We have a winner!!

And if it's not you, I'm sorry.....blame my kids.  They wanted to help out so we pulled the two winners out of a hat!  They loved it.

There were 34 comments/entries into my first giveaway (amazing!!)!!

The lucky winners of the Quilt Blocks charm packs are #22 and #29!

It was ridiculously hard to get pictures of them holding their numbers...goodness were they excited!

#22 - rachael  May 18, 2012 6:46 AM

my favorite thing at this *very* moment is that i'm actually catching up on some blog reading ;)

#29 - twelfthzodiac  May 18, 2012 8:21 PM

Favourites...there's a cat curled up on my lap right now...she's a favourite for sure :)
I have been keepin an eye out for this line, some really cool prints in there!

Congratulations!!!  I'm sending you both an email so as soon as I get your address I'll send you your charm pack!!  

I really want to thank all of you who entered!  It was so fun to read all your comments and hear what your favorite things are!  I love this online community and am so glad to be a tiny part of it!  

I can do one stitch pretty well...

...but that's about it.

When my new blogging friend Katie of There and Back told me about her new Friday linky party The Handmade Parade (awesome idea) I was excited to be able to see all the great projects she would come up with, and all the great projects all you other talented people are working on.  Seriously there is a whole lot of skill I've seen with a needle and thread that I just drool over!!

I think this will be fun for me in the goal category.  See, I know how to hand-quilt, I recently learned how to do Hexagons, and I own a book about embroidery...that's about it!  I haven't learned any fancy stitches but that's what I like about this online community.  I can get ideas and resources from all of you!!

I thought I'd share what I do have that I've stitched myself, because recently (this week) I have been doing a little handwork!

I made this pouch for a friend's birthday on Monday and hand appliqued the hexagons to the front.

This wasn't too challenging for me, though I did once forget to take out the paper from the hexagons until it was a tad late, so it was a good learning process for next time.  I love the texture and dimensions they added to the pouch and will probably be making another one of these soon for myself :)

I'm also participating in the Modern She Made swap over on flickr and have been working on something for my partner.  I don't want to show too much of it to keep a little bit of a surprise for them but I've added some hand stitching to it and I really like the way it looks.

I used DMC floss for this and I tell you what....I HATE threading needles with this stuff.  If there was someone who would thread needles for me I'd hand stitch a couch.  Really.  Anyone have tips on threading needles?

That's what I've got to show off this week :) Be sure to head over to Katie's and see what everyone's got going!  It's pretty amazing...you will be VERY inspired!

(if you're looking for my 50th post giveaway you can find that here - open until Sunday night)

P.S. I am absolutely loving hearing all your favorite things!  You are all so sweet, I really appreciate your comments and kindness.  Brings a smile to my face every time!  Thank you!

HAPPY 50TH...

...post...50th post...not birthday, haha!  Though today is actually my HALF birthday (I will be 25 later this year)!

Let's get down to business!  To celebrate all you awesome folks who read my nonsense and inspire me with your creativity and beautiful projects, I have two charm packs of the new line Quilt Blocks to give to two lucky people (one each).

I REALLY love the fabrics in here and have already seen some awesome projects popping up using these prints.  The colors are fabulous and the patterns are so great. 

Alls you need to do is leave me ONE COMMENT below.  Tell me something that's your favorite right now!

I'll run this through Sunday night and then pick a winner on Monday.  Sound good?

Ready...


Set...

Go!

Updated : The giveaway is now closed.  Thanks to all who entered to make my first giveaway a success!!

Who has two thumbs and just sewed something with a zipper?!

This guy (girl...lady...)! AND it's a gift.  For a birthday lunch for a friend tomorrow.  And I started it about 2 hours ago making the hexagons.  Nothing like last minute, right?

Yep!  I sewed something with a zipper.  My first one ever!! And it's not half bad if I do say so myself.  It also has my first applied hexagons on it. 

She told me her favorite colors are red and blue so I went with that.  

It's a bag.  About 6ish inches by 6ish inches.  I used DS Quilts fabrics from JoAnn's for the outer and inner parts of the bag, and used some scrap 2.5" squares for the hexagons.

 I really like this fabric.  

