Thursday, January 31, 2013

I'm Blushing AND There's A Winner!

I had so many sweet comments (blush) about my Dresden quilt and flowers...thank you! I loved making those Dresden plates, but I was totally intimidated by all those other ones showing up on the blog hop. There were flowery ones, zig-zaggy ones, big ones and there was that itsy-bitsy one at Sew We Quilt--all of them amazing!

I got over feeling inferior (it didn't last long) and remembered that's why we join these hops: to learn, be inspired, and show off what we create (good or bad.)

Enough of my blah, blah, blah and on to who won my giveaway.

AMY!

Congratulations, Amy!

Dare To Dresden - January 31st


Monday, January 28, 2013

My Email Was Hacked!

If you get an email from me saying I am stuck in Manila or some other weird email, 
please don't open it or respond. 
Stupid Hackers!

My credit card was used in France (I seem to be doing a lot of traveling lately--Manila and France--wow!) but luckily the bank caught it.

If you get hacked, run, don't walk, to change your passwords on all your accounts. That seems to help thwart those hacker's nasty activities.

I'm very careful with my information. I don't click on links that arrive in emails, I don't share my info with anyone, and I definitely don't share my blogger friend's email address. I don't know why this happened and we usually don't. Hackers are slime bags that creep into a weak spot to grab and go with our info.

Thank you to all of you who have sent me emails and been so understanding.
P. S. I'm glad you did NOT send money to Manila on my behalf.

Dare To Dresden - January 28


Thursday, January 24, 2013

I Dared To Dresden!

Those silly little Dresdens tried to intimidate me,
but they didn't succeed...nope, they didn't.

Until I saw all those amazing Dresdens on
yesterday's blogs and I realized I was in
BIG TROUBLE!

My pitiful Dresdens don't even want to be in the same room as
those other ones. They really wanted to show-up here in disguise,
but I decided to share what a beginner's Dresden looks like
and give hope to those who haven't made a Dresden, yet.

My machine embroidered centers...
my hand embroidery would never look this good.



I couldn't possibly just make one Dresden project...on no, I had to
make two (it's an illness I have that has nothing to do with competing with
That Other Lady.)

I attempted to do some hand embroidery on this one, but it wasn't great 
and I was too lazy to rip it out so I've dubbed it a
 "learning experience" wall hanging.
On one of the stems I hand embroidered,
"Spring is nature's way of saying, 'Let's Party!"
by Robin P. Williams

Since my Dresden's won't win any prizes, I thought I'd 
at least reward you for visiting my blog today. So......

There's a giveaway, too!
$20 from here:


Silly Little Rules:
  1. Leave a short and sweet comment. 
  2. This one is important! Make sure I can contact you if you're a no-reply blogger. There are instructions on how to fix this on the sidebar of my blog. Typing out your email address like this helps avoid spammers: iblog at aol dot com. If I can't contact you, you can't win. If you are an OPEN ID person and leave a comment, leave an email address or I can't respond. 
  3. You don't have to be a Follower, but it's okay with me to have you follow me around. 
  4. Only ONE entry per person.
  5. I'll mail it anywhere.
  6. Giveaway ends at 6 p.m. PST on January 31st. Entries after 6 p.m. PST on January 31st will not be included in the giveaway.

That's it for me, so go check out these other
amazing Dresden's to get inspired:

January 25th, 2013

You can find all the Dresden's from this blog hop
over on Madame Samm's Pinterest page

Thanks to Christine from Quilt Monster in My Closet
for being the cheerleader for this hop
AND
to Madame Samm at Sew We Quilt for her
awesome ability to bring us all together to
create and show our projects
(plus she has great sponsors who offer
wonderful giveaways!)

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Winner! Winner! + #300!

CARRIE
is the winner of my Follower's Giveaway!

I've sent her an email letting her know she won
that little package of Nancy Drew fat quarters
AND
those cool spyglasses.

Congratulations, Carrie!
AND
300 Followers! Wow!
Lori
become a new Follower -  #300 - so
I think she needs a little something just
for hitting that mark. I'll be sending
her a little surprise.

New Blog Hop Alert AND Is That A Dresden?

Do you love to stitch?
This hop is for you!
Head on over to Sew We Quilt
to get the scoop on this blog hop and sign-up
to play with us (and see me attempt to create
a masterpiece with embroidery thread.)
is the cheerleader for this one.

Tomorrow is the big starting day to see
what people do with those dreaded Dresdens.

You can find the whole schedule over at
Christine's blog, Quilt Monster in My Closet.
Chistine's the cheerleader who will be leading
us down the Dare To Dresden path.

