And the winner is.....

Doesn't Mr. Impartial Judge look cute in his pjs?



And the winner is.....

That's Jacquie, of Tallgrass Prairie Studio! (in case you can't read upside down)

Thanks to everyone that played along! This was really fun for me to read all the comments, hear about what decorations you love and see that I do indeed have a few lurkers out there. :) Nice to meet you, friendly lurkers!

Jacquie, I'll be emailing you to get your mailing info. Congrats!

Holiday Cheer and a Giveaway

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving. I did. Atleast my bathroom scale says I did. I gained 2 whole pounds of Thanksgiving goodness.

And now I'm ready for Christmas. Down here in Houston we don't get the "dashing through the snow" or "walking through a winter wonderland" type weather. So we have to work harder to create that Christmas mood.

We learned that lesson after our first Christmas here came and went. We cleaned up the wrapping paper, looked around and wondered what went wrong and why we never really felt that same Christmas excitement. We decided that we hadn't had those first wintery clues that the holidays were coming and so we didn't give ourselves enough time to really let the holiday merriment sink in. Sure, we still enjoyed Christmas, but it just came and went way too fast without us realizing it.

This year, we hurried to get our decorations out. In fact, we got out some of them before Thanksgiving. Christmas isn't going to get away from us again this year!

And even though it still feels like it could be September or October or maybe even early spring outside, we are starting to feel the holiday spirit indoors with our tree trimmed, our banisters overflowing with fake pine garland and red and green all throughout the house. It's finally 'beginning to look a lot like Christmas' even in Houston.

Here is my one and only Christmas quilt (I need to get busy on another). I made it in 2007 from the Moda Roman Holiday collection of fabrics. I really like this quilt (even though it isn't hanging very straight at the moment- sorry about that). It makes me feel festive. And I think its really quite beautiful. In general, I don't buy quilt kits. Picking out the fabric is half the fun! But this one was so pretty and fun that I had to have it.



HAve you heard about the Give-away Day hosted by Sew-Mama-Sew?
Well, I'm not a part of it. I only heard about it last night.

But still, since I'm getting all into the Christmas mood, in honor of my Roman Holiday quilt and since it sounds fun, I thought I'd have a little giveaway too. The kit for this quilt had quite a bit of leftover fabric.



We're not talking yards and yards but if you like scraps, like I do, there is plenty here to play with. Some pieces are large and some are just little snippets. This is my give-away offering, some Roman Holiday scraps to help you make a cheery Christmas quilt or something else fun if you'd like.

Leave a comment and tell me about your favorite Christmas decoration- the one that makes you feel giddy and excited for the the holidays, and I'll enter your name into my little drawing. And your chances should be pretty good since I think I've only got about 5 readers. :)

Since I'm not officially a part of the Sew-Mama-Sew Give-away Day I'll give you more than one day. I'll draw a name on Friday morning at about 8 am Central time.

My Flea Market Dream

I like Flea Market Fancy. Little Blue Cottage is having a giveaway I would very much like to win. Go check it out if you must.

Create

The urge to create has struck hard. I've been a little stressed lately about church and family responsibilities and have really just wanted to close myself up with just my fabric and the hum of my sewing machine. So every spare minute I've had lately has been devoted to a new quilt.

This is how I work:

Gather fabric from my stash.
Not all of these will make the final cut.

Have I ever mentioned that I like scrap quilts? Well, I really do. Playing with scraps just might be my favorite part of making a quilt. I love playing with the fabric to see how the color combinations will work.

And then make pinwheels. I'm making a fairly simple quilt here.
This one looks kinda patriotic.

This one felt very modern to me with the gray and the bright yellow. About as modern as I get, anyway. [side note: Thanks, Kristin, for this yellow and some other cool scraps that are making their way into my projects.]
Oh, and lots of polkda dots of course.




And some bananas, too. Even with the bananas, this block feels very Wonder Woman-ish to me. Anyone else see it?

Now, with 41 pinwheels made (yeah, I won't bore you with pictures of all of them), I'm going to add a little blue border around each one.


I'm really excited with how these are shaping up. I just LOVE seeing all these colors that do not perfectly match, come together in an exciting quilt.

More to come.... The creative urge hasn't left me yet so I hope to finish this one soon.

Quilt Companionship

Hubby has been out of town almost all week long. Its been just me and the two kiddos home alone.

Really, it wasn't that bad. Until yesterday. And then suddenly, I'd had enough of being a single mom. Parenting is tough. Its much easier as a team.

