Fave 5 Friday

Well this is week 3 of my Fave 5 Friday linky party & I'm trying to get it posted in time for more people to participate this week. What a novel idea, huh!?! :P

If you'd like to play along just create a blog post with your 5 favorite pictures from the last week (or so). If they are pictures you've found online please be sure to credit them accordingly. I now have a button (See? On the right), so go ahead and grab it, add it to your post to link back up to my blog. Then come back and link up your post. It's as easy as that!

Here are my favorite from the week...

I love sunrises on the prairie!

I love how the early morning light turns everything a beautiful fire-y orange.

The sunsets are pretty amazing too! Jake got this picture when he was checking water & the windmills the other day. Pretty nice office, huh?

On Sunday we went up to Devils Tower for a cowboy music/poetry gathering. We met up with friends we hadn't seen in a year & met even more Facebook friends this year. It was such a beautiful relaxing day, we took the dogs & I brought some hand sewing to work on.

Today, Jake had a dentist appointment so I went with him down to Torrington, which is about an hour drive. While he was in the dentist chair I went downtown and found some more fabric-y goodness. I'm going to use these to make more sketchbooks. These books will be going with me to Sewing Summit (for sale or swap)! :)

I also visited a used book store in town and found these.

I'd have to say it's been a pretty good week. Can't wait to see what you all have been up to!

WIP Wednesday

My Little Apples giveaway ends tomorrow. If you haven't entered yet be sure to do so here.

I realized this week that I have a LOT more WIPs than I realized. Here's my current ones....there are many more hanging around my sewing room that have been put on hold.

Terrain dish towel lining.

Redwork for a SwapBot swap. I wish I could say that I drew this freehand, but I traced it from an awesome wildlife coloring book I found when we were living in Montana.

First templates for the Farmer's Wife QAL. I've finally joined in on the fun! I'm going to stitch it by hand, and I'm still deciding how to piece them. I'm debating between marking & stitching along the quarter inch seam, or paper piece them (like hexies). Any suggestions?

More progress on my Arcadia quilt/tutorial.

I have a table top ironing board and I found this hiding underneath it. It's the fabric for the June block for the String Me Along bee. Oops! I know what I'm working on tomorrow. :}

This week I cut up these fun little bundles for this pattern. I loved the bright colors so much and told my boss so. She asked if I'd like to make a sample to display at the store. I jumped at the chance. Then today she showed me how to prep a quilt back for the longarm. Not super exciting, but it's one step in the direction of learning how to use that monstrous machine. :)

Be sure to visit Lee @ Freshly Pieced to see all the other WIPs for the week.

WIP Wednesday

Here's my current WIPs. Thanks for stopping by for a visit. Enjoy! :)

Misfits' Doll Quilt.

My machine started giving me fits during quilting so I gave my machine a break from the fancy stitch I was using and put together this quick jelly roll quilt...

Jelly Roll Race Quilt

I plan to make this into a table cloth. It still needs to be ironed flat, then I will back it with flannel (no batting).

ABSS Teardrop Bag

This month I am providing the prize for the random winner for all completed bags. You still have 2 days to get your post linked up. So finish up your bag & head on over to My Crafty Crap to share.

I won these lovely pincushions & 2 solid Moda jelly rolls on Talkin' Tuesday from the wonderful Aubrey a couple weeks. Aren't they the cutest? :)

And this gorgeous pouch showed up in the mail from Lizze of Wandering Stars. Now I need to get her sketchbook sent out.

My LQS/work, Lickety Stitch Quilts, has gotten some new, fun pre-cuts in from Moda last week.

I thought it would be fun to give away a charm pack of the new Little Apples by Aneela Hoey. And to sweeten the giveaway I'll throw in the scraps from my Sherbet Pips ABSS Teardrop Bag. Just leave a comment telling me your plans for the rest of the summer, sewing or otherwise.

If you'd like a second chance become a follower and leave another comment.

*Whoops! I forgot to mention this giveaway will be open until next Thursday, July 14th.*

Also, be sure to visit Freshly Pieced to see everyone else's WIPs for the week.

{Sew} Modern Monday

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Monday.

