I got Royal Mail

I know when I get "royal mail" it's going to be good.

Jan knows my love of turtles, then again....who don't?

She sent me this adorable turtle below

you press that small button on top and the light comes on and it makes an "oink" noise

yep, it's oinks....maybe it's supposed to be a turtle sound

but it's super cute anyway......

then this below..........WOW

she quilted a special to me on the blue sashing below each row of cups

in the blue thickest border, there are small hearts quilted

so, so pretty....i love this Jan!

you are the greatest!

His Sunday Best!

it's hard to get him to smile without looking like a robot

he stiffens up, like he's standing at attention

he loves getting "dressed" up for church

he has on his favorite boots (can't hardly see them)

i love this kid with all my heart

I found the other blocks

www.pineneedles.com

check out all her designs

simply amazing

and for all your Facebook junkies (not me)

she has a Facebook page.

I've been busy, busy...

i've been dabbling into a bit of everything the past few days

turtle time-out

this is the cutest block i've ever seen (until i see the next cute one)

Annette from the UK sent me this

she and her mom know my love of turtles (as does everyone)

i'm not sure, but i think she even cut the pieces for me?

i finally put this together tonight

still have to stitch around the applique

i would love to find the other blocks that go with this block

on the back of the pack it has a picture of all the other blocks

there's 7 more blocks and 3 of them have turtles on them

oh please let ebay have these...lol

have you ever "broke" a needle and it looked like this?

i was sewing through a fabric rubber band, i never expected this to happen

would you take a look at this adorable pin cushion......wow

Becky sent me this along with the box below

some fabric scraps

a cute draw string bag that held this pincushion

lots of zippers

and yardage of some kids flannel

Becky grew up here in wonderful Wilkes county

her dad is a very prominent lawyer here

funny, i've been talking to Becky for maybe right at a year

and never suspected who her dad was

i know him, i've been in his office

my friend used to work for him

it wasn't until last week when i posted something about court

on my facebook status, she said to "tell my dad hi"

and it hit me...........i was almost in contempt of court for the gasp i made

it's a small world

Becky is still in NC.........just not here anymore :(

what have we here?

oh yeah.....

we put it up last night until it was so dark we couldn't see

we starting filling it this morning

we haven't added the chemicals or anything yet

now, our back yard is a downhill slant....major downhill slant

so, this is a challenge.....we almost have it level

by this evening at dark, it still wasn't full

only 4,440 gallons

ha

good thing we're not in a drought, they wouldn't let us fill it

hoping to get in it tomorrow evening

i don't care for that ladder

hubby is going to make me some WIDE steps to get in

and we'll get some pool safe plastic ones to put on the inside to get out

this is to drown our house buying blues, lol

Week 1 of Simple Sampler Quilt Along

Amy over at Amy's Creative Side is hosting a

Simple Sampler Quilt Along

see the button over on my side bar?

first, here are my 8 fabrics i'll use for this quilt along

i've been waiting to hack into these beauties

our first block.....a classic 4 patch

our second block...a simple mosaic, or 16 patch

both of these were super easy

we'll do 2 blocks a week

i'm loving this so far

thanks Amy for putting this on....

(fyi, i'm in a mucho better mood today, thanks all for the kind comments)

Weaving......It's here......I'm ill......

WEAVING:

So, I have all this (see above) ribbon and needed to do something with it. I have yards and yards and yards.........and yards. Here, I've started on a project. Can't tell you what it is yet, but I have an area of about 18x21 weaved.

IT'S HERE:

Here's the GO!

I've used it just a few minutes and love it!

Thanks so much to the people of Accuquilt!

I'M ILL:

nope, not sick............ILL, MEAN, RUDE

don't know why, just am right now

i'm hoping mr. kentlee comes over and cheers me up

Not being able to sleep....

.......lead to this purchase

a pattern to make the two cutest turtles I've ever seen..

meet, Ernst & Peeble

Need I say more?

My flowers from Needled Mom's tut.

I posted her tutorial the other day..

here it is if you missed it............ flowers

Mary's look terrific.

Mine on the other hand.........well you know how bad I am at following directions.

I had the most problem with zig zagging the thread, fishing line, yarn, and string....(cause I tried all those things) and pulling said string tight to bunch of the "flower petals". Whatever I was using always broke. ALWAYS! Maybe I was pulling to hard.

The orange, yellow and white was my first one, it's a bit off.

The four petal one was the second one, I like this one.

and the multicolored one was the last one that kept breaking thread and yard.

I finally sewed a pleat in each petal and spread them out like I wanted, then sewed a "x" into the center to keep them all together, than the yo yo and button.

Not to shabby!

It seems like I always have trouble with the simplest task.

What are you doing today?

I've murdered some RWB blocks.

no joke, I really have.

I thought about calling for back up,

but..........

who would I call?

The quilt police?

I mean really.....

Now, should some of you feel you need to call them on my behalf.....BE WARNED...

I WILL FIND YOU!

I have managed to save the center of this last block so that it still looks somewhat like a star.

Thank goodness for that.

I think I'll break from RWB and work on Needled Mom's tutorial for some fabric flowers.

So........what have you been doing today?

(I did away with the captcha, since so many of you whined, about it.) ;)

Captcha Required

Or I think blogger calls it a word verification

captcha sounds better, lol

I'm tired of the Chinese or whatever language comments that I'm getting.

I've used Google Translator to see what it translates to.....

No.....I don't want to see your VIDEO,

I don't need you to tell me how sexy I am

I don't want to see your pictures.

And NO I WON'T CLICK ON YOUR LINK!!

Get the picture.

