Drawing for Post 500!

EDIT: This drawing is closed. I used a random number calculator:

This program will generate a random number between two numbers
of your choice.
Enter a lower limit: 1
Enter an upper limit: 23


Random Number: 8

And the WINNER IS: ALLIE

Congratulations Allie! If you will send me you addy, I will get your jelly roll in the mail to you

Well, I'm one post early, since this is really number 499, but I couldn't wait, because I'm excited, so here goes.

This is the prize for my 500th post drawing: a Jelly Roll of Dandelion Girl from Fig Tree Quilts!


The colors are muted yellows and greens with some bright spots of muted red roses and blue flowers and yellow roses, with muted green leaves. It is very pretty, IMHO and somewhat hard to describe!

Please spread the word around about my drawing! I'm sorry I don't know how to put a link on the side with a picture to copy. But you can cut and paste and do a hyperlink, I think and get a link that way.

To enter the drawing, leave a comment on what quilting goal you have set for yourself this year: I know I want to learn to do a scalloped edge quilt. What have you wanted to do or learn to do, but have been putting off?

Be sure you have an e-mail, so I can reach you (if you don't have a way for me to reach you then you won't be in the drawing, sorry) and no anonymous comments will be added to the drawing. The drawing will close at midnight on Saturday, December 31 , 2011. I will draw on New Year's Day, January 1, 2012 sometime in the morning.

Good luck to everyone!

My hubby, Maynard and I had the terrible flu that seems to be going around, over the Christmas holiday, so didn't get to go anywhere and didn't get to go see the grandboys in Austin. But we are on the mend now and will go see them soon, after we both gain our strength back!

Hope everyone's holidays were happy ones and Happy New Year!

Let quilting help you make someone smile!

Jan

GREETINGS!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND A BLESSED NEW YEAR!

Not a Creature was stirring not even ........

four mice!!!!!! These little mice are so much fun to make and then give away! Everyone loves them because they are so little, I think! The pattern/tutorial is on Polka Dot Pineapple. They are a bit fussy to make, but always turn out so cute!

Do you have snow yet in your part of the country? No snow here, but some much-needed rain! We showed 3" in our rain gauge since last week, so we are very happy about that.

Coming up on 500 posts since July of 2007 for my blog---can hardly believe it, think I will have a drawing on that day -- whatever day it turns out to be---I'll leave you in suspense---have to think of something good!!!!

Let quilting help you make someone smile!

Jan

Brrrr! Winter has Arrived!

It's a cold day in North Texas, but a good day to stay in and quilt or crochet. I've been working on the blocks of a BOM from The Quilt Company called "Little Red Barns" and have almost 2 blocks finished. I'm behind on every one of my BOMs and hope maybe I can get caught up before the end of the year, although it's not looking good!

"Look Ma, Polka Dots" is a quilt for Project Linus. Also, here is a picture of the snow people wall hanging I made for Debi for Christmas this year. I gave it to her already, so now I can show it!

And the first picture shows one of the princess pillows I made for the grandgirls for a surprise for when we visit in January for Ilena's birthday!

We had a wonderful Christmas party at the quilt store in Arlington called, "Quilt Among Friends" last Saturday. Lots of sewing and gabbing, and eating and games with prizes. It was so much fun getting to know some new members! Got to meet Julie from the blog Julie K Quilts. Such a nice thing to meet her! Thanks Debi for planning another great party! Debi's new 9 week old grandson Reed even made an appearance!

Let quilting help you make someone smile!

Jan

Project Linus Quilts Again

Three more quilts ready to go to the pick-up place for Project Linus. Because the kids in the squares are showing off braces and teeth, I named this first one after the old commercial (Look Ma, no cavities)...."Look Ma, Polka Dots."

The second one is named after Trix cereal because it is bright colors and reminded me of Trix! I called it "Yellow Trix."

The third one is called Blue Yonder. It's a Log Cabin from a layer cake. Those are fun ones to do because you use every bit of fabric in the layer cake!

I hope everyone has a blessed Thanksgiving! It's my favorite holiday of the year! Remember to think of at least one thing you are thankful for!

