Wonkaholic and Blogiversary #1 Giveaway

January 2013 is almost over and I have a few things to catch up here.  A finish, a big win, and a celebration giveaway!

My Wonky Log Cabin quilt, a former UFO, is finished.  I call it "Wonkaholic" because this quilt only came about because of my addiction to making blocks for The Hurricane Sandy Quilt Drive over at Quilting Gallery.  The tutorial for making the blocks is here.  Watch out, making the block is addictive.  It measures 54" x 66".  The quilting was inspired by a post from Crazy Mom Quilts. 

Wonkaholic a wonky log cabin quilt

I finished the binding today, sewing between clients and while color processed at work.  I knew I would run out of day light before I could take my usual pictures at home, so these pictures were taken at the salon.  My co-workers think I'm nuts.  Their input was that the back was as pretty as the front.  Too bad the back is a cheater...lol  Now I can join the party at A Lovely Year of Finishes 2013 for January.

Wonkaholic

Wonkaholic back

Wonkaholic close up of quilting

January is the month of my Blogiversary!  I have had so much fun blogging and can hardly believe it's been a year.  Jennifer over at Glinda Quilts celebrated hers recently and I was the winner of her giveaway.  Look at what arrived in my mailbox this week.  What a great package - complete with a pants bag she made just for me with a label inside.  I will cherish this from my new blogging friend.  She has way better pictures of my bag here.  Thank you, Jennifer!


A beautiful pants bag, and lots of fabric and goodies

Giveaway
 

I'm giving away a Moda Jelly Roll in honor of my Blogiversary.  It is Good Morning by Me & My Sister Designs. 


It's sealed in plastic and I wanted to leave it that way for the new owner.  Not good for the picture though...

To enter my random drawing:

1. Leave a comment below
2. If you are a new or old follower, leave a comment and tell me you are

That's 2 sweet chances to win! Anyone can enter, but be sure I can get in contact with you (e-mail, google, etc.) if you are the winner. Entries close February 8th at 11 pm central. Winner will be announced by Monday February 11th.

 UPDATE:  Giveaway is over, but stay tuned for more...

 

 

I have one day of rest then on to a new UFO for February,

 

 

Linking up with:

 

 

Richard and Tanya Quilts

Crazy Mom Quilts

 

Blog Hop Party Giveaway

If you are here because of the Birthday Blog Hop Party at Quilting Gallery, WELCOME! This is where I share my quilting, crafting, and recipe adventures. 

I am happy to be participating in the 5th Birthday Celebration of Quilting Gallery.  Thank you Michele for organizing this blog hop and congratulations to you!

 

 

My latest project was inspired by The Quilting Gallery's Quilts for Sandy Block Drive.   The drive is ongoing and you can still get in on helping to send quilts to the victims of that awful storm.   I made 4 blocks for the drive and had so much fun with the wonky log cabin blocks, I decided to make a quilt of them for a family dirty Santa gift exchange.  Since it's scrappy, it will fit with the price limit and will be a fun gift.   I used the Quilting Gallery's Wonky Scrappy Log Cabin Tutorial 

to make the quilt top.

 

Giveaway:

 

For the Blog Hop Party, I'm giving away a fabric stash builder of 6 fat quarters. 

 

 

 

To enter my random drawing:

1. Leave a comment below about how you will use this sweet bundle
2. If you are a new or old follower, leave a comment and tell me you are

 

That's 2 sweet chances to win!  Anyone can enter, but be sure I can get in contact with you (e-mail, google, etc.) if you are the winner.  Entries close December 15th at 11 pm eastern. Winner will be announced by Monday December 17th. 

 

There are over 150 bloggers participating in giveaways over at Quilting Gallery's Blog Hop Party so go hopping. 

 

December is a month of giving,

 

 

 

 



How Do You Give?

Did you know 25,000 people die a day from hunger?  What about 6 million children a year? 

