WHOOMP There IT Is! #21 - And the Winner Is...

Thank you all for participating in the giveaway! I enjoyed reading what quilt blocks you'd like to see made into earrings.  I promise I read them all, even if I haven't replied yet.  And, I will definitely pass your suggestions on to Sandra. If you have not already done so, be sure to check out all of her fabulous jewelry creations at Fay West Designs.

Now, the moment you all have been wating for:

Congratulations GayLee!  You are # 8 and the lucky winner!  Please email me your address asap.  I'd like to get your prize mailed out on Monday.

Next order of business is about the 2016 UFO Challenge I'm participating in.   March's number is 6.  My #6 project is a Spiderweb quilt. I was inspired to make one after seeing Julie's gorgeous creation pictured below.  Something tells me that I'm going to end up w/more UFOs than I started with!

I've got a good list of  things to do this month.  Besides work on the Spiderweb quilt, I've got to make a gift quilt, several small items for a craft sale taking place in 2 weeks, sew a sleeve and label on Gossamer for the Arizona Quilters Guild Quilt Show, finish 2 test projects for Kids Camp, AND start a commission for 2 baby quilts! Pray for me y'all!

Now it's party time!

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A Thread for Life
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.Phil 3:12-14 NIV

WHOOMP There IT Is! #14 - UFO Challenge 2016

Hello, Everyone! I hope you've had a wonderful week.  Mine has been a bit crazy w/my day job but the weekend is just about here and that makes me happy!

Something else that makes me happy is all of the lovelies I'm going to make this year! I wrote about 4 of them last week in this post and this week I'll share some others.

A UFO challenge was presented at our Quilters Anonymous meeting last week.  We are a chapter of the Arizona Quilter's Guild.   The challenge was inspired by the All People Quilt 2016 UFO Challenge.  We are following their guidelines, however, we're starting ours in February.

Basically, we choose 12 UFOS we want to finish this year and put them on a list numbered 1-12. At our guild meeting, which is the 1st Thursday of the month, a number will be randomly chosen. That number will represent the numbered project we have to work on for that month. We'll share our finishes/progress at the next meeting and get a new # for the following month...and so on and so forth. The goal is to have 12 finished projects by the end of the year, or in our case, by the end of January 2017.

Since I don't have 12 UFOs, I chose several projects from my "To Make Someday" list that I'd like to see finished this year. Most of them are smaller projects since I will also be working on commissions. Here is a list of the projects I chose w/their "before challenge" status.  Remember, the numbers will be drawn randomly, so it doesn't matter how the projects are listed.  I've included pics so that you can see what the projects are. Most of these pics are not mine.

#1 Christmas Sparkle Punch Quilt - planning stage

#2 Through Thick & Thin Scrappy Log Cabin Quilt - all blocks finished

#3 Paper pieced Rooster Block - planning stage

#4 Scarppy String Thing Bed Runner - flimsy

#5 Paper pieced Owl Block - planning stage

#6 Halloween Spiderweb Quilt - planning stage

#7 Mia's Wall Hanging - flimsy, backing pieced and binding cut

#8 Friend Traveler Quilt

 - 

256 lozenges already cut out by my good friend Greta =)

#9 Quilted Cook & Carry - planning

#10 Caddy Pad Jr. Tote - planning

#11 The Desk Deli Tote - planning

#12 Cabo Bucket Tote - planning

Thanks for visiting and linking up!

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Everyone likes to hear "thank you" and know their effort is appreciated.

Spread the Love

The more love you give, the more you get. Pick a number (mine is 5) and commit to visiting and commenting on that many link-ups. Let them know where you're visiting from and ask them to visit you. (This works well for me!)

Direct Link

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Link Back

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A Thread for Life
Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you. - 2 Cor 13:11

WHOOMP There IT Is! #10

As some of you know I am a member of the Quilters Anonymous chapter of the Arizona Quilters Guild.  Tonight was our Christmas party and I had such a wonderful time.

This is where I sat. Our hostess did a magnificent job of decorating the table.

And she gave us all a bunch of goodies too!

It was a potluck party and there was a ton of yummy food however I was so concerned w/getting as much of that yummy food in my belly as quickly as possible, that I forgot to take a pic.

We played a gift exchange game. Whoever wanted to participate had to bring something handmade by them. This is what I made for the exchange. A pin cushion, thread/scrap catcher. I hope the recipient loves it as much as I love mine.

We sat in a giant circle and someone read a story over the microphone.  Whenever we heard the word "left", we passed the gift we were holding to the left, and when we heard the word "right", we passed the gift we were holding to the right.  It was a hoot! Then we went around the circle to show our gifts and tell who made them.  

I got this adorable tote bag with Christmas colored mustaches on it. It's lined w/my favorite color and w/the same exact fabric I used to line a bag I made for myself!

Here's a pic of all my goodies together.

Are you having any fun this holiday season?

Now it's your time to share about whatever you want.

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Thank the Host

Everyone likes to hear "thank you" and know their effort is appreciated.

Spread the Love

The more love you give, the more you get. Pick a number (mine is 5) and commit to visiting and commenting on that many link-ups. Let them know where you're visiting from and ask them to visit you. (This works well for me!)

Direct Link

Use a direct link to a specific post, not your main blog.

Link Back

In your blog post, include a link back to my post/blog and/or grab the WHOOMP There IT Is! button above and put in your post or sidebar. Thanks for spreading the love.

Follow Me ;)

Of course I would love for all you linky-uppers to be followers, but it's NOT required.