I should clarify that the kids were really good this week. I didn't completely lose it or anything. I just was feeling worn down from giving and giving and giving all week and not having Hubby here. I need him not only as a helping hand but as my best friend and companion.

I love my kids and wouldn't trade being a stay at home mom for anything. But after a long day of staying at home working I need a little bit of refreshing adult interaction.

So this week I sought companionship from my fabric. I got a lot of work done. I'm not going to show pictures of my main project this week because its for Christmas.
But I also started something new. I love starting new projects.

I think I mentioned that my quilt group is starting another exchange. This time we are doing a two color quilt in blue and cream. The block is called Aunt Dinah and I love it. Here are a few of mine. I've got 5 done and 8 to go!

A few happy things

Some of my favorite things from the last few weeks:

#1

Where have I been? I hadn't even heard about this movie! My hubbie surprised me and got this from Redbox last weekend thinking I would like it. It is chocked full of cuteness. I watched it twice in two days and am thinking its one I would like to own, especially since I have a little girl to share it with as she gets older.

One of my favorite things about the movie was seeing all the adorable little girl dresses and hats from the time period.


#2 My quilt wall

My long planned quilt wall is ready for display! I decided to go the easy curtain rod route. I got one that will accomidate both rings for short term displays and sewn on pockets for quilts up longer. As you can see from the picture, the rod is quite long so I can put up some of my bigger quilts. And the rod is unobtrusive enough to not bother me with a quilt of this size. I LOVE the color and character that a quilt on the wall adds to our family room. My sister, when she came over, remarked how much of a difference it makes in this space. Thanks for all of you that commented on how to execute this. Oh, and I did this all by myself! If you remember, I learned how to use the power drill a little while back and used my new skills to finish this project!


#3 Prejudiced No More!


I have to admit that I was reluctant to love this movie when I first saw it. I just didn't think a 2 hour movie could do justice to my absolute favorite love story. I love the Colin Firth version. Mostly because of Colin Firth, I think. But anyway, I just didn't think I could enjoy Keira Knightly's fast paced attempt to recreate the classic Pride and Prejudice.

After watching this movie once, I agreed that it was well done. I liked the more realistic sets and feel of this movie. But I still couldn't let go of my beloved BBC, Colin Firth infused, Pride and Prejudice.

Hmmm.. I guess you could say I was a little prejudiced against this new movie.

Fast forward to now. I watched this movie for the second time last week and boy, oh boy! My prejudices are all gone. This is such a beautiful movie. The love scenes are beautiful. The script is perfectly eloquent. The real emotions are appreciated. This is my new favorite movie.




#4 Quilts appreciated


What is that jumbled mess, you ask? Well, let me tell you. This is a picture of my quilts being appreciated, yet again by my kiddos. They love making tents in the family room. And what is better for that than a couple of large, homemade quilts? I love it when my work is appreciated.

Houston Quilt Fest

One of the perks of living in Houston, is the ability to go to the Houston Quilt Festival each fall. For the second year in a row, my mom came down to spend a quilty day at the festival with me. And this year my sister joined us also. Our little threesome walked and walked and oohed and aahed all day long. We saw all the booths and spent more pennies than I like to count. I spent less than last year, though so I feel like I didn't get too carried away.
Here are a few pics of my loot:


I got this Texas map hankie panel to make a quilt. The booth I got this from had it made up with bluebonnet fabric as a border and that's what I intend to do as well. I love this panel because 1) I'm a Texan 2) I love all things vintage looking and 3) We love maps in our family. My husband is a Geographer so its perfect for us.







I also fell in love with this Santa fabric from Judie Rothermel. I bought it for a vintage Christmas quilt but wouldn't this be adorable as Christmas pjs? I love these cheerful, chubby Santas!



I also bought some Hobbs batting at a great price, a little kit of fabric for an applique pattern I bought last year(so I can learn to hand applique someday) and these fat quarters. I've got several blue quilts planned so I NEEDED to keep an eye out for more blue. That's how it goes with quilt shopping, isn't it? You see something, love it and suddenly NEED it.


I saw Alex Anderson. She has such a nice look about her.

I realized as I was handing the money over for my Santa fabric that I was buying it from THE acutal Judie Rothermel (and her hubbie who was there running the booth). I LOVE all her reproduction stuff.

I probably saw several other 'famous' quilters and didn't realize it.

Makes me get all warm and fuzzy to have these little brushes with greatness. :)

Best of all, I was enjoying spending such a fun and inspiring day with my favorite ladies, my mom and sister. It is so much fun to share a hobby and a passion and its especially fun that I can share that with them.