We have a winner! And introducing Hex Check

This morning my sweet daughter pulled Regina's name from over at The Queen Bee's Buzz as the winner of the fat quarters! Congratulations Regina! Thank you to everyone who took the time to comment!

There has been a lot going on at this house of late.......August has turned stressful since the vacation, and as a sanity saver I have begun piecing the hexagon blocks for my Mom's One Block Wonder quilt. In some nutty moment of optimism in an earlier post, I'd said I'd hoped to have it DONE by the start of school. Clearly, I must have been out of my mind or sipping wine or something. But, at least I have begun.

And so, I'm initiating a HEX CHECK. Since you don't actually sew the hexagons together until the entire quilt is arranged to your liking on a design wall, I'm going to count finished hexagons as ones that are pieced in two full halves, fully pressed, ready for the design wall. As of this morning, I have 33 out of 224 done with several more awaiting the final pressing.

100th Post!

This is my 100th post!

I've picked out 5 new fat quarters to give away to celebrate this little milestone. All you have to do is leave a comment some time between now and Friday night--I'll number each comment and have the kids pick a random number on Sat. morning.

For your comment, please answer this question: Is there a color or two that you gravitate toward when fabric shopping?

I know for me, it's greens--pretty much any shade of green, and I'm walking over to massage the bolt! Yet oddly the color I have the *most* of in my stash is blue! (That's why I need to make one of those Storm at Sea quilts--to use up all these blues I have!)

Please make sure I have a way to connect with you via e-mail so that I can contact the winner for their mailing address.

Thrift store find

I had two different doctor appointments yesterday and the day before. I arrived with about 15 extra minutes one day and decided to do a quick cruise around the hospital's thrift shop--it raises money for the children's ward. I was lucky enough in my quick trip through the aisles to find a terrific vintage quilting book:

It is Scrap Quilts: Techniques Plus Patterns Old and New for Making Quilts from Collected Fabrics, by Judy Martin, copyright 1985. Paid $1. Far be it from me to pass up anything on scrap quilts! There are 20 complete quilts in there and patterns for 72 traditional blocks that lend themselves well to scrappy quilts. My personal favorite is a variation on a traditional quilt that I have long had a fascination with--Storm at Sea. Here is the variation in Judy's book: I just love the visual effect of this pattern.

On a personal note, I have come down with a rotten summer cold and can't stop coughing. Ugh. I just hope it passes quickly! I've got too much to do these days to be sick!

Friendship quilt block finally done

The members of Prolific Online Quilters, an online guild whose blogs you can visit via this blog ring, are joining together to make a friendship quilt for one of our group, Heather, who is serving in our country's armed services. ....the Navy to be precise! Go Heather!

Here is my block (which I'll mail to Moneik tomorrow). It is a 9-Patch Star (a free block pattern from an Eleanor Burns catalog I picked up at quilt festival last April). A big thank you to Moneik for organizing this project! Guidelines were red, white, and blue fabric (of course!) and a finished size of 12".

Back!

Back from my first major vacation since September 2001! In '01, I was about 7 1/2 months pregnant and in Rome when 9-11 happened--that was in interesting experience. This trip was MUCH more relaxing! We spent about a week on the Florida Gulf coast and enjoyed the beach. Then we went to Disney for a couple days with the kids--what a perfect age to do the whole Disney thing.......and I'm including myself in that!! I had WAY more fun than I ever expected! It's probably been over 20 years since I've been to Disney and a lot has changed. It is such a fun place.
So now we're back and I spent yesterday unpacking, washing and hanging out 3 big loads of laundry, mowing the whole lawn (and it needed it after 2 weeks of neglect!), trimming the hedges in front, pulling big (no, huge is more like it) weeds, and trimming a tree near our deck that was hanging way over the stairs. Then, just to round out the day, the kids and I all went for a teeth cleaning appointment. Phew! I pretty much collapsed last night.

I hope to make it to a bee tonight to catch up with friends and I still need to grocery shop to restock. My other big task is to go through 11 days worth of mail--ugh.

I had an idea about how to reorganize the basement (my sewing "studio" and the kids play stuff)--need to do some measurements to see if it will work--but if it does, it might keep the basement a bit more picked up looking than it tends to be. If the sewing gods are smiling, I may even get to dig in to piecing my Mom's quilt some today. Hopefully I'll get back to doing some quilting soon!

Taking a break

I had to post this pic of DD from last summer--snoozing away in a drawer from her dresser with her beloved bunny! (I think we were rearranging her room and cleaning out old clothes and such. She was so pooped out!)

Like her, I'm ready to take a little break and do some relaxing. So, I'm giving myself about a week off to enjoy the fruits of the summer! Please come back at some point down the road--I'm getting close to my 100th post, close to my 10,000th visitor, and I'm planning a giveaway or two to celebrate! See y'all in a little while!

A pressing tip

Here's a tip for pressing appliqued blocks: We know that pressing appliqued blocks upside down on a padded/cushioned surface helps prevent the stitching and applique shapes from getting too flattened.

I used to use a bath towel to do this, but a towel is big and bulky and has to be folded to get a good amount of "puff." And let's not forget to mention that the towel has to then go into the laundry (and heaven knows I have enough laundry already!).

I have "re-tasked" an item that makes a great pressing surface: a baby changing table pad (not the kind with elastic on the edges--just a flat tie-on type pad)! It's cotton terry cloth, pre-quilted to have the right amount of puff, and doesn't take up a lot of room in my stash of quilty tools. It rolls up nicely and is stored right along with my paper items, also neatly rolled and stored in mesh veggie bags (see my post here for that tip!).