Join Me for the New Year Twitter Party

Stitchin' Heaven's New Year Twitter Party begins 11:00 p.m. EST and will run until 1:30 a.m. If you aren't going out, or you're back early, drop in for some fun with fellow quilty folk.

I've got a Guild meeting monday and just remembered we'll be doing show and tell from the weaving workshop I took earlier this month. Holy Wonder Under, Batman! I never finished the first piece I was working on, let alone straightened out the second. Looks like a project for Suz Zwizzle - Art Quilter. To the rescue!

And rescue it be seriously needing:

Note those lovely little incorrectly Wonder-Undered strips flapping in the breeze. Guess that's the first order of business....lose those.

So here's the overall 'Before' photo:

Let's see if Suz can turn this woven wonder into something presentable....I was going to say before the clock strikes 12, but I do have lobster tails to broil, a steak to grill, and a Caesar Salad to make, along with a bottle of champagne with my name on it, calling from the kitchen, as I'm sure the hubs will be doing as well.

Feeling festive this NYE in my new red sweater and the necklace my daughter gave me for Christmas

And don't forget ... last chance to enter the Follower Appreciation Pincushion Giveaway. You've got 5 more hours to post comments. After I do a little quilt shop hopping tomorrow I'll be drawing a random comment from all those made by followers  since announcing this contest and the winner will be receiving this yummy little beaded cupcake pincushion made by Yours Truly.

Hope to see you at the Twitter Party. Be safe, and enjoy the celebrations.

Dillards Update

I have removed the Dillards rant post because today, Dillards has changed their 'get over it' tune from yesterday and are doing their utmost to prove they can offer stellar customer service. We've had a couple phone calls and if all goes well, I might have my items next week (more on that when they actually arrive). Today, they have been sincerely concerned with showing they do care about their customers.

To be clear, they did not ask the post to be removed...like they would even read my blog...duh! But they are aware of an online complaint I filed and sent them a link to, which I will also update.)  I'd also like you to know that I did not remove the post based on any comments made. My sole reason for removing this post is the fact that Dillards is now trying to make things right.

They have acknowledged that they have a problem with their order fulfillment, that needs to be looked into, which is the sole point I've been trying to make with them since Monday. They've gathered information about my order and my sister's order and willl be hoping their IT department can determine what happened so that it doesn't happen to someone again.

Regarding a comment made, I am glad my sister got her order (she received it today). And she never should have NOT got her order, nor was she LUCKY to get it. The items were in stock when our orders, and orders after ours were placed. My point with Dillards is that we come to rely on certain things...first come, first served....if what you're doing to assure that isn't working, it needs to be addressed, and today, they are doing that.

I appreciate the effort that Dillards put forth today on my behalf. They have been nothing but nice, and I have been appreciative and pleasant back at them. They have done an excellent job today showing me that they do value their customers, and I am thankful for that.

Now, I've got to throw together another batch of pear margaritas, get dinner on the table, and I'll be back later with fabric related post and another reminder about the giveaway, and a Twitter Party tomorrow night.

Stay tuned!.

Santa Must Get a Pretty Good Accuquilt Discount

As the month draws to a close, so does my December pincushion giveaway. Every comment left by a follower gives you a chance to win the cupcake pincushion pictured above. I know we're all busy playing with all the quilty goodies Santa left us, so I thought I'd post a gentle reminder.

Speaking of playing with quilty goodies. Santa been berry, berry good to me this Christmas.

There is going to be some serious Accuquilt GO! cutting going on in 2011. I found the 1-1/2" strip cutter, the Dresden Plate, Hexagon and Rose of Sharon dies under the tree Christmas morning. (It didn't hurt that I had set up a global wish list over at Amazon so the hubs....er, Santa....knew exactly which dies I wanted most.)

I also got a hefty stack of books....all the Gwen and Freddy Collaborative/Liberated series, Elly's new one, a couple Kaffe (my favorite books in all the world--the photography and locations are spectacular), Ricky Tims, and  Irish, New Zealand, Intl. Quilt Festival, and 100 Quilt Blocks magazines (The Hubs: "I went into Borders to grab some magazines for your stocking and it cost me $40! What's up with that?!".)  I've leafed through most, read one Kaffe, found my next project in the New Zealand mag, decided the Irish mags are a waste of money, and am trying to figure out what needs to come off the bookshelf to make room for the new books.

