And the winners are...

First, the statistics. After deleting all spam, there were 78 comments. Five of those comments were noreply commenters who had absolutely no way of being contacted by email or by commenting on a blog of theirs. That means their profile does not have their email address in it, nor do they have a blog listed, and they did not leave their email address in the comment.

I left those comments and skipped them when I counted down to find the winners. Those people may wonder why they never get replies to any comments that they leave and why they never get an email saying "You won!" They may want to rectify the situation for the next time they leave a comment on a blog or enter a giveaway. They were "Judith Bense", "Jill", "janie", "Anita", and "Maria Kievit". That left 73 comments.


Now to the winners. The Random.org guy chose the following:


For the six month subscription to The Quilt Show, the winner is #31 "Joanie Quilts"!

For the One Past Online Series to The Quilt Show, the winner is #69 Cathy Byrd !

For the Shnibbles pattern, the Bean Bag Critter kit and the bunch of five inch squares from my batik stash, the winner is #50 "Desi @ Wee Share"!

Congratulations to Joanie, Cathy, and Desi. I've sent you all emails. Please confirm receipt asap so that I may send Joanie and Cathy the certificate numbers and I'll need Desi's snail mail address.

Thanks everyone for all your very interesting comments! This was fun!

Enjoy!

Debbie

Blog Hop Party and Giveaway

This giveaway is now closed. Winners will be announce later today.

 

I'm thinking that this is just the thing I need to help get me back into blogging on a more regular basis. Who doesn't love a giveaway? We all like to win, but really, it's even more fun to host a giveaway. It's so great having all of you stopping by to visit my blog.

The Quilting Gallery is helping out a lot by organizing a list of those of us quilting bloggers who like to give away things. The giveaways on the list of Blog Hop Party participants will be open through midnight of December 17. So, get hopping!

This is the fourth year in a row that I am lucky to have this great prize to offer you. When a member of The Quilt Show subscribes for another year of great shows and fun, they also get gift certificates to give to their friends. 

I'll be giving away three prizes: 
1. A gift certificate for $24.95 good for a six month membership to The Quilt Show. You must not currently be a Star (paid) member of The Quilt Show to qualify for this certificate.

2. A gift certificate for $19.95 for The Quilt Show. You can use this Gift Certificate to choose 1 Past Online Series for FREE (Not the DVD). This gift certificate can only be used for purchasing a Past Series. 

3. I am giving away two items that I received as part of giveaways that I won from other people. One is a Shnibbles pattern that was included in a whole bunch of goodies in a giveaway that I won from Gerry of GerryART. The other is a little kit of a Bean Bag Critter. I received several of these kits in a giveaway from Mary Ann of Sewing and Beyond. I'm also going to add in a bunch of five inch charms from my batik stash. No picture of charms yet, though. 

The Blog Hop Party giveaways are running until December 17th. Please leave a comment with something interesting for me to read! No 'I wanna win' or 'Great giveaway', etc. I want this to be fun! :)

I will be choosing the three winners from the comments left through midnight at the end of December 17th. That is, all comments except for the ones that have no way of being reached. If you are a no-reply blogger, please leave your email address within your comment. If you'd like to check if you are a no-reply blogger or change that, and you have a google account, Karen has good instructions at Sew Many Ways.

Have fun and Good luck!

Debbie

  

Why I've been too busy to blog

The main reason:

A few weeks ago my son and I spent one very rainy morning in the Wall Street area of downtown Manhattan. We got a very foggy glimpse of the new World Trade Center.

And we each have photo proof with a famous Wall Street resident.

I've been in Miami Beach with the two little ones for over three weeks now. For the past week one cannot say "Sunny Miami Beach" at all!


I did manage to get a little relaxing sewing in and made a block for the Block Lotto blog.

Enjoy!

Debbie

Seen at a new mall

Whew, that was a long break! Let's begin again.

One of the things that I've been busy with this summer is a copyediting/proofreading course. I did the informal test yesterday and next week is the optional review lesson, so the pressure is off.

In keeping with that theme...

...first, I have to share this. We were up north for a few days last week and went to check out the brand new mall in Akko with the grandkids. It had been open for a day and a half already and we were the first ones to point out this 'typo' to the people in this store! Don't you just love it!

And, just to keep this fiber related, here's a photo update on that blanket I've been knitting. I do have some quilty type things to show. That will come eventually.

BTW, for those of you who use blogger, I wrote this post in the new interface. Had no trouble at all, but didn't notice anything too different about it, except for the layout. So, unless something goes wrong that I didn't notice, I guess I'll keep it.

Enjoy!

