Changed My Mind About the Border

How about this?  I think it makes the quilt pop and seems to look good with all of the fabrics.  I normally do two borders, but I think a single border on this little quilt would work fine.  What do you all think?

Finally Some Sewing!

While I've gotten to play with plenty of fabric because of the shop, I can't remember the last time that I actually turned on my sewing machine.  Poor neglected thing.  But that drought ended today!  Woo hoo! 

I started piecing a scrappy piano key border many, many months ago, which isn't done yet, but that's not the point.  The point is that I had alot of scraps left from cutting the pieces for the border, so a couple of months ago I started randomly piecing them together for a mini strippy quilt.  Well I finished the piecing of the strips today AND got them sewn together into the top.  I love it!  It's very, very scrappy, which is exactly what I was going for.  I think I like it without borders, but I'm going to let it sit for a day or two before I decide that for sure.

Getting this little top together was a nice reward for spending most of the weekend working on tax projections :-(.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Black Friday Sale at My Very Own Quilt Shop

Just a reminder that our Black Friday sale at My Very Own Quilt Shop started today so if you need a break from Thanksgiving preparations, please check it out.  Details are in the post below this one.  Happy Shopping and Happy Thanksgiving!

Black Friday Sale at My Very Own Quilt Shop!

We are having a week long Black Friday sale at My Very Own Quilt Shop starting tomorrow, November 21st and running through next Tuesday, November 27th.  You will have two ways to save, so pick whichever gives you the best deal :-).

On our website we are offering 20% off the entire site with free shipping on all orders over $200.  The discount does not show on the individual products, but will show up in the shopping cart.  You can find our website here:

http://www.myveryownquiltshop.com/

And for our Ebay store, we are offering 10% off with free shipping on ALL products.  The Ebay store has some new Anthology batik solids that are not yet on the website, so if you are looking for solid batiks, please check out our Ebay store here:

http://stores.ebay.com/My-Very-Own-Quilt-Shop



Happy Shopping and Happy Thanksgiving!

Santa's Workshop Has Been Busy!

I am not a last minute Christmas shopper.  Actually, I am not a last minute anything.  I hate the stress involved with situations like that.  Some people thrive on it.  I do not.  So, I am not only a NOT a last minute Christmas shopper, I am an early Christmas shopper.  After my trip out tonight, I will have probably 85% of my gifts purchased and the ones that are left will be easy to take care of.

The kids were with us this past weekend so yesterday was wrapping day at our house.  The kids wrapped all of their gifts for their dad and Scott and I wrapped the rest after they went home.  And here is the result of all of our hard work:

Our Christmas isn't until the last weekend in December when we have the kids, but we are sending all of these gifts home with my Dad and Stepmother when they are here this week for Thanksgiving.  Then all we need to add are the ribbons and bows which we will put on when we get there for Christmas.  That way they won't get squished while in transit :-).

My afghan is almost done.  Just one and a half rows of the final border to finish and then blocking it.  I will probably finish the border tonight during the Bears game.  Here are the youngest two felines playing on the sewn together blocks. Those two seem to have a lot of fun together.  I think Sassy likes having another cat close to her size.  For now lol.





Fat Quarter Packs are on sale at My Very Own Quilt Shop!

My Very Own Quilt Shop now has Fat Quarter Packs for sale and they are all on sale for the next week through Sunday, November 18th.  The price per pack has been reduced by the price of one fat quarter so it's like getting a free fat quarter in every pack! 

The following fat quarter packs are only $5.00 each during the sale:

And look what you can get for $10 per pack:

This is a great opportunity to add some new batiks to your collection at a great price.  You can find all of the collections here:

http://www.myveryownquiltshop.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=66&page=2



Getting There...

I've made good progress on my dishcloth afghan, which I think will be renamed "Patchwork Afghan" since it has a quilt-like look to it. 

I've got the bottom three rows sewn together and the blocks are sewn together for all but the last two rows.  The assembly is going really fast and is an excellent tv watching project.  Then it will be on to the border and it will be done!

