I tried to get this post written yesterday but that just didn't happen. Our computer went all berserk and then refused to reboot. This happened around Christmas time too. I told hubby it is TIME to get it replaced before it crashes for good and this momma loses important stuff.

Anyway there has been a bit of this and that going on in my studio. I got my Yellow blocks done for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

I cut up a bunch of Green and Blue scraps to use as a leader/ender project. I'm loving the fact that I have a 2nd quilt in process while I work on my main project.

Recent days has also seen me cut up this pile of squares. What might they be for you wonder?

They are going to get turned into another 100 Good Wishes Quilt, for the daughter of another friend. I'll also be putting together the scrapbook with the wishes.

Here are all 144 pieces ready to go. I decided that I didn't like the original pattern that I was going to use for this so I had to come up with an alternate plan. Stay tuned to see.

I've also been playing with these beauties. It is Kate Spain's newest line Horizon, which is coming out in September. The colors are just gorgeous.

A few days back, while skimming through block books for ideas for future event, I had a lighting bolt moment and quickly sat at our desk and drafted it out on graph paper (Yes I still need to learn how to use my EQ but at least it is loaded into the computer now). I made some test blocks and I'm really glad that I did. It helped me see where I need to change up the pattern to make it easier. Unfortunately this is a secret project so I can't show you more than a tiny peek of what's to come. It is really exciting too.

Lastly I need to announce the winner of this American Made Brand market tote.

Mr. Random chose the number that correlates to my friend Sharon's comment.

Congratulations Sharon! I already have your address so I will be sending off your info to Clothworks and I'm sure your market tote will be arriving in a few days. I know that Sharon is working on a project for the Farm to Fabric Challenge  (there is still time to enter yourself) and I can't wait to see what she is designing.

Have a great day all! I'm hoping this afternoon will be a productive one in my studio.

For me, participating in the American Made Brand Blog Tour was a blast. It really got my creative designer juices flowing and has pushed me onto designing more.

You could become a designer too. You could have your quilt displayed at the International Quilt Market and Festival in Houston this fall! You could become insanely famous!!!!!!

Ok so maybe not that last part. But you never know where one quilt design will lead you. All you have to do is to enter American Made Brand's Farm to Fabric Challenge.

You design a quilt made exclusively with Clothwork's American Made Brand fabrics and submit your idea by August 15th. Notifications will go out by September 5th as to which quilts are accepted and they are due in Houston by October 1st.

If you've ever wanted to have one of your quilts, something that you designed and then made reality with fabric, in a prestigious show now is your chance. Submit your entry today! All the details can be found here.

American Made Brand wants to spread the word about this fabulous challenge far and wide and I'm more than happy to help and just for doing so, they are sponsoring another giveaway for one of my readers. To the winner they will send this great American Made Brand market tote, sans veggies unfortunately.

It is 13' x 15” and is perfect for visiting farmer’s markets or toting a sewing project. The logo is printed on both sides and, of course, the bag is also made in the US of A. : )

To get your chance to win, I'd like for you to help spread the word about this Farm to Fabric Challenge too.

For each shout out on your own blog, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and any other social media site that I can't think of at this early hour, you will get one entry. Plus anyone who is submitting a quilt design to the challenge gets a bonus entry. In (1) comment each, just tell me all of the entry possibilities you are doing.

The giveaway will close at Midnight, Monday July 28th and the winner will be announced on Tuesday. Let's light up the interweb about this fabulous opportunity. If you've ever had big designing dreams, this could be your moment.

Hurry up will ya! Today is your last chance to enter the Classic Metal Company giveaway.
You can win your choice of a 24" x 24" barn quilt in the color of your choice.
Plus you also get to pick one of the ruler holders in your block and color choice.

Entries close at Midnight so don't wait. Click on over to the giveaway post to put your name in the hat for this awesome prize package.

