I love winning things :)

Really I do love it. I mean, what isn't awesome about free stuff!? I managed to win some fabric from the August Fab Shop Hop. Fab Shop Hop is interesting because you get to visit a ton of different quilt stores online and look for a little bunny icon. If you collect so many you get entered in to different levels for prizes. I won 4 yards of fabric in various shades of white! These pictures are not the best at all since my camera doesn't like white on white, but you get the idea of what I won.
At least some of this fabric I think I'm going to use to finish my Christmas quilt using Kate Spain's Flurry fabric. I needed white fabric anyways and the one at least looks like it fits in good!

The second thing I won recently came from Quilt Dad's blog. He had a contest as part of the Modern Mix blog tour. Quilt dad had a contest and I won a fat quarter bundle of Kingdom, designed by Jessica Levitt (who also wrote Modern Mix.) And it was super easy to win because all I had to do was pick out a lie from a little game of 2 Truths and a Lie! How freaking easy is that!? I just picked a random statement and after Quilt Dad did his little magical pick of the correct answers I was a winner :) This fabric is so me! I love the purples, blues and greens! I still have no idea what I want to make with it. I'm so bad at picking out patterns for things. I have a ton of lines of fabric that I want to get, but no clue what I would make with any of it. Although, I really do like this pattern It's called Carnival and was designed by Julie Herman of Jaybird Quilts. I like that one but I think I need to find a book that has patterns for FQ bundles. Just so I can get some more ideas of what I could make with it!

I am super thankful that I won these things :) I mean, AC doesn't pay anything really so it's hard for me to get any fabric to make projects with. (Like the fabric for the Christmas presents I'm making may have come from the super reduced clearance section at Jo-Anns... but they're still designs I know people will like!) So being broke doesn't match well with the cost of fabric these days. So anything I can get for free helps - so thanks Fab Shop Hop and Quilt Dad! :)

Christmas presents! Shhh!!

I bought some fun fabric for making Christmas presents this year! Will post the directions and pictures of what I'm making when I actually finish one :)

It's a good thing I'm not a professional blogger

Really it is. I cannot keep up with blogging to save my life despite the fact that I always think it's so cool and I have a million things I think about to write about.

Can I say that I really cannot believe that it's November already. I hear people say things like that all the time but I thought about it this week and I don't know where the last couple months have gone. I feel like it should still be September. Maybe it's the new AmeriCorps position keeping me super busy all the time or Dave's life keeping me super busy all the time but I really cannot believe it's Turkey Day next Thursday. Speaking of Dave - poor kid has to get his wisdom teeth out on Monday. I don't think he's going to have a fun Turkey Day :/

I guess things with my AC position are going ok. I know some medical things a little better now and I managed to pass the medical terminology class they made me take (not hard when you could basically do the test open note.) We had a big Open House/holiday party this week. Not happy that I had to be there for nearly 12 hours straight but I got to talk to a few awesome people. One of which was Janet who I guess used to run our program. I wish she still ran it! She's probably one of a few people that I've talked to since starting AC that actually understands where I'm coming from with my faith and bringing that into play for why I want to help people and work in nonprofits and stuff. It was really cool to talk to her and refreshing to find someone who understood me.

Kelly is coming home for a few days next week and I'm super excited! I hate not getting to see family a lot but it's good that she's finally got a full time job in Indy. I'm also excited that she's bringing her cat Max home! I'm not really a cat person but Max is a snuggly awesome ball of fur :)

Oh hey little blog....

I am really a bad blogger... So much has happened since I last posted!

I now live in Pittsburgh again! Yay for moving home after 6 years in Ohio! I have a new AmeriCorps position here. The non-profit takes donated (and still useful) medical supplies from local hospitals to send to Latin America and the Caribbean. I get to work with volunteers to pack the supplies to get shipped out. This AC year I thought would be better than the last, but I'm still frustrated with how things are going. I swear I can't catch a break :(

Dave is in the middle of a big application process for a new job. And it's a real job - no more of this part time BS with Walmart. It's an awesome opportunity and has great benefits. I would get into more details but with the nature of the job I'm not sure how much I can say about it. I just don't want him to get in any trouble. The only thing that sucks is he will probably get moved out of Pittsburgh :( So we'll be back to a long distance relationship again. :(

As for my crafty aspirations - I haven't really accomplished anything since I last posted. My sewing machine has been broken since August and I just got it back Friday from getting fixed. Apparently they don't make a part anymore that it needs so it's questionable if I can wind bobbins on it. But it does sew things. I made Dave a Penn State pillow case as a much-belated going back to school present. Thankfully he didn't think it was too cheesy because he wants a matching one made now :) I still need to finish quilting and binding my Africa quilt. My machine is not made for quilting so it's a pain to do and I'm just avoiding it anymore... But I got my Flurry pieces all laid out for my disappearing 9 patch Christmas lap quilt. I just have to start sewing them this week since I have my machine again!

I blame my mom

No, this is not one of those "Arg my mom is evil and ruining my life!" posts. No, it's more my mom is an awesome crafty person and has got me completely hooked on another one of her passions....quilting.

I always thought quilting was kind of cool because you got to make something that you could use everyday (like a quilt) or hang something pretty in your house (like the Bargello quilt she made for my Grandma that I have LOVED since the mid-90s.) I always thought it was cool that other people could do it. And then I started quilting too. I am by no means a good quilter. I'm a beginner. But I am still TOTALLY hooked on it.

That quilt show in June that we went to, I think that was my tipping point. I tried to be good and only buy fabric for what I was currently working on (the Africa quilt) or my next project (the penguin applique quilt.) I was careful with what I bought but I kept getting these awesome ideas for things I wanted to work on (most importantly a Christmas quilt!)

And then I went to camp the other week and the theme was Rethink Christmas. Basically, getting to the true meaning of Christmas when you don't have all the materialism going on. I had taken a sewing class as one of my craft classes and I kept thinking how awesome it would be if I just had a Christmas quilt that I could work on.

I looked through some of mom's old quilt books and I've been looking online for a Christmas pattern that I liked and I haven't found a lot that really struck me. I wanted either a quilt I could make or a cool tree skirt design that I could make. Then Friday I found this at Half Price Books:
It has quilt patterns, table runners, stockings, wall hangings and a tree skirt! Runs the gamut from secular to religious too :)

And then last night... It first started off with me becoming slightly obsessed with Kate Spain and Moda. I LOVE this fabric!
And then I noticed that Fab Shop Hop bunny.... I visited more freaking fabric/quilting/sewing websites last night than I ever have. I have so many ideas for things I want to do now and fabric I want to buy!

I called my mom today and told her about this. She laughed for a good solid minute at me. She is thrilled that her daughters are following in her footsteps. But finds it hilarious how much time I spent online looking at fabric last night. (No more 2am nights for me....) She happened to be on her way to the quilt store in Finleyville and promised to buy me 2 of the Flurry charm packs so I could make this disappearing 9 patch quilt!
The instructions are here from the Moda Bake Shop. And you can thank Rachel at p.s. I quilt for it's awesomeness. I can't wait to get home to get the fabric from mom and make it :)