Recommendation: We Love French Knots

In case you haven't found this website yet, visit

http://www.welovefrenchknots.com/

for a wonderful series of videos on how to do embroidery stitches. 

I have always had problems with French knots.  I will learn how to do it, make one or two then forget again. Although, I may not "love" them yet, Bari J's video really  helped me figure out how to do these (again!) and I went back to a stitchery UFO and added all the French knots.  I also learned how to do a chain stitch and finished some more of this UFO. Only one block left to stitch.  Woo hoo! 

A Most Excellent Blog Friend

No buzz here, I'm always this crazy.

Is everyone eating candy waiting on trick or treaters?  I hope so because I don't want to be the only one with a coffee-chocolate buzz all night.  It's finally fall weather here, just in time for November. Or at least it is at the moment.




Well I hardly know how to express my surprise and delight with an unexpected package that arrived in the mail on Friday. A birthday gift from blog friend Dianne of a month of sundays.  This most sweet, thoughtful gift made by eyes well up (but there's no crying on Halloween weekend.)

Stella is the postal inspector general of the house

 Edgar Poe, of course, is inspector of everything in the house.
He is one nosy cat.  I see lots of singing spooky songs in my future.

A super cool candy corn apron

Hunky Halloween guys on the reverse

 Thank you Dianne for such a thoughtful gift!!!!  I am so touched by your generosity, I hardly know what to say. A proper old-fashioned thank you is coming by snail mail. You're the best!  I will sing all these songs in your honor (be happy you can't hear, I can't sing worth beans.)

And the Random Number Generator Goes to....

We have a winner!  Congratulations to Tiffany at This Crafty Fox!!!  Tiffany, please email me your mailing address and I'll send out your package. 


Thanks everyone for entering.  This was so much fun that I'll be holding another giveaway for my blog-iversary coming up in December.

Those last steps...

Do you find the last few steps of getting a quilt finished the most difficult? KarenDianne at LeeHaven had a couple of posts about getting 75% done and then stopping and setting the quilt project aside. I enjoyed reading the comments about the points where other quilters get stuck and knowing that we are not alone.

I seem to get stuck at the borders. Quilt top is done except for the borders. (let's not talk about the quilt tops that aren't quilted...that's for another post).

Well I had help getting borders on my Peace on Earth quilt this past weekend Who knew Gomez was so good at measuring???

A Bit of Culture and A Big Surprise

Well another roasting day here in Atlanta (upper 90s). Got up this morning and decided to spend the day at the High Museum of Art in nice icy A/C. The new exhibit is Monet's Waterlilies and there are four waterlily paintings on loan from the Museum of Modern Art. Here is Claude in his garden.
Impressionist paintings are amazing in real life with all the color and texture. There was also a really interesting photograph exhibit of Richard Misrach's On the Beach series. It was lots of fun and a great way to spend a too hot day. Lunch was a trip over to Howell Mill Road to Taqueria del Sol, one of my favorite restaurants. I always have fish tacos and queso dip and chips. Today was a perfect day for a margarita on the rocks with salt so I had one of those too. A toast to a long hot summer in Atlanta.

I came home and was checking through blogs in google reader. To my huge surprise I won a blog giveaway!!! Good golly miss molly, it was the way fab bag sewn by Anne Sutton and her talented Chelsea!!! I nearly fell off the couch! See photos of the stylin' tote I will be toting soon here. I'm so excited I can't stand it.

A Finish for April

Hooray a finished top for April! This is the Gypsy Rose quilt I worked on earlier in the month. The pattern called for a larger outer border but I decided not to put it on (1) because the fabric I bought just wasn't working for me and (2) sometimes I get tired of the small inner border/larger outer border look. I liked the quilt like this so this is what it is. I had enough of the fabric I bought for the outer border to use as a backing (it's a small quilt about 45 X 62) and now it's ready to go to my long-arm quilter Peggy (along with 50-11 other tops...). I think I will take three to her; the others being my Mardi Gras quilt (aka Bonnie Hunter's Orange Crush) and E's flannel quilt (now that it is 80 degrees out...). Melisa helped me pick out border fabric for my Mardi Gras quilt at Sweet Home Quilt Co. so hopefully I will have that done by the end of the month.

PS: Check out Becky's blog for her 150th post giveaway!

