The KING is ruling again!

This KING of mine (Braveheart) is really ruling the house again!  He knows how to put everyone in their place and remind us  that he's the KING!

Cats can be very demanding when it comes to drinking, eating....who gets the most petting, who gets the first treat, who gets to lay in Mom Cat's chair, etc.

Several months ago when I was in Pet Co, I bought this drinking fountain called DrinkWell thinking it would solve some of the squabbling amongst my 3 cats;   Braveheart (the KING), Princess (his litter sister) and Roxie (the adopted).  It's so convenient, very quiet, filters the water, constant flow and sits next to their food area.  I use the water from my Brita water pitcher too....so it's filtered twice!  In the hot summer months, sometimes I toss a few ice cubes in there too.......they love it cold.  All the cat experts out there tell us to encourage our indoor cats to drink lots of water.  Ok.........check that.  Done.

Well.....Braveheart (the KING) has decided my bathroom is his domain and he's even sleeping on top of the clothes hamper in there or the soft fluffy purple rug I keep on the side of the bathtub.  Everytime he wants a drink of water, he comes to me MEOWING very loudly and is very persistant.  For those of you who do not have a cat, let me tell you......persistant loud meowing with no let up.....gets action!  AND....he meows very loud and......he's very demanding!  mmmmmmh???  male cat... I should have named him KING!

Why did I spend $50 on the drinking fountain instead of spending it on fabric??  'Cause the girls drink from it.  But NOT the KING!

I hope he's not teaching his sister, Princess.  She is watching him very intently!

I need a hidden video camera aimed at the DrinkWell fountain for when I'm gone all day long.  I wonder if he drinks from it when I'm not home?

What do you think?

JOINING THE Black Friday FUN!

I'm joining the Black Friday fun today and hope you will too! 

I decided to have my own Black Friday sale in my Etsy store.   


Have you ever used some of my pre-cut Charm Squares in one of my Time Saver Kits?  Now's your chance to try them, and since there's many colors available, I'm sure you'll find just what you need for that next project.   

My lace icicles, snowflakes & angels ornaments are just the thing for that special doorway or window. 

or maybe you know  a little girl who needs a special Christmas quilt for her dolly.

Ok...time for the nitty gritty.........

For every reader of my blog who places an order in my Etsy store and uses the code blogblackfriday when they check out,   they will receive 15% off their entire order.  This savings code is good starting today and will last through midnight on Friday.   

Have fun shopping!  Tell your friends too!

Thanks for visiting my blog. 

HAVE YOU HEARD THE NEWS??

Accuquilt's Black Friday Sale starts tomorrow, Wednesday - November 24th.  Wow!  Check this out!    This company continues to amaze me!

AccuQuilt is offering the lowest prices ever on some of their most popular items plus special Daily Deals you don’t want to miss! AccuQuilt’s Black Friday sale begins on Wednesday, November 24th and ends on Cyber Monday, November 29th! Don’t miss out – visit accuquilt.com starting Wednesday to place your order!

AccuQuilt is giving its blogger friends a sneak peek of their upcoming Black Friday sale! As you all know, Black Friday has become a great shopping tradition among Americans everywhere. However, a majority of consumers now prefer to shop online to escape the dangers of stampede and the hassles of long lines at stores. If you can’t find the items you want, it’s easy to hop from one store website to the next without being disappointed. Savvy online shoppers know how to get the most out of Black Friday sales by utilizing blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and other websites to get the inside track on tremendous sales.

Me and my GO cutter will be checking this one out, for sure.  How about you?


Thanks for visiting.

What to do with all those T-Shirts!

Most of us have heard or seen some of the T-Shirt quilt ideas out there.  But, this gal ..Fabricartist 21.. (my sister) does the most wonderful one of a kind T-Shirt quilts for her customers.  She really is a Fabricartist as NO TWO ARE ALIKE and she has a great eye for color combinations.    She meets with each of her customers and visits with them for a while to get a feel for their personality and what they want to do with their finished quilt.  Then she shops for the special sashing/backing fabrics that will work well with the special T-Shirts for this particular customer.

Here are some of the results: 

Avid Soccer player.

 

Another one she did for a traveler......(one of my favorites).  She used Japanese fabrics for the sashings and backing. 



She doesn't tie them, or just stitch around the squares, she does an all over quilting pattern on them.  They are very useable, sturdy, washable and will last for years and years.   

















