Friday, August 31, 2012

YAY!! A friday night where I can SEW!!

 
 
It's not very often it seems that I have a Friday where I don't work Saturday. I'm very excited.
I'm so excited I could do cartwheels..
It's been a very exciting week.. I turned 31 on Wednesday and had an absolutely wonderful day thanks to my Amazing husband :)
I made a birthday resolution to be happier, forget about gossip at work and not be so negative...
I think I can do that.. I know I can!!
 
Sew, tonight I'm going to work on a test pattern for Sister C@ Quilt Doodles. :) I promised her I wouldn't blog about it until later.. I'm going to just say that its 'Creams & Christmas'
I'm also going to work my block for the Leafs me Happy blog hop on Oct 1-10th :) & for the Wicked blog hop on Oct 22nd- 31st.. I love Halloween.. It's my favorite holiday..
 
Happy Sewing~
 Laura Ann
this is Smokie.. Mom & Dad's dog.. He loves it when I dress him up.. :)
 
 
P.s. Remember there is a blog hop going on..  Click the picture above to get a full listing of the blogs on the hop :)  

Thursday, August 30, 2012

trip the great minnesota get together..

 Sew.. We went to the fair for my birthday..
I've got to say it was one of the best birthday's I've ever had!
We arrived at the Minnesota State Fair around 9am with a back pack full of water,
tennis shoes on our feet & excitement.
We headed over to the creative activities building.
One day.. someday I'll have a quilt in this building..
Here's what I saw..
This was the blue ribbon for machine quilting. It had to have been a long arm that did this.
These were the smallest pieces i have EVER seen.
Here's a needle work. I love Halloween!
I have a ceramic cat that look JUST like this..
 looks like scales..
 This year's Minnesota fabrics



 Grandmother's quilt :-) I started one like this..
 


 Love this nativity
 Santa Clause wood workings on a Christmas log cabin
I love this quilt.. the star.. The picture is totally not doing it justice.
 " I need coffee now!!"


 I love this quilt.. It look like it was made up of 1inch squares..
Wood working.. puppies.. :)
 There are other things in the Creative Activities building besides quilts and needle crafts..
There was rows and rows of bake goods, cakes, canned foods..  The most interesting thing I saw canned was the apple chips (or at least I think they are apple chips) in the picture below- upper right hand corner..
 

 
This was a view of the many streets.. They looked full but not as full as..
Later when we went to leave..
 

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Happy Birthday to ME!!

 
Sew.. Today, is my 31st Birthday.
Yay me!
 
In asking my mom I was born on August 29th at 12:01am :)
 
I've been blessed  these 31 years with wonderful parents and 4 older (wiser?) sisters.
They've taught me to look for the fun in life.. This is us on 'cookie day' as Melvin's Angels.
 
Sew..  When my sweet Hubby asked me what I wanted to do on my day..
I thought.. and thought..
 
I thought.. Why not the state fair..
 
I'd like to get some sewing in too.. but we will see what time we get home from the Great Minnesota Get together :)
 
I'm sew ready to party..
 


Monday, August 27, 2012

I sew.. therefore I am

 
I decided a little while ago to make a knitting needle holder for my mother-in-law, Kathy.
 
I got this book from Sister C a while ago. I've had it for ages. Let me just say I rarely knit. And if I do its normally just a scarf here or a sugar&cream towel there. I'm not a huge knitter.. but Debbie Stoller wrote a very nice book. On page 284 (I think) there is a sewing pattern for a knitting needle holder. I myself, made one for me, for those knitting needles I hardly ever use anymore..

My In-Laws are in the process of downsizing.. so I'm sure her knitting needles are packed away but, I've seen a few hanging out in a Partylite Hurricane she got from me from when I used to sell Partylite..
 
I started by choosing the colors.. I called up Kathy last week and asked her what her favorite color was. She very much surprised her son who thought her fave would be pink or purple..
Sew, I'm going to use the black flower print as the outside, the light swirly flowery print as the inside, the turquoise flower print as the flap and then the green plaid as the needle pocket.. I may end up switching it up before I start cutting. Plus, I need to go get black or blue ribbon for it too.. :)
 
For that part of my sewing room isn't quite the way I want it. I have 3 HUGE boxes of empty partylite boxes. I need the hubs to help me move them out & bring in our old dinning room table.
 
I was going to start cutting and sewing tonight but I realized that
I FORGOT my pressure foot for Betty at mom&dads
Oops..
 
Sew.. until next time..
 
Happy Sewing~
 Laura Ann
&
Gizmo & Rosie


We have a WINNER!!! Traveling Stash!

We've got a Winner!!!
 
 
 
Gizmo & Rosie picked Becky as the winner of the Traveling Stash... She follows us now and said "I love hand sewing the binding down. So relaxing!" When asked what her favorite sewing technique is.
 
Congratulations Becky!!! I know your going to have a blast with the stash!!!
 
Yahoo!!
 
Happy Stitches~
 Laura Ann ...
 
Gizmo watching me address the traveling stash.. :)


Friday, August 24, 2012

It's a Party!!! A Blog Hop Party!!!

Sew, I thought I'd share my sewing room with you for the Blog Hop Party..
 
Sew.. I've been cleaning my sewing room.   I spent the last Day and a half cleaning & rearranging the room.. I'm not quite there yet, but I'm close...

I thrive in chaos.. OR so I thought..
this is what it pretty much looked like before.. 

Before starting any new projects I wanted to figure out what I have for fabrics..

(before)
So, I started bin by bin taking fabric out and organizing it by size & folding it nicely..


I realize that I have a whole Lotta Green, Blue, Reds & Pinks..  And not so much yellow & orange. I think Orange just maybe that one color I can't bring myself to work with often..

And out of all the seasons.. I've 4 bins of Christmas fabrics..
In all the bins the fabric is like this.. So I can kinda see what I have.

This is how I put things... My In Laws (Bill & Kathleen) gave us the perfect table. It's skinny. So I put it against the west wall & it fits the bins perfectly.. I also fit my little book shelf on it.
Then, I moved my cutting desk from the East wall to facing north. Moved the old coffee table in front of the desk & placed the larger bins on them. It really works perfectly..
I also moved the table Betty was on near the cutting desk so I can go from cutting a project directly to sewing it. :) 


Hubby commented that I don't need to fabric shop for a LONG time.. I laughed out loud wondering if her realized that when he married me, being a quilter and known fabric-aholic, that there is no such thing as not fabric shopping...

As I was cleaning & folding said stash I started to toss little pieces I know I will pass over into a bag for Sister C.. The bag quickly morphed into 2 bags and a box of scraps.. Sew after a few e-mails I'm going to send a box to Vroomans' Quilts  too. :)

But, then I thought as my 'giveaway' I'd give a bag of my 'scraps' to those Scrap lovers on the Blog Hop Party.. :)  Not all my 'scraps' are small by any means. You can ask Sister C @ Quilt Doodles When she did her postage stamp quilt she used a bag of scraps she got from me. 

**ATTENTION SCRAP LOVERS**

How to win:

1. Let me know what you would do with these scraps?
That's it.. Leave me a comment.. No hoops..

*If you are a NO REPLY Blogger leave me your email address, So if you win I can get hold of you*

Happy Sewing~
 Laura Ann (Gizmo & Rosie too)

Oh.. and Don't forget to Hop over to the Quilter's Gallery for the complete list of Blogs ready to PARTY!!   Gizmo & Rosie will be drawing the winner on September 3rd 2012. :)
Oh & I'll ship international :)

:)