A Free Stitchery BOM.....

has just started on Willowberry Designs. It's a beautiful stitchery and only 10 blocks to make a lovely quilt. The January design is up now,
so hurry and get it before the February one goes up. I'll have to go over to DD's and take back all my old cross-stitch supplies. I have 2 or 3 colors of floss now, but I had to buy a cheapie hoop to start another stitching BOM. But with 2 BOM's to follow, I think I need to have my good stuff back. She's not using it anyway, so it will save me lots of money.

We've started an Easter/Spring Table Runner/Topper Swap on my Yahoo Group, The Quilted Table. The group is a spin-off of the Stashbuster Group. We're trying to challenge members to make a runner or topper each month. Then we'll have lots of nice things for ourselves or gifts all ready made when we need one. It's a good way to get a head start on Christmas gifts, too. This is the first swap I've ever run, so I'm glad it's a small group. So far we have 11 swappers in 3 countries. Signups close Feb. 1st and I'll email swap partners on Feb. 3rd. Then we have til March 26th to mail our runner/topper so that it gets to it's new home by Easter. It should be a lot of fun.

This afternoon I made a big pot of Chili for supper tomorrow and sloppy joes for today. I should have done all the cooking on Friday, then I'd have been set for the weekend. I've been doing a lot of ironing and cutting this weekend. Cut my Happy Blocks, cut fabric for a lap quilt for me, cut up squares for TWO Valentine hangings, and cut the appliques for my St. Pat blocks. Phew! I'm all cut out! Tomorrow I'll start sewing. Yayyyy!

Until next time....

Happy Quilting,
Sharon and Katie

Another new site

A great new online store, WINFABRIC.COM is giving away two yards of FREE FABRIC every week beginning January 2, 2009. Simply visit the site at http: //www.winfabric.com and enter the drawing. You could be the first winner! Plus, in addition to great fabrics at the best prices-5% off all purchases will be donated to charity. Stop by today and check it out. I did and signed up for the free fabric drawing.

Happy Quilting,
Sharon and Katie

MY MITTEN BLOCKS ARE DONE...

and were mailed out Friday. Since there's no mail today because of the Martin Luther King holiday,
we might just have our blocks all swapped and back to us by next week. I can't wait to see them all. I made 2 sets of 6 blocks, kept 1 and sent 5 on. Forgot to take pics of all of them, but here are the ones I kept and some extra ones. This was really fun to do and I practiced my buttonhole stitch on all the blocks. I left mine plain and didn't go in for any embellishments, but after I see what we get in the exchange, I may go back and add some buttons or ribbon trim to some of them. I have a free pattern from Quick Quilts magazine web site and another free one from the Quiltmaker magazine web site. Both patterns are cute and easy to do; I just have to see which one the blocks tell me to do.

Toni, the Quilting Pirate,
has started signups for her next Miniature Booty Swap Round 3. Only 25 participants this time, with a kitchen theme. So if you're interested, hurry over to her blog and sign up.

Stop in at Mary Quilts and see the picture of her Happy Block quilt. She also has a free tutorial here on how to make that quilt or a Twisted Happy Block quilt. I've been telling you for months how much fun it is to make these blocks, now check out the nice quilt they make. I'm adding pictures of my January HB's and my February HB's. They're so easy to make, you can't stop with just a few, lol.

The next project I have to start on is the St. Patrick's Day block swap on my Yahoo group, Quilted Angels. Those are due February 6th, so I have to get going on them. Anyone have any cute small applique patterns for the theme that they'd like to share? So far, I think I'll do a shamrock, a derby hat, a pipe, and a pot of gold. Need 2 more things, at least. I'd love a little leprechaun pattern, but so far I haven't found one I like that is not too complicated. The blocks are supposed to finish at 6 inches, and everything I've found has been way too big. I don't paper-piece yet, so that limits me in what I can do. If you have something to share, email me at quiltingmama20 at stny dot rr dot com.

In the meantime, I think I have just enough time to make a little Valentine's Day wallhanging.

I found another new site for you to check out. Quilter Blogs.com, where you can read dozens of quilting-related blogs from dozens of quilters in one place! Quilter Blogs scans the blogs in its database many times a day and displays snippets of the quilting-related blog on the updates page. They also feature a search engine for online quilt stores. You can search hundreds of sites for specific fabric, thread, quilt patterns, projects, and notions.

