Home from the quilt show and the Winner is.... Make sure you read the entire post becuase I have a surprise!

Good evening! Well, I am home from the quilt show and wow I had such a wonderful time, got to talk to a lot of great people, met up with friends, met folks that I had only talked to online, and most of all, I got to see hundreds of beautiful quilts! Stay tuned for the slide show, I will be making one up tomorrow to show some of my favorite quilts!

One of the coolest parts of the quilt show, Torrie's quilt won first place in the juniors division!!!! I am so proud I think I could burst! Of course that bursting feeling could also be from the wonderful dinner I just got home from, or it could be the from all of the beautiful fat quarters Morgen got me... Oh my I really need to download my camera, I promise that I will post oodles of pictures tomorrow...

For now I just want to let every one know who won the quilters baskets... Yes you read that right basketS plural, you see I was so amazed at how many people entered into the give away that I just had to put together another basket, now I was not able to get exactly the same items for the second basket but I do have some nice things. I also have not had time to take pictures of the second basket... So I will announce the winner of the blue peacock quilters basket (#1) now, and tomorrow after I get pictures taken I will post them and announce the winner of basket #2

So with out further ado, the winner of the peacock basket is

Missy aka Gypsylacat!!!!

Congratulations Missy, I will be emailing you shortly!

So, I am now off to my Bags N Rags blog to announce the winner of the purse, then off to bed!
Will post the second winner tomorrow, till then, I hope everyone has a wonderful night!
Ginny

Happy Birthday to Me!

Happy Birthday to me Happy Birthday to me! lol, OK seriously, good morning! I just wanted to let every one know that I will be off to the quilt show in just a few minutes!

While there I will draw the name of the lucky winner of the quilters dream basket! So hold your breath, cross your fingers, rub that lucky rabbits foot, or do a good deed, because in just three short hours we will have a winner!

Good luck to all Oh and make sure you check back here late this evening (I will post the winner between 9 and 10 pm my time) because I have a very cool surprise!

Till then, I am off for my super fun day!

Hope you all have a wonderful day!
Ginny

Oh and if you have not done so, scoot on over to the bags n rags blog (www.bagsnrags.blogspot.com) to get entered there, I will be doing the drawing for the purse giveaway after we get home from dinner this evening so you still have all day today to get entered!

Mommy Sadness, Give Away Goodness

Good morning!
Well the day has come at last, no not the day for the big drawing but the day that my little girl will be taking her first airplane trip. Yes today is the day that Torrie leave for her trip to Mexico. I was really fine with it, right up till I got up this morning, then SLAM! She leaves this afternoon and I won't get to see her or talk to her for more than a week. I am hoping she will be able to call at least once, and they will have a computer so emails are a must, but oh I am going to miss her!

I am going to use her time away to spend some much needed extra time with Morgen, she sometimes slides into the back ground and doesn't get as much attention so this will give us a lot of time to spend together with no interruptions, I know she will be missing her big sister badly.

OK so on to the give away, I mentioned that I would continue to shop for my birthday give away, and so I have, I am only going to say that I have found a couple more really neat items to add to the basket!
I had a blast shopping with my friend Wendi, and she shared some of her favorite quilting tool also.

I have been stunned at the response to this give away, but don't be discouraged at the numbers, I do have a special surprise.... So make sure you enter, you know what they say.... you can't win if you don't enter, and the last couple of people to win said then never thought they would so, get that comment in before mid night on Friday! (but NOT on this post, on the one below!)

I also wanted to say thank you to everyone, such nice comments! It really does boost ones ego! LOL I have been having a hard time fitting my head through the door! OK so not really, but I guess I didn't think that giving away a gift on my own birthday was such a big deal, but given the comments I guess it is. I love the idea of giving something back. We live in such a ME world, how often to you hear... Yea Me, or It's All About Me, how often to we see examples of people who only care about them selves and not others? Where I live, pretty often, just think about when you drive or those people who feel it is OK to cut in line at the store. I have tried to teach my children (and my daycare kids too) that we should be kind, courteous, and help others, that giving and loving will bring you so much more than anger and selfishness. I truly believe that. So for me to give on my birthday to all of the lovely people who take time out of their day to stop by and read my silly little blog, this is how I would thank you.

Have a wonderful and Blessed day.
Ginny

And please keep Torrie in you thoughts, she will be having so much fun, but I really want her back to me safe and sound at the end of next week. (yep a mommy's worries)
Gin

A MUST Have Quilting Tool

So, every once in a while you find a quilting tool that you just feel the need to shout about it from every roof top....

Well today I am climbing on my roof and yelling for all I am worth! LOL

I have found something that every quilter should have, I am stunned and amazed and excited!

(oh and I am giving one away for my birthday!)

So let me tell you what I am so excitedly babbling about!

A year or so ago I had finally decided I had had it with buying new rotary blades, our girl scout troop was making rag quilts, and I tell you nothing will dull a blade faster than cutting tons of flannel. So I went to the fabric store and purchased a Dritz blade sharpener, spent almost $20 on the thing, and was sadly disappointed with the results, it did not work well, kind of honed the blades but no real sharpening took place, and very quickly the sand paper that is used to sharpen the blade wore out, I was not at all happy and still feel that the sharpener was a rip off.

So lets fast forward to this last fall, I was at another quilt shop one day, just kind of browsing around on the back wall when I see this other brand of blade sharpener, now I still like the idea of sharpening my own blades because with all of the quilting that goes on in my house we can spend at least a hundred closer to one fifty just on blades in a year!

