In between classes, still elfin' around here!!

BARN SALE......

Having an elfin' good time around here......... 

getting ready for the 

BARN SALE......October 12 & 13!!  Coming soon.  Doesn't the barn look lonely right now, just waiting to be filled with wonderful handcrafted items and YOU!!

Hooking Day

A group of ladies made a road trip to a friend's house this week for a day of rug hooking instruction.   There were eight ladies who just couldn't wait to learn this new craft or to hone up on skills that hadn't been used in awhile. 

The ladies eagerly watch on as Betsy goes over the basics of rug hooking, from the different background fabrics to be used to the different hooks, books, wools, etc.  Lots of information to take in.......

Here Betsy is showing the different types of hooks....... 

Once Betsy talked with everyone, they were invited to wander through the house to see some of the rugs she had hooked over the years.  The huge rug in the dining room was hooked by Betsy's mother.  It was absolutely beautiful and amazing to see something so large hooked by hand. 

These are all rugs that were hooked by Betsy.  There were so many more but I decided to only share a few for space consideration.  Let's just say she could open a rug shop with what she has!!!!! 

A tiny peek at Betsy's wool closet.  Look at all that yummy wool.  And there's more hidden in another closet, of course!!  A girl can never have too much wool! 

Lynn looks like she's getting the hang of it.

Joyce caught on really quickly and just hooked the day away.

Not sure what Tricia is doing, but it looks like she's having fun!  I believe she made a boo-boo!!

The ladies all had a great time and went home with hooking homework.  Big thanks to Betsy for opening her home and sharing all her wonderful rugs and especially her talent with everyone!!

Happy hooking gals!

Happy 1st Birthday Joshua

Hard to believe that a year has gone by since our grandson was born, but it has!!  Today is Joshua's first birthday!! 

Joshua had no problem getting into the presents.  He was most curious about all the bright packages that showed up at his house.............. 

And what does this card say?  He was so into the whole birthday thing. 

Hmmmm......I think I can play a little music. 

Happy Birthday sweet boy!!

A fine group of ladies gathered at my house bright and early Saturday morning to work on the Summer Recipe Book, some as early as 9am.  Everyone got right to work, rotating around the room as they finished a page at each station.

They cut.................. 

and cut some more.....and pasted.....and distressed.......and colored..........and finally...... 

The first two finished!!  At 5:15pm!  What a long day.........but they loved their books.  Good job Sue and Dolly. 

And look, two more done.  Good job Barbara and Donna!!  But alas, I forgot to take pictures of the last two who did an equally great job.  But by this time it was 7:30pm and we were all tired and I didn't remember the camera until they were long gone.  So good job Teresa and Laney.  I know you're all going to love the books you worked so hard to create.  The recipes are yummy!! 

It's looking a little fallish around here.  I finished the Halloween quilt top I was making just in time to use it as a backdrop for an upcoming fall class, Witch's boots and hat make-do.  Love these two projects!! 

Also finished this new project, wool appliqued on ticking.  Does this just scream fall??!!  Can you tell I'm ready to move on to the next season??!!!

I have a couple more fall projects which aren't quite ready yet so back to stitching for me.

OK ladies......if you're looking for a good time and a way to save a few $$ on fabric, go visit Gail at Quilts 'n Tiques this weekend or next week or sometime in the very near future.  I've mentioned on here a few weeks ago that she's selling out her inventory......fabric $5 per yard, one yard cuts and all notions, patterns and books at 40% off retail price.

Laura and I made a trip down there Thursday and there's still tons of fabric to choose from.  In case you'd like to put a face with the name, Gail is in the blue shirt and Laura would be the happy person in the pink shirt.  Laura left with enough fabric to do several quilt projects at a very affordable price.  It's not very often that we get the opportunity to buy quilt shop fabric at that price, so take advantage of it while you can.  Gail told me she still had a 1000 bolts of fabric in the shop!!  And I walked away with three more quilt books to add to my collection (along with a few yards of fabric!) and there were many great titles still to choose from.  So go visit!! 

Quilts 'n Tiques

122 Anderson Street

Fayetteville, NC

910-486-0074

It's that time of year again!!!  School time and time to collect those box tops for education.  If you have any that aren't claimed, I would love to have them for my granddaughters.  Reagan (now 8 years old) has won the pizza party for her classroom two years in a row for collecting the most box tops and that was done with help from so many of you.  So thank you in advance for saving those pretty pink labels.  If you save them from afar and need my address, just drop me a note.

So glad to see the weekend and looking forward to a fun recipe book class here tomorrow.  Hope you all have a great weekend and find a little stitching time.

Merry Monday!  I've had a merry time today working on my new fall projects for upcoming classes and also starting a new quilting project.  Debbie (our quilt instructor extraordinaire) taught us a new block yesterday and I decided it would be the perfect block to use up some of my older Halloween stash.  I am determined to get some fabric off the shelves and put to good use.  I got three of the blocks done and now have bunches more in various stages.  This will be a quickie project that I know I will enjoy using at Halloween.

I have no clue what this block is called but I assume some sort of pinwheel or twister name.  I missed that part of the class.  Works up quickly and great for a scrappy assortment of fabrics.

I think I feel relieved that my huge Civil War project is complete and I can now work on some other things without guilt.  Like finishing my large house quilt that has three blocks done and got put aside..........or the 100 crazy quilt blocks I started for a king size quilt.........40 more to go............

Classes tomorrow and Wednesday so a busy time this week.  We're doing the Sewing Bee project tomorrow and the Farmer's Market mat on Wednesday.  Still room if you'd like to join in the fun.

Hope your Monday was good and productive. 

Stick a Fork in it!!

I am done, done, done.  This is the last block of the 83 blocks of the mystery quilt that I was doing.  This was our one year anniversary of the beginning of this quilt group so I am especially excited to have this project completed on our anniversary.  It is beautiful, I learned a lot along the way, will not put the squares together for awhile until I figure out how I want to put them together, but nonetheless, the blocks are DONE!!  So if you heard someone singing Hallelujah!!  Hallelujah!!  wherever you live, that would have been me!!!!!!!!

Moving on.......................to more quilting projects and also working on new projects for the upcoming fall class schedule.  Can't believe I just used the "fall" word with our 95 degree heat but it is just around the corner!!!  Can't come soon enough for me.

Happy weekend and merry me!