This week's TAG apron giveaway

The Apron Goddesses giveaway for this week is this reversible half-apron from Aprons by Julie ... love the high-waist and the funky pocket!You know the drill ... click here and follow the instructions. Good luck!

Lime-alicious!

Oh, my! The Secret Stitch Club is having a wonderful giveaway right now ... a recipe for yummy Filled Key Lime Cupcakes:
and this gorgeous apron:I'm all over this LOL! My birthday is next month and I think these cupcakes will have to be on the menu that day ... mmmm .... And if I could be wearing that apron, too, that would be so over the top!

If you want the recipe and a chance to win, click here and follow the instructions. Plus there's a bonus ... if you have a little one, you can also enter to win this sweet Cherry Limeade apron:Can't beat that! Good luck!

AAQI

Have you heard about Ami Simms' Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative? Ami started it to help raise money for Alzheimer's research and it's done wonderfully ... she's raised $290,000 so far! I'd heard about it before, but it wasn't until our guild did a Burpee catalog challenge for our last guild show that I actually made a quilt for the AAQI. The challenge was to make a quilt based on our particular catalog page ... and, while not a requirement, a bonus was to make it in the AAQI required size (9"x12") so that it could later be donated to the AAQI. I don't know how many entered the Burpee challenge, but I do know that 25 of us entered with the AAQI in mind! I made this quilt, "Strawberry Fields Forever".I filled out the paperwork, got my assigned number and sent it off, not knowing how long it'd take to end up on the auction block. Well, it's up! It and about two dozen other quilts are up for auction starting today. Click here to check them out ... maybe you'll find one or two that you want to bid on. But don't wait too long ... the auction only lasts for 10 days and then they're gone! But if you miss this one, check back at the beginning of each month for more quilts.

If you, too, would like to make a quilt to donate, check it out here. This is a great project for trying out new techniques on a small scale, or to use up your scraps ... have fun with it!

It's time for another TAG apron giveaway!

The Apron Goddesses blog has this week's apron giveaway up ... this sweet little number from Sugar Pie Chic.

Just click here and follow the instructions ... and, as always, good luck!

May's basket

Slow and steady wins the race! Finally finished the May basket for the Tisket, Tasket BOM ... on to June ... wonder how much I can get done before July's block is up next week LOL!

Introducing my mom ...

One thing I did while I was visiting my mom in Florida was help her get her blog, The Artful Diva, going. I'd love for you to visit her and maybe even leave her an encouraging comment. She is an amazing fiber artist ... I want to be just like her when I grow up LOL! One of my favorite places to hang out is her studio. She's got a wonderful fabric stash and drawers and drawers full of fun embellishments to play around with. I spent quite a bit of our vacation in there, working on a quilt for my guild's next quilt show challenge. (I can't show you it just yet, but I LOVE how it came out ... yes, I know I'm being a stinker LOL! I will definitely show it to you as soon as I can.)

I wish we lived closer to each other so we could sew together more often. I enjoyed working on the altered art page thingy with her, but there was one project we did together that was even more fun ... the three-year "I Remember Mama" project. For the second year of the project, they asked for quilts made by multi-generations (mothers and daughters, aunts and nieces, etc.). My mom asked me to work on a quilt with her, and this was the result:I learned a lot from her while we worked on this quilt together! You can see more of her work at her website here. Lots to see!

Thanks for letting me introduce you to one of my most favorite people in the whole world ... I love you, Mom!

Opposites Attract

I've been home for a week now, and yet I still haven't started working on those dang car organizers ... need to straighten up my sewing area first! So in the meantime, I thought I'd share my pages from the altered art book page thingy (seeing as I promised I would share them weeks ago ... my bad!) As I mentioned in this post, I didn't allow myself to look at my finished pages until I finished my mom's summer pages. Now that those are done and returned to her, I can focus on mine ... here they are, up on my design wall, waiting for me to figure out how in the world I'm going to put them together.My theme was "Opposites Attract". Here's the pages I did first and sent on ... order and chaos.
My mom did the next set ... black and white.Now I don't know which of the other two ladies did which of these last two sets ... they didn't mark them in any way so I'll never know for sure, unless my mom is still in contact with them. The third set is spring ahead, fall back.The last set is blue and orange. The quote says, "All colors are the friends of their neighbors and the lovers of their opposites."Didn't they all do an amazing job?! Now I have to figure out how I want to put these together. The original idea was to make an accordion folded book, but now that I have them back, I'm not sure if that's the way I want to go. I need to think about it some more. What would you do? If you have any ideas, please share!

