Guess Frannie's Halloween Costume Contest

Marsha is having her 2nd annual Halloween Costume contest. And you know what? My blog has a CLUE on it! Who knew?? LOL. I know what the clue is ;)

Look at Frannie last year. Glinda the Good Witch from Wizard of Oz. Beautiful! I want to know how Marsha made her crown! And secondly, I'm going to hire Marsha to make all of Punkie's future Halloween costumes. LOL!

So pop on over and give a guess! And I'm not aganist taking fabric bribes if you want to know what the clue is. LMAO!

Enjoy your day!

Jen :)

OH! Another Giveaway!

Jackie at Canton Village Quiltworks is having a giveaway with 5, that's FIVE, chances to win!

Here's one of the prizes...

Oh. I WANT one of these!

So pop on over and enter. Good luck!

Enjoy your day!

Jen :)

A Giveaway

Kris - Dandelion Quilts - is having a giveaway for her 200th post. She also incorporated remembering those around us that are struggling this holiday season. What a nice idea.

There is no need to donate to be included in her giveaway but what's a dollar or two? I know by the time Christmas comes, I've donated at least 5 bucks to the bell ringers in front of various stores. I can't walk by them without giving. I feel like a heel if I do. Especially when it's cold outside. You can even designate what location your donation should benefit.

So, go and check out Kris's post about her giveaway and good luck!

Enjoy your day!
Jen :)

Halloween Giveaway Goodies

I got myself in gear and got all my goodies together to send to QuiltingDaisy, winner of my "Celebration" giveaway. They will be going into the mail tomorrow or this afternoon if I have time.

I wanted to make more for the giveaway but I only had time to make the embroidered towel. Taking lead from my friend Kris (dandelionquilts), I tried my hand again at machine embroidery.

Came out pretty good, I think!

Here's a close-up of the pumkin.

I got the pumpkin embroidery pattern from SWAK embroidery. I love their site. LOVE it. There are so many things I want to do off the site and their sister sites. And their instructions are very easy to follow. I'm going to be making some Christmas/winter towels too. I think with snowmen.

They have one project that has been on my mind since I found the site about 6 months ago. This one. Since I can't find a darn thing with Amelia's name on it, I would love to make her a personalized pillow. And I adore the font they used and it's all done in the hoop. On their sister site, youcanmakethis.com, they have the letter patterns for sale to make it "manually" but I like how I can set my embroidery machine up to do all the curves and stuff and I just have to sit back and watch it come alive before me!

I did a practice run with the pillow but I ran into some puckering so I put it aside. I'm taking a stablizer class/lecture in a couple of weeks. That's going to help me a lot in getting over my machine embroidery fears.

That's all I got. I'm up for a very quiet weekend. Punkie is going with my in-laws today to New Hampshire for the weekend. So I'll have Saturday and Sunday all to myself! What to do? What to do? My list is long. I have lots of sewing to get caught up on and some movie watching to do. I don't think I'll be bored at all!

Enjoy your day!

Jen :)

Pumpkin Carving!

A few weeks ago, Amelia mentioned that she would like to carve a pumpkin this year for Halloween. I was all for the project since it had been years since I myself have carved a pumpkin. Last year we painted faux pumpkins. Which reminds me, I should go dig them out and display then outside. We bought one of those carving kits with all the little tools and templates for the occasion.

This past Sunday was a rainy, cold day so it was a perfect day to stay inside and carve. We went out in the morning and bought ourselves a pumpkin and after nap-time, we started.

Amelia REALLY wanted to do the carving but we talked her into helping remove the insides and poking out the carved pieces. Here are some pictures from our project.

Daddy getting started. Marking out the top. See how interested Amelia is?? LOL!



Here we go! Taking out the pumpkin guts! Amelia is NOT impressed.


This was her reaction to the task.


EWWWWWW! Pumpkin juice! Mama! It STINKS.

Busy carving out all the bits and pieces.


Punkie with her pumpkin!


All done! It's kinda spooky, Mama.

Can't wait to do it again next year!

Enjoy your day!

