Here is the results of my blog giveaway!

http://robin-lifesastitch.blogspot.com/2009/01/and-winner-is.html

Whirl into Winter Giveaway!!

Happy New Year everyone! We are celebrating our New Year in a New Home!!! Now I just wish I could have a New Back for the New Year as my old back is KILLIN' me from this move! LOL


Ok..enough of my moving aches and pains ;) I am participating in the Whirl into Winter Giveaway and here are my rules:


1) Only comments left between Jan 1, 2009 and Jan 15, 2009 will be eligible to win. I will be picking the winner's name on the night of Jan 15, 2009 and posting it to my blog.


2) Anyone who leaves a comment must either post their blog URL OR their email with their comment so that I have a way to contact you if you win! Only 1 entry per person please ;)


3) International contestants are welcome!


4) And here's a little twist to the contest..in your comment, please tell me your favorite remedy for an aching back!



These are the goodies I am giving away to a single winner:

My little friend, Peanut! He may not be exactly this same color , but he will come equipped with a stitch ripper and stork scissors!



I am also giving away a fashion scarf in Winter White, which is knit by me, and a nice assortment of Thimbleberries Fat Quarters!







So good luck to you all, and remember to go visit the main Whirl into Winter website to enter all the blog contests!!

Since I can't sew...

I'll knit right now! LOL My sewing room is packed up and I still need something to keep my hands busy..so I'll just knit for awhile til I can sew again!

Years ago I was an avid knitter, but lost interest as I got older. Recently, knitting has regained it's popularity and my interest has been piqued! With so many free resources available online, how could I resist? 2 of my favorite sites for free patterns and info are Lion Brand yarns, and Patons.

My current project is this hat for Bill...it's a simple ribbed hat with a turned up band. This is what I've done so far and I'm ready to start shaping the top within the next row or so ;) I'll post a pic of Bill wearing his hat when I'm done! I think I'll start a hat for myself when this project is done..I think we're in for a cold, snowy winter!!

Quilt Room in a Box!

This past summer, one of my 2 best pals, Michelle, moved from Washington to Idaho and had to pack up her whole sewing room! Here's her post regarding her "quilt room in a box"!

Well now it's MY turn to have my OWN Quilt Room in a Box! LOL My fabric stash is NOT packed yet...I will probably do that within the week as the movers will be here on the 26th ;)

Because of the timing of this move, we are not decorating for the holidays this year =( But we DO have Bill's blinky tree, and LOTS of holiday spirit, so I guess that's all we really need anyway!

O Christmas Tree!

Has anyone put their tree up yet? I know some folks (us included) like to decorate right after Thanksgiving...but this year will be a bit different since we are moving the DAY after Christmas! LOL Who planned that??? LOL

So rather than put up a big tree, Bill, who is an Electrical Engineer by trade and an avid DIY electronic hobbist, decided to buy a kit to BUILD us a little electronic Christmas tree, complete with blinky lights ;) It has 30 different light patterns controlled by a microprocessor..so if you have a home hobbist who likes to solder and does electronics, this might be a great gift for them! You can order a kit through Nuts And Volts magazine's website.

So check out Bill's little video clip and if you like his tree, drop him a line at thex@optonline.net.

How about a quickie?

Ok..here's a quickie for ya...I am SO embarassed that I haven't done a blog entry in 3 weeks! My New Year's resolution will have to include something about blogging more frequently!

so anyway....here's my lastest quickie, the month 6 project for the Pint-Sized Traditions club from Main Street Cotton shop! It's called "Northern Lights" and was fun and fast to put together! Still needs to be quilted though ;)

Ok! That's all I have to blog about at the moment...told ya it was a quickie!

Oh yes we NEED a little Christmas....

..Right this very minute!! So here is a little dose of Christmas for ya! This little project is part of the Pint-Sized Traditions club from Main St Cotton Shop! This is project #5 out of 14 total and I've been keeping up every month! Woohooo!!! That alone is an awesome thing! LOL

So Ho Ho Ho and enjoy your week!

Something Old and Something New...

As for the "something old"...I finally finished the Thimbleberries 2004 April club project! It's a pretty tablerunner that I've been meaning to quilt for forever!

I especially like the added trim by the binding...came out really nice and adds quite a bit to the runner! I'll have to remember that trick for another project!

And as for the "something new", I got my newest kit in the mail today! It's "Midnight Silhouette" and I got it from Homespun Hearth in today's mail! I'm a big fan of Halloween and even though I won't have it finished for this season, it's a pretty bundle to look at 'til I get around to putting it together!

Summer's Harvest

Labor Day's come and gone and now our container garden is nearing the end of it's season..just a few tomatoes and peppers left! For the small number of plants we have, we sure do get a great amount of produce! Bill was inspired by the great colors and shapes, so here's some of Summer's end for you all to enjoy!

Hungry now? LOL

A lil' bit of sewing...

I've been doing a little bit of sewing, and here's the results! I find I'm more in the mood lately to "git 'er done", which is a GOOD thing!

Here is my latest Thimbleberries Club project, Forest Bloom.

And here is my latest Pint-Sized Traditions II project, also a Thimbleberries pattern!

Fall is fast approaching and I want to get some more "Fall-ish" projects done!

Anyone else working on a Halloween or Fall-related item?

Shamed into bloggin'!

Yes folks, I was shamed into bloggin'! I won't be so crass as to tell you who (PEG) shamed me so badly (PEG) but I'm sure some of you can figure it out! LOL

So my dear as-yet-unnamed friend (PEG), this blog's for you!!

