Just Have A Happy Easter!

May your day be filled with peace, love, family,

and maybe a purple Peep or two....or three.

The Winner Is Stitched Up!

SHARON 

(from Dancing Thru Threads!)

Thanks for your sweet comment and for entering my giveaway!

I've sent you an email just to let you know you won.

What's Your Quilt Worth?

I just visited a blog,

and read a post, 

that had a link, 

that went to a blog, 

that had a fabulous view on

what a quilt is worth.

Loved it!

Click below to go see the interesting view

of Sam Hunter from Hunter's Design Studio:

CLICK HERE TO SEE WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT

It's nice to think my quilts are worth something...

even if I don't plan to sell them.

I'm All Stitched Up...Want To See?

Has this hop been a blast or what! Of course it has!

Jane's the queen cheerleader of Stitch Me Up and she's

done a royal job of ruling this blog hop...way to go Jane!

Madame Samm is stitching away with big plans to sew 

more than me--she always beats me, dang it! 

I'm not competitive at all, but has anyone heard how many what she's making?

I have heard she's planning more hops for the future...what a woman!

There were so many fun patterns to choose from, but I went

for the ones that weren't too complicated and (hopefully) weren't going 

to embarrass me as I attempted these embroidery things.

I think I LOVE embroidering!

This little flower was created by Cyndi from Stitch, Stitch, Stitch 

and was perfect for the bib pattern I wanted to make.

This bib pattern (that I sorta-kinda-followed-but-not-exactly)

is by Wimzee Fabric Arts, Designs by Steff Tiffin

Little Girl's BIB-A-FORE 

Since I had dug out all my Mary Engelbreit fabric for that bib, 

I thought I'd go ahead and make a matching quilt using the 

cutest little girl from Madame Samm's Wee Tots collection.

My Sweet Cherry Quilt

I just love how shy she looks.

My Monkey Boys helped hold up the quilt for the first few

pictures I took, but chose to remain anonymous since it was a GIRL quilt 

and they didn't want their friends to think it was for them.

I did my own quilting on this, nothing fancy, just straight stitches.

One thing I love to use when I do those straight stitches is blue

painter's tape...it doesn't mess up the fabric and I can 

stitch right along the edge for perfect lines. 

I can lift and reuse it multiple times and in multiple directions.

We all remember that cute purse pattern from the UR Priceless blog hop

(weren't they all just the cutest things!) Well...I just made it a little bigger 

(okay, a lot bigger) and created a sewing bag to be able to 

grab-and-go whatever embroidery project I'm working on at the moment.

For this project, I embroidered Madame Samm's French lady and 

used melted purple crayon to color in her beret, scarf, and shoes.

Mines not so perfect, but check out Quilt Whimsy's blog for more details.

It was fun melting those crayons!

There's one pocket in the front.

(The beige fabric looks stained, but it's not...it's the print on the fabric)

Two pockets on the back.

And one big pocket inside.

This was so much fun! I really want to try stitching

some of those other patterns because they are just amazing.

Now on to other important matters...

MY GIVEAWAY!

Five fat quarters of Audra's Iris Garden by Brannock & Patek

SILLY LITTLE RULES:

1. Leave a short and sweet comment. Don't know what to say? Just tell me what part of the world you're from.
2. This one is important! Make sure I can contact you if you're a no-reply blogger. 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. 
3. You don't have to be a follower to be entered in the giveaway, but if you do follow me around, leave a separate comment that says "I'm a follower" for another chance (plus, if you're a follower I'll throw a little something extra in the package if you win.)
4. I'll mail it anywhere.
5. Giveaway ends at 6 p.m. PST on March 29th. Entries after 6 p.m. PST on March 29th will not be included in the giveaway.

Want to see all the blog hop creations in one place?

