Feeling blessed

When I checked my email I got the happy news that I am a winner twice over!  Deana from Dreamworthy quilts notified me that I won her giveaway for the pattern Sewing Room Delight.  Isn't it beautiful!   Love all those machines, rotary cutters and irons, too cute right?

But that's not all.  Another email notified me that I also won a pattern through a Pinterest entry and would you believe that was from Dream worthy quilts as well.  So I not only won one of her patterns but actually two of them!  Squee!!!!

How lucky and blessed is that!  Here is Windmill. 

Aren't they both gorgeous!  Now all I need to do is make up my mind what I'll be focusing on next.  

So many decisions. 

Thank you so much Deana.  I've so admired so many of the beautiful quilts and creations from Dreamworthy Quilts for a while now and hopefully I can recreate some of your projects myself.
If I've teased you and you want your own, head over to purchase them.  Deana sends them out electronically and very quickly so you can download your own and start playing right away.
Thanks again Deana!

Whoop, whoop! I won!

A package that recently arrived from a giveaway that I won is this big batch of goodness.  8- )

I grabbed a photo of each one to really let them shine.

 The Circle Game pattern in a booklet:

 Georgetown on my Mind:

Broken Glass:

Steam Punk:

Chain of Fools:

Smitten:

 It was sponsored through the Jolly Jabber aka the Fat Quarter Shop's blog.  They were offering a batch of Jen Kingwell patterns after sahring tidbits of information about the designer and lucky me,  I won.  

Thanks so much!  

I am delayed in posting about this as I was finishing up my quilt for the quilt show and then running around with other appointments and commitments.   I promised I 'd share this windfall when things calmed down a bit and I made time to blog so it's finally acknowledged publicly.

The Jolly Jabber are currently offering another giveaway with the start of International Quilt Market in  Minneapolis and want to know your favorite Bar.  Silly me, I was thinking about my favorite establishment for beverages (lol) of course, when I learned that a bar is another name for a size of pre-cut fabrics.  Who knew?  The size is 5" by 10",  similar to layer cakes, charms, jelly rolls etc....  I've done business with them through the years and they never disappoint.  Thanks again jolly girls, I really appreciate it.

Jane

March's Plan and a surprise

Feeling really good about what I did get done last month and not focusing at all on what I didn't get to.  Can you tell I'm getting really relaxed about letting those unrealistic expectations free?

• This month I plan on getting the 40 diamond quilt totally quilted for my ALYOF project cheered on through Fiber of all sorts  and as part of the Q-1 challenge with Adrienne from on the Windy Side.  Maybe this month I'll finish sooner rather than later.  That would be awesome!
• Make some yellow HST units for the RBSC with Super scrappy.
• One or two bird projects for the tree Bird Blog hop coming from Sew We Quilt and being cheered on by Lana.   I do have a bird panel from the fabric designed by Elizabeth's Studio which I've looked hunted for but can't find.  My day to share is the 17th which is St. Patricks day AND National Quilting Day, what a coincidence.
• Something for a March theme home goodness.
• Read the Book The Hotel on The Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford.
• Make 15 blocks for a class I'm taking next weekend.
• Finish all the cross stitch on the bottom left corner of Winter's Alphabet.

That's enough even though there are a few other projects I'd like to get too besides.   For an example of what's also spinning in my mind are making a purse/bag (for the let's book it challenge), make another snap bag, start/finish quilting the Tweet camping quilt that I'd like to totally cross off my list this year besides another doll quilt for the stuffed animals community project for the guild.  All of this and that's not mentioning wanting to start the Jenni Beyer 2015 BOM or the New Hexagon millefiori that I just received templates from the Paper Pieces in KY from in the post this morning.    Okay, that's enough of that monkey brain spinning out  of control Janie, just breathe and stay on track.

Speaking of mail in the post, imagine my surprise when I received a nice squishy package in the mail this am. It was from Tonia who blogs over at  All thingz sewn.  Thank you so much, I love the prints and that pattern is cute which I also have an idea of making a perfect something from it.   Maybe I could squeeze that in this month too!   

 lol   

Also, thanks for those Babushka Scissors!  SQUEE!  What a sweetheart and how did she know I collected scissors?  With all my scissors I didn't have any like them at all,  I heart them Tonia,  THANKS!!  You really made my day. 

I saw in my email this am a daily inspirational  which quoted a saying something like "Perfectionsim is the killer of creativity".  I concur.  

Enjoy your day and follow your passions.  Jane

Thanks Sharon!!

What a wonderful surprise in the mail even though I knew I won, I had completely forgotten about it until a sweet little squishy package arrived today.  It's from Sharon from Vroomans quilts.  I was one of the lucky winners of her May for Me Giveaway.  I had selected and loved the charm pack of PB&J from Basic Grey by Moda.   I received two of them today from Sharon!  SQUEAL!!!  Thanks you so much!!!!  

Now to find the perfect way to sew them up.  I am a dreamer and already I have 2 3  make that 4 different ways to play with them. 

