Halloween after-the-fact swap update!

Oh, what fun! I am SO GLAD that we decided to do this swap. Stay tuned for a FALL after-the-fact swap and a CHRISTMAS one as well. We are going to have the best holiday quilts! Well, next year, at least.......
Here's what arrived yesterday from Evelyn. I love the bears dressed as bees. So cute!
And here's what arrived from Jen. The swirly ghosts are so cute!
Stay tuned for more updates!

An after-the-fact swap....

So often it seems I want to start a quilt once it's way too late to finish it in time.
I realized last week I REALLY want to do a Halloween quilt. (Guess when I'll realize I want a Thanksgiving one as well...)

So I thought of an idea.

How about a fabric swap of Halloween fabric, but do it after Halloween.

That way, we can buy our fabric inexpensively, and we'll have a WHOLE YEAR to finish up the quilt!

{Note: I may repeat this swap for Christmas and Thanksgiving if anyone's interested....}

• The mailing date will be November 7. This gives you a week after Halloween to pick up your fabric and cut your squares.
• You'll send 20 8" squares of 2 different prints to me with a self-addressed, stamped envelope. It will take slightly less than one yard of each fabric. (Note: you will be sending 40 squares total--20 of one fabric and 20 of a second fabric)
• Please make sure all your fabric is 100% cotton, quilting quality Halloween prints with NO licensed characters (scooby doo, spongebob, etc.)
• International participants are welcome, but please try to mail a little earlier than November 7 if you're shipping internationally.
  
• In return you will receive 40 8" squares (out of 20 different prints, so you will get 2 squares of each print). I think this size would be ideal for a disappearing 9-patch quilt, or a cheater-triangles quilt.

The swap is open to the first 9 people to sign up. To sign up, please comment on this post. Please, please please leave your e-mail address or comment and then send me an e-mail. It's important that I have a way to contact you.

READY, GO!

Still here! and it's HALLOWEEN TIME!!

Friends, it's been a wild couple of weeks. I haven't had much time to sew at all. But here's a picture of the Very Important Project I have had time for--Halloween Costumes!

So here's my girls, looking very SWEET for halloween!

Please help a friend!

Hey everyone!
Asking you to help my friend Laura. Please read the letter below and click the link to help her animal rescue efforts.

As some of you already know, I have started an animal rescue organization called Bray's Buddies Animal Rescue. I have been doing animal rescue work for years already, but decided to officially start a rescue group and startworking towards non-profit status. Once I am officially a non-profit, Iwill be eligible to apply for grants. Added funding will allow me to help more animals. In the meantime, there is a contest going on right now, hosted by The Animal Rescue Site. The top 3 prizes are grants of $20,000,$5,000, and $3,000 for the top three shelters who get the most number ofvotes. There are weekly awards of $1,000 for the shelter who got the most votes that week and state awards of $2,000 for the shelter with the most votes in that state overall. I would, of course, love to win the grand prize, but I would be beyond thrilled to win a weekly prize or even a state prize.Voting is open from September 14, 2009 to December 20, 2009. You can cast one vote per day per computer. Click here to vote for Bray's Buddies AnimalRescue!<http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/clickToGive/shelterchallenge.faces?siteId=3&link=ctg_ars_shelterchallenge_from_home_sidetabs>(http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/clickToGive/shelterchallenge.faces?siteId=3&link=ctg_ars_shelterchallenge_from_home_sidetabs)
Put "Bray's Buddies" in as the shelter name and "NJ" for the state. Make sure to click "Vote" next to Bray's Buddies after you search for theshelter. Please come back to vote every day - we could use all the votes we can get! Thanks! :)If you could pass this on to people who you think might vote, I would really appreciate it. Maybe if enough people vote this week, I could win theweekly prize!If you are interested, my temporary shelter website is:http://www.petfinder.com/shelters/NJ605.htmlWe are in the process of creating a new and improved website, but this getsthe information across for now.Thanks for your support! Laura

finished up this week....

