In Your Words Blog Hop - Last Day!

It's been a fun ride seeing all the creative ideas
that came out of In Your Words. But it had to end
sometime and today is the last day--ENJOY!

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!

Today's blogs to check out:

Wednesday, January 16

My Collection of Things  (Jeni K.)

Quiltin' Jenny  (Jenny)

Shade Tree Quilting (Judy C.)

(Rosemary B.) at “that other blog”

Pat Sloan, The Voice of Quilting (Pat. S.)

Dachsies With Moxie  (Agnes B.)

Sew Many Yarns (Lyndsey M.)

Tomorrows Treasures Today  (Denise D.)

The German Mom  (Tina S.)

Christa Quilts (Christa W.)

Read, Quilt, Cook, Pray (Aletta D.)

Sew We Quilt  (Mdm. Samm)

Be sure to visit Sew We Quilt to see the daily favorites 

and get the scoop on her giveaways. 

AND check Madame Samm's Pinterest to see 

ALL the In Your Words creations. 

Ohhh....don't forget I have a giveaway going on

HERE!

Dare to Dresden will be up next!

You can still sign-up for Nancy Drew...just send me an email.

We have 69 sleuths who are sewing and getting ready

to share their mysterious creations. Come on...join in!

Applique, Embroidery, Etc. Questions

I'm new to this applique and embroidery thing, so....

How do you prevent or minimize frayed edges 

(especially on little pieces) on fabric when you applique?

What machine stitch is the best for keeping those applique 

pieces on a quilt that will be washed frequently?

Are wider/narrower stitches better than smaller/larger ones?

Do you use embroidery thread in your machine when you

go around the edges of applique?

What's the best way to remove the ironed-on adhesive paper

without totally destroying the piece?

When stitching around the edges, is there a clear-colored

thread that is strong enough to last on a quilt?

When you embroidery, what size/type needle works best for you?

What embroidery thread do you find tangles the least amount?

(Mine gets tangled/knotted sometimes...okay, A LOT!)

Embroidery thread comes in so many strands...what's

the easiest or best amount to use when doing 

simple embroidery stitches like words or outlines?

Is it good to use a waxy substance to make the

thread slide through the fabric easier?

Is there an easy way to store all those threads without

ending up with a tangled mess?

For either applique or embroidery, do

you have a favorite website with tutorials?

Am I the only one who doesn't know 

the answers to the above? 

(Do my questions even make sense?)

Update: I'll post the answers I've received 
with the questions in the next day or two.

P.S. Please make sure there is a way for me to contact you.

Google+ and Open ID don't allow me to see your

email address. If you don't hear from me, it's because

you don't have a way to get a response from me.

Dresden's Interrupted

The brown eyes from that Monkey Boy

got to me again. I was busy sewing all my Dresdens

when three of the four Monkey Boys came to visit

for the day. The six-year-old said he really, really

wanted a bathrobe and so did his big brother. 

So, of course....

off to the fabric store we sent so he could

pick out his own fabric (he likes camouflage.) 

He helped me lay out the fabric and cut out

the pattern pieces. I sewed them after they left.

The robes will have to wait to be finished until the

boys come back over so I can hem them to the right length.

The funniest thing was that after buying the fabric,

he asked me "when do you wear a bathrobe?" 

and "Do you sleep in it?"

I'm not sure he knows what a bathrobe is, 

but he really, really wanted it.

Gotta love it!

Blog Hop Alert!

HURRY! You don't want to miss your chance to sign-up for this one!
Check out Sew We Quilt for all the details.
Marlene at Stitchin By the Lake is the hostess for this one so email her if you want to play along...

Marlene's email

(mbushretired@gmail.com)

Dare To Not Dread Dresdens

I've started prepping for DARE TO DRESDEN...

have you?

I don't dread the Dresden anymore and actually love making them.

(Okay, so I've only made one and it was turned into a turkey,

but they aren't scary and that's my point.)

Missouri Quilt Company has an amazing video

tutorial that will help you overcome your fears.

Check it out HERE.

I used a jelly roll to make my Dresden pieces, but a charm pack works great, too.

This ruler made it amazingly simple!

This pointy thing makes those corners, well..pointy.

I'm looking forward to seeing how the "Pros" make their Dresdens,

but for now the instructions from Missouri Quilt Company really has me 

moving forward to conquer the Dresden phobia I've had for years.

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.