One more giveaway...

My odds have to be better to win one of these, than the lotto, right? :o) Rachel is giving away a $50 Fat Quarter Shop gift certificate. Woohoo!!! Hurry to sign up. She's drawing a name on 8/1.

Contest

I saw this adorable little bag on Moda Bake Shop. Kim, the maker of this adorable little bag is having a giveaway on her blog, Bitty Bits and Pieces. What a cute bloggy blog name, don't you think???

I made a tote bag!

I made a wallet and last night I finished a tote bag. And neither one are for me. :o) My middle daughter Stephanie is taking the wallet. I just made it to work along side of Kelley and Neena. Stephanie said it matches perfectly with her brown purse. Of course it does! lol

So my co-worker Becca has a birthday on August 11th. I thought I would make her a little tote bag to carry her stuff to work. She has two daughters who play sports and she volunteers a lot at their schools and is always lugging around paperwork. So, this is the bag.

The light fabric is little ladybugs and sayings like "Ladybug, ladybug, fly away home." She loves ladybugs so this fabric had her name all over it. The only problem is the straps are too short. The pattern is a free one from bhg.com. Here's the link for the pattern. The pattern calls for 34 1/2" strap pieces. I would leave them the width of the fabric at 42". Just so you could carry the bag over your shoulder.
It was an easy bag with easy directions. Heres a picture of the lining.

I'm not sure what I'm doing this weekend but I have a "job" to do a tablerunner. I'll check in with pictures if I get that finished. Til then....TGIF!!!!!!!!!!

I made a wallet!

My daughter Kelley wanted to make a wallet. My friend Sherrie made one from a pattern she bought and Kelley really liked it so we borrowed the pattern. Last week at TNT (Thursday Night Therapy), Kelley, my friend Neena and I cut one out and started making one. I really wasn't going to make one but I thought I could just work along with the girls if I made one too.
So this is my finished wallet. I like it but I'm not happy with how the binding went on. I ended up stitching it down with the machine and I think it looks tacky. I might take it out and tack it down by hand. I'll figure that out after I decide what I'm doing with it.

The light blue fabric with the kids faces has little birdies on their heads. Kelley REALLY wanted this fabric for her birthday in May. I bought it for her from Spoonflower. This fabric has to be given for something special like a birthday because it's custom designed and printed and is $18.00 a yard. Their site says something about beta printing and done one yard at a time or some nonesense. The cool thing is, anyone can design a fabric and have it printed. You could do a custom fabric for some special occasion and I think that's pretty cool. I just don't like that price. lol Anyway, Kelley shared her fabric so I used it with some brown and made the wallet. We couldn't tell from the pattern pieces what was what. You'd think after years of sewing, I could figure it out but I had distractions. That's my story and I'm sticking to it! :o) I would've liked to put the blue on the outside but it's okay. It will stay cleaner this way.
This is the inside of the wallet with a velcro pouch and a zippered change pocket.

And there are two sides for credit cards.....for fabric shopping, of course!!!

The girls are coming back over tonight to finish their wallets. I'll try to remember to take pictures of theirs too!

Las Vegas in July

WHAT WERE WE THINKING????

Blech!!! That's all I've got to say. Well, I have a lot more to say but that pretty much sums it up. :o)

My youngest daughter has played softball since she could walk. She earned a scholarship for college, too. Well, she can't seem to give it up. Even though she graduated a few years ago, she still loves the game. She was in a tournament this past weekend in Vegas so my hubby was going to go. He LOVES Las Vegas. His wife (that would be me) HATES Las Vegas. Even when the thermostat isn't reading 102, I still don't like it. We hit traffic going there, we hit traffic coming home and to me, it's just a yucky place. But parents make sacrifices and I decided to go along.

Here's a pic of the stud, Ashley. :o)

I won't show you the disgusting scrape this girl got when she slid into 2nd base. Oh my gosh, it was ugly. During her younger years, I would tell Ashley it was a good thing she wasn't into beauty pageants because with all her scars, she would never make it. lol

It was hot and humid in Vegas. There was a storm in the mountains rolling in. So on top of the high 90 degrees, it was a yucky 90 degrees. This shot is taken from the shady trees we were sitting under watching the games. That helped quite a bit. Unfortunately, the didn't play at this park the entire tournament. The other place didn't have mature trees and I was miserable. It's not pretty when mama's miserable.