I'll give you all an update in a nutshell...we spent a week up in Caraquet, New Brunswick at the Chalets de la Plage de Bas Caraquet (fancy frenchy for beach houses LOL) Now why, you may ask, would we drive 12+ hours to vacation in a rather obscure part of Canada? Well both my grandparents on my father's side were originally from this town, alot of my distant relatives still live locally and I spent many a summer as a child playing in the COLD Canandian surf ;) (ok so not the WHOLE summer, just 2 weeks, but when you're 8 yrs old and all the TV broadcasts are in french , including cartoons, it FEELS like the whole summer! LOL) It was a very laidback vacation which included some visiting with relatives, quality family time, the July 1st Fete du Canada (Canada day), lazy beach days and LOTS of seafood!

Some dining al fresco...

and some great sunny days....

make for a

memorable

Canandian vacation!

Hope you are all enjoying your summer! There's only 6 weeks 'til Labor day, so let's enjoy the time we have!

A Memorial to a Great Little Friend

I have some very sad news to share with you all...we came home today from looking at furniture to find that our little companion, Powder the parakeet, aka Birdy Bird, had passed away =( He lived a good life for the 8 years we owned him and he will be sadly missed. The place doesn't feel the same without hearing him playing with his toys or just squeeking and chirping.

As far as parakeets go, this little guy was just full of personality and loved Bill to death! We got him as a baby, and he became an important member of our household. He went through 2 moves with us and this upcoming move in August would have been his 3rd. We noticed over the last few weeks that he seemed to be sleeping more, didn't want to play as much and was eating a bit less....just like an old man. We had mentally prepared ourselves for the inevitable, but it was still a bit of a shock and very sad.

So, our little blue friend, we will miss you very much and you'll always have a little birdy-shaped place in our hearts...

Panera and house-hunting and quilting, OH MY!

I think I listed those title items in order of priority lately! Contrary to popular belief, I did NOT fall off the face of the earth! I returned from our BPF quilt retreat in May, and it's been a whirlwind since then! So now it's time to catch up ;)


Tonight we went to dinner at Panera's..one of our favorite places to go for some eats and laptop time! As you can see, Bill gives it a big thumbs up!

We usually get the same thing...smokehouse turkey sandwiches and coffee...are you hungry yet? LOL















The other big development as of late is that we are actively house-hunting! This is happening almost a full year ahead of our "schedule", but we feel that the time is right to buy, so we're going for it! It's very stressful for both of us, but we're keeping our sanity..for now anyway ;)

Lately between work and house-hunting, I haven't had much time for quilting! I am going on a family vacation to Canada in a few weeks and will take some hand-work with me, so at least I'll have some quality time for that ;) And for my family of course!

Gosh, Summer is right around the corner! And where are YOU going for your summer vacation?

Hello, my name is Robin and I'm a Bag Addict!

I just love tote bags and carryalls and purses! I think I have just about every published pattern available for 'em all as well! LOL Well this past week I decided to put some of my favorite patterns to use and make some pet screen items! I think I'm addicted to pet screen bags now! LOL They are alot of fun to make, look great, and make great gifts ;)

I made 2 of these to hold embroidery BOMs.














And a few more in various sizes.













And this bag is HUGE! I made it for our upcoming quilt retreat to hold all my projects, but it would double as a great overnight bag too!







Now to get busy finishing up my other retreat items!

Times Remembered

I've completed all of the blocks for Pat's Sloan's Times Remembered Quilt and sewn them together to make the quilt center! Yayyyy!! This project has been going on since late last summer and was done as a block of the month project with the sloanies yahoo group. It was great fun, but ALOT of fusing and buttonholing! I just love how it's come out so far though! I have several borders and a few more things to fuse and buttonhole before the top is complete. I hope to have this one finished by the BPF retreat for show n tell!

Nikki in da house!!

And the fabs are fabuloso! This is Pat Sloan's new line "Nikki" and it is just SUPER yummy! This assortment of fabs is for Pat's new wallhanging pattern "Sunday Drive". I think I might have to take this project to the BPF retreat ;) That is if I can wait that long to cut into it!!! yum yum yum..don'tcha just love getting goodies in the mail?

Butterflies in the city!

Yesterday we took a bus trip into NYC to visit the Butterfly exhibit at the Museum of Natural History! It was a great trip and we got to see alot of really interesting stuff! I have lived out on Long Island for 10 years, but this was my first time to the museum, and we're definitely going back later this summer! The butterfly exhibit was very nice, although not as large as The Butterfly Place in Westford, MA, which is a permanent facility. If you're ever in Northeastern MA, check out the butterflies! It's a bit off the beaten path, but well worth the trip! And if you're in NYC before the end of May, go visit the Museum and the butterflies there!

The museum is also known for it's extensive dinosaur collection, which was a real treat to see!

The T-Rex has always been one of my favorite dinosaurs, but he wouldn't have been very good at quilting....his forearms are too small to handle rotary cutters and a ruler LOL

Happiness is.....

A new iron!! I paid a pretty penny for this purdy little gadget, but so far it's living up to it's reputation! I've got a project ready to fuse with it and I am a happy, happy camper!

I had to put my old iron out of it's misery after it did THIS! Yikes! It even had the nerve to scorch the corner of the charity quilt I was working on at the time! That reminds me..I need a new mini ironing board cover too! LOL

Tag! I'm it!

I was tagged by my most favorite Quilt Retreat Guru and Creative Maven Angela! I passed this award on to Pat Sloan, who is another of my favorite Creative Mavens ;)

Pinwheels on Parade!

Ok...so it's a very SMALL parade of pinwheels! LOL These little gems are swap blocks for one of my yahoo quilting groups, Sew Many Swaps. They are made with Kaffee Fassett fabrics and tone on tone contrasting fabs, and boy are they snazzy! I can't wait to get my return swap blocks!