I won!

EEEKK! I'm so excited, I won two burlap stitchery pieces from Rhonda over at Ravelly1-QuiltzBlog You can see what I won: HERE Aren't they beautiful?? This is the first time I've won anything, and I think it's an awesome win. I'm so so happy. Thank you Rhonda!

And on another happy note, I've almost finished hand quilting the gift for AnneLise, so I can post a picture of that by Sunday night, I should have it done by then. :)

And for my Stitchers Angel project, I've gotten 2 things totally made, and one more is in the works. I really hope she likes what I'm making for her. I think my big problem is knowing when to say I've made enough.

Last night Terry surprised me by coming home three hours early and he took me out on a date. We only went to a mall about an hour drive away, but it was so nice to have my mom watch JellyBean while Terry and I spent time alone. Then we even went out to dinner just the two of us - and it was superb. For my birthday in February Terry got me a $50 gift card to Borders bookstore, and I'd used some of it, but last night I got 3 different quilting magazines so now I've got a bunch more projects that have been added to my "To Do" list.

What's on your to do lists? Maybe that'll become another post, a link to all my projects on my "To Do" list. :)

Also - you just have to go HERE There is a fabulous giveaway that ends on 9 September.

Back from DC!

We're back from Washington, and wow, it was a really fun day. It rained a little, and we walked a ton, but it was so much fun. Terry and I went to DC for our honeymoon, and we stayed in the Willard Intercontinental. That is one amazing hotel to stay in. Bloody expensive, but beautiful. And while we were there, we ate at Cafe Du Parc. Terry and I got back and were telling my mom all about how good the food is there, and we were hoping that we didn't inflate the food in her mind. But we ate there again, had the mussels and WOW.. were they amazing. Mom is still raving about them. I'm just so glad that we made her happy.

Mom went to the Vietnam Memorial, and found her friend David Tesh's name. He's on panel 8W, line 33 of the Wall. She ran her hand over his name and filled up with tears. I find it incredibly sad that there are so many names there, and there are still so many men who haven't come home, and are forever missing.

On a lighter note, I'm almost done with the quilting on AnneLise's gift that she won through my giveaway, and then that's going in the mail. My Scrappy Christmas Blocks got delayed a day or two, JellyBean has been super needy the last few days and I didn't get the time to trim them up to size, but as soon as I do, my envelopes are going in the post. I've got the envelopes all written out.

I've started some work on my Stitchers Angel parcel too, it's not bad, it's getting there. I have however not been able to figure out the first project for the life of me. It wasn't clicking in my head, so I might do something different - even though I love the look of that bag. I might have to try it a different way.

And the 4Seasons Holiday Quilt Swap Quilt is in the process of being quilted. I had so much inspiration on it, it'll be done and then I'll just have to remember to mail it out in October! Chalk one up for me on being early. :D

I'll be back with some pictures later.

Ho Hum

Yep, that's what I'm feeling. Ho hum. Yesterday I was feeling awful about things in general. I've had to do so much stuff around the house, and I wasn't feeling appreciated at all. So I went on a bit of retail therapy. And it's funny because I've never liked retail therapy at all. I've wanted the new Sketchers Shape-Ups for a while, and I finally got them. They were so expensive ($104!!!) but I've been wearing them all day yesterday and so far today and I can really reel a difference in my calves, thighs and butt. Hey, if anything helps me to lose weight and strengthen my core, I'll try it. I really want to lose about 30 pounds, maybe more, and if these shoes can help, I'll give them a whirl. Plus, they're comfortable. :)

I've got a bunch of ideas planned out for the Stitchers Angel swap, and my Holiday Quilt Swap is in the process of being quilted, and my Scrappy Quilt Blocks are going in the mail probably on Saturday. If I can't get to the post office tomorrow, they'll have to wait until Monday. But all the blocks are done!

Terry, JellyBean and I are taking my mom to Washington DC on Saturday for my mom's birthday. The last time my mom was in Washington was probably 15-18 years ago, and she has never seen the World War II memorial, and she doesn't remember the Vietnam Memorial. So as a birthday gift to her Terry and I are taking her down to DC. My grandfather (Mom's father) fought and came home from WWII, and my other grandfather was a POW and KIA during WWII, so my father never knew his dad. My dad was born while his father was overseas and right before my dad's family found out that his father was MIA. So I think it'll be a beautiful thing for my mom to see the WWII Memorial. I know when Terry and I saw it in 2007 I just broke down crying because it was so powerful. And my father was not allowed to go to Vietnam because of the fact that his father died in action. The Navy didn't allow my father to enlist; and my father lost a lot of his friends in Nam. So when I went to the Vietnam Memorial I made an etching of my fathers friends names. Daddy died in May 2007, and I really miss him.

