DE-STASH #1

What could bring me out of the woodwork? A chance to DE-STASH! I saw mention of this LINKY Party at SewCalGal's blog and have been waiting for the day.

  Unfortunately while I was waiting - instead of going through my stash to get ready for this event, hubby and I started looking for a new house. And we found one. So all that entails is now in motion. The house closed today, one week early! How often does THAT happen?

 I would prefer to only ship to USA addresses. I might make an exception if someone pleads their case. Shipping is not included in the listed prices. I can give you a total amount due once you tell me what item(s) you want to buy. Payment by PayPal only.

 So I have a few items ready for the De Stash with MORE on the way. I needed to do this De Stash before but now that I am moving it is really in order!

First up-Amy Butler's Style Stitches. I was going to partake in a sew along with this and then I just couldn't get my act together. I have looked through the book very gently. The pattern packet has not even been opened (see second picture). The book is in LIKE NEW condition. $16

Clover Large Yo Yo maker - who was I kidding? I do NOT like doing any sewing by hand. Bindings are my limit.

Never opened.   $5

 Next up a "La Petite Ecole" jelly roll by French General for Moda

I won this in a blog sew along and have never figured out what to do with it. It isn't my go to colors and so it keeps getting pushed aside for other fabrics in the stash.  $20

This is a Hope Cove Fat Quarter Bundle in Mint, by Robyn Pandolph for RJR Fabrics  

 9 fat quarters. Never opened. Again, I just haven't come up with something to use this for. Sweet prints. For sale at The Fat Quarter Shop for 32.50.  You can get it here for $22



A sweet fat quarter bundle of Irving Street Flannels by Erin McMorris.  You can see the full prints at Quilthome.com (where it retails for $10.95 per yard). 

6 fat quarters of flannel  $12

Various patterns - quilts, aprons, rug, child's top.

new and unused

$3.50 each, please specify which pattern(s) you'd like!

That is it for today. Leave a comment letting me know what it is you are interested in. Make sure that I can contact you - leave an email address if you happen to be a no-reply blogger. I have more to list so please come back soon!

Visit FingertipShopping for more bloggers taking part in the De-Stash event!

Praise - oh so many things to Praise the Lord for since I last wrote! My friend who had bone cancer just learned this week that her blood work shows NO active cancer in her body!

Prayer - for my hubby's left leg. For some reason it has been swelling just over his knee over the last few days and getting worse.  Prayer for healing and for wisdom on how he should handle this.

200th Post - GIVEAWAY!

I really did not think this far ahead when I first started this blog. 100 posts was too much to even think about at that time and now here I am at 200. Mind boggling. It's been fun for me to have this blog and to meet so many other bloggin' friends. I look forward to the next 100 posts, however long that might take. Thanks for joining me.

I need to give a BIG thanks to Des and Corrie of Quilt Taffy, for their encouragement in starting this blog, for their friendship (I really believe we are long lost sisters) and cheerleading and for teaching me about giveaways! THANKS!!!

First off I do need to report on my sewing for the day. After a great day at church and a yummy lunch bought from the podunk country store on the way home I was energized and ready to sew. Of course I had to check in on all my bloggin' friends first. But then I got busy. All went smoothly in the construction of this bag;

Again, this is The Practical Bag pattern by Tanya Whelan's Grand Revival Patterns done in the lovely VERNA by Kate Spain and Moda. College girl bought this fabric and asked me to make the bag so she can give it to her BFF. I'll be taking this to the big city with me on Friday.

As I mentioned before I had planned on a giveaway at 100 posts but it just slipped by so now I will be giving away TWO goodies!! The first name drawn will get first pick of the charm packs and the second name drawn will get the remaining charm pack. I hope you like the choices;


(Charm pack images from the Moda site)
I'm afraid that I will have trouble parting with them! Might have to get one of each for myself.

So the rules of the Giveaway;

1)Leave a comment on THIS POST for one entry. You must have an email contact (either through a direct link in your comment or an email address that you type into the contact)

2)Become a follower of my blog and leave a comment on THIS POST telling me that you did so. If you are already a follower - THANK YOU! but you will still have to leave me a comment telling me that you already follow. This will earn you an entry.

