Isaiah's 5th Birthday!

Thanks for all the love and support. You guys are awesome! Isaiah and are I doing pretty well, all things considered. Life just continues on really. I "just" have to learn to cope without John. I have my ups and downs but I know John would just want us to be happy and enjoy life! A few weeks ago we celebrated Isaiah's 5th birthday. I cannot believe he is 5! It's crazy. This also happens to be my 400th post. Lots of milestones going on around here.



We had a big party for Isaiah. He requested a sport themed party of course and asked for a stadium cake. I was happy to oblige and made one for him. It was a lot of work but it was totally worth it. We also lucked out on a relatively warm day for February and we able to have the kids play outside on a blow-up sports thingy (I don't really know what to call it). They really enjoyed it. I was nervous about the weather because last year we had a huge storm right before his party. But, everything worked out this year and I'm sure John has something to do with that.



I've been catching up on some sewing and I hope to show it off in the next week. I've been obsessively listening to Adele's new album and Mumford & Sons. Amazing music. Check them out if you haven't already. Well, enjoy your weekend! I'll be running (and walking) 5 miles tomorrow morning. More on that soon!

Pattern Sale!

Hello friends! It seems like I can't keep a consist posting schedule, but I'm just popping my head in to say I'm here. Most likely under a pile of fabric. I just had my second to last craft fair yesterday, which was a huge success. I had been meaning to post about it before, in case anyone reading this lives near Richmond, but I was too busy prepping for the show. Anyway, I'm coming up for a breath of fresh air today before getting back to the grind tomorrow. I have one last show on Saturday, so if you're in the DC/VA area, please come check it out at T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, VA. My sister is a teacher there and she is organizing the show to raise money for a foundation that aids children in Africa. I'm excited about the show, but I'll be happy when it's over so I can focus on making some Christmas presents. Though I won't be making as many as I have in the past, but I can't imagine not making at least a few presents.

And speaking of making presents, if you still need a few ideas, I've marked down the three PDF patterns I have in my shop. They are each $5 each and can be delivered via e-mail to you today. As a bonus, each of these patterns only requires a small amount of fabric, so they're perfect for using up some larger scraps! The wristlet and headbands come together pretty quickly too, perfect for last minute gifts.

Alright, well hopefully I'll be back again soon. I have lots of sewn goodies to show off when I get the chance. I hope you all are doing well and are having a nice holiday season!

drumroll.....

Thanks to everyone who participated. According to my calculations, this little quilt has raised over $600! More than I could have ever asked for. Now, for the winner, it's :

Kimberly said...

I hope this week will double the amount of entries. It's an amazing quilt and this is such a good cause! While it would be nice to win, more then that I hope John gets better!

I'll be e-mailing you in a bit Kimberly!  Thanks again everyone!

one more...

Ok, I promise this will be the last post about the walk. I've uploaded a few more items to the shop, including the vintage sheet quilt above. Cute kid not included. The walk is tomorrow night in D.C. and I have raised almost $1,000 myself. I am so excited and it would be great to reach that mark! If you're in the area, we'd love to have you on our team. There's still time to sign up. You can just go to the bottom of this page and click the link that says "join our team." I'm about to run out, but when I get back I'll announce the winner of the quilt! Hope you all have a great weekend. I think fall is finally starting to set in here, my toes are freezing cold!!

More ways to help

When we signed up for the Light the Night Walk again this year, I had initially wanted to set up a store to sell some handmade goods to raise money for our team. Well, I finally got around to it, not as early as I had wanted to, but hey, that's life for you. I had some talented crafters donate some items, as well as some items made by moi. I'll be adding more throughout the day, including the vintage sheet quilt above, so be sure to check back frequently. All the proceeds from the shop will directly benefit our walk. So just in case you maybe wanted to buy, say A Overdue Book Calendar from My Aunt June

or perhaps a zipper pouch made by Randi

or a lovely tote bag made by her talented daughter

or maybe this Doll quilt I made using Denyse Schmidt fabrics.





