Ever wonder how a sewing machine forms stitches with the top and bobbin threads? Check this out. I must be more tired than I thought, this video mesmerizes me! I guess a girl has to find her entertainment wherever she can!
I hope all of you in the U.S. had a terrific Thanksgiving holiday yesterday! All of our kids were scattered here and yon, so it was just me and Mike enjoying a rare, quiet day at home … I didn’t go out of the house all day long! BLISS!
The winner of last week’s Friday Favorite giveaway (the five patterns from ModaU) is Brenda. Yay Brenda! Be sure to visit her blog when you get a chance. And thanks for the empathy re: my tech support issues from last week! Luckily, the issue was corrected relatively quickly – it’s just the aggravation and inconvenience that were so annoying!
One of my most favorite Christmas fabric lines from the collections we’ve had this year is one called “Winter Welcome” by Wilmington Studios. The focus print of this line is a beautiful Victorian-esque scenic print that has proven to be perfect for large-scale patterns and even borders. This was a very small line of fabric and it probably isn’t one that a lot of people have seen, so this week’s giveaway is one yard of the Winter Welcome scenic print to add to your stash of Christmas fabric.
Here’s how the Friday Favorite giveaway works:
Remember to leave a link to your blog and/or an email address so we can contact you if you win! I’ll announce the winner in the next Friday Favorite post! Good luck!
This will be the last weekly Friday Favorite giveaway; instead I’m going to change it to “First Friday Favorite” and do a monthly giveaway on the first Friday of the month. I think I’ve cleaned out most of the good stuff that was hidden away in the storage room! Since next week begins a new month, there will be a “First Friday Favorite” giveaway next week so be sure to come back and check it out.
Here’s hoping you have lots of leftovers for the weekend so you don’t have to cook, and if you were out shopping in the Black Friday crowds today, I hope you found everything you were looking for!!!
Wishing you a day filled with family, friends, good food and all the blessings of the season.
I know, I know, I’m very very late posting today, but it IS still Friday so technically I’m not late! But really, it wasn’t my fault. It seems that AT&T upgraded my DSL service yesterday and managed to mangle not only my website and internet access, but my email accounts, too! I have resisted this upgrade for over a year because I knew suspected this might be the result. But they happened to call last week and got Mike on the phone with the promise of a “free” DSL upgrade and he said “sure, go for it!” So that “free” upgrade has cost me about 10 hours worth of headache and frustration trying to get the mess straightened out. I so hate tech support issues!!! But in all fairness, I will say that the young lady at AT&T Tech Support who helped me was very courteous and patient, even in the face of my extreme frustration. Did I mention how I hate tech support issues??? (For those who don’t know, that was my life for 20 years before I opened the quilt shop – I thought I had left all that behind!)
Anyway, I digress. What you’re really here for, I know, is to find out who won last week’s Friday Favorite giveaway, right? It was a backpack made from the Dandelion Girl collection by Fig Tree Quilts, remember? OK, OK, the winner is JoyP! Congratulations, Joy, I’ll contact you by email. You have to go take a look at Joy’s blog to see the pictures of the biggest cat I have ever seen! Fred is his name, I think! Amazing!
Moving on to this week’s giveaway, I’m still in cleaning mode around here and I ran across some patterns that were left over from our ModaU Club a while back. There are only four patterns shown in the picture, but there are actually five in the giveaway. I found another one after I had already taken the picture and I was too lazy busy to go back and take another picture. The 5th pattern is also a ModaU pattern, and it is called Hearts Aflutter, designed for a panel but can be modified to use without a panel, too. You’ll just have to trust me – it is a cute pattern, too!
Oh yea, the pattern on the left is a “Swatches” pattern that actually includes a set of 2 1/2″ swatches from Moda’s Chocolat fabric collection – remember that one? Another one of my favorites from a while back …
Here’s how the Friday Favorite giveaway works:
Remember to leave a link to your blog and/or an email address so we can contact you if you win! I’ll announce the winner in the next Friday Favorite post! Good luck!
I hope you all have a fun weekend planned. I’m planning to go to a Holiday Celebration in a neighboring town on Sunday afternoon – can’t wait. I’ll share pictures next week. Go quilt something …
This holiday cactus belonged to my mother-in-law who gifted me with it about 10 years ago. It has bloomed every year at Thanksgiving and it looks like this year will be no exception! Sometimes it blooms again at Easter, but I just never know. There aren’t as many blooms this year, and I can’t help but wonder if it has to do with age? After all, I’ve had it 10 years and I have no idea how long my mother-in-law had it before she gave it to me. As far as I know it has never been re-potted or fed with anything. It should be noted that I did not inherit my mother’s green thumb, and can cause a plastic plant to give up the ghost! So I am quite reluctant to start messing around with it!
I have a theory about caring for the cactus that seems to work for me. When the time changes in the Spring, I take this cactus and put it outside on my screened porch and then I promptly forget about it. Every once in a while I’ll look out and see it and remember to give it a drink of water, but not with any regularity. When the time changes again in the fall, I bring the cactus inside, give it a good soaking and put it in a dark room for about 2 weeks. Inevitably when I pull it out of the dark, the plant is covered with buds and it blooms soon after.