3)Post an entry on your blog about MY blog and giveaway. Post a comment, with a link to your blog post, telling me that you did so on THIS POST. You will earn an entry for this.

You can do any one, any two, or all three. I will draw the winners when I return from the big city and have a chance to tabulate the entries. Posts will close the night of Monday the 26th and the drawing done by Wednesday the 28th. Bear with me, I hope this all makes sense. It is supposed to be fun!



Praises - 200 posts! I think that is praise worthy! I've 'met' so many fun and talented people and learned so much from them. Hubby found the corner marker!!!!

Prayers - I feel as though it will be a short week with me leaving on Friday and I need to get my work done, get my bindings ready, pack and then all the 'normal stuff'.

Do zippers go bad??

You know, I was going to change my header photo. I was ready to admit that although it is still winter by the calendar we are well on our way into spring (or brown, as I like to call it). I even suggested to hubby that maybe he should take the studded tires off of my vehicle. Then I looked at the forecast for this coming week. SNOW!!! It probably won't amount to much at all down here but up on the ski mountain it will help them last a few more weeks. I may be the only person in the county that is excited about the arrival of snow this late in the season. So be it. The header photo stays for another week at least.

I have been looking at tutorials all over blogland for cute little bags. Pencil bags, make-up bags, what-not bags. I want to make some. I have zipper phobia. Well not so much zipper phobia but 'putting in a zipper' phobia. Most of these tutorials have great pictures and explanations of just how to do the zipper part. I decided I needed to jump in and give it a try. When my fabric obsession was for clothing and not quilting I amassed quite the collection - fabric, buttons, threads, patterns and yes, even zippers. The pieces that would have required zippers would have been taken to my mom. She was my go-to for zipper application. My mother has been gone for nine years now. I haven't bought a zipper in at least nine years. But like a good fabric collector, you KNOW I still have it all. Finding it is another issue. While all of the fabric, packed into boxes, was moved into this house (as opposed to the insulated mega garage at the previous house)some of the boxes remained in the shop. I knew just which box I was looking for and I sent my son out to the shop to find it. I said there is a label on the box and it says among other things, 'silly notions'. He wasn't gone long and this is what he returned with;

He couldn't believe that I remembered what the label on the box said. It had been years ago that I put that label on there. Well I had seen it every time I went to look through the boxes. Looking for a certain piece of fabric. Or a pattern.

I knew there were some zippers in that box. I wouldn't have to go buy a zipper to make a cute little pouch purse. I certainly would not need to buy any fabric for said pouch purse. ;)

Here are the zippers that were in the box.

What size do you want? What color would you like? Yeah. It is sickness I tell ya.
How could someone with zipper phobia have so many zippers??

So my question. Do zippers go bad?? Or is it safe to use one, or maybe even two, to try to get over the zipper phobia and make a pouch purse? I think I'm going to risk it.

Praise - Winter isn't over and there is SNOW on the way!!

Prayers - for the house inspection that will be done later this week, that all will go well for both parties.

Happiness in the mail

It finally showed up today (I was beginning to think it was lost).I've been admiring quilts using this pattern on other blogs for some time and I decided to get a pattern for myself. Just something else to add to my TO DO list.

I am thinking I want to make it from a Patisserie layer cake. Someday.

I've been sewing today but had some tension problems. NOT the kind of tension I usually feel in my jaw and shoulders when quilting. It was sewing machine tension! I stippled for miles on a sample piece until I finally got everything to look great. Moved to my real piece and sewed for quite a bit and then decided I did NOT like it. Not even a little. Sat and unpicked lots of thread. Tried it again. Unpicked again. Finally I was able to equalize the threads and I was happy with the stitch. Oh what a lot of wasted time that was.
Still plugging away at my projects.

Praise - For a beautiful first day of fall that God graced us with! Crisp, cool morning, blue skies and sunshine all day with temperatures never getting much over 70.