Check them out on Madame Samm's Pinterest page

Look who's blogging with me today:

TUESDAY MARCH 26th

 Isabel @That Other Blog

Jeanette @That Other Blog

Just Let Me Quilt

MacDonald’s Patch 

Pots Pans Pins and Prayers

GrandMama's Stories

Stitch, Stitch, Stitch

Needled

Tomorrow's Treasures Today 

Lemur on a Stick

 Life In Every Breath

Zellerwear 

 Bumbleberry Stitches

threads on my socks

Hanging On By A Thread

Fresh Cut Quilts

The whole schedule is

HERE

Stitch Me Up - March 25th

Whoohoo! Another week of stitchery!

MONDAY MARCH 25th

Beverly @That Other Blog

Betty@That Other Blog

Stitches to Sprinkles 

 Stitch Duchess' Crazy and Sane Quilting World

Bejeweled Quilts by Barb

Kathy's Quilts

Mountain Delights 

Tea and Quilts    

 Charlottes Creations

Quilt Obsession

The Slow Quilter

Cali Quilter

Little Pieces of My Life

Creating My Comforts

The whole schedule can be found

HERE

New Blog Hop Alert--A Little Bird Told Me So

You want in? Head over to Sew We Quilt for the details!

Stitch Me Up - March 21st

Yesterday's hoppers were pretty amazing, weren't they!

Have you seen the great giveaways over at Sew We Quilt?

There's lots happening over there, so check it out

HERE

Look who's hoppin' today:

THURSDAY, March 21st

Janice@ That Other Blog

Angela@ That Other Blog

piece peace

Stitchin’ By The Lake  

Phoenix Heirlooms

Sew Incredibly Crazy

Mamaccessories

 Molly's Place

Kath's Creations

Get More Done Today 

Sew Many Yarns

The Distracted Domestic

Sheila's Quilt World

UK City Crafter 

The whole schedule can be found

HERE

Stitch Me Up - March 20th

Let the fun begin!

Today's Stitch Me Up hoppers:

WEDNESDAY March 20th

Karen@That Other Blog

Susan @That Other Blog

Sowing Stitches    

Life in the Scrapatch

Pig Tales and Quilts

Meadowbrook

Marla's Crafts 

Gracie Oliver Arts

Humble Quilter

Cherry Blossom Quilting Studio

New Girl News  

Sunshine Quilting

Patchouli Moon Studio

Lovin' Life at the End of the Dirt Road

Selina Quilts 

The whole schedule can be found

HERE

Thread Me....Please!

I had to learn to do some embroidery stitches so 

I could play along with the other Stitch Me Up hoppers.

After some not-so-good attempts, I think

I finally have the hang of doing some of the simple stitches.

BUT....

I hate threading that needle with embroidery thread!

It misses the hole.

It hits the hole, but splits the thread.

It, it, it.....MAKES ME CRAZY!

I've tried a few different needle threaders:

The little wire loopy ones...

great for regular sewing thread, but they break with thick thread/floss.

The little push-it-down and it threads...

most take specific needles and I like my

John James Size 9 needles which don't seem

to work in those gadgets. Of course, it could just be me.

HELP!

What or how do you thread your needles

with embroidery floss/thread/whatever that is thick?

P.S.  Don't forget this starts tomorrow!

Stitch Me Up Blog Hop Is Coming!

In just two days we'll start seeing some amazing embroidery work...I can't wait! My day is on March 26th (whew, for once I'm not on the first or second day--thanks, Jane!)

The cheerleader for this hop is Jane from Jane's Fabrics and Quilts. You know she'll make this a hop to remember, as will all those who are participating.

Since the schedule seems to change right up to the last minute before a hop, this link will get you the latest and greatest schedule for who will be hopping with us:

STITCH ME UP SCHEDULE

PLUS....

Did you see the ironing board giveaway over at Sew We Quilt?

If you didn't, you better go there now to enter her giveaway of

that amazing ironing board--it's no ordinary ironing board, just so you know!

Or don't and that will give me a bigger and better chance to win. LOL!

