A Little Rush Of Fabric

I received some Rush Hour fabric that I ordered from Pink Castle Fabrics.

Great service and it got here quick...sweet!

I've bought a little red Rush Hour fabric from Sew Today LLC, an Etsy store.

They've already shipped it...fast!

It's slowly making it's way into more online stores...yay!

Here's another store to find Rush Hour (thanks Pat!):

Erica's Craft and Sewing Center

The fabric is really nice and just begging to be sewn into something for the Rush Hour hop.

 You can still sign up for this hop and you don't have to use the Rush Hour fabric to participate. 

You just have to make something using red, white, black, and/or gray. 

See You In September is coming up quick and I've been busy, busy, busy getting ready!

What was I thinking when I decided how I'd quilt project #2! 

Machine quilting that's a half inch apart? 

Yikes!

I hope I can finish this thing on time!

A Monkey Baby Quilt

Monkey fabric is one of my favorite things to sew with,

mainly because it makes me smile and think of The Monkey Boys.

I had a flannel jelly roll of monkey fabric in my stash and used it to make

a quilt-as-you-go blanket at a sewing group meeting a few weeks ago.

With a few extra wavy lines sewn on it, it just needed binding which I finally finished

using Superior Thread King Tut variegated orange thread...sweet!

I'm sure there's a monkey in my family who will love this!

I have a little bit of this fabric left...I'm sure there's another monkey who could use one of these.

Sew, Sew, Chalk Paint

I spent a few days away from my sewing machine (and I missed it!)

to spend time with my favorite Monkey Boys!

But, I'm baaack!

So much to sew, so little time...especially when I slip in other crafty stuff.

My sister wanted a mirror from Costco so we hurried off to get "the deal."

It was six feet long! 

We looked like Lucy and Ethel getting it in the back of my car, but we did it.

My hubby saw it at my sister's house after we brought it home and thought we should have one, too.

We got one, of course, since he rarely gets in a house decorating mood.

Unfortunately, as beautiful as the brown finish was, it DID NOT look good with my black furniture.

So...

I decided to paint it with chalk paint (not the kind used for chalkboards.)

My sister is one of those DIY kind of people and has used chalk paint before and does wonders with it.

I found this brand at Home Depot.

I think I'm in love with chalk paint! I love, love, love it!

I'm looking around my house for more things to paint just so I can use the chalk paint again.

Fun and easy! My kind of crafty!

Have you used chalk paint?

A Little Rushed And Flushed

I'm bouncing between sewing this and that right now.

Nothing to see because it is all hush-hush, secret, behind the scenes, blah, blah, blah.

It's still hot, hot, hot here, so that makes for perfect stay-inside-to-sew time.

I need 3, yes 3 projects for this hop...one down, two to go.

My Rush Hour fabric hasn't arrived for this one (yikes!), but I'm not worried

because I've got a black, white, and red project almost finished.

 I wouldn't want to end up on THE LIST if I don't have something to show on my day!

I love the Rush Hour fabric line and can't wait to get my hands on some.

I searched the internet and found the Rush Hour fabric at these stores online (nothing local for me, yet):

Pink Castle Fabrics

Over the Rainbow

and

I hear Lynn at Thimblemouse and Spouse has a little bit of it, too.

Have you found this very cool fabric anywhere?

Still time to sign up for Rush Hour! 

Just comment or email me that you want to play along.

Make sure you leave me an email address to contact you.

I don't want to leave you out because I can't get a hold of you!

An Aurifil Thread Giveaway is Rushing Your Way

Sew We Quilt has these gorgeous Aurifil Threads as a giveaway...love it!

Madame Samm always has the best giveaways!

All you have to do is sign-up to be part of the Rush Hour Blog Hop

and sew something with red, black, white, and/or gray.

Come on...you know you want to join in the fun!

Leave me a comment that you want to join the hop and that you would LOVE to win this thread.

You have until Wednesday (July 23) to win.

Feeling A Little Rushed?

Joining a blog hop is so much fun! 

Really, it is!

