Down with a cold.

I spent the weekend in bed/ the couch with a head cold. Thank you to everyone for your comments and entries into the Give Away, I am sorry I have not replied to all of you yet. I am really enjoying reading all of the comments - please bare with me and I shall replay to every one as soon as I can!

I completed my mug rugs on Sunday and will post pictures of them shortly. I think they turned out pretty decent.

Cheers my friends,
Carolyn

Merry Christmas to me!

I was so busy with my give aways, I forgot to show you the awesome present I got from my SIL when I was in Vancouver.
Check out what she got me:

I cannot wait to use these fabulous prints!
Thank you SIL!!


Did any of you get fabric for Christmas? 
I also got these delicious prints from my brother. 

The brown one I made the owl from, but the red and blue prints are my favorites! Perhaps they will show of in a mug rug? Are any of you in the Mug Rug Swap through Michelle at Quilting Blogger? I have made up a couple of "patterns" in my head, now I just need to make them. I think today is a good day to get in gear on this fun project!
Cheers my friends,
Carolyn

Just how does a winter city keep it's streets clear do you ask?

Like this!

By the time they were done, my street was cleared to the pavement from curb to curb. I was disappointed at first that the new emergency route was my street, but now that we get a plowed street - my opinion is changing. I got my hair cut on the other side of downtown and they have not had their streets plowed once with all this snow - I got stuck parking. The roads are all ruts and its just a mess. But not my street =)


Too bad the city doesn't come out to shovel the snow away from my house to prevent flooding. That is our job. 

I got this far, thought I was going to die and then quit.
How are the rest of you faring this winter? 
Cheers,
Carolyn

One more eReader Cover made - I must be out of the blahs!

Didn't take too long to get out of the blahs. Maybe I just needed a nap?? HA HA HA
Here is the eReader cover I made for my SIL's sister. She gets it this weekend, I hope she is happy with it! Anyone interested in how to make this simple cover, you can see my tutorial in these two posts here and here. 
I changed it up this time but sewing both ends as shown in the tutorial for the first stitch, then I flipped and pressed the seam. This way I avoided having to make a binding.

Cheers,
Carolyn

Give Away - Celebrate!

For some reason I always get Madonna's Holiday song stuck in my head when I see a Give Away, weird huh?


ANY HOW, As promised 60 followers = GIVE AWAY!!


This is what I found for you this time:

All these lovelies - OH, I just realized I got my body in there.. ... hmm, well obviously, the lovelies are the fabrics! All 100% cotton, more exclusive to Fabricland patterns featuring sewing motives. On a side note, I found these grey pants buried in my closet and I wore them today - total score! Still fit great. But I digress.

Which amount to this stack! Okay, I zoomed in, but still its pretty awesome!!

Some are Fat Quarters, some are Fat Eights and some are 6 + inches by the shelvage (heh, I am lazy and I got tired of measuring and cutting, I also got tired of doing my laundry hence the pants find in the closet!!). 
You may recognize these fabrics from the Quilters Carry All Bag I made and showed on this post here.
I think I will do the tutorial on how I made the bag sometime in February. 


Back to the important task at hand - How to enter the give away!!
You may have up to three entries again, please leave a comment for each or else it will not count.
For your three chances:
1.) Tell me what you are making right now or what crafty thing is turning your crank. (example- are you into knitting or something out of the norm for you??)
2.) Follow my blog and leave me a comment that you do (I will do the next give away at 120 followers!!).
3.) Post about my give away on your blog and comment with the link.
Easy Peasy!!
 I will draw a name on Friday, February 4th. Good Luck everyone!
-Carolyn

I think I have the blahs

You know them, the winter blues?? The - I'm grumpy pants from not seeing the sun in 2-3 months, the I don't want to do anything just let me sit on the couch and be a cranky poo blahs! It is right on cue, end of January / beginning of February is always the time for blahs. I thought the trip to Vancouver would keep them away- but no such luck.
I have heard that tanning can keep the blahs away, not sure if it is true as I cannot use tanning beds for more then 6 minutes at a time. For some reason I fry like a pork sausage in those things.
Mr Hunter seems to have a bit of it too which is not helping either of us get anything done.
To top off the blahs - I got a phone message that my Thread Play class I was going to take this weekend is cancelled. BOO There was not enough people which does not make sense to me as I was on a very long waiting list to get into this class. They are running two sessions for it however and everyone chose the one during the week rather then the weekend. Shows how many Edmonton quilters are retired or have very flexible jobs! At least I am not alone - being a working full time quilter - right Anna!
On the bright side (even if the sun is hidden behind clouds), my fabulous siblings are coming to see me! SIL and brother will be here Friday, and my sister may come either Friday night or Saturday late morning! It is a good thing the class was cancelled really.
Tonight I have to get my butskey in gear and make another eReader cover for my SIL's sister. I have perfect fabric for her, she loves Asian inspired everything and I had 3-4 for SIL to choose and she picked one of my favorites in my stash. I will post some pics soon! I have some fabrics in mind for the next give away too, sorry for being so tardy!!
Cheers,
Carolyn

Lets do another one shall we!

I cannot believe it happened, I made 60 followers! Thank you everyone who helped me get here, I really appreciate all of my old and all of my new friends. Thank you so much for following me! To show my appreciation, I wanted to (as promised) do another give away. Please watch out for the give away post - it will be in the next day or two, I want it to be awesome, so I need a couple of days to put it together.


I cannot have a post without a picture, so here you go:

Cheers,
Carolyn

Back from Lotus Land + a Winner!

Well, lets start with what you want to really hear - who is the WINNER???
It is:



47 


Random numbers generated Jan 24 2011 at 21:35:44 by www.psychicscience.org  
Free educational resources for parapsychology, psychical research & mind magic.


