Friday, November 30, 2012

Sneakin' a peek

Confidentially, this project was supposed to be finished before Thanksgiving. 

Uh-huh. Didn't happen. Well, we've all been there.  We had our Thanksgiving meal with a (gasp!) store-bought runner on the table. 

Sigh.

  Using these fabrics . . . 



. . . oh, by the way -- got any ideas what line this is?

I guess it'd be easier if I put the text print in the photo, too. (Wink)



Perfect for Thanksgiving, right?  Well, I got about this far:



(Giggle!) Are you drooling yet? It's our old friend, Deb Strain, and the line is called "Give Thanks."

I'll show you tomorrow what I created, and hopefully it will be completely finished! 

Love,



Thursday, November 29, 2012

Christmas Quilt Show

I'm hoping that all of you special Lilypadquilting peeps will enter the Christmas Quilt Show, over at Michele's place.


It's always holly-jolly fun to see all of the Christmas-themed minis, wall-hangings, quilts and more. This year is no exception! There are lots of inspiring projects to see, so hop on over to the Quilting Tutorials blog and take a peek!
And then look around for a photo of YOUR latest Christmas quilting project, and enter to win some of the fabulous prizes!



At the risk of putting my regular readers to sleep, I'm posting my Christmas wall-hanging for an entry in the show.  I had great fun making this, and you can see how it went together by clicking right here.

Here is a close-up of my three-dimensional embellishments that adorn the border of the wall-hanging:



Now, if you want to see some projects that you haven't seen before, check out all the fun over at the show!

Love,



Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Run, don't walk, to this giveaway!

Remember this?


This is my Christmas wall-hanging, made from Jacquelynne Steves' "Oh, Holy Night" fabric line and panel!


Such cute critters!


And stars, and birds, and kids . . .

Would you like to win one of these panels? Plus a whole lot of other goodies? (Over $75 of goodies, in fact!)

Ok, I'll quit shouting, and tell you to click on this link!! Over at Jacquelynne's blog, The Noble Wife, is where you will find the giveaway.

Now, you will have to cooperate to get a chance to win --- she would like to hear some feedback from all of you special peeps who signed up to receive her newsletter, and to follow her blog.


She's planning some changes and wants to tailor her offerings to what all of you would like to see; so please hop on over there and check it out. Give her some feedback and you'll be entered to win!

Love,



Tuesday, November 27, 2012

My machine's new bestie!

I started to title this "my new best friend" but then I realized that Padsworth and DragonDrop would probably both get a little huffy about that . . . (wink)

So, this is my sewing machine's new bestie --- I love, love it, and I am wondering why it took me so long to get one of these!!


Yep, you guessed it; it is a quarter inch foot!!

This has taken all of the fussing, er, stomping, er, guesswork, uh, trial and error out of my piecing! Yay! Perfect quarter inch seams and perfect matches in my blocks!

I will stand up and be a witness --- you can quote me on it --- if you've had trouble keeping that quarter inch seam stitched correctly, you should get one of these!

Love,


Monday, November 26, 2012

La grenouille has arrived . . .

Imagine that said in a Claude Raines, Casablanca kind of voice, with a nice French accent, OK? 

La grenouille. The frog. 
He has arrived. N' est pas? Oui, oui!  Looooook!




Is he not adorable? He has that certain savoir faire, no? Yes!  That's because he was created by a lady who oozes charm and talent without even trying . . . (Grin)  She used to live in France, so that's why I'm channeling my inner Leslie Caron and trying to sound French! 
 
Padsworth and DragonDrop are so pleased to meet him!




   I'm so happy to have him -- he will be my companion as I go to the stores and make change. What a sweet reminder of a kind lady and a wonderful bloggy friendship!

"La grenouille, this could be the start of a beautiful friendship . . ."

Love,



Thursday, November 22, 2012

Happy Thanksgiving!



From all of us here at Lilypadquilting, to all of you in blogland --- we hope that you enjoy a blessed Thanksgiving holiday!

We are so grateful for all of the friends we've made, and the joy that y'all bring our way . . . we hope that all of you are healthy, happy, warm, and loved.