Domestic Diva

Well if you remember from earlier in the week, my big plans for the weekend involved cleaning out the attic and that's what happened. We had beautiful weather here in the ATL--80s and sunny--and I spent it cleaning. But it had to be done and we got about 1/2 of the attic cleaned out. It was hot and dusty and icky so the other have will have to wait until S. and I forget how un-fun this half was. A lot of stuff accumulates in an attic over 10 years and I just kept wondering why on earth I kept some of the stuff to begin with. Clutter-busting is very liberating though.

Today was busy at Starbucks, everyone was out and about enjoying the weather and stopping in for coffee. I came home and took a nap, great weather or not I was still tired from yesterday. I also made some homemade kale & mushroom soup and cornbread for dinner and another batch of snickerdoodles as a reward to myself for working so hard this weekend.

As a reward to you for reading this boring post, check out the giveaway at Cornfield Quilter. It's a great giveaway; please let her know I sent you. She also has the most beautiful Double Delight quilt on her 200th post. I love the colors. Wonder if my Double Delight has aged enough to start working on it again LOL!

Quilt Bloggers Quilt Festival

Have you seen the fun (and popular!) virtual quilt show set up by Park City Girl? You are supposed to pick your favorite quilt and write a story about it, then add it to the quilt show. It's really hard to pick a favorite quilt because I like them all for different reasons. This is one of my current recent favorites (how's that?) Maybe because it's completely finished???!!! I love Moda fabric and this is a fabulous line called Roman Holiday. I especially love the blue border fabric with the big reddish flowers. This quilt also reminds me of my favorite quilt shop Sweet Home Quilt Co. because I found the fabric there and then had to find a project for it.

So without further ado, click on over to Park City Girl and check out the more than 300 more entries in the Bloggers Quilt Festival and be sure to add your favorite quilt!

A Postcript Post

PS: Check out my favorite local quilt shop now online with a blog too!!! Yes, you to can be tempted by "Bad Melisa" of Sweet Home Quilt Co.

Also, if you are interested, check out Holly Holderman's blog for her campaign for the new First Dog to be a rescue dog from a shelter.

And check out my friend Pat's booth at Quilt Market. Her lime green and black quilt is a new Block of the Month being offered to quilt shops. I made one in blues, creams, and whites but I may have to make another! Especially since I gave the first one away as a gift....

A Visiting Day

One of my favorite bloggers Michelle is having a birthday giveaway! Visit her blog and wish her a happy birthday!! Hooray for October Birthdays!

I had a zillion and two errands to run after work and I quickly stopped by Pat's house to say "hey" and wish her luck. Pat is busy busy busy getting ready for quilt market in Houston. I hope she has a great successful market--she has some fabulous new patterns coming out that I'm sure I will just *have* to make! She has a new photo of her fabulous pattern "Peace in the Valley" in Civil War fabrics on her blog.

Now I have a zillion and two chores to do tonight so I better get busy....

Goodies in the Mail

The giveaway from Jodi at This That and The Other came in the mail! Thanks again Jodi!

What great stuff. The saltwater taffy is to die for. In the back is a way cute little homemade bag, perfect for keeping hand sewing stuff by your side and away from kitty paws.

Speaking of kitty paws, Morpheus is feeling left out of blog posts.

Here is Morph waiting for me to sit on the couch and watch the Olympics with him.

Tomorrow is the big midnight madness sale at Sweet Home Quilt Co. I'm going to get my list and my "Bad Melisa" bag ready to go.

A Sweet Surprise!!

I was very surprised yesterday to find out I won a blog giveaway! How cool is that? It's a really cute basket of goodies from Jodi over at This That and The Other. Thanks Jodi!!!!! I love her blog--beautiful photos & great ideas. Be sure to check out her new sewing room!!!!

Jodi is making a Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt and asked quilty bloggers to send her some fabric strips. Here's the fabric I sent (some 30s fabric from a quilt I made).

Thanks again Jodi!

Sewing with the bloggers

I can't believe it's been a week since I posted. I had the summer doldrums all week--horrible allergies, hot humid weather, and bad air quality make me a miserable person (I want to go back to Seattle!!!!). Anyway, today was a fun day sewing with my sewing group, most of whom are fellow bloggers--Karin, Becky, Pat, Kristie, and Cindi were there. Kristie was working on a quilt from the "Jelly Roll Quilts" book and she is hooked on this book too. I bet we both end up making all 17 quilts from this book. Cindi was working on "Honeyberries" Becky and Karin were working on a great charm square pattern called "Firecrackers". Pat was making cute bags for her daughter's bridesmaids and trying to steal Kristie's cool handle turning tool (if Pat succeeds in stealing it--I'll have her post a photo).

