Christmas packages already???

Today is my day "off" work from the LQS.  So, today when I should be quiltin' up a storm....what do you think I am doing???  Well, I do have a quilt loaded and ready to go.  But I have been having CHRISTMAS!!!

Look:  I opened all my envelopes from the gals participating in the fabric swap within the Snowball Quilt Challenge!!!  See, I told you ..... Christmas!!!
Cute packages, cute ric rac, cute little charms and a bonus cute silky fabric (in red and gold with a little blue shot through - I think this will make a great table mat with a little embroidery and applique') and not a single duplication of fabrics from all across this nation!  Thank you all so much to my swap partners!!!

So then, I had to get MY snowball fabrics out and play with them and let them play with the new pieces:

Aren't they all great?!
This is why I had to wait to open the swap fabrics all at once.  I would have had to have stalled every time I opened ONE.  So, every day or two....open a package, fold it and hold it and take pictures of it and then play with the fabrics I already have, then put the new with the old and move them around and, and, and.  You get the picture.  I call it Fabric-itis.  It's in the medical dictionary, I'm sure.  So I waited and only stalled once, for a very long time!!
Then.... in yesterday's mail, I also received this:

When I first saw these boxes I was surprised that I had boxes waiting for me.  I had momentarily forgotten what they might be.      The first was Lakehouse Dots in white!  Three yards!  When out shopping this past weekend at the not-local quilt shop, I mentioned that I was still looking for the Lakehouse dots in white, and the gal that was cutting my fabric said she had a whole bolt.  She could send me some!  So, THANKS, Roberta, you are a sweetheart!  That is going in a couple of projects, including snowballs!  Then the other box made me drool... again:  I ordered more of that

 line of fabric that is going to be my downfall!!!

Drat that Rouenneries French General Moda line!
But thank you quilt-this.com !!!  Now I can make my "Irish Birds" even bigger and better!!!

OK, Really, off to make the HQ hum! 
Another beautiful day in neighborhood!

1st: Happy Halloween and 2nd: It's Here!!!

1st:

Happy Halloween!

The weather came in rainy and cool in the a.m., but during the day it had dried off and warmed up just a little, so by trick-or-treating time it was a beautiful autumn evening.  (Only 3 little beggars stopped by.) 

 We set up a couple of small awnings, strung up some lights and put a couple of tables underneath.  Looked very fall-ish.  Here's some stuff I took down to the bonfire:

Weenie roasting stuff, hand wipes, chili toppings, cups with ballots for the best chili voting, smores fixin's.  Oh, and Prizes!  Runner-up ladles, and grand-champion Chef hat and chef-looking glasses with wiskers.  (A lot of those professional chefs have facial hair, don't they?)

 The bonfire/chili cook-off/reverse trick-or-treating was a hit! 

Hard decisions on the grand champion chili! 

There was a white chili, a 3 Bean Italian with spinach and a kick, and three, more traditional versions: one with sour cream, one with cheddar cheese and corn chips, and the last with a side of pasta, three beans, chipotle and jalapenos topped with fresh onions and cheddar cheese-this one had an after kick also!  Really, hard to just vote for one, but we did!  The 3 Bean Italian, spinach,kicker won!  Winners below, right:

Had to keep tasting and tasting and tasting though!  

Look at those slow cookers...15 or so of us and we pretty much wiped them out!  Yum!!! Thanks to all who participated in the cook-off.  It was nice to see everyone and visit and the friendly rivalry was a blast.  We will definately do this again!

And 2nd:

It's Here!!!                                     Rouenneries:

  the long awaited line of fabric by French General for Moda.  It arrived in my mail box today.  I think I might have done a little dance roadside at the mailbox when I saw that box had arrived!  I'll have to ask the neighbors later if they saw mailbox dancing!  And they know me well enough to not think I'm really nutso.  Not crazy for mailbox dancing and not even crazy for asking if they saw me mailbox dancing!  O.K., maybe a little, but hey, this is worth it!

I checked around all the local quilt shops AND the not so local quilt shops and no one had ordered the line, so I ordered from http://www.quilt-this.com/ .  It's a great on-line store.  They get the complete lines of fabrics and the customer service is extraordinary.  Shipped within 24 hours, plastic bagged inside the box and had a nice, personalized hand-written note and ink pen as a gift! 

Thanks, Jennifer!

Look, what do you think? 

Doesn't that make you want to dance just a little?

The red print fabric on the right will be the outside border and some of the piecing.  The cream fabric second from the right will be the background for the hand stitchery for all the birds and applique baskets.  The rest will be all the Irish chain piecing. 

And leftovers for my stash!

I am planning on making the "Irish Birds" quilt, pattern by Lynette Anderson. 

I'll post this pic again:

That is Lynette and me standing in front of her origninal "Irish Birds" quilt at the quilt market in Houston last month.  Isn't it just gorgeous?  I can't believe I have so many things lined up to do this week already, when all I want to do is cut into this delicious stack of fabrics!  Patience, patience, patience.  I keep telling myself this.  Maybe I can start with some of the hand embroidery tomorrow night!   Oh, yeah, patience.  I almost forgot!

Thanks for stopping by, hope your Halloween weekend was spooktacularly beautiful!