Prayers - For a young wife at our church that just found out she is pregnant. That she would get over the terrible morning sickness she has been experiencing. Prayers for a healthy pregnancy from here on.

The GREEN Month is upon us

February is too short. Can you believe it is March already? Almost a week into it too. March always makes me think GREEN (and I am not talking Al Gore's 'save the planet' green either). I don't really get into celebrating St.Patrick's Day like my parents did. My kids really enjoy it for some reason though. I think as homeshooled kids they just needed a fun day to celebrate and be silly. I have made them shamrock cookies and dyed some of their food green and sometimes I even wear green. I have never made Corned Beef and Cabbage (shudder), you gotta draw the line somewhere, after all.
I did want to share with you something that I recently made that was a glorious green, it was good for me AND it tasted good.

This is what I started with;

Add to that a couple cups of very cold water, peel the apple, take the grapes off the vine, peel the kiwi and give it all a whirl and this is what the outcome was;

It was so refreshing! My son did not appreciate it. He couldn't get past the color. I have made one just about every afternoon this week. A nice little pick-me-up. I have changed the ingredients a little bit each time and have included oranges and kale in some of the mixes. Both my hubby and my son liked the green smoothie that I made yesterday.

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I finally got around to finishing my February challenge. I used the Grand Revival Pattern for the Flea Market Bag. I sewed it up using some Amy Butler fabric for the outside and some Michael Miller Garden Pindot for the inside. I used a magnetic snap closure. The bag is supposed to be reversible but using the snap closure would void that option.

I am glad that I made it finally and I think I would make it again, maybe the shorter bag with the petal tie ends on the strap. I was confused by the directions from the get go. There was not an illustration to go along with the first set of directions and I was just not getting it. I read and re-read and it finally dawned on me what I was to do. The corners are also a little tricky and the pattern just says turn the corner and continue to sew but I had all this FABRIC there. It ended up okay but a little more explanation might be helpful for a novice bag maker. I had not done straps in this way before. They turned out fine. It amazes me how many ways there are to make a bag. I don't always see where the directions are taking me but I keep plugging along. I'm glad someone else figures this stuff out, writes it down, drafts a pattern and sells it to me!

* * * * * * *

I will post my March Challenge pattern choice sometime this weekend. I was having computer problems earlier and don't feel like messing with it anymore tonight.

* * * * *

Praise - I've had a great week with my prayer and food and exercise commitments. College girl got over her cold and her friends are there with her for the weekend. My son had a great time snowboarding today (and a safe trip driving up and back down the mtn.). It was absolutely gorgeous on top of the ski mountain. That winter isn't quite over yet, at least here. We have had snow quite a few days this week and we are expecting more!!
Prayers - For my two friends and myself as we commit ourselves to the Lord every day before we attempt anything in our own power. For hubby and son as they participate in a volleyball tournament tomorrow - for their safety and for the entire team to be a shining example of His love.

Thought I'd better get this going

February is MORE than half over now and I have not even announced which pattern I will be doing for the month. I had a busy first half of the month. Getting ready for Valentine's Day (I'll show you my pictures from that later) and for my house full of guests. So since time is ticking I picked what I think and hope will be a fairly easy project. Another bag from Tanya Whelan's Grand Revival Patterns, the Flea Market Bag.

I have no idea yet which fabrics I will use. I hope to choose them this afternoon and get working on it right away.

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College girl loved the Ava Bag done in the Taxi fabric so she is the recipient of that. She was home for the weekend and took it back to school with her.

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Although I have challenged myself to these 12 patterns for the year I have already bought two more purse patterns and there is another one (at least) that I want. Now it is all I can do to stick to the patterns chosen for the challenge because I want to make those other purses too!! I guess I just need to get busy and actually sew.

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Praise - my friends, two families of 5, came over for the long weekend and they were able to bring my college girl with them! What a blessing that was, for all of us. They had safe travel both ways!

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Prayers - hubby starts a new job today. College girl has a very hectic two weeks - tests, papers due, a big project. My son is busy with his schoolwork as well.

