My Biggest Win - EVER!!

  First let me say, this post has been in the making. I had to wait until I received all of the prizes to share.

  I entered a contest on Violette Field Threads' Blog at the end of January. On February 4th, I received the announcement that I had won one of the Sewists Grand Prizes worth over $400 to various places. 

  Oh be still my heart! Do you know what those words mean to a retired person who loves to sew for her granddaughter??

  The Violette Field Threads Blog gave me her whole collection! Wow! I am still amazed at just that one prize! Go check out her patterns if you never have! They are all so cute and so unique!

  Now I will show you the other stuff I won:
$100 to Fabric.com!!  It took me a while to decide on just what to order. I would put things in my cart, and change my mind over and over! I had $100 to spend, and I used $99.75! Can't get much closer than that!
 

Lots of fabric, and a few other things I needed to sew with! Oh gosh, my tongue was hanging out of my mouth opening this box!

  Another great prize came from Little Lizard King, and I was able to choose 2 patterns of my choice. Please go and visit her page to see all of her neat stuff! 

 Next is what I ordered from Girl Charlee Fabrics with my $25 gift certificate. I was so glad to be introduced to this shop. Knits and more knits at very reasonable prices! 
 I saw the multi-color leopard print, and I knew my Shelby would love it! Plus the ruffled knit, and a solid black knit for fall!

   I also won $25 to Pink Chalk Fabrics. I love to look at all of their pretty selections, and it took me a while to decide what to order here also. This beautiful gray fabric is Moda Big Dots Steel and Moda Bella Solids Steel. I just love how the fabric feels.

 I won another $25 gift certificate to Skye Reve Fabrics. I've admired their store for a long time, and I've also ordered from them before. They have great fabric and great service. I chose this wonderful navy/blue chevron with the dots to match. I think this will be a cute fall outfit for my Shelby!

 Last, but not least, is what I got from Shabby Fabrics with another $25 gift certificate! Oh yes, I was one happy girl, uh, woman! This is part of the Hello Sunshine collection from Riley Blake. I just love it!

  I feel so blessed! I don't enter every giveaway that I see. I only enter those that I know I would be able to use the prizes, and if you know me at all, you know I will use every single prize I have posted here! 

  Thank YOU to all of the sponsors! Without such generous sponsors, we wouldn't be able to enter any of these great giveaways.

  I want to also state that I was able to get these great selections because I paid some of the shipping on a few of these - but, believe me! It was worth it! There will be more post coming as I'm able to sew with these wonderful fabrics! 

Summer Projects....

  I've been really busy trying to get ahead, but you all know that doesn't happen.
 My bad shoulder gave me fits last week, and I had to take some time off from my sewing. I'm just doing a few things as I feel like it, but I wanted to post some of my projects. I won't go into long explanations. The first set is for Shelby's birthday. She will be 6 this Thursday! 

All I did on the pink set is the monogram. The outfit was bought at Chez Ami.

  I made the daisy print shorts to go with this bright orange shirt.  Flower design is from Planet Applique.

 I had to do a couple of shirts for my little guys. 

 I do have some other things I've not posted, but I will do another post for those. I love sewing for Shelby and making things for the little grands. 
 Come back to visit! 
 
 

Stool Makeover

 A few of you that read my blog probably remember me asking for your help to vote for my sewing stool to win a makeover a few weeks ago?
  Sooooooo ------ Guess what??  It won! The contest was on Facebook, and my sewing stool got the most likes for a makeover. My friends really came through for me!

  It was done by a local business called Junk Couture. April is so talented. 
  No more waiting! Here are the pics of the before and after.

 It turned out simply adorable! I let her use some fabric that I'd won from Jennifer Paganelli on a blog giveaway. I don't think we could have found anything that would have turned out any better than this!
  Thanks to April for having the contest, and again, I thank my friends from the bottom of my heart for voting. I know that a few of my blog friends also voted, and I thank you so much.
  On another note, as I have changed to following my blogs on Bloglovin, I am deleting some of the blogs I've been following for various reasons. Some just never post at all. (I promise to do better myself.)  Most just NEVER come to visit me or leave a comment or reply of any kind. I think some people just never learned blog courtesy.  So I plan to do more posting myself, and to use my time commenting and visiting blogs that take the time to act like I exist in the blog world. 
Hugs to all!  
 
  

Bloglovin..............