This nifty scissor sitter was one of my favorite stocking items. It's made by Puffin and Company (http://www.puffinco.com/). The perfect docking station for my new zebra print Ginghers.

My sister found the cutest pincushion. It's loaded up with the fork pins the hubs remembered I was looking at in a shop in Florida (where I choked on the price and didn't get them). He put two boxes of them in my stocking. He is most definitely the man.

Back to my sister's taste in pincushions....these are two others she has gifted me. I love my sister's taste in pincushions...actually in everything.

(Yes, those are pre-war Japan Shiny Brite pinecone elves....there's a bunch of them that are vacationing in my studio this winter. They're all so happy to be out of the cold, snowy Bavarian forest.)

 

While I finished my friend's gift (it was a cool retro smock apron from the pattern My Neighbors Apron (http://www.myneighborsapron.com/), I think she was disappointed. I thought the pattern was cute when I saw it in Vegas...no ties, no bib slippage, pockets. I just thought aprons were all the rage right now. Maybe aprons are a younger thing (especially the ones that are made to look like Daisy Dukes), though at my age, I can still appreciate an apron. I've got two more to make, and now I'm wondering if I should even bother with them. (sigh) This is daughter modeling the gift:

I'm off work until next Tuesday. The plan is to spend a little time each day on EQ7 lessons and embroidery mastery. I also got a thread sketching DVD I'd like to take for a spin, so it's going to be a fun week spent in the studio. Grab a project and create with me. Maybe we'll run into each other at the New Years' Eve Twitter Party. :)

Go make beautiful things!



Is it Christmas Yet?

Long time, no blog....a minor (cue maniacal laughter here) distraction has kept me out of the studio and out of the blog world for a bit. I'm taking a quick break and tossing back a couple of diet cokes in hopes of making it long enough to finish decorating a tree before bed.

Some of you might have seen my Facebook posting a few days ago that I had finally come to terms with the red and white tree and it's box of ornaments in the living room. Having walked past it for two solid weeks, I felt really good about my decision to not put it up and return it to the basement with the rest of the stuff I didn't put up (trust me...there's enough deco up for a few houses already). The weight lifted, I could concentrate on some of the other stuff I needed to see to, or, as the case was, lounge in front of the TV for evenings, doing what I do best....furthering my toehold in my personal little Kingdom of Procrastination.

Last night as I came home from work, the hubs was making dinner, and he says 'I've had some time to think about something I said to you, and I want to retract my statement that I'm alright with not putting a tree in the foyer this year. I MISS the tree in the foyer'. What's a girl to do? He has never asked for a tree (or for 15 trees for that matter). So, after narrowing his choices to 2 trees, he selected the red and white tree (I may have pushed him a bit in that direction...thinking of all the flock that has to be cleaned up from the other tree).  I set it up last night, added some lights and ribbon to it so far, and the plan is to get the sucker decorated and finished tonight...what time is it? 11:35 PM you say? No probs.

So this new task required something else to happen...

(Yes, that is cotton candy coming out of the chimey....FOOD OF THE GODS, I kid you not

This is my first gingerbread house mad without child supervision. I didn't do too bad on my own, I don't think. I did eat more strange candy in one sitting. Seriously, how can you not eat the candy decorations when there are a million different treats set out in front of  you for the 4 hours you're decorating. Yum! And fortunately, it didn't come back to bite me at all, though I wouldn't recommend eating too many gumdroppy things in one sitting...actually, I wouldn't recommend eating any of them.

I've got just a couple of things to wrap, and tomorrow you will find me in the studio located in the Kingdom of Procrastination, where I will be making a Christmas gift. I've never made one of these before, so I'm hoping it's something I can knock out in 6-8 hours. It had better be or else this person is going to be getting something from the grocery store, which is one of the few stores open Saturday. Take a guess at what I'm making and I'll give you an extra entry in this month's Follower Appreciation Giveaway. Remember, you're getting an entry for every post you make anyway, so if you mention a guess in your comment, you'll get two entries for it.

I've to put some ornaments on this darn tree in the foyer, but before I go, I want to leave you with one more photo. This is a Christmas present for the grandpup. I figure he's not likely to read my blog so it's safe to show you what he's getting from us.