That means the winner is:

Happy Cottage Quilter said...

And I am now a follower ;-)

January 17, 2011 1:01 PM 

Congratulations, I will send you an email for your snail mail shortly.

Now for some pictures of Vancouver, aka Lotus Land!

Lets compare cities, Edmonton vs Vancouver:

Edmonton

Vancouver

Edmonton

Vancouver

Edmonton

Vancouver

Edmonton

Vancouver OH - do you recognize this building? Its from the TV serious Fringe, it is actually filmed in Vancouver (like alot of tv series). This is the building they call the main head quarters, it is in fact, the library. Cool huh? Sorry about the Budget sign in the way. 

Vancouver

Vancouver

Edmonton - HELL NO, Its Vancouver!!

Now, Why do I live in Edmonton and not Vancouver??

Well, my house cost just over 200k, a house that is just a little bigger then mine in Vancouver cost 700k and that is before the bidding war.

I am going to be stuck in Edmonton forever!!

At least I can still visit Vancouver - crazy to think that Lotus Land is only a 1hr and 20 airplane ride away.

Cheers,

Carolyn

OH, Mr Hunter just checked the weather forecast - we are to get snow Wed, Thurs and Friday. How awesome.. ...ha ha ha

I got it done! Thank the stars above!!

For some reason I get grouchy and fill with anxiety every time Mr. Hunter and I are to travel someplace via plane. Its not because I am scared of flying, its something else that I just cannot figure out. Needless to say though, although I love my husband, he was making me crazy trying to distract me to look at our England trip photos while I sewed like a wild woman trying to get this last present done! And done it is!!
Check it our my friends:

I even managed to whip off one of my button straps!

 And now, as I mentioned yesterday - I have added my left over Dresden cuts into the give away. Here are the additions for you to (*druel ) over. Aren't these prints brilliant?!?

To enter into the give away, click here.
Only two more followers for the next give away - THANK YOU EVERY ONE for helping me reach my goal. Maybe I will be there by the time we draw this one?!

I will not be posting over the weekend as the thought of trying to post on my iPhone makes me agitated. lol. Talk to you all when I get back. =)

Cheers,
Carolyn

One down, one to go and only tonight left to sew!

Off to Vancouver tomorrow after work, I only have tonight left to make my Sister in Law her table runner. Unfortunately she will not get one as fancy and the Mother in Law, but I think she will still like it.

Here is the Mother in Laws all done:

Oops, my desk didn't get any cleaner.. .. the horror!! ha ha

The back

I didn't use a binding, but instead a quilting stitch that I used in the middle circles. Then I went over the corners to make them "skookem".   FYI, Skookem means really strong or really tough according to my hubby.

Another Skookem seam.

Folded and ready for wrapping.

 This is what I cut out for the Sister in Law last night. I would have had it sewn together as well, but for some reason I thought watching three episodes of Dexter was a much better use of my time.

Recognize these fabrics?? Don't worry, I did not use the give aways fat quarters!! I have some left over Dresden cut pieces from the Mother in Laws table runner that I will be adding to the give away.
If you haven't entered yet, click here to go to the give away post.
I promised to do another give away when I reach 60 followers so please pass the word - I only need 5 more followers!
Cheers,
Carolyn

A modern twist on a traditional design

At least that is what I am hoping for. I did three wedding rings and have over lapped them, then I pressed the edges down. My goal is to cut out the backing and batting in the round shapes and then quilt and stitch. When I complete it, (probably tonight while Mr. Hunter plays hockey) I will take more pictures. This is for Mr. Hunter's mommy. We fly out to Vancouver this Friday so it has to be done! Here are my three rings so far:

Oh, look at that messy table. Its a wonder I have room to even work.

This is my backing fabric.

This will be for the middle of the rings.

I think it will be a pretty cool twist to a traditional pattern. Hopefully I do get it done tonight to show you how it turned out. After this, I have to come up with something for Mr Hunters sister and hubby. Not too sure what to do for them yet. I only have 3 days to figure it out. Eeek!


If you want to enter my give away, there is still time, I will choose the lucky winner when I get back from Vancouver. To enter, please go here.


Cheers,
Carolyn

Quick little present and funny dog

I made a quick little coffee coaster / microwave pot holder for one of my friend's birthday. I really need to be making table runners for Mr. Hunter's mom and sister, but there is still time.. ... we only fly out to Vancouver this Friday!! Yikes.
Here is my little gift:

She commented on the little flies right away. lol, she said she loved them. hee hee


So my funny little JRT, Lucky (Lu for short) just watched with full attention the entire movie Cats and Dogs. Here he is:

The main doggie character was even named Lu! He stood there until about 20 min from the end, then he laid down, but he was still watching. Too funny!


If you did not see my give away, please check out yesterdays post here and enter to win!


Cheers,
Carolyn

31 = GIVE AWAY!!

YIPPEE, I mentioned to a few of you that once I reached 30 followers, I would do another give away. Well, thanks to the Liebsters Award nomination from my dear friend Linda at Little Bits And Pieces, I have 31!!


Now what to give away.. .. .

So far I have cut these fat quarters and I will continue to add to the pot. 


To enter, you can have three chances:
Entry 1: Leave a comment telling me your favorite season.
Entry 2: Leave a comment that you follow my blog, if you do not follow me, then please do =)  :  (When I reach 60 followers, I will do another give away!!)
Entry 3: Post about my give away on your blog and leave a comment with the link.
International entries are more then welcome.


Good Luck!
-Carolyn


*** Quick little edit here, I forgot to give a closing time for my give away!! I will close the give away on January 24th. Lots of time for me to find more goodies to add to the pile.
Good Luck my friends!!