 Everyone says GFC is going to shut down in July so I wanted to be ready just in case.
  I saw a post about changing to Bloglovin so I signed up, and easily transported the blogs I follow to that. 
 If you notice at the top of my page, there is an icon so that you can follow me there if that's where you are also going. 
 The best thing I like about it so far is that I get a daily email with my blog updates! At least I won't forget to check on my favorite blogs if other things distract me during the day - which happens a lot lately. I wonder why? OK, don't even go there!!
  The weather here is beautiful right now, the pollen is coming down, and ball season has started! So I guess we can say Spring is here!
  I have some posts to catch upon real soon. So I will leave you with a pic of the grands during dress up week at school. 

  
 

Awesome Makeover!

  Did any of you see this post today about the Sewing Room Makeover on Stitch Craft Create Blog?
 Go HERE to read about it! Wow! What a difference! It was sponsored by Babylock.

 I love, love this quote on the wall, and it's meaning!

 

   

Nancy Zieman - Babylock Event!

  At the end of January, I got to attend a Babylock - For the Love of Sewing Event with Nancy Zieman!! It was in Shreveport, LA which is close to where I live, and I can say it was "wonderful!" Three days of classes, plus lectures and demonstrations by Nancy Zieman.
  If you ever get a chance to see her live, take advantage of it! She was wonderful! My brain was overflowing with the wealth of information she shared with us.
  The Babylock classes were also fabulous! We got to sew on the Unity, Ellisimo Gold, an Evolution Serger, the Sashiko Machine, and the Embellisher. Oh what fun!! 
 In the first class I attended we made a Mardi Gras table runner using the Unity and the Sashiko machine. We made the 10 minute table runner, but we embroidered the mask, and did some top stitching with the Sashiko. It stitches a wonderful stitch and can also be used for quilting. 

After lunch, we moved on to the Embellisher - Oh my goodness! I could have played with that one for hours!! It's sort of like a felting machine, but so fast, and did I say fun?? We made a little bag. First we made the back with some stipping on the Ellisimo Gold, and then we made the front using the Embellisher. We used all sorts of scraps from scarves, yarn, trim - you name it! It punched it all into that fabric, and none of it looks like it did before we started. 

 I just know my little granddaughter, Shelby, would love making things like this with her Mimi!
  That night we got to meet and take pictures with Nancy Zieman. Now this made me feel like I was on the real show!

  After pictures, she shared some of her favorite projects, and also during the next morning she showed us how the show is taped, and more projects.
 Nancy's love is making landscape quilts, and she shared with us how she does it. It was so interesting, and let me say, I didn't realize how we could use just scraps, bits, and pieces of fabric to make a beautiful quilt. (and an occasional fabric marker.) (wink)
  The wonderful Babylock instructors also shared some of their own projects which was also very interesting. 
  My last class was with the Evolution serger, and we made a wall board completely on the serger. It was pretty much easy and fun! They had the sergers set up so we rotated and didn't waste a minute.  

   
 Of course, we had to visit the on site store every time we finished a class. My dealer in Shreveport was the sponsor of the event - Shreveport Sewing Center. I picked up some neat goodies, and at a discount during the workshop.

 My favorite thing is the magnetic pin wrap bracelet. It's so light, and so convenient to use. 

 Now I'm just going to post some random pictures I took during the workshop. Can you believe we only had to pay $199, and that covered our kits (3), lunch for 3 days, and snacks. I'm sorry to say I didn't win a door prize or the machine they gave away, but I certainly wasn't disappointed as I gained so much from this seminar.
Happy Sewing!

 

 
 
   

Liebster Blog Award

 I was nominated for the Liebster Blog Award by Mommy's Apron Strings.  I think it will be fun to participate, so here goes:
 The Liebster Blog Award is an award given by bloggers to up and coming bloggers, most of whom have less than 200 followers (me)(or have been blogging for less than 6 months). It is to show newer bloggers that they are appreciated, and to help spread the word about new blogs. It was created to promote appreciation and recognition among the blog world. Liebster translates to “dearest” (or favorite/best) in German. It is also known as the Love Blog Award." It's been fun to get to know some bloggers better and a great way to pass on the love.

Here are the rules:
1. You must post 11 random things about yourself
2. Answer the 11 questions given by the nominator.
3. Create 11 new questions for those you nominate.
4. Choose 11 new blogs and link to them in your post.

