thank you to some wonderful people

I recently have been the recipient of some very GENEROUS gifts from people in blog land.  It never ceases to amaze me how much people are willing to give away online.  It really is outstanding!

This first fun package came from Kim over at Threadheads Unite!  I really enjoy her blog, mostly because she does a little bit of everything, just like me!  She and Paulette are working on a gorgeous sampler together this year…be sure to check out their progress! 

Kim sent me this gorgeous kidney-shaped dish and French General journal.  I plan on using it for a quilting journal to help me keep track of my projects and ideas.  Thank you, Kim!

I also won a giveaway over on Beki’s blog.  She is amazingly generous!  This is the necklace that I’m going to be getting…only with a different word on mine.  I’ll DEFINITELY have pictures when it arrives. 

Right now she is donating money from the purchase of each of her BLESSED necklace to Compassion International in Haiti.  Isn’t it gorgeous?  You should go and help her send some more money over…really…you should :)

photo credit

Thank you again to both ladies…SO GENEROUS!!!

A few other things that I’ve been doing…

Have you noticed that my blog is called Suburban STITCHER?

Well, that’s because I started this blog as a cross-stitcher only.

But now I do so much more…

Are you stitchers still out there?  Do you still read me…even though I have sort of abandoned you?  I hope so…

I have been working on Peppermint Twist lately.  I have enjoyed seeing this piece come to life and develop.  Still love it!

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I also finished a little doll quilt for our neighbor’s little girl who had her 2nd birthday last weekend.  I still had some scraps from my Berry Delicious jelly roll…so it turned into a cute little “coin” quilt…Finished size (before washing) is approximately 19 x 24.

I didn’t take a close up of the quilting, but I just stitched 1/4” in from both sides of the white sashing and also 1/4” in from the edges of the coins.  Also I cheated…I sewed the binding on TOTALLY by machine.

Don’t throw me into quilt detention.  I do know how to do it by hand…I just didn’t wanna.

I’m moving…

well, sort of.

It shouldn’t affect you {or so they tell me}

My new website address is now:

www.suburbanstitcher.com

I’m still hosted by blogger, just don’t have that “blogspot” part of the address anymore.

If you follow me on a reader, it should update automatically to the new address {www.suburbanstitcher.com}

If you don’t follow me on a reader, and you’ve got me bookmarked…please update to the new address.

Oh, and it might take a few days to get everything “settled in” so don’t worry!  I’m on it!

BOM 8 finished

I’m now done with blocks 1-8 of this block of the month.  I keep telling myself that I need to work on the sashing…but I REALLY do!  Maybe that will be on my “list” for February Charming Girls…

Done

Rainman with a side of Gone with the Wind

I think that I channel a bit of Rainman.

You know…the Dustin Hoffman character in that movie with Tom Cruise (before he was a couch jumper psycho)…

Last night while sewing, I was almost done with Madeline…I mean ALMOST!  I went into the kitchen to iron what I had just sewn…I looked at the clock…and it said 9:59.  I then realized that my entire house was already asleep.  Immediately I had this feeling in me, almost overwhelming, that told me that it was bedtime and I had to stop.  I LITERALLY felt myself thinking…”OK Dianne, time to go to bed.  It’s 9:59.  9:59.  Time to go to bed.  9:59.”

So, that being said, this is how Madeline looks this morning (almost finished) She’s only missing the final two borders.

And as God is my witness (insert vision of Vivian Lee standing at the end of “the” scene here) I will never leave something THIS CLOSE to being finished at the end of the night again!

I've done it again

and i don't want to talk about it.
edited to add: rachel @ ps i quilt is having tis quilt-a-long...go here for details...
the good news is i'm using stash and it's going to be for a gift.

a quilt for my grandma.


she needs one.


and i now will know how to make her one.



i'll be using this.
(picture from Fat Quarter Shop)

so, if you have one laying around and you need something to do with it...you should join too :)

you know you want to.

oh, and dont' worry...i don't think that grandma reads my blog...so i think i'm safe. and if she does...well...then it's just added pressure for me to get a move on!

quick little post for weekend wrap-up

Just wanting to pop in to post a picture of how my Madeline looks now… 6 of the blocks done and 3 to go.  I have those 3 started…so I’m really crossing my fingers that I’ll get to work on it this afternoon. 

