Leap Year - the Schnibble

A Finish! A Finish! Finally, another Finish!   Leap Year is the new Schnibble pattern by Carrie Nelson of Miss Rosie Quilts. It is the June project for Another Year of Schnibbles hosted by Sinta and Sherry.

 I have a nice collection of charm packs. Cookies from Home by Me & My Sister is one of the first charm packs I purchased many years ago.It's a wonderful feeling to combine many goals in one project. I used charms and fabric from my stash. I completed the June project for Another Year of Schnibbles. The plan is to donate it to our guild Just For You charity project for sick children. It was a new project for Cat Patches begin a new UFO project. 

  It is all ready for machine quilting. Maybe next week.....

Leap Year Traveling Stash

 Look what arrived at my house earlier this month - The Leap Year Traveling Stash. I won the box from Cherise at Sewingly  Along. It was over-flowing. I was surprised that the box held together. What treasures were inside! Yes, were. I've had a marvelous time touching, examining and choosing the stuff I wanted to keep.

Books to donate to the guild library, Christmas fabrics, Ghastlies FQ, charms....  I will probably continue to remove some of the non-quilt shop fabrics and add some additional quilt shop quality fabric. The art director at my MIL's assisted living can use the old fabric for art and crafts. I like to use only quilt-shop quality fabrics in my sewing so that is what I am adding to the box.

Here are some of the items that I added to the box:

Music, dots, black and white.... 

neutrals

Christmas

florals,

I Spy charms (each charm is different)

thread (I organized my thread stash this week. These spools need to go to a home that will use them)

Patterns (2 of my favorites for precuts - Sassy Sixteen and Tic Tacs)

and wool pieces from thrift shop wool that I recently felted.

Here are the rules:THE TRAVELING STASH RULES AND GUIDELINES

RULES:

1. Be an active blogger. Post about receiving and the giveaway on your blog in a timely manner.
2. There is a note in the box that logs where the box has been. Please add your info and place the note back in the box.
3. There is a list of Rules and Guidelines in the box. Please read and follow these and return the list to the box.
4. You may take anything you like from the box. Just replace every item with comparable quilt shop quality items equal to the amount taken. See guidelines below.
5. Ship the box to the next person in a reasonable amount of time.
6. Due to the amount of postage shipping is only within the USA.

GUIDELINES:
The definition of a stash is a secret store of valuables. For quilters it's a collection of usable quality products. The stash should contain mostly fabric with a few patterns and/or books and other items.

• FABRIC:     Should be quilt shop quality in new condition. Scraps should only be included if they are cut for adding to a collection and packaged accordingly (i.e. I-Spy squares, postage stamp squares, etc.). There should not be anything under a Fat Quarter unless packaged like this.
• PATTERNS/BOOKS:     Should be in new or gently used condition. They should be kept to a minimum (books are bulky and add weight).
• OTHER ITEMS:     Should be in new or gently used condition. Tools, notions, etc. These items should be packaged if necessary.

IMPORTANT THINGS TO REMEMBER:

• If you receive a box with anything that is of "poor" condition you should not feel guilty in tossing it out.
• Only put items in the box that you would be proud to own. The box is NOT a dumping place for all your outdated unwanted items.
• Items should be free of smoke and pet hairs.
• You must replace items you take with the same quantity of like-kind items. Replacing more than you take is always welcome.  :)  

The winner of this Traveling Stash will host the next giveaway on July 29th. 


The Leap Year Traveling Stash begins today, June 29th and ends on Friday, July 6th. To enter the giveaway, please give DH and I suggestions on how to celebrate the Fourth of July.  We are in code red air alerts and record breaking temperatures here in Atlanta. We want to have fun, but stay COOL:) Thanks so much for visiting my blog and entering the giveaway!  Happy Fourth of July!!!!!!

Words on Wednesday

Design Wall Monday

 It's been a wild week! All I've managed to do is to put all the blocks for Patches & Pinwheels on the design wall. Notice that one blank spot in the bottom right-hand corner? I evidently have problems with counting. My blocks were all counted and checked-off the list, but somehow I am one block short. I dug in my scrap bind and found three half-square triangles the right size. I only need to make one additional half-square triangle and sew the pinwheel block together. Tomorrow is "free" day. I'm hoping to make real progress on sewing the rows together.

Those of you who have made this quilt did you add borders? 

Dear Son has been home for the past 4 days. He is working in the college program at Disney World in Orlando. While most folks go to Disney World for vacations, he had four days off  and came home for vacation. He is absolutely loving working at Disney. We've had a wonderful long weekend visiting with him!

June the Sixth

The Sixth of June is important world-wide as we celebrate the anniversary of D-Day. In my family, especially on my mother's side of the family, the Sixth of June is important for weddings and celebrating anniversaries. In 1987, Dear Hubby and I were married in a small ceremony in my brother's home in Louisiana. We courted and began our marriage as a three-some. J his son was five when we met and  seven when we married. From the beginning, I knew the my man was an awesome Dad. J and his girl are getting married in October of this year. 

 

My Mom and Dad were also married on June 6 of either 1942 or 1943. Here they are on their wedding day on the steps of  St. John Cathedral in Lafayette, LA. Dad was in the Air Force and was involved in France and Belguim during the War. It is a blessing to have this photo from their wedding day. Dear Hubby's parents were married around the same time, but no one in their family owned a camera to take a photo on their wedding day.

