Barn Blog Hop AND A Giveaway

I am part of the Blog Hop for Julie Sefton's book Build A Barn.  And today is my day!  Actually, this is my WEEK!

If you build a real barn you do need a pattern of sorts, but you on these you just need an idea. Or a photo.  A photo helps a lot.

When I first came upon Julie she was working on her own barn quilt.  Before the book, before the idea, before the quilt show ribbons, it was just Julie working on her barns.  I was enthralled with the barns she was making and I began following her.  Every once in a while, I would ask if she was going to write  a book or do patterns.  She would always say, no.


I am so glad she finally changed her mind!

When she started writing the process work for the book, she asked several of her quilt friends (by then I had bugged her enough to be noticed!) to come together as the Secret Society of Barn Builders, affectionately called SSOBB.   And we had to keep it all a secret.  Ohhhhh.  Hard.

She would write and send us the notes  We made barns and proofed the notes.

Eventually, we all had barns.  And for some odd reason, I had two.  I thought we were supposed to do a barn for each of the process sessions she was sending.  Obviously I was mistaken because I was the ONLY one who ended up with TWO barns!

Duh!

Julie walks you through step by step, which I am woefully inadequate at doing on my own.  But it did make it easier to build my barns in the long run.

It also helps to have a picture or sketch.  Most of the SSOBBs had great photos of barns.  We don't have many great barns here in the south, especially in the city.  So I just worked from my mind and what I thought a barn should be.

My barn grew starting from doors, to roofs, to fields of green.





Here I was testing the roof line.



Barns definitely need those windmills and a pond to water the cows who live inside.

This is the final product.  Julie's amazing quilter Chris quilted the 13 little barns for us.

Our barns are now traveling to AQS quilt shows across the US right now. 


Did I mention there was a giveaway?

If you leave a comment talking about a barn you have a picture of, either in your mind or your photos, I will give you one entry to the winner's circle and one of Julie's autographed books.

  I will announce the winner on on Friday.

AND.........

If you stop in again this week and see the second barn I made, I will give you a SECOND entry!

And I have one more post for the Blog Hop this week where i will talk about other ways you can use the book.  Like my Cajun Camps.  You can get ANOTHER chance!

It is improvisation, you know!

Oh, and I expect all my friends to enter, I am watching you!!!!!

Giveaway!!!!!!

In preparation for the tile going in and the ultimate cleaning out of all floors in 2 major huge rooms, I am finding a ton of non-essential stuff.

So I will have some giveaways of this stuff that I really like but really don't need.

This is a nice wallet set that was part of a group of things going to my sister in law but she decided she was too busy to come to Christmas this year.  It has a key fob, a wallet, a photo album, a planner, a removable make up pouch, lipstick case with a mirror and two built in cosmetic sections 

Real looking fake alligator!  LOL.

I thought it was cool.  Look at all the stuff.  I can't remember what I paid for it though.

All you have to do is to leave me a message on this post and late Sunday I will draw a name using a random number generator.  The message should tell me what you are working on right now.

NO OUT OF THE US PLEASE!  I can't afford the postage sometimes!

How's that?  Maybe I should do two items and reward two lucky people.  OK.  Here is the second item.  This was also going to the same sister in law because she loves pigs, she had that Pot Bellied Pig that died in the hurricane.  I decided not to give this to her because of that horrible situation.

But I love  salt and pepper shakers like this.  They are so cute.  If you have chickens or pigs or chickens AND pigs this will grace your table nicely!

Again, no out of the US country posts.  And I will pick two lucky people.

If you don't do a post to win these things, I will be forced to send this cute pig and chicken to the Purple Cow where it will be put on a shelf and displayed for just anyone to come around and pick it up!  I want to know they will go to a good home.

glen

Sweatshirts For You

I have 6 large forest green, 1 3X green that tend to a bit of blue to make it a more Kelly Green, and a medium in a rust .  The maroon-ey red is an XL so I think it is a child's size since it is more like the medium.

Who wants them for making sweatshirt jackets with?  I will send them to you if you pay the shipping.

All are Fruit of the Loom sweatshirts and have a nice body.  The maroon red one is an XL kid size most likely, since it is small.  Never been washed, just stuck under my desk taking up space.

Interested?  If you are local, I can hand them to you for free!

glen:  oh, you have to take them all!!!!!!!

Commenter and Commentee

1872 Comments So Far

And 856 posts.  I am thinking about a winner.........I am not sure if it will be someone who comments on the 1000th post pulled by random number.

OR

The person who posts the 2000th comment.

