Merry Christmas My Friends

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!

Birthday Mail

I got the absolutely most wonderful birthday present in the mail this week...thank you so much Darlene and Ron...yes Ron aka Mr. Daze made the quilt holder...Darlene made this quilt...Civil War fabrics, tiny 4 patches and wool letters...I'm sure they heard me squealing all the way in Arizona when I opened this package. Could there be any more perfect gift for an old retired teacher who loves Civil War repro fabrics? I am truly a LUCKY, LUCKY girl! Thank you Darlene and Ron! What a great birthday!

It's a Butter Churn...

...and I really like it. This is the November project for LePetite...Butter Churn by This & That...I sure had fun doing this one. I used Maison de Garance by French General...and I have to tell you, I am in LOVE with the fabric. I also put some Park Avenue by 3 Sisters in for the blue...this seems to be a pattern for me...I'm using those lines of fabric in my Rosettes too. Just can't get enough of these fabrics!

Happy Thanksgiving!

A very Happy Thanksgiving to all of you! ENJOY the day! We have much to be thankful for!

Thank you My Friends!

A great big thank you to all of you for your wonderful birthday wishes...what a treat! I had absolutely no idea how all of you knew it was my birthday...and then someone mentioned a "little Dazed bird" and the light bulb went off...Thank you so much Darlene...that was so much fun! You are the BEST! I am so thankful for Blogland...without this journey into Blogland I never would have met so many wonderful women...You all are such a special part of my day...my morning coffee just wouldn't be the same without you! Thank you so, so much!

A New Project

I know, I know...I don't need a new project...but I couldn't resist. I got a bundle of Park Avenue and it's been calling to me for weeks...I resisted as long as I could and today I caved...Rosettes by Fig Tree Designs. I'm going to really have some fun with these blocks...I also discovered as I was playing with the fabric, that Maison de Garance looks really nice with Park Avenue...so I'll be mixing them up and have lots of choices for combinations.

Yesterday's mail brought this month's installment of the Designer BOM from the Fat Quarter Shop...as soon as I saw the pattern I knew I wanted to do this block right away......it was so much FUN! This is going to be the cutest quilt!

I also tried...tried being the key word here...to do Month 10 of the Civil War Tribute BOM...the best description I can come up with is NIGHTMARE! I thought last month was bad...there were partial seams and set in seams in those blocks. This month the block looked pretty easy when I first looked at it...then on further review I realized that there were set in seams again. Well I followed all the directions and got all my parts together, then the directions said something like refer to month 9 for set in seam directions...well, I've been at this quilting thing for a lot of years, and for the life of me I can't get these blocks together...I just can't do it. Somehow I think for the price of this BOM we could get a bit better directions. My solution is that I'm pitching the block parts that I did, coming up with my own blocks to fill those 2 spots. OK, sorry...that was a rant and I really do try not to do that...but if you're doing this BOM I wanted to make sure you had a warning! Or maybe someone has figured this one out and you can let me know what I'm missing here.

Hope everyone has a great week!

The Roman Holiday Winner Is.....

Drumroll..........

Amy of A Needle in my Hand said...

Oh, I love the fabric.Thanks for being so generous.

Amy if you'll e-mail at goodhomequiltco@aol.com I'll get your package out to you...have tons of fun with it!

Thank you everyone who commented...I promise I'll have another giveaway soon...I know there are lots more scraps!

I Told You I'd Be Back...

And here I am...I finished up my Plan C using a bundle of Roman Holiday a while ago...I kept thinking I'd use the scraps for something but I just haven't done it...so, they need to go live at someone else's house......there's a lot of fabric in this box....leave a comment here by Friday morning at 10 EST and I'll have Mr. Quilt Holder pick a number. This fabric really wants to grow into something...lets find it a good home!

And the Winner Is......

Mr. Quilt Holder...aka Mr. Random Number Generator...picked number 33

Mary said...

OK, I can figure out how to "Schnibbles" something out of that fabric. Thanks for the opportunity to win.

Mary, please send me an email (goodhomequiltco@aol.com) with your address and I'll get your 12 Days of Christmas scraps right out out you.

That was lots of fun...I'll be back later with another stack of scraps to give away!

