The DIY Dish - Sewing Machine Give-A-Way

The DIY Dish is a new series of free online videos and to celebrate, they're having a give-a-way. Watch the video to learn more.

Good luck!

Birthday Block Swap - #1

A couple of postings ago I wrote about the a Birthday Block Swap that I'm participating in. This swap is where a each participant selects a block of their choice, including fabrics and colors, and on her birthday all of the other participants send her a completed block. We've had our first birthday of the year...

Gayle chose a block called Quatrefoils in shades of soft green, yellow, pink, flowers, and butterflies on a cream background. I'm not a collector of pastels or soft colors, as I'm sure most of you know, so it was difficult to find fabrics I could use in my resources. The above floral print was one I received during a luncheon I attended a couple of weeks ago and it has metallic accents which I fell in love with. It also has small butterflies in it. Although the green isn't technically a soft green, I think it goes well with the floral print.

I hope my friend Gayle liked the block... I can't wait until it's my turn to receive blocks.

An Afternoon With Friends

A couple of weeks ago one of the quilting groups I participate in celebrated its third birthday with a couple of fun events. The first event was a weekend long cyber retreat filled with tons of activities.

My friend Dawn coordinated the cyber retreat as well as acted as host of the event. She had several games, including a fast track round of BINGO, a mystery quilt project, a Jake's Heart block challenge, miscellaneous quilting projects, a random acts of quiltiness challenge, a lotto block challenge, several fat quarter drawings, word games, jokes, recipe sharing, and lots of laughter. The retreat began Friday afternoon and ended Sunday afternoon.

I wasn't able to participate in the cyber retreat because I was at the hospital with my friend, but someone on the list RAQ'd me into the fat quarter drawing and I won. Here are some of the fat quarters that I won. Aren't they great? I'm not sure what I'll do with them yet, but I'm sure I'll think of something.

The lotto block is called Swamp Angel and towards the end of the cyber retreat, Dawn's husband drew the name of the winner and it was Dawn! Even though I didn't participate in the retreat, I made a block for her as appreciation for all her hard work organizing this event. Its a nice block and it went together rather quickly. I'll be mailing it in the next day or so. I sure hope she likes the fabrics I selected.

The second event was a luncheon at the Olive Garden in Tacoma, which is a mid-point for our members. There were about 18 members who were able to attend, which is about half of our membership. We had a great time visiting with each other.

Proof that my friends know me well... My friend Sue was handing out small blocks with little sayings and pictures to everyone and this was mine.

My friend Diane had a basket filled with fat quarters and each participant was to take a fat quarter. Because there was extra, I got an extra one. Afterwards, we were instructed to open up our fat quarters and if there was a sticker inside, we won a prize.

This is what I won. I actually won two sets of two kitchen towels, but I gave one of them to someone. These are so cute!

Someone else had a basket filled with fat quarters circulating too, but I don't remember who it was. Each attendee received a fat quarter and a key fob.

Isn't he adorable?

We had so much fun. A couple of people brought things for show 'n tell and we ended the luncheon with a drawing for fat quarters. My friend Diane's son Caleb drew the name of my friend Molly who won about 20 fat quarters.

What have you been up to lately?

Please Be Patient...

I know I haven't been posting as regularly as I normally do, but my life has been in turmoil and I haven't had the time to write daily posts or to create in my sewing studio. Please be patient, I promise I'll get back into my regular routine shortly.

Just to give you a little information, my MIL was in the hospital and with not knowing what was wrong and all of the out of town guests, my focus was with her. Thankfully, she is back home and on her way to recovery.

The day before she was released from the hospital, our dear friend passed away. Although he will be greatly missed, his passing will allow his family and close friends some closure and once the memorial is over, the healing process can begin.

I'll be gradually getting back into a routine and will post about my sewing / quilting projects soon. I'd love to hear about what you're busy creating.