This is a "zoom" picture of the girls getting their awards from the Hooter girls. lol It's not a very good picture but I wasn't going out in the sun to get a picture! And honestly, who needs to see a bunch of 100 lb. girls in tank tops and Daisy Duke shorts? Yeah, me either. LOL

Tonight I'm working on finishing a wallet so hopefully, I'll have some "sewing" pictures tomorrow.

Finished Pincushion

Just a quick post to say that I got my pincushion filled (is pincushion one word or two?) with the crushed walnut shells yesterday and whipped it shut. I love the way the filler feels. Kind of like sand but just a little bit bigger. I love it!

We have been chatting about the walnut shells on my Yahoo group since yesterday. Some ladies have tried it, some haven't but are curious now. :o) In case you want to try this filler for orphan blocks or another pincushion projects that you've wanted to try, I was told that you can get this filler at most any pet store as it's sold for the bottom of bird or lizard cages. Some ladies found it at Petco, Wal-Mart or like me, in my local feed store.

Terry said she bought hers in a little bag at her local quilt shop. That's a good idea if they sell it. Otherwise, stop at Target for a pantry jar because the smallest bag I found was seven pounds. This is all I had that would hold 6.99 lbs. of ground walnut shells! (That 6" pin cushion didn't use up much filler!) LOL

One project down, 5, 698, 472 left to go!

A little more Quilt Run chatter...

I'm almost done sharing with you. I just have a lot to say. The reason I talk so much is actually a medical issue that I have. My last diagnosis was that I have something called CCS, also known as, Chatty Cathy Syndrome. Need I say more? :o)
The last quilt shop we hit on the Quilter's Run was called Stars & Scraps in Corona. What a cute shop! It's probably about 25 miles from my home so not a shop I would go to unless I was out that way. But they have a lot going for them. Lots of great samples, beautiful fabric and a nice staff. But the shop has ambiance too. We don't get a lot of Americana-type shops out here in old So. Cal. That's why I do retreats in IN and AR! A long way to go to get some country cuties, eh?
I asked the woman that I think was the owner, if I could take some pictures for my bloggy-blog. She asked me what my blog was called so I told her, BusyLiz...blah, blah. She said she had visited it before! Really??? Can you imagine? I figure most of the time I'm just talking to myself on this thing. LOL I think she saw the link from one of the other quilt owners, Kris, from Cozy Cottage who has me listed on her sidebar. I'm right there with all the big names. Geez, what an honor. I guess I outta sew something to maintain my worthiness, huh? hehe But that'll have to wait til I get home from work. Right now, I'm talkin' quilt shops. :o)

So, this is Stars & Scraps. I only had my iphone and I don't usually take pictures with it. They're a little blurry. I guess it was all my excitement from all the shopping. Here's a Raggedy and a cute display.
Some cute quilts......

And this little corner with a cute red and white valances, quilts, some RW&B fabrics, chunky rickrack and more.

This was a quilt in one of the shops we went to. I *think* it was in the San Diego area. I bought the blue star print so they let me take a picture. I've done a split nine patch block before but I liked this star in the center. A few years ago I made my SIL a western print quilt in similar colors and I think I might have a lot of fabrics left over. It would be great if I had enough to make a dent for this project.

That's it for today. Whew, two posts but I wanted to get the pictures of the shop loaded. I hope you are having a fabulous day!!

Mileage Check

I wish I would've tracked my mileage before the Quilt Run. Here is a picture of the map of all the quilt shops. The blue stars mark each quilt shop that participated. The "black stars" are the shops I went to! Don't ask me how we missed the Quilter's Emporium. I heard it's a really cool shop with nothing but reproductions. Call it a navigational error! lol

I hit 28 quilt shops during my three travel days. This week I will be eating pinto beans and potatoes for dinner! LOL Moving on....

