Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping..............WOOHOO!

Is everybody ready for Thanksgiving?  What a hectic time, right?  Along with the turkey and all the trimmings, most of us have at least a couple of extra days off from our regular work routine. So what do we do with that extra time?  Hopefully, get some Christmas projects finished or at least started.  And if you haven't started your Christmas shopping, this weekend is a perfect time to start.  Or if you're very "on top" of things, great weekend to seek those hard to find, special people gifts.  Did you know that Etsy is promoting Black Friday and Cyber Monday with tons of great deals for your holiday shopping?

What is Black Friday and Cyber Monday?  What is Cyber Monday?


Cyber Monday is the Monday after Thanksgiving. Traditionally (or at least how the media markets it), Black Friday, the Friday after Thanksgiving, is the time for big brick and mortar retailers to offer their huge deals on their wares. And Cyber Monday is the time for Internet retailers to do the same.
 
So what is Etsy, you might well ask?  Etsy is a great "all-in-one" shopping place.  Like going to a huge mall, only you don't have to walk for miles to find that one special item and wrangle all the crowds.  On this very special weekend, Etsians are promoting some great deals. So if you're looking for anything (and I do mean anything) handmade, retro or vintage, head over to Etsy this weekend and find sales and free shipping of all kinds.
 
Last but not least, a final plug for my etsy shop, I've giving FREE SHIPPING on all finished quilts and as always, LOW EVERYDAY prices on all pdf patterns.
 
http://www.madcreekdesigns.etsy.com/

Sorry it's been so long..................

You my remmber I've talked about Geta's Quilting Studio and Geta's beautiful shadow trapunto work in earlier posts.
Well, she has something new to share with you...........monthly give aways and tutorials.
Check out this month's give away----fabric and triangle sets for making  beautiful kaleidascope blocks.

Run but don't trip over yourself and get in on Geta's generous give aways. And while you're there, see all she's been up to.  What a productive quilter this gal is.   Click on Geta's Monthly Give Away button.   

http://cadouri-din-inima.blogspot.com/

Basting, basting and more basting...........

My least favorite quilty thing to do. But I'm excited to finally have one of these railfences ready for quilting.

Pillows for Paradise Quilt

Here are two pillows that will go along with the Lost in Paradise quilt. I saw the thong pillow at a local fabric shop and knew it was perfect. And just stumbled upon the "beach girl" fabric so that was a "gotta have that" piece.

The recipient of the quilt will be very surprised and I think thrilled with her pillows.



And today I finished a new tote bag. Been busy planting spring flowers and this seemed to be "a necessary thing". Can't have to many totes. I did a little paperpiecing for the flowers.


And last but certainly not least, my Mother's Day gift from my favorite son. Ok, my only son. He's a Prince!

What I've been doing............

Well, my fingers are sore and my knees have given up completely. But my two least favorite things to do are behind me, marking a quilt design and basting a quilt sandwich. I gave up trying to sew/baste. My poor knees just wouldn't take it so I safety pin basted after stretching and pinning the sandwich to my carpteting. And this is a king sized quilt so I did a lot of crawling that day.

Marking, I ended up using two different marking products on "Wish You Were Here" quilt. Yep, I gave it a name. Anyway, I used Pounce on the darker fabrics and a quilting pencil on the lighter fabrics so that worked out well. I am trying Pounce for the first time. I love it. It does just what it sez it will do. Hard to believe a little powder will stay even with a lot of handling. The pencil I use is called Ultimate Marking Pencil For Quilters and Crafters. Kind of pricey and I've had it a long time so I don't remember where I purchased this but it gives a very fine line so I love that. My Pounced lines are thick but that's the fault of the stencil I used. I'll remember that next time, not that it's much of a problem.



And I love my PVC quilting frame. Maybe one of my favorite quilty tools ever.






And when my fingers just can't take anymore for awhile, I've been working on this little cutey for Easter. I have a bit more detail to embroider before she's finished. Crying out for her nose, isn't she? But I'm having fun with that big ricrac. I want to get some of the newer really jumbo jumbo ricrac that's out now to play with on a kids quilt one of these days. Have you seen it? It's huge ricrac. Here's my Easter bunny eating a slice of watermelon.