What I bought and A Link you May love

Hi again.   You may remember that I told you about my trip to Mexico. You may also remember that I have FACD (fabric acquistion compulsion disorder) also known as "I want more fabric in my stash."  But I am sure none of you suffer from this. (ha!)    So anywho, while I was in Mexico, I went to the Parisina store(s.)  I actually shopped in three of them, but only bought fabric in one of them.  The fabric is sold by the meter rather than a yard so you get a little extra. NICE, huh?
Knowing that I had limited luggage space for purchases, I only bought three meters. These three:

Oh yes, that picture shows some other "stuff" but I will get to that later.  Do you see how these three fabrics will all work nicely together?  Well, I have no idea if they will end up together but it is possible.
Now the other stuff:  At the top you see my cutting mat (one of them) covered partially with wax paper. The wax paper is to protect it from the Mod Podge (not pictured) that I was using to follow a tutorial over at Tonya's Sewing Room.  I don't have the magnets yet for the back, but I did get the fabric put on back of the gems.
I also used the Mod Podge to put some fabric collage on a round box lid that I had painted and am not happy with. (The box has been sitting for years unfinished!)   So you see both fabric and painted surface there. Still more to do on the rest of the box and perhaps on the lid. I am undecided at this point.

Now about that Link:
My friend and local brilliant artist/quilter, Norma, runs a  couple of blogs. One of them is all about winning stuff. It is called "Quilty Giveaways"    You may remember that I love winning stuff.  In fact, I just won TWO giveaways.
1. From Tonya's Sewing Room I won a $50 gift cert from CNS stores.  So last night I bought a new piece of luggage to replace the piece that got mangled on my trip to Mexico. I spent a whole ninety four cents of my money on it . NICE!!!
2.  From Mary at Quilt Hollow I won the Mix & Match Accuquilt Book.  So don't be surprised if you see a Quilt top made from the book on my blog. 


I hope you are having a GREAT weekend. 

Little Project

Not much to say about these.  A friend said his wife (or mother in law ??) wanted some more of the potholders and trivets I made.  I think she is going to send them to friends.  Cool!  So I asked, "What colors or designs?"  The answer was "Whatever"

So here is what I made.

There are two matching sets as requested. The ones on the left have some leftover Neptune honeybun strips in them.  The ones on the right have leftover jellyroll strips from ??? maybe Simple Abundance??? Anyway, I also added other stash stuff to finish them.  As usual, nothing in it is squared up and even.  

They are wonky and fun -- just like me! 

Trip Around the World

After seeing a number of "Trip Around the World" quilts being made, I looked up some directions.   Then I picked out strips from a Bali Pop that I had bought a while back.  I sewed two sets of strata from similar colors and started.   I think I know one reason this is called a Trip Around the World.  After you get it done, you feel like you walked around the world. At least that is how I felt.  Ha ha.  The squares in this are all 2 inches. I have to say that after a bit of ripping and re-sewing, it came out pretty good. See:

 I am thinking that part of my inspiration for this may have been this window grate from my trip to Mexico. I saw this and had to snap a photo.

The sun certainly adds a nice touch on this winter day. Hmm.... and thinking of that, how about a bit of spring (also from my trip -these were taken in January, but they make me think of spring)

I love looking at hibiscus. 

Within walking distance of where we stay is Santiago Park.  The church there is a lovely shade of yellow and I love the design also.  Here is a picture I took. 

(it looks a warmer yellow in person) 

Finally - just to make you long for summer even more - here is a picture that I took on January 7th at Sancristiano on the beach front. 

LCQA Block 6 and more Vacation pictures

The Layer Cake Quilt Along (LCQA) is going nicely.  Instead of a layer cake, I am using a Fat Quarter collection from Connecting Threads.  The collection is called Golden Afternoon.  It is a collection of lovely warm reds, yellows, greens, browns and blues. Not much blue, but enough to make me happy.  (Because, as you know, I love a little blue in everything.) 
Block #6 is by Toby  Lischko.  Here is my version of the block.

See the nice little bit of blue in there?  Yeah, that makes me happy.

So while in Mexico, I got in a bit a a jam!   As you can see in the picture below it was a real JAM.  See that giant jam jar?  There I am right in it. 

Okay okay,  it was a bit of trick photography...but we were having a good time.  I knew you would want to see this huge vase. It is a shame there weren't flowers in it, instead of an old "gene weed" Ha ha. 

After seeing the flamingos we rested in this nice shady courtyard.  Then we were off to find some lunch.  Having been there before we knew where to go - Nicte-Ha (pronounced nic tay HA.) The name is Mayan for "Water Lily"  This little restaurant backs up almost to the beach and the fish comes in daily from the local fishermen. This is right in Celestun, Mexico. 

I had the fresh fish fillet in garlic sauce. (filete de pescado al mojo de ajo) It was yummy!  I did not have a cervaza (beer) but maybe I should have. Ha ha.