Let The Ho Ho Ho'ing Begin!

It's time for Christmas in July!

(Okay, so we barely made the July cut-off, but at least we DID make it!)

Madame Samm got us all sewing in temperatures well over a 100 degrees...and as you'll see, 

there are some amazing projects that were created with fans blowing and the A/C going full blast.

I love Regina Grewe's paper piecing patterns and her elf pattern was

just begging for me to make it. I blew it up to a pretty large size to make this...

I added some machine embroidered snowflakes, too.

Just a little runner with bells.

(It was 108 in the garage as I dug for Christmas decorations...

only a blogger would understand this.)

While looking around the web, I ran across a panel of adorable Christmas scenes created by

Karen Snyder (Anna Lena Land) called Christmas Morning which I ordered from Rossville Quilts...
their service was just the best! I used one of the blocks from the panel to make this...

The block background was white, but I needed it to be beige so I tea stained it.

I embroidered the block, but the whole panel is so cute as-is!

Bruster thinks it's his quilt...note the attitude on his face.

And, what is Christmas without a mug rug for Santa and his cookies!

Fabric: Quilting Treasures Dear Santa

Look what Sew We Quilt is giving away!

Of course, there's a giveaway from me...actually, TWO!

I ordered an extra Christmas morning panel just for one of you.
This is one of the adorable pics on the panel...I love them all!
The first name I draw will win this...

AND

I picked up this cute panel from the Christmas Goose (don't you just love that name!)
It's located in Las Vegas and is such a fun place to shop, shop, shop.
The second name I draw will win this...

The usual giveaway rules..HO, HO, HO...

1. Leave a short and jolly comment. 
2. This one is important! Make sure I can contact you if you're a no-reply blogger. *If you don't get a reply from me, you're a no-reply blogger or something else is screwed-up.
3. I'll mail it anywhere...yes, even to the other side of the world.
4. Giveaway ends at 6 p.m. PST on August 9th. Entries after 6 p.m. PST on August 9th will not be included in the giveaway.

Now dash away, dash away, dash away all to check out today's

Ho Ho Ho blog hoppers...

July 31

Just Let Me Quilt (me)

Grandmama’s Stories

Thimblemouse & Spouse

Pumpkin Patch Quilter

Bumbleberry Stitches

Baas Amazing Adventures

The House on the Side of the Hill

Geta’s Quilting Studio

Felt Free Pa Asly

CLF by Nailaa

How Art You?

Rainbows. Bunnies. Cupcakes.

Naughty Or Nice?

I think I've been pretty nice this year, but

I have had a few lot too many naughty moments, too.

Dear Santa, I'll try to be nicer...maybe..

if you promise to show up for the

Ho Ho Ho blog hop. Please!

Are You Ready To Ho Ho Ho tomorrow?

When Did That Get Posted?

I'm still in my PJ's, in case you're wondering, but

I plan to do something...soon...maybe.

I missed visiting a few blogs while I was working and plan

to catch-up now that I lay around in my PJ's a little longer than I used to.

Actually, I think I've missed quite a few posts using this new reader method.

Is it weird to leave comments on blog posts that are older?

Will it look like I neglected/ignored them?

Does this look like I have too much time on my hands

because I'm thinking of reading older posts?

Do I HAVE To Get Dressed?

I'm loving DAY 2 of my retirement!

It's 2:30 P.M. and I'm still in my nightgown.

I could learn to like this lifestyle!

(This actually might not be a good thing, but don't ruin my 2nd day of

retirement by telling me I should get dressed and comb my hair.)

Not that I've been eating chocolates and napping...nope!

(Okay, so maybe a couple peanut M&M's made their way into my mouth.)

I've been sewing hexies, monkey quilts, and this skirt for my doll..

I was sure she needed a skirt and bow since That Other Lady added one

to hers. Whoops! That sounds a little competitive doesn't it. 

We know I'm not, so this was just a copy cat kind of thing....right?

I think I may have to take up oil painting to fill some of my time...or not!

Less than 5 days until Ho Ho Ho projects start showing up

all over some really cool blogs....can you say

  E-X-C-I-T-E-D!

The Next Day....

Day one of retirement...what to do, what to do.

Yesterday had lots of hugs and tears (no regrets about leaving,

but it was sad to leave some of the nice people I work with.)

They knew what I'd be doing after I said, "Goodbye"

So....a really special lady said I needed to do something nice for myself today,
Does using my Accuquilt to cut hexagons count as fun?

Yep! It sure does!

Do you use an Accuquilt?
Now that I'm retired, I plan to use mine more.