OMG! These are just so stinkin' cute. Little Ugg-like boots for the dog, just like his Mommy has. They may be a tad large we shall see...this is what happens when you have Daddy measure little paws (sorry Chris!). Rick does not like to walk in the snow or wet. I can imagine just how well it's going to go wrestling hiim into these every time he needs to go outside. Wait....not MY problem. :)

I'll be back tomorow to whine about how I leave everything until the last minute. Take care, stay warm, and if you go to the mall, don't forget to take along a large supply of patience.

Good night!

P.S. When I got home tonight there were Christmas lights outside the house and in one of the trees. I thought I had pulled into the wrong driveway. The hubs' First Christmas Lights. God, I can only hope he caught some kind of decorating fever and that  rears it's head again next December.

BAD DOG!!!!

I've been in the studio, chipping away at the Christmas Grids and Grommets purse tote.

Okay, so I should have made the smaller one, but I just thought it would be too small. I'm consoling myself by thinking it's Jessica Simpson bag size...a good thing to have when Christmas shopping.

This pinecone batik is going to be perfect for the inside pockets...speaking of inside pockets. It's a good idea to use a piece of fusible fleece inside of them so they keep their shape and don't sag. I've found that very few patterns recommend this.

So, I'm more or less bored with this project for the night so I call the dogs for a last trip outside. Paco enthusiastically and obediently heeds the call. Bailey, who is the one who really needs to go out (he's been taking a steroid) seems to not want to leave the nice warm bed he's sleeping in.

Boy, was I out in left field. Bailey is already downstairs....apparently he's found something way better than sleeping in a nice warm bed....

He has managed to reach into my Letty's Bag fall purse, bypass the Prada makeup bag, the leather checkbook, the pack of gum, and pull out my most favorite Fossil wallet.

 And he has proceeded to chew it to shreds.

And the cash and credit cards that happened to get in his way.

I suppose it's a good thing I got downstairs when I did, or I'd be replacing credit cards, driver's license, quilt shop punch cards, and other sundry items all day tomorrow.

What was this dog thinking?? How many days are there until Christmas? Apparently he's not expecting much in his stocking this year.

I am so pissed. I loved that wallet. I left the wallet on the counter with a note for the hubs...."Bailey needs you to take him Christmas shopping".

Speaking of shopping, here's a tip...

If you're lucky enough to still have a Hancock Fabrics near you, scoot on over and pick up a couple of these...

These are 10 yard mini-bolts of Pellon Wonder Under. Now I just bought some of this stuff for the weaving workshop; and it goes for $2.29-$2.99 a yard, depending on where you shop. This bolt is a Hancock special item for $7.99. Eighty cents a yard. Heck, pick up 3 or 4.

And while you're at it, stop by and pick up a 10 year old Beagle to go along with that.

Have a great Thursday!

Has Anyone Seen My Beret?

I went for a haircut today and not thinking, I said take two inches off. And then I must have mumbled something about how my hair was all curly today because I woke up late Monday and didn't have the time for the blow dryer or the flat iron.

I guess Nam (as in Viet) was as distracted as I because when I looked up from playing on my Blackberry, I noticed that she had trimmed off quite a bit more than I expected and had finger curled lots of little Mary Tyler Moore curls into my sleek, shiny hair (which will only stay sleek and shiny until I wash it myself, and then it will go back to it's general Betty White strawlike texture without any hint of shine).

'Your hair's curly' was all the hubs had to say, a couple of hours after I arrived home.

Hopefully I'll have made some definitive progress on the Holiday Grids and Grommets bag by tomorrow night. It would be nice to have a new bag to go with the new 'do, don't you think?

Have a Wild Wednesday. Stay warm!!!!!

She Sews!

Tonight I opted for getting a start on the holiday purse over writing Christmas cards. I think fabric was a way better choice than paper and ink. Don't you?

Here's what I'm working on. And, before you're super impressed that I pieced my strips together so that my directional pattern went in the right direction on each side of the tote, let me fess up to the fact that I probably never would have thought of that except that my fabrics were directional in the wrong direction to cut the strips, so I had to piece two strips together to make one, and that's when it dawned on me that each piece needed to be facing away from each other. (Yay, me!)

f

This is the fruit of yesterday's weaving workshop labor. Needs work, but I've got a month until show and tell. (Which means we'll be sprucing that up on January 3rd...thenight before).

Well, I'm super tired just thinking about all the things I need to do, so rather than do any of them, I think I'll get some rest.  (Call the doctor!). Hoping to get some more studio time tomorrow evening...so much to do before the holidays.

