Where are they?

Somewhere under my sweet yellow and green string quilt are the tips of my daffodils. I stayed home all weekend retreating with myself. LOL!

Here is a peek at my street!

I live on a nice sweet gradual hill. Perfect for kids to sled down to the end of the cul-de-sac. Boy did they all have fun today! Through my camera looking up the street here's a guy who thought he could go make it down our street. He chickened out and turned around.

My Winter "Snow Day" Weekend Retreat

My Fall Mini Quilt Swap Arrived

How fun!! I got my fall mini quilt in the mail yesterday. It came from Lynn in Oregon. It even has two little thingies in the back for me to hang it up next year.

This swap was a lot of fun. There were swappers from all over the world.

Thank so much Lynn.

Sock Monkey Tote Bag Give-Away

Hi Ya'll,

Jennifer in Nebraska is my winner for the Sock Monkey Tote bag!!

Check out her blog.

Jennifer Quilts

Down in The South

This Southern California Girl who transplanted to the South 17 years ago loves her "Greens". Down in the south, New Year's day would not be complete without a taste of collard greens and black-eyed peas.

The tradition of eating collard greens on New Year's Day is said to bring good luck. I learned a few ways to cook up this inexpensive cheap dish over the years.

Well, I was one day off. I made my collards for tonight's dinner. Sauteed in olive oil with tons of garlic and onions and served over rice.

I started this neat tradition in 1993 with my family. The very first year that we moved to Raleigh, NC. I never heard of collards and let alone eat black-eyed peas? I thought my neighbors were nuts!! I said "No Way, I am a Southern California Girl". Well, I tried them and the very next year started our family tradition of making a huge batch of collards leaves and a great big batch Hoppin' John.

Whole Food always has a great "culinary specialist" out demonstrating different ways of cookin' these huge leaves. I like to roll them up like a dollar bills and slice them very thin.

p.s. I like it here in the "South"

Join My Challenge

See that blog button on the left?

The one with the turquoise and green strings!!

It's my favorite string quilt.

Click on it and join me in my madness for my color-controlled

string quilt challenge.

We'll have lots of sharing, lots of comments, lots of show & tell, and lots of cool things to give-away during the year.

Still Stringin' Along

Eight Tops Done!!

Here is my "Show and Tell" from my own personal quilt challenge to make as many string quilts that I could for one month. I started the day after Thanksgiving and ended it today. I got eight tops done, and have 3 quilted. They are going to be donated to kids in need charities. Thanks to all of you who sent me so many emails of encouragement and charities in which to donate them too.

I am still going to make more, because I can't stop!! There are so many color combinations that I want to do and so many charities that would love to have them. Please keep you comments and emails coming . I love hearing from each and everyone of you.

Watch for my exciting challenge. I am in the processing of organizing and setting up a great quilt-along. It is going to start in January. I am so excited.

Opps!! Forgot to post the New Give-Away on Sunday?

Who loves Sock Monkey??? We do here.

Another Give-Away !!

Take a peek at my store, leave a comment and you can have a chance at winning this cute tote bag made with Moda's Sock Monkey fabric. The tote bag pattern is from Kimmies Quilts. One of our favorites at our store. Winner will be chosen at random on January 8th.

Us Southern Girls Love Our Monogramming

This is so true for us Southern Girls. If it's flat, cute and girly, we want it monogrammed.

Talk about a difficult job. My last order was to monogram 4 zebra print umbrellas. You should have seen my Happy Voyager embroidery machine humming along. It's amazing that I didn't get the spokes of the umbrella caught or bent. You don't want anything in the way of this embroidery machine while is humming along. I really thought I would have to press the emergency stop button on these. But alas, I still have all my fingers intact and there were no trips to the emergency room. Wheew!

~~~~~~ Drum Roll Please ~~~~~~

Congratulations to Donna. She is my winner for the KP Kids Christmas tote bag. Donna please send me a quick email to sewfarsewgoodquiltshop@gmail.com with your address so I can mail your sweet gifty to you.

Keep watching. Next week it's a different contest with a super cute sock monkey tote bag.

Re-Purposing a Yellow Pages Phone Book

We all get these phonebooks in March, Right? I found the perfect foundation for making my string quilts and it didn't cost me a penny. I decided that I wanted to make smaller blocks when I make my Heartstring quilts for charity. I can get a nice 6-inch square out of one page.

This paper is really easy to tear away after sewing my strips to the foundation. This little book "fit the bill ". But wow, you should have seen the floor in my sewing room.

I went through 300 pages making all the quilts shown below.

I tore out lots and lots of pages. The nice thing about some of these phonebooks is that the ink does not rub off on anything or even mess up your iron. Do a simple check. Run your fingers along a page from the book. If you get residue on your fingers, don't use it. It will make a mess of your ironing board cover and your iron. I asked some of my neighbors if they still had one or two of these phonebooks hanging around. Well, I got lots of them now. I think I will be able to make hundreds of blocks. My neighbors came through big time.

Patriotic String Star Top

I knew that I wanted to make this patriotic star string quilt for some time now. I got my inspiration from

MaryQuilts.com

I've made progress at last. For one entire month, I am only working my string quilts to donate to charities that serve kids in need or kids in crisis. Feel free to recommend such a charity. So far, I have one going to the St. Jude's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. Thanks to Lauren H. who recommended this fine organization.

Sharing My String Quilts with You!

KP Kids Tote Give-Away

It's a Cutie!!

Here is one of our shop samples left over from last year. This sweet little tote bag is made from a pattern from Kimmies Quilts. The pattern is an oldie, but still one of my favorites. This one is made from a cute KP Kids "Snow Day" fabric from South Sea Imports.

Sign up for our store newsletter, leave a comment and I'll announce the winner on December 13th. Please me sure to leave me your contact information.

Good Luck and Bundle UP. It's getting cold out there!!!