Oh Man, My Tooth!!!

Yesterday I woke up with a doozy of a toothache. I got antibiotics and pain meds so will heal but OUCH! Sadly, the pain meds don't stop the pain but they do make it so I don't really care that it hurts (until it starts to wear off). Here's what my Grandparents could have taken for their toothache. Unfortunately, it is no longer on the market.

I've been thinking about what to put on my next UFO list because I'm so close to finishing the 4th quilt in my first group. I think that, in addition to Peri's quilt, I may try to get these 3 tops quilted. What do you think?

Well, back to the couch for some healing time. Click here if you want to enter the awesome AUGUST GIVEAWAY.

Have a great Tuesday! If your teeth are healthy, say a little thank you prayer! Cheery (but slightly drugged) wave from Bev

44th STREET FABRIC AUGUST GIVEAWAY!

Good Sunday morning! Before we get to the 44th Street Fabric giveaway, I wanted to show you the progress I have made on my Dresden Plate quilt. All of the quilting on the inner part of the quilt and the inner borders is done and I just have the outer borders to go! Woot! You can see Charlie sleeping in his "cave" under the sewing table.

Now on to the Giveaway! The August Giveaway is for 8 fat quarters of Delighted fabric designed by The Quilted Fish for Riley Blake Designs. That is 2 yards of some of my personal favorite fabrics. It's much prettier than my camera shows it as. You can find it in the shop if you want a better look. PLUS...

A panel of the pre-printed bunting that is SO cute from this same line. The bunting is a snap to make and I've added pics of the one panel I finished from the flag pre-printed fabric.This picture represents the real colors of Delighted fabric. Aren't they gorgeous?

As soon as I was finished with it, Gina snapped it up for Peri's room. I made up this flag panel before I saw the tutorial from Riley Blake Designs done by the designer. She quilted the panel and then cut the flags out with a rotary cutter with decorative blades. You can buy a panel HERE.

Then she embellished her flags with ribbons and rick rack and other interesting stuff! I'll put the tutorial on the blog this week sometime. It's great to watch even if you aren't making this flag panel. I made mine by sewing various Delighted fabrics to the flags and turning them so they were finished. I just used ribbon from WalMart to string them together. Easy and fun! I'm going to make some for the sewing room when I have time. You get all these flags from just one panel.

But wait...there's more! Paulette who won the Collections Two book in the last giveaway, is taking another prize because she found the same book at an estate sale after the giveaway started. So we will be drawing 2 names and one will win this awesome book full of primitive designs by Jan Patek and Gerry Kimmel!

Make a comment on this blog post for 1 chance to win. Become a follower of this blog or let me know you are already a follower for another chance to win. Tweet or blog about this giveaway and you can have a 3rd chance to win. Thanks for entering and good luck! Giveaway will end on August 19th. Winners will be announced August 20th.

And the WINNERS are!

First, let me say thanks to everyone who entered! I decided that, since I found the entire order of Collections Two books, I would give away two of them. I decided for this giveaway, I would let Charlie and Lola pick the winner. I printed out the names of the contestants and put them in a bowl:

and then tried to get Charlie and Lola to choose two winners. As you can see, Charlie was more interested in looking out the window. He doesn't get to look out that window very often because he isn't usually allowed on my cutting table. Lola was interested in the bowl because it just might contain food but she refused to choose a winner because she doesn't ever want to hurt anyone's feelings if they don't win.

So I drew names. Our first winner is Quilt Hollow! and

Our second winner is Paulette

Thanks to everyone for participating! Ladies who won, please email me at: bev@44thstreetfabric.com with your mailing address. Our next giveaway will start tomorrow and will be for fabric! I think you will like it! Have a wonderful Saturday. Happy Sabbath and Cheery Wave from Bev

Tutorial and FREE Pattern for Adorable Sun Hat!

These sun hats are perfect for hot August weather! They make great gifts and are easy-peasy to make! The pattern is free! Hope you enjoy this awesome tutorial from Riley Blake Designs! Have a great Friday! Cheery wave from Bev

Expensive Break Time

Last Friday, while I was working at my "real job", I took a little break and went on eBay. Here's what I found from just one Seller.