Sick of it I am.......(like I'm Yoda or something)

So, sorry for the inconvenience, because I know I hate to enter those.

You know my blog is worth it..........HAHA!

Question

Finally 45 blocks made into a quilt top.

OK, this little "cute" quilt has been a labor.

Once I got all those buttons on, I had to take them off, I couldn't stitch around them...with the button on, the foot couldn't get past it. uggghhhhh

Take all the buttons off, then stitch, pull all buttons back on.

Because of that, I don't want to quilt this. Besides it don't have alot of quilting space anywho.

So........I don't even want to "stitch in the ditch", and I don't want to tie it. What's left for a SIMPLE quilting, just something to hold all three layers together?

Any ideas?

I thought about random buttons stitched through all three layers......NOT!

My machine does an * (asterisk) looking stitch, I thought about doing that in every other corner or something similar.

It did turn out bigger than I expected or thought it would. I like it, it was my design, so why wouldn't I like it? haha

Thrift Store & Other Finds

From the BIG Fabric store......18 yrds each of "rope" type ribbon for $1.99

Dill Buttons from the same store for $.50

Superman panels from my local Thrift shop........

Oh how cute is this, almost 3 yards of material for $3.50 the note says "please release Terry for a speedy recovery" TJ's real name is Terry.

From the BIG Fabric store.....across the street is a Ribbon and Silk Flowers Warehouse......10 yards for $1.99.....it's a deep purple. I love this.

Basket from my local Thrift Store.

New house plans are going as to be expected. We got a hilarious Bank offer.....let's just say we declined it. Back to the drawing board tomorrow...

Seriously? Really? Are you kidding?

What? You ask.........oh yeah!

Who's the latest winner of a GO! machine?

Yep, you guessed it........ME

ME

ME

ME

Could it be for real?

OH my oh my........

I had a migraine when I got the news.......instant cure.

For real.............haha

Thank you so much Accuquilt for so many chances to win a GO.

You are awesome!

Dresses get a makeover.

thanks to Lola, she suggested I use my inventory of buttons and ribbons on these dresses

I thought of using the ribbon, but never of the buttons, and wasn't even sure I was going to do the ribbons.

How cute, thanks Lola......below are a few..there are so many variations.

Such Tedious Work..........

........but oh so worth it

i started working on these awhile back

i appliqued each dress to a white block

now i'm going around each dress with the applique stitch

that's what takes forever

i can now say, i'm almost half done

a sneak peek below......

hope on over to Pat's and congratulate her on her recent win of a GO from their Facebook Page

if your not on Facebook or if you are and are not a fan of Accuquilt's GO,

i urge you to go at once, when they hit 5000 fans they gave away 5 GO's

that's how Pat won!

Here's another chance to win a GO

Amy from Amy's Creative Side is giving away a GO!

So, GO! on over for your chances!

Quilt top complete

this was 2 Moda Charm packs and I can't remember what the name of the line is

i kept the wrap so i could remember and then threw it away

i wish i could just make quilt tops and have someone else quilt them

that's just not in the budget

the center square will fray when i wash and dry this

i can't wait to see it like that

it just might be awhile, haha

i like the colors in this top, browns and such...

Tree Time Bom #6

Tree Time Bom #5
Originally uploaded by TonyasSewing

So so fun....notice my bird is backwards, lol, also once I got the star on and the applique stitch around it, it was too much, so I took the star off....I know those holes will close up once I get it all done and washed....

Got Ribbon?

I do...........I've been collecting it for awhile now.

It's super cheap and comes in all shapes, sizes and colors.

So, I had this idea to make a few hair bows. I got one done and I won't make any more.

It just wasn't my thing. I didn't enjoy it at all.

Here's the one I finished.

ho hum..........now I had a ton of ribbon.

I've got some ideas though.

Do you know of any ribbon crafts?

If you should feel inclined.......

......to help me win a GO

if you would not like one for yourself......

please head over to Barb's giveaway

she is allowing people to give entries to other people

so, if you would like to help me win, please head over to her giveaway and let her know you would like to give your entries to sweet little Tonya.........or just Tonya would do!

THANKS, THANKS, and THANKS!

Embroidery I did today..

these are so sweet........

i have several more to embroider, then i'll make these into a hanging

Do you save these?

........and what do you do with them?

I'm fascinated with selvage edges and moda strings.

I'm sewing all the selvage edges together, not sure what I'll do with that yet, but I love the look of it.

The Moda strings, I would like to sew them all together into a tote or handbag.

However, I do not have many Moda strings, that will take awhile.

If you have selvage edges or Moda strings in your way, send them to me, I would love to have them.

My version of the GO Cutter by Accuquilt.

Yep, that's it!

Don't be jealous!!

You too can have your very own TOO cutter by Tonya.

Yes, that's right, you too can have your very own.

I'll tell you how.......

Grab a rotary cutter, no specific one, any will do....

grab a fat quarter from your stash (you know you have 100's of them), snuggled inside that fat quarter you'll find some nice sturdy cardboard, yep cardboard!

Now, don't cut out the template from your pattern....

No NO, trace it onto the cardboard.

Your less likely to cut the cardboard as easy as you will that thin paper.

Uh huh.......see how easy that was.

If you call within the next 5 mins, I'll send you your very own TOO cutter by Tonya!

Hold on..........phones ringing.......

(no, this isn't a entry for a contest, it just popped into this crazy mind of mine and I couldn't resist it, could be from lack of sleep, lol)

hopefully, I'll too have a GO cutter by Accuquilt one day

Here's another chance to win a GO

from Barb at Bejeweled quilts by Barb

please tell her I sent you as that will get me another entry....

and she's not even making us "dance" like Kelly did. haha