January Winter Special!

HAPPY NEW YEAR my quilter friends!
For January, I am offering a wintery special over on my website so pop over and choose your free design!

These two sweet little designs are now discontinued so the sale will expire January 31st or when supplies run out.

On the left is Bloomsicle.  This was a fun little abstract winter bloom designed in EQ5. It is a 24" Wall Hang so it goes together very quickly.

On the right is Penguin Olympics.  This is a Hawaiian-style applique table runner done in fusible and measures 36" x 16".

There are lots of patterns to choose from on the website and once your order comes through, I will contact you via the email you have given to hear your choice:)
Robin 

HAPPY 2013!

My wish for 2013 is that we all find a measure of happiness in it. Whether it be with your family or through your work or taking up a new hobby, life is way too short to not BE happy and it is your choice to do so.

Tardis in Kaleidoscope

 I spent my holidays watching Dr Who mini marathons with my family and starting Downton Abbey with my daughter.  Happiness, to me, comes in many forms; but one of the most enjoyable, is tv viewing with stitch work in my hands.  I kept busy with fun new stitch patterns for this coming year:)

On Christmas Eve we walked around our town's pond where hundreds of luminaries had been lit with messages for family and friends.  We even found one for our Coasties.  It is a beautiful tradition that is enjoyed by many in the town.  Let's keep them in our thoughts all year long!

NoveDecember...A new month (?) plus A POOKA

This has been the longest and shortest month and a half ever!!  I am going as fast as I can but not feeling like I am gaining ground. Do you ever feel that?

Top that off with living in Florida where the temperature and surroundings make it a bit difficult for me to get into the Christmas spirit.  All of a sudden it is 11 days 'til Christmas but the thermometer hasn't changed and it feels like a practical joke.....

I don't have all the days filled in yet but it is just a matter of time!
11 Days 'til Christmas
10 Movies choices
9   Dinners to plan
8
7
6   More gifts to wrap
5   Rooms to clean
4   Packages to mail
3   Quilts to hang
2
And a Pooka in the artificial tree.......

Here is POOKA. She is the other reason my world is a blur right now.  Most of you know that my Juni went to live with my older daughter this summer when she moved to a pet friendly apartment.
We were going to travel, etc. and we did take a wonderful trip this fall.  Mostly though, we are home bodies and I work at home so I missed someone to talk to.  Enter Miss Thing.  Jim says he has "always wanted one"....one what?  She is a soft-coated Wheaton Terrier and that face just melts you.

 PLEEEEEEEZE- just one ice cube!!!

Jim wanted to name her Crumpet but I wasn't in love with that.  I wanted Buttons (for my quilting) but he didn't love that.  This breed originates from Ireland and we looked for a Gaelic name.  Pooka in Gaelic means 'Mischievious Sprite'...Boy is that dead on!!  When our daughter met her, she told me we should have named her Fizzgig and I completely agreed but we couldn't talk Jim into it!!

Those familiar with this movie will completely agree too:)

Here she just looks like a teddy bear! We are completely hooked and in love even though our lives have been turned upside down.

So the tree may or may not go up this year.....

Remember the Steelers pillows I said I made for my daughter...here they are.  I thought I had shown a picture previously but didn't find it.  They turned out great.  For the Steelers lovers in your life, the cathedral window works perfectly!!

The pictures above and below are small 14" table mats that I made for the guild Christmas party as door prizes.  I used the Poinsettia from my Coastal Christmas to center onto an 8-1/2" center square and added a small border.  Then a friend had made me some embroidery blocks using Loralie Designs.  I was able to trim the extra, squeak in a sliver of red, and add the extra black back on for a cute little mat.

Lastly, I shrunk down my Jingle Penguin so that he was an adorable little mini that fit into a 4x6 frame opening.  Too cute!  I may have to make a few more of him!

This is a fat quarter bundle I treated myself to....Basic Grey's Jovial for MODA.  Not my usual Christmas color pallette but it just looked so yummy.  Now to decide what to make myself!! 

In case I don't get back here for awhile,
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
Thank you for following my journey!
Robin

PS:  Don't forget to visit all the other creatives over on Nina's OFF THE WALL Friday

Quiltmaker 100 Block blog WINNERS!

Congratulations to Debbie Trail who won a free copy of the magazine from Quiltmaker.

Congratulations also go out to VWLady and Shar who won NESTLINGS patterns of their choice.

 Las Flores de Amigas

Butterfly Cabin

The patterns chosen were Las Flores de Amigas and Butterfly Cabin, both of which can be found on my website along with lots of other fun designs.
I was pleased and surprised by the choices of patterns in the comments.  Patterns that are some of my absolute favorites were overlooked and vice versa:)  Admittedly the above two are in my favorites category, so Thank You!

Hopefully those of you who didn't win today will purchase your favorite pattern anyway as a gift to yourself.  Enjoy the magazine when it comes out and stay in touch!
Robin

Off the Wall Friday

Here we are again at another week gone by....I missed last week's Off the Wall and will make up for it today:)

 

If you go to this post, you will see the before pictures of the above earrings.  Although they didn't quite keep the shape I was hoping for, they are pretty cool if I do say so myself!!

Now time to figure out some new stuff????  I am still struggling to figure out what to do and how it may look when done.  Have I told you how much I really like my fabric!  The above photo is of a couple of small dishes...the top one being floral and the next one being abstract (NOT my strong suit!).  The bottom bits will melt into blobs like button candy....mmmmm candy:)

This photo shows the before of a small dish and some more earrings.  I am really excited about these!

 

What else have I been up to?  Well my Tropical Flags block came out in Volume 6 of Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks.  It will be out on shelves next week.  So the blog hop was this week and today I get to pick winners and tell them the good news....So Fun!!

Now we are back to quilting, where I belong:)))

A few weeks back I showed the Cathedral Windows for the Pittsburgh Steelers pillows for my younger daughter.  This is the Gerber Daisy quilt for my older daughter.  She is a math nut and opted for a more contemporary geometric background.  Her favorite flowers are Gerber Daisies though so this will go beautifully in her living room.

Lastly we have the Rose quilt.  One of our talented guild members demonstrated a method of quilt as you go for hand quilting.  I don't know why it has taken me so long to attempt this, but I finally did.  I altered her method for my machine quilting since I didn't want to have to go back and add all the strips to cover my seams on the back of the quilt.  I can definately see the benefit of this but I needed to think the borders through a bit more since I really didn't want the red inner border to go all the way to the edge that way.  This piece is very small, maybe 22" square so a larger quilt would definately be more challenging but worth the effort.

Now if I have wet your appetite for more show and tell, make sure you pop over to Off the Wall Friday and follow the links at the bottom of the post:)
Have a great weekend!

Quiltmaker's Blog Tour

Hello Quiltmaker fans!  Today is day 3 of Quiltmaker's Blog tour to launch Volume 6 of the very popular 100 Blocks.  Welcome and let's talk about my block, Tropical Flags!

 

It is an honor every single time to be included among so many wonderful designers, some I call friend as well.  This time I worked out of my normal color pallette and kept with the paper piecing...it is just too much fun.

Tropical Flags Block #522 on page 28

If you go to town and make all the above blocks, you get a really nice size quilt (48 x 60) even before borders.  I also really like the secondary pinwheels.

Want a bit more bang for your buck?  Try breaking the block apart and alternating the quadrants with other blocks.  In this variation, I used half square triangles.

 

Put a bunch together for this variation.  With 12" blocks, you will have a 48" square wall hang in no time.

 

I have so many ideas once I get going on one of these designs because the possibilities are endless.  Have some fun with the design and send a picture when you finish:)

 

Now for the giveaways-

Giveaway #1

1.  Visit my website.

2.  Come back here and mention which of my patterns is your favorite in your blog comment for a chance to win it. 

3.  I will draw a random number from the comments left on the blog so make sure I have a way of contacting you.

 

Giveaway #2

Two lucky commentors will have a chance to win a copy of 100 Blocks Volume 6 by random number from all the blog comments.

 

Plus you will want to visit Quiltmaker's blog for a chance to win more fun prizes from them.  You will also find a complete list of all the participating designers.

 

 

 

100 BLOCKS, Volume 6 IS HERE!

My advance copy arrived yesterday and again I feel honored to be among so many talented designers!  Next week the blog hop starts and I look forward to chatting with you all again...My day is Wednesday, Nov 7th.  You will be able to find the links to all the hop participants here, plus comment for chances to win wonderful prizes.
SEE YOU NEXT WEEK!
Robin