I've been home from visiting family in California for almost a week now & we've had visitors nearly every day since. Not that I'm complaining, I love having people visit.

I have had some time to make a few things though. I made several sketchbooks. 2 are for a couple of my giveaway winners, the other 2 are going in with swaps that are being sent out tomorrow. I am loving these books and have the paper ready to bind for a few more books that should be ready by the end of the week.

I love the third one from the left. It is covered with vintage feed sack fabric that I found in an antique/thrift shop during the winter.

I prefer the graph paper (shown), but I also make sketchbooks with blank paper as well.

I also made some needle books to go with each of the sketchbooks. The vintage buttons are from my husband's grandmother's old button collection.

This weekend I also prepped some Sunkissed charm squares to be made into some Wrapped Candy Pincushions. Sadly, that's the end of my Sunkissed charms because my other pack is going to Mary, who was also a giveaway winner this week.

Thanks for stopping by. If you didn't come over here from Canoe Ridge Creations {Sew} Modern Monday be sure to head over there to see what everyone else has been working on this week.

Winners!

523 comments! Wow! Thank you everyone for entering my giveaway and for all the amazing comments. Such a confidence booster! And I've discovered many new collections from your answers.

And now what you were looking for... The winners!

(Winners were chosen with the random number generator on random.org)

The winner of the fat eighth bundle of A Breath of Avignon & the custom sketchbook is a fellow Wyoming girl!

#173 Erin said...

I follow you now, too! Enjoy the Cali weather! Things are cold and rainy at home. :(

I promised a second prize if I reached 75 followers. Well, you gals are so fabulous you blew that number out of the water in about 2 hours! So I promised a third prize at 150 followers. We reached that goal as well. :)

So, without further ado, the winner of my second prize & third prizes are...

#198 Mary said...I made follower 100! Mary http://www.quiltgenius.com

And

#365allysonadeney said...I have also become a follower. Ally <'v'>

Emails have been sent to all the winners. Thank you everyone for entering! Normally I respond to all comments, but with 523 comments (I'm still amazed!) I just can't respond to everyone in a timely manner. Thanks also to all my new followers, I hope you enjoy what you've seen so far and continue to come back for more fun in the future.

Giveaway Day

**This giveaway is now closed. Thanks for such an amazing response! The winners will be announced shortly.**

It's here! Sew, Mama, Sew's Spring Giveaway Day!

This Giveaway Day I am giving away 2 great prizes to one lucky winner. The first prize is a lovely fat eighth bundle (10 pieces) of A Breath of Avignon by American Jane for Moda.

I'm in California right now for my sister's master's graduation & unfortunately I forgot the camera charger and, therefore, cannot post the gorgeous picture of the bundle. If you follow the link you can see what the collection looks like. It is an amazing collection that has been flying of our shelves since I got it onto the website. (For those of you that don't normally visit, I recently got a job setting up the website of my LQS. It's a great job, and who wouldn't want to be around fabric all day long.)

The second prize for our winner is a custom made sketchbook similar to the ones pictured below.

The winner will have to make three quick & easy choices: (1) blank or graph paper. (2) color. (3) padded cover or not.

Leave a comment telling me your all time favorite fabric collection (current or discontinued) for a chance to win. Please leave your email address in your comment if your email address is not connected to your Blogger account. If you are unsure, go here to find out if you're connected.

International participants are welcome.

For a second chance to win become a follower and leave me a comment telling me that you have done so. If I reach 75 followers during this giveaway I will give a different (secret & wonderful) prize to a second lucky winner!!!

Comments will be open until 8 pm (US Mountain Time) Thursday, May 26th & the winner will be drawn and notified shortly after that.

Please also comment here if you have, or plan to, donate to our friends in the US South who have been affected by the tornadoes that ran through that area last month. We are collecting quilts & any other donations and giving away a couple of fabulous gifts to all who have donated.

Have a terrific Giveaway Day! :)

*Holy cow! You guys are amazing! If I reach 150 followers there will be a third fabulous prize!*

Wow! We made it to 150! Can we make it to 250? I'll have a FOURTH giveaway prize if we do. :)

It's Coming!

Sew, Mama, Sew's Giveaway Day is less than one week away. I'm participating again this spring. I will be giving away a handcrafted item AND a fat eighth bundle. So come back on Monday, May 23rd for your chance to win!

