Feeling spoiled

I recently received this amazing quilt from my DollQultSwap10 partner Kati. Kati blogs over at from the blue chair. I've actually visited Kati's blog a few times in the past.

I LOVE this quilt! I have always been a fan of black backgrounds (as I'm sure a few of you already know) and the aqua is a new favorite of mine.

The back is stunning too. Love the quilting lines and the label looks great all crooked.

Kati also included some goodies. She used some of her leftover scraps to make this hot pad. Thanks Kati but I don't think this will used in the kitchen. This one will be going up on a wall somewhere too. I also received some fabric to play with. See that simple looking roll with the red tie? I wonder what is in there....

Kati also made these pins. She told me that this was her first time making pins like this. I'm guessing they are clay. I think they turned out great. I especially LOVE the rose! I know how hard they are to make in ribbon, I don't want to even think about how hard they would be in clay.

Thanks Kati!!! Everything is amazing!

With a little help from my friends

A couple of quilting friends from a quilting forum I like to hang out at knew I was collecting red/white/cream/blue strings to make string blocks for QOV quilts. They were very generous and sent me some of their scraps. It's fun to play with other quilter's scraps! 

Just One Star or two

Moda put a call out for some help last month. They are trying to make 100 quilts in a 100 days for Quilts of Valor.  I made these two stars last month and sent them in. They are collecting stars until May 1st so if you haven't heard about this project and wish to donate you still have a little bit of time left to make a block or two. They actually go together really fast. I didn't trim my blocks because Moda asked us not too. They will trim the blocks when they arrive. A good idea actually. That way all the blocks will be the same size and they won't have to "fudge" any blocks when they are putting them together.

I was very surprised when I received a package from Moda last week. I couldn't remember winning anything recently so I couldn't wait to open it up. Inside I found this mini charm pack and a thank you note from Moda for sending in two stars. Completely unnecessary but greatly appreciated. I'll probably make a table runner or tote bag with these little squares.

In the past I have scoured the web looking for organizations that took donations for wounded soldiers. I found many sites where people were collecting quilts. The guidelines were very strict and I wasn't sure if I would be able to make many complete quilts so I kept looking. Then I came across the HeartStrings Quilt Project blog. This group collects quilts but also they accept string blocks. Their guidelines are very easy to follow so this is the group I have decided to work with.  I already have 36 blocks for their heart strings project. Next I will be working on string blocks for the QOV group.

Hoppy Easter!!

Phill-A-Me-Na Flamingo and I want to wish you and your family a very safe and Happy Easter!!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful time with friends and family this weekend. We are having our traditional ham dinner. We will probably spend most of our day playing video games and watching movies together.  Good Friday started Spring Break for our area. It will be great to hear all the neighborhood kids playing outside. I love listening to the kids laughing outside. Some will be riding bikes and others will be swimming. My son has a couple friends and they like to play basketball. Hopefully the low humidity will stick around for awhile so the kids can run around without getting over heated.

Phill-a-me-na Flamingo is one of my favorite friends over in the shop. 

Food

When I was working in the Cafe one of our regular ladies asked if I wanted any zucchini. I asked her if she had a garden and she said no, she lives next to a farm. The farmer allows her to pick what she wants from the farm. I thought that was very sweet of the farmer. I told her sure, I love zucchini. I was more than a bit surprised when she came back after lunch and brought me these. That big one is almost 14" long! I took the smaller one (which is still much bigger than ones from the store) and sliced it up like a cucumber. I froze them on a tray and them put them in a Ziploc bag. Those will be used with yellow squash or a couple family favorite dishes. The big guy I peeled and then shredded. The pieces were about 3" long. I layed those out on a cookie sheet and froze them also. Those will go in soups and for zucchini pancakes. I made a few zucchini pancakes already and they turned out great. They had a nice crisp crust and were pretty tasty.

Each Easter and Christmas I buy Peeps. The kids don't like them anymore but the dog and I do. I only eat a pack or two. I'm just a marshmallow lover. You can always find a bag of marshmallows in my cabinet. This week I have caramel/vanilla marshmallows. Anyways...Hubby stopped off at Walgreen's for his monthly cashew fix and he saw these Peeps freezer pops. He knows my marshmallow addiction and thought I would get a kick out of these. I was hesitant especially when I saw that the pops were marshmallow flavored and clear. I froze them and then caved and tried them today. The first bite was delicious. It reminded me of a creamy frosting. Halfway through it just got to be too much. The more I ate the funkier the taste became. Nice thought Peeps but a fail in my opinion.

