Just Let Me Quilt

Wednesday, November 30, 2022

Virtual Christmas Cookie Exchange Starts Monday

It's party time with the annual Virtual Christmas Cookie Exchange!

If you're in need of some yummy Christmas recipes and/or fabric inspiration,

come back here on Monday, December 5th. You really need to!

These are the fabulous maker/bakers you'll meet:

Friday, November 18, 2022

Benartex Fabrics Announces 2023 Ambassadors

Guess who is one of those ambassadors...me! I am so excited and one lucky lady. To be involved with a really amazing fabric company and designers is going to be an incredible experience for me. I keep thinking there was a mistake and I'm just dreaming! Nope. It's real...yay!

I had to send them a photo of myself. Because I avoid the camera whenever possible, I had Ron take a more current pic of me. It was torture, but this is the result.

I had to send in a bio, too:

Carol Swift grew up in Las Vegas, Nevada, where she learned to sew by watching her mother make clothes and quilts. As a young wife and mother, Carol sewed clothes for herself and four children. As her skills improved, she began sewing prom and wedding dresses for family and friends. She eventually moved more towards creating quilts and started a blog in 2008, Just Let Me Quilt, to keep track of them. This evolved into her hosting blog hops and sewing projects for several fabric companies. She enjoys designing quilts, especially Halloween ones, and teaches applique classes at a local quilt store. Carol and two of her friends share a Halloween Facebook page, Cackling Stitches, where they host block of the month projects. Ron, her husband of 50 years, is a huge supporter of her quilting adventures and willingly stands in unusual or high places to hold quilts for photos

This is the list of ambassadors...wow!

I've been following some of them for years and never grow tired of their talent with fabric.

Lisa Ruble of Quilty Zest

Nancy Scott of Masterpiece Quilting

Charisma Horton of Charisma's Corner

Jen Shaffer of Patterns by Jen

Carol Swift of Just Let Me Quilt

Olesya Lebedenko of Olesya L. Design

Laura Strickland of Orange Blossom Quilt Design Studio, LLC

Nancy Messuri of Nancy Messuri Designs

Michele Crawford of Flower Box Quilts

Marie Segares of Underground Crafter

Robin Koehler of Nestlings by Robin

Brianna Roberts of Sew Cute and Quirky

One of the first times I sewed for Benartex was in 2017 and it was for a blog hop. It was the cutest fabrics by Cherry Guidry of Cherry Blossoms Quilting called "My Little Sunshine."

It all starts happening in 2023...I can't wait!

Check out the other ambassadors and see their gorgeous projects using Benartex Fabrics.

Monday, November 14, 2022

Day Two of "Music" And Blog Hopping

Yesterday was such an amazing day of music projects! I hope you took the time to check them out. Today will be just as awesome, I'm sure!

There's more music for your ears and eyes on these blogs...check them out!

Monday, November 14th

Just Let Me Quilt

Quiltscapes
Words & Stitches

Selina Quilts

Ms P Designs USA

Homespun Hannah's Blog

Tuesday, November 15th

MooseStashQuilting
Kathleen McMusing

Wednesday, November 16th

Thursday, November 17th

Creatin' in the Sticks

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs
Quilting Gail

Just Because Quilts

Purring Cottage

Scrapdash

More photos from the Joan and Me adventures last weekend.

We let the guys hang out with us for a minute or two at Dick's Last Resort.

It was noisy!

It was a little windy, but we managed to get a pic of the two of us with our quilts.

Joan was a great crew member holding my quilt.

This was a wedding dress in the museum...gorgeous!

The train from my childhood! Seriously, it was so exciting to see it.

I just maybe/probably/did win some $100 bills. It was really a surprise and lots of fun!

You can find "Guitar Obsession" in my Etsy Store HERE.

The Virtual Christmas Cookie Exchange is almost here!

Thanks for stopping by!

Sunday, November 13, 2022

Music In The Air This Week

It's the first day (and my day) of the "Music" blog hop hosted by the amazing Carla of Creatin' in the Sticks. I'm sure someone will share a song or two along with their project that will be repeating itself in my head after this week is over. Hopefully it is a song I like!

With a few delays to sewing my project, it actually worked out to my advantage. Joan from Moosestash Quilting flew in for the weekend and we took our quilts out with us for photos and adventures. To say we had a blast is an understatement! She posts her quilt project tomorrow. I claim the 5th on anything she might say about our adventures.

Joan was so brave while standing close to those bighorn sheep. Some of them have big, big horns!

You can see Lake Mead in the background. The water is so low!

Guitar Obsession

64" x 64"

Fabrics used were Benartex's Cotton Shot by Amanda Murphy.

I love solids for my applique projects, and these are perfect for them.

Cotton Shot Amethyst, Cotton Shot Red, and Cotton Shot Green fabrics made me want to

"Twist and Shout" while I was putting the guitar applique pieces together. Such pretty colors!

