Did I mention?

That I have another blog? That's right, it is called Betty Mountain Girl. I realize it may not be up your alley, but perhaps you know a lady who works in the next row that likes to hike, or bike, or kayak. Or maybe she just dreams about it. Anyway, send my blog along to those you think might like it. I plan to keep it up to date with my upcoming ladies biking trip in July and canoe camping trip in August as well as random bits and ramblings along the way.




Catch up on fun articles like:

How to pee outdoors like a lady
Camping Tips
And Outside Etiquette

Thrifted Fabrics

I have fallen way behind with quilting and sewing. I haven't finished a quilt in ages- yikes! This Thursday and Friday look like a bit of rain so hopefully I'll be doing some stitching then. I just can't stay inside when the weather is so nice.

I'm really smitten by this bug material. It would be great in something sort of pastel like or floral. Little bit of of fun kick.

Yeah for summer! I've really just been noticing how full all the green leaves look. Did you have a great weekend? I hope you didn't have to work and got to be outside a bit. My weekend list will be up soon....

Baubles

Did you know that I collect just about everything? Yeah, really it is sort of a sickness. My vintage bauble collection has been running over too. I've put some pieces up in the shop- check it out! P.S. I took all these photos with my macro add on lens. Seriously one of my most favorite purchases ever.

Quilting Progress

I mentioned on my twitter the other day that I found the perfect backing fabric for my Swiss Flag Quilt, well here it is...



I am a die hard thrifter, not just because it is pretty darned trendy, but also because I have trouble paying full price for anything that I know I can find for 25 cents. So, I've been building my stash again, since I had a pretty productive winter of quilting. Luckily I came across these navy blue stars fabric for $1. There is about 2 or 3 yards of it too.

I've also started a triangles full sized quilt for our bed. I've recently been finding myself bored of the basic white borders and sashing on all my quilts, so I am going with gray here. I've also been trying to break free of the classic log cabin block too.

Latest Quilting Favs

I thought I would start the week off with some quilting inspirations. I love all my flickr pals!





1. gees louise, 2. Half-Square Triangles, 3. 1limestrip, 4. Liberty Doll Bedding, 5. March, 6. Border 13, 7. brick_quilt, 8. SC3 | Bird Blocks, 9. day 99 of 100 : am i ready for hand-quilting?, 10. Denyse Schmidt quilt pattern, 11. virtual quilting bee: august, 12. Quilting Bee-- April, 13. Obama Quilt - back, 14. wip..., 15. quilting single girl, 16. finished flock of triangles

As you can see I am quite addicted to this talented lady's quilts.

This weekend I...

Did some thrifting
Found a used double boiler (whipped frostings here I come!)
investigated how to season a cast iron pan
Devoured a ton of coffee and peach ice cream (best combo ever!)
Washed the dog
Took a long walk in the woods
Added Weekend Sewing to my birthday list

Weekend Work

I've been steadily working on this little green beastie. I finally have the time to repaint it (I purchased it for $20 years ago).

While I used to have a fun little side business refinishing found furniture, I haven't whipped out my paintbrushes in ages. Lately, I've been very inspired by the fine furnishings of this fellow New Englander.



Turns out repainting things is very tough when you live in a two bedroom apartment. So I've been finagling and bending over in all sorts of awkward positions lately. When she is finished she will be bright aqua inside and a light gray blue on the outside. I plan to store all my crafty supplies inside in my side room.

To Do

Some things on my list still haven't been crossed off (particuarly the first few)...

wash dog
repaint green cabinet
finish hand tying the treehouse quilt
buy more batting
sew a dress
thrift
bike
hike
read

And the winners are...

Thanks all for entering into the Big Huge Giveaway! We had 72 lovely entries. The good news is that I did include international entries (should have mentioned that huh?). Any who, here are the winners:

Rachel--- Cornflower Blue Studio----winner of the HR Mendoncino Quilt
Julia----Sometimes I Sew-----winner of yellow and blue quilt
Amber---- One Shabby Chick---- winner of the pink cross scarf

I hope this got the ball of good luck rolling for everyone! I always feel like the more things I enter the more lucky I get. Here's to hoping for a wonderful, lucky weekend!

Spring

How was your weekend? We had a wonderful one despite the iffy weather. Went for a long mountain bike ride, dug in my mum's garden for mother's day, and thrifted a bit.



Things on my to-do list this week:

make these pickled grapes
repaint a giant cabinet for craft storage
wash the dog
plant basil and parsley seeds
bike
finish Swiss flag quilt
visit some Sallys
buy tomato plants
read some of the million books I've checked out of the library

All I can say is...

Every finger and toe is crossed for this...... Please check it out and help me win one of the coolest bikes ever!

Big Huge Giveaway

I've been doing some serious spring cleaning and decided- I just have way too many quilts. I need more space so that I can make more quilts!

So........... I am doing a big huge giveaway. All you have to do is enter by leaving a comment with your email and you could win one of my three below creations. Just a little disclaimer- I am not a tidy, perfect quilter. My bindings are pretty rough, some of my quilting puckers, etc. Just wanted to throw that out there. Enjoy and good luck!

these are the three items I am giving away:





or this scarf:

Domino Magazine

I've been a huge fan of Domino magazine for years. I've decided to let mine go (even my most favorite ones!) in order to raise some money for a ladies cycling trip in Maine that I plan on doing. So if you have ever felt wanted to grab a few, stop by my ebay store. I'm offering a discount on shipping- just pay full shipping for the first one and each additional is only $1 extra in shipping.

Here are some pics of my favorite spreads:

Red Swiss Flag Quilt

My latest work in progress, this little Swiss flag quilt. I have a great super easy tutorial for whipping out small cross blocks here and I also have a little Swiss flag garland tutorial here.



I have since stitched all the blocks together and am waiting for my favorite batting (Warm and White) to go on sale this next weekend.

Tree House Quilt Progress

This is the quilt that I have been hinting about being close to finished. I just need to hand tie and bind. You may remember that for my month in Common Threads Quilt Bee I asked for tree houses, and boy did everyone deliver. Some of the most clever blocks I have ever seen!



Anyway, the overall quilt design is a large tree with branches and the tree houses are on the branches. I choose to hand tie since there is some very lovely embroidery stitching in some blocks and I wanted that to stand out. Hopefully by the end of the week I will have her ready for a full display.

Twitter

I've been twittering. Follow me here.

Twitter Updates

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Spring Mix- Flickr Favs

Spring Hike

Last night we went for a quick hike with Misty, our German Short Haired Pointer mix. She is pretty good off leash generally. Lots of mountain bikers frequent these trails and she sometimes thinks that she has the right of way on narrow bridges.





Needless to say, she had to jump off at the last minute. She tried to hop right back up, but missed and ended up falling butt first into the swamp mud.



Still way better than staying home and watching television though.