A darling little box with scotties on the top that I will use for needles. I love this.

Here's a close-up of the top with the little scotties. It looks like the maker didn't finish the white scottie because there is a place for a collar but it wasn't added. I love this sweet little box.

I also found this little birdhouse. I love the roof.

And last, but not least, a Mary Engelbreit bank with a lady bluebird. It was a very fun little shopping trip in the middle of my day. It sort of cancelled out the money making thing I was going for by working but I love my new little pretties. Don't forget to enter the GIVEAWAY for a free book. It ends tomorrow and I will announce the winner on Saturday. The next giveaway will be for fabric from the shop! Have a great Thursday! Cheery wave from Bev

Collar Making Day

Yesterday I had to put all my fun projects aside and make dog collars. Charlie and Lola went to the groomer so I made collars.

When I first adopted Charlie, he had been tied outside and abandoned. He had a flea collar on that had grown into his little neck and it had to be removed surgically. I couldn't find a collar that was soft enough to not irritate his neck so I figured out how to make one.

He tolerated it well so I made quite a few of them for him. People saw his collar and started to request them. I had to be careful because I made holiday collars, new puppy collars, etc. for all my family and friends and before I knew it, I was making collars in every free moment.

Lola wears my collars too. She was rescued from a puppy mill and had never worn a collar before so these soft collars were great for her. I've even been making cat collars for Hunter, the cat my son raised from an abandoned kitten.

I still can't get a good photo of one of my dogs that show off their collar and their face at the same time.

So yesterday I realized that I had run out of collars and so I made some new ones and here are a few of them.

Don't forget to enter our GIVEAWAY for a free Collections Two quilt pattern book! Have a great Wednesday! Cheery wave from Bev

More Old Quilt Photos...

I found photos of quilts I made in that past that I no longer own. Some of them were sold and some were stolen from the back of an SUV while I was moving. People were going in and out of the house moving boxes and quilts and boxes were taken right from under our noses. I hope the people who took them  enjoy my quilts and didn't throw them away. I was excited because I thought the photos were gone too. They aren't the greatest but I'm so grateful to have them!

This is the Angel and Stars quilt I made from a Red Wagon pattern by Jan Patek. She is one of the designers in the book in the blog giveaway that ends Friday! Please don't forget to enter if you like primitive patterns. Click HERE to enter.

This is a closeup showing some of the quilting.

Here's another closeup showing quilting. I don't think you can tell but the bottom panel in green was where I quilted Bible verses about angels. I love to write words in my quilting. Sadly, I have no close-up of all that work.

This is a quilt I made using triangle papers. I had the whole line of fabrics for this quilt and after I made the triangle squares randomly combining them, I put the squares in a paper bag and drew them out sight unseen to do the piecing. I thought that was a great exercise to combat my "matchy upy" tendencies.

Here's the quilt on a quilt hanger with redware plates. Yep, they are black but made with red clay.

And last but not least (for me anyway) this is a photo of a Whig Rose wallhanging. Thanks for looking and for sympathizing about my lost quilts in earlier posts. I finished my work for my "real job" today and so hopefully will have some time to quilt on my Dresden Plate quilt. I'm trying to work on keeping my shoulder blades from creeping up around my ears while I quilt. What makes me do that? I'll be sewing, realize I'm uncomfortable and then realize I've hunched myself over into some kind of pretzel shape. Well, thanks for looking at the quilts I no longer have. There are more pics of more quilts but I'll wait a while to put them on the blog...lol...enough is enough! Have a great rest of your Tuesday! Cheery wave from Bev

Have You Met Happy Loves Rosie?

My favorite UK website! Happy Loves Rosie! Thought I'd share some photos from this wonderful artist, blogger and shop owner! Get free stuff, have her design your blog, buy items from her shop and enjoy her fabulous sense of style!

Good Sunday morning! I know you are sick of seeing my Dresden Plate quilt but I got a lot of quilting done on it yesterday and wanted to put the photos on the blog because I'm proud of myself!

