And the Winner is....

First let me say "thanks" to all who entered the Blog Hop Giveaway.  And thanks to all of you who decided to follow me, welcome.  I hope my blog does not disappoint you.

On the last Blog Hop, I used random.org to select a number for the prize.  This time I had 133 comments as of midnight last night when the hop ended on the Blog Hop post and a couple of comments on posts I did in the past, so I had to come up with another way to pick the winner.  So I asked my granddaughter to pick a number between 1 and 133.  She picked 23, so I counted comments from the beginning of the hop and the winner is Maria Kievit.  I've already contacted her for mailing information.

Today I will be going fabric shopping in Philadelphia!!!  I'm here for few days, but will be home on Monday. 
I hope everyone has a great, restful weekend.

Time for the Blog Hop!

The Blog Hop officially starts tonight at midnight.  If you click on the title of this post or on the Blog Hop sign on the right side, it will take you to the rules and the list of other blogs.  All of the blogs are offering prizes related to quilting.

Now here is the prize that I am offering:

There are three books, a yard of 1930's "feed sack" fabric, and a package of Fast 2 Fuse.  You'll need the Fast 2 Fuse to make the bowls shown in the Irresist-a-Bowls book.

Now the rules:  I'd love for you to become a follower, but I'm not requiring it.  All you have to do is leave a comment below or on any other post I do between now and the 23rd when the Blog Hop ends.  Just tell me you want to win the prize or anything else you've got to say.  I will ship the prize to the winner anywhere in the world, so don't hesitate to enter.

For those of you who are new to my blog, here are some links to previous posts that might be of interest to you.

For a free quilted eyeglass pattern go here Eyeglass Case Pattern

For a cute Christmas Tree ornament go here Tutu Ornament

And for a tutorial for making felted flowers go here Needle felted Flowers

I have other tutorials, so look around while you're here.

Hope you have a great Blog Hop and I look forward to hearing from many of you.

New Quilts

I hesitate to say this out loud, but I feel like I might almost be caught up with a few projects.  This week I quilted the two quilts shown below and finished a few other minor projects.

This is a quilt I have made for my daughter to donate to an auction she is chairing in April.  I got the pattern from this book:

I didn't have a jelly roll, so I cut the 2 1/2 inch strips from fabric I had.  I made the quilt larger than the one in the book, so its almost a twin size.

I also quilting this quilt for someone else.  She wanted hearts all over it for a room she is redecorating, so I hope she will be happy with what I did.  She told me she is going to bind it with strips of all the fabrics in the quilt.

 

I just love having my long arm in the room with the rest of my sewing.  It has made me more productive, because I can quilt a little, then sit and sew on something else, then go back to the big machine.

Check back with me on Friday to see what I'm giving away for the Blog Hop.  I think I've got some thing(s) that will be appealing to almost anyone.

Coming Soon: A New Blog-Hop with Prizes

I just got an invitation to join a St. Patrick's Day Blog-Hop.  I did a Blog-Hop in the fall and really enjoyed having so many new followers and visitors.
This one starts on St. Patrick's Day and ends one week later on March 23rd.  I'm on my way right now to find a really great prize to offer my readers, so be sure to check back soon.

Have a great weekend!

Ideas Needed!

During my recent cleaning moving stuff around, I found a forgotten box of evening bags.  Two were mine, one was my mothers, and the rest, I think, belonged to Dan's first wife's great-aunt.  So I have decided to frame them in shadow box frames for Diana, since most of them came to me via her mother's family.  I happen to have 2 large shadow box  frames that I bought on sale for some forgotten purpose.  Below are pictures of most of the bags.

 

I also have a few small purse accessories that I think I will add.  Here is my dilemma:  How do I attach the bags to the background?  The frames are deep enough and came with a very sturdy cardboard backing.  I plan on placing velvet or velveteen onto the backing.  But then what do I do.  My first inclination is to use glue, but I know that is not the right thing to do.  I might be able to sew them to the velvet, but would that work?

So any ideas?  I welcome any and all suggestions.  I should mention that some of the beads are coming off a couple of the bags in the top photograph.  Also, pictured is the box that the gold mesh bag was stored in and I feel that somehow I should include that in the frame.

Hope that someone out there has a brilliant idea for me!!

Picture Day

The day began with alpacas.  Dan and I went to our friend Tara's house to photograph her with her alpacas.  She has 13 of them, and a few babies on the way. 

That's Tara with her spinning wheel and some of the alpacas.  She spins and knits or weaves with their wool.  They will be sheared in April. 

I got to steady the stepladder and carry Dan's camera bag.  The wind was blowing, it was about 45 degrees, and I was freezing.

Next was my photo.  The one below is the only one Dan forwarded to me.  He wanted to get a shot of the store with blue sky and me hanging a quilt on the clothesline (which is just for today).  He picked this quilt because of the size and color. 

I think the photo project is over for now.  He took pictures of seven of us and now has to do some editing.  The idea is to show up of the area with various artisans in their setting, not to highlight the art work. 

We have decided to open the store for the Thanksgiving weekend tour this year, so this may give us some exposure.

Moving Day

We moved my Gammil long arm on Friday.   I'm happy it's finally accomplished and I like its new home, but I still have a lot of adjusting to do and things to find homes for.  Dan estimates the table and machine together probably weight about 800 pounds, so of course, it had to come apart.  He had a friend help, so I didn't have to lift anything.  He has a few sore muscles.  They had to take it out the back door and then around the building and back in my studio door.

Here are a couple of "before" pictures of part of my studio.

And here are the "after".

The large wooden table still needs to be moved, but I managed to quilt a baby quilt this morning.  I know I'll use the machine more now that its in "my" room.  For one thing, I won't have to heat and cool the other room in order to use it.  This room has much better light, so its easier for me to see what I'm doing.

Now on to my next project.  We have a tour group coming through on March 7th, about a dozen people.  I have to give a short presentation about my work and "show and tell".  They are bringing box lunches, but eating them in my house.  So now I have to clean the studio and my house.  In case I haven't mentioned it, my house is just behind my shop.  I love being able to just walk over any time to work.

Tomorrow our American Sewing Guild group meets.  I have 2 baby quilts and 9 pairs of children's p.j.'s finished for the Coalition Against Domestic Violence.  Then either tomorrow afternoon or Tuesday, depending on the weather, Dan is going to photograph me hanging quilts on a clothesline on the front of the shop.  He's doing a series on local artists that are going to be sent as part of a tourism package.  He's gotten some great ones, so far, but the deadline is looming.  I'll post mine here if he'll let me.