Week In Review

I can't believe it's already Thursday! Where has the week gone? Oh, yeah - most of it was spent in a medication induced stupor thanks to having two wisdom teeth removed. It was a bit of a whirlwind decision - went in for the consultation last Wednesday and on Friday morning I was having them removed! Not so much fun, but glad to have it over and done with. I'm finally up and about again, and trying to get caught up on dishes, laundry, cleaning and a bunch of organizing!

I hope everyone's Fourth was delightful. Mine was spent on the couch watching TV, though did manage to get to the fireworks display in town the night of my wisdom teeth removal. Don't remember much, but I did have a sno-cone...yum!

We did try to celebrate here...

...this was the celebration at my house while watching the Boston Pops on TV. I just love the Boston Pops. The HTB (husband-to-be...we'll try it and see how I like it), and I were able to see the Boston Pops play on the fourth when we lived in Boston. We also had the chance to visit the barge where they set off the fireworks in the Charles River, which was a really neat experience. (A little scary too when you think about how much firepower you're standing on).

Anyways, now that I'm up and running again, I'm hoping to get some sewing done again. However, having your wisdom teeth out does allow you some time to catch up on blog reading. One of the blogs I follow, Green Fairy Quilts, is having a great giveaway, as well as doing some real great things - so you should go check it out!!! Tell her I sent you!

We Have a Winner...er...Winners!

Finally my week has slowed down enough that I'm able to pick a winner. My best friend and her husband were here for an overnight visit on Sunday. Monday was full of work and a migraine, and last night was a bachelorette party for a colleague (very tame - we painted pottery!)

I'm killing a little bit of time until another friend comes over tonight to watch So You Think You Can Dance. Has anyone else seen that show? I love it - been hooked since season 2!

Anyway, the real reason you came was to see who won. As you can see below, I used a very technical method to choose my winners. And the winners are...

Congratulations Amy (no blog) and Katie! Amy, since your name was out of the hat first, you won the quilt pattern. Katie, the fat quarters will be on their way to you! I'll e-mail each of you as soon and I'm done posting here to get your address info!

Hope everyone's having a great first day of July!

When You Fall Asleep at 8:30 pm...

...craft night becomes craft morning. I had all of the best intentions to spend last night crafting, but I was just so tired and worn out, that after taking a hot shower, I just fell into bed.

Well, that meant I woke up early today (well, at least early for me - 8 am...yeah, if you do that math it means I slept for almost 12 hours, I guess I was tired!).

Since then, I've spent the morning crafting. Here's what I've been working on:

Cutting and piecing the strips of fabric for the Old Red Barn Co.'s quilt-a-long. I'm pretty far behind, but I'm making a push today to catch up! This is one of the fabrics I'm using from a line called the Power of Healing!

Nametags for next year's staff. I supervise six wonderful women and I try to make them nametags for them to post on their doors. This year, I decided to go with fabric.

It's getting to be lunchtime, so I'm going to find some food and then maybe visit a brand new indoor flea market in the area. Hopefully I'll get through some more sewing later today!

And don't forget about my giveaway! Leave a post there to be entered!

I Hereby Declare...

...tonight to be craft night!

So, to you, the dirty dishes in the sink - get comfortable, because you're staying there. And the dinner waiting to be made? You're bumped in favor of some form of take-out, that may even be delivered! Same goes for you laundry - you get to see another day in the hamper. And dust bunnies? Well, I'm coming for you tomorrow before company arrives...but you've got at least 12 hours.

Wish me luck - I'll give an update later!

Oh, and don't forget, I've got a giveaway going - scroll down. Leave a comment on this post or the one below and I'll enter you. Open until Sunday!

Big News...and a Giveaway to Celebrate!

EDITED: Thank you to all who entered - the giveaway is now closed. I'll pick a winner soon!

Some big news here in Gnomemade world. The BF is no longer the BF! After 7 years, 6 months and 4 days (but hey, who was counting) of dating, he proposed on Friday night! I can't begin to explain how happy and excited I am!!! He did a great job with the proposal and I'm so thrilled to begin this next chapter in our life together!

Well, since I'm so ecstatic, I felt like a giveaway was in order. I'm going to do two items for a giveaway...

Giveaway item #1: A Flutterbys and Flowers pattern designed by Sarah Tuttle. The finished measurements are 58" x 74".


Giveaway item #2: A cute little pack of three blue and yellow themed fat quarters!

So, if you want to win - simply leave a comment! Anything will do. I'll give you an extra entry if you're a follower - so, please let me know that in your comment section as well! I'll pick two winners in a random drawing. This giveaway will close next Sunday (June 28th) at midnight!

Oh, and now that he's no longer the bf, any idea how to refer to him on here? The FI? I don't know...hmm.

I'm Back!

I've been MIA for a while. I took a week off from work and headed up North to visit my parents for a while. I haven't seen them since New Year's, so it was a long overdue visit. However, the main purpose was to assist my family. My grandmother is moving out of her home where she's lived for 62 years. I spent my days cleaning out cupboards, cleaning up items and pricing them for a garage sale. Other than that, there really wasn't much time to do anything else - though I did catch up with two friends, and of course shared a lot of time, conversation, and thankfully, laughs with my family. Cleaning out a house and helping my grandmother move is a bittersweet process.

On Friday and Saturday we held a garage sale at her home. It went really well, thanks in part to the three other garage sales in a two block radius! While hanging up signs for our garage sale, my mom and I took a look at the other ones. One was held by a fellow quilter - who was selling her quilting frame (too tough to send to SC). But, she also had some great fabrics for sale. Below is the stash I picked up...

The whole stash cost $12! That's right - $12! Each bundle had at least 4 fat quarters. And the darker Thimbleberries fabric is a yard of each print.

I've always wanted to play around with these fabrics - but never bought any - so I was thrilled to find them.

I have some other photos from my trip, which I'll share in a later post. Now it's time for brunch and to visit with the bf!

Just What I Need...

...another project! But after hours of browsing different blogs for the Sew Mama Sew giveaway, I couldn't resist after seeing so many people get involved with this one...

I just ordered some fabrics off the web for CHEAP! It's the only way I could justify participating (I struggle finding coordinating fabric within my own stash). I'm excited to get started. The fabrics I found are perfect for a gift for a wonderful woman who has been especially kind to me over the past two years.

The fabrics should be in the mail tomorrow or the next day, so hopefully, I'll get started once I get back from vacation (not exactly in line with what the quilt-a-long suggests, but I'm already two weeks behind, so what's another two?)

On another note, I realized as I was reading through all my comments from the giveaway, I never let people know where the patterns I used came from. The tablerunner was courteous of P.S. I Quilt's tutorial. And the bags came from a pattern in Better Homes and Gardens "Quilts and More" Fall 2008 issue. So, if you want to make your own, now you can!