I have never seen a photo of my grandparents wedding day. Mom's parents, Ida and O'Neil on the left, were the first to marry on June 6th.  This is actually the wedding photo of Mom's brother and his wife, Myrtle, during the 1940's. 

This year was a special anniversary for Dear Hubby and me. We celebrated our twenty-fifth anniversary. Our celebration was quiet, but we plan to celebrate with a cruise in the Fall when DH is able to take vacation days.  June 6th is special in our family with three generations celebrating wedding vows. Of course, DH and I are the only ones celebrating this year, but we remember my parents and grandparents in a special way. Happy Anniversary also to Brenda and Joe (15 years) on June 8th and Pat and Andy (40 years), June 10th.

New Project Started in May

With tons of UFO's in my sewing cavern, I began a new project in May. I'm not sure what this quilt will look like. It's a MYSTERY, a mystery quilt. Pat and Debbie of Silver Thimble Quilt Co. designed this quilt, "Shh....Don't Tell." It's a two color quilt. That's all we know. I do know that I've loved most everything that they have designed together and separately. It was a no-brainer that I would participate in this project.

Step 1 was available at our April Thimbles days, but I didn't begin my quilt until May. I did lots of thinking and studying fabric that I have in my stash. I have tons of 1930's and '40's reproduction fabrics.  Jackie at Canton Village Quilt Works has tons of Kona solids. Kona ash (light gray) seemed like a good choice with my fabrics.

This is Step 1 with the fabric cut and organized in ziplock bags and post-it notes.

At our May Thimbles session, Step 2 was almost completed.

It was one of the projects that I worked on at the Cabin in Blue Ridge. There were lots of blocks to square-up.

 Here is the completed part of Step 2. Waiting for June for the next installment of Shhh....Don't Tell. 

Barbara, at Cat Patches, has a problem of not having enough UFO's. She is encouraging us to begin a new project each month - not finish the project, just begin one. Check! I managed to begin a project in May. I have one in mind to begin in June.......

Words on Wednesday

A UFO Finish for May

This past week, I spent three lovely days at Brenda's cabin in the north Georgia mountains near Blue Ridge. Brenda blogged about our visit on her blog. At the top of my sewing list was to add borders to my retirement quilt. I needed additional yardage for the borders. The fabric came in the mail just in time for me to take this project with me to the Cabin. This is one of those quilts that is not very "photogenic." It is lovely in person. The blocks are signature blocks signed by wonderful co-workers, book club members and dear forever friends. In addition, each forever friend wrote the title of their favorite book. The Library Dragon, To Kill A Mockingbird, The Quiltmaker's Gift, The Mitford books, and Rebecca are just a few of the titles mentioned. This quilt is on my UFO list for 2012. It's probably not the right number for May, but it's a finish. That's all that matters for me:)

Giveaway!!!!!!

It's GIVEAWAY time!!!!!  I had originally planned to participate in the Sew Mama, Sew giveaway in May. Things were just a bit too busy for me to enjoy the giveaway. I love to visit your blogs, respond to your comments and just plain make new friends. This week is better for me, so....

Pat Wys  and B.J. Laird of Silver Thimble Quilt Company have donated 4 packages of B.J.'s sewing inspired notecards. Each package has 3 notecards of the same design. I have a thing for paper products - notecards, notepads and writing paper.  I'd love to have packs of all  4 of these designs. My friend Kristie purchased some to put in frames to decorate her sewing room. Great idea! I may steal that idea:)

 Sewing Girl

Pincushion

Birdy Sewing Company

Sewing Basket

To enter the giveaway, visit the Silver Thimble Quilt Company website.  Tell me your favorite card design from the many listed on the page.I love the Halloween cards and I know that I've never needed a Halloween card before now. For a second entry, tell me your favorite pattern from the pattern page. Followers of my blog receive a third entry. Just comment separately for each entry. Giveaway will end on Sunday, June 10th. Thanks to Pat and B.J. for sponsoring this giveaway!

Design Wall Monday

Happy Monday! Last week I began putting the blocks for Patches and Pinwheels (Swap 2) on my design wall. A group of us traded strips and blocks of Civil War repro fabric. The blocks are truly scrappy. The blocks are all made - 169 blocks. This is a huge quilt. It probably is bigger than my design wall. This quilt has been a work in progress for several years. There is lots of mindless piecing on this one. That's great for our group sewing (Thimbles) where there's lots of talking. It's exciting to think that this one is getting closer to becoming a quilt. To view lots of wonderful projects, visit Judy's Patchwork Times blog.

Thanks for Voting!!!!

"I’m so excited to share the winners with all of you – thank you all for taking the time to nominate and vote for your favorite quilts. I know that all the quilters are honored to have been nominated, and the category winners will be ecstatic! " ...

The winner of the Favorite Two Color Quilt category, Becky, has won a Quilt Journal, a set of Note Cards, and an Eco Tote from Pattern Spot!...   from Amy's Creative Side blog.

That's me! Ecstatic!  I received an email from one of you before I received the Bloggers' Quilt Festival Winner email from Amy. Thank you, dear friends, for taking the time to vote for my quilt.  This was so much fun having a quilt nominated in a category. I don't know who nominated my quilt, but THANK YOU! Also, THANK YOU, dear friends, for taking the time to vote for my "It's All Black and White" quilt. Thanks to the many, many sponsors of the prizes. Thanks, especially to PatternSpot.com for their donations for the Two Color Quilt prizes!