What have you been up to?

I know what I haven't been up to and that has been posting to my blog.  But I have a good excuse.  I have been working and also getting some sewing done.

I have managed to complete 3 quilt tops in the last couple of weeks.  All 3 are now in different stages of completion.

This is an appliqued quilt I started back in October or November of last year.  I finally finished all the applique, got the blocks sewn together and border added.  That is as far as this one got.

I purchased it as a kit a couple of years ago.  Not the kind of quilt kit I would purchase but it was 40% off so I couldn't pass it up.

This one is a quilt that I made from a Canoe Country Jelly Roll by Moda.  I have actually already got it quilted and waiting on the binding.  I am not really crazy about canoes but I have a friend that is planning a canoe inspired bedroom in her new home.  I think this will be a perfect gift for her.

Then there is this one!  My Red, White & Black Log Cabin quilt.  In this photo the quilt is actually upside down but with it being so huge, I didn't take the time to turn it around.  Are you wondering if this one is quilted yet?  Scroll down to find out!

No it isn't quilted yet!  I did finish getting it loaded on my frame this afternoon.  It was a little tricky with the way I did my backing.  After it is finished I will post a photo of the back.  I hope it turns out like I planned!  I did manage to quilt one pass on it but thought I better get dinner ready.  So it will just have to wait until tomorrow.  I am not sure how long this one is going to take.  At some point I will have to take it off the frame and turn it around to be able to complete it.  That should be interesting since I have never done that before and this quilt is HUGE!!!!

I guess that is it for now.  I will try not to wait so long to post next time!

Rhonda

Jelly Roll Sampler Quilt Along

Konda over at Moose On The Porch Quilts is doing a Jelly Roll Sampler Quilt Along.  I think this is going to be lots of fun!  Run over to her blog and check it out!  You can click on the logo in my sidebar to get there quickly!

My sister Dawn, left a comment on my previous post about the birthday giveaway.  Here is what she said,"Thanks for a great birthday present! I hope the winners enjoy their new birthday gifts...I hear mine is in the mail. Thanks Rhonda. God Bless!"

Yes, Dawn's gift is in the mail.  It was to be delivered by our Mom last weekend but the weather didn't cooperate.  If you don't get it soon Dawn, then call Mom because she was putting it in the mail.

The prizes from the giveaway were mailed today.  My work schedule has interfered with my other duties!  Why oh why do we have to have jobs? 

Hope you are having a great day!

Rhonda

Are you ready for a winner?

 

Happy Birthday Dawn!!!  Oops that was yesterday!  Oops, I forgot to send the gift to you!  Better late than never!  lol

A winner has been randomly selected for the giveaway of the Moda Honey Bun!  Thank you to everyone that entered!  WOW!  209 comments! 

Congratulations to Sally at Bells and Unicorns for their winning comment!  You have won the Moda Honey Bun!  I will be emailing you shortly for your address!

Have you ever found a giveaway and went to post and found you were the first one there?  You never see anyone that leaves the first comment win.  So do you hesitantly leave your comment or go back later to leave your comment?  Well, in the case of this giveaway, being first was a good thing.  Why?  Because I am sending out another prize to the person who bravely left the first comment!  Not posting a photo but will once she receives her prize.  Who is what I will call our First Place Winner?  None other than--Regina at The Queen Bee's Buzz!

I hope everyone has enjoyed visiting my blog!  Hope to see you back soon!

New Giveaway!!! Modified Rules!

This giveaway is now closed!  Thank you to everyone that entered.  A winner will be announced as soon as possible.  Due to the high number of entries it may take some time!
  
*A slight change in rules!  Please read!  All changes are in red!

My sister Dawn has a birthday coming up soon! January 29th to be exact! I won't tell you how old she is going to be, that just wouldn't be right! Anyway, I thought it would be a great time to have a giveaway in honor of that special day SO MANY years ago.

To win this awesome prize of a Moda Soiree Honey Bun, you will need to be randomly selected from all the entries that are received.



Here are the rules you are desperately wanting to know. Please make sure you read all the rules! This is very important!

1. You MUST leave an email address or link back to your blog to enter. If you are a nonreply then there is no way to get in touch with you if you win. So another winner will be announced if that happens!

2. You must live in the US. It is already expensive enough to mail in the US, let alone outside the country.  Anyone can enter, but (here is the catch) I will send the prize to anyone you choose in the US.  Maybe you have an internet friend that you would like the prize sent to!


