DONE. I am totally finished with my sister in law Charlotte's quilt (with the exception of tacking down the label). It took me two weeks to hand sew the binding down. Please don't look too closely at my stitches! I started out doing my stitches all funky and then I got into my groove. They get better as I went along.

Sharon did a lovely job quilting it. She told me that pattern was called 'Popcorn'. I love how swirly it is.

Wanna see the quilting close up? Here you go!

I did not like this quilt top at all when I first finished it. Now I wish it was staying home with me. Oh well. I will just have to get going on my own quilt. If I look at all the piles of stuff in my sewing room, I have a few "just for me" lap quilt projects started. I better just quit complaining and start sewing!

I can't wait to give it to my SIL on Sunday. Thank you Sharon for your quilting magic! Check will be in the mail this week ;)

Enjoy your day!

Jen :)

Shop Till You Drop!

Saturday was the start of the 2009 CT Quilt Shop Hop. I was almost not able to go and was pretty bummed about it. I had no sitter for Amelia and I knew there would be no way that she would tolerate being in the car all day long. But at the last minute, my mom's plans fell through (woohooo for me) and she watched Amelia overnight on Saturday so that I could shop hop this past weekend.

Fun fun! I drove myself on Saturday while my friend's mom and her friend followed me. We don't really live near each other so car-pooling on Saturday wasn't really going to work out that well. It's okay. I got to listen to a whole audio book which is good because it's overdue back at the library and I needed to get it back to them before I would accrue more late fees!

Anyway, we hit 8 stores on Saturday. We met up at one in Unionville and made our way down the western side of the state. I wish I took more pictures of the shops themselves but a lot of them were in strip mall settings. Nothing really cute like I've seen other shops here in blogs. But here's one really cute one...

Thimbles in Woodbury. Cute!

My most favorite shop so far? Hands down it was The Yankee Quilter in Oxford. They were so nice and pleasant there. Greeted and treated us like long lost friends. And naturally, I spent the most money there. LOL. I am going to take some classes there in the future. I wish they were closer to me as there is a class I want to take that they are having this Friday but it's 6:00 p.m to Midnight. Amelia has a doctor's appointment that afternoon. I won't make it there in time due to the appointment, fighting traffic clear across the state and it's so late! I wouldn't get home until 2:00 a.m.! And I have a full weekend ahead with other family commitments. Too bad. Maybe they will offer the class again. I hope they do.

There are 18 shops participating and so far I've been to 11 of them. We hit 3 shops yesterday. Two of them, I've been to them before (one being my LQS) so Sunday was kind of mellow. I will not finish the hop because of my upcoming busy weekend schedule and I'm bummed that I can't be in the grand prize drawing for a $250.00 gift certificate to the quilt shop of my choice but that's okay. I found some new shops to shop in and I will be going back to a couple of them for sure!

A couple of gripes I have about the whole thing:
- most people work from "9-5" Monday thru Friday. Would be nice if the shops were open until AT LEAST 8 p.m. so that us working people can go to some more shops during the week. Shop hop hours are 10-6 during the week with the exception of Thursday which is 10-8. I would like to have had 10-8 all shop hop long.

- The "free" 2.5" fabric strips that are being given out for the "free" pattern. Some of these strips are BUTT ugly. There was one store that I didn't even take my 2 strips because they were AWFUL. One store didn't even give us a choice. Just handed us two of the ugliest batik strips made and said "here you go!". Most shops had the strips nicely arranged and a nice variety. I know they aren't going to use their "best" fabrics to give out as strips but c'mon! At least don't be giving out the fabric that no one wanted from 1987. I know which stores gave me crap and I won't go back there. There should be a standing rule: No butt ugly-nobody likes this fabric anyway-strips.

My loot. You wanna see what I got?

The fabric. I counted 7.5 yards of fabric (in 1/2 yard cuts) and 22 FQs. See the CUTE little kiwi green and black FQ bundle towards the top?? That's for my Bento Box pattern. I have to go back to the shop and get a few more FQs cut. I don't think there's enough there for the pattern and I love the butterfly fabric so I want more. I collected LOTS of pink for my orange, pink and yellow quilt. Not sure which pattern I'm going to do yet so I'm just collecting. I think I may have enough now.

Bunch of other stuff. There's some more fabric hiding in this picture too that is not in the count of fabric above so I bought more than 7.5 yards. But these are for future projects. The Bali pop is for the Bali Bag pattern. The dark yummy purple is for a bag for one of my cousins for Christmas. And the aqua and black fabric is for the Big Shopper bag.

OH! Before I forget... one shop had the greatest shower curtain hanging up. I loved it and wanted her to sell it to me but she wouldn't. Guess I'll have to make my own. It would look great in Punkie's bathroom! I wish I had better pictures of the shower curtain as a whole unit but the bathroom was tiny. She did tell me what pattern she used - Sassy Lap Quilt by Calico Carriage Quilt Designs.

Enjoy your day!