I finished up some small quilts I've been working on this week for a small craft show I'm participating in. I hope these sell, but if not I'll put them on etsy I think!

I like the pink one best. Big surprise there.
These were all improv-y designs. Me and my scrap box getting to know each other.
I really enjoy that kind of sewing.

monkeys finished!

Sock monkeys are finished and delivered. I love how the center section seems to "float" out in the middle part!

I backed it in the red dot.
And here's a closeup of the prints. I really enjoyed this one!

how about jeans??

Well, friends, I have a ton of quilt stuff to post. Promise I'll get to that.

But first I have a problem: JEANS.

I need a pair of jeans, friends.

You see, I have a precious 6 month old.

My old jeans don't fit anymore, and I'm not sure they are going to.

And it's getting to be jeans season.

And I just was in a dressing room trying to decide if a pair of jeans were really unflattering. And then I remembered I don't have time anymore to go try on many pairs... so I need some direction.

So can you help me out? Do you have a pair of jeans you absolutely love?

Can you tell me about them or where I might could find them?

I should probably mention that I'm short. A little over 5'3". And I have a really long torso, so really low rise jeans look like they are trying desperately to escape. Which they probably are.

my 9/11 scarf...

I have nothing profound to say.

But, fellow crafters, I thought I'd put out a picture of my 9/11 scarf. I crocheted it 8 years ago.

I sat in my chair all day in my tiny Detroit apartment, glued to the TV. Horrified.

It's as long as I am tall. It's not fancy.

It's one of the only pieces I've ever crocheted.

And when I see it, I am reminded that somedays we craft to get through, to make the best, to survive.

Some days.

Mint Chocolate Chip challenge

So a while ago I got an order for a sage green and brown baby quilt. I started from a Michael Miller sage and brown check.

And then I asked my mom to pick up the coordinating dots on a trip to Oklahoma. She was really kind and got me more than I had asked for. Probably because no one was going back to Oklahoma soon and estimating yardage is sometimes not my gift......

I was very thankful and I decided to show my appreciation, I'd be sure to use every single last scrap of it up. So here's what 2 1/2 yards of Michael Miller sage and brown will do!

1. the original quilt. I love it. Zigzags are awesome!

2. Had some leftover blocks from the quilt, so they got transformed into "car seat blankets" That's what I call a blanket that's the right size to use in a car seat but not so big that it falls off or drags the ground. These are quilted and backed in minky. One white, one green. Cause that's what I had around here....

3. Still had scraps. So I made them into 3 loveys. I have a show in a couple weeks, and I think they will be nice to go in it. All the are backed in the rest of my green minky.

So I ended up with one scrap. It's about 2" by 6". I think it's ok to let that one go!

Oh, and my husband thinks all of it looks exactly like mint chocolate chip ice cream......

sock MONKEY!

This one is a commission. One of the really awesome challeges of commission work is working outside your own color pallette. So I was asked for something for a little boy in orange and brown. I don't really like orange and brown. So the challenge is to make something I love in colors that aren't my favorite.

This one does it. Let me show you a closeup

since my camera washed out the orange polka dots........

sock

MONKEY!

Now to just get it quilted.......

A sneak peek at an I-spy....

I think I'm going to bind it in the same tan as the sashing. I'm afraid of adding anything else for fear of making it too busy (or busier, I should say!).

What do you think?

thanks for the shoe help....

{so can I preface this by saying that no one's paying me to say this?}

I got my shoes!

I love them. thanks for all your help. My budget didn't allow for 2 pair, so I went with the pink. I have recently learned that one of the side effects of having 2 children is that you don't get to shop in actual stores very often, so I like to buy things online.
I got these from Zappos and the cool thing there is that
(1) their prices are comparable to what you'd pay in a department store
(2) they ship for free and
(3) if you don't like them or they don't fit, you can return them for free. They pay to ship them back.
Also, I had them about 36 hours after ordering. Can't beat that!