Maybe both!  LOL.  I have some patterns that have been hanging around my quilt room for a long long time, and a couple of books.  Maybe one of them will go to a random1000th post commenter or the 2000th commenter.

I guess I would be the Commentee and you the Commenter.  So Commenters, be alert for the post where you could become enriched with a pattern or a book!

Speaking of comments, Lynn Roddy Brown set up a blog!  She googled her name, as many of the quilt people do I know, and found my post on her class!  She emailed me!  LOL.

I feel like I talked to Elvis.....almost!

glen

A Giveaway!

I have another Giveaway!  It makes me feel like I am actually de-cluttering when I give stuff away.  But I think deep in my brain I realize this is not really solving my problem.  I would need to fill about 5 large shipping boxes to make any difference.  But that is not the point.  And you have to trust me for pictures.  My camera is dead because I left it plugged in to the computer last night.

To win something leave me a comment and please tell me what you do to keep your sewing room clean.  I really need that advice.  Then of course, the random number generator will pick for distribution.  There is always lagniappe in the boxes.  So you definitely come out ahead just by commenting on my blog. 

So.....WAKE UP OUT THERE!  LOL


I have a pattern from Calico Carriage called Post and Beam.  It is interesting and takes fat quarters for the center.   The whole quilt is 60 x 60.  I won this in the auction probably last year rather than this year.  Maybe even two years ago.

I have a pattern called "A Charming Farmhouse Kitchen Scene for Machine or Hand Applique in an 18" Hoop".  Oh wait, tht is the description.  It is called Morning Coffee.  It is cute and I really like it, but I will never do applique.

Then there is the Mystikal Mardi Gras King Cake table runner pattern from The Quilt Cottage in New Orleans.  This is a valuable commodity because The Quilt Cottage is no longer around.  It is 21 x 52 inches.

Then I have a grouping of 11 patterns I have collected from books, stores and shows.  They were all free and two were from books checked out from the library.  Bad Me!  I really can't toss them!  They are so cute, all of them.  Daisy Crazy quilt, Butterfly Garden Party, Indonesian Floral Star, Debbie Mumm's Seasons, Robin Pandolpf's Tickled Pink, Joanne Porter's Spring Flowers, Quilt For The Cure and Bonnie Benn Stratton's Thanks Be to Auntie Lue, A Star Gazing Santa, some paper pieced hearts, Falling Leaves Quilt and Flying Flags Quilt.  Is that more than 11.  I might split these up and  make them go with some of the others so more than one would go to a couple of people.

I also have a Quilter's 100 Block Coffee Mug.

I am sure I can dig up some more stuff as well.



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Giveaway - Low mileage, only driven to guild meetings on Thursdays!

I want to have a giveaway.  Can you tell I am cleaning up my room?  Don't ask. But lets see if you are awake.  I will choose somewhere around Thanksgiving.  How's that?

Well, this giveaway will be for one book.  It is a book I really like, but will never use.  And I won this book in a guild lotto that I didn't even think I entered.  Hmmmmm...........

Anyway.  The book is called More Quick Country Quilting by Debbie Mumm.  I really like Debbie Mumm but she does a lot of applique in this one and I am not an applique kinda person.

She has some really cool kids quilts and some great and fabulous Christmas applique and an entire Ark. 

So if you would like to have it, or know someone it would be perfect for, leave me a message saying something wonderful and exciting ... (ohh, maybe some quilt gossip) ....and I will randomly choose a number using the random number chooser thingy.  Some people make you do all kinds of things and I usually give up before I get it all done....so consequently I never win anything.  In fact I was really surprised to win this book .....  but then I still don't think I dropped my ticket into that bucket.

Hmmmmm..........

The book is in excellent condition, looks like it was never used -- Low mileage, only driven to guild meetings on Thursdays! 

No overseas since this is a hardback book and quite heavy at 256 pages!

glen

Giving stuff away - Really......

The 48th verse of the Tao talks about how we accumulate things.  Not only physical things but the weight of relationships and the experiences of the past.  I have collected my share of these things over the times of my life.  And they have both helped and hurt me. 

The verse says:  "Learning consists of daily accumulating.  The practice of Tao consists of daily diminishing; decreasing and decreasing........True mastery can be gained by letting things go their own way.  It cannot be gained by interfering."

Giveaway

Society tells us that if we have more stuff we are more important, richer, better.  But that is not always true.  I have known people who have very little compared to me, and they are good people. 

