I still can't believe that I'm going to spend 4 days immersed in all things quilting at the 2014 MQX East, now also known as the New England Quilt Festival. 

It was really, really hard to decide which classes to take. There are so many great options and fantastic instructors but in the end I had to pick because I certainly couldn't be in 2 (or even 3) places at once.

My class list looks like this:

Wednesday

8am-12pm E220 Intro to Free Motion with Barbara Persing

                        1:30pm-3:30pm E 264 Creating Alternate Quilting Spaces with DeLoa Jones

4pm-6pm E276 Composition and Design with Judy Woodworth

Thursday

8am-12pm E308 Add, Alter, Delete and Change with Sue Patten

3pm-5pm E366 It's More Than Just Edge to Edge with Kim Brunner

6:30pm-9pm E390 Quilter's Forum & Facebook Friends Night with Cathy Wiggins

Friday

8:30am-10:30am E422 Fantasy Feathers-Not Your Traditional Feathers with Kim Stotsenberg

11:30am-1:30pm E450 Just Leaf It: Freehand Leaves for Blocks and Borders with Kim Stotsenberg

Saturday

8:30am-10:30am E520 Heavy Metal Quilting with Kim Stotsenberg

I really wanted to take Lisa Calle's Getting in the Grove class on Friday afternoon but it is currently full. I've put my name on the waiting list so hopefully a spot will open up for me. I think I've got a good mix of different classes that will give me an all around great place to start.

I'll be staying at the Hilton Garden Inn instead at the show hotel, the Radisson, since I waited to long to book my room. Lesson learned for next year. I'm already working on a list of vendors/products that I want to check out and have some savings already to spend on the goodies.

If you see me at the show and/or are in any of my classes, please come up and say Hi! I love meeting online friends in person and finally getting to put a real face with a name.  If you are planning on attending the show yourself and haven't yet registered for your classes, you'd better hurry up. The best ones are filling up fast.

I hope that I see you there! 

The fabulous duo of Padsworth and Dragondrop along with their mom Snoodles, all of Lily Pad Quilting fame, is hosting the desperately needed and much appreciated Cabin Fever Linky Party. Considering all that this winter has been so far for many of us, this is a great idea, if only to get us dreaming more and more of the warm sands and tropical breezes their above picture evokes thoughts of.

My winter so far has been anything but productive on the sewing front but at least winning this great pattern and charm pack of Kona in Sunset from Carol of Just Let Me Quilt certainly raised my spirits.

I've gotten nothing actually completed this month. Between being so very sick a few weeks back, then working to get caught up during last week while the kids were on winter break, being out of town for the weekend and then having a good friend end up in the hospital with surgery Monday and me helping her since, there hasn't been any time at all for sewing. I had hoped to get one of these Valentine's Day table runners quilted but it does look like that is going to get accomplished.

A little Whoo Hoo is possible since I was able to piece together the top for this runner (sorry I didn't take any pictures of it yet) but I did that the day before I got sick and it has sat waiting to be finished ever since. It only needs to be quilted and it will be done so hopefully it won't sit in the UFO pile for long.
And I guess I can give myself a pat on the back for accomplishing another small goal....replacing my nasty ironing board cover. This is what it used to look like. Yuck!
And this is what it looks like now. The plan was to make a really colorful one with fabrics from my stash but two conditions existed that made me choose this premade one instead. 1) My iron does leak at times causing stains, mostly my own fault for not emptying it after each use and letting it dry out as the instructions state to do and 2) I had to return a gift from my Mom to a store I don't typically shop at, had a gift card to use up and there wasn't anything else there of interest. So funky Black and Pink ironing board cover it is.
I am at least happy about finishing the top for my Sew Creative ladies wall hanging but will likely wait until my longarm Penelope is up and running to get it quilted and bound.
There is a bit of a bright spot to mention and I know so many of my readers have been waiting anxiously for this news. The Kate Spain Charm Swap Round 2 will open for sign ups on Friday.
Based on the comments during and after Round 1, this is going to fill up F.A.S.T. so if you want in on the fun, don't wait. I can't wait to again see all the pretty Kate Spain fabrics all together and to start planning what to make with mine. Check back Friday morning for all the details.

There is no doubt that everyone is wishing for Spring and after all the snow poundings we have gotten, we sure could use it, but unfortunately I'm feeling that Ole Man Winter isn't done with us yet.

As tempting as it might be to keep this info to myself so that I could win, that really isn't my style so I'm helping to spread the news.

Head on over to Keepsake Quilting and enter their Fabric for Life Sweepstakes.

