shameless plug

hiyall, I was on face book and befriended Aurifil Threads. they are running a contest sort of called 'name that variegated thread'. I named (among hundreds of other people) a spool variegated green "Shamrock Spring'. I was of three chosen for the name. Shamrock Spring is up for voting. If and when I win I will win a collection of variegated threads for my stash. Please vote for me, you will be my bestest friend! http://www.facebook.com/?ref=hp#!/aurifil.quilt.thread Keep On Stitch'n On! (mauh) Liz Editors note! I didnt win :( Shamrock Spring lost by 2 friggin'votes! 2 votes! yeeesshhhhh.......good news is, unbeknownst to me, another varigated thread that I submitted a name to was also put up for a vote AND I WON!!!!!!!!! I won 36 spools of varigated thread from Aurifil!!! woohoooo! this thread is 50 wt and Im told it great for machine quilting. what color was the winning name? a spool of varigated blue, I called it Storm at Sea. it reminded me of the imfamous quilt pattern in blue and white that was all the rage several years ago. When I get my hot, sweaty dingbat hands on those spools, there will be a giveaway on this blog! Thanks to all who voted for shamrock springs! (mauh) Liz

quickie tutorial

hiyall, How is the weather in your neck of the woods today? Mine is cold wet and nasty! A little further north there is SNOW! Snow? in late March??? Oh yeah, the Circus is coming to town, of course there is snow (snicker-snort). Never fails.....Circus = Snow...... My bones are aching with all this dampness. Time to drag out the ol' heating pad. Of course I have lost the heating pad cover somewhere. I think I went to wash it and it poofed. No worries, I will make a new cover. My tutorial today is about how to make a quick and easy, cheap cover for your heating pad.

This is heating pad, nekked as a jay bird. It has a plastic cover and

could make me sweat if I use it without a cloth cover.

Off to the dollar store to get a nice 100% cotton

tea towel. This one is in my favorite color, RED,

with pretty color threads running thru it. Its

approx. 20'' x 28'' Perfect size to cover the heating pad.

Looked into my stash of notions and found some Velcro.

Fold towel in half, place heating pad on top.

Trim to fit your pad. Make the cover oversize so when

you go to wash it, it wont shrink too small.

Of course you can prewash it to preshrink too.

Hem the top of the towel if you need too. I didn't have to on

this one because it was just the right size with a little

shrinking room. One less step for me to do.

Evenly space your Velcro and stitch in place.

Stitch up the sides with a 1/4 in seam allowance and zig zag

to finish off the seams. If you have a serger this step will go

faster. Turn inside out and slip over the heating pad.

taaadaaaaa! A new heating pad cover and it cost you less

than a $1.50 to make! Of course you can make a fancy one

by making a mini quilt and do some fancy machine

quilting on it. For me it would make it too thick

and I would not feel the heat. This one is thick enough to

protect my skin, but thin enough for me to enjoy

the heat. I like it! Took less than 20 mins to make

it and get it on the heating pad! I am thinking this

would make cute little sneaky gift. You know, go to a friends house

and leave a little gift without their knowledge and they

find it and wonder where it came from........

Keep On Stitch'n On!

(mauh) Liz

One Star Challenge

hiyall,

I actually got to sew this weekend! I am partipating in the Just One Star Challenge being promoted by United Notions/Moda Fabrics. I made 3, one for granpa(army), one for dad (navy)

and one for the unknown solider. I got the info and instructions from here:

http://minickandsimpson.blogspot.com/2011/03/just-one-star-tutorial.html

I encourage all of yall to join this challenge, let show our military folks we appreciate their service and honor our wounded men and women!

Keep On Stitch'n On!

(mauh) Liz

give away at Barbs!

hiyall,

I was doing some blog surfing and was reading one of my favorite blogs http://bejeweledquilts.blogspot.com/

Barb is having a give away on some iddy biddy bird buttons from South Africa that are so stinkin' cute! Please go to her blog and read all about it!

Keep On Stitch'n On!
(mauh) Liz

P.S. The Sarcastic Quilter is having a giveaway too! please go to her blog and check it out too!
http://sarcasticquilter.blogspot.com/

its yummy turnover, cute cute cute!

dont pay the ransome! I have escaped!

hiyall,

I know it been almost 2 months since my last post but stinkin' life got into my way.

First thing that happen was a dead battery. During the snow storm right after xmas, I was kinda house bound and didnt run the car. the day I can go back to work I have a dead battery. Nephew and beloved monkey boy came to my rescue. Nephew bought the new battery and BMB and I changed it out. I printed out the instuction off the net and it wasnt that hard to do. As we were changing out the battery I discovered that I had a bad tire! Apprently when the car manufacturer tell you fill your tires according to the sticker on the door and not the tire they mean it! I was putting way to much air in them and ruined one of them. since they are fancy smancy low profile, it cost me big time.

The day I plan on doing a post about the battery and tire, a water pipe busted in my house. It was a mess, took almost 4 weeks for my house to get back in order. Good news is, I got new carpet! I chose a med to light gray. As you know gray is a hot neutral! I am please with my choice of color.

During the restoration, Abby the wonder dog found not one but 2 rats! She caught one in the house and right outside the door. grrrrrr. as we were packing up the house, she found a couple of dead country field mice near the fireplace. You figure that with all the ferral cats in my hood we would have the rodent problems!

The Mid Atlantic quilt festival was this weekend and I went 2 days out of the 4. we had a little bit of an controversy at this show. Apprently a few quilters were offended bu a wall quilt. Made the local news and went viral on the internet!

http://www.wavy.com/dpp/news/local_news/sexually-explicit-quilt-on-display

I saw this quilt, its not porn, its one of those high end artsy fartsy type of wall hanging. It textile art, I have seen worse. The construction was not the best, although I think it was meant to be that way. I took alot of pictures and posted them on my FaceBook page. here is a link, non facebook people can see them too by following this link.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/album.php?aid=368548&id=758713081

I didnt buy much, a few fat quarters, a graphite pencil for stenciling machine quilting patterns. There were more vendors this year but alot of the sme ol' stuff. I talked to some of the vendors and they did well. better than last year which is encouraging. many vendors dropped out because of the soft sales. which is a shame, they could have lasted one more year.

I made a cute little side purse to wear and use at the show. I like it so much I will make it out of different fabric for the occasions. I made this out of a jeans leg I had lying around. I put a long strap on it to wear across the body. I got alot of compliments on it.

I met 2 AOL quilting chatroomies! The ladies are a hoot. Its always nice to put faces to the screen names.


me, helen, carol

I also met up with a couple of blogging buddies, Lola and Alice.

http://ansewon.blogspot.com/

http://aliceinquilterland.blogspot.com/

Those 2 can pack a mean picnic. They invited me to join them along with Lola's niece. We had bagel samwiches, deli meat kabobs, devil eggs, and smack yo granma delish brownies and pecan bars. We sat there in the lobby and eat til we wanted to bust. We were laughing so hard people were staring....

yummy food!

I do declare Ms Lola, you are lookin' finer than frogs hair!



Ms Alice and Lola's Niece (who name escapes me) lickin' their fingers it was so good!

I will try to be a better blogger!

Keep On Stitch'n On!

(mauh) Liz