GREAT BUYS

I have found some really good finds lately and when I think it's something some thing other quilter will like I'll post it in my blog under "Great Finds" The first thing I found at Michael's,well, my husband spotted it and told me about it, is this great lazy Susan letter holder, brush holder, sew gadget holder, etc... it also has little drawers on the bottom right above the black band, i just haven't removed that paper band. I love, it and what was even better is that I got it with a 50% off coupon. I'll be using these two fabrics for a baby boy's quilt. I'll do some free motion quilting on it for practice. I got this for a niece's daughter and I had great fun picking this fabric. Sonia, the little girl is into princess stuff big time. I don't make girl quilts often because I have three sons so any time I shop for little girl stuff I have a blast.

When I saw this iron I just had to buy. It's 4 inches long and it's electric which is what I liked. I think it's great for ironing small pieces of fabric but I bought for spreading melted wax on paintings by ironing it smooth. I already have another small iron for fabric. I'm a big gadget freak and usually buy anything that will make my life easier.

Handi Stippler

I just got the Handi Stippler I ordered a couple of weeks ago. It' suppose to control the speed of your machine to whatever speed feels comfortable for you and whatever speed allows you to make better machine stippling. I have to say I love this thing, it allows you to change your speed from real slow to real high and it has many settings in between. The price was very reasonable compared to others I've seen. Now, I'm not plugging this product I'm just giving my opinion. I'll let you know when I find a gadget I think is great. I'll try anything if it'll make my life easier.

More Stuff

Last night I went to bed at 2a.m and this morning I woke up at 7:30. I knew I shouldn't of taken a two hour nap yesterday afternoon but I just couldn't keep my eyes open no matter how hard I tried. I actually didn't feel sleepy today, maybe I caught up with my sleep with that nap. Anyway, today I cleared up my working area some more at least enough to where I can cut some fabric again. I went to Joann's again (Cha Ching$$$$) and bought some more jewelry supplies. I emailed my sister a picture of some earrings I made and she liked them so I'm going to make her some. I bought another book on wire jewelry making. Maybe I should have a jewelry blog as well, LOL! I tell you I'm a picker, I pick into every art media there is. That's what my mom use to say anyway. She would say, " You pick here and you pick there and you never finish anything." I have bad ADD and get distracted easily that's why I go from project to project. In the evening I went to the bookstore with the hubby and I bought two more books, one for $2, UNICORN"S BLOOD. I also got a stretchy fabric books cover that's suppose to fit any book. I hate for my books to get dirty while I'm reading them and I bought a 5 inch wooden artist model to help me out with drawings. Oh, and I bought a lap top desk, you know, the ones that have the padding on the bottom so you can put it on your lap. I'm using it for my keyboard. I quilted some this morning so I'm doing good. I didn't take my babies out for their evening walk so I feel guilty about that. Jane where are you?

My Ebay Find

I am so excited about winning this Brother 1500s sewing machine on ebay a week ago. I had been wanting one for a couple of years but due to other more important financial periorities I kept putting it off. One night I was looking through ebay and saw this machine. I couldn't believe my eyes so I put in a bid right away and kept an eye on it for two days. On the last day of the bidding I sat in front of the computer all day and five minutes this the bid closed I put in my last bid of $400. I was hoping the other bidders wouldn't have time to bid again and sure enough I won the machine. It's brand new except that the only thing it didn't have was the quilting foot which I had to buy for $48. I am happy to finally be doing free motion quilting since I have always been old school and hand quilted all my quilts. I tried it and I love the freedom you have to do anything you want as far as a quilting design is concerned. I know most of you have been doing this for years but hey give me a break at least I have caught up with you guys.

New Cutting Matt

Yesterday I took advantage of the sale on the huge cutting mats at Joann's and bought one. I love it because it's about 59 inches wide and it covers most of my cutting table. I have started hand quilting the small quilt and am enjoying every minute. Im really glad I bought that small pvc frame. It's so portable and light. It's perfect for my small quilts. I can sit and watch T.V till I'm ready to go to bed. It's when I get back to my quilting that I realize how much I really enjoy hand quilting. I basted the quilt on the floor and boy were my legs sore the next day, and that was just a 55 inch quilt. Well at least my legs got a work out.

Look What I Bought

I went shopping Wednesday and stopped at my LQS. I hadn't stopped in a while so I stayed for about 2 hours. I bought the quilt book, Frills, after seeing a display quilt made with the pattern in the book. I just fell in love with the quilt. It's very feminine and very fast to make, which is the main reason I liked it so much. I also bought some more southwest fabric for the quilt I want to make for Chris who is in Arizona. I just need a good pattern. I always shop without any pattern in mind. I know I shouldn't do that but it's not often I find nice southwest fabric. I'm thinking more of a lap quilt than a full size. I'm still working on the folk star quilt and sometimes I get over whelmed and think maybe I won't be able to finish it by Christmas. Now that I'm on a dead line I have to be careful I don't chew my nails more than I quilt. LOL! Today we had temps in the 70's but will experience 30's temps by Thursday. I know some of you living up north are probably laughing but to us Texans living in the Southeast, 30's weather is way too cold. Now that I know my son's are coming for two weeks, I'm considering planning out menu's while they are here so I won't go crazy trying to figure out what to feed them. I just know they want homecooked meals. Chris' ex boss is giving him a chance to work at the Space Center while he's here for the two weeks so he can have extra money when he goes to Mexico. I'm glad I'll be off for the two weeks they will be here. By the way, I went to sub at another cafeteria and almost choked. I now have a cough due to the cold I had last week and for some reason my throat got so dry I started coughing and then couldn't catch my breath. I had all them ladies asking if i was alright and one wanted to hit me on the back and another asked if I wanted the nurse. I just stayed calmed and kept coughing till I was O.K. That was so not cool. Hopefully, I won't have to go sub there again even though compared to my school, the work was a piece of cake, but way to far.

Going Out of Business Sale

Yesterday, my husband and I went into Houston and saw a Hancocks going out of business sale,so, we go in and everything was for sale. A couple had two truck loads full of all kinds of shelves. Hubby managed to buy a fabric shelve for $10. He says he can make me a bench/trunk out of it. We'll see. There were some women looking at the %70 off patterns thinking they were getting a great bargain,until I told them they were $.99 at JoAnn's. You should have seen they eyes, talk about almost popping out. They stashed the patterns they were looking at between some fabric bolts and dashed out the door to JoAnn's. We sewers are so much alike. That was so funny. I bought two quilting books and the 18mm rotary cutter that was %50 off.