I won, I won!

Hi everybody, I'm bubbling over!  I actually won first place in the Brown Bag Challenge, I couldn't believe it when I saw my name on the winner's list (not to mention in first place)!

This was the first online challenge I ever entered, and when I got the fabrics from my swap partner Emily  at Quilt Doodles, I knew I wanted them to do double duty - complete the Brown Bag challenge and also a quilt for my retreat.  Here's the finished quilt here:

and the back here:

So a great big thanks to RaeAnn and JoyLyn, and to the judges and wonderful sponsors of the challenge. What a great way to start off the day!

Sew forth and sew on til later

"hi and bye!"

Hello everybody, I'm glad for you to see me, I guarantee!  I'm sayng "hi" because I've been MIA for a few days (but don't ask me what I was busy with, because I can't put my finger on one specific thing), and "bye" because I'll be on my retreat in Deep Creek until Sunday.  There are 16 of us and it's going to be fun, fun, fun!  If you'd like to take a look, here's our cabin.

I gave you sneak peeks of a project I was working on for awhile.  I think I can show you the entire thing now, since the retreat is starting today.  I combined two projects by using fabrics I received in the Brown Bag contest to make my retreat quilt; go here to see an explanation of the fabrics, the blocks I made, and the quilt's background, then we'll look at the quilt.

Since the theme of this year's retreat is "Sweet Treat," our assignment was to make a quilt, any size, showing sweet treats that we should not have anymore.  Because I can't do anything simple and I'm a glutton for punishment, here's my interpretation of the theme...

How busy is that??  I named it "Eat Cake and Diet!"  This gorgeous plus-sized lady stands next to a table with three of her favorite cakes, with an angel over her shoulder telling her to be good, and she's eating an apple to show she's "being good."  After she pigged out on cake, leaving a plateful of crumbs!  At the bottom left you see more encouragement: "a caveman can do it."  I made the border by combining strips in a random pattern; is that busy or am I crazy?  a-hem, never mind...

I drew the table and stool free-hand, also the wedge of chocolate cake.  Here's a closeup:

Remember these letters and blocks?

I used the letters to spell out the message, and I used some of the blocks in the border.  The rest of the blocks went into the back, which I showed you a few days ago:

For some reason, they just didn't want to be on the front!  Wouldn't play well with the theme I guess... kept asking "what's our motivation...?"  So I slammed their little butts on the back.  Mess with me will ya... whatever.

All in all, it's a "different" quilt for me and was fun to make, but I'll probably use it as a lap quilt ...  somehow I can't imagine that monster hanging on my walls!  I know I'll make other quilts like this one but I'd like to try lightening it up a bit, this one turned out kinda dark.

Well, that's it for now, I'll see you when I get back, sew forth and sew on...  my stupid chair just broke and almost pitched me on the floor.

Mon-day, holi-day, lazy-day

It's President's Day, a Federal holiday - yes!!  So why am I up at 5:30 a.m.??  Habit.

Yesterday I did a test-drive of a cloth doll workshop at Yetunde's house with Jackie; today we'll finish it up if we decide to meet.  It was fun, but those little rascals take a lot of stuffing elbow-grease!

Not much sewing progress, but I made a couple more blocks for my brown bag challenge quilt, using those little blocks I made that I didn't like:

They're actually pretty cute; the fabric had to be used, so I put the "rejected" parts in the middle and built the block around them.

I'll probably do more sewing later, but on Saturday something happened to my iPod and it won't play...

nuts.

Also, I recharged the battery but it looks very low, as if the iPod has been running non-stop.

Nuts!

 So now I can't listen to my stories while I sew...

NUTS!!!

I've had it over a year but I'm going to see if Apple will do something for me, I hate problems!

Sew forth and sew on til later...

Border decisions

Three things to be happy about:
(1) a tissue when you need it
(2) complimenting yourself
(3) making a to-do list

I definitely need a tissue right now... the temp is pushing into the 70s today and it feels very humid right now, which is affecting my sinuses.  Definitely jacket weather!

I've been poking at my Brown Bag quilt, and I discovered I don't like some blocks I made (see them here)... but the fabric is used, so I have to re-purpose it.  I took one apart and incorporated it into a border block:

See that strip right in the middle?  I like it better in it's new home!

I decided to use a panel I made as a stand-alone piece (see it here) rather than creating a bigger wall hanging ... trying to decide on a border treatment.  I like the idea of the skinny inner border and I like that particular fabric, but I can't decide on an outer border:

I have a large collection of ethnic fabrics in my stash, so something should call out to me!

