You Want Some of This?

Tonight I'm somewhat quietly quilting in the Sweat Shop and planning an early evening in bed with a good book, so I thought I'd just post a reminder that if you're interested in acquiring a rather heavy box of leftover fabrics straight from the Kim's Big Quilting Adventure Sweat Shop and if you live here in the US ('cause although a certain amount of fame has come my way, fortune is lagging far, far behind), please scroll down a couple posts to my giveaway (I think it was the Monday post) and leave me a comment saying you want to be entered to win. I'll be brushing off the old random number generator (aka Hubby) tomorrow night to draw the winner, so don't be late!

And here's another sort of fun thing, I think. Scroll down to that counter thing in my sidebar. As you'll notice, I've had more visitors than I can count on my fingers and toes, and it looks like it's not too far from turning over to another big number--if my blog was a car and those were miles, it would be on it's last legs, that's for sure! So here's the game. Tell me the date you think it will turn over to 300,000 visitors. Those of you who guess the right date will go into a drawing. And because I very rarely even look at that counter thing, the person who notices and first comments when it goes over 300,000 also gets into the drawing--maybe even as a second entry if the same person already guessed the date correctly too! I'll only leave the comments for this open until Thursday night, so get your guess in soon. After that, no more guessing and we'll see who wins!

Oh, and I suppose the winner would want a prize too? Okay, if the winner is here in the US, that person will get to chose either a box of leftover/scrap fabrics JUST LIKE THE ONE UP ABOVE or a couple of patterns--I'll figure out which patterns in the next day or two. And if the winner lives somewhere outside the US? The winner will get the patterns--because they're light enough not to cost me a fortune to send! I'm thinking the patterns will probably be a couple I'd like to give away and maybe one of my new Changing Leaves patterns WITH the wool necessary to make it. Or maybe just one of my kits I've made up for that pattern (you can see a photo of the kit in my Etsy store). Or something like that--something pretty okay anyway. So, do you want to play? Leave me a comment ON THIS POST with the date you think the counter will turn over to 300,000. Don't you just love a good guessing game?!

Various Stuff Inside My Head

Being a night owl is a very difficult job. It means that the later in the day it gets, the more stuff you have filling your head. Sleep is hard because you're suddenly QUITE motivated to do all the things you're thinking about. Well, tonight there's a lot of thoughts going around in my head, but they aren't so much thoughts of things to DO--more like thoughts that excite the enthusiasm receptors in my brain. (Yes, as a matter of fact, I DID just make that up!)

Tonight was Gran's Knot-y Ladies embroidery class and that was tons of fun. As usual, I sat at the back of the class and tried not to disrupt the class too much, but it's very hard to be good. Originally I signed up for the class for inspiration and to brush up on my embroidery stitches so I could include some stitchery in my quilting and applique work, but I've found that Gran actually EXPECTS US TO DO EMBROIDERY PROJECTS! Can you imagine? Sheesh! So I sit at the back of the class and try not to draw attention to the fact that I'm probably not quite as serious an embroiderer as some. Sadly, I think I'm much more "naughty" than I am "knot-y," and I expect I'm a sore trial for the teacher.

Guess what, though? My friend Julia brought the issue of Irish Quilting magazine to class with her--the one I'M IN! Woo-hoo! I finally got to see myself in PRINT! After I wrote about it last time, I had an email from the magazine's publisher (or editor?--the gal who does all the work, anyway!), asking for my mailing address so she could send me a copy, so don't feel sorry for me--I'm sure mine is coming. AND I had an email from the author, Anne Marie, who sent me a copy of what she wrote, so I know what the article says. But seriously, it's so much more fun to actually SEE something like this printed in a wonderful magazine than to just hear about it! What fun, huh?! Julia said I was her show and tell for the evening, so I told the class how it came about and we passed the magazine around. It's so hard being the center of attention that way!

Then I came home and found an email from blog reader Ruby, who surprised me by enrolling in the Fireworks! class I taught in the spring. Ruby sent me a photo of her COMPLETED Fireworks! quilt--all quilted and everything! It's VERY exciting to me to see quilts I've designed and taught all done and looking quite beautiful! I wrote back to Ruby to say I hoped she wouldn't mind if I shared the photo--and I sure HOPE she doesn't because I'm going to guess it's okay with her and show you anyway. Here it is--

Excellent job Ruby did with this, don't you think?! This is the same pattern I'm working on quilting now, done in Halloween fabrics. I'm thinking about adding a big, black spider because the one I'm doing looks to me a bit like a spider web.

