It’s GO! Time!!

Today’s the big day…someone out of the 640 entries will be walking home with a Accuquilt GO! Fabric Cutter and three dies!!  How exciting is that!  I think it’s only fair that we give Accuquilt a HUGE THANK YOU for sponsoring this give away.   I know…I know…we were hoping Oprah was going to step in and give one to everyone!!  But that only happens on TV and this is, after all, just a blog…sigh…

So let me get this Random Generator turned on and warmed up…punch in the numbers and see if it will do it’s job?

Which means the LUCKY WINNER is…Shakerwood…Cathi!!  YIPPEE!!  Cathi is a wonderful wool loving quilter who will be cranking out some amazing things with her new GO! Fabric Cutter…in the near future!  Congratulations, Cathi!! 

Thank you EVERYONE…what a blast this has been!!  I have had such fun talking to old friends as well as getting to know some new blogging friends!  I hope you will all continue to keep coming back…and make sure you drop by for a visit…the coffee pot is ALWAYS on…!

AND ON A WINNING NOTE!  I got an email from Gran telling me that I won a single thread…so of course I’m think…wow…a whole single thread!  What will I do with a single thread? Hmmm….Well at least the good news is…it won’t cost Gran a lot to mail a single thread…!  Sorry Gran…but senility did cross my mind…So off I go to Gran’s blog(you know her…the Knot-y Embroidery Lady) …and sure enough I WON!! A Single Thread!!  Yippee!! 

Sorry Gran for ever doubting you!!  Yes, I won “A Single Thread” by Marie Bostwick!!  ANDI DO know what to do with this SINGLE THREAD!!  Thanks so much, Gran! :o)

OH…did I show you what I bought last weekend…

I think we’re going to GO! dotty…!

Have a terrific Tuesday and Happy Quilting!!~P

Garage Sale SCORES!!

My name is Paulette and I have a problem…my car stops at ALL and EVERY Garage Sale…what can I say…it STOPS all by itself…it has a will of it’s own…!!  I will be on my way to the Post Office and before I know it I am knee deep in old books, linens or dishes…. (What do you mean the Post Office is closed on Saturday??) It’s no wonder that I have a Garage Sale ‘problem’!

OH BUT WHAT A PROBLEM!!  Waahoooo…Let me show you my finds~

Now you are probably going to roll your eyes when you look at this brown thing and shaking your head (just like my husband did…!!)…BUT I was THRILLED to find this file folder holder (or at least that’s what I think it is??!!) And this is why..

Tah Dah…..perfect for storing my GO! Cutting Dies!!  Love it and it  ONLY cost 50 cents!  Now I need one for my fabric rulers!!  (Maybe next weekend! :o)

 

This little white hen…for only $1…I couldn’t just leave it nesting there all alone…

A tacky quilter’s bracelet…which I am planning on cutting up for the cute little quilting buttons!!  

Two metres of lovely red crackled fabric…love it!!

Half a metre of burnt orange stars on black fabric…perfect to put into a Halloween quilt.

Half a metre of this lovely flannel…to add to my stash!

Two metres of the cutest school house print…

This book was a find…SCORE for $1 and it’s full of lovely scrappy quilts…like…

..this one!

Not bad for just a few garage sales…everything came to well under $10 so at least my ‘problem’ isn’t putting us into the Poor House…YET!! ;o)

TOMORROW IS THE BIG DAY!!  Yes, we do the draw for the Go! Give Away!!  ‘WE’ have also figured out how to do the Random Generator thingy too…so that will be fun!  SEW exciting!!  I hope whoever wins, loves the GO! as much as I do!!  I am hooked on this little baby!!  I just wish I could give one away to EVERYONE who entered…maybe I should email Carolyn from Accuquilt and see if we could do an Oprah spinoff…you know where Oprah gives away her favourite things to EVERY audience member…well this is my favourite thing…and well dang it…you all DESERVE A GO!  What do you think…do you think my argument will fly??!  I’ll let you know tomorrow…In the mean time, if you haven’t entered then you had better GO! HERE! See you all tomorrow morning…

AND GOOD LUCK!!