Monday, January 21, 2013

Followers? Did I Say Followers Giveaway?


Way back in March 2008 I started my blog, Just Let Me Quilt, to
have a place to keep track of the few-and-far-between sewing projects I created.
I had some loyal family members and friends who felt sorry for me so they
FOLLOWED ME.

I quickly learned that FOLLOWERS motivated me.

Being a FOLLOWER has never been a requirement to enter my 
usual BLOG HOP GIVEAWAYS.....

....BUT
it is a requirement to be a FOLLOWER if you want to enter my 
FOLLOWER GIVEAWAY.
Contest is over!
I am so grateful to the few people who want to come back 
to visit me and I know that if they are following me, 
they will know about this extra little giveaway via their 
email, blogger dashboard, or Google Reader. 

This giveaway is my way of saying,
"Thank You" for coming back.

All you have to do is:

Be a FOLLOWER (by email counts.)
(You can become one right now if you want to be a part of this giveaway.)
Leave one very short and sweet comment
(make sure you let me know if you follow by email since your
little picture won't show up in my Follower box.)
Only one entry per person.
The Follower's Giveaway will end on January 23rd at 6 p.m. PST
(comments left after that time won't count)
Make sure I have your email address or you can't win
I'll ship Internationally.

THE PRIZE?
7 Nancy Drew fat quarters
AND
A pair of spy sunglasses!

Oh, and in case you haven't already signed up
for the Nancy Drew Blog Hop, send me
an email to join the sleuthy fun.

Check out the other blog hops over at

Sunday, January 20, 2013

By Jove, I Think I've Got It!

Well...I've almost GOT IT...but, I'm really, really close to having it stick in my head...the stem stitch, that is. I'm on a roll outlining something using the hand embroidery stem stitches for the Hugs and Kisses blog hop and so far so good, not perfect, but good. You guys were awesome with all your hints and encouraging words!


The hints I've used the most today (and are working so far) at my attempt to do hand embroidering were:
  • Hold the thread up and let it hang down to untwist.
  • Keep the thread length short.
  • Back the fabric with white flannel so the threads don't show.
  • Use a good thread, size 12 (I used Prescencia Finca.)
  • Use good needles.
  • Check out videos/tutorials online. I found this one on YouTube to be helpful, too: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8wNJ-vypRg)

When I think I've really got this hand embroidery stuff down, I'll start working on a few cute embroidery projects I have sitting around just waiting for me to start adding thread to them.

PLUS, 

I found this really cool piece yesterday at The Clover Patch Quilt Store in Santa Clara, Utah. It was all alone (and old) and was just waiting for me to buy it. It's a Singer treadle machine design and since a Singer was the first sewing machine I ever had, this piece was definitely calling my name. It looks like it is actually meant to be machine stitched/embroidered, but I can only tackle one new process at a time and right now that is hand embroidering.

The little plastic bag it was in said:
LuRae's Creative Stitchery, "The Treadle Machine"
by Charlene Miller



I'm thinking positive and happy thoughts that I'll remember how to do the stem stitch (again) when I stop writing this post. Senior moments happen around my place all the time, so I never know what I'll remember (or forget.)

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Blog Hops And Stuff

Dare to Dresden starts in just a few more days, so
I've been pretty busy getting ready. 

You all probably know this trick, but I ran across a
tutorial HERE about using foil to make the centers
for the Dresdens and thought it was pretty cool.
It really worked and was so easy!

Anna Marie Horner's instructions are really
clear on what to do, but here's a short version of how-to
use foil to create the center of your Dresden.
Lay the circle fabric face down on a piece of foil
making sure the piece is larger than the actual sized
circle you're planning to use.  Place a cardboard cut-out
of the actual sized circle that you need on top of the fabric.

Fold the foil in towards the center, going all
the way around.

It will look like this-- 

Iron all the way around the foil circle, pressing
down so it will crease the inside fabric. 

Turn it over and iron again 

Remove the foil and cardboard circle
(it will be hot so BE CAREFUL!)
You can reuse the foil several times before
it starts to tear and become unmanageable.

After the Dresden hop is over,
it is time for some Valentine fun!

With a short break, it will then be on to
It's All About Me!

 It is just so amazing that Amy Bradley is sharing
this adorable pattern for those of us hopping in


But, that's not all! There's still room
in the Nancy Drew hop so come on and join
in for a sleuthy good time!

Give It A Whirl Blog Hop Starts Today

It is time to whirl, twirl, and spin with the "Give It A Whirl" blog hop! What was the challenge? Somewhere in or on your project ...