Victoria asks "Can You Help Cover A Naked Bed?"

Over at The Quilting Gallery there is a very special article and request by Victoria Findlay Wolfe, owner of Bumble Beans Inc. I am betting half of you have read this article already but for those of you who may not have read it, you will find within the article that Victoria through her efforts and the generosity of many quilters is attempting to fulfill a request through BASICS a non-profit organization helping those who are homeless.  I could go on about the article, but I believe you might like to read it all for yourselves.
I believe possibly some of us might have an extra top we could turn into a finished quilt very quickly and help Victoria meet the 700 quilt target.  I am working on completing one now, scrappy and warm, so, if you would like to join the many quilters who already donated 300 quilts, possibly we might just help Victoria get to that target number of 700.
I realize there are 1000's of fantastic causes out there which we all support with our quilts in one way or another, but, I cannot imagine what it would be like to be without shelter against the weather, especially now that winter is beginning to arrive, or what I would do without my home and warmth each night?
Being totally dependent on the kindness of others for food and shelter because of some horrible circumstances in your life that was totally not supposed to happen.  
Pat Sloan 

is helping Victoria help Basics reach that 700 quilt goal.  IF you can help, I know whomever your quilt covers will bless you time and again for your generosity. 

A Donated Quilt being presented

Take a look at the names of the Friends this is a page dedicated to the names of all the quilt donors from whom quilts have been received so far.  HOW very exciting to read the names on that list.  Will you add your name?
All right, I am off to choose as many scraps as I can gather tonight so that in the morning I will have a good start to my quilt I wish to donate to the BASICS cause.
I realize this post is a bit late today, but, I have been out shopping for staples and a special gift for myself, a new web cam!  My perfectly great Logitech web cam that I bought years ago and worked well XP on my older computer is no longer compatible with this new computer which runs Windows 7.  Now I can chat with my BESTEST friend while we are quilting, just like we did while I was there with her last month, YEEHA...
Now I can see how Microsoft is a wealthy corporation, every so often you have to upgrade the hardware to be compatible with the software and visa verse...
I promised to share links with you to discover some of those wonderful sites where you can find tutorials and instructions or patterns on how to make ANGELS for all sorts of uses.  Please tune in tomorrow and I will share some of these wonderful sources. 
Thank you so much for visiting again, please, leave a comment to enter into the Christmas Fabrics Giveaway, shown at the top right of my sidebar, this giveaway closes on November 12th, who knows I could be mailing these off to your mail box soon.  Look are these not pretty? 

4 Pieces of 9" x 44"

Crafting For Christmas

You should be here in the Bay, it is already 60 Farenheit (*15 Celcius) for those of you in Canada and Europe.  What a simply pleasant temperature!  I opened all of the windows in this house taking full advantage of these temperatures while we are blessed with them all of this fresh air is exhilarating.. ENJOYING it while it is still around is my motto.
THE advent of Christmas, one of the best holidays of the year isn't that far off and with this in mind I re-visited some of my favorite crafting Bloggers.  These ladies are some creative and make some of the easiest if not prettiest ornaments and wreaths I have seen.  In this post, I would love to share some with you, these crafters make it easy with their instructions and even tutorials, some of you might also be interested while you ponder how to decorate your home this Christmas, or even something to giveaway in the spirit of this holiday season.

I LOVE WREATHS and I found some ladies who teach you how to make some of these pretties, for instance, FANCYPANTS has a tutorial from Rondas' Blog and shared Rondas' Wreath with her readers, to make this pretty fabric wreath.  So easy and looks so very pretty, wouldn't you agree!  Who wouldn't love to hang this wreath on their front door.  Those of you with an Accuquilt Cutting System could make these petals so quick using that cutting system.

I have made these and they were one of my favorites.  Yesterday while surfing I found them again,  and thank you Jenna from Corgipants! 
It was just yesterday I discovered Jenna's tutorial posted on WhipUp. These were so pretty and I used them everywhere, sadly these  were lost in the major flooding we had in our house before moving here to Ontario some years ago.  Now I can make more, whooppee.  These even make lovely corsages, or place several in a glass cut bowl as a centerpiece. 

This little Origami paper wreath makes a wonderful hanging ornament, if your intrigued head on over to see the Tutorial from Domesticali.  Are these not just the cutest ornaments?

