A quick catch up!

 Not much new going on here..been plugging away on jewelry...

 Finished up the final charm in Charming 1 (those centers are teeny, tiny little pumpkins - NOT tomatoes, Cindy P!)...

 Was visited by the Granddoggers...

Helped out by Callie...

Ozzie keeps busy hiding from Callie and cat-napping...

That sums up my life - what's going on with you??

Have a great day! (We are currently having a nice, soft, much needed rain here in Iowa!).

Road Trip!

Many of you probably have already seen the blogs of Missie (Hallbrook Designs), Kathy (Kindred Quilts). and Carolyn (Lee Prairie Designs) - so you know about our super fun road trip on Saturday.  Well, as usual...I did not take pictures (told Kathy I would be "borrowing" some of hers!) - so please go check out their posts to see some inspiring pictures of the shops we visited.

We met at The Woolen Needle, in Williamsburg, IA.  I hadn't been there for quite awhile and was pleasantly surprised by the changes they have made there - they opened up one of the back rooms so the shop is bigger now, and they also moved things around and it just seems a lot more open and lighter than it used to.  It's such a great shop - they have SO MUCH WOOL!  Of course, a big pile came home with me.  I forgot to take a picture (shocking, I know) of my wool purchases, but I re-organized my stash closet and got my wool all stacked nice and neat (it was just all piled together before) - so I will show you a picture of that. The first one is a basket of smaller pieces - aren't they pretty?

Here are the 2 stacks of wool, with the basket on top.  My wool stash is growing!

 This is a box full of recycled wool - some of those in the back are the ones I played with on Kool-Aid dye day.

Not only did I shop hop with friends on Saturday, I also ordered some wool online last week from The Old Tattered Flag - aren't these nice?  And the patriotic ones came in that nice patriotic basket.

 Here are the cotton fabrics that found their way home with me on Saturday...

 Gotta love those reds...and stripes - I am on a stripe-kick for sure.  You can't really tell from this picture, but I already hit the light/red stripe with Instant Antique and it looks awesome.

 And some blacks (and more stripes!).  When I make jewelry using the log cabin design, I love putting in a stripe or two - I just think it adds a lot of interest.  And some blacks with a little color (and what could be better than red?) also spruces them up.

Some log cabin pieces to prove my point...

See those little stripes, checks and interesting prints?  I think they really add to it.

Sorry...got side tracked - back to Saturday. We left Williamsburg and stopped in Kalona - visited 2 shops there and had a little bit of lunch. While in Kalona, we were visited by another blogger friend of mine...Kim of KimmyKats - I LOVE her jewelry - so check out her blog and her Etsy shop too!  We had already had snacks, because Carolyn baked cookies and brought them along for the trip!  Then we were off to Inspirations, in Hills, IA.  I know you have heard me talk about this shop - I just love it there.  She has the best fabrics, and is the nicest person.  It's always fun to visit!  I'm so happy for her - she is now one of Quilt Sampler's Top 10 shops - she really deserves that honor.  After we were finished shopping, Nancy let us use her huge classroom upstairs to chat and have a little show and tell.  I took my Summertime quilt top and this little guy...

Lisa gave me this little kit at spring market last year and I never got around to putting it together.  Well, after some taunting from Janet O, I decided (on the 4th of July) that I needed to work on a little patriotic quilt!  It probably won't get quilted for awhile, but it's hanging on my design wall so I can see it.

There was lots of good show and tell, but my favorite things is Kathy's Moravian star (pic stolen from Carolyn!)

I watched (on her blog) as she made this and was just amazed, and asked her to bring it.  All I can say is WOWZA!!  It is so, so cool.  I really want one...tried to steal this one...but she had her eye on me!  I'm hoping that she decides to teach a class on it, because I will be the first to sign up.  It is just amazing!  

And, even though we were not supposed to do gifts...look what Kathy gave each of us (she said we made that rule too late!)...

Love this little table topper and it's my favorite colors - just perfect!  She also gave us a spool of Aurifil thread and a General's marking pencil - again...just perfect - I will definitely put all of these things to good use.

We really did have a great day - it all went too fast - can't wait until we can get together again!

Don't forget to go back to the top of this post and follow the links to the other blogs - there are pictures of some of the shops - major eye candy!!

Have a great day!

Make it Dirty!

I'm talking about your fabric (for all of you who went somewhere else.)!  I am working on jewelry today and for some reason, none of my fabric is quite the shade I need, so out came the trusty Instant Antique.  I LOVE THIS STUFF!!!!

If you haven't ever used it, you should give it a try - you can get it from Primitive Gatherings website.

Yep...my fabrics are all perfect now.  My fingers are brown (must have gotten a little carried away!), but it is worth every little stain.  The cats better look out - they could get antiqued if they get in the way!

Have a great day!