The walk is this Saturday and I'd love to be able to match our last year total of $6,000. I think all of these items would make wonderful Christmas presents and think about how ahead of the curve you'd be if you purchased one! And again, I can't thank you all enough for your support and generosity! We really appreciate it.

New York! (and thank yous!)

Hello! I didn't mean to disappear like that after my last post, but the last few weeks have been crazy busy. We headed up to New York (both the state & city) for the week for a few events. My cousin got married two Saturdays ago and I had my 10 year (eeek!) High School Reunion Saturday night. It was a great time and I just love being in New York for fall. My mom and I took Isaiah to NYC for the first time. He got to ride the train down and visit Central Park. Another thing I love about NY this time of year is apple picking. There are so many farms near my parents house and this is probably one of the prettiest I've ever been to.You can see the Catskill mountains in the background.



Yesterday we took a hike on a trail I've probably passed a million times but have never been on. It was a beautiful day and I was able to climb the fire at the end of the trail. It has magnificent views of the Hudson Valley.




I also wanted to thank all of you that have made a donation to our Light the Night Walk and for entering the quilt giveaway. The walk is this upcoming Saturday, so I will leave the giveaway open until Friday when I will announce the winner. Feel free to continue to spread the work and I really appreciate your support. To date, the quilt has raised over $500! If you'd still like a donation you can make one here and you can see the quilt on the post below. I'll be back tomorrow with information on some handmade items you can purchase to help support the walk.

Quilt Giveaway!!

Now I don't usually like to make you jump through hoops to enter/win a giveaway, but I promise this is for a really good cause. As many of you know, my husband has been fighting lymphoma for the past three years. Last year we participated in the Light the Night Walk for the Leukemia & Lymphoma society. It was a wet, cold night, but it was such a wonderful experience. Our team raised over $6,000 to benefit the society. It is a cause very dear to our hearts and without organizations like this, I'm not sure where we would be with John's treatment. So, I made this cross quilt and I am hoping to raise money for our walk this year.




Quilt Details: Measures approximately 41"x40" and is made with 100% cotton designer fabrics from Denyse Schmidt, Joel Dewberry, and Amy Butler. The white background fabric is Kona Solids in Snow. The batting is 100% cotton and the quilt is backed with a tangerine polka dot print by Amy Butler. It is lightly quilted with diagonal lines. This quilt is the perfect size for a baby quilt, a lap quilt, or for a picnic. 



To enter to win is very simple. For every $5 donation to our team, you'll receive 1 entry. For instance, if you donate $15, you will receive 3 entries, donate $25 and receive 5 entries, etc. Please follow the link below to make your donation and then leave a comment with contact info here letting me know your donation is completed.You will not have to say your donated amount as I will see it on my fundraising page. Because I want to raise as much as possible, any of you that either post about this on your blog or on twitter will receive an extra entry. Just come back here and leave a comment telling me did so. I know money is tight for a lot of us now, so any donation is really appreciated. Thanks so much and good luck!!

quilting bee blocks

It seems that the only thing I complete on a monthly basis are quilting bee blocks. It probably has something to do with the fact that I they are for someone else. If they were for me, I'd be slacking. The first block is for Jessica. She asked for wonky stars, which I've never made before, but were fun and easy.




Kelly sent fabric from the Sweetwater Pure line. She asked for triangles, straight lines, pinwheels. You can see her inspiration here. I came up with this block are looking at many different blocks. I'm sure there's a pattern somewhere, but I just made a bunch of half-square triangles and then put this together. As I've mentioned before, I really dislike triangles, but I think this actually came out pretty nicely.

Hopefully I'll be back here on Monday to give you more info on an auction/sale I'm working on to benefit our Light the Night Walk for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.  Our team raised over $6,000 last year and John is hoping to raise $10,000 this year. We have a long way to go, but I suppose anything's possible! Have a great weekend!