A giveaway!!

Carolyn at ....just one more stitch..... is hosting a giveaway!!  Here's her website:
http://carolyn-justonemorestitch.blogspot.com/2012/01/do-you-like-candy-apples.html

And here's the yummy fabric:
So go on over and check it out!  MB

Wildlife!!

I've lived in Maryland for 16 years and became a bit of a backyard birder when we moved here.  I kept hearing that cedar waxwings live around here, but never saw one.  Today when I walked out of the Giant supermarket, there was a whole flock of them pigging out on red berries in the trees outside.  There must have been 30 birds flitting around and gorging themselves.  I took a picture with my phone, but I couldn't figure out how to zoom in on them.  I know, you can't really see them, but trust me, they are there. I wish I could have taken these pictures (they're from Cornell lab of ornithology). I went back with my camera, but they were gone.  What gorgeous birds.  I smiled all afternoon!!  Also saw Canadian geese and a deer today.  Yeah!

I won, I won!!

I won a lovely giveaway from FabricWorm.  Just look at these pretty fat quarters:

I especially like the daisies with the grey background and the ferny looking fabric.  Can't wait to fondle them.

My Valentine's Day table topper

I'm almost finished with my table topper for Valentine's day.  I just need to add the binding.  This is the first quilt I've actually made for myself!!  I've been quilting for about 8 years but have given all my quilts away until now.  Last year my DH gave me an Accuquilt Go cutter for my birthday.  I used the Feathers die and fusible web.  I'm very happy with the way it's turned out.

I learned a few lessons. 

#1 - I love my Accuquilt and it's the only way to go.  But next time I'll use WASH AWAY stabilizer when I do the buttonhole stitching.  It was a PAIN to pull out all the little pieces.
But I do love that heart!

#2 - When quilting with a cross-hatch pattern, actually MARK the quilt.  I used that little do-hicky that attaches to the back of my walking foot and did not use a continuous line of stitching.  Don't ask me why, I really don't know myself except that I didn't mark the quilt and can only use the do hicky on the right side, so I didn't really have a way of turning the quilt to sew on the left side.  This left me with LOTS of starts and stops.  And because I didn't mark it, the cross-hatching is little wonky.  It's not enough to bug me, but I won't do that again.

#3 - When you start your quilting, CHECK THE BACK BEFORE YOU QUILT THE WHOLE THING!!!
It didn't look bad from the front, did it?

See that AWFUL stitching on the back where I stitched my border?  I don't know why it did that.  I didn't change my tension or anything.  Luckily this quilt is only 36" square and it was very easy to rip out because it was such a mess.

It looks much better now.  Well, I'm off to stitch the binding.

A giveaway!!

Hello there.  One of the blogs I follow, Lily Pad Quilting, is hosting a giveaway - fabric and Superior thread.  What's not to love?  Check it out here:  http://lilypadquilting.blogspot.com/2012/01/got-thread-giveaway.html

My first post

Hello blogging world.  I have no idea how this is going to go, but I follow a lot of blogs and thought I'd give it a try.  I'm a wife and mother, a grammy (in fact, I'm watching 2 of them today), an avid quilt enthusiast, and nurse; pretty much in that order.  I'll post sporatically and try to figure out how to add pictures.  I've even thought of doing a tutorial or two.  We'll see.  Probably this will be more for me than anyone else, but let me know if you see something you like.  It's a brave new world out there in cyberspace and I guess it's time for me to join it.  MB