It just wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without the blooming cactus on the counter to enjoy!
In an attempt to avoid the laundry and cleaning that needed to be done today, I decided to treat myself to an Excellent Adventure down to one of my favorite little shops, Plum Tree Antiques (be sure to check out their blog for even more great pictures!) This afternoon was the last day of their Holiday Open House and I hoped to do a little Christmas shopping and maybe even get some decorating ideas, too. I accomplished both, and thoroughly enjoyed my little outing. I took some photos at Plum Tree that I thought you might enjoy, too. They have the most wonderful little vignettes all through the shop! I just wanted to bring everything home with me!
Note to self – make sure you’re not reflected in the mirror while taking the picture!
Notice the little house and tree vignette in the empty clock frame below? Too cute!
I enjoyed a wonderful afternoon, but now it is back to reality – the laundry still awaits! Happy Sunday!
FINALLY! I’ve made it back to blogland to post the Friday Favorite winner from last week’s giveaway, and to share a new Friday Favorite with you! What a day! Thank goodness for great employees who understand delayed payroll checks!; happy, sharing customers who know just when to bring in a treasured show and tell to distract me; and a super-fantastic web host who jumps right in to figure out a problem even though they are on the other side of the world (the United Kingdom to be exact!) A significant glitch with our website consumed my attention this morning, but happily the problem has been identified and even better – fixed!!! So on to what you’re really here for – the giveaway winner.
Last week, our Friday Favorite was an oldie, but goodie that I found stashed away at the shop – a selection of Cinnamon Stars from Fig Tree Quilts for Moda. And the winner is Anita Amodeo! Congratulations, Anita! (Be sure to go over and visit Anita’s cute, cute blog, too!)
Since you all seemed to LOVE Fig Tree, I found another Fig Tree product that I decided to share this week. In addition to fabric collections, Moda also has a division called Moda Home, which has ready-made items that are sold not only to quilt shops but also to gift shops and boutiques. Some items feature Moda’s fabric collections and others are more theme-based. We do special orders from Moda Home for our customers, but I don’t generally stock Moda Home items in the shop. I did find, however, a special order piece that the customer never picked up so it is time for it to have a new home.
The Friday Favorite this week is a Moda Home backpack made from the wovens in Fig Tree Quilts’ Dandelion Girl fabric collection. (This one is in soft yellows, sage green and apricot colors whereas the one shown in the picture features the aqua colorway.) A perfect everyday tote for yourself, or that favorite pre-teen or teen girl in your life!
If you’ve been following my Friday Favorite posts then you know the drill, but just in case you’re new here, the giveway works like this:
Remember to leave a link to your blog and/or an email address so we can contact you if you win! I’ll announce the winner in the next Friday Favorite post! Good luck!
Have a quilty weekend!
Actually, I know several but for today I’m focusing on just this one! My friend and fellow quilter-in-crime (remember our Excellent Adventures???), Pat, has a block design featured in the collector’s edition of Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks From Today’s Top Designers! Woooo-Hoooo! I always knew I’d be able to say “I knew her when…”
You will want to head over to Pat’s blog RIGHT NOW because today she is featured on the Quiltmaker blog hop, and she has a cute little table runner tutorial and a fantastic giveaway in the works.
Are you still here? Click on over there and tell Pat I said “HI!” Don’t forget to come back here a little later, though, because it’s Friday, which means I’ll be drawing the winner of last week’s Friday Favorite giveaway AND sharing a new Friday Favorite, too. (Sorry, I gotta do my payroll first – my employees seem to think they should be paid for all the fun they have around here!)
See you back here in a bit …
Mr. UPS just dropped these off, and I’ve already gone through and picked out several must make projects! If you’re looking for quick and easy projects to make for Christmas gift-giving, this new issue from Better Home & Gardens will fit the bill. These are some of my favorites:
Plenty of Pockets bag by Monica Solorio-Snow (aka The Happy Zombie) has lots of room inside and lots of pockets outside for all those everyday necessities like cell phone, keys, and sunglasses. This one will be perfect for my Mom who needs lots of pockets!
I think I’ll be making the Fit to be Tied bag from designer Sherri Falls of This & That for myself. It’s the perfect size for lugging my laptop and files back and forth – and cute to boot!
This little pillow would make a great friendship gift, or maybe for a Secret Santa exchange. Very easily made with fusible applique, embroidery and my favorite – jumbo rick rack!
There’s still plenty of time to whip up the Christmas-y lap quilt, Spruce It Up, from designer Karen Montgomery. Quick pieced backgrounds and fusible applique trees leave lots of room to get creative with embellishments. Use decorative ribbons or threads for the tree garlands, or use buttons from your collection.
This magazine is just loaded with great projects – there are several table runners, pincushions, and baby and kid’s projects, too – 35 projects in all. Order your copy today and finish off your gift-giving projects in no time!
Stafford County by Jo Morton for Andover Fabrics arrived this week! Check out the fabrics in detail on our website. Wonderful reproduction prints!
