etsy SALE!

I've posted a couple of new items in my etsy shop this week, and I am so excited that they now have 

coupon codes!!

So to my wonderful WendyCity readers, I have a deal for you.

Anything in my shop is 10% off until December 15.

Just a special deal for you.

Simply enter the code CITY10 at checkout.

now that's super.....

And here's one more link to my shop... just in case!

Just some fascinating for your Sunday enjoyment....

I saw a quilt over Thanksgiving that I just wanted to share, because I found it fascinating!

It's all polyester.  Created by my father-in-law's girlfriend's grandmother.

(Do you need a family tree?  Yes?  I don't blame you.)

She brought it out to show me and my sister-in-law (also a quilter) over the weekend.  

I love looking at quilts.  

I love the stories.

You see, this one was hand-pieced.

HAND-PIECED!!?!

It's a queen size.  

those are 1.5" squares.

YIKES!

and the fabric?   That was interesting too.

Her grandmother lived near a polyester fabric mill in Lamesa, TX.

And they sold fabric for $1 a yard, and that's where she got the fabric.  

Fascinating, yes?

The edges had some fringe in sort of an awesome 1970's way.  Another shot of the hand stitching too.

She intends to have this finished up, since her grandmother did not.  

I would too.  It's just too fun to not finish it.

But I think it needs to be hand-quilted.  Or tied.  

What do you think?

By the way, I've got several vintage pieces to show you as I get the pictures uploaded.  Stay tuned!

tales of Black Friday

Today in the states it's what we call black Friday.  There are lots of sales and we get up at ridiculous hours to go shopping.  And so this was a question posed by Jen over at Tatertots and Jello as part of  a blog hop.  See the bottom of this post for more information.


Are you more of a Black Friday or Cyber Monday girl?  Tell us about your best deal or your craziest shopping story.


Here's my story, friends.  I've been going out on black Friday ever since... well, as long as I can remember.  My mom and I go.  We always have.  Probably since I was 8 or 9.  (I'm 30-something now.) Maybe longer.


If you met my mom, your first remark would likely be that she's a very small person.  I'm short, and I tower over her.  But she's wiry!  Anyway, she has always hit those black Friday sales with gusto!  She trained in the early 80's procuring Cabbage Patch Kids.....


About 5 years ago (and forgive me, I don't remember if this was black Friday or day after Christmas.  It doesn't matter, really) we were at Dillard's when the doors opened.  
If you don't have Dillard's where you are, it's like an old-school Macy's.
What everyone wanted was upstairs.  
(Can't remember what it was, it doesn't matter now).  


There are only 2 ways upstairs in Dillard's -- the escalator or the elevator.  And the up and down escalators are these big sweeping things in the main area of the store. 
So there was this awful slow line to go on the escalator.  My mom yells -- "Go up the down one!"
And off we go.  
We ran UP the DOWN escalator to claim whatever item it was we wanted.....
{Do you know how challenging it is to run all the way up a giant sweeping Dillard's DOWN escalator?  It's challenging.}
But I will always remember my teeny little mom sprinting her way up.


We made it, by the way.  
Security didn't get us.  
They couldn't catch us.  


But what I'd really like to tell you is that for me, this shopping experience is not about saving money or even getting my Christmas shopping done.  It's about spending that time with my mom.

*******************************************

I am participating in Infarrantly Creative and Tatertots and Jello’s Blog Hop for a chance to win a Mint Cleaner. It is the revolutionary machine that cleans your hard floor surfaces for you.

Click here to join the blog hop and a chance to win!

The Mint Cleaner is available at the following places:

Amazon

The Mint Cleaner

HSN

Bed, Bath & Beyond

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

And to my international readers, Happy Thursday!

This is our Thankful Turkey this year.  

We wrote what we were thankful for on the feathers.... which are cut out of paint samples.  

By the way, the turkey's a girl, in case anyone was wondering.....

Aunt Grace

You see one of my wonderful colleagues is a quilter. And she has quilter friends. And one day they decided to combine their excess and have a sale. And it was blissful. I bought quite a few things for very little money. Don' t hate me.

One of the things I came home with was a quilt that she had started in on. The tub said Aunt Grace (it also said $3.00) and it was full of 1930's reproductions. From what I can gather up, this was a line of fabric produced in the mid 1990's. 

But as soon as I saw it, I wanted to "rescue" the quilt. I've always wanted to do a reproductionish quilt, you see? and so I thought it would be great for our bee....

As I went through the box:

I found some blocks already constructed....

I found some things sewed together...

I found quite a few squares already cut....

I found some triangles cut.....

I found some strips already cut....

and some larger chunks..

And only one piece with a readable selvedge...

and a couple of foreign coins and a Chuck E Cheese token. Bonus!

The already constructed blocks are between 5" and 6" square, so I'm going to put borders on them to make them 8" blocks. 

I purchased a few yards of Kona Bone.

I'm sending packets of this out to one of my online quilting bees, and collectively we're going to rescue the quilt!

I can't wait to get the results back.  I promise to show and tell.

A quilt for a little one...

A friend had an early baby last week.  

Very early.

13 weeks early.

Both mom and baby are stable, but they needed a quilt, don't you think?

My daughter was early, and I remember that feeling of not having anything around you to acknowledge that she had arrived!  

Usually you have the baby around, but when you have a little one in the NICU that no one can see or hold or visit, it's different.

So I wanted it to be bright and happy, and it HAD to have her name on it.

Can you see her name?  It's in the green stripe, in the quilting.

a bright pink backing.  and loopy quilting.

Hoping she's at home soon.

Weighted blanket

When you sew, sometimes people approach you out of the blue with a

"Hey, can you make me a ________" kind of request. 

