Thanksgiving???

I have been reminded (you know who you are!) that I haven't posted since Halloween!  Time sure does fly by - I can't believe it's almost Christmas.  It sneaks up on me faster every year.  So to get ready for Christmas, we made lots of trees and snowman pendants.  I love this 1 1/4" tree and the  little pine cone charm.  I made a ton of these and have just two left - you can see them on my website...

A few other trees - these are both 1" x 1 1/2"...

But we didn't skip Thanksgiving!  We had more people here than we've had for a long time.  You all know Aunt Nancy  (haha - you should - I talk about her on here a lot!) - well she and Larry came for Thanksgiving!  I was so excited - they live in northern Minnesota and don't get here very often.  And...my niece Emma, who lives in Florida, was also here - pretty much just for the day - she flew in Wednesday afternoon and left on Friday.  I took 2 pictures on Thanksgiving - here are my beautiful nieces take a nap together after having waaaay too much food.  They also have one of my step-daughter's dogs napping with them.

And the other picture is a loaf of garlic cheesy bread that my husband made.  It's too good!

Daisy was being a friendly little kitty until the dogs got here.  Evidently she was not around dogs in her short life before she got here (she was only about 6 weeks old when she showed up on our doorstep) because she even hisses when she sees Boomer through the sliding door.  Anyway...enjoy her cuteness...

 One of the reasons that I haven't posted forever is because we have just been swamped with orders for the last couple of months.  We've sold loads of jewelry and hundreds of ruler boxes - which takes a lot of time to package and ship.  Daisy thinks it's fun to help in the shipping department...

 She sleeps in the funniest positions.  And see her mouse on the right side of her?  I found that mouse under the covers of our bed the other night.  About gave me a heart attack.  Then there is the sparkle ball...she and Callie both love sparkle balls.
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Callie and Daisy were getting along great - even snuggling up to sleep...

 But we took Daisy to be spayed this week, and Callie has been growling at her ever since!  I would have thought she would have gotten over it after a day, but she even woke us up in the middle of the night last night - Daisy was trying to snuggle up to her and she was growling, and finally got mad and left.  Geesh!  Get over it!

Ozzie still growls at her sometimes, but here they are sharing some breakfast.

My husband was not looking forward to setting up the Christmas tree, knowing that it would be interesting with a kitten in the house!  Here she is getting ready to pounce on it!

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 And here she is after it was set up!

I waited a few days to decorate it, and didn't put any of the glass ornaments on it.  She's been climbing it and knocking off the ornaments and carrying them around the house.  It's been interesting!  She loves to lay under the tree and take a nap - that's when she looks so sweet and innocent.

If you are in my Surprise program, you've already seen this - part of the last Surprise was a hand painted wooden ornament from Theodora Cleave in Australia.  With each ornament, came a stitchery pattern with instructions to make a little stocking.  Instead of the stocking, I just made mine into a round tree ornament.  It's obviously not perfectly round...I'm calling it primitive, but it was fun and quick to stitch and I think it's really cute.

You've probably all seen this quilt before - I designed it a few years ago - it's called Gathering Scraps.  It has been at Primitive Gatherings ever since I made it, and I made a smaller version to hang in my booth when I vend at shows.  I'm happy to say that Gathering Scraps is back home with me now!  Out of all of the quilts that I've designed, this one was my favorite to make.  

And now I will end on a little more cuteness.  Here is Daisy being adorable - she's in a drawer under the sink in the bathroom!  PEEK!

She likes to sleep on my pillow - annoying, but adorable...

 And this is her new favorite place to lay in my sewing room.  I'm making lots of bee pendants for Deb Strain (she designed the bee fabric) and Daisy is helping.

Yesterday we had our annual cookie bake, and guess what?  I didn't take one single picture!  It was really fun though - kind of a small group this year - my mom was here - she's been really sick for almost 2 weeks, so I was really happy that she was able to come.  My SIL couldn't come because her mom was in the hospital, but Johnna was here, and also my step-son's GF.  She's the best - lots of fun to be around and she has 3 fun kids too!  Unfortunately the kids couldn't come, so it was just kind of quiet.  But we made a lot of stuff and had a good day.

So now you are all caught up!  I hope you all have a Merry Christmas!!

Happy Halloween - from Punky & Daisy!

You know I love it when my customers share pictures of projects they make using my patterns.  Well, look at this little cutie - just in time for Halloween!

Maryann M. sent me this picture of Poor Lil' Punky - isn't he cute?!  I love all of her fabrics, but really wish I had some of that piece that's in between his eyes.  Fun!

We had a little pumpkin carving party last weekend - you can see that some of us (not really us, I didn't make one because I can't be trusted with sharp objects!) put in a little more effort than others!