I learn so much every time I quilt a quilt. With this one I've learned that, although I used to be good at doing straight lines by "eyeballing" it, I am no longer good at that. It is so bad that, if I were doing this for someone else, I would probably start over. It's why I have so many ufo's. As soon as I don't like something, I stop the entire project. I also learned that I don't like this expensive, super thin batting.

But, enough of that! I'm making progress on Dresden so that's good. Gina did not find a place to move in Nashville so I think she's going to stay here (woo hoo). She's painting Peri's furniture (my granddaughter) and has asked me to make a quilt! She's using my new, favorite color scheme of yellow, orange, hot pink and aqua so I'm going to add more blocks to these and do a quick quilt. But not until I get the Dresden Plate finished! Hope everyone enjoys their Sunday. I have to work at my pesky "real job" and go to the grocery store. As they say, I'd rather be quilting! Cheery wave from Bev

Thought I would treat you all to a quilt show! These are beautiful antique applique quilts that recently came up for sale. Sadly, the makers did not label their quilts so future admirers would know who made them. All were probably made before 1930. I hope you enjoy seeing them!

This is a beautiful rose wreath quilt. It's interesting that the blocks are arranged differently in each row. I wonder if that was intentional.

This is a wonderful, bright Princess Feather quilt. I can vouch for the fact that this is a difficult block to do.

I'm not sure about the name for this quilt block. I love the fabrics the quilter used. They are the pastel green and bubblegum pink of the 20's and 30's. This quilt is a good example of what can happen when you fold a quilt on the shelf. The best way to store a quilt is to roll it up so that there is no chance of getting permanent folds. If you are folding it for a display, just remember to refold it frequently.

And last, but not least, a gorgeous applique quilt with a wonderful border. Notice the green scallop and the tiny white outer border before the pink binding was added. This is folk art at its finest. I wish we could know about the maker and give them credit for their wonderful quilts and their expertise.

Don't forget to enter our GIVEAWAY for a free quilt pattern book so that you can create your own masterpiece! Just remember to do a label with your name and the date! Have a great Saturday! Cheery wave from Bev

Treat Bag

Yesterday my Dallas kids requested a cute trick or treat bag for Dylan. You can't see it in this photo but the black trim has little bats. The cute fabrics are from the shop's Halloween fabrics. Every year the Dallas kids have a huge party and everyone has amazing costumes. Apparently, they need a cute treat bag for photos that are being taken early.

Here's a pic of Dylan and her Daddy from last year as Willy Wonka and an Oompa Loompa. As you can see, she was not exactly thrilled. Just thought I'd share on this busy Friday! Hope you have a great day! Cheery wave from Bev

Quilts I Remember....

A few days ago, I found some photos of quilts I no longer own. These are the only images I have of these quilts. Sadly, I didn't worry about taking great photos at that time because I didn't realize that these quilts would be taken from me. In the grand scheme of things, it's not that big a deal but I'm glad to have found the photos. I thought I would show you a few every once in a while. Hope you don't mind.

This pinwheel quilt was made for a challenge from my small quilt group. The challenge was to convey a sense of motion using only 4 fabrics. I would re-create this quilt if I could find the fabrics...I just loved it! It was taken from the back of a car when I moved. I can only hope it was taken by someone who likes quilts and not by someone who just threw it away.

This is the 3 Flags quilt I made. This quilt was sold but I scanned the photos from my patriotic phase so I added photos of it.

Here's a better picture of the 3 flag quilt. It was the first large quilt I quilted on my Bernina.

This is a photo of one of the first quilts I ever made. I still like the colors. This quilt was also stolen. At the time, I thought this was a great quilting job...lol...

And here is a photo of a Hen and Chicks quilt top. It never got quilted because it was also taken. It's a bad photo and I don't know if you can see it but the hens are the big white blocks and the chick blocks are surrounding the hens.

Thanks for letting me share some of my past sewing projects. Finding these photos has made me sort of emotional about these quilts because seeing them is like hearing an old song. It makes me remember what was going on when I made them just like hearing an old song flashes me back to that time in my life. Don't forget to enter the GIVEAWAY for a free Collections Two quilt pattern book! Have a good Thursday and cheery wave! Bev