Flashback and the famous

When our kids were young we always watched Full House as a family. We have even watched it recently thanks to Nick at Night. Anyone who has watched this show knows that Uncle Jessie (John Stamos) was the heart throb of the show. He had girls of all ages swooning when he sang. Of course I thought he was cute but it was always the Olson twins that I loved to watch.

You're probably wondering why I am posting about an old family favorite like Full House. Well it's because of this....

Mandy got to meet John Stamos last night. Sorry the picture isn't any bigger but I "stole" it from her Facebook page. John Stamos and The Beach Boys held a concert in Naples, Florida last night. One of Mandy's friends had plans to hang out outside the concert so they could meet John Stamos. They didn't have tickets, they were either too expensive or sold out so they goofed around for awhile listening to the music from outside the place they were playing. I didn't get the whole story but obviously they met up with Uncle Jessie afterwards and.....

Mandy got her arm autographed. The girls were all giggly and OMG OMG I will never wash my arm again lol.  I'm just thrilled that Mandy was smiling in the picture. I love to see that girl smile. It lights up her whole face.

So, have you met anyone famous? I haven't.

OK, I found a way to get a bigger picture.

Row Robin

A bit ago I received my rows back from the Round (Row) Robin that Barb hosted last year. While cleaning the sewing room I came across the bag that had my rows in it and realized I never posted the rows on my blog. Thanks ladies my rows are wonderful!

This is the picture that Jenn posted over on the Round Robin blog.  Her floor helps show the colors better than my white design wall does.

Now I have to decide how I want to finish this quilt. When I joined this swap I was thinking about adding strips of black between the rows. Now that the rows are at my house I'm not sure what I want to do. I'm almost tempted to separate each block from the rows and then border each block in black or put black strips in between the blocks. For now, it will sit in my to do box until I get a better idea of what I want to make.

A little Easter shopping

I went out and did a bit of shopping a couple weekends ago. I had a coupon for JoAnn's that was just begging to be used. It was 25% off the total purchase including sale items. I just couldn't let that coupon go unused.

Most of the Easter fabrics were gone but I did find a few that I liked. The Easter fabrics were 40% off so it was a good deal. I also found some other fabric that was calling my name from the sales bin. I love discounts.

I also hit the dollar bins at the front of Target. I found these fun socks and Easter towels. I love pastel colors and these towels will look great in the kitchen. Every time I see fun little socks I buy them. I have a drawer full now. I love to make sock creatures with them. I haven't made any in a bit but that doesn't stop me from buying more socks.

A lady I work with had a birthday last week so I picked up a few things for her also. These socks will actually be worn unlike the ones I picked up for me. She loves to wear fun and funky socks each day. She has quite a collection of silly socks. I also picked up an Outback gift card. Her and her Husband like to eat there so I thought it would be a nice thing for them.

I also picked up a bunch of supplies to make some Easter baskets. I found these fun sand castle pails that have a shovel attached to the handle. When I make baskets I like the basket part to be just as useful as the things inside the basket.

This is what they look like after I put everything inside them. These will be going to a local church that is collecting baskets for 3,000 local kids. Yes, you read that right...3,000 Easter baskets are needed. This church also has a grade school and the kids are making baskets. The baskets will be going to kids in Foster Care, or that have parents that are addicted to drugs or in jail, etc. In the past we have needed help and were very fortunate that there were people out there to help us. Now, whenever we get a chance to give back we like do what we can to help someone else out. I think it is a very good lesson for the kids to help others also.

While making these baskets I did realize that I enjoy making gift baskets. I think I might do it a bit more often. 

Hello!

Hello everyone! I've started to feel a bit more motivated lately and I am ready to come back to blogging. I love blogging and I have missed blogging and chatting with everyone. I just didn't have the energy or motivation for awhile as I'm sure some of you have noticed. Let's see if I can get on a roll with some new posts.

Last month I won this DVD over at Dragon Threads blog. Libby Lehman has some stunning quilts on her blog Threadplaying. I have to admit that I haven't watched the DVD yet. I am very interested in the appliqué section though. I've just been too tired to actually enjoy the DVD so I have been waiting.