In MY Words...And A Giveaway, Of Course!

Thanks for stopping by to see my wordy creations!

JUST THE FACTS:

The Hostess: Linda at Buzzing and Bumbling
The Leader of the Blog Hops: Madame Samm at Sew We Quilt
They are both amazing and creative people so you know this is going to be a
  blog hop to remember!

I didn't hang out in Haight-Ashbury.

I didn't go to Woodstock.

I didn't participate in any anti-war protests.

But, I loved that HIPPIE era!

I painted our living room orange, had a couple lava lamps,

and always wore "hot pants" or bell bottom jeans 

(I didn't even own a pair of dress pants until after I was married!)

As I sewed this quilt with colors that reminded me of that era
and machine embroidered words that were common for me to use,
(minus a few words I don't want my kids or grandkids to know I used)
I couldn't help singing some of the words from "HAIR."

"Give me a head with hair, long beautiful hair
Shining, gleaming, streaming, flaxen, waxen
Give me down to there, hair, shoulder length or longer
Here baby, there, momma, everywhere, daddy, daddy...."

I also had the strongest urge to quilt it with yarn in the
corner of each square (like I did during those days) but
I didn't--I just topped stitched and ragged the edges on the peace sign.

 This is the label I ran through my inkjet printer using
Blumenthal Lansing Crafter's Images 100-Percent Cotton Poplin
Photo Fabric that I purchased by the roll from Amazon.
I love using it!

Here it is before washing:

Here it is after washing (lousy picture, but the label didn't fade.) 

My second and third project used Laurel Burch fabric,
"Fabulous Felines Metallic" line.
I love her fabric and feel so sad that she's no longer with us
to keep sharing her creative designs.

I did a little quilting on the fabric before beginning my project.
Using painter's tape helped keep those lines straight and equal.

I found this pattern by Susie D. Designs. It's called
Retro Style Large Handbag


Hopefully, Susie won't see this and wish I wasn't giving her credit for this bag.
I am really and truly pattern-following-challenged,
though I tried really, really hard to make it
come close to what she intended it to look like.

The little coin purse has a machine embroidered cat from Laurel Burch.

Pssst...The WORD is coming!

Linda at Buzzing and Bumbling has been

busy working to get us ready for this hop--it starts Monday!

Check out the whole schedule

HERE.

Yesterday...Ugh! But, My Husband Made It Better

My husband sent this picture to my phone while I was at work yesterday. 

It's a package that arrived from Amazon with some chocolatey stuff I ordered. 

Without the broken glass and chocolate goo all over the box, it might look yummy.

The company that mailed it did not wrap each bottle individually in bubble wrap.

They just threw a little of it in the box and (I guess) hoped it would get to me safely.

Amazon was great when I called them and took care of the situation.

Yay to Amazon for their great customer service!

THEN....

I checked the tracking on another package I ordered from a company. FedEx showed it was left on my doorstep at 3:19 p.m. yesterday.Well, it wasn't left there and FedEx said they'd look into. I heard nothing, so my sweet husband went down the street checking the neighbors doorsteps to see if the package was delivered to a wrong house. Nope.

THEN...

I got a summons for JURY DUTY!

At this point, after a yucky day at work, the mail fiasco, and JURY DUTY

hanging over my head for the next month,

 I was ready to crawl into bed and stay there for the evening.

THEN...

My sweet hubby decided to go check one house that often gets our mail (our numbers are similar.) He went out into the cold night and...surprise...the guy answering the door said his "roommate had it." When my hubby asked him when he was going to bring it to us, he just shrugged, handed him the package, and shut the door. Thank goodness the majority of my neighbors are not like him! Yay to my sweet husband for making my day a little better!

My whining is over (I know, you're sick of hearing my petty complaints.)

Today is another day. I think I'll sew.

Oh, and don't forget that In Your Words starts on Monday!

AND...

Dare To Dresden still has openings... Christine has 80 scheduled

and has a bit more room for a few more....

Let her know ASAP

jeepgirl300@gmail.com

or you can find her here 

Minky Blankets For Monkeys

I made four Minky fabric blankets for my four Monkey Boys

as Christmas gifts...they are so heavy, but they love them!

Quilted Works did all the quilting on them

 because I'm not a fan of sewing on Minky.

(They are such hams at faking sleep...except the Monkey baby

who wasn't happy about the whole photo shoot thing.)

Don't forget that In Your Words starts on January 7th!

Happy New Year!

This graphic comes from Madame Samm, the best cheerleader

I've ever had the pleasure of knowing.