 Hubby carved the flag - I really like it...

It was a fun night!

And...we have a new member of our fur family!  A couple of weeks ago, my husband came home and said he thought he saw a kitten outside under the truck.  He went back out to look and said he couldn't find anything.  The next day he was busy making a bazillion ruler boxes in the shop, and kept hearing a meow.  He spotted the kitten, but couldn't get close to her.  He tried coaxing her with food - which is almost impossible with 2 dogs and numerous outside kitties!  It was cold and rainy, and I was feeling really bad for the kitten - but we couldn't get close to her.  I decided to leave the overhead garage door open a little bit, with some food in the garage, so maybe she would at least get out of the rain and have a bite to eat.  I made up a little bed too, just in case!  I checked first thing the next morning, and someone had definitely been eating the food, but not using the bed - but no kitten in sight.  I checked a little bit later and saw her run under the van!  I quickly shut the door...CAPTURED!  She was scared, and hiding, but I was persistent and eventually coaxed her out.  As soon as she crept out, she started purring and rubbing on me!  Poor little thing was cold, wet and scared! We fed her and decided to give her a bath.  At this point, I'm not sure what we really thought we were going to do with her, but hubby put a little litter box in the garage and I named her Daisy!  So back to bath time.  She was fighting it at first, but then calmed down.  DH turned her over (belly up) and held her under the water to rinse her and we discovered she was covered in fleas.  DISGUSTING!  The water must have felt good to her, because she just kind of went limp and let him hold her belly under the running water - trying to wash out as many fleas as possible.  We got her all dried off and back to the garage ASAP - didn't want to share those nasty little things with Ozzie and Callie.  The next day hubby went to the vet and got some flea/ear mite/wormer medicine for her.  Within 2 days all fleas were dead (thank the good Lord!).  We decided to give her a couple more days, then we would give her another bath.  So on Friday (less than a week after we found her), she got her second bath and she's been in the house ever since!  Not sure why - we really didn't have much discussion about it - it just seemed like it was meant to be!  So here are some of the pictures I have taken (there are a million more, but I'll save some for later - lol)

Here she is when she was still a garage kitty!

 You can see that she quickly turned into a sewing room kitty! (See her cute ear fluff?)

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 She likes sleeping here - it's so nice and toasty!

 Interesting place to sit!

 Nothing like getting into your food...literally!

Seriously....look how cute!

Awwww...she often sleeps with her tongue out!

 Ozzie and Callie hated her when she first came in.  They both growled and hissed at her constantly.  After a day or two, we could tell that Callie really wanted to play with her, but didn't make a move just yet.  But, she loves to swish her tail at Daisy - very nonchalant, like she's not really playing with THAT KITTEN.  I have pictures of CC doing this with Callie when she was a kitten!

 Definitely progress!

Ozzie still growls at her, and doesn't play with her, but he is tolerating her a little better - as in - he doesn't growl as loud or as often!

Gotta go - Daisy is here, trying to walk on the keyboard - maybe she has ideas for her own blog post?

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Patriotic Pineapple - from wall hanging to HUGE!

I LOVE hearing from my customers!  Yesterday I received an email from Jenny Waller, saying that she had purchased my Patriotic Pineapples pattern at the Springfield, MO show last September.  She made a few blocks, then a few more...then 945 blocks!!!!!!!  Which equals 34,965 pieces!!!!!  HOLY PINEAPPLES!!!!  Jenny's quilt measures 108" x 140", and she did this in just 5 months.  And just in case you're trying to do the math...these blocks are 4" finished.   

So let's back up...my little Patriotic Pineapple quilt finishes at 32" x 40".  Sad, now that you know about Jenny's monster quilt!  When I designed this quilt, I really wanted to make it BIG - I thought it would be so striking and cool, but there is just never enough time.  I wanted to have the pattern ready for an upcoming show, so I had to be realistic and just make a wall hanging size.  I am soooooo happy that Jenny made a huge one!

And now be ready to be awed!  Look how beautiful!

Jenny entered her monster quilt at a show put on by the Hill 'n Hollow Quilt Guild in Mountain Home, Arkansas.  The judge, who is a member of the National Association of Certified Quilt Judges chose Jenny for a much deserved merit award. 

And are you ready?  Here is the whole thing with Jenny - look how huge it is!  I LOVE IT!!!

I hope to see this beauty (the quilt and Jenny - lol) in person at the Springfield, MO show next year. 

So....if you are inspired to make this, or some other size of this...you can find the pattern on my website.  And no matter the size - I want to see it! 