Each shop offered a free block pattern, 6", and if you went to every shop in that area, you could make a small quilt from them. Most of the shops offered a small kit of fabric for $3.00. I only bought one kit from Temecula Quilt Co. They had made theirs into a pincushion and they had a finished one on the sign in table. Since I'm a touchy feely kind of gal. I knew I had it in me to make a pincushion. I liked it enough to spend the $3.00. I got the blocks sewed up on Sunday but didn't know how I wanted to fill it. I knew theirs was heavy but it didn't feel like the plastic pellets I have. I called the shop yesterday and they said they filled theirs with walnut shells from the pet or feed stores. I don't have any money left for walnut shells so this is on hold. LOL Eeegads, another UFO!

I decided since I was just making a pincushion, I would use this FQ from Joann's that someone gave me. I've been moving around from one place to another and it needed to go into a project. It had a label around it and when I tried to remove it, it gave me quite a bit of grief. I finally gave up and just left the sticky part on and put it on the inside of the pincushion. It'll be on the bottom so it's not big deal. It was free so I can't really complain but at least it's getting used up. Wow, 6" of fabric used!!!!!!! I'm kickin' butt now huh? haha

From the mountains to the deserts...

If you live in Southern California, you might know the saying that we used to hear on the news, "From the mountains, to the deserts, to all of Southern California...." That was an introduction one station used. It might not be an exact quote but it's close enough to make my point. I swear that is about the area that me and my friend Neena covered yesterday on the So. CA Quilter's Run. It's a good thing it's over today because I'm out of money! hehe
These are the few items I bought yesterday....

I keep seeing on peoples blogs that they are stash busting or used this many yards or that many FQ's. That might be my next step. :o) Is quilting a 12 step program?

We got to revisit some shops we have been to on previous shop hops but they're too far for everyday shopping. But some of them are worth the drive for a special event like this. Then there were some new shops. It was fun to see how different they are all decorated and all the quilts displayed. Ahhhh, it was so motivating.

Here are some pictures of Candy's Quiltworks in Northridge. The staff in the shop was very nice. So many shops had very friendly people working. Candy's had lots of shelves filled with a nice variety of fabrics. Lots of good stuff. This is one side looking left once inside the door.........

Another angle from the lefthand side of the store.

To the right or what's right in front of you when you enter the store.

And the shop below, The Fabric Patch, had the cutest windows. The Fabric Patch has one of the cool spots to shop at Road to CA. I guess it's because they have a lot of little gifty items and books. They take the entire corner and it's always hopping with a big crowd.

Look how cute the front windows were painted.

Good window art. Too cute, huh?

I have more to share with you tomorrow. For now, I have to go sort my fabric piles and do a little reorganizing. I'm running out of room and I've already moved things into the spare bedroom. I wonder how many organizing containers I can fit in the trunk of my car? :o)

TGIF and Pickles!!!

I love Fridays. Well, I love them after 3:00 p.m. when I get off work. LOL A lady shared these two comics on the Yahoo forum I belong to. For all you married quilters out there. My hubby is pretty good about waiting in the car and napping but I'm sure there are plenty who aren't that accomodating. :o)

Click to open a bigger window.....

Thursday, Part 2 Yummy in sooo many ways!

This is a picture of my "haul" from the Quilt run on Saturday. So many shops, so little time and money! I did my fair share though, don't you think? I am a one-person-economy-overhauler!!!! lol

The theme for this Quilter's Run was Carnival, I think. I'm over 50 you know! Every shop gave away Mardi Gras beads plus a pattern for a small quilt for each area. There are four areas and as I mentioned before, 42 shops. You can see from my bead collection that we hit quite a few shops. Eighteen so far. I got a few cuts of fabic on sale for quilt backs or a project they had in the shop or just because it was so stinkin' cute!!! hehe

Onto another kind of yummy..... Better Than Sex Cake. I think this title is only true for women. I made this dessert for my Bunco gathering last night. Here's how you make your very own goodness:

First you bake a chocolate cake according to the package directions. When it's done baking and cooling, mix 1 jar of Mrs. Richardson's Butterscotch ice cream topping with 1 can of sweetened condensed milk.

