Riley Blake Mail Surprise!!!

So I got a little box from Riley Blake yesterday and I have to say, I squealed just a bit when I opened it to find these lovelies!!!

You see . . . I knew this box had my 3rd place (still totally excited about that) prize for the Modern Quilt Guild Challenge .  But I was expecting to find the 3rd place bundle shown at the intro post which was these lovely stripes.  Now, I love stripes as much as the next girl . . .

But I am over the moon crazy about polka-dots!!!  So when these lovely pink and green basics bundles tumbled out that had chevrons, gingham, and lots and lots of polka-dots, well ya, I was pretty excited!!! There was a sweet note explaining that they were out of stripes and hoped I would like these.  Well Ya!!!!  Not to mention they are pink and green!!! And you all know how much I love pink and green together, I think the ladies as Riley Blake might have stalked me a bit, how sweet of them!!!!

They also included this 7" stacker of Unforgettable by My Mind's Eye.   I love these prints!!!!  That Hexagon print, so stinking adorable!!!  And now that I have already opened  I can get right to cutting it up.  I have never used a 7" stacker and am excited to design up a perfect little plan for it :)  I see an adorable baby girl blanket in the making.

Thank you so much Riley Blake for your sweet package.  It is fantastic and I can't wait to play with these wonderful fabrics!!!

Have a Happy Quilting Day!!

A New Button

My wonderful friend and web page designer, Becca, made me a new little button.  Isn't it just so cute!!!   And now you can find my little corner of Instagram at any time ;)  You'll find it over there on the right under the Follow Follow Me buttons ;)

I am having so much fun with Instagram.  I think I just about have it figured out, although the #'s are still pretty new to me.    Oh, and for fun, here is a picture I posted on Instagram this weekend.   Isn't it just wonderful that we can capture these special memories :)     I know she won't want to be my little helper forever so I make a note to cherish these moments, even if she does hit me in the chin with her head several times over ;)

Have a Happy Quilting Day!!!

Worldwide Quilting Day!!!

Today is Worldwide Quilting Day!!!  How awesome is it that we have a day to celebrate our passion!! I do have quilting plans, but the day is full so we will see how they pan out.  But, I am determined to squeeze in at least a few minutes during some point of the day.  And of course, I will be thinking about quilting all day so that counts too :)

I also had the wonderful opportunity to celebrate Worldwide Quilting day by making a block to support St. Judes' Children's Research Hospital.  The wonderful folks at Chili's are making a quilt for St. Judes' and reached out to quilt bloggers all over to help them make the blocks.  They asked us to make a block that represented St. Judes', Chili's, or Hope.  I opted for Hope ;)

And here is my block.  It is called Pieces of Hope.

When I started thinking of hope I had lots of ideas but in the end I was inspired by quilting in general.  See,   I often find that when making quilts for gifts they involve an occasion that bring hope into lives and into the world.  The marriage of two people ready to start their lives together, the miracle of a child being born, the special birthday of a cherished love one, or the wonderful anniversary of two people I love and respect.  This block is made of bits and pieces of some of those quilts.  I see it as a small way to pass on the hope of each of those joyous occasions.  I added a sun to the patchwork orange sky because nothing says hope like the dawn of each new day. 

This block was a special block and it truly touched my heart to be able to use my love of quilting to help benefit the children of St. Judes'.  You can see other blocks over at Chili's blog.  There are some good friends over there that participated in this wonderful project as well ;)

Have a Happy Worldwide Quilting Day!!!

She's 5 and a Special Surprise!!

Yes, Kami was born on Pi Day!!!  Lucky girl :)  And today she turned 5.  Wow, she is growing up so fast.  She loves her preschool and is so looking forward to Kindergarten.  She is a big helper for mommy when the older kids go to school and loves to play with her younger sister.  She got to open one special present this morning from her older sister.

 Jessi's Baby and Me quilts!!!  Aren't they just adorable!!  Jessica has been working on this project for over a year.  She started with me, and then Grandma Barbara jumped in to help as well.

Jessica did everything on these quilts from start to finish.  She picked out the fabrics with very little guidance, yes she has great color sense.  The cutting made me a little nervous as she is a lefty and kept using the rotary cutter "backwards" but we got through it with no missing appendages. She pieced all of her rows and sashings and it was fun to see how she got more confident and she moved along with it.

And yes, she even quilted each and bound them.  She quilted the larger quilt on the long arm and the smaller quilt on my home machine.  It made me laugh when she said the home machine was "way harder" than the long arm :)

Seriously, look at that concentration :)

And I just went in to the Birthday Girl's room to find her baby wrapped in it's mini blanket and Kami wrapped in hers.  Yup, I think it was a perfect Surprise Jessi ;)  Great job!!!

And Happy Birthday Kami Girl!!  We Love You!!!

Have a Happy Quilting Weekend, and have a piece of Pie for Pi day :)

Linking up to Sarah's and Fort Worth Fabric

Mini Me

Last night I was totally blown away when I brought up the idea of getting an ipad for my birthday or Christmas or something and my husband informed me that the sooner I get it the more use it would be to me.  Twenty minutes later we were on our way home with this little guy.  Yippee!!

I later found out that he had been thinking for some time that I would benefit from one and was just waiting for me to decide I would be happy with it. Side Note - I was an accountant before I was a mom so I have this silly process of having to weigh the "value" of each of my purchases before I can make up my mind and know I won't have buyers remorse. Silly but true.  Anyhow, back to the topic at hand.  I decided on the Ipad Mini because I want it to be easy to travel with, super light (I have been having some issues lately with carpal tunnel, no fun), and honestly, I just think they look so cute!!!   And with the bubblegum pink cover . . .  ya I am loving it!!

Oh, and now look what I can do . . . see that little camera on the bottom!!!

Yes, that is right!!!  Now that I have a device that actually has apps  (Yes, I still use a flip phone) I can finally join Instagram!!!  I am so excited.   I am happyquiltingmc and you can find me here ;)  I can't wait!!!  So fun!!!

Have a Happy Quilting Day!!!