My grandfather was one of them.  He lived to 88 years and I don't think he bought a single thing new.  But he could work magic with things that needed fixing.  And even better than that, he would find a junk heap car, grab a teenage boy hitchhiking along side the road somewhere and teach him to fix up that car.  One such down on his luck 16 year old runaway rebel teen went on to become the State Vet of Arkansas after he gained entrance to LSU's first Vet School Class.  So my grandfather made a difference in this world from virtually nothing.

I find it difficult to shed some of those accumulated things.  In my mind there are accumulated thoughts, in my house accumulated stuff.  Some of those thoughts have been useful, like learning and knowing friends.  But some of those thoughts need decreasing.  It helps me to sleep at night if I can turn my mind off and let it drift into nothingness.  I wish I could let my waistline drift into nothingness!   

The Tao says if we decrease and decrease and decrease daily until nothing is left, mastery can be gained by letting things go their own way.  I go to the quilt shop and look at all the new stuff.  I want it all.  But most times I make myself happy to just touch the fabrics.  There are times when I need to own that fabric or that book.  It makes me happy to own it.  I have not come to a place yet where the "need to own" stuff has diminished all that far.   But as I get older the things I need to own are very different from those when I was younger.  Or heck, even last week!

Right now I need to decrease some stuff.  I walk into my quilt room and see a lot of stuff piled up.  I think I really need all that stuff but in reality I don't.  I have to admit to myself I will never make all the patterns I have collected.   And I have a few that I accumulated in the last auction that I know I will never do.  They are very easy quilt patterns that I know you will enjoy.  Diminish, even if it is a little bit, it is still diminishing, right?



giveaway





giveaway

 So to reward you for reading all this way down through the 48th Verse of the Tao Te Ching I have some things to give away.  I am going to put some things in a picture in some posts and you can leave a message on the day of the stuff you want.  I will not think badly of you if you want it all!  I totally understand. 

Today these are what I have to diminish from me to you!

Just leave me a message on this post and I will use a random number generator and you will get both patterns.  I guess I can't really give DiNozzo away, but I may one of these days so keep your eyes peeled for his auction.

The Watercolor Pinwheels - they do have sizes for queen and twin in there as well.  The quilt is designed to be used with a 5 yard pack that is frequently sold at the big shows.  So if you want a nice easy quilt and have one of those 5 yard packs leftover from a previous show - win this and DIMINISH!

The Alice Anne is a Me and My Sister Design.  I can see this being changed by using solid pieces in place of the strips making the blocks if you want an even faster quilt.  But if you have some jelly rolls of which to divest yourself this is the perfect way to do it.  This quilt can be made using 30 fat quarters as well. 

I say -- Go For It!  But diminish something in return!

glen

several fun things

You just have to look at this quilt.  I wish I had the patience this girl has.  She does incredible work.  AND has kids to look after.

http://greenfairyquilts.blogspot.com/2011/03/dear-jane.html

Then I received the boxes of fabric from Texas.  My friend Pat, who most of you know at Stitchn on the HGTV quilt sites, died about 2 - 3 months ago.  Quite unexpectedly.  We were members of a virtual group called Quilting Sisters and we are in about 5 states.  There are 9, well, 8 of us now.

One of our Quilting Sisters lives near Pat and with her sons' permission went in and boxed up the majority of her fabrics.  I will use mine for a number of charity quilts for The Giving Quilt next year since their show is next week. 

Currently I am washing and re-washing the fabric to get the smoke out of it.  Pat was a heavy smoker and had emphysema real bad.  It is probably what killed her as she was in and out of hospitals for breathing treatments all the time. 

After the first load went though a full wash and still came out smoky, I did a rinse with a cup of vinegar.  Then it came out smelling like vinegar so it is in the washer going thropugh a full wash again.

These will be the cleanest fabrics ever because I am sure the Quilting Sister who boxed all this up washed it all before sending it to us.

Whatever the outcome, it will be nice a fresh when all is said and done.  I miss Pat very much.  She was a former FBI agent in the days when women were not these things.  And she raised 4 sons by herself.  And they all loved their momma! 

There is no greater tribute than that!

And for those of you who have hung in this long - I have a give away for you.

Two copies of the Quilter's Newseltter Magazine.  But not just any QNM.  These are 1983 and 1984 issues.  So cool  You can see the beginning of the "modern" quilting movement in the pages.  They are in great condition.  With full patterns and color photos. 

Just leave me a post here and I will generate a winner through the random number picker.

I also noticed my poor ironing board cover.  You can see a part of the huge hole in the magazine photos.  Here is the actual hole.  I need to SELL something and buy a new one, really.