Of course Sassy had to get into the picture.  She says she hasn't been on the blog much lately and that needs to change!  lol

Yard Sale Saturday

Yay, it's yard sale Saturday again and I am finally getting my act together to participate!  Colorado Lady is our host today, filling in for Miss Bonnie who is on the road.  Below are my offerings.  Please email me at laura@myveryownquiltshop if you are interested.  I prefer PayPal, but will also take checks or money orders.  Happy Yard Sale-ing!

• Quilt TOP made by me from leftover blocks from a king size jewel box quilt.  All batik except for the white background fabric.  Measures 34 1/2 x 34 1/2.  $25 plus $5.15 shipping.



• Paper pieced heart blocks in progress.  One block made, foundations prepared and pieces cut and labeled for the other three.  This would be a great project for learning to paper piece, which was what I was doing with it.  $5 including shipping.



• Large flat rate box stuffed with scraps, strips, and flannel scraps.  $10 plus $15.45 shipping.

• Quilt TOP pieced by me.  Measures 21 1/2 x 21 1/2.  Blocks are paper pieced so are very precise.  Fun bright colors with fuchsia border and lots of white space for some awesome machine quilting, which I am not currently capable of doing!!  $15 plus $5.15 shipping.



• Quilt TOP pieced by me.  Measures 20 1/2 x 20 1/2.  Another setting variation of the same blocks used in the previous quilt.  Blocks are paper pieced so are very precise. Fun bright colors with fuchsia border and lots of white space for some awesome machine quilting, which I am not currently capable of doing!! $15 plus $5.15 shipping.
  
  
  
  

Election Day Sale at My Very Own Quilt Shop!

To celebrate the fact that we have the freedom to vote in this great country we live in, I am having an Election Day sale at http://www.myveryownquiltshop.com/.  The sale will continue through midnight, November 6th, 2012. 

Shop now and save 10% off your entire order.  Please note - the discount will appear in the shopping cart, but not on the individual item prices. 

I have the same sale going on in my Ebay store, which has fat quarter packs that are not yet listed on the store site.  You can find my Ebay store here.  The fat quarter packs are listed under the Stashbuilder category or you can simply search the store for "stashbuilder".

Below is just one of the gorgeous sets of fat quarters we have:

Happy Shopping and Happy Voting!

My Latest Project

I have been in crochet mode lately, which is good since I seem to be spending a lot of time watching football these days and I can crochet while I watch :-).  I have a lot of cotton yarn on hand from my dishcloth crocheting and have also just bought a bunch of new colors that have come out since the last time I went cotton yarn shopping.  I just can't resist the fun little balls of color lol. 

I am not interested in making more dishcloths at the moment and in fact probably need to sell some of the stockpile I have, so what to do with all of this yarn?  Well, I decided to make an afghan using some of the dishcloths I already had made and then filling in the rest with more dishcloths (squares) made from some of the new colors as well as yarn I had on hand.  I wish I could say that I used more of my stash yarn than new yarn bought, but I would be lying.  So this is my progress on my "dishcloth" afghan. 

I know it is not the norm to use cotton yarn for afghans because it is a little heavier, but I always get a little sad when these beautiful colors are used in dishcloths that get dirty and fade over time.  This way I can look at them and enjoy them while sitting under my afghan :-).  Dodger helped me some too lol. 



He is such a good kitty.  Very playful, but loving too.  We are very lucky that he found us.  Here is another cute picture of him on my office chair.

And don't forget that free shipping continues at My Very Own Quilt Shop through 10/21.  Use coupon code BDAY2012.

http://www.myveryownquiltshop.com/



Free Shipping and Meet Dodger

Free shipping continues through 10/21 at

http://myveryownquiltshop.com/

Use coupon code BDAY2012 to get the discount.

And one lucky customer will get this extra bonus in their package:

Just kidding!!!!  I am pleased to introduce you to Dodger, our latest feline addition. Dodger became my unplanned birthday present when my husband found him running in his youngest son's school parking lot on Friday.  He was dodging cars (successfully) so that's how he got his name.  He went to the vet yesterday and tested negative for diseases but does have a bad case of ear mites and worms.  He is a total sweetheart and hasn't been any trouble at all so I guess we are now officially a five cat household.  Yikes.

