For the past few weeks, I've had some good squishy mail days. I haven't had a chance to report on them yet, so I thought I'd do it all in one post!
I have been needing some new thread for my gentle curve piecing project so I can do the quilting. On Friday, I ordered some threads from Red Rock Thread Company. You might recall I ordered from them before. I am so amazed at their service. I ordered Friday morning, it was shipped by Friday afternoon, and it was in my mailbox on Tuesday (remember, Monday was a Federal holiday, so no mail)! I really can't recommend them highly enough if you have never tried them. I was excited to get my threads:
I love Aurifil thread! I ordered these to do some quilting on the orange and teal pieces of my gentle curve piecing piece. Can't wait to get going again on that! I have been stalled until I get the thread. I can't find it in this town, so I have to order it online.
I wanted some variegated thread for the project, too. I would have ordered Aurifil, but I couldn't find the colors I needed in that. So I ordered King Tut, which has always been a good variegated thread for me to use. I thought the dark blue would be variegated, too, but I guess I was wrong. The variegated on the right might be too much "busy-ness" for my piece, so I ordered the blue in the middle for more subtleness, and the dark blue in case I wanted even more subtleness. I'll do a practice piece and see what looks best. More on that soon!
My SIL, Linda, lives near where Nancy's Notions is. They had a big sale the other day, and she asked if there was anything I wanted. I went through the catalog and found a few things I wanted and asked her to pick them up for me.
This is a book and accompanying DVD. I saw these shows on TV and thought some of the techniques demonstrated were really cool. I don't sew clothes too much, but this skirt was pretty cute. Mostly I wanted it for the techniques demonstrated (which I could use on other things). For example, how to put in an invisible zipper and how to do some neat ruffles. In the catalog, this bundle was $42.98. Linda got it for me for $14.06 with all her discounts!!!! Wahoo!
And an invisible zipper foot for my machine. If I can figure this out, I am thinking I'll try to do a tutorial project on invisible zippers. What do you think?
And a CD of embroidery designs. I have been wanting to do some quilting with my embroidery machine, but most of my designs are not appropriate for it. I have a project that I've been waiting to do, because I needed some designs like this. It will be a reversible table runner and will use the embroidery as reversible quilting. This was regularly $79.99 and Linda got it for me for $37.49. Another great deal!
That's what I asked for. Then, she sent me these as bonuses:
Some fun fabrics and patterns! These will be fun to have. Thanks, Linda! The fabric will be fun to add to my stash. The mermaid doll will be fun to try. And I really dig the Halloween pattern. I don't think of myself as a big Halloween fan, but I must be, because I love making Halloween stuff and a lot of the decorations at Halloween. I really appreciate all this, Linda, and I'm putting a check in the mail to you today! :-)
On another front, I have had some lucky streaks again!
Sherri from A Quilting Life e-mailed me a while back and told me I won a jelly roll of this Swiss Chocolate (how can you go wrong with a name like that?!) fabric by leaving a comment on one of her contests. I was so shocked! It came in the mail the other day. She apologized because she had to unroll it to mail it in the Priority Mail package. The post office told her she had to unroll it to make it more flat. Neither of us had heard that one before. But no matter. I told her it spared me the agony of having to open it. It's always hard for me to open them, because they look so pretty all rolled up. Not sure what I'll do with it yet, but I'm sure I'll find a good use for it! Thank you so much, Sherri! If you have never checked out her blog, you should. She's always working on a number of really nice quilts.
And then Shelly of Prairie Moon Quilts told me I won this pattern in a contest she had. So cute! Thank you so much, Shelly! When she was giving sneak peeks of this, I told her it must say "Sweet Pea" and she must be making the quilt for me! Haha! I have a few thoughts of what I'll make with this, but I'm not there yet. So, I'll keep pondering that for a while. If you haven't checked out Shelly's blog, you should also do that. She is always up to something fun and interesting. I have realy enjoyed my "cyber-friendship" with her!
Whew! I feel like I need to put myself on a moratorium for a while. I have so many things I want to work on! Summer can't some soon enough, when I can really concentrate on some of this stuff. At least spring break is next week. It will be nice to have a little break. We are thinking of tearing up a bathroom and replacing it over break. Sigh.