In addition there are still a few more days to enter for your chance to win one of these gorgeous quilts over on my friend Sarah's blog Confessions of a Fabric Addict.
She is helping her daughter and hubby raise money to help with the adoption expenses of her soon to be grandson Nathanael. You can read all about their story here. I have been so happy to have been a part of this story when Sarah asked me to write about 100 Good Wishes Quilts as a guest poster and I'm waiting anxiously along with them for that little boy to come home to his forever family.

The raffle for these quilts, and one more if she reaches the next goal, ends at 5pm on Thursday, July 24th so please donate if you can. Every little bit helps. Adoption is so very expensive but knowing that just one more child will grow up in a loving family of his very own instead of at an orphanage makes it so worth it. Click on over to Sarah's blog to find the donation  link.

I'm giving myself a Whoop, Whoop today! I've got 4 things to be happy about.

1. Because on Sunday someone is going to learn that she is the winner of my Classic Metal Company giveaway. There are still 2 days to enter. The giveaway closes at Midnight on Saturday.

Not only will she will her choice of a 24" x 24" barn quilt in the color of her choice...

...but she will also win her choice of a ruler holder, again in her choice of pattern and color.

That seems pretty fabulous to me. 

2. Because we are all caught up on The Primary Bee blocks.

This Giveaway is now closed!

Hubs is always appreciative when I give him gift ideas of things I really want. He doesn't like to shop and it makes his life so much easier. For Mother's Day this year I requested something very specific and even sent him the link to the item and posted a copy of the page from the magazine right next to the computer monitor so he'd get it right. I wasn't taking any chances!

And what did I ask for you ask?

I requested this fabulous 2 foot Mariner's Compass Barn Quilt block from Classic Metal Company to adorn our house. I love it, I love it, I love it!!!

It hangs perfectly between the 2 office windows and now there is no doubt at which house in our neighborhood the quilter lives.
But hubby surprised me that day and not only did I receive the Mariner's Compass Barn Quilt but I also received this 2 foot Americana Star Barn Quilt.
Hubs hung this one between the garage windows (we have a side load garage) but now that it has been up for a number of weeks I'm thinking that it isn't big enough for the space and it needs to be replaced with a bigger one, either the 3 foot or 4 foot size. I'd move this one to hang between the library/playroom windows on the other side of our front door. For the replacement block, I'm strongly considering the Ohio Star or the LeMoyne Star block. My birthday is coming up in a few months ya know.
I chose to request these specific Barn Quilts from Classic Metal Company because of Mark's fabulous reputation and the terrific quality of his products. I love, love, love these barn quilts. I know, I said that already. But it is true! They are all made from heavy-weight steel and are all powder coated for years and years of great looks. I've seen other similar products elsewhere before and they don't measure up to these by a long shot.

Not only are all of his Barn Quilts available in the standard 1 foot (12 " x 12") and 2 foot (24" x 24") sizes but he also makes them in custom 3 foot and 4 foot sizes. Plus each one is available in a number of color options: Satin Black, Navy Blue, Dark Red, Creamy White and Dark Green so there is an option to coordinate with every decor.

Because I truly believe in the Made in America movement as also evidenced in my recent participation in the American Made Brand Blog Tour, I am happy to tell you that Classic Metal Company's Barn Quilts and all the hardware available to hang them are also completely made in the good ole USA. 

So far there are 13 Barn Quilt blocks available as well as a Greeting Sign and 2 napkin holder designs (I've already told hubby that the Black Mariner's Compass one is also on my wish list for my birthday). Just look at the wonderful options he has for you to decorate your home with, inside and out.

In addition, Classic Metal Company has recently come out with (2) ruler holders which are equally fabulous. At this point in time they are available in either an American Country block or a Sister's Choice block, again in your choice of colors Red, Black or Green.
And if that isn't enough, Mark also makes Barn Quilt Minis in Brass or Copper just perfect for decorating your quilting themed Christmas tree during the holidays or displaying elsewhere all year round.

As usual, there are always giveaway entries from No Reply Bloggers so if you are in doubt, make sure to leave your email address. Those that don't aren't even entered into the drawing. Many people still don't realize that they are in fact NRBs but if you never, ever receive replies on comments you leave on other's blogs, than that is proof that you need to fix the problem. Not everyone replies to commenters but many of us do as much as possible.