Have a magical Monday and Happy Quilting~P

The Cobble Hill Fair…

The Cobble Hill Fair was on this weekend! This event is a real old fashioned "fall fair" for the whole family and it has been happening for 101 years…my daughters use to LOVE going when they were young as there were lots of animals, a petting zoo and of course lots of food.  And…if the memory serves me…lots of stories about butting goats!!

You won't find any carnival rides here - there's not a rocket-ship, tilt-a-whirl or roller-coaster to be found. Nor are there any of the side-shows and electronic games blasting out heavy metal ear-busting music.

The miniature horses are always a big draw for little kids~

The only rides at this fair were a manually pushed merry-go-round for kids, (I’m sure it’s the same one my daughters rode on 20 odd years ago!!), hay wagon rides, miniature horse rides and kids hopping up and down on antique farm trucks and equipment.

The fair grounds were just full of children of all ages who looked to be having a great time. They were looking at, and in some cases able to pat, the llamas, pigs, rabbits, chickens, cattle, sheep, horses and other animals that are a great part of this exhibition. For some of the older kids, there was a 'hay-bale' tossing contest that was drawing a lot of attention - even a bunch of giggling teen-age girls were giving it a go.

And of course there is the juried fruits and vegetables, baking and preserves.

But of course what caught my eyes were the quilts!!  I thought you might like to see a few of the quilts that were displayed at the Cobble Hill Fair this year…there were some beauties!!    

Hope you are having a wonderful weekend!  I can’t believe that August is almost over…and Fall is just around the corner!  Is it just me or is time going by way too quickly? 

Two days until I get my husband to randomly pull a name out of the hat for the GO! Fabric Cutter!  If you haven’t entered yet then GO! here!

Have a super Sunday and Happy Quilting!~P

Like a Broken Record…

Last night, while watching Dirty Dancing with Patrick Swayze “I had…the time of my life…and I owe it alllll to yoooouuu…Lady GO!GO!”

Yup! I played with my GO! while watching Patrick putting the moves on Jennifer Grey..while on the dance floor!  Love that movie!!  I could tell you lots of stories about my eldest daughter and Patrick Swayze…as she idolized him when she was young!!  But no time for that now…we’ve got the GO! out!

SEW… let me show you what I worked on.  When you win a GO! you get to pick 3 FREE dies and the choices are mind blowing.  This was one of my picks~ and I’m so glad I did…it comes with this pattern by Alex Anderson…A quick and easy way to make this scrappy 4 patch star, plus flying geese, square in a square and hourglass blocks. The first thing I did was make a cardboard template of the size of the cutting blades.  This way I know what size to cut my fabric so that I have no waste.  Someone said that this sounds like a lot of work…

NOT so…hardly takes any time at all with this template…just lay it on several layers of fabric and whack away…done!!  It doesn’t  have to be perfect!

NOW comes the fun part~ lay the print on the cutting die face up and the solid background fabric face down…think of them as kissing..(everyone make a kissing sound…geeze…I think I taught Grade One way too long! :o) 

Put the lid on…that’s the cutting mat… and crank it through…

Aren’t they pretty…?

and LOOK..they are all paired up, ready to be stitched…

I carried the cutting die board right to my machine…  

And then chain stitched the triangles.

  Press them to the dark side…

Stitch them together…and PRESTO!  Hour Glass blocks…in a couple of minutes!!

How easy was that…and all done while Dirty Dancing with Patrick Swayze! 

I can’t wait to try the 4 patch star!!  But first I NEED to make some more Hourglass Blocks!!  SEW easy, quick and accurate…I think I’ve said all this before…ya ya…like a broken record…just tune me out like everyone else!!

