Headed to Alaska

We're going on a cruise to Alaska for our 10 year anniversary and it's a quilting cruise! It's through QuiltCruises.com . My husband is THE best. I hope to relax there and have fun sewing again. There will be no computer access and I won't be blogging...I plan on spending this week getting ready. Then a week gone.....I am taking classes with Vikki Pignatelli and Margaret Miller. I hope they will inspire me again.

I'll leave you with the block I made for our cruise challenge...I just didn't feel too inspired so it's basic.

Strawberry Freezer Jam

I have never made freezer jam before but I have heard it can be very very good and it's easy.

So I decided to try it this last weekend. I bought 4 - 1lb. containers of strawberries and chopped til I was blue... And then I crushed them and crushed them....added the Ball Freezer jam pectin....sugar...

It is suppose to make 5 - 8 oz. containers...guess what? It made WAY more...I just hope I didn't mess it up LOL.



I had to run up to my sewing room and raid my Ball jars that I use for pincushions...wash them and use them...but it was fun.

*note*

for those of you that commented on my weekend tutorial post. I am sorry to have had to remove the post. I will be re-posting a giveaway of Neptune charm pack in the future...I am deeply sorry for the confusion. I feel a bloggy break coming soon.

My First Quilt

Camille and Carrie have brilliantly challenged each to show our first quilt and our latest quit.

Here is my first quilt. I finished it in 1997. I used the pattern from Little Quilts All Through the House book. I made 3 or 4 of those quilts...I sold them or gave them away but I did keep my first.

This is my recently finished quilt. Candy Buttons for Moda Bakeshop. I just LOVE this quilt. I can't get enough of it..the colors and the texture....but I love all my quilts. I've learned many many things in the last 12 years. Here's the top 3.

1. quality fabrics....sorry wally world you don't cut it.

2.use fabrics you love...that's right CUT your favorites..ALL of it.

3. a 1/4 inch seam allowance is fudgable...teehee

A winner and so forth

Things have been quite hectic for us on the home front. I had a BIG intentions of responding to each and every comment on my blog about the Candy Buttons quilt....but I think I only responded to maybe one. It's bad I know. I'd like to blame it on sewing..but that's not possible. I work 4 - 10 hours days..so that is part of it...the rest involves the house we are trying to sell. The buyers are being very difficult. It's the market. We expected some demands but this guy nearly wants us to build a new house! Like he wants a bathroom fan replaced because it's too noisy...well guess what? I DON'T want to be heard when I am going to the bathroom!! and aren't they usually kinda noisy anyway?? What ever...we have made them a final offer..and we are waiting to hear back. They may walk away from the deal... it's really in God's hands now.

Now something on the bright side!

The winner of the pre-cut circles...I would have drawn by my 8 year old daughter but she is in Florida partying it up with her cousin and grandparents so I used the random number generator and numbered all the entries from my blog and MBS. Soooo without further ado...the winner is #20

Punkie Pie!!!

Congrats..Jen..please send me your address at vleapen at yahoo dot com.

More giveaways in blog land...

Check out the scrapbooking giveaway on Rainy Day Kisses blog!!!

AND

this quilt kit giveaway at Katie Cupcakes blog!!! awesome....generous bloggers...

I will be annoucing my winner for the set of pre-cut circles for my Candy Buttons Quilt later today....stay tuned

Candy buttons

I have a new project on Moda Bakeshop...



Candy Buttons Quilt....

When I started to make this quilt I kept thinking about those sheets of sweet candy buttons I ate as a child. Sweet candies...I ♥ this quilt. Although there seems to be an abundance of giveaways in blogland I am going to giveaway 1 set of Moda Sweet pre-cut circles for a lucky quilter that would like to make their own candy buttons quilt. Leave a comment here to enter PLUS....Leave a comment on my post at Moda Bakeshop for a second entry!!!

I'll pick a winner on July 10th! Good luck....

******UPDATE*****

As suggested by BumbleBeans....I am going to giveaway a Clover yo-yo maker with the circles!

Happy 4th of July!!

I whipped out my Nikon last night and snapped a few pictures....the sky... Our lone Lily...I need to plant more Lillies....


One of my broccoli plants...growing very well this year.


And the Hot Air Balloons....here in Ashland we have the Balloonfest

every year. I finally have a camera that will capture their beauty.

Here they are taking off....



I took this from about a mile away....

So we'll spend the 4th home and enjoying what our small town has to offer.

I may even swing over to the local quilt show today.

Happy 4th of July!

bored to tears...

I made bindings until I was bored to tears...hundreds of inches.... Now I have to bind ALL these quilts yeesh...

more quilted goodness...

Today I received a call that I could pick up a few of my small quilts from one of my machine quilters. He's a local retired guy that just does it in the evenings. I havve given him a few edge to edge small quilts. This one is from Baby Fats book. I still have 2 more left to have quilted from the series of 8 I made.
This one has frogs and lily pads....

This tablerunner was featured on Moda Bakeshop by Camille of Thimbleblossoms.

I stuck with the cherries theme... this is called VERY Cherry by quiltrecipes.com

And another Baby Fats quilt.

So simple and I am happy to have them finished so that when a new baby is born I'll have a great gift for him or her. I've never really been prepared like this LOL.

Hope you are having a wonderful weekend!

Fat quarter quilt

I've blogged this book before.... It's fab. So I made this quilt top from 12 Kaffe Fassett fat quarters.


I can't wait until it's quilted....

Portugal quilt again

Another custom quilted quilt. This quilt is 88 X 88 and difficult to photograph for me. I tried the design wall but it wouldn't fit. I finally just layed it out on the bed and took a pic in the sunshine. The fabric line is called Portugal by April Cornell. The quilting is devine.

Thanks for stopping by......

Sultry revisited

Jackie sent me 4 quilts at once. I was overwhelmed at the beauty. I LOVE LOVE this fabric line Sultry...
Here's a glimpse at the flowers in the quilting....

Have a GREAT Day!!

Figgy Four Patch Quilt

I have a new Moda Bakeshop tutorial: Figgy Four Patch Quilt. Check it out!

Big Birdie again

Big Birdie is back from Jackie in CT! Yeah...look at the detail she put in the birds... I just love the colors...so summery.

Have a Happy Day!!

Highlight quilts of NQA

Here are just a few quilts from NQA that I liked. It was overwhelming all the beautiful designs. It seemed that the Best of Show quilts were painted then embellished and quilted. I couldn't get close enough to take pictures of them. This yellow quilt looks like it has a black border but it is actually cut out. The black is the curtain behind it. Unreal..I am not sure how this technique was accomplished. All I know, is that my quilting is functional and small beans in comparison. Now this quilt is really cool because it has inchies all over it and hand dyed ric rack edging.

Here are a few others that had stunning quilting or color.

This is unique in that the ladder is an orange piece of plastic.