I went fabric shopping today and here's the loot!  But wait.... there's a catch......it was free!  I won second place with my little cat wall hanging (earlier post) and the prize was a $200 gift certificate!  Shazzam!  They.....Fabrics and Friends in Roanoke, IN (no web site).....were having a great sale today too, so I have almost $150 left after making these purchases.  I was one happy camper!

I love Halloween fabric and Bigfork Bay has the most comical patterns, right up my weird alley.  I may go back tomorrow too, as I also have a 40% off coupon.  And it will be free.....did you hear me.... free!  I'm so blessed!  Many grateful thanks to all of you who took the time to drive to Roanoke to vote for my wall hanging!

I finished my contest wall hanging....the one from a few posts down.  We were given a packet of precut, fusible applique pieces, plus a background fabric.  We were allowed to do anything we wanted, as long as we used all of the provided shapes and the background fabric.  From that point, we could add more fabric, buttons, any kind of embellishments, etc.  Well.....here's my finished wall hanging!

My hanging is approximately 21" x 24". The cat was my addition and the flowers and bugs were redesigned from the original picture that was provided.  I used a small zig-zag stitch to sew all of the pieces down.  After seeing how many pieces were going to be attached, I thought a satin stitch would eat up too much thread....I'm a cheapo....so the zig-zag stitch was chosen.  The background was stippled and the border was just evenly stitched around.  I have never stippled before and was quite nervous about wrecking all of my hard work.  It ended up being pretty easy, once I relaxed and just let the needle do it's job.  My tension was all wrong but I decided to just leave it instead of taking all of the stitches out.  The next attempt will be better.  Live and learn.

My butterfly and dragonfly are three dimensional.  I folded the shapes in half and fused them together, making them a double layer, but half the intended size.  I added floral wire around the shapes on the wings and covered the wire with a zig-zag stitch, which makes them flexible and stable enough to stand away from the hanging.

I delivered my hanging yesterday.  It was due July 1st and I managed to get it finished between a summer cold and a pulled back.  It's amazing that the housework can be put off but not a sewing deadline!  All of the hangings will be hung on July 1st and will be voted on during the month of July.  If you happen to be in Roanoke, IN at the Fabrics and Friends Quilt Shoppe, I'd appreciate your vote!

Road trip yesterday! 

I got an email on Friday night that the "Fabric and Friends Quilt Shop" was giving out free...yes, free...wall hanging kits to the first 50 people.  Needless to say, I changed my Saturday plans so that I could hit the road first thing in the morning.  And....I was able to get one of the kits! 

Now here's the deal.....you bring back the completed kit by the first of next month to be entered in a customer judged contest where you can win a $300 gift certificate at the quilt shop.  Pretty great prize!  Here's the front of the kit package.

The rules are simple.  You must use all of the pieces supplied in the kit, but may add anything else that you choose....more fabric...more pieces....buttons....lace......whatever.  It doesn't have to look like the picture on the front of the kit.  The included pieces are pre-cut with fusible backing, ready to iron on.  I'm not sure what I'm going to make yet and I don't have much time to ponder on it.  I've got a few ideas floating around in my mind............ time's a tickin'!  I sure hope that I'll have a post within the next three weeks with a finished wall hanging!

And while I was at the quilt shop, I had to buy something....I think that's the unspoken rule.  This fabric was in the discount section and will be used to make a keyboard cover.  Of course, that project will have to wait a bit.

To the drawing board.........

Yesterday started off pretty sadly with frozen main water lines in my neighborhood after the bitter cold day. We are so spoiled and expect to go to the faucet for a drink or to wash dishes and when nothing happens, it's no fun at all. After several hours of this, the postman knocked on my door with a package. In a heartbeat, my day improved dramatically!

It was an early Valentine's Day for me. I was fortunate to have won a drawing earlier in the week for a wonderful felted mouse created by Robin Andreae. Her blog is listed on my sidebar, "Needle Felted Art", and her creations are spectacular. There were 209 entered to win this latest creation, and my name was drawn!

Presentation is everything, right? I'm not showing pictures of it all, but the box contained a photo Certificate of Authenticity, and the the whole box was tied up with ribbon and roses in pink bubble wrap. Under the bubble wrap was this Valentine box.



Inside was "Lucky and His Cheese". I think I'm the lucky one! Lucky is a pretty large mouse and quite handsome. He was also very cooperative as we began our photo shoot. I took lots of pictures and he stood tall for all of them.



