HeLP-iversary winner!!!

Today's the day we announce the winner of our 6th anniversary of the HeLP for Hexie-aholics give away!!

Not quite "red sky in the morning - sailor take warning"
but it was pretty close with 100% humidity and hazy skies.

Luckily I cross the creek twice on my early morning walks
and the temp drops about 10 degrees at the creek.

Ok - so I'm not smart enough on this overly muggy Monday to figure out how to copy the random.com number generator to this post but I told random.com that I had 6 entries and it gave me #5 as the winner. That would be Paul Burega who blogs at A Dad who dyes fabric and quilts.

And what has Paul won the crowd eagerly asks??!! 

Paul has won a hexagon composition book (so affordable at Wally World that I bought all 8 of them), a hexie FQ (sadly one of only 2 hexie fabrics I saw at 3 different quilt stores on Friday) and a zipper candy bag made from his favorite candy.

Paul I sent you an email so if you'll respond with your address and your favorite candy I'll make the bag and get these goodies sent off to you. 

Congrats to Paul and thanks to everyone who joined in the fun!! It's hard to believe I have been doing HeLP for 6 years, let alone stitching hexies for 7.5 years!

HeLP for Hexie-aholics & Feline Friday - 8/17/18

It's two of my favorite days wrapped into one!! Hexie Linky Party and Feline Friday!!

Bonus - can you believe that HeLP is 6 years old today?? Yipp! It was started on 8/17/12!! In that vein I will send a little gift to a drawing winner. I just realized the linky-versary as I am typing this so I don't have the prize well thought out yet but I'll update the post with a picture next week.

RULES: Anyone that links is in the drawing. Since it's HeLP and Feline Friday, you can link once for hexies and again for felines, for 2 chances. Links must go to a specific post and not your blog in general. Posts must contain English Paper Piecing and or your cats. Links not following the rules will be removed from the linky party. Thanks for playing along!!!

Most of the previous week was spent finishing my Owls in the Mountains quilt:

Break Time!!!

I did receive some assistance.

The quilt has been mostly quilted and bound for a year but the dense curves meant I needed to add more quilting to the rose stars.

I used "rulers" to add circles. I didn't take a final closeup pic but I also did a couple circles around the owl in the centers.

Great napping spot, Momma!

Finally done!

I have yet to figure out how they choose which quilts to hang open or folded at the fair. My owls must be napping as the quilt is hung sideways. It's hard to see in the picture but I did get a blue ribbon on this and my other 2 quilt entries. One of which is the red/white in the bottom left.

An InLinkz Link-up

Design Wall Monday - 8/27/12

Certain people - and you know who you are - will be disappointed to learn that I did not win the lotto this weekend. Phooey!

I had a nice trip up to the mountains this weekend. It was short and sweet with perfect weather and time with the family. Friday was spent on the beach, Saturday shopping with Mom and canoing with Dad on Sunday with lots of biking and playing with the boys sprinkled in between. The food was great because my SIL loves to COOK when camping but nary a smore was seen. We did make quasi-fried-dough in the pie iron which was spectacular. I even bought a cookbook that is all kinds of meals made entirely with pie irons of different shapes/purposes. I just might spend my trip next summer with just a pie iron. LOL.

Needless to say I did very little sewing this weekend. In fact I only finished one rose star, bringing my total to 5 now.

It is, however, a good thing that I do not join in Judy's weekly Stash Report because I went totally overboard at the quiltstore in Inlet this weekend. They are retiring in October and everything is 25% off. Denise and I are splitting the batiks but I also found some nice panels and coordinating fabrics that I can work into some nice quilts. There were also FQs and an awesome poison green. Whew. I haven't even used the fabric I bought there in July and I'll be back again in September. I need to search out some projects I can make for the upcoming Christmas Bazaars...

Don't forget that this week is your last chance to join in my THREE giveaways. There haven't been an overwhelming number of entries yet so you have pretty good chances...

Check out Feline Friday where I will be giving away some adorable cat fabric.
Check out Hexie Linky Party as there are actually 2 prize packages. One will be given for the person who helps me pick a name for the monthly party but another package will be given in celebration of it being my 500th post!!! Both packages will have fabric and hexie supplies generously donated by Paperpieces.com and Creekside Fabric and I'll be adding in some other goodies too. I mean what's a prize without chocolate?! Good Luck!

Hexie Linky Party - 8/17/12

Today’s post is twofold – not only is it our first monthly hexie linky party but it’s also taken a very, very long time to get to today, post #500. My first post was 1/6/2007 and I managed to post a whole 14 times that year. After a long hiatus I started blogging again in September, 2009. Eventually I got myself into a weekday routine of sharing my quilts and life in WNY with my cats. And now you guys are stuck with me :)

I know a lot of you have followed my recent obsession with hexies and by that I mean anything English Paper Piecing. I always have at least one project with me at all times just in case I have idle hands and I have many more projects ruminating around in my brain at any given time. I have photos of tile floors to copy and photos of other people’s projects to inspire me. It really is an all consuming obsession these days. I don’t know how many paper shapes or sizes I have, I gave up trying to count because it’s cheaper easier that way. I am still working out an organization method for the pieces and would love any ideas…

I realized Wednesday, at the prodding of Denise, that I had been a little cruel this week. Do forgive me as it was not my intent. Denise asked when I would be sharing how my quilt did at the fair and the whole time I had been holding out for today’s linky party. I’m very happy to tell you that I received a blue ribbon!!! WootWoot!!

