Kids are funny.

Some stuff (creative title, I know)

I have a few various things to share.

1)  You may have noticed a fantastic picture of Tom Selleck over on the right side of my blog ---->
No, not me.  Scroll down.  Well, I'm pretty excited that Tom is announcing my participation in my very first quilting bee!  If I did it right, when you click on Tom, it takes you to our Flickr group.  We have the mustachioed Tom as our mascot because it is the Mo-Stash Bee, meaning we will use fabric from our own stash.  There are 6 people, including myself, in my group and we will each make 2 blocks for each person for 6 months.  I'm first up in January (eeep!), which means I need to choose a block for my hive mates to make and a color scheme.  I'm neck deep in craft show plans now, so I'll have to ponder that one later.

2)  We had our holiday meeting for the Des Moines Modern Quilt Guild last night.  The new guild leadership had a meeting on Tuesday, too and I'm excited about all the plans and ideas that we have for the group.  Some things coming up are:  a challenge, using Madrona Fabric.  (free fabric!), a sewing day in January, making placemats for Meals on Wheels, a quilt show in Ames, and some other things in the works.
We had a gift exchange last night and I made a little tree pillow and added one of my chapstick cozies, too.  I didn't take a picture of the pillow!  I'm sure someone else did, so I'll add that once it's available.  Jill got my pillow and chapstick cozy and at first I received the really cool Christmas tote that she made. We allowed steals in the gift exchange and I knew as soon as I opened it that it was going to be stolen.  I had briefly pondered how I might use the tote (to carry gifts, to use as a gift bag-but I'd want it back!, somehow decorate with it?) and sure enough it was stolen.  Ah, well.  That's the game.  So then I picked up Leila's gift bag and it was this pillow:

The trees and borders are all selvedges!  I really like it.  Leila did a wonderful job.  As usual.


Okay, off to accomplish things!

Exciting times!

Well, I had intended to post a WIP Wednesday, but I got home kind of late last night from a meeting and then woke up feeling pretty yuck, so I just stayed in bed and watched old Psych episodes for half the day. :)  But I have responsibilities, so I got myself up, finished the rest of my chapstick cozies, made 10 pounds of mashed potatoes, and a big pan of green bean casserole.  I'm still feeling pretty yuck, but I'm cheered up by two recent things.

1)  I have business cards!

Okay, you might be able to see my etsy store information on there and you can visit if you like, but I kind of have to ask you not to buy anything until after December 1st for a couple of reasons.  A) Most of my stuff is at our mock booth set up at Crystal's house.  She lives an hour away from me.  It's a bit tricky to get those things and mail them out in a reasonable amount of time.  B)  I need inventory for my sale on December 1st.  If you see something you would like, send me a message.  I might be able to make another one for you or I might be able to hold something aside for you.  We'll work something out. 

2) I made my first Etsy sale!

Yay!  I'm making money!  It's a good thing I'm already headed to Des Moines tomorrow because I'll need to stop at Crystal's to pick up the item.  So I am glad I made a sale, but I do hope that I don't have too many more before the craft show.  I guess if I do, I'll just have to kick it into high gear and crank out some more items.  All made with love, of course.  :) 

Technique and/or Tool Tuesday

When I married my husband I got a really good deal.  For starters, he's a wonderful guy and my best friend.  I love being married to him.  But not only that, I got lots of extras.  I have in-laws that I genuinely really like.  I mentioned before that my mother-in-law was the one who got me started quilting.  My father-in-law is a pretty great guy, too.  I also got a brother-in-law and I'm particularly happy that I got a really cool sister-in-law, nieces, and a nephew in the deal.  My sister-in-law, Alex, made this quilt recently.

 Alex isn't on Flickr and she doesn't have a blog, so somebody had to share this lovely quilt with the world and say how great it is!  I love all the splashes of color.  She did swirly free-motion quilting all over.  I haven't really tried that yet, so that's how I'm tying this in with Technique and/or Tool Tuesday.  I sort of tried it once, but the thread tension was all off on my machine, so I gave up for a while, but I will do it!  I'm really impressed that she made this quilt while taking care of three children, her home, and all the while battling cancer.  Alex is an amazing person.  She is a delight to be around and loves God, her husband, and her children.  Love ya, Alex. :)

Lame excuses

Sometimes the Bible records things that people said and I find those things humorous.  For example, in Exodus 32, the people have escaped Egypt and Moses has been up on the mountain for a while.  Then they get the idea that they need to make a new god to go before them.  Aaron, who has been left in charge, tells the people to take off all their gold earrings and give them to him.  The text states clearly that he fashioned this gold with a graving tool and made it into a calf.  Then he built an altar to it.  Meanwhile, Moses is up on the mountain with God and God tells him to go down because the people are sinning...big time.  So he heads down, finds the people in the middle of a bunch of sin, and is furious.  He asks Aaron what the people did to him to cause him to bring such sin on them.  Aaron summarizes.  The line that really gets me is when he says "So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf." 
Really?  You really believe Moses is going to buy that one? Aaron's excuse is pretty lame.  And I find myself judging Aaron as if I've never made a lame excuse for my sin.  I excuse myself for anger, telling God that it was someone else's fault because they made me angry.  Lame.  I excuse myself for laziness, telling God that I needed a break.  Lame.  I make too many excuses.  I need to take a cue from David, who had a heart after God.  He sinned.  He sinned badly.  But when he was confronted with the sin, he didn't say "Well, she shouldn't have been taking a bath on her roof!"  or "Hey, sometimes war is hard and people die."  He admitted that he sinned and desired to be close to God again, following His ways.  I pray that I would be like David and take correction with wisdom and true repentance, asking God to forgive and give strength to obey Him. 

It's Saturday, so I'm going to post some things that make me smile or laugh.

via Threadless

 

Isn't he though?  This was a drawing submitted for a t-shirt at Threadless, but never chosen.  I think that's sad because I would wear this.  Yes, I'm aware I'm in my 30's.

I always follow this advice when I plan to sew.  :)

pretty things others have made

I'm going to borrow an idea from Jeni of In Color Order (also another really great blog I follow and she has her first fabric line coming out next year!) and show you some things I have made a favorite on Flickr lately.  I have not made any of these items, I'm just inspired by them.

PTS 9 front...finished!, 2. Untitled, 3. "Orange Animal Quilt", 4. inburst2, 5. Finished MSM Swap Pillow, 6. Low volume New York Beauty#7 done, 7. Button Box Quilt!, 8. Progress on Nicey Jane Bee Tweet quilt. Makes me so happy!, 9. PTS round 9, 10. Yeah this is WAY too cute not to carry around all day!!!! @trilliumdesign #pts #sewingsummit @sewingsummit, 11. Pillow Talk Swap 9 - idea # 2, 12. Little Orange Peel, 13. Echino Quilt, 14. Size Matters... ;), 15. PIF Gift for Bree and Old Red Barn Co. Quilt Challenge Throwdown finish, 16. Mini Quilt for my Swap Partner Salty Oat">

Some of modern quilting is so simple in design, like in picture #2, and some is pretty complicated, like in picture #9.  I love the creativity found in this group.  If you like any of these, feel free to click through on the links and let the person who made it know.  It's always encouraging to hear that other people like what you have worked hard to think up and create.