Debbie

Filet Crochet - Something from the past

 
On an international quilt mailing list that I belong to, for Jewish quilters, someone brought up filet crochet yesterday. Someone else sent an attachment with a photo of a challah cover she made with filet crochet. That prompted me to dig out my filet crochet challah cover that I made almost 30 years ago. We have several challah covers and sort of rotate using them.

Sometime during the year after we were married, we were visiting friends. I was very attracted to the challah cover that she was using and asked her about it. She said that her mother in law made several of them for the children and there's no pattern for it. After some begging, she allowed me to take it home to copy. I sat and charted the whole thing on graph paper.  It is backed with a piece of brown fabric. I don't remember when the wine stains are from and I never tried to get them out. It's probably too late now, they're probably set from being in the drawer for so many years. If I would want to bleach it, I'd have to take off the backing. Too lazy.

(Still no quilting?!?!) (LOL!)


Enjoy!

Debbie

What to do with this yarn!

 
So, I started knitting something else with the rainbow yarn. It's called the Ten Stitch Twist and I got the pattern on Ravelry after seeing Henya of Chicken Stitches post photos of the one she's making. 


I am not sure if I am happy with it. The color repeats are way too short and the stockinette looks so uneven because of it. I just don't know if there's anything that will look good with this yarn. And, it is an expensive yarn (in my opinion, anyway.) So, please, if anyone has any good ideas, help! As I said last time, I don't want to make socks.

It might just be time to switch back to quilting.

Happy Monday,

Debbie

Progress update

 
You may think that I'm only doing knitting right now, and you would be correct. But, right on my sewing table is the quilt project that I planned to/should be working on now. The knitting so relaxing that I can't seem to pull myself away from it, for the meantime.

I finished the Summer Mystery Shawlette that I talked about last time. It went pretty quickly. Then again, it is kind of small. I guess that's why it's called a shawlette. 

Last year I had started a different shawl from a rainbow variegated Schaefer Anne yarn that I wrote about buying here. Some time ago, I pretty much decided that I didn't like the way it was coming out. So, I undid the whole thing two days ago.

Before

During

After - now I have 560 yards of fingering yarn in my favorite rainbow combo that I really want to make something with. While I did start on something, I am entertaining other ideas. I DO NOT want to make socks! The thing that I started, the beginning is very complicated. So far, I thought I was doing OK, but now I'm in the process of undoing part of it. The pattern writer admits that the beginning is tricky. If I get it to work out, I'll continue and take a picture.


Happy Wednesday,


Debbie

Progress!

The Shetland Pi Shawl is finally blocked! As a reminder, the pattern came from a mystery shawl knit-a-long provided by Wendy Johnson of Wendy Knits. You can find it on her free patterns page.

This week I started a new lace shawl from more yarn in the stash. Also from Wendy Knits. It's another mystery shawl, the Summer Mystery Shawlette, and the last part was posted yesterday. I just started Part 2. 

Today marks the 5th anniversary of the Carol Doak Quilting Group yahoogroup. Carol designed another fantastic anniversary block for this year. I felt like I needed to do some piecework, so yesterday I whipped up a six inch version of the block. You can get the pattern by joining Carol's yahoogroup. 

In fact, you can get tons of free patterns that Carol designs exclusively for the members. It's free to join. She also gives challenges, with prizes, for using and posting photos of the blocks and BOMs (Block of the Month) that she designs for us.

Have a great weekend!

Debbie

You're at the 5th Blogger's Quilt Festival!

It's the 5th Bi-annual Blogger's Quilt Festival! Many thanks to Amy Ellis of Amy's Creative Side for gathering hundreds of quilters together to show some of their favorite quilts all in one place. Click on the logo above for a list of all the participating quilter bloggers.

The quilt I'm sharing this time is a quilt from the past. I made it in 1997 for my daughter's Bat Mitzvah. I prepared a bunch of white squares for the girls who came to her party to color on. Then I put them together into the quilt. The flowers, flying geese, spool and bowtie blocks all have 3-D components in them. The quilt is tied, not quilted. You can see the little white dots in some places. By now the quilt has been well used. It's been washed many times. I've even slept under it while at my daughter's home! For the back of the quilt I pieced together some scraps and appliqued the cursive letters of her name in Hebrew.

Important Note: I like to reply to as many of everyone's nice comments that I can fit in, but some of you are no-reply commenters. This means that your email address is not enabled in the profile of your Google account, so it does not show up in the header of your comment. If any of you are wondering why you never get any replies to your comments on blogspot blogs, then check your Google profile and enable your email address. Or, you can put your email address in the body of your comment.

Here are links to my posts in the past Festivals:

Blogger's Quilt Festival #1  April, 2009

Blogger's Quilt Festival #2  October, 2009

Blogger's Quilt Festival #3  May, 2010

Blogger's Quilt Festival #4  October, 2010 


Enjoy the festival!