Jen :)

Another Giveaway...

Check it out... knitty bitties is having a giveaway of her cute - I think I overuse that word; need to come up with another adjective - happy little coffee coats!


I'm NOT a coffee drinker but these would make great gifts. I hope I'm the lucky one ;)

Enjoy the rest of your day!

Jen :)

A Giveaway... go check it out!

Brenda at Pumpkin Patch Primitives is having a giveaway and a good one! Go and check it out! I'll post a picture of what's she giving away...


See? I told you it was a good one!

Good Luck!
Jen :)

Does Anybody have this... ?

Do you USE it? Like more than the one time you bought it and ripped the cellophane off the package, loaded on the computer and then got bored with it because you didn't understand how it worked??

So? Do you use it? Do you find it useful to create your own quilt block designs?

Is it EASY to use? I know I work on a computer all day long and I have for 12 years but you know what? I'm NOT that computer savvy. I failed miserably at Photoshop. No matter how many times my brother explained layers and all that junk to me. I still don't get it. Is it easier than that?? Or is it roughly the same concept? Because if it is, I'm sunk!

Is it WORTH the money? $150.00 isn't THAT expensive but the additional software that you can get can really add up quick. And if you're anything like me.... I need it ALL!

I'm thinking of adding EQ 6 to my Christmas list to Santa (my husband) but I'm looking for some honest feedback here. Once I get an idea in my head that I really want something, I'll just go and get it regardless. THIS TIME, I want to weigh out my options. Am I really going to use it or will a gift certificate to the Fat Quarter Shop be better? :)

Any opinions, good or bad, are appreciated!

Enjoy your day!

Jen :)

Drumroll Please...

We have a WINNER! I used the random number generator and it gave me....

#7! And according to my spreadsheet, #7 is Quilting Daisy! Congratulations, Quilting Daisy! Please email me your mailing address and I'll get your giveaway loot to you as soon as I can. Thank you to everyone who left comments and Birthday well wishes. It was a good day!

A few other things. I got my block done for Terry's quilt. I need to get that into the mail this weekend.

And since I haven't shown her off in a while... My Punkie Pie. Pictures taken this morning before leaving for school. Showing off her butterfly sweater. Now, I have had that sweater for probably 4 years. My mom bought it for her at a children's clothing boutique when Amelia was a baby. I mean months old. But she loved it and felt her granddaughter would love it too. It finally fits! And it's a bit big still. I found it in one of her drawers and stuck it into circulation just last month. It's really cold today so wearing a sweater was a good idea!

Enjoy your day!

Jen :)

Pumpkin Table Runner Tutorial

Judi at Green Fairy Quilts has a tutorial posted for a pumpkin table runner. It's TOO CUTE!

Now I need to run out and get some holiday fabrics so that I can make one. You should too!

Isn't it cute (picture borrowed from Judi's blog)??? And looks mighty easy to put together too. BONUS!

Enjoy your day!

Jen :)

Some Pumpkin Fun!

Saturday, late afternoon, the three of us went to check out the Jack-O-Lantern Spectacular at the Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence. My BFF had been before and STRONGLY suggested we go. She now lives in Texas so she missed it. We went and we loved it!

With my BFF's advice of "go early", we tail-gated in the parking lot at 5:00 with a light dinner - mostly for Amelia so she wouldn't be starving. Chris, I think, thought I was crazy to want to go so early but we did and when we left.... he was REALLY happy we went early! The line of people to buy tickets at 7:30 p.m. snaked through the parking lot and the amount of cars trying to get IN was insane.

While we were waiting in line for the sun to go down, we bumped into Snow White and Prince Charming. They were nice enough to have their picture taken with Punkie.

The rest of the pictures are of pumpkins so there will not be much commentary from me. It really is awesome to see. The pumpkins are painted with bits and pieces carved out of them. Totally cool.

Ready?

I thought this montage of pumpkins was cool. All of the more famous celebrities we lost this year...

And of course, the Kennedys.

