Oh Oh! I did it again!

Overspent that is.  Now what WERE you guys thinking!

I had my 3 hour hand quilting class today at Acorn Quilts in Rockford IL.  It was a small class and everybody had a good time even when we were complaining that we couldn't do it.  :)    Well of course I had to buy stuff while I was there since you get a 15% discount on anything you buy on the day of the class.  It doesn't even have to be FOR the class.  If you buy items needed for the class you do get it at 15% off no matter which day you buy it.  Ok.  Ready now for the show and tell?  here is what I bought.  Sorry that the pictures aren't better but here they are.

Hope you enjoyed the look at what I got.  :)

Cloth in Ghana Update

I'm getting fabric...I'm getting fabric....I'm getting fabric...

Cough cough ....Oops.  Sorry.  Now that I've got THAT out of my system.  :)  Lyndon emailed me and said that yes, he COULD bring me back some fabric.  YAY.  He also said...hang on to your needles for this ladies....

Those pictures were just from the outside of the fabric section of stalls.  There are approximately 300 stalls on the inner ring of the market...ALL filled with nothing but fabric!!!!  Sigh....

Cloth in Ghana

My boss spends January and February in Ghana each year.   Part of it as a vacation and part of it as his yearly international recruiting (for Northern Illinois University) trip.  This year he sent me pictures of the fabrics in the stalls over there.  Usually he brings me back some fabric.  I'll see if he will this year of if I'll just have to settle for the pictures.  LOL.

Wouldn't that brighten up a person's day?

And the Winner is!!!!

Did you think I had forgotten?  Happy Valentines Day to you all and I hope it has been a great one.

The winner of my little contest for a gift subscription to the online quiltmagazine called QuiltPatternMagazine is:


drum roll please......
Eva Lyn !

Congratulations EvaLyn.  I will be putting in your gift subscription tomorrow since it is so late tonight.  Enjoy your magazine and for those of you who haven't checked it out yet....go checkout their magazine.  It's worth the cost of the subscription.

Once again Congratulations to EvaLyn.

 

Lunchtime Fun with the GO!

Had lunch today with my friend Connie and we tried out my new AccuQuilt GO!  Now I know they say it is easy.  I watched the DVD last night.and it LOOKED easy.  Of course I have said that before and it hasn't been.  I am happy to report that it actually IS easy.  So now that we figured out how to do it...Here are the results....

First of all we did not line up the fabric evenly because well...we were too busy looking at all my purchases and trying out things, etc.  Still though Connie and I both agreed that this would be good.  Can't wait for my other Dies to come in now and play with them.

The first one here is Ricky Tim's Arabesque (or however it is spelled) #3.  I had put on heat n bond lite on the back of the fabric last night and will probably turn it into a pillow.  The DVD said to count the paper as a layer and the GO! can do six layers at a time.  I don't think I'd like to try and turn the handle on six layers.  I did two layers of fabric - a total of 4 layers according to GO! and it wasn't too bad though.  I will position those cut outs better and cut the fabric into a 20" pillow following the pattern that came with the die.

Another die that we tried was the critters die.  I just doubled my fabric over and did one pass and this (plus two more critters that didn't make it into the pix) was the results.  These do not have heat n bond or anything on the back.  The GO! does put in a 1/4 inch seam allowance so if I want to I can needle turn these or use heat n bond lite later on.

Of course I had to try the strip cutting also.  These were done using the 2.5" strip die.  Th fabric was folded and sent through in one pass.  I ended up with 24 strips.  If I had put the folded side facing the rollers, I would have longer strips.  These are a good size for right now since I do not know what I'm going to do with them.  I just grabbed fabric on my way out the door this morning (literally) so I would have something to play with at lunch.  LOL.

Overall a nice practice run.

Waiting...and more waiting

Life is complicated at times.  First I will complain about time is going so fast and then the next moment I will be complaining about having to wait for things to happen.  Never satisfied I guess?  LOL.  I should be at work today and might get there eventually.  After work yesterday I cam home and found a UPS note on my door.  It appears that my Flynn Quilting System had arrived but since they required a signature it wasn't left.  I am hoping that they will try today so am staying at home today to see.  Hopefully I will be able to get to work since I have a lot to do.  If they don't come today I might have to see if my landlady will be home to sign or something.  I don't want to have to pay for it to be shipped twice although if I have to perhaps I can have it sent to my brother's house although they aren't always home either.


Then I am waiting for my GO! dies to get here.  I have ordered several at different times.  I think the estimated delivery date for most of them is around Valentine's Day.  I did manage to get a couple of quilting books the other day.

