Keeping with the Christmas Theme

In mid-December, I entered a giveaway over at The Happy Zombie. Now, I always am flabbergasted by the generosity of quilters and their willingness to giveaway fabrics, notions, projects, etc. I try to be fair and only enter those giveaways that I actually would want/use.


I've been blog-stalking (in a harmless, oh my goodness, I love what you're doing) Monica at The Happy Zombie for a while, and was so excited when I saw her Christmas fabric line called Holiday Happy come out. As the title of my blog might suggest, I love gnomes. No, really - Mr. Gnomemade and I even had a gnome-themed wedding - which I realized I never admitted to on this blog - I really should post some photos of our gnome related items...put that on the to-do list (you would think I would have gotten around to that, but what's eight months in a lifetime we'll spend together...but I digress).

Anyways, where was I...oh yeah...gnomes. I love gnomes and I immediately fell in love with the little "Gnoma-Claus" on Monica's fabric. I went to a couple of local quilt shops, but couldn't find the gnomes, so I was browsing on the internet instead to see where I could find some of this wonderful fabric...this brings me to the giveaway.


So, I put my name into the ring, never expecting with over 1200 entries, I'd be picked. But I won! Oh my goodness, I won. And shortly after - this beautiful stack of fabrics arrived at the post office for me! Isn't the "Gnoma-Claus" just adorable?

So, here the stack of fabric sits - on my trunk waiting patiently to be cut into and made into our first ever Christmas quilt. It's wonderful! And thankfully, I have a very supportive husband who encourages me (and goes with me to quilt shops/online shopping) to get all the matching fabrics I'll need to turn this fat eighth bundle into a snuggly quilt for us.

Thanks so much, Monica!

More UFO Progress

When I first started quilting, I was strictly a machine project girl. The only handwork I did was turning over a binding and when push came to shove - sewing on a button.

I did try my hand at hand quilting two different quilts...but seeing as how the first one arrived a month after the wedding it was a gift for, and the second arrived over 2 years after the birthday it was a gift for, I quickly tossed aside the idea of handquilting - except for some small projects.

Fast forward to a couple of years ago, when I arrived at my first small group meeting arranged through my quilt guild. I was instructed to bring some embroidery floss and a hoop, to do embroidery. Now, the floss I had plenty of - what self respecting 80's child didn't make tons of friendship bracelets in her day? But, I had never done any embroidery! Thankfully, I had some great teachers and it seemed like a fun concept.

Then, I found Gail Pan's Free Block of the Month, and figured I'd give it a try. That was 2009. I made the first block back then, bu tthen in the midst of engagement and wedding, it got pushed aside.

Well, I've picked it back up and made some progress, if I do say so myself.

Here are 5 of the 9 blocks.
I've got numbers 6 & 7 complete, and number 8 just needs a couple more french knots. Then one more to go and then I just need to put it into a quilt! The fabric for its been sitting around since '09, and I'm hoping to get this UFO crossed off the list before Christmas 2011.

Better than the dishes...

While Mr. Gnomemade did the dishes last night, I spent some much needed time on this project.

It's one of my many UFOs that have been in the works for way too long. But recently I've plowed ahead and carved out some time (like during the dishes) to finally get some quilting onto it. Can't wait for the final product and hope to have all the quilting done and binding ready to be turned over by the time the SuperBowl rolls around.

We're hosting the annual SuperBowl party for all my co-workers at our place again this year. A series of events have led to my family becoming major Steelers fans, so I know who I'm rooting for, as well as Mr. Gnomemade! Looking forward to some good snacks, great times with friends, a good game and some crafting - all in one!

Snow Day

Now, I'm a girl that was raised in the Northeast. For the first 18 years of my life, I had piles of snow every winter and negotiating a snow storm was just another typical winter day. I own more scarves, mittens and hats than I'd like to admit, but they were alowasy put to good use. Now, fast forward a couple of years - living in the Carolinas - and it's a rare occasion when I have to pull my now infamous (more on that in another post) pink boots out.

But, today it's snowing like crazy here. They're predicting we'll have seen over 7 inches fall by the time the storm is over. So, we have a snow day - which in truth is a rather odd experience for me. You see...I live where I work. No, I don't work from home, but rather have an office in the building in which I live. So, in actuality, my commute is maybe 50 feet or so down a hallway. Yet, offices are closed, so I'm tucked away in my apartment enjoying the pretty snow before the wintry mix gets here. (I do have a meeting I have to go to later today at 2 pm, and then again at 9:15 pm, but we'll just ignore that fact right now.)

