Sewing Obsessed!

Whoa!  Have I lost touch or what?  Cannot believe my last post was almost two months ago!?  Can't be, but it most certainly is! I was not the winner in the McCall's Quilt Designer contest.  Melanie Wilson of Utah won.  You can check it out here. http://www.mccallsquilting.com/contests/design-star.html Entering this contest really was most enjoyable for me... something I never ever thought I would do.  Would I do it again?  I'm not sure but I "think" so.  The pressure of trying to turn out a design from scratch and on demand while working a full-time AND a part-time job was a little trying and wouldn't want to do that all the time I tell you!  For some reason I was able to do it this time and things ... well they fell into place like it was meant to be!  Amazing, right?   That's what I thought each time I moved on in the challenge and came up with something - Amazing! Thank you from the bottom of my heart to all who voted.  With out you this would never

There is only one more week of voting left!  Where has the time gone??  I mean 6 months ago I had entered Spirit of Hope for the first round of voting.  Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would have made that first round.  Now, here I am in the final challenge and I still cannot believe I am even partaking in something this big!  The prize package is totally out of this world!!  Check it out for yourself...scroll down the page to   McCall's Quilting Contest Blue Suede by Shirley Jobson The last Canadian in the challenge and I'm having the time of my life!  How else can you top that?  Winning the second round ( See .. I won!! ) was a huge win against the caliber of designers I was up against, and again NEVER would I have ever dreamed of winning it!  Honestly... I even said to my hubby (my Martha) that I knew I wouldn't be voted in to stay in the final challenge and I was okay with that.  Boy was I wrong - I won it! I have never been an Elvis fan, but did you k

It's time for Challenge 3 voting, the final round of McCalls Quilt Design Star! I've said it many times, I know, but I cannot believe all this and that I'm even partaking in the final round!!  Thank you to all who have voted in the past and to those who voted me into first place in the second challenge.  I do hope you think this last creation is worthy of your votes again.  As soon as I read what our challenge involved...this song came to mind!  And wouldn't you know it?  It's a song I don't care for ... at all!!  So here we go with a double challenge again - inspiration from lyrics to a well known song and working with a song I don't really like!  Oh boy! But before I made it home from work (something told me to check my emails before I left work) I already had the start of the challenge in my brain.  I hurried into the house and I put the ideas down on paper.  Then someone said something about working on a project from the "outside in".  S

OH my goodness! What a ride I have been on the past 3 weeks!  Actually since April!! I don't show excitement ... but boy if you could be in my body you would know just how excited I have been!!  I have butterflies having pillow fights in my stomach and my mind, small as it is, is racing a mile a second!!  I still cannot believe that it is me living this dream ...yes to me it is still a dream!   Soon the dream will end and I will awake with such wonderful memories ☺ Camp - from the shore line I was at sewing camp a week ago and oh how I relaxed!  But the best part....was Saturday nite.  Where everyone (approx 50 people) wished me the best of luck with my "dream".  And I even got some sewing done too! Of course I took way too many things to work on but you never know when the sewing fairies will come along to help you out so you best be ready! LOL Peaceful... isn't it? I have had this cut for some time and decided that I would get it sewn together this c

Oh my gosh!   I was the winner of the 2nd Challenge round for McCall's Quilting Design Star 2011.   Me? YES.... ME!!   Totally unbelievable... but oh so wonderful and fun!  I stayed up until 2:30 this morning tweeking a design that popped into my head before I read all of the requirements for Challenge #3!  And I'm going with it.  Rule of thumb, always go with you first instinct so I am. Don't believe me.... see for yourself!!  Check out Sept 9th's post here..... http://www.mccallsquilting.com/blogs/ I'm still walking on air on Cloud 9, soon to be passing by 10, 11 and 12!! Happy Sewing everyone!!! hugs, Choux