I'm going to challenge myself

So as I was wasting time, procrastinating, putting off doing anything productive and oh yeah, catching up on my blog reading I came across THIS challenge over at Oil Cloth Junkie's Blog. Boy oh boy could I relate, I love me some patterns! When the fabric stores have Simplicity, McCall's, and Butterick patterns on sale for 99 cents or even 1.99 I feel it makes sense to buy some. Sometimes I can even reach the limit. But then I also like other kinds of patterns, the kind that don't go on sale very often. The challenge - USE some of these patterns! So I have chosen 13 patterns. I will choose ONE pattern each month and make that item in a month's time. I have 13 so I can have an alternate if one of them is just not speaking to me. ;)

Sorry for the lousy pictures. Bad lighting and it looks like I took an aerial view from the Goodyear Blimp. But hey, can you believe I took the pictures today AND they are now up on my blog...same day! I know, so very exciting. Not as exciting as an impromptu trip to Disneyland but it is the best I can do.

the first 6 patterns;


Stacked Coins by Pieced Tree Patterns - for a charm pack friendly table runner. I have admired stacked coin quilts online and I thought this would be a small investment in time and material to see if I like the process.

the emmeline apron by montessori by hand - cute apron AND reversible!

Strip-Ease by Threaded Pear - I even have the fabric for this (and right now I have no idea which line it is - Ava Rose? Pop Garden? Seriously I have no clue).

Simplicity #3949 - a classic apron style with some variations.

Hip Skirts by Favorite Things - I have made a couple of skirts for college girl using another one of their patterns and liked it so I bought this one.

Covington Bag by Amy Butler - this is hard to come by and I found this at a teeeeeny fabric store I visited this summer when I was at the quilt show. I was thrilled and even more so when I saw the price marked down to $3 from $12.95. Something tells me it was marked down again though to 99 cents. but that sticker is not on the pattern so maybe I am dreaming that part.

Here is the second lousy picture of the other 7 pattern picks;


Short Stack Apron by The Paisley Pincushion - I have almost all of her patterns and I really like those I have made (yeah so there could be others on this list). I did have difficulty with one of them but I emailed her and asked for clarification. She answered quickly and sent photos via email to go along with her explanation! Try doing that with Simplicity or McCall's!

New Look #6841 - I love these bags! The grey one on the top left is going to be RED - yes I already have the fabric. It is a faux silk. I wish I could have found that same grey, maybe someday. I also love the white one the model is holding but I am going to use some Joel Dewberry Ginseng fabric for that I think.

Simple Charm by Thimble Blossoms - I am going to make this pretty much like the pattern cover, although I might not use the blues. This is a table topper and I might part with it and give it as a gift. I love Cotton Blossoms fabric (have two quilts to make using it!).

Flea Market Bag A Grand Revival Pattern - a simple ( I hope) slouch/messenger style bag. It has a few variations. I have some batik that I am thinking of using for this.

Ava Bag A Grand Revival Pattern - Says it is easy AND reversible!! I imagine all sorts of fabric combinations for this always wondering how I would decide which fabric would be in and which would be out.

Just Can't Cut It by All Washed Up - I have seen this made up most recently over here. Seeing that young man make this up encouraged me to add it to the challenge. Maybe if I just send him the fabric...

Market Bags by Portabellopixie - my favorite of the two variations is the gathered market bag. I am not sure which fabric to use for this yet.


So there you have the line-up. This will be sewing in addition to my other projects. I have other quilts and aprons and purses that I want to make. This really will be a challenge for me.

Since I am starting this challenge when January is more than half over I need to go with something I think might be fairly simple. Well at least compared to a quilt!

This is my pick for January:


I sure do hope that all of my other unused patterns don't feel bad.


Praise - that my college girl was able to spend time at my sister's house this weekend. Not quite the same as being home but at least they are related. I know she felt loved while she was there. She worked on a project for school, went out to eat, watched a couple of movies and went ice skating.
Prayers for all of those involved in the inauguration, especially those in law enforcement and security. My friend's hubby is working very long hours and people are taking their crowd control frustrations out on the men and women in blue.

