New Blog Hop

You know how I love free projects and give aways.  I found a new one on the internet today.  Have you heard of the Henry Glass Project Parade?   If you go to Heather Mulder Peterson's blog Trends and Traditions, she will tell you all the designers and what days they will have free projects.

1. Each day there will be several designers that will be featured.
2. Each designer will provide you with a free project that you can print off and keep.


3. Each designer will provide a clue that you will collect. At the end of the parade, you will go to the Henry Glass blog and post a comment with all the “clues”. If you win, you will be sent  gifts from all 19 designers, along with a package of fabric from Henry Glass fabrics. I’m telling ya’, the prizes in this blog hop are seriously good!!!!!

Doesn't this sound like a fun hop?  I know what it feels like to win a wonderful prize.  I hope one of my blog friends can be a winner this time.  The hop starts December 1st.

I know it's a busy time of year to be spending time on the internet, but who can resist a blog hop--not me.
 

Thanksgiving Fun

The week of Thanksgiving was a busy week.  I like the Thanksgiving holiday.  Although I spend some time every day being thankful for the many blessings God has given me, Thanksgiving is a special time to stop and remember the last year and the wonderful things He has done.  We have had BIG family dinners in past years, but this year there were 6 of us.  Michelle was home all day Wednesday and had to work 2-10 on Thursday.  We ate at 11:00, so she could be home for Thanksgiving dinner.  BIL Ron, nephew John and his girl friend, Dena shared the festivities with us.   Of course we had plenty of food, football and a nap.   It's hard to have Jennifer so far away on a holiday.  We talked to her by phone.  She spent the day with her cats watching movies.  She was totally booked Friday and Saturday, so it was good she had a lazy day to rest up.

On Friday Michelle came home after working 6-2 and we went to Faulkton to meet the newest member of the family - John Wayne.   He is a wonderful little bundle of love.  We had fun passing him around and snuggling.  It was nice to catch up with two of DH's sisters and all their activities too.  Everyone was very appreciative of the baby quilt and I committed to life time mending if needed. 

Ron and John are the family deer hunters.  They came a few days and stayed with us.  DH thinks they come for the food.  lol  I always spoil them with homemade buns, fried chicken, raisin bars (John's favorite) and other home cooking.  They didn't shoot any deer yet.  They are usually looking for the "big buck".

I took this picture from our deck a few days before the season opened.

He stopped to look back at me too.  We often times have 4 or 5 deer walk through the yard in the evenings.

They stop by the grain bins for a treat of corn or oats that has spilled from the trucks.  They also like to munch on my garden at times.

I haven't done much sewing.  I had to put everything away, so Ron could find a bed to sleep in.  I did make this pillow case for great niece, Mya.  She loves Dora and will be pleased with it. 

I'm being rather lazy today--reading a book and perhaps a nap later.  : )   I hope you are enjoying your Sunday afternoon.

Overwhelmed

I was definitely a "little" overwhelmed last week when I received this box from "Quiltmaker".  I didn't realize that being a "Big Bundle" prize winner in the 100 Blocks Giveaway would be such a generous box of wonderful prizes.  Michelle was home and she just laughed at me, as I kept say "Oh, my", "Oh, My" and "OH, MY" as I took each new and wonderful thing out of the box.

The prizes included:  40 fq bundle of Moda French General-- Petite Ecole, 20 fq bundle of P & B Textiles-- Safari So Good and 16 fq bundle of Clothworks-- Dinos on Parade, Antique Sampler pattern by Sue Daley, 3 Modkid patterns (pillows, purses and a wall hanging),  Marsha McCloskey's Feathered-Star Quilt Blocks II book, Tidbits from Triangles by Kari Ramsay book, Tidings book by Nancy Halvorsen, Rotary Cutting Revolution by Anita Grossman Solomon book, Treasures from the '30's by Nancy Mahoney book, Suzn Quilts by Susan Marth, Fireworks! and Lynda's Sunflowers by Possibilities,  Fit to be Geese pattern and template by Open Gate, Decadence, Reflections and Bloomington by toadsew, Peppermint Candy and In A Snap patterns by Susan Guzman AND of course, Quiltmaker's new 100 Blocks magazine.

This wonderful kit "Eye Candy" from Planted Seeds Designs that was published in "Quick Quilts" .  This will be so much fun to sew.  I love all the bright colors.

 Even Rocco will benefit from my winning.  A quilt kit by Heidi Pridemore called "A Few of My Favorite Things.  Don't you just love the bones on these blocks!

And last but not least--thread from Sulky and floss from Presencia.