I have lots more pictures. This was just a snippit of pumpkins. They had Sesame Street ones and more cartoon ones... literary ones (Headless Horseman and the like).... more music ones.... fantasy and Brothers Grimm. It was a nice evening out as a family and we will do it again.

If you live in the area, I HIGHLY recommend going and I HIGHLY recommend grabbing a pizza or something quick and eating in the parking lot at 5:00. Trust me on that one!

One more plug for my giveaway... tomorrow is the last day to collect comments if you're interested in my 'secret' Halloween celebration giveaway! Please post a comment on the giveaway post if you want to be included.

Enjoy your day!

Jen :)

Let's Go to the Big E!

On the last Friday of September, we all played hooky (work and school) and spent the day at the Big E. It's a big fair in Massachusetts and we had a great time. We kept it a secret from Amelia and we picked up my mom at work on the way (Punkie was REALLY surprised with that one) and away we went.

Walked around and saw all the vendors, ate fair food and rode the rides. Here are some pictures from our day out.

Amelia rode these motorcycles and every time she went by us, she would lean way over and yell "I'm flying!"


Flying a helicopter.

The kiddie swings...

A pony...

The carosel with Daddy....

And the highlight of the day? Taking a ride down the GIANT slide with Daddy! She LOVED it and wanted to do it again.

It was a good day. :)

Don't forget to enter my Celebration giveaway. You have a couple more days to leave a comment! I've been collecting. Should be a good giveaway prize.

Enjoy your day!

Jen

A Finish

This is my version of the Mill House Inn tote that was featured on the Moda Bake Shop. I like it. I used the Aviary line from Moda. I ended up giving this one to a friend of mine for her birthday this past weekend and I have another one started for a Christmas gift for another friend.


Only a couple things I would change for my own personal preference. The bag seems really "soft" so my next one, I'm either going to interface the bag first before adding the batting or use a fusible batting. Needs more heft. Same with the handles. I'm going to do the same. They need batting or something in them.

I have enough of the jelly roll left to make 2 more totes so I'm going to make one for myself but I'm going to make it bigger I think. Add a few more strips to the top.

Overall, I really like the tote and it was fairly quick to do. I did a cross-hatch pattern on it for the quilting. I TRIED to stipple... I practiced on something else and my stippling... wellllll, I need a LOT more practice. LOL. And I didn't feel like stitch in the ditch so this is what I came up with.

I added a swivel hook to the inside so that she can hook her keys but I forgot to take a picture of the inside of the bag! Oh well.

Since I have been feeling a bit better, I started up on some projects that I've put aside. I'll have more to show soon! I also need to start on my block for Terry's Quilt. I think I have a block pattern in mind.

Don't forget about my Celebration giveaway! You have until the 14th to leave me a comment to be entered in my giveaway (comment on the 10/06 post please for giveaway entry).

Enjoy your day!
Jen :)

Let's Celebrate with a Giveaway, Shall We?

They say it's your birthday!

Well, it's my birthday too, YEAH!

They say it's your birthday!

We're gonna have a good time!

I'm glad it's your birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU (ME)!

That's right. Today is my birthday. I am the big 3-6. Nothing special planned today. But I would like to have a giveaway to celebrate the following:

- My Birthday
- 1 year blogiversary
- 200 posts

I feel very disorganized regarding this giveaway because I have nothing to show you! You will be entering a giveaway that you have no idea what you'll be getting and I apologize for that. You see, I've been dealing with some personal medical issues for the last month and I *think* I'm finally on the mend. I haven't had the energy to do much creating in the evenings. I've been going to bed quite early... in turn getting UP really early which doesn't make me very happy.

But I promise there will be some cute stuff in my giveaway! I would like to have it Halloween related so I guess I can say that. You'll be getting halloween "stuff". I plan to make SOMETHING for the giveaway. I just have no clue what it will be yet.

So if you're still interested in my "Don't know what you're getting but it will be Halloween related" giveaway, please leave a comment here! You'll have until October 14th to comment and then I'll draw a winner. How does that sound?

Pass the word along!
Happy Birthday to me!

Jen