September Friday Night Sew-In!!

I will be hosting the Friday Night Sew-In for September "solo" this time. Bobbi has a very important wedding that weekend (her nephew).

The Sew-In will be on September 17th! Are you ready? That gives you 3 weeks to formulate your plan, so get busy!

Most of you already know the drill.. but for any newbies out there.. here is how it works.

1. Enter your blog info below. **If you don't have a blog - you can enter the Flickr group link as your URL.

2. Make a post on your blog - letting all your readers know about the sew-in. Spread the word.. we could all use the virtual sewing support and encouragement.

3. On Friday – 09/17/10 - Get your house settled, put on your comfy jammies.. maybe make a cup of tea.. and sit down to work on some of those projects (or anything else that you want to work on.. maybe you want to knit.. or catch up on scrapbooking).

4. Then, sometime on Saturday - publish a post about what you worked on.. show us a picture or two on Flickr. There is a FNSI group on Flickr if you haven't already joined. Totally optional.

And finally - on Sunday 9/19, we will enter all participants into a GIVEAWAY for something fun! Maybe some fabric.. or a sewing gadget or two. As always we select 2 winners - so you each will have 2 chances to win!!

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My next BIG project

To understand my next project I first need to give you a little back story.

Last year my Father in Law passed away. He was and still is a giant inspiration to his kids and his Grandkids. He was ill for many years and never, ever gave up! Even though he couldn't breathe well, he found a way to mow his own lawn and remove all his own snow until the very end. He always said that if he stopped moving and doing all these things for himself - that he would get worse and he didn't want to live like that.

He loved his grandkids more than any thing in the World. He was sentimental - and we never knew just how sentimental he was until a few weeks ago.  We spent quite a few weekends the last month cleaning out my husbands childhood home. I was in the basement cleaning out a storage room and I found drawers FULL of letters, cards, newspaper clippings from kids and grandkids sporting events, programs from plays at school.. and so much more. He saved it all!

Anyway - see this pictures...

This is a pile of some of his clothes. My Mother in Law saved them for me. The plan is to make a quilt for each grandkid. There are 10 of them.. they range in age from 31 to 6 yrs. The grandkids don't know about the project and we are hoping to give the quilts to them for Christmas from Grandma.

I don't plan on doing anything fancy.. just simple squares, maybe different size squares. Each quilt will be a twin size. Any ideas? I'm open to tips/comments... talk to me quilters!! Do you think I can get them all done by THIS Christmas?? Pin It

On the road again...

Since we moved from Arizona to Minnesota 2 months ago - we have been on the road a lot. We have family in Fargo, ND and my husband is originally from Detroit Lakes, MN.

And this past weekend - we drove to Fargo to spend a few days with my parents and celebrate our oldest son's birthday. After living 2000 miles away from family his entire life, all he wanted was to spend it with his grandparents. In fact, when Grandma asked him what he wanted for his birthday - he replied "A day of fishing with Grandpa".

Here he is with his cake... so much fun with cousins.. aunts.. uncles.. great aunts.. great uncles.. good times..

On our travels, we pass this little gas station along the way. We chuckle every time we see it. Well yesterday my husband knew I had my camera this time so he pulled over so I could take a picture of it. 

So funny!! Needless to say.. we didn't eat there! Pin It

Did you know?

So I was on the IKEA website - dreaming of the amazing rooms I could put together if I had a bottomless bank account.. when all of a sudden.. I found FABRIC!!

Did you know IKEA sells fabric by the yard? I mean, I've seen people use IKEA Sheets for quilt backs before - but I had no idea they sell fabric by the yard. It's all 100% cotton.

The prices are good - anywhere from $3.99 to $8.99 p/yd. And all the ones I looked at were 59' wide.

So many fun patterns. And many many solids and stripes to choose from too.

And if you don't have an IKEA close to you.. start crying now you can order it online!!

Just thought I'd pass on the tip...

(all photo's courtesy of IKEA website) Pin It

Wool.. the other fabric

I've been playing with some felted wool lately.. and I think I'm hooked.

I made this little pincushion - and filled with crushed walnut shells. It's so fun to play with.

And the best part was that I sat outside on the swing, enjoying the evening air, and did the entire thing while my boys rode their bikes.

Even though I need to get better with my stitches, I'm thinking my next wool project should be some kind of wall hanging.. maybe for the holidays? any ideas? Any tips? Have you ever worked with wool?

ooh.. or maybe some Christmas ornaments?  Pin It

And the Winner is....

So sorry for the delay in getting the winners selected - but it was hard for Bobbi and I to connect today. Life has a way of doing that to us sometimes.. you know how it is.. school shopping.. laundry... sick kid.. and all that goes with being a Mom.

Anyway - as always, we draw two winners. Bobbi has one and so do I.

So, without further delay - my Winner is # 84 - Oddbjorg from http://nordquilt.blogspot.com/ You really need to check out her blog.. she made a cute clothes pin bag. LOVE IT!!

Congratulations!! Now the best part.. I'm going to be sending you our Friday Night Sew-in pin cushion along with a charm pack of fabric.

Here is the pincushion (or one like it since I couldn't find the scissor fabric anywhere)

And since I couldn't decide which charm pack to send you.. I will let you pick one of these. Would you like "Awesome" (on right) or "Gobble Gobble" (on left) both by Sandy Gervais.

Just let me know which charm pack you want.. along with your mailing address and I will get this lovely little package of goodies in the mail to you. Oh.. and did I mention that Bobbi and I are both 1/2 Norwegian? Yep, it's true!!

Thanks to everyone participated. You are all so talented. I'm still making my way to all your blogs.. I love seeing what you all worked on! Pin It

My results.. but no Winners.. yet.

Bobbi and I are working to "connect" (from 2,000 miles apart) and coordinate the random.org winner selection process.

So in the mean time - I will share my results from Friday Night with you all. The Sun is finally out today allowing me to take some pictures... yay!

This is the quilt top using the Neptune fabric by Tura Tula Pink for Moda. I originally wanted this for my oldest son - but he doesn't like it. I know.. crazy right!?

I decided on a very simple design without cutting into any of the squares - this way I can enjoy all the prints that I love!

I probably won't get to finishing it for awhile - as I have some deadlines fast approaching for some other projects and need to set this aside for now.

But I am hoping to rent some time on a long arm machine in the coming months. I found a small little quilt shop in W Duluth that rents for only $20 an hour. I thought that sounded reasonable.

Anyway - the Winners will be announced in a few hours. Don't forget to come back and see if it's you! It's going to be pretty awesome! I promise. Pin It