Drum Roll.... the winner of the Critter blocks is....

.... our friend, Colleen!!

YEA, Colleen!!  Way to go!!  Now, we need to all send you your blocks to play with!  Email me folks, if you need her address.

Quilty hugs,
Carrie

Day #87 - A sorting we will go, a sorting we will go, hi ho the derry O, a sorting we will go...

Good morning, friends!

It is a gorgeous, sunny day!  I would imagine that if I stood outside for a bit, the birds would be singing, but, alas, I do not have time for that today or ANY day this week!  Yup.... the scurrying begins: the first (annual?) Fabric-A-Thon count-down starts!  6 days till Sunday!!

The questions and the requests are rolling in!  I am sooooo excited!!!

I spent time yesterday going through items for the Crafty yard sale, organizing stitched out designs to offer up, sorting fat quarters and cutting bolts of quilt labels into panels.


In between shipping orders, running to the doctors and meeting ever so briefly with my field hockey girls about uniforms for next season and workouts for this summer this afternoon, I'll be continuing where I left off with gathering goodies and playing with fabrics to share!  The not as much fun part?  Gotta clean the living room some to make space for all this to happen!

Here are some pix of yesterday's work:

An adorable burp cloth, machine embroidered!

My (soon to belong to others?) collection of scrapbooking stamps. 

Some fat quarters in need of re-arranging for visual pleasure!

Quilt label panels by RJR - ready for packaging!

Well, enough fun, ladies and gentlemen, time to get to work!!  Muahahahahaha!

Quilty hugs,
Carrie

#86 - Photography and "life lesson stuff"

Good afternoon, all!

Yesterday was all about family, softball, giving it your all and some life lessons tucked inside.  My job?  To photograph it!

The "life lessons"? 

•  Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.
• The better team that day may not be the better team overall, but that's the way sports work.
• Winning and losing don't define who you are, but they bring out your character and THAT does define you.  
• Keep sports and anything else you do in perspective.  They are pieces of your life, just pieces.

Okay, enough of my coaching philosophy... enjoy some pix! Here's a few (as most are "secret" and will be in the slide show I'll be working on for a bit...)

Thanks for visiting today, friends!  I'll be back tomorrow with some goodies!
Carrie

#85 - The cleaning and the hauling begins...

Good morning, friends and it is a GREAT morning!

The sun is shining again (YEA!) and I am getting ready to bring youngest DD to take the SAT's for the first time.  Not sure how focused she is as as this afternoon her softball team takes on a local high school in the 2nd round of the play-offs.  If they win, they move to the semi-finals for the first time since her sister played 5-6 years ago.  Pretty exciting stuff to be a part of!

For those of you who don't know me personally, sports are a huge part of my family's life.  It's "what we do" in many ways.  From playing to coaching, it infiltrates our lives.  As a matter of fact, yesterday morning I had the chance to meet and talk with 11 incoming freshmen at one of our middle schools about playing field hockey in my program in the fall.  I coach from August through October at the high school and then November to April for a club program.  Right now is my field hockey "break" but chatting with those eager young women gets me fired up already!  It will get harder to squeeze my creative time in for that time period, but I will persevere!  I promise!!  I have you all to chat with!  :o)

I will be cleaning and clearing the living room to get ready for next weekend's BIG Fabric-A-Thon today...the fabric part is fun, the cleaning?  Not so much!

On the creative side of my world, I was reading my Family Fun Magazine at breakfast this morning and saw some of the coolest ideas!  It's like a dollar an issue with a subscription and worth every penny!  Where was this when my kids were little?  I use it know for fun with the little ones, my grandsons!

Clipped from: familyfun.go.com (share this clip)

If you don't receive the magazine, you should totally visit the website!  I want to do the Badges of Fun activities!  I thought the rock art would be nifty!

There is a whole section on the website of crafts and within that a section of sewing ones, to which I HAD to go!!

Check this out, the first idea I came to was hula hoop weaving!!  OMG!!  I HAVE to get this going in the Town's Attic at work!!

Clipped from: familyfun.go.com (share this clip)

FUN, FUN!!!  Off to check out more!
Enjoy the day, all!
Carrie
PS. We would appreciate ANY good vibes you could send our girl's softball team's way today!

#84 - Fabric, fabric & a bit more fabric....

Good morning, everyone!

I am a New Englander by birth.  My family has lived on this street since the 1700's!  I am the descendant of collectors.  I married a collector.  I collect.  One of the things I collect is fabric.

I love to look at it, before and after it becomes something.  I love to touch it... cotton, flannel, silk, you name it!  I love to wrap my family in it with cloth, quilts and goodies.  I love fabric.  I am not ashamed of that fascination.  I embrace it.

But, like all good collections, I've got too much!  So, here and there, I am giving it away.  I've been having a blast participating in "product giveaways" on both Facebook and here on my blog and I am loving meeting so many wonderful folks!