Why do we blog hop hostesses call ourselves

  CHEERLEADERS?

Because we are here to encourage YOU to:

TRY new methods of sewing and quilting,

FREE yourself from the fear of being less than perfect,

CHALLENGE yourself to be creative,

SHARE a laugh or two,

SURPRISE us with your talent, and

MEET new blogger friends who will cheer you on, too!

The 2013 Blog Hops will show you some great ideas and

 help you to accomplish (maybe even finish) a project. 

Blog hops happen about twice a month, so sign-up for one...

I'm sure there will be something just for 

YOU!

As for the New Year....

2012 had some crappy (yes, I said "crappy") things happen,

but we have to hope that 2013 will show us the good in

people and remind us everyday that for every evil-minded

person there are millions of good people who

will uplift us with their good deeds.

Disastrous events will happen (weather related or otherwise)

and some will be catastrophic. But as history has shown

us, we will see amazing acts of kindness and heroism

during these times. We can prepare for some of those events

with food storage and emergency preparation, but there will be

times when even our imagination cannot

prepare us to know what to do or what to think.

My hope is that 2013 will bring us a lot more of these....

LOVE

KINDNESS

PEACE

GOOD WILL

HAPPINESS

Nancy Drew PLUS It's Going To Get Wordy

We're still planning on having fun with Nancy Drew fabric

in MARCH, so if you want to play along send me an email.

If you don't have a blog, that's okay. We have one you can use

to show off your Nancy Drew creation(s).

The schedule is over there on the right.

It's almost time for  In Your Words to start!

I'm terrible about labeling my quilts or projects, but this time

I decided to give it my best effort and pulled

out my printable fabric and whipped up this label:

It's attached to the back of my wordy project--

I'll let you know how it looks after I wash it.

What To Do Now...hmmm....

Now that Christmas is over....

There will be no more Christmas songs
on the radio or at the malls

Santa has finished passing out toys to good little girls and boys
 

The wrapping paper and ribbon pieces are scattered all over the floor 

and the Christmas tree is starting to wilt and get dry...
unless, of course, you have an artificial tree 

(*My sweet husband noticed a tree on the side of the road that

someone had obviously lost off of their vehicle. It sat there for a couple

days before he picked it up and brought it home so

our grandsons could "smell Christmas" when they came in our house.

I dubbed it our "Road Kill Christmas Tree")

Our traditional Pretzel Salad won't appear until next year and all
the cookies, Stollen bread, and yummy baked goods are getting stale .

Now what should I do to avoid 
those dreaded

Post-Holiday Blues?

Well, I'm going to get ready for some hopping...

Blog Hopping that is!

Linda at Buzzing and Bumbling 

will be the amazing hostess for this hop!

Some of my words:

A little sneak peek at my wordy project

December Brought Me A Few Things....

A sweet letter (that made me laugh)  from

my six-year-old Monkey Boy....

A  pair of cute, cute, cute scissors from 

Judy B. to go with my tweezers

A little charm pack giveaway gift from

Amy at Sew Incredibly Crazy 

A gift certificate from Pauline at Quilt N Queen

which paid for this from Crazy Quilt Girl Fabric Shop 

Lemon curd and shortbread 

...oh my gosh! Yum!

But probably best of all, this sweet little package 

arrived in November to celebrate Christmas with us

...it was the best gift of all!

I hope we all find a little peace, love, and happiness

during this Christmas holiday.

What Was In The Box You Asked?

I had a Follower's Giveaway (my favorite kind of giveaway) a while ago, but didn't say what was going to be in the little box because I wanted it to be a surprise. Well, Karen at KaHolly has received her giveaway prize, so I can show you what was in it.

Just a little of this and that was smushed into that little box

Books For Women By Women

Sew We Quilt is having giveaways this whole month 

and reviews about books written by women. 

You can find those books, reviews, and giveaways HERE.

There's A Winner!

CARIN from the Netherlands!

(An email has been sent to Carin.)
Thank you to all who entered my little giveaway!

JUST A SIDE NOTE:
There were many who entered and left great comments,
but I couldn't reply because they were no-reply
bloggers and didn't leave an email address in their comment.
It really made me sad not to be able to reply...really, it did!

If you have a blog it is an easy fix:

The fix:
In blogger.com--Click on Dashboard.
Select Edit Profile.
Check the box for "Show my Email Address."
Save changes.

If you don't have a blog just make sure you leave an
email address. To avoid spam just type your email address like this:
iwantareply at gmail dot com