Padsworth and DragonDrop put on pilgrim and Indian attire to have their portrait made.
  Looks like Padsworth is going to share his Thanksgiving with DragonDrop!

We'll be taking a little time off (and hopefully doing some sewing, so that we can show you some projects when we return!) and be back very soon!  We have some lovely Jacquelynne Steve's fabrics that we're working with.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We're linking up today with Katherine's Thursday Favorite Things hop -- because friends and family and counting our blessings are ALL on our list of favorite things!

Love,


Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Have I told you lately . . .

. . . how much I love my Accuquilt Go! Baby? (Wink) I bet you thought I was going to break out in song, didn't you?

I have had so much fun playing with my Go! Baby and dreaming up projects. Remember the Peppermint Popper tabletopper?


You can find the tutorial for that one right here at this link.

 This fab double pinwheel block was easy-peasy with my Accuquilt's help!



And here is the Roanoke Star tabletopper that I designed and created:


The tutorial for this Accuquilt project is here at this link.

Here is one of the holiday placemats that I put together, and below that is the bonus mugrug from the scraps of holiday fabrics:


All of those are shapes that I cut with my Go! Baby.
The reason that I'm making this trip down Lilypad memory lane is that Accuquilt is having a fabulous sales event -- I wanted to tell you about it, so you can take advantage of it!

Link

The Accuquilt elves have cooked up some exciting Black Friday deals for us, and you can hop over there and check it out! All this week, leading up to Cyber Monday, you'll find super bargains and exciting new ideas there at the Accuquilt site. 

Shop there this week, and then you can scurry around at the malls and shops on Black Friday! (Grin) Me? I do my shopping from my mouse pad . . . Giggle!
Come on, DragonDrop, let's look for the perfect gift for Padsworth!
(He always wants to control the mouse . . . )

Love,

  

Sunday, November 18, 2012

New kits at Fort Worth Fabrics!

Just heard about some gorgeous kits at one of our fabulous sponsors -- the Fort Worth Fabric Studio online store has two new beauties!

There's one that pays homage to my favorite beverage -- around here we call it the Elixir of Life. (Grin)



And this week's special bundle is gorgeous! Check this out:



It's called the Hot Cocoa bundle, and it is bee-yew-ti-full!!  Cruise on over to Fort Worth Fabric Studio and see what else is going on . . . I promise you will enjoy your visit.  Just a word to the wise: be sure to have something ready to wipe the drool off your keyboard! (Grin)

Love,

 

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Winner, winner, turkey dinner!

I'm wishing special blessings on all of my sweet bloggy friends who have offered comfort and encouragement to me in the past few days. I appreciate all of you more than I can say -- but I'll try to say it anyway, you know me! You've blessed my heart and lifted my spirits, and I am so grateful to be a part of this marvelous community of quilters and online buddies. 

You're wonderful!!

Now, I know that before we took a break, Padsworth, Dragondrop and I had a giveaway going . . . I'll bet that all of you were perched on the edge of your chairs, waiting to see who would win these beauties:



So, let me apologize for all of the sore tushies all over the Lilypad community (being perched on the edge of your seat can get tiresome!), and announce that we have a winner!

Mr. Random picked number 135!



And that is Christine, one of our buddies down in Australia! Congratulations, Christine!



I'll be emailing you and those charm packs will be coming to you as soon as possible! 

Now, we have lots going on here at the Lilypad . . . now that I"ve come up for air, I'll be giving you peeks of my projects, organizing giveaways, and just generally getting into lots of trouble. You'll enjoy the mayhem, I can promise you! I'll depend on Padsworth and DragonDrop to keep me straight!

One super giveaway coming up starts on December 3 --- the semi-annual SewMamaSew Giveaway Day is always lots of fun!

Love,


Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Walk away slowly, old friend

First, I'd like to say thank you to all of you special people who have left comfort and encouragement here at the Lilypad in the last few days. I appreciate it so very much.

I write this post with a heavy heart, and with tears in my eyes. We laid our sweet Pepper to rest here on the farm this morning. It was the hardest thing I think I've ever done, to look into her eyes and say goodbye.