My latest sharing is with IzzyB Designs.  If you follow that link and then click on photos you'll see a drawing for the end of June.  I have a set of fabric headers (a flat rate filled!!!) up for grabs!  You just "like" the photo and my FB page and you are entered!  How easy is that?  Keep your eye peeled for here as well because I pop giveaways here just about every week!

Have a wonderful day, everyone!
Carrie

Day #83 - Bright Sunshiny Day...

Good morning, all!

As is often the case, today is a bright and sunshiny day after an afternoon and evening of absolutely crazy (and in some case lethal) weather here in New England.  Our thoughts and prayers go out to the folks in Mass who were hit by the freak tornadoes yesterday!  WE DON'T HAVE THEM HERE!  We've always thought we were too hilly in New England, but conditions were such that they could spawn and they did.

Here in Bennington, we had some pretty nasty thunderstorms and some "brown outs" as they moved away (a tree on a line or surges in the system?) which scared us as far as our water pump went, but things came out all right.  MANY people we know (including ourselves) were glued to the computer watching either WMUR (the major television station in the state) or the Weather Channel most of the afternoon, trying to see what was going to happen.  It was crazy how it kept changing!

Good decisions were made by the school (sorry, girls from St Thomas, we'll see you back today!) in cancelling the tournament game (sorry parents from St Thomas that you'll have to drive BACK again this afternoon) but it was all for the good and for safety. 

In honor of the sunshine, I will offer up a picture of some sunny fabric I was playing with last night!  There are 3 yellow/orange blocks in my Bottled Rainbow quilt project and I NEEDED something sunny to work on!  My time was limited as there was lighting problems with the thunderstorms, but I was able to squeeze in a few minutes to select the fabrics for the 3 blocks.  I can't wait to play with these! 

 

I am off to continue my work on the Fabric-A-Thon goodies - hope you can come by either literally or virtually!!  Erin has me thinking about how to offer what is NOT in my store....hmmmm......

Have a wonderful, fun and safe day, friends!
Quilty hugs,

Carrie

PS> Good luck, AGAIN, to the CV Softball Team, and I'll add the boy's baseball team in, as well!

Day #82 - Working on Fabric-A-Thon Plans

Time to Celebrate!  Cloth bunting/banner!  Fun and easy to make!

Good morning, everyone!
I was just a bit over the top yesterday in the planning process of the special I am hosting here in a week and a half!  Not to mention it's youngest DD's first play-off game this afternoon, weather permitting and spending some time playing with my oldest grandson!  (Let's just say "The Wheel's on the Bus" is one of my favorites, shall we?" Life is just too exciting sometimes! 

I've already told my family that I'll be FILLING the livingroom/dining room with ALL my fabrics next week...  they are thrilled, to be sure...lol!  I decided that I am going to haul it ALL out and set bolts, tubs, bins and baskets all around the space.  I need extra tables and have to leave the main table free to cut fabric!  I'll be a mini-JoAnn's for the day!  Muahahahaha!

This may be crazier than I anticipate as I'm running it online at the same time - but then again, may just be a fun flow of friends.  I've started gathering goodies to give away to those who come and those who buy on line.  I will be adding to the post as the list grows, but you can check it so far HERE. 

I thought it might be fun to have a little mini-crafter's yard sale at the same time, so that opened up some great ideas for me, as well.  You see, I have too much "stuff" ~ you know the drill.... not going to use and needs a good home?  Let someone else have fun with my scrapbooking punches, crafting magazines, oodles of unused cookie cutters, whatever!!  It's a perfect "destash" time, as well!  So, if you live nearby, COME ON OVER!!  Lol!!

I am concerned I won't have enough space for it all!!  The bolts and tubs of sorted pieces that are up on eBay and Etsy are easy to organize, but how to I display the headers?  How do I make it easy to sort through the fabrics by the pound so it doesn't look like Macy's after Christmas?  I definitely can't wait till next Friday to organize it all, so I apologize to my family in advance... it's going to got a bit, shall we say FABRICKY out there, folks!  Muahahahaha!

Yesterday was about deciding on what to sell and what sort of discounts to offer for each - that took WAY longer than I thought it would, but doesn't it always?  Everything gave me another idea for something... "Oh... and I need to bring T-H-A-T out!!"  Like cleaning house - you start in one place, see something and it takes you in another direction, unless you are a Fly Lady!  (Which will be a WHOLE 'NUTHER bit of blogging, someday....)

This morning, before heading to work, I'm going down to the studio to put together fat and skinny quarter sets!  Coordinating fabrics is one of my FAVORITE ways to play!! 

I hope everyone has a lovely day!!  Sending out good vibes to the ConVal Girl's Softball Team today!!!  Quilty hugs!
Carrie