Primitive Folk Art Quilting Swap...!

Notice how this entry is posted in a timely manner? Well, you'd think I finally got this time management thingy figured out, but NO! I just decided to create the post in advance and allow Blogger to post it a few days later. Would that be cheating? lol

My partner for the Primitive Folk Art swap was Sandy from OH. I'm not sure if she has a blog or not! Oh well....

First of all, she made me a wool pincushion and a needle holder.

Notice, another wool project! lol I can see wool in my future! lol

She also included some handmade ornaments that she herself fabricated.

Here you have some cute primitive snow person ornaments. They are adorable!?!

There's also a Santa! I couldn't get him to lay face up! Must be tired from all his travels! lol

She made me this wonderful "useful" bag, as she likes to put it and included other little goodies!

I love the fabric! As a matter of fact, I have that very same fabric in my stash! What great taste she has! lol

Thank you again Sandy for the wonderful goodies!

Thanks for stopping by! Cheers!

There's that time management thingy again....!

I do hope you have all enjoyed a wonderful holiday! Was Santa good to you? I sure hope so! I don't know about you, but I ate enough for a few months! lol

This year, I participated in a couple of Holiday swaps. One from Chookyblue Secret Santa and another for a primitive Folk Art Quilting Group that I belong too.

Today I'll show you my goodies from the Secret Santa Swap.

My Secret Santa was Alison from Cardygirl.

She sent me the cutest wool ornament. Isn't that little angel just so sweet? I love it!

As a matter of fact, I love it so much that I decided that I was going to actually attempt to work with wool.

Yep, it's my New Years resolution! Well, I have others, but no need to get into it now! ;o)

This gorgeous bag was another gift!

It is absolutely stunning. I love hand embroidery.

Alison's hand work is exquisite!

Inside the bag, was this sweet pincushion. Isn't it just the cutest?!?

I love her fabric choices! The colours are so cheerful!

Thank you again Alison for the wonderful goodies! And thank you Donna for hosting this swap!

Cheers!

Diet Monday..... or is it.....?!

I'm not sure but I think this diet Monday thing as taken the way side! Not that I've been diligent about doing a post, never mind the diet! lol

A few weeks ago I was fortunate enough to take two (2) longarming classes at Cowles Quilting with Sharon Schamber.

The Franklin County Quilter's Guild was hosting Sharon for a few days. I was also extremely fortunate to be able to attend Sharon's trunk show and actually got to touch and feel her quilts. I ended up helping Sharon that evening after our Friday class. She does amazing work, I mean the details!!!! She's also not afraid of passing her small pieces around. I came out of that meeting in awe of her work! Back to my class.

Sharon offered a wide array of classes, three (3) of which were for longarmers. They were hands on at Cowles. I took Feathers to die for on Friday and Monday was Filling the Spaces.

What's nice about Sharon's classes is that you are given a CD/video of the class. My learning continues after the class is done!

One of the most important piece of information I walked away with from these classes was, control of your machine. It might be obvious to some, but for me, it was like a light bulb had suddenly turned on.

She demonstrated her method for gaining control of her machine by using a piece of foam and weight, (hand made bag filled with rice). If you're interested in seeing how she controls her quilting machine, you can join her free area and view the various free videos.

Another important piece of information was this:

A drafting stool!

It makes custom work a lot easier!

I can gain control of my machine by leaning my forearms against the rollers. With that nifty Bitty Ruler I wrote about the other day, ditch work is so much fun!

I quilted the Women of Influence quilt sitting down the whole time. What a difference it made. I could actually quilt for longer stretches of time. We're talking pretty much until the wee hours of the morning. Many a nights, I went to bed at 2:00 a.m.

I cannot wait to finish hand sewing the binding so that I can blog about it.

Well, that's it for now. I need to get off this computer and write my lesson plan for tomorrow's class. I've been teaching a nine (9) part beginner's quilting class. It's quite the time consuming class, but fun! I'm enjoying it!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great day! Cheers!

OMG... What's going on with time.....?

I cannot believe that my last post was October 24. I'm telling you, something strange is going on with time. It seemed only last week I posted a blog entry.....

You know how they say a picture is worth a thousand words, this is how I spent Tuesday working at the Shoppe. Both slip on shoes! Need I say more?


I won't even begin to tell you how my day went. What a crazy day!  By the way, those are slip on shoes!

You see, I've done this two (2) different shoe thing before, many, many, many moons ago, but at least both shoes were black. A black and white shoe, this is a first!

Strangely, I didn't even notice until well into lunch time. I'm walking around as if everything was normal. I can just imagine what customers were thinking. Once I realized what was on my feet, I cracked up laughing! I'm sure I made a few people laugh too!

As for quilting, I've been plugging away at my Women of Influence quilt. I decided to use that quilt to work on my perfectionism. When it came to machine quilting with Penelope, it was difficult for me to let it go and just do it, but I think I'm managing.

I used to dread "in the ditch" work with Penelope. Anything that I wanted in the ditch or 1/4 inch away, I would use my domestic sewing machine. Vicki from Field Trips in Fiber suggested a nifty little ruler she uses.

Gosh, I'm in love!

It's called The Bitty ruler by Off the Edge Quilting.
I have to agree with Vicki, it's also become one of my favourite tools. I'm actually enjoying doing ditch work!

Last night, I spent some time with Penelope and noticed how much control I had on my machine. It's helping a lot in making machine quilting so much more relaxing for me.

I have so much more to tell you but I will end it here and save the rest for later. Hopefully I wont have a time management deficiency and remember to post in a timely manner.

Thank you for stopping by! Cheers!