Blog Give Away Day- Dec 3rd!!

Just a note to say I will be participating in Sew Mama Sew's Blog GiveAway Day on Dec 3rd. Come to my blog that day to see what I will be giving away, and leave a comment to enter. I'm always interested in new readers, and I LOVE comments, so it should be a fun day!

Back in B-more

I'm back in Baltimore for a quick work trip and then heading to the Baltimore Heritage Quilter's Guild's West River retreat, and event I loved to do when I lived here. I haven't found any retreats near my house in Illinois so far, but i would love to if they are as affordable as the one in Baltimore....

I attended the Mancuso run Greater Chicago Quilt Expo III, which I understand is going to be the last one here. It's apparent that the show is poorly attended, which surprises me, as the IQA show in April is a mega-show. There were no white glovers, which I heard through the grapevine is because "people here don't volunteer", which is crazy, because my friends volunteered for IQA's show a whole bunch... I think it's because it's poorly marketed to our area. The show is small when you compare it to other shows. And having had attended the Williamsburg Mancuso show, this was teeny tiny compared to shows of their own!

I did have the lovely pleasure to take a class from Rosalie Dace, who is a lovely person, and great teacher. Our class was on "Up Close and Personal" taking images of microscopic things and making them the basis for quilt design. I had pretty good ideas and have taken away good ideas, so for me the class was a success. I'll post pictures of the things I made, along with things from this weekend's retreat sew-a-thon, when I get back.

A poppy for Veterans Day

Here's a quick tutorial on how to make a fabric poppy pin for Veterans Day.

You will need:

• needle and thread
  
• black buttons or beads (I used a velvety bead from Michaels)
  
• scraps of red fabric 10 inches long and 2 1/2 inches wide
  
• a pin back with holes to sew through

Here's how to make the poppy.

1. fold the red fabric in half and iron wrong sides together.

2. open the fabric up and place the short ends together, right sides together. Sew a running stitch to connect the ends using about an 1/8 inch seam. This should make a fabric circle. Fold on the ironed fold line so wrong sides are together.

3. along the raw edge, use a double length of thread and strong knot, and sew a running stitch around the circle. Once you get to your starting point, pull to gather the circle up. Knot your thread and snip the tails of your thread.

4. Sew on your button or bead to the center of your poppy flower.

5. Sew on the pin back, looping over the holes on both sides.

6. Wear with pride for our honored veterans!

On the mend

It's rotten to be sick, and this cold really knocked me for a loop. I was so drained, I thought sewing this weekend would be impossible.

Luckily, I felt ok enough to sew a bit today, so I got a couple of things done.

I also found a few minutes to scan everything I have done lately for your viewing pleasure.

These monsters were so freaking cute to do. I can definitely see patterns for these in the future.

These ATCs are for trades I'm involved in over at ATCSforAll.com.

Lastly these are November's theme, fall leaves. Anotehr topic suggested by the DH. Those perfect leaves are silk leaves bought from a craft store.

You know you're old when...

Getting a cold seems to sap the life out of you... I have a major cold and it's really doing a number on me. I had the flu this year also. I never used to get sick when I worked in an office, and now that I work from home I get sick all the time! The worst part about being sick right now is that I had lots of things planned for this weekend and now I know I won't get much of them done because I feel so awful.

I have a lot of updates coming, and a lot of projects planned before the year is out. I hope i can get to them in time. I know you will love the October themed weekly quilts when I get time to scan and upload them, they are really really cute.

I can remember when I would get a cold and be over it in 2 days. Now, not so much...