If you really want to know the meaning of quilt insanity, check out Pat's post about our Stitch-In week (12 hours of sewing for 7 days straight). Unfortunately, I have to work so I can't participate this time but it is so much fun that it really should be illegal. You can get a lot of UFOs done in a couple of days of nonstop sewing.

I dropped off three quilts to the longarm quilter today. So I better get busy making miles of binding.

Prairie Paisley Peer Pressure

After seeing the great quilts being made with Moda's Prairie Paisley line (on Michelle's blog not one but two projects, on Vicky's blog her nearly completed quilt with some gorgeous applique, and Kristie's Chippewa Nine Patch quilt [she doesn't have a photo on her blog but here is the pattern])

I decided that I *had* to start my project with this fab fabric. I finished the top this afternoon and pieced the back.

Here's a detail

The pattern is "Garden Trellis" from my new favorite quilt book "Jelly Roll Quilts" (if I ever get to England I'm definitely going by their shop and telling them thanks (????) for making me want to make 17 more quilts). Yea! Another quilt top finished. My new goal is to finish the projects stacked up on my sewing table so I can actually find the bottom of it. Wish me luck!

. Here's a photo of Gomez Mega-bux hard at work overseeing the quilt making this afternoon. Stella on the other hand....

well you can see for yourself what she was busy doing.

Where have I been????

Working....I'm feeling guilty about not posting this week but I am on my third 76-hour work week and am just a wee bit tired. From now on, I'll be working a more respectable 60-65-hour work week and back to more blogging. I am off to sew for the rest of the day and hopefully will have a completed quilt top to show you.

In the meantime, check out Jodi's blog here. She is making a Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt and doing a giveaway if you send her strips of fabric to make a flower. How cool is that? Little flowers from quilters all over the world. I found Jodi's blog after she emailed and asked if she could quote something I posted. I was so honored! (here is her post).

OK my sewing machine is calling....more later

Another finished quilt

Here's the quilt top I finished yesterday. The pattern is "Vintage Charm" from "Quilts and More" (Summer 2007) magazine. I love this fabric line (Roman Holiday by Moda), especially the "spa" blue color that was so "in" last year along with chocolate brown.
This is one of the UFOs I forgot I had.


Here's Stella inspecting the quilt. She is always the first cat to jump on a quilt, quilt blocks, or a piece of fabric. She rarely holds still so the photo is kind of blurry.

This quilt is what I call a "Melisa Special" (which I'm sure Karin has 2 to 20 of....). A Melisa Special is when a quilter goes to Sweet Home Quilt Co. not intending to buy anything and then sees all the fabulous new Moda fabric there and just *has* to figure out a project for the fabric. Be especially careful of the charm squares, jelly rolls, and layer cakes there, they will get you everytime....Ask me how I know--I have a basket full of them. Better be safe and stock up on charm square patterns...lots and lots of charm square patterns.

I was reading all my favorite blogs today and loved the photos on Michelle's blog . Check it out for a great photo of Mt. Rainier, a weather report from a heat wave in Washington State (I think I'd still rather be there in 90 degree weather than here....), and a really great quilt (made with charm squares).

I have another super-busy week this week but will try to fit in a post every other day or so.

Summer's Here Right on Time

Well it's the start of the long smoggy, humid, hot summertime here in the ATL. I try not to turn on the AC until June 1st just on principle. This year, sure enough, June 1st was too hot and muggy for open windows so I cringed as I turned on the AC (set at 78 degrees when I'm home mind you--not exactly chilly). I am absolutely dreading electric bills this summer. With gas prices at a mind-boggling $3.99/gal., I am cutting back wherever I can. No new summer clothes or sandals, checking out books from the library instead of buying books, absolutely postively no extraneous driving.

One of my favorite bloggers is going on a 7 month no-buying-excess-stuff resolution (check out Laurie's post on May 28th for an insightful look at "stuff"). Is everyone else cutting back on stuff? Is everyone else as worried about tomorrow or next week or next month as I am?

Of course some things or someones are worth whatever it takes.
Here's Gomez the day before he ended up at ER vet. He's making sure no one touches that jelly roll. Vet bill: LOTS of extra shifts at SBux. Fabric guard cat: priceless.