Another one saved!

Went with a friend to a house where an estate sale occurred almost a month ago. The lady was giving stuff away in anticipation of putting the house on the market...

I was hoping for, and found a smallish book case for my stash (which, my DH wanted for beside his bed, having looked for something exactly like it..so I am content with the smallish open bookcase he traded me in exchange).  Also, while in the barn, with it's dirt floor, I found and pounced on this:

It's a Fashion Mate 362....and I forgot..it was FREE!

I really don't need another machine, but I couldn't stand to see it thrown away.... I will clean it up and check it out, but may end up giving it away to someone.... Although I am woman, a mind-changer, and willing to ride the tide of changing decisions....

I also looked in the house filled with furniture, which will be sold after the house is sold.  I found and requested first dibs on two very small quilt holders...  I saw other stuff I would like to have also, but decided that too long a list to give to the nice lady was too much, and would dilute the desire..

She is the one who owned the place in town where I bought the table and hutch (I found this out after I had left)...hopefully she will remember (she said she would..and my friend is her friend) and give me a call about the holders in the future....

Machine tops

A couple of months ago I told you I got a new washer and dryer.  

 

 They reside in our main bathroom, take up space and are white in color. No one really wants to share a bathroom with a washer/dryer; however, sometimes you have no choice. So they just sit there, white, so boring.  Nothing of interest at all..

Sooooo....you know how their tops sometimes become rusty and old with use?  I had enough of that with the old machines!  So I have decided to make some covers for them.  I am starting out simple, just making what should turn out to be a mat (approx. 23.5" x 22" ).  Another smaller mat will be placed on an oven liner which sits on one of the machines.  I will keep my supply of powdered soap, bleach, Color Catchers, etc on it. 

My design, I have decided, will be a surprise.  Even to me.  I have a lot of scraps/stash close to my sewing machine.  I am going to start sewing them together, any which one and any which way,  then I will cut out shapes (maybe) and go from there.

So I started...with a lovely rose color scrap from my Valentine's Day runner,( whose picture turned out fuzzy) which, unfortunately, was sewn upsidedown from its' companion scraps from Christmas, another V. Day remnant, Spider Man and others...thus making:

I also found some more Christmas pieces, already made triangles and squares,  and leftover binding, which I promptly put into a couple of smaller containers for later... 

So I kept on adding.....

and adding.......

.....And more later...it's getting dark and cannot take any more pictures..

My !First! Mug Rugs!

You are familar with the St Pat's table runner... I needed something to go with it, so I made two mug rugs. 

 I needed more practice with applique, so I found some patterns (coloring book online) of  shamrocks and made some.  They are not the four-leaf clover kind, but shamrocks.

For the binding of the mug rugs I used one of the pieces of binding I won a couple of weeks ago or so.  It was a little narrow, so I sewed it between the top and bottom and then turned the mug rug right side out.  I still need a bit more practice; the corners are a bit wonky, but then so am I.   

We have a winner!

..Carolyn, The Vegetarian Hunter, won the silky Christmas fabric.  Congratulations....she is my second international winner (Canada).  As soon as I know the destination, I'll be sending it to her.

 Thanks to all who commented, and keep trying...more goodies coming up...

When is a table runner not a table runner???

???????

.........According to my DD, when it is grabbed by her youngest son (2 1/2 yrs) to be used as a quilt for his toys and stuffed animals (I guess super heros need their quilts also)....she hasn't seen it since.....

Odds and Ends Giveaway #4- silky fabric

Again, before we start on the giveaway....Jennifer won the tablecloth in the 2nd giveaway and she put a picture on her blog...  she turned it into......a tablecloth.....She collects colored pyrex and they look so nice and homey on her table....

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Now to todays' mini-giveaway....those of you who visit here may remember this as one of the choices on my 100th post giveaway.

It is a little over 1 yard of silky Christmas design fabric (selvage states: Sykel Enterprises Inc Copyright 1993). Normal width...something like 42" or so.  Just perfect for a nice scarf or whatever you want to make of it.  I can't remember how I received it...this would not be something I would buy because I need a lot more practice  before I venture away from cotton. 

Again, just comment on this post and you will be in the running for this.  Must be able to contact you after DH pulls your name out of the hat (bowl, etc).  Giveaway will end on Feb. 17th at 10:am (CST).

I am not insisting that you blog about these giveaways as a condition of entering.  However, if you see something that you know a friend of yours might like, do them a favor and let them know about it. ....

Good luck to all...the fabric is in it's little package, waiting to be sent to it's new home.

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Preview of March 1 giveaway - flowers, oodles of ...

Tool Quilt is finished!

I finished my Tool Quilt last night and had to wait until this morning to take pictures.  As soon as it showers and dries off, I will be sending it and two other quilts to my DD and her family. I like the front and back on this one..I pieced the back on this one and it turned out well. 

Yea, I know it is way over-the-top wrinkled..my new idea of basting didn't turn out well, but they will still like the quilt..

You cannot see, but I added all the names and a date on the back so that they would show up on the front sashing..mirrored writing, of course.....oops.

Oh, well, they love G'ma anyway!

BeGorra, another Table Runner!

Just finished another table runner.  This one is for St Patrick's Day.  A very simple green and white...I used the hats for the backing...

'rember the binding I "won"?  I was going to use it on this table runner, but did not have enough to go around..so perhaps a matching mug rug is next.

It's late and I'm tired.....night all

Progress....and a Stall....

