Saturday, March 31, 2012

I said goodbye to the Country Quilters Guild!

Since I'm starting my new job, I will not be able to attend the guild meetings on Thursdays.  My friend Leita invited me to join them a number of times over the last 3 years.  I kept saying no thinking that I would be getting a job.  I finally joined them last September.  These ladies were very welcoming and willing to share their skills.


Thank you ladies for encouraging me!!

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

I'm no longer unemployed!!! I have a job!!!

During the past 3 years I have had the opportunity to make new quilt friends and to improve my quilting skills.  I'm very lucky to be going back into the workforce in my chosen profession of Information Technology. 

Working for a living will reduce the amount of time I will have to make new quilt tops, but a pay check will allow me to get my completed tops quilted!!

I will continue to update this blog with pictures of my projects and quilts.

Thanks for all your prayers and support!!

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Quilting Gallery's Blog Hop Party and Giveaway Winner

I really enjoyed being a part of the Quilting Gallery's Blog Hop Party and Giveaway.

Blog Hop Party with Give-Aways

 
It ran from March 16th - 23th, 2012.

I want to welcome all my new followers.

I really enjoyed reading all the comments that I received about the book.
 
My DH radomly selected a number and Judy C was selected!!!

NOW AVAILABLE: Sonoma Rose

This would definitely be a gift to myself - want to read this so much ... and hope to win. Thanks for this wonderful opportunity. Judy C

  





I have e-mailed Judy and will have the publisher send out the book soon.

Northeastern Ohio is having an early Spring!!  I hope you all will be enjoying the beautiful colors of Spring real soon!

Friday, March 16, 2012

New York Beauty - Paper/Foundation Piecing


Definition of Paper Piecing - Quilting technique in which a design is printed onto paper and fabric pieces are stitched together on the paper for accuracy.

I'm not very experienced at paper piecing.  I have a tendency to not use a large enough piece of fabric to cover the foundation area I'm working with!



So when Karen Neary from Sew Karen-ly Created was asking for pattern testers on a pattern using a New York Beauty block I volunteered.

I can't show you the completed project yet, but it turned out great!!!

It's amazing to me how a block that starts out with this component,


ends up looking like this?


Free access to The Quilt Show website - March 16-18

Hi everyone, I received this notification and thought I would share.  I have watched a couple episodes and have learned a lot already!!  Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims are a joy to watch.

Celebrate International Quilt Day!

The QuiltShow.com wants you to have the ultimate experience for International Quilt Day! Join us March 16-18, 2012 as we celebrate all things quilting!


Starting March 16th, you'll have three days at TheQuiltShow.com community to watch more than 100 shows hosted by Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims for FREE featuring the Top Quilting Teachers in the world. Plus, explore classrooms, unique tutorials, inspiring slideshows, and much more.


Enter the contest to win amazing prizes from companies you know and love. Here is a sampling of the prizes you can win:


• A BERNINA 550 sewing machine (yes! a new machine!)
• Gammill's Deluxe Chair-perfect for sewing at any machine
• Fantastic assortment of books from AQS Publishing, plus a 1-year membership to American Quilter's Society
• A selection of inspiring quilting books from C&T Publishing
• AccuQuilt's GO! Baby die cutting machine, GO! Value Die, GO! Birds die, and a 6x12 Cutting Mat
• Bundle of 41 fat quarters from Ricky's Blended Solids collection, compliments of Red Rooster
• Box of silk threads from Superior Threads
• One of five DVDs from Why Quilts Matter
• One of five Stitched, The Film DVDs


Plus, you'll have exclusive access to an episode of Why Quilts Matter, Stitched, The Film, and many other sources of excitement and creativity in The Quilt Show community.


Simply click here to get started.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

An Elm Creek Quilts Novel Giveaway!!! Sonoma Rose

I'm part of the Quilting Gallery's Blog Hop Party which runs from March 16th - 23rd.

I have a copy of Jennifer Chiaverini's newest novel Sonoma Rose for one lucky winner!

1. Become a Follower of this blog

2. Leave me a comment telling me if you will be giving

the book away or will it be a gift for yourself.

Good luck and a random number will be drawn on Saturday, March 24th.

Sorry but I can only ship within the United States.

Sonoma Rose - An Elm Creek Quilts Novel





NOW AVAILABLE: Sonoma Rose
The 1920s evokes indelible cultural motifs—the Jazz Age, Modernism, Prohibition—and
inspired heralded literature—from the interwar disillusionment explored in The Great Gatsby
or The Sun Also Rises to the strong women portrayed in Alice Adams or Main Street.
But in recently published fiction, this time period has rarely been explored.

Jennifer Chiaverini, author of the bestselling Elm Creek Quilts series, is one of few writers
working today to demonstrate equal mastery of contemporary and historical fiction. In 2011,
she published two New York Times bestselling novels—The Union Quilters, a Civil-War-era
chronicle of life behind Northern lines, and The Wedding Quilt, a twenty-first-century
celebration of one of America’s most enduring and romantic traditions. In SONOMA ROSE
(Which went on sale: February 21, 2012), Chiaverini turns her imaginative powers to the story of how one woman’s courage and vision wrought true change, for her family and for herself.


Rosa Diaz Barclay is touched by the criminality surrounding Prohibition when she
unwittingly discovers that her husband, John, has given over the duties of their
Southern California rye farm in favor of armed bootlegging. Fearing the safety of her four
beloved children, Rosa flees, with little more than a suitcase filled with John’s ill-gotten gains
and her heirloom quilts. Accompanying Rosa is her true love, Lars Jorgensen, a good but
flawed man who is the father of two of her children.

Together, the six travel north to San Francisco, seeking not only refuge from danger, but a cure for two of the children, who suffer from a mysterious wasting disease. A beneficent doctor orders a special diet and a rural convalescence for which Rosa and Lars, under assumed names, hire on at a Sonoma County vineyard. There, the devotion of the Italian-American community to the craft of viticulture—which through no fault of their own, has become illegal—inspires Rosa to acquire a vineyard of her own, even as she discovers firsthand its inherent hardships and dangers winemakers face in such turbulent times.


As Rose, she creates a personal and professional identity that she would never have dared
imagine at the opening of her tale, one that brings great honor—and beauty—to all who
surround her. As the New York Journal of Books has written, “Jennifer Chiaverini’s strength is
not only writing strong female characters, but also placing them in interesting life and
times.” SONOMA ROSE is a triumph on both fronts.