Monday, October 31, 2011

Gift Certificate Winner

Wow, you all really know how to pick some gorgeous fabrics. I'm so glad I decided to do this give-away - because I saw a bunch of lines that I hadn't noticed. Now I'm all confused about what to put on my wish list! Thanks a LOT! :)

I visited all of your blogs, and looked at all of the lines and patterns and books you picked out. I must say -- you have great taste!

Penny was too busy smelling the gumbo on the stove to be at all interested in pulling a name out of the bag, so I had to do the honors. And wouldn't you know it ....... two names were stuck together. I guess that means there are two winners!

The winners each get a $50 gift certificate to spend at the Fat Quarter Shop!

So without delaying this any further ....

Staci - I love your kitty helping you sew! Too cute!

AND

Amy - love love love your Halloween tumblers, and that Whimsical quilt is to die for!

If you two will email me, I'll get your gift certificates ordered up tomorrow. Since Kimberly can tell you that I'm famous for getting the email addresses wrong, I really *need* you to email me so I can copy and paste it! LOL

Thank you all for participating. Wasn't it fun seeing what tugged on everyone's heartstrings?

We'll have to do this again soon.

Oh -- I forgot. Penny has a message for all of you!

HAPPY HALLOWIENER!

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Quilt Market

Is everyone else as excited as I am to see all the new designs and fabrics at Quilt Market?

I've been trying to follow the Fat Quarter Shop on their Jolly Jabber blog and Facebook and Twitter, but they're posting things faster than I can keep up! LOL. There are buttons on the right side of their blog page that will connect you with their constant stream of posts on Facebook and Twitter. Go ahead. Poke those buttons! I dare you!

Guess I need to start making a list and checking it twice! I find that if I do that, then I'm not sidetracked when it comes to poking buy buttons.

But while everyone is in Houston seeing everything up close and personal, those of us who can't go need to have some fun, too! I'll bet you agree with me!

Leave a comment to tell me which of the lines or patterns at Market you are most excited about getting when they are released for sale. I'll leave this open until Monday night, 10/31, when I get home from work. A winner will be chosen to win a $50 gift certificate to the Fat Quarter Shop so you can purchase some of your favorite fabric when it arrives there!

Can't wait to see what you all are going to choose! Maybe I ought to hold off on my list until I see what everyone wants! :) Remember, you must have a new line or pattern or book, etc., in your comment to be eligible for the drawing.

Good luck!

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Time is Flying By

Time is flying by and I seem to be stuck. I'm a real black and white person, and I'm dealing with a huge gray area now that's totally driving me nuts. Guess I should look at the bright side of it ... at least I have a reason now for my "nuttiness"!!

No sewing still. I hope to get things in some semblance of order to be able to sew in a couple of weeks. I was sitting here a while ago thinking about what I need to work on. I think I'm going to tackle bindings first since those are the easiest. Then I'll prep backings and hopefully get some of these tops off to be quilted.

I have several tops that just need final assembly or maybe a final border. Those are on the to-do list. Yes, Judy, I'll finally figure out the mitered borders on Bears in the Barnyard!

When I get all of that done, I'm going to pick one of those BOMs that I started and just do it. Just going to eat this elephant one bite at a time.

I need a vacation - badly need a vacation. I miss my brother and miss Louisiana. Maybe I'll get some time off before the end of the year.

Speaking of Louisiana, how 'bout that LSU! Geaux Tigers! I hung an LSU flag on the *inside* of a window here. A couple of years ago when LSU won the national title, I had a flag outside and someone stole it. Guess they weren't a fan, huh? Two weeks until the LSU-Alabama game. That one makes me nervous! If there are any Alabama fans reading this .... well, how do I say this nicely? .... I hope you lose! Now, don't go hating on me. I say that with the utmost affection! :)

I discovered the freezer was off yesterday afternoon. It seems a breaker had tripped. When I got it back on, the digital display told me it had been off 72+ hours. I'd like to know how it knew that if there was no power to the freezer. Anyway, everything was warm so it will all get tossed. Unfortunately, I don't have garbage pickup until Thursday, so I just left it all in there for now. Don't want stinky garbage cans in my garage. Darn, I sure wanted some ice cream last night! Oh, well, I'll just get take-out until I can toss everything out of there and start over.

If I had been sewing, I would have known that my freezer was off. The Bernina is on the same circuit as the freezer.......

And I need a new computer. This one is driving me nuts. It's about two years old, and that seems to be as long as they last for me. Guess I'll call our IT folks next week and see what they can suggest. Also I think I'm going to go shopping for a laptop with an air card. Anyone have any experience with those? Thought that might be best as I seem to have a lot of internet connection problems here, although it's all working -- for now.