November...Already?????????

Can that be? Can it really be November? We'll blink and it will be December...where in the world has this year gone? I don't think I've ever had a year go by as fast as this one has...and I know I'm not alone...I've heard lots of people say the same thing. What is happening? Can we figure out a way to slow 2011 down?

I had a fun time this week...I made Bennington......from Carrie Nelson's book Schnibbles Times Two...this was a really fun one to do...and the bonus was that it went together perfectly and pretty quickly. I used Kate Spain's fabric 12 Days of Christmas...this fabric is just so darn much fun! This will be a Christmas gift for Josh and Katie...as soon as I saw this fabric I knew they needed a Christmas quilt this year. I put the FaLaLa fabric on the back...Deck the Halls is one of Hampton's very favorite songs...he sings it all year long and when he gets to the FaLaLaLaLa part he sings that part with extra gusto! He loves it...so I knew this is what just had to go on the back.

Well now that I'm done with the quilt, instead of putting the leftovers in a box and thinking I'll do something with them at some point (that never happens...LOL) I'm giving them away...there are 30-2" strips, a bit over 1/2 a yard of the FaLaLa fabric, some whole 10" layer cake squares and some partial ones....plenty to do something fun for Christmas! Just leave me a comment by Wednesday morning, 10 EST...Mr. Quilt Holder will pull a name then and I'll get it out in the mail to the winner!

Happy Surprise...Thank you Thelma

Thelma over at Cupcakes 'n Daisies did a wonderful post about Belle Meade by Bonnie Blue quilts...she and Nicole decided to work on this one together and invited anyone to work along with them. Well, I was so excited...I had started this quilt last year and then put it away......what a happy, happy surprise when I unearthed it...all 42 of the blocks were DONE......YIPPEE! and tucked right there with the blocks was the piece of fabric for the setting triangles...what in the world was I thinking? Why did I get all those blocks done? Why did I stop when I was on the home stretch? I have absolutely no idea...I don't remember what happened. But thanks to Thelma, I searched for it and I finished the top......my first finish on my new machine! Howie wandered into the picture and got his feelings hurt when I told him I was going to delete the picture because Mr. Quilt Holder had the left corner a little crinkled...so here you go Howie...don't tell Zack you are on the blog today!

Thank you Thelma and Nicole...Blogland is the BEST!!!!!!!!

A New Addition to Our House

Don't think I could be any more excited...last Friday I test drove a Janome Memory Craft 6600...I knew I was going to like it a lot because I'd sewn on Lynda Hall's machine when we were working on the cancer project. Then I heard from lots of you that have one how much you love it. So yesterday, we went and picked it up...I've been a Bernina girl for probably 30 years...I have a 20+ year old Bernina 1230 that I have put thousands and thousands of miles on over the years...it's been a GREAT machine. When I had it in for it's yearly spa treatment back in May, my service guy called me to tell me he had some bad news...there was some major gear that was almost worn out...to make it worse, he can't get parts for it anymore...well, maybe he could locate it on EBay, but it just wouldn't make any sense to put that kind of money in to this old machine. I brought it home and sewed away on it for several more months...last month it started making really bad noises...just like he said. So I had a ceremony and put it safely in its case...out came the 30 year old Bernina...it sews like a dream but I really want it to be my backup machine not my full-time machine...so here it is......my new machine...Mr. Quilt Holder snuck in with the camera and took a picture of me putting the first mile on her......looking forward to putting thousands of miles on her.

Maine, Beautiful Maine

We loved Maine! It was absolutely beautiful! The coast, the water, Acadia National Park, the trees...The first night we stayed in this converted lighthouse not far from Bath. This lighthouse was built but never commissioned by the Coast Guard...to many rocks...so it sat for years and then someone decided to build a resort around it and they converted it into 12 rooms (I think that's right) and then the 4th floor is up just below where the lights would have been...they have wonderful wicker chairs up there, the perfect place to read or stitch a little...you can see for miles and miles from up there. I loved it. Our room was on the 1st floor, and this was our view out our window at 6:30 in the morning. It was the perfect way to start the day.