The excitement of the last 4 1/2 months has been quite overwhelming to say the least!  New job, still working old job, taking on duties as president of the Quilt Guild I belong to and then being a participant in the McCall's Quilt Design Star contest!!  Who would have ever thought that I (me....ME!) would ever enter something like this and be in the second round of voting!  Certainly not I!  My entry for the second round is called "Breaking Free".  It had to take a slight turn with the design when I got clarification on what the "surface" actually means.  Everything was cut to go "my" way of thinking before I got the clarification.  I had actually had 1/4 of the braid strip sewn!   To me surface was the "inside" of the piece - not including the borders.  I mean if you put a "quilt" on the bed the borders are not on the surface, right?  Uh-uh .... it includes the borders.  I was so distraught that I really considered dropping out as

The month of July and the first two weeks of August have flown right past me.... literally!!  "Work" that other nasty "four" letter word has taken over my lifestyle and for the next little while will "not" be letting go.  But I am enjoying my new job - don't tell anybody I said that!!!  It is very challenging and most demanding but so far I am holding my own, I think! LOL Sewing/quilting has gone by the wayside for the next couple of months, while I train someone to take over my previous job, so that means my nights are not my own for the time being.   BUT - (don't you just love that "three" letter word - it can hold so much weight!)  I have finished and upload my second challenge to McCall's Quilt Design Star http://www.mccallsquilting.com where the new voting takes place starting tomorrow (Aug 17th).   Now it's nothing to really "woo-hoo", but it is "me".   So don't forget to wonder over to the site.

Can you believe it?  I have made it to the 2nd Challenge round of the McCall's Quilt Design Star  Contest!!! Woot! Woot! I do not show excitement most times, but I sure can type it!  LOL   I already have something put to paper but will I use it?  That is the number one question right now. Thank you everyone who voted for me, but I'm going to need a lot more help the next round as the cut is going to be a big one I think.  I have no idea where I was in the standing so that makes if even scarier!! So keep an eye on Aug 17th for the next round of voting!  It should be very nteresting with the challenge we have been given.  Read about it all here.... McCall's Quilt Design Star 2011 I still cannot believe I'm in!!! Enjoy!! Choux (who is now off to design again!!)

Oh my.... OH MY!!!  Can you believe it has been almost 2 1/2 months since my last post??  I can't!   So much has happened since then, that I thought I best fill you in. The Spirit of Hope was a very well received piece of work by all who bought tickets.  It raised almost $1700 and the winner was a lady from my little town who happens to be a cancer survivor too!  How fitting a quilt for her to receive; I was just so happy for her and she sent me a lovely thank you note stating she hasn't had anything so nicely made before.  (big grin here!!) I thank each and every one of you who bought tickets for The Spirit of Hope. My sister made this cake for the event and was very much liked by all.  It was 24" x 24".     I had given her a picture of the Spirit of Hope  which she had laminated, as she was unable to get an edible transfer.  What an ingenious idea!!  Didn't she do a great job?? I then went to Toronto for a weekend with a good friend to the Creativ Festival 

The day of revealing "The Quilt" is now over for those following me on Facebook, and I made it but just barely though!  The quilt it now all bound and looks wonder, if I do say so! You  maybe wondering if there is any meaning/story behind this quilt I have been working so hard on for the past two weeks, and actually there is a lot of meaning in it.  Some things came to me as I went along; somethings with a whole of meaning.  You best go get a coffee/adult beverage - go head... I'll wait for you! On June 3rd, our little town hosts a Relay for Life, where we walk for 12 hours (7pm - 7am) as a fund raiser for Cancer (see here for more info http://convio.cancer.ca/site/TR?fr_id=8672&pg=entry ) Did you know there were this many ribbons? Why is this quilt so scrappy?  A saying in a quilters world is, "if life hands your scraps - make a quilt", but that is not the reason LOL   Many of you remember I was trying to bust my scraps (as well as working on UFO