In other news, this weekend was quite the productive one.  I sat around my house all day Friday and EARLY Saturday morning(and by early I mean 2:30 am early) looking around at the mess. 

You know the mess I’m talking about.

The stuff that looks like this and this

not DIRTY…just stuff EVERYWHERE!!!

So I set out to cleaning…and it looks a bit better.

I cleaned out my front coat closet…which literally had things in there that hadn’t moved since I shoved them in there the day we moved in.  TWO AND A HALF YEARS AGO!!!  Now I have a clean and organized space in there with room for my parents to hang their clothes when they come to visit, and also opened up tons of room for more sewing storage for me.

My husband went through the baby’s closet and dresser, and consequently we have tons of clothes ready to donate to a local woman’s shelter.  HUGE tax deduction and really makes me happy to know that these clothes are going to a good purpose.

I also went sewing machine shopping with my friend Tanya.  (We are working on her blog status…no pressure, T!)  We drove across town, LITERALLY,  to go look at some different machines and to be able to “test drive” them side by side.  I have my choices narrowed down to a Janome 6600 (photo from www.janome.com)

or a Bernina aurora 440QE (photo from www.berninausa.com)

I “think” that I know which one I want.  But I’d love to hear from you out there.  Anyone have any ideas or insight?  I’m less concerned about the cost (because I’m willing to spend the money if it’s what I need…) and more concerned about function and reliability.

So, there you have it…my weekend wrap-up.  Oh, and I do want to thank all of you who comment on this blog.  I love reading them everyday and it makes me so happy to respond to your comments.  I love seeing the new visitors as well as the regulars!  Thank you for visiting here, and I hope that you continue to come back.

Yet another start…

In my many letters to Santa last month, I talked about how I was SOOOO good and SOOOO disciplined…all I can say now is…

YEAH RIGHT!

That ended yesterday.

I signed up for the Modern Siggy Swap (see side bar for button).  This will be my first swap, and I’m pretty excited about it!  I’m using some Lila Tueller fabric that I had left over from the Wild Thing quilt, and I think that the colors are pretty fresh…so hopefully they’ll fit in great in this neat swap!  Here’s my progress so far (all blocks cut out, lines drawn on back, and two completed)

I also finished two more blocks for my Madeleine Schnibble this week…and please ignore the washed out picture…weather is kinda crazy here in TX today…

Here are two of the red blocks together: And here are the three that I’ve completed together.  I have only 6 to go!

I think that does it for me.  I’ll be here with my feverish kiddo today…staying warm and maybe only going out to pick up some batting and to pick up the big boy from school

See Ya!

January Goals for Quilting

Yesterday I committed to a new group this year, the Charming Girls Quilt Club.  I really hope that I can keep up with these ladies…some of them are VERY PROLIFIC QUILTERS!!!!

Here is a rundown of what I would like to accomplish this month:

1.  Madeline Schnibbles pattern.  I was SO excited yesterday when it was announced, and got to cutting straight away.  I’m using the same fabrics from the original, Rouenneries, and it’s going to be gorgeous!  Here’s the first block so far: 

2.  I want to quilt and bind my Cindy Lou Who quilt.  This will be quite the feat, as I haven’t quilted very many things…

3.  I would like to complete the piecing of a quilt top using a Legacy Jelly Roll.  The pattern is Fig Tree Quilts Jelly Girl (picture from www.figtreequilts.com).  I started this one a few weeks ago, and boy oh boy, it’s testing my ability for sure.  I had to set it aside for a bit. 

OK…that just about does it for now, well, for goals anyway.

I do also want to post a picture of another block that I finished last night.  Block 7 for the Mystery BOM.  I changed this one a bit.  Rather than using the two different blue fabrics, I chose to only use the blue tonal.  I didn’t like that the tops of the blue portions were in a different fabric…looked weird to me…anywho… And here’s how they all look together…well, all of the pictures together, anyway!

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OK, peeps!  I’m off to my dinner…homemade gumbo…yum!