100th Post!

This is what I made from that "sneak-peaked" fabric for the giveaway, a box bag. Let's take a look inside to see what else I'm giving away.....

an iron-on labels book... (well, that didn't fit in the bag... HE HE), an embroidery scissors, a little larger than a FQ of that red butterflies fabric (for your own project), two charm bundles of Red, White, & Bold by Moda (a summer project maybe), and a needle case (that silver looking thing in the front right... I forgot what's the fancy name for it).


I'm heading out with Sweetie Pie on Friday afternoon for a weekend camping trip with her girl scout troop. We'll be back by Sunday afternoon. I will pick a winner either on Tuesday or Wednesday after I've catch up with non-quilty things. And if this body of mine isn't frozen up from sleeping on the ground for two nights!*LOL* So there's still time to enter in this drawing... just leave a comment on this post.




On the mystery front, I have finally completed all 30 blocks of step 4 for my Orange Crush. Finishing up Step 5 will have to wait till next week. :(


Remember my two color challenge quilt? I have found the background fabrics that I'd like to use! It's Never Enough Romance by Alex Anderson (white with red prints). I've placed an order with Fabric Shack, and it should arrived next week. While I was there, I also ordered some more Batiks for my Dear Jane blocks. Yep, I have my summer projects all line up! How about you?

Have a wonderful weekend!! :D

UPDATED: I discovered another giveaway -- go to Embroidery Treasures for an opportunity to win some pretty FQs.

Little Bits of Everything

The weather has been really wacky here in Southern California! Last weekend, we went from 105 degrees to around 65 degrees by Wednesday. On Thursday, we had thunderstorm, hail, fire, and tornados, yes! TORNADOS here in CA?! just about 10 miles from where we are.

Well, I'm glad that the storm came earlier than when they had predicted because on Saturday, we had to go to an event with Sweetie Pie's girl scouts troop. We started our day early with flag placements at the cementery for Memorial Day.

Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, and ROTC troops volunteered to place flags and poppy flowers at various veteran gravesites. Afterward, we enjoyed a nice lunch given by the American Legion Club. And the girls who came to help, received a patch for their service.

A week ago, our good friends had invited us to come over for a BBQ and swimming after the flag placement event, but that was when we had summer weather, not spring weather! Our friends decided that it was better to wait for warmer weather to have their BBQ gathering. So instead, we opted for a movie and dinner out. We all went to see the new Indiana Jones movie. Who doesn't love Indy?! I thought the movie was good.

It's that time of the year again and things are getting a bit busier than normal around here, so I haven't had a whole lot of time to sew.... just 10 to 15 minutes here and there. I did managed to finish with Step 2 of OC Mystery!

I also got 16 of 30 blocks of Step 4 done.... Spinning Star.

Did you notice that I have changed my yardage colors? When I saw Bonnie's Spinning Star blocks, I've decided that I'm going to do Orange Crush afterall ... instead of Grape Crush that I've been saying all along. I love the red and black stars.

Here's what 16 blocks look like together.


This morning, with my cup of coffee in hand, I thought perhaps I'll catch up with some blog reading, but I didn't get to a whole lot of blogs at all except for the first one. That was Bonnie's blog; she has posted the next step of OC Mystery! Finally, we are going to get to use that orange fabrics, and I could not wait! Immediately, I headed to my sewing corner and started cutting up some squares. I was able to put together 3 Album blocks.

At first, I wasn't quite sure if I like the orange that I had picked out. So I got some of Step 4 and Step 5 up on the flannel board to look at. And you know what? I love it! I'm beginning to think that this mystery is even better than the last one!

From the look of Step 5, I think this quilt be set on point. Here are some of the blocks together. What do you think? Don't you just love it?

On the right, the blocks are set straight. And you know what? I love it too!

Remember my Pink Lemonade? I made 8 Spinning Star blocks. This quilt is all scrappy except for the background; it is a white tone-on-tone. I don't have any yardage in my 30's collection, so I used the same yellow and green in each star but different yellow and green for each block. Click on the photo to see it larger... maybe that will make more sense. I think I might set the Pink Lemonade in straight setting.... hmmm? Do you see the star forming in the straight setting and the X forming with those lights of those 4-patches? I love it! I can't wait to make up some of the Album blocks in 30's fabrics to see what they will look like together!

Well, I better get going... just got a call from John to meet him over at his brother's for a BBQ. Before I go though.....

I want to give you a sneak peak of what I found that I will use to make something for my little giveaway. If you haven't heard of my giveaway, go down to the post after this one to enter.

Also, check out Stacy's and Jo's blogs; they are having some great giveaways.

Have a wonderful Memorial Day!

BTW, my 100th post will be next Thursday. I will post my giveaway prizes... so see you then.

A Goofed and a Giveaway

This block of Dear Jane, B-2 Sweet Tater Pie, was forgotten. I finished handpiecing this little cutie before Mother's Day weekend but forgot all about it due to the river trip.

So here it is... but there's one problem... I goofed! This little block took a bit longer for me to piece because it was my first time handpiecing with curves... so it will remains as is!

This post is also marked as my 98th of this blog! Just two posts away from that 100th mark! I recently visited a few blogs that are having giveaways so thought I might give it try. I don't know what I'm giving away yet, but for sure, it will be quilty related and fabrics. I will try to come up with something by my 100th post.

So all you have to do to get a chance to win something from me is to leave a comment on this post.... be sure to leave me an addy if you are set to "no reply". An extra bonus -- if you can tell me in the comment of what is the goofed of this block, I will add your name to the pot for an extra chance of winning.

If you need help with the goofed, click here to compare with this block. Need more help, then click here to look at Anina's block.... just scroll down to the bottom of the post.

Sewing again! and Fondue

YES!! My sewing machine is back in working order! Thanks to a wonderful and handy DH. This man can fix anything.... he's a keeper! *lol*

I've been sewing up a storm over the weekend! I worked on the Orange Crush Mystery quilt and finished with step 3. Yeah, I cheated and went ahead with the next step before finishing with step 2. Is it just me or is step 2 seems to take forever to get done?



My favorite unit of step 3 is the unplanned one of a cat face peeking out!

At the beginning of the mystery quilt, I also pulled fabrics from my 30's collection to make a baby quilt called Pink Lemonade. I started sewing on this project too. This one should be quicker to complete each step ... smaller quilt = less blocks to do. Since it's still a mystery, I'm guessing as to how many blocks to do. One of the gal from QuiltvilleChat group suggested to cut the numbers to a quarter, so I'm going with that. When Bonnie reveals the mystery, I will adjust it accordingly. For now, Step 1=40 4-patches.

Fondue anyone?

Celebrating Mother's Day!

Since we spent half of the day in the RV driving back from the Colorado River last Sunday, John and the kiddos took me out to the Melting Pot for a belated Mother's Day dinner. It was yummy!

We started out with two different kinds of cheese fondue: Spinach Artichoke Cheese and Fiesta Cheese that the waiter mixed the ingredients and melted them in pots right at the table along with chips, veggies, bread, and apples to dip. These appertizers did not last long with my voracious group! *lol* Then I had a California salad with Walnut Rasberries dressing. It was delicious!

Of course, the entrees were delectable. We had two kinds of broth to cook the meats. seafood, and more veggies in. Yummm!!

For dessert: Flaming Turtle, Yin and Yang Chocolates! What is better than ending the meal with CHOCOLATES with fresh fruits and cakes for dipping! :-D

It's Friday, Again!

HEE, HEE... Did you wonder if I had decided not to come back and just stayed by the river? If only that is true... I would have love to stay a little bit longer, but it's my laptop... giving me trouble again. It's been running slow or locking up all week. :-[ John fixed it last night! ;D

Anyway, I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day.

We had a fun and relaxing (especially for me) time by the Colorado River! The weather was perfect to enjoy the beach and to play in the water. On our first night, the kiddos laid out a blanket on the beach to look at the stars and fell asleep there! *lol* They awoke and came back to camp around 1am.

On Saturday, while John and the kids had fun jet skiing and boating, I relaxed on the beach with friends.... catching up with our lives and sipping our Pina Coladas. :-D We had visitors dropped by for a few snacks.

Then, they wanted to ride on our friends' jet ski and boat.

On Sunday, Mother's Day, the boys made breakfast for Mom! They cleaned up too! I had a fun afternoon of playing with Sweetie Pie in the resort pool and taking the little Dachshunds out for walks. Speaking of doxies, this year on Mother's Day- an extra special day, our little doxie girl turned two.

Here she is at 6 weeks old waving to us (photo was from the breeder). And here she is on the beach last weekend.

Finally, our wonderful weekend came to an end, it was time to head back home... indeed, it was an exhausting trip!

It's Friday!

As soon as the kiddos are out of school, we are heading out in our Greyhawk(RV) toward the Colorado River! We are staying here at the Echo Lodge Resort in Parker Dam (photo borrowed from their website). Doesn't it look inviting and relaxing? I'll be relaxing on the beach sipping my Pina Colada! *LOL*

I'll see you Monday! Have a wonderful Mother's Day weekend!!

BTW, Step 4 of OC Mystery is posted today! Ahhhhhh!!! Wish I have a machine to bring along so I can do some sewing!!! *VBS*

One More DJ Block

My journey with Dear Jane in reproduction fabrics is slowly but surely coming along. I am lagging behind Baby Jane Group, but that's OK. I had anticipated this at the beginning of the journey.


This set I am doing everthing by hand; on the other hand (no pun intended), the Batiks DJ will be machine pieced as much as possible. I will try to keep up with the group with this collection.


This block is B-12 Starflower - reversed appliqued.

Two Color Quilt

I'm still without a sewing machine today. John had fixed the problem and had started to put my Pfaff back together, but the timing is slightly off. He's working on it tonight to get it to run like a fine-tuned car. With any luck, I'll have my machine back tomorrow. If not, that's OK too, I still have my DJ blocks to handpiece.


What a gal to do when there's no machine to sew on or not handpiecing? Catch up with blog readings!

Nicole at Sister's Choice Quilts is having a two color quilt challenge. I love two color quilts! and had wanted to do one for quite awhile... so why not join in on the fun, right?!

Since I have a few projects going and Dear Jane quilt is very involved, I am doing a very simple block for the two color quilt. These are my drawing of the blocks... kinda like windmills. I've seen these before... just not sure what this block is called.

This second one the windmill is reversed. I haven't decided which one to do... will make that decision when I get there. I do plan to have some kinds of appliques (another love) out in the borders when I get there too.

Good News, Bad News

It's been one of those weekend here where nothing was in working order and things didn't go quite as planned!

Let's start with Friday...
The good news is I finished binding my Summer Breeze quilt; it was washed, dried, and photographed. The bad news... this quilt was intended to be a gift for someone on John's side of the family, but upon close inspection, I noticed a seam about 2 inches long came undone in the middle of the quilt. It's easy enough to fix the problem with some hand sewing, but now I don't want to give the quilt away if other seams might come undone in another washing. Good news is I have another quilt top, Summer Breeze II, that's waiting to be quilt. Bad news is don't have the backing for it and will need to go shopping. Well... shopping should be more of a good thing than bad, but I'm at my limit on spending for quilty things this month (yikes, and it's only the beginning of May).

Then on Saturday...
Now this is REALLY the bad news... I found out that my baby is sick! I got up early and planned to work on Step 2 of Orange Crush Mystery. But when I turned on my machine and stepped on the pedal, it made a weird sound and nothing happened.

I wanted to take my machine into the shop, but John offered to take a look at it. I probably should've said "no", yet how could I tell him no when the man had a fascination with this machine since the day we brought it home.

Here's my baby at the beginning of deconstruction. The good thing is we did found out what was wrong. Imagine a rope or string wraps around a propeller of an airplane or the blades of ceiling fan. The rope or string eventually would tightens around the motor and stops the motion. That's what happened with my Pfaff. A piece of thread wrapped around the shaft of the main motor causing it to stop. The bad news is John still has to put it back together (EEKK) and everything must be in working order!

Do you want to know what those little doxies were doing while all this going on? Our Yoshi Bear slept contently by my feet while we worked.

But our Suki Girl had to see what's went on and sat on my lap most of the time.

Lastly, to top it off for Sunday... my internet connection was down for the whole day! Good news is ... obviously, it's back up today for me to make this post.