It's not at all the prettiest thing I've ever made but I sure am proud of it!  It works too and there are no holes!!  Yay!!

Milestone checked right here.

I am no longer afraid of zippers!



Oh yeah....this means my NEXT POST will be for the GIVEAWAY!!

I bet you can't hardly wait, right?!  Yep, me either.

Giveaway sneak peek...

Told you I'd be back ;) ...

I've got some new projects lined up...literally...

...and you may recognize this beautiful stuff...

I have two of them to give to two of you (one each), to say thanks for reading about my projects and my life.  I enjoy so much hearing your encouragement and advice, your compliments and suggestions!  It's really made this blogging thing fun! 

I will open the giveaway on my 50th post (I believe that this is #48!) and it will run for a few days. 

Happy Mothers Day!!!

Stand by...

I'm running a bit behind on some things this weekend... here's why...

Ben and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary on Friday! 

Since the 5th anniversary is traditionally a gift made of wood, Ben got creative and turned an old desk we were going to throw away into a flower bed!  Now we just need to get some flowers :)

Friday evening, we went to Ihop for dinner (we like breakfast food here) and saw The Avengers (which was awesome!), and left the kids with a friend.  It was really fun to get some time just the two of us and the kids handled their first non-family babysitter really well!!  

However today has been a bit different.  At almost 7am Matthew woke up barfing.  I really don't like barfing...or watching people barf...or anything having to do with stomach contents...Poor little man.

So, I'll be staying home with him today while Ben and Abby go to church.  But, on the bright side that means I get to stay in my pajamas all day, and that's pretty great. 

We're watching Shawn the Sheep (love that show - no talking, and it's adorable) and trying to get his stomach settled.  We might play with Legos too.

They did give me a lovely handmade card this morning and made me breakfast.  So sweet!  I feel so lucky to have this little family and such a wonderful husband!  

Anyway, I'll have some sewing to share later, along with a sneak peek of what I have to giveaway for my upcoming 50th post! 

Stay tuned!

WIP Wednesday - last minute edition!

I went to sleep at 7:45 Monday night. 

I always have too many windows open in my browser and the hubs doesn't like that because it "pulls" at the internet.... (um, what?)....however, they each represent something important I need to make for a swap, or a bee, or I just need to have it open so I don't forget where it is!!  Does anyone else do this?

I also have too many tops sitting on the dryer and I need to do some basting. 

I use my iPhone for pictures so that's mostly why they usually suck.

This was my to-do pile for today.  In here are 2 bee blocks, 2 fabrics to turn into binding for my Made in Cherry quilt, and the rest of the fabrics for the Patchwork Prism QAL ready to cut.  I've already cut the purples and oranges (I got most of this pile taken care of...keep reading).

Here is the May block for Megan of City Stitches in We Bee Modern.  This was a fun one, as I haven't ever sewn with dark solids before.  Here I used Kona Charcoal and I really like it.  It's brighter in person.

I still have a few more bee blocks to make but it was great to get this one checked off.  It looked a lot more complex in the book and I was a little nervous to get started.

I also finished a long waiting WIP!  My Made in Cherry quilt is done!  I experimented with my new FMQ foot on this one and it was really fun.  I doodled all around the solid purple spots and went in wavy lines over the seams in the patchwork star.

I "finished" cutting out fabric for the Patchwork Prism QAL (I have quotes because I realized I miscut and am short a few green triangles...blah...) and laid the fabrics out.  It's a bit of a hot mess...I am pretty sure the second time I make this quilt will be much better.

 I think this will become a picnic quilt.  I've got some really nice blue fabric that I think is decorator weight.  It's heavier and I hope I'll love it more when it's done...

In other totally random news, we've discovered that my son is absolutely terrified of balloons being popped.  He freaks out big time (this was discovered at the birthday party last weekend).  Shaking, crying, screaming...it's terrible and I have no clue how to help him get over it, except by steering clear of balloons, or anything that could be popped.  Packing materials included.

I am still going to the gym and am dead tired but my biceps have grown so that's good (I've never had biceps before!).  I still look baffoon-ish in the classes I take, but it's growing on me :)

Happy (almost) Thursday!!

I'm last minute linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced!!