I have finished quilting my tool quilt and am in the process of cutting the strips for the binding.  I am using the left-overs from the quilt so some of them are a little short.  Also, I am not using much blue fabric because that is what is on the border. But I like to use some..it makes  little "openings" for the border to sneak through.

I also have sandwiched my Mystery Quilt.  However, I only handstitch now and don't really know what design to put on it.  So it will be put aside (aht-oohh, or oops!) (how do you spell that, anyway?) for awhile until I can decide.

Consolation Prizes are Great!

A little while back I participated in a giveaway sponsored by Jolly Rogers, the Portuguese Pirate.  I didn't win the giveaway, but she offered this as a consolation prize: tidbits of binding that she had made...

It came the other day and I already am musing on using some with this fabric.....mug rug or table runner or????

A Heck of an Impluse Buy!!! ...or....KaBoom on Intentions!

This has been one of those days when my intentions are good, but my flesh was weak.  I fully intended to post and take pictures this morning as soon as I got up. Problem was, when I got up, it was too dark to take pictures and by the time it was light, I was still sleepy, so dozed off again, woke up, fixed us hamburgers (lovely breakfast/dinner choice!), made a list that I will keep but not follow, and dozed off again.  Some days are like that around here, unfortunately. Sometimes due to the fact that I work at night sometimes....

Anyway, I decided to start on the post and, if I can find the camera, will take pictures of the result of our adventures yesterday.  Translated loosely,,,,,,,I had fun in town and spent some more money!!!

We decided late yesterday (2:00 or so in the afternoon) that if we didn't get out of here, we would go ga-ga.  It was still cold, but very little precipitation, so we made the 1 hour trip into town to pick up my Janome from its' vacation at the spa/prison cell/day at the beach, whatever....and have some Chinese food to boot. 

Picked up the Janome, bright and clean, pd the $$ needed, ate and then,,,headed to the LQS to find fabric for two (2)  Journal quilts (365 days) I plan to make. One for me and one for one of my DILs (she writes, I sew).. I will be picking out fabric for one other Journal quilt (52 week) for my other DIL tomorrow when we go see them in another town close to here.

Here is one photo (still to be taken, BTW) of  her fabric.. simple beige, light brown, colors...

 I chose those because beween every 2 or 3 columns (16 columns in all) I plan to put sashing..plus a border large enough to put the handprints and footprints of grandparents, parents, and children (at the moment, 5 children, will be 6 by the time the year is up). And that sashing is to be bright and cheery.

Here is my colors:

 I will probably start on this after I finish the preparation and mailing off of the other two.  In the meantime, I am trying to write entries every day on my computer for later (started the 1st of February...my memory won't go back until the 1st of the year, no matter how hard I try...).

Anyway, so there I was, at the counter with my plastic in my hand, when DH says, casually, "I want to show you something back here"...and proceeds to show me a sewing machine on display..He swears now that he was only showing me because I also have his mom's old Pfaff that she used so much the guidelines were wearing away and these reminded him of that. 

I swear on a stack of stash that I was ready to pay and go, but when he showed me this:
 

and said, after I 'oohed and ahhed" of course I could have it....what could I do?

 Looked it up this morning, and it was made on October 31, 1951 and is one of the many celebrating 100 years of Singer sewing.  What is so nice is that I also bought this:

A manual the LQS had for repairing and working on Featherweights... Plus, in late March they are going to have a class on maintaining your Featherweight. 

So my eyes were bigger than my stash, and my intentions flew out the window...

But I don't care!!!

The Winner of the License Plate fabric is.........

from ".......Quilty as Charged",  robin, in Canada...my first international winner!  Congratulations.  E-mail is sent.
Thanks to all who participated..as a matter of fact....

I found some more of the same fabric,,,so guess what I did?  Had DH draw another name, that's what. So another yard is going to...  Linda, of Stray Stitches!  And that still leaves about a yard for me, too!

Yea!

So robin and Linda, I am awaiting word from ya'll so I can send it sometime...in spite of the weather!

Odds and Ends Giveaway #3 - License Plate fabric

Before the giveaway starts, I want to show you the results of my first giveaway.  Sharon from Vroomans Quilts won this.

And created this:

I love to see the results of creative thinking! Check out the link to her blog above and read her description of what she did...zippers and all.

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Okay, here we go on week 3 of the mini-giveaways.

I am continuing to clean my stash and sewing room, and I want to give anyone a chance to use some quilty/non-quilty items I found.  So I am giving this away:

There is a little over 1 yard of this cotton fabric, usual width.  In 2006,  I made one of my first small whole cloth quilt with this fabric, handquilting each rectangle.  The selvage shows "Fabric Traditions 2003".  I probably bought this at WM.. I bought a lot of fabric there when I was starting out.

This came close to not being in this giveaway....as I finished this post (middle of January) and started to read the license plates, I realized what I could have done with it... It would make a real unusual Valentine's Day quilt/table runner, etc.  Read the plates and you will see what I mean.  But, I had already promised you, so here it is. 

Some of you may recognize this as one of the choices in my 100th post giveaway a few weeks ago.  I have a feeling that there might be an interest in this so comment on this post,,, that's all you have to do.

This giveaway will end on Thursday, February 3 at 10:00AM (CST). Within 24 hours (probably earlier) I will e-mail and announce the winner in a new post after my DH picks a name out of a hat (bowl), etc. The winner will have another 24 hours to contact me with a mailing address... Naturally, the usual rules apply....if there is no contact with the winner, another one will be chosen. 

Ok,,,,,now good luck to all and hope this finds a good home.....

PS:  Yep, here is what is coming up on February 15: