Don't Hate Me Because I'm...

Lucky!!

Were you expecting me to say beautiful? Haha, no. Was that off a commercial or something? 

Anyway...I have been so lucky the past few weeks and have had my little name drawn three times in various giveaways.  How fun! I am completely not a lucky person, but for some reason the stars really aligned this month!

Remember my post about the random things I've made for my kitchen and linked up to the Blogger's Dinner Party? Well, the prize for that month was a Hexagon Sewing Kit from Sew Sara and it arrived in my mailbox just the other day.

How fun is that? 50 hexagon templates and squares all cut and ready to go. Now I just have to figure out what to do with them!

Then, imagine my surprise when I got an email from Kate telling me that I had won one of the prizes for the first link-up for 100 Quilts for Kids. Seriously? My fellow Hoosier, Debra of Easily Distracted Debra donated a fabulous prize....

Munki Munki pajamas...

Elephants!

And Heather Ross's book Weekend Sewing. I'm so excited to look through the book and start making something! Well, it will probably have to wait a while, but I can still look. Has anyone of you made something from this book?

And I'm seriously not trying to rub it in here, but yesterday I found out that I was one of the winners in  Svetlana's giveaway over at Sotak Handmade. I won a super cool shoulder bag made by Svetlana. Have you seen the amazing stuff she makes? I feel like I am always pinning or favorite-ing her pictures.

Ok, so enough about that. Since good things supposedly come in threes, I guess my luck is probably done for the next 30 or so years. 

Here are some other fun giveaways you can still enter:

Susan, the History Quilter is giving away a $50 gift certificate to Fat Quarter Shop to celebrate the friendships made through the online quilting community and reaching 50 (now 54) followers. 

Rebecca of Making Rebecca Lynne is also celebrating her followers (72!!) by giving away a super-cute handmade frame pouch and some lovely fabrics.

Allegory of {Sew} Allegorical is having her very first giveaway of a fat quarter bundle of Wickedly Wonderful Halloween fabrics.

Lynne of Lily's Quilts is hosting a giveaway extravaganza called Christmas Gifts for Quilters, celebrating all those things we would love to get from our loved ones for Christmas. Her theory being that anyone wondering what to get you can just poke the button from her blog and find out. Or, you can win it from one of her giveaways. Isn't she an evil genius??

Goodie Swap 2011

Last one, I promise!!

I wanted to wait until I got both packages before I posted about them. My second partner's package arrived yesterday, so now I'm so excited to show you my goodies!

My first partner was Steph from Stephie's Stories.  Look at the fabulous things she sent me! A beautiful mug rug, a quilted tote for carrying rulers and cutting supplies, and even a coordinating mug for my rug!

I love the colors in this mug rug, especially the mug fabric, which is also what's on the back. Can you see the quilting that makes the steam over the mug? So great. 

 Steph even made a mix for an individual mug-sized Molten Lava Cake and made a pretty bag for it, too. I made it the other night after the kids were in bed and it was great! Does anyone else give themselves a treat for making it through another day?

I was beginning to wonder a bit about my second package, but yesterday I checked the mail on the way home from preschool and got a fun surprise...a puffy white envelope marked Royal Air Mail, all the way from Britain! So fun. 

And what was inside? 

The brilliant Hadley from Flying Blind on a Rocket Cycle sent a beautiful mug rug, sewing kit, chocolates, a magazine, and some cute owl stickers.  Quite a haul! I can't wait to get some quiet time to sit down and look through that magazine and maybe sample some chocolates. Can you see the featured article is making jams and jellies? Quite appropriate, no?

I love that fussy bee and the pops of orange. The back is beautiful, too...

And look at the inside of the sewing kit:

 How fun is that? I'm very excited to have a little needle book to take with me in the car! Now I just need to figure out a fun hand sewing project. Any suggestions?

I have had such a great time in this swap, in case you hadn't noticed!

Huge thanks to Cindy at Fluffy Sheep Quilting for hosting and organizing such a fabulous swap. More thanks to my "receiving" partners, Jennifer and Sarah, for being such fun to make for. And to my "sending" partners, Steph and Hadley, for being so creative and generous!

WIP Wednesday, vol. 8

For once I actually feel like I got some things accomplished this week! 

But yet, I don't have a whole lot to show you...

Finish:

My Across the Sea is done! Yay! Donated to Project Linus via the 100 Quilts for Kids Campaign. You can read more about the quilt here.

In Progress:

I finished piecing the top for my Kaleidoscope quilt and got a good start on the back. Just need to get a little more of the brown solid then I should have that finished, too. I am so excited about this quilt! I just have no idea how I'm going to quilt it. Do I always say that? 

Getting Started:

Apparently I've decided that I just don't have enough to do, so I am joining the "No Excuses" Holiday Sew Along at Sew, Mama, Sew. I'm going to make the Christmas tree "pants" and can't wait for my tree to have some proper clothing this year. 

I am also being completely tempted by the 12 Days of Christmas Sampler QAL hosted by Sara of Sew Sweetness. I keep saying that I want to make a Christmas quilt, but I also keep putting it off, so maybe this year I'll actually get it done.

One thing that I will definitely make time for is Stockings for Kids. Lyanna of Purple Panda Quilts is hosting a homemade stocking drive so that the foster children she works with can have something homemade to call their own for Christmas. For more info and to sign up to help, visit her Flickr group.

As always, I'm linking up to WIP Wednesday, hosted by the lovely Lee of Freshly Pieced.

Pin-Did Challenge, round 1

I love a challenge.

 

And when that challenge involves my beloved Pinterest, how can I say no? So of course, the moment I read Amanda's post about her Pin-did Challenge, I knew I was doing it.

I've said it before, but I actually do a lot of the things I pin, so this wasn't really a challenge, it was just fun.

I've been sorting through my boys' clothes this week getting ready for the change of seasons and found several things that needed mending. Little boy jeans are not fun to mend. They're too small to really do with the machine, and I'm just not such a fan of hand-sewing denim patches. Then I remembered this pin:

So I got to work. This worn out knee

 soon became...

Only after I finished did I realize that I forgot to put any teeth, so he looks a little more cookie-monsterish. Oh, well. I'm really not sure how well this is going to hold up against my two-year old, but it will be fun for a little while anyway.

Want to see another fun Pinterest success story? Check out my version of the 

PVC Sprinkler/ Kid Car Wash.

 

Another Chance to Help

We all like to use our talents to help those less fortunate, right? 

 

 

 

Well, here is another chance to do just that.  Lyanna of Purple Panda Quilts works with kids in the foster care system and is hosting a stocking drive to make sure these kids have something to call their own this Christmas.  

 

Each Tuesday she will have a tutorial for a different pattern you can use to make the stocking. Lots of you will be making stockings for your families this Christmas, so why not make an extra one or two to donate for such a good cause?

You can read more about it at her blog or at the Flickr group.

A Good Start

Don' t be jealous of the orange crocs...

I started making the back for my Kaleidoscope quilt this weekend. 

Intentional wonky is hard, y'all! It seems like it should be the easiest thing in the world, but it feels so wrong! Especially when you make scrappy-wonky.

(I haven't mowed my yard in a while, so the tall grass is kinda making the block look weird. Totally the grass's fault...)

Fresh Sewing Day: September Round-Up

Well, September pretty much flew by, didn't it? October is my favorite month, so I hope it goes by a little slower!

Finished projects:

Partner 1...????

Partner 2...Jennifer

I finished everything for both partners in the Goodie Swap, hosted by Cindy of Fluffy Sheep Quilting. This was my first swapping experience and I had so much fun. We had a very talented group of ladies and I loved getting to know them. 

I also was inspired by a "goodie" made by Sarah of FairyFace Designs and shamelessly copied her and made one for my mom's birthday. 

I got a little head start on my Halloween decorating with this Halloween Mini.

And my big finale for the month was finish my Across the Sea quilt. I had fun taking part in this Quilt Along, hosted by Jennifer of Ellison Lane Quilts and Sarah of FairyFace Designs, and am donating it to Project Linus as part of Kate's 100 Quilts for Kids.

What did you finish in September?

Take a look at Fresh Sewing Day at Lily's Quilts and see what other talented bloggers accomplished last month!