Celtic Solstic has begun! Giveaway #3

I am having giveaway #3 on my blog.  With Bonnie Hunter releasing her first clue for the Celtic Solstice Mystery and Jo's Country Junction Bonnie Challenge, I thought this would be a good time to give away some fabric.  So after picking up my paint chips at Lowe's and stopping at Susan's Calico Creations, I have some cool fat quarters that I want to giveaway to help someone make Celtic Solstice.  I will choose two fat quarters from the fabric shown to give away.

To be considered for the random drawing, you must meet both item #1 and #2 below.

1. Please leave a comment about what colors you are using and did you have to go buy fabric or using fabric from your stash? 
2. Sign up to follow my blog by email or subscription at the bottom of this post. (Signing up on Bloglovin' or another blog digest will not count.)  You will know if you have completed the process as you will show up under followers in the upper right side of my blog.
3. A random drawing will be held Monday and results posted.  I will try to mail out the fabric right away on Monday, if I can contact you and get your snail mail address.

This is the final giveaway for the month.  Thanks for playing along with me.  It has been fun to meet the new followers through email.

Yours in quilting,

Terry

Friday Finish

I have finished four items this week.  Not bad for a holiday week!

Finished this Bitty Basket.

 

Made a Tidy Bag

 

I warmed up the longarm and finished two customer quilts.

I love this farm panel finished with checkerboard border.

The customer picked this one this afternoon and will secretly be adding the binding while her hubbie finishes bringing in the last few fields of crops.

 

This bright log cabin quilt is quilted with a pale peach Glide thread.  The quilting pattern is Falling Leaves by Anne Bright.com.

 

So have you checked out the first clue for the Celtic Solstice?  Get ready, get set, let's go quilting.  Tomorrow I will have one more fabric giveaway of two fat quarters.  Come back tomorrow, leave me a comment and make sure you become a follower, to have a chance to win.

 

I have linked up with the following today:  Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Link a Finish Friday, Freedom Fridays and Crazy Mom Quilts.

 

Yours in quilting,

Terry

 

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to you, your family and friends.

We are enjoying the day visiting with neighbors and chatting with family by phone.

 

I took Grape Salad to share at the neighbor's feast.

 

GRAPE SALAD RECIPE

3 to 4 pounds of red or green seedless grapes

1/2 c.  white sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

8 oz.  low fat cream cheese

8 oz. low fat or lite sour cream

chopped pecan pieces

brown sugar

 

Wash and dry grapes after pulling them off their stems.

Combine with mixer the white sugar, vanilla, cream cheese and sour cream.

Fold the grapes into the cream cheese mixture with a spatula.  Top with a sprinkling of brown sugar and chopped pecan pieces.  Keep chilled until served.

 

Hope you gobbled up all the turkey and fixin's.

 

Yours in quilting,

Terry

 

Working on Wednesday

I will be trying to finish the farm quilt I am currently quilting today. 

 

I will continue to change over my decorating in my house.  I have taken down most of the fall and put up the few things I have for Thanksgiving.  The pilgrims are out.

 

My Turkey quilt on the wall.  The pattern is the Straddling Turkey by the Wooden Bear.

 

And my favorite Thanksgiving quilt is a signature quilt where the signees have written what they are most thankful for.  This was a quilting retreat project a few years back. 

Below, a view of the layout.

 Below, a closer view of some of the items people are thankful for.

I have started on a few Christmas items.  I bought these really awesome 3D stars at Sweet Woodruff in Fulton, IL.  I hung them yesterday with fishing line. 

 

 

The star on either end is the same and the one in the middle is elongated.

 

I think they look attractive in my bay window. 

 

Take time to enjoy the holidays and enjoy family and friends.

 

Yours in quilting,

Terry

Tuesday Tip

I had to work on this blog, nothing came to mind last night or this morning.  I needed to finish a quilt that is a Christmas present for the husband of one of my customer's.  I talked with the customer yesterday to make sure I understood what she wanted on the quilt as far as thread color.  I also had to make the backing for her.  So I measured, cut and sewed the backing together only to notice that it was a directional print and I had the panels going in opposite directions. Ugh!  So I unstitched it while watching Dancing with the Stars.

I got the backing loaded, batting measured/cut/loaded and loaded the top.  Now we are cooking.

Here it is with one row done and ready to start the second row of quilting.  I am using Omni thread and Handi Quilter's star edge to edge pattern. The customer could wait for me to finish it as late as December 14th.

Tip 1:  Don't procrastinate and wait to do a quilt for a customer at the last minute.  Things usually go wrong when you try to hurry or you make mistakes.

Tip 2:  Protect your customer's quilt when you are not with it.  Such as covering it with plastic.

I wrap the quilts with a plastic sheet while left on my machine at night or when I am not working on it. 

 

Today I am linking up with Connie over at Freemotion by the River and A Quilt Story.

 

Yours in quilting,

Terry

Design Wall Monday - Giveaway #2 Winner

Christmas is one month away today.  WooHoo!

This weekend didn't go the way I thought it would, it went much better. Saturday the hubbie was home and we got to spend some quality one on one time together.  I didn't have to cook!  We ate out breakfast, lunch and dinner.

In the morning we hurried over to check the horses at the barn because it was very cold.  We fed them some good grass hay to snack on so they could stay warm in the barn away from the wind chill.  By the time we left, the horses were almost purring with contentment and warmth.

We headed over to the mall and did some power shopping.  I picked up a few gifts at Bath & Body Works and JoAnn's.  The hubbie got his glasses adjusted at Sears Optical.

