Show and Sale - Set-up Day

Today (Friday)  is "set up" day at the place where I will have my Show and Sale tomorrow.  I have my booth all set  up, but I forgot to get a picture.  (sigh) I thought about it, but my camera wasn't with me.  However,  I got my embroidery machine back from the shop yesterday and I am working on free-standing lace bookmarks as fast as I can.  Since it had an "oops" and had to go to the shop, I lost a week with it.  Fortunately, I am making up for lost time.  Here are some pictures both in progress and finished.

 The blue will be a rosebud with stem and leaves.  Those open holes will be leaves. 

 Here are two in the hoop in a lovely lavender shade.

 Here are several finished designs.  The rosebud ones are in the upper right.

Here are a few more finished bookmarks. The machine is working on a blue cross right now.  I need to get back in there and watch it.  Ha ha.  It is wonderfully hypnotic to watch it.   But really I need to sew down a quilt label.
Tomorrow I will be up bright and early so I can be at the show by 7:45 a.m. - yes on a Saturday.  No sleeping in this weekend.

e-book Giveaway

I got an email from Clare O'Donohue's publicity manager today.  Since I have enjoyed all of the Someday Quilts books she has written thus far, I wanted to share this with you.

Clare O’Donohue, author of the Someday Quilts mysteries is running a special contest for the release of her new e-book CATHEDRAL WINDOWS: A Someday Quilts Mystery (On-sale: November 13th for  $2.99.)  Ms. O’Donohue is running the contest in cojunction with The Quilt Show (the online show with Alex Anderson & Ricky Tims.)
Here is a little synopsis/teaser that was included in the email:
CATHEDRAL WINDOWS
Christmas is just around the corner in the Hudson Valley. Nell and her friends at the Someday Quilts shop should be making eggnog and finishing up the stitching on their last homemade gifts, but when an arsonist strikes and a beloved teacher becomes a suspect, the ladies rally behind him to clear his good name. Will they succeed in time for him to spend Christmas among loved ones or will this be a chilly winter for the town of Archers Rest?

To tell you the truth, I really hope that *I* win this.  But to be nice, I am giving you the link so that you can enter too.
http://clareodonohue.com/2012/11/06/win-a-free-download/

Good luck!

P.S.   I have boxes packed and I am getting everything ready for my show and sale on Saturday.
Here is another image that will be available as note cards:

Of course the notecards are a better quality image and don't have the watermark.

Vote!

Today is voting day in the US for the Presidential election.  So if you are a registered US voter, please go and vote today.  Vote with your heart and your mind.  Voting for officials is one of our freedoms. Use it wisely.
I have been packing boxes for my one big sale of the year this week so I haven't gotten any sewing done.  
So here is an image of one of my paintings.  I will have these printed on notecards at my sale (but without the watermark)

Oooh Oooh...Baby Baby

After several days of not sewing, I finally got back in the groove today. Other things in life have taken up my evenings when I normally sew. Today has been wonderful.  The baby quilt is now backed and quilted and all in one piece.
I have read every day of Petite Design Co.'s 31 Days of Walking Foot Quilting. So I was ready to quilt this with my walking foot.   I started with the idea of straight lines - but where is the thingy that attaches to the walking foot to use as a guide?  Hmmmmmm.. so I tried it without it.  Ha ha.  I have some organic lines that aren't very straight.  Those run side to side on the quilt.  Then I crossed those with wavy lines from the top of each section to the bottom of the section.   Not bad, not bad at all.  See:

I also had to avoid quilting over the applique embroidery designs.   So there are some interesting lines in the quilting.  Ha ha.
I used leftover pieces along with some other pieces I had for the backing. I love the planned randomness of it.

That is straighter than it looks in the cropped picture.  There was an extra row of blocks (top center) that was leftover.  I had one extra piece of the yellow sashing, so I sewed it to a red strip and the cut those into sections the same length as the two extra blue blocks. I added extra strips of blue to it and made that row just above the bottom row.
How do I "plan" the backs?  I am glad someone asked that in an email. I take the section of the quilt and lay it face down on the floor.  Then I take the pieces I am hoping to use and put them together sort of like a jigsaw puzzle until I get something I like. Then I take a small section at a time to the sewing machine and start putting it together.  I always make the back pieces bigger than the top so I have some wiggle room.  I think it works pretty well.

Now I have to decide on binding.  I was thinking "red" but I have several pieces of leftover binding from various other quilts.  So I may make a scrappy binding.  What do you think?

Oh yes,  I am in the Blogger's Quilt Festival at Amy'sCreative Side.  My Quilt is number 280.  I would love it if you voted for me.