Let quilting help you make someone smile!

Jan

What I've been working on........

Sorry to have been neglecting my blog lately, but I have been working on a Christmas present and couldn't show it here because "someone" might see it!

So here is something I have been working on, too. A magnolia flower embroidery set off with little one inch squares. I have all the little one inch square alternate blocks done, but still have at least half of the 40 flower blocks to go. I am using Sulky Blendables thread and it is great! The flowers are fun to do. I have made a couple of Project Linus quilt tops, too and need to get them quilted---that's the part I tend to put off! Maynard's been too busy to help me out on the PL quilts, so I have been quilting them on the Bernina. I've grown afraid of the Little Gracie Pro II for some reason and don't like to quilt on it----afraid I will mess it up. But the Bernina works great for quilting the smaller quilts.

Also in the middle of putting together a quilt from the "Farm Fresh" line of fabric. Maybe can show that one soon!

We have been getting some "teases" of rain here. How about in your part of the country?

Let quilting help you make someone smile!

Jan

Good Monday Morning!

It's Monday morning and I decided to take a break from my cleaning chores and take a break. I only have one quilt to show this morning. It was already to quilt and was donated by my lovely friends at Quilt Mercantile Quilt Shop. Isn't it a cute one. Everyone seems to come up with such different ideas for alphabet panels---so much fun to see what they include! Some little boy or girl will enjoy this one through Project Linus.

Supposed to get rain for next couple of days. Hopefully get enough to help with drought a little bit. The lakes are so down. Good weather to snuggle down and work on quilts!

Let quilting help you make someone smile!

Jan

Friday Afternoon Quilts

It's a beautiful, although chilly afternoon here in North Texas---just the right temperature to do some quilting. You can pretend you haven't got a care in the world and you don't have to cook supper or empty the dishwasher or any of those "do every day chores" and just sit and quilt!!! But soon the clock catches up with you and there you go! Ah well, it's still been a lovely afternoon! And I finished off 5 quilts and an afghan for Project Linus! I just had the binding to do on them, but my machine has been at the shop for it's annual cleaning and just got back yesterday evening. None of my other machines have needle up and down on them and I am truly spoiled to have that and miss it when I don't have it, so didn't set up any of my other machines in the Bernina's absence.

Anybody know why Blogspot is putting in the extra spaces after each paragraph?????

These quilts are all different sizes and cover a range of sizes this time. The pictures are above!

Let quilting help you make someone smile!

Jan

Monday Quilts

Three more quilts ready to go to kids in need somewhere. This time I jumped out of the box of Yellow Brick Road, only did one with that pattern) and did 2 different patterns. The first one is Warm Wishes. This is one of the first patterns that Quiltmaker magazine published for the Project Linus projects in 2000. Then every year since then they have written a pattern for Project Linus. They are very cute patterns.

The second one is one that I tore my hair out over, so I'm not going to share the pattern because it was wrong. I didn't even keep it and can't remember the name of it. I did get it figured out though. Sorry the color is so bad---there is supposed to be a gold star in the center, but the camera didn't like that color.

The third one is the good old stand by---Yellow Brick Road in polka dots.

Let quilting help you make someone smile!

Jan

New Member of the Family

We have a new member of our family----a seven year old Llhaso Apso dog named Chloe. We got her at the no-kill shelter in Carrollton. She is a special needs dog and needs meds every day. She is a sweetie and already housebroken and comes when she is called (most of the time!!!) We are glad we got her and she thanks us daily with lots of love and licks!!!!

The other pictures are quilts that I am sending to Project Linus. One is called Doggies in the Park and is a Yellow Brick Road pattern. The other is a Clermont Farms charm pack+ and is a Chinese Coins pattern. I did it at retreat. A good charm pack pattern, if you are looking for one!

We are finally having nice fall weather and even a bit of rain----such a welcome change to this part of the world!

Let quilting help you make someone smile!

Jan

Retreat!