Debbie

Whew! Catching up

Very busy month, April was. We survived the week long holiday of Pesach (Passover)! Both daughters and their families were here the whole time. That's 12 of us hanging out together for eight days in the same apartment. The three grandchildren and the rest of us had a great time together. 

 cousins

little brother

The family who lives in Northern Israel left the day after the holiday and the one who lives in Miami Beach is leaving this coming Sunday. Gradually, the others have returned to school and I'm slowly trying to catch up with things. 
 
When I'm all alone, next week, the first thing I plan to do is block the Shetland Pi shawl! Can't wait to see how it comes out. 

I also managed to sew up some batik nine patch blocks for a swap and mail them out. I love batiks and look forward to seeing the variety that I get back. They're nine inch finished size.

I also received my winnings in a giveaway of some batik fabric charms from Marjorie of the Applique Addict blog.

 
I'm thinking of making some smaller nine patch blocks using some of those and some from my stash and then setting them together sort of like Wanda is doing here on her Exuberant Color blog. But, maybe with a less busy background.

Right now, I've got to get back to some paperwork that I'm behind with.


Happy Tuesday,

Debbie

Borders On

 
Yesterday I got the borders onto my little sample FPP mini quilt. There won't be any sewing going on for the next two weeks or so. I've got some paperwork to do and preparations for Passover to work on. Family is here and more will be coming. But, I still want to try to get that Shetland Pi Shawl blocked. If I do, I'll post a photo. Maybe tomorrow I'll get to tell you about a family event that we're having today and post a few photos.

Enjoy!


Debbie

Made the deadline, barely

 
So, I got enough of the top done to be able to send it in. It's just the middle without the borders. What you see is 8" square, without the seams. Today I'm going to try to get the borders done. I hadn't done any miniature paper piecing for quite a while, so this was fun.

 

Before trimming

 

 

After trimming

Sewn together, without borders

This is a free pattern that you can get on Carol Doak's site in the Free Patterns section. If you join Carol's yahoogroup of over 7,000 (!) members, you can get even more free patterns that Carol designs especially for those subscribed to the list.

Enjoy!

Debbie

Today's Progress

I went to the hardware store today (it's right across the street from us) and was given a suggestion of a heavy duty packing tape. I bought it and tested it and it seems to work on the styrofoam. Now the problem is that I won't have the time or space to do the blocking of the shawl until sometime next week. :(


I did, however, get all the pieces cut for the class sample that I'm making. Let's hope nothing happens on the way to Sunday to keep me from getting it done! I only want to finish the top, not the quilting, so the students can see it with the paper on the back.

Till tomorrow,

Debbie

Progress reports

So, the styrofoam that I'd been waiting for in the last post is here. I need to figure out how to attach the pieces to each other. Tape doesn't stick to it.


In the meantime, I managed to finish Lesson One (only three more to go) of the EQ7 class that ended a few weeks ago. These are the blocks that I drew and colored in.

I've been following the blog of Judy, the Virtual Quilter, for a while. Everyday she posts a new design of hers made in EQ7. It's a very interesting blog and fun to keep up with. Do you know of any other similar blogs or sites that share EQ designs, besides those related to the EQ site and the EQ blog?
 
Now I have to make a sample for a class that I'm hoping to teach at the workshop retreat here in the summer. I need to send in a photo of the sample by this coming Sunday! This is as far as I got:

The colors I chose for this project have no connection to the block drawings above. I just like the combination.

Enjoy!

Debbie

The Pi Shawl

 
What you see here is the finished, not yet blocked, pi shawl that I wrote about a little while back. I'm waiting for my husband to buy me some styrofoam boards that I can put together for blocking the shawl. After that I will be using the boards for a portable design wall. I don't remember, but I think the shawl is coming out about 1.7 meters in diameter. When it's blocked, I'll measure it again.

 

Back when Electric Quilt came out with Version 7, I bought my first quilt design program. In the fall, I started taking the Quilt University classes that they offer for the software. Fran Gonzalez does a fabulous job teaching how to use EQ7. Last week the 2nd set of four lessons ended. I got very behind and am almost finished with Lesson 1! I thought about what would make me more likely to push ahead and get moving to work on the lessons and decided that writing about my progress might help. I would want to most more often, so I would need to keep working on the lessons so that I have something to show.

This class is called Building Blocks and here's the last block that I finished while in Lesson 1. Those experienced with EQ will laugh, but this is great for me! It's called Fancy Spools and it's made up of a four patch and Four X Variation.

Hopefully, by Sunday, I'll have more to show...

Have a great weekend,

Debbie

It's also fiber

 
This blog is about fiber and things I make with fiber. So here's what I made yesterday for tonight's Friday night Shabbat dinner.