Oh! And check this out: Dianne of the Pink Flamingo Slippers is making the same quilt using Wintergraphix fabrics and she just posted a photo of the pieced center on her blog. So yep, I'm QUITE full of myself tonight, aren't I?!

And speaking of me, I gather from some of your comments on yesterday's post, that you think I might have a wee bit of fabric stashed away in the Sweat Shop, hum?! Gee, I sure don't know WHAT makes you think THAT! Seriously, I've been stashing fabric with the best of them (well, maybe not QUITE as well as LA Quilter Vicky) for a lot of years now and I've only had one other clean out where I gave fabric away for use in some donation quilts. So it was time again. Now my shelves and I are much happier, as are the recipients of the fabric I cleaned out of my stash. A couple of my quilting friends picked out what they thought they would use, and the rest is going to be sold to raise money for cancer treatment/research, so it's all good!

Do you ever visit Blackbird Designs' blog? They have the BEST stuff! I was checking in on Colleen's blog last week and she had posted a photo of Blackbird Design's upcoming Halloween quilt. Oh, I LOVE that quilt! I immediately sent Lindy (at Bearpaws & Hollyhocks) a photo and said we really, really NEED that pattern, and when I was in the shop the other day, she said she had ordered several copies and might make up kits. And you know what? I HAVE SOME EMPTY SPACE ON MY FABRIC SHELVES. Funny how that works out, isn't it? I think it's some kind of cosmic, biorhythm, karma thing or something, don't you? Now I wonder if that pattern will arrive at the shop before I go to quilt camp in September? Because I'm thinking quilt camp just might be a good place to work on it!

Of course, there's much, much more stuff in my head, but you're probably getting kind of tired of me by now, so I'll just finish up here, go to bed, and try to calm down enough to sleep. Darn, but life is hard when you're a night owl!

[NOTE TO ORCSMOM: Sorry you couldn't make class tonight. I think we distracted Gran so much that she forgot all about making us do yoga!]

Progress

I've been making progress, I think. I thought I'd share the "makeover" photos.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

It's still a small room, so no matter what I do to it, it's going to look a bit cramped, but at least it's much better organized and cleaned up now--it's a pleasure to work in there! And what am I up to now?

I'm working on quilting one of the projects on the list in my sidebar!

I've been by to visit the quilters who have accepted the August challenge and some of you have been working quite hard! Anna/Quiltmom's making progress getting things done and has brought out a red and green quilt she'd like to change in some way. Any suggestions for her?

Carol at Carol's Crafty Creations--well, she's started something NEW, but that's okay since it's recycled from me. As I'm cleaning out things, I've listed a few items on Etsy, and Carol purchased the Christmas List pattern from me--she's already done the first block.

Heckety's finished her second quilt, and from the look of her dining room table, she's been busy sewing up a storm!

Laura has finished a Christmas candle mat and Moneik has been making some wonderful bags! I didn't insert links to these ladies' blogs in this text, but you can click on their names in the side bar to go over and see what they've been doing and cheer them on.

And me? Besides starting to quilt one of my projects, I spent much of the weekend cleaning out my stash and filling a couple boxes with fabric to donate to a good cause. I also filled a medium Priority Mail box with scraps and more for the winner of this week's giveaway. I'm sorry, but I'll need to limit entrants in this giveaway to United States residents as shipping this box to another country would cost me a small fortune! I'll have more giveaways soon that anyone can enter, though, so be patient. And by now you know what to do, right? Just leave me a comment saying you want to be entered in the drawing, and I'll pick a winner on Wednesday night to be announced on my Wednesday night/Thursday post.

I hope you've had a wonderful weekend! Thanks for visiting!

The Reveal

I enjoyed teaching the Buggy Barn class today, but for some odd reason, I woke up at 6 a.m. feeling quite nervous. Seriously, I haven't been at all nervous teaching the last couple classes, so this came as a surprise. And, since I've quit smoking, I couldn't even have a cigarette to calm my nerves--and boy, I sure wanted one for a little while there! Once class started, though, I settled down. I think it was partly just anticipation!

I had 11 students today--the class WAS full with 12 but one of the students had to cancel. Still 11 was a nice size. First I wanted to show you the quilt top Lindy (Bearpaws & Hollyhock's shop owner) had made that generated a lot of interest in this particular Buggy Barn class.