More things to add to my to do list.  Well I don't ever be bored!

Speaking of boredom...Time to get some hand stitching done while waiting for UPS.  Then perhaps I can finish up some writing that I need to do.

Talk to everybody later.

Hi Ho...Hi Ho...It's off to shop I go.......

Today I woke up with only a residual headache that is probably a carry over from the benedryl etc.  Sooo, to get some fresh air (didn't go to work for two days and was shut up in apartment) I decided to find the quilt shop that I will be taking a quilting class on the 18th.  I will be learning how to do hand quilting.  Well that is what the flyer said.  We'll see if I learn it or not.  LOL.  I've never been to this shop so I thought it would be a good time to find the shop...the 15% off class projects didn't have much to do in the decision..really it didn't.

It's a good thing that I went up today because I bypassed the road I needed to turn on and it took me 40 minutes longer to reach the shop then it should have.  At least I now know where it is.  Of course since I was there I...uhhh...spent money.  $120 to be more precise.  Here is what I bought plus a 14" quilting hoop (need for class).

 

I bought double on the needles and marking pens because I am treating Connie to this class.  She bought for our last one (the quilt as you go) so now it is my turn to treat.  That fabric is just for me (and the patterns) because I will pick up the "quilt sandwich" from the shop on the day of the class.  Why bother with me cutting the muslin and batting when they will have it there for you and I don't have to cut.  I'll buy Connie's quilt hoop at that time also since they ran out but assure me they will have them in by the time the class starts.

Then I went down the road  (well a little turn here and there) to the Quilt shop that I knew how to get too.  I had taken the Quilt As You Go class in the other quilt shop.  There I also spent $120 (how did THAT happen) and the next two pictures is what I bought.  Just think how much it would cost me if I hadn't gotten everything on sale.  At the second quilt shop everything I bought was either 20%, 30% or 50% off.

 

 

 Those scissors are for large hands (YAY) and have a slightly serrated edge with micro tip.  They are suppose to help hold your fabric while you do precision cutting.  We'll see.

It's not like I didn't have anything else to do but...umm...the Stonehenge fabric spoke to me and it just would have been impolite not to listen....wouldn't it?  hehehehe

Want a free subscription to a GREAT online Quilting Magazine? Read on

I thought that might get your attention.

I was lucky to be chosen to be a pattern tester for The Quilt Pattern Magazine.  Like the title implies, it is an online Quilt Pattern Magazine.  You have to pay for a subscription (VERY reasonably priced) but it is well worth it.  Of course I might be a bit biased but that's ok.  This is MY blog so I can be....right?  You can find them by clicking on that cute little pink heart off to the side of my blog.  Yep that's them.

Ok...Ok...I will quit stalling and get to the free subscription part.  Since I was chosen to be a pattern tester and February's issue has the pattern I tested in it....I am giving away a subscription to their magazine.  I am doing this also on two FB groups that I am on but since they are "private" groups I thought why not share the wealth and do it on my blog so others outside the group can enter.

Directions:  Leave me a comment that says you want your name entered in the drawing for a gift subscription to the Quilt Pattern Magazine.  If you have problems posting to the blog (sometimes it acts up) you can send me an email to me at:  bonni.feltz@gmail.com 


Drawing will be on February 14, 2012 Valentines Day (at noon central time), I will draw a name to see who is the lucky winner.  I thought Valentines Day would be good cut off since I love this magazine.  How simple is that?  Any questions just email me at that gmail addy.


If you go to:


http://www.quiltpatternmagazine.com/

You'll see a picture of the February issue.  It has a cute heart on the front cover as well as a Christmas Baltimore wall hanging.  I got to test three of those block (actually working on more blocks) but you can't see them all at once.  You have to wait for them to appear in the magazine before I can show you.  BUT that means you can see what I did for the February block.  Here it is.

This was an easy block to do.  If you've wanted to do a Baltimore Album then start with this.  The pattern is large enough and this was done with fusible and blanket/buttonhole stitched around it.  There was a cry for simple Baltimore and that was how the design was submitted.  It is simple and will be beautiful by the time you are done.  If you don't like fusible and want to do machine...go ahead....if you want to do needle turn...go ahead.  Any way works.  It's your quilt and you can do how you like.

There is a slight difference in the creams on creams and white and white in the background that is hard to see with my camera.  Sooooo, whatcha waiting for?  If you haven't subscribed go do so.  If you are waiting for a free subscription....well leave your comment. Since this is an online magazine internationals are eligible to enter also.

Thanks for reading.  Hope you win!