Jen :)

We Will Always Remember

Friendship Bag Received

Babs over at crazylady quilts was my secret partner and she sent me a very pretty friendship bag with some matching goodies. A decoupaged picture frame for that very special picture of Punkie (which I have already set up in my sewing room) and a covered journal. She also sent me the rest of the fabric strips that she used. I think I'm going to make another one OR use the strips for another project. I'm undecided but I love my goodies. I have hidden my pretty little bag out of sight of Amelia. I'm afraid she will claim it for her own; as she often does and I want to keep this one! I'll just have to make one for her!


Thank you Babs!

I have to get my bag into the mail. I don't know why I'm dragging my feet. It's all done! Just have to pack it up. I also have Thank You cards to get in the mail for all the gifts Punkie received at her party. I'm dragging my feet with that task too.

I did a bit of sewing yesterday. I started on some Christmas gifts and worked on a version of the Mill House Inn tote that was featured on the Moda Bake Shop blog. They are very pretty (I'm making 2 so far)! I need to make one for myself. My yardage should be delivered today so hopefully I will have some time this weekend to continue working on them.

Enjoy your day!
Jen :)

You know what I just realized....

My 1 year blogiversary was here and now it's gone! I started my blog on September 4th last year. Wow. I think I need to do a giveaway but I'm not prepared. Maybe I'll roll the blogiversary giveaway in with my birthday - which isn't until early October so you'll just have to wait. :)

Stay tuned!

Enjoy your day!
Jen

What I've been working on

I've been working on little projects. Instant gratifications. First up... my friendship bag swap. It's very cute. I made a tissue packet holder/cover for it and I added two fat quarters inside. I MAY make a key fob too but not sure yet. I hope my secret partner likes it. She had no preferences for colors or whatever and her blog... she speaks more about what colors her 13 year old daughter likes versus what her likes are. So I'm going out on a limb with my bag.

A couple of pillowcases for Punkie. I bought these as kits from the quilt shop I visited in Texas. They are very cute and the brown and blue one is being used right now.

And since my husband was feeling left out, I made him two pillowcases for him when he's working nights at the firehouse. I covered both his skills - construction and firefighting. They were a big hit when he brought them in and I need to make another firefighting one. There is a mentally challenged gentleman that visits the firehouse every Saturday and hangs out. The crews give him small jobs to do and he (Mike) enjoys being there. He saw Chris's pillowcase and really likes it. Chris asked if I could make him one. So this weekend I will head back to the store to grab more fabric and make another.

And yesterday, I made myself a pot holder/hot pad. Just messing around with some fabric that I bought over the summer. It's cute. I'm debating about making more and give them out as Christmas gifts. Everybody could use new pot holders. LOL.

I love the ant fabric on the back!

Sharon did an awesome job quilting my sister in law's quilt and I've been working on getting the binding sewn down. I have a side and a half to finish and then I will take its picture. It's awesome and I love it now. Very happy looking!

That's all from me today.

Enjoy your day!

Jen :)

With This Ring...

Today is my 5 year wedding anniversary. We got married here at home in the yard. Before Chris and I got engaged, he requested that when we married that we do something outside and casual. I agreed. I'm not much for "stuffy" anyway. But I DID wear a wedding dress. I wasn't going to but my dad wanted to see his only daughter in a wedding gown. Our wedding party was "dressed up" but our guests had on casual attire. Everything from sundresses to shorts. Chris and I ended up changing into comfy clothes and partied the night away.

It was a great party; us and 200 of our closest family and friends. LOL. And that guest number is not inflated. We had a LOT of people here.

People still talk about how much fun they had at our wedding.

I love you honey!

Here's to many more years together!

Jen

I Got Mail!

Well, well. What do we have here? Hmmmm. The back of the envelope is sure decorated pretty.

What can it be? Recipes??

OH WOW! FRANNIE's Favorite Recipes!


She even wrote me a note inside.


Oh you bet, Frannie! I will enjoy your favorite recipes for sure! I even have the first one that I'm going to try all picked out already!

Thank you for thinking of me! You are very talented and crafty. Just like Mom. I'm jealous. I'm no good with paper crafts!

Thank you again!
Jen

Back to School

Monday was Punkie's first day back to preschool. This will be her 2nd year of preschool. Next year, she's in kindergarten. I'm not ready for that just yet! Since our preschool program is within the elementary school, they follow the school calendar and Amelia had the summer totally off.

I think she was a little nervous going back to school because Sunday night, she did not get to sleep until midnight. We were both a bit tired Monday morning but she transitioned very well her first day and enjoyed herself. As she puts it, she is now one of the "big kids" in the class. Last year she was the youngest as she turned three the day before school started.

Here are a few pics of her first day.

It was (still is) chilly Monday morning so we threw on a fleece jacket.

I could not get a nice smile out of her inside...

Walking into her classroom...

Writing her name....

All done!

She truly surprised her teacher when she held up both her hands, showing 3 fingers on each and said to her teacher "3 and 3 is 6!" Her teacher was VERY impressed.

My Punkie Pie is a GENIUS! LOL!

Enjoy your day!
Jen