Cute, huh? I love those dangly legs! Lindy had "kitted" up fat quarters for the witch blocks--three deep yellow fat quarters, three black fat quarters, and three blue fat quarters--and that's what I used for mine. Last night, one of the things I did to prep for class was to make some of those dangly legs.

The students were to pick any of four quilts in the Buggy Barn's Frightfully Crazy book, and out of the 11 students, 9 decided to do the witches and 2 were working on the cats (I want to make the cats for the next class I teach in September), so most of us were working on the witches.

This was the first time some of my students had made any of these types of "stack and slash" patterns and I really got a kick out of seeing how exact one of the gals, Darlene, was trying to be about sewing the pieces back together. The whole method goes completely against everything we've learned as quilters, and some of us take to it just fine, and others go kicking and screaming--Darlene was kicking and screaming and clutching her rulers the entire way, but I was very pleased that by the end of class, she seemed to have relaxed into the process and was doing a great job.

I loved Darlene's choice of fabric, so I thought I'd take a quick photo to share.

Here I've put up my block and Darlene's block on the design wall--it's helpful for the first time Buggy Barn students to see how "wonky" a "completed" block looks; otherwise they tend to think they're doing something wrong! I wish I'd gotten a photo of Imelda's block--she added a little bit of stuffing to her witch legs and they were really cute!

And the treat bags? Since one of the students dropped out, I got to keep one for myself, so I figured I'd share and show you what was inside.

A bag of snack mix--the recipe comes from the Frightfully Crazy Buggy Barn book; a Halloween bag stuffed with candy, a pencil, a couple of erasers, and some stickers; and my new "Little Adventures" pattern along with scraps of the wool they'll need to make it.

Part of the way through the class, when no one was paying much attention, I "distributed" the "treats" hubby contributed. When the Halloween pencils I'd ordered online didn't arrive on time, he volunteered to go to a party supply store on Friday to get pencils for me, and he couldn't resist buying everyone an eyeball.

These eyeballs are kind of sticky, so I was able to set them on the tops of the sewing machines, where they'd stay in place. And weren't my students surprised to come eyeball to eyeball with them?! Yes, I think they were!

All in all, it was a good class--in my opinion, anyway! After class, I came home and took a little nap before cooking dinner. I then spent the rest of the evening in the Sweat Shop, taking all the fabric off the shelves and sorting it out, dusting it off, and sneezing my head off! I wish I could stay I finished, but I can't--I still have more to do tomorrow. At least getting reacquainted with some of the fabrics I've purchased and forgotten about is kind of fun! How are you doing on finishing UFOs and cleaning things out? I think I'll do a little blog hopping tomorrow and stop by to visit you--see you then!

Nearly Ready

I'm very nearly ready for the Buggy Barn Halloween class tomorrow--I just have a few things to pack up. Here's something I've been working quite hard on:

What do you suppose those are? And I wonder what's INSIDE of them? I'll show you and tell you more tomorrow.

I heard from Carol over at Carol's Crafty Creations today that the random number generator picked ME to win her pattern giveaway--the one with the Ms. Rosie patterns. Wooo-hooo! See, ladies? I TOLD you not to try to enter that one! Yep, I felt it calling my name when I first saw it on Carol's blog! Of course, you know I'll pass the patterns along once I've made the quilts--or decided I'm never going to get around to making the quilts!

How's everyone doing on getting things DONE? I haven't had a chance to visit you in the last few days, but once this class is over, I'll be by to take a look and see what you've been up to! And some of you wrote or commented that you didn't have a blog but would play along too--how are you doing? August is half over, and I know I haven't crossed off nearly as much as I'd hoped but I also know I've gotten a couple things done that aren't on the list, so I don't feel too much like a slacker!

Time for me to get to bed and rest up before class--I know I have a couple trouble-makers I'll have to keep an eye on tomorrow, so I'd better be alert. And if I'm not absolutely beat by the time I get home, I promise to tell you all about the fun we have. Happy quilting this weekend, and I'll see you soon!

Gettin' Stuff Done

I don't know about you, but for me, it seems like this week is speeding by! Probably because I've had so much to do to get ready for the class I'm teaching on Saturday. Add to that a few side excursions along the way, and there are just not enough hours in the day!