I was able to relax for about two hours and sew when we got home.  The hubbie can take naps, I can not.  I relax by piecing.  I needed to complete a couple of gifts so I made a Bitty Basket by Maggie Lampton, of Ketchikan, Alaska.

Isn't it adorable.  I made one or two when we got home from Alaska.  I have my business cards in one. Your could make them out of layer cakes, scraps, or out of 2 fat quarters you get four baskets.

Then I made this Tidy Bag.  I have one of these at each area in my sewing studio:  sewing machine, cutting table and longarm. The pocket inside holds my seam ripper and scissors.  The pincushion has parakeet gravel in it for weight and helps sharpen you pins and needles.

I tried something new.  I put a loop on the back to hold your fabric marker.  So these gifts are ready to go instead of hanging on the design wall. 

 

The winner of this week's Giveaway #2 is Scrappy101.  Please email me your mailing address at quiltcrazie@msn.com.

 

Getting ready to make quilt back and load a quilt this evening.  Hope you are having a productive Monday.  I have linked up with Patchwork Times. and A Quilt Story.

 

Yours in quilting,

Terry

 

 

Celtic Soltice Giveway #2 - Bonnie Hunter Challenge

I am having giveaway #2 on my blog.  With Bonnie Hunter releasing her first information about Celtic Solstice Mystery and Jo's Country Junction Bonnie Challenge, I thought this would be a good time to give away some fabric.  So after picking up my paint chips at Lowe's and stopping at Susan's Calico Creations, I have some cool fat quarters that I want to giveaway to help someone make Celtic Solstice.  I will choose two fat quarters from the fabric shown to give aw

To be considered for the random drawing, you must meet both item #1 and #2 below.

1. Please leave me a comment about your plan on how to complete Celtic Solstice and if this is your first Bonnie mystery.  I love to learn quilter's organizational techniques.
2. Sign up to follow my blog by email or subscription at the bottom of this post. (Signing up on Bloglovin' or another blog digest will not count.)
3. A random drawing will be held Monday and results posted.  I will try to mail out the fabric right away on Monday, if I can contact you and get your snail mail address.

I will be giving away two fat quarters each Saturday:  Nov. 16th, Nov. 23rd and Nov. 30.  Check back for the rules each Saturday.

 

I only completed three blocks since last Saturday.  :(

 

I have linked up with the Jo's Country Junction for the Bonnie Challenge.

 

Yours in quilting,

Terry

Giveaway #2 in Preparation of Bonnie Hunter's Celtic Solstice

Tune in tomorrow for Giveway #2.  I will be giving away two fat quarters that will help some lucky winner add to their stash for the scrappy mystery, Celtic Solstice.

Chat with you tomorrow.

Yours in quilting,
Terry

Friday Finish - Finished Working in Washington for Now

My finish for the week was having the honor of helping in the tornado damaged area of Washington, IL.  I live an hour away.

My quilting friend, Cathy Kieser' daughter's home was severely damaged in the tornado.  I feel very honored that I was allowed  in to help pack what is salvageable.  They are currently waiting for a rental home and are staying with Cathy in the interim. 

If you have a quilt top that you want to donate, I will quilt it for free and get it to the tornado effected area.  Please contact me at quiltcrazie@msn.com

Day 1:  http://quiltcrazie.blogspot.com/2013/11/cleaning-up-washington.html

Day 2:  http://www.quiltcrazie.blogspot.com/2013/11/second-day-of-clean-up-in-washington-il.html

How you can help?  You can look on the following websites for information on how to help.

http://quiltcrazie.blogspot.com/2013/11/washington-tornado-and-how-you-can-help.html

Local quilt shop that is not damaged.  Peddler's Way
www.peddlersway.com

Washington, IL  Chamber of Commerce
www.washingtoncoc.com

Pekin, IL Chamber of Commerce
www.pekinchamber.com

Count your blessings, each day is a gift.

I am linking up with the following today:  Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Link a Finish Friday, Freedom Fridays and Crazy Mom Quilts.

Yours in quilting,
Terry

Second Day of Clean Up in Washington, IL

Today my friend, Barb A., headed down for a second day of cleaning up. The three car garage is gone. Behind Barb is a 2x4 holding up the master bedroom bathroom.  We packed up the closets and bedrooms today.

This is where we have been working for the last two days.

 

 

Heading out for lunch we walked two blocks to a local church that was serving meals to volunteers.

 

This is suppose to be a retaining area to hold rain water and instead is full of house rubble.  We had to pick our way through the wood, etc. so we didn't step on nails.

I am guessing this car went for a spin in the tornado.  It had insulation and newspaper stuffed in it everywhere.  Let's say it was loaded with options.

 

Below, this is a tree branch just wrapped in everything imaginable.

 

 

When we got to the church for lunch there was obvious damage to the cars. 

 

.

This is the backdoor neighbor's home.  The roof was ripped off and sitting right in front of the home it belonged to.

This is the home. 

 

This is the subdivisions park, now filled with all the cars that have been pulled from the rubble waiting for the adjusters.

 

 

 As we left for the day, other roads had been opened up.  We drove to the opposite side the tornado's path.  Above is the fenced in yard.  The chain link fence was holding back a ton of debris.  The home behind the fence was totally gone.

 The above road is not open to outsiders, only homeowners can get down it.  See the trailers and trucks waiting for what they can carry out and save.  Electric crews were busy everywhere trying to restore power.

You can visit the Washington Chamber of Commerce website or the local quilt shop's website, Peddlers Way.com to see what is needed in donations.

 

Yours in quilting,

Terry