Just Let Me Quilt

Friday, July 26, 2013

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:

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

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!

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

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!

Sunday, July 21, 2013

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!

Thursday, July 18, 2013

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!

Saturday, July 13, 2013

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.

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Smokey Skies And Brave Firefighters

These aren't rain clouds...they are smoke clouds from the fires in the mountains about

45 minutes away from me (this is a view down my street.) The winds have shifted and

the smoke is heading into town. There's ash floating down into the neighborhoods

closet to the mountains and there's a smoky smell in the air even this far away.

This is the view on my way home from work (two hours before the photo above was taken and

before the winds shifted.) The fires are on the peak of the mountains at the left of this photo.

It's really smokey and dark near my daughter's work...she's closer to the mountains.

The people who live in those mountains have been evacuated...scary stuff going on!

I'm so thankful for those amazing firefighters for their sacrifice in fighting this fire.

I really, really am grateful for all they do.

Monday, July 8, 2013

Ho There...A Christmas Gift Idea!

It's not even beginning to look like Christmas with the

temperatures outside hitting 109 to 114 degrees...so, I decided I needed

a little push to get geared up for the Ho Ho Ho blog hop.

How about...

CHRISTMAS GIFT IDEAS!

A fun gift idea for neighbors or friends is this cute little M&M Santa jar

I saw at Whipperberry. It was so easy and quick...and it had a POM POM!

Check out her website to see how to make it.

I found the cute little "belt buckle" at Michaels on a clearance rack.

Those red M&M's didn't even melt on the way home from the

M&M store at Ethel M Chocolate Factory. I just might have sampled

one or two M&M's before putting them in that bottle...maybe.

Sunday, July 7, 2013

What The Hex? Another Blog Hop?

Yep! Another blog hop sign-up is coming next week over at
Sew We Quilt.

I'm not a fan of hexies (don't you give me the evil eye...let me explain!)
I've just NEVER made anything with a hexie.
Dresden's scared me, too, until I made one, so I'm willing to
jump on board and give this a try. Are you brave enough to hexie?
Watch for sign-ups next week if
you want to play with hexies!

The Ho Ho Ho Blog Hop comes before the hexies, so be ready
to be wow'd by all the creative ladies who will be joining in to
celebrate Christmas in July (and August.)

You can find out who the Ho Ho Ho hoppers are here:

The Schedule

Saturday, July 6, 2013

Ho Ho Ho Blog Hop Schedule

It's great to take a little rest from blog hopping, but don't

think there's not a lot of sewing going on!

Our Ho Ho Ho Blog Hop is totally full with amazing ladies who will be showing off

their Christmas creations starting on July 31st. Take a look at who will be hopping
(please don't add this to your blog until right before the hop...changes sometimes happen):

July 31

Just Let Me Quilt

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?