winner!

Danse De La Fleur is the winner!
The random integer was chosen using
http://andrew.hedges.name/experiments/random/original.html. I carefully counted (3 times!) the comments adding in 1 for someone who tweeted about the giveaway but didn't comment twice and subtracting for my own comment which doesn't count ; )
This was super fun for me so I want to thank all of you who dropped in and entered. I met lots of new blogger friends and received some great feedback about my beloved 1st quilt so this was a treat for me as well as for my giveaway winner!

giveaway!

***GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED ***

I mentioned in a previous post that I would host a giveaway this week...so let's get that going! To celebrate the completion of my 1st quilt (http://amuse4me.blogspot.com/2010/05/its-official.html) I am giving one lucky Amy Butler lover a whole bunch of awesome bits of fabric! Over the past few years I have collected many, many prints from pretty much every line she's created prior to the Love collection. The winner will receive 45 different fabrics ranging in size from 5"-10" squares. Look at my quilt to see some of the fabrics...I didn't even use all of the prints that I have...should have planned a larger quilt!
If you would like to get in on this fun giveaway simply leave me a comment telling me what your favorite Amy Butler print is. If you feel like tweeting or mentioning my giveaway in your blog you can enter twice! Just leave a 2nd comment letting me know that you helped spread the word...the more the merrier : ) The winner will be drawn by some random to-be-determined method in...oh let's say 10 days which will be May 22nd. Be sure I can contact you or just check back here some time after that date...I'll post the winner's name.
Thanks for stopping by and playing!

accomplished

It's official...I.am.a.quilter!


It's quite an accomplishment, though I feel a little embarrassed at how excited I am. My first completed quilt...yay!


Finally doing something in my sewing studio that will benefit my family...gotta keep my peeps warm and cozy!


This project was such a delight and I'm pretty pumped with the way she turned out...perfectly crinkled goodness! Showcasing Amy Butler prints from several collections, stunning gray Kona sashing, backed in Moda Bella white...joyful! I went with diagonal lines for the quilting with 3" between the lines...luckily I liked the way 3" spacing looked since that's the width of the only sewing ruler I have thus far. Of course I used my trusty walking foot for the quilting and easily followed along my lines of disappearing purple ink.
























2 bits of wisdom I can offer the 1st time quilter:

• tape all the layers down on the kitchen floor and then safety-pin it until you can barely see any fabric between the pins. You'll know you've done enough taping and pinning when your legs, hips, and back feel like they're on fire.

• only draw a few lines of disappearing ink at a time...you know why?

To celebrate the completion of my 1st quilt I will be hosting a little giveaway this week. If you or someone you know loves Amy Butler fabric designs you just might want in on this...details later.





















Now I'm off to get cozy with my gorgeous quilt on this blustery Mother's Day...hubby took the ducklings out for frozen yogurt so it's just me and my beloved quilt!
Have a super blessed Mother's Day friends!

sunday stash

Joel Dewberry's Modern Meadow...















I won these beauties during "Quiltdad" John's blogaversary celebration ~ still shocked that I won considering the number of entries : ) These prints are so lovely and I cannot wait to come up with the perfect project for them!

yesterday

It's a new day and, if you read yesterday's post, you know I'm hoping for a little less drama than the craziness yesterday morning brought. My son is still not well, but haven't seen him this morning so we shall see. So after that PITA morning (the day continued along those lines though in a less dramatic fashion) I was slightly shocked (almost had an out-of-body-experience) when I found out something wonderful. There's this very unused email account I have and I had forgotten that it was linked to this blog. So out of the blue, after having ignored it for a few months, I realized that I should go check that email. Was that God putting that random thought in my head? hmmmmm.... I logged in (took 5 tries cause I couldn't remember the password) and there was the sunshine of my dark day (yes, I'm a little dramatic). I was the 1st of 16 winners in John's giveaway!
un.be.lieveable. And my prize....a FQ set from Joel Dewberry's Modern Meadow...woooohoooo! See photo above and drool with me ; ) ~photo courtesy of John's blog~
*I read all comments and savor them...if you left one, thank you...I'll be saying hello to you soon : )

craziness

oh.em.gee....this day is wearing me out and I'm only 1/8th of the way through it : ( here's a brief venting session followed by quilty good tidings. Okay, not feeling great this week...could be worse and seems to be improving so there's that. This week is ca-razy at school for the kids...teacher appreciation week, 4th grade program, CRT testing...there's some pressure involved with these things. Today is bring-your-teacher's-favorite-flower-to-school day and I left the flowers at home (of course). So we rushed home got the flowers...whew! Then there is the ongoing saga of my 10 year-old's health...today, so far, is not a "feelin' good" day for him...and of course not since it's CRT today. I should stop there and quit being a whiner, but I won't. It gets even better. So I'm trying to get the preschooler across town on time (running a little late due to the forgetting of the flowers and having to run home and get them) and OF COURSE here comes a freakin' train. So I sit there and sit there and the stress level is starting to go up and up. Off we go and I think I really need to figure out how to work the cruise control because with this mood I can see that I have quite a challenge to stay at the speed limit and that's exactly when I see him...the police car hiding over there on the side of the road. And so OF COURSE I was going 60 in a 50 and here Officer comes with the lights on and I start crying and Sam is starting to worry about the whole ordeal so he starts crying. Now let me say, I am not normally a cryer but it was just too much in a 30 minute period of time for me to roll with it without tears. By the time Officer got to my window I could barely speak (okay, as I write this I'm starting to laugh at my pathetic self). Poor Sam, I was trying to tell him it really isn't that big of a deal. On the bright side, Officer just gave me a warning and asked me very gently to please slow down. Sam and I headed back home...he just was not up for school after that. He announced that if they do "good news, bad news" at school tomorrow he "definitely knows what he's gonna tell for the bad news" LOL! Hey, I'm good material if nothing else ; )
If you read all that, thank you...you are too kind.















Now for the happier part of this post...I have my Amy Butler little log cabin quilt ready to sandwich...wooohoooo! I'm loving it so far and hope I don't botch things up when I start quilting. Getting ready to go mop the kitchen floor as that is wear the assembly will be taking place. Surely I can handle the quilting part of this one (unlike the huge one for Sarah that I had to set aside for the time being) since I'm just doing straight lines. Wish me luck! Oh, and stay tuned cause when this little beauty is finished I will be hosting a nice giveaway for ya'll : )