My Very Own Quilt Shop is open for business!

My Very Own Quilt Shop is finally open for business!  To celebrate our opening as well as my birthday tomorrow, we are offering free shipping from now through next Sunday, October 21, 2012.  Enter coupon code BDAY2012 to get the discount.

If you are a batik lover, please check out our large selection of Anthology Batiks for only $9.75/yard.

Happy Shopping!

http://myveryownquiltshop.com/

Making Progress!

Well, I didn't get the quilt shop open by September 1st, but I am making progress!  All of the fabric has arrived and I am working on getting all of the information for each bolt on the website.  That is a tedious, time consuming task for sure.  As a reward for taking care of the tedious tasks, I have gotten to remove the plastic from all of the bolts and to fondle all of that gorgeous fabric.  So yummy!!!

As I opened each bolt I also cut a strip off the end to create a clean edge for cutting orders.  These are the same cutoffs that I used to buy from one of my Phoenix shops, so of course I saved them.  My initial plan was for a string quilt, but then I came up with an even better plan.  I have always wanted to make a Snails Trail/Virginia Reel quilt, so I found a paper piecing foundation on the web and I am going to use these scraps to paper piece the blocks.  I shrunk the foundation to just over 4 inches so these will be little blocks that should really sparkle with the batiks.

Here is the basket of cutoffs from the bolts:

And the strips all sorted by light and dark after washing:

And here are some previews of the fabric I will have for sale in the shop.  Please ignore the extraneous boxes, etc.  This room is also my personal quilting studio and office for my CPA business and I am still unpacking :-).

The shelves were already built in when we bought the house and are perfect for holding the bolts.  I had a wish list for the house, but shelves to accommodate a quilt shop inventory was definitely not on the list lol.  God is so good!  He knows what we need even if we don't :-).



Married!

I have been such a delinquent blogger the last six months it's not even funny.  But I did get through tax season, packed up my house in AZ and moved to ND, and got married between the two.  Woo hoo!  The wedding and move went perfectly and I am slowly getting settled in ND.  So many things to change and get set up, but I am slowly working through the list of to do's.  I think I will be done about December 31st lol.  I hope so anyway!  Oh, and my new hubby is using his web and IT skills to help me start an online quilt shop out of our home.  The initial fabric shipment arrived this week, so I must get to that too.  But that will be fun work and I am very excited about it.  We hope to have the shop up and running by Sept 1.

Given the list of to do's, this post will be short, but I wanted to check in and let you all know that I am still alive and to post a few pics from the wedding.  It was a truly fabulous day and we had such a good time :-).  And having our families there with us was an added bonus that we didn't expect when we originally decided to get married in Sedona.  Also, I want to point out that these are all amateur shots taken by family that were at the wedding and the first two were taken by Scott's sons - the 9 year old took the first one and the 11 year old took the second one.  They got some great shots!

Scott & I with Cathedral Rock in the background:

After the ceremony at our creek side location:



Dad walking me down the "aisle" (i.e. the path lol).  You really had to watch your step!:



My guys all waiting for me to arrive:

Oak Creek with Cathedral Rock in the background:

My stepmother, sister and me before leaving the hotel for the ceremony:

What I've Done This Past Week

Scott and I flew back from ND on the 30th.  Since then, I've bought this to accommodate my new expanding family:



I've sold this:

I drove to Tucson to select and buy this:



And we spent a day in Sedona meeting with the minister and selecting this area for our wedding site.  We will get married in June on this little beach right along Oak Creek.



Further up the creek and closer to Cathedral Rock:

And then I took a nap all day yesterday.  Not really, but I wish I had because I'm exhausted!  I certainly haven't been quilting, but I did wash all the new fabric I had acquired over the last month or so and did manage to get unpacked from the trip by the time I had been home for 4 days.