One Mini Quilt Top Done!

Whoo hoo! JellyBean went to bed last night at 8:30, and Terry went to bed right after because he was tired from all the driving he did on Saturday and playing in the pool with JellyBean and my mom yesterday so I got some sewing time in! I'm so excited.

I was going to send this quiltie away for the Holiday/Winter Quilt Swap, but I made another one that I think is going to be much better because it'll have some more space for me to quilt. So this is a quiltie that I'm going to keep and use as a wall hanging. But I got 2 mini quilt tops done yesterday, and the pieces for my grandmothers eyeglass case are cut out and ready to be quilted.

So here's my Quilt Top. I'm calling it First Snowfall.
I went from these:


To:


And finally:


To give you an idea of how tiny the blue pieces are, I cut them into 1 inch strips, so they're about a 1/2 inch finished.




And here's the only sneak peak that I'm giving for the Holiday/Winter Quilt Swap. I've taken most of your suggestions and am going to quilt this up in a day or so (maybe tonight?)


And a photo of my little dollar store pail that I filled with scraps and garbage during my quilting last night:


And if you get a chance - go here: Prairies Edge Primitives for a chance to win a gorgeous pin keep.

Making Progress

It's been super warm the last two days, and I didn't write yesterday because it was my great-uncle's 80th birthday. So we got asked to bring JellyBean up to North Jersey for Uncle Pauls party. JellyBean had a great time, she was the talk of the party and she was having so much fun being passed around and getting some lovin'.

So I'm slowly making some progress on JellyBean's quilt, not much, but it's getting there. And I'm working on the smaller prizes for the winners of my giveaway, and I've got the mini quilt for Anne-Lise almost done, the top is done anyway. I need to quilt it up and then it'll be flying around the world to its new home in Norway. I really hope she likes it. Soon as I charge the battery from last night, I'll take a sneak peak picture of it.

I'll be back later on to update with some pictures! :)

And I joined a group on Flikr called Swap Till U Drop (STUD) and I've signed up for my very first mini quilt swap there. I'm super excited about it, I really can't wait. It's a wonderful group, I've been made to feel really welcome and just feel so comfortable already. I hope to be swapping with them for a long time to come.

We have a winner! and there's more...

And the giveaway winner is.............


Anne-Lise

I went to Random.org and clicked "get a number" and drew #3. So I went and double checked who was post #3 in the Giveaway, and it was Anne-Lise.

**HOWEVER**
Since there were only 10 people who signed up for my giveaway, I'd like to make a little thank you to everyone for participating - so if you could all email me your snail mail address, I'd get a little giftie to you all in the post soon (by the 2nd week in September - I need to make them!) My email is terryandjennifer4ever AT yahoo DOT com - so just give me a little time. :)

Thank you to everyone for participating! I really do appreciate it, and I hope you like your little gifties.

Look what I found!

Baby Hands! These are JellyBeans hand prints I put on fabric and I've made a mini wall hanging for my grandmother out of it. So ya, here's JellyBean's hand prints. These were traced when she was 6 months old - so 2 months ago. Wow, has time flown


I finally found a Block of the Month that's free and "Manly" because Terry has been really bugging me about making him a new quilt. *Sigh* Yet another project that I need to do. I keep promising, and then getting sidetracked by an 8 month old.
Southern Gentleman BOM

And I know that I've promised you all a block of the month too - I'm right now in the process of putting together the sample block. I'm thinking to make the block 12.5 inches unfinished, so it'll be 12 inches finished. It'll have some teddy bears on it. :D I'm excited.

And ya.. I think I might have found a new little obsession - Siggies I emailed the blog owner to find out what size they are, and what I should exactly put on them, but these look like so much fun. I think I'm going to have to try one (or a dozen). Looks neat. :)

And I've printed out all these patterns, and I hope to embroider them soon. I think they'll be a gorgeous lap quilt. Gail Pan Designs I just hope I can get the time to do them. I really love them.

And just a quick reminder - my Giveaway ends on Friday, August 14th. I'll be picking the winner at 4:00 PM, Eastern Time. I'll be using a random number generator to pick the winner.