I Love to go Thrifting

My dil and I went thrifting today. I love to make something new out of something old. I spent less than $20 total and this is what I got...

I'm not sure just what I'll do with this piece yet, probably dissect it into a lot of small projects. I love the little mittens along the bottom border...it's 4 times this size and cost $1.

There are 3 place mats for $.75, 3 hoops for $.75, some RED crochet thread that will not be used for crocheting for $.50, the little doll was $1.19, but she only cost me $.25, and 3 pieces of woven cloth each about the size of a fat quarter +/- that cost another $.50.

The light fabric here is 3 yards of knit, good for t-shirts or jammies (the colors are a little washed out in the picture) for some little girls I know. The next fabric is also a knit and there's about 2 yards there. It's pretty stiff so I'll have to wash it before I decide weather it's soft enough for jammies. If not, then it's t-shirts for this piece. The next piece is one yard of flannel. No plans for that one yet and then a one yard piece of baby gingham in pink (I can think of a zillion projects for this piece). Who knows what I'll do with the little burlap bag, but for $.50 I just had to get it.

A variety of patterns for just $.25 each

This is a "book" of fabric samples for only $4. Each piece is 10" x 5" and there are 62 pieces in every color, texture, and pattern you can imagine. I know that there's lots of potential here...so if you have any suggestions, I'd love for you to share them with me;)

All of my Christmas Cottage Blocks for the swap over at Freda's Hive are done now and ready to go to their new homes. I have had so much fun making them.

I may have shown some of these before, but they're just so darn cute. This will be a fun quilt to put together, especially because each block is made by somebody different;)

I hope that you all have a great week;)

Enjoy;)

Eye Candy

Went to quilt guild meeting on Wednesday. We usually have some sort of class before our meeting. This month it was on Sewing Room Organization. Many great ideas were shared there as well as where to buy some of the organizational items. We also learned a few quilting techniques. Good time;) Our meeting started a little after 1300. After all of the business was done we had our "sharing" time. I love this part of our meetings. We get to see what other guild members have been working on. After sharing we had several different members showing different applique techniques. Each presentation lasted about 20 minutes and we all got to choose 3 to go to. I only got to go to two because I had to leave early and go to work. All I can say is fun fun fun.

Here's the Eye Candy

Quilts from Guild Members

3 D Applique

This was one of the applique techniques

we could watch being demonstrated.

Is this lady talented, or what???

I am just in awe of people that can do applique work well...like here.


And now for you Dear Jane fans.........these are some of my favorites...........and remember, the finished size of these blocks is just four and a half inches........

I love this Bear's Paw..........and remember...

Only 4.5"

I have more Eye Candy, but will save it for another time.

I have tomorrow off and hope to get some sewing done. I hope you all are having a great weekend.

Enjoy;)

Angels in Blogland;)

A while back I joined a miniature quilt swap.....made my quilt, sent it off and then waited and waited and waited. To this date I haven't heard if the person I sent my quilt to has ever rec'd it, but then I haven't heard that she didn't either...I never rec'd a quilt either (boo hoo), but our gracious hostess "angeled" me out. Well, today when I got home from work guess what I found in my mail box.........go ahead, guess................................I was so excited that I ripped, yes ripped into the package that I found there...................and this is what I found..................

This lovely mini quilt full of sunshine.

I know that it will make me smile whenever I look at it, especially during the snowy winter days that are on the way.

My Angel is a lovely person by the name of Anjea from Austin.

I love the nice warm colors, never thought of black as a warm color, but I can't imagine this little beauty without it.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

ANJEA!!!

You truly are an ANGEL!

ENJOY;)

Woke up this morning to snow on the ground...talked to my daughter in MN and she said that in was in the mid 70's and my daughter in CA is enjoying 80+ degrees, but she went to AZ this weekend to visit my oldest son and his family...where they're having 100 degree days...still.

Got this idea from AJ (crazy mom quilts)...

someday I'll figure out how to do that little link thing...

Matching dish cloth and dish towel

...I hope the person getting these likes them...

Rec'd these "Vintage Sheets" from a swap that I did. Most of them will be going into an hour glass quilt that I'm working on...got that idea from AJ, too.

I hope that you all have a great week and don't forget the Christmas Cottage Open House tomorrow.

Enjoy

October is a Beautiful Month

Well, after visiting my daughter and her family in Minnesota, I'm home and ready to get back into the swing of things...ie...work at 0600 tomorrow. While I was there, my grand daughter and I made a little pillow, a dollie, and a little bag for her. I also finished knitting one sock that I was working on and started its' mate. Went to a parade (previous post) and took lots of pictures.

...the bag, pillow, and dollie...

bet ya could never guess her favorite colors...

I'm participating in the Christmas Cottage Block Swap (check out the buttons on my sidebar) and these are a few of the blocks I have done...

and a couple of them close up

Each of mine is just a little bit different
It's going to be hard to part with these...

There's a house warming for our cottages on Monday and everyone is invited...

The cottages are simple to do and very fun. Freda has a tutorial on her blog that shows you just how to make your own...they're a blast! Go on and try them...you know you want to;) Speaking of Freda, a couple of months ago, she asked us to show our sewing kits, well I guess better late than never....It's a little Double Bubble Bubble Gum Lunch Box


..this is one that I take with me when I travel.
It's very small, about 3"x4" but holds a lot

and tucks into just about any small space.