The Ho Ho Ho blog hop comes first, but I need to get ready for those
Scary HEXIES 

because That Other Lady is already working on hers....
(as I've said before, I'm not competitive or anything.)
I love my little red clips, too!

Blog hops that will be coming soon to blogs near you:

Is My Smile Too Big?

At the end of the day on Thursday, I'll be officially

R E T I R E D!

Oh, boy oh boy, do I have plans!

That other lady is a little worried that I'll have lots of extra

time on my hands to make more projects than her...

not that we're competitive or anything. Look what she made for me----

SO SWEET!

 

You Better Watch Out!

Go ahead and shout!
Santa Claus is coming to our blogs!

1 week away...I'm  SO excited!

Want a sneak peek of what I'll be giving away?

(Even if you don't, I'm showing you anyway.)

I bought one of these at Rossville Quilts for a lucky winner

(by the way, they're having an amazing sale!)

Come back on July 31st for a jolly good time!

Floods, Rain, AND a Fabric Sale!

Enough already with the crazy weather!

My husband took a picture of me running out in this crazy weather to take a picture
(yes, I was barefoot.) He sent it to my sister and me with this message: "It's what bloggers do."

Yes, we are crazy about our picture taking, aren't we!
NO, I'm not sharing that pic...I was soaking wet and my hair was plastered to my head.

Through the window...the winds were so bad! That tall plant in

the middle of the pic was almost horizontal during the worst part of the storm.

We had a small pond out front and a river running down our street.

Rainbows are a nice touch after a storm with torrential rains and well over 60 mile an hour winds.

There were at least 10 of these trees that couldn't hold up against the winds.

Red mud is not so pretty when it looks like this.

This is about an hour after the storm...the water reached almost 10 feet at this underpass during
the peak of the storm. It wiped out a section of the golf course, too! 

My sister had a similar red river tumbling behind her house...the same river that flooded two homes up
the hill from her. It was amazing to see how quickly the neighbors jumped in to help those people. The fire
department and clean-up crews arrived SO FAST, too! Lots of heroes helping out!

On a lighter note, I had been looking for a certain fabric for my
Ho Ho Ho blog hop project and found it online at Rossville Quilts.
Their service was amazing...quick and efficient!
They are having a huge sale this month...check it out HERE.

Don't forget the HO HO HO BLOG HOP!
It starts in just 10 days...I'm so excited!

Blog Hop Alert! Pincushions!

Check out the details on Friday for signing up over at:
SEW WE QUILT!

Hot! Hot! Hot!

Yes, it is hot  here, there, and everywhere.

This is today's temp where I am...

and lately it's been about that temperature in my office, too.

The air conditioning just doesn't seem to be working quite good enough for me.

Ugh! I think I'm melting!

I hear "that other lady" is using a fan outside to cool her off...there's no fan big 

enough to cool me off if I sit outside here (NOT that I'm competitive about her

weather, my weather, how many projects she's making for Ho Ho Ho, etc.)

Speaking of the Ho Ho Ho blog hop, look who's waiting to

appear on July 31st...he's so excited and so am I!

There's 94 of us who are busy sewing away on our Christmas in July

projects so we can share them during the Ho Ho Ho blog hop

(the schedule is HERE if you want to see who'll be hopping.)

There's a hexie hop in August and I hear there will be another

hop announced on Friday at Sew We Quilt...something to do with pin cushions.

Fun times ahead!

Let The Seams Meet!

I've sewn for...uh, lots and lots of years (too many to mention), but I'm still learning new tricks to make this sewing thing I enjoy so much just a little easier. For years I settled for "almost there" seams that, well...almost met. Then a few months ago I was stalking a few blogs and ran across a video by Cristy Fincher that showed how to glue those seams before sewing. I didn't have the glue she used, but I had some Tombow glue on hand (Quilt Taffy carries it) so I used it to see if this method really worked (I'm sure this isn't new to most of you, but I'm okay being an old dog that CAN learn new tricks.)

Yep...it worked!

Iron your seams in opposite directions 

(this will let them meet so much better when you glue them together.)

Put a little dab of glue on one side just at the seam and lay the other piece on top, matching 

seams. Push the seams into each other so they meet (this is where ironing them in 

opposite directions helps a lot.) Let it dry a few minutes.

Sew them. Iron them. No pins!

See! They are pretty darn perfect in meeting up. Love it!

The project I used to practice this method is for the Ho Ho Ho Blog Hop.

Come back on July 31st to see how all my squares meet each other.