After the cake cools for about 15 minutes, you poke holes in it with a wooden spoon and pour the sweet goodness over the top and let it soak in. (Can you feel your pants get tighter?) lol

When it has completely cooled off, you top it with Cool Whip and crushed Heath candy bars (about 4-5). Cover and put in the fridge. This is yummy if you make it the day before so it can good and cold and so good for a summer dessert, except for that "baking" part. :o)

I served it with vanilla ice cream. It is DELICIOUS!!!!! There were twelve ladies at my house and my husband, who came in late and pretty much hid in the room. I'm sure this dessert was named by a woman because the ladies were moaning and groaning about how delicious it was. One even said she needed a cigarette! LOL

First post for Thursday

I've got some catching up to do so I'm going to do two posts today. How 'bout that? LOL
First, I wanted to show you my tomatoes. Even though we practically killed the plant by watering it too much, it's still giving us fruit. It doesn't look very healthy though so we're thinking maybe we should just go buy another one and plant it next to this one, since we have so much season left. It'll probably be hot in CA until January!

I've been working on finishing up my little cherry blocks for a swap. This is the third set and I might try and make one more set before swapping them out. It just depends. I'm waiting to hear from one last girl. These is going to make a cute quilt!

I wanted to share a couple more pictures from the Quilt Run last Saturday. One of the shops we went to was Quilt in a Day. Do you know Eleanor Burns? Yeah, me either, but she has a quilt shop. :o) So many shops we went to were in industrial parks. Probably for the size of the building and the cheaper rent compared to a store front. I'm just guessing of course because I really don't know anything about quilt shops...except for the good stuff on the inside!! :o)

There were areas in a side room that had wallpaper and antiques like it was used in a shoot for one of her books. It was nice shop with a nice variety of fabrics.

As we headed back to Orange County, we stopped at A Time To Sew. This store is in a new location. Another industrial park so the shop was a nice size. They had a back room with samples so I snapped a few pictures to share with you. I thought this was a great setting for some of my bags of swap blocks....

I love the colors too. And I had to grab a shop of this quilt. I still have a bunch of this fabric that I bought to make a quilt my bed. I think it's called Cinnamon something....

I tried to do a star block using the Square in a Square technique but I'm a failure at that so I might just do something like this trusy ol' Log Cabin. I love it and even though that blue print is nice, I would find a different center square color.

That's it for this post. On to find what other pictures I was going to share with you. :o)

Quilt Run, my second day out

Saturday, me, my friend Susan and her Dad, Frank went to some shops on the Quilt Run. Frank is retired and started quilting by doing some Yellow Brick Road quilts. He watched Susan and thought it looked easy enough and he's a retired Engineer. You know how they think so I guess quilting with an accurate 1/4" is a piece of cake. :o)
I had two favorite quilt shops that we visited Saturday but I only got pictures of one. I just had my eyes glazed over and wasn't thinking about taking pictures. lol The first shop was Quilter's Coop in Temecula, CA. I checked online but they don't have a photo of their shop up much less the new location. They used to be on a side street in downtown Temecula and their classes were upstairs. Pretty inconvenient for carrying your sewing machine and supplies. This new location faces the quaint downtown area filled with restaurants and specialty shops. The store is big and filled with wonderful fabrics and lots of sample quilts. I highly recommend stopping in if you're in the area.
The second favorite shop was The Fat Quarter Quilt Shop. Sooooo cute. It's not off the freeway I normally drive when I head to San Diego to see my mom so I've never heard of it. Plus, they said this is the first year they've been on the Quilt Run. It's an old A-frame house.

This is their street sign....

This is me.... lol

This is my friend Susan upstairs in an "attic" area filled with all kinds of great fabrics, samples, a sale rack (woohoo).

This is a little side room in the attic. Their display pieces were so cute.

Susan loved these samples made with fabric she had already had so she was getting a closer look. They're so cheerful, don't you think?

I bought a truckload of stuff. We hit twelve shops! That's a lot of shops, a lot of driving and a lot of shopping. I tried to hit the sale rack when I could and some shops had more that I couldn't resist so I spent a little more here or there. On the average, I spent about $12-$15 at each store. I'll post a few pics later of some of my goodies.