Boy Boss left today for a family thing in Ohio and won't be back until Monday. Girl Boss 2 moved last weekend and will be out of the office Friday afternoon, waiting for someone to come hook something up--her telephone, I think. Since the "kids" won't be around much of Friday, I'm thinking about taking the afternoon off work and finishing up the last things I need to do for class--which is mostly to make witch legs.

(And that reminds me--if any of my Saturday students happens to be reading this and are planning to make the If The Hat Fits quilt, you might want to pre-make your witch legs. Or not. It's really up to you and how driven you're feeling to get something done. Mostly I'm planning to have fun, but being the teacher and all, I have to set a good example and make at least some of my witch legs ahead of time.)

Oh, and I got a little side tracked this week--sort of. Well, I did a little project that wasn't even on my list of things to finish. How did that happen? I'll tell you the story another day, but in the meantime, here's what I finished today:

Isn't it hard to believe that it's the middle of August already and fall will be here before we know it? Where does time go? And how am I ever going to finish things in August with the month half over and me getting side tracked? ARGH!

I'm quite impressed that I've heard from all my giveaway winners and the packages are going out in the mail tomorrow! Usually I'll write a little note to the winners, but I was so pressed for time tonight, I didn't--I hope you'll all forgive me for being a little impersonal. I do want to thank you all for participating and checking in on me from time to time!

I've found that one of my quilting friends knows another quilter who "collects" fabric and sells it at an annual fabric sale to raise money for cancer, so my clean out will continue this weekend with my FABRIC stash! I have to get my unwanted fabric to my friend Teri this next week, so that's good motivation. And, of course, I'm sure I'll have a giveaway of fabric of some sort--watch for that in my Sunday night/Monday blog post.

Time for bed now--contrary to what some of you believe, I actually DO need to get a little bit of sleep now and then. See you here again soon!

Giveaway Winners

Just a really quick post tonight to announce the winners of the recent giveaway. I've been in the Sweat Shop, getting ready for Saturday's class, and it's getting too late tonight to chat much. Hubby long ago went to bed, so instead of Hubby, I'm employing a random number generator tonight to pick the winners.

Giveaway 1--Weekend Quilt Projects book: Sue Cahill (number 22)

Giveaway 2--Quick Rotary Cutter Quilt book: Mama Spark (not Mama's Park!) (number 4)

Giveaway 3--2 books (critters and blooms): Carline (Lady of the Cloth) (number 5)

Giveaway 4--Two Chicken Patterns: Dolores (from Canada!) (number 7)

Giveaway 5--House Sampler Pattern: Mary on Lake Pulaski (number 3)

Congrats, ladies! Please email me your mailing addresses and I'll get these in the mail to you. The books will likely be sent media mail, so it will probably take several days to arrive. And if I don't hear from any of the winners by the weekend (Friday night or Saturday), I'll draw a runner up winner.

Thanks for visiting! I'll try to be more chatty tomorrow.

Furry Stuff and Other Thoughts

My friend Julia sent me this email about the economy I thought you'd enjoy:

"It's definitely getting bad.

Cats are so dramatic!"

And speaking of cats--yesterday I stopped at the post office, and while I was there, I picked up two boxes; when I got home, I leaned them up against the desk in my office, but they didn't say there long!

I think we all know cats love to sit in boxes, but these were just flat pieces of cardboard! Obviously, she's completely and totally invisible in the photo below. Cats and kids--they just LOVE boxes, don't they?!

The Wild Child sent me a photo of my "granddog" Rocky--after all, everyone's grandkids play soccer, right?

Finally, I'll leave you with these thoughts--I found this in the printer at the office and I have no idea where it came from.

GREAT TRUTHS THAT ADULTS HAVE LEARNED

1. Raising teenagers is like nailing jelly to a tree.
2. Wrinkles don't hurt.
3. Families are like fudge . . . mostly sweet with a few nuts.
4. Today's mightly oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground
5. Middle age is when you choose your cereal for the fiber, not the toy.
6. Laughing is good exercise . . . it's like jogging on the inside!

I hope you jog on the inside quite a lot today!

Busy Quilting Blogger Round-Up

Okay, cue the RAWHIDE music again, 'cause it's round up time!

I've heard from some of you and randomly popped in on others on the list. I thought it was time to do a little recap.

Amanda's got a story to tell about why she hasn't gotten much done yet, and her story is much, much better than the old "the dog ate my homework" excuse. Stop by and see! She HAS sorted out her projects and identified what she wants to get done--that's a first step!