Anyways, Mr. Gnomemade decided despite being rather well versed in winter driving himself, he'd work from home today - a decision thankfully his work agreed with. So we're both here at home. Now, while he works away, I'm enjoying my snow day and cutting into this...

The majority of the fabrics are from "In the Pink II" and I'm using a pattern I found online through AllPeopleQuilt.com. While not a UFO, it does meet my criteria of working on projects I already have the fabric for - didn't buy anything new for it this year (though some of it did come in on New Year's Eve!)

So, that's my snow day. Well, that and trying to unearth our cars. And maybe some hot cocoa.

Two Steps Back...

...from my promise that I would complete my UFOs before starting something new. But sometimes, you just have to break that type of promise.

It started with a book. Camille Roskelley's beautiful, wonderful, inspirational book - Simplify. Then add in a wonderful jelly roll from Fig Tree Quilt's Fig & Plum line and that would be enough to tempt me to stray.

However, I was committed to sticking to my resolution of working on my UFOs. But, this quilt needed to be made, because it was going to a good home. Mr. Gnomemade's sister-in-law...one of his brother's wife...was diagnosed with lung cancer in the fall. We wanted to do something special for her, and these were the perfect colors for her...so I consider that a good reason to break away from my plan.

We saw Mr. Gnomemade's family for the Christmas holidays, so I finished it up in time (putting the binding on while on the plane there).

Like with all the quilts I make and give away, I really hope that she liked it. This is one of my favorites that I've made. It's a lap quilt size, so perfect for snuggling during the snowy winter.

I really love the pattern from the book, and I look forward to making other quilts from the book...but I guess I should finish up the others that I have pending - or that I've started over the holidays!

One Step Closer...

...to completing my own personal UFO challenge! This is the final product of the long-ago finished Old Red Barn Co. Quilt-A-Long. When did that happen? 2009? Whoops! I guess I take a while to make quilts. I've been working on it for quite a while now...and even longer than that!

Well, here it is in its finished glory. It's very busy and loud - not quite my style, but the fabric was perfect for its receipient - a wonderful woman who has been very good to Mr. Gnomemade and I since we moved here. This was our way of saying thank you to her.

I apologize for the rather poor photo. It was snapped very quickly at the end of November in a hallway when we hadn't seen the sunlight in a week or so. One of my students took it and I was running out the door to bring it to its receipient.

It's recipient was very gracious and seemed to like the quilt - or at least that's what she told me! I hope it's true!

Happy 2011

Happy 2011!

Like almost everyone, it seems, 2010 flew by and I'm not quite sure where it went. I had such grand plans for the last quarter of the year, but it just got crazy. Work truly became the main event in mine and Mr. Gnomemade's lives, so there wasn't much else that got done. In fact, we haven't even looked through our professional wedding photos!

With a new year, comes new goals. I like everyone else would like 2011 to be a year where I can accomplish a great many things, but more than anything I'm looking for balance - the opportunity to find some harmony in my life that allows us to be happy. Now 2010 was great - Mr. Gnomemade and I made it official, we spent time with family, had some wonderful vacations/getaways, and more. But, I'd love for 2011 to be even beter.

One thing I wish I had done more in 2010 is craft. I have so many projects that I want to work on - not to mention so much fabric I've stashed away. So, while I didn't do too well with my personal UFO challenge for 2010, I'm going to work on it for the New Year!

So, for 2011, I'm going to try to craft something every day. Now, it may just mean taking a couple of embroidery stitches, or working on a binding, or perhaps like these past four days doing more! 2011 was off to a great start - on New Year's Eve, Mr. Gnomemade took me out fabric shopping to start off the new year right. On Saturday and Sunday, I got several hours to myself where I put together most of a quilt top and finished up the borders on my Parents-in-Law Surprise Quilt! Last night, I put the borders on my new quilt top and today I put together the quilt sandwich on my Parents-in-Law's quilt. Now that's the way I want to kick off 2011 and hopefully keep it going!

I also want to be better about blogging - if I'm going to be crafting more, I love having it all recorded. Not to mention maybe it'll keep me on track for crafting!

Now, there's lots of other stuff I want to accomplish - go to the gym more, eat better, watch less bad TV, etc. But I really want to craft more...

So here's to 2011! Year of the craft!