black friday bargains

me, i most always buy stuff with some sort of discount/coupon/sale etc. we live in such an urban area with many stores so there are always deals to be had. today i braved the crowds and freezing rain for a microwave. ours died about 3 weeks ago and i was going to buy one then at $50+ but decided we could hold off until now. target had a great oster microwave for $33, not the most powerful but more than enough for our needs. then i treated myself to breakfast, 20% off, and then off to joann's for more deals. i got 15 yards of muslin at 50% off plus another 20% off, then thread 2 for 1, some christmas half yards at 50% off too and a batt, again 50% off. the store handed out $5 gift cards to those of us who were waiting so tomorrow i'm headed back for another half-price batt. it's how i've kept my quilting purchases pretty low this year. i'm betting the total won't be over $400 for everything, that includes used books on amazon, occasional magazines, other fabric/notions/tools purchases plus my guild membership. i've already paid my bills for the month and gotten a few christmas gifts as well, so it was prudent shopping. fortunately the freezing rain stopped and the temps are going up a bit, but it was an unwelcome harbinger of impending meteorologic inevitabilities.

Turkey on the Horizon

actually, it's in the refrigerator waiting to be basted, stuffed and cooked! this is a native, home-grown turkey that my brother raised on his little farm. all we have to do is prep the pies and sides and clean the apartment, about a day's work in all. i've done all the food shopping and that in itself was exhausting. ***** thready issue, that of thread of course! my old viking used to take dual duty, which is no longer the case per the repair gurus. since Joann's is so close, i've morphed over to gutermann 100% cotton, which is very linty. there are some less-lint threads available to quilters but they are pricey. i'd like to try them but if i get hooked, not sure i can afford them long term. will probably stay with the gutermann and just keep cleaning out the machine after every project. ***** sewing progress? just quilting the butterfly quilt is all as i want it to get finished before christmas. we'll see.....

i won! i won!

michele over at quilting gallery is compiling an on-line quilter's cookbook. i submitted my yummy "swedish walnuts" recipe and just this morning i got an email saying i had won a gift certificate at pink panda fabrics! how great is that! if you're interested in the recipe, watch her site and the publication date will be posted. ***** a terrific tuesday here in maine. been quilting my butterflies every day to get this done before christmas. i am loving the cross-hatch quilting design on this 30s style quilt and i know my kiddos in MD will too. they are both working this holiday (medical professionals) but we will be together in spirit as always.

where were you?

47 years ago, i mean. i was living in norwich, connecticut, where i attended norwich free academy. i was walking home from school with my friend, linda banas, saving our bus money for christmas presents. we stopped at the appliance store window and saw the horrible news on television. we were thrilled that school was cancelled, but for those of us of the TV generation, the following days were nothing but funereal related, dirge music and sombre faces. and of course were were watching sunday morning when jack ruby jumped out of the crowd to shoot lee harvey oswald in cold blood. it was the most shocking thing ever televised, even in black and white. no doubt it will be one of the last things i ever forget, no matter how long i live.

fantastic friday

two more from nashua for your viewing pleasure. a gorgeous friday it is, cooler than earlier this week but it's bound to happen. yesterday i finally got my hair cut! it's been hanging in my eyes for about a month now, and so it was absolutely necessary. i splurged a bit and had my eyebrows waxed also. since they are blonde, they are nearly invisible until they get to THAT point and then they need attention. we are gearing up for t-day here and the holidays to follow. before you know it, january will be here and a time for new starts quilty-wise. a new UFO list, a time to re-arrange, destash and fling. i hope the snow holds off until then, but that's pushing it.

whoops!

i almost forgot! jeanne sent me these gingerbread men potholders too, aren't they soooo cute? i'll never use them on pots, but they will get hung up at christmas to show them off. they are simply adorable!

awwww, jeanne....

this was in my mailbox today, from jeanne, my 3-2-1 swapper. isn't this simply gorgeous! wow, i am loving this beautiful christmas-y tote! i'm going to use it year-round, though; it's just too pretty to keep for only christmas! and potato chip cookies? snack nirvana! the gorgeous FQs will get added to my christmas stash and the coaster will go on my mat, 'cause i always get wet rings from my pepsi! thank you, jeanne! **** now that i have conquered my paper piecing phobia, i want to move on to the applique challenge, but waaahhh i want to do another paper piecing project! today, though, it's quilting butterflies....maybe i can get 3 squares done; we'll see.

as promised....

here is the entire wallhanging top, now done. this means my 30s stash has now dwindled down to possibly enough for one more quilt top. i've got a pattern in mind that should use them all up....now that's REALLY stashbusting! this won't get quilted until next year and will be a 2011 UFO finish for certain.

at sara's request

first, i apologize for the lighting/image being so poor. next, some background info. i've always said i'm no designer. i found this pattern called "beginner's star" in one of jan halgrimson's wire-bound, soft-cover books on scraps. they are oldies but very good goodies and i refer to them a lot because i make mostly scrap quilts. when i saw the pattern, i thought it was ideal for 30s prints and would be easily paper pieced. the blocks are 4 units each, so i divided the units into half units and voila! - all straight lines. i then traced each unit onto vellum for paper piecing. at that time, my knowledge of paper piecing was nearly zip, so i got exasperated with the project and set it aside. after taking carol doak's class last summer, i was enthusiastic about finishing it, which brings us to the present. here are 4 blocks (of the total 9) that i pieced BEFORE the class. i have really noticed a big difference in these as opposed to those i pieced AFTER the class. Not that these aren't ok, but you can almost see the difficulty i had in the block itself. isn't that uncanny! anyway, sara wanted to know what the block looked like, so i've posted this for her. ***** this photo emphasizes the fact that i have no design wall, which is really helpful for construction and photographic purposes. i was looking around my room yesterday trying to figure out how i could possibly find space for one. and then, a bona fide brain storm (not merely a drizzle)! i am going to make a roman shade from flannel, hang it over my closet door and then i can unroll/roll it as needed. watching HGTV has really helped!

next year's UFO

of course i am still job hunting, but fortunately it doesn't interfere with my sewing much. for instance, this past weekend i whipped up this little christmas tablerunner. i've made a lot of these using the gold lame fabric as the center square. it washes and dries fine and gives the runner a little zing. the red fabric has gold threads/stars on it as well. in person it's gorgeous if i do say so myself. it probably won't be finished until next year, though, as i'm furiously quilting butterflies. in the next couple of days, i'm going to show off my paper piecing skills again, so stay tuned.....