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Friday, June 9, 2023

Here We Go Again...

 A few years back Google stopped supporting their email subscription service for bloggers.

It was a big blow for those of us who have small personal blogs, but we all scrambled and found other platforms that could support our needs.

This week Carol at "Just Let Me Quilt" realized that her emails were not being sent when she posted new content to her blog. That got me thinking...I didn't remember seeing emails when I post either.

Mail Chimp cut off my service as well, because my readership had outgrown their free plan limit. That's fine and well, but there was no notification or contact of any kind from them. Their paid plans are expensive and have many hidden fees. It may be fine for big business's but for the home blogger, it just doesn't make any sense. So back to the drawing board as they say, once again.

I'm now trying "Follow.it"

Unfortunately that means you will have to sign up again, if you wish to get email notifications on blog posts. I do apologize for that. Hopefully this will resolve things and we can all move forward.


The new button is on the right hand side bar.
For the time being I have moved my old button to the bottom of my blog. It is inactive and will be going away soon.

If you are a reader of Carol's "Just Let Me Quilt" blog, you will need to sign up with her again, too.

The timing could not be worse for us, with the "Cackling Stitches Group" BOM and our monthly "Challenge Hops" going on, but then...is there ever really a good time for something like this?
Hopefully it doesn't disrupt things to much for all of you.
We are both keeping up our Facebook pages...so you can find the latest info from our blogs there.


On a much brighter note. In just a little over a week our June Challenge hop begins.

til then...
Keep on Stitchin’

Tuesday, June 6, 2023

Blog Hops, Challenges...What's Coming Up?


We all love our Challenges, don't we?
It's so much fun to share and be inspired by our fellow quilters.

 Life gets busy for us all, and planning for them can get overwhelming at times. So my incredible co-hostess for our challenges, Carol from "Just Let Me Quilt" and I have decided to give you all a little extra time to plan and stitch your projects, by knowing what's coming up. Who knows with all the summer fun, it just might spark some great ideas for them, too!

JUNE
Hosted by me
"When Pigs Fly"
The Challenge...

Time to get those projects out of the bags, bins and closets. PIGS - Projects in Grocery Sacks, UFOS - Unfinished Objects, WIPS - Works in Progress. Come on, you know you’ve got em!

JULY
Hosted by Carol 
"Picnic Party"
The Challenge...

Make something to use for a picnic, like a basket or a tote, etc. A square quilt.  50”x50” is the standard picnic size measurement, but any size square works for this hop!

AUGUST
hosted by me
"Call me Crazy"
The Challenge...

Sew something that you wouldn’t normally sew or share something you can’t believe you sewed. We all know that crazy and scary feeling of wondering what we were thinking when we started or were in the middle of sewing something out of our comfort zone.

SEPTEMBER
Hosted by Carol
"It's a Dogs Life"
The Challenge...

Make anything dog or vintage related. Sew your project with dog themed fabric or applique/embroidery of dogs. As an added challenge if dogs don’t ring your bell, think vintage. Vintage blocks, quilts, fabrics or whatever old designs make you happy.

OCTOBER
hosted by me
"Monster Mash"
The Challenge...

Sew and share something scary, not scary, or something in between. If it’s Halloween related you know we will love it!

NOVEMBER
hosted by me
"Turkey Trot"
The Challenge...

Think turkeys, thankfulness or Thanksgiving fabric. November also means beautiful colors of fall, so sew something with oranges, golds, brown, greens or cranberry reds.

DECEMBER
hosted by Carol
"Virtual Cookie Exchange"
The Challenge...

Recipes are optional. You can share or not. Tell us about your Christmas traditions. Show off your Christmas decorations/tree. Spill your funny Christmas stories. If it’s about Christmas, we want to hear about it.


Feel free to add the buttons to your blogs whenever you like.
You don't need to sign up for them right away, as usual we will make announcements 2-3 months before the hop and you can sign up then with the hostess of that month.



Remember to put the hop name in the subject line.
We need your
  • your name
  • your blog name
  • blog URL
  • date preference (if you have one)

To help make it even easier, we have a list you can print out and make notes for projects you want to participate in.

You can download it HERE

That's it for our 2023 Challenge hops!

Sit back and enjoy or play along and inspire us all.

We will see you in a couple of weeks with our "When Pigs Fly" Challenge.
I will be getting the schedule out to those participating in the next day or two!

til then...
Keep on Stitchin'

Wednesday, May 31, 2023

Which Way to Witchville BOM - June

 

"Wicked or Wacky Witch"
Which Witch are you?
 This pattern comes with an assortment of little "witchy" additions you can add if you choose.
You can download the pattern HERE
"Spell Binders"
Carla is sharing all her secrets in her books of potions and you can find the pattern over at "Creatin in the Sticks"

"Carols Creepy Cottage" 
You can find the best place to stay in town over at "Just Let Me Quilt"

You can also find the download for these patterns on our Cackling Stitches Facebook group page
You will find it at the top of the page in the Featured Posts tab.