From there we headed down to Bar Harbor...but stopped in Camden for lunch...this tree was in someone's side yard ...stop the car, let me take a picture of that gorgeous tree......it was breathtaking...there were about 4 shades of red/orange in this tree. While we were in Bar Harbor we went to Acadia National Park...what a beautiful park...if I lived near there, that's where I'd go walk every day...the views were beyond belief. This is the top of Cadillac Mountain...this is the place that dawn breaks first on the Eastern Seaboard...pretty, pretty, pretty!

I was really hoping to see a moose...no luck...well we walked into LL Bean in Freeport and right there......a moose...Oh I was so excited! I don't know if he'd ever been a real moose or not, but he was pretty darn big...and looked like a moose...so I'm calling him my Maine moose. Andy's still laughing at me.

Saturday morning on the way back to the airport, i still needed more leaf pictures...I just couldn't get enough...so 70mph, from the back seat...leaves and more leaves. I just loved the way there were pine trees mixed in with all the other trees, so there were some beautiful greens mixed in with all the shades of red, gold, orange. We live in a BEAUTIFUL country!

An Amazing Package

We're back from Maine...what a beautiful, beautiful state. The leaves were gorgeous, the weather was mostly beautiful and the food was out of this world. I'll be back with a few pictures...

When we got back I had the most wonderful package waiting for me...my prize package from The Year of Schnibbles Parade...I still can't believe I won Carrie's prize...I am still absolutely doing the dance. This box was filled with the best goodies...Layer Cakes of Punctuation (and you know I love that), and brand new layer cakes of Wild Rose by Blackbird Designs and Le Encole by French General...charm packs from one of my favorite design teams, Brannock and Patek...these are older lines and I don't even remember there being charm packs for these groups...Gatherings, Four Seasons, and Rites of Spring...I couldn't be more thrilled with those...and look at the wonderful wooden box that Carrie put those charm packs in. I've had that box in lots of different places in my sewing room, I think I've finally settled on where it's going to live, well for a little while anyway...LOL! There's an autographed copy of Schnibbles Two, a rotary cutter,all of Carrie's individual Schnibble patterns tied with a cute ribbon, a Schnibble project bag, my favorite Prescencia thread that Carrie has me hooked on, and a 6 1/2" square and a 6" X 12" OLFA frosted rulers...now I'm going to tell you that I'm not a gadget girl and I don't buy new rulers just because they're the NEW thing so I've never had these...I've used them this week a bit and I LOVE them...they don't slip but my favorite thing is that there is no glare on the ruler. The lines are nice and thin and it's very easy to read...I'm hooked! This was the most amazing prize! Carrie is not only an amazing designer, she's an amazingly generous person...Thank you Carrie! Thank you again to Sherri and Sinta for a fun, fun year!

Le Petite

Well, I really didn't think I'd be back so soon, but I finished the first project for Le Petite today...Paganini by Carrie Nelson of Miss Rosie's Quilt Company......this one was so much fun to do. There are 4 versions in this pattern and I picked number 4 except Carrie has a wonderful scallop on her's...I'm a big scaredy cat and I was afraid to do it...so here's my simplified version...it's going to Hampton and Camden for their kitchen table...I used Punctuation fabric by MODA and American Jane...they'll have fun with all the letters and colors.

I Haven't Been Abducted By Aliens...

I haven't fallen off the Earth...but I have been gone way too long. I do have some excuses though...Josh, Katie, Hampton and Camden came last Friday and were here through Tuesday. Well, I had to do some serious cleaning before they arrived...so I spent the whole week before they came cleaning floors, windows, bathrooms (really clean), fronts of all the kitchen cabinets that were at Camden level and all the baseboards. My friend Jeanne called one morning and asked what I was doing...when I told her I was cleaning baseboards she asked if I had the queen coming...Andy had already been making fun of me...he thought I was being a bit obsessive...after Jeanne and I laughed a lot, I did admit that I was probably a bit over the top, but with the kids on the floor and Camden being the busy girl she is I thought I really needed to be as clean as we could be. They both have some allergy issues from time to time, and with the dogs I figured they had enough to adjust to.

