Winner Me??

A few weeks back Darlene over at SewCalGal had a give a way, and what a surprise it was, when I got the email that I had won this adorable pattern. Cracker Jacks - a Fat Quarters Anonymous pattern. Could it be she has been peeking into my windows and decided there would be no one who needed it more than me???    Hummmmm...  

It made my day to find it in my mailbox today. Thanks Darlene, I can hardly wait to start on it.

Blogging buddies are the best aren't they?

:-)

Exciting Announcement

I have been so blessed in this blogging world with all the creativity that everyone has shared, that I have decided that it is time to give back a little, if I can. Madame Samm at Stash Manicure, has once again invited me to post next Tuesday February 1. While I can't share too many of the details just yet, I do want to let you know that it will kick off a fun little Valentines day project.

 Along with that I will be adding to it monthly on my blog. My head is so full of ideas that I want to share, that I hope I can get it done in a year. I promise it's fast, fun, easy, and a great scrap buster. Top that off with something that will be usable on a daily basis... Does that peak your curiosity?????  I sure do hope so :-)

Look forward to seeing you all next Tuesday! Did I mention a give away???  Be sure to check out Stash Manicure Feb 1st !!!!

:-)

Winter Get-A-Way

I would love to tell you that I came home looking just like these folks, but it just didn't happen!!!!  :-) I'm guessing by the looks of the Las Vegas strip, that many have been in  my shoes. Isn't that what paid for all the glam and glitz?? 

It was a fun weekend though, none the less. My friend and I managed to leave our hubby's in the casinos to loose their fortunes as we went quilt shop hopping. We found our way to 3 shops. My favorite of the trip was the Christmas Goose. They had the greatest wool applique quilts there. They also had the cutest Raggedy Ann type dolls with rusted bell hair and rusty nail noses. I managed to keep myself under control, although it was very tough. I came home with only 2 book, a couple of patterns and a fat quarter. Not to bad huh?  :-) Of course there are those special orders that will ship as soon as they come in, but they don't count. It wasn't in my suitcase and I am sticking to that story!!!  hahahahaha

I took this photo from the plane as we were about to land. I keep talking about photo quilting, and I have a ton of them to do, but they never seem to make it in the finished pile. Then there is all that art quilting I want to do. With luck, I will be able to combine the two and maybe just do some small journal quilts. Oh yeah a new goal. Maybe one I can stick to. Wish me luck!

Nook Color

I have to be the luckiest person in the world and I have a wonderful friend. Last fall when I was visiting her, she bought a Kindle E-reader. It really peaked my interest, but for myself, I wanted something in color. Something I could put all my wonderful quilt magazines on. Black and white was not going to fit that bill, and after some research online I found, Kindle wasn't going to consider a color version.

That was about all I thought about it until 2 weeks ago, then this mysterious box arrived in my mailbox. I hadn't ordered anything???? What the heck!  My good friend Laura, sent me a new Color Nook. She apparently had "not" forgotten what I had wanted.

Barnes and Noble just released this little guy and let me tell you, after playing around with it for a couple of weeks, I am in love! It is perfect for us quilters who can't seem to stop from pattern collecting. I love looking thru magazines, and like a mentioned a few posts back, I have managed to buy some, more than once I was so enchanted with something in them. Well, no more!!!! Not with this little baby. Can you say Digital Subscriptions???  Of yea! They are great. My first one is Quilters World for less than $16 a year. The digital version comes in a PDF file along with any patterns that would require anything printed to complete. Best yet, it gives you access to magazines clear back to 2006 and all their supporting files. I loaded the magazine into my Nook, and kept all the supporting files on my main computer to print out, when or if, I need them. Quilters World is my first stop in digital magazines, but Quilting Arts is going to be next, and any of the quilt magazines I can find that offer a digital version. I love the magazines that come out of Australia, but the postage is outrageous. I am so happy to have another option now. 

If you have any doubt about the color on this guy,

check this out. The screen saver is one of them that

 was preloaded in it. It's perfect for my love of the Pacific Northwest culture. It comes stock with 5G of memory and you are going to soon be able to buy a 16G card. The 2G, 4G and 8G are available now. Pretty cool huh?

I decided that I would make up this cover for it, last night. I dug thru my memory banks from a class I took with Gail Garber. Actually this one is a take- off on her new book cover "Flying Colors".  She taught us how to draft out the curved geese and piece them. I got up this morning and put this together. 

Gotta get back to downloading magazines. This is certainly addictive. Oh, and all those wonderful free patterns online that are PDF files, they can go on there too. I will have a plethora of resources at my fingertips. 

I see much more space available on my bookshelf, in the future. AQS is already starting to sell electronic versions of quilt books!!

Just a little FYI, you can also download music and photos into it. Is that great or what?

Laura, you and I have been friends for over 46 years, needless to say we have been thru everything in our lives together, and I am so blessed to have such a fantastic "BEST" friend!

Shakin the dust off

It was almost 30 years ago, that I made up this pattern for my boys when they were little. I was certainly surprised that I remembered where the pattern was. I did a little updating on things, and now I am hearing complaints that their quilts didn't have construction trucks embroidered on them. What can I say my poor deprived boys had to have plain ole teddy bear sleeping bags. It tickled me, that one of them remembered taking the bags with them when I had a knitting machine classes and getting to sleep in the instructors guest room, while I learn to use the machine.Just about the time I don't think they remember anything, they surprise me!   :-)

If you look closely at the cover of this book, you will see that it cost a whoppin $2.00. Does that date me or what? When was the last time you were able to buy a brand new book for $2? I must say that patterns have improved tremendously. This one is written pretty strangely, and you had to enlarge your patterns on graph paper. YUCK.  Luckily, the 30 yr old paper pattern was in an envelope tucked into the book. It held up quite nicely and I was able to pin and cut and put away for the next time I need it.

My little whine of the week, is the price of cotton!!!!!!!!!!!  I haven't been in a fabric store for a month with the holidays and all, but whew, when I went on Saturday, I was in shock. Kona cotton is up to $7 a yard. Wasn't it just $4 a yard a month ago?  If there was ever a time to bust stash, and forget buying cottons for awhile, now is it! I am so glad that I had my coupons with me. I used them all too. For those of you who don't live in the US, I am guessing you thinking, what the heck is she grumbling about!  :-) What can I say, but I guess I'll be on  fabric diet this year. Maybe I should focus on finishing my half started pile like I keep threatening to do!  :-)