Wednesday, May 30, 2018

Wonderful Wednesday - Back to reality and To the moon

Welcome to this week's edition of Wonderful Wednesday!!  A quick look at last weekend.

Back to reality and to the moon!

What's with the title of this post, Joyful???

Well...

Mr. Basket and I went on a Spa Getaway over the weekend (to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary.)  Insert fancy hotel, relaxing couples massage, and one of the most expensive dinners we've ever had here.  I always find it difficult to return home after being away.  This weekend was no exception!

Thus, back to reality.

Grandover Resort:



Still a happy couple... after all these years:


Walking the trails:


Enjoying the grounds:


A (vaguely) heart-shaped omelette upon our return home:


To the moon???

Or make that over the moon!!

Why, Joyful??

Well...

Sarah over at Confessions of a Fabric Addict posted the RESULTS for this year's Hand 2 Help challenge.

I was one of 150 quilters to participate.  Those 150 quilters are donating 416 quilts around the globe.  Kudos to Sarah for spurring us on to such great success for her annual charity quilt drive!!

Thanks to all of the wonderful sponsors of the event...

Everyone's a winner!!

My prize is quilt batting from:


re
Ifu you're anything like me, you're already familiar with The Warm Company, creator of Warm & Natural batting.  The Warm Company has sent us several wonderful quilt batts to be given away as prizes!
Winners:
Joy M., Melissa G., Beryl R., Vicki S., Kim A.

Thank you, Sarah AND thank you to The Warm Company!!  Goodness knows a quilter ALWAYS needs more batting.  :o))

Until next time...
Lovin' (the quilt) life!!!

Monday, May 28, 2018

Mail Call Monday - A "Little" Swap

Welcome to another edition of Mail Call Monday!!  I'm SEW pleased to share this little package that I received last week:




It came all the way from Canada and this sweet card was enclosed:



It was TOTALLY unexpected!!



How about a swap??  Color me seriously confused!!  Don't 
you normally engage in a conversation about a swap BEFORE sending fabric off in the mail?!?!

This gorgeous half-yard cut was also included:



In the ensuing emails, Chantal from At the Corner of Scrap and Quilts, set me straight.  This was her way of paying me back for an online postage payment that went terribly wrong.  I'd already written it off, unconcerned about the transaction.

She, apparently, wanted to make good on the trade.

Thank you, again, Chantal.  I had never seen the Canada fabric in a neutral/low-volume colorway, much less had it available for purchase in my part of the United States!!!

Until next time...
Wanna swap???

Saturday, May 26, 2018

ScrapHappy Saturday - RSC18 - Week 21

Welcome to Week 21 of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge!!  It's hard to believe that we are on the downhill ride of PINK Month for the RSC.  What have I got to show for it?  Not much.

This week provided an extra bit of sewing time.  Care to see where that fit into the schedule?  Let's take a look at how the week went...

SUNDAY - Road trip with DS1.  I served as back-up on a quest for a new bike.  Silly, really, but he didn't want to go alone.

MONDAY - Basic beginning of the week.  With a bonus!  Tonight is Quilt Guild night.  Local art quilter, Christine Hager-Braun, talked about her creative journey.  A good mix of slides and quilts made for an interesting presentation.

Tonight, I actually had something for Show and Tell:



Bonus points for PINK in the project for the RSC!!!  :o))

TUESDAY - It's Girls Night Out!!  Happy Birthday, Tracy:



Enjoy your Quilted Yarn Bowl:



Hilary was knitting with PINK yarn tonight:


Kim had a bit of PINK on her new bag:


WEDNESDAY - No Knit Group today.  Why?  It was time for my monthly trek to Raleigh for my Quilt Meet-up.

Well... I thought it was!!  Turns out, that's NEXT week.

What's a quilter to do?

First, I worked on one of my Scrap Attack goals:



RSC Quilters will notice the use of the Color of the month!!  :o))

SEW...

I loaded up the longarm with two of my three Hand2Help quilts and got busy, but ran into a bit of tension troubles:



THURSDAY - Released this week's Wonderful Wednesday post.  Late.  Again!!  :o((

FRIDAY - Boring afternoon, as Needleb is out of town (again!)  No sewing at her house.  Maybe no sewing at all!!  Time will tell.

Yep!  No sewing, no tackling Mt. Washmore, no nothing...