Sew while I do some fancy foot work with Lady GO! GO! why don’t you GO! HERE to enter the GO! Give Away!  OH, you’ve done that already?  Well then you get to GO! have fun! Hope to see you tomorrow!!

Have a super Saturday and Happy Quilting!!~P

Gotta GO!….

…and I can’t seem to leave it alone…my GO! Fabric cutter that is! 

I used it yesterday to cut out more of these~so that I could make some more of these….

I like the fact that I don’t have to think when I use my Lady GO! GO!- no measuring…you know how you have to measure twice, cut once.  With the Lady GO! GO! you just crank these little beauties out…with no thought to measurement…just line up the fabric and GO!  In minutes I’m ready to make more flying geese. 

This is the die I used…

This is the die that comes FREE with ALL GO! Machines!  It has the 4 1/2” square, the 2 1/2” square and the 2 1/2” half square triangle (makes a 2”finished half square block).  I am using the 2 1/2 half square triangle to make my flying geese.  SEW easy!!

The ONLY problem I seem to be having is to STOP cranking…did I show you my left over strips from my Snowman quilt?  I’m a little embarrassed..

Yup, those are ALL 1 1/2” strips!!  I was having SEW much fun I couldn’t stop cranking!!  I’m thinking maybe a log cabin quilt is in my future…What do you think?   I’m sure glad I’ve been saving these bags…now that I have a GO! machine they are FINALLY  GO!ing to come in handy!  :o)

Have you been collecting these bags…they might come in handy if you should WIN a GO! of your own.  If you haven’t entered my GO! GIVE AWAY then GO! HERE!  Good luck!

Also..before you go..check out Jenny of Elefantz blog if you want to see a quilt that I made out of some old shirts!  They don’t call me a stuffed shirt for nothing! 

Have a FUN Friday and Happy Quilting!!~P

Getting Dirty…

..was on the agenda yesterday!  Anne, a friend and neighbour asked me if I would be interested in giving a mini workshop…Anne and her friend Teresa were interested in making cement leaves.  I haven’t had my cement fix this summer so I was over there in a flash…after picking some gigantic weeds along the way! 

In 15 minutes we had her once gorgeous backyard looking like a construction site… Teresa brought her two daughters along and they were wonderful helpers!!

Let me give you a quick lesson on how to make cement leaves…

Get some sand..and make a mound…look on the blue tray~

Add  water to dampen the sand just enough so that you can shape the sand…

Build it up into the shape of your leaf~

Cover the whole thing with Saran Wrap~

Put your leaf down on the mound of damp sand with the VEIN side up and drape it over the mound of sand.

Now comes the fun, dirty part…pat layers of cement (1 part cement, 3 parts sand and enough water to make it into butter/cottage cheese consistency) onto the leaf.  Go to the edge of the leaf…don’t go over.

Patting the cement gets the cement down into and around the veins and it gets rid of any air bubbles.

Teresa is having just a little too much fun making these…

Cover the leaves with plastic as you don’t want them to dry too quickly.  Anne will spray these with water at least once or twice a day…until they are hard..probably Sunday should do the trick!  It takes a long time for them to get really hard so they have to be handled with care for the first little while…

Anne took a HUGE rhubarb leaf and is going to make it into a bird bath eventually.  Here she is covering her creation with plastic…it is going to be magnificent!! If you are wondering what concrete leaves look like when they are dry…here is a bubbling water garden that I made using some…  

Here’s a close-up…see all those wonderful veins…and the water trickling over them…

This is a Gunnera leaf nestled in amongst the petunias around our pond.

Or you can make flat stepping stones (just don’t make the mound of sand at the beginning…keep the damp sand flat…)

So there you have it…nothing like getting dirty with friends…!! ;o) Thanks Anne and Teresa (and girls) for inviting me over and Dawn for cheering us on!!

If you haven’t entered the GO! GIVE AWAY then GO! HERE to enter…GOOD LUCK!

Have a thrilling Thursday and Happy Quilting!~P