Matzah Balls!

I'm not getting a heck of a lot done in the textile fiber related department.


Have a good weekend!

Debbie

Embroidery from the past

  
I've left yet another empty space in my blogging. I've just been lazy. My apologies to those who keep checking. At least that's what the hit counter keeps showing. 

I don't really have anything new that I'm working on that I can show you. I am plugging along on an incredibly boring knitted pi shawl. I'm too far along to let it go, so I have to finish it. I get maybe one to three rounds done in a day. It actually is progressing well and I think I have about 25 or so rounds left, with about half of them plain knit stitch only. Not too bad. Because it's all bunched up on circular needles, there's nothing that would show up in a photo. You can be sure you'll see it when it's finished!

I looked up at the wall a few days ago in my sewing room and noticed a past project (from 1999) that I would like to show you. You know how when you have something hanging for so long that it's part of the decoration and you don't notice it anymore? Anyway, Mary Corbet of Needle 'n Thread posted last week about her experience with the  bullion embroidery stitch and thread twist. So, I was reminded of this project.

I guess it was about 12 years ago that a friend who was a member of a small mailing list I belong to shared some photos from her garden. One close up of a flower from the garden really grabbed me. It's called a King Protea. I felt the need to duplicate it in embroidery.

First I enlarged the photo and printed it out on a plain white fabric in order to embroider right onto it. The center is made of really long bullion stitches with straight long stitches as fillers and French knots in the middle. I used the turkey stitch to make the long green and white things (there's got to be a better, flower related, word for it) that surround the center. For the pink petals, I took a wide organza ribbon and machine zigzagged (or maybe it was buttonhole stitch, I can't remember) down all of one side of long lengths. The whole piece is about 8" in diameter. 

Enjoy!

Debbie

We've got a OWOH winner!

 
The comment count shows 229 plus one who couldn't seem to get the comment to work so sent me an email. Less one duplicate, one spam and one who had absolutely no way of being contacted. Out of 227 the Random Number Generator chose #180.

 
Comment number 180 turns out to be: Susanna from Holland of Susi-Art! Susanna said:

Hi Debbie, you make some nice things, it is lovely!! You can add me to your list! Warm greetings from Holland, Susanna 

Congratulations, Susanna! I've sent you an email and I'm looking forward to hearing from you!


This was the third year that I participated and I had a lot of fun. Lisa is planning on making it even more fun for next year and I can't wait. 


Have a good weekend,


Debbie

One World One Heart 2011

I'm glad you came to visit my blog for the 2011 One World One Heart blog event. Click on the logo above to see the list of  participants and information on how to join. Last year there were over 1000 participants! This is the fifth and final year that Lisa Swifka, A Whimsical Bohemian, will be hosting this huge event. Thank you Lisa for providing us all with the fun and opportunity to meet and get to know lots of fellow creative bloggers from around world.

Another feature of the event is to post a giveaway on your blog to encourage comments so you can meet more of the other bloggers.

I was a happy participant in 2009 and 2010. If you clicked to see my posts for those years, you may have noticed a trend! While I did not make postcards this year, I am continuing to include a bunch of yarns in my giveaway. 

Here are the "door prize" items one lucky winner will receive from me this year: 
 
I love couching yarns for embellishment on quilted items. I have included them in several giveaways that I have done throughout my two years of blogging. The yarn package consists of one yard lengths of about 30+ different yarns. They are great for embellishing quilts, crazy quilting, scrapbooking, etc.

In December, Karen of Sew and Sow Life had a giveaway for a little drawstring bag that she made after seeing a tutorial at Quiltcetera and I won it! The little thing is just so cute and the tutorial makes it so easy that I decided to make one for you!

One of the giveaways I entered in the fall included a quilted eyeglass case. While I wasn't a winner, Becky of The Quilting Booklady wrote a few weeks later to tell me that she found another eyeglass case that she had made and would I like to have it! I said, of course, and it's been protecting my reading glasses in my little back pack ever since. It's so easy to make, so I made one to include with the drawstring purse and yarns.

So, that's my offering for the OWOH event for this year. 

Just a few little simple rules to follow if you want a chance to win:

1. Leave a comment on this post. Comments on other posts are always welcome, but for this giveaway, only comments left on this post will count. 
 
2. I need to be able to contact you if you are the winner. If your blogger profile does not lead to your email address, you must include your email address in your comment. Anonymous comments will only be counted if there is an email address included in the comment. Any comments without any form of contact available at all will not be included in the drawing.

3. The event ends on Thursday, February 17. I will use random.org to choose the winner after midnight, U.S. EST, at the end of February 17, and then I will email the winner.

Have fun and Good luck!

Debbie