This Texas Longhorns and Tennis quilt colors worked well, with the grey and touch of the rusty orange on the border.  She chooses wisely and individually when making these custom quilts.  If you are interested in her doing one for you or a loved one, just click here and it will take you to her Etsy store.

She makes special custom quilts too, and this  one was for a University of Texas dorm room.

To see some of her own personal quilts, click here. 

I'm enjoying sharing other quilter's work and one of a kind quilts, and hope you're enjoying them too. 

Thanks for visiting!

SHARING the love.

A friend of mine is making these adorable Baby Clothes Memory quilts and I just had to share them with you.    She does this on a custom order basis.  These are so cute, and make such a cherished memory for the MOM's out there.   This is one clever lady.  Beautiful sewing!

If you want to see more, here's the link:   


http://www.etsy.com/listing/58862254/custom-memory-rag-quilt-from-your-baby

She also has a blog:   http://grandma-barbara.blogspot.com


Thanks for stopping by.

LEFTOVERS from yesterday.

Leftovers from yesterday........and NO, I'm not talking about food. 

I'm talking about UFO's and what I took to our UFO party and talked about  yesterday.  When I grabbed up this bin to take to our UFO party to share with my sister and my niece, I didn't realize how close this one was to being finished.  It's a "LEFTOVER" that definitely needs to be completed. 

This is just not the time of year for me to be working on UFO's, 'cause  like most quilters/sellers on ETSY.   I have lots of  Christmas quilting/sewing gifts for family to finish up, and custom orders for customers, more jelly rolls and charm squares to cut, Kitty and Snowmen embroidered dish towels, AND the big push for the Holiday Season is in full swing.

But, I did start a list of "to do" projects for next year and put this  # 1 on the page in my notebook.   Oh...it's so close......

do you think.....



just maybe.....



I could squeeze it in now.......???

Let's take a closer look at it and re-consider.......

It is a "quilt as you go" blue and yellow quilt..........

12 Sampler blocks.....blocks are already joined together in rows, with the quilting finished on them.

Even the row dividers are quilted........

Sure hope the blue marks wash out ........

It's oh so close to being finished......but the time right now is just not there.  Ok, I reconsidered it and  this one stays #1 on the list for 2011.

Take a look at this "surprise" UFO stored for 6 years......it's another story.   I was sure into Batiks at that time.  What in the world was I thinking??  All those little pieces??    Didn't have my GO cutter, that's for sure!  It will go on the list too..........well, maybe.....?  I could always cut up the pieces with my GO cutter for the scrappy box.  

The UFO saga continues................................

until another time.


Thanks for visiting.

UFO PARTY

If you follow my blog, you've had to notice I've been talking a lot here lately about all of my UFOs.  Maybe I should be talking about Thanksgiving or Christmas or making gifts, but not yet.    My UFOs have taken over my sewing room, and they don't even do anything but just sit there. 

About a month ago I was griping about this to my sister and how I never take the time to work on any of them.   The next day she called and told me she was going to have a small UFO party and scheduled it for November 16th, tomorrow.    Pat Sloan has also been talking a lot about UFO's on her blog.  She has 12 tips for dealing with them.  Maybe I'd better go check it out.


 A UFO party?  What is that?  I don't know.  All I know is my sister said to  bring a couple UFO's and she'll serve lunch. My niece is also attending and bringing a couple of her UFOs.  I sure hope there's chocolate.


Here's just a few of mine.

A long time ago, we quilters learned about using new/clean pizza boxes to keep our projects together whether it was just fabrics & a pattern, cut out kits, or a work in progress.  My..oh my.  These projects in the pizza boxes are stacked on top of one of my shelving units in my sewing room and I can't even remember the last time I looked inside the boxes.   I have to get a step stool to even reach them.

Here's a couple more bins!  And.....I'm not going to tell you how many more bins I have that say the same thing.  I haven't even counted them.   Well, at least they are labeled.

Now I've got to decide which two projects to take.  mmmmmmh?  Can I bring more than two?

Stay tuned to see which two I  take to the party.



Thanks for stopping by.

HOUSTON Quilt Show Pics.

My sister and I have gone to the Houston Quilt Festival many times.  It gets better, and bigger each year!   ALL of it was such great Eye Candy this year I walked around in a trance.  We could only GO  one day this year..."walk until you drop" ..for us.  There's no way you can see all the quilts (hundreds)  and visit all the vendors, (2200 booths) and see all the free shows & exhibits in one day.  Here's a few pictures to show you.   

Here's the Moda Bake Shop booth that was just so cute, we had to have "us" in it.  (just click on the words "Moda Bake Shop" to go to their blog.)

