Before I started quilting I used to make crafts.......

bears, dolls, snowmen, Santa's, elves and just about anything that required fabric and thread...here are a few of my crafts..........I never made just one of any craft...they usually came in 3's...4's...or 5's...or even more!!

this is Annie. I own one and my 2 granddaughters each have one.....and you guessed it....I have 3 UFO's...some have the straight hair and some have yarn loops for hair.



this is Victoria. I've made three and yes three more UFO's.



this is Willard. I've made two and both have been gifted and you got it 2 more UFO's. This one has been a UFO for about 8 years....poor Willard, he does need his coat, scarf and pail of snowballs.



this collection of crafts were all made before I caught the quilting bug!

I also have a dear friend who is a Teddy Bear artist. I have a lot of her bears. I'll show more pictures in future posts. May even post a picture of the bears I've made...and a Teddy Bear artist I'm NOT. She designs her bears under the name Bren's Bears and is from Ontario. She taught me a lot about bear making...hope it all comes back to me when I get to those UFO's. I'm hoping I'll get to see her when we are back to Canada for Christmas.

.....love this bear.  His name is Tristan and he is 10 years old.



I would really like to finish some of my UFO's....I can't call them WIP's as the body parts have been in plastic bins for over 8 years

....sEw there you have it...I'm sorry to say I'm really really BAD at finishing a project before I start another one and I'm finding I'm the same with my quilts.  Do you finish a quilt before you start another?????

I have embroidered 36 snowmen blocks sEw far and have 4 more to embroider and I will have enough blocks to make 4 quilts.  There are 8 snowmen blocks in each quilt. This is quilt #1.  



#2 is just back from the quilters and the binding is almost finished.  I'll be making the 3rd one in the new year and a 4th one when I get the other 4 blocks stitched. 

The other 8 snowman blocks were a giveaway I had earlier in the month. They are now on their way to Karen in Australia.

My New Year's resolution is to......finish SOME of my UFO's...... and I've got LOTS .......
and to start quilting on my Gammill Classic.....wish me luck!

Hugs

Christmas is almost here.....

....and I'm almost ready....in the sewing department that is!

I've just the binding to stitch down on my Snowman quilt. This is the second one I've done. It is the 'Yellow Brick Road' pattern by Terry Atkinson. The blocks are sEw quick and easy...it's just the embroidery that takes the time.  I've got one more blue one to make but that will be in the new year.



....and just a few pictures of what I sewed before I started quilting.



....and a few more...and yes I made more than 1 moose in his robe and flannel boxers.





Wait till you read my next post and you will see how BAD I was....and still am!!
 

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL,

MAY 2011 BRING YOU GOOD HEALTH,

HAPPINESS, AND PEACE!

...and the WINNER is.....

To

everyone who entered my giveaway,

to all of you who became a follower

and to Sew Mama Sew for hosting the giveaway

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!

and now for the winner

Commenter #1

Karen said

Hi Pauline!
Great to see you in blogland again! This is a very generous give away. Yes, please, I would love to go into the draw. I love these snowman blocks. You have done beautiful work with the stitching.
I have been quilting for about 20 years and I still get frustrated with getting an exact quarter inch seam.

Karen, please send me your mailing address and I'll get it in the mail tomorrow.

Happy stitching
Pauline

Embroidery Giveaway

I am participating in Sew, Mama, Sew's Giveaway Day!!!!

My giveaway is......

.......a set of 8 hand embroidered blocks from the Bird Brain Design's 'Snowmen & Reindeer Blue Work Quilt' pattern.

They are 9 1/2" square blocks. The 'Yellow Brick Road' pattern by Terry Atkinson is a favorite of mine. I used the lap size instructions and added one 9-1/2" embroidered block to each row of the lap size quilt. The lucky winner could make a quilt similar to this or could make them into something completely different.



Here are the individual blocks that will go to a lucky winner....





To enter to win the embroidered blocks simply tell me

'how long you have been quilting' and

'what part of quilting do you least like to do? Is it borders.... binding.... backing etc?

I've been quilting about 9 years. I started January 2002. My least favorite part of quilting is 'adding borders'.

You do not have to become a follower but I would love it if you did follow me.....

Make sure you supply me with an e-mail address so I can contact you......

I will do the random draw on December 17 at 9 p.m. Eastern time.........

This giveaway is open to international bloggers.......and the winner will be drawn after 9:00 pm eastern time, December 17 and will receive an email on Saturday December 18.

I LOVE READING YOUR COMMENTS....they put a smile on my face but during this giveaway I will not be able to reply to the comments unless I can find some extra hours in my day...I still have shopping, sewing, wrapping, baking, cleaning, packing.... you name it I still have to do it before Christmas........I know you will all understand. If anyone can give me a few days with 36 hours I could really use them!!

Now click on my Sew Mama Sew button and check out all the other participants in Sew, Mama, Sew's Giveaway Day. Good Luck everyone!!!!!!!!!