It was a Quilt Show Saturday

My friend and I started out early, after all we had a 1.5 hour drive ahead. My friend's sister who happens to be a quilter was going to meet us there. These gals were GREAT Quilt Show companions. They were funny, they were appreciative, they were very much into the detail and workmanship that had been put into the quilts. We looked at EVERY quilt displayed. Here are just a FEW pictures. The photo of one of my favorite quilts did not turn out so great so I am not showing that here. Taking photos was not easy with so many people there and the lighting was an issue as well. Anyway, on with the show!

Most of the flowers in this quilt have a raggy edge (some pinked) that is not attached. You might be able to see it better in the second image.


I call this one the tearjerker quilt. It is a lovely photo quilt that anyone could appreciate, then I read the entry card. OH.MY. The quilter's younger sister was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's at age 53. The quilter made this as a gift for her sister, to help her remember people and events. She stated on the card that it helped her to accept what was happening to her sister as well. She said making the quilt brought on many tears but also smiles and laughter.

I didn't get a picture of the whole quilt here but I just LOVED the border and the quilting!!

This is one of those itty-bitty, never in my lifetime quilts. It was MAYBE 12" across.

I just LOVED this quilt!! It is just so darn cute, little paper doll dude. It makes me smile. :D

The photo does NOT do this next quilt justice. It is called COPPER PENNY and it was just gorgeous! It had a beautiful depth to it as well as some shine.

I am not sure if this qualifies as a watercolor quilt but I really liked it. Each of those squares is a flower.

A log cabin with a tulip growing from the center. The center square is also not the traditional log cabin center shape. I loved the color scheme of this one.


I really liked this saying;


There were MANY MANY quilts featuring applique this year. I don't know if this is a new trend or if I just didn't notice them before. Another trend, machine embroidery featured on the quilt. It did not change my mind about selling my embroidery module.

I was a little disappointed in the vendors this year. First of all, I did not see ANYONE demonstrating the new Bernina 830. I was sure someone would be there to do that. I was wrong. I have seen the machine demonstrations in the past, even when there was not a big release coming up soon. Secondly the booths themselves didn't have that over the top inspiration that I usually love about them. I am used to seeing purses and totes and aprons and quilts just spilling over each booth, so much so that I tend to miss things on my first go 'round and discover more when I make the rounds again. I wasn't WOWed by anything in the booths that I can recall. Thirdly, the fabric. Let's say the LACK OF fabric. Oh there was fabric but really, nothing NEW and EXCITING! Some of it was fabric I saw at last year's show. There was not a whole lot of the new fabrics that I know others are able to get in their local quilt store. I was really looking forward to seeing it all in person. The one exception was seeing some of 'Recipe for Friendship' in one booth. I was surprised to see how big the paisleys were, not how I envisioned them at all. I still like that print but was just surprised. ONE booth had some 'Ava Rose'. Some. Phooey. None of the red or grey. I went with a list of things to look for and I didn't get one thing from my list. I'll show you later this week what I DID get! I need to take a photo.

It was a long, fun day. My dogs were barking after all that walking. I dropped my friend off at her son's house and then I went to a quilt store. They did not have 3 of the items on my list that I thought they might but they did have the miniature vacuum attachments for machine cleaning. I bought that. I stopped at a Hancock's after that and just spent time looking at pattern catalogs and home dec fabric. I did get some fleece that was on sale so it wasn't a total loss. ;)

Praise - that my trip to and from the Quilt Show was safe and uneventful. That my son had the time of his life helping out on an infomercial shoot. That my hubby was safe helping someone bring in their hay. Finally that my daughter had a TERRIFIC time at the retreat! Prayers - that we would get final approval, this week,to move ahead with the new house.

It has been a GOOD WEEK!

