Saturday, August 30, 2014

Fifth Finish...3rd Quarter....a Slice of colors!

Remember this fan o'fabric?  Finish Along  #5! Yippee!!
  It's a Moda Splash Slice but I don't think they make them anymore. 
My boss gave it to me. Thanks Carly!! I had the print in my stash!!
Didn't want to chop the triangles so cutting strips of the print and chain stitching away was the name of the game!
 Tried to be random but as you see all the darks are on one side and lights on the other. 
So much for random.
Used straight lines for quilting but did it in quarters so it wasn't such a big deal pulling it through my machine!
Oh...and I made another dance floor.... a wee one!:)

~d


Friday, August 29, 2014

Imagine Quilts Winners...and they both want to go to Australia!:)





This trio is a winner! 
Discovered this little vignette while looking around the yard for new places to take quilt photos!
Hubby at play!:)
But you want to know the winners of the imagine quilts goodies....drumroll please.....
 #48!
I would imagine myself in Australia!
~~~~~~~~~
Lisa Marie is the winner of the imagine quilts ebook, Mollie Makes magazine, rainbow bunch of zippers....and some goodies from my treasure chest!:)

#34!
What an inspiring book! Beautiful quilts and love their names. I've never been to Austrailia and would love to visit.
Thank you for a super giveaway and a chance to win.
~~~~~~~~~~
Jodi is the winner of the signed copy of imagine quilts, that cute bag o'scraps and some other goodies from my vast, vast treasure chest!!
Can you believe they both want to go to Austrialia...better hurry ladies...Winter is heading down under!!
Martingale - Imagine Quilts (Print version + eBook bundle)
Congrats to you both and thanks so much to all of you who entered. It was so much fun taking imaginary trips with you...now go buy the book!!!
~d

Saturday, August 23, 2014

Giveaway!"imagine quilts" or Old Red Barn Co. Founder hits the big time!! Giveaway!

Giveaway!  Giveaway! Giveaway!
Did I get your attention?:)
I don't know where to begin...I'm giddy for so many reasons.  First that sweet girl Dana has a quilt book out in the world! A QUILT BOOK by our own Old Red Barn Co. chica who brought so many of us together out in internet world and real life!!
Here is the book in all it's glory...imagine quilts....yeeeefreakinghaaaa!! Check out that quilt on the cover....posy patrol...love it...great scrap buster!
This one is called princess crowns but for some reason I keep thinking about corn on the cob!  I must be hungry!  Don't you think this would be a great scrap buster too...maybe with all the centers one unified color...maybe corn yellow?:) Ha!!
But the other reason I'm soooooooo incredibly giddy is I pieced a quilt in this book!! Yep...little old me...I made the zip it! quilt top!!  Not only did I get the honor of being the only other person to make a quilt top for Dana's book....
...I also made the inspiration!  Round 12 at ORBC was scrappy Dresden Plate. Not having time to do a whole quilt I made a few pieces and after ironing them thought they looked like houses so I made the pillow on the right....which was Dana's inspiration for the zip it! quilt! 
Can we call this three degrees of Dresden?:)
Can't wait to get this home and partnered up with the Mega Button pillow made out of the leftovers...can you see the buttonhole  embroidered on the placket? 
I can tell you...Dana sure did come up with a great title for her book because I have been majorly inspired.
Yep...had to make dance floor!
First thing I thought of was all the texty prints and black on white or cream I have been collecting. Perfect for this quilt paired with a couple of great black tone on tones and pow!
dance floor a go-go!!
Couldn't stop there.  I just love an ampersand but went low volume.
Stacks of five inch low volume squares and the packs of Asbury charms won from Amy at 
During Quiet Time did the trick!
So many fun fabrics frolicking on this quilt. Yes, I said frolicking! The amazing thing is when you see the quilt  up close you don't notice the ampersand....
....but step back from it and like magic it appears!!!  I can't wait to get these quilted...Kathleen they are coming your way.  Guess I best look through my stash for backings!
You gotta buy this book but in the meantime a couple of you can be lucky winners!  One winner will get the ebook version AND this bunch of rainbow zippers supplied by the girl herself...
...famed author of imagine quilts!:)
I'm going to throw in this US edition of Mollie Makes and a surprise or two.
Second winner will get a paper copy of imagine quilts donated and...
...autographed by Dana plus a pack or two of my own personal scraps thrown in for fun!:)

To enter please leave a comment telling me if you could imagine yourself anywhere in the world right this second...some where you have never been...where would it be?:)  At this second it is really hot and humid so I would love to be up north along the coast of Maine!