And honestly, often they overestimate my skills, which is very easy to do!

But sometimes!  Sometimes it's something I can do.  Or figure out.

I love those times.

A friend asked me last week if I could make a weighted blanket for her son.

He has an autism spectrum disorder and (I have now learned) that weighted blankets can be helpful for children and adults that deal with sensory integration disorders or autism spectrum disorders.

Slightly more information here  and also here

I asked LOTS of questions.

I read a lot.

I learned some things I never knew!

 I researched suppliers of polystyrene pellets.

And I agreed to give it my best try.

Here's the result.

I'm pleased with it.

It's large enough to cover the top of a twin sized bed.

And it's made out of very awesome alien monster fleece.

And it houses 6 pounds of polystyrene pellets, carefully distributed across the blanket.

See, here they are. Rather fascinating, eh?

It was a fun project, and I am hoping to make more to sell.

Just one more note....

if you are considering making one, feel free to contact me for pointers.  

I learned a lot in making the first one, and I'd be glad to share.  

I'm not planning to write a tutorial on it, but I'd be happy to help you if I can.  

Solids progress

Just a sneak peek......  

one down..... 

and quite a few more to go!

Merry Christmas to me...

Yes, I know it's not even Thanksgiving yet.....  

But a couple of weeks ago I saw this post, and I told my husband that was what I wanted for Christmas.  Except with a couple of small modifications.

You see, I'm out here on the high plains.  Where there's not much except a lot of sky and some wonderful sunsets.  And I wanted our picture to capture that.

And since we moved in March, we've had this HUGE mantle that desperately needs something... well, large.  25 x 50, to be exact.

This is about a mile and a half from our house.  Actually just west of an elementary school.  Amazing, yes?

So Merry Christmas to me!

I'm featured this week on......

www.weallsew.com

It's a site sponsored by my beloved Bernina.... so I'm pleased.  

Extra super duper pleased, to tell you the truth!

I think it's because when I posted at stash manicure, I posted this:

{It's a picture of my machine.  I love it.}

But anyway, I don't talk about my sewing machine much.  So I'll tell you about it now!

Several years ago, I was sewing on a machine whose quirks I couldn't figure out. 

I'm not sure if it was the machine or me, but we didn't work well together. 

I had determined that this meant I was an awful seamstress.

I wanted to sew my daughter's bedding, though.  

In awful frustration I called a friend and announce I was going to buy another machine that very minute.  

She convinced me to come pick up her machine and try it rather than buy another cheap sewing machine.

It was a Bernina 830 record.  She had inherited it from a relative who was once a home ec teacher around 1971, when the machine was new.

I fell in love.  

I considered naming my daughter "Bernina"

That next week, I found one for myself just like it on ebay.

Bought it for $300.  And I absolutely love it.  

Now don't get me wrong.  There are some new fancy features I'd love to have.

(a lot has changed in 40 years, you know)

But here's the thing.  It sews.  Through anything.  Every single time I ask it to.

Someday I hope to replace it with a newer model, but until then?

I count myself very lucky!

So if you get a chance, please hop on over to www.weallsew.com and check it out.  It's a really neat site!

sewing kits in stock!

Friends, I decided to try my hand at selling some sewing kits.  Your response to them was so overwhelmingly positive that I whipped a couple up and put them in my Etsy shop.

 I love this one!  I LOVE sock monkeys.

And pink and black is always one of my favorites... it seems like when I'm just creating for fun, I return to color schemes that appeal to me.

I dig a green binding as well.  And that crazy pink button.

and a little Mary Engelbreit fabric too.  I love the red button.







So, if you are in the market for a neato sewing kit, or you'd like to give one as a gift this Christmas, go check them out!    HERE'S THE LINK!

balloons, balloons everywhere!

Do you ever work on a custom item that's ..... how to say..... not exactly your style?

But that you are adjusting your style to make something really special for someone?

That's my current project in a nutshell.

It's for my dad.  I wanted to do a quilt for him.  And I wanted it to have hot air balloons because he crews a hot air balloon every year and loves it.  It's very special to him.

And months ago, I found this fabric.  And the balloons pictured are representations of actual balloons that he has seen.  So I bought a few yards of it and put it away.

I don't really do brights all that much.

and I was scared of this project!

Well, Christmas is coming.  

So one day a friend and I got together to sew.  I plopped the yardage on the table. 

"whatcha going to do with that?"

absolutely no idea.  Help me.

So we went through our stashes and pulled out fabrics that reflected the bright colors of the balloons and the sky.  

Those became the blocks in the middle.

I cut up blocks in the balloon fabric to make the filmstrip sashing.

And then I realized that I needed a bit more length and had a metric ton of balloons left....

so I added the top and bottom rows of balloons.

and THEN I realized that when I trimmed up the quilt, 

IF it wasn't square, 

those boxy balloons were going to tell on me.

So I added another row of black.

So I think I'm really going to like it better when it's quilted.

I'm quilting it in black thread, so I think it will need a solid black backing 

since black quilting has been the death of me before... 

remind me to tell you about that one sometime......

And I'm going to bind it in the harlequin fabric.  

Well, that is IF my friend still has any in her closet!

Guest Post on Stash Manicure

Come by and visit me!  

Well, over at Stash Manicure, that is.....

I'm guest posting today.  

Pardon me as I do a happy dance!

{EEEEK!!  I'm so thrilled!}

Anyway, I'm talking about this quilt:

 and there's a lovely little tutorial on how it was put together using the large scale cowboy print...

and all the rest is from my stash!

You can also visit the quilt in my Etsy shop... where it's looking for a new home.