Take care everyone, and wherever you may live....stay warm!!!!

A Little More Christmas

I'll be sewing this weekend, so not  to worry, we'll be back to that soon enough. The workshop Sunday is weaving fabric. Should be fun. I think I've got some great fabrics (I'll give you a peek tomorrow). I must make my holiday purse. I keep waiting for Clinton and Stacey to ambush me on the street...the fat chick in the Christmas sweater carrying an orange and black batik bag. The horror! (Though I sure would love a $5,000 Visa card and a trip to NYC to shop it. ;-) )

This is what I've been working on for the last 4 hours:

Ladies and gentlemen...I bring you the Radko tree.

Every ornament is Christopher Radko (except the little silver filler stars which are from Walmart....hey, did you just hear Chris have a cow in his Manhattan townhouse?) I've got just about 80 Radkos, and yes, I catalog them. I haven't got this year's new one yet, I'll have to trip over to eBay when I'm done here and take care of that.

What I really like about this tree is that once all the ornaments are one, and I've poked in about a hundred sticks of silver ting ting, I get to 'blizzard' the thing. Blizzarding is when you take handfuls of snow and throw it at the tree to give it that flocked/freshly snowed upon effect. You should try it sometime. It is way more fun than tinsel and looks way better. But I'd recommend that you don't do this unless you own a vacuum. It's a bitch to clean up.

Remember I mentioned the birthday gift I made that I couldn't show you until it had arrived?

Well, it made it, intact....thank you UPS....well worth the $18 you charged me to ship it.  I took a floral topiary form I had and inserted 77 suckers into it and sent it to my husband's father for his 77th birthday. I think it looks a lot more fun than an edible arrangement, don't you?

Okay, I'm off to eBay a Radko. Tomorrow I'll show you the Beach tree and some fabric.....I need a fabric fix, don't you?

Have a great Friday. I think I'm going to drag the hubs out to chop (saw) down a Christmas tree this weekend. I think a little photo documentation might be in order. Let's just hope it's not sleeting, and he's not trying to drag around a 150 pound tree like last year. That was almost enough to turn us off fresh trees forever.

Who Loves Gingerbread (and Red Velvet Cupcakes)

What's that taking up half of your huge coffee table, Suz?

Oh look, it's the Kindle Cottage. (Was the hubs nuts in agreeing that the coffee table would be a good place to display this growing collection? Will he live to regret it? Where will we play Trivial Pursuit?  Are the Happy Nighters now relegated to the kitchen counter? Will we be vacuuming glittery snow up every day? Stay tuned.....)

Frenchy and Icing still at work decorating the roof. You think they'd have finished that by now.

You guys sure you don't need any gumdrops?

Oh look!!! It's a new addition....Sprinkle thinks the deer will give her a ride if she gives him a cookie. Careful you don't poke your eye out on that rack, Sprinkle (or maybe the deer should be watching out for Sprinkle's rack, heh heh).

Hey, where did that gingerbread eating snowman come from? (maybe the nursery's open house tonght?)

A new baker Santa adding peppermint trims? Get out!!! And where is Mrs. Baker Santa? (Actually, she's in my sister's shopping bag and will be joining her better half come Christmas...'act surprised', she said :) )

Obviously a very good haul at the open house tonight. You gotta love a garden center that invites you in, hires a harpist, plies you with wine, cheese, chocolate, cookies, discounts and door prizes, demos how to make fabulous table arrangements, and brings in a Factory Rep from Beyers Choice who has every gingerbread house and accessory they make on a huge display. How can you not leave with something or three somethings.

It's probably a good thing this year's house was sold out, or we'd have to rig up some kind of couch pocket thing for remotes and drinks, as the coffee table would be maxed out (as likely would be the hubs).

Now....for why you came here tonight....the winner of the red velvet cupcake pincushion is......
(we started numbering the comments on yesterday's posts sequential to the ones from the first post....total of 22 comments, so Random.org generated a number between 1 and 22)....drum roll....Commenter 5..PJ/aka Pam. Congratulations Pam! If  you can send me your address by Friday at lunch, I can run it to the post office then.

Don't despair if you didn't win. You'll have another chance to win in the December Follower Appreciation Giveaway. This month, I'm giving you a chance for every post you comment on -- bonus chances to win. Sounds like a plan. Keep in touch.