A little trip down memory lane

The very first magazine that my quilt jewelry ever appeared in was American Patchwork & Quilting - and that was in the December, 2010 issue (I have a box of them, if you need one - lol!).  I was so excited to be published in their magazine and we had tons of orders because of it.  We had just (and I mean JUST) gotten our website up and running before the magazine came out, so I know that basically all of the orders in the first 3 months were because of this.  It was such perfect timing - it was available at the beginning of October - just in time for Christmas shopping! I was still working at a full-time job, as HR Manager, and let me tell you - it all kept me hopping!  My mom was still doing the glass work for me.  I would work at that pesky job all day, then piece little tiny quilts for jewelry in the evening and on the weekends.  I would mail them to Mom on Monday (we live about an hour apart), and she would finish them for me.  Then a lot of times, on my lunch hour, Mom and I would meet halfway, often she would bring us a little lunch, and we would sit in her van and eat our lunch, chat and look at the finished product.  Then back to work I went. It all kept us very busy and I feel like AP&Q really helped me get a good start with my online business, and I am so thankful for that.  

Since then, my jewelry, pin cushion patterns, scissor hives and most recently our little ruler boxes have been published in 9 more magazines!  Crazy!!  I am so humbled and thankful every time I receive a request from one of them.  Here is a list of the different magazines we've been in - American Patchwork & Quilting, Fons & Porter (a couple of times), Simple Quilts & Sewing, McCall's Quilting, Quilts & More, Quilter's Newsletter, Quiltmaker, and McCall's Quick Quilts.  I'm not sharing any of this to brag, by any means, I'm just sharing it because it's exciting to me, and amazing as well!  Who knew that my little business would grow like this.  I sure hoped it would, and I took a HUGE leap of faith when I quit that job "in town" and started doing what I love full-time.  I am so thankful and grateful every single day! So...thanks to all of my customers for helping me live the dream! 

Ok, I didn't start this post with the intention of taking that little trip down memory lane (even though it was fun for me), I really just wanted to share that our little ruler boxes are in the December 2017 issue of American Patchwork & Quilting, and here are the pictures from the magazine (used with Meredith Corp. permission)

And if you want to get a copy for yourself (as always, there are lots of great projects in here!) - this is the front cover.

Funny that this is exactly 7 years after the first publication with them, and again...it's the perfect time to get started on your Christmas shopping, and we are happy to help!  You can see our little ruler boxes and much more on my website - so go take a look and get started on your shopping!

So much catching up to do!

Do you ever feel like you just never quite catch up on everything?  Boy, I sure do!  We have been busy, busy, busy!  I've made tons of pumpkin pendants - these are 1" x 1 1/2" with bling.  Cute, huh?

 My "Surprise" program filled up in just a few days - thank you to everyone who signed up.  The first shipment has gone out.  Here they are, all wrapped up and ready to go.

 This just kind of looks like a big mess - but here are the piles of goodies waiting to be packaged.  Aren't these little chick pin cushions adorable?  I just love them. 

 Thread, rulers, chalk markers and magnets...oh my!

This is such a quick project, and perfect for this time of year.  I was digging around in my totes that I keep all of my show stuff, in and found a few of these kits.  I posted them on Instagram and quickly sold more than I had!  So, I made up a few more!  They are available on my website.  I even have the Valdani perle cotton that you need for the wool part.  

If you completed the entire Minnesota shop hop, you received one of these flag pendants!  I forgot to take a picture of them until I had already packaged up a lot of them - there were 100 total. 

This is a block of the month called Simply Vintage.  I'm doing it through Sew Graceful Quilting.  I'm trying so hard to keep up on this, but it's not working!  Luckily they are pretty simple blocks.  My dad has been in and out of the hospital lately, and even though it's not much fun for him, it has given me some extra stitching time!  I've spent a few days just hanging out with him, stitching away.  I've tried to tell him that I could teach him to stitch and he could help me out a little with all of these projects I have, but so far, he's not convinced.

And now to update you on what the kitties have been up to.  This one of Ozzie makes me laugh - he never lays on the ironing board and I'm not sure what possessed him to do it, unless he just thought that fabric needed some extra fur on it!

Callie spends a lot of time on the ironing board - she likes to sit and look out the window (and put little nose prints all over the glass!).  She must have also decided this block needed some fur!

This happens several times a day...it means he is ready for a snack!  And of course, I can't tell that cute face no!

More sharing of the fur!  I was trying to choose orange wool for some pumpkins I was making.  It seems that Callie approved of the wool, but was not so happy about me taking her picture!

And this is how Callie looks a good share of the time - mouth open ready to attack!  She's such a little monster.  This picture totally cracks me up.  MEOW!

I have lots of other news, and will try to post again soon! 

Have a great weekend!