3. There will be different ways to gain an entry. For each way, you will need to post a comment. For example, if you leave a comment to this post and post this giveaway on your blog you will need to post a comment for each. Hope you understand that. I just don't want to have to go through each of the comments and figure entries.

4. All entries will be based on the comments on this post.

5. A winner will be drawn on January 29th. Not sure what time but it will be that day. The winner will be notified by email at that time.



Here is how you can get entries!

1. Leave a comment pertaining to my sister's birthday to this post. A post to another comment will not get you an entry.

2. Posting about this giveaway on your blog will get you another entry. Please spread the word!

3. Followers are automatically entered for one entry. But please leave a comment telling me you are a follower.

4.  Since I have slightly changed the rules, if you repost this update to your blog, you will be entitled to an additional entry.  Please leave a comment stating that the repost has been made!

I would really like to make this a great birthday for Dawn! I will make sure I forward all birthday comment to her. I know right now would be a good time to flood her email with birthday wishes!

I hope I have covered everything!
Sorry to have changed some rules in the midst of the giveaway!
Good Luck!

Rhonda

My Lucky Day!!!

First, don't forget to enter the giveaway in the following post!  I want to say a big Thank You to everyone that has commented so far!  Now I need to find a good gift to send the birthday girl!

Second, you would not believe what I received in the mail today!  I knew I had won a giveaway from Elaine over at Soggy Bottom Flats Quilting and Stitching, but never expected to find such a wonderful prize in my mail today! 

Here is a photo of what Elaine was so generous to send me.  I absolutely love all of it!!!

In the box was this magazine.  I had never heard of this one before and I am looking to kicking back this evening and doing some reading. 

Thank You so much Elaine!!!

Hope everyone had a great day!

Rhonda

Giveaway Entries!

WOW!  What a great response so far to the giveaway!  Just wanted to say Thank You to all those that have commented, become a follower or posted the giveaway on their blog.  I would have answered each comment individually but have been spending a lot of time reading everyone's blogs!  I have been checking out some awesome quilts and learning about others and their families. 

Here are just a few blogs that I have found through your comments this week!

Check out Carin's blogs!  Margaret's Hope Chest sounds like a good project to help Carin with.  Also be sure and check out her other blog about her family and life.  http://diplofam.blogspot.com/  Hope the little guys hands heal quickly!

Also check out Southern Style!  Lots of great reading!

Make sure you go by Gina's blog, http://gina-catswhiskers.blogspot.com/  Lots of beautiful winter photos!

Last but not lease by far, go over to Rhonda's blog http://ravelly1-quiltzblog.blogspot.com/ and check out her Fractured Diamond tutorials.  Make sure you sign her guestbook!

Thanks for stopping by!

Rhonda

Giveaway modified!

I just hate leaving anyone out of a giveaway!  So I hope all those that would like to enter do so!  For those outside of the US, if you are randomly chosen to win the prize, I will send the prize to someone you know in the US.  This could be a relative, a blog friend or anyone you choose as long as they are in the US.  It's like giving a gift you don't have to worry about sending!

Good Luck!

Rhonda

Third time is a charm!

Some friends and I decided we wanted to do a Block of the Month together this year. So when Block Central posted their BOM for this year we knew what we wanted to do.

I got all my fabric ready and was able to use from my stash and not have to purchase more fabric. So I was ready when the instructions were posted for the first block. But things didn't come together so well. The block ended up being too dark! I am sure you will agree with me!


So I switched some of the fabrics around and did another block just knowing that it would turn out to my liking. Didn't happen!


By now you are probably thinking this woman is crazy! I am! So I thought about the dilemma for a while and decided it was now time to bring out the heavy artillery! Yes, I did it! I got on my computer and downloaded photos of the fabric I had chosen to my computer. Then I put them in my EQ6 program, drew up the block in Easy Draw and proceeded to color away with my fabric choices. I should have done that 2 blocks ago. So finally, here is my choice for the 1st block of the BOM. I guess, the third time is a charm!


Hope you are having a great day!

Rhonda

What I have accomplished today!

This morning we had a late Christmas get together. Just didn't seem to work out that we could get together before now. We had a great breakfast together then exchanged a few gifts. Jan, my SIL, gave me something I had been wanting for a while.