Contest is open until Friday, August 29th at 6pm EST and of course international peeps are welcomed to enter!!  Make sure there is contact info or how in the world could you get your copy of 
imagine quilts ebook and all the other prizes?:)

Tell your friends about this Inspired quilt book!!!:)

Check out the other quilty bloggers and their giveaways riding along on the
  imagine quilts book tour bus! 
Congrats dearest Dana and thanks for taking me along for the ride!! xo
 Now back to doing other things!
~d


Friday, August 22, 2014

Sixty and Eighty...yep those are milestones!

Today is my mom's 80th birthday....dad is a couple years older....
or younger as the case may be with these too.  
Nothing has gotten them down and they have been the best parents and grandparents.  
Yesterday was their 60th anniversary.  
Enough said!
xoxoxoxo
~d

Welcome to the 50s club Bro-in-law!

 Snunk up on me.  Didn't realize the year.
 Glad Hoda was having her fiftieth all over the tv.... 
 ...so hubby noticed the year....1964...the year his little bro was born.  Happy, Happy dude!:)
 Meanwhile we were going visiting.  Hubby likes to bring his Kindle along but that pocket just isn't padded enough!
 Scraps from little bro's quilt and some colored elastic will do.
I love colored elastic!
 This bit went to Canada.  The girl's friend is Canadian...her new hubby British.  
That question again.  Can you make something mom?  Sure!
Now I need to make something with these!
~d

Sunday, August 17, 2014

4th Finish and some decisions

 Finally done.  Fourth finish of the third quarter Finish Along 2014.
 It's been almost four years exactly since I pieced this top for Round 7 at Old Red Barn Co. Quilt Along!  I think it is glad to be out of the closet!
My pal and co-worker Kathleen did a bang up job with the quilting!
 No way this puppy is ever leaving our house!!
We have gone through a lot of colors thinking about what to paint the house. 
It is already Nantucket Grey but needs refreshing.
 Green was my idea but the kids said we are surrounded by green in nature.  
Yellow... but the farmhouse in front of us is yellow.
From out of no where...purple. Ooooh!:)  So many different purples!  But it was finally narrowed down to the five paint samples clipped in the middle.


If we are doing purple then we are DOING purple!
I know which one is the winner!!;)
The real winner this weekend was our niece. 
Hubby, his sister, our girl and myself helped her move into a new apartment. 
One truck, one car, one load! 
We Rocked it!!
~d



Thursday, August 14, 2014

Three Summers in a Row!

 As you could tell from the Fat Quarterly Retreat post I was in the UK with the girl. 
 After the FQ weekend the fun didn't stop there!
 Marguerite took me to the Victoria and Albert Museum for lunch before she head home. 
The girl met me there and soon we were off to Oxford. 
In OX the girl stayed with her friends...
...and I got to stay at Magdalen College!!  View from the room...the River Cherwell and Magdalen Bridge!
 I also stayed with one of the girl's friends and her family but neglected to take a photo! 
Thanks so much Jane and gang!!

 Keeping the fun going was another meet up with my buddies Jo and Mr. D! He was so kind to humor us with a visit to a couple yarn shops and the sneaky Jo left me a little present in my room!
We tromped all around Oxford and Jo pointed out how funny it was that an American was showing them around!:)  Later we met up with the girl and her friends and the most generous and lovely Mr and Mrs treated us to lunch at Turl Street Kitchen!  So yummy! Thanks pals!! xo
 Tuesday we visited The Story Museum so we could see the current exhibit 26 Characters.  I thought it was going to just be photos of 26 famous UK authors dressed as their favorite storybook character but it was much more. Each room is decorated to fit the theme of the storybooks they came from with loads of interaction.  If you get to OX before November go visit....quickly!!

 There is even a talking throne!!:)
(Christ Church's Tom Tower in the background!)
 So many exciting things are happening at The Story Museum. No wonder the girl misses working there!
 View east up High Street from Carfax Tower.  We had gorgeous weather the whole time!
 View from the steps at the Ashmolean Museum.
Took a train ride to Stratford -upon-Avon.  Flowers are everywhere! Alex (in the skirt) used to live and work there so we had a great tour guide.
This is where she worked...the Royal Shakespeare Theatre!:)  
She now works at The Story Museum...still a lucky girl!
 We cruised through the swans on the Avon and had our one an only rain of the trip...a whole five minutes of rain!
 There was a lot of eating....
(Joseph Marcell as King Lear!)
 ....Royal Shakespeare Company production of King Lear in the Bodleian Library Courtyard....
...and ice cream, ice cream, ice cream with most of the roommates the girl had (minus 2) in the 3 1/2 years she lived in Oxford.  Such a wonderful group of friends!
Many other adventures were had but on the day we were to head back home we rushed for one last visit to the V & A...


























...I really wanted to see Joey the Horse...the most amazing puppet ever made.  She thinks so too!
Our visit was too brief...but I missed hubby!:)
Thanks for taking me girl! xo
~d