There will be at least 2 sets of giveaways for today but the prizes aren’t completely fleshed out yet. As I said in my Feline Friday post earlier, Sandy from Creekside has generously donated fabric for my giveaways today. I even have hexie related gifts that were generously donated by Paper Pieces. You knew that was one of my favorite places to shop, right?! Every quilter also needs tea and chocolate and I have no idea what else will pop up in my travels before the winners are chosen. I'll share more about the prizes and sponsors when the prizes are finalized. I do hope you’ll join me in the fun even tho I can’t share the prizes yet.

It’s easy to enter in today’s contests, just leave me one comment for each of the following items you have completed and I’ll pick winners on Friday, August 31.

1. Link up your hexie project to today’s hexie party
2. Leave a comment with an idea for naming our monthly linky party. Some of you did that before but please post the idea again so it’s all in one post. At least one prize will be going to the person who’s idea I like best. I have an idea for a logo but I am open to ideas for that too. I want this to be as much your party as mine...
3. Post on your blog about today’s giveaways.
4. Be a follower and or figure out how to prove you follow me on Google Reader

All right, ladies and gents – now it’s your turn to share a post on your current or favorite hexie project of any shape or size. I don’t care if it’s a UFO, a finished project, an antique, a dream project or something you are currently obsessing over, just share a link to the specific post and not your blog in general. The party will be open for one week and we will party every month on the 17th. It’s my birth date!

Feline Friday - 8/17/12

Today is a big day at sarah did it!

This is post #499, our weekly Feline Friday. However, since today is also the 17th, later today will also be our first monthly Hexie linky party!!! Yes - that means post #500 will also be today!!! And there are prizes!!!! Wootwoot.

Since it's a big hexie day here I thought I would share some photos of my hexie quality control officers. Some are repeats and some are new...

This is a typical pose for Midgie - she loves to rub her head on just about anything but she also loves to be on any quilt that's on the floor.

All three cats were close by when I was stitching sections together and pulling out papers.

Somehow Squeaks and Pepper both took turns holding down the hexie quilt while I was quilting. As I recall, Pepper stayed longer and didn't mind me swinging him around as I rearranged the quilt - I just never got his picture because I was having fun swinging him...

So there are my felines for the day - now it's your turn. Any feline related post is eligible but any link to your blog as a whole will be deleated. Let me know if you need help linking to just a post...I am working on a tutorial but not sure if it will be finished this weekend or not. The party is open until midnight next Thursday.

Remember I said there were prizes? Well FF has a prize today too!! When one of my LQS, Creekside Fabrics, in Arcade, NY, found out that I was hosting a giveaway for my 500th post, Sandy immediately offered me anything I wanted from the store for a giveaway! I was floored! Anyways, I havn't gotten the fabric from Sandy yet but I did request an adorable cat panel. As soon as I get the fabrics and make sure it's the same panel I already have...I'll post a picture and tell you more about Creekside.

But wait, I guess you want to know how to win??!! Well, let me count the ways! For every step that you complete, leave a seperate comment and I will use a random generator to pick a winner on August 31. Good Luck!

1. Leave me a comment about today's post
2. Link up to this week's Feline Friday Linky Party
3. Be a Follower and or figure out how to prove you follow me in Google Reader
4. Post on your own blog about today's give away

Pressing Issues...

This here is my messy ironing board and you can see that it will be getting a work out soon. Last Friday (you know, no chores day) had to be slightly interrupted for fair prep but I felt the need to work on a machine piecing project and decided to work on my Orca Bay mystery quilt. I did not feel the need to create the remaining blue string blocks that are holding up the whole project but I did think I could start to assemble the quilt top with the blue blocks I already had. I divided the quilt top into quarters and completed one section (shown hanging on the design wall in yesterdays post). I then pieced as many more pairs as I could using all the pieces I have on hand. I continued sewing early Saturday morning but the ironing still needs doing. Maybe this friday will be the day to iron and continue assembly.

You can see a short stack of blue/white 16 patches - my current leader ender project.
You can also see I have attached the last 2 pieces of a rose star shown yesterday.



Sorry folks - I reloaded this pic 3 times and tried everything else in between that normally works.
Please tilt your head to the right for a more realistic view.

Yesterday I was able to cut out the pieces for another star. I think I have told y'all that this is a fussy cutting project and these particular pieces were cut with the templates I just received from paperpieces.com. I LOVE them and the cutting process was so quick and easy thanks to the clear templates. I think the only way to make them better would be a dead center dot and maybe lines marking quarters to line up a fussy cut design.

Make sure you come back on Friday - Not only is it our weekly Feline Friday Linky Party but it will also be the first monthly Hexie Linky Party. It will also be my 500th post and there will be prizes involved!!! Cya then!!!

Design Wall Monday - 8/13/12

Is this the sign of too many projects or too many ideas or not enough time?
I know which one(s) I would pick    :^)

There won't be much to post this week as it's our county fair and I spend most of my time there.

Do come back later this week for some exciting times tho: of course we have Feline Friday but it will also be the 17th of the month which starts our new monthly hexie linky party so get your projects ready to share.

It will also be my 500th post so stay tuned for prize announcements!!!