These are the paintsticks she gave me. I had been reading up on some of the things you can do with these and fabric. Here is some good reading if you are wondering.

http://www.cedarcanyontextiles.com/learning.php

I hope to be able to give them a try the first of the week.


I have also been wanting to put my quilting frame back up. I have spend quite a bit of time the last few days moving things around so I can accomplish that. Well, today was the day.

Jan arrived about 2 and after we got our necessary chatting done we started to work on it about 3. At 6 we had it this far and Jan took off for home. I got a few more things to do to get it ready.

It's ready now though! The machine is even threaded for some practice quilting. Tomorrow I plan to try and get some muslin loaded and do some refresher quilting. Hope it comes back quickly even though it has been a few years.

DD Jill heads back to college tomorrow. Might be kind of strange with Tater Tot gone off the couch!

Hope you are enjoying your weekend!

Rhonda

New Sewing Room Almost!

Thanks so much for the comments on yesterdays post! The library is a great source of quilting books. I know I have been saving quite a bit by utilizing the local library. Now if could only get Goodwill to take my clothes in on trade!

I have been an owner of a Janome 1600 machine and Grace quilting frame for quite some time. I had to take it apart and store it for a while when some things were happening around here that necessitated that. I have been wanting to put it back up for quite a while but knew it would be a job. The only room large enough to accommodate the frame is the living room which was my sewing room. So the sewing room had to be moved to a bedroom. That happened on Tuesday night. I took some pictures of the new sewing room while it was still somewhat clean and organized.

I started organizing my scraps the Bonnie Hunter way a while back. This is a photo of those scraps in draws and also my collection of FQ's that seems to be ever growing.



My sewing tables! I love having two of them to give me extra room to move a quilt around.


Looks so clean and organized! Probably won't look that way for long!


Now that this has been accomplished, it is time to thing about putting the frame back together. Maybe I will do that this weekend!

Hope you are having a great day! We have at least 3" of snow right now with more falling! Stay warm and dry!

Rhonda

Giveaway at Alderwood Quilts

Sue over at Alderwood Quilts is having a giveaway in honor of 100 followers!

Look what she is so generously sharing! Make sure you leave her a comment and become a follower! I love her blog!


Rhonda

Book Storage

Happy New Year! Hope the year is starting off good for you!

Several years ago I really got into cardmaking, scrapbooking & altered arts. So much so I actually was published in a couple of issues of Stampers Sampler. And you know when you are really into a craft, lots of books are necessary. But now that I am a dedicated quilter again, what do I do with all those books? I tried to sell them on ebay, but when you can go to Amazon and purchase used ones for little or nothing, it was a waste. But I really need to declutter and reorganize around here. Then there is that fear that you might need that book again. So what do you do? Donate them to your local library! Isn't that the best storage you could have? I think so! I will be able to use them when I want plus get a charitable tax donation of what I think they are worth. I think I have found my storage solution for these unused books. So today is the day I will be delivering them to the Jennings County Public Library. When I called them yesterday they were so excited to receive them and the magazines I have been storing. They even said if I would wait til 1 this afternoon they would have a guy there to unload the car for me. So the car was loaded last night and they are ready to go!

What else have I been doing? Some friends and I got together Monday at the New Frankfort Merchantile quilt shop to work on some quilts for Quilts For Kids. If you get some time, please consider making a quilt for this great organization.

I have also been moving my sewing room. But I think those pictures will be saved for a post tomorrow!

Have a great day!

Rhonda

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!!

Early Christmas!

We are having an early Christmas this year. The kids will be here this evening to open gifts and go out for dinner. Seems like everyone is so busy this year that it is just too hard to get together.

I went to town today to try and finish up some of my Christmas shopping. I really detest Walmart but that is about the only place to shop around here. I had planned on going to the mall in Clarksville today but it seems the case of bronchitis I have been fighting is still lingering. I just have a couple of gift cards to pick up and I will be finished. I don't need those until after the first of the year thankfully. How are you doing on your shopping?

Hope you are having a good day!

Rhonda

Why?

Why have people found it necessary to post spam in the comments sections of my posts? I just can't understand it. This has happened perhaps 4 times so I have had to change my settings to moderate my comments. This is such a sad world when a quilting blog has disgusting comments to delete so no one else has to see them.