Except spending 2.5 hours waiting to be rescued by Mr. Fix-It.  From the side of the road, no less!!  It's a LONG story, but it involves my car, a gas tank filled on Tuesday, and a fuel gauge that read less when I finished fueling than when I began.  You can probably deduce what happened after that (and 152 miles of travel.)

The dash board MAY have looked like this when DH came to see what was wrong with the car:


OOPS!!!  I haven't done this since my first or second year of college.  Slight error!!!  All's well that ends well, right?

SATURDAY - It's LINK PARTY day over on Angela's So Scrappy blog.  Check out all of the PINK projects that the RSC Quilters have been working on this week.

Until next time...
Get Scrappy!!!

Thursday, May 24, 2018

Wonderful Wednesday - H2H Offerings

Welcome to another edition of Wonderful Wednesday!!  Perhaps, I should start calling it Time Warp Wednesday since I'm having a terrible time remembering to release my posts ON the actual day.  What do you think? And, yes, I realize I could (theoretically) schedule my posts, but I am technologically challenged.

Sarah over at Confessions of a Fabric Addict blog is hosting an H2H Link-Up.  This post is serving as my entry for the Hands 2 Help prize drawings.  Thank you to all of the generous sponsors!!

SEW...

As usual, I'm running a little behind schedule.  I'm planning on finishing up over the next few days.

After emailing Sarah, we've decided that my H2H entries will be for local charity opportunities.  My quilt guild serves the UNC Children's Hospital.  These two quilts will be going there.

One:


And quilted:


Two:


And quilted:



A third quilt will be going to Kat at Covered in Love, as soon as the two kids quilts come off the longarm:



Thanks, Sarah, for inspiring/challenging us to share our time and talent with others.

Until next time...
Quilt for good!!!

Saturday, May 19, 2018

ScrapHappy Saturday - RSC18 - Week 20

Welcome to Week 20 of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge!!  Blah, blah, blah.  Another week.  Same old, same old.  Ugh!  The weeks all pass by in a blur.  I'm feeling like I can barely keep up.

Here are the details:


SUNDAY - Happy Mother's Day to all who celebrate.  I managed to have three MORE loads of laundry to do, even though I tackled Mt. Washmore on Friday night!  How does this happen???  Well... Our sheets, MIL's sheets (from our overnight at the in-laws), and the jeans that I spilled coffee on as I got in the car yesterday.  :o((

MONDAY - Business as usual, but there was a treasure at the big box store.  I spy a  sweet, PINK pocketbook:



TUESDAY - LOOK!! The neighbors have some sweet PINK Baby Roses, too!  Theirs are out in their yard:



After capturing that shots I arrived home from running errands to find...

Surprise!!!  We've got company!  Sigh... Ever heard of advance notice, people???

WEDNESDAY - The last weekday quilting with Needleb.  :o((

I got a project done.  DS1's friend requested an "emergency" custom knife roll (before heading to Blade Show in Atlanta in a couple weeks).  Figured I'd knock that out while I was thinking about it.

One Rah-Rah! Knife Roll:



Ready for delivery:


THURSDAY - More than half the month is gone, but this afternoon I went for my ROSE/PINK pedicure:



The salon was aligned with the RSC:


I also released my (late) Wonderful Wednesday post.

FRIDAY - Needleb went on a road trip to move the kid home for the summer, so no afternoon of quilting there this afternoon.  :o((

I did some secret sewing in my very own studio instead.

SATURDAY - It's LINK PARTY day over at Angela's So Scrappy blog, but I'm off to my monthly Quilt Bee meeting.  I'll catch up with the RSC Quilters later today.  Feel free to head over there now to see all the PINK projects in the go.

Until next time...
Get Scrappy!!!






Thursday, May 17, 2018

Wonderful Wednesday - DOQ Donation Quilt Workshop

Welcome to another edition of Wonderful Wednesday!!  Today's post will give you a glimpse into last weekend's quilting event.  You may notice that I missed Wednesday... AGAIN!!!  Oh, well... 

Here is what transpired:

I did some sewing on Guild charity quilts and H2H, too:



This will be the next pattern that I tackle:


The fun star print really upped the ante on my neighbor's quilt:


My friend, Joanna, spent her time cutting kits:


A new member became my donation partner, as we tag-teamed on this small quilt for our guild's children's charity:


This is an example of the quilts we're making for a local Veteran's Hospice organization:


Fellow bee mate, Victoria, worked on a Quilt of Valor kit quilt:


The entire group of assembled quilters enjoyed a fabulous Pot Luck lunch and got back to work.  Things broke up about 3:00, since most had plans and/or preparations to make for Mother's Day.  If YOU are a mom, I hope you enjoyed your day.