Boulder City has some interesting shops, like Sherman's House of Antiques.

Joan and I were given permission to take photos with some popular stars standing out front.

Dan Ackroyd and Elvis sang the blues for us while holding my quilt.

John Belushi was the perfect "Soul Man" for this photo.

Marilyn thought quilts might just be a girl's best friend instead of diamonds.

"Yo Ho Ho and a Bottle of Rum" and a warm quilt to trade for gold.

Darth Vader wouldn't give me my quilt back and I wasn't going to argue with him.

I didn't want to start a Quilt War...he's too scary!

We tried, and failed, to stay out of trouble at the Clark County Museum in Henderson. Apparently, while crashing a wedding in the chapel, we set off an alarm by hanging our quilts over a plexiglass partition. Whoops! The museum worker was nice to us, though. He said he was glad it was us and not someone stealing something.

This train at the museum was a stark reminder that I was now a relic and/or antique. The train used to sit in "Fantasy Park" in North Las Vegas where I would play on it as a child. It was old back then, but there were no fences to stop us from climbing on it. Any old timer from Las Vegas usually remembers the fun times they had climbing on it. In spite of how old it made me feel, I was so excited to see it!

You can find "Guitar Obsession" in my Etsy Store HERE.

There's more music for your ears and eyes on these blogs...check them out!

Monday, November 14th

Just Let Me Quilt

Quiltscapes
Words & Stitches

Selina Quilts

Ms P Designs USA

Homespun Hannah's Blog

Tuesday, November 15th

MooseStashQuilting
Kathleen McMusing

Wednesday, November 16th

Thursday, November 17th

Creatin' in the Sticks

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs
Quilting Gail

Just Because Quilts

Purring Cottage

Scrapdash

Thanks for stopping by!

Monday, November 7, 2022

This, That, And Blog Hop/Challenge News

I can't believe it's almost Thanksgiving and Christmas...where has the time gone! It happens like this every year, but it always catches me by surprise. Please don't tell me you've already finished your Christmas shopping and/or your Christmas cards. That would be too much for me because I haven't even put away my Halloween stuff yet.

Ron and me on Halloween night with neighbors.

A couple weeks ago my husband threw a wrench in my already disorganized and I'm-behind-in-everything life by needing a heart repair. He's so healthy (rides his bike and golfs) but he had some blockage in his heart. Total surprise! An artery got punctured in the stent process (scary) so there's another procedure in the future. He's doing good now, thank goodness!

I taught a class at Sew Yeah last Friday. It's always a fun time teaching people how to applique. We worked on this mini quilt.

November's blog hop, "Music", starts next week with Carla at Creatin' in the Sticks hosting it. I think the name totally says what the challenge is. I can't wait to see all the creative music items!

The annual Virtual Cookie Exchange is happening beginning December 5th. You can still join in if you want to...let me know.

On to 2023!

We've changed the name for 2023, but it still involves challenges and blog hopping.

Are you up for a new challenge in January?

Carla at Creatin' in the Sticks is starting off the 2023 with "Shades of Blue."

The Challenge:

This one is Shades of Blue.

Easy, peasy. Add shades of blue to your project.

Show us your winter blues.

It can be any stitched project, just make sure there is a shade of blue somewhere.

The Rules:

Post on your assigned day at 12:00 am Eastern time.

Have a giveaway or don't have a giveaway. It's totally optional!

Visit everyone's blog on the list and leave a sweet comment. Make friends!!!!

To sign up:

Send her your information and she will assign you a day!

We have some seriously great challenges lined up for 2023!

Don't try to sign-up now, we'll send out notices a couple months before.

Joan, Carla, and I share a Facebook page called "Cackling Stitches" that is only about Halloween.

We'll be starting another block of the month in January, "Which Way to Witchville."

Plan on joining us!

Friday, October 21, 2022

Jill Finley And Her Holiday Lane Pillow Pattern

When I was at the Garden of Quilts in Utah last month, I was walking by the Jillily Studio booth and noticed a Christmas pillow (Holiday Lane) in a corner. I was excited to see it because I had sewn one a long time ago during a blog hop.

The designer of "Holiday Lane", Jill Finley of Jillily Studio, was in the quilt booth so I got to meet her. She is just the nicest lady!

With the Virtual Christmas Cookie Exchange coming up in December, Jill was so kind and said I could share her photo and link to the free pillow pattern (HERE) on my blog for anyone who wants to sew it for their project. There is even a kit available HERE.

Jill's photo of "Holiday Lane"

It's beautiful and so sweet!

*NOTE: This isn't a have-to sew to be part of the Virtual Cookie Exchange. It's just an idea if you're looking for something fun to make. I'll be making one to share! The pillow I made in 2012 went to the Monkey Boys and family.

There were four little Monkeys sleeping on the pillow in 2012 when I first made the pillow.