We went on a retreat and it was so much fun. Got a lot done. There were only three of us and for awhile there were only two! Debi's grandson made his appearance on Friday and she didn't arrive until 8:00 pm. Congratulations to the new Mommy and Daddy and the new Grandma! All are well and doing fine!

I worked on my flower quilt alternate blocks until I ran out of fabric and had to put it aside. So then I decided to work on the embroidered flowers and also on some Yellow Brick Roads and a small Chinese Coins made with Clermont Farms line of fabric---I really like that line of fabric and it turned out quite nicely. I have one more border to put on that---had to purchase the fabric!

The pictures show first, Marje's "Witch Is In" wall hanging-----------she liked it so much that she made two of them!!! Second, Marje working and third Debi working. We went to the Quilting Gals retreat house in Azle, Texas. Nice place and very reasonable.

Let quilting help you make someone smile!

Jan

Fall is here--I wonder where the coolness is?

It really is fall according to the calendar, but still getting temps in the high to middle 90s. Although some days it teases us and is in the 80s. Boy, that sure is nice. We even had a couple of rain showers to let us know what rain feels like again! Need a couple of days of nothing but rain and we might start filling up the lakes and reservoirs again! Be good to get this whole summer behind us!!!!

I made two more quilts for Project Linus---the first one is called "Marching 4 Patches" I don't remember just where this pattern came from, but it was fun to do.

The next one is a Yellow Brick Road from Fabrics that my BFF, Debi gave me (thanks Debi!) and I call it "Sunny Days are Here" I really like the fabrics--they remind me of the "Origins" (Basic Grey) line that Debi likes so well.

Let quilting help you make someone smile!

Jan

Lots of Quilts!

Doing Yellow Brick Roads and other patterns assembly line style yields a lot of quilts all at once. Therefore, I have lots of quilts to show you today!

The first one is not a Project Linus quilt, but the rest are. This first one was one I started back in 2008 and am just finishing now. I tried to quilt it by hand since I had pieced it by hand, but ended up taking out the quilting. I tried to be very careful, but ended up stretching it. So the only thing we could do was to put it on the big quilting machine to "coax" it into shape. And it turned out pretty good.

The next quilt is called "Window Kitties" and is one of four that are that pattern---they only differ with the last border, so I only posted one picture. This was a pack of 5 yards of material and I was able to get four quilts out of it. Picked it up at the Dallas Quilt Show.

The next happy, bright one is named "Lucky Charms." It has ladybugs on it and is my favorite because it is so bright!

Next is a western theme that I hope some little boy will like. I try to find things for boys and sometimes that is hard to do. We called it "Boot Scootin' Again."

The next quilt has a theme is color crayons, so we named it "Color Me Happy." I had help naming some of these because I was at retreat when I made the Yellow Brick Roads and my fellow quilters were helping name them! What fun!

The last one is a bigger one and is one of the 5-yard quilt kits. I called it "Pink Peonies."

Nice weather today---it is cloudy and temp has not gotten above 95 here--hurrah!!!Maybe the hot spell has broken for awhile!

Thanks for stopping by!

Let quilting help you make someone smile!

Jan

Chicken Quilt for Grandsons!

This is the chicken quilt done from the Buggy Barn pattern that I think I probably showed before, but this time it is all finished! The grandboys, Evan , who will be 8 tomorrow and Nathan, 4 had three chickens----but, alas, one succumbed to the terrible 112 degree heat of last week in Austin. So just two in the coop and free ranging now. Hopefully this heat will end soon and the stress will be off.

Had fun yesterday with a friend from Sit and Sew group, Ruby. We went to the Grand Opening of the new JoAnn's Super Store in a town near here. It was crowded, but lots of fun to look at everything. Lots and lots of fabric and other things you didn't know you needed till you saw it!! HA! HA! I got more backing fabrics for the Project Linus quilts on sale which is the way I like it! We had lots of fun discussing things we'd like to do this and that! Thanks for a fun time, Ruby!

Let quilting help you make someone smile!

Jan

Back From a Fun Retreat!