It's so motivating to create a project to share with so many people from around the world.

Bowls with Borders was the first blog hop I hosted for Madame Samm at Sew We Quilt.

There were over 155 quilters from all over the world creating paper pieced bowls

and the majority of us had never even paper pieced...including me!

Wow, was it ever an amazing adventure!

 I went crazy with my bowls because I was loving this thing called paper piecing.

Such wonderful memories and so many new bloggy friends...loved it!

If you want to be part of an adventure there's still time to sign-up for this blog hop:

What's that you say? 

You don't have a blog, but you want to play along with the Rush Hour Blog Hop?

I will host you! 

Yes I will, but only a limited amount of people (5 to be exact.)

How does it work?

1. You email me saying you want to play along.

2. You email me photos of your project three days before your assigned posting day.

3. You email me a short write-up to go with the photo(s) you emailed me.

4. I post it on my blog on your assigned blog hop day.

It's that easy!

Send me an email if you want to "rush" with the rest of us.

My Kind Of Summer

That Other Lady recently posted some gorgeous photos on her blog showing her yard, flowers, and cat.

(You can check them out HERE)

She said she'd love to see some of our summer photos so off I went to take pictures of my yard. 

Hmmm...no hydrangeas. No pretty kitty. No sheets on the line.

Throwing my "Pollyanna" hat on, I worked to find something good about my summer yard.

“Oh, yes; the game was to just find something about

everything to be glad about—no matter what 'twas”

 ― Eleanor H. Porter, Pollyanna

Summers in my part of the country are very hot, mainly because it is THE DESERT.

We have lots of rock landscaping to conserve water, but we have some grass for the dogs to play on, too.

We occasionally have summer storms to cool things off...yay!

My tomato plants are still producing, but they are starting to look very wilted and brown from the heat.

 We have flowers, but they are definitely not as beautiful as That Other Lady's flowers! 

As for a fluffy kitty that poses for the camera...nope...don't have that, either.

But, I do have my Bruster who was forced to sit still for my photo.

He didn't like it. Sumatra needs to teach him a thing or two about posing.

I begged a little more and at least he perked up his ears and pulled in his snaggle teeth.

So...what's happening in your summer?

Are you busy sewing? Don't forget the blog hops coming up!

There are still openings for Rush Hour...let me know if you want to join the fun!

What's Black and White and Red All Over?

The Rush Hour Blog Hop, of course!

I just love the combination of black, red, white, and gray!

My lovely lady was made of red, white, and black and she looks to be in a bit of a rush, doesn't she!

My picnic quilt was red and white with black ants all over.

My Tammy bag could have been part of the Rush Hour hop, too.

You don't have to use the Studio E Rush Hour fabric to play along, just make sure the project you create includes black, red, white, and gray. Easy, right! Come on, you know you want to join in!

Rush over to Sew We Quilt for all the big details about joining this hop...HERE.

Be sure to send me an email if you want to play along.

Include:

Name

Email address

Blog name

Blog URL

See You In September still has a few openings, too, so rush on over to

  Shari's blog, Living With Purpose, for info on signing up.

I've almost finished project #1 for See You In September...whoohoo!

It's A Rush Hour New Blog Hop Alert!

Oh boy, oh boy...a new blog hop is in the works and I get to cheer it on!

Doesn't this button totally reflect how you feel when you're in the middle of rush hour traffic?

Love it!

Studio E Fabrics has a new line of fabric called "Rush Hour" and it is so very cool!

You don't have to use Rush Hour fabric to play along, but you can if you want to 

or just make something in black, white, red, and grey fabrics.

Rush over to Sew We Quilt for all the big details about joining this hop

HERE.

Be sure to send me an email if you want to play along.

Include:

Name

Email address

Blog name

Blog URL

Madame Samm dressed up my button for the Rush Hour hop...sweet!

The Hot, Hot Winner

#113

Martina from Switzerland

(I've sent her an email)

The temperatures in my area have dropped a little, thank goodness!

It was a total blast to read all the weather reports from around the world.

Thanks everybody!