11 Random things about myself:

1.  I would have never gone to college if two of my high school teachers hadn't pushed me to go. I had no clue that I could go even though my family was poor.
2.  As a young baby, I broke my arm. My brother was supposed to be watching me, and I rolled out of a chair. My mom didn't know for a couple of days. She finally figured it out when I would scream every time she picked me up. That was way back in 1949! LOL 
3.  My dad was a talented musician, and I can't carry a tune or play any kind of instrument!
4.  My husband and I had our first date at a Lettermen concert. We both said, "He or She is nice, but not someone I'd want to marry!" Three months later, we were engaged!
5.  My first baby, Emily, weighed 10 lbs. 7 oz, and I did not have a C section! Let's just say I sat on a pillow for 2 weeks!
6.  I have been married for over 41 years, and when people say they finish each other's sentences, well, it's true! We have been known to send each other the same text message at the same time without any previous discussion. Kind of eerie!   
7.  I like to stay up late and sleep late if I can. Sometimes I have to get up early, but it is sure hard! When I taught school, it was so hard for me to go to sleep early. 
8.  I made nearly all of my clothes in high school. Buying fabric then was much cheaper than buying retail. I was also proud of myself too!  I would change up my patterns to make them look different, but used a lot of the same patterns. 
9.  I worked as a summer missionary for 2 summers in college. Right before we came home when I was in Washington state, we went out into the Pacific Ocean with a family that owned a fishing boat. They ran out of gas, and we had to be rescued at night in the fog. I was puking my brains out and scared to death I would miss my flight the next day - let alone the fact that I might drown on the way in while crossing the bar! The Coast Guard told us the boat could flip in the waves. I never told my parents about that! They didn't want me to go anyway, and they would have never let me leave the house again! Ha!
10. I made pageant dresses for a couple of years to make money after I got laid off from AT&T.   
11. I live in a small town in Louisiana right on the Texas border. I like to buy groceries in TX because we don't have to pay sales tax, and plus, we don't even have a grocery store here! 

 The 11 questions for me to answer:

 1. Why did you start your blog?
     Actually, I didn't start my blog. My daughter did it when I was having surgery for tongue cancer in May '08 so everyone could see the updates about my surgery. I decided to keep it going to give updates, and added things about family and sewing.
 
  2. What are your hobbies?
   My favorite hobby is sewing and embroidery. I have sewn since I was a kid, and it is like therapy for me.

   3. Your favorite place on earth?
   You mean besides my sewing room? LOL That is hard! I have traveled a few places, and have been on a couple of cruises - which I loved, but I think my favorite place is the state of Tennessee. I have loved going to every place I've been in that state. It just seems to have a special place in my heart. 
 
  4. What year would you like to visit for a week as a time-traveler?
  I think I would like to visit the prairie days like in Little House on the Prairie. People seemed to have such a respect for loving and helping each other.
 
  5. If you didn't have the job you have, what would you want to do instead?
  I'm retired right now, and I think this is the best job ever! I get to spend time with my grands and sew to my heart's contest - most days! 

  6. What is your favorite food?
  My favorite food is pasta - I love pasta with alfredo sauce. I just can't have it as often as I'd like. :(

  7. What is your favorite period in fashion?
  I think my favorite is the 50's as that was when I was raised, and I love looking back at the old patterns from then. I also like making some of those for my granddaughter.

  8. What is your favorite novel or series?
  I don't read as much as I used to, however, after I had my surgery, I had nothing else to do as I couldn't sew or do much of anything. My daughter brought me the Twilight series, and I read all of them in a few weeks. I didn't think I would like them, but they were pretty intriguing. 
 
  9. What famous person do you most admire?
 I admire anyone who was raised in poverty, rose above it to achieve fame, and still remember where they came from. People like Loretta Lynn and Dolly Parton. I also admire Nancy Zieman (Sewing with Nancy) as I just met her at a sewing seminar. She didn't let her handicap that paralyzed her face when she was a child stop her from doing what she loves. She is such a sweet and compassionate person who loves to share her knowledge. (coming in another post)


10. What is your favorite restaurant?
  It's hard to pick a favorite restaurant. In our area, I guess it would be the Olive Garden (of course for the pasta!) However I do love the soup and salad also.
 When we go to Destin, FL, I like to eat at Dewey Destin on the pier. I also like The Back Porch!
 