Just before I left for Minnesota, I rec'd this bag, in the mail ,from Ruth. She was having a give away on her blog a few weeks ago and I entered and won...

........this green bag........

...it's corduroy with machine embroidered flower and strawberries on it

and a pretty green button.

The hair clips are mine...that's where I keep them when they're not in use, but always at the ready.

My new bag has been used ever since I got it.

Thanks a TON Ruth! Sorry the picture doesn't do the bag justice.

Well, it's taken me two days to get this post up so I'm going to put this one to bed and get a little shut eye myself, but before I go.........we had out first snow of the season today. Not a lot, but just enough to let us know that more isn't far away. Fall has come and gone so quickly.

Enjoy;)

Plymouth Days

What a nice relaxing Sunday. I'm visiting one of my daughter's and her family in Plymouth, Minnesota for a few days and today was just a kick back kind of day. We watched General Conference via the internet this morning and after it ended I took my two grandchildren for a walk over to see the Mellinium Gardens just down the street from them. We came back, had a little lunch and then watched the final session of Conference and after it had ended my daughter and I started dinner. My daughter got a new basic bread recipe and so we tried it out. We made pizza, bread sticks, and a braid with cream cheese and strawberry jam all twisted together and then we covered it with frosting...Well, all I can tell you is that there's only about half of the twist left and that's it. Everything else is gone. Everything was yuuuuuummy! Good thing we cut the recipe in half...got to watch those carbs...yeah.....right!



I've been trying to get some stitching done while here, but being a little sleep deprived makes my eyes want to snap shut every time I sit down to start working on my stitching, blogging, etc...like right now, for instance.....it's all I can do to keep my eyes open. That's what going to bed at 0330 and getting up at 0730 will do to you.


Her are a few of the pictures that I took at the parade we went to yesterday at the Plymouth Days Celebration and a few from the Mellinum Gardens from today's outing. Have a good one and I'll post pics of my cottages when I get back:

Unicycles--looks like fun to me;)

The Shriner's precision mini cars

Pony Rides and Face Painting

after the parade

The city of Plymouth puts this parade and carnival on every year the first Saturday in October. I took the kids last year, but didn't know about the carnival part of the celebration. It' all free, unless you buy food. We had made our lunch and took it with us, so basically we had a free day of fun and entertainment. Now how often can you do that any more? Oh yeah, mom and dad were at a wedding so they missed out on all of the fun.

Here are a couple of pictures I took at the Mellinum Gardens today...

Have a GREAT week;)

YIPEEEEEEEEEEE!!! My Bag has Arrived!!!

I participated in Linda's "Bag/Bucket" Swap and 9 days ago got the email that I had been waiting for...The one telling me that my bag was on the way. I was soooo excited, but I have to tell you that those 9 days seemed like an eternity. I guess I was acting like a little kid waiting for Santa to arrive. Well, yesterday it arrived... I work two jobs and had just stopped at home between jobs to pick up a few things before heading off to job #2 for the day. I kept looking at the box and tired to figure out if I should open it right then, or wait until I got home after work...Well, there was no way I was going to go to work and leave that box unopened...that would have been shear torture. So, I cut the tape and popped it open and there I found this......

This little gem made it all the way to me from Australia!

The anticipation was killing me.........so the wrapper came off and look what I beheld................................................

.

...look how cute...

...I love the hand stitching...

...and the green rick rack...

...the fabrics all go together so well...

...and that's not all........

...a view of the inside with a pocket on each side...

...all of the goodies...
FQ's, a pin cushion, a needle book, and embroidery floss...

Am I a lucky girl or what???

Bec from ohsewbusy.blogspot.com is the wonderful lady that made all of these lovely items for me. THANK YOU...THANK YOU...THANK YOU, Bec. I love them all! You went way over and above on this one!

Speaking of bags and swaps...the swap partner that I sent my bag to is Helena from http://www.syverkstan-helena.blogspot.com/. She has posted some pictures of the bag I made her. Check out her blog. She's got some new patterns available that are very cool.

My daughter and her family are on their way here right this very second. They left Minnesota this afternoon and were in Iowa when I talked to her around 1600. Right now I would suppose they're somewhere in Nebraska. I expect them to arrive sometime tomorrow afternoon. They will be here for only a day, or less, and then it's off to California to visit family there. They will return here next Thursday and be here for a week and then I will be heading back to Minnesota with them.

Have a wonderful Sunday;)

Very brave of me, I think, being that I'm allergic to bee stings...

ENJOY;)

Sunday Baskets and a Mini Quilt

Aren't Sunday's the best...nice and quiet, relaxing, time to get a little sewing done before church and then pleanty of time to work on ufo's after church. Here's what I did today......

I used the pattern from Pink Penguin to make these little beauties. Easy to follow directions and quick to make. I have a feeling that there are a lot more of these in my future.

As mentioned in an earlier post, I participated in the Booty Miniature Quilt Swap. I previewed the fabrics that I used and my partner should have gotten her package yesterday, or by tomorrow at the latest, so I guess it's OK to show you what I made for her...

I got the idea for this mini from a Fon's and Porter quilt that I saw in a recent issue of their magazine.

I had dinner outside this evening. I noticed that there's a little orange and red starting to show up on the mountains. I guess Fall is truly on the way. Y-I-P-E-E!!! I love the Fall, although they do promise 5-10 degrees warmer than usual for the next few days.

I hope that you all have a GREAT week;)

ENJOY!!!