Six shops, six bags!

Yesterday, the 2009 So. Cal Quilter's Run started. There are 42 shops participating this year! Whew! I am lucky to live in Orange County (CA) where I have shops within a few miles of me in every direction. I definitely won't get to all 42. I don't have the stamina OR the money! LOL

I hit three shops after work yesterday; Cozy Cottage, Calico House and Quilter's Garden. Don't you love quilt shop names? :o) Quilter's Garden is across the parking lot from Esther's Taco House. They have yummy Mexican food so I picked up an order to take home to the mister. After gobbling down dinner and chatting with him for a few minutes, I flew out of the house for three more shops. My husband said he knows I was sitting there with him because there was a puff of smoke where my body had been! hehe I went to Timeless Quilts, Bears Quilt Shop and Quilt Cupboard. Here's a picture of my goodies (so far).

The adorable vintage fabric in the back, which I've almost covered up, I think I'm going to make a new kitchen valance with that one. I got that at Cozy. I have a two yard piece I found at the last run a year ago. I had to think about it first. LOL The minty green fabric is flannel and I got that on sale for a baby quilt backing. The other two fabrics next to that were off the sale rack too. I thought I could use those for charity quilts. I loved that green chicken fabric. It's too cute.

I'm going to hit some of the shops down south with a friend and her dad tomorrow. That should be fun. I don't usually go that far but since they were going, I invited myself. :o)

Mail out, cherries in

I hosted a UFO challenge on a Yahoo group called Backporch Friends. The goal was to finish as many UFO's as you could from a list of 15 in a six month period. Two ladies finished 8, one finished 7, and so on. Out of twelve ladies who signed up, we finished 37 UFO's. Everyone sent me two fat quarters and $2.00 to cover postage to mail prizes out. Here are the baggies for the winners. I can post this now because the ladies are starting to receive their packages. I had collected things on sale from Gooseberry Patch, Michaels and Tuesday Morning to add to the prize packages.

I got two sets of cherry blocks done in the last couple of days. This is for a swap. We're to use any cherry fabrics with Pimatex black. The block is called Swapper's Star from quilterscache.com.

I've got two more sets to do. This is my next set.

Getting my blocks the right size was a little tricky. It had to do, as always, with the 1/4" seam. I didn't realize how far over I had to move my fabric from the edge of my 1/4" foot to get a scant quarter inch seam allowance. Since it was quite a bit from the outside of the foot, I went ahead and stacked up some layers of painters tape to give me an edge to butt my fabric against and to insure a consistent seam allowance. It helped quite a bit!

Yesterday, the sun was setting and the sky was looking so pretty so I grabbed my camera. Yes, I was driving. I do my best photography behind the wheel of my car! If you're ever in California and you see a silver car swearving all over the freeway, it's probably me trying to take a picture. :o)

Happy 6th of July!

What? The 6th of July isn't a holiday? Oh, I'm sorry. I guess I was so busy celebrating our country's Independence, I sort of missed stopping by to say hello. I hope you had a nice 4th of July. This is what was happening at our house.........
We had some food. A bar-b-que. My family was kind of cooperative to hold off eating while I grabbed my camera to show you the spread. Well, except for that arm reaching for the ketchup! :o)

I made some 'tater salad. That's how Mexican's say potato salad. LOL

And we had some family over. One of these ladies is my oldest sister and one is my youngest sister. There are seven years between them but I'm not sayin' who is who. They look darn good, don't you think? The blond hair and fair skin is the Spanish in our family. I didn't get ANY of that white stuff. I won't tell you what else they got that I didn't but THEY know!

I got this cute little bucket at some garden center. I wrapped our forks in a napkin and tied them with a ribbon just to add to the festivities.

Most everyone left early because they had a two hour commute either north or south. My SIL & BIL and two of our daughters +1 boyfriend stayed to watch the neighbor light his illegal fireworks. hehe We played two rounds of scrabble which none of us had played in YEARS. It was so much fun.

I hope you had a nice weekend and got a chance to celebrate. I did stop to say a prayer for our men and women who are fighting for our freedom so we can have bar-b-ques and parties.