OH my, oh my!  Last blog had me deliberating on all those pieces.  Well I did veto the idea of 1128 pieces I tell you.  And super FAST too.   I am just starting to get back to normal since my last post, as after the flu/chest cold I battled almost a week of vertigo!  Upon reading about vertigo, it says it could happen after the onset of a bad cold ... well dahhh!   I do believe I get this every single time I am going to "get" a head cold.  See, I get the symptoms of a cold... but the cold doesn't surface.  When that happens, Mr. V decides to pay me a visit.  But I kicked the little bugger to the curb, at least for now.  I know he will come back just like a bad case of ... well I don't know what, but he will be back.  Until then - I play catch-up!! Part of center panel How's the quilt coming along??   I wish I could say it was blowing in the wind gathering up the fresh spring air, but it isn't yet.  The fund raiser quilt is coming along "okay", b

With one quilt done there is now another in the balance just waiting to be started....no finished.  I have started it and wouldn't you know it?  A flu/cold sets in.  Not now I say... I have work to do!  Alas I have to fight it off, but it's not an easy fight this time.  Guess I have to start going outside whether I like it or not.   You see, I really am a hermit....really!  I love to be outside, but I don't like to initiate the mobility that brings me out there!  And I do love being outside (without the bugs of course!) and when you get me out there (playing) it is hard to get me to come back in!  Weird huh?   Actually if there are any nurses/doctors reading I'm sure it must be come kind of phobia - it has to be right?  Friends keep telling me to just go out and sit on the deck.... poke your head out your window for a few minutes everyday.  Well last night we had dinner with our dear daughter and when her father-in-law heard I was sick (again) he says to me "you h

How did we get to the middle of March already??  I know I must have missed some days, even weeks somewhere along the way!  Oh well.... guess I have to work with what time I have, right? I speak of time as it is now 3 1/2 months to the end of June and yes that is my deadline to have finished 50 UFO's.  And will I make it??  "Time" will tell.  I was at 18 in December and have since did more, but I haven't added them to my list.  Guessing I will have to do that soon before I forget what they are...now wouldn't that be a bummer.  To miss one or two in the count and think I fall short of my goal if I did forget them!  Yikes!!  Something for this weekends "To-Do" list.   With my quilt guild having a UFO challenge, I have been lucky to complete at least 4 each month - Yeaaaa me!  But this month I may not get them all done.  I got a nasty flu/cold on the 11th and it is hanging on tight.  But I'm still going to try!!  Another project was to make a quilt to

Snappin' Blue Bells of Scotland!  February is almost over???  Can you believe it?   Behind all this is my sewing room! Believe me - that space is NOT that big to get through!! I'm sure I have been busy but at what I'm not so sure of.  There was some sewing...yes; and some knitting - okay but what else?   Oh right!! Renovations!  Seems hubby wanted the floor in the basement done and once he started there was no turning back for him.   The door to my sewing room has been blocked for 2 1/2 weeks so I haven't been working down there at all.  Moved one of my machines upstairs on the kitchen table and there is has sat all this time.  Kitchen is in shambles, but tomorrow that will all start changing.   Phew...I thought these reno's would never end!  Today I moved out a few of the boxes and totes; sorted and organized and actually threw "some" things away!!  It is a start!! In Oct there was a fundraiser here in our little town and I made a signature qu

Well you all know by now, that I'm on a mission to bust some UFO's this year and for the life of me I cannot get on the band wagon to do so!!   Try as I might, I just cannot pull one out and finish it.  Any ideas on what I can do? Actually, I'm thinking that it is due to the "winter blues" and we are not talking color here!  I need lots of sunshine even if I am in a sewing room with no windows and don't see it.  I just have to know it's there if I need it and we have only just started getting some of that beautiful stuff, so here's to hoping the energy level returns. Last Wednesday I went to sew with a couple of great friends and did manage to take out a UFO and got it half  done, so there could be hope for me yet...maybe??  We are now back to meeting each month so that will be my UFO time.  Yes, yes, I know!  I need way more time than one day a month to work on the UFO's and I will start to make the time ... as soon as I find my energy again.  Y