Until next time...
Happy Quilting,
Sharon and Katie

Another new BOM....

and a new website with darling patterns. Make sure you vist Anne Sutton's site Bunny Hill Designs and look at all her great stuff. Then check out her blog with a free new BOM and download the instructions and first block. It's darling! This looks like a totally different type of BOM. I can't wait for next month. Click on the icon on my sidebar to visit the blog. On Anne's blog are a lot of other free pattern downloads also. Of course I had to save them all! Now to start making a list for this year's projects I want to do....and add them to last year's list that didn't get done. Oh boy, more UFO's coming, lol. But how can I resist all these great projects?

Uh-oh. Katie says to get off the computer and into the sewing room so we can get some of these projects DONE, instead of just dreaming about them! Boy, is she bossy!


Until next time...
Happy Quilting,
Sharon and Katie

Great New 2009 BOM

Wow! I just found the neatest website. Ellie's Quiltplace. She is starting a BOM Calendar for 2009 and the first block and instructions are up. If you like little stitcheries, check out her site. The January one is a cute snowman. And they'll make up into little wallhangings you can change for each month of the year--how neat! Check out the link on my side bar and make sure you visit her.

There are also some great new quilts and blocks shown on Block Central. Make sure you check out the neat projects Kim is planning for this year.

Have to get back to sewing.

Until next time....
Happy Quilting from Sharon and Katie

Happy New Year !

My family's holidays are now officially over and I must say I'm happy to have some quiet time ahead. Time to regroup and take a look at the projects I didn't finish last year and see if I really want to do them now or just skip them entirely. I do know I'm going to cut back on my swap list. Too many deadlines, too close together, and I get too stressed. I really enjoyed all the swaps I participated in, but I have to realize I can't do them all, no matter how much I want to. I do love the Happy Blocks swap each month on Block Central, so that one I'll stay with. It's a great way to use up stash and try different theme combinations, plus I have orphan blocks for quickie gifts.

Toni's Miniature Booty Swap Special Holiday Edition was fun, especially when I found out that John (whose name I had) had me in Doll Quilt Swap 5! I had been reading his blog and watching the progress on his give-away quilt for ideas on the quilt I had to make for him, when lo, and behold! I received my DQS5 in the mail and it was John's! How funny to have each other in different swaps. When he got my MBSSHE quilt he sure was confused for a minute. And to make things more ironic--he's originally from New York, too.

This is the lovely quilt John made me for DQS5 shown by 2 of his darling children. And this is a closeup of the quilt. I love it!

Here is the quilt I made John for his MBSSHE gift. I used a pattern called First Snow designed by Chris Malone. This was a fun project EXCEPT for hand sewing on all those buttons! If I make it again, I think I'll skip the line of buttons and just use the falling snowflake ones. This is my label. I love making them on the computer now. I can personalize every one differently and use any colors I want. The hardest part was sewing them on, but now I've purchased the iron-on labels from Printed Treasures, so that problem is eliminated.

I received my gift in Toni's MBSSHE from Cheryl in Maryland-what a beautiful Christmas Card Holder. I put it to good use right away and hung it on my livingroom wall. Thanks so much, Cheryl; it's decorative and useful! Love it!

My gift to Bonnie in DQS5 was this little quilt made from 1 1/2-inch HST's in Fall colors. I had started a lap quilt and a wallhanging for myself from these colors in the Maple Leaf block, but never finished them. I had lots of these HST's left over, so I started laying them out in different ways. Next thing I know, they were pinwheels. I had a piece of fabric in complimentary colors with little flowers on it, so my "Pinwheel Posies" quilt was born. This is the smallest quilt I've ever made...it's only about 12-inches square. Those little pieces were really a challenge to work with. Bonnie emailed me that she really likes it, so I'm happy.

I was lucky enough to have my own personal Angel this Christmas, too.
Her name is Lisa and she lives in Australia. When Kate needed an angel for her Another Little Quilt Swap because someone disappeared, Lisa volunteered. And boy, am I glad she did! She made me the cutest little log cabin quilt. The colors are wonderful and I can't wait to hang it! Right now I have it draped over my stereo speaker so everyone can see it. It's funny, but when I checked the ALQS blog to see the quilts as Kate posted them, when this one was added I was really attracted to it and kept thinking "I hope mine's as neat as that". Isn't life funny sometimes-my wish came true. Thanks, Lisa, you are the best!

So from our home to yours, may your New Year's be bright and filled with good health and happiness. Until next time....

Happy Quilting,
Sharon and Katie