Thursday Thoughts

Handmade for Newtown wrapped up last week and raised over $5,000! My Super Bright Strings quilt was auctioned off for $143. I gave it a last once-over with the lint roller, wrapped it up in tissue paper with a bow made of selvages and mailed it off yesterday to a very kind-hearted new owner.

I've had these cute bags from Debbie from A Quilter's Table on my Make Someday List and was excited to read about the Triple Zip Along which is getting underway on Monday, January 28th. I've got my fabric picked out and zippers ordered!  It's not too late in join the fun.

                                                  

Beth who blogs at Quilting Hottie Haven is launching a month long UFO event called Drop and Give me Twenty (DaGMT 2013) complete with prizes. Click HERE to read all about it.  First, you must make a pledge...

I, Deb who is the not-so-proud owner of a Fab UFO Collection, am joining Quilting Hottie Haven's second annual DaGMT event, and pledge to quilt for 2 hours every day of the month of February, 2013. In doing so I hope to finish 10 UFOs (to be listed on my sidebar Feb. 1st but you can get a sneak peak at my selection pool HERE) and I think Beth Helfter is brilliant for coming up with this concept and inspiring me to join.
Did you notice how I added my January Goals to my sidebar as a constant guilt inducing tactic gentle reminder? Considering I had company for the 1st week followed by a week of a sick son and problems with new sewing machine deliveries I'm not doing so bad. I'm heading down the homestretch on the binding for Shabby Roses (goal 3) and I'll be quilting my Valentine's Day table runner today (goal 7).  FMQ practice sessions (goal 9) are ongoing and I'll be heading back to Christmas over the weekend to work on goals 1 & 2.
We braved our absolutely frigid weather to see Life of Pi on Monday night. I love a movie that really makes you think after leaving the theater, which Life of Pi certainly did, but the thing I enjoyed the most about the movie was the amazing cinematography. I found myself gasping several times at the sheer beauty on the screen. I'm starting to think I should go see it again! Tucker is getting tired of being called "Richard Parker" by all of us.
I have my Juki set up on my sewing table and my Pfaff set up on my spare folding table which are both out in the middle of my quilting room right now. When I walked in yesterday I could not stop looking at the insane difference in height of these machines! Check this out.

I'm using my 6.5" square ruler in these pics. See the peek of my Valentines Day runner ready to be sandwiched back there? With no more wavy edges thanks to the IDF on my Pfaff!

Isn't it amazing? Just a few well placed inches makes all the difference in the world!  Not to mention the design for quilting... see the presser foot on the Juki completely behind the machine? On the Pfaff it's harder to see behind the 6" vertical line on the right. When you raise it goes sideways up into the arm space. I can't tell you how many times I've caught it on the quilt and had it slam down.

Handmade for Newtown

Could today be the start of my long awaited return to normal? Husband and son are off to school, coffee mug is by my side and a week stretches out in front of me. Well, I'm not going to tempt fate again with too much anticipation like last Monday let's talk about is happening today.

Handmade for Newtown is underway on Facebook. I've copied the following directly from the From the Heart Auctions Facebook page HERE:

From The Heart Auctions is proud to be partnering up with one of our long time supporters imagine gnats and new partner Casa Crafty to bring some relief to the town heard round to the world, Newtown, Connecticut.

Along with the rest of the nation, our hearts broke on December 14th when a crazed gunman opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary School killing 20 first graders and 6 teachers. Like many others, we felt compelled to help in any way possible.

From The Heart Auctions has an honorable reputation in helping those in need. We are trusted by many boutiques and bidders promising and proving all funds raised by our auctions go directly to our beneficiaries. We are happy to be partnering with imagine gnats and Casa Crafty, hosting an auction where 100% of funds raised will go to Newtown Parent Connection.

Bidding for this auction will be live through 10 pm EST on January 18.

Please read the following blog for more details: http://imaginegnats.blogspot.com/2012/12/handmade-for-newtown.html.

You can click HERE to see a listing all of the items that have been donated, read about how the auction works and how to make a bid. I donated my Super Bright Strings quilt which has an opening bid of $40. Please give it a "like" if you are browsing! I have my eye on a few items already. Bidding closes on Friday, January 18th at 10:00 PM EST. Remember that 100% of the proceeds will benefit Newtown Parent Connection.

Super Bright Strings

Here is a peek at my design wall this morning which is now sporting a bit of pink for soscrappy's Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC13) in addition to my Four Patch and Friends blocks. Please click the button on my right sidebar if you'd like more information about the challenge.

I like to make test blocks of anything new... it's just my way. I got a bit ahead of myself on the Birds in the Air block this morning and trimmed off my extra 1/4 on the last 3 triangles so this will be frogged in a short while. Now you know why I make test blocks!

I'm really liking both of these blocks. Birds in the Air will give me a chance to work on matching points (to a reasonable extent!) and Crossroads only has one matching seam per block so it goes together quickly but doesn't look overly simple.


I'm linking up to Design Wall Monday@Patchwork Times and Scrap Happy Saturday@soscrappy.