THE Ironing Board Giveaway Link

Just A Pinch Of Leprechauns

~Happy St. Patrick's Day~

I have a little Irish in me thanks

to my Armstrong ancestors who came to America and settled

in New York, so just call me Tater McWoozy!

Follow You....How?

With the news of Google Reader no longer being available after July 1st, bloggers of the world have been scrambling to find ways to read their favorite blogs. Thankfully, all the blogs I'm following will still show-up on my Blogger Dashboard (which has no connection to those readers) and will let me scroll through them with little snippets of information which is good for those days when I have limited time.

To read/see entire blog posts on a page, alternatives for Google Reader are Feedly or Bloglovin...I'm using both right now to see which one is easiest for me. So far, they both are pretty cool and easy to use. They've made the transition so easy with quick steps to move all the gazillion blogs we follow over to their blog reading sites.

Some blogs I KNOW I've been following aren't showing up in those readers, so I've had to click the "Follow" button to ensure that I can continue to stalk follow my favorite blogs at all hours of the night/day from the privacy of my own home.

If you want to follow me on Bloglovin, that little button on the top should make it easy for you or you can click one of the buttons over on the right of my blog for other ways to follow. Confused? Don't care? Yep, I think we're all stepping into a social media overload! Facebook, Blogger, Feedly, Bloglovin, Google+.....WOW!

The Nancy Drew Party's Over..

But....it's time for a new blog hop party!

Jane's the cheerleader for this one so you know it will be a fabulous hop

and of course Madame Samm will have cool giveaways from wonderful sponsors!

I had so much fun with the Nancy Drew Here's A Clue blog hop

(mystery link-up glitches and all)

and was so excited to see all the projects that

were shown from around the world.

You just leave me in awe with your talent and creativity.

There was so much amazing stuff, wasn't there!

Thanks to all of you who played along with the clues!

Mystery Solved! There's A Winner!

I printed out ALL those names from all eight clue posts (there were lots of them
and it took me longer to cut them up then I thought it would),

put them in a big, big bowl,

stirred them around, and around, and around...

(whew...got a little dizzy doing that),

and reached in to grab this one little piece of paper:

Congratulations to

Jeanie!

(An email has been sent to her.)

What did she win? Well...thanks to Jane and her
cute little Etsy store, I picked out this Domestic Diva fabric package
which Jane will be sending off to her. I love that fabric and thought
maybe I should keep it instead of giving it to Jeanie,
but...she won it fair and square, so I won't keep it.

Clue #8 AND Last Day - Nancy Drew Blog Hop

"Spend time at the gym to build upper body strength. 

Detective work may require fending off a vicious hair pulling."

          The Thirteenth Pearl

GIVEAWAY

Clue #8

Can you find it?

This can be found somewhere among today's Nancy Drew Blog Hoppers:

Friday, March 15, 2013

Little Mushroom Cap

Why-Knot-Kwilt

Daisy Days

Julia P. at That Other Blog

The Day Before This Day

Sew Far

 Rainbows. Bunnies. Cupcakes.

Les passions de Cliodana

That’s Sew Julie (moved from 3/8)

Sew We Quilt

Here's the rules:

1.     Leave a comment on this post saying, "I found it!" and/or something else really nice.

2.     You can comment once each day on each of the clue posts (there will be 8 clue posts.)

3.     On the last day of the hop, March 15th at 6 p.m. PST, I will put ALL the comments from ALL of my 8 clue posts in a big bowl and draw one name who will be the winner of my MYSTERY GIVEAWAY. I promise I will include all those comments from the first day of my confusing game.

4.     I will mail the mystery giveaway prize anywhere.

If you missed a clue:

Click HERE to go to Clue #1
Click HERE to go to Clue #2
Click HERE to go to Clue #3
Click HERE to go to Clue #4
Click HERE to go to Clue #5
Click HERE to go to Clue #6
Click HERE to go to Clue #7