 I can't believe all the wonderful items I received.  Thank you so much "Quiltmaker".    So many choices of projects to make!   I've had so much fun looking at all the books and patterns.  The French General fabric is outside my "box".  I'll need to find a special project to use it.   I think I'll start Rocco's quilt--his Christmas present.  : ) 

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!!

I Won and A New Challenge Site

I got an email from Quiltmaker that I'm a winner.  All that time I spent on the internet wasn't wasted.  lol  I had alot of fun looking at all the blocks and visiting new blogs.  I'm such a blog junkie!  I love my laptop.

I went back and read the blog.  I'm one of the Big Bundle winners.  I'm so excited!!  It's not a GO, but I'll take it.  lol  :)

 Isn't this the cutest button?  I love the quilt and of couse the cat under the table.  There is a new blog in blog land.  It's a challenge blog.  Paula of Paula's Crafty Corner has started a second blog called Paula's Sewing Challenges.  You can enter a your project for a chance to win prizes.  Please stop over and see what Paula is doing with this new blog.  I'm sure you have a project you can enter.

This is the project I'm entering in Paula's challenge this time.  It is Gingerbread Men table runner.  It was in Quick Quilts.  It was so much fun to make.  I like gingerbread men almost as much as I like snowmen--love those men.  lol

I quilted it with peppermint swirls.

I hope you will stop over and check out Paula's blog for challenges.  It is so nice of her to go to all the work of setting up this fun site.   She is giving away the cutest prizes too. 

I better get busy.  BIL and nephew are coming tonight.  Deer hunting season opens tomorrow morning.  I need to get my sewing room in order, so he can find a bed to sleep on.  We will be headed to a funeral that DH is a pall bearer for in the morning  His Dad's cousin passed away this week.  

I need to do Thanksgiving food shopping.  I hope to stop and do that after the funeral 

 Have a good week-end!

Snowfriends

This is my entry for SewCalGal's Christmas Quilt Show 2010.   There are some lovely prizes being given away.  It is so much fun to hop around the blogs and look at all the beautiful things made from Christmas fabric.  Christmas fabric is one of my "many" favorite kinds of fabric.  I want to someday make a large Christmas quilt. 

This is Snowfriends designed by Lynda Howell and published in the Nov/Dec 09 issue of  Quiltmaker.   I hate snow, but I love snowmen.  When I saw this wall hanging I knew I had to make it. 

I wish I had used a different color for the roof.

The original pattern did not use this "saying", but I wanted to use it, so I did.

I used a type of material that is off white and roughly woven for the embroideries.  At the moment I can't remember what you call it.  lol  I'm sure you know what I mean.  : )   I quilted it with plain stitch in the ditch and it hangs in the bedroom that is my sewing room.  The first of December I will move it to the dining area where the fall wall hanging is now.

Now I'll have to see if I can figure out Mr Linky--this is a new thing for me.  I hope you enjoy looking at all the Christmas quilts.

A New Shirt

The little scarecrow has a new shirt and I think it looks pretty good.   Down on the Farm is officially done!  We are hoping to  see the new baby, John over the Thanksgiving holiday.   Michelle has to work Thanksgiving Day, so we are still figuring out our plans.

I decided I wanted to make a zipper bag.  I used LuAnn's tutorial.  I have a zipper phobia.  I haven't put a zipper in anything since I was in high school.  It was an awful experience and I've just always avoided making anything with a zipper.  I've been saving tutorials for bags.  There are so many cool patterns on blogs now.  When I was at the Quilter's Corner last time I looked at their bag patterns and of course they had the turny thing full of Terry Atkinson's Snip, Zip and Go zippers.   I decided to buy a couple, so I bought a orange one and a black one, because Halloween was coming.

Here it is--with it's orange zipper.  I probably would rather have had a pink one, but this one will be for me.  It is my "over coming zipper phobia" bag.  I used two fat quarters and will have two bags.  The inner lining is pink--no picture.   Since I used fat quarters I didn't have fabric for a handle, so I have a handle made from different fabric.  I just used some yellow ribbon for a zipper pull.  

I used the left over batting from around the edges of the  baby quilt and quilted a grid pattern with the #4 stitch on my Bernina  2.0 length.  I like that little squiggle stitch.  I can see some more of these in my future.  I think my girls would like them.  I'll have to wait until I go somewhere for more zippers.  

The weather has gotten colder here and there is a touch of snow in the air.  They came to combine our sunflowers today.  I had meatloaf and baked potatoes in the oven for dinner, but switched to making ham sandwiches for a field lunch.  I baked chocolate chip cookies this morning, so they got some of those too.