Then I tried it with just the one border, only wider:

But I think it needs a little more color; this looks a bit boring to me!  If I go with the black-and-white inner border, I'll try something with a bit of yellow, red ... maybe a bit of orange or even a pieced border.  We'll see! 

Well, today is a going to be a running around day... I need to get my car washed, I can't put it off any longer, the birds saw to that!  Then meeting Judy at the Container Store at 9:00 to pick up fabric, to my doctor at 10:00 for a check up and blood draw (I want my coffee!!).  After that it's on to iHop for breffus (no pancakes, I promise!), then to JoAnn's or Hancock's for poly stuffing since I have a coupon.  And since I'm already out that way, to Costco for a few items.  Then ,on the way home I might swing by Greater Harvest bread company to get something for tomorrow's guild meeting.   Maybe  ;o)

That's my day, I hope yours is a good one!

A crummy background?? Nah... just interesting!

Thanks everyone for your comments on my brother's magazine interview, that means a lot to me!  After retiring from the Army, Wimp dabbled in art illustration a bit, just for fun.  Lafon completed his service in Kentucky and Ben, 101st Airborne, was stationed at Ft. Bragg where he was a Jumpmaster.  He once told me he loved his job because he liked pushing the new recruits out of the plane.  Whatever...

This is a little lap quilt I use sometimes when I'm working at the computer, it gets a bit chilly in the room I work in.  It's a bit frayed around the edges because they've been "loved off."

Does it look sort of familiar??  Just saying! ;o)

I started piecing the yellows for my brown bag quilt... some crumbs and some strings in there, I've been trying to use them all!  It doesn't look like much at this point but it'll come together.

Sure are bright, aren't they?  In the photo they look a bit lemon-y, but I threw in some almost-gold pieces.  Dots, flowers, stars, doodles, swirls... and I know I saw a baby bottle in there someplace!

Well, I'm off to gas up the car... I have a $50 in my wallet and a couple $5's... I hate giving those folks a $50 bill when I buy gas, it sort of makes a statement about the ridiculous price they charge.  But, I have to have gas.

Have a great day everybody!

More progress, things are looking bright

Three things to be happy about:
(1) a step in the right direction
(2) tried-and-true recipes
(3) deer tracks in the snow

Isn't progress a great thing?  I'm making progress on my brown bag project, and it feels good!  I dived into my yellow scrap bag and pulled yellows, and almost-yellows, and more-than-yellows that will add a little spark.

I might use the scraps for a bit of crumb piecing or maybe some string piecing, its up in the air right now - remember, this is a design-as-you-go project.  That means I can change my mind a few times before I finish it.  Works for me! 

I also pulled some yardage from my stash, but I think the scraps will be enough, the quilt won't be that large.

Now here's an interesting piece! I got the caveman fabric below from Sauder's in Lancaster, PA, two Octobers ago.  I haven't cut into it yet and it's not reserved for anything, so there's no time like the present.  

I'll try to incorporate at least a little piece of it in this quilt, I might even fussy-cut if it comes to that ... it's so busy a caveman could do it!

So, onward and upward... sew forth and sew on til later! 

Jumping into (or out of) the brown bag

I joined the Brown Bag challenge and I decided I'd better get started on it, and I'm glad I did!  I actually got more done yesterday than I thought I would.  To refresh your memory, this is the fabric I was given to work with:

This one will be done with both piecing and applique; I cut out some letters and paper-pieced a few blocks - probably for the border, I don't know yet.  We'll see  ;o)

I'd probably frustrate the heck out of someone I tried to teach, because sometimes my projects follow the "figure it out as you go along" format.  What can I say, it works for me!  Can you figure out what the words will be?  Nope, I'm not telling yet!

Yesterday the weather was simply gorgeous - sunny, warm... it felt great outside.  That ole groundhog really knows his stuff!



No Playing Time

Yesterday, after running errands, doing housework and laundry, there wasn't any time left over to play around with my fabrics...oh well. 
A couple months ago I thought the Brown Bag quilt contest (button on the right) looked like a fun way to get rid of some fabric, and I was partnered with Emily at Quilt Doodles. We had to exchange a total of 2 yards of fabric in different sizes - these are the fabrics I sent her:

She sent me these and she even coordinated the colors!

I already know how I'm going to use it and I've decided on my pattern, but I haven't cut into the fabric yet.  The completed quilts have to be posted no later than March, more on that later.  Until then, sew forth and sew on.

Linda