Row by Row Goodies, Part 2

Not a lot of sewing done this past week thanks to my travels.

Did get some sewing done after getting home and made up two of the rows that I'd picked up in my travels.  One of which I'm going to need to do a little bit of fixing on to make the correct length......and I need to get out my 9.5 inch ruler 'cause using the wrong sized ruler w/o thinking is what caused the problem with the too small row.  =(

My drive home from Texas was broken up by stops at several quilt stores along the way.  Picked up the patterns for each shop's row, and yes there were some fabric goodies bought - altho most of it all already has plans for it.  

Bargain of the trip has to be the sale bag of FQ's - a bag the size patterns come in, and all you can fit in there for $20.   I managed to get 13 FQ's....a much better price per FQ than the $3 they were normally.  =)  And yes most of them are for various swaps or for my alphabet fabric stash (found two with x's on them!).

I've got plans to visit 5 more shops here in Eastern Wyoming this week to pick up the rows they have.   There are several more I'd like to visit, but they are in the opposite direction in the state and many miles away from where I'll be.

Gratitudes:
1. Verbal job offer received, waiting on the formal job offer.

2. Safe travels over almost 4500 miles on my road trip.

Vacation Doings.......part 1

Lots of traveling going on these days and for the last couple of weeks as I work my way to the end of a three-week road trip that has taken me to Indiana, Tennessee, and Texas.   Have driven through several other states including Nebraska, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Kansas before I finally make it back to Wyoming.  Good thing I like driving!

There has been sewing and stitiching going on while I've been traveling.  I stayed with my best quilting buddy, Susan in TN and got the blocks for two different swaps completed.  In addition I finished off three small pieces of cross-stitch.   Two already have plans for them - a mug rug and a needlebook.   The third one (the fox) will probably also end up as a mug rug.  Did find the perfect fabric to go with the foxes while here in TX.  =)

The current cross-stitch project that is in the works.  this will end up as part of a Christmas gift for someone.  Still need to find fabric to go with this....keep hoping I'll find some owls while shop hopping, but no luck so far on that.  

Swap blocks for a monthly lotto swap that I've been participating in the last few months.

 Swap blocks for an international swap that I'm in this year.

And last, but not the least I've been able to visit 6 of the quilt shops here in the Dallas area that are participating in the Row-by-Row shop hop.   And here are the goodies that I've collected so far.   More shops will be visited on the way home.  =)

Fabric, some but not a tremendous amount.  Several pieces for swaps that i'm in or for Mug Rugs.

Scrap Bags of fabric, all from one store.   Approximately 7 yds of fabric (mainly batiks!) for $17.

And the 6 row-by-row patterns that I've collected so far.  More to come from OK, KS, NE, and WY on the way home!

Gratitudes: 

1. 3000 miles of safe travel so far....only 1200 to go!

2. Fun doing the row-by-row shop hop so far.  More shops to go on the way home.  =)

Contest voting and road trip!

Almost one week into my 3 wk road trip.   Had made some serendipitous travel plans as I've been able to make a couple of unplanned quilt shops including the Missouri Quilt Star Company thanks to driving right by the exits for the stores.   Gotta love the quilt stores that can afford to advertise on billboards and that aren't very far of the US Highway/Interstate systems.     So far the fabric I've bought in the quilt shops has all had a plan for it so that is a good thing.   (We won't talk about the remnants I bought at the one quilt store or Joann's....).   Today I'm headed to TN where I'll be visiting with a quilting buddy and friend for a couple of days.   Am looking forward to fun and relaxation with her.  =)

I did behave myself because I'll be visiting a number of the shops participating in the Row-by-Row shop hop on the way home so I have to be good.  =)   There are enough shops that I'll be visiting that I can put together a quilt with them and then hopefully be the first to turn it in at a shop and when the prize for being the first there with a finished quilt.   =)  

Meanwhile, voting for this months blocks has started.   Voting goes thru tomorrow and my block is tied with the other gal that has won 6 months out of the 10 that have happened so far.  


If you would like to vote for my block (has to be done thru Facebook and you have to be logged into your account) then click here, then (after signing into FB) click on the vote button for the block that is titled "Path to the Stars".  Voting goes through the 14th.

The squares in the background that are pieced were made with the scraps of the other blocks.  I free-form pieced them from cut off triangles, shading the colors from dark to light blue and silver.  The quarter square circles were machine appliqued down.

Gratitudes:
1. Safe travels so far on my trip.

2. For the job interview that I have scheduled for Tuesday the 21st in the Dallas area.

Finishes for the first week of June

School is coming to a finish and I'm still going crazy with everything going on.

Did tho manage to finish off a few things this week.

First up is the three leather knife sheaths that had been commissioned, including a hanging loop that can be switched between sheaths.

Next were two more mug rugs/snack mats.

And finally was the block for March in the layout that I finally decided to make.


 Gratitudes:

1. Brakes checked out ok on the car, a good thing before my road trip.

2. I've managed to just about make it through my list of to-do's for this weekend - a very good thing!

3. Only three more projects to grade and all of my grading for this semester will be over!

When you can't sleep ...... sew ..........

Between not being sleepy last night and being awake early this morning I needed something to work on.   So I dug out two more of my little cross-stitch pieces to make into mug rugs/snack mats.

The setting for the patriotic cross-stitch heart started with a few of the floral HST's and some extra fabric to make more that I found in one of my totes.  The navy fabric that it is sitting on is what I'm going to use for the backing of it.  Finished size will be 9" by 12".

The second mug rug also started with a cross-stitch piece and a few scraps.  I don't remember how many years ago I did the cross-stitch, but it's been a lot now.   And I just shake my head because after all the times I've looked at this piece it wasn't until today that I realized there was something wrong with the work.....can you see it?   I'll need to finish the outlining on the one leg.  And then I'm going to look for a button to cover the unstitched area or I might a little bitty flower applique over it.   If I can't find a button I like then I'll see if I can match the thread colors as a last resort.

Gratitudes:

1. Things are falling into place for my Road Trip this month.

2. Only 3 more days with the kids for this school year.