Party Hearty! 

An InLinkz Link-up

A Thread for Life

WHOOMP There IT Is! #6

Hello and welcome to week #6 of WHOOMP There IT Is! 

I can't believe I haven't opened my giant roll of batting.  It's been standing in the same corner of my bedroom for about 3 weeks now. I'll cut into you soon enough Hobbs, I promise. ;)

Besides the custom quilt order I'm working on at home, I've been going every Thursday to my instructor's house to work on the Christmas gift paper piecing project.  She's a lovely woman from Quilters Anonymous, our chapter of the Arizona Quilters Guild. Anyway, It's all pinned up on her design wall. She's been such a dear, coordinating my numbered fabrics w/the respective paper pieces. She gets several sets together and lines them up for me, so when I finish one, the next one is there ready and waiting. Yesterday was my 3rd week and I believe the 20" square top will be completed in the next 2 Thursdays.  It's been such a pleasure visiting in her home and getting to know her and her husband.

I actually have quite a few things to do "by Christmas"; three other quilts, eight pillowcases and hopefully several (2 dozen or so) simple sewn gifts for friends. On my honor, I will try not to add another thing to my "by Christmas" list!

I've already been thinking about my resolutions for the new year.  However, losing weight or exercising more have not even crossed my mind.  A more important resolution to me, is to do one project at a time.  I need to test and see just how productive I'll be. I'm thinking it will probably be about the same, but w/much less stress and anxiety.  Who's with me? (side note: I wasn't sure if I should've used who's or whose. Grammar Check says "no writing errors were found" either way...so I guess they are both acceptable??) 

Back to the subject of paper piecing though, I'm really falling for it!  I thought I was going to hate it but it's quite amazing.  I love how the Christmas gift project is coming along, but I wanted to have something to show and share this week. Since I'm halfway finished w/the top of the custom order, I decided to use what I've learned paper piecing and do a small solo project. I stitched up these 2 blocks the other night; cups of tea. After I add embroidery floss to the tea bag tags, they shall become a pair of mug rugs.  The pattern is one of several free patterns, by Maartje of Quilt in Amsterdam . Thank you Maartje! 

Thanks for visiting.  Now it's your turn to share what you've been working on.

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Thank the Host

Everyone likes to hear "thank you" and know their effort is appreciated.

Spread the Love

The more love you give, the more you get. Pick a number (mine is 5) and commit to visiting and commenting on that many link-ups. Let them know where you're visiting from and ask them to visit you. (This works well for me!)

Direct Link

Use a direct link to a specific post, not your main blog.

Link Back

In your blog post, include a link back to my post/blog and/or grab the WHOOMP There IT Is! button above and put in your post or sidebar. Thanks for spreading the love.

Follow Me ;)

Of course I would love for all you linky-uppers to be followers, but it's NOT required.

Party Hearty! 

An InLinkz Link-up

A Thread for Life
Waiting in faith is not an easy thing. 

Linking up at:
Paper Piecing Party

WHOOMP There IT Is! #4

I went batting shopping last Saturday. I was glad I brought along my grandson & nephew.  I don't think I could've managed this giant roll of batting by myself. Together they carried it to the car. Neither could've carried it alone, but they each had to show the other and myself, just how strong they are.  If getting it to the car was challenging, getting it in the car was even more so! But we did it...and I'm happy to say I now have batting! Lots of it! I got this giant 30yd x 96" roll of Hobbs Heirloom 80/20 batting for $122 + tax at Mulqueen in Glendale, AZ.

Even though I now have batting, I still spent the week working on smaller projects.  I finished a project for the gift exchange at our annual Quilters Anonymous Christmas Party which will be on December 3rd.  If I remember, I'll show a picture after the party.

 I also made something that's been on my list for a long while...a quilters-helper apron. I had the idea to turn the butt-side of a pair of jeans into a half apron. I wish I could say it was an original idea...but after making mine, I looked on Pinterest and found that a bunch of peeps had already beat me to it! hahaha.

The 1st thing I did was cut out the entire front side of a pair shorts, salvaging the waistband...as this is what I'll use to fasten/tie the apron.

One could use the original pockets if they are big enough for one's needs. Mine weren't so I removed them and made plans to add larger ones. But first, I had to figure out what do do w/the butt-seam thingie.

I decided to lay it flat to one side and stitch it down.  I think I've seen it done like this on some denim skirts made from jeans.

Originally I thought about hemming the edges but quickly changed my mind and left them raw to fray instead.  I added trim to the bottom but didn't like how it would look on the sides, so I just did some straight stitching in red to add some color.  Like I said earlier, I wanted bigger pockets...though I've discovered a wider pocket is better than a deeper one. Anyway, I made generous pockets and decorated them before I sewed them on...again leaving the edges raw to fray.

I liked it so much I made a 2nd one. They will definitely come in handy when I work at kids camp next year!

And then I made simple Trick-or-Treat bags for the grands.

Oh, I almost forgot one more thing! I finally made something w/minky! I used it to back this simple strip quilt. I did not use batting and I did a very simple pull/roll over binding.

 I'm certain the little boy who gets it will love the cuddly softness of it.

That's about all I have for you this week.  Now it's your turn. Show me something good! =)

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An InLinkz Link-up

I'm linking up at:

Let's Bee Social
Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?

A Thread for Life  (This is something I'm totally struggling with, so please pray for me.)
“Wherever God has placed you, live that ordinary life faithfully for God.” - Pastor James MacDonald