Quilts for Smithville and a Giveaway

**EDIT: I've decided to extend the giveaway until May 31st to give people more time to get quilts and other donations together. Also, with the flooding in Tennessee & expected all along the lower Mississippi River please help our friends in the South. Anything big or small will be greatly appreciated. Thank you!**

Yesterday I mentioned that my friend Rachel is collecting donations for the victims of a tornado that ran through Smithville, Mississippi on Wednesday. Smithville is a small town of 1000 in Eastern Mississippi; with 14 lives lost from the tornado that is a huge impact on this tiny community. The high school was also destroyed and you can see the path the tornado took straight through the middle of town.

As you know tornadoes have been ravaging much of the south lately. North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi. Seeing pictures of the devastation has been difficult. Many people have lost their homes and their livelihood and over 300 have lost their lives.

To help, I've decided to send a couple of boxes of clothes and other goodies that the people of Smithville need much more than I do. After chatting with some friends on Twitter I thought it would be nice to ask all of you if you'd be able to help too. A handmade quilt made with love for our fellow human beings would be fabulous, but if you don't quilt then anything you can donate will be greatly appreciated.

The lovely Shawna from 1 Choice 4 Quilting has been nice enough to donate a jelly roll of your choice to one lucky winner who helps out with our Quilts for Smithville request. I will also be giving away a custom piece of jewelry for a second winner. More prizes will be announced soon.

If you would like to send a donation and be entered into our giveaway just leave a comment and I will email you the address of where to ship your donation. If you are a no-reply blogger please leave your email address with your comment. Otherwise I won't be able to send you the shipping address. You can also be entered if you have donated to one of the other communities that has been affected by these storms, just tell me where you sent your donation. Monetary donations to a tornado relief fund will also count for an entry.

This giveaway will last until May 31th, when our random winners will be drawn. But donations will always be accepted.

For a second entry tweet or blog about this post, then come back and let me know you did so. Please spread the word to help our friends in the south.

Thank you so much for your help! :)

WIP Wednesday

It's Wednesday again! I finished a couple projects this week that I'm looking forward to sharing, but they're a secret until my swap partner receives them. Here's a little sneak peak picture in the meantime.

My WIP for the week is my sewing room. I'm a little embarrassed sharing it with you, but I figure if I share my mess maybe it will help motivate me finish getting the room set up. After all, we have been here for two month already.

My sewing station. The fabrics in the blue bin behind the chair are (mostly) organized and folded neatly. But I keep finding more as I unpack boxes.

This will, hopefully, eventually be my cozy hand sewing corner. I want lots of fluffy pillows and blankets. I wish there was room for a chair, but the closet door is in an awkward spot that makes that corner mostly unusable.

My sad little fish tank that's only still half set up.

But there are some parts of the room that I'm happy with.

My fat quarter shelf with the beginnings of a hoop wall.

These awesome mini quilts are from Perkl8r on SwapBot.

And these lovelies are from PixieFirefly on Craftster.

Thanks again ladies!

Visit Freshly Pieced to see everyone else's WIPs for the week. Thanks Lee for hosting this great linky party! :)

A Quilter's Dream

Or at least, a newbie quilter's dream...

My Christmas present from Jake's aunt, who taught [is still teaching] me how to quilt.

All the right feet.

Even more feet.

A place for everything.

She also brought me a cute quilt pattern with some gorgeous fabric...

And this cool western purse...

With cute detailing...

And pockets around the entire inside...

...And this cool bag that looks like a quilt!

Thanks Leigh!!!!

Fabric!

Look what just arrived at my door!!!

(A big thank you to my neighbor, Nancy, who brought it by on her way to town.)

My order from Sew, Mama, Sew! has arrived!!!

Logan home dec weight fabric by Vicki Payne

I know these two fabric don't seem to go together too well, but look closely at the fabric on the left and you will see a bit of the periwinkle from the other fabric.

This is going to be a Weekender Travel Bag, pattern by Amy Butler

It's a Hoot fabric collection by MoMo for Moda

These will become Miss Madeline dresses for the daughters of our friends. How cute will those dresses be?