The vet said that there was no way she would survive the treatment needed in order to "jump start" her kidneys  -- her gallant heart would have stopped, just as her kidneys had. Her liver was failing, and there were evidences of cancer, as well.  Instead of "all systems go" as Pepper wanted, it was "all systems failing."

It has helped me to look at some old pictures, and I thought I would share them with you. Pepper was a rescue pup of about eight or nine weeks of age when we became friends . . . this is what she looked like thirteen years ago:


She grew to adulthood scampering around the pastures, playing with the kiddos in the creek, and letting every skunk and raccoon know that she was the boss, if they dared to stop by in the nighttime.

Smart? Oh, boy was she smart! We were soft-hearted about all of the bunnies around here,and one evening while we walked in the pasture, Pepper took off after one. One word from hubby and she stopped in her tracks. And never chased a bunny again.

Those of you who have followed here for a while probably remember the story of how at one year of age, Pepper  rescued a kitten from the horrible conditions the litter was in . . . the kitten she gently carried back in her mouth and deposited in the cedar shavings in her own house, became Moses the studio cat. (See? At one day old, he had to be syringe-fed!)


He obviously has thrived under Pepper's care, and does a good job at holding down my sewing chair:


She also has been a very tolerant nursemaid to eight ducklings:


Who loved to stay close to her:


And when winter came, she loved to play with us in the occasional snows that we experienced:


And did I mention that she was an awesome wide receiver? (Grin)


In the midst of all of her other responsibilities, she took the time to train our second rescue pup, Kooshie, who we nursed through Parvo to excellent health:


Many of these memories came back to me today, as I looked through these pictures. In the last few days, she clung to life just as tenaciously as she did to the towel when we played tug of war . . . but there was too much to fight all at once. Even a fierce contender like her found it difficult to wage war on so many fronts at one time.

So, old friend, walk slowly as you approach that rainbow bridge. Pause one more time to look over here at me. Wag your tail and lift your head high, like when you caught the scent of deer coming to the spring for water.
Give me more time. Please. I don't want to lose you.

Rest in peace, Pepper. I love you.

It will be quiet here at the Lilypad for a few days. I hope all of you will understand.

Love,


Sunday, November 11, 2012

A detour . . .

I titled this post with the word "detour" because that is what has happened here in the past few days --- both to me (Snoodles) and to our doggie!

Some of you long-time followers (notice that I didn't say you were "old" followers; I don't want to get you upset with me!) may remember our rescue pup, Pepper. She has been with us for about thirteen years, and she has the gray muzzle to prove it.


This past week she was diagnosed with CHF, congestive heart failure, advanced stage. Our desire is to keep her comfortable here at home, and balance the needs of her heart with the restrictions of a kidney-challenged diet. She has had a happy life here, roaming the pastures and creeks, and we want this to be her resting place. 

More than once she slipped away into the deep woods to be alone, but we didn't have the courage to let her go, so we brought her back to nurse her and comfort her. She was headed for the rainbow bridge and we asked her to make a detour.  We're hoping for some positive improvement that will show us we made the correct choice. If we don't see it, we'll know it's time to let her sleep. (The doc says she is not in any pain, just tired.)

Anyway, it's been a detour for me, as well. Less time for sewing and quilting. I hope all of you will understand. I'll be back as soon as possible -- hopefully with good news.

Love to all of you, and to your furbabies,



Friday, November 9, 2012

We have a winner!

First, let's have a big round of applause for our gracious sponsor, Julie of the Intrepid Thread!! Hoppy froggies, but she is generous, offering such a lovely selection of fat quarters for all of us to drool over, and for one of you to win! (Grin)


The Cool colorway of Bella! Scrumptious!

Well, let's see who Mr. Random chose . . . out of 490 entries, he selected:


Number Two!! And that's Missy Shay! See?


Missy, we'll be emailing you so we can let Julie know where to send your lovely prize!

If anyone hasn't yet entered our U R Priceless giveaway, be sure to click here and enter!! FOUR charm packs are going to a new home, and it might be your house!

Love,