Mug Rug Swap

I could not help myself, when I saw this swap I was so excited. The Quilting Gallery listed a Mug Rug Swap and since I always like quick easy quilting projects, I just had to sign up. I have made a test Mug Rug that is being used on my desk at school. I am a school nurse so I enjoy FUN stuff.

This is a huge swap. There are 330 swappers from 25 countries. Wow! What a great way to make new friends. I've already shipped my Mug Rugs out and have received mine.

I sent This one

and this one

As you can see, a Mug Rug is a very small quilted mat 10 inches by 6 inches. You can sit your favorite mug and snack on it. I love, love, love these. You make two to send to your partner and you will get two from another partner. I have made 20-25 different mats to share with others. I can see so many cute ideas to use these on. I love Amy Butler and other trendy fabrics and never throw away the small fabric pieces. I plan to make special Mug Rugs with these leftover fabrics.

My sender is from Minnesota and sent these to me. The loon is the Minnesota state bird and the Lady Slipper is the state flower, the backing has sayings or locations all pertaining to the state of Minnesota. How nice to share information with our partner. These are pretty enough to hang on the wall.

Lady Slipper

Loon

Backing

Thank you so much Diane for these Beautiful Mug Rugs.

Valentines Sock and Candy Swap.

Look what came in my mail box!

I received these really cute socks and I bag of Candy Hearts. I love them. I plan on Wearing the socks on Valentines Day. The candy won't last that long. I love the swap-bot fun I'm having. You know I have always loved getting goodies in the mail. But, I always enjoy finding the right things to ship out too.

Will they like this as much as I do?

Is this the kind of candy she/he will like?

Do they like the card?

Will they enjoy my style?

I will be doing a LOT of swapping in the future, Yea!

Valentine's Socks and Candy Swap

Yea! I have a swap partner for sock's and candy! Swap-bot is a place to enjoy swapping a variety of fun things. This will be my first swap with this group. I have excellent ratings with my eBay transaction, Amazon transactions, and Etsy Transactions.

The Valentine's Sock and Candy Swap is just what it says, you get a partner that you send socks and candy to, then you get socks and candy in return. I've already purchased my socks and I can't decide on a candy (there are just so many cute one's available), hey it's Valentine's!

I just love "Cute Socks", and who can resist CANDY!

This is what I'm sending out.

I'll show you what I get in return.

I can't wait, I'm just so excited!

Pay It Forward 2011

Something FUN that is happening on Facebook is Pay It Forward 2011. Someone posts a message then 5 others agree to receive a gift then post:

Pay It Forward for creative people: I promise to send something I'll make myself to the first 5 people who leave a comment agreeing to pay it forward! They must in turn re-post this as their status. Items must be made by you personally and they must be received by your 5 folks in 2011! Whatever you want to share with others! Painting, sewing, cooking, photography, etc...

I'm one of the LUCKY ones. I've already received my gift. I'm working on my gifts and hope to ship them out by the end of February. It is SO much fun. The goodies have to be made by the giver. That's always fun.

Over the years I have jumped into all kinds of crafting. I received 2 beautiful candles that smell absolutely Divine. These are one of the crafts that I have NEVER tried.

Now I'm ready to hit Hobby Lobby to give this a whirl! Look at how pretty these are.

I just want to enjoy the way these these smell, I hate to use them up!

Heart Blocks

Well I decided to make a Valentines Door decoration so I took one block. Now I have thirteen to use elsewhere. I would love to take at least twelve blocks and add different fabrics to make an even scrappier quilt. That means I will need to do something with the extra heart.

I used a nice beige backing because I just hate to use really pretty fabric when I know something will be used as a wall hanging.

One thing that's always makes me feel good, are the very nice comments from the kids at school. The children always think my quilted wall decorations look good and drop by to tell me and get a hug.

Being a School Nurse and getting hugs throughout the day is so amazing.

Long Arm Quilter

Has anyone else ever sent a Quilt to a Long Arm Quilter...I'm sure they have, this is my first. I spent a few hours last night getting my quilt pressed, sandwiched, and folded for mailing. I worked hard to make sure I followed ALL instructions. I will drop my quilt off this afternoon at the Post Office. Whew...I feel like I'm sending a child off to school. I will update the progress on the quilt. I have thought long and hard about finding a Long Arm Service. I like to make really big quilts, but I am the person who has to quilt them with a Huskvarna Sapphire Machine ( nice big bed, but still a tough job). I can do the quilting but I am so limited and what I can do. If this works out. I hope to be able to send out at least 1 quilt every 6-8 weeks. I had to admit, I have a few quilts tucked away, just waiting on me to quilt them. The service I picked was Adopt-A-Quilt on eBay. Wish me LUCK.

Heart Blocks

This weekend with the ice storm that was suppose to be approaching the area, Selma AL, I made Heart Blocks. I really enjoy making blocks for my quilting. I love vibrant colors as much as muted tones. I wanted to work on something with no deadline and no pressure. I have made these blocks in the past all in Blue and White. This time I wanted to use scrapes and just piece and play with my fabric.

What is it about fabric running through a quilters fingers that just makes you feel so good?

I know I included Amy Butler, Joel Dewberry, Heather Bailey, and several other designers.

All BEAUTIFUL!

Fortunately the big storm missed my area but work was canceled on Monday, January 10, 2011.

But can't say I didn't enjoy playing in sewing room...

Each heart is completely different.

To achieve complete random piecing, I stick all of my 2 1/2 inch squares in a basket and just keep going until you run out of fabric.

I wish I could say I used up a lot of my stash...but no, I just can't do it.

 

 Completed blocks measure 10 X 10

I made 14 blocks, now what should I do to use these? I would love to make a quilt, 12 blocks with a pretty border, then maybe a mini-quilt or two. These would be GREAT blocks for a mini-quilt.

I have a T-Shirt quilt that I will start on next week that needs to be completed soon, but I wanted to wait until after my son went back to College. After he does that, things will get back to normal around here. Whatever normal is.