Another giveaway?!?

Yes, another one! Through some blog surfing, I found this wonderful pile of scraps being given away in just a couple days ... don't you just want to dive in?!Click here to enter. And, as always, good luck!

Laundry day can be fun ...

if you're wearing the right apron! What?! You don't have a washday apron? Well, sheesh, neither do I ... now what? Hmmm ... we're going to have to remedy that ... with an apron giveaway, of course! Dear Diane (aka "Persuaded") from Tomato Soup Cake made 2 adorable aprons over the weekend in the cutest laundry themed fabrics, and she's graciously offering one of them in a giveaway on her blog. Isn't it sweet, modeled here by her lovely daughter, Millen?She sure looks like she's enjoying doing that laundry ... I need some of that joy LOL! If I don't win this apron, I think I just may have to make my own (wish I could get a hold of that pattern ... love it!) If you're in desperate need of some laundry joy, too, click here and follow the instructions. Good luck!

Sassy Smox

This week's giveaway at The Apron Goddesses is sassy, indeed! You could win your choice of a half-apron from Sassy Smox ... there's a dozen to choose from, and they're all gorgeous! I'm having a hard time deciding, but if I have to choose just one (and according to the rules, I must), then I pick this one ... "Freshly Squeezed" ... love that rickrack!For your chance to win, click here and follow the instructions. Good luck!

Earth & Fire

One of the highlights from our recent Florida trip was going to Earth & Fire to paint pottery. I've always wanted to try this! We all had fun browsing all the neat things we could choose from ... it was tough trying to choose just one thing to paint LOL! But after much deliberation, Emily chose a set of 5 Matryoshka dolls, Abby chose a piggy bank, and my mom and I each chose a dressform hook. Here's mine:When Emily chose the dolls (9 pieces in the set), we figured she would take the longest, but guess who was the last person to finish? Yep, me! Trying to stay in the lines, constantly getting up to use the dryer to dry each layer, and fussing over the belt ... all those minutes really added up LOL! But then my mom pointed out that I did help Abby quite a bit with her piggy bank, too, so that accounts for some of the time. But it was worth it ... I love how it turned out! Can't wait to hang it in my studio.

I had so much fun with this that I hope to do it again soon. There's a similar place not too far from here (at least I hope it's still there ... I drove by it once probably before Abby was born, and she's 7 now!) If it's still there, I'd like to go there later this summer, maybe for my birthday in August ...

I'm back!

Yes, I'm back from our little vacation to Florida ... and I've got the peeling shoulders to prove it! We had a blast hanging out with my mom (known as "Granny" to the girls). We picnicked on the beach, went out for Chinese, painted ceramics, found out the real story of the Three Little Pigs, got our nails done, played in her quilt studio and swam a whole heck of a lot. The week just flew by! I hated to leave, yet it is also nice to be home again ... we all missed our dh/Papa. Over the next few days, I hope to share some pics of our trip with you all.

Now for the bad news ... I came home to find that I didn't win the 4th of July apron ... darn! But that's okay ... there's another apron up for grabs this week ... this gorgeous little number:
Very cute!! If you want a chance to win, too, go and follow the instructions here. Good luck, everyone!

Off to unpack the luggage ...

What should you wear on the 4th of July?

A 4th of July inspired apron, of course! At The Apron Goddesses blog this week, the apron giveaway is a half-apron using these fun patriotic fabrics. You need this apron in order for your 4th of July BBQ to come out just right, right?! So hurry on over and follow the instructions ... then get the grill ready ... the 4th will be here before you know it ...

Yes, I know it's late ...

and I should be in bed. But I just had to click one more link, to one more blog ... come on, admit it, you know exactly what I'm talking about LOL! Well, here's what I found ... a handmade jewelry give-away on a delightful blog called Clay Hill Farm! A necklace with a quote from Aesop about kindness, and earrings to match ... very pretty! I've left my comment already ... if you want a chance, too, do stop by and enter ... but hurry, it ends June 14th. Good luck!

Alrighty then ... I'm off to bed ... maybe ...

I'm blushing!!

Oh, my! I'm blushing over the nice things Julia and Suzi wrote about me over at The Apron Goddesses blog ... I'm an official tea-time apron goddess! Thanks so much, Julia and Suzi, for the wonderful post ... too kind. I'm honored!