The Grand Prize is really fabric for life, 52 yards of fabric each and every year for 20 years. Wow! I'd need a bigger house to store all that fabric, but that wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.

2nd and 3rd place prizes aren't shabby either. the 2nd place winner will receive a 1 year supply of fabric and the 3rd place winner will receive a 1 year membership to Quilters Club of America.

Here's the best part. You can enter every single day for more chances to win. You have until Midnight Eastern time Friday, February 28th to enter so head on over and get your name in the running.

I know that between now and Friday the 28th I'm going to be submitting my name. Maybe I'll be ultra lucky and will have a real need for a big fabric storage space.

Good luck!

This past week was just miserable for me. Why? Because I got SICK, really sick, sicker than I had been in 20 years. The flu, a sinus infection, bronchitis and a kidney infection all at the same time attacked me. UGGG! It was not pretty. Thankfully hubby stepped up to the plate and really was a gem taking care of the kids and the house while I was down for the count.

It all began last weekend, which started innocently enough. On Saturday I took Sunshine to an ice skating birthday party and she not only did good for her 1st time on skates, she did really well and about 1/2 way through the session, she didn't want me holding her hand any longer. You go girl!

Now she keeps asking when we can go back and skate more. On Friday I had finished up piecing the top of my Sew Creative wall hanging. This isn't the layout that I originally envisioned but I like it so much better.  My original plan entailed just cutting the 3 rows apart, adding a couple of rows of coordinates between and be done lickety split. Since this is for me, I didn't feel the need for tons of piecing, wanted to keep it simple and for the ladies to be the focus.

 But here is where the snag came into my plan. See that intersection of blocks there? I hadn't realized before that they aren't printed all lined up nicely. There were a couple of these askew intersections so this called for a rethink and a new game plan.

 So I cut them all apart, arranged them in different ways a few times and here is what I ended up with.

 I've been debating whether or not to add another thin Red border to each side only, not the top or bottom, and have gotten 3 different opinions from my sister and a couple of friends so at this point I haven't decided but I'm leaning towards leaving it as is. The binding will be the same Red with the Black swirl. When I cut the blocks themselves apart, they weren't square either but I think the Red sashing I used and the layout disguises that problem pretty well.

I'm not sure how I want to quilt it up yet so I'll keep it hanging on the door until inspiration strikes.

After the ice skating party on Saturday, I was able to start and almost finish the table runner made from the kit I bought during the NJ Shop Hop almost 2 years ago.

It took longer to decide on the layout for the pieces than it took to actually sew this together. All that is left to do is to fuse on the included batting, add some quilting and it will be done. I'll have pictures to share then.

I'm really enjoying the feeling I'm getting finishing these smaller projects and I'll likely choose to make 1 or 2 more before I go back and tackle another big one. I need to finish my mom's quilt, it just needs the borders added, but since I can't quilt her yet because of the issues with Penelope, there isn't a rush to get that done.

The kids are out of school next week for Winter break so in between that and trying to get caught up at work after being home all this week, I should be plenty busy. Hopefully I'll be able to squeak in some sewing time too.

Oh and to top it all off, not only are we totally buried in snow, but on Friday my 4 1/2 month old Keurig brewer decided to die on me so no coffee for this Momma until the replacement arrives. Not good, not good at all.

Despite being under the weather for about 1/2 of January, I was still able to get something accomplished. Not as much as I had hoped, of course, but something is always better than nothing.

I think it is great that Barbara of Cat Patches fame gives us complete permission and encouragement to start new projects each month with her 2014 NewFO Challenge, whether or not we actually finish them. Now I won't feel guilty for finally starting some of the projects that have been lingering on my "To make" list for far too long.

I've taken the pledge and committed myself to participate this year in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

I want it ALL and I'm not going to share any of it with you.

Neener, neener, neener.

A little birdie has told me that the yardage of Kate Spain's newest line Daydream is shipping to stores very soon.
 And do you know what that means?

When it arrives, it will be time to open up the Kate Spain Charm Swap Round 2 sign ups.

Even before the Round 1 swap was complete I was bombarded with emails from people that want in for Round 2 so the spots are definitely going to fill fast this time. Once I make the official announcement, you'd better sign up quickly or you'll likely miss out.

The excitement is building and I can't wait to see these gorgeous new fabrics in person. Again there will be a discount for those that are participating in the swap. If I were you, which I'm not of course...just trying to prepare you....I'd scour the internet to see which fabrics from all of her lines that I love the most and can get my hands on and be ready when the bell sounds to post the pictures of my chosen fabrics on the swap Flickr group.
 And make sure you check first the list of fabrics that were used for Round 1. We wouldn't want any duplicates, now would we.