Now, go do some holiday decorating! (And watch a sappy Hallmark holiday movie while doing so...we can all stand to clear out those tear ducts from time to time)

November OPAM Finish (And Last Call for November Follower Appreciation Giveaway)

Pumpkins Gone Wild on the Windmill Farm has been finished. (Okay, it still needs a label, so sue me).

It's a big one. I got a little carried away with those windmills. I wasn't sure I was going to like the beige background, but I really couldn't see using anything else. As it turns out, I really like it a lot, even if it will need to be washed more often.

The back has the Moda Pumpkins Gone Wild panel in the center of it. I bought all of the fabric on a trip to Lancaster the first year I started quilting (2008). The price was great, I was in love with Moda, so I just picked up bits and pieces of prints that went together and a lot of the wavy stripe for the back. Then last fall I saw the panel at the LQS and figured that maybe I could use it somehow, so I bought it. Good thing. I was a little short on borders (see cornerstones) and backing. But as quilty things are wont to do, it all worked out.

Next up on the agenda was slashing apart (and consequently piecing back together...meticulously, and perfectly matched), the Ginny Beyer border fabric to border the braided table runner.

All we have to do is work out all those points in attaching the border around them. The colors are pretty rich. This one is going to have to be a dining room table or buffet runner.

This is your last chance to comment for the Red Velvet Cupcake Pincushion. Comments on the previous post and this post, made by followers, will be tossed into the old random number generator tomorrow night and this sweet treat will be winging it's way to it's new home in time for Christmas.

Good luck, and enjoy your Wednesday! 

November Follower Appreciation Giveaway

A little late, but as promised, all followers who leave a comment on this post or the final post of the month will be entered into a drawing for my red velvet cupcake pincushion pictured above. I truly appreciate all of you who take the time to follow me, read me, and leave comments related to the posts. I so enjoy our 'conversations'. And I hope you will enjoy my prizes. Who doesn't love a pincushion? If you're feeling the spirit of giving this season, feel free to spread the word. If a commenter mentions you sent them, I'll give you an extra entry.

Okay, so I've been busy this weekend. In addition to having a hundred or so good cries over the sappy Christmas movies that have been playing exclusively here in the studio (3 channels worth....Ion, Lifetime and Hallmark....not to mention network tv tonight....a 2 boxer on the tissue scale---even the commercials were tear fests), I picked up supplies for gingerbread houses, a case of art kits for this year's charitible donation, and some stocking stuffers...for me....saving the hubs a coupon fumbling trip to JoAnn (Gingher scissors and rag quilt snips).

On the productive side, I finished my fall quilt (Pumpkins Gone Wild on the Windmill Farm), which will now pretend that it's this years' Christmas quilt....which we shall get started on sometime in the coming year. I also began work on the Jinny Beyer holiday table runner at 11 p.m. this evening.

Center square created from border print.

I've got one side of the braid completed. Tomorrow night I'll run down the next, trim and put some borders on it.

For some strange reason I wandered into my craft room this morning and pulled out a project I picked up the pieces for a long, long time ago. Dollar store frames, some refrigerator magnets, a couple Christmas ornaments and wah la...

The live, love, laugh are currently hanging on the studio door, at least until the daughter sees them. The faith and hope stuffed wool hearts are sitting on shelves in the studio for inspiration. Crafting was an enjoyable distraction this weekend....and I also spent a little time papercrafting this year's gift tags.

I'm back to being behind on the tree schedule--no time or inclination for tree decorating this weekend, but here's the photos of the Tuscan tree in the master bath. When I pull pretty wine corks, I like to make ornaments out of them for this tree.

I've packed up the really cute gift I made which you can't see a photo of until the recipient receives it. It was a tricky pack (you'll see why soon), but it will be winging it's way to warmer weather tomorrow on a big brown truck (hint to recipient).

We also went to the Festival of Trees on Friday, and there were some really fun trees, and some amazing gingerbread on display. Those photos are on the cell phone, so later in the week check for a post on those.

I've caught you up on what's been happening with me. Tomorrow I need to play catch up on all of your blogs. I'm sure you all had a lovely long weekend with family and friends, and had a chance to tick off either some shopping or some holiday decorating. Tomorrow, it's off to the gym with all of you (grin), and after that, try to exercise your creative heart with an hour at the sewing machine. Enjoy your week, and rest up....the holiday madness is just beginning.!