And of course.....my favorite booth, AccuQuilt!  You  do know that I won a GO cutter from AccuQuilt last June, didn't you?   Lee Nakamoto is showing me their new GO Baby....so tiny and cute.  Thanks, Lee for my free goodies!

Have you been to their new Sew and Tell Forum?  It's very informative, answers a lot of your questions,  members share pictures of their projects, and their Deal of the Day is posted there too.  You do not have to own an AccuQuilt cutter to participate.  Come join us!

It was wonderful to meet up with a couple of "online chat buddies" and finally put a face with the name.  Thank goodness for cell phones, or we would never have been able to find each other.  We met in the food court, and called each other to connect.  What fun!

I was pleased as punch to meet up with Pat Sloan.  For some fun times, you can follow her blog here.   http://patsloan.typepad.com/  Awwww!  her new fabric is yummy!

We were so exhausted from just our one day, we have vowed it's gotta be two full days of exhaustion next year. 

Clink!  Clink!    What's that noise?  

It's me saving my pennies in my piggy bank!

SEE THE WINNER!

In case you haven't heard or seen it, here's Sarah Vedeler's GO Bedazzled Quilt.  She won first place in the Computer Aided Machine Embroidery category at the Houston International Quilt Festival.

Here she is with her GO dies for AccuQuilt.

Congratulations, Sarah!  


Thanks for stoppy by.

WHAT FUN W/THIS CAT!

I finished my "secret"  project quilt yesterday at our Tied Together Quilt Bee, but I can't show you the pictures just yet 'cause I've got to type up the directions for it.  I'm GOing to be offering it as one of 

SEW FUN QUILTS Time Saver Kits.  Ahhhhhhhh!  I know you want to see it...just be patient a while longer.

HERE'S SOME FUN FOR RIGHT NOW!

I'm GOing to be playing with these Dr. Seuss fabrics in the next few days and am surely excited about it.  What fun this Cat and I are gonna have!  Yippee!  Sure hope my "quilt inspectors" don't want to help me!  They'll want me to make them new kitty beds and that's not GOing to happen with this fabric.  It's mine........all mine!

This red wiggly striped one just makes me smile when I look at all the silly characters.....timeless pictures....timeless stories......terrific!

The pattern layout or what I'll do with them yet is not a for sure, but I when I saw them at Fabrics N Quilts, I just knew I had to have some.     I actually ordered these on her pre-order discount and saved some money before they were available for shipment.  You can do it too!

GO visit her shop and check out these cute Dr. Seuss fabrics for yourself. 


Thanks for visiting.

HOUSTON Notions Great Finds From Years Ago!

I found out about these 2 quilting notions years, and years ago at the HOUSTON Quilt Festival.   If I remember correctly I bought them from Eleanor Burns booth.  So, since it's that time of year again I thought I'd share one of my favorite finds from that show. 

When I have a small finished quilt top and am ready to quilt it, I still use the tried and true method of taping the quilt backing to a table, then smoothing the batting on top of the backing, then the quilt top.  I like to use a little bit (and I mean a quick spot here and there...not all over) of quilt basting spray to help hold the layers together while I pin baste.

Here's what I like to use and have used them over and over for many years.

These are 1 inch stainless steel safety pins with special plastic tops fastened onto them.  They are called Quilter's Delight grip covers  by Paula Jean Creations and are available from many different retail outlets and online.

They come in several different colors so you have a selection to contrast with the  colors  of the fabrics on your quilt. 

Here they are clipped onto the top of the stainless steel safety pins.  The tool is called Kwik Klip and it's a real "finger saver" for opening, closing the pins.  And you can use it sooooo fast.

I keep my Quilter's Delight  1 inch stainless steel safety pins OPENED and store them in an old cookie tin.  That way I can just grab up a handful...put them in the lid (using the lid is easier than just reaching inside the tin 'cause the open pins can 'spread out' in the lid and not be tangled together)...and then I pin them all over my quilt.  Most of the time if the quilt is small enough (40 inches or so) I pin about 8"-10" apart.  This is a fast, easy way to "BASTE" your quilt.  The pins are small enough so you don't have to be concerned about leaving holes in your fabrics.  They are no bigger than a needle.

When I'm quilting with my walking foot and straight stitches,  I remove them as I sew along, and throw them back into the cookie tin.  Works great for me!

Next time you have a quilt top to quilt........try these.  I think you'll like them.

What's your favorite unusual quilting notion?