Happy Holidays, good health and happiness in 2011!!
Pauline

Friday Night Sew IN FNSI......and a giveaway

My first Friday Night Sew In was FuN, fUn, FuN. Mama Spark came over as planned and we had our play date.  Our friend Cori (owner of Crazy Quilt Girl Quilt Shop) came for lunch and helped Mama Spark with a bit of unsewing.  Mama Spark was using one of my machines and they always say 'if you start a project try to use the same machine to finish it' as they may give different results.....oh yes they do ......so she had to do a bit of unsewing and Cori helped her with that tedious task that we all hate.....Cori is a sweetie....she came bearing gifts for both of us.....she surprised us both....she is a real sweetie!!!!

I stitched down binding on 2 of Mama Spark's cardinal wall hangings.....5 down and 3 to go....she took them home with her and she has them posted on her blog. Look HERE and read about her FNSI.

I still have 2 more to bind that are similar to this one and a Merry and Bright hanging to bind. Mama Spark said I could pick one.....any one I wanted for me to keep. Which one do you like best?

Here is Merry and Bright.

I also finished these snowmen tea towels

and almost finished the pot holders. Just the binding to do on one. The pot holders were purchased at IKEA. I unsewed the binding and then stitched the red binding on and I like them better. It would have been easier to make my pot holders from scratch. Two of the tea towels came from IKEA too. I'm glad that tea toweling is becoming more available by the yard...40+ years ago when I got married I made myself a set of 7 hand embroidered tea towels. Glad to see it is becoming popular again. I still have them.....and a few are :( looking and pretty thin but still not as thin as the new IKEA ones.

I was hoping to get a binding on a quilt...it is a beast.....I am procrastinating can you tell.....but I will be working on it tonight....promise.

Happy quilting......I'll be posting on Monday and you won't want to miss it!!!!!

Wins and a Giveaway is Coming!!!!!!!

OK....I have been a BAD BAD BLOGGER as it has been almost a month.  This is post #25 and I should be at #125.  First off....my DH is following me around with the Lysol whipes.  Hopefully that will change soon..... I have had enough of feeling crappy.   I've been reading and commenting on a lot of blogs so I have been in blogland just haven't posted on my blog....but if you have been following me you know that already.  There have been lots of giveaways in blogland and I've been a very lucky girl this week. Had a few bursts of energy and attempted to do the happy dance. On Monday I received a yummy win from Anne Sutton at  Bunny Hill Designs. I was the winner of this bit of sweetness. Lily and Will II....3 packs of 2 1/2" square and some taffy.

Then on Monday while sitting with my cuppa and reading my favorite bloggers I found out I was the winner of the Christmas Giveaway at Blue Bird Quilts. It is coming from Australia.....can hardly wait. It is a surprise Christmas gift.....and yes another win......Tuesday night I was reading blogs again and OMG!!!! a third win in one week.....YES I'm now GIDDY in Michigan and not feeling quite sEw crappy.  I won a $25.00 gift certificate on Michelle's blog L7 Quilt Co. The gift certificate is for Desperate Quilters which has an online site. They have some awesome deals!! At some point this week I'm going to buy myself a lottery ticket while I still have that horse shoe......you know where....

Tomorrow I'm having a play date with my BBF Mama Spark.  She is coming over for the day and we are going to sew...sew...sew. I've got my list and I'm hoping to cross a lot off before we drop. Our friend Cori, who is owner of a wonderful on-line shop called Crazy Quilt Girl Fabric Shop, is going to join us for lunch and may stay to do a bit of sewing. You can check out her shop HERE. She has wonderful prices and lots of Moda pre-cuts and yardage.

Mama Spark and I are participating in the FRIDAY NIGHT SEW IN...the button to join is on my sidebar. This is my first FNSI but Mama Spark has done it before.  I'm way older than she is but she is the one that always does it first.   No grass grows under that girls feet.  One good thing about being first....she then shows me how it is done..........I gotta love it.   We will be going to the gym at some point during the day........just for a break as we are trying to be good....our weigh-in is Saturday morning. At this point it's not looking too good for me....

I'm going to do a giveaway on Monday December 13.....I hinted about a giveaway in my last post...you know way...way back when.....can you guess what I'm thinking of giving to the lucky winner? Guess my giveaway and leave a comment on this post before Sunday Dec 12 at 6 p.m. Eastern time.  I'll post the prize on Monday Dec. 13 and if you're guess and the prize are the same you'll get an extra chance to win it....Comment again on the Dec 13 giveaway post and you have another chance to win.....2 chances in total.  You won't have to become a follower to win but  I would love it if you did.  Please make sure you have an e-mail address so I can contact you. No-reply e-mails make me SAD. The giveaway will be open to everyone. I try to reply to all comments so PLEASE please PLEASE make sure I have your e-mail.....

See you on Monday !!!!!!!!

Hugs