Until next time...
Give of your time and talent!!!

Saturday, May 12, 2018

ScrapHappy Saturday - RSC18 - Week 19

Welcome to Week 19 of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge!!  We are now more than four months into the year.  2018 is flying by!!  Here are the scraps that I have to play with this month (since I didn't even pull them out during Transition Week last week.)  There are a gracious plenty of PINK fabric scraps with which to work:



Although, the vast majority are fairly small scraps, there are some strips in the mix in this partially filled 2-gallon baggie:


SUNDAY - Mt. Washmore awaits...



MONDAY - Make sure you check out Mari's Squared Away Sampler tutorial for this month.




TUESDAY - Lucky neighbors!!  I found this PINK Peony blooming in the garden across the street from our house:



WEDNESDAY - Knit group...  One member had PINK in the sweater project she's working on:



Same sweater, different colors:


... was followed by an afternoon of quilting at Needleb's:



If you look carefully, you will spot bits of PINK in the crazy art tie on the top right, in Marilyn Monroe's lipstick on the lower left, and also in the flamingo near the center in the bottom row.

THURSDAY - Don't miss my Cinco de Blooming 9-Patch post.

FRIDAY - PINK bits from my Scrap Attack project for May:



And... Pressing matters from last weekend:




SATURDAY - I'm joining Angela's LINK PARTY over on her So Scrappy blog, but I won't be able to visit the other RSC Quilters until later in the day.

Why, Joyful???

I'm off to a Donation Quilt Workshop for my local Quilt Guild.  It's always a fun time for a worthy cause.  I missed the last one, so I've really been looking forward to being able to participate this time.

Until next time...
Get Scrappy!!!




Thursday, May 10, 2018

Wonderful Wednesday - Cinco de Blooming 9-Patch

Welcome to another edition of Wonderful Wednesday!!  Yes, I realize it's Thursday, but this week has completely taken on a life of its own.  You don't mind that I'm a day late (and a dollar short) do you?  (I didn't think you would.  Thanks!)

Anyway... today, I'm here to tell you about the Blooming 9-Patch Party that I attended on Saturday which was also know as  Cinco de Mayo.  That's May 5th for those who aren't familiar.  What a FUN day!!!  Sewing.  ALL.  Day. Long!!!  (With the exception of a break for a Mexican themed lunch.)

Several friends have had a Blooming 9-Patch quilt on their To Make list for quite some time.  Tiffany decided to schedule a day to move that goal closer to reality:



Carol joined in the fun, but worked on a UFO:


These are Lisa's fabrics:


This PINK bag is filled with my own fabric selections:


Lisa arrived early and got right to work:


She soon requested a color consultation:


Eventually, I unpacked my bag and lined up my strips:


Look!!  I'm sewing:


Surprise!!!  Graylagran showed up for a visit:


She started a(nother) new project and did some retail therapy:


It turns out that Lisa has the SAME machine, but what is that table:


Carol is squaring up her Bear's Paw blocks:


Lisa worked on a quilt mock-up:


Needleb made some progress:


Looking GOOD, Lisa:


And... There's ALWAYS an overachiever:


Needleb didn't know that her quilt was playing right into May's Color of the Month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, but her stash offered some PINK fabric for her to use:


Boy!  Does it ever POP!!  It's going to be bright and beautiful:


Lisa's "orange" looks good, too:


What a difference color choice makes:


I just kept plugging away at my strip sets:


Carol was recruited to take a picture for us:


One more... just in case:


Tiffany had a new ruler.  If you need a new ruler, it's worth a try:


Tiffany's beach inspired quilt is coming along:


Carol is adding sashing to her blocks:


Britt completed another round of blocks:


This book started it all:


Last round of blocks: 


Ut oh!!  There's a block missing:


Testing out the next color:


The color is darker and less yellow than it appears:


I went out for a garden shot and these flowers had closed up for the night.  Maybe the quilters should do the same:


If quilting was a competitive sport, Tiffany would win:


Hey!!  I got ALL of my strip sets done.  No cutting required:


Packing up:


Lisa had more time to sew:


Needleb was close on her heels:


Thank goodness, it's not a race.  :o))

Because we KNOW who the loser would be.  Me!!  You know what?  I'm OK with that.

Until next time...
Enjoy a sewing fiesta!!!