11. If you are a crafter, what is your favorite thing you've ever made?
 Oh my, I have made so many things in my lifetime. I made my prom dresses in high school, my grandbabies outfits they wore home from the hospital, and a little bit of everything. I think my favorite was Shelby's beach dress when she was 3 as it was featured on the Sew Beautiful Blog. 

 Now I'm supposed to post 11 questions for the bloggers I chose to answer. I may have to repeat some of the above to help us to get to know them better.

1. Why do you like blogging?
2. Who are the most important people in your life?
3. What is something you would do or attempt if you could not fail?
4. Who influenced your life the most as you were growing up.
5. If you could travel anywhere you haven't been, where would it be and why?
6. Tell us one of your favorite quotes.
7.  Do you have good computer skills? If so, how did you learn them?
8. Describe yourself in 5 words.
9.  When life throws you lemons, you ______________.
10. Is your best friend in high school still your best friend, or even just a friend?
11. What causes you to get your feelings hurt? 

Now to name some blogs that I would like to give this award to. I hope they will have time to respond. It does take time to do this so please do the best you can.

1.  Everything Sewing  
2.  Just Give Me A Needle 
3.  Original Stitches 
4.  SewCraftyKathy 
5.  This 'n That in the Rose Garden
  
 

My Word from 2012!

 Maybe some of you remember my word for last year that I posted in January?

  The word was "innovative" which was in this POST.  I guess it's just befitting that I follow up on that post.

  I think I did pretty good trying to do some different things this year, and not just with sewing.  I may be partial, but I thought my little lamp makeover was pretty "innovative"!

  This was one of my recent posts in case you missed it. Amy Anderson from Modge Podge Rocks really liked it, and she's going to share it on FB. 
  My embroidery machine passed away during Christmas so I had to be "innovative" in finishing these pajamas for my grandsons.

 I drew the designs to match the fabric in the pants, and then I stitched around every edge on my sewing machine. Now I know why I like my embroidery machine sooooo much! 
  I know there have to be more ways than this that I have been "innovative", but right now my feeble mind is just not remembering.
 The one place I wish I could be "innovative" is cleaning the house. That just gets to be the most dreadful thing I have to do some days!
  Any suggestions????

  ....and NO, I don't have a word for 2013 - yet!!
  I hope if you read this post that you will comment with ways you have been "innovative" in 2012!!

Thanks for looking! 
 

I Need Your Help!

  I've entered a photo contest on Facebook to try and win a makeover for a piece of furniture.
  This is my mother-in-law's old sewing bench. After she passed away I brought it home, and it's in dire need of a makeover.
  The girl on JUNK COUTURE is so talented, and it would mean the world to me to win.
  If you are on Facebook, would you please go and LIKE her page, and then LIKE my photo? Pretty please!
  This is the LINK to my photo. You must like the page first, and if you don't want to continue to be a fan, you can unlike the page after the contest. However, she does some fabulous makeovers that I think you would enjoy seeing. 
 This is the photo you will be voting on. You can see it really needs a makeover. My mil painted it pink! then added this yucky green fabric to the top! LOL It didn't stop her from using it because she kept all of her sewing stuff in this bench by her recliner.

 Thanks to any of you that would do this for me! I will let you know how it turns out. Voting ends on Sunday night!

Hugs to all!
  

Extreme Lamp Makeover!

(Linking up to Night Owl Crafting - Hoo's Got Talent!)

 Actually, I've named it E.T. because it reminds me of E.T. 
 My little granddaughter, Shelby, left me this little plastic E.T. that sits in my sewing room. I really didn't think of the lamp as looking like E.T. until I finished the makeover. 

  The little LED lamp was bought in a local auction for $5.00. Of course, it was camouflage which is NOT one of my favorite choices for decor or anything really!

  I had a sample kit of Mod Podge from a blog giveaway I won a while back just waiting for me to come up with a brilliant decent idea to use it.
  Since Christmas, I have been trying to figure out some ways to spruce up my sewing room.  I had saved the selvedges from some of my favorite fabrics in a little box so it seemed like a good time to use them.
 I wasn't sure the fabric would stick to the plastic, but it did. I used the Glossy Mod Podge, and it did just fine!  So here she is! I think it's a hoot! 

 Then I coated it with the Sparkle Mod Podge to give it some life, and it worked just perfect - at least to me! I suppose you can see where some of my favorite fabrics come from.
 Thanks for stopping by. I love to read your comments!