So I check out the sharpener, and wow, it looks good, had a diamond grinding wheel, and costs the same as one five pack of new blades. So silly me I jump and buy the thing, thinking well if I only manage to sharpen 5 blades before it wears out like the other one, then I still break even right?

OH MY GOSH, I mean OH MY GOSH! I sharpened and sharpened and sharpened (I for some reason NEVER throw away my old blades I have dozens!) Oh then I sharpened some more, I was amazed, astonished, and thrilled, 25 blades later I had sharpened all of my old dull blades to NEW! I cut practice strips, sharp, no strings, I cut more, yep just like new!

I have now used the sharpener for 6 months, and guess what, it is still going strong, takes a matter of less than a minute per blade, when one goes dull or I hit a pin, I just give it a twirl and away I go again! I have yet to need to replace the grinding wheels and am thrilled with the replacement price if I ever do need to replace them!

Now I do need to say that I do not work for the company that makes these sharpeners, but they are located in the same state I live in.

I was so impressed with the blade sharpener I actually emailed the company with my compliments! And guess what, the owner emailed me back! How cool is that! I also love the fact that USA Sharpeners are really made in the USA, they are made in Oregon! And the company is located in Washington state!

I did ask permission to use their photos on my blog because I thought you all should see what I am talking about.

So, if you are like me and are interested in saving some serious cash, I strongly encourage you to click on over to http://www.usasharpeners.com/index.htm Scroll through the site (they also sell needle sharpeners and fish hook sharpeners) check out the blade sharpener, then order one, you will never ever be sorry!

Oh and one last thing, I am off to the quilt shop this weekend, and will be picking one of these little gems up. For you see, it is my birthday in just two short weeks, and I can't think of a better way to celebrate than sharing my favorite tool!

So keep an eye out because early next week I will be setting up for not one but two very special birthday give aways, one here, for the USA Rotary Blade Sharpener, the other will be on my Bags N Rags blog, and will be of course another purse (that way I have something for the non quilting readers too!)

So check back soon and be sure to enter. Oh and if you do purchase a sharpener from USA sharpeners, be sure to mention that you read about it on my blog! Maybe something nice will come of it!

Have a great quilting day, and stay sharp! LOL

Ginny

Final Picture of Torries Bento Box

Good afternoon,

Well, I have shown you the WIP pictures of Torries Bento Box quilt, well today you get to see the finished quilt, it is all bound and the quilt label is on all ready to be entered into the quilt show. I have said before and I will say again, I am so proud of her this is an awesome quilt for it only being her second pieced quilt. She did wonderfully!

I tried to get a close up of the quilting, but it did not how well, so I gave up.

I love this quilt, I may have to put this one up at the top of my blog... Hmmm that's an idea, what do you say should I leave my dads quilt as my blog photo, or should I put Torrie's quilt up there for a while?

OK so back to work...

Have a great day!

Ginny

Could Life Get Any More Crazy?

Eh Gads! Yep that's right Eh Gads! I can't remember a busier weekend, I have spent the morning trying to catch up on emails and blog posts and life and work and house work, Wow! I need 5 more of me!!!

So this is just another quick post to say, if you emailed me and I have not gotten back to you, I am sorry, email again cause life got super nuts over the last week, I was just getting caught up from being sick (again) when Morgen came down with the nasty bug I had, then, when we were up and running again from that, well the weekend happened, and we spent almost all weekend on Morgen's play! Two full nights of Baby sitting 55 - 12 and 13 year olds between scenes, then throw in a bad bad bad bloody nose (who knew that little girl could make that boy bleeds so much!) and you have my Saturday night! I do have pictures to post, but it may take a bit...

I did manage to sneak in a little bit of sewing. We got Torrie's dress done for her trip to Mexico, it is very red and pretty, I will see if she will model for the camera, no promises though!
I also got my latest bag done, I made up a really cute super large tote bag, the pattern is on page 54 of the latest edition of quick quilts. I will be posting a picture of it soon on my bags n rags blog... so look for it there.

Well, that's all for now, like I said things have been totally nuts here, and I have all of the kids home this week due to conferences! Did I mention EH GADS!

Off and running again,
Ginny

Today was a sad day for me.

Well, I usually start my posts with good morning, or good... what ever, today not such a good day.
You see today I am very sad. I just returned home from a quick shopping trip to my local Joann's. Now I need to start by saying we actually have two Joann's here in the Tri-Cities, we have the Richland Joann's and the Kennewick Joann's. Now I will try very hard to keep this positive and not say anything bad about the Kennewick Joann's....BUT, I love the ladies at the Richland store, can't say the same for the Kennewick one. The folks at the Kennewick tend to treat the customers as a bother, and have at times been flat out rude, enough so that I avoid that store unless it is the last place I know I will find an material that NO ONE else has.
On the other hand, at the Richland store the ladies always have a smile, a kind word, an "oh what are you making today?" The store is bright and clean and friendly, there are wonderful people like Wendi, and Sandy, and well all of them!
So you can see why I would be totally devastated when it was confirmed today that the Richland store will be closing this spring. :(
Now, my logical mind understands the reason for the closure, the building they are is old, and I mean old and not well maintained. So the corporate office made the decision to combine the two stores.... now I get to drive farther, to a darker dirtier store with staff that is less than friendly (to say the least)
I hate it when places we rely on and love to shop close, it makes me sad. And in a way makes me mad. This is a GOOD store, with GOOD employees, in a GOOD location. Well I think I will go send an email to the corporate office. Not that it will do any good, but they have to know that some of us are not happy with the choice.
Thanks for letting me cry on your shoulder...
Oh and have a good day!
Ginny