Well, better run. Tomorrow I'll have my UFO update for you, and on Friday, a new Quilted Fish Design Team project! Hoping you are all warm and with power these days! (It's the simple things in life, right?!) Have a wonderful day!
Until next time,
Mama Pea
Boy, you really have received a lot og goodies and some steals too! Love the fabric you won! I totally remember when Sherri was giving it away. I don't sew clothes but think a zip tutorial would be awesome!! Enjoy all your new goodies!
Posted by: Linda | February 23, 2011 at 08:39 AM
Red Rock threads is my go to internet store. They always have what I want and deliver fast! What great bargains your SIL got for you! I am always drooling over my Nancy's Notions catalog!
Posted by: Maggie Szafranski | February 23, 2011 at 08:41 AM
That jelly roll looks delicious. Your spring break isn't sounding much like a break, if you're going to remodel an entire bathroom!
Posted by: Shelly | February 23, 2011 at 08:55 AM
Wow, what fun. I love getting things in the mail and you certainly got a lot of good stuff. Love that Sweet pattern. You could probably practice your applique with that. Congratulations on your win. Have fun remodeling your bath. I just did that in our small bath upstairs. Seemed like it took forever, but was worth it.
Posted by: carolld | February 23, 2011 at 09:21 AM
When I saw that Mermaid at 30", I thought of you and your doll making. And that piece of material looked just like her tail in the pattern shown. The Witch I thought would help you with your appliquing. Yes, do a zipper tutorial. Love you,sis.
Posted by: sisLH | February 23, 2011 at 09:53 AM
I love going to the mail and getting squishy packages. I received one of my BOM's yesterday in the mail.
You have quite a stash of wonderful stuff to try out! And how lucky to win Sherri's giveaway ... I love the fabric.
You have a great sister to buy you all those goods. My sister would not know what to buy :) LOL
You amaze me with all you get accomplished and working too!
Stay warm and I hope you have better weather soon!
Hugs,
Donna
Posted by: Donna | February 23, 2011 at 10:05 AM
An invisible zipper foot tutorial would be great! I'm just getting into quilting and one of my first projects is going to be a throw pillow cover that will need an invisible zipper. Thanks for providing such valuable information.
Posted by: Lorraine | February 23, 2011 at 10:27 AM
You have had a lot of good mail days! The fabrics you won are great. I'm glad you were spared having to open that jelly roll, too! I also love Aurifil thread for both piecing and quilting.
Posted by: LuAnn | February 23, 2011 at 10:56 AM
Wow!! You are way more lucky than I at winning contests!!! Way to go! Can't wait to see the projects! Happy Wednesday!
Posted by: Brooke | February 23, 2011 at 11:06 AM
Wow! I love anything that comes in the mail that isn't a bill and of all things that don't fall into the bill category, squishy mail is the best!!! :)
Posted by: Candice | February 23, 2011 at 01:45 PM
WOW! A lot of things going on over your way. Sweet Pea's unicorn turned out very pretty. I had not heard of Red Rock Thread before, Thanks. I'm looking forward to the rest of the week's blog posts.
Posted by: Linda in Calif. | February 23, 2011 at 04:27 PM
Your thread looks so pretty! I'm really excited to see what you made for our curved piecing challenge this month. The colors are fabulous. I even went a bought a little orange for my solid stash after seeing your colors. Got to keep up with Mama Pea!
Posted by: Lynn | February 23, 2011 at 04:42 PM
ok, don't laugh... on Saturday I was with my cousin, who only sews clothes... looking thru her patterns for a cute skirt one... couldn't find one... yours is adorable... and she told me i need to learn to sew and use an invisible zipper. So I was going to look on the internet... but a tute would be sosoo much better!
Good job on all the wins!
Posted by: Jackie | February 23, 2011 at 09:32 PM
Gotta love the squishy mail! The quilting designs look great. Do you have the Magna Hoops? My girlfriend uses them for machine embroidery quilting, loves them.
Posted by: Allie | February 24, 2011 at 01:08 AM
Wow...you sure did get a lot of good mail! Have fun with everything! And have a great weekend!
Posted by: sherri | February 25, 2011 at 03:04 PM