1. Perhaps this tutorial from 100billion stars for a Garden Geometry Picnic Quilt.
2. Hat Trick a Schnibbles pattern that calls for 2 charm packs- what a very handy coincidence!
3. Moda Bake Shop Pattern called Home Sweet Home created by Jera Brandvig of Quilting in the Rain 
4. Another Moda Bake Shop called Jiggity Quilt by  Cindy @ Tops to Treasures

I also am joining up on The Lovely Year of Finishes game.  Hopefully I can get to that camper quilt that I shared with you here since I received 2 yards of that brown dimple dot fabric needed designed by Gail Kessler was a match!  

Yippee Kie Yie YAH! 
Oh am I one lucky girl!

Jane

 

Stash Report #13 of 2013 and a March's Mew FO

With a couple of Superman Capes made for the youngest grandchildren this past week (sorry no photos grabbed of those, they literally flew out the door, LOL!), there is movement (no less  two weeks in a row now) of stash used!    YEAH ME!!!!

This weeks stash report #13 of 2013,     drumroll ....... 

Stash In: 0 Yards 

Stash Out: 2 Yards

YTD In: 38.75 Yards

YTD Used/Out the Door: 22.5 yards

That's a Net gain this year of 16.25 more yards into stash for this year.

 

 

Yesterday I thought I'd be able to report another 3 yards out the door with making the Little Something Jacket, (March's New FO or as it's referred to this month as a MewFO, lol) out of some rayon  during a sewing day with most of my Circle of Friends quilting group.    What can I say...


 

Me...all day...and, this is all I got done!  
Jacket cut out, shoulders sewn together and one sleeve added.  But, my well was filled with laughter and the support that only girlfriends can provide.  It was a nice and successful day.    Sorry though that Carol, Michelle and Lee couldn't make it, you three were missed. 

 

 

 

DH's health issues are troublesome again but I had to chuckle when I found this gem despite the risk DH is going through.   Thank goodness I do have some good ones!  

 

On another very happy note, I won a giveaway from Cindy at Quilt Doodles!     An electronic copy of her pattern Coneflowers was in my inbox when I got back home today.   I really love that design and will be kitting it up for a project.  The kits I'm making up will be for when I drive DH to some of his appointments, I'll be having some great hand projects to help keep my sanity. 

Then even more, when going through the snail mail, oh my!  another happy surprise, the package from Marcia from Sewing and quilting blog  sent me the winnings from her giveaway.  Several beautiful notecards with a sweet postcard thrown in the mix too.  How thoughtful! 
Thank you both so much.  Perhaps I should purchase a lottery ticket, I feel so fortunate!

Enjoy your holiday weekend and the blessings of your life.
 

Jane

Stash Report 10 of 2013

Stash In: .25 Yards 

Stash Out: 0 Yards

YTD In: 31.75 Yards

YTD Used/Out the Door: 17.5 yards 

That's a Net gain of 14.25 more yards into stash for this year.

 

 

I bought 1/4 yard yesterday with some trims to finish that Santa's reindeer CXS I shared last week. Am planning on turning that into a little pillow fob to hang on one the knobs of the master bedroom's armoir.  Suffering form a red face now, would you believe I still need to rip out those lil' blue eyes and stitch them better!

Anyways.....

 

Yesterday was one of my guilds meeting, I belong to two.  We had a guest speaker, pattern designer Sue Pritt for our program.  Her lecture included her progression as a quilter and particularly into pattern designing with a very appropriate trunk show.  Talk about eye candy!   Here's a link with some of the patterns she is known for.

 

 

During her program she offered alot of interaction with the audience.  Here's a snap of my very good friend Gina with her crown after winning the statue of Liberty crown for answering New York Beauty block  when asked. 

She wore it well! 

 

Some of her quilts shown are the following.

 

What a nice and very enjoyable lecture.  Then the  workshop she offered to members afterwards was terrific. 

She did ZENDOODLING. 

It was a very similiar concept to Zentangles and to me, it resembled some of the free motion quilting Leah Day shares on her blog.   

 

Anyways, both Gina and I stayed for the workshop and  really liked it. 
 

Here's my class project.

 

Not only did I spend a gorgeous and enjoyable day with a friend,  but I also not only came home with one additional project, but TWO.   I won another giveaway Sue had.

 

 Answering correctly what PIG stood for. 
LOL

I'm ending this post with more photos of what Sue Pritt's Zendoodles samples consisted of. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stash Report 4 of 2013

Scheduled this to appear today  since I'm out of state just now and shopping!  But as of the time I left NY, my numbers are still nice and respectable.  I had a gain this week since I received a lovely package from Sue of desert sky quilts when I won her giveaway.  Thanks so much Sue! 

I'll be using that Brooklyn revolver a lot, it's a great portable size and I really love the bright colors in the "Gypsy Girl" charm pack.   Wasn't sure how to add that charm pack in to my stash, so I figured it must be close to a half a yard and calculating it as such.   What a nice surprise and thank you for both Sue.  Don't you just love blog friends! 