THESE are the cutest advent pockets I have ever seen!  Children just love the mystery prizes inside and these are recyclable so that year after year the memories created by using them again and again would add a new tradition to your Christmases.  You can find the instructions for these at ALLSORTS who also has a tutorial with pattern pieces for Elf Clogs so fun!  Just go here for the Clogs.

Aren't these cute?

In the blogging world there are 100's if not 1000's of bloggers who create and share their wonderful instructions unselfishly, as someone who isn't very creative, I applaud you and thank you for sharing.  

I am hoping you will join in on the CHRISTMAS FABRICS GIVEAWAY as it closes November 12th, 2011.  Just click on the sidebar picture and it will take you directly to the contest instructions.  

Thank you for taking time from your day to visit with me, come back again tomorrow, you never know what I might share with you then.  Have a perfectly wonderful day today, you deserve to enjoy it to its fullest.

A Pretty Day for Dreaming

Another very pretty day is shaping up and the temperatures are near 59F, I am not certain how long this wonderful weather trend will last but while it is here I am making the time to enjoy it!  

That huge mound of tree limbs and branches in the center of the small front garden has been loaded into a truck and carted off, now all we have to do is get rid of the remaining mounds and I might just have a neat property ready to accept the mounds of snow we manage to receive each winter. 

One Huge Pile Removed

Now that I am back inside with a fresh cup of coffee at the ready I took a look around my sewing area and all of my dreams for my kind of sewing room came rushing in.  You know those "some day" dreams?  I could not resist the urge to go web surfing to see if I could find a DO IT YOURSELF site which might just show me how to get that "someday, I will have" dreamy sewing studio with the pieces of furniture that fit my needs and size.  I found several and you might enjoy seeing what some other creative people have accomplished. 
I believe many of you quilters are like myself, on a strict budget when it comes to your sewing room furnishings.  Am I right?  Of course I am right, and like one of the bloggers said you need the extra money you save on these items to "buy gobs and gobs of fabrics".  Of course she is right I totally agree with her. 
Over the years since I began quilting the idea of having my own large enough sewing area has been a dream, but, like so many, I have had to make do with the space I had or the storage solutions my wallet could accommodate.
Many times I hear and have read of and by quilters who have been fortunate to find just that right table for her purpose, or, have been lucky to get that just right sewing area.  Cutting and sewing tables are really important to our health, have the wrong heights can be detrimental to our posture, our backs and muscled arms and shoulders.  Not only is the right furnishing helpful health wise, but so much more comfortable for those who spend hours and hours at their craft. 
Not only new and improved for my size cutting, ironing and sewing surfaces are desirable, but nifty and neat storage solutions have always been of great interest to me and in this vein I went looking for some inexpensive solutions.
I discovered a number of bloggers who addressed the "cheap" method of gaining these much desired items and some even took a great deal of time in showing how to acquire just that and I would like to share some of these links with you today.
Beginning with "How Joyful"  where she shows you her idea and had her father-in-law help her to create.  Pretty nice table for a small amount of cash outlay.
Then there is "Sukie" now this is quite different, but also a great way to acquire a sewing table.
On You Tube  Crazyshortcutquilts shows in 3 videos just how to make your sewing and ironing surface your way. Kind of neat, don't you think?  Of course my DIY enthusiasm hasn't reached this point yet, I want what I want, but at this time in my life I haven't the energy to go and get all of this stuff because I simply do not have any of it laying about this house.
Then I came across Susan Wrights' web article, while she was at New Mexico State University.  Susan actually drew renderings of this idea and actually provides measurements and comments, which I found very helpful.
A little further into my search I discovered Ana Whites' blog wherein she sets out the Craft Table Top for The Modular Collection.  Nice, this is the type of surface with storage that I think I would enjoy having in my sewing room.
The Piece de resistance is from "Diary Of A Renaissance Seamstress" who managed to sum up what I believe my sewing room should look like. 
All in all these ladies are creative and used their imaginations to achieve the end result they were seeking. 
WHAT do you want in your sewing room?  I would love to hear all about it and have you share it with us, all ideas on how to do it yourself are appreciated.
A huge Thank you to the various women set out in the links above for their wonderful ideas and ingenuous ideas and creativity.

Thank you for visiting today, and don't forget my Christmas Fabric Giveaway as set out in Saturday, November 5th post. 

These could be yours and still in time to use them this year.  
The first suggestion from a new follower says possibly use them in a Tree Skirt - great idea Mindy, thank you!
Thank you for stopping by today, make it one of your best,  because it is a special day seeing as we are all above ground and doing something!