Rocco spent part of the morning outside in his flannel shirt.  He's warming up his feet on the heating pad, so he can go out again.

Our quilting group meets tomorrow night.  We are going to work on another "fire" quilt from donated fabric.  I hope the farm schedule allows me to go--we'll see.   

Is It Friday Already?

 Down on the Farm is completed--not quite.  I really did think I was done.

 I even made a label (blocked the last name on the photo).  Then I washed it with Color Catchers--lots of green flannel color was caught.  Oh, dear now look................  Have you ever had fabric disintegrate?

Sorry for the out of focus shot!!  This John Deere fabric just disappeared from the scarecrow's sleeve and neckline.  I know I should wash fabric before I use it--I don't, never have.  I might start.  I know I've had this material for a while--not sure how long, but evidently too long.  I'm going to do a little patching.  : ( 

I learn something new every time I make something. 

 DH has been hauling bale stacks this week.  This is the stack mover empty.  The mover tilts down and slides under the stack of bales.  Little fingers help pull the hay up on the stackmover.

 Here he is headed in with a load.

There are 20 big bales in each stack.

He is headed to the feed yard to unload.

We should have plenty of hay to feed the cows this winter.  (click to make larger for better photo).  DH is glad to get this job done.  He had been waiting a week for parts for the stack mover, so he could get started.  We also worked on water tanks and the well this week before the weather gets colder. 

We found out today that a regulator on our 1000 gallon propane tank failed and it leaked to empty.   It was an expensive failure for a $15.00 part and propane went up $.30 since our summer fill the end of August.  Rats! 

The weather has still been fairly decent out.  I don't think Soot could get any higher in that poor little volunteer tree. 

Rocco and friends have been enjoying the sunshine this week.



It's been a busy week but I've been blog hopping and trying to win the new 100 Blocks magazine from Quiltmaker.  I won a copy last year and was hoping I could again.  I really need another magazine.  : )

As soon as I get the little scarecrow patched, I'm looking forward to starting another project.  I need to do something quick and easy again, before I go back to borders on my pinwheel quilt.  I still need sashing on my Jelly Roll quilt too.  It will be fun just to work on whatever I want to.  Have a great week-end. 

John Wayne Arrived

The biggest news in the family--the baby has arrived.  John Wayne was born yesterday weighing 6 lbs 15 ounces and measuring 20 inches long.   Here he is with his proud parents Kelly and Clint (DH's nephew, who was born on his birthday).   Interestingly enough it was my sister's birthday yesterday, so it will be easy to remember this little guy's birthday.  The baby is named after his two great grandfathers.  Every one is doing great.

Here are the proud gramps and granny, DH's youngest sister.  What a wonderful day for them all.

Now to get Down on the Farm completed!! 

I added some clouds to the sky.

A few crows in the sky above the scarecrow.

I did some loop de loops in the sashing borders. 

And a lovely scroll stitch in the yellow border.  (Bernina #146  -- 3.0 length)   I still have the outer border to quilt and then I can do the binding and label.  I plan to do that today if there are not schedule changes.

Michelle and I drove to Minneapolis, MN for a wedding (6 hour drive).   We left on Friday and returned on Sunday.  The wedding was for a very good friend and high school class mate of Michelle's.  They were married at the Basilica.  It was beautiful.

It was a wonderful day for November. 

Rachel was a beautiful bride.

A mother/daughter picture at the reception.   It would have been nice to include Rachel and her Mom, but there were just too many people and not enough time.  We had a wonderful time.  The best part of the trip for me was the 12 hours in the car with Michelle.  We got caught up on all kinds of visiting.  DH stayed home with Rocco and hauled hay to the feed yard.  I think they enjoyed that much more than the wedding trip.

I'm getting caught up from being gone and hope to get the quilt finished for the new baby.  I can't wait to start the next project or go back to one of the old ones. 

The weather continues to be gorgeous here.  It was 70 degrees yesterday--unreal for November in SD.   Today is suppose to be almost as nice and then the cold front is coming.  DH will finish hauling hay today.   We still have sunflowers to combine and calves to wean.  The days just seem to fly by.

Rocco is so enjoying his time outside with his friends in the sunshine.  Every nice day is a bonus for him and us.  Have a wonderful day where ever you live.  Hugs........

Just Busy

Just checking in--it's been busy here.   I'm headed to Minneapolis to a wedding tomorrow and won't be back until Sunday night.  I'll miss you all.