They arrived last Friday and went back to Birmingham on Tuesday. I went and got Mom and brought her here too...we had the whole family here and it was so much fun. Mom had a blast! We crammed lots into a short time...the kids swam in the pool...Hampton loved Grandy's raft and thought it was a wonderful boat... He figured out how to paddle all over the pool using his little kick board. He also thought this would be the perfect spot for a nap...Camden loved the waterfall...she never wanted Josh to move away from it.
We colored in coloring books a lot...we went to the playground in our neighborhood...and they went to DowntownDisney and Hampton got his face painted...he was the cutest Pluto ever. He really didn't want to go to bed, he was afraid all of his paint would come off on the pillow...a little came off but he still looked really cute when we went to Disney World the next day. I didn't take many pictures at Disney...we were way too busy having fun...here's one of them waiting in line to meet Buzz Lightyear... Disney is such a wonderful place to visit with little people.
As they were getting ready to go on Tuesday I could hear Camden giggling in the living room...she was having so much fun... trying to walk in Mamie's shoes.
We had a wonderful, wonderful visit...I feel like we laughed and smiled continually from Friday to Tuesday. I couldn't believe how quiet the house was when they left...Wednesday morning I kept waiting to hear Hampton call me from upstairs..."Mamie I'm awake"...can't wait to see them again. We'll head up there right after Christmas. Hampton wanted to know if he was going to have 2 Christmas' again this year...you betcha!

Before the kids arrived I did get Camden's Short Story finished...this one was as fun to do as the little one for her doll carriage. I'm still in love with this Bliss fabric.

Well I know I just came back, but I have to tell you, I'm leaving again for a bit...Andy and I are taking a trip to Maine...we're leaving early, early Tuesday morning and we'll be back on Saturday evening. Our favorite pet sitters are coming to stay here with the boys...they're great and they just love the boys...so, I'll see you next Sunday...have a great week!

A Blissful Saturday

You know any day I can play with this fabric, it's a very Blissful day...I've been working on Camden's big Short Story today to match her little Short Story doll carriage quilt. What am I going to do when this project is done...I don't have anymore Bliss projects.

I also got this month Designer BOM block from The Fat Quarter Shop done......gosh I'm loving this fabric too...it's so much fun! I have no clue why there's a pink tint in the white background...it really isn't there...

And all day, my wonderful scissor fob from Darlene kept my scissors safe and sound...I always knew right where they were. Thank you my friend!

I must apologize for being remiss in giving credit to the designer of the quilt in my last post...AmandaJean from Crazy Mom Quilts did this as a quilt along...you can find the directions on her blog side bar...Round and Round Quilt Along. I didn't have time to do it when she did the quilt along, but remembered it and knew it was going to be the second twin's quilt. Thank you so much AmandaJean!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend everyone!

It's Been a Really Good Week!

I'm not sure why it has to fly by so darn fast, but it has been a really good week...Monday was my day with mom...she had several errands to run and then we went out to lunch...Tuesday I sewed a good bit and got a lot done on the second baby quilt for the new neighbor twins that are due to arrive in December...yesterday I spent the day with Lynda Hall of Primitive Pieces by Lynda, you can read all about what we did on her blog...today I finished the baby quilt......ready to go to the machine quilter.

Tomorrow I'll start working on Camden's quilt that will match her doll carriage quilt..I get to play with Bliss again...gosh I love that fabric. I'll keep you posted.

I was the very lucky recipient of one of Darlene's wonderful scissor fobs...sorry I don't have a picture...my battery pooped out. Darlene I love it...thank you so much.

The Boys Had a Birthday!

My boys...Howie and Zack...had a birthday yesterday...they turned 8. It was quite an exciting day...new toys and a special dinner, complete with candles......they were both very interested in the candles until the bowls went down on the floor...Howie wanted nothing to do with the candles...I couldn't get him to even get close to the bowl. Zack was very interested, so we quickly blew out the candles before Zack's whiskers burned off...as soon as the candle was blown out Howie's head went right into the bowl and he started eating...the bad news was, he was eating the candle...dad to the rescue...candle out of his mouth before any pieces went down...don't think we'll be able to use this one again.
8:00...they are pooped...they crawled in their bed and weren't heard from the rest of the evening...except for a few snores...it was a big day!