What's on your design wall?

I've been sewing and quilting the last few days, but I can't post about it because both things I made this week are gifts for people that read this blog! :) I don't want to spoil the surprise.

I did receive a couple of swap blocks recently and I can share those! Liz hosted a fun and easy 4 patch swap in two color ways....either 30's and white, or civil war repros and shirtings. I love this idea she came up with for her 30's blocks and I decided to copy her idea! LOL The problem I found though, is that the civil war/shirtings fabrics don't have as much contrast as the 30's blocks do and the design doesn't pop as much.

What do you think? I'd love to make a small wall hanging out of these...or I can wait until after the new year and Liz has promised to have another round of the swap!

Another swap I participated in was over at Patchwork Corner yahoo group...all the fabrics are Thimbleberries. I'll need to make three more blocks and decide on borders, but this should be an easy one to finish up! Famous last words, huh?

Banner of the Month

In 2007, I joined a Banner of the Month club from This-n-That Fabrics. Each month for one year, I received a pattern and all the fabrics to complete a seasonal banner. I'm happy to report that all the banners are completed! yippee!!



Banner of the Month

edited to add: The banners are from Pearl Louise Designs at www.thimblecottage.com.

Hello Mr. Mailman!!

Yesterday the mailman (or woman? our neighborhood mailboxes are around the corner, so I haven't see him/her yet) brought me some goodies that I ordered just two days before.

I found these Thimbleberries October Glow charm packs during our travels this summer, so I bought a little bit of coordinating fabrics to go with them. I plan to make a quickie tablerunner before Halloween gets here.

As you can probably tell, I LOVE Thimbleberries and have made lots of scrappy-style quilts with them (see my Webshots links). I'm always short of neutrals though, so I found an Ebay seller that had ten 1/2 yard cuts for $24.99! Even with shipping, that is a great deal that couldn't be passed up! :)

This last picture is Smokey on my lap while I'm trying to surf the net (more shopping?)...he's a big cat and it's hard to balance him on my lap and type at the same time. LOL I leaned back to take the picture and he leaned right back with me...it's like he said, "oh thanks for giving me room to stretch out." And yes, I'm in my pajamas!

Couple of finishes....

I finished the Halloween Banner...I know it's a little early for Halloween (tell that to the retail stores!), but I'm going to keep it up for the fall season. I'd love to make something for each season/holiday!

I also finished a set of blocks for a swap. All the blocks are to be stars made from brown and teal/aqua/blue fabrics.

I'm off to play Bunco with the neighbors!

Weekend Air Show and a little sewing....

This weekend was an Air Show at the base. It's always fun and exciting to watch all the amazing things those pilots can do with those planes.

I was able to do a bit of sewing last night...I have an empty quilt hanger that needs a quilt! I bought this hanger over a year ago and didn't have a place for it in the old house. So when I was setting up this house, I hung it up without a quilt so I'd be sure to leave a space for it! I'd like to make a few different seasonal quilts so I can switch them out through the year.

So I started this wallhanging from Cottage Creek Quilts. I still have to add the borders and such...I'm using Thimbleberries fabrics, of course! :)

Ooewy gooey chocolatey peanut butter! YUM!

What's better than peanut butter and chocolate? A family friend made this delicious dessert for us a couple weeks ago and she was gracious enough to share the recipe...so now I'm sharing it with you! My own touch was to add the chopped up Reese's...yum! I can't wait to have a slice...

PEANUT BUTTER PIE

Chocolate cookie crust
4 oz softened cream cheese
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup milk
1 cup 10X sugar
8 oz Cool Whip
Chocolate syrup
Crushed peanuts (I used Reese's candy)

Mix together cream cheese, peanut butter, milk, and sugar. Fold in Cool Whip. Place 1/2 of mixture in crust. Drizzle with chocolate syrup. Place remaining mixture in crust. Drizzle with syrup and top with crushed peanuts.

Place in freezer for 3 hours. Thaw slightly before serving.

Here is Smokey showing off his new tag. Every time we move, I've always let the kids make new tags for the animals at one of those I.D. Tag machines you see in Wal-Mart or PetsMart. This time we actually made these while we were "on the road." We must have stopped at Wal-Mart along the way...I can't honestly remember! Anyway, they were in my purse and I'd forgotten about them. Zach just had to get the Batman one for Smokey....doesn't he look cool?

Hope you all have a fun, quilty weekend!

Since you asked....

Okay...when I showed pictures of my new sewing room in my last post, many of you asked "Where's your stash?" So, for all you lookie-lou's, here's a couple of pictures of my stash! My closets aren't as neat and tidy as I wish they could be, but I think they are pretty close! My DH built removable shelves at our last base and they fit just fine in the new closet. Each bin is on it's own shelf, so it's easy to remove one bin at a time. Before, I had to take a bunch of bins out to get to the one on the bottom!

I also have this smaller cabinet that holds BOM's, kits, and a few WIP. If you look on the bottom shelf, those flatter style boxes are actually scrapbook boxes from Michael's, but they are perfect for 12" blocks and other WIP.

I also wanted to show you my new little design wall! I got the idea from my friend Shari. It's made from a foam board from Office Max (about $15). It's 36"x48" when fully opened. Here I've left it folded, so it's 24"x36". I've covered it with white flannel. I bought a big enough piece to cover the board if I ever want to open it to the full size. Right now, this size is just enough and it's portable and can be tucked away when not in use. You can see the Quilt Inspector is checking it out, too. I think he approves.

My new quilting room...

Finally, here are the pictures I promised! I am so thankful to have a whole room just for my quilting/crafting hobby! There were a lot of years that I used the dining room table! I love my new room...it has so much more natural light than my last space. The ceilings in this house are 10 feet high! Can you believe that? Lots of quilt hanging wall space!! :) I still need to decided on some type of window covering...I'll probably do a simple valance.

I hope the pictures are "clickable." For some reason, the pictures on my blog aren't always clickable do get a larger image...does anyone out there no why that is?

Now it's time to sew!

Back at home...finally!

It's been a whirlwind month with our move to a new state and taking our youngest to college on the other side of the country. But we survived! We spent 11 days driving from Idaho to Delaware and took the opportunity to stop and visit with friends and family along the way. The entire trip went very well, with no problems to speak of...so I'm thankful for that!

This is the boy we dropped off at college...when did he grow up? Everyone knows the old cliche "time goes by so fast," but the last 18 years feel like they flew by in an instant. He's always trying to block me from taking a picture...here he's holding a blade of grass to block my lens. LOL

This is just a cute picture of Whiskers...doesn't she look like she's saying "Okay, I'm ready, take my picture."

I know I promised pictures of my new sewing room...they will come soon! Most everything is done, there is just a box or two still in the garage that I need to go through. I'm missing a few things from my quilting/sewing stash and I think it's in those boxes that I'll find it. I did get to work on a quickie project today. Peggy and Robin and I have been talking for a while about working on a project together this weekend, so we all decided to make "Deck the Halls" from Thimbleberries Pint Size 2 book. I'm still deciding whether or not I'll add the little bells on each of the prairie points.

Hopefully I'm back to normal for a while now...I have a lot of blog reading to catch up on! Until next time....