 

Stash In:     0.5 Yards

 

Stash Out:    0 Yards

 

YTD In:         1 Yards

 

YTD Used: 13.5 yards

 

Net change is  12.5 yards out the door!

 

 

My net change amount is starting to dwindle down a bit, I'd better get some finishes done and soon to move that number back up!  Check out Judy's blog to see how other bloggers are doing.

 

Will be home this week, actually a day before DH and I share our 39th Anniversary! 

That is if no inclement weather changes my travel plans, he didn't want to go this time.  All I said in response to him  was, "see ya"!! lol 

 

Jane

"How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives."
-- Annie Dillard

Stash Report #2 of 2013

Still doing well with my stash report numbers and I actually just created an Excell spread sheet to keep track of purchases and expenses this year.  Created columns for the description, price, yardage, beads, cross stitch, threads and services paid for  such as framing /long arm quilters, etc..  If I need another column as time goes by then I'll add it at the time.  It'll be very interesting as SCHULTZee from Hogan's Heroes used to say to see what is what by year's end.    I wasn't able to finish anything yet, so there's nothing to report as fabrics going out,  but I did happen to buy 2 fat quarters Saturday while a friend and I were in Glens Falls at Patti's (even though now

a Jessica Vandenburgh is the new owner).    Without further adieu,  here are this week's numbers.

Stash In:   .50 Yards
Stash Out:  0  Yards
YTD In:  .50 Yards
YTD Used:   13 yards


Net Changed so far this year is 13.0 Yards that have been used and out the door!  Yippee! Skippee!!!!

 

I started a new BOM for 2013 called AND SEW ON and did the first block.  Lucky for me I had some of that measuring tape fabric in my scrap bag from making the Professional Tote several years ago.


Kristy from Quiet Play shared the first block called Measure Twice.  If you are interested in participating in this freebie, do hurry since she'll only be offering the block one month.  After that it's still available for sale through her Etsy shop.  The next month she'll place the next block as a freebie for one month and "sew" on  besides  she's hosting a giveaway for  ASO participants.  Sorry, couldn't resist!


For my masterpiece block, I placed a seam through the floral print to emulate a fold in the top fabric.  Had I thought more about it, I could have used a fabric with the selvage edge print visible, but this is good enough.  It will stay as is. 










Luckily for me when I was starting to make this block, a lovely squishy package arrived in the mail.  I do so love squishy packages!  It was the giveaway of fabric scraps that Heidi of Fabric Mutt sent me.  I won her giveaway!    Check out her fabric goodies.  Fondling through them I saw one I had to use rightaway, that olive green print was one of the scraps she sent and it looked perfect with some of my scraps so I threw it intomy ASO's first block.    How perfect is that!  Thanks Heidi, love them!





But I do have a question regarding STASH reporting;

Do I have to try to figure out how much fabric those scraps are to add in to my stash report numbers as fabric coming in?  If so, how do I do that? 
Thanks for stopping by.  I feel like 2013 is going to be the best year yet with my PROGRESS.

Tonight I'll be sharing what was been my focus for  this past week and several weeks prior.   I hope you'll like it. 


Jane  :)

OWOH winner

Lucky Me! I was notified by Megg that I won her Mystic Lake Painting. She had hundreds of comments to win this painting she just made and she picked my comment as the winner. I love it and I haven't seen it in real life yet. The photo she took is very close to her finished painting. Some people just amaze me with their talents. Me, I have trouble drawing a straight line and that's no exaggeration.
Check out her blog and you'll find one talented, and gutsy artist carving her own style.
Traveling in Maryland today while visitng my sister. You won't be hearing from me for a week or more until I get back. Stay well and be....

Jane

Quilt show this past weekend..

The CVQG of Northern NY had a wonderful quilt show this past weekend. I think it was the best one so far. I was able to work th eshow on Sunday. Actually I was scheduled to work from 10-3:00 and only worked until 2:30 since help was abundant, and my relief didn't have any scheduled time slot alloted to work. I assisted with the consignment area, white glove and Latte Lotto. Thankful I went to get a program and to vote, since during my white glove I looked at the quilts. Knowing which quilt I would vote for, then drats, no programs or paper to vote on. I wonder when they ran out. Oh well... life goes on.
To further support the guild, I bought 13 tickets for $5.00 in the Latte Lotto and WOW! I selected different items that would be nice to have or as gifts and check out my winnings.



I snapped this picture when I came home, would you believe I forgot my camera. A friend took some photos and kindly sent them to me. Hopefully later, I'll try to figure out and set up a photo album of them for viewing.
As far as the "No-Buy" pledge I took through Stashbusters, I'm happy to say I didn't break the oath. There are rules and penalties if you break them. For your information, here's the stashbuster link. (Notice, my Autumn song quilt is still on the Home page. I am so honored.)



So sayinig that, here are pictures of my purchases. Yep! I refrained really well, until I saw this BOM program for Patchabilities through Adirondack Quilts, a shop in Glens Falls, NY.


Those that haven't signed up yet for my giveaway, the drawing will be held shortly. It's still not too late.

Happy Stitching,
Jane