What else? Buying fabric? Not much. Although I'm eagerly awaiting all the new things that will be revealed at Market. Jane's going. I'm officially jealous!

I see that Kimberly has up the new Bunnyhill Designs BOM, Merry Merry Snowmen. I always look forward to Anne's Christmas BOM. I love those little snowmen heads peeking out here and there. Yes, I poked that button!

Brenda Riddle has a new pattern up that's totally gorgeous, "By My Hand." I can't wait to get this one. I think I have enough of her beautiful fabrics to make this from stash. Of course, buying more would be okay, too! ;)

Penny is stuck to me like glue this weekend. Yesterday I opened the garage door to get a little more light in there while trying to reset the freezer display. As soon as she heard the door open, she started howling. That funny doxie kind of howl. I wonder if she does that every day when I leave. I hope not!

Oh, oh, I went to this fancy shindig Friday night. The folks I was with pointed to a very attractive woman and told me it was Opal from Days of Our Lives or one of those soap operas. I was clueless. LOL. I guess living here is totally wasted on someone like me! I did attend two events recently where Dean Koontz and his wife were in attendance. I shook his hand, and when I got home I ordered one of his books on Kindle. I just started it. "A Big Little Life: A Memoir of a Joyful Dog Named Trixie." I think I'm going to need tissues. But if I ever meet him again I can say I've read one of his works.

I tried to take some pictures of the leaves all over the ground but the computer is so slow now that I couldn't get them to download. Well, I guess I could have gotten that done, but I'm too impatient. Those probably wouldn't have been very exciting pictures to anyone, but they are to me. Considering it's hot hot hot here 10 months out of the year, leaves falling usually mean cooler temps are coming. Of course, it's SoCal, so it could be hot another couple of months. Honestly, I don't think they even need weather folks here. They should just post a one-minute picture with a sign that says "HOT AGAIN"!

That's it from here. Sorry it's been so long without a post, and really sorry there are no pics. Hopefully I'll everything ironed out and get back to normal here very soon.

Sunday, October 09, 2011

Lazy Sunday

I worked yesterday, so it's good to be home and doing nothing today. I got up early, went to McDonald's when it opened, and came home and crashed again. Need to go to the market, but I don't think that will happen today. I'll eat whatever is around for dinner tonight.

I got in a box this week from Kimberly at the Fat Quarter Shop. I picked up some yardage for borders and backing to go with the tower of Panier de Fleur I had gotten a couple of months ago. While I second-guessed my choice for a couple of minutes, it's okay now. I'll use it and it will make a beautiful quilt. Also incoming - the borders/backing for American Banner Rose. I'm all set to sew now when I get some time.

The camera batteries are dead, even after charging. Guess a trip to Office Depot is in order at lunchtime tomorrow.

Good news, though - the internet and TVs seem to be fixed, for now. New modems and boxes. I wonder why they all went bad at once. Hmmm.....

Hopefully I'll be back to blogging on a more regular basis here in the very near future. Thanks to everyone who has emailed sending good thoughts. They're very much appreciated!! Penny thanks you, too!!

Saturday, October 01, 2011

Still Standing

But, honestly, I didn't know one could be so tired and still be upright. The last three weeks have been ... well, I don't even now how to describe them. I took off this weekend. Got out early for a haircut, a car wash (badly needed) and then came home and crashed. Seems my internet came back on during the night. We'll see how long that lasts this time.



I finally opened the box that Kimberly filled up with goodies from the Fat Quarter Shop. American Banner Rose! Just opening that box made my heart go pitty-pat.

Tomorrow is my brother's 70th birthday. Wish I could be there to celebrate with him. Happy Birthday, Don! I love you!

Let's see, what else? Oh, I poked a couple of buttons a few minutes ago to get a little yardage to go with a tower or two I had here. Thought I'd best do that while it was still available.

I'm heading over to Amazon right now to order up some books for the Kindle. I only have a couple left on there that I haven't read. When I get in bed at night I've been only managing to make it through about two or three "clicks" (pages turned) before I fall asleep. I'm about done with "Area 51: An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base." Now I'm ready for something light!

Penny is still cute and funny, and starving for attention. Tomorrow I roll up my sleeves and dig into cleaning this house. I'm sure there'll be plenty of play time involved as she loves to attack the Swiffer and the vacuum cleaner. I have a little thing that I wind up and it plays "You Are My Sunshine." She barks and dances when she hears it. I just turned it on and she went nuts. Silly dog!

That's it from the Quilting Condo. Thank you all for your supportive emails and messages. I think I see the light at the end of the tunnel ... it's a tiny light now, but getting a tad bit bigger and brighter as the days pass.