I thought that he must have been pretty tired from his cross country trip, but look what I found in the cabinet a few hours later! I can see that I'm going to have to keep a tight watch on him. I guess he wanted to sample the almonds and sunflower seeds, along with his cheese. Who can blame him after being cooped up for days in his little Valentine box?!



As a thank you to Robin for her generous give-a-way, I'm sending her a lampwork bracelet that I made. I attached the paw and heart charm, as she is an avid animal lover. I haven't done any torch work in awhile, as my garage studio is cold and snowed in, but I had already made these beads and they needed a worthy home. I hope she likes it!

Oh, and my water was restored after about 20 hours. The street is a dirty mess, the ice is thick from the water spills, the snow is piled high.....but.....I have water!

Now, I have to face another round with the shovel. More and more snow keeps falling and I simply can't keep up with it. I have always loved the snow, but I'm just so weary after so much. OK, it's pretty and bright, but does it have to be so deep? Enough, already!!!

When I stopped in one of my local quilt shops last week, I was handed a small rectangle of red silhouette fabric (about 5 1/2" x 7 1/2") and was told that they were having a little contest and everyone that entered would at least win some discount coupons. Good enough incentive for me!

I went with something simple, of course, as it has to be turned in next week when they would be having a shop-hop and wanted these items for display. The fabric line is called "Love Letters", so I had to make something to hold those letters.



Here's the little hanging holding some Valentines. Now I need to deliver it to the shop and see what kind of coupons I'll win......and just for entering!

I've got the next batch of Jo-Ann fabrics 4" log cabins done. This time, I spent several days working on them, little by little, bit by bit.



And here are the finished 27 blocks.



I'm off to start the next color batch!

As I continue designing my Jo-Ann fabrics quilt, I decided to use disappearing 9 patch blocks (DNP) along with the log cabin blocks. If you aren't familiar with the DNP block, it's a really simple, yet deceptively complex block. And easy, easy to make.

Just start with a 9 patch block. I wanted a plain block with only the purple center for my splash of color. (Again, the center block is a true purple, not a blue-purple.) Obviously, you could use as many as 9 different fabrics, which would give you lots and lots of setting options.




Cut your 9 patch into quarters. Cut the block in half, rotate, and cut it in half the other way, making four smaller blocks. Your basic 9 patch has now disappeared!




This shows two 9 patch blocks that have been cut into DNP blocks. I now have 8 DNP blocks made from two 9 patch blocks (they multiply like rabbits!) and I just lined these up without any particular planning. You can see how the setting possibilities are almost endless. And also try to imagine how complex these settings can become if you were using more colors in your original 9 patch.



I hope you'll give these a try. You can really complete a quilt top pretty quickly using this method. My DNP blocks are 4", just like my log cabins, so it will be fairly time consuming to make boatloads of these, but normally, you would be making larger blocks and building your quilt very fast. Have fun!

Here's the first batch of blocks using the Jo-Ann fabrics. I've always loved the Log Cabin block and thought they would work out pretty well for the overall pattern that is growing in my mind. Initially, I was going to use paper foundations, then decided that it would be much quicker to just chain sew them with strips. Since these strips were going to be cut at 1", I figured it would be just as precise to cut and sew these the quickest way. After sewing, these logs are 1/2" wide. The center block is a true purple, not the blue purple that my monitor shows.



This block shows the scale of the blocks. They are 4" finished.



And the backside. If you press as you go, your seams will be nice and neat. I pressed toward each piece that I attached, to get them to all face away from the center.

And here's the finished stack of blocks. There are 27 of them and making them took the entire afternoon....about 6 hours. Had I gone with the paper foundations, I would still be working on them. Now I have tons more to make of different color combinations. They are a bit tedious to make, but I still like a good ol' Log Cabin block and the setting possibilities are endless!

These are the fabrics (most of them) that I'll be using for the Jo-Ann quilt contest. There's a link for this contest a few posts down. I don't have a total plan or layout yet, but I do know the size of the blocks and the pattern of the blocks that I'll be using. As usual, it will just evolve as I sew. Whether I get it done in time for the contest or not, is yet to be seen. It's OK if I don't get it done, it's the process that I enjoy. One thing for sure, it will be a bright quilt!

Here's a link for you to check out. Jo-Ann Fabrics is having a quilt contest and they are giving away some great prizes! The only restrictive condition is that you MUST use Jo-Ann Fabrics.

Good Luck!