Spent the last 3 days at a very fun retreat with the girls from my Sit and Sew group. We laughed and sewed and ate and laughed some more! Very much fun indeed! I managed to get quite a lot of little things done-----one more block ready to embroider in my BOM "Leanne's House", 3 Yellow Brick Roads tops for Project Linus and a 5-yard quilt top using a new pattern. The pattern was just called 5 yard quilt pattern and was kind of hard to follow, but I muddled through. I'll show you each of these as I have them quilted and ready to go.

The pictures show some of the quilts that some of the gals did---sorry I did not get pictures of everyone's quilts. But there was quite a lot of sewing going on!

A fun time was had by all and we were planning our next one before we left this one!!!!

Let quilting help you make someone smile!

Jan

It's Too HOT!

My thermometer says 111 degrees in the shade. Don't know what the official temperature is, but I know it is HOT! The Air Conditioner is trying hard to keep the temperature down and so it is relatively comfortable in here. But it's so hot the dog doesn't even want to go outside!!!! Can't say that I blame him---he is black and comes in from being outside so hot! He doesn't stay out any longer than he has to!!!

Made these 3 quilts for Project Linus.....three are Yellow Brick Roads and one is a Big Pinwheels pattern.

Try to stay cool wherever you are----or maybe you are having nice weather now----I hope so!

Let quilting help you make someone smile!

Jan

Dance Ballerina!

I made this from a panel. The litte girl is so sweet. She needs someone to help her tie her shoes in the first pictures and in the second set of pictures, she is already to go! Hope some little girl will love this! The color is really pink, not orange as the camera shows---my camera is off color for some reason and we can't seem to fix it---too hot to try to go outside to take a picture!

Let quilting help you make someone smile!

Jan

Grandkids Pictures!

First one shows Isabel and Ilena getting ready to play "Pinkalicious" Scrabble on the "Scrabble" Quilt that Maynard and I made for them. It really was fun---We played the Junior version and had a good time. Amy reports that they have even used it for Sunday School and had good reports on it from there, too!! Always nice to hear that quilts are being used!!!!

Second picture shows the girls with the little quilts I made using their pictures they had drawn for me as patterns. They understood the concept and thought they were really neat. Ilena asked if I put seeds in the ground like she did---I hadn't seen that part, so we had to add those with a marker.

Last, but certainly not least, is the picture of Ilena and Isabel wearing the t-top dresses that BFF Debi made for the them. Didn't Debi do a wonderful job---they loved these and didn't want to take them off, so I knew they were comfortable, too!
Thanks again to Debi!

Let quilting help you make someone smile!

Jan

Miscellaneous Quilts...............

First two quilts are for Project Linus and the first one is called "The Electric Blue Chicken." I didn't realize that the color blue I had picked out was so bright until I was actually sewing them up. Hoping that some kid will think it's cute!

The second quilt I called simply "Fall Leaves." It reminds me of Fall. Oh, that it would be fall and all this hot weather would be behind us!. Just a few more weeks to go and my wish will come true!

The last two pictures show one quilt---right-side up and wrong side up, guess you pick which ever side you want to be the right side! This was a Karen Combs pattern. I didn't pick the colors with enough contrast for the yellow one, so it doesn't show up as well as the others. It was easy enough to piece, but my color choosing could have been a bit better, I think!

Going to the Plano, Texas Quilt Show with BFF Debi on Friday. Should be fun to see the quilts and the vendors-I hope there are some good ones!

Let quilting help you make someone smile!

Jan

Back from Vacation.....

We had a wonderful vacation away from the triple digit heat into 90 degree heat and humidity. But we were able to stay in most of the time, so that was a good thing! The pictures show face paintings: Isabel with a kitty, and Ilena with a puppy. This was at a camp carnival that we attended. What fun---it was hot, so everyone drank plenty of water! The kids didn't care about the heat!

It's always fun with the girls and their parents. We played Scrabble on the new Scrabble quilt that we made them. This was Pinkalicious Scrabble---I guess that made it better??? They loved the little quilts I made them that I had used their pictures as the patterns for the quilts.

It was fun to go and visit, but it is good to be home,isn't that always the way it is?!!

Let quilting help you make someone smile!

Jan