happy surprises . . .

There's so much from the quilting retreat that I have wanted to share ... but I feel like I need to break it up into bits and pieces -- because there really was *so* much!  I want to start with the location of Grand Oak Retreat.  Out in Scottsboro, overlooking the lake, it's really a beautiful spot.  You can just barely make out the house from the road, it's so far up the hill . . . this is about one-third of the way up the (very winding) drive.

The first happy surprise came just a tad further up the drive, at a level spot . . .

The gate had not been there on my last visit and there's a good reason for that.  If you remember THIS post, you will recall that in my prior work life, I sometimes had the opportunity to put my *creative* skills to use designing ornamental iron.  And it just so happens, I designed this gate!!  I was so *tickled* to see it hanging!  Cindy, the owner, told me that it had been installed in September.  They don't have the electric opener on it yet -- hopefully before summer.

The block is the Lucky Clover and I found it on Quilter's Cache.  The original drawing I did (which is what is shown on the earlier blog post) had the square half the size.  I doubled it for the final drawing for Cindy, and I think it really does look pretty incredible.

If I do say so myself!! 

You know what else is incredible?  The view once you get to the top of the drive!

Sometimes, with a view like that, it's hard to stay focused on sewing!  But more on that in a future post.

Another happy surprise awaited me at home.  I'd won a sweet giveaway on Quilt Hollow and the sweet little felt stitchery patterns had arrived!

Aren't these darling?  Mary had been given five patterns to give away from Little Stitches.  The first winner got to pick two of her choice.  I loved the little bunnies and the chick train.  It's just in time for Easter!  Yay!!

Today will be a busy day catching up on ministry paperwork and things I didn't do while I was gone.  It's piling up a bit!  Tonight is church and tomorrow is an Ellie day, so I need to get 'er done!

:)

design wall glimpses . . .

So ... I've got lots of things going on this week, but I can't show (or even talk) much about any of it. I mean it is, after all, that most wonderful time of the year!

So, I'll show a little glimpse of this red and royal blue fleece, but I won't talk about what I'm going to do with it.

And a snippet of a finish here . . .

But not where it's going.

And doesn't this look like fun in the making?!

But the making of what?!

And a close-up here . . .

And I'm sure if you head on over to Judy Laquidara's Patchwork Times, you'll find some folks who're able to show a little bit more off their design walls!!

Oh, and speaking of close-ups, here's one of my new work-horse iron. This bad boy steams like a dream and presses like nobody's business!

I'm serious -- and so is the steam from this go-getter. It, ummm....it scares me a little. Respect the iron!!

Happy Monday!

:)

happies and more . . .

And more happies, that is!! The first happy is this sweet little package that arrived in yesterday's mail! Whoop! I'd participated in a little Pumpkin Paper Pocket Giveaway over at Kids Napping? I'm Scrapping! I was so tickled to learn that the incredible random generator had generated my number!!

The package was *full* of darling little goodies. I mean seriously, look at all this loot . . .

It was chock full of pumpkin goodness!! Is that not just perfect for me?!?!?

There was also this very pretty orange and white grosgrain ribbon with a darling owl charm!!

And BUTTONS! More importantly, do you see what I see?! A *pumpkin* button!!

And the icing on the cake? A Starbucks gift card! I know, I know, I know that will be put to good use in the VERY near future!!

I also finally finished up Joc's bouquet of felt flowers. I had most of the flowers done (I did a handful more), I really just needed to cut and add stems. The little vase they're sitting in came from my Grandma Willie and Pop-pop's house. I love the flowers on it, and the color. And that on the bottom it reads, "U.S.A. 875".

And now for the MORE happies. I don't know how many of you kept up with the Ghastlies Blog Hop over the past two weeks, but I sure did. I visited each Ghastlie "sistah" in their rightful turn. They had some amazing creations and I really enjoyed it. There were also amazing ... and I do mean *amazing* ... prizes given away! And while I don't normally post something I've won in a giveaway before I receive it, I'm to excited NOT to share this win . . .

On the very last day, from the blog of Madame Samm herself, I WON the Reliable Iron!!! I'm glad I was sitting at home along when I found out. Because I made some very funny and strange noises as I rejoiced!!! I've wanted one of these irons so badly, it wasn't funny. I've heard such great things about this iron. Both HERE and HERE, too. YAY!!! I will put it to good, good use!

And very lastly (but certainly not least), I found out that I get to be a guest blogger over at Sew We Quilt in December!! I'm going to be doing a little Christmas project tutorial *and* there may a giveaway involved!! My day in December is the 21st. That gives me plenty of time to be good and ready. I can't wait!!

Whew! Such excitement for one weekend -- I think I like it!

:)

marching one step closer . . .

"Marching" was my segue word for transitioning from Veteran's Day back to quilting. I'm so clever I amaze myself. Ahem.

But I am closer to being ready for some big sewing on Saturday. Tonight's star was this guy:

And I don't know why I refer to my iron as a 'him', but he is, so there you have it. He worked hard tonight.

Now I know this all looks like the same photos from Tuesday, but I promise you, these are all neatly pressed.

Crisp and flat. Ready for some design wall, these pieces are.

These pieces are definitely ready to hit the sewing machine!

All those pretty, pressed points!

These little babies looked so good, I could resist working with them a little longer.

Yep. I went ahead and pulled out the triangle ruler and cut out all my triangles.

These are ready for stitching on Saturday, too. If I can wait that long!

Tomorrow after work I'll take a trip to the fabric shop to see if I can find a solid I like for the last set of hexagons I need to cut. Yeah, and once those are done? This thing really *will* be ready for the design wall! WOW!

For now, sweet, quilty dreams!

:)

a day job . . .

I do have one. One, on most days, I enjoy very much. Today just happened to be one of those days. I spent my day working on our brochure graphics and playing in autocad. Here's a sampling of what I did, and consequently, some of the beautiful ornamental iron work we do here . . .

and the inside . . .

We primarily do custom ornamental iron handrails, fences, and mailboxes. But we can do a huge variety of stuff. Like curtain rods. And vanities and tables and grills and beds and just let your imagination run WILD!

I like playing around in autocad/fabcad. I've even done some quilt designs and layouts using the program. Joc's wedding quilt was done that way, and so was my 2008 challenge quilt. I've also created some quilt patterns in autocad. I haven't put fabric to those yet, though!

Once I've got a design in autocad -- whether I drew it or the boss man drew it -- I can screen copy it and pull it up in paint or photoshop to fill it in, tweek it, and save it as a graphic.

This custom gate I absolutely love. We did it for a customer with a "W" in the center; but I put our NMIW in the center. It looks better!

Our new logo . . .

Isn't this Iris Gate beautiful?? I love it! Can you imagine having such a whimsical driveway gate? We actually did this for a customer. We plasma cut the irises out of steel plate and welded them into the frame. Something like this would look so cool at the entrance of Camp Macoba!

And this final photo is a custom bed frame & headboard our ornamental artist, Neil, just completed. It's incredible! The thing is HUGE and quite solid. I don't envy the install crew on this one! It's waiting to go into powder coat and then it will get a hand finish. The customer wanted a Celtic look. I think she got it!

So, when I'm not working on graphics and drawings and with customers, I do the (*yawn*) fun things . . . like answer the phone, accounts payable, accounts receivable, and payroll. LOL! Actually I do enjoy that part of my job too -- when I have enough of it to keep me busy!

Today let's just say I didn't have time to yawn.

:)