So! If you plan on posting a comment about Viagra, I am not male so I really don't need it. If you plan on posting a comment telling me I need to meet up with you, sorry! I don't have time and I really don't want to. If you think you need to post a comment telling me how hot you are, you are probably NOT! I don't want to know either!

On a quilting note, I finished my daughters Happy Block swap quilt. Well, I thought I had! Put the binding on it this afternoon. Laid it out to look at it and didn't like the quilting. Just wasn't enough of it. So now I am adding some more quilting to the body of the quilt.

Have to work the next 4 days so you probably won't hear from me during that time! Hope you have a great weekend!

Rhonda

Friends & Family

I haven't been getting much sewing done since I haven't been able to get off the couch much lately. Been to the doctor twice and each time given another antibiotic injection. Hopefully soon it will be better.

This package arrived last week from my friend Joanne in New Hampshire. This is a surprise she sent me for finishing a UFO. The boogie family arrived about the same time as the ones in my head arrived. Huh! Was that just a coincidence? I am sure it was! Thanks Joanne! Love the green and the purple! lol Make sure you check out Joanne's blog! She is doing some awesome quilting!


The next photos are of my kids at Thanksgiving. We were having a great time playing Wii.

This is Jill, the baby, playing Gold's Gym Cardio Workout. It sure looks like she really needs it! Check out those great socks!!!


This next photo is of my son, Mick. Mick is the joker of the family. Sometimes too much and it gets him in trouble. I think you can probably tell that from the grin on his face! lol


This is Cody! Cody refuses to have his picture taken at any time and this was no different. He is under that blanket somewhere. He was just too fast for my camera. Maybe I will have better luck at Christmas.


Hope you are having a great day!

Rhonda

New Look

How do you like the new look of my blog? I was getting a little tired of the previous look so I thought I would do something about it yesterday. I really like the colors!

After I spent the time to go get gas for the generator yesterday, our power didn't go out once. But you know that is how it usually goes. If I hadn't gone, the power would have went out and I would have had to make a trip to town.

Also made it to the library yesterday. Not the usual one I go to. Got a couple of quilting books to read up on some techniques. The libraries around here are on the Evergreen system. You can easily order a book from another library, but you will have to wait a couple of weeks. Our local libraries don't have a good selection of quilting books. Some of the other libraries have an awesome selection. I don't mind waiting 2 weeks if I can get a book and see what it is all about before I buy. You might want to check and see if this is available at your local library!

It's really cold outside today so it is a good day to stay in and sew. Hope you stay warm!

Rhonda

Winter is here!

Winter is here in southern Indiana that is for sure. The wind is gusting and the temp is dropping. A few snowflakes are also falling.

I think we are prepared!

I went to town earlier and got gas for the generator. Around here when the wind starts blowing you think about being without power. It isn't unusual for this area. When the closest decent sized town is at least a 1/2 hour away, power outages can be quite numerous and lengthy. So the gas is ready and the generator is in the garage. I can tell you getting gas in 30 degree weather with 40 mph winds was not pleasant but worth it.

On a quilty note, I am still working on the Bonnie Hunter mystery, Carolina Christmas. Not in Christmas fabrics but rather my own choice. Hope to get step 4 finished today.

Sorry for the screwed up font but it seems blogger doesn't want me to fix it today!

Hope you are having a great day and staying warm!

Rhonda

Blogs to share!

Here are some links to blogs that I think are worth checking out.

This is a great blog to check out quilts that other people have made. She is also having a great giveaway! Make sure you check out her online shop!
http://www.alderwoodquilts.blogspot.com/

If you want to find some new free motion designs for your quilts, then this is the place to go!
http://www.freemotionquilting.blogspot.com/

This isn't a blog but rather a great website for some awesome block designs!
http://www.earlywomenmasters.net/quilts/index.html


Hope you enjoy these links! Have a great day!

Rhonda

Weekend!

The weekend is upon us! Even though I work some weekends, I always look forward to Friday evening.
I plan to do some sewing this weekend. I plan to get a lot of things accomplished but we all know how that goes.

Today I thought I would share with you some of my favorite quilting related websites. Stop by and check them out!

An awesome website to order thread from. Make sure you sign up for their newsletter!
http://www.sewforless.com/index.php

My dear friend Joanne's blog. She always has some great things going on over there.
http://www.splittingstitches.blogspot.com/

A really great quilt shop in Salem, Indiana
http://www.crafttownfabrics.net/

Hope you have a great weekend!

Rhonda