Even if you don't win this time I hope that you too choose to decorate your house with one or more of these fabulous Barn Quilts. They truly are a work of art.

My normal routine has been anything but normal over the past 4 weeks. I feel that I've been rushing between things but thankfully now I get the chance to slow down, regroup and plan what is to come. The end of June and beginning of July saw me quickly making tote bags for the teachers end of year gifts
 and sew together most of the kids art quilt for Sunshine's school.
Plus there was Jammer's class picnic (I was a class mom this year) and Sunshine's Pre-K graduation.
Within days of then end of the school year, we headed out on vacation to Orlando.We had a terrific visit with one of Sunshine's China sisters who lives in the area.
 This year we only went to Legoland (which is fantastic BTW if you haven't been there yourself)
 Jammer loves being the master of the maps.
 And both kidlets were excited about the new Star Wars section of Miniland.
 This park is all about the kids 2-12 and we will definitely be going again in the future.
 We also spent a morning playing some mini golf. Hubs and I lurve mini golf (I don't play big people golf myself.)
 The kidlets did much better this time at actually playing but there was still a lot of golf-hockey going on too.
 After that we indulged Jammer's wish for go-carting. Here he got to drive one himself on a smaller track. We also did a lot of laps on the bigger track...one grown up with one child each and since both of us were driving it was impossible to take pictures of the action.
 We also fed the baby alligators while we were there.
 Sunshine needed a boost to be able to see over the fence and properly aim her fishing pole feeder at the critters.
 The only other part we visited was Sea World. We missed this park on our last trip to Florida and since our kids are animal fanatics this was of course a hit.
 They saw lots and lots of animals!
 And we of course roe a few rides. My feerless rollercoaster loving girl went on every one she was big enough for.
 But most of our trip was spent in the pool just swimming and more swimming.
 Sunshine made amazing progress and quickly gave up using her swim belt, was brave enough to even swim under water a bit and both of them jumped in canon ball style over and over and over and...you get the idea.
 Now that we are home and the normal routine has returned I'm back to working towards crossing items off my To Do list. On that list is:

Quilting and binding the Spellbound quilt for Sarah's Hands2Help Charity Quilt Challenge. My quilts are being sent to her for her group's October trip to help Hurricane Sandy survivors so I got a bit of a break on the deadline plus I had to wait for Penelope's upgrade to get done before I could load this on my frame.
 I also need to quilt and bind the EMS/Fire quilt. My boss decided not to hold the raffle during the industry trade show a few weeks ago so I got another reprieve on getting it finished. The forecast for that weekend wasn't pretty (our booth was outside) and so the expected turnout for the show wasn't as usual and there was no way we would have raised what we had hoped for at that event.
Instead he decided to promote it more amongst our customers and at a couple of upcoming industry trade shows and have the drawing at the last one.

In addition these are what are the other things on that To Do list:

1. Complete and mail the June Primary Bee blocks. I'm still waiting to hear what the July block will be.

2. Get caught up on the Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks. I need to make the May - Green, June - Yellow and July - Red blocks.

3. Finish piecing and then quilt and bind the kids art quilt for Sunshine's school. They were happy to have it hanging at the school for a few weeks for everyone to see the progress so far but now it is time to get it done and hung permanently in the school's lobby.
4. Paint my kitchen. I'm embarrassed to admit that now just over 3 years in this new house and we still have 3 rooms that haven't been painted. The kitchen paint color has been the hardest to decide on based on the 1st floor layout and the way the open concept rooms come together and after numerous sample testings, I've finally found the perfect one.

5. Paint the kids bathroom and the dining room - after the hubs finally gets the wainscoting up that is.

There are other things on my list but that is all I'm tackling in the coming weeks. Wish me luck in getting them all done.

Stunning Stitchin Sunday resumes this afternoon and you won't want to miss the giveaway that starts tomorrow. See you back here then for the fun announcement.