For those of you who have come here from TAG, welcome! Please pull up a chair and help yourself to some tea and scones. I have all your favorites, of course LOL! I hope you enjoy your stay!

For those of you who've never heard of TAG, do check it out! It's a great place to see some wonderful aprons, and to meet the ladies wearing them. And if you have an apron, you, too, can be a featured apron goddess ... just follow the instructions. But if you don't have an apron, you may be in luck ... Julia has an apron giveaway almost every week, usually on Mondays ... check it out! That's how I got the apron I'm wearing above! Enjoy!!

No, I haven't gone back into hiding ...

I just don't have any projects to share lately! I haven't sewn a single stitch in several days. Instead, we've been busy wrapping up our homeschool year (almost there!!), buying a new car (headache-inducing!), and trying to pack for our trip to Florida next week (can we possibly fit everything into carry-ons?!?) It doesn't help that I came down with something nasty over the weekend ...

I did start planning a new project, however ... car caddies for the new car. Several years ago, I bought McCall's Crafts pattern #8260, which is all about organizing (desperately needed around here, I might add!!) I meant to make these for our previous "new car", but never got around to it, so for this new car, it's gettin' done ... really ... I mean it! It's that organizer pictured in the lower right corner of the pattern:I dug through my stash of decorator weight fabrics and chose a few that'd work, then let my girls pick their favorite ... now I'm all ready, except I can't find the time right now! So it's my goal to make them first thing when we get back ... well, maybe second thing, right after putting the vacation clothes into the laundry ...

Turn a New Leaf

Last Saturday I got an email entitled "Congrats!" I almost deleted it because, really, it just looked like more spam. But then I reminded myself that I had entered contests on 3 or 4 blogs earlier that week ... could I possibly have won something? So, after doing the little trick dh showed me of checking the email's properties first for any telltale spam signs, I clicked it ... and sure enough, I'd won this from My Good Cents:Isn't it cute?! It's my new coupon organizer from Austin Artisan! I'd been searching the Internet for tutorials for making my own organizer because I couldn't seem to find one in the stores (I know they must be out there, but I can't seem to figure out where they're hiding!) My search led to several tutorials and also some contests for others' handmade organizers. I figured I could wait another week or two to make my own just in case I won. I'm so glad I did LOL!The best part was that I got to pick the design! I chose this one (called "Turn a New Leaf") because I just love the little stitching on the leaves (if you like it, too, she has another one with a brown background). She also has many others that are just as cute. You can see them all here.It just came in the mail the other day ... thank you, thank you, thank you, Austin Artisan and My Good Cents!! Now to fill it up with coupons ... bring on the savings!!

Well, shoot ...

Now I've gone and done it ... my blog looks pretty, but I've lost all my favorite links, my counter and the rings I belonged to!! Now what?! All the websites say I shouldn't lose anything just by switching templates and such, but I must be the exception to the rule. Dagnabbit! Now I'm going to have to start over. Oh, well ... live and learn {{{sigh}}} ...

Thank goodness for the history tab, though ... I can use that to find the links to the websites I visit most often. I'm just sorry to lose those websites that I check once a month or so. Hey, now that I have to start all over, how about you all sharing some of your favorite websites? Maybe I'll find some new favorites!

By the way, how do you like the new look? I got the background from The Cutest Blog on the Block. I also used their tutorial to go from 2 columns to 3 columns. I've always wanted another sidebar so that I could spread out the links and such. Guess that's my silver lining today LOL!

Pardon the dust

I'm playing around with the layout of my blog today ...

Vintage goodies, anyone?

I was surfing the Internet this morning and, as often happens, one blog led to another, which led to another, which led to ... well, you get the picture. In all that surfing, I happened upon a new-to-me blog called Tomato Soup Cake. I enjoyed browsing through her past posts so much and was so inspired that I just had to add her to my list of favorite blogs in my sidebar so I can visit her often! And talk about perfect timing ... her post this morning was about some vintage goodies she scored at a garage sale this weekend. At the end of the post, she mentioned doing a giveaway of some of the goodies later today because it's so fun to share!

Well, she's got her giveaway up ... and it's her first ever! There are quite a few yummy goodies in the giveaway, and she's even throwing in a 1950's apron pattern to boot. If you're interested, you'd better get over there quick ... she's going to pick the winner on June 3rd! Good luck!