Fugly Fabric & Happy Valentines Day

First things first, head over here for some hillarious Downton Abby Valentines cards {the last one is my favorite}

ok, now that you're back, it is time to announce the winner of the Fugly Fabric! 

Can I just say, Wow!  I had a mental image of myself as the 'wallflower' at the party when I was linking up, because I thought my post would be a lonely one.  I honestly didn't think anyone would want the fabric I was offering up. 

So when I checked the final count this morning and realized I had to get my sons to listen to 53 jokes and agree on a winner, I was a bit worried  :)

But they settled rather quilckly on CarrieM's seagull joke!  Congrats CarrieM!

Thank-you so much everyone who entered!  We had a lot of fun learning new jokes.  If you haven't read through them, you really should  :)

The long-time favorite joke in our home was this one:

knock-knock
who's there?
interupting cow
interupting co-
        Moo!

also fun is the interupting pig, the interupting frog, the interupting car, the interupting thunderstorm, & my favorite, interupting silence.   :)    {the possibilities here are endless}

This was my first giveaway, and it was a blast, thanks to all of you!  And a big thank-you to Lucy for hosting the Fugly Fabric party!

Fugly Fabric Party!



***Edited to say this giveaway is now CLOSED***

***A winner will be posted later today***

Thank-you to everyone who entered!



Hello everyone! If you are visiting for the fugly fabric party, welcome!  If you are one of my regular followers, I hope you find ugly fabric as much fun as I do! :)

This is going to be brief, because I'm having trouble with my spacebar.  {If all my words start running together, you'll know I've lost the battle}

Ok, this group of fabrics has made an appearance on my blog already here.
{although, I do want to say that my biggest problem with these fabrics is that they don't play nice with each other.  While I adore the idea of a fugly fabric party, I don't want to offend anyone.  All in fun, right everyone?}

The fabrics are, from bottom left to top right, :
Sherbert by The Buggy Barn for Henry Glass & Co, 1 yard
Flirtatious by Sandy Gervais for Moda, 1/2 yard
All you Need is Love by DebStrain forModa, 1yard
more of the first, 11inches orso
All you need is love by Deb Strain for Moda,2/3 yard
Big Dot by Sandy Gervais forModa, 1 yard
{Something} by Deb Strain for Moda, 17inches

So,ifyou'd like these fabrics leave a comment saying so. I'll be happy tomailthem to you. Justin case there is actually more than one person who wants the fabric, I need a way to choose.  So, leave a good {G rated} joke in your comment, and I'll let my boys pick the funniest one. (they really need to learn a new joke. I'd count it a personal favor)  please make sure you leave your e-mail in your comment if you are a no reply blogger.  I'll close this giveaway after my morning coffee on february 14th.  :)

And do check out the rest of the party :)

get out your Fugly Fabric!

I'm bringing my Fugly Fabric over to Lucy's blog on Tuesday, are you?

a finish & some progress

I made this tote bag for my Mom.  I didn't measure it, but it finishes somewhere around 16" H x 22" W x 4" D. 

Almost all of this fabric has been in my stash for years now, and it feels great to put it to use, especially since I think my Mom is going to love that cat print.

Ages ago, I saw a beautiful blue & white quilt and decided I just had to make one, too.  I bought 7 FQs and a yard of the cat print, and they have been sitting in my stash ever since.  Mostly because I wanted to make a large quilt, and needed more blue & white fabric.

I didn't have a large enough piece of fabric to make the lining, so I cut pieces of four FQs for the lining - I really love how it came out :)  The pocket is 12" square.

{I'm feeling so clever, turning the bag inside out to get pics of the lining :) }

here is the other inside pocket:

The only fabric I bought is the print for the handles and the bag bottom.
I'd really like to use up as much of my stash as possible, it doesn't make any sense to let fabric sit unused in my closet, and this bag moved 1 yard & 7 FQs out.  I think that is a good start :)

{I love how this print is supposed to imitate old china}
Even though I'm showing up to the party late, I'm going to link up at Lily's Quilts Small Blog meet-up.  Have a great Thursday!

*edited to add:  the pattern I used is called Quilt Camp Tote by Penny Sturges.  I did make a couple changes.  If you want to make this bag and want to know about my changes, e-mail me and we can chat.  I've made other versions of this bag - you can see them here, here, and here.

i'm going to do a little more linking, too. { because linking is fun :)}  check these out:

Crazy Mom Quilts    Amylouwho Sew & Tell    TGIFF

{Mostly} Wordless

a little something I'm working on for my cat-loving Mom :)

I apologize in advance...

because this is probably going to be a sappy/sentimental post.

This is one of my WIPs (no, I didn't finish them by New Year's.  Shame on me.)

Two (or maybe three) years ago I read a book about signature quilts and the ladies who made them years ago.  And even though I wasn't moving across the country like many of those women, I decided to make my own signature quilt.  You know, with the signatures of all the ladies in my family. 

That is the test block I made, up there in the picture.  Since I was copying an old idea, I decided to copy the look of the fabrics by using reproduction prints, too.  But when I made my test block with white, it was too bright beside the print.  Not sure what to use instead, this got buried in my closet and has been there ever since.

I glanced at it a few times this past year, and even bought some Kona Bone to replace the white, but no new blocks have been sewn.

Then, a few days before Thanksgiving, my Grandmother died very unexpectedly.

And ever since, this quilt has been on my mind a lot - because I never had her sign a block for me. 

I know it sounds morbid, but I want to make this quilt before it is too late to have someone else sign, because you never really know how long you have with your loved ones. 

Last fall, I decided not to try to sew Christmas gifts for my family.  I knew the reality was that I just didn't have time to sew like I wanted, and I'd be a lot happier over the holidays if I just let myself off the hook.  When my Grandmother died, sewing for my family suddenly became much more important to me, but unfortunately it didn't become anymore feasible. 

So I'm sewing for them now.  To reduce stress, I'm not giving myself any deadlines.  I will gift these creations as I finish them, instead of waiting until I've made something for everyone and giving them all at once.

Last spring, I made a coffee cozy and a mug rug for my Grandmother.  (the second one shown in that post I linked to)  I should show you a picture of how it looks now - used to bits.  My Grandmother loved that silly little coffee cozy.  Which makes me think, why haven't I sewn anything for some of the most important people in my life?

{see, didn't I warn you? nauseatingly sentimental.}

Ok, I'm done.  I don't know about you, but I could use a bit of cheerful color now, so I'll share this:

I may be far more than a day late and a dollar short with my DPQAL, but I'm sloooowly making progress on it.  More to come soon {fingers crossed}