Carol has finished several projects and--I know you'll be excited by THIS news--SHE HAS A PATTERN GIVEAWAY GOING ON! Woo-hooooo! Go on over there and enter! She has seven "lots" of patterns and you can enter one or several--similar, in fact, to the one I had. Just don't enter the one with the Miss Rosie patterns--I've got dibbs on that one!

DeeLee has a VERY lovely star quilt completely finished! Go over there and drool a bit. I wish we could reach out and touch it as it looks very cuddle-able!

Heckety has a quilt finish too--in addition to a dancing husband and dog. I'm also fascinated by all the stuff her husband keeps in his pants pockets. Kind of reminds me of that old Mae West line. Well, never mind! Carry on Heckety!

Julie has cleaned up her stash and has a couple projects on her design wall. And look at all those lined-out projects in her sidebar that she's completed! I'm quite envious! I was looking at my one lined out project in my sidebar and wondering whether I should put in the first two projects I completed, just so I could line them out!

Paulette has a definite thing going on with Santa over at her blog, but she's doing more than making a list--she's actually getting it done! Ho, ho, ho, Paulette! Uh, Paulette? By the way, those "poopy walking breaks"? I think you brought something back with you and it got mixed up with your lovely white applique flowers. You might wanna check, okay?

Finally, Sandy over at Texan has another giveaway posted. Go on over and see who won the last ones and check out the new one.

And what better way to end a round up than with a Texan? Thanks for stopping in!

My Brain is Full of Stuff

Eeeek! No sewing was done today, and I have that class coming up on Saturday with much to do to prepare! I'm going to have to work extra hard all week to get ready. So what did I do all day instead? I cleaned! I'll need to take some photos of the Sweat Shop to show you soon--it's starting to look much nicer in there now. And the rest of the house doesn't look too bad either, come to think of it.

Today I sorted through quilting books, and I have three piles--a pile that's going to Goodwill (because the content of the books doesn't outweigh the weight/cost to ship them), a pile that I'll list in my Etsy shop, and a pile to give away here on my blog.

I also sorted through patterns again--and did a more complete job this time. In fact, I came up with a few more to give away.

Best of all though--or maybe not, depending--I found all kinds of stuff I'd like to make for fall! Woo-hoo! That's partly what the post title refers to. But first I have a whole lot of things I want to finish up this month. And I've gotten all that stuff sorted better too! I even got the Hometown Christmas rows I've done up on the design wall so I can see what's left to work on. And that's partly what the post title refers to too--all the things I want to get finished!

Okay, now for giveaway "stuff." First, let's see who won the little wool kit, shall we? Well, it's BJ! Congratulations, BJ! Please email me your mailing address and I'll put it in the mail to you!

Now for some new giveaway "stuff." I'll draw names on Wednesday night and post the winners on the Wednesday night/Thursday post--make sure you come back to see if you've won! And, like before, you can ask to be put into more than one giveaway, but please leave separate comments for each giveaway, okay?

GIVEAWAY #1: Weekend Quilt Projects book--cute, fairly fast projects with a country appeal. Although the book is a bit older, most of the patterns are still attractive and can be updated with newer fabrics.

GIVEAWAY #2: Quick Rotary Cutter Quilts by Pam Bono. Again, an older book but many of the patterns would look great in newer fabrics.

GIVEAWAY #3: Again, older books but this time, two of them! Simple patterns with some piecing and some applique.

GIVEAWAY #4: Do you like chickens? I DO! I went through a BIG chicken phase at one time and collected masses of them. I need to be pare down my collection a little bit though. So in this giveaway, there are two chicken patterns--one with Santa Claus and one without. Oh, and Santa has other barnyard animals. Kind of goofy but cute too, you know?!

Giveaway #5: House Sampler pattern. Kind of says it all, doesn't it? I have a friend who gets bored making the same block over and over again, and I can't help but think this is a good pattern for someone who wants to make different blocks but end up with a cohesive whole quilt in the end.

Because I was so busy today, I had Hubby get some Chinese fast food for dinner. Here's my fortune--

I don't think this applies to a person with a blog, do you?! Sheesh! Getting told to shut up by a fortune cookie! So much for my international fame! I guess it doesn't extend to China.

I had a couple comments today from bloggers who have been hard at work and have finishes to share, and I'll post those tomorrow along with a link to another blogger who's having a giveaway, so come on back!