This BOM runs from Jan 1st through September 30th. As with years past, on the first day of each month, we will release block patterns on our Facebook group page, that will be free for that calendar month. They will then go into our individual ETSY shops, where you can purchase them for $2 each block.  We have had emails and fielded many questions, so what is "new" this year, is that the entire pattern is now available in each of our ETSY shops for $15.  You no longer have to wait until it's over, to be able to purchase the pattern. It's also an option for those of "us" who just can't wait for the next months release. LOL!! 

We hope you appreciate the time we put into creating this BOM and understand that we are keeping the costs to a minimum for you. We ask that you respect our copyrights and do not share this pattern. Your welcome to direct your friends to our Cackling Stitches Group Facebook page HERE, or any of our blogs and Etsy shops

MooseStashQuilting ETSY Shop

Just Let Me Quilt Blog - Just Let Me Quilt ETSY Shop

Creatin' in the Sticks Blog - Create in the Sticks ETSY Shop

May Blocks

"Village Cobbler"

"Beware of Witchville"

April Blocks

"Cauldron Cafe"
Blog - "MooseStashQuilting"

"Magic Wand Salon"

"Winona Grimm"

March Blocks

"Flying Lessons"

Witchville Gala Night

Flying Geese - free pattern throughout the BOM
Download the pattern HERE

February Blocks

Witchville Bakery 
An Apple a Day 

 January Block

Town Square





Now fire up your machines and start sharing your blocks with us, on our Facebook page!

til next time...
Keep on Stitchin'

Wednesday, May 17, 2023

It's My Day "Rose Colored Glasses" Blog Hop

 This month Carol challenged us with a theme of "Rose Colored Glasses".

It's been a long time, but this "Moose-kateer" is back and sporting her beautiful

 "Rose Colored Glasses"

This challenge stumped me a bit, but when cleaning up some of my fabric mess once again, I stumbled on a piece of snow dyed fabric that I have been hanging onto for way too long. I love my hand dyes and crazy as it sounds, cutting into them is hard. I keep them because they are pretty, which makes it pretty silly to even bother dying fabric, if I'm not going to use it.

Snow dying frequently ends up with "Monet" looking results, so flowers just seemed to be a must.

Without further ado, let me introduce 


"Mavis the Moose"

This is a combination of a floral design from the book "Flower Show Quilts", and a rubber stamp from "Whipper Snapper Designs". It's so much fun to sit down and play with combining things.
The border fabric is also a hand dye fabric and I worked out all the the math for my quilting, to make a nice frame effect...All was well, until I had a senior moment, and cut off all that math I had done, when trimming it all up. 
Let's just say, Mavis had to plug her ears!
But that is a secret between you, me and Mavis!

A big thanks to Carol for hosting this months challenge and to all of you for visiting with us here in the MooseStash, today.

Please stop in and see what my fellow bloggers have been up to and leave them a little love...
We all love reading your comments. They really do make our day and keep us connected with each other.
It's been a fun week, seeing everyone's rosy projects! 
You can find the complete schedule HERE, if you missed anything.
We have another "Rosey"celebration coming this weekend.
Saturday my youngest son is getting married, so while it's a rosey time it's also a crazy time, here. I will respond to all my comments, if you are not a no-reply blogger, but it may take a few days. 


Next month I will be hosting 

Show us you PIGS!
 
PIGS - Projects in Grocery Sacks
UFOS -Unfinished Objects
WIPs - Works in Progress

Drop me an email if you want to join in.
There's always room for you!

In July, Carol is back and hosting "Picnic Party"!
Drop her an email and show us your favorite picnic theme projects.



til next time...
Keep on Stitchin'

Sunday, May 14, 2023

I'd Be Lion...

I'd be lion if I didn't tell you I love this guy!

I needed a diversion from my normal stitching and "Larry the Lion" from 
"Funky Friend Factory" was a great way to play.
Maybe it was when I went looking for something and a ton of old furs and fleeces in my stash fell out of the cabinet. I bet this stuff is over 20 years old. 
It was definitely time to use it up.

I enlarged the pattern to 150% so this big guy is 18" tall and 17" wide. There is no way I could have used these fabrics in the original pattern size
My machine didn't love all those thick layers and my hands kept cramping while working on it, but it was so worth all the effort. 
I also used velvet from a dress I found at a thrift store years ago, for his nose and feet. 
While his nose is a little wonky, it just give him more personality!
That's my story and I'm sticking to it. After all perfection is highly over-rated!
Larry was for "little man" but when you have a big sister who thinks everything is hers...
Well, she get a pink elephant!
I also enlarged this one by 150%...it's my mission to use up stuff that I have here, so the biggest I can make, is best!  Oh, but all that stuffing and housing for all these big guys! Will that stop me... heck no, I have more friends waiting in line to be stitched!
HAHAHAHAHA

til next time...
Keep on Stitchin'