My Very Own Quilt Shop

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

A Good Mail Day!

Last week when I noticed that Connecting Threads had put their Essentials thread sets on sale for 40% off, I ordered two of the neutral sets, as well as the black/gray set. While I was shopping, I also found a book that looked fabulous based on the preview pictures and the price was right at less than $13. All that put me 5 cents shy of $50 for free shipping. Yes, 5 CENTS. So I ordered a half yard of a batik as I've heard great things about Connecting Threads fabrics, but had never tried them.

Today my box arrived. The threads are wonderful, the batik fabric is awesome, and the book is even better than expected. A few weeks back I also bought Carrie Nelson's second Schnibbles book when I was placing an order off of Amazon so I threw that into the picture too. Oh, and my issue of the latest American Patchwork and Quilting finally arrived today. I was getting antsy after seeing it on several other blogs. It is a good issue, but I only found a couple of quilts that I'd like to make. I did enjoy reading the contribution by Thelma of Cupcakes 'n Daisies blog fame and her quilt is amazing!

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Thanksgiving Engagement!

Yes, it's true. Scott (previously known as "S" lol) came down to spend Thanksgiving with me and he proposed on Thanksgiving Day. It was perfect and of course I said yes. I spent enough years in a wrong relationship to know when I am in the right one. He was here through Monday and it was just the greatest Thanksgiving weekend I've ever had. We had to tell the kids over the phone and they are thrilled, as are our families who thought we should have never broken up in the first place lol.

We are planning a June 2012 wedding in Sedona when he and the kids come down to help me move back to ND. It sounds like all of our immediate family will also be coming down to attend, so that will be nice. Small and intimate is what we are going for.

Here is a picture of us at Zoolights at the Phoenix Zoo on Thanksgiving night.

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone has a wonderful, safe Thanksgiving! S flew in on Tuesday and we are enjoying what will likely be my last warm Thanksgiving. For awhile at least. I am keeping my Phoenix house so it would be a possibility to come down, but I can't imagine that I would skip Thanksgiving with family just to be in warmer climate.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

A Flurry of Finishes!

I have had a very productive weekend and managed to finish up a few projects that have been hanging around for awhile. The first finish was this Friendship Star wall hanging, which was one of the quilts that I made in my beginning quilting class in, ahem, 2001.

And the back. If you enlarge the picture, you can see the quilting outline of the stars on the front.

This afternoon I finished up this ornament while I was watching the Bears game. S and two of his sons are huge Bears fans and I don't get to see many games down here since I pretty much only have the main network stations, but today's game was on Fox, so I was able to watch. Our AZ Cardinals pulled out a come from behind win over the Eagles too, so good job to them. Please excuse the wrinkles in the ornament. I didn't take time to iron it before taking a picture.

The other thing I finished during the game was this cat mat for the shelter that was started on one of my airplane rides this summer.

I actually have some feline pictures to post as well. First I have Tyrone testing out S's quilt. I got the binding attached by machine this weekend, and also did the same for Chocolate Covered Cherries, so now I can work on the hand stitching as I am watching Christmas movies.

Sassy was sleeping yesterday all curled into a tight little ball. If you look closely, you can see her little foot tucked behind her shoulder. Cats are so flexible!

And finally, here is Echo being his usual dorky self. I have been going through the contents of some of the drawers in my rolling sewing cart and Echo took advantage of finding one empty and decided to take a nap in it. As you can see, he's a little too big, but that didn't seem to bother him lol.

And I had to add this final pic. What are the chances? No, not of having your bobbin run out, but having it run out when you are exactly at the end of attaching a long binding to a quilt. That is what happened to me yesterday when I attached the binding to Chocolate Covered Cherries. I hit the thread cutter, pulled the quilt out, saw the empty bobbin, and thought oh, no, I have been sewing without bobbin thread for who knows how long. But lo and behold, the binding was attached all the way to the end. Amazing.

Saturday, November 5, 2011

Back From the Quilter and Echo Approved!

I was back in ND the last couple weeks of October working on the house some more and seeing family. It was a great trip and I have been accumulating pictures for some blog posts with before and after photos of what we have done so far with the house. Guess I should probably finally post those for my bedroom down here too since I completely forgot about that. A sneak peek of the bed and one of the lamps is in the picture below.

When I got back from my trip, S's quilt was ready for pickup from my long arm quilter, so here it is, all quality control tested by Echo and ready for trimming and binding. I am hoping to get the trimming done yet today and the binding attached by machine. The binding is made, so I should be able to get that done. I want to start sewing it down while I watch the new Christmas movie on the Hallmark channel tonight. I just love that channel during the holidays. It seems to have the best movies. In my opinion anyway :-).

Friday, October 14, 2011

Happy Birthday to Me!

Yes, it is my birthday today...43 years old. I have a thing about the number 3, I hate it, so I told S that I may just tell people that I'm 44 for two years and skip 43 lol. As a little birthday gift to myself, I bought these yummy batiks from Jackie during her sale last weekend.

Of course I had help with them when I started getting them ready to wash.

Echo simply moved to the pile once I pulled the pieces out from under him that he was laying on in the above picture.

On an unrelated feline note, I have an orange and white cat that has started coming around, usually in the back yard. He drinks out of the pool and hangs out a bit from time to time. This morning I was laying in bed when I heard the most awful sound. It was cool outside so the windows were open and apparently Echo and Tyrone were looking out the front window when the orange and white cat showed up outside the window. To say that Tyrone wasn't happy to see him would be an understatement!

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Panels, Books, Patterns & one Kit for Sale

The paring down begins, even if it is only a tiny baby step. I figure if I start now, I might be about 50% ready to move by the time the move date arrives next June. I thought I'd put these things on my blog for a bit first before heading over to Ebay or Etsy.

So here's what I've got for this round. I have a number of panels, a number of books, a few patterns and one kit. Prices do not include shipping. All items are new, in excellent condition, except for one small exception noted below, and they are from a smoke free home. You already know this isn't a pet free home, but none of these items were harmed in any way by the felines that live here lol.

Please email me at pawsntailsquilts@gmail.com if interested in any of the items. Thanks for looking!