Good but very busy. I have been stitching away on that binding. There were moments that I enjoyed it. MOMENTS. Most of the time it was just 'get er dun' thinking. I had a deadline! My daughter leaves for school on the 24th. I didn't even sit in front of the tv. That would require moving a comfortable chair and a good light and all my 'stuff'. I just sat in the chair in my bedroom and put on some music and stitched. And stitched. And stitched some more. I finally had to put in the mouth guard that I bought the other day when I realized that I was clenching my jaw. Hand sewing is NOT relaxing to me. ;)

But before the binding was finished I remembered to call and order some bobbins for my machine. My daughter picked them up for me on Thursday at the LQS. The Bernina repairman makes a stop there each Thursday and had some on hand so he brought them. Now I can use different colors! Now I don't have to unwind other bobbins so I can sew in a different color! How liberating a few bobbins can make me feel. :D

Then, I had a good mail day! WOOO HOOOO! Who doesn't love a good mail day and then when that mail day means FABRIC, all the better. The rest of the Andover Halfway Cafe fabric arrived. This is for the Galveston Quilt (free patten on the Andover site). I wasn't able to find the brown Dimples fabric that the pattern called for but I found a good substitute last week. I just need some time...

THEN look what I got. FINALLY! I have been stalking Tanya's site to see when she would have the new patterns available. It seemed forever since her last post and then FINALLY a post AND it was about her new patterns. I got an 'old' pattern too. Again with the time requirement...

All the while that I was stitching the binding I was thinking about a quilt label. I have never made one before. I have never labeled a quilt before! Des from Quilt Taffy had told me she was making one the other day. I thought about NOT making one. I thought about making one. I thought about HOW to make one. I thought about how to attach it. I thought about what it should say. All that time to bind a quilt sure allows for a lot of thought. Binding DONE! Label made and on!! Here is what I came up with. I am not sure that I LOVE it. I am not sure that I did it correctly. Seems a little bulky to me. I know some people put the fabric used and the pattern and where the pattern came from. That would have taken the entire back of the quilt. I kept it short and sweet. So what should I have done differently with the label? You know, for next time. (note - the one line I 'smudged' on purpose in photo editing, for privacy)

Now for the washing and drying. I am a bit apprehensive about this. I LOVED the quilt all smooth and pretty. I wasn't sure it was the style of quilt to be wrinkled and puckery. I wasn't sure that I was going to like it still. I wasn't sure that all the colors weren't going to run. I wasn't sure that the binding wasn't going to come undone. I wasn't sure that the label wasn't going to fall off. I forged ahead. I said a little prayer. It seemed so much smaller when it came out of the wash. All the colors were still in place, as was the label. Now for the dryer. When I opened the dryer - puckers! I really liked it! But would my daughter??

YES!! My daughter loves it! She likes the puckers and wrinkles. She LOVES the love note on the label. :D

The quilt top went together pretty quickly but the rest of the process seemed to drag on forever. I am glad to have the hand sewing of a binding under my belt. I won't have to put it off so long for the next quilt. I'm not afraid of that part anymore. I don't LOVE it but I know that I can do it. Next challenge will be machine sewing the binding on and getting those corners right. Always something.

Prayers - I have a LOT of packing to do! That was hanging over my head while I was sewing. For me to stay focused and on task as I get that huge job underway. Prayers that the entire house buying process goes well and we are able to close in early October. Praise that the quilt turned out just fine. An answer to my prayer before sticking it in the wash.

FINALLY - WAHOOOOOO!

This is what I did while I was waiting for UPS. Amy Butler's Frenchy Handbag purse with the purse straps. My daughter wanted it to be a shoulder bag but wanted the smaller sized bag. Amy Butler fabrics as well. It went together very easily. It was the first time I had used that pattern and I would use it again. I liked everything except the final step and would find a different way to secure the lining to the bag for future purses.

Yes the machine did come yesterday. Hubby went right to UPS to pick it up. Our friend had kept it from going out on the truck. Then hubby was helping paint a shop, then he came home and we ate lunch and watched the Olympics. Finally, he carried the box upstairs and opened it up. I took everything out of the box, looked at each thing, sat to read the manual, watched the DVD. That is as far as I got. I think I was a bit intimidated by it all. What to do first? What to sew? I am going to my sewing room right now. I am going to plug it in, wind a bobbin, thread the machine and sew SOMETHING! Maybe just a test of all the different stitches. If you don't hear back from me, send fabric!