Yesterday I hung out with over 1000 people in my community packaging meals to send to Africa.  This is the third year my family has participated in this event with the encouragement from my mother-in-law, who has headed up this local effort. 


Here is a bit of an article I found on Numana's web site about my husband's mom, Norma Henton:

"It’s the legacy of the Wild West; strong, independent, salt-of-the-earth characters with a rugged edge. Banding together to feed the hungry overseas doesn’t naturally fit this oft-perceived profile and yet this Western Kansas community of 25,000 has challenged all the stereotypes.

The story begins with a regular lady on a regular Sunday visiting a church far way from home in Kansas City, MO. While there, Norma Henton heard of an organization called Numana and their dedication to “save the starving” and provide opportunities for hundreds of thousands of people across the U.S. to participate in the process. Currently, over 22.5 MILLION meals have been hand-packaged by volunteers and sent oversees to places where the need for food is greatest. Norma was captivated by what she heard and she bravely contemplated whether she could do this in her hometown.

 

Back home in Dodge City, she couldn’t shake the images and the desire to be a part of this new “movement” called Numana. But she was just one person, a former kindergarten teacher and grandmother. The idea gnawed at her. Finally, she gave in and placed a call to Numana to learn how to host an event in Dodge City. As Norma says, she quickly learned that it only “takes a spark to start a fire".”

 

Click here to read the rest of this article.

Yesterday we packaged over 216,000 meals to send to the starving.  It took a whole day with over 1000 people, but the experience is one of those "warm and fuzzy feeling inside" kind of things that you just need to do.  You don't just get together with friends and make meals to send.  Someone has to raise the funds to make it happen.  My mother-in-law, along with her committee, raised over 50,000 dollars this year to buy the materials necessary to package the meals.  She's pretty amazing.  She's a quilter too! 

For more statistics or information about Numana, check the web site.

 

I just wanted to share her story and inspire others to give.  I have signed up for a project to make quilts for the people of Hurricane Sandy.

 

Please give of your time or money.

Helping others is the best thing you can do.
And to the Veterans that have given more than I ever can, Thank you!

 

 

Happy Halloween, Hoohoo Made the Corn?

Finally something done on time...  A Halloween table topper quilt.  I call it "Hoohoo Made the Corn?"

Halloween Quilt

The quilt was completely designed by me, one block at a time. Some of the blocks are pieced, some are appliqued, and some have a little of both. The spider web is free motion stitching and the spider was made with one of the stitches on my Janome MC6600. I had so much fun creating.

 

Appliqued Owl and Pieced Candy Corn

 

The first block I put together for this quilt was the Candy Corn block.  I couldn't wait to use my new 60 degree triangle ruler on something.   Candy corn seemed to be the perfect answer.  I sewed the strips together and used my ruler and a rotary cutter to make the triangle pieces.  The black fabric around the corn was cut in the same matter.  Yep, it says BOO!

Stitched Spider and Web

 

Witch's Hat Pieced and Appliqued

 

The perfect size for my table at 24" x 24".

Appliqued Cat in front of a Pieced Moon

 

I didn't have any Halloween fabric in my stash, so I stopped to buy something for the binding.  That's when I found the candy corn fabric (Trick of Treat by Deb Strain, Moda) for the binding and realized I had the colors for the candy corn all wrong on the first block.....

I've been eating candy corn my whole life and I couldn't get the colors right?  Yellow on bottom, orange in the middle, and a small bit of white on top.  Boy, did I get THAT wrong. I love the quilt anyway.

Puffy goodness on back

I free motion quilted on this one.  I used extra lofty batting to get lots of puffy goodness.

 

I have been haunted by candy corn since I made this quilt.  Today I had a gift of a candy corn sucker left on my station at work by a friend and a client had this cute napkin to show me this afternoon